Something New, Something Old

Chapter One: Something New, Something Old
~BlackRoseRaven

The Canterlot Magic Academy was silent: in the far research wing, there were still unicorns and other creatures skilled with enchantment and the arcane arts toiling endlessly away, but most of the building was quiet. Students were asleep in their rooms and dormitories, teachers had gone home or were resting up in their own residences, the few patrols of Royal Guards passed through the halls quickly. Depending on where they were stationed, some looked bored, others looked tense, others couldn't help but marvel over some of the architecture and arts they passed... but the patrols were mostly limited to keeping an eye on the archives and the exterior grounds. The more-interesting parts of the school had their own special security.

A patrol of three armored unicorns slowly made their way through the spacious lobby, one glancing curiously up at one of the third floor balconies high, high above in the dome-shaped room, pausing for a moment... but then simply shrugging and hurrying after his companions as they made their way through a set of doors at the far side of the lobby.

For a few moments, there was silence... and then a rope was thrown over the edge of the balcony before a stout figure half-fell over the edge of the landing, grabbing wildly at the rope with his black-furred hands before whimpering as he caught it and slid most of the way down. The wolfish creature came to a halt just above the floor, then released the rope and fell with a loud thud on his rump, holding up his hands in front of his muzzle and blowing on them as he complained: “We gonna get caught.”

“Only if you not shut mouth!” hissed his companion as he quickly descend the rope: he landed on heavy paws, baring his fangs as his large tusks gleamed in the dim light coming from the low-burning lanterns on the wall. “Get up, up!”

They were Nibelung: what most ponies simply called dwarves or 'wolf-pigs,' and these two were clearly down on their luck from the fact the whiny Nibelung was dressed only in rags of clothes, and the surly boss of the pair was wearing tattered leather armor and a patched battle-kilt. The leader hauled his companion forcefully to his feet by the scruff of his neck, making him yelp before the larger, brawnier, and bossier of the two slapped his hand hurriedly over the smaller thug's mouth. “Shut up, or we get caught!”

The smaller Nibelung mumbled, then his eyes roved upwards... and he stared for a moment, entranced, at the crystalline chandeliers that hung high above, held in place by heavy ropes on pulleys anchored here and there. They glittered with gemstones and enormous, curved sheets of crystalline glass to form beautiful patterns and swirls, with unlit lanterns in the center of each: in all likelihood, when lit, they would become beacons of patterned radiance. The thug pointed slowly at one of these... but his partner only slapped his hand hard, making him yelp again. “Stupid! No, we find better shinies! Or steal a Steely!”

“How we steal a Steely? Besides, they not really metal, they more... rock. Rockies.” reasoned the other dwarf... only to be smacked firmly by his companion once more, making him give another yelp of pain. “Boss!”

Boss only grumbled... and then looked up in horror as a set of double doors opened, a violet mare frowning as she strode inside and looked back and forth, calling : “Hello, is someone...”

Her eyes locked on the Nibelung thugs, who both stared at her for a few moments... and then Boss snarled and yanked a rusty dagger free from his belt, leaping forwards and brandishing it violently. “We take you hostage, pony! You try anything, I stab you good!”

For a few moments, there was silence... and then the violet mare simply looked at him flatly, gesturing at the twenty or so feet of space between them as she asked dryly: “Seriously? You do know this is a magic school, right? So why don't you just put that down and I'll let you leave instead of turning you over to the Royal Guards.”

Boss glowered as the subordinate thug slowly began to raise a hand... and then the larger, meaner Nibelung suddenly lunged to the side, swiping his rusty dagger down and cutting through a rope attached to a ring on the wall. It snapped loudly, and all three looked up as above, one of the chandeliers listed violently, swinging towards the other side of the room before the other supports gave out and sent it plummeting down.

It crashed down on top of the violet mare in an explosion of sheets of glass and crystalline fragments, chunks of framework and shards of broken glass sheeting flying in all directions, and the thug gaped as Boss gritted his teeth, before glaring when his partner pointed at the heap of debris and babbled: “Boss, what you do! You kill fancy-corn!”

“Fancy-corn got in way! Now we get out of way before more pony-pony show up!” snapped the Nibelung, grabbing his partner by the arm. But before he could drag him off, the pile of rubble shifted, and both dwarves looked with surprise at the debris as a groan floated up... and stranger still, it sounded more exasperated than it did pained.

The rubble shifted back and forth... and a moment later, churned as a ripple of magic ran through it before the heavy remains of the chandelier were forcibly thrown aside with another loud crash. Boss began to raise his knife with a snarl... but then he faltered as his partner paled and gaped as the pony stood up, her wings flapping once as she straightened and cracked her back, then looked down and muttered at the sight of her severed front leg: “Oh, great.”

“P-P-P-P-P-P-Pony... not... pony!” The smaller Nibelung thug fell on his rear, grabbing at his muzzle and staring in horror as the violet mare sat back... and calmly reached down to pick her dismembered limb up, pressing joint to shoulder as her horn glowed dark purple. Where severed joint and shoulder met glowed with the same aura, then steamed violently as a tart, sharp smell filled the air... before the pony calmly rolled her reattached limb as if nothing had happened, absently brushing away a few strings of her torn turtleneck sweater.

She looked back up with a sigh and a forced smile, as the thug began gibbering while Boss stared at her disbelievingly, and then the violet mare leaned forwards and said calmly: “Please surrender now, okay? The Guards will be here any minute and I'd really prefer not to hurt you.”

“Hurt... you!” Boss shouted in a strangled voice, and then he yelled wildly and charged forwards, stabbing the knife downwards... and the violet mare didn't even bother to move or react, only making a face as the knife sank through her chest to the hilt. Then she glowered, her horn glowing before she blasted Boss backwards into a stunned heap, knocking him sprawling and prone before she sighed and reached up to jerk the knife free of the bloodless wound.

The other Nibelung was still babbling away, staring in horror at her before she shook her head and rolled her eyes, muttering: “Great. Why does this always happen to me? Uh... excuse me, but I'm not going to hurt you, okay?”

The dwarf stared at her as he fell silent under her almost-imploring gaze... and then he toppled backwards in a dead faint, and the violet winged unicorn groaned before wincing at the sound of approaching hooves. She hurriedly turned and scrambled back out the doors, not wanting to be caught like this: even after years of being... what she had become... she still wasn't used to the looks that other ponies gave her. Whether she did something good or bad, it didn't matter... they still saw her the same way, if they found out about her... particularity.

“Oh no, Twilight Sparkle's a Lich, she must eat babies and be rotting and... smelly.” Twilight mumbled, hurrying down the hall towards one of the exits into the garden outside the academy. “It's no wonder Luna was so weird if this is like what she went through every day...”

The violet mare quieted, then she lowered her head forwards as she hurried out the doors and into the safety, the comfort, of the darkness. The moon and stars were both hidden by a dark veil of clouds, but to Twilight's eyes, everything was as clear as day. In her sight, living ponies almost glowed, and she could see the things that roamed these long nights apart from ponies just as clearly... such as the Nightmare currently sitting curiously by a large fountain and studying her with interest.

Twilight smiled after a moment, turning her eyes towards this creature and approaching it slowly: they were darkly-ethereal creatures, looking almost as if they were ponies made of shifting shadow and smoke, and with glowing, sharp red eyes. Nightmares were somewhere between demon and living dead, feeding off emotions and living energy, capable of turning invisible and insubstantial at will, true servants of the night.

A long time ago now, they had made a pact with Luna to be saved, along with countless others, from their original Equestria... but that was a long story, that Twilight had trouble believing herself some days, even with everything she had seen... everything she had become. So instead, she only smiled, approaching it fearlessly, and it flickered in her sight as it became more tangible, leaning forwards and asking gently: “How may we serve you, Mistress Twilight?”

“Just... Twilight is fine. I'm no ruler of the night.” Twilight said awkwardly, laughing a little and looking embarrassed before she glanced down at herself... then grumbled and finally pulled her turtleneck off. She absently folded the ruined sweater up even as she put it aside on the fountain, then she rubbed slowly at what the thick cloth had been hiding: thick, heavy black stitching across her body that helped... hold her together, so to speak, and helped her heal, as she looked moodily at an open, gaping wound in her chest from where the knife had hit.

All around her shoulder joint, too, her coat hadn't sealed together: she could easily reattach her limbs, but they would look ugly until she managed to add stitching to seal the wounds and help herself heal at her slow, slow rate. Not that it ever looks pretty ever again...

She sighed quietly, then glanced up almost embarrassedly when the Nightmare said soothingly: “But it is the truth: while Mistress Luna and Master Scrivener are away, we bow our heads to you and to the Dawn Bringer. We must still honor our pact and promises, after all... but we will not lie. We all eagerly await the return of the Mistress of the Night...”

Twilight closed her eyes and nodded slowly, the Lich quietly rubbing at her stitched chest as she murmured softly: “Yeah. That I understand... and I agree with you, as well. Listen, I was going into the Academy to pick up some samples of demon blood, but... I guess instead I'll just go directly to the source. Can you ask Atrus or Hevatica to come by my room sometime tonight? They should both be in Subterra. It's not urgent or anything, I just need it to help with my... student's... training.”

“Your apprentice. Mistress Luna would be...” The Nightmare hesitated. “Proud that you took on a student. Although, with no disrespect... I and my sisters are not... the fondest... of...”

“Yes, well, neither am I, really.” Twilight mumbled, and then she shook her head before glancing up towards the mighty castle of Canterlot in the distance, adding finally: “Speaking of which, I should be on my way. Antares and Prestige are probably arguing again, and I should stop them before things get out of hoof.”

“Of course, Mistress. I shall be on my way as well. Remember, we are here to serve.” The Nightmare bowed its head politely, and then it simply vanished completely, even Twilight's eyes unable to track it as it disappeared off to its duty. Likely heading to Subterra... and Twilight smiled faintly, shaking her head slowly as she thought about how much things had changed.

Once, Equestria had been a peaceful, happy nation, where Celestia ruled, had moved the sun and moon herself to bring day and night, and everything had been organized and under some kind of control. Until the darkness had come... until the Black Wolves had devoured their beloved Equestria, and brought Ragnarok to their world. Everyone had died... but it was thanks to Luna and Scrivener they'd been restored.

And now they were gone... it hurt Twilight to think about, as she closed her eyes. They had been special to her... she had dearly, deeply, direly loved them both. Luna, grinning, bold and courageous; Scrivener, sarcastic, cynical, but always there for her...

She sighed softly as she made her way across the grounds and down the path leading back to the castle, letting herself run on autopilot as her mind sorted through the countless stories, the long history, the emotions that still hurt even now. Almost ten years later and it still hurt to think about what had happened... how they had been attacked by the twisted and warped Clockwork World, remnants of which still existed even now, were still biding their time, waiting for orders that would never come from the Clockwork King...

At the end, Antares had been kidnapped to lure Luna and Scrivener in, and all they knew was that somehow, the Bifrost, the bridge between worlds, had been wrenched open, and Antares had come spilling out of it... alone. In all likelihood, it had been Gymbr's power that had opened the bridge... a being that had gone with Luna and Scrivener to their final confrontation, but who even now Twilight didn't know if she fully believed the truth of. A story, brought to life... seeking redemption for its role of villain. Or maybe... it just didn't want to be alone anymore...

Twilight shook her head out, closing her eyes before she spread her wings and flapped them hard, leaping upwards to propel herself into the air. She wasn't the best flier, but the journey was short: from near the base of Canterlot Castle, she ascended upwards, flying past the roof and into the forest of towers and spires as she guided herself carefully back and forth towards her personal quarters.

For a few moments, she felt lost: Canterlot's strange and beautiful architecture could be confusing, particularly on a dark night like tonight. But after a moment, her attention was drawn towards the sound of shouting voices, and she sighed tiredly as she flapped her wings, ascending a bit higher to land on a balcony facing out over the majestic city of Canterlot, which sprawled out along the side of the immense mountain below the castle.

Twilight grumbled under her breath as she walked through the open glass doors and into the brightly-lit den beyond, noting the books piled over the table, the couch, the armchair, and pretty much everything else. She winced at the sight of one that was sitting a little too close to the merrily-burning fireplace for comfort, horn glowing to pick this up with telekinesis and bring it over in front of her, ignoring the still-arguing voices for a moment before she called loudly: “Antares, Prestige!”

The arguing petered out as Twilight kept the book floating beside her, and a few moments later, there was the sound of hooves hurrying down the hall before both Antares and Prestige stumbled out, glaring at each other before looking at the Lich... and Antares' eyes widened in alarm as he asked hurriedly: “Are you okay, Twilight?”

“I'm fine, Antares...” Twilight smiled after a moment, shaking her head quickly... and then she winced as a large shard of loose glass fell out of her mane, tinkling to the ground. She cleared her throat at this as both ponies stared down at the piece of shrapnel, and the violet mare explained awkwardly: “A chandelier fell on me.”

Antares looked up with concern again on his glossy-black features, his rugged white mane almost floating around him as he asked worriedly: “Are you sure you're okay? You look a little downtrodden, Mom.”

Twilight smiled faintly at this, gazing at the young stallion for a moment: he looked so much like his father. Well, minus the scars... and the fact that he clearly had his mother's cyan-green eyes. He was a unicorn, with a tall, proud black horn, but he also possessed large, leathery wings that were furled loosely against his sides: a 'gift' from Nightmare Moon when he had just been a child. He could fly as well as any Pegasus, but the wings had all the same never quite adjusted to his body: if he flew for too long, pushed himself too hard, they would quickly begin to ache, and the pain often wouldn't go away for days.

And there were other strange things about him, too: he had sharp teeth, inherited from Nightmare Moon as well, and his messy mane and tail both had a faint shimmer to them, seemed to move even when there was no wind. His cutie mark was a constellation of nine stars, with lines of light between them forming a rose blossom; his talent had to do with acuity and understanding, making him seem like a mind-reader at times with how easily he could see into someone.

Then Prestige huffed, and Antares shot her a sour look as the verdant green mare rose her head and stated in her obnoxious, overconfident voice: “Don't be such a child, Antares. Miss Sparkle is a Lich, which you should know by now cannot be destroyed by physical battery. Rather, in order to effectively combat a Lich, one must use magic that damages and affects the spiritual and vital essence of an organic or directly attack and destroy its phylactery. To her, physical wounds are meaningless.”

“Actually, they're very annoying.” Twilight said moodily, rubbing slowly at her damaged shoulder before she sighed and flicked her horn, making the book of magic theory float in front of her. “Is this yours? Because it was just about in the fire, and I've told you both again and again to please try and keep this place neat... you both have your own rooms that you can mess up all you want but these are my quarters, and my books.”

Prestige dropped her head a bit, looking sour beneath her coiffed silver mane: lines of gray and white ran through both it and her cut-short tail, matching her proud, metallic-colored eyes almost perfectly... except for the flaw of red in one eye. A single little oddity that worked to describe Prestige Luster very well, Twilight thought, as the green mare finally mumbled a grumpy apology.

She wore no adornments apart from a simple aqua-blue scarf around her neck... but Prestige Luster's stance and mannerisms told the entire world that she had grown up as an aristocrat in an elitist society. Specifically, Prestige was from Silver Hoof: a village in far northern Equestria, and part of a band of cities that had never entirely made it out of the old traditions, where unicorns ruled and the earth ponies were nothing but slaves.

Prestige was not just a unicorn, however: her father was the mayor of Silver Hoof, and her mother worked as the second-in-command for the far north's ruling baroness, Caitiff Caprice. She had lived a life of wonderful luxury while even other 'noble unicorns' often lived in dilapidated homes and squalor... and with how self-centered she was, she had become used to seeing the impoverished and suffering and dismissing them from her mind while enjoying her wealth and power.

Her cutie mark was an image of three interlocked swirls of red, blue, and white: her special talent was magic, and specifically controlling and weaving different elements together. After her talent had been discovered, she had been privately tutored by the very best that money could buy... until finally, Caprice had pulled some strings for her parents, and after incessantly badgering Celestia, Prestige Luster had been sent to Twilight Sparkle to train under her as a personal apprentice.

Twilight still wasn't entirely sure why Celestia had not only agreed to this, but furthermore instructed her to watch over Prestige as a student. Yet all the same, she did her best not to question it, not because she saw Celestia as a mentor in some ways still... but because Celestia was her friend, and deserved a little trust. Even though, all the same, Twilight Sparkle did sometimes wish that Prestige had gotten lost on the way to Ponyville and the Lich could continue to simply train and work with Antares as both her son and her student.

Antares looked awkwardly up at Twilight as the violet mare's eyes roved to him, but she smiled after a moment, and he relaxed: he and Prestige were as different as they could possibly be. Antares was optimistic, put effort into everything he did, and worked hard to be nice to everyone around him and to always make the right decision. Not that he didn't have his flaws, of course, but they were again opposites to Prestige: while Prestige was nasty to most ponies and felt she was superior, Antares had a bit of an inferiority complex and was often scared of ever hurting anypony's feelings. But he had a lot to live up to, in his parents' shadow... even if Twilight knew that if anything, his parents had felt Antares was already purer of heart and soul than either of them had ever been.

Then the violet mare shook herself out before she finally glanced up and asked: “So what were you two arguing about this time? You could probably hear it all the way across the castle.”

“Slave hoofs.” Prestige said moodily, and Antares glared at her as he ground his teeth together, Twilight looking sourly at Prestige as well, but the unicorn mare only huffed and tossed her silver mane. “Well, it's what they are, isn't it? I know we've discussed this before but-”

“Prestige, stop.” Twilight said tiredly, shaking her head and glancing apprehensively towards Antares, but the glossy-black stallion was calming himself, little by little. His father, after all, had been an earth pony... and Scrivener had grown up in North Neigh, next door to Silver Hoof, and lived as a slave in a kennel behind his father's shop for most of his childhood. 'Slave hoof' was one of the few terms that could get usually calm and friendly Antares riled up and angry. “Look, I'm not going to debate this with you again. Whatever you believe, fine. Believe it all you want... but try and at least remember that this is not the north. Ponies here are equal, no matter whether they're earth pony, Pegasus, or unicorn.”

“Foolishness.” Prestige mumbled, and then she sighed loudly and dramatically before asking grumpily: “And this place is simply revolting. Canterlot is nothing like I was promised, it's merely another big city with too many ponies, and I am tired of being talked down to by insolent shorn-wings and slave-hoofs. Ponyville is even worse but at least there I can recline in the library or hide away in your quaint little cottage.”

“How can you look at other ponies and think they're inferior to you, just because of the way they look, because... they don't have wings, or a horn?” Antares burst out, shaking his head violently as he glared across at Prestige. “How can you not see that... maybe that's what makes earth ponies better than us unicorns or Pegasi, because they have to live their entire lives without the handicap of magic, or... or being able to fly!”

“Your soapbox ceased to amuse me years ago, Antares, and I'm so very tired of pointing out what a hypocrite you are.” Prestige said dourly, and then she sniffed loudly before tilting her head up. “I'm only saying what I know we're all thinking. 'Thank the powers that be I wasn't born a slave hoof.'”

Antares growled at her, and Twilight grimaced before she hurriedly stepped forwards, saying sharply: “Prestige, go back to your quarters, that's enough. Antares, go sit down for a minute. You know she's just trying to goad you on.”

Antares mumbled but nodded with a sigh, and Prestige Luster groaned, but then turned towards the door leading out of the quarters. “Fine, fine. I'll see you tomorrow, teacher.”

“And make sure you have that essay complete.” Twilight said sourly, and Prestige mumbled but nodded as she pushed through the door and headed down the steps beyond. For a moment, the violet mare looked towards her... and then she sighed softly, turning her eyes to Antares as she murmured quietly: “It always stuns me how you two are almost the exact same age, but you're so smart and Prestige is so... blind.”

The young stallion glanced awkwardly up from where he had taken a seat beside the couch, and then he sighed and lowered his head, murmuring: “Yeah, I guess, Twilight. But... you're right. I get drawn into her arguments and I get mad and... I guess that's my mom coming out, huh? My... blood mother, I mean. Not you, Mom, you're smarter than that.”

Twilight smiled faintly at this, then she quietly walked up beside him and gently reached up, wrapping a foreleg around his shoulders. Antares smiled a little at this, and then he closed his eyes and dropped his head against her shoulder as she turned her eyes towards him, then quietly kissed his forehead in silent thanks. He would never know what it meant to her, that he thought of her the way he did... and even more, that he was never repulsed by her touch. Most ponies, even ponies who had known her for years, after all, tended to get tense or twitch away on instinct from her undead body... but Antares never did.

Then he opened his eyes, looking towards her with quiet concern as he asked hesitantly: “I know it's dumb but... but are you okay, really?”

“It's not dumb, I appreciate it. But yeah, I'm fine. I only lost a foreleg, but I got it back on before it could start to decay or anything.” Twilight smiled a bit and shook her head slowly, then she sighed softly and looked up towards the open doors, murmuring: “I still remember when I was alive. You were less than half my size instead of almost as big as me, and Luna and Scrivener... well, every day I work to treat you as good as they did.”

Antares smiled, not saying anything as he nodded a little, and Twilight glanced up for a moment before she said finally: “I think we'll only be a few more days in Canterlot before we head back to Ponyville, so make sure you make the best of your time here. Try and spend some time in the Magic Academy, and don't be shy about asking Celestia to help out. I know she'd be more than glad to, Antares. She adores you, and... we can always make time for you, always.”

“I know, Twilight. And I really do appreciate it, I just... you and Aunt Tia are both already so good to me. I don't want to abuse that at all.” Antares said softly, shaking his head with a small smile. “And besides. You have Prestige to worry about and try to stop from getting lynched, and Aunt Tia's the baroness and the head of the Royal Council. And I know we're in Canterlot on business, and even anxious as I am, even as much as I want to find my parents, that... that can't overrule everything in my life.”

Antares sighed a little, looking down as he reached a hoof up to toy quietly at the necklace he wore: an onyx star that glowed faintly with its own inner light. Twilight watched him softly as the young stallion murmuring: “As much as I want it to, of course, but... me and Scarlet have had lots of talks about that. Taking time, being patient, accepting help from my friends... not letting this consume my life. But I think I'm almost ready, too... I know I'm young, but... soon, really soon, I think, I'm... I'm gonna start looking for Mom and Dad. I know they gotta be out there somewhere, and I know my best bet to finding them is getting to Clockwork World, and finding out what happened.”

Twilight nodded slowly, studying the stallion quietly before she said softly: “You're so different from your parents, Antares... but so much the same, too. You have that same determined streak both Luna and Scrivy did...” She smiled a bit when Antares gave her a look that was almost imploring. “I'm sorry. I mean... that they do. I... I honestly do want to believe they're out there, even if...”

Twilight reached up, silently stroking over the stitching on her body... and then Antares gave a faint smile to the violet mare, shaking his head and saying softly: “It doesn't matter what you are, Mom. Lich or unicorn or anything else, you know that... they always cared about you, more than almost anything else. They aren't going to be revolted by you.”

“I... I do know, it's just... hard sometimes, Antares. I think you understand a little.” Twilight smiled a bit, glancing over at the stallion: after all, with his leathery wings and sharp teeth, he had more than once been mistaken for a demon. And outside of Ponyville, even the demons that worked alongside Equestria weren't as readily or eagerly accepted. “Our minds and hearts... both like to play tricks on us, don't they?”

“Yeah. Yeah, they do.” Antares agreed quietly, and he looked ahead, towards the open doors leading out onto the balcony before he asked finally: “Have you seen Allonym around?”

“The weird Draconequus? I've only caught glimpses of him... has he been hanging around here?” Twilight asked curiously, tilting her head, and Antares nodded a few times with a bit of a smile. “Usually he only talks to you, though, tries to avoid the rest of us...”

“He says he's getting excited, that a new story is about to start. One he might even play a role in...” Antares shook his head and laughed a little. “I can never make much sense of what he's saying, though, he's worse than Discombobulation. More manic, too... but I always get the sense that beneath it all he's up to something. Good or bad, I don't know, but I guess I half-trust him by now... he's... he's a lot of the reason why I really believe that Mom and Dad are out there.”

The Lich couldn't help but give Antares an amused look, tilting her head towards him and asking mildly: “Even though he also basically confessed to trapping Luna and Scrivener both in some kind of insane dreamworld to study them in their last few moments of life, and now he won't just tell you the way to Clockwork World?”

“I believe him when he says he doesn't know the way... he just jumps around until he eventually gets where he wants to go.” Antares shook his head after a moment, giving a small smile. “Besides, he also... promised to help. I don't think he'd help me if he wanted to stop me or had some evil plan up his sleeve... but... I know I can be naïve. I know that... there's a lot more to adventuring and exploration and battle than just physical matters, and I need to learn to use my talents better, read people deeper.”

Twilight soothingly rubbed a hoof along Antares' back, and he lowered his head a bit, murmuring softly: “I know I'm no warrior like Mom, or even Dad was. Or like you are, Twilight... I know you don't think of yourself as a fighter first and foremost, but all the same... you're amazing. Lich or not, you're still a hero to Ponyville, and I think even around Canterlot... even though I know ponies don't treat you too nicely all the time, either, and you gotta keep your nature... hidden, a lot.”

“Yeah.” Twilight closed her eyes, shaking her head slowly as she murmured softly: “It's hard, Antares, I can admit that freely. I mean, I'll always have Ponyville, and I can't imagine what life would be like for me... or... you know, existence, since I'm not exactly alive... without that place, and my friends who are all there. Good friends, friends I'm blessed with... and family, like you and Scarlet Sage.” Twilight turned and gave him a quick hug, and the young stallion smiled, closing his eyes and reaching a hoof up to squeeze one of her forelegs silently in gratitude. “And even Celestia, too. But I still don't always find it... easy.

“Still, we have each other, and... I'm glad for that. I never really saw myself as a parent, even when I was taking care of Spike...” Twilight laughed a little at this, shaking her head slowly and smiling faintly. “He was like my little brother. That's... what I always told myself, anyway, but then when he moved out, the way I felt...”

She quieted, then laughed again and shook her head, straightening and murmuring: “Now I'm just rambling though, Antares, I'm sorry. You're just... easy to talk to, and get things off my chest with. I trust you, and I... I don't really know how to be your mother, even after ten years of trying. And I think even with our age difference and everything, I'm still your friend first.”

“Mom and Dad would have liked that.” Antares said softly, glancing over at the Lich and giving a small smile, nodding a little before he closed his eyes and bowed his head forwards. “And I trust you, too. I feel that's true, because... I feel relaxed with you, and I can see you really mean it. I just... want to make sure I grow up and make you proud, and... that I'm able to bring my parents back. For all of us.”

Twilight Sparkle only smiled softly at this, nodding slowly, and she and the young stallion both turned their eyes ahead, gazing silently out into the night sky beyond the open doors, watching as clouds rolled by and the faint glimmers of the stars above shone through here and there.

Straw Crown was not happy: it was two in the morning, the Royal Guards had all but rousted him out of his bed, and all he wanted to do was go back to his home in Canterlot and sleep off the hangover he'd gotten from looking a little too deep into the whiskey bottle last night. But then again, he'd thought he'd have a day off, for once...

“Horses of Heaven, is this even in our jurisdiction?” asked the old, graying unicorn tiredly, dressed in a rumpled, ugly black suit as he frowned at the distance, noting the walls of some village close enough to be seen even under the shroud of night. “It looks like there's a town less than a mile away...”

“It doesn't matter. We found it on the thoroughfare in open land. Therefore it was reported to Canterlot, therefore it is treated as the barony's problem, not Ponyville's.” retorted a soldier, and Crown glared over at him before he grumbled as he noted he was wearing the heavy-duty purple armor of a Captain of the Guard, not the standard soldier. Not someone worth picking a fight with, in other words.

There were at least twenty Royal Guards tromping all over the area, although they'd at least had sense to mark off the area around the dead body. Spheres of light floated here and there in the air, lighting it clearly, and he could see several enormous freight wagons in the distance, the coroner frowning before he asked finally: “What were you doing out here, anyway?”

“Returning from a late night supply run to Ponyville on her majesty's orders.” the Captain replied calmly, becoming more professional and less hostile as he continued: “We would not have spotted the body amongst the scrub, except for the fact that I had Pegasus patrols scanning the fields. We've been having bandit problems... I didn't expect we'd find one of these things, though.”

Crown nodded slowly as he carefully made his way forwards, horn glowing and opening the satchel at his side even as he frowned in distaste at the sight of the body, muttering: “This is the fourth or fifth I've had the... dubious pleasure of dealing with. If Ponyville is the closest town we'll need to move the body to the morgue there for further examination...”

The Captain of the Guard grunted, but Crown only shook his head, saying sourly: “Don't think I like it any more than you do. But apparently Ponyville was also the site of the worst attacks during the war with Decretum, all those years ago... then again, I don't know more than rumors myself.”

The coroner turned his attention back to the body as he carefully ducked under the ropes marking off the area, and he approached the body: it didn't look like there had been a struggle of any kind, but it was very clearly dead, and already reeked of decay. Despite the visible rot, it didn't look as abnormal as some of the so-called 'Clockwork Ponies' did, but it was still enough to make him shudder and mutter: “Sickening. Abominations, all of them.”

Metal plates lined its half-rotted body, and it had some kind of tubing that had fallen loose here and there from it. There had been some kind of glass tube over its back, but this had been shattered by some tremendous force, and the goop inside had leaked out all around the creature like blood. Yet strangest of all, even as the unicorn carefully looked back and forth, he couldn't see any signs of battery or combat. Except for that broken tube...

He frowned thoughtfully as a notepad floated out of his satchel, along with a pencil, beginning to rapidly jot down notes as he asked meditatively: “Captain, is this the state you found the body in?”

“We haven't touched a thing... frankly, I think my troops and I both were too afraid to. It looks diseased.” The Captain of the Guard made a disgusted face, shaking his head slowly. “Do you think someone else was here before us? How did it die?”

“One thing at a time...” The coroner leaned down, reaching out hesitantly and touching the side of the glass tube, and then he nodded hesitantly. “Yes, this was smashed... likely postmortem, from the lack of any sign of struggle or even movement. This body has been settling here, dead, for quite some time. Something was taken out of it...”

He shook his head slowly, then sighed as he looked over his shoulder into his satchel and muttered: “Wonderful. I forgot my gloves... well, it doesn't matter.”

All the same, he hesitated for a moment before reaching forwards, carefully grasping either side of the Clockwork Pony's head as the Captain of the Guard grimaced and leaned towards him, asking apprehensively: “Are you sure you should be touching that thing?”

“It looks like it died of natural causes... besides, it's been dead for quite some time now. If a disease rampaged through its body, by now it's likely broken down itself, from the state of decay... besides, anything particularly virulent would have already infected your soldiers or possibly even reached Ponyville.” the coroner muttered, leaning down, beginning to carefully move the Clockwork Pony's head to the side to try and get a better look at some of the tubing... and he cursed in shock, falling backwards and scrambling away when the corpses' whole head snapped off, hitting the ground before collapsing into brittle pieces of half-petrified flesh and metal.

The coroner breathed hard in and out, staring at the hollow neck of the creature as the Captain of the Guard gritted his teeth, then asked sharply: “And what the hell was that?”

“Decomposition is... is much more advanced than I thought...” The coroner shook his head, then he sighed and reached up to wipe sweat off his forehead, absently pressing his hoof to one eye before cursing under his breath as he felt something wet on it. He drew his hoof quickly back, then grimaced at the sight of the dark goo on it before he shook his head tiredly, feeling another throb of pain from his hangover. “Alright, there's nothing I can do here, the corpse is going to fall apart if I try to run any exams. Get... get your troops to put it on a stretcher, and carry it carefully back to Ponyville. I'll examine it there tomorrow. I'm going to hitch a ride with your convoy back to Canterlot so I can get some sleep.”

“Are you sure about this? Don't we have to examine that thing immediately?” asked the Captain of the Guard pessimistically, and the coroner shot him a sour look, even as his horn glowed to pick up his dropped notebook and shove it back in his pack.

“Yes, I'm very sure. I've been doing my job for twenty-five years. How long have you been doing yours?” he asked waspishly, and that finally shut the Captain of the Guard up before the coroner sighed and made his way towards the freight wagons, feeling his headache give another throb. “The Ponyville hospital has a serviceable morgue. Make sure your soldiers tell them it's restricted access, otherwise we'll end up dealing with medical students and unpleasant characters like Kilby Kwolek.”

“Right.” the Captain of the Guard muttered, but the coroner wasn't paying attention anymore. Instead, Crown found his way towards one of the freight wagons and let himself into the back, finding a place to sit down between the strapped-down crates and rubbing slowly at his face as he sighed tiredly. His hangover was getting worse... or maybe by now it was a stress headache. He was too old for these long late nights, after all, and all the years he'd spent doing this were catching up to him.

It was a long, uncomfortable ride back to Canterlot, and Crown shivered as they let himself out of the freight car downtown, so he wouldn't have too far to walk, at least. He slowly paced through the streets, looking nervously back and forth before his eyes locked on the sight of several Nightmares pacing through the street, staring around with fascination. He hurried into an alley to bypass them, muttering to himself: “Horses of Heaven, this is why I hate nights most of all...”

By now, it was well-known that dark creatures roamed Canterlot in the deep of night... some were even brazen enough to do it during the early evening, when ponies were still walking around. And for some reason, Baroness Celestia allowed them to: she had even announced that she had made some sort of treaty with them several years ago, and they were to be treated and respected as equal citizens.

“Nonsense.” Crown mumbled, hurrying down the ally and turning down another street... but he was halted shortly by a fit of coughing, stumbling up against the side of a building as he hacked and wheezed. Then he shook his head with a shiver, grasping at his face and breathing hard... but after a few moments, the fit of whatever it had been passed, and he smiled weakly, muttering: “And here I thought I could handle my alcohol better...”

He shook his head slowly, then rubbed quietly at his face before walking quickly onwards, breathing a little heavily through his mouth. Thankfully, he made it home without further event, heading up to his apartment.

His wife was still asleep, at least, and Crown felt envious of her, sleeping comfortably in bed. Instead of heading to sleep himself, he decided to have a quick shower, hopefully wash away the worst of his soreness and that dirty feeling that had been left behind from the corpse of the Clockwork Pony.

The shower was quick, but it did make him feel a lot better: afterwards, he crawled into bed, dropped his face in a pillow, and went almost immediately into a deep, heavy slumber. But in the depths of his sleep, he dreamed, dreams that he would only vaguely remember come the morning, dreams that made him toss and turn for most of the night. Of a glowing gemstone, and electricity, and pumping poisons: of fire rampaging through his veins, and of something hungry and evil that had been locked away beginning to raise its head, beginning to come back to its senses. Of the broken corpse of a Clockwork Pony, laying in ruin in the morgue, the body dead... but oh, most certainly there was something inside that broken hulk that was still alive, still hungry, and gaining sentience...

When morning came, Crown sat slowly up and rubbed at his face tiredly, then he groaned in disgust as he sniffled loudly and blinked puffy, achy eyes. All the drinking he'd done last night had likely combined with the cold autumn air and given him a headcold. He grumbled under his breath as he carefully slipped to the edge of the bed, cursed his wife for being perfectly healthy and still asleep, and half-flopped to his hooves, smacking his lips loudly as he mumbled: “Well, I'll send a letter to Ponyville and tell the attendants at the morgue to start the exam without me. I'll head over late tonight or tomorrow to review their findings, that should be fine.”

Crown nodded to himself thoughtfully, looking down... and then he sneezed loudly before groaning and cursing his luck, rubbing at his puffy eyes tiredly. It was going to be a long day.

Warrior Bloodlines

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Chapter Two: Warrior Bloodlines
~BlackRoseRaven

Antares looked grouchily at Prestige as they walked side-by-side together through Canterlot, the green mare saying arrogantly: “You should feel lucky that I associate with you at all, Antares Mīrus. After all, in my society you would be considered an outcast, a splinter-horn, and no self-respecting unicorn or Pegasus would have anything to do with you. You are very fortunate to have such social privilege in Canterlot, and that I do not entirely revile your company.”

“Will you drop it?” Antares asked sourly, and in response Prestige only sniffed disdainfully. “Why are you even here? Go... go away. Go to the magic lab or something, Mom worked really hard to get you that research pass.”

“No, I desire to meet with Baroness Celestia as well. She is the entire reason I was sent here, after all, I was supposed to be training beneath the Baroness herself.” Prestige said haughtily, raising her head proudly. “My magical abilities are immense, after all, and was the Lich not so strong itself-”

“Twilight. Her name is Twilight Sparkle and she's a person still, even if she's... she's not...” Antares grimaced, then he shook his head and snapped as Prestige gave him an almost mocking look: “Seriously, you need to cut this out! Can't you be nice to other ponies for more than two seconds?”

“Not if they're my lessers.” Prestige scoffed, shaking her head quickly before she sniffed loudly. “I am a noble, high-born and with exceptional magical prowess. You should understand the former, at least, Antares... although, unlike me, you seem to have trouble so much as opening a door with your powers, much less perform any intensive magic.”

Antares grumbled under his breath, then he flicked his horn firmly forwards as they approached a pair of double doors, knocking them both flying open as he said sourly: “See? No problem.”

Then he paused, and slowly looked up to see Celestia calmly sitting in the room behind, drinking a cup of tea as she looked mildly over at them. Antares grinned lamely and blushed a bit as Prestige sniffed disdainfully and began to step forwards... and then she squeaked when guards clad in golden armor from head to hoof leapt in front of her, blocking her passage threateningly as she complained: “He did it, not me!”

“It's okay, she's just a pain in the flank, not any kind of threat.” Antares muttered as he walked forwards and past the golden armored warriors, and then he smiled a little as he rose his head towards Celestia, adding quietly: “Sorry, Aunt Tia. Guess that's my Mom coming out again.”

“I understand.” Celestia said softly, and then she held up a hoof, and the guards blocking Prestige's path both stepped out of the way. Prestige huffed at them, but she shied nervously away all the same: not a single piece of their body was left uncovered by the strange, glowing golden plating, and their eyes seemed to glow unnaturally through the sockets of the masks over their faces, as the ivory winged unicorn said calmly: “You are dismissed for now. You may return to Subterra or linger through the castle, I'll call if I need you.”

The guards nodded silently, and the six golden armored soldiers around the room left through the open doors, one stepping up beside Antares to let its side brush against him as it passed. It felt warm even through the armor, and Antares laughed despite himself as he glanced embarrassedly over his shoulder, but he could almost see the smile beneath the facemask when the bodyguard looked back at him.

Prestige only looked surly, and Celestia smiled after a moment to her, saying quietly: “You should be more careful. My Yamato don't like surprises.”

“They look like earth ponies dressed in armor. Why should I fear slave hoofs?” Prestige asked impudently, striding towards the table, and Antares snorted in amusement as Celestia sighed.

“Please don't use that term, Prestige. And they are not earth ponies, in any event... they are Nightmares, and that armor shields them from sunlight.” Celestia replied calmly, and Prestige looked up with dumb shock even as Celestia simply sipped at her tea.

For a few moments, there was awkward silence... and then Prestige finally spluttered out: “N-Nightmares? Why would you u-use Nightmares as bodyguards?”

“Because for the sun to rise, first there must be darkness.” Celestia smiled, gazing over at Antares as Prestige looked stupefied, realizing a little too late this wasn't an answer at all as Celestia said kindly: “Antares, I'd like to take your training in a different direction today. It would mean a lot to me if you would indulge me in a short sparring session.”

“Sparring?” Antares looked surprised at this, and then he blushed and dropped his head, mumbling embarrassedly: “Aunt Tia, honestly, I'm... I'm honored, but really, I don't think that I could hold my own against you for more than a minute... and that's at the very most.”

“Well, I'm glad you recognize someone's magical superiority.” Prestige said sourly as she approached the table, then she sat down and looked moodily back and forth. “You should fire your servants, Baroness, I do not see any in attendance. They should know that simply fetching your food is not enough.”

But Celestia only smiled a little at this, drawing her eyes to Prestige even as Antares visibly bit his tongue to hold back a retort. “I don't have any servants, Prestige Luster. Not personally, although Canterlot does employ a large staff... but they are exactly that, staff. Employees. And I actually made this tea myself.”

Prestige looked dumbly at Celestia for a few moments, and then she grumbled under her breath before the ivory winged unicorn turned her eyes back to her nephew, saying softly: “Antares, you are much more capable than you give yourself credit for. Besides, I'll only use my short swords: I want to evaluate how you've been doing in your training.”

Antares shifted a little, blushing and lowering his head embarrassedly before he finally nodded, glancing up at her and saying finally: “What should I use, then, Aunt Tia? I mean, I'm normally just a horn-fencer, so...”

“So simply use your horn then, Antares.” Celestia replied softly, smiling slightly. “Besides, there's no rush. I'd like to finish my tea first, and talk with you a little as well. You and your... friend... Prestige Luster.”

“He is not my friend.” Prestige said grumpily, and Antares mumbled an agreement before the unicorn mare leaned forwards and asked imploringly: “And please, can't you teach me something, Baroness? With all due respect, your Lich servant is wonderful, but-”

“Twilight Sparkle is my friend. A very close friend.” Celestia said quietly, her horn glowing as her teacup settled to the table in front of her, and there was a distinct hardening in her amethyst eyes that made Prestige swallow thickly and sit back, even as the ivory winged unicorn's tone remained civil, even gentle. “Please do not speak of her that way. And I would not have assigned you to her if I didn't believe she could teach you everything you need to know, Prestige... but you have much more important lessons to learn than magic.”

Prestige grumbled under her breath, looking moodily down at the table as she nodded a little, and Antares was glad that she was smart enough not to argue before he asked hesitantly: “Do you know about... I mean, did Twilight tell you...”

“Yes, she did. And I'm worried about you, of course, but... I promise to respect your choice in this.” Celestia said quietly, turning her eyes to Antares, who smiled faintly up at his aunt. “But as I'm sure Twilight told you... please, accept our help at least, and if you can, our advice. Do what my brother and sister couldn't do... and remember, we'll be here for you every step of the way to finding them and bringing them home.”

“What are you talking about? Antares, I thought your parents were dead.” Prestige said pessimistically, and Antares glared at her as Celestia slowly closed her eyes, looking exasperated. “Well, I did. It's not like anypony ever tells me anything.”

“Because it's none of your business.” Antares said moodily, and then he shook his head quickly before sighing and adding quietly: “And I don't know if they're alive or dead, okay? I... I just believe that they're alive, out there, somewhere. And I'm going to find them.”

Prestige huffed a little at this, but thankfully otherwise didn't say anything, and Antares was glad for this small mercy before he returned his eyes to Celestia as she said softly: “In the past, I would have thought of you as childish, Antares, or... said that you were clinging to false hopes, despite wanting to believe myself that Luna and Scrivener are both out there somewhere. But... I do believe you. I honestly do: you have a strange and wonderful gift for seeing the truth in things, and ever since you began talking about the Draconequus, Allonym-”

“Draconequus are chaos entities, they cannot be trusted.” Prestige interrupted immediately, and both Celestia and Antares fixed her with moody looks, even as she continued: “The exception to this rule, of course, is your servant Discord, who has been enfeebled and drained of his powers and thus presents no real threat-”

“Discord is not a threat because he lacks powers: it's not our powers that kill people, it's the actions we choose to take and what we do with them.” Celestia replied pointedly, and then she shook her head slowly and added quietly: “And Discord may not be happy but he is not a servant. He does honest work for me and that is to be respected, considering his past.”

Prestige grumbled a bit at this, then she said sulkily: “It sounds as if all things are to be respected, Baroness Celestia, and treated as equal... except, of course, for those few who deserve true respect and are in no way equal to the commoners and the lower class. Don't you think that you, with your high standing and great power, deserve so much more worship than some... some lowly servant or powerless, unimportant sla- uh... earth pony?”

“If raw power was really the only thing worthy of respect, Prestige, then we would all worship monsters.” Celestia replied calmly, and then she stood up from the table, and Antares smiled a bit as he hurriedly stood himself. “Please meet me at the training arena in say... half an hour from now. That should give us both more than enough time to prepare.”

“Okay, Aunt Tia. I'll be there.” Antares looked up with a firm nod, even if he still seemed a little nervous, and Celestia smiled softly at him before she turned and headed for a set of double doors. The two ponies watched her go, Prestige seeming moody and Antares fidgeting a bit, and then the glossy-black unicorn turned... only to wince as Prestige hurriedly jumped away from the table to follow beside him as he headed back into the halls. “What do you want now?”

Prestige only huffed, responding sourly: “Do not speak to me in such a tone, Antares, I am a guest and of noble esteem. And I deserve to watch this duel-”

“It's not a duel. If it was a duel, I'd probably run away because I'd be scared of what Aunt Tia would do to me.” He halted, then mumbled: “I'm already scared of what she's going to do to me. I'm no good at this stuff, I always want to pull my punches even though I know I'm not supposed to...”

The unicorn mare sniffed loudly at this, then she commented mildly: “You're a particularly pathetic kind of person, Antares. I hope you're aware of this.”

Antares gave Prestige a sour look, then he turned his gaze ahead through the halls, beginning to jog easily forwards. He winced when Prestige doggedly attempted to keep up with him, however, although the unicorn mare was clearly not as athletic as the young stallion was. “It... it's rude to run in a castle, you know!”

“I'm not running. Not yet, anyway. Look, I need to go get ready, if you really want to watch the sparring session then go find the arena.” Antares grumbled as he hurried forwards, moving a little faster: his gait was smooth and easy, while at his side Prestige was almost wheezing already, half- staggering after him.

Finally, Antares groaned as they reached an intersection in the halls, skidding to a halt as Prestige stumbled to a stop and almost plowed into a Royal Guard, who quickly stepped out of the way and gave the two a glare as he continued on his patrol. Antares only looked at her sourly as the unicorn mare panted loudly, head bowed, looking exhausted despite the fact Antares hadn't been pacing himself at much more than a fast walk. “I... I want... to come with... you...”

“Uh... no.” Antares said dryly, and Prestige shot him a horrible glare in response to this. “Look, you can't keep up with me, one way or the other, for one thing. For another, Prestige Luster, I... I really am not very fond of your company. I think you know that. So why the heck do you want to come with me? You can find the arena fine yourself if you really want to watch.”

“I... do not question... those above your... station...” Prestige grumbled, and then she winced when Antares turned and made as if to start running again, blurting: “I don't want to be alone!”

Antares stumbled a few steps, then he sighed tiredly before dropping his head dejectedly, mumbling: “Wonderful. I... okay, Prestige, just... just please. Please. Please try and keep your mouth shut, okay?”

Prestige gave him another sour look as she mumbled to herself, then she straightened and gave a single surly nod. Antares gave a small smile despite himself at this, then he turned to lead the way onwards as Prestige fell into pace beside him, the glossy-black unicorn saying quietly: “See? This doesn't have to be so bad. We might never be friends but we don't have to be enemies, either.”

“My station is far too high to ever consider you worthy of being an enemy.” Prestige muttered, and Antares sighed tiredly, shaking his head slowly as the two walked on in quiet for a few minutes. Then, awkwardly, Prestige rose her head and looked at the young stallion for a few long moments, before she asked finally: “Your mother and father are considered heroes, are they not?”

“I... yeah.” Antares said quietly after a moment, shaking his head as he glanced down with a bit of a smile. “There's a statue of them in Ponyville, near the memorial for Trixie the Brave, and there's a shrine here in Canterlot dedicated to them. But I've never visited it here...”

“Why not?” Prestige cocked her head, then she smiled wryly. “Oh, wait, no, let me guess. Little Antares is too afraid of never being able to live up to what his parents were, so he avoids all memory of their achievements, is that it?”

“Do you want to come with me or do you want me to leave you here?” Antares asked sourly, and Prestige grumbled but nodded, mumbling moodily under her breath. “And it's not that at all, anyway. It's... it's that... if I go and visit their shrine, it would feel like I'm admitting they're... they're gone. And they're not, I believe with all my heart that they're not.”

Prestige was quiet at this, and her expression changed a little, her tone softening just a bit as she asked quietly: “How can you be so sure, Antares Mīrus? Twilight Sparkle made me learn all the history of the events of the war with Decretum, which still aren't that widely known... only that we were at war with aggressors thought to have originally come from a distant country, and not another world. I still find it exceptionally difficult to believe that travel between different worlds is possible... that there are different worlds out there at all. And if that is true... your parents have been gone for nine years, soon to be ten, and have been trapped in the home of your enemy for all that time.”

“I believe they're alive.” Antares said sharply, and Prestige looked surprised by his tone before the glossy black unicorn dropped his head awkwardly, mumbling: “Sorry. But... but I believe they're alive, I honestly do. Mom and Dad... they're tough, and they don't give up, and... and they made a promise. They never break a promise...”

He turned his gaze away, and Prestige studied him for a few moments before she mumbled a little and gazed ahead, asking moodily: “And you expect to find them somehow, someday... Baroness Celestia and Miss Twilight both seem to think you have some plan to leave, but I simply cannot see you leaving behind all your friends and family on some wild adventure into nowhere. Do you even have the means to find your parents?”

“Not yet, and not that it's any of your business, Prestige, but my friends and I and the rest of my family have been working hard on figuring out a way to hunt down Decretum.” Antares said stiffly. “Mom and Dad knew the way there, after all, and Gymbr was able to open the Bifrost from there when... when they rescued me. That means that the Bifrost can reach it, we just... need to figure out the exact coordinates.

“And furthermore, I'm not dumb enough to think that I can just waltz into Decretum. Once my training's done, once... I feel ready enough to leave, I'm not going to go alone. Some of my friends will be coming with me, and we'll be gathering up tools and equipment from across Equestria.” Antares replied quietly, shaking his head quickly. “I plan to meet with Strange Ones and Nibelung Architects, to find other ponies who have fought Clockwork World or knew my parents and see if they can help too, and I'm going to get help from Allonym. My ultimate goal is getting to Decretum, but I know to get there, I gotta get stronger, first. I gotta do everything I can to prepare.”

“Allonym, your imaginary Draconequus friend.” Prestige said sourly, and Antares gave her a horrible look before she sniffed disdainfully. “I do not see why such an elaborate creature would speak to only you, and you alone. Precious few others have seen this Draconequus... and furthermore, your friends are... shall we say... unexceptional.”

“You're calling Avalon unexceptional?” Antares said disbelievingly, and Prestige sniffed again before the glossy-black unicorn glared at the mare. “And Rustproof, and even Aphrodisia? Even Meadowlark is amazing, have you ever seen her at work?”

“I just fail to see how any of them can help you. With the possible exception of the psychotic midget Pegasus, you have a demonic prostatot, a slow-witted mechanic, and a journalist.” Prestige said sourly, and Antares looked at Prestige moodily as he wished absently he was better at magic so he could set her on fire. “And you, Antares Mīrus, are rather incapable of magic, which is what truly separates the successful from the failures. You will require at least one exceptional mage upon your journey.”

Antares opened his mouth... and then he halted in front of the door leading into his own personal room, frowning slowly as he leaned forwards and studied her. Prestige only looked back at him with her smug expression, and then the young stallion shook his head before saying disbelievingly: “You? You want to come with us?”

“Well, while I appreciate you entreating my aid and recognizing my superior magical prowess... I shall have to think about whether or not I really desire to lend you any assistance at all.” Prestige Luster flicked her silver mane, raising her head proudly and looking pleased with herself, and Antares just stared at her. “Of course, there are certain appealing notions to this remarkably-vague plan of yours... traveling across Equestria, gathering equipment, adventure, it seems oh so fantastical and romantic but it would make for a very nice little vacation, which I think I've well-earned after all the history and schooling I've done here for the last four or five years. And furthermore-”

The young stallion turned, kicked his door in, and stormed through it, and Prestige spluttered to a halt before Antares loudly kicked his door shut in her face. The unicorn mare glared at this, then her horn glowed... before she cursed under her breath when the door refused to budge, instead hammering on it with a hoof as she complained: “Antares! Antares, you know you need my help! Antares, open this door this instant, I am a noble and I will not be treated this way!”

Antares pointedly ignored the unicorn mare's pleas and insistent knocking, heading across the almost-obsessively-neat room to the armor stand in the corner. He sighed after a moment as the knocking continued, grumpily glaring at the locked door, but then he only shook his head and absently reached out to smooth down a corner of his bed, shaking his head after a moment as he tried to put the unicorn mare out of his mind and focus on the task at hoof.

He turned his eyes towards his armor stand, carefully looking over it as he reached up to gently touch the lightweight black breastplate. It was plain but beautiful, a gift from his uncle, Sleipnir: he had designed it after Luna's own battle armor, and it favored mobility over weighty protection, perfect for Antares' preferred style of combat.

The cusps that would lock over shoulders and hips were slightly enlarged and embellished, and sleeves of dark navy, dragon-scale leather hung loose, each with a metal bracelet at the end to lock them securely into place when worn. They matched a blue vest that rested on the other side of the armor stand, which would act as the buffer layer between his body and the metal plating: often during his sparring sessions, he just wore the leather, but today he had a feeling he'd need to go in full gear.

It didn't take him long to fit everything on, shaking his head out once he had finished securing his armor and obsessively checking it again for any dings, scratches, or dirt. Then he nodded firmly once before awkwardly reaching up and brushing his rugged mane back, bowing his head and murmuring quietly: “Stars and nature grant me strength.”

He hesitated, then turned and picked up the last piece of armor on the stand, holding it in his front hooves before he sighed and carefully fitted the black metal circlet around his head before securing the single chin strap that held it firmly in place. He grumbled a little under his breath, but the crescent-shaped band of metal held his mane out of his eyes, fit comfortably against his skull, and it was good for protecting his forehead and giving more support to the base of his horn with the U-shaped hollow that fit around the natural spire... but it always felt a little... silly, with the crown of six dragon-like horns that twisted up from either side of it.

He mumbled to himself, then glanced over the top of his dresser, bare except for a sketchpad... and Antares smiled after a moment as he stepped towards this, opening it to gaze silently down at the drawings inside. Sketches by his mother, of friends, and family, and other things... and he nodded once before closing it and taking a slow breath, murmuring: “I'm gonna do you proud today, Mom, I promise.”

Antares shook his head out, then he turned and quietly made his way back across the room to the door, pulling it open and stepping outside as he kept his head high and proud... and promptly tripped over the curled-up form of Prestige, making her squawk indignantly as Antares cursed under his breath. Passing ponies stopped and stared at the two as they struggled and flailed at each other, Prestige shouting indignantly: “I demand you get off of me!”

“Stop kicking me!” Antares cursed, then he finally managed to yank himself backwards, stumbling hurriedly away from Prestige and glaring down at her as she sat up and shook herself out, the young stallion snapping : “What are you even doing?”

“I was waiting for you! You should thank me, that I, a high-born unicorn would bother to wait for a lowly splinter-horn like yourself!” Prestige spat, and the two glared at each other before she suddenly frowned and leaned forwards, reaching a hoof up to poke curiously at his armor. “What is this? Why are you wearing this? This is nonsense, I didn't think you were so low-born that you would wear common armor like a common soldier.”

Several nearby Royal Guards glared at Prestige at this, but she ignored them completely as Antares only stared at the unicorn, then groaned and rolled his eyes, muttering: “Oh yeah, it's no wonder you just have so many friends, Prestige. Look, let's... go. Before the 'low-born' guards decide to arrest you for being a public nuisance.”

“I am a mage and a unicorn, they may not lay a hoof upon me.” Prestige said huffily, raising her head arrogantly, and Antares only sighed tiredly as he closed the door and then turned, muttering under his breath as he started down the corridor, the unicorn mare hurrying after him as she continued mildly: “Your equipment is based on old Equestrian earth pony battle raiment, isn't it? A breastplate that encompasses the full chest instead of simply covering the back. I see it's been modified with holes for your wings, though... and of course, that coronet you're wearing is a barbaric pre-Equestrian design, from the... víkingr tribes?”

“I... how do you know that?” Antares looked surprised as he glanced over at Prestige, who simply sniffed disdainfully and smiled at him almost mockingly, making him glower at her. “You know what? Forget I asked.”

“Oh come now, don't be jealous just because I happen to pay attention.” Prestige retorted, rubbing a hoof absently against her chest before she added mildly: “Besides, it's really quite obvious to anypony who pays any attention in history. And the víkingr earth pony barbarians are what paved the way for unicorns to assert their dominance, anyway... they forced the Pegasi to move from ground camps into the safety of cloud cities, and then were easily subdued and employed by the allure and power of unicorn magic.”

“You mean enslaved.” Antares said dryly, and Prestige only shrugged before the glossy-black stallion asked quietly: “How the hell can you be okay with that stuff, Prestige? I think of what my Dad's side of the family must have been like and... and I get the shivers. I even think about what I'd do if some angry earth pony came looking for payback and found me... I don't think I could entirely blame him if he took his pain out on me for what my ancestors did.”

“That's because you are oversensitive and silly, Antares.” scoffed Prestige, shaking her head with an almost-mocking laugh. “We cannot be held accountable for the indiscretions of our families. Besides, slave-hooves are not as pure as you and your kind like to believe...”

She looked moodily away, shaking her head with disgust as Antares looked at her quietly, before she added quietly: “And yes, I believe unicorns are superior and stronger and better, because... we are. We have magic, and powers that earth ponies and even Pegasi can only dream of... and will never attain. Not unless they trade for it like Blood Seers do, and we all know that is not a fair trade. But don't look at me as if I'm scum, because I am not. I even appreciate some earth ponies, and their abilities: the engineer in Ponyville, Cowlick, is a rude and obnoxious twit, but even I recognize her crafting ability is exceptional. And while I may tote my superiority, I am nothing like some unicorns in the north, Antares.

“Did you know my family's slaves were employed fairly?” she inquired, and Antares turned his head away in disgust... but found himself listening all the same, his sharp senses picking up what sounded like... honesty, in Prestige's words. Or at least she believes it so much it's true to her... “My mother gave these miserable little earth ponies, who had no real rights in Silver Hoof, a full-time job, a roof over their heads, and work. We even paid them wages. Yes, there were many rules, and yes, we were hard on them, but we were never cruel to them. We never beat them, we gave them days off, and we lorded over them but we also did not permit other families to mistreat them or even give them orders. They were servants, really, not slaves. Slaves have no rights, and I have seen my neighbors practicing slavery eagerly. We at least kept our servants healthy and alive. Some would even say happy: not many earth ponies could claim they earned wages, after all.”

“So you're the lesser of evils, huh?” Antares asked sourly, and Prestige smiled icily at him in response to this. “Look, I don't like the way you look at the world, Prestige. It's as simple as that. You're not better than everypony else, and being a unicorn doesn't make you special. Maybe you weren't as bad as some ponies, I... I can believe that. You're rude but you don't seem... cruel.”

Prestige Luster laughed shortly at this, saying sourly: “Well, Heavens be, is that almost a compliment? But I don't expect you to understand. I know none of you like me, Antares Mīrus, and that's fine. I don't much care for any of you, either.”

“Then what are you doing here?” Antares asked finally, and Prestige grumbled, blushing a little as she turned away, and the two were silent on the rest of the short walk through Canterlot and out into the fields outside the castle.

They made their way down a gentle slope, towards a large barracks building in the distance: the training arena was built into the side of this, its rounded stone walls higher than the squat building beside it and almost gleaming, like it had been recently washed and polished. And Antares blushed a bit as they approached the open iron gates and made their way past a group of off-duty Royal Guards, all of whom were watching eagerly. “Oh great...”

“Well, I suppose they can't be blamed for taking an interest. I must admit, I look forwards to seeing just what kind of... magic...” Prestige stuttered to a halt as they strode out the other side of the short tunnel into the arena grounds and through another gate, her eyes locking on the sight of Celestia before she stammered: “I... I... what's going on?”

Antares only smiled, blushing as he strode forwards and bowed his head respectfully... and Celestia, in her heavy full plate mail, smiled softly as she bowed her head back. The huge, ornate armor gleamed like the radiant sun over her body, making her look even more titanic than she already was: the few joints and other areas that weren't protected by the golden plate were instead insulated by thick, flexible chainmail mesh. It made her look every inch the warrior she was at heart, however softly she spoke in the Royal Court and gentle she seemed at other times.

Prestige was gaping stupidly, and Celestia smiled as she glanced towards the unicorn mare, saying kindly: “It's a surprise to see you here, Prestige Luster. But you're welcome to sit in the stands and watch. I hope you don't mind, Antares, but we have a small audience.”

Antares winced a bit as he glanced awkwardly towards the seats that went all around the arena: here and there, groups of ponies were sitting, and he blushed awkwardly and rose a hoof as he noted Twilight Sparkle herself was in one of the balcony seats that went around the edge of arena walls. She waved back at him, and it reassured him as he breathed hard before nodding once, turning his eyes back to Celestia as he said quietly: “Of course, Aunt Tia. I gotta learn to focus under pressure anyway, right?”

Celestia only smiled and nodded, and Prestige shook her head stupidly before she glanced hurriedly around the arena, as if expecting to find the real Celestia hiding behind one of the enormous stone pillars that stood here and there around the outer edge of the twenty-foot stone walls that enclosed the tournament grounds. “I... this is... you...”

“Even today, few ponies know my past, know... my true face and heart. But I am trying to be more open... not to present myself as a tyrant or warrior queen, but as simply... who I am.” Celestia said softly, and then she flicked her horn, and three bursts of golden flame tore through the air around her before they solidified into golden, gladius-shaped swords, the double-edged blades glinting as the enormous winged unicorn bowed her head politely. “Now please, Prestige, if you'll excuse us, there's a stairway right over there you can take to reach the stands and join Twilight Sparkle. Perhaps you can learn something from this contest.”

“No contest, Aunt Tia, we both already know how this is going to go.” Antares smiled embarrassedly, looking up at the much-larger mare before he hesitated, then bowed his head and said quietly: “I'm honored to... to do this, though. I don't know if I'm ready and I don't think I'm worthy, but... thank you.”

“Just make sure you come at me with all your strength, Antares Mīrus, no holding back, no pulling your punches... and I'll be the one who is honored by this.” Celestia replied quietly, and Antares smiled after a moment as the two surveyed each other. Prestige stared at them for a few moments longer, and then the unicorn mare hurriedly turned and ran towards the side of the arena, bolting for the nearest staircase as Celestia laughed quietly and gazed with tenderness at her nephew as her three swords floated at the ready around her. “She seems to like you.”

Antares only shook his head, laughing as well as he said quietly: “She... seems to want to come with me on my journey. I... I don't really know what to do, though, to be honest. You and Twilight have been telling me so often how important it is to accept help, and I think of Mom and Dad... how they so rarely accepted anyone's aid but... when it came down to it, they were ready to help even the worst of their enemies, weren't they? I mean... the demons, the Nibelung, they were enemies at first, yeah?”

“Yes, they were. But now I trust and even have friends amongst them both... the time I've spent with both the dwarves and the entities of darkness has helped me see how all people are truly people... and in many ways, helped me come to terms with who and what I am. With my past, and with my present... and I hope, will help me be a better person in the future.” Celestia replied softly, and then she rolled her head slowly on her shoulders before straightening and saying gently: “I promise I'll be careful, Antares. If you want to stop, just let me know.”

“I know.” Antares said softly, blushing a bit before he anchored himself, leaning forwards slightly and then nodding firmly once. “I'm ready, Aunt Tia.”

“Good.” Celestia said softly... and then she lunged forwards, moving gracefully despite the heavy armor shrouding her body as her swords whickered up in front of her, two staying in ready positions as the third lashed down in a vicious slash. But Antares sidestepped in a flash, the blade biting only into the ground before he sprinted forwards as his horn began to glow with sapphire light.

A second sword lashed towards him as Celestia half-twisted to face him, and Antares swung his horn out, parrying the attack with the natural weapon before he leapt forwards... only for the third sword to snap upwards, the flat slapping across his body before Celestia flicked her horn down and hammered the young stallion with a telekinetic blast. It sent him flying backwards with a wince, but he quickly spread his wings, catching the air as he flipped backwards and then landed heavily on all four hooves with a grunt.

“Good. But you need to be faster and not make your attacks so direct. Use your eyes, Antares; you have a gift.” Celestia said calmly, before she smiled slightly as her horn glowed brightly. With a flick forwards, she sent a golden fireball rocketing towards the young stallion... but Antares only gritted his teeth, his own horn glowing as he raised a hoof before swatting the fireball away like it was no more threatening than a thrown stone. It flew to the side, then struck the ground a short distance away and exploded in a blast of golden light and fire. “Excellent. You've learned well from Sleipnir.”

Antares only smiled a bit before he ran forwards, concentrating... and this time, when his eyes locked on Celestia, he could almost see the tensing of her muscles, could read beneath her smile and see the true emotions in her amethyst eyes...

She flicked her horn, sending out a telekinetic blast, and Antares gritted his teeth as he slashed his horn forwards, releasing his own blast of telekinesis in response: it muffled Celestia's much-more powerful attack, letting him continue to charge forwards through the wave of force that washed over him before he leapt upwards and spread his leathery wings, flapping them hard to shoot forwards through the air even as Celestia's swords lashed towards him.

He parried one with his horn in midair, a hoof flying out to punch the flat of another blade and knock it flying before he swung both rear hooves forwards as the third lashed towards him in a horizontal cut, kicking off it like it was a step in midair to launch higher and gracefully flip once before dropping like a stone and swinging both hooves down in a vicious tomahawk towards Celestia's surprised features-

Celestia's three swords formed a wall in front of her, and he smashed uselessly into this crisscrossed shield of blades before they all snapped powerfully upwards, ripping gouges through his armor and sending Antares flying backwards with a curse of surprise. Then his eyes widened a moment before he was smashed by a telekinetic hammer, sent shooting through the air like a black star as Celestia charged after him as a smile spread wider over her features, almost becoming a grin of surprised delight.

Antares forced himself not to panic before he half-flipped himself, trusting in his instincts... and his hooves smashed into the surface of one of the pillars that lined the battlefield, skidding up the solid stone as sparks hailed down from his hooves. He halted for a moment, defying gravity as he looked sharply up, watching Celestia sprinting forwards before he gritted his teeth and shoved himself off the pillar when Celestia's entire body burst into golden flame before she simply rammed into the pillar in a shoulder charge, smashing the base of it into pieces.

It toppled slowly behind her as Antares unfurled his wings, flapping them hard once to launch himself above the falling pillar before he landed on it while it was still slanted down towards her, his hooves pounding along the surface of the stone as he ran quickly down the column. Celestia looked over her shoulder in surprise as the golden flames died out from around her before she tensed, then kicked both rear legs hard out towards Antares as he reached the bottom of the falling stone structure... but the young stallion threw himself low, his metal armor screaming against stone as he skidded over the base of the pillar and he forced himself to roll onto his back, then shoved himself onwards as hard as he could with all four hooves and flapped his wings, sending himself beneath Celestia's kicking legs and just beneath her body as the column crashed down behind him.

His horn lashed up, the stallion wincing at the crick it put in his neck even as he dragged his glowing horn fiercely along Celestia's plate mail, ripping a long scratch through her armor before he shot out between her front legs, spreading his wings again to try and give himself one more boost, make one more desperate lunge... but he was scooped easily up by Celestia's three blades, the control taken from his flight before the swords lashed back and forth in short cuts against the front of his armor, Antares wincing as he felt every single blow. Yet at the same time, Celestia handled herself with such precision that he never once felt the blades cutting into him: she only mauled his armor before all three swords lashed outwards and slammed him down onto his back, knocking him flat with a curse.

He breathed raggedly, staring up at her as she stood over him with a calm smile, her three swords all positioned with their points towards his neck as she said softly: “I'm very impressed, Antares. But I think our session is over now. Surrender.”

“Not yet.” Antares smiled a bit, and Celestia cocked her head before the young stallion gritted his teeth and flung himself backwards, his horn glowing brightly: a wall of blue energy appeared immediately between him and the three swords even as the weapons all stabbed downwards, colliding with the rippling energy... and then becoming stuck after piercing halfway through the sticky sapphire barrier.

Celestia's eyes widened in surprised as Antares rolled backwards into a lunge position, snapping his horn forwards, and the barrier became solid before exploding backwards into shards of blue light, pelting the ivory winged unicorn with navy shrapnel as her swords were flung uselessly through the air. Antares threw himself forwards, gritting his teeth... and crashed right into one of Celestia's front hooves before she leaned into the blow and stomped down on him, crushing him to the ground as he gasped in shock and twitched on the sandy earth of the arena, wheezing loudly as he stared dumbly up at her.

Celestia shook herself off briskly, the last of the blue energy fading into motes: her armor was a bit dented here and there, but the most damage he'd managed was a scrape and a few small cuts over her face. Her hoof crushed down on him, keeping him easily pinned beneath her... but a moment later, a slow smile spread over her features before she leaned down and said softly: “Again, I told you not to make your attacks so direct, Antares... but I didn't expect that at all. You've been trying to study your mother's magic, haven't you?”

“I don't have a lot to go on, since it's not like Mom wrote much down... but... I feel it inside me, I guess. It comes out on instinct sometimes, and then I teach myself to try and harness it.” Antares replied finally, and then he smiled awkwardly as he glanced down at her hoof. “Aunt Tia, uh... could you...”

“Surrender first, Antares.” Celestia said gently, and Antares hesitated, looking up at her... and Celestia smiled at this before pressing down a bit harder with her hoof, making him wheeze loudly. “You're as stubborn as your mother and father both.”

Antares only wheezed again in response, gritting his teeth before he grabbed at the winged unicorn's hoof, pushing weakly at it... but Celestia only bore down harder, and Antares gasped as he felt the breath whoosh out of him before he nodded violently and finally rasped: “Okay, okay! You win, Aunt Tia, don't squish me!”

Celestia smiled again and shook her head slowly, stepping calmly backwards off the young stallion, and Antares scrambled up to his hooves, rasping for breath before he looked up with a smile in return to the ivory mare. Then they both bowed their heads before Celestia stepped forwards and gently tapped her horn against Antares', saying softly: “You held up well. I think you should ask Sleipnir to help you with further training when you return to Ponyville, but... I think you're ready to learn a few techniques I've been wanting to try and teach you for a while now.”

Antares smiled radiantly at this, straightening and nodding firmly, and Celestia laughed quietly, asking gently: “What? I just defeated you and forced you to surrender, Antares... aren't you upset, or disappointed?”

“Not at all, why would I be?” Antares smiled again, shrugging a bit as he laughed and gazed quietly at Celestia. “I was honored by the chance to share this with you, Aunt Tia, you're... such an incredible person. You're so powerful and graceful, and you have such... strength. Even with you being nice enough to give me a chance, I knew there was no way I'd beat you. But... defeat can teach us more than victory, isn't that right? And I am honestly... honored and flattered by... by the fact you think I've developed enough to start learning your style of combat. Because I know that... it's sacred, and it's dangerous, and it means you must trust me. I only hope I live up to that.”

Celestia smiled warmly at this, closing her eyes and bowing her head forwards as she murmured softly: “You're so different from your parents... but so much the same, too. Luna would be throwing a temper tantrum right now, and Scrivener would be laughing what happened off, or making some joke... but both of them always treated me with more respect than I deserved. Antares...”

The ivory winged unicorn looked up, opening her amethyst eyes, and then she smiled again and shook her head when he looked at her curiously. “But enough. Come with me, we need to repair our armor now, as you've been taught, and polish it up.”

Antares nodded, and then he strode up to the ivory mare and leaned up to hug her tightly, and Celestia returned the embrace firmly. They parted, and then both ponies gazed up around the arena with smiles as a few cheers sounded from those who weren't still shocked by the short but fierce display from their thought-passive Baroness and her young nephew. Antares laughed and waved shyly around at the crowd, and Celestia sighed but gave him an amused look all the same, nudging him gently. “Come, Antares. The last thing we need is for you to develop an ego like your mother's.”

The young stallion laughed and nodded, turning away to follow Celestia... and in the stands, Prestige stared after the unicorn from beside Twilight Sparkle before she shook her head violently, then gestured madly at the arena, spluttering: “That... that... that is not how unicorns duel!”

“I think those two would argue with you.” Twilight smiled despite herself, giving Prestige a mild look as the Lich absently reached up to adjust the thick wool sweater she was wearing. “Come on, Prestige, Atrus was kind enough to give me a little of his blood last night so we can work on an advanced homunculus creation spell today...”

Prestige only grumbled, glaring down into the arena as Antares and Celestia began to walk away, and then she turned and asked suddenly to the purple mare, as she began to get up: “What kind of magic did Antares use? Why haven't I been taught that kind of barrier magic?”

Twilight Sparkle sighed, shaking her head as she stood up and said gently: “Prestige, please. We've been over this. You've already got multiple magical talents, that's... enviable to begin with. Most unicorns can only master one or two realms of magic... you have the potential to master control over not just the elements, but enchantments and maybe even some creation magic... assuming today goes well, and you're able to create and control a homunculus.”

“But I want to know!” Prestige whined, then she huffed and looked grumpily into the arena. Twilight hesitantly reached up and touched her shoulder, and Prestige closed her eyes, then slumped a bit and nodded moodily, saying finally: “Fine. I will respect your wishes, Miss Twilight, but only because you're my teacher and only because I know you are a capable and resourceful magician.”

Twilight smiled a bit at this, and then she turned to head towards one of the aisles leading between the stands and towards an exit. Prestige followed after the Lich, then she hesitated before saying finally: “Twilight Sparkle, you tell me again and again how fortunate I am to be able to master all these different types of magic... yet all the same, there are certain kinds of magic I simply cannot learn, or you will not deign to teach me. Yet you yourself... very clearly have delved into forbidden arts, have you not? And furthermore-”

“I don't want to talk about that, Prestige Luster.” Twilight said quietly, shaking her head a bit as she started down the steps leading down the outer wall of the arena. “My choice was either become this or die... and it was far beyond my power to turn myself into a Lich. All I could do was... link myself to an object in this world.”

“Your phylactery.” Prestige pressed, hurrying forwards as they stepped off the stairs and began to pass through the fields, heading back towards the castle. Twilight grumbled under her breath, and Prestige looked at her thoughtfully as she paced beside her before asking carefully: “I've been your apprentice for years now, so I think you should trust me enough to answer at least one of my questions honestly, Miss Twilight...”

“Prestige, I just... I just don't want to talk about it.” Twilight said tiredly, dropping her head forwards as she muttered: “Becoming what I am was one of the stupidest decisions I've ever made in my life, okay? I mean, when I did it, it wasn't, but now... now it feels stupid, because the only two people who really appreciated me no matter what are...”

She broke off, then shook her head and looked down with a quiet sight, murmuring: “It's forbidden for a reason, Prestige, along with most other necromancy. It goes against the rules of life and death, and tampering with that order leads just to... pain and heartache.”

“But isn't that what Antares is trying to do? His parents are gone.” Prestige remarked... and then she winced and stumbled backwards when Twilight spun around, glaring at her as a snarl spread over her features and her body visibly rippled.

The Lich caught herself, however, closing her almost-glowing eyes before she took a slow breath. For a few moments, there was silence as they stood in the shadow of the castle together... and then Twilight finally looked up, saying quietly: “Antares believes his parents are alive... and I'm honestly inclined to believe him, for a lot of reasons. Reasons I don't think you'd entirely understand. But this is a subject I expect you to respect, Prestige, and recognize that it's not some ancient piece of history, or some theorem or academic problem. This is going on, right now, and it's harder than you can know for me, for Antares, for Celestia... for other ponies, too. So please. Show a little respect. I would really appreciate that.”

Prestige shifted awkwardly, blushing as she looked down, feeling strangely ashamed of herself as the Lich studied her silently. Then Twilight turned, heading towards the castle again, and Prestige trotted quickly after her in quiet.

Yet all the same, as they passed into Canterlot Castle, Prestige couldn't stop herself from asking curiously: “The history and legends you taught me about Luna Brynhild... are they true? And that shrine, has Antares really never visited it?”

“Yes, they're true, and no, he hasn't. And I was only there once.” Twilight shook her head slowly, closing her eyes as they walked slowly through the halls, the Lich murmuring after a moment: “Celestia wanted a monument to be built to honor them, to show them how much they were missed when they came back... not what feels more like... an empty coffin. But Celestia visits there sometimes late at night... spends time talking to them, or talking with... old friends.”

Prestige looked thoughtfully at Twilight as they walked onwards, until they reached the other side of the Castle and the adjoining magic academy. Twilight smiled at the Royal Guards at the door when they opened the double doors for her, and Prestige looked meditatively at the armored unicorns before hurrying after the Lich as she strode into the lobby.

Twilight grimaced at the empty space in the ceiling where the hanging chandelier had once been: it had all been cleaned up by now, but just thinking about it sent an ache through her. Her body didn't interpret pain the same way it did when she was a mortal, but still, having a large, heavy object dropped on you was never pleasant... and she sighed when Prestige cleared her throat loudly, turning towards the young mare and asking dryly: “Yes?”

“Baroness Celestia, you, Scrivener Blooms and Luna... you all form some kind of strange clique, don't you?” Prestige cocked her head curiously, and Twilight smiled despite herself at this thought. “Although I realize how this sounds with my background... if Scrivener Blooms is only an earth pony, how does he fit in with three winged unicorns?”

“Scrivener knew me back when I was only a unicorn... and we never got along very well at first. Likewise, Celestia and Scrivener... well, they had their problems, too.” Twilight smiled after a moment despite herself, shaking her head a bit. “It just... happened, that's all. That's how everything is, after all... look at yourself, Prestige, have you ever thought about how fortunate you are, a northern unicorn here in Canterlot? And you know me, Celestia, and Antares...”

“I'm not stupid, Twilight Sparkle, it sounds as if Scrivener Blooms was treated like a king. A unicorn king at that, not an earth pony barbarian warlord.” Prestige said mildly, and Twilight sighed and turned, grumbling as she headed for another set of doors, and Prestige winced before hurrying after her. “I mean no disrespect, of course!”

Twilight only shook her head, shoving the doors open... and then wincing when she almost hit another unicorn on his way out of the school. The aging stallion hurriedly backpedaled, then glared at her as the Lich blushed and said awkwardly: “Oh, I'm sorry, I... Crown, is that you?”

“Yes, yes, it's me, and... oh, Miss Sparkle, it's you.” Crown rubbed slowly at his face, blinking tiredly as he stood up, then rubbed at his throat moodily. He looked disheveled and tired, and Twilight Sparkle frowned worriedly before the coroner shook his head, muttering: “It's nothing, I seem to have caught a nasty cold, but not even the healers here were able to help me out at all. Probably from last night... I was drinking late and then got called out near Ponyville.”

“Ponyville? What happened?” Twilight asked apprehensively. For a moment, Crown only looked at her indecisively... and then Twilight smiled a little, leaning forwards and insisting quietly: “Come on, you know that I'm going to find out anyway. Spare me a little trouble, will you?”

“I... alright, alright.” Crown sighed tiredly, then he nodded and said moodily: “The corpse of one of your so-called Clockwork Ponies was found out there. Nasty, brittle thing. I...” He paused, grimaced, then turned his head and sneezed loudly. “Excuse me. I swear, the Royal Guard called me out just to make sure I'd be dead before I can collect my pension...”

He shook himself out, then glanced up and saw Twilight's expression, giving an absent wave of a hoof. “It was long dead when the Royal Guards found it, don't worry about that. I think it just broke down... these things have been running down their batteries for the last ten years or so, haven't they?”

“Clockwork Ponies? They still exist?” Prestige asked curiously, and when Crown frowned at her, she glared back at the coroner before saying clearly: “Do not look at me in such a manner, I am of noble esteem. You are a unicorn lowering himself to the work of an earth pony.”

Twilight slowly closed her eyes, and Crown glared at Prestige, looking ruffled as he snapped: “My wife is an earth pony young... y-young...”

Then he leaned forwards and sneezed loudly, and Prestige shrieked as she was splattered by snot before she fell over and started pawing wildly at her features, yelling: “Inconsiderate oaf! Oh, disgusting, how dare you! I'll have your horn for this!”

Crown only sniffled a little, rubbing at his nose before he grunted and stormed past, muttering: “If you'll excuse me, Twilight Sparkle, I need to go to Ponyville. I'll send you a copy of my report.”

“I'd appreciate it!” Twilight called awkwardly, and then she sighed and looked grouchily down at Prestige as the young mare continued to scrub wildly at her features and yell angrily, the Lich shaking her head slowly and closing her eyes. It's going to be a long day...

The Laughing Reaper

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Chapter Three: The Laughing Reaper
~BlackRoseRaven

Crown sighed tiredly as the wagon rolled up to the hospital at the edge of Ponyville, carefully climbing out the back of the vehicle and nodding to the driver. He adjusted his satchel at his side, then grimaced and rubbed at his stomach as a bolt of nausea passed through him, muttering: “Keep it together, Crown, keep it together...”

The pale-looking unicorn shook himself out, then he breathed hard as he strode forwards, heading through the double doors and into the reception area. He strode towards the desk, and the nurse on the other side looked at him with concern, saying slowly: “The emergency room is on the other side of the building, sir...”

“Do I really look that bad? No, no. My name is Straw Crown, I'm a coroner from Canterlot, here to inspect a body.” Crown fumbled at his satchel, then finally pulled out his ID, putting it down on the desk. The nurse looked surprised, but the aging stallion only shook his head tiredly, saying wryly: “Three weeks from retirement. Last night I was called out in the middle of the night and I caught a nasty cold. Such is life.”

The nurse smiled awkwardly, checking his ID before she said hesitantly: “Sir, you look quite ill... are you sure that...”

“No, no. It's nothing serious, my wife hasn't even caught it.” He paused, then muttered: “Then again, she never gets sick. But... alright, the morgue is downstairs and to the... left?”

“That's right.” The nurse nodded, passing back his ID, and she hesitated before adding: “If you still feel ill after the exam, sir, we have a healer here today who might be able to help. She's done all sorts of wonderful things with many of our patients...”

“I'll consider it, miss, thank you.” Crown gave a bit of a smile, tucking his ID back in his satchel before he turned and headed past the reception booth towards a set of double doors, pushing through with a tired sigh and muttering: “Now even the young ones are taking pity on me. I knew I should have stayed home...”

Crown made his way down the stairs, letting his hooves guide him: thankfully, he had been here more than a few times over his career, thanks to the proximity of Ponyville to Canterlot, and the route was fairly clearly marked, anyhow. It only took him a few minutes to reach the morgue, and he grimaced as he shoved through the heavy, almost-armored doors and into the small, metallic room.

The bright fluorescent lights made his eyes ache as he stepped inside, and the tiles felt almost slippery: as the scent of disinfectant and lemons hit his nose, it made his stomach heave, the unicorn shivering once before he looked up at the two ponies dressed in green gowns and masks, one of them beginning to raise a hoof nervously before Crown asked grumpily: “So what have you found?”

“Oh, you must be the coroner!” said one of the other ponies, looking relieved before they both glanced down at the body on the steel table in front of them: Crown shivered a bit at the sight of the elderly pony's body. It didn't look like there had been any foul play, but when someone died alone or in an unusual circumstance, it meant being put on the table... and for some reason, after all my years at this, I find natural death to be much more unnerving than a murdered corpse. “Sorry, we're just finishing up here...”

“Take your time. I need to get changed.” Crown muttered, glancing around before his eyes locked on a set of gowns hanging from hooks at the side of the room. He walked over, taking his satchel off to toss it aside before fitting himself into the medical clothing: gown, cap, gloves, and a mask because he was still coughing everywhere.

He cursed under his breath behind the flimsy fabric, wheezing a little as he heard the attendants putting the body away into one of cells. For some reason, that had always bothered him a little, too... that they had neat little cubicles for the dead to put them in for storage, then take them out when it was time to examine them, and then cart them off to the science lab or back to grieving families... who would then usually put them in a coffin that was no less a prison than those cells were for how pretty some of them were, a claustrophobic casket that would be burned or buried in the cold, desolate earth...

Crown shook himself out, feeling lightheaded before he hauled himself to his hooves and watched as the attendants carefully lifted the entire sliding metal rack out of another cabinet, balancing the dead body of the Clockwork Pony on top of it until they gently set it down on the exam table. The gaunt, pale-looking coroner grimaced as he made his way over to the corpse, looking up as one of the attendants said finally: “I've never seen this before. I mean, a dead Clockwork Pony... it makes me wonder how much of-”

“You can tell me your wonders after, we have a job right now.” Crown interrupted moodily, then he frowned as the attendants both shifted: even bleary and exhausted as he was, it was impossible to not notice how advanced the decomposition was. “What happened? Was there a temperature malfunction last night?”

“No sir. I... don't know.” one of the attendants said awkwardly, and Crown felt less than thrilled with this answer as he glowered at the two, who both winced. “Everything's been kept at low temperature, the body came in heavily decomposed last night, but... all the same, it's continued to deteriorate. There might be something festering in the internal organs, but...”

“Let's check the liver temp. Somepony get me...” Crown grimaced, then he turned and coughed loudly several times, cursing under his breath as his whole body shivered. One of the attendants stepped towards him, but the coroner only shook his head out hurriedly, wheezing: “No, no... I... I'm fine. Go on, check the liver temperature.”

“Alright...” one of the attendants said finally, trading a look with the other pony before they both shrugged. One of them picked up the thermometer, checking the long, sharp needle at the end used to pierce down into the liver, and then he stepped forwards and carefully guided it down, pushing it firmly in as he muttered: “But sir, you really look-”

There was a gurgle, and then the Clockwork Pony convulsed on the table, its body splitting open in a blast of noxious green fumes that quickly filled the morgue. The ponies all yelled and cursed before all three collapsed to the ground, leaving the corpse of the Clockwork Pony laying deflated and broken on the table as the green, misty poison filtered its way gradually upwards and out through the vents.

The attendants both shivered and twitched, one of them drooling behind his mask, the other bleeding from a large wound in his scalp from the fall... and then, slowly, Crown twitched before he gargled loudly as his eyes rolled up in his head, foaming out of his jaws around the mask covering his muzzle.

He convulsed once, then fell still, his eyes closing... before slowly, then opened again. They glowed with dark, unnatural light as the unicorn gurgled, yanking himself to his hooves like he was a puppet on a string, stumbling once before he flopped forwards to half-land over the exam table, crushing the brittle corpse of the Clockwork Pony and sending up another blast of poisonous gases as toxic organs popped like balloons.

The unicorn fidgeted weakly, then gargled... and horribly, his eyes rolled in his head as his body first began to steam, then smolder visibly. And bit-by-bit, skin peeled and flesh melted, spreading over the table, becoming a thick, gelatinous goo that pried itself away from his skeleton like it had decided to set out on a twisted life of its own, spreading over the exam table with a horrible slurping sound as it pried up pieces of the Clockwork Pony's corpse, before the slime of flesh rippled and rolled itself off the other end of the exam table.

It splattered down on the other side, and there was a sickening slurping sound as it rapidly spread itself over the prone bodies of the attendants, one of them managing a weak, gurgling cry before he was swallowed up. For a few minutes, there was only the sound of crunching and gargling... and then, slowly, the fleshy slime twisted back and forth before starting to rise slowly upwards as it gave a long, drawn-out sigh.

It bubbled and twisted, gurgled and shifted as limbs spread out of it and it began to take on a distinct form: the head pushed up out of shoulders as the rippling flesh formed into a body and legs, a tail flicked behind it before it slammed malformed hooves down on the other side of the exam table... and grinned widely as sharp teeth formed it blackened jaws. It was mottled white and streaked with bolts of yellow, its eyes sunken deep in its sockets and made up of dozens of cells, like some hideous insect's. As its body finished shaping itself, it flexed and rippled like water before turning solid... but its hide looked slimy, and even if it was clearly trying to imitate the shape of a pony, its pointed, stiff ears, the ridge of spikes along its spine, its whip-like tail, its sheer hideousness was goblinoid and monstrous.

“Ooh...” it whispered, and then it threw its head back and laughed before stomping its hooves against the table, dislodging the skeleton from the other side and knocking it loose. “How good it feels to be free! And oh, thank you, thank you so much, dear friend, for lending me that little boost to help wake me up... and all you fellas, too, couldn't have done it without you.”

It glanced over its shoulder with a laugh at the skeletons on the ground, then licked its teeth hungrily before leaping up onto the exam table, eyes glowing as it grinned down at the Clockwork Pony's corpse. “And to think, a few more days stuck festering in your dead tissue and I would have been gone forever... but as they say, fortune favors the foul, right? I got myself a nice, fleshy host I was able to rampage through, and oh, oh, oh, this world smells of sweet disease just ripe for the picking! Ooh, I'm gonna have me some fun!”

It threw its head back and laughed, then spun around, eyes lighting on the cabinets filled with corpses as it licked its teeth hungrily, saying eagerly: “And look! An audience, kept all nice and fresh just for me! Well, you must be wondering just who I am, but don't worry, I'm plenty hungry and I know just how to introduce myself...”

The creature rose one of its mottled limbs, then it flicked it easily forwards, and the foreleg split apart into several sticky tentacles that each collided with a cabinet door with sickening squelches. They squirmed for a moment, then the monster yanked backwards, and the doors were all yanked open by the movement as the tentacles snapped back as well, the monster singing in gravelly, sharp-pitched tones:

“Hey, nice to meet you all, I'm from the way out endless chaos sea,
The garbage heap, they call it, but Ginnungagap was always paradise to me...
I loved to fester in the rot, in the putrid dying piles,
I gave Draconequus the sniffles but what I'm gonna do to you is worse by miles.”

The monster grinned as the tentacles twisted back into the shape of a foreleg, before it leapt forwards, seizing into the wall of cabinets and reaching up to slowly, almost delicately pull a rack slowly out of one of the cabinets, revealing the pallid corpse within. “Ooh, delicious!

Oh sure, to chaos entities I was a nuisance, to demons just a minor ache,
But to mortals I'm already lethal... and that's even before I've filled my take,
I'm a destruction entity that ain't got a name of my own,
But I'm sure I'll find a name for me as I strip you down to the bones...”

The creature leaned forwards, licking slowly up the corpse's neck before it suddenly pounced upwards, tackling the corpse as it burst into a sick mire of slime, twisting and crunching around the corpse as the rack was knocked out of place... and when the slime leapt down a moment later, only a broken skeleton was left behind, as the monster reformed before it landed neatly on the ground with a wide grin as its eyes glowed, and it threw its head back to sing:

“Oh you mortals taste so sweet, you're so full of zest!
I thought at first I must be cursed but now I realize I was blessed,
Those stupid metal monsters had me sealed all away,
But now I'm out and free to eat my fill and you can bet I'm here to stay...”

As it sang, it almost strutted around in a circle, turning to another open cell before shoving its head inside, and there was a horrendous ripping sound before it drew back as its body rippled, arching its back with a sigh and leaving little more than another skeleton behind. “So delicious! So nutritious!

Your fleshy bodies ain't got no defenses against my hungry jaws,
You all might as well save me some time and climb right on into my maw!
Come and join the feast, help me strengthen this poison in my veins.
Make me stronger, make me better, give up your genes and flus and pains!

I'm disease, alive! I'm poison come to life!
I'm a toxic vibe! I'm all your pain and strife!
I'm your worst vice! I'm your nicotine addiction!
I'm festering lice! I'm your terminal condition!”

The creature laughed as it drew back from another cell, then its eyes blazed as hopped to the side, tearing two more cell doors open and shoving its forelegs into the cabinets, a sick slurping sound filling the air... but when the creature leapt back, it was followed by two corpses, one a bloated, half-rotten corpse of a drowned Nibelung, the other a pony with the clear Y-stitching of an autopsy over its form. And the monster laughed as it spun around, leaping up onto the exam table and landing on back legs to begin a macabre tapdance, as the puppeted corpses behind it followed its rhythm.

“I'm Cancer! Running through your veins!
Infecting everything so you'll never be the same!
I'm Cancer! I'm already in your brain!
I'm rotting you from inside out, without no shame!

I'm Cancer! I'm gonna rot you to bits,
'Cause that's just the way, honey, that I get my kicks!

Oh, sha-be-da-be-da-be-da-be-do-bop!
Oh, sha-be-da-be-da-be-do-do-wop!
Hey, sha-be-da-be-da-be-do-da-da!
Yeah, sha-be-da-be-da-be-do-wa-ah!”

The monster easily backflipped off the table, both corpses stepping soullessly forwards to catch it, and the beast burst apart into thick, hideous slime that rippled over the two bodies, then tore free, leaving only skeletons behind as it reformed. It grinned over its shoulder at the skeletons as they fell to the ground, the monster still humming to itself before it turned its head... and its eyes alit on a shelf on the other side of the room, whispering: “Oh, what have we here? Yes, the corpses were good to start... I got myself a nice, yummy start to the day... but you, you, you...”

It strode quickly over to the shelving, licking its lips eagerly as it gazed back and forth over the jars of samples and chemicals, then it grinned widely and plucked one off the shelf, yanking it open and inhaling deeply. Then it shivered in bliss, whispering: “Fungus, where have you been all my life!”

It tilted the jar back, gobbling down the sample, then it tossed it aside and quickly began to yank down the other chemicals. Most of these it gobbled hungrily down, others it poured over itself, laughing: all it had to do was make contact with the disease, after all, for its cells to absorb the new material and take what it could. For it to rip information out of the disease, like it had gobbled down all the genetic data from the corpses as it had ripped their flesh from their bones to amplify and feed itself.

The monster paused as it picked up a large tank of some kind, tilting this back and forth curiously before it twisted the handle... and a hissing filled the air before the creature stuck its head in front of the faintly-visible spray of gas, sniffing loudly before its eyes widened in delight. “Nitrogen!” The monster crowed, then greedily shoved the tank into its jaws, guzzling down the chemical: anything and everything could be stored in its cells, could be used to further adapt itself, and the destruction entity adored volatile chemicals almost as much as it loved diseases and poisons.

There was a loud hammering at the door, and the monster frowned before it turned around, the tank still halfway stuck in its jaws before a pony in a security uniform shoved through the doors, beginning: “I heard a disturbance, and... oh my god, what happened? What... the... oh no, a demon!”

The monster's eyes widened, then it turned and spat the tank out as the security pony staggered backwards in terror as the creature raged in an incensed voice: “Demon! How dare you! You ever see a filthy demon that could do this?”

Then the beast rushed forwards, and the guard didn't even have time to react before the monster burst into streams of goo, smashing into the pony, constricting his body and ripping into his jaws, osmosing through his pores, making him scream in horror and agony as his eyes rolled wildly in his head before he collapsed to the ground, a faint, sticky sheen still visible on his body and splatters of sticky goo dotting the floor around him.

For a few moments, there was silence... and then the security guard opened his eyes, and they glowed with ill light as he grinned widely, licking his lips hungrily. “Oh, yes, yes, yes, this'll do just fine... I can puppet your body like a... well, a puppet on a string!”

The creature laughed from the stallion's jaws, then he easily stood up... before grunting and touching his stomach once, muttering: “Immune system is trying to reject me, though, but that ain't no threat... I need me some more diseases. And while I'm here, I think I'll strip your living tissue, start learning more about how you ponies tick... old dude was a fun ride, but that's about all he was, too, just a ride. A hopalong. A stagecoach. Helps that I made my way in through his eyes, though... got myself a one-way ticket right into his brain, and what a delight the brain is... oh, yes, here's yours now! And watch, boys and girls, as Mister Cancer throws a switch and...”

The security guard twitched, gargled, then shivered... and then the earth pony's head shook before Cancer sighed in relief from his jaws. “There we go! That's what I'm talkin' about... a nice little flick of a switch and your pain receptors turn off and I don't have to worry about getting all jacked up while your body basically kills itself tryin' to get rid of me. Cool how that works, ain't it? And if you haven't gotten it already, hi, I'm Cancer. I'm gonna kill you. I'm gonna kill your whole race, as a matter of fact. Hell, let's not be modest here, I got plans to destroy your whole world! Why? 'Cause that's just what I do, spread my disease, sprinkle my poisons, and make stuff dead. It's all for the greater good though, boy, don't you worry none about that.”

Cancer snickered to himself before he began to almost skip cheerfully forwards, licking his lips hungrily as he whispered: “Now, before you get too sick to be noticeable, we're gonna make our way upstairs. I spent all night wracking that silly old dude's brain, and just by a few glimpses into your memory banks I'm seeing that we're in some place called a hospital, where you thoughtful little ponies have been so nice as to stick all your dead and dying and diseased for me! Gosh, you rolled out the welcome mat and you didn't even know I was coming, I am just, I am just so touched! And I didn't even bring you guys anything!”

Cancer laughed, then he suddenly halted, foaming at the jaws as the earth pony's eyes glowed bright red and he rasped: “Except death.”

Then Cancer shivered before shaking his head violently and looking up with a bright grin again, wiping foam away from his jaws and flicking his tongue at the air. “Whoops. Sorry about that, happens now and again. Ain't nothing serious, don't worry about it. I guess we're all a little quirky, right?”

He laughed, then pranced his way down the hall to the stairs, hurrying up them and still grinning brightly even as he made his way past an attendant. The pony looked at him oddly ,and for a moment, Cancer considered attacking her... but then he realized he was still running up flights of stairs and she was long gone, and he grumbled under his breath as he said grumpily: “Oh well, who cares, just one little bitsy itsy pony-wony. There's plenty of time to get 'em all later.”

Cancer nodded vehemently to himself as he made his way onto the third floor, shoving through and looking back and forth as he licked his lips slowly, ignoring the looks a few ponies gave him before he hurried down the corridors, breathing a little harder. He could already feel the pony's body starting to break down: Cancer, after all, was spread through all of the pony's veins like he was wearing a far-too-tight costume, and his presence inside the pony's body was already creating friction and energy and nasty chemical reactions...

He had shut down the most visible immune responses, but all the same, fever was boiling and rampaging... and soon the pony would literally start to melt. Cancer knew this on instinct, just as he knew on instinct that his former host hadn't started really suffering his effects until the end because Cancer had been weak, and tiny, and nothing more than a batch of cells that had multiplied exponentially in his host, using his flesh and body as a medium to begin rebuilding and reconstructing himself after countless years kept in a cage, used as nothing more than fuel for some metal monster's weapons and kept subdued by a power convertor...

But all the same, oh, he had leeched his way into the metal creature through its own weapons... and even though he'd been unable to do more than simply kill the creature, his revenge had delightful consequences. Some other greedy creature had shattered his glass prison, removed the power convertor, and run away with it, not knowing just how precious that crystalline engine was... and then Cancer had hid in the dead body, and waited. Dead cells, he couldn't do more than puppet for short periods of time: he could rip their genetic data from them, but that would also destroy them. Likewise, the old pony's living body had been resisting him, right up until the body had been shocked from the toxins released from the corpse he'd been about to examine... and then, then Cancer had seized his opportunity.

And now here he was: manipulating a mortal's body, bent on getting his claws on more diseases. Because the more diseases, the more chemicals, the more poisons he absorbed, the stronger he'd become. Just like the dead and sickness-riddled flesh he'd absorbed in the morgue had already made him powerful enough to do this... imagine how fast he would grow if he was able to find this so called 'infectious disease center' in the hospital!

Cancer licked his lips hungrily at the thought: he already knew he was going to like it here. The mortals were easy prey for him as it was, and after he had time to evolve and grow further, he knew they 'd become even easier. Oh, they had vaccines, and antidotes, and pretty little pills... but he was willing to bet none of them had ever dealt with a disease like him before. A disease that could grow and evolve as it wished, that could do oh so much more than just fester in a body...

He grinned hungrily as he pushed his way through a set of double doors, then his eyes finally alit on a door at the end of an intersection, hurrying forwards as he growled in delight. He could all-but-smell the illness, the disease, the festering toxins on the other side of that door, as he panted roughly in and out... then he winced and skidded to a halt when a pony stepped in his way with a frown, glaring at him. A white coat hung around his lanky body, and Cancer identified this as a creature who would stupidly think of himself as his superior enemy, when he was only, in fact, easy prey: a doctor. “What are you doing here? Security patrols are restricted to the first floor halls unless otherwise ordered.”

Cancer sniffed, then he leaned forwards and whined: “I'm sick.” A pause, then he grinned as the doctor scowled, the possessed earth pony leaning forwards and belching out a cloud of green gases into the doctor's surprised face. “See?”

The doctor coughed once... then he trembled, looking stupefied before collapsing in a heap. He twitched weakly on the ground a few times, and Cancer peered down at him for a few moments, kicked him hard once in the head to make sure he was unconscious – and kicked him again out of pure spite – and then he rose his head and called loudly: “Hey, uh. We got a sick doctor here or something, I dunno. I didn't do it.”

Within moments, there was the sound of hooves, and Cancer simply stepped back and whistled a little as two nurses hurried over and looked down at the doctor. They both cursed, then one shouted something as the other began to check him over, and Cancer quickly slipped away, almost bouncing down the hall as he hummed under his breath before he hit the door at the end of the intersection and hopped on through. He grinned widely to himself, licking his lips in delight as he emerged into a large, square room beyond that was filled with shelves of samples in jars, bottles, and vials, all of them neatly labeled and sorted. “Oh... sweet merciful delights. We gonna have us some fun tonight!”

Cancer immediately went to work, twining back and forth through the shelves as he picked up containers and tore them open or shattered them, inhaling airborne diseases, guzzling down liquids, giggling as he spilled chemicals and biopsy samples and everything else that was stored in here. For him it was a wonderland, a paradise, a slice of heaven... and Cancer giggled again, the body he was in splattered with stains and ugly, spreading bruises and burns, sweat rolling down the earth pony's frame as he almost boiled... “But oh, it don't matter none now, not at all, not at all... I've gathered up all these lost and lonely little samples now, and we're gonna have one big party inside me!”

He giggled again to himself, twitching a bit as he licked his lips eagerly and picked up one last sample jar, overturning it above his head and drinking down the contents hungrily as the sick-smelling liquid spilled down his jaws and over his face... and then his eyes widened as there was a hammering at the door, a voice from beyond shouting: “Who's in there? Come out immediately!”

“Uh oh. Gotta bust a move while I percolate.” Cancer muttered, looking hurriedly back and forth before he threw the empty jar away and hurried down the row of shelves, skidding around an intersection as his eyes locked on a window. “Bingo-was-his-name-o!”

He ran towards this, bringing the earth pony's hooves up and smashing it out, sending a hail of glass raining down the side of the building... before he snarled in frustration at the sight of the steel bars beyond. And behind him, he could hear the door thrown open... but thankfully it was followed by yells and shouts as whoever was trying to stop him stumbled in the broken glass and puddles of chemical. Cancer giggled to himself at this thought, licking his lips... and then his eyes widened before he looked at the bars, made a horrible, disgusting gagging noise, then leaned forwards and vomited out a stream of acid that rapidly ate away at the metal caging.

Cancer grinned over his shoulder as he heard the sound of hooves approaching, then he simply dove forwards into the smoking, smoldering bars and crashed through them, laughing as chunks of warped and broken metal flew in all directions and he plummeted down to the sloped ground far below with a sickening splat. There was a loud crunch as he bounced once, a limb twisting awkwardly, body rolling down the slope at the side of the hospital before he finally came to a halt in the field, gurgling once as he twitched in a broken pile of blood and tangled limbs.

Then Cancer slowly rose the earth pony's head, his eyes glowing as he giggled and whispered: “Oh... clotting enzymes, and adrenaline, and... endorphins, oh my! And... ooh, delicious bone marrow leaking out, and all those other juices mixing together with everything else... it's like getting to the center of the chewy candy!”

The monster laughed as it shoved itself up to its hooves, gurgling once before it staggered back and forth... then grinned widely, licking its split lips slowly as sweat poured down the earth pony's body. Its hide was starting to char and peel in places, as fever worsened into what would eventually be akin to spontaneous combustion, but for now the monster could still use this body. Even broken and mangled as it was, it was only a casing, a puppet, a toy to the beast.

Slowly, Cancer dragged itself away from the hospital, breathing heavily through the foaming jaws of the earth pony, leaving a trail of blood and pus behind it as clouds rolled ominously through the skies above and a sharp, cold wind blew. It darkened the day as shouts and panic went through the hospital, allowing Cancer to make good on his escape as doctors and staff were instead forced to concentrate on quarantining the storage room.

The monster made his way slowly in the direction from which he could sense more mortals, and more diseases, and garbage and pollution and everything else it so loved: he moved towards Ponyville, grinning widely as he felt the chemicals and diseases inside him bubbling and boiling and merging into his alien cell structure. As it reached a bridge over a low, burbling creek, however, there was a loud shout from behind it, and Cancer turned, frowning in distaste as a pony dressed in some kind of officer's uniform approached, the unicorn with his head lowered and his horn glowing as he snapped: “Stop right there, whatever you are!”

Cancer grinned widely, looking slowly back and forth before he said easily: “Oh, little old me? Now come on, fella, don't you see I ain't doin' so hot? I'm all coughing and choking and wheezing and squeezing. Come on, you can let me go, officer, can't you just this one little time?”

“Get down on the ground, now! Surrender peacefully!” the soldier barked, and Cancer glared at him before the unicorn leaned forwards, horn glowing brighter. “Don't make me use force!”

“You really gonna kill this meatsack?” Cancer reached up and touched his own chest, and then he grinned through the earth pony's jaws, giggling as he leaned forwards and his eyes glowed hellish red, making the chemicals inside his body boil. “Here, lemme save you the trouble.”

Cancer threw his head back and his forelegs out as his body bloated and bulged, the soldier staring for a moment before the earth pony's body simply exploded in a terrible blast of force and gore and poisonous mist, knocking the soldier sprawling with a choked-off scream. In a matter of moments, the unicorn was dead, boils and bruising spreading rapidly over his pale features, twitching weakly as foam spilled out of his jaws.

There was little left of the earth pony, apart from a few splatters, and the bridge and surrounding area had been covered with corrosive, smelly white and red goo... but slowly, this began to tremble and shift, making a sick slurping as the slime quickly merged itself into one large puddle that swelled upwards and shaped itself back into Cancer's goblinoid, grinning semi-equine form. He rasped slowly in and out, then hugged himself with a cackle, looking mockingly down at the dead unicorn as he said cheerfully: “See, ain't I such a nice guy? Damn that nitrogen has a kick, though! But ooh, I'd best be hoppin' along now, find myself a nice little place to hole up and not lose any more of these sweet juices than I already have so I can...”

He twitched violently, eyes glowing red, fangs baring as he rasped: “Infect, destroy, kill, kill, kill...”

Cancer shivered, then shook his head out and giggled insanely, his entire body twitching before he bounced happily past the bridge and down into the creek, splashing into the water and beginning to wade his way up the river as he half-sang: “Gotta spread my disease, after all... that's how I grow, that's how I multiply, that's just what I do, honey-bunch. Gonna make a real name for myself here, a name they're all gonna know before they all die... but oh baby, they're all gonna die, they're all gonna die, 'cause I'm gonna make myself a nice little home here...”

The creature licked his lips slowly, then he approached a culvert and leaned forwards, inhaling deeply and releasing a sigh of delight as he stood up on his hind legs, grasping either side of the rusting steel tunnel with his front hooves. “Ooh, manna from heaven... what blissful paradise! Smells like sewage, and rats, and vermin and... yeah, yeah, I'm gonna like it here just fine...”

Cancer grinned widely, slithering into the culvert, breathing hungrily before its physical form began to melt slowly down into a puddle of slime that slipped greedily down into the ankle-deep water to feast on the bacteria and disease within. Yes, this place... this place was going to do just fine.

Celestia nodded to Antares as the young stallion wheezed and slumped a bit, head bowed and eyes closed, but a bright smile on his face as the ivory mare complimented: “Excellently done, Antares. You may not be able to harness many kinds of magic, but you're learning to mix what magic you can control very well into own style of combat.”

Antares gazed up at Celestia thankfully as he managed to straighten a bit: his armor had been repaired, polished, and cleaned, and he was dressed in full gear... and this time, wearing heavy, weighted bracers as well. Celestia, meanwhile, had taken her own armor off, but she looked almost envious as she sat at one side of the large training room, her eyes filled with pride for her nephew.

The training room they were in was taller than it was wide, and dominated by a towering and wild structure of girders, rings, hoops, ramps, and targets: in essence, it was a vertical obstacle course that almost reached the ceiling roughly fifty feet above them, with a single platform at the top that formed the finish line. Celestia had been guiding Antares up and down this for hours now, having him run different drills, occasionally changing the positions of girders or beams or platforms, sometimes even setting up traps and targets for Antares to avoid and try and destroy as he made his way up or down the course.

She was a hard taskmaster, but she was encouraging and fair: she gave Antares support and tutoring, and knew the best way to get through to him. There was one way he was particularly like his parents, after all: soft words got through to him a lot better than demands and orders. And by now, Celestia knew just how to prod him if he started slacking or slowing up... not that Antares often did. In fact, his obsessive training almost worried her at times: it reminded her of had-been-heroes who spent all their time training and working hard towards accomplishing some violent revenge... heroes who too often turned out to be worse than the so-called evils they wanted to destroy, when their obsession began to drive them to ripping apart any unfortunate bystander that made the mistake of getting between them and their objective.

What soothed her was that she knew Antares trained so hard for two reasons: because he wanted to one day become as strong as his parents had been, and because he wasn't seeking revenge... he was seeking to save his parents. And one thing that Antares clung to, no matter what, was the idea that in order to save Luna and Scrivener he would have to do it right: no shortcuts, no cutting corners, and most of all, he had to be what his parents had always seen him as. Their savior, their shining light, their guiding star. He worked every single day to be honorable, above all other things... and even if he didn't always succeed, even if he had his moments where Celestia was reminded all too clearly of who his parents were... he still made her proud, and almost jealous of his radiant light.

“I want you to ascend the tower one more time, Antares, and then we'll stop for the day. As fast as you can through the obstacle course.” Celestia said calmly, and Antares nodded firmly once before he set himself, as the ivory mare smiled slightly at her nephew. “I know you can still shave a few more seconds off your best time.”

“Maybe not today, Aunt Tia, but I'll try.” Antares nodded after a moment, blushing a bit as he looked towards the base of the obstacle course, eying the ramp as he gritted his teeth and dropped to a ready position. He took a slow breath, tensing himself, forcing his mind to override the soreness in his body... and then he felt more than heard Celestia's sharp command to start, and he sprung immediately forwards.

He let his body move on instinct: he already knew the rough layout of the course, after all, but his hooves knew it much better than his mind did, and so it was his instincts that he let take over, simply doing his best to act instead of think. And for the first few levels of the course, it was easy; he leapt from ramp to narrow girder, charging along it before leaping up and kicking off a steel column and gracefully twisting his body to land on top of another high beam, not even needing to spread his wings as he charged down it and ran up another ramp...

And then something lashed by him, dark and smoky and alive, and Antares gritted his teeth but forced himself not to react, to concentrate on the course as he continued to bolt upwards. He ran along a narrow catwalk, and then his eyes widened as the dark, smoky shape twisted around in midair and shot straight towards him-

Antares leapt high before he even realized what he was doing, flapping his wings once to launch himself over the shadowy missile, and it shot by just beneath him before twisting violently around a pillar and shooting at his back. Without missing a beat, however, Antares landed smoothly, then lunged upwards again, flapping his wings hard as he ran almost straight up another steel pillar and kicked off to gracefully twist and land atop another platform as the smoky shape shot by again. The glossy black young stallion gritted his teeth, knowing this could only be one thing as he charged forwards, weaving back and forth through a forest of metal bars, the shape closely following behind him: a demon.

The shape tore through the bars behind him, weaving much faster through them: then again, being incorporeal smoke gave it an advantage. Antares cursed, looking over his shoulder before he simply lunged upwards, reacting on instinct, and the shape tore beneath him as he flung all four hooves out and shoved each against a steel column, keeping himself balanced in the air before he tensed his body, then kicked upwards and flapped his wings as hard as he dared, launching himself higher on instinct.

He looked up to see the bottom of another girder, grabbing onto it and hauling himself easily up with a grunt before running along it to a connecting support. The demon was already chasing him again, but now Antares was only concentrating on getting higher, leaping from girder to girder to narrow platform, making his way upwards until he was only a few steps away from the finish line...

And in front of him, the demon smashed through the wooden platform that was the final step between him and the finish. Antares cursed, then he gritted his teeth before leaping forwards anyway, even as wooden shrapnel flew in all directions, and he landed with a grunt of pain on top of a narrow support column that had once held up the wooden walk before he threw himself in a final mad leap, flapping his wings wildly as he lifted his legs to try and counter the heavy weights attached to them and seizing the edge of the finish platform with a shout.

Then his eyes bulged as he felt his hindquarters slide backwards, kicking his legs wildly... before cloven hooves seized him behind his shoulders and yanked him forwards, laughter filling the air as a familiar voice said warmly: “Oh come on, Nova, you should have made that! Has Aunt Tia been running my poor cousin too hard?”

Antares wheezed in relief as he dropped flat on top of the tower, then he grinned widely as he looked up warmly at a light-pink colored mare with a raven-black, straight mane that fell in a waterfall to one side of her face, neatly braided into a knot by her shoulder. Her eyes were radiant emerald, a shade lighter than the cutie mark on her haunch of a green serpent coiled in a spiral. “Apps! What are you doing here?”

“Mommy and I came to find Celestia and Twilight Sparkle... something bad's happened in Ponyville.” She became more serious, and Antares frowned at this: his cousin, Aphrodisia Celeste Pie, was almost never serious, not unless something truly bad happened. For a moment, the demonic mare hesitated... then she licked her large, sharp teeth nervously with her forked tongue, flicking an ear that was studded with several gemstone earrings. “Daddy was really worried. I hate it when Daddy worries, little cousin.”

“You are six years younger than me.” Antares pointed out, but Aphrodisia only responded to this by almost purring as she stepped up beside him, pushing their sides together and making him roll his eyes in amusement. Despite her age, Aphrodisia had aged twice as fast as he did with her demonic heritage: it meant she was already a fully-developed mare, and well on her way to becoming a fully-developed demon as well. “Okay, okay. But shouldn't you be...”

“No, Mommy came too, see?” Aphrodisia leaned forwards, pointing over the edge of the platform, and Antares stepped forwards and looked down with surprise to see Celestia was talking with Pinkamena below. He smiled after a moment, then glanced at his cousin, and she smiled back before becoming nothing but black smoke that twisted sinuously around him before shooting down to the ground, easily reforming beside her mother.

“I wish I could do that.” Antares mumbled, and then he leapt off the top of the tower, spreading his wings to glide in a smooth, quick descent down to land beside Celestia. He looked up with a smile as Pinkamena's eyes flicked to him. “Hey, Aunt Pinkamena.”

“Hey, kid.” Pinkamena gave a slight smile, revealing some of her sharp teeth: she was a dull, grayish-pink color, her mane long and straight, silver piercings glimmering in her ears and seeming to reflect the strange glow of her unnatural, red-rimmed blue eyes. She wasn't large, but she gave off an aura of strength... and she was only made all the more impressive by the beautiful tattoo that took up the entire left side of her breast and half-scrawled down one leg, of twisting and twining ivy that wrapped around the profile of a black tree. It stood out even clearer than the emblem on her flank, of black and gray balloons. “Looks like you're coming back to Ponyville with us a little early.”

“What's going on?” Antares asked apprehensively, and Pinkamena grimaced, making Antares wince a little. “That bad?”

“Worse. There was an attack at the hospital and some kind of plague's broken out and hit Ponyville. We've already started looking into it, but not even your sister knows what the hell is going on. Ponies are getting real sick, real fast.” Pinkamena stopped, then he shook her head, saying quietly: “Nibelung too, but demons and Nightmares seem immune to it so far. Hard to say, though... just started a few hours ago, but already a lot of ponies are sick.”

Celestia frowned at this, shaking her head and saying quietly: “It must be a demonic or supernatural infection, then. I'll make all haste to Ponyville, along with Twilight Sparkle, Prestige, and Antares. Pinkamena, can you go immediately to the hospital, find out what happened there? Look into recent events as well: shipments, suspicious deaths, autopsies, anything that could have a link to this.”

“I hate it when you give me orders.” Pinkamena said sourly, but then she sighed and nodded before looking mildly over at Aphrodisia. “Behave for Princess Sunshine and take care of your cousin, you got that, filly? Make sure they all get to Ponyville in one piece.”

“Yes, Mommy.” Aphrodisia nodded firmly, and Pinkamena gave a small smile before the gray-pink demon mare turned and burst apart into dark smoke that vanished completely from sight a moment later. Aphrodisia gazed admiringly in her mother's wake for a moment, then she smiled over at the other ponies, saying quietly: “You heard her. Let's go.”

“I agree. I'm going to fetch my armor and the Yamato Guard, we may need the assistance of our allies of the night to deal with this infection. Antares, Aphrodisia, go ahead and find Twilight Sparkle and Prestige. We'll meet outside of the castle and leave for Ponyville together.” Celestia said calmly, and the two young ponies nodded before the ivory winged unicorn strode quickly past towards the door.

Antares hesitated for a moment, looking worriedly over at Aphrodisia... but the demon shook her head and smiled a little, saying finally: “Look, it's gonna be fine, Nova, okay? Avalon, Rusty and Meadowlark are all okay.” She paused, then made a face, adding moodily: “But maybe Meadowlark we can let get a little sick.”

The young stallion sighed and shook his head, then he strode quickly forwards, and the demon grinned as she followed after him, saying positively: “What about Prestige, then? Can we let her get sick? I wouldn't mind her dying on us, too. She can die.”

“Apps, try and behave a little, huh?” Antares asked mildly as they headed quickly down the hall, and the demon only shrugged amiably as the glossy black pony added dryly: “And I thought we worked through this whole Meadowlark thing.”

“No, no. I still don't like her.” Aphrodisia remarked almost cheerfully, and Antares rolled his eyes before she checked him lightly with a wink. “I know you do but you can do so much better than her, sweetie.”

Antares only gave her an amused look, and then he glanced up and gave a sigh of relief as he saw Twilight Sparkle hurrying down the hall towards him with Prestige stumbling along behind her, the violet mare calling: “Antares! Did you hear... oh, Aphrodisia, did you tell him?”

“Yes, Celestia said to meet her out in front of the castle, we have to head to... uh, Prestige, are you okay?” Antares frowned a bit as the unicorn stumbled to a halt beside the Lich, the young mare wheezing loudly in and out as Aphrodisia scowled at her. But for once, Prestige didn't look like she could even cough up an insult, her features pale, her limbs wobbling a little beneath her as sweat visibly spilled down her features. “Are... are you sick?”

“She's recovering... I think.” Twilight looked nervously over her shoulder at Prestige, shaking her head quickly. “I just heard about the epidemic in Ponyville, Spike sent a letter directly to me. Then Prestige collapsed and I was able to put two plus two together fast enough to stop her illness from progressing... but if what Prestige was sick with is the same as what hit in Ponyville...”

“Was sick... I am sick!” Prestige whined loudly, shivering violently before she moaned pitiably. “Look at me and say I'm not sick!”

Twilight only grimaced, however, looking over her shoulder and murmuring: “Yeah, you are still sick, but you could be much, much worse, Prestige. You were much worse, as a matter of fact... look, the only sick person Prestige had contact with was Straw Crown, a coroner from Canterlot. I've already contacted the Royal Guards and the heads of the magic academy... they might not like me much but they do at least respect my opinion, and they're going to be screening everyone they can in Canterlot for this illness. It took a powerful cleansing spell to dilute the disease, and as you can see, that doesn't even get rid of it entirely... but I'm confident that now Prestige should be able to cope with it, at least. Until we find a cure.”

“What? Cope? I wanna be healed!” Prestige complained loudly, and Twilight gritted her teeth before the young mare shivered and whispered: “I think I'm getting worse again... can't... can't you teach me the spell you used?”

The Lich frowned, then she shook her head and turned towards the young mare, her horn glowing as she scanned over her... then her eyes widened and she shook her head, murmuring: “No, that's not possible... now it seems like an entirely different disease, it's attacking... okay, okay Prestige, this is going to hurt, but then you're going to feel better, okay?”

Twilight took a slow breath, and Prestige looked up, pale from both pain and fear before her eyes widened, and she gave a strangled cry as Twilight's horn glowed brightly. Other ponies stopped to stare, even Royal Guards halting as a bright white light washed over and encased Prestige, Twilight gritting her teeth as her eyes glowed with the power of the spell... and then the Lich cursed and staggered backwards, her horn sparking violently as Prestige toppled over, body steaming faintly and trembling violently.

Antares stared in shock and Aphrodisia had winced backwards as well, her own sharp teeth grit before the demon shivered a little and hugged herself, muttering: “Almost makes me feel sorry for her. Almost.”

Prestige shuddered on the ground... and then slowly, the young mare shook her head dazedly before she sat up, groaning and rubbing at her face. She coughed once, then sniffled... but then blinked a few times as Twilight sighed in relief, some of the color returning to the unicorn mare's cheeks. Then the Lich winced when a Royal Guard approached and reached up to grasp her shoulder... but instead of scolding or reprimanding her, the Guard asked hurriedly: “Can you come with me and show that spell to the other guards and mages? We just got a report of an outbreak at the magic school and none of our spells have been working.”

“I... okay. Prestige, Antares, Aphrodisia, go ahead. I'll catch up when I can.” Twilight said after a moment, nodding quickly as she reached up and nervously brushed a hoof against her collar, and the demon and young stallion nodded as Prestige only looked blearily up. “Let Celestia know she doesn't have to wait for me, I'll meet you in Ponyville one way or the other.”

Twilight turned, following the Royal Guard down the hall with several other soldiers, and Antares looked back and forth, breathing a little harder as he realized that he could almost feel the panic all around them. There was a buzz in the air, as if rumors were adding fuel to a fire that was very real and quickly growing, and Antares shook his head worriedly as he murmured: “If it's spread this fast here, then Ponyville... come on, we gotta go.”

Prestige stumbled to her hooves as Antares and Aphrodisia both turned to hurry down the corridor, and the young mare wheezed as she staggered after them, half-calling out to the two. Antares winced, but Aphrodisia only growled under her breath before the demon suddenly lunged around in a circle, running quickly back to Prestige and scooping her up to toss her over her back, the young mare squeaking as she clung down against the demon with a terrified look on her face when Aphrodisia spun around and broke into a sprint that Antares easily matched. “Put me down, prostatot!”

“Oh you have no idea how much I would love to drop you on your face, but we're on a schedule here.” Aphrodisia retorted, sniffing loudly before she added mockingly, as she firmly bucked upwards mid-run to make Prestige yelp in pain and surprise: “Besides, I thought this was where us slave hoofs were supposed to be and all.”

“I hate you!” Prestige cried, and Antares rolled his eyes as he continued to run alongside the demon, the two making their way quickly through the corridors of Canterlot Castle: and more and more, now that he was looking for it, Antares saw the worry and concern on faces of ponies they passed, many of them rushing through the halls themselves. Both Aphrodisia and Antares were able to dodge around most of the ponies that got in their way, however, and Antares only had to call back one awkward apology when he leapt over a Royal Guard and his rear hooves slapped against the soldier's helmet.

They made good time to the exit, heading out a short distance onto the road leading to Ponyville... and then both ponies stopped as Prestige looked up, shivering and still clinging to Aphrodisia before she screeched when the demon bucked forwards and threw her off. It was almost a reflex gesture, however, since both young stallion and demon were staring around themselves in disbelief: wagons were being hitched, ponies were hurrying away, and it looked as if there was a mass exodus already under way... but to where, neither of them could guess.

Then Prestige shoved herself quickly up to her hooves, growling angrily before she snapped: “Excuse me, prostatot, but I did not require the help of a whore-demon to make my way here, especially since we have now arrived long before Celestia and are standing amidst a horde of cowardly mudwalkers all so frightened by a little sickness they're running wild!”

Aphrodisia looked for a moment at Prestige... then she suddenly leaned forwards and hissed, baring enormous, curved fangs and sharp, deadly teeth, her eyes glowing poison green and her features becoming skull-like. Prestige screeched at this and fell backwards, and then Aphrodisia straightened, features smoothing out into beauty once more as she smiled teasingly, saying kindly: “Remember, dummy, I'm only half whore-demon. The other half of me is kill-you-to-bits-demon.”

Antares sighed tiredly, looking quietly at the two as he asked almost pleadingly: “Can you two please focus? And Prestige, a lot of ponies here are terrified, not cowards. The news of the plague that hit Ponyville is just filtering in here... and on top of that, the magic academy and part of Canterlot Castle is being quarantined. If this keeps up, Aunt Tia might not be able to leave here...”

“She's gotta leave here, though, we need to save Ponyville first.” Aphrodisia said worriedly, frowning over at Antares, and when the glossy-black stallion gave her a pointed look, the demon only huffed and shook her head quickly. “Well, I don't care a whole lot about Canterlot and stuff, Nova. I care about Ponyville. That's where Mommy and Daddy are, and that's what Aunt Tia really cares about and everything, too.”

“Aunt Tia cares about all of Equestria, and everypony here.” Antares said gently, and when Aphrodisia gave him an amused look, he huffed a bit. “It's true, Pinkslap... and besides, if Canterlot falls apart, then Aunt Tia would have to move back to the Temple of the Sun or something. How would you like that?”

“Okay, okay.” Aphrodisia huffed, then she turned her eyes out over the crowd, murmuring: “I guess I'm just worried, Nova. I don't think Aunt Twilight can cast that fancy spell on everypony in Ponyville, and we all know that she's almost as strong as Aunt Tia.”

“The Lich is powerful, but she's not that strong.” Prestige muttered... then she squeaked when Aphrodisia bared her fangs and shoved her face against the unicorn's, eyes glowing balefully.

“Don't you talk about my Aunt Twilight that way, got it?” Aphrodisia asked moodily, and Prestige swallowed thickly before the demon huffed and reached both hooves up to firmly shove the young mare's head down into the ground, making her squawk. She held her in place, Prestige flailing uselessly as Aphrodisia looked grumpily over at Antares, who only looked sourly back. “Why haven't we killed her yet? If she behaved this way around Mommy, Mommy would eat her.”

“Well, please don't kill her now, Apps, we might need her help.” Antares said tiredly, and Aphrodisia grumbled, but then finally stepped off Prestige's head, letting the humiliated-looking unicorn hurriedly scramble back up to her hooves. She glared balefully at Aphrodisia, but at least was smart enough to keep her snide comments to herself this time before Antares looked worriedly off into the distance and murmured: “You're right, though, Aphrodisia, we gotta help Ponyville. But if that coroner was the one who got the disease first...”

“He said something about Ponyville, though...” Prestige muttered, and both the ponies looked at her curiously. Immediately, the young mare winced back, but when she realized they were interested instead of aggressive, she nervously glanced back and forth at the ponies hurrying past them before stepping closer and saying hesitantly: “He... he said something about a Clockwork Pony being held in Ponyville, at the hospital...”

Antares stiffened at this, his eyes widening... and then, without another word, he turned and shot down the road as Aphrodisia threw her head back and groaned, then glared angrily at Prestige, snapping: “Thanks a lot, genius! Nova, hey, wait up Nova!”

With that, the demon turned and bolted after Antares, and Prestige blinked a few times before she grumbled loudly and mumbled a few angry curses at the backs of the two. She dropped down on her haunches, raising her head with a sniff as she looked back and forth at the crowd of ponies around her, mumbling: “I'm going to do the right thing at least. Wait for the Baroness, yes, the Baroness, who may be soft on her subjects but is all the same a noble and valorous winged unicorn, penultimate of the species. Yes... I'm not really alone here at all, I'm just... waiting, and... I would be of no help to Antares and Aphrodisia, after all, better to wait for the Lich or the Baroness or...”

Prestige stuttered to a halt, then winced when a large wagon rolled by her, pulled by two enormous earth ponies and with several families stuffed inside it and trunks of luggage on the roof... and Prestige hesitated for a few moments before she groaned and dropped her head forwards, beginning to trot quickly down the path after Antares and Aphrodisia.

Epidemic

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Chapter Four: Epidemic
~BlackRoseRaven

Antares grimaced in pain as he finally stumbled to a halt in front of the hospital at the edge of Ponyville, head lowered and breathing hard. A moment later, Aphrodisia was beside him, glaring down at him, but her eyes betrayed her worry even as she snapped: “Nova, what's the point of this, anyway? We should have waited for Aunt Tia, she's gonna get all... disappointed at us and I hate it when she gets all disappointed at us! It's worse than when Twilight gets mad at us!”

“If this has something to do with Clockwork World, I gotta know, Apps!” Antares replied forcefully, shaking his head and looking over at her almost pleadingly. “Come on, if we're lucky, Scarlet Sage is working today... we can find out from her but... I gotta know, one way or the other.”

“Antares, look.” Aphrodisia pointed at the building... and Antares grimaced as he realized there were guards in front of the doors, and the only ponies going in and out were wearing all kinds of protective gear. “Look, maybe you could sneak in there... but I'm not gonna let you even if you can. I don't want you getting sick, Nova.”

“Apps...” Antares hesitated, looking up into the demon's eyes... and then he sighed a little, leaning forwards and sharing a short nuzzle with her before he stepped back and studied her thoughtfully. “Then... can you go inside and check if Scarlet Sage is there? You're a demon and a Starlit Knight, right?”

Aphrodisia hesitated... and then she sighed and grumbled, muttering: “Fine, but you owe me so big for this, do you hear me? I'll go see what I can do.”

The demon turned, resisting the urge to smile at the radiant look Antares gave her as she strode calmly over to the doors, and one of the guards stepped immediately forwards, saying clearly: “This is area is under quarantine, ma'am, all ponies are being told to go to the medical clinic in town if they have-”

“Hey, hotshot, look again.” Aphrodisia interrupted, and then her eyes glowed brightly, and the security guard winced and staggered backwards in surprise before the demon sniffed loudly. “Thought so. Listen, is Scarlet Sage in there? She's a healer. Red mane, looks younger than she is. But hell, everypony knows her.”

“Scarlet Sage?” asked another guard, glancing up, and when Aphrodisia nodded quickly, the guard shook his head and pointed towards Ponyville. “She was called away to the clinic to try and help who she could in town. This disease hit fast, whatever it is... hey, you're a demon, right? We could really some help from your kind out here. We just don't have the equipment to clean up this mess fast without a little help.”

“Well, it sounds like 'my kind' is a little busy in town too.” Aphrodisia replied sourly, and then she sighed and nodded, saying moodily: “I'll pass word along when I go into town... hey, any of you know about a Clockwork Pony being here?”

The guards traded looks, and then a pony wearing a white suit approached, some kind of protective helmet hanging around his neck with a full facemask. He frowned at her, studying her for a moment before he asked slowly: “Who are you?”

“A demon, sweetie.” Aphrodisia smiled, showing off her sharp teeth before her eyes glowed as she asked kindly: “Don't you wanna answer me?”

The pony in the protective suit winced away, half-covering his eyes before he said flatly: “Get her out of here and tell her to mind her own business.”

“Wow, such a big stallion you are.” Aphrodisia remarked, and then she bared her teeth in a half-smile, half-snarl that made the guards wince away before the demon turned with a huff, striding quickly back over to Antares as she muttered: “Loser crowbait.”

“No luck, huh? Then let's just head into town and talk to Scarlet Sage. I'm really worried about the others, anyway.” Antares said quietly as Aphrodisia approached, and the demon nodded with a grunt of agreement before they both fell into step, striding quickly towards the gates of Ponyville.

They found them closed tightly and guarded by both Nibelung and ponies... but as they approached, one particularly large stallion stepped forwards, polished oaken yoke almost gleaming around his neck. His coat was crimson and his mane and cropped tail hay-colored, his cutie mark of a green apple half standing out against the bright red almost as clearly as his soulful viridian eyes, as he said in his soft, deep voice: “You wanna turn back, kids.”

“We're here to help. Celestia is on her way, too, and Twilight Sparkle.” Antares shook his head quickly, looking up with a faint smile and concern in his eyes as he asked nervously: “How bad is it, Big Mac?”

The large earth pony hesitated... then he sighed and reached up to slowly rub at a thin scar over one side of his face, hoof making a quiet click as it tapped against his eye: an eye that looked almost as real as his other one, but was made of polished glass. “Ain't good, that's for sure. Half of Ponyville's sick... and it's just only just evening.”

Antares nodded nervously, then he shook his head quickly, trading a look with Aphrodisia. “Let us in, then, we can help. Aphrodisia's a demon and I'm... well... I don't think I'll get sick.”

Big Mac made a bit of a face, but then he finally nodded slowly and turned to gesture at the guards by the doors. They hesitated for a few moments, but then turned to begin pulling the massive gates open, as Antares nervously looked back and forth at the walls around the city: he could see soldiers standing here and there atop them, and Pegasi flying short patrols as well, like it was a city under siege.

The red stallion noticed his gaze, and he gave a faint smile, shaking his head slowly. “Ain't fair, but gotta make sure this disease don't spread any further than it already has. Until we find a cure, Ponyville's quarantined.”

Antares grimaced at this... and then he looked up in surprise as a shout cut through the air, looking stupidly over his shoulder as Aphrodisia groaned in disbelief. Then the demon glared back down the road as well as Prestige stumbled towards them, the young mare wheezing loudly as she babbled: “W-Wait... I'm coming too, don't... don't lock me out!”

“Oh great.” Antares mumbled, and then he sighed tiredly, saying finally as the young mare stumbled up to them and promptly fell on her face with a grunt: “Look, Prestige, why don't you stay out here and wait for Celestia to get here, okay? Besides, you already got sick once. You don't want to catch this thing again, do you?”

“But... I... I know what Twilight... did... figured it... out...” Prestige wheezed, and Antares frowned curiously as Aphrodisia cocked her head, interested despite herself when as the young mare hurriedly shoved herself to her hooves, then grunted and strode forwards, ignoring Big Mac completely as she stumbled onwards into Ponyville. None of the guards stopped her, and Antares and Aphrodisia both groaned before they hurried after the young mare, as she continued to ramble: “It should have been obvious, obvious from the start, but it was... it was... I was...”

Aphrodisia flung a hoof out, smacking Prestige in the face and knocking her to a dead halt as she let out a little whimper of pain, and then the demon leaned forwards and asked flatly: “What the hell are you talking about?”

For a moment, Prestige only stood dumbly... and then she hurriedly shook her head out before scowling between the two ponies. “Don't you two ever pay attention? She used a purification spell instead of a healing spell, she treated the disease like it was a supernatural entity instead of a natural infection. And because clearly this disease is of unnatural origin, it worked and burned it out of my body. Now come, come, we need to inform the healers.”

“I don't get it.” Antares said finally, and Prestige sighed tiredly even as she began to storm forwards, taking the lead as Aphrodisia looked sour.

“Of course you don't. Look, healing magic works in tandem with the body. It accelerates natural functions already present within our physiology and... oh, I'm going over your head again, aren't I, splinter-horn?” Prestige looked grumpily over her shoulder at him, and Antares resisted the urge to hit her as Aphrodisia leaned forwards with a moody growl. “Let me put it in a way you'll understand, Antares. She exorcised the evil disease out of me. Or does that require further explanation too?”

“It's not demonic, though. I would have sensed that.” Aphrodisia said pettishly, looking moodily down at Prestige, who only huffed and rose her head high. “But it explains the chill it gave me when Twilight used that magic. Now, tell me, Prestige, are you going to continue to be nothing but a useless pain in the flank or can you do that kind of magic, too?”

“Well... no... that's high level magic, and it's in a different school than I've been training in...” Prestige said slowly... and when Antares and Aphrodisia both increased their pace to hurry past her, she cursed before shouting as she ran after them: “But you two wouldn't know what was going on without my help! I deserve respect!”

Antares only grumbled as he ran onwards, the demon keeping pace beside him and Prestige sluggishly bringing up the rear as they hurried towards the center of Ponyville, and found what looked like a disaster camp being set up. Doctors and nurses were hurrying back and forth, most of them wearing masks and as much protective gear as they could comfortably carry, and sick ponies were everywhere, being tended to by relatives, healers, and others. Antares winced at the sight, then shivered a bit as his eyes drew over them and he read into their emotions without meaning to; the pain, the despair, the hopelessness he felt was almost overwhelming, as he looked up at the slowly-setting sun and whispered: “And this is after only a few hours?”

So many ponies were sick, and it looked like even more ill ponies were being carefully guided in by relatives and others... but already, the square was almost full. The smell in the air was putrid, and Antares stomach clenched and threatened to roll over as he closed his eyes tightly, shivering once before he felt Aphrodisia reach up and reassuringly touch his shoulder.

He retched a little all the same, and then Aphrodisia leaned over and breathed out a sweet-smelling orange mist into his face, Antares wincing and shivering... but the perfume of flowers filled his nostrils and numbed his senses, and he relaxed after a moment, nodding and closing his eyes as he mumbled: “Thanks, Apps. I owe you one.”

“You owe me about twenty, actually, but no sweat. If you need more I'll be glad to give it to you, too.” Aphrodisia bared her fangs in a smile, and Antares smiled faintly despite himself before he glanced up as a voice called loudly to him.

He sighed in relief at the sight of Scarlet Sage hurrying through the crowd: the silver-white Pegasus looked at him with concern as her braided red mane and tail streamed out behind her, wings flapping nervously once at her side before she skidded to a halt in front of him and gazed worriedly down into his eyes, crimson irises both frustrated and fearful. “Antares, Prestige, Aphrodisia, what are you doing here? Listen, it's not safe for any of you... this disease, whatever it is, it's out of control and it's like it's... like it's mutating every time we think we're a step ahead of it. Ponies are really sick and I don't want to risk any of you getting sick, too.”

“Has it started affecting demons?” Aphrodisia looked up in surprise, and Scarlet Sage hesitated, then she sighed and shook her head quickly before the demon sighed in relief, then looked awkwardly at Scarlet Sage's cutie mark: a red mirror, edged in black. “Can't you... you know...”

“No, I can't.” Scarlet grimaced, shaking her head and sighing quietly. “And if this disease keeps getting worse, we're going to have to set up a tighter quarantine and... no, I don't want to think about it. We... listen, guys, I know you want to help, but I don't know what jobs I could give you. So unless you've brought Celestia or Twilight or a cure...”

“Celestia and Twilight are on their way right now.” Antares said quickly, and Scarlet Sage sighed in relief at this before the young stallion hesitated, then glanced almost grudgingly at Prestige as he added finally: “And... Prestige had the disease, but Twilight managed to heal her. Prestige thinks that she knows what Twilight did, even though we could just wait for Twilight to get here...”

“Every second counts.” Scarlet Sage said empathetically, and she turned her eyes to Prestige, who almost quailed despite the fact she and Scarlet Sage were roughly the same size. “What was it? How did Twilight fix this?”

“I... I... I think it was purification magic.” Prestige halted, then she added in a sudden rush: “If what I suspect is correct, a group of unicorn mages should be capable of channeling their magic together to create what's referred to as a 'shockwave exorcism;' normally it's used to drive back mass quantities of demons or as part of warding ritual, but if harnessed properly it might be enough to cure those near the epicenter of the blast and severely weaken the disease in other ponies.”

“We'll need Celestia and Twilight for that... Prestige, go talk to the mages, tell them your theory. Aphrodisia, Antares, I... Fluttershy and Nirvana are handing out medicine. You can stay and help them out.” Scarlet Sage pointed towards the west, then she hesitated and reached out to grab Antares' shoulder when he began to turn, leaning down and saying quietly: “I need to talk to you tonight about what happened here. I think it might be related to Clockwork World... but then again, that's why you're here, isn't it?”

Antares smiled embarrassedly up at her, nodding a little, and Scarlet Sage sighed softly before she smiled faintly in return, murmuring quietly: “You have moments where you really remind me of Mom and Dad, Antares. Go on, Fluttershy could really use the help.”

The young stallion nodded again, firmer this time, and then he turned and hurried off between the rows of cots and ill ponies, glancing back and forth with a bit of a shiver despite himself. So many ponies here were in pain, were suffering, were ill... the only good thing he could see was that so far, no one had died. But at this rate... it wouldn't be long until not only all of Ponyville was infected, the town wouldn't last a week without some kind of cure.

Antares finally stumbled out from between two rows of hacking, coughing ponies to step into a cleared area, walking past soldiers wearing the blue armor of the Starlit Knights: an organization of warriors and soldiers, he had been told, that his mother had first led as Champion of Equestria, many years ago. Even now, glancing at them made him smile faintly with these memories, with thoughts of the comradeship that was touted between them all, before he looked ahead to a large medical wagon and smiled with relief at what he saw.

A sunshine-yellow Pegasus with a pink mane that fell in one long, natural bang to one side of her face was carefully pulling medical supplies out of the back of the carriage, passing them over to a Phooka: a pony-shaped entity that looked as if it was made of smoke and shadow, with green fire burning in its sockets. Yet for as fearsome as it looked, it was clearly no threat: few of the Phooka were these days, ever since they had developed friendship and an alliance with Equestria's ponies.

On the other side of the Phooka, nervously hopping from hoof-to-hoof, was a titanic earth pony: he was perhaps the size of Celestia, chestnut in coloration and with a mane and tail of thick, living vines. Gemstones glittered brightly inside of these, trapped inside the strange locks as if they had always been there, and covering the right side of his breast and along one powerful forelimb was a tattoo of vines intertwined with runes and celestial symbols: a strange match for his emblem, which was a profile of a proud ash tree. His warm, strangely-innocent brown eyes were nervous as he looked over the medicine, even with Aphrodisia gently rubbing his side and looking up at him softly.

Then the behemoth stallion glanced up before smiling a little at Antares. “Oh, nephew! Thou art a wonderful sight amidst all this pain and drudgery, but all the same I must admit 'tis painful to see thee here. This is no place for young stallions, after all...”

“Oh, Antares... yes, I have to agree. You're putting yourself at risk being here...” added the Pegasus, glancing up with a concerned frown, but when Antares only smiled a little, she nodded hesitantly before quickly picking up a basket filled with plastic bottles of pills and holding this out. As she turned towards him, her wing fluttered... and on the other side of her body, old scarring flexed a bit, revealing that she only had one wing.

Antares took the basket from her with telekinesis, saying quietly: “I know, Fluttershy, but... I need to help out and I think I'll be okay. My Mom was... special, and so was my Dad. And you guys seem okay... you're okay, right, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy smiled faintly at this as the Phooka beside her rumbled nervously, looking at her... but Fluttershy only reached up, soothingly stroking along the back of his neck as she said softly: “Yes, I'm fine. Besides, Nirvana and I have to help as much as we can, too... Ponyville's our home, and it's been good to us. More importantly, some of our friends are sick... good ponies who don't deserve this. We need to help as much as we can.”

Antares nodded firmly in agreement, and then he glanced up as Sleipnir added moodily: “But something is very wrong here, heed my words.'Tis no natural disease that has done this... nature has her reasons for everything she does, and I see none of that here, only pointless pain and suffering and a wickedness that reeks of something foul and evil. And furthermore, the earth bodes this disease little better than the ponies... does thou not feel it too, Nirvana?”

The Phooka only rumbled quietly again, not speaking as it glanced towards Sleipnir, then gave the slightest of nods. Sleipnir nodded firmly in return, however, before Aphrodisia said quietly: “Now come on, Daddy, don't be that way. Aunt Tia is coming, and you always say Aunt Tia can solve any problem. It scares me when you're scared.”

“I know, my beloved little filly, but all the same I am afraid and I would rather be honest with thee than lie.” Sleipnir replied gently, then he reached out and hugged the demon tightly, who hugged her father fiercely back, looking much more like a young child in his strong embrace than a demonic mare... but in many ways, she was both. It was only with her parents and the few others she trusted and respected that Aphrodisia let her still-young emotions show themselves. “But thou art right, all the same. We must not fear. We must instead help all those whom we can, even if...”

Sleipnir's muzzle wrinkled up, and then he turned his head to the side and gave a dainty little sneeze, Aphrodisia giggling and Fluttershy and Antares both simply staring. Nirvana only rolled his green-fire eyes, however, picking up another satchel of medicine and carrying this over to Antares, and the young stallion hurriedly shook himself out and turned to follow the Phooka, even as Sleipnir said awkwardly: “I am usually far more masculine even when ill! 'Twas... 'twas simply a tickle! I shall sneeze most tremendously shortly!”

Antares rolled his eyes, but at the same time, he felt relieved: if that was the extent that this whatever-it-was had affected Sleipnir, it meant the rampaging pestilence hadn't yet become so threatening it was infecting demons and other supernatural entities yet. And while Antares still wasn't quite sure where he fell in that regard, he was more than willing to risk getting sick to lend what little aid he could here... although admittedly, the fact that Celestia and Twilight were on their way and they had some idea how to actually fight this illness helped a lot, too.

He walked side by side with the Phooka, who communicated with him mainly through gestures and looks: but it was comfortable despite the silence, all the same. He and Nirvana knew each other well, and trusted one-another, and Antares was glad for the quiet, the time to think, while he doled out medicine and nervously looked over the sick and ill.

Antares had to take a short five minute break after handing out the last of the medication in the basket to a group of parents and their foals, excusing himself quietly as he stepped quickly away from the tents and cots that had been set up and trembling a little as he stumbled out of the town square. Then he turned around, breathing hard as he looked silently at the back of the tent that the families had been in... but it was like his eyes were seeing right through the fabric, watching parents helping coughing and wheezing children to swallow medicine, seeing the smile on the face of a tired mother as she gave up her pills to give her child more, watching a father whose face was strained with worry cradling his baby and rocking him slowly and silently even as-

“Antares.” murmured a gentle voice, and Antares shook his head violently, hurriedly reaching up to rub wildly at his eyes before he turned with a faint flush to see Celestia striding towards him, the ivory equine frowning down at him with concern. “Why didn't you wait?”

“I... I'm sorry. I heard about the Clockwork Pony and took off, and... Prestige...” Antares halted, then looked up quickly. “Wait, yes, I ran off but Prestige had an idea on how to cure this plague!”

“She figured out what Twilight Sparkle did?” Celestia asked with surprise, and when Antares nodded, the ivory winged unicorn gave a small smile. “Then I am impressed. But Antares, you and Aphrodisia should not have run off by yourselves... it's dangerous here. Knowing that Clockwork World was involved should have made that all the more clear: what if this really had been some plot from Clockwork World?”

Antares shifted uneasily, glancing down as a faint blush suffused his features, and he nodded slowly before closing his eyes. “I know, Aunt Tia, but... I... I guess I let my... you know. That instinct passed down from Mom, I let it get the better of me. And I just couldn't... I just thought, 'what if this could lead me to Mom and Dad,' and...”

“I understand, Antares... but all the same, you need to be more careful.” Celestia said quietly, shaking her head slowly before she reached up and touched his shoulder gently. “You took a big risk coming here. And while it was noble of you to offer your aid and help out, it was also foolish: there's no guarantee you won't become ill yourself, nor any guarantee that a purification spell can cure everypony here. This illness is... strange. I don't dare make any guesses about what it's capable of.”

The glossy black young stallion nodded quietly, glancing down embarrassedly before Celestia hesitated, then shook her head and said quietly: “But as long as you're here, I could use your help. I need every available unicorn to join me in town square. When journeying through Old Equestria, more than once my family and I came across villages riddled with disease or cursed by dark magic, and I developed a cleansing spell to deal with these occurrences.”

“Will it cure them?” Antares asked after a moment, looking up... and when Celestia only shook her head, he nodded a little and glanced down nervously. “I guess we'll have to see then... what about Mom, is she here too?”

“Twilight is here, yes, and... I don't believe the magic will hurt her.” Celestia replied quietly, shaking her head again. “She may be a Lich, but that is only a state of being, as... I've come to terms with myself. If only so I can stop blaming myself for how everything turned out.”

Antares offered a faint smile, and Celestia shook her head before she turned, saying quietly: “But we shouldn't waste our time right now on this. The sooner we cast the spell, the better, and I'm sure by now my Yamato have finished laying the runework I requested to strengthen the spell's effects. They've all agreed to stay and help boost the power with their own magic...”

Celestia smiled a bit as Antares stood up, falling into pace with his aunt as she continued quietly: “I never expected Nightmares to be so loyal, pact or not. With luck, their armor will shield them from the magic, but if not they'll be injured by the purification, perhaps seriously. Yet all the same they've all insisted on staying. It humbles me, Antares.”

“People are people... that's what Mom and Dad taught me, what... Twilight taught me, even what you taught me, Aunt Tia.” Antares gazed over at her softly, then he laughed and shook his head a little. “And I guess it helps that I've got all kinds of friends and family who are all over the map, right? Discombobulation, Pinkamena and Aphrodisia, you, Twilight...”

Celestia nodded slowly, murmuring softly: “And it's a lesson I learn again and again, Antares, yet every time I do, I'm just as amazed, surprised, and humbled as if I had learned it for the first time. But come, we can discuss philosophy and these subjects later... for now, we have a job to do.”

Antares nodded firmly as they approached a cleared area at the center of the square: Celestia's Yamato guards had formed an outer circle, their golden armor gleaming even through the dusky dimness, the Nightmares prepared to amplify the magic of the ponies. As Celestia and Antares passed, one of the Nightmares leaned to the side, and the young stallion blushed as their sides brushed together and he felt the demonic mare's smile beneath her mask, without even looking over his shoulder: with his heritage, and the fact he was growing older, many of the servants of the night had taken a distinct interest in him.

The young stallion was surprised to find not just Twilight Sparkle, Prestige, and unicorn healers inside the ring of Yamato Guard, but also Rarity. The ivory unicorn smiled at him softly, her features grown only more beautiful with age, her violet mane and tail as well-groomed as ever and styled in corkscrewed swirls. Antares had heard she had once been a fashion designer or something... but now she was known for running not just her popular boutique and several clothing stores in town, she was also involved with the engineering labs run by Antares' friend Rustproof's crazy mom, Kilby Kwolek. She was as charitable as she was attractive, and as warm and kind as she was generous. “Miss Rarity...”

“Please, Antares, just Rarity. Or Aunt Rarity, if you can stand that. Although I like to think I'm still young enough I could believably pull off being 'big sister' too.” The ivory unicorn said gently, gazing at him fondly. Her blue eyes studied him curiously, her irises much darker than the image of brighter-blue cut gemstones she bore on her flank as her cutie mark. Her only adornment was a beautiful wedding band of gold around the base of her horn, topped with a polished, circular gemstone the same color as her eyes.

Antares smiled back to the white unicorn, then he looked back and forth before asking apprehensively: “Are... I mean, I know you're not usually much into magic...”

“No, I'm not, but Twilight said Celestia needed every possible unicorn...” Rarity glanced over her shoulder softly at the Lich, who was currently speaking quickly and quietly with Prestige and several of the healers. “Poor Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo are both among the ill, and it's not as if I can just abandon them, after all. I only wish there were more unicorns capable of helping.”

“Your help will be invaluable all the same, Rarity.” Celestia said quietly, and the white unicorn blushed as the rainbow-maned winged unicorn straightened slightly, turning with a nervous frown. Evening was settling in... but both lanterns and floating orbs of magical light kept the square well lit, and there were so many sick here, so many ponies clearly in pain... “I should have asked this before, but is Spike sick?”

Rarity shook her head quickly. “No more than the Phooka or other creatures I've seen around town. I know as a dragon his immune system is more powerful than my own, but... he's spent the entire day helping out here at the clinic, while I was working with Cowlick, doing the little I could to help prepare medicine.”

Celestia looked down, frowning a bit before she nodded once and glanced over her shoulder at Twilight, as the Lich approached and said quietly: “We're ready at any time. But Celestia, are you sure...”

“We're only aiming to attack the supernatural side of this affliction, whatever it is. To drive the roots of the disease out of ponies and hopefully get rid of what's caused this. It will be far from an instant cure, but it should stop ponies from getting any worse, and their immune systems should be able to kick back in and start fighting off the illness with or without our further aid.” Celestia replied calmly, meeting Twilight's eyes for a moment. The Lich nodded slowly, her own eyes filled with trust and hope, and Celestia smiled faintly before she rose her head and called out clearly: “Yamato! Ready yourselves!”

The golden-armored Nightmares all anchored themselves, dropping their heads forwards and squaring their shoulders as eyes glowed brighter out of the sockets of their masks, and Celestia nodded once at the feeling of building power in the air before she straightened, her horn beginning to glow as she ordered calmly: “Focus all magic on me and lend me your strength, friends!”

The gathered unicorns all rose their own heads, looking towards Celestia as their horns began to glow, Antares feeling a flicker of worry run through him even as his own horn lit up with a radiant sapphire aura. He could see worry in Twilight's eyes too, even as Celestia closed her eyes, the golden aura around her horn building, growing...

Electricity crackled through the flowing rainbow locks of the mare as her horn rose a bit higher, gritting her teeth as golden light became radiant white fire around her horn, her features tensing even as Antares stared up at his aunt with amazement, seeing the power she was focusing, the raw energy crackling through her, the agony she was in that she refused to voice or show as the unicorns focused more energy to her, poured more of their magic through her like she was a lens... and then Celestia reared back, snapping her horn upwards with a single gasp, and Antares was almost blown off his hooves from the force of the blinding shockwave that tore through the air, hisses rising up from the Yamato guards even as they arched their backs in concert, adding their own might to the blast of magic even as it crackled painfully through their bodies.

The shockwave of light rippled through all of Ponyville, turning the village into a glowing white beacon for a few moments as the light settled over ponies, homes, and the ground like a shifting blanket... and then, slowly, the aura faded quietly from sight, Antares looking slowly up and blinking owlishly as he shivered a little in surprise. A bit of energy crackled over his horn, making him wince a little as he glanced up and realized how drained he felt, feeling his breath rushing in and out before he looked worriedly over his shoulder.

Celestia was slumped, breathing hard, a single trickle of blood falling from her mouth... but when he began to turn towards her, she shook her head quickly and closed her eyes, whispering: “It's not important. Did... did it work?”

Antares hesitated for a moment, looking past Celestia: Prestige and a few of the unicorn healers were still standing,but Rarity had half-fallen groggily over and Twilight was shivering hard, sparks of energy racing painfully over the Lich's body. And when he looked ahead, he saw the Yamato had all collapsed, making the glossy black young stallion swallow thickly before he whispered: “I... I hope so, Aunt Tia, because...”

“I know. But we have to be prepared to accept a high cost for ourselves if we want to save others.” Celestia murmured quietly, and then she slowly began to stand, shivering a bit before Antares hurried to her side. He pushed himself gently against her, helping give the little support he could to the enormous, armored winged unicorn, and she smiled faintly before raising her head, forcing her amethyst eyes to focus on the nearest patients that had been moved into the square as earth pony and Pegasus healers ran back and forth.

She stumbled forwards a bit, and Antares kept himself beside her, looking up at her worriedly. At the edge of the circle, Celestia hesitated for a moment to lean down and inspect one of her Yamato, but the Nightmare was only dazed, even if a sulfur-smelling black smoke was slowly floating up between the golden plates of armor. Celestia smiled faintly after a moment, then turned her attention back upwards, approaching the nearest cots.

She leaned forwards... then glanced up as a voice called to her, Scarlet Sage hurrying down the aisle with a relieved look on her face as she called quickly: “Celestia! I think it worked!”

“But... but they still look sick...” Antares began nervously, looking awkwardly over the fidgeting, pale ponies on the cots and sheets, before he glanced up apprehensively as Scarlet Sage skidded to a halt in front of them. “I mean... how do you know?”

Scarlet Sage blushed a bit, shifting a little, but Celestia only shook her head, saying quietly: “I'm not about to hold you using your powers against you. There will be time to lecture you later for that, for now my only concern is if the ponies are really okay.”

The Pegasus smiled in relief at this, looking up as she nodded quickly once, replying embarrassedly: “I... I used my powers, yeah. Scoot is at the outer edge of the area and she let me make a quick link, so...”

Scarlet Sage shifted: even after all these years, even after beginning to use her powers more and more often to help ponies, she was still uncomfortable talking about them. She was a Blood Seer: by making contact with another pony's blood, she could divine their future, read their mind, heal illness or wounds... or hurt ponies in a wide variety of ways. “Anyway, I... whatever you did hasn't gotten rid of the illness, but it... I don't know, I've never seen this before. It neutralized most of it, transformed it from pestilence into... well, now it just looks like a normal, pain-in-the-flank flu. Some bed rest and most of the ponies here will be okay.”

“Most?” Antares asked worriedly, and Scarlet Sage smiled faintly, shaking her head a little before the glossy-black young stallion said nervously: “But... wait, what if it comes back?”

“The wave of purification we sent through Ponyville will take time to dissipate. We have a few days to figure that out.” Celestia said quietly, and then she shook her head slowly. “And those hit first by the disease, I suspect, will need a little more care, won't they? I'd like to take a look at them myself if possible... and I'll also need to know who started showing symptoms first, if that's possible too.”

Scarlet Sage nodded quickly, saying quietly: “I'll get the clinic records for you but... Aunt Tia, maybe... maybe for now, you should go rest. You've done a lot and now we have to help clear out town square and get everypony back home.”

Celestia hesitated, but then she nodded a little when Antares gave her an insistent, worried look as well, murmuring quietly: “Perhaps you're right. I'll go to the library, then, and rest for a few hours. But please send me those records when you have the chance... and Antares, perhaps you could join me in the library with Twilight Sparkle once you're done helping out here.” She paused, then smiled a little as she straightened slowly. “By the way, you appear to still be wearing your training weights. You're going to be very sore tomorrow.”

“I am?” Antares looked down with surprise, then he laughed and blushed a bit, awkwardly holding a hoof up and studying the weighted bracelet around one ankle as he mumbled: “Well, that was stupid of me. No wonder it took me so long just to get to the Ponyville Hospital... I'm sorry, Aunt Tia, I got so caught up with everything...”

“There's no need to apologize, least of all to me.” Celestia said softly, and then she glanced over her shoulder as Twilight Sparkle slowly approached, the Lich still looking a little dazed, but the recoil at least gone from her body. “I'm glad to see you weren't badly hurt by the purification, my friend. Prestige, your student... it looked like she held up well, too.”

“Only because I don't think she gave as much focus as she could have.” Twilight muttered, and Antares smiled a little despite himself before the violet mare's eyes turned to Scarlet Sage, asking quietly: “Did it work?”

Scarlet Sage nodded, replying quietly: “I was just telling Celestia that it seems to have gone from ultra-virulent plague to no worse than a bad flu, so now we just need to get most of these ponies home and back in bed. Are you okay yourself, Twilight? I know you don't really have to worry about illness but... that wave of magic...”

“I... I'm fine. I'm surprised, but I'm okay.” Twilight hesitated, raising her head a bit as she added: “The purification in the air isn't too bad... why don't I call some of the servants of the night to help? And Fluttershy can ask the Phooka, too...”

Scarlet Sage smiled a little, relaxing a bit, but Antares still felt a strange chill of worry travel down his spine, feeling somehow like this was just a prelude of what awaited them in the future.

By midnight, they had managed to get most ponies back to their homes: many were groggy and complaining still, but a few were already healthy enough to pick themselves up and go. But there were several ponies on the other end of the spectrum as well, who had to be moved to the hospital or clinic for further care: ponies whom the rampaging plague had already damaged the organs of, or caused some other nasty medical malady they had to be closely monitored.

Antares felt strangely muted, even now: the hospital was out of quarantine, the plague was being handled in Canterlot and had been diluted here in Ponyville... but all the same, he couldn't shake the feeling that this was nothing more than a hint of what the future held for them. He sighed a little as he looked back and forth throughout the library's main room, armor discarded in a pile nearby as his eyes roved over the shelves that lined the walls of the rounded room, filled not just with books, but with papers and letters and documents...

Then he glanced up in surprise as the melodic voice of a saxophone filled the air, and he smiled after a moment as his eyes settled on the gramophone near one large table: Celestia was sitting beside it, gazing down at a paper sleeve as a record spun slowly on the turntable. More instruments joined in on the melody, as Celestia said gently over her shoulder: “I hope you don't mind, but it helps me relax. You're free to go to bed any time you like, too, Antares, you can use my room, since I believe that Prestige is already asleep in the guest room upstairs.”

“No, it's okay. I don't sleep much... I guess I inherited that from Mom and Dad, huh?” Antares smiled after a moment, striding towards the table to sit down at it. Celestia only nodded as she returned to the furnishing herself, glancing down at a pile of papers in front of her seat, and the young stallion shifted back and forth before he asked finally: “Aunt Tia... I... I'm really worried. I know you told me not to think about this too much already, but...”

“I know, Antares, and I'm concerned too. But I'm trying not to let my worries and my fears overwhelm either my common sense or the fact that tonight, we did something good. We stopped whatever this was before it was able to spread any further than it already had.” Celestia replied quietly, shaking her head slowly. Then she smiled a little, adding quietly: “Besides, when Twilight returns, she and Aphrodisia and Pinkamena may have been able to track down the source of all this. We'll know once they get back from the hospital. There's no point in worrying about anything until then.”

Antares nodded slowly after a moment, sighing a little as he looked down and shifted apprehensively again. For a little while, the only sounds were the soft, soulful jazz pouring out of the gramophone, and Celestia shuffling slowly through papers... and then the ivory winged unicorn frowned a bit, looking up and asking curiously: “Did you see any sick Nibelung, Antares?”

“I... no, I didn't. Why?” the young stallion asked curiously, tilting his head. But instead of answering, Celestia only put her papers aside and turned to glance quickly over the bookshelves, before her horn glowed and pulled several large texts free. “Aunt Tia?”

“We may have a clue to what happened here, Antares. Demons don't get sick, Nibelung don't get sick... if only Discombobulation or Discord were here, their reaction could have told us more.” Celestia said musingly, even as she passed a large textbook to Antares. The young stallion took it with a frown, and then Celestia reached down for the book in front of her, opening it as she began: “These are Nibelung history. Look for-”

Celestia was cut off as there was a loud pop, staring down at the open book to see a small, chimerical creature that looked as if it was made up of a mishmash of body parts sitting back on it with his legs primly crossed. He smiled wryly up at her, a metallic claw resting on one of his knees as his inverted, white pupils gazed thoughtfully up out of black irises at the Baroness, before he said mildly: “I never really thought you were into pop-up books, Celestia.”

The ivory winged unicorn only smiled in response, however, and the Draconequus nodded thoughtfully to her before he stood up and hopped off the book to the floor: with another pop, he was no longer tiny, but instead tall and sleek, at least seven feet high from his mismatched feline and giraffe leg to the brush-like black mohawk that stood between the horns pushing up out of his skull: one was long and pointed, like a dragon's, and the other was a curling ram's horn.

He reached out with a long, red furred arm, flicking Celestia's horn amiably with his gray-skinned hand, and then he smiled over his shoulder at Antares as the young stallion looked warmly up at him. The red scales that covered his draconic features gleamed, a pleasant contrast to the black scales that covered his almost serpentine body. “You two look like you've been busy. Then again, all of Ponyville was a touch under the weather, wasn't it? It was worse than a case of meningitis showing up at a crowded diving competition, and we didn't even have a subplot to keep things light.”

“So you were around Ponyville, Discombobulation?” Celestia asked curiously, and the chimerical creature shrugged, absently reaching up to rub slowly at his metallic arm: it was a prosthetic, held tightly on by both an enlarged shoulder cusp as well as a half-harness of rawhide, straps tightly cinched around the male's upper body. Stacked plates of metal laid over magically-charged crystals that reacted to the Draconequus's powers, letting him move it around just like a real arm, and it fed down into a complex claw that was just as dexterous as his real hand had once been. It was a little oversized for his frame... but that in and of itself only matched the chaotic creature all the more. “Why didn't you at least say something about what was going on?”

“Oh, because I can do that any old time. Watch, I'll do it right now. Ponies are gross when they're sick.” Discombobulation hugged himself, the shark-like fin and transparent, spiky frill paired with it on his back both flexing lightly. “Besides, I had this great routine all planned out, and then you unleashed that massive purification wave. I had to hightail it out of there with Hungry Hungry Hippo and her kid or risk getting myself turned to stone. Already been there, done that for you ponies.”

Discombobulation reached up and knocked twice on his metallic limb, and Celestia shook her head slowly with a small smile before the Draconequus turned his eyes to Antares, saying mildly: “And you. Stop encouraging Allonym. He's a twisted neurotic and he should be shot. And then fed to alligators. And then those weird birds who sit in the alligator's mouths would eat him too because they'd peck bits of him out of the alligator's teeth.”

Discombobulation opened his mouth wide, tilting his head back and making awkward chewing motions, and Antares laughed despite himself as Celestia shook her head slowly, then asked quietly: “Do you have any idea what could have caused this plague?”

Now the Draconequus became more serious, looking down moodily as he rubbed slowly at his arm and muttered: “Plague? I understand that it may have seemed that way to you, but to me it simply looked like... like the result of bad tuna salad, or that funny-smelling casserole your weird cousin always brings to the family reunion. No, no, I'm not saying at all that's how it got into you ponies... for I cannot think of anyone here who has a cousin that malicious or that strange, not even you, Celestia... but I am saying that this was maybe nothing more than a particularly cruel accident.”

“I don't like what that implies.” Celestia looked down with a bit of a frown, shaking her head slowly before she turned her eyes to Antares, as the young stallion shifted a little. “As I was saying. We need to look for diseases that may have infected the Nibelung in the past. We also-”

“That will work about as well as one of Gilligan's plans to get off the island.” Discombobulation interrupted, and when Celestia looked at him mildly, he cleared his throat and added seriously: “He was not as smart as he thought he was. Inventive, persevering, but really it's a wonder the Skipper never beat him to death, among other things. Usually you're better than this, Celestia, willy-nilly poking for needles amongst the haystack.”

“Then what do you suggest?” Celestia asked, and the Draconequus looked meditative, reaching up to rub the underside of his muzzle slowly. “I don't want to simply sit and wait. I know that when Twilight returns, she'll bring more information with her... but all the same, I feel the answer might be somewhere close by.”

Antares looked up at this, saying slowly: “Close by... whatever caused this might still be close to Ponyville, right? And aren't Rainbow Dash and Soarin' and Avalon all scouting the area still?”

“I hope they've had the sense to go home for the night by now. Cowlick and Greece are more likely to track down the source than they are.” Celestia replied quietly, shaking her head before she looked over at Discombobulation, who sighed and slumped a little at the look she gave him.

He grumbled under his breath for a few moments, but then finally nodded, reaching up to rub at his face as he mumbled: “I should demand overtime for this. Or a bonus. Or a puppy. No, nix the last: I would never be able to take care of it, and it would never fit in my apartment and if it peed all over the furniture I'd end up drowning. Fine, I'll go and take a look around the area and see what I can see, but if I get even the slightest bit sick, I warn you I will become exceedingly miserable and drag you all down into misery with me and will require much coddling and chicken soup.”

Celestia only smiled, and Discombobulation looked at her moodily for a moment before he reached up and honked her nose, making the ivory winged unicorn blink in surprise before the Draconequus vanished from the spot. Antares laughed, then hurriedly put his hooves over his muzzle... but a moment later, Celestia smiled wider before she laughed herself, and both she and her nephew visibly relaxed.

Sonorous, soft jazz continued to roll easily through the room as the two began to study the books in front of them, just in case, but after only a few minutes they were again interrupted when Twilight Sparkle entered the library, with Aphrodisia in tow. The Lich smiled faintly across at Celestia, and the rainbow-maned winged unicorn frowned a bit before she tilted her head, asking quietly: “What's wrong, Twilight?”

“I...” Twilight hesitated, then she sighed a little, smiling faintly as she looked slowly around at the library walls. “I remember when I used to live here, before... I moved in with Scrivener and Luna. And now you live here... and now, it feels even more comfortable, more like a true home than it ever did. I'm... glad for that. You fit in here.”

She fell quiet, Celestia and Antares both studying Twilight with concern still before the Lich shook her head and murmured: “Straw Crown, the coroner... he's dead. All that was left of him was a brittle skeleton. A bunch of bodies had also been... stripped... and the Clockwork Pony's corpse was torn apart. There was... some kind of mossy stuff on the walls here and there, stains and... I don't want to guess at it. They already sent samples of it off to Cowlick's lab, but.. it felt...”

Twilight shook her head slowly, reaching up to touch her own chest before she added awkwardly, as Aphrodisia stepped forwards with a small smile: “Antares, why don't you and Aphrodisia head up to the guest room? You two need some rest... and Celestia, honestly, I can take over here. I'll think on things for a while and in the morning we can put everything together.”

“Mom, I can stay up with you. I'm... sorry about Crown, I know he helped you out a lot with when you needed... parts.” Antares blushed a little, awkwardly gesturing at her, but the Lich only smiled a bit and shook her head slowly.

“Just hurts to think that he died like that... and whatever this is...” Twilight sighed as she slowly approached the table, glancing over at the gramophone and closing her eyes, letting the music flow over her before she nodded once. “Honestly, Antares. Go get some rest, because I'm going to need your help in the morning.”

“Go ahead, use my room, Prestige is already in the guest room.” Celestia said gently, half to Antares and half to Twilight, and the Lich nodded a little as the young stallion hesitated, but then smiled faintly when Aphrodisia almost bounced forwards and firmly butted her head into him, forcing him up to his hooves.

“Sleepover, cousin! Come on, come on, let's go!” Aphrodisia said warmly, and Antares nodded and blushed, barely managing to call out a hurried 'goodnight' as she pushed him through the room and the archway leading into a short corridor, the demon saying brightly: “I don't get to have sleepovers that often... Avalon's no fun because she actually sleeps and Rustproof is too busy half the time. And his Mom is crazy-protective.”

“Apps...” Antares started, and then he winced when she shoved him firmly through the doorway and into Celestia's bedroom: the bed here was enormous and rounded and neatly made, the centerpiece in a room composed of shelves filled with books and letters and strange odds and ends, several paintings over the walls and Celestia's armor placed aside in a heavy stand that also held a massive golden sword.

Aphrodisia shoved him towards the bed, and Antares yelped as he was all but thrown into it before the demon giggled and leapt forwards, bursting apart into dark smoke that twisted downwards under the blankets. Then the demon reformed, sitting up and sticking her head out from under the sheets and a thick comforter as she declared: “Let's tell ghost stories!”

Antares couldn't help but smile despite himself, his horn lighting up and casting a soft blue glow through the dark room before he flicked his head to the side, and the open door was gently closed with telekinesis. Aphrodisia smiled brightly at this, and then she scowled when Antares said mildly: “You're a demon, Apps. Somehow, that makes telling ghost stories seem a little silly.”

“You're silly.” Aphrodisia scoffed, then she shook her head vehemently before adding: “Besides, undead and demons are two totally different things. Mommy is a really powerful demon, but Aunt Twilight's undead and she might be even stronger than Mommy. Although I think Mommy could still beat her up if she wanted to.”

Antares laughed despite himself, gazing warmly over at his cousin: his cousin, showing how emotionally childlike she was in spite of her physical age. “You're so silly, Apps. But... honestly, maybe we should just sleep, too. It sounds like tomorrow's going to be a big day and all and... I got a lot on my mind.”

“I know, Nova.” Aphrodisia softened, then she wiggled her way over to him before tossing the sheets and comforter around the young stallion, making him smile as her foreleg wrapped tightly around his shoulders and she nuzzled him affectionately. “But Daddy always says if you can find a reason to be happy, then you gotta be happy, even if it's the saddest time in your life. Sadness isn't bad but smiling is better.”

Antares nodded a little, and then he allowed the glow to die out from around his horn, leaving the two in darkness and quiet for a few moments as they rested together. Aphrodisia closed her eyes, dropping her head against his shoulder, and then she gave a small smile as she added softly: “I'm glad we're family, Nova. I'm even more glad we're such good friends.”

“Me too.” Antares said softly, wrapping a forelimb gently around his cousin's shoulders, and he closed his eyes, letting his head rest against hers as they sat together in the darkness. It was comfortable, and Antares smiled a little before he asked finally: “So... how's your whole... demon thing going? You work hard with your Mom on that stuff all the time, right?”

Aphrodisia smiled again, and Antares could feel it through the darkness as she pushed her side against his, saying softly: “I do, yeah. Mommy says I'm really lucky and Daddy is always telling me how proud he is of me. I'm not ready for the tougher stuff yet, like possessions, but I'm going to get there, I am. I'm still just trying really hard to 'tame' myself, like Mommy says. If I get too worked up or anything, I go full-demon and it gets really hard for me to control myself.”

“You're already amazing, Apps. You're just gonna get better.” Antares said firmly, and Aphrodisia smiled at him warmly before the two finally drew apart: but it was only so they could lay down, side-by-side, bodies still lightly pressing together as Antares said softly: “Your Mom is still like a big sister to me more than an aunt... you know, she and Dad were best friends.”

“I know. She talks about him a lot. Our family's all really close and... Mommy says we should all be really thankful for that. That it's pretty rare, especially these days.” Aphrodisia said softly, then she shook her head out a bit before reaching up and absently undoing the braided knot that held her locks in place, letting her curtain of hair fall freely around her shoulders. “I'm really thankful for it. And I think it's really fitting that me and you are best friends, just like my Mommy and your Daddy were. And we're always gonna be best friends, right?”

Antares nodded, and then he laughed when Aphrodisia grabbed him and shoved him down, pinning him on his back as she smiled down at him through the darkness, saying firmly: “Promise. Promise or I'll spit on you.”

The demon proceeded to loudly make a horrible sound, and the young stallion laughed again before he shoved his hooves up against her face, saying quickly: “I promise, I promise, Pinkslap! Okay, okay, get off me!”

For a moment, the demon only looked thoughtful, slowly opening her mouth and letting her forked tongue roll out... and then she rolled her eyes with a snort when Antares winced away and flailed a bit at her. “Big coward.”

She slipped off him and smiled, gazing over at him warmly before she leaned over and firmly nipped the side of his neck, making him yelp a bit. “You're smarter than most boys, Nova. But it's still silly that you like Meadowlark so much. She's smelly.”

Antares only sighed and gave the demon a half-exasperated, half-amused look... but all the same he found himself calming little-by-little, finding happiness even amongst the worries that wanted to plague his mind in these moments of friendship spent with his cousin and closest friend.

First Contact

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Chapter Five: First Contact
~BlackRoseRaven

“This is ridiculous.” Prestige Luster complained loudly, and Antares and Aphrodisia both glared over their shoulders at her. “We're being sent to play with your silly little friends instead of actually helping out, you do understand this, don't you? Or are you really naïve enough to think that this 'research mission' for Twilight is an actual task of any import whatsoever?”

“Hey, I got an idea. Let's play 'shut up so I don't stab you fifty times in the face.'” Aphrodisia rounded on Prestige, glaring balefully down into her eyes, and the unicorn swallowed thickly at this.

“Apps, come on. Be nice.” Antares said tiredly: he was only wearing his necklace today, since it wasn't likely he would need his armor. He was also well aware this probably wasn't much more than make-work to keep them out of the way, but all the same the young stallion wanted to handle himself as professionally as possible.

Aphrodisia grumbled, then turned around and trotted quickly up beside the glossy-black unicorn, falling into pace beside him again as Prestige muttered to herself and hurried after them. The streets were relatively empty even though it was now mid-morning, and the few ponies they'd seen had been bleary and sick-looking... but they were on their hooves and walking around all the same, and it was a relief after seeing what dire straits the village had been in just yesterday.

Then Antares smiled a little and glanced up at the sight of the enormous, metal and stone structure just down the road... and importantly, at the sight of the ponies in front of the massive, remodeled warehouse that contained the engineering labs. One of these looked up sharply, then shouted loudly and leapt into the air, the small Pegasus shooting towards him like a bullet and tackling Antares backwards, making him laugh even as he crashed and skidded several feet on his back, Prestige squeaking and leaping quickly out of the way as the golden Pegasus grinned widely down at him from where she was now posed atop his chest. “Hey, Mir! Been a while!”

“Hey, Avalon.” Antares smiled warmly up at the tiny mare: she was maybe half his side, so brightly-colored she almost glowed, with a streaked red-and-gold mane and tail that were both short and messy. Her red eyes gazed warmly down into Antares' own, her features pretty in a rough, tomboyish way accented all the more by the single thin scar on one side of her face, as her powerful wings buzzed lightly at her sides with how fast they moved. Her cutie mark was of an apple that had been sliced in half: there was no pony fiercer and more stubborn than Avalon, who could push through anything and everything to get what she wanted.

She stomped a hoof lightly against his chest, then looked up at the demon, saying easily: “Hey Apple Pie.” A pause as Aphrodisia blew a raspberry at her, and then Avalon glared at Prestige, adding grumpily: “Hi. You.”

Prestige only mumbled to herself in distaste, and then she looked up with a sigh as another Pegasus approached: a slender, pretty mare with a deep scarlet coat and a mane that was a mix of chestnut and smooth black. She had her mane tied back in several long braids, her copper-colored eyes gazing almost admiringly to Antares. On her flank was an emblem of a quill overtop a notepad, showing her talent for journalism and research.

Antares wiggled a bit, and Avalon easily hopped off him and hovered in the air, flying beside Aphrodisia and making kissy-faces as the young stallion grinned brightly at the red Pegasus, who gazed affectionately back at him as he hurriedly sat up. “H-Hey, Meadowlark!”

“Hi, Antares.” Meadowlark smiled warmly, fidgeting a little before she gestured over her shoulder with a quiet laugh. “We were just waiting for-”

“What are these?” shouted a frustrated a voice, and all five young ponies awkwardly turned to watch as a mare with a short blonde mane held out of her eyes by a red bandanna yanked something away from an enormous indigo-blue pony, the reddish-brown mare beginning to wave this violently around. “Dammit, Rusty, what in the hell do you think you're doing? Ain't we been over this? I swore to the Horses of Heaven I would make you degrease and re-oil every last engine part in the shop if I caught you with cigarettes again, do you think I was kidding? Well I wasn't!”

“He's so poo-brain sometimes.” Avalon remarked mildly, as they all looked at the deep blue earth pony: he was enormous, as tall as Antares but with twice as much bulk and muscle, his mane falling in an unkempt, short mullet and soft orange, the same color as his short tail. He had a gray, grease-splattered jacket on and a set of welding goggles hung around his neck: his cutie mark was a large, blocky gray shape of a mechanical engine.

His nervous orange eyes flicked back and forth worriedly as the mare in front of him continued to rage: much smaller, piercings dotting her ears and a ring in one nostril and above an eyebrow, her sharp sapphire eyes glaring holes in the male as he shrank hurriedly under her gaze before wincing when she smacked him with the box of cigarettes. “Look, Rustproof, I get that the whole 'stunting your growth' argument is kind of moot here, but what about your lungs? What about your brain? What about your crotch, you want to end up never knowing what it's like to have sex, because if you keep smoking and it doesn't fall off I'll geld you myself!”

“Momma!” Rustproof winced, shrinking down further, and then he shook his head violently before straightening and pleading: “Momma, I'm sorry, I guess I just-”

“Don't lie to me, Rusty, don't you lie to me or I'll make you clean out all the bathrooms here too, and those Nibelung aren't very good at aiming.” the mare threatened, and Rustproof simply winced again before the earth pony mare grumbled, then she sighed and smacked his head lightly again with the box of cigarettes, saying moodily: “We'll talk about this later, Rustproof, and you're gonna be spending the whole night here working. You're still my colt, not nearly an adult yet. Now you do whatever job the Baroness has asked you to handle to the very best of your ability, got it?”

“Yes, Momma.” Rustproof began to turn away, looking chastened, and then he blushed when the mare reached up and smacked his flank, getting his attention. He turned back towards her embarrassedly, and then lowered his head, looking awkward and a little more ashamed of himself when his mother stepped forwards and gave him a quick, fierce hug, returning the embrace as he mumbled an apology before hurrying off.

The mare waved at the group of ponies, then she sighed and popped the package of cigarettes open, shoving one into her own muzzle before storming inside the facility as Rustproof turned to hurry away, her emblem of interlocked silver gears visible for just a moment before the doors swung closed behind her. The colt grinned lamely back and forth at his friends as he approached them, then winced when Meadowlark slapped the back off his head lightly and Avalon asked wryly: “You learn your lesson yet?”

Rustproof only dropped his head in embarrassment, and Antares sighed, shaking his head and smiling awkwardly over at his friend. “You're still a kid, Rusty... no offense. You know you shouldn't be smoking anyway.”

The indigo colt only shrugged absently, looking up with a bit of a smile before Avalon hurriedly rose a hoof, waving it wildly. “Oh, but let's stick around here for a few minutes! I bet Cowlick's going to go figure out who you got the cigarettes from in the first place and kick their flank!”

Rustproof only looked up with an awkward smile, however, and shrugged: just that look was enough to tell his friends, who knew the young not-quite-stallion well enough to understand his myriad of gestures and expressions clearly, that he hadn't been given these cigarettes by any Nibelung in the facility, but had picked them up himself. That was how he'd started smoking in the first place, despite being only thirteen years old: a Nibelung worker had started sharing cigarettes with him when Cowlick wasn't looking, and it had gone on for a good while until Rustproof had been caught.

What had happened then was a favorite story of many of the engineers: Cowlick, not content with simply firing the worker who had been slipping her son cigarettes, had set up on the roof of the engineering lab with a rifle loaded with rubber slugs. The Nibelung, always inventive storytellers, would often reenact this scene: the poor fool walking into work early one morning by himself, only to be greeted by a howl of 'you're fired!' followed by a rubber bullet to the head.

Rusty had never quite kicked his habit, however, and every few months Cowlick would catch him with a cigarette, or find a pack of smokes tucked haphazardly away in his dresser, and the young male would end up cleaning the entire facility by himself or doing some other horrible task while Cowlick lectured him up and down. And his father, Ross, would try and scold him too, but Ross was no good at being angry: instead, he would usually just come across as worried, although in a way that was even more effective in making gentle Rustproof feel guilty over his particularly-bad habit.

Apart from smoking, though, Rustproof was a healthy and happy colossus, carefree, gentle and kind, even if he was always a little quiet and tended to talk through his smiles and his eyes. He was the second youngest of the group, only a little more than two years older than Ambrosia: but even though he was still a colt and not yet a young stallion, he was as smart as they were and a welcome member of the circle of friends.

“You earth ponies. Truly it's a hallmark of your kind: you know it's bad for you, yet you continue to do it all the same, and often in plain sight of those whom you know will punish you for it.” Prestige said distastefully, ignoring the eyes that glared at her as Rustproof blushed a little. “What utter nonsense.”

“Funny, Prestige, it sounds like you're doing the same thing. Rusty might be poo-brain and all but even he ain't dumb enough to go running his mouth off like you do every five minutes.” Avalon said shortly, and then she paused and added: “Not that... you ever really run you mouth off at all, Rustproof. Which is weird. You won't swear, drink, or do anything else fun or bad but you'll smoke all the time, how does that even work?”

“I didn't know it was somethin' bad until too late, I guess.” Rustproof answered honestly, shrugging a little as he gave a bit of a smile. “And now it's just a part of who I am.”

“Oh, don't say that, Rusty. I don't like it when you smoke. I worry about you.” Meadowlark said softly, nudging the large male equine lightly and Antares nodded in agreement as Rustproof fidgeted a bit. Then the group fell quiet for a few moments as they strode onwards, Avalon buzzing quietly back and forth above them through the air, before Meadowlark finally asked quietly: “So... Antares, what are we supposed to be doing?”

“Avalon, you wanna tell them?” Antares asked curiously, and Avalon snorted and shook her head vehemently, making the young stallion sigh tiredly. “Great hustle, Aviator.”

“Shut up, Mir.” Avalon replied cheerfully, buzzing down and landing easily on his back: she was small and lightweight enough she could stand on top of him without difficulty, and Antares was by now so used to this that he simply kept walking.

He smiled over his shoulder at her, then looked ahead as he felt the rest of his friends' eyes settle on him, saying calmly as he led the way forwards and they naturally fell into pace around him: “It's pretty simple, guys...” Only Prestige looked miffed at being referred to as a 'guy.' “Aunt Tia and my Mom want us take a look at the area between Ponyville and the hospital, see if we can find anything. Rainbow Dash already came by this morning, said there was something wrong with the creek that runs through that area, so that's probably where we should head towards first... something about the coloration being off. The only reason he and Soarin' didn't take a closer look is because-”

“Dad's kind of a big baby about getting sick.” Avalon supplied cheerfully, and then she added in a softer voice: “And he's always scared of getting Mom sick, too, with her chewed-up lungs and all. Hey, Antares, is it true? Is there really a Clockwork Pony involved in all this?”

The glossy-black young stallion shifted uncomfortably at this, remaining silent... and surprisingly, Prestige spoke up, saying calmly: “The disease may have come from a Clockwork Pony, but as both my teacher, Twilight Sparkle, and the Baroness have stated... the malignancy is most certainly no attack from Clockwork World.”

She stopped, all the ponies looking at her for a few moments, before she added rudely: “Is that clear enough for all you mudwalkers or should I use smaller words with fewer syllables?”

“I'm going to throw you in the creek if you keep this up, Prissy.” Avalon threatened, glaring furiously at the unicorn as she pawed a hoof against Antares' back, and the glossy-black stallion winced a little before the tiny Pegasus added moodily: “Furthermore, don't think you're showing off or anything. We all know Twilight better than you do or ever will, same goes for Celestia.”

“I have more in common with them both than a whiny shorn-wing like yourself will ever have.” Prestige retorted, and then she winced and reared back when Avalon shot immediately through the air to hover ominously in front of her, glaring daggers down at the Pegasus.

They glowered at each other angrily, sparks flying between the two before Antares said tiredly: “Come on, can we all just... not do this today? Prestige, you were sick yesterday yourself, you know how serious this is. Heck, a lot of ponies were sick yesterday... do you really want that to happen again? What if there really is something important out there and we miss it because we're bickering?”

“Fine.” Avalon muttered, then she sighed and fluttered backwards, glancing over at he young stallion and hesitating before she shook her head quickly. “Hey, don't be so hard on yourself, Mir. I hate it when you get that look on your face.”

Antares only smiled a little, shaking his own head in response, and Avalon grumbled before she flew a little higher, adding: “Look, I'll go scout ahead, okay? If I see anything really weird I'll come right back and get you guys but otherwise I can take a look-see real fast on my own, and wait for you up ahead if there's nothing there. Sound good?”

The tiny Pegasus nodded quickly a few times to herself, and before Antares could even say anything, she was already off like a shot, heading high into the air and out of Ponyville. Antares groaned and rolled his eyes before Aphrodisia grinned at him, and the male stared before she burst apart into black smoke, twisting upwards in a swirling cloud that followed quickly in the wake of the little Pegasus.

“Oh come on!” Antares complained, and then he sighed and looked grumpily around at his remaining friends, as Prestige huffed, Meadowlark smiled despite herself, and Rustproof only continued to look amiable. “I guess we better step on it, then. At least they'll have each other to fall back on if something happens.”

“Oh yes, the demonic prostatot and Little Miss Solves Everything By Running Into It. That's sure to go over well.” Prestige grumbled, and when the others glared at her, she only sniffed loudly: “Well, let's not waste time, ponies, either way. Whether I'm wrong or right is irrelevant in the long run, since their enemy is an infection and not something either of them can seduce or beat to death.”

Antares and Meadowlark both grumbled but resisted the urge to argue as Rustproof only calmly looked ahead, keeping his eyes away from Prestige as the unicorn mare huffed grumpily. The rest of the walk through town to the gates was awkward... but shortly after they passed out onto the dusty road, the bridge only a short distance away and several figures visibly flitting around the area, Prestige looked up and asked hesitantly: “Antares, what do we do in the matter of course that... we do discover something?”

“What?” Antares looked almost stupefied for a moment as he realized that Prestige was actually asking his advice on a subject, the glossy-black young stallion trying to wrap his mind around this before he hurriedly shook his head and answered finally: “It... depends what it is, Prestige. If it's something that's... from Clockwork World, let's say, we'll do what we can to slow it down while we call for help. But if it's some kind of poison or... sludge or... I dunno, then we'll mark it off and make sure we don't get sick ourselves. Common sense stuff.”

“Fighting a disease-riddled monster does not sound like common sense. It sounds like stupidity masquerading as bravery and heroism.” Prestige mumbled, then she shook her head vehemently as she looked grudgingly at Meadowlark and Rustproof. “Only you and I and possibly the prostatot could battle a monster capable of infecting others. And one of us here could not fight at all, even if it was nothing more serious than an angry foal.”

Meadowlark flushed a bit at this as Antares glared at Prestige, but the red-coated Pegasus answered sharply: “I'll do what I have to do, Prestige. Besides, your magic isn't everything... and I've never even seen you cast more than a few spells in a row before you tire yourself out.”

“Please, my spells are so powerful they penetrate all but the strongest of defenses.” Prestige scoffed, raising her head proudly. “I am a superior specimen of a superior breed.”

Antares only groaned... then he sighed in relief as he realized they were approaching the bridge, before smiling warmly as two shapes shot down from the sky, side-by-side, and landed in perfect time together on the bridge. One of them was Avalon, who was grinning brightly; the other was a sky-blue Pegasus stallion, who straightened and squared his broad shoulders, shaking his messy rainbow mane out as he grinned widely and his magenta eyes lit up at the sight of the foals. “Hey, kids! Heard you guys were coming out here, so I thought I'd take a second look. Not... you know, too close, since that's your job and everything, but hey. Doesn't hurt to scan things over from way up there, right?”

Rainbow winked as he gestured at the sky, multicolored tail flicking as he stepped forwards, and Avalon looked brightly after her father, admiring the cutie mark on his haunch for a moment: a cloud, releasing a rainbow-colored thunderbolt. The tiny Pegasus often complained that she had gotten a cutie mark from her mother's side of the family instead of her father's. Then Avalon shook her head hurriedly out and bounced forwards, adding quickly: “And we might have found something, too! Apple Pie is up ahead, prowling around and stuff.”

“Let's go see, then.” Antares nodded firmly, before he smiled and added, as the group started forwards and Prestige peered almost suspiciously at the blue Pegasus: “It's good to see you, Rainbow.”

“You too, kid. You been practicing lately?” Rainbow smiled, flicking a wing out to lightly nudge Antares' own leathery appendage, the young stallion blushing a little. “I hope I didn't teach you all those tricks just to let 'em rot.”

He stopped, then laughed as Avalon leapt up beside him, buzzing excitedly around her father and the glossy black young stallion as Rainbow easily led the way along the creek bank. “Calm down, Ava, you're gonna wear yourself out again! But anyway, see down there?” Rainbow leapt into the air, easily flapping his wings to hold himself aloft as he pointed ahead with one hoof. “There's something weird starting to spread around here, and the water's real... well, you guys can see the problem by now, I'm sure.”

Antares frowned a bit, stepping over to the side of the creek and gazing down into the water, and he made a face at the sight of it: it was a murky, dark color, and as he watched, some kind of sludge floated by on the surface of the liquid. For some reason, Antares shivered at the sight of this, seeing something more, something deeper... something menacing, before Rainbow continued in a more serious voice: “I'm going to join Soarin' upriver and take a look around there, see if we can track the source of this down. But there's a culvert just up ahead that looks real slimy. Don't go inside it, but take a look around it. Maybe you and Prestige can use your magic to figure out what's growing on it. I'll let Cowlick and Twilight know when I get back in town.”

“Cowlick?” Antares cocked his head curiously, and Rainbow smiled after a moment with a nod in return. “Why does she have to know?”

“'Cause Momma will know the tunnels, or at least have access to the maps. Nibelung work crews from the tech center look after them.” Rustproof answered calmly, and Rainbow nodded with a grunt before the large earth pony leaned carefully to the side, murmuring: “I don't like this none. It don't look good.”

“No it don't.” Rainbow agreed, and then he shook his head before turning to begin flying away, calling easily: “No heroics, guys! Just take a look and find out what you can!”

Antares watched as Rainbow flew away... and a moment later, Avalon dropped in front of his face, grinning brightly as she asked cheerfully: “So, we gonna investigate that tunnel or what?”

“Do you know what a culvert is?” Prestige asked with disgust, and when the Pegasus glared at her, then unicorn mare sniffed disdainfully and strode quickly onwards, muttering: “Of course not. Low-brow midget thug.”

Avalon growled under her breath, then she landed primly on Antares' back and leaned over his head, asking moodily: “Can we shove her in? Please? I'll knock her out first.”

Antares sighed a little, even if a large part of him wanted very badly to agree... but when they reached the culvert, the young stallion's attention shifted to Aphrodisia. She was seated on the bank on the other side of the creek, staring into the wide culvert as if entranced... but she was shivering, too, and Antares frowned before he traded nervous looks with both Meadowlark, and then Avalon.

A moment later, the tiny Pegasus fluttered off the young stallion's back, and Antares leapt quickly outwards, flapping his wings once and ignoring the bolt of pain it sent through his system to land beside Aphrodisia on the other side of the embankment. She blinked in something like surprise when he did, baring her fangs as if she didn't recognize him, and Antares looked at her with concern before she blushed and shook her head, mumbling: “Oh, Nova... you... your fault. Bad timing.”

“I... are you okay? You almost look scared... I've never seen you scared, not even when that giant thing came and...” Antares shook his head quickly, pushing away bad memories before he smiled a little, reaching up and silently touching the demon's shoulder as she shook her head hurriedly.

“I don't know.” Aphrodisia whispered after a moment, and the answer scared Antares as he looked at her, studied her... and understood that she was being honest. “I don't know. I feel these weird instincts rising up inside me, Antares, like nothing I've ever felt before... it feels like I'm looking at something, like I'm fire and it's ice... I don't like this. I don't like this one bit.”

She growled a little, low in her throat, and Antares nodded slowly as Prestige carefully inspected along the top of the culvert, leaning carefully off the bank as the unicorn mare muttered: “It smells awful, but doesn't resemble any kind of magical flora or fauna I've ever studied... it looks like slime. Are there any kinds of living slime around Ponyville?”

“Living slime? Are you serious?” Avalon asked flatly, as Meadowlark frowned and then hopped carefully into the air, flapping her own wings to hover tentatively lower by the culvert and peer into the dark depths. And Antares shivered as he looked past the Pegasi into this, realized how much it looked like a gaping mouth, or a staring socket, filled with horrific life and beyond, deep inside there, there was some pulsating, evil brain thinking poisonous thoughts it wanted to infect the entire world with...

Antares shook his head hurriedly, breathing a bit harder before he looked up... then sighed at the sight of Rustproof nervously lighting a cigarette with a wooden match, the glossy-black young stallion saying in a sharper voice than he intended: “Oh come on, Rusty! You just got in trouble for that!”

“That thing scares me.” Rustproof said plaintively as he shook the match out, and then he blushed a bit when Meadowlark flew back up to the field and landed in front of him, yanking the cigarette out of his muzzle and tossing it over her shoulder.

It landed point-up, the little cylinder sitting in what was more sludge than water, smoke streaming up to the sky as Meadowlark began to chastise her younger friend... but then all went silent as a soft sigh echoed out of the culvert, Prestige stumbling backwards and Avalon shooting to the air, and Aphrodisia hissed like a cat and stiffened, leaning forwards with her eyes glowing and fangs bared.

A moment later, there was a rough, inhaling sound, and the cigarette smoke was drawn into the culvert instead of up into the sky, before a voice sang softly, almost sweetly:

“Oh me, oh my, what's this that entices my nose?
An after-dinner mint... the kind that brings the high with the lows...
Ooh, wait, oh wait, hey, do you hear my voice?
Who's out there, who's listening, speak out now, rejoice!”

The ponies remained silent, breathing harder... and then there was a sickening, squelching sound from the culvert, like something was slowly beginning to twist its way towards them, and Antares gritted his teeth as Aphrodisia snarled and shivered violently, leaping to her hooves and leaning forwards aggressively. Avalon, meanwhile, rose higher in the air, as Prestige, Meadowlark, and Rustproof all quickly backed away.

“What's wrong, don't you got no manners, no respect?
And just what is this I sense, I feel, I smell, I taste, I do detect?
Sha-da-da-de, well I'll be! It's a set of humble pony-folk...
And... a filthy Helheim harlot, hanging with ponies? Now that's a funny joke.”

The voice chuckled eagerly, and Antares leaned forwards as he saw an ill red light begin to glow in the darkness, leaning down towards the culvert and shouting clearly: “Whoever or whatever you are, this isn't a game! We are citizens of Ponyville... are you the one that caused the plague?”

“Ooh, there was a plague? A delicious, nutritious, resplendiforous plague? And I missed it?” called a cheery voice from the culvert, echoing strangely as the slimy gunk on the walls of the tunnel seemed to pulsate and twist in response to whatever was speaking. “Damn! I would have loved to see and gotten me a taste of all them dead and dyin'... where were they lyin'? Was they cryin'? Did they go about it moanin' and sighin'?”

The voice cackled, and then, slowly, a hideous thing stepped up into the edge of the tunnel, Antares leaning back in horror at the sight of its mottled white-and-yellow features. The monster grinned up at him, then its red eyes slowly drew down before widening delightedly at the sight of the cigarette, hurriedly reaching down to sweep this up and toss it into its own jaws. The beast chewed on this eagerly, then sighed dreamily as it whispered: “Ooh, nicotine, my beauty queen, don't you ever change... you're a slow killer, a thriller, a filler of my aches and pains...”

Then the monster rose its head and grinned slowly as its eyes locked on Antares and Aphrodisia, pony breathing hard and demon still snarling, body almost glowing as her skin rippled strangely. “Well, what, look what we have here... a little bitty pony-wony and an ickle baby slutty-wutty. Ooh, I bet you're both all full of all kinds of good juices I can squeeze out of you...”

The creature stepped forwards... then it grinned before twisting its head around completely on its neck, looking up at the staring, shocked faces of Avalon and Prestige before crowing cheerfully: “And more! All so young, so tender, so promising! Well, I promise, sweeties, that I'm gonna crunch you up real fast, okay?”

The monster twisted around, and then its eyes widened and it cursed sharply, head snapping back around as it reversed quickly into the culvert, muttering: “Wait, wait, wait, damn it all to Helheim, how could I forget? Gotta have a big entrance. Gotta introduce myself. I don't wanna go down in the history books as 'the unknown entity that trashed the world.' I wanna be well known! I wanna be better liked! But most of all I want each and every one of you punks to fear hearin' my name before I rip you apart outside-inside-out!”

Antares stared in horror, and then he shivered before leaning back in shock when the monster leapt back out of the well, striking a pose on its hind legs as it rose its front limbs into the air, singing:

“Well it's a real pleasure to meet you like this before I kill you all dead,
Except for the one who gets the honor to tell all your friends what I said:
Tell 'em, 'oh no, he's here, the very thing we've always had to dread!'
'Cause you see my name is Cancer, and you're already a corpse if you ain't fled.

Now I don't much care whether or not you call me Pope or God or King,
I like it when you beg for mercy, but in the same way I likes me some silly string,
If I get it then it's great, and if not somehow I'm sure I'll continue doin' my thing...
So get ready now to die my sweets, and don't waste my time by fighting.

So, just to be clear, my name is Cancer, and I'm going to kill you and you and you and you and you.” Cancer said cheerfully, twisting obscenely at the waist as he pointed at each of the ponies one by one, then paused and hesitated as he peered at trembling Meadowlark. “Except for you, babe. No, no, you're the one who gets to survive for now, so you can go tell all your friends what's on the way! Let 'em marinate for me in their own fear for a while, oh yeah, that'll be the sweet stuff... huh, huh, bet you understand me demon bitch, huh?”

Cancer spun around, waggling his eyebrows at Aphrodisia, and the demon only snarled before leaping suddenly forwards, pouncing towards Cancer... but the monster only laughed as he shoved a foreleg up towards her, which split apart into thick, gelatinous looking tentacles that constricted viciously around Aphrodisia's body, the demon screaming in pain as horrible, bony spikes ripped out along the lengths of the horrific appendages and tore against her as the tentacles squeezed all the fiercer against her struggling frame.

Cancer clucked his muzzle at her, raising his other foreleg and shaking it back and forth mockingly before he said easily: “Stupid little whore. Well, nice of you to volunteer to be the first to-”

“Mommy!” Aphrodisia screamed, her voice filled with rage more than pain, and Cancer snorted in disgust at this, looking at her with contempt even as Antares began to step forwards, horn glowing.

“Oh come on, crying for mommy-mommy-mommy already? I haven't even hurt you that much yet!” Cancer mocked, before he glared up at Antares. “And don't you go tossing your silly magic at me, boy, or I'll kill her and then kill you with the pieces of her left over, you got-”

A black, smoky shape twisted suddenly down out of the sky, Cancer looking up in surprise before it transformed into a terrible, massive beast that slammed into the monster's limb, ripping it off at the shoulder. Cancer immediately shrieked in horror, the severed limb and tentacles bursting apart into white slime as Aphrodisia fell into the murky, disgusting water of the creek, and Cancer hurriedly fled past her and into the tunnels, Antares staring in shock as he caught sight of the monster transforming, dissolving, becoming nothing more than shapeless slime even as his voice screamed: “I'll be back! This is just the prologue, we ain't even gotten started yet, you hear me? I'll be back!”

Antares breathed hard, finally tearing his eyes away from the tunnel to look towards the creature that had come down from the sky: its wings were angelic and gray-white, but its dull-pink body was warped and hulking, mane twisting of its own accord around large, draconic horns, and cloven hooves like claws at the end of enormous limbs. Its eyes were nothing but hellish blue fire rimmed with red in skull-like features, its teeth tombstone-like and too big even for its gigantic jaws.

The demon spat out some of the whitish goo that composed Cancer's body, then it hurried over to Aphrodisia, who was already picking herself up from the water, shivering: and as the monstrous demon drew closer, its body rippled and changed, wings collapsing into its frame, features smoothing out, form shrinking... and a moment later, it was Pinkamena who grasped Aphrodisia and leveled her up, quickly looking back and forth over her daughter's form as she cursed under her breath. “Wounded bad. Kiddo, what were you thinking? Come on, I got you...”

Aphrodisia shivered but nodded weakly as Prestige only sat back, pale and staring, and Meadowlark trembled violently. Avalon was staring down helplessly from the air, and Antares mouthed wordlessly, watching as Pinkamena carefully lifted Aphrodisia's bloody, battered body up over her own. The gray-pink mare gritted her sharp teeth, snarling at the culvert before she spat to the side, then looked sharply up and snapped: “Avalon! Fly into town, find Celestia or Twilight, get 'em out here fast!”

“I... I... okay!” Avalon nodded hurriedly, snapped out of her trance by Pinkamena's glare, and then she shot upwards before zooming through the skies like a bullet towards Ponyville. Antares swallowed thickly, then he winced and leapt forwards, flapping his wings once to cross the creek and pass over the culvert: the culvert that no longer simply seemed disgusting and suspicious, but like it contained the stuff of nightmares come to life.

“What... what was that?” he asked weakly as he landed on the other side, and Pinkamena carefully carried her daughter up the bank. The demon snorted at him in response, but even through his trembles of fear, Antares could see her gathering her thoughts, trying to form an answer... and worst of all, that she was scared. “Pinkamena...”

“It was putrid. It was vile. And only one gives us demons that knee-jerk reaction. Ginnungagap creatures... except unlike our good friend Bob, that thing isn't some slapstick chaos entity. You felt it, didn't you, kid?” Pinkamena narrowed her glowing blue eyes at him, the two studying each other as Meadowlark, Prestige, and Rustproof all gazed worriedly at the two, and Aphrodisia gave a weak whimper of pain... of fear. “That thing reeks of death.”

Antares swallowed thickly, shaking his head weakly as a shiver ran through him before Pinkamena gritted her teeth, adding sharply: “And what the hell were you all thinking? Sitting around here on your flanks like idiots, you all could have been torn apart... look at Aphrodisia, at what that thing did to her: that thing is so toxic makes even me wanna puke even now, you idiots would have been killed just by making contact with that living pile of snot, why the hell didn't any of you do a goddamn thing to escape? Especially you, Aphrodisia, you... goddammit, I already have to watch out for Sleipnir, I don't...”

Pinkamena snarled, baring her teeth, body rippling with a tremble that passed through her... and then Antares stepped forwards and hugged the Gluttony demon fiercely around the neck, trembling and burying his face against her as he whispered: “I'm sorry, Pinkamena. We all froze up and... and it's my fault Aphrodisia got hurt...”

“Hey, don't make this all about you.” Pinkamena muttered, closing her eyes and sighing... but she visibly relaxed as well, shaking her head moodily. “You remind me of your parents a lot, Antares. And no, that ain't exactly a compliment.”

Antares smiled faintly all the same, then he looked worriedly at Aphrodisia as Pinkamena carefully laid the young, wounded demon down in front of her, silently stroking her daughter's face as she murmured: “And you stay still, little girl. Mommy's here... and we're gonna hunt that monster down, you and me.”

Aphrodisia only whimpered a little, as the others nervously gathered around her, Meadowlark silently striding up beside Antares and touching his side gently. The young stallion swallowed nervously, looking at the awful wounds and bruises on his cousin's body, and then he glanced up in surprise when Pinkamena asked quietly: “Can you do Nightmare Moon's magic?”

“I... I don't know. Maybe... I'll try.” Antares said quietly, and his horn began to glow as he reached out, gently touching Aphrodisia's shoulder with a hoof as she looked up at him almost pleadingly, trembles wracking his cousin's body...

He swallowed thickly, trying to focus through the emotions, but it was harder than he'd expected: sure, he and his friends had taken their share of bruises and battering before, but most of that had been during training, and there had always been somepony around to fix things if they got really out of hoof. But he'd never seen Aphrodisia so hurt... and he was no good at magic at the best of times, and this kind of magic, healing demons, it was much more complicated than healing mortals...

His horn sparked faintly, and Antares felt his confidence crumbling even as he leaned forwards a bit further, knowing he had to try... but knowing at the same time he was going to fail. All the same, he pushed forwards, even if only driven by the need to not let down his family, by his friends' eyes on him, and his horn glowed a bit brighter as one of the larger wounds on Aphrodisia's body started to glow...

It steamed faintly, healing a little... and then Aphrodisia moaned in agony, and Antares hurriedly halted his magic, looking down at the wound and shivering as ill-smelling mist hissed quietly up from the wounded demon, and Aphrodisia curled up a bit, whimpering. He hadn't healed the wound so much as cauterized it. He gritted his teeth, leaning forwards again, but Pinkamena leaned over her daughter's body and shoved him backwards, making him tremble and stare even as she said in a surprisingly-gentle voice: “It's better if we wait.”

Antares nodded a few times, flushing and looking down as he whispered a weak apology, feeling an embarrassed blush tinging his cheeks as Meadowlark rubbed up and down his back soothingly. And yet that only made him feel worse: Aphrodisia was the one who deserved the praise and comfort, not him. He hadn't done anything but made things worse.

For a few moments, there was silence... and then all eyes turned upwards as Avalon shot down from the air, followed by Twilight Sparkle. The Lich grimaced as she landed beside Aphrodisia, and Antares began to open his mouth... before simply staring when Twilight's eyes closed and her horn glowed, bowing it quickly forwards, and a dark violet aura encased Aphrodisia for a moment before the demon released a cry tinged with both shock and pain.

Pinkamena gritted her teeth as steam hissed up from Aphrodisia's glowing body... but as it faded, the young demon was left laying unconscious, the worst of her wounds healed, the bleeding halted. Antares could only stare in disbelief and amazement at the ease that Twilight had cast the spell with... and maybe a little jealousy, too. No, that wasn't quite right... it was something else. Some other bitter, curdled emotion that made him feel sick to his stomach, thinking how he should have been able to do that, even as Twilight asked Pinkamena sharply: “Avalon said whatever did this ran into the tunnels... do you know what it was?”

“Reeked of Ginnungagap. Reeked like Fafnir did... I've never forgotten that smell, that feeling, but I doubt any of us have.” Pinkamena replied disgustedly, shaking her head slowly. Twilight shivered at this, and Antares caught this, looking sharply up and staring in disbelief at the emotions he felt emanating from his mother and guardian. “We should get Princess Sunshine, have her blow the whole tunnel system for us.”

“I already sent Avalon to tell Celestia what's going on, and after that she's to head to Cowlick. Cowlick can close down the maintenance hatches, trap that thing in there.” Twilight shook her head slowly, turning and striding nervously over to the edge of the embankment and gazing down into the murky water, and then she shivered a little at the sight of the goo coating the culvert. “It... it looks, it feels so toxic... I'm going to have to ask Greece to analyze this.”

She shook her head slowly, then frowned and looked over her shoulder, asking quietly: “Antares, what happened? Why didn't you report this immediately?”

“I... I just...” Antares shook his head a bit, then he said finally, weakly: “I don't know. We didn't know what it was, we were investigating the area like Celestia asked, and then... that thing just...”

“I got nervous so I had a cigarette. It's my fault.” Rustproof spoke up quietly, and both Twilight and Pinkamena looked at him with surprise as the enormous blue colt stepped forwards, bowing his head. “Ain't Antares or Aphrodisia's fault. They were trying to figure out what to do, and I lit up a cigarette. The smell of it woke that thing up.”

Meadowlark smiled faintly, shaking her head slowly before she began to open her mouth... but Rusty only smiled at her, giving her a look, and the crimson Pegasus blushed before closing her jaws silently. Twilight frowned a bit at Rustproof, obviously not knowing what to say before Pinkamena asked: “You got any more smokes on you, kid?”

Rustproof nodded, reaching into his jacket pocket and fumbling for a moment before he produced a cigarette, and Pinkamena strode over to him, taking this and studying the cylinder. Then she looked at him pointedly, and the colt smiled awkwardly, shrugging and saying finally: “Last one. Momma already took the rest of my smokes.”

“If you're lying to me, colt, I'll crawl out from under your bed one night and help myself to one of your ribs.” Pinkamena said mildly, and Rustproof nodded lamely before the dull-pink mare strode towards Twilight, questioning distastefully: “Can't you do some hocus-pocus and make sure that thing can't crawl out of this culvert once we leave?”

“I... I suppose I could. I could set up a barrier, at least, until we can station demons here, since you seem immune to the toxins that monster carries.” Twilight said slowly, and then her horn glowed as she concentrated. Her eyes slipped closed, and she grumbled and ignored the feeling of Pinkamena pressing the cigarette against her horn as it sparked with magic.

The end of the cigarette burst into flame, and Pinkamena grunted something like a 'thank you' as she put the cigarette in her mouth, blowing a stream of smoke through her nostrils as Twilight flicked her horn upwards and a violet barrier sparked into life, sizzling with energy and electricity. The slime around the energy field smoldered violently and charred rapidly away as purple arcs of lightning sizzled around the edge of the barrier, and Twilight shook her head slowly as she muttered: “Should be good enough.”

Pinkamena grunted, looking down over her daughter as Aphrodisia slowly began to pick herself up, and then the demon said moodily: “Let's just go and catch that thing before it makes Ponyville sick again. We already got enough to worry about without some fugly plague dog running around.”

Twilight sighed a little, but she nodded after a moment in agreement, murmuring: “There's nothing more we can do here ourselves anyway. Come on kids, we need to get you all back into town... Celestia will want to know what happened, and I want Scarlet Sage to look each and every one of you over. I don't want any of you getting sick, especially not with most of Ponyville still feeling the effects of this thing.”

Antares hung his head silently as the others nodded, and then the glossy black stallion quickly turned and hurried up to Aphrodisia's side as she carefully pulled herself to her hooves. Demon leaned against her cousin, mumbling weakly to him as they rested together and began to make their way carefully back towards town, Pinkamena striding slowly along on her daughter's other side as she quietly puffed on the cigarette.

Twilight followed as Prestige babbled out the events to her and her thoughts, and Rustproof and Meadowlark brought up the rear. Apart from Prestige's constant rambling, however, the walk was quiet: Antares was brimming with shame and self-loathing, Aphrodisia looked too sore and tired to do anything apart from concentrate on walking with her cousin's support, and Rustproof and Meadowlark both looked muted.

Just outside of Ponyville, however, they ran into a surprise: a goldenrod mare was waiting for them, her blonde mane and tail both tightly braided and a well-worn cowboy hat on her head. Her green eyes filled with concern at the sight of Aphrodisia... then disgust as Pinkamena grinned and loudly slurped the butt of her cigarette into her mouth, swallowing it before snorting and sending out a burst of ashes and smoke from her nostrils. “Well, look who it is. Miss Special Olympics. I thought you'd be home hiding in bed, Applejack.”

“You see this rifle on my back, Pinkamena? I swear I will shoot you with it.” Applejack replied flatly, gesturing at the walnut stock of the weapon held on by the strap over her shoulder. Then she shook her head quickly, frowning worriedly as she asked quietly: “You okay there, Aphrodisia? Ain't never seen you so badly beaten up before, not even when you were just a filly and that centaur monster attacked.”

Aphrodisia only managed a bit of a smile, and Twilight added quietly: “But Applejack, with your lungs...”

“Oh, screw my lungs. I'll be fine.” Applejack said crankily, reaching up to rub slowly at her chest with a grimace. “I ain't old or useless yet, and I don't plan on letting a little asthma slow me down neither. Anyway, Apple Bloom, Cowlick, and me are gonna grab some of the Starlit Knights, form up a rifle group and start locking down wells and exits from the tunnels.”

“Yeah, big sister, but you gotta wear your mask, that was part of the deal.” added another voice, and Applejack groaned loudly as a yellow earth pony strode quickly out of the gates, a smile on her warm features as her orange eyes looked with amusement at the goldenrod mare. She was actually a little taller now than her big sister: something that frustrated Applejack endlessly.

The sunshine-colored earth pony tossed her vibrant red mane: it was tied tightly back with a single white bow ornamented with a ruby shaped like an apple. She looked pointedly at her big sister, as Applejack looked flatly back, then she finally grumbled and nodded, mumbling: “Takin' orders from my little sister. What's the world coming to, Apple Bloom?”

Apple Bloom only smiled softly, however, reaching back into the satchel hanging at her side and extracting a thick, rubberized mask with a large filter built into the front. She passed this to Applejack, who grumbled but took it and put it on, and Antares smiled despite himself: the sisters were different in a lot of ways, but in a lot of ways they were the same, too. Even though Applejack's emblem was of three apples and her talent was for farming, and Apple Bloom's was of blooming flowers for her skills in designing, improving, and growing anything from little more than scrap... they had that same stubbornness, that same determination, that same stance.

Then Apple Bloom glanced awkwardly over at the rest of the group, eyes lingering on Twilight and Antares before she cleared her throat and adjusted the gemstone-studded armor vest she was wearing. “Listen, Cowlick is looking for you, Twilight. And if you see her... can you send Scarlet Sage my way?”

“You lesbians are so cute together.” Pinkamena remarked wryly, and Apple Bloom glowered at her as Antares sighed and Twilight gave the demon a flat look. “I mean, this is the sixth time you two have 'broken up' and then come crawling back to each other, isn't it?”

“Well excuse me all to hell for not just beating her like you beat Sleipnir.” Apple Bloom said flatly, and then she sighed and mumbled: “Besides, ain't that easy. And this ain't about that, anyway, Cowlick wants her coming with us to check for infection and stuff.”

“Just don't run off to make out with her.” Applejack mumbled in a muffled, surly voice from behind her mask, and Apple Bloom flushed and glared at her big sister, who only grumbled in response. “I ain't apologizing for nothing. I hate this thing. Makes me feel like a bad dog.”

“Well, that's fitting. You are a bitch, after all.” Pinkamena said mildly, and then she easily paced forwards as Rustrpoof blushed, Aphrodisia groaned, and Antares sighed tiredly. Applejack only shrugged grouchily, however, but as the demon passed, she reached out and gently grasped the goldenrod earth pony's shoulder.

Applejack smiled a little behind the mask, and then she gestured easily with her head to the others, saying quietly: “Go on now, don't let us hold you up any. Aphrodisia, looks like you should try and lay your head down, get you some rest. Twilight... you take care of yourself, hear?”

Twilight smiled a little and nodded, and the Lich strode quietly up to her old friend to trade a short, tight embrace with her before striding past as the young ponies followed. Then Antares glanced up in surprise as Apple Bloom called his name, and he hesitated... but Aphrodisia half-pushed herself away from him, giving a bit of a smile as she said softly: “Go on, Nova. Besides, I don't need your help, see? I'm a big filly.”

“Even demons need help now and then.” Antares said softly, and Aphrodisia replied by blowing a raspberry at him, making him laugh a little before he nodded and turned. Meadowlark hesitated, looking back at the young stallion... but Rustproof gently nudged her, and the rest of the group continued on into town.

Antares turned to face Apple Bloom, then nodded when she gestured to the side of the road. He fell into pace with her in quiet as they walked out of the main street and towards a quieter nook... not that there were many ponies around, and even the gates had only a few tired-looking Nibelung guards standing around them.

They came to a stop next to a closed coffee shop, and Apple Bloom hesitated for a moment before she looked down at Antares, taking a slow breath before she reached her hooves up and grasped his shoulders. Antares winced a bit, feeling a strange sensation run through him before he began awkwardly: “Apple Bloom, I... I really don't want to get involved in an argument between you and my sister...”

“No, no, it... it ain't like that, Antares, it ain't like that at all. Besides, we just needed time to think about things this time, weren't no bad fight or anything.” Apple Bloom smiled at him, and Antares cocked his head curiously before the earth pony said quietly: “Listen, Antares. I love you like a little brother, and you know how much I love your sister, even if we butt heads. And I know it's my fault as much as it is your sister's... maybe even a little more. Yeah, we understand each other, we can feel each other, we read each other's emotions... we have that special link between us, that I asked Scarlet Sage to make all those years ago now. But... sometimes that just makes things harder, 'cause unless we're a good distance apart, we end up still feeling each other and hearing each other and we don't get no privacy and... I'm sorry, I'm... I'm nervous. I gotta tell you something.

“Antares, every time your sister and I have a bad quarrel, I end up runnin' off back to the family farm and cooling down there before I go back home to her. But this time was different: I didn't leave just 'cause we got into it again, I left 'cause I was thinking about... real stupid stuff I ain't gonna trouble you with. But Antares, Scarlet Sage makes me feel like... no matter where I am with her, I'm at home, and she's the best damn thing in the world to me. Even when I'm mad as hell at her, the reason I leave ain't 'cause I wanna get away from her... it's 'cause I don't want to hurt her none.

“But this time, when I was going to come back in, there was the quarantine in the way... and Scarlet Sage was in there. Helping ponies, putting all her own problems aside for them, I knew she was, and... it reminded me why I love her so much. And it made me feel downright stupid... if she wasn't a Blood Seer, if things had been just a little worse... what if she'd gotten sick, and I couldn't be there for her? It made me think a lot.” Apple Bloom stopped, looking down, and then she glanced up and said quietly: “Your sister and I... we always wanna be together. We always come back together, even when we try and spend time apart.

“So I'm gonna ask her to marry me, Antares, and I wanted to tell you first 'cause... I know how important she is to you, and you're... special to me, too.” Apple Bloom smiled a little, and Antares stared stupidly up at the earth pony. “And besides, I'm gonna need your help. I ain't stupid enough to think I know every little thing about your sister so... I need you to help me figure out... well, a lot of stuff.”

“Wow...” Antares murmured quietly, laughing a little before he asked hesitantly: “Do you want.. Celestia to preside? I can ask Aunt Tia, I'm sure she'd say yes...”

“Yeah. But I don't think either of us want nothin' too formal. Just something to show... we're together.” Apple Bloom smiled a little, then she leaned forwards and kissed Antares' forehead, adding quietly: “And one other thing, Antares. When I was a filly, me and Scoot and Sweetie... we screwed up a lot. And as we got older, we continued to screw up a lot... even today, I screw up a whole bunch. But Antares, that's part of life: that's how you learn, and you grow. You make mistakes, you wade in over your head, or you do something dumb. Antares, just 'cause things went wrong... don't mean it would have gone any better if things had went right, do you understand?”

Antares flushed and lowered his head silently, and Apple Bloom softened, saying quietly: “Don't go beating yourself up now. Ain't no point in that. Remember what Sleipnir's always telling us, huh? 'If you make a mistake, study it, learn from it, then smile and do it better next time.' Ain't that right?”

“Right. I... Apple Bloom, thank you.” Antares smiled and looked up, hesitantly nodding, and he shifted a bit on his hooves before saying finally: “Tell her right when you see her. Walk up to her, give her a kiss, and tell her. Nothing means more to her than when she's reminded you aren't ashamed of who you are, or who she is. That means more to her than any expensive jewelry or anything else.”

Apple Bloom looked at him thoughtfully, then she nodded slowly once and smiled, reaching up to ruffle his mane firmly. “Yeah. I should know that, too, shouldn't I? Thanks, Antares. You're a good kid.”

Antares only smiled at this, closing his eyes and bowing his head in thanks to the earth pony before they traded one last look, one last smile, then turned and hurried on their separate ways and their separate missions.

The Hunt Begins

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Chapter Six: The Hunt Begins
~BlackRoseRaven

Cancer huffed and snarled as he stumbled through the tunnels, splashing through the water and past dead vermin and debris, then he shouted a flurry of curses in frustration as he came to another dead end. These tunnels were like a labyrinth of brick and wood that had quickly become obsolete and been replaced by a newer sewage and piping system he couldn't find a way into. He couldn't pass through solid concrete or metal, after all...

The monster reached up and rubbed slowly at his right foreleg, the white, ugly flesh rippling slowly. It hadn't taken long to regenerate, but it still hurt like hell: he hadn't expected the stupid little whiny demon he'd caught so easily would have a powerful Gluttony demon for a mother. It was not something he wanted to tangle with: as it was, he couldn't do much to poison normal demons quite yet, but Gluttony demons had massive constitutions to make up for the fact they loved to stuff everything they could find into their mouths. He could throw the most lethal strains he had absorbed at her, stuff that would turn the ponies into mush in a few hours, and she would probably get the sniffles at most.

“Helheim cheaters. Helheim liars. Helheim scum!” Cancer raged, snarling and spinning around before splashing back through the water, the mottled, goblinoid monster hissing in frustration as it made its way down towards another narrow tunnel. “I need to grab some of those demons... make me a nice demon sandwich... gobble that up, gobble them down, teach myself how I can hurt them...”

The monster mumbled to himself furiously, then his eyes flicked to the side as he noticed a large crack in the wall that a bit of water was spilling in through, and he hurried towards this before leaping forwards, body morphing into twisting, living slime that slithered easily through the narrow space. He squirmed into wetness, and felt something cold, felt water all around him as he pushed against the flow... then hit some kind of covering at the end.

For a few moments he twisted back and forth, before he firmly shoved upwards, splitting into goopy strings that spread up through the drain and into the thin pool above before they merged back together, becoming a thick, gooey puddle that floated on top of the shallow water. Then, bit-by-bit, he began to reform, head slowly lifting up before he grinned widely as his eyes flashed at his new surroundings: a narrower, octagonal tunnel that reeked of filth and rot and garbage and waste, dirty water spilling around him as he whispered: “Hello kitty.”

He looked back and forth, then hurried forwards, grinning wider as his red eyes flashed, feeling excited, energetic, delighted... before he rounded a corner and yelled in frustration at the sight of a closed, locked-down shutter.

Cancer snarled: the ponies had moved much faster than he'd expected to, and he glared furiously at his foreleg. He had taken maybe an hour, maybe a little longer, to hide away and regenerate, just in case the Devourer came looking for him... but thankfully, the demon hadn't chased him through the catacomb of tunnels. Then he'd simply hurried forwards, running wildly back and forth through the half-collapsed maintenance and drainage tunnels in search of what he needed most right now: new diseases, new prey, new evolution.

“But oh, my sweet sickness reached their town somehow... there must be some way into that village, there has to be! It's so polluted with hideous, clean energies and Helheim's reek that it's like a beacon in my mind's eye, but... oh, oh, oh, why can't I find the way to it?” Cancer snarled furiously, then he stepped forwards and hammered his head violently against the shutter, leaving smears of ugly goop over it before he stepped back, then turned around and hissed: “But I ain't gonna let this stop me or set me back, no way, no how. We're just getting started here. We haven't even begun to get started yet, no, no, you listen to me 'cause what I say is true, what I say is...”

Cancer gargled, then he hurried back into the tunnel even as his eyes glowed red and his head wrenched to the side, rasping: “They will all die. They will join the Void, their frail bodies destroyed, their spirits broken, their souls dissolved...”

Cancer's head snapped to the other side, and he squawked before shivering violently, stumbling into the wall and leaving a long smear of sludge before he shoved himself off, cursing under his breath. “Come on, come on, come on... oh, sweet sublime infection, how'd my sweet little disease make it all the way to the ponies, come on, come on... walkin', walkin', walkin', gettin' pissed off, come on, come on, come on...”

The monster mumbled to himself, hissing under his breath before he shook his head violently, then he emerged into an intersection and rumbled moodily. His eyes flicked back and forth before he turned and hurried down the left path... then he skidded to a halt, sniffing at the air with a frown as he muttered: “I know that smell...”

Cancer licked his lips nervously, then the monster hurried forwards, glancing up as he saw the end of the tunnel was in sight... and then he squawked as he bolted out into thin air, falling with a loud splash into a deep pool of water.

For a few moments, there was only silence in the large, rounded chamber... and then, slowly, Cancer surfaced, spitting out water as he shook himself violently and glared back and forth. The creature's eyes alit on a ladder leading up to a wider tunnel than the one he had fallen out of, and the monster swam slowly over towards this, muttering: “Don't understand pony designs whatsoever...”

Slowly, Cancer began to yank himself up the ladder, then he crawled out into the wide tunnel, glaring balefully back and forth. Then he sniffed the air curiously, raising his head slightly... but before he could even take a step forwards, a voice whispered softly: “Look, sisters. A Ginnungagap monster, just as Mistress Twilight warned us... a rot-crawler. No rat like the Draconequus, but the disease that seeks to infest the vermin...”

“Fe-fi-fo-fum, something wicked this way comes!” snapped Cancer, glaring back and forth before he grinned savagely as two Nightmares materialized in front of him, the shadowy creatures striding calmly towards the monster before his eyes flicked to the side, breathing a little harder as a third appeared in the mouth of a connecting tunnel to his right. “Well, la-di-da. Hey, you girls wanna know my name, or should I just eat you up, even though you ain't nothin' but smoke? So I guess really what I gotta do is snort you, but ooh, that'll be sweet too. It's a blood-brain-barrier thing, baby, gimme that more efficient delivery system right to the synapses and make me see wild, wild colors...”

“Surrender to us, and we'll bring you peacefully to the Dawn Bringer and Mistress Twilight for inspection and execution. Attempt to resist, and we'll torture you, and bring what pieces of you are left over to our masters.” one of the Nightmares said gently, as its eyes glowed with sadistic pleasure.

“Ain't you just a sweetie-pie, giving me that kind of choice? You really expect me to lay down all nice-like, knowing what's at the end of the road if I skip down that yellow-brick street with you mortal-enslaved mooks?” Cancer cocked his head, looking both amused and contemptible.

“No. We merely gave you the option so that we could honestly tell our masters we gave you a chance to surrender. Ginnungagap and Helheim are not allies, and childish destruction-bringers disgust us... come, sisters. Let's burn away this trash. We only need to leave just enough of him alive to give to Mistress Twilight...” One of the Nightmares stepped forwards, eyes flashing before it added quietly: “It is a rare pleasure when our duty aligns with our desires.”

Cancer only snorted in disgust, then he grinned suddenly before suddenly flicking a foreleg out, a thick wad of goo tearing free from his body to fly into the face of the Nightmare that had stepped forwards with a loud splatter. She cried out in disgust and anger, but before she could do anything further, Cancer yelled gleefully: “Boom!”

The wad of flesh exploded in a powerful, reeking blast, poisonous smog filling the air... but it wasn't thick enough to block out the sight of the Nightmare toppling backwards, now missing most of its head. It dissolved into smoke and ashes even before it hit the ground as one Nightmares stumbled, and the other snarled, its body glowing darkly as it concentrated.

Cancer turned towards this one, and then he screeched when a blast of electricity hammered into him, stumbling him as his body smoldered before he replied by vomiting a stream of acid at the attacker. The Nightmare vanished, however, even as the acid splattered through the tunnel, and Cancer snarled before turning his attention to the other Nightmare instead, charging towards it even as it tried to prepare a spell.

Its body glowed distinctly as it glared up at the monster, another blast of lightning hammering into Cancer just as he pounced, knocking him out of the air and flat to the ground with a shriek, and the Nightmare immediately leapt forwards, bowing its head low. A moment later, blue flames ripped out of the ground, spreading rapidly over Cancer's body, and the Ginnungagap monster screamed and writhed in agony before shoving himself off the cold cement floor in a burst of strength and rage, the Nightmare's eyes widening in shock before Cancer's forelegs transformed from slimy limbs into tentacles, his jaws gaping open in a roaring snarl that showed countless jagged teeth-

Above, the remaining Nightmare reappeared and stared in horror as the tentacles constricted Cancer's victim and his jaws settled over the demonic equine's neck. There was a sickening crunch as smoke and ashes floated up from the creature, before Cancer's body rippled violently forwards, losing most of its form and shape as it rippled upwards over its own tentacles, coating the dying Nightmare even as the slime steamed... and the surviving Nightmare shivered before spinning around and vanishing from sight again, hurriedly fleeing from the monstrosity.

For a few minutes, the ugly, bulging shape that was Cancer twisted and writhed... then slowly, he straightened and reformed, licking his lips hungrily as he rubbed at its own body. He had managed to absorb most of the Nightmare, and the demonic creature had been utterly delicious: not a true demon, perhaps, but a good start, and an excellent boost of strength. He could feel his strength growing, could feel his body assimilating the Nightmare's strengths and weaknesses, could feel the poison in his body changing, adapting, learning more about his foes... and Cancer closed his eyes with a rumble of delight. “Ooh... yeah...”

Slowly, his red eyes half-opened, gleaming brightly, and then he slowly looked up with a wide grin as his eyes glowed brighter: the last Nightmare, the runaway, had left a fresh trail behind that he could now clearly see, like particles of smoke floating silently in the air. He sniffed at this delicately, then slithered quickly forwards and hauled himself up into the tunnel entrance, whispering: “Yeah, you're gonna lead me out, aren't you, honey? Lead me right on over to your masters...

I'm getting stronger, better, bigger and badder every day,
Getting meaner and crueler and nastier in every way,
And I hunger, oh how I hunger, but I'm gonna get my fill...
One day all too soon, my sweets, I'll be movin' in for the kill...

Sha-do-do-wop, ta-ta-ta,
Sha-ba-de-do-de-do-da, la-di-da,
Sha-do-do-ta, do-si-do...
Gonna eat my fill, of all them pony folk...”

Cancer chuckled to himself, inhaling deeply as he followed the trail, his eyes gleaming hungrily. Yes, he was going to have himself a delicious feast... and this village was just a single appetizer on the menu: by the end of the day, he planned to eat his way through this entire world.

Twilight Sparkle shook her head nervously, surveying the Nightmare in front of her apprehensively: it was early afternoon, but they were inside Cowlick's engineering lab and all the shutters had been closed. In this dark, dank basement, the Nightmare didn't have to worry about being injured by the sun's rays.

What it reported was disturbing: the monster was much more powerful than Twilight had imagined, especially if it had killed two Nightmares so easily. She looked apprehensively at the open hatch in the floor, and then glanced up as Cowlick approached from where she'd been standing at the other side of the room, the earth pony mare saying quietly: “Look, I ain't about to tell you your business and all, Twilight, but if that thing is in the sewers we need to flush it out somehow, and we need to make sure we drive it out at a choke point we can control. And can we please close that goddamn hatch? I don't want that monster getting into this facility.”

“I... you're right.” Twilight nodded nervously, and Cowlick sighed in relief before the violet mare's horn glowed and she closed her eyes. The heavy, dome-shaped hatch lit up with the same aura, then swung slowly back into place, crashing down with an audible rumble before Cowlick stepped forwards and sealed it with an easy spin of the valve on top of the hatch door.

Cowlick wheezed a bit, then looked back and forth around the mostly-empty room: apart from a set of lockers that contained overalls and protective gear, this room was only used for storing some cleaning supplies and gear for tromping down through the sewers. All the same, Cowlick grimaced as she looked around the room, noting the vents, the door leading to the stairs, the larger doors leading to the supply lift... “Goddammit, locking this place down is going to be a pain in my flank, but I would much rather be safe than sorry dealing with this kind of thing. We still need to track down how the hell the infection got into Ponyville in the first place, too...”

“What do you suggest to get rid of it?” Twilight asked quietly, and Cowlick hesitated, then simply shrugged with a sigh, and the Lich smiled faintly. “Alright. I'll ask Celestia, then... and Nightmare. I'd like you to stay here, please. Keep an eye on that hatch, and if anything tries to disturb it, come find someone immediately.”

“Of course, Mistress Twilight. I... apologize for my failure.” The Nightmare bowed its head, and Twilight only smiled faintly, reaching up to touch its shoulder. It was a foreign gesture to the creature, which looked both surprised and confused at first... but then humbled when Twilight turned away, the Nightmare adding in a murmur: “I shall praise your mercy to my siblings.”

Twilight and Cowlick made their way to the door, and Cowlick sighed tiredly as she led the way up the stairs, the earth pony mare muttering: “This is godawful. My poor Ross is sick as a dog in bed still, I caught Rusty smoking again, Antares looks like someone pooped on his head, and now I don't have any goddamn idea of how to drive this freak out of the sewers. Well, that's not entirely true, but I figure you guys won't let me burn it out or blow the tunnels up.”

“No, because I don't want to see Ponyville on fire or turned into a crater.” Twilight replied dryly, sighing a little before she shook her head and asked finally: “What's with all those tunnels, anyway? Maintenance tunnels, sewer tunnels, aqueducts... what's down there, Cowlick?”

Cowlick shrugged as they stepped out into the sterile halls of the first floor of the lab facility, and she gestured at the Lich to follow, Twilight curiously striding along behind the earth pony as the engineer explained: “The Nibelung had to rebuild all of Ponyville, remember. While they were digging foundations, apparently they also decided to start digging out the sewers, too. Since their kind is used to working underground, they built a lot of the sewer system by digging extensions outta what would eventually be house foundations and stuff: you know, made a whole series of tunnels that crisscrossed all underneath what's now Ponyville. Then they turned half of those tunnels into the sewer system, while the other half eventually fell into disuse or were just used to store stuff or... you get the drift of the story, anyway.”

Twilight Sparkle nodded after a moment, then Cowlick turned and shoved open a door, stepping into a workshop: Nibelung were busy at metal tables on the other side of the wide cement room, putting together filter masks as Cowlick muttered: “Those are gonna be useless as hell if that monster can spread his disease by contact. Anyway, look at this.”

Cowlick turned and approached a table that sat in front of an enormous rack of neat, polished tools, and the engineer dug through the papers scattered over the surface of it before she grumbled and yanked the center drawer open, giving a grunt as she picked up a large, rolled-up map. “Here it is.”

She unrolled it and held it open, and Twilight looked down curiously at what was clearly a copied map of the tunnel systems... except Cowlick had already made several marks over it here and there, the engineer explaining over her shoulder: “As you know, I already sent Applejack and a bunch of them out to lock down the wells and stuff. I was gonna go myself but... I figured I'd be more useful here, planning and nonsense.

“Now, these red dots are culverts, wells, holes, stuff that connects to the maintenance tunnels that we can't lock down easily for one reason or another. There's five in total, scattered throughout Ponyville... and that's the stuff we know of, since over the years deterioration may have ripped another hole or two open in our system. But this one, here, that I've circled in blue...” Cowlick tapped a place on the western end of the map. “This is a tricky little choke point. It's a good distance outside of Ponyville, and pours into a natural pit. It's an uphill slope, so it only drains occasionally, like after a big storm, and what it pours into was used as a dump site by the Nibelung for a whole bunch of long-decomposed crud.

“If we can force that monster into anywhere along this route, we can use a wave of pressure to shove the son of a bitch all the way down the tunnel and out this drain. Unless he's got wings he'll have nowhere to go but right down into this pit... which I will have loaded with oil, explosives, and a whole bunch of nails and ball bearings. Once he falls in, I'll toss a flare, and you can say bye-bye to this beast.” Cowlick grinned slightly, glancing at Twilight. “The only real tricky part will be forcing him into that section of tunnel... but I think if we get enough demons and you're willing to get a little dirty yourself, Twilight, we can block off enough escape routes to leave him with no choice but to flee into there, and then you can drive him out with one good blast of fire or force.”

Twilight nodded slowly, murmuring quietly: “You make it sound almost easy, Cowlick... but it never is, is it? For all we know, that thing could be a thousand miles away by now...”

Cowlick only looked sourly in response at the Lich, then she shoved at her lightly and replied dryly: “You're a real ray of sunshine, huh? Yeah, I know, this thing might not be down there right now. But where the hell else is it going to go? I think it's going to stick to using those tunnels like a lair... they're just too perfect for a scum-sucking monster that thrives in disease, he won't be able to resist. And this is gonna take time to prepare, anyway... while I get the stuff ready, you and Celestia can figure out a way to track this thing, or at least make sure he's hiding out down in the sewers. And Greece and my boys still need to close up every other entrance they can.”

The violet mare nodded a few times looking down meditatively and rubbing thoughtfully at the underside of her muzzle, and Cowlick frowned a bit, asking moodily: “What? Did I miss something here? Or are you just having undead PMS or something?”

Twilight sighed and looked flatly at the earth pony, then she shook her head and said finally: “No, it just... I just have a bad feeling, that's all. And I'm worried that while we're spending all our effort setting this trap and sealing it in... it's going to attack Ponyville or something.”

“Well, again. My job is building the better mousetrap. Go on, get out of here, Twilight, talk to Celestia. The Baroness will know what to do, she knows all this strategy stuff better than any other pony around these parts.” Cowlick shook her head, then she smiled a little. “This ain't nothing big. This is just some filthy disease that snuck its way into our world, but we got lots of allies and we can take this thing down.”

“Okay. Yeah, you're right. I'll let Celestia know what you're planning... I mean, doing.” Twilight smiled after a moment, then she turned as Cowlick grunted and waved at her, the engineer turning her eyes back to the map as the Lich headed out the door and into the halls.

She strode slowly down the corridor, following the signs to the exit, and smiling at the receptionist as she made her way across the lobby and then out the doors. She paused for a moment as the double doors of the facility swung closed behind her, gazing over her shoulder at the building and murmuring softly: “I just wish Luna and Scrivener were here, that's all.”

“You really can't depend on them for everything, you know. But funnily enough, at the same time, you can, can't you?” said a soft voice, and Twilight looked up in surprise, then smiled a little at the sight of Discombobulation, the Draconequus lounging placidly against a wall across the street. He nodded to her as he straightened, and Twilight approached him gladly before the chimerical creature said gently: “They're always in your heart, Twilight Sparkle. Or. Well. Something like that, since you don't have a heart, do you?”

“Maybe not in my chest, but... somewhere in me. I feel something beating.” Twilight said quietly, reaching up and touching her breast through the thick sweater she was wearing... and then she smiled and shook her head slowly, saying softly: “But you're right. They are always with me. I just wish... they were still here.”

Discombobulation shrugged slowly, then the two fell into pace as they began to calmly make their way through Ponyville, the Draconequus crossing his arms as he said softly: “You know that video game, where the chick gets killed by the villain about halfway through? Well, her death propels the story forwards, doesn't it? Perhaps it's in death that she was able to get her true message across... although it helps she's still there from time to time, all the same. Then again, I like to think myself that death is merely a transitive state... it's hard for us Draconequus, you know. We're all scared of death: when we die, we don't get to go to Heaven, or to Hell, or even to Purgatory. We just cease to be... poof. All of it gone, just like that.”

He snapped his fingers, then shook his head slowly and smiled over at Twilight Sparkle. “I do love a good theological discussion all the same, though... where do you think you'll go when you die, Twilight Sparkle? Paradiso? Helheim? Or will it be eternal reruns of that old cartoon, living out happy times with friends and family forever...”

“I don't know, Discombobulation. But I know where I want to go.” Twilight said softly, glancing up and shaking her head a bit as she smiled a little. “I think... Celestia will be there, too. And I hope some of my friends, but I don't know what they would think... if it would... suit them, you know? Yet all the same, I... I wonder. What's Heaven supposed to be like when... you're like me? Like Luna, or Scrivener? And worse... what's Hell?”

“Now that's a very easy question. For Luna Brynhild, Hell is obviously a crowded bar frequented by other poets during open mic night. For Scrivener Blooms, it's probably a Sunday school where the uniforms are ambiguous and no one has any boy or girl parts.” Discombobulation said mildly, and Twilight laughed despite herself, before she smiled warmly up at him.

“You know, I'm finally beginning to understand why you've always referred to them by each other's name.” She stopped, hesitated, then asked curiously: “If you had to choose a name for me, what would it be?”

“It would be the name of something I would never have to put in my mouth.” Discombobulation said kindly, and Twilight couldn't help but laugh: and it was warm, true, real laughter, as the Draconequus smiled slightly down at her before he reached a hand down to gently rest on her shoulder as they continued to walk.

When they entered the library, Twilight was surprised to see Prestige and Meadowlark both helping Celestia go over files. She was calmly reading a book herself, even though she was dressed in her golden armor: but then again, by now, Twilight knew that her equipment was almost as comfortable for her as her own skin. A Nibelung Architect was here, too: it was the fact his tusks were shorn down – or in this case, completely removed – that gave away what he was. The dwarf smiled over at her, smoothing down the open vest he was wearing as he said warmly: “Twilight Sparkle... it's nice to see you here.”

“Tenochtitlan.” Twilight smiled and nodded, bowing her head politely to the Architect: they were the keepers of ancient Nibelung lore, the few dwarves who did their best to preserve their ancient history and culture, before Niflheim had been invaded and destroyed by Helheim and the Nibelung race turned from proud masters of their domain to thugs and mercenaries. “It's good to see you too. I'm just coming from Cowlick's lab, actually.”

Discombobulation calmly strolled past the Lich to walk around the table, ignoring the way Prestige peered at him distrustfully before the Draconequus leaned curiously over Celestia's shoulder to look at the book on the table in front of her, and the ivory equine smiled a little despite herself, before looking up in interest as Twilight continued: “She... she has a plan she's already put in motion, to drive this monster out of the sewers... she's sealing off all the entrances she can, and the she wants us to use demons and others immune to the infection to drive it into one of the drainage tunnels and blast it out into a deathtrap.”

Celestia nodded slowly, then she asked quietly: “I suppose in the meantime Cowlick wants us to keep an eye out for the monster, to make sure it's in the sewers, and to keep it there if at all possible?”

“Pretty much.” Twilight smiled a little as she approached the table, then she shook her head slowly and added quietly: “But I'm nervous... I have a bad feeling. The plan seems foolproof, but... that's assuming Cowlick's right about it wanting to stay in the sewers.”

Celestia closed her eyes, bowing her head forwards in thought for a moment before she glanced up over her shoulder at Discombobulation and asked curiously: “What do you know about this kind of monstrosity? We're fairly sure it's a Ginnungagap entity... have the Draconequus ever encountered it before?”

“Oh, Draconequus have encountered each and every and any sort of thing, as I'm sure I've mentioned at some point. We know everything, but all that amounts to is knowing nothing in really fancy terms.” Discombobulation said mildly, and then he shook his head as he sat down at the table beside the ivory winged unicorn, looking thoughtful as he began to beat a light tattoo against it. “Remember, Ginnungagap is nothing but garbage and filth and where all the missing puzzle pieces go. Everything's wild, rampant chaos there, us rats and cats and cows and chickens. But all of those things can carry some very nasty diseases, can't they? And diseases thrive in rotting garbage...

“They say that Ginnungagap is so wild and happy and carefree because it dances eternally on the edge of disaster. That literally, if you dig down deep enough through the floor that's piled up high with junk, you'll end up eventually falling through the chairs and used cars and stereos and cassettes and dusty appliances that no one ever uses, and you'll land right smack-dab in the middle of Nothingness. They say that we smiling clowns and rats of Ginnungagap have the universe's darkest secret right beneath our floor: the Void, where there's nothing... but Nothing.” Discombobulation fell quiet, shaking his head slowly as he murmured: “Nothing is a very awful thing. Just thinking about it gives me chills, as a matter of fact.

“Now imagine what would happen if you mixed rampant, gleeful chaos with the emotionless end-to-all-things of the Void? Well, some people have and they've made very famous comic book characters out of it.” Discombobulation smiled wryly, glancing up before he shook his head slowly. “But this is what we're dealing with here. Normally, something like this isn't all that serious: in an environment of chaos, none of us have the time to take a cold, disease, or death very seriously, so we simply laugh off the worst of ailments and continue happily on our way, and if it gets drawn back into the Void... then destruction becomes destroyed. But that destruction entity has been removed from those environments somehow, and tossed into this world. This world, where it can chew people up and gobble them down, and where even I would be forced to take it seriously if it rose its ugly, mocking head. It's going to get strong and get mean fast, my friends... because there's nothing here to restrain it, nothing to contain it, nothing to stop it from unleashing its full potential.”

He fell quiet, and Celestia frowned as she nodded slowly once, then looked up and said quietly: “Then we have no choice but to hope that Cowlick's plan works, and destroy it as soon as possible. I trust in Cowlick's ability enough to have faith it's viable, but keeping it in the sewers... if it is a creature of chaos, it may be hard to predict its movements.”

She paused, then glanced over at Tenochtitlan as he rubbed slowly at the underside of his muzzle, murmuring: “Maybe we can lure the creature in when we're ready, however... it attacked the hospital first, didn't it? And it was likewise attracted to the old drainage tunnels instead of directly to Ponyville. If it's attracted to disease or illness, maybe Greece and I can build something that will lure it into the tunnels.”

Celestia looked curiously over at the Architect, and the dwarf smiled after a moment before he nodded firmly once, looking up and asking: “Would you mind excusing me, Celestia? I'd like to get started on this project, see what I can come up with.”

“Not at all, friend. Go right ahead.” Celestia nodded back, and the dwarf smiled before saluting and heading quickly for the door. The ivory winged unicorn drew her eyes to Twilight... but she couldn't help but frown a little at the sight of the worried expression still on the violet mare's features. “What is it?”

Twilight only shook her head, and there was quiet for a moment before Prestige cleared her throat loudly, then broke the silence by saying awkwardly: “I believe that I may have some idea of how the infection reached Ponyville.”

The others looked up with interest at this, even Meadowlark unable to hide her curiosity, and the young unicorn cleared her throat loudly before saying quietly: “The creek ecology indicates that mosquitoes regularly nest there, and there are leeches and grubs in the water. Both of these serve as food for birds, and for fish in the larger stream downriver. Fish that are regularly caught from the ponds and streams and brought into Ponyville to be prepared as food for demons...”

“The fish are more likely than the birds, we would have noticed dead birds... but the fishers often simply set up simple nets across narrow choke points in the water. Already dead or infected fish could go unnoticed with the rest of the catch.” Celestia murmured, then she shook her head and said quietly: “The animal care center gets a share of raw fish, the rest is brought to specialty shops to be prepared for demons and mulched for pet stores. The infection would have to spread on contact, though, not consumption...”

Twilight shivered a bit at this thought, looking nervously over at Celestia. “But why didn't everypony get sick, then? If you only needed to touch an infected... anything... for it to spread onto you...”

“Because of chaos.” Discombobulation said quietly, shaking his head slowly as he traded a look with Celestia. “And maybe it spread so effectively because of another factor you haven't considered: the Nibelung and demons are immune to its effects – at least for now – but what if they still carry the disease? What if they can still pass it on to others? Or what if they are sick... but the symptoms in their kind are so faint – a cough, a runny nose, a tired feeling – that they simply go unnoticed, and yet when they accidentally breathe on one pony or another...”

Celestia shook her head slowly, closing her eyes. “Then perhaps even Twilight Sparkle and I are both carrying the illness as well, and it simply hasn't affected us. We'll need to ensure that if infected, our bodies are able to fight off and destroy the infection completely, not just keep it in check.”

Twilight nodded, cursing under her breath. For a few moments, there was silence... and then Celestia finally sighed and stood slowly, saying quietly to Meadowlark and Prestige: “You've done more than enough for now. You both have my gratitude. Meadowlark, you should go home, though, and Prestige, you should get some rest.”

“Can... where's Antares?” Meadowlark asked quietly, and Celestia smiled after a moment, her amethyst eyes glancing towards Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight shifted a bit, then she said finally: “I sent him back home, actually, to work on his magic. He was looking rough, and he wanted to help but there just wasn't a lot for him to do here...”

She shifted embarrassedly: she had also been worried about the young stallion, too, and didn't want to see him getting sick or put in harm's way. Meadowlark frowned a bit, seeming to pick up on this, before the Pegasus said quietly: “Miss Twilight, I... know it's none of my business, but I think Antares is just going to be more upset, being removed from this whole situation. He really wants to help...”

“I know.” Twilight said softly, then she smiled faintly. “But Meadowlark, you're all still almost kids. Antares just turned seventeen, you're only a year and a half older, and Aphrodisia may be an adult, but she's very young mentally and emotionally. Let us handle this, okay? There's no need to put yourselves in danger quite yet, and...”

She stopped, then laughed a little, glancing up and saying quietly: “Maybe it's selfish, but I do want to make sure Antares gets out there to find his parents, whether I can come with him or not. But if he's going to get there, then he has to be alive and well... and I don't want him losing that chance because of something this monster does to him.”

“Cancer. It called itself Cancer.” Meadowlark said quietly, and Twilight frowned curiously; the red Pegasus only shook her head in response, however, smiling a little. “Sorry. I... just remembered what it was singing... before, all I could think of was... when Aphrodisia...”

Meadowlark shook her head quickly, then she looked up and said quietly: “But this is important too. This is our home, and... you and Celestia don't have to do this alone. Maybe we all are still kids, but we deserve a chance to help, don't we? You can't... shield us all forever, Twilight... and maybe Antares deserves a chance to protect you, too.”

Twilight frowned a bit at this as Celestia tilted her head and Discombobulation smiled slightly, crossing his arms... and then, to Meadowlark's surprise, Prestige stood up and strode up beside her, saying quietly: “The... Pegasus... is right. Antares may be foolish and brash... but he'll never learn to be anything except for that unless given the chance.”

Meadowlark looked with surprise at Prestige for a few moments... and then she smiled faintly, shaking her head slowly and looking up as she said quietly: “You gotta give us a chance. We can help.”

Twilight sighed quietly, but she nodded slowly and smiled faintly all the same as her eyes roved to Celestia. For a few moments, the ivory winged unicorn looked thoughtful... and then she smiled softly before standing up, golden armor gleaming as she straightened and rolled her head on her shoulders. “Twilight, can you handle keeping things in order here? I'm sure you'll be able to organize patrols of the streets and a watch by yourself, and many of your friends are among the on-duty Starlit Knights. I think I'll go and pay a visit to Antares.”

The violet mare cocked her head curiously, but then she nodded slowly as Prestige and Meadowlark both smiled warmly at the ivory winged unicorn. Celestia smiled back, making her way slowly around the table before adding gently: “Prestige, please go to the clinic and speak to the unicorn healers there, there are still many ill who need our help, and the faster the Starlit Knights are back on their hooves, the better. Meadowlark, the hospital and clinics have all already compiled a list of ponies who were admitted around the time the illness first hit Ponyville: check who these patients are, and where they worked. It's the fastest possible way to track down if Prestige's theory is correct. It will be almost pointless to eradicate Cancer, as it's chosen to call itself, if the disease continues to thrive and fester. Even without a sentient entity like Cancer spreading it, it could still mutate and become even more toxic then it already is.”

Celestia paused, then she glanced at Discombobulation, asking mildly: “Coming, friend? Or are you going to wait here?”

“Well, I do appreciate the invitation, Celestia, but I think Twilight Sparkle's going to need my help a little more around here. Also, my butt is nice and comfortable in this chair.” Discombobulation wiggled a little in his seat, and Celestia smiled despite herself as the Draconequus rose a hand and twiddled his fingers at her. “But don't worry. If you need me, just use a town portal spell. You can do that, right?”

“I'll whistle.” Celestia said softly, and Discombobulation smiled before the ivory winged unicorn turned around and easily made her way to the doorway, giving one last, supportive look over her shoulder at Twilight Sparkle before she stepped out into the afternoon sun.

Celestia glanced up at the sky, face smoothing out into soft thought as she looked up at the sun: the sun she had once had to move to bring the day by herself, but now which was moved by some strange and elaborate machine made by the Strange Ones. She had only seen the wondrous device once, when Odin had taken her to see it... and she closed her eyes as she felt both warmth, and a soft sting of sorrow. Odin... who had created the core reality in the first place when he had bee King of the Aesir and the mightiest of Gods... who had lost everything to one of Valthrudnir's arrogant games, and made one last desperate attempt to save reality by replicating it to create ninety nine worlds, ninety nine layers, and scattering the souls of the fallen Aesir and their guardians across these myriad of worlds to slow Valthrudnir's destruction of them... who as a husk of what he'd formerly been, had been a greater and better person than he'd ever been as a god. Whom she had loved, dearly, truly, deeply, for all his flaws.

His death still ached these days, and yet she was proud of him, too. She smiled a little as she strode slowly through Ponyville on the familiar route towards Twilight's home: it was funny, how she would change everything, and she would change nothing, if given the chance. She just wished she'd had the courage to tell him... she regretted that she never had, never just said those words, never let him know... what she had felt for him.

Celestia cleared her throat and shook her head as she looked up, continuing in silence: she passed through the gates with a polite nod to the Nibelung guards, and made her way along the path from Ponyville and into the Everfree Forest. Once this had been a secret road, but the trail had long been worn into a comfortable, visible trek by the passage of all the countless hooves among it... and Celestia smiled as she looked down, hearing for a moment both Luna and Scrivener's voices...

She shook herself out, then looked up and sighed softly, murmuring: “Brother... sister... I don't know if Twilight or Antares know this, but... every single day, I think about you both, and I miss you, and... I would do anything to have you back. Or to have died in your place, in Clockwork World... selfish as that is.”

“It is selfish, Celestia. It's very selfish.” remarked a voice, and Celestia looked up sharply, her intense gaze searching back and forth through the trees. She frowned a bit, then leaned forwards slightly, her eyes widening in surprise as a figure stepped out of the trees ahead and smiled, the tall, bipedal creature leaning calmly on a steel cane topped with a golden handle in the shape of a roaring dragon's head, precious gemstones glinting for its eyes.

It was a Draconequus, dressed in a purple suit that was stitched badly together and patched up here and there with random pieces of cloth. One of his visible hands was covered in white scales and adorned with silver rings, and the other black fur, each finger ending in chipped, short claws. Its features were that of a pony, cropped mane stiff and brush-like, and its eyes were a mismatched emerald green and rustic brown.

For a moment, Celestia could only continue to stare at it... and then the Draconequus clicked the heels of its scuffed boots together and strode easily forwards, bowing his head politely to her and saying kindly: “Don't you recognize me?”

“Allonym.” Celestia said after a moment, and the Draconequus smiled as he nodded, spinning his cane at his side before leaning on it again as Celestia frowned up at him, looking surprised. “This is strange, I have to say... usually you only speak to Antares. The only time you ever came to speak to me was when Ponyville was in danger... you warned me there was a monster on the way.”

“Well, yes, I couldn't have Ponyville put in too much danger before now. And... even now, I don't like that Ponyville's in danger, or how fast this Cancer freak has moved in.” Allonym muttered, taking his cane in both his hands and squeezing it compulsively. Celestia immediately frowned up at him, drawing her eyes up along his purple vest to the green, badly-done-up tie around his neck, and Allonym cleared his throat before he gestured forwards, asking mildly: “Do you want to keep moving? I don't want to slow you down at all on the way to Antares, and I want to talk to him too.”

“I... answer me one question first.” Celestia looked up into the Draconequus's mismatched eyes, meeting his gaze evenly. “You claim to have known Luna and Scrivener, to have been the last person to have spoken to them... and Antares said to do that, you trapped them in a dream world. Why did you play a game with them, Allonym? Why didn't you save them?”

“Because I couldn't. And because...” Allonym smiled a little, squeezing his cane slowly between his hands as he studied the ivory winged unicorn for a few moments. “Luna asked me to try and show Scrivener there could be life without her. To try and save him... but she was wrong. There was no life for them without the other. I wanted to help... in a way, I think I did. But I think that might just be wishful thinking, too. I think.”

Celestia nodded slowly, looking down for a moment, and then she strode past and gestured with her head at the Draconequus, who nodded politely back to her. He tossed his cane into the air and caught it by the foot, letting the neck rest against his shoulder as pony and Draconequus walked side-by-side... before Celestia laughed a little and shook her head slowly, murmuring: “Funny. The old me would have never believed this scene to be possible. Walking alongside a strange Draconequus... but you're not really a Draconequus, are you?”

“Your mystical prestidigitation is made a whole lot less impressive by the fact I know Antares has already told you what I am.” the Draconequus remarked mildly, and then he glanced absently down at his free hand, turning it slowly back and forth as he examined the rings on the scaled fingers. “Whoever made me is clearly a jerk, though. Pieces of Nibelung and pony and douchebag, and I talk all funny. Don't think I haven't noticed that I talk all funny. And I stumble and stutter my speech a lot. Do you think anyone notices?”

“I'm sure they don't.” Celestia said softly, glancing over at the Draconequus, and then she shook her head slowly, asking curiously: “What do you want to talk to Antares about?”

“His parents. Cancer. And to be careful... which is what I want to talk to you about too, Celestia.” Allonym said in a softer voice, looking ahead as he swung his cane slowly at his side in a wide, windmilling motion, then he spun it easily, fingers dancing up along the body of the cane before he easily caught it by the neck and gazed over at the ivory winged unicorn quietly. “There's no certain end to this story, Celestia. Oh, sure, there's a way we'd all like it to end, but... how often does that happen? And how often do we get what we want, only to find it either... not as fulfilling, or worse... it ends up being poisoned, twisted in some way?”

Celestia only nodded calmly, not speaking, and Allonym seemed almost surprised by this before he glanced ahead and asked quietly: “Don't you think it's a little strange, that even now... you think so much of Luna and Scrivener? That you, Freya, unstoppable Warrior Queen of the unconquerable Valkyries, can't... let go?”

“Not at all.” Celestia smiled faintly, glancing over at Allonym as she replied gently: “As you said, we were unconquerable... until Brynhild was... put to sleep, I had never lost any of my warriors, my sisters. Yes, they were wounded, even crippled... but we were not mortals. We could heal from almost any injury, we could almost always rise back up to fight another day... I cannot begin to express the torment, what it felt like, to see Brynhild placed into eternal sleep by my own patriarch, after countless years of countless victories against countless foes. Nor can I express the agony of what it was like to watch all my thought-invincible sisters... cut down like wheat, one after the other, in that final, awful battle. Especially after losing... losing someone very special to me.

“I don't think I ever recovered from Sleipnir's death, either.” Celestia shook her head slowly, murmuring quietly: “I think that was the last straw, that drove me from simply wanting to destroy Discord, to turning it into that grand and awful scheme I hatched. And it's strange and ironic, but that same pain was what drove me to driving my sister from this world when she became Nightmare Moon... I couldn't kill her, but I could exile her. I could keep her locked away for a thousand years, where she would be safe and quiet and out of my way while I made Equestria into my vision.

“It's incredible, when I think about it, how much I must have had in common with Valthrudnir. It's no wonder his poisons worked so easily on my mind.” Celestia laughed a little, shaking her head slowly and closing her eyes. “And now my sister and my brother are gone, who I betrayed time and time again, who I failed on more than one occasion, who I... was jealous of, more often than not. Allonym, I have to believe they're still out there, because they deserved to live while I feel that I do not, and for an even more selfish reason than that: because I need them. They are my friends, and my family. I adore and love my brother, Sleipnir, and Twilight Sparkle brings me a joy I cannot describe, but all the same... there is still a hole in my heart and my honor that no one else can fill.”

Allonym nodded slowly, lowering his head moodily as he murmured: “A square peg can't fit in a circular hole, no matter how much you love squares, right?”

Celestia looked up at this metaphor... then she nodded thoughtfully after a moment, saying softly: “Yes. That's right.”

“You know that doesn't make any sense, right? People aren't pegs.” Allonym smiled in return, then he shook his head slowly as Celestia laughed quietly despite herself, the two walking on in quiet for a few moments before the Draconequus said softly: “Twilight doesn't think you brought her back out of selfishness, Celestia. She doesn't believe that you somehow orchestrated all this, sent Luna and Scrivener off to die after making her a Lich... making her owe you her life while taking away the things you imagine she imagines you imagine were the only things blocking you from having her all to herself.”

Celestia looked sharply at the Draconequus, even as he only continued to amble onwards at the easy pace they had set: to anyone else it would probably sound like gibberish, but to her, who had been feeling, wondering, thinking exactly that... “How did you know that? What... what precisely are you, Allonym? What is an Avatar?”

“An obnoxious loudspeaker for a particular puppetmaster way too old to be playing with the pony toys he collects and who really needs to get out more.” Allonym muttered, tossing a moody glance at the sky, and then he shook his head and glanced over at Celestia. “I'm a friend and an admirer. And I'm here to help. That's all I can really explain.”

For a few moments there was silence... and then Celestia asked finally, as her eyes studied the Draconequus: “Do you have the power to see the future?”

“Yeah, you're about to walk face-first right into that branch.” Allonym said mildly, and Celestia winced as she looked ahead with surprise, rearing back quickly... and finding absolutely nothing in front of her but open path, the Draconequus clearing his throat loudly as he half-hid a grin behind one hand. “That should answer your question.”

Celestia shook her head slowly, sighing a little as she simply gazed moodily after the strange, chimerical creature for a few moments, then she hurried forwards and fell back into pace alongside him, remarking dryly: “I think you may in fact be worse than Discombobulation.”

“Good old Bob. I wonder what Ponyville must look like from up above these days... not just because of the fact it's got such a dense population of demons and such living around the area, but also since shortly there's going to be three Draconequus hanging out there.” Allonym said mildly, and Celestia cocked her head curiously, looking at him with interest.

“Discord is on the way from Canterlot? Should we turn around and find out what he has to say?” Celestia asked curiously, and Allonym smiled and shook his head quickly.

“I... don't think so. Doesn't seem precisely pressing but... again, can't tell the future, although I probably gave away that I can guess at what else is happening on the storyboard right now.” Allonym paused, then he snorted in amusement. “I love his uniform, by the way. Now tell the truth, Celestia... was the funny hat really your idea, or did you let Discombobulation add in just a few touches here and there?”

Celestia only looked ahead, giving a slight smile as she said calmly: “What kind of Baroness would I be if I didn't allow my subjects to give their input on my decisions, Allonym? Besides, it's a small price to pay. If Discord didn't have an official uniform for his new position as a courier for the Royal Court, we might find him strung up and beaten to death by angry Nibelung or minotaurs. He has a very bad habit of forgetting that he can no longer use his chaos powers thanks to his own hex band, and he's too terrified of what might happen if we try to remove it from his stomach by surgery.”

“Well, getting gutted like a fish doesn't appeal to most people, Celestia.” Allonym remarked mildly, and he smiled slightly before tipping her a wink. “Thank you for that succinct summary through dialogue, by the way. A nice way to keep the ball rolling, and... I like your voice. It's very pretty.”

The Baroness looked surprised at this, smiling a little all the same as she looked at the Draconequus with interest, but Allonym only cleared his throat and waved a hand at her, saying mildly: “Hey, don't you go getting ideas now. Besides, I don't want to fight Discombobulation for your affections. Or that demon, Amdusias. Or... well... do you have any pony admirers? I'm not quite sure.”

“The problem is that most of my pony admirers, admire me for my strength, or because I am Baroness. They see who they think I am and want that, want to be a part of that... they don't see me for who I really am.” Celestia paused, looking thoughtful for a moment. “I believe Pinkamena referred to it as... they want all cake, and no obligations.”

“I like that you two are friends. That works well in my favor.” Allonym said mildly, and Celestia gave him a curious look at this odd comment. But the Draconequus didn't say anything further, only shaking his head a bit before he continued quietly: “Aren't we all guilty of that to some degree, Celestia? For example... Antares. Do you really think that through-and-through, he's some pure, shining star?”

“He is pure... but he's not perfect, Allonym, far from it.” Celestia smiled a little, shaking her head slowly. “Twilight Sparkle would not have had to send him home if he really was perfect. He wouldn't have made the mistakes he has... but I'm glad he did. He's learning, Allonym. And he's still... innocent, and a good pony. I think I was a good person for all of thirteen seconds when I first came to this world, and then I lost that.”

Allonym smiled, and the two were quiet again for a short time. They walked down the path, side-by-side, comfortable as old friends despite having just met... yet there was still familiarity in their movements, they didn't have to look at one another to check the pace or adjust their speed... they looked at each other to study the other with fascination and interest.

Finally, they strode quietly onto a grassy lawn at the end of the long path through the Everfree Forest: to either side of them were trees, but in front of them was a beautiful, two-floor house, wide and made of gorgeous dark ironwood. It was almost ridiculous, a house simply sitting out here, lawn and all, in the middle of the forest... but Celestia and Allonym both smiled, the ivory winged unicorn murmuring: “I've always admired what Scrivener Blooms and Luna did... living out here, just on the fringe of exile, in such a beautiful home they built for themselves.”

The Draconequus nodded slowly, and then he half-bowed, letting Celestia take the lead and approach the front door. She glanced at the large hillock at one side of the house cursorily: there was a door built into the front of the landscaped mound, and it served as a storage shed of sorts... but often, Celestia could find Antares out here, sitting on top of it and just staring at the sky, more his personal lookout than anything else.

But he wasn't there: so instead, the winged unicorn simply pushed the door open, hesitating only a moment before letting herself inside. She glanced to her left, unable to stop herself, gazing at the closed door that led into Scrivener and Luna's long-unused bedroom... and then she shook her head and strode forwards, past other doors on either side of her as she called calmly: “Antares! I'm here with... a friend.”

Allonym smiled slightly at this, the Draconequus ducking into the house and closing the door behind him as he gazed almost raptly back and forth. He was quickly to hurry after Celestia into the den at the end of the hall, gazing around almost excitedly as the winged unicorn looked over her shoulder at him curiously: he seemed to be taking in every detail, from the portraits and paintings on the wall that had been done by Luna's own hoof, to the simple furniture, the stacked papers, Scrivener's writing desk, like it was all part of some magnificent, once-in-a-lifetime exhibit.

The Draconequus dropped to a kneel, tossing his cane aside with a clutter to the floor as he reached down and touched the well-worn bedding, rubbing scaled fingers over it, and Celestia closed her eyes as she breathed silently in. She could still faintly smell them both, she thought, or maybe it was only a trick of her mind, and the well-used fireplace, before Allonym murmured quietly: “No. Their presence lingers here... even now. Ghosts, in a sense... everything they were, everything they are, has pervaded these walls... this house lives with them.”

“Allonym...” Celestia didn't know what else to say, so she only let her words drift off... and then she shook her head quickly as the Draconequus slowly stood and laced his fingers together in front of himself, gazing silently at the painting that hung above the mantel. And on instinct, Celestia knew she didn't have to tell him what it was of, why it held so much meaning: that long ago, Luna had painted that shadowy image of Scrivener, running through a forest of trees and roses in black and white, by far one of the most meaningful gifts she had ever given anyone.

“Love, oh love, oh careless love... look what careless love has done...” Allonym murmured quietly, shaking his head slowly, and then he smiled faintly before clearing his throat loudly as he quickly picked up his cane, turning around and saying calmly: “Outside, shall we? I think Antares is waiting for us there.”

Celestia nodded slowly, studying Allonym curiously for a few moments before turning and leading the way. She stepped into the kitchen, gazing quietly back and forth, thinking of how the strangest things brought back such powerful memories at times: the sink, where she and Scrivener Blooms had stood side-by-side, washing the dishes together; the scuffed floor, marked by Luna's hooves; the jar marked 'Lies' where Luna had thrown candy and Scrivener dropped in a bit every time one of them told an untruth.

The ivory equine realized she was standing in front of the back door, and she shook herself out quickly before pushing forwards, stepping through the door and onto the wide back porch with a bit of a smile. Her eyes roved curiously out over the back yard, taking in the gnarled and warped Ambrosia tree that rested above a pretty, semi-landscaped pool: Ambrosia, fruit of the gods, which granted strength and power to those who ate it.

For a few moments, Celestia studied this, neither ignoring nor focusing on Antares as he looked up at her, the young stallion breathing hard and seeming surprised to see her. Beside him, a strange, wet-looking green pony cocked her head curiously, then smiled brightly, revealing sharp, large teeth as she reached up and brushed back her mane of seaweed, saying in a harmonious, delighted voice: “What a surprise! The Dawn Bringer and a guest!”

“Aunt Tia... and... Allonym, what are you doing here?” Antares asked in surprise as Celestia finally turned her eyes to him. The ivory winged unicorn only smiled softly, however, giving a slight tilt of her head, and Antares blushed a bit before he glanced over at the Draconequus, saying finally: “I just... I never really expected to see you... you know. Actually out talking to ponies.”

“But the story's finally started, Antares! Do you know how excited I am for that?” Allonym smiled slightly, tilting his head as he easily rested his cane across his shoulders, grasping it by the body and leaning forwards with a single firm nod. “There's so much to do, and this is going to end up being much longer than I expected it to, but for once... I think I'm actually okay with that. It's pretty straightforwards, after all... you know, as long as you don't lose sight of your main objective, Antares. And what is that?”

The Draconequus cocked his head curiously, and Antares traded a glance with the Kelpie beside him before he looked up and said quietly: “It's... finding my parents. Even with this monster in town and the plague it brought with it, I... I can't forget that first of all, I need to concentrate on finding my parents.”

“But you must be careful, Antares, you must always be careful.” the demon chided gently, and the young stallion smiled awkwardly as he glanced over at the Kelpie: the demon was named Hevatica, and while she was a mischievous, lustful creature with many other ponies, she had always been protective, even maternal, when it came to Antares. “Sometimes it's better to take the long way around then head straight for your objective. And other times, you have to deal with the roadblocks carefully and slowly... not simply attempt to jump over them on your way to your mother and father.”

Hevatica paused, then she smiled softly, leaning over and adding gently: “And they are still alive, my sweet, don't ever doubt in that. But know that no matter what, beloved Antares Mīrus, I'm here for you and you first. Luna was good to us, and we who served her loyally have all come to adore you... and my, every day you look more and more like your handsome father...”

Hevatica reached up, gently brushing back Antares' mane, and the young stallion laughed despite himself as he blushed and shifted awkwardly. Then he turned his gaze back towards Allonym, and the Draconequus studied him for a few moments before he smiled softly and said quietly: “Never expected to hear you getting such good advice from a silly fish.”

“Shut up, patchwork doll.” Hevatica replied with an entertained look at the Draconequus, studying the creature curiously. “Yes, you feel different from the other Ginnungagap entities... you tickle my nose. Oh, Antares, sweetie, is this the Avatar you were talking about? He reminds me, so strongly, of someone I knew once...”

Allonym cleared his throat and shifted apprehensively as Antares looked up curiously, but then Celestia interrupted gently, looking across at the young stallion: “Antares, Twilight Sparkle and I... we both want your help with what's going on in Ponyville. It's... it's simply hard for us to let you grow up, and let you make these decisions for yourself, even though we both know you have every right to. You're not a colt anymore... and even if you're not quite a stallion in age, you're stronger, sharper, and most of all wiser than many adults I've met.

“I think about... how many friends and the family I've lost, Antares, and I think about how young you are compared to me, the experiences you've already had... how much I want to protect you, and it blinds me. Just as the thought of what would happen if I allowed you to do something that resulted in you being injured... and then your parents returned.” Celestia smiled a little, shaking her head slowly. “A lot of what compels me to be so protective of you is selfishness. I can admit that. I don't want to see you getting hurt.”

“I know, Aunt Tia. I know you and Mom both want the very best for me and... I appreciate that. But I'd appreciate more... being allowed to take those risks and make those mistakes. Nothing... nothing makes me more proud, more happy, than when I'm standing beside you and Twilight and all our friends and family.” Antares said quietly, looking up at her and nodding slowly as he smiled faintly. “I know I still have... a little bit of growing up to do. But I want to make sure I do it right and one day... I'll be able to protect all of you, instead of you having to protect me. I can only get there by learning on the field, though... I can't study this stuff in books, or in stories. I gotta get that experience.”

Celestia nodded slowly, and then Allonym asked curiously as he tapped his cane against his hand: “Tell me, what kind of magic have you two been working on out here?”

Hevatica smiled, bowing her head and replying easily: “I'm no expert at most magical arts... I always have my voice to fall back on, after all, and a certain... compelling... gaze.” Hevatica smiled slightly, licking her teeth slowly as she pawed a cloven hoof slowly against the ground. “But I do remember Mistress Luna's magic very well. I was helping Antares focus.”

“It's hard.” Antares murmured quietly, shaking his head a bit as he smiled a little and glanced down embarrassedly. “I can't... I can't even seem to make more than a few flickers of light. I feel really... well... you know.”

Celestia nodded again, and then she looked thoughtfully at the glossy black unicorn for a few moments, then to Allonym. The Draconequus looked back at her before he shrugged thoughtfully, and the ivory winged unicorn smiled and returned her eyes to the young stallion, saying quietly: “I have a spell I'd like to teach you, Antares. It will be difficult, but I think you have the skill to learn it in time. I believe Allonym wants to talk to you as well, and then we can head into town.”

“All in good time. I'm in no rush, Celestia... I think I'll just have me a nice seat here and watch.” The Draconequus said mildly, walking over the patio to the worn, comfortable table and chairs set out, and the chimerical creature easily sat back on the table, gazing at them with interest.

Celestia simply nodded, and Antares didn't seem to mind either Allonym's gaze or Hevatica's interest, instead turning his attention to the white winged unicorn. It made her feel strangely proud of him as she smiled softly, then began calmly: “Your mother's magic and mine are very different, but I have a feeling you may be able to apply some of my spells with the right effort...”

Bedlam And Mayhem

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Chapter Seven: Bedlam And Mayhem
~BlackRoseRaven

The mottled white monster grumbled under its breath as it slithered through the sewers, feeling disgusted. Oh, it had all been going so smoothly at first! And better yet, as it had followed the Nightmare, it had come across delicious, nutritious snacks and enticing little tasties here and there: motor oil, toxic solvents, poisonous bleaches and cleaning fluids that had all seeped down from above. And the smells had become all the more delicious and delightful as it had continued eagerly along the path: it hadn't just been chasing the Nightmare by that point, it had been following the cloying scent of what smelled like paradise.

But its progress had been blocked at the end of the road by some kind of hatch that it couldn't move, couldn't budge, couldn't slip past... and Cancer spat to the side in disgust, whispering: “Oh, but I'm gonna get in there, one way or another, yes, yes I am. That place tastes of chemicals and war and machines... after I cut up these ponies and put 'em in a stew, I'm gonna love me helping myself to that... whatever-that-is. Once I make my way into the village up above, won't be hard to find... everything in there is gonna be mine-mine-mine!”

He half-sang the last lines, then twitched before adding in a grumble: “Assuming I ever get out of this stupid place... what a... what... what a...”

Cancer's head rose suddenly as something caught his nostrils... and then his eyes widened as he heard something up ahead before quickly splashing down the tunnel. He'd been wandering for hours and hours through the sewers, trying to memorize the twists and turns, leaving large smears of slime and mold here and there, unconsciously spreading his disease as he got familiar with the place... and found with disgust that many of the entrances and exits had already been blocked off. But now, now he could smell it, he could hear it, and oh, he could feel the cold air brushing against his body and sending chills through his amorphous form.

“Freedom!” Cancer whispered eagerly, and then he grinned widely as he licked his teeth and suddenly twisted to the side, his lower legs half-dissolving into sticky goo as he trotted up the wall and up to the stone ceiling, his red eyes glowing brightly in the darkness as he half-crawled, half-snaked bizarrely along the ceiling, grinning viciously as he rounded a corner and his eyes widened at the sight of a large, ugly pile of rotting fish that had filled the sewer tunnel ahead.

The putrid, reeking pile glimmered like treasure in the eyes of the destruction entity, bathed in moonlight spilling down from a wide, round hole in the roof of the tunnel. Cancer giggled again as he carefully crawled forwards, and then he froze as he heard footsteps before a bucket's worth of more rotten fish were poured into the passage, as a voice asked nervously: “Are you sure about this?”

“Oh, shut up pony.” retorted another voice crankily: likely a Nibelung from the accent. “Pony ponies worry too much. We told get rid of bad food, we getting rid of bad food. Now go get bucket.”

“I... fine.” muttered the other voice, and Cancer grinned widely before he crawled rapidly forwards over the ceiling to the edge of the hole, his head craning outwards, neck stretching ridiculously as his unnatural white flesh rippled until he was able to peer into the deep night air. A pony was walking off, and there was a Nibelung standing right in front of him, back to the monster...

Cancer snapped a forelimb up and out of the hole, and it split apart into sinuous tentacles that rapidly wrapped around the Nibelung, one long appendage snapping around his muzzle and face to stop him from crying out. His arms whipped up into the air, tossing the steel bucket he was holding high into the sky before Cancer dragged him backwards, yanking him down into the hole. The dwarf just brushed against the pile of fish, and then he was whiplashed back upwards, his eyes widening in horror at the sight of Cancer's entire back splitting open like gaping jaws...

The bucket came down and hit a rock with a loud clank, and the pony spun around with surprise, looking back and forth before frowning worriedly. He carefully made his way back over towards the hole, calling nervously: “Brand? Brand, I... come on, this isn't the time for jokes...”

The pony looked back and forth, frowning worriedly before he winced as he approached the hole, leaning down slowly... and then he screeched and stumbled backwards when the Nibelung's head shoved up out of the hole, grinning widely. “Boo!”

“I... you scared the hell out of me, I thought.... I t-t-thought...” The pony's voice died out into a whimper as he stared in horror at the sight of the Nibelung's head as he realized it was now attached to some ugly, misshapen monster that was crawling slowly up from the hole, the pony beginning to hyperventilate as the beast hauled itself slowly, impossibly upwards. Then the grinning, decapitated head twisted before there was an ugly slurping sound as it was yanked backwards into a now-headless body, and a moment later Cancer's own head popped back out and into place with a slurp of flesh.

He winked at the pale, shaking pony, then made a horrible retching sound before spitting out a bare, cracked skull of a Nibelung and several bones, saying conversationally: “Ain't eaten me a dwarf for a long, long time, tastes even better than I remember! Ooh, they grown tougher over the years, but there's still some tender morsels if you poke 'em just right...”

The pony stared... then his eyes rolled up into the back of his head as he collapsed in a dead faint, and Cancer huffed at this, rearing back and looking offended. “Well then, screw you too, mister nappy! How dare you, I'm sharing my culinary prowess about this most delectable of delights and you go and die right in front of me? Shame, sir, shame on you! Shame on your family! Shame on your family's family! Shame on your... oh, wait. Oh. You're asleep. Hey, I totally knew that, really. Itty-bitty-baby just fell asleep 'cause he missed his bedtime, yeah, of course that's what happened.”

Cancer giggled as he looked back and forth, then frowned before he reared back again, snapping angrily: “Wait, you sayin' without sayin' that I bored you not to tears but right to sleep? Well, I think you need an attitude adjustment!'

With that, Cancer stepped forwards and shoved his hoof firmly against the pony's forehead, sending up a sick squelch as part of his leg dissolved and spread in white, gooey streamers over the pony's face. The earth pony gargled weakly, shivering and drooling a little as tiny tendrils burrowed through his skin, spreading numbing toxins and parasites through his flesh and blood and into his brain.. and then the pony's eyes snapped open as Cancer drew his leg back and grinned widely, his red eyes glowing as he marveled: “I didn't know I could do that!”

Slowly, the pony crawled his way up to his hooves in front of him, drooling slackly, his irises turned a putrid white and sclera bloody red. The pony inhaled deeply, then he whispered: “What do you want me to do?”

“Ooh, hello, hello, hello...” Cancer licked his lips hungrily, grinning widely as he paced rapidly around the pony in front of him, then he nodded rapidly as he murmured delightedly: “I put a bug in his brain! I put a bug in this damn fool's brain and now, now you gonna listen to me, right? You gotta listen to your mommy! I'm your mommy! And your daddy too, but mostly your mommy, I think, that just seems right... I'm King Mommy Cancer!”

The monster cackled, then he grinned as he danced in front of the pony, looking back and forth over the zombie-like pony before he asked curiously: “You gonna walk for me? You gonna talk for me? Hey, can I make you sing and dance?”

Cancer's eyes brightened, and then he grinned wider as the pony began to force itself to perform a jagged shuffle that smoothed out only slightly when the monster supplied a beat:

“Sha-ba-de-do-de-wop-bop-dop,
A deedle-doddle-beedle-boddle, ta, ta,
Sha-do, da-do, pa-do-do-wop,
Deeble-dobble deeble-dobble do-do-wa!”

He laughed, watching this puppeted pony continue to dance and writhe weakly in front of him, drool falling from its ajar jaws as it mumbled along with Cancer's nonsense. Then the monster crowed loudly, sitting back and clapping his front hooves violently together before the goblinoid creature exclaimed: “Oh, baby, I could just eat you up! I love it when the sparks fly! Honey, you're on fire! You're the bomb!”

“Bomb.” the pony said soullessly... and then it nodded once, and Cancer cocked his head before the pony in front of him gurgled, then simply exploded in a red typhoon of blood, splattering the monster and knocking him sprawling on his back with a squeak and a stupefied expression. For a few moments, Cancer only stared at the twinkling stars in the night sky above, blinking slowly, and then his long tongue snaked out and slowly licked over his muzzle as much of the blood was absorbed back into his body, pointing at the constellations.

“Hey, look at that. I think that's a planet, right?” Cancer paused, then he sat up, glancing back and forth before frowning when he saw the only thing left of the pony was its smoldering hooves. Then his eyes filled with understanding, nodding slowly as he reminded himself: “Right. Blowin' up kills other folks. Huh. That's cool.”

Cancer bounced back to his hooves, looking back and forth as he licked his lips absently, then he grinned widely as he noted a wagon in the distance still half-full of rotting fish. He began to prance towards this, attracted by the smell of rot... before his head slowly craned to the side as he caught a whiff of something else. Something alive, something that could fill his hungers a whole lot better than a tub of rotting fish gone putrid with plague...

The monster let his hooves guide him away from the wagon, bouncing along the faintly-visible tracks in the grasses that had been left by the wheels of the carriage. He hummed to himself as he looked back and forth, licking his teeth as he realized he was outside of the village... before he grinned slowly, eyes widening in delight as he realized there was some kind of large, barn-shaped structure up ahead, along with what looked like several large corrals and external kennels. There were a few other outbuildings as well, but it was the main structure and the corral closest to it that caught the monster's attention: he could smell the reek of Helheim, and he could see rumbling, large creatures pacing nervously... “And oh, oh, oh... what a delicious idea comes to mind...”

The monster grinned widely as he continued forwards, and one of the massive, scaled creatures in the kennel hissed at him... but even with as aggressive as they were reputed to be, the Marsh Drake shivered and backed away a few steps when Cancer bounded up to the fence, leaning over it and whispering: “Hey, there, aren't you a pretty lady? Now, don't you worry 'bout a thing, you and me and all your friends, we're gonna get along nice and fine...”

Cancer grinned widely, then he simply pushed forwards against the wooden fencing, his body melting and seeping between the slats to reform inside the corral as casually as if he'd stepped through a doorway, not a wall, and the other drakes rose their heads, hissing balefully but backing quickly away, eying the monster warily. Cancer only grinned as he walked forwards, eyes gleaming as he approached the closest Marsh Drake fearlessly, licking his teeth: a wall of gleaming black scales, enormous and powerful and dangerous, he thought it was wonderful that these silly little ponies had left him such a cute little present, all out in the open...

He stepped close to the reptile... and it roared before its jaws snapped down, biting savagely into Cancer, and the monster squawked before he was torn almost in half by the beast's jaws and sharp teeth. His upper body splattered into goo that filled the drake's jaws as his lower body simply fell over and twitched, and the Marsh Drake snarled, then rumbled.... then clawed at its own jaws as it chewed rapidly at the gunk still in its maw, giving a pitiful whimper as foam and saliva fell from its mouth.

Then it shivered violently, before gargling and leaning forwards as white goo spread out of Cancer's lower body and transformed back into the creature, as whole and grinning as if nothing had happened to it as it looked eagerly up at the beast in front of it. And within moments, the Marsh Drake ceased to struggle or fight, making one weak, final retch before its jaws fell slack as its eyes glowed.

White goo dropped out of its jaws, forming a puddle in front of it... and a moment later, a second Cancer rose up from this pile, giggling insanely, red eyes glowing before he exclaimed in delight: “Nice and easy! And picked me up some nice bacteria on the way in... ooh, we'll have to devour ourselves one or two of these big bad boys later!”

“High-five!” the first Cancer crowed, and the two stepped towards each other before they both swung a hoof up... and missed completely, both instead stumbling forwards and plowing into one-another with a loud squelch, before their gooey bodies twisted back together and formed into one single, monstrous entity, Cancer grinning widely over at the other Marsh Drakes even as they hissed and snarled. “Come on, sweeties. Mommy's got a lot plans for you, oh yes he does.”

It didn't take the monster long to infect the other Drakes... it took shorter still for him to slip his way easily into the main structure of the barn-shaped building, giggling in delight when he found cages containing all variety of wild animals and even demonic entities like Hellhounds. Their barking and snarling and panic were like music to his ears as he darted back and forth, infecting and devouring animals, ripping open cages to let out stumbling, zombified beasts to send outside, needing to stop only once when a single attendant came to see what all the noise was about. But the pony didn't even have a chance to react before Cancer was on top of her, devouring the unicorn greedily and leaving only a bleached skeleton behind.

Cancer danced out of the ravaged animal care center on his back legs, singing nonsense words to the night as a small army of infected animals stumbled behind him, drooling and slavering. The Marsh Drakes were already showing signs of fever and disease, their scales peeling and bruising, their immune systems and bodies going haywire from the poisons and parasites rampaging through them. Most of the other animals were quickly beginning to weaken from the disease as well... even the Hellhounds looked ill, as their visible, icy organs dripped water and their black, rubbery hide became paler and tauter over frosty bones. Even the blue flames of their eyes burned weaker, their naked skull features not fierce, but pitiable from what Cancer had done to them.

And the monster at the head of the pack giggled gleefully as he marched directly towards the closed gates of Ponyville, looking back and forth eagerly before he broke into a sudden sprint, yelling delightedly: “Hey, friends and neighbors! I just moved in and I thought I'd bring you a housewarming basket! I know it's usually the other way around but I'm just a really friendly guy!”

Cancer cackled as a Nibelung in a guard tower yelled an alarm, the sound carrying through Ponyville before a klaxon began to blare... but before the dwarves had time to do anything else, Cacner simply plowed into the wooden gates, then burst into slime that easily slipped through the narrow gap between doors, reforming immediately on the other side and pouncing into the village as he grinned viciously. “Hey boys! I brought you all something!”

With that, Cancer shoved a foreleg out to either side of himself as he reared back, front limbs transforming into bunches of tentacles that snapped outwards in a blur, each group tightly seizing a dwarf. They howled in agony as their bodies were crushed and constricted, before a third Nibelung ran forwards with a snarl, raising an axe and slamming it home between Cancer's pointy ears.

The monster twitched as goo splattered in all directions... then simply grinned, the axe buried halfway through its head but the creature showing no sign of pain, the dwarf only able to stand and stare in horror for a few moments before Cancer leaned forwards and vomited a stream of acid over the Nibelung. The wolf-pig was sent stumbling backwards with a scream of agony, clawing wildly at himself as his body smoldered and bubbled before he simply collapsed with a gargle, and Cancer grinned widely, then his eyes glowed red and his head twitched to the side, tentacles constricting and silencing the howls of the other two dwarves as he rasped: “Kill them all. Kill them all. Kill them all.”

Then Cancer twitched again before his tentacles tore free from the dead dwarves, dropping the bodies as they reformed into limbs, and he giggled as he reached up and slowly yanked the axe out of his head, saying delightedly: “But I'm gonna do it with style, too! I'm gonna ba-dop-do-wop, have me some fun... right now!”

The monster spun around, then slammed the axe down, easily smashing apart the heavy bar holding the gates shut, and Cancer cackled before he leaned forwards and shoved both heavy gates wide open with a manic grin, calling easily: “Come on, my cuties! We gonna paint the town red!”

The infected animals wheezed and rasped in response, and Cancer cackled as he spun around and hurried down the road, letting himself be drawn onwards as he looked back and forth at the houses and small businesses and homes that he smelled living and sick and dying and crying ponies in, feeding off the growing fear in the air as klaxons blazed and terrified eyes stared out of windows at him. “Come on, come on, come on, come on! Come and join the party! Hey, hey, hey, yeah!”

Cancer's path was wild and erratic, veering down side alleys and streets, leaving his infected animals to stumble drunkenly after him: some of them fell behind or got lost or were drawn towards smells and sounds, one Marsh Drake plowing sightlessly into a building and beginning to paw and tear at it as the family of ponies inside screamed, another hacking and coughing acid and drool by accident more than design on a few soldiers that were running towards it, making them howl in pain and disgust.

Hellhounds were already seeking out any source of food they could find: they were still strong, but they loped slowly and their icy agility was lost. Still, one managed to smash its way through a low window into a household, sending the ponies inside screaming up the stairs as it barked and gargled and tried to chase after them.

The monster giggled as he leapt into what looked like a small park, prancing forwards before his eyes alit on two large statues of ponies lit up by a ring of crystalline lamps: they were of a proud winged unicorn, standing tall and ornamented with glittering blue gemstones worked into the statue's mane and tail, and a single large, onyx sphere in her breast, and an earth pony made of darker stone that sat at her side. They rested atop a large base inset with some kind of plaque, but Cancer didn't care about that, as he grinned and pranced forwards: the straight, stone path in front of the statues was also lit by glowing crystal lanterns, and the area was relatively open, houses to one side and what looked like some kind of school a short distance away, as Cancer whispered: “De-de-de-de-light-ful! Yeah, now we're gonna get a rockin' and a rollin', ain't we... perfect stage to make my entrance.”

He grinned, looking up in delight as two Marsh Drakes stumbled through the park, one of them bleeding an ugly substance from a wound cut in its side, but not seeming to notice nor care. They were followed by a small squadron of infected animals, and Cancer shouted loudly: “Make me a ring! Ring me in boys, come on, come on!”

Cancer giggled as the animals did as he instructed, acknowledging him with rumbles and groans, and then the monster glanced sharply over his shoulder as he heard a tired sigh before his eyes lit up with delight as a pony slowly rose his head, dressed only in rags and staring blearily over at the monster as he mumbled: “Ossifer... ain't... no crime... this is my bed, see, them nice ponies said I could sleep aside 'em any time I wanted...”

Cancer pranced over towards the homeless pony, and his red eyes locked on not the bottle of alcohol beside him, but the trumpet he was hugging against his chest. Cancer grinned, leaning down, and the pony swallowed thickly as he looked up at him before mumbling: “Oh, I... I think I had too much to drink...”

“I don't think you had near enough.” Cancer replied kindly, then he opened his mouth and belched out a blast of toxic gases, the homeless pony gargling and twitching before he collapsed backwards with a rasp, foaming at the jaws and beginning to convulse as Cancer's foreleg transformed into a slimy claw, and he wiggled the fleshy talons before snatching up the instrument and looking admiringly over it. “Now this, this ain't bad! A little dirty, but way too pretty for a filthy hobo to be using and abusing.”

The monster grinned, then looked over his shoulder brightly as there was a loud crack, a flare bursting to the air above as a voice shouted: “Whoever you are, stop what you're doing and surrender at once! I don't want to hurt you!”

Cancer pranced forwards on his rear hooves at this, eyes glowing malevolently as he hopped out between the two Marsh Drakes as his second foreleg turned to a claw as well, holding the trumpet easily as he peered out at a battle line of ponies and Nibelung. He looked back and forth and saw they had surrounded him on all sides before he giggled insanely, returning his eyes to the forefront of the line... and then his scarlet gaze narrowed thoughtfully. Not at the violet mare, or the enormous equine beside her... but instead at the young black stallion glaring at him. “Hey, I know you! We already met! Hey, how's the demon? I got me the munchies and I'm looking to take revenge on her and Miss Mommy.”

The young stallion didn't reply... but inside him, Antares felt a knot twist in his chest, gritting his teeth as he breathed hard in and out and tried to keep himself calm. He could feel both Twilight Sparkle and Celestia trembling with the same anger: not just that this creature had dared to attack Ponyville so brazenly, but that this creature, this Cancer, had torn his way through the village, leaving soldiers all over Ponyville struggling to clean up the infected beasts and the chaos he'd left behind, and somehow been drawn all the way to here, this memorial site for his mother and father.

Avalon and Aphrodisia were both in town, Prestige was helping Scarlet Sage, Fluttershy was out at the animal care center with Pinkamena, dealing with the plague and the lingering infected... all his friends and family were scattered throughout Ponyville, and so many of the Starlit Knights were still sick, or drained, and no one had fully recovered. And now, Cancer was here... but Antares didn't feel afraid. He felt angry, and upset, and disgusted, but he wasn't afraid. He refused to be afraid.

Twilight leaned forwards, and she shouted: “This is your last warning! Call off your attack, right now, or we'll be forced to take extreme measures! And we're prepared to kill you, if you push us... surrender peacefully and we might still be able to work this out!”

“I haven't even introduced myself properly yet!” Cancer shouted in an outraged voice, and he huffed before grinning widely as he leaned backwards, putting his mouth to the horn and blowing a quick progression of notes before he drew his head back and whistled. “Tastes like wine and plays in time! Hobos ain't so bad after all. Now, all of you flesh-bags, you listen up, you listen up real good: my name is Cancer, and I'm here to stay, 'cause I happen to like this delicious place!”

Celestia stepped up beside Twilight, her horn glowing and hefting her enormous sword free from where it was resting over her back: the six foot, fanged blade glinted dangerously, the red etchings of the nine worlds over the flat of the golden weapon seeming to glimmer with warning: Tyrfing, a gift from Odin. The massive blade hovered easily in front of her, and Cancer whistled as Celestia said quietly: “We won't show a destruction entity any mercy. I hope you're aware of this.”

“Well, I'll take that as a signal I should start the show, then. Boys... get 'em!” Cancer shouted, pointing with one claw before he grinned violently as he danced backwards, as the ring of infected animals howled and roared. “Let's all get to know each other and have one hell of a party before I kill you dead!”

Cancer rose the trumpet to his lips and started to blow a brassy, cheery tune that rose powerfully over the wails of the infected beasts as they charged forwards, and Twilight and Celestia both snarled before lunging into the fray, each heading for one of the massive Marsh Drakes. Celestia collided with her target and buried Tyrfing through its breast in a moment, likely obliterating its heart... and then her eyes widened as all the same, she was slammed backwards by one of the reptile's claws and knocked crashing onto her back, the massive beast growling and rasping as it lumbered towards the pony heedless of the sword in its chest.

Twilight's horn glowed as she slipped to the side, avoiding a bite from the second drake before she cursed when it coughed loudly, splattering acid and drool over her feature. Steam rose up as her flesh burned, yet she only snarled, showing no sign of pain as her horn flicked forwards and she retaliated with a ball of sapphire flame that smashed into its skull and knocked its head snapping backwards, the Marsh Drake groaning in pain.

Antares ran forwards, even though he had no idea what to do as other soldiers and warriors ran to engage the infected... and behind it all, in front of the memorial, Cancer danced and played the trumpet with finesse before he threw his head back and sang gleefully:

“Oh! Hey-ho, away we go, stainin' all the sidewalks red with your blood!
Oh! Hey-ho, dosey-do! Let's dance together while we bleed all night!
Oh ba-by, baby, I just wanna let you know that I long for your heart,
Sweet baby, baby... all of me just wants to tear all of you apart! Hey-hey!”

Cancer cackled, then he rose the horn to his mouth again, blowing a short, sharp melody as he played easily with one claw while dancing forwards and raising the other high in the air above his head, waving it back and forth wildly. Then he pulled the trumpet away from his mouth, swinging both front limbs out wide as he tap-danced rapidly forwards while the Drakes advanced on Celestia and Twilight, ripping at them with their claws as they snarled and bit before Antares collided with the throat of one in a tackle just as it was about to lunge at Twilight, stunning it with a gargle.

“Out in the moonlight, by the flickerin' firelight, all these peasant homes our firewood!
Yeah, havin' a great time, singing all our best rhymes... ain't this a wonderful fight?
Honey, sweetie, baby, you know I love you dear, and I have from the start!
Oh ba-by, baby, all bloodied up, you look like the sweetest work of art! Yeah!

Now pay attention, 'cause this is tricky!” Cancer called cheerfully, ignoring the fact that Celestia had just launched the Marsh Drake in front of her into the air and that Twilight and Antares had forced the other onto its back. Instead, the monster dropped his head forwards, swinging his clawed forelimbs back and forth as he started a rapid quickstep, rear hooves clicking loudly as he tap-danced forwards in smooth rhythm. His hooves clicked back and forth around each other as he spun in a circle while still moving forwards, windmilling his forelimbs before springing backwards and throwing all four limbs out, grinning brightly.

Then Cancer cackled as he made reeling motions with both forelegs while his hind hooves tapped in a violent tattoo against the ground, kicking back and forth as he swayed his body with his movements before he spun sideways and rose the trumpet back to his mouth, beginning a bright easy melody as he first danced backwards, then slowly began to strut forwards.

Celestia snarled, armor gouged and bloody as she used both her strength and a powerful telekinetic boost to spin the Marsh Drake she had hefted into the air around in a circle, then she snapped her horn downwards, flinging it as hard as she could straight down into the ground. It crashed onto its back with enough force to make the earth tremble, and then Celestia dropped like a stone, hammering her front hooves into the base of its neck and kicking her rear legs into its breast hard enough to knock Tyrfing loose before she simply flicked her head forwards, and the sword tore free from the beast completely and snapped past her in a single vicious cut that beheaded the drake.

Dark blood bubbled out of the wound as the head spasmed on the end of the serpentine neck, biting at the air for a moment before falling still. A moment later, Celestia looked sharply up as the other Marsh Drake howled as Twilight's horn glowed brightly and blue fire consumed the infected beast's skull, the reptile flopping listlessly as Antares cursed and held down its neck as best he could.

It fell still, and both Antares and Twilight looked up, breathing hard: the Lich's sweater had been torn apart and she had several acidic burns over her body, and Antares had a long, ugly cut over one cheek, looking a little shell-shocked. But there was no time to heal him: around them, the others were still fighting Cancer's minions, and the monster itself was grinning widely as he dropped the trumpet away from its muzzle and held one claw out invitingly, the other waving the instrument back and forth by his head.

“Yeah, hey, sweetie, if you think you got what it takes,
Come and find me honey... 'cause I'll still be awake,
Waiting all night, for you to come, hopin' you don't disappoint,
I'm waiting for you, love my love, to drive home my point!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
Gimme, gimme, gimme all the blood you got to give... to-night!

Oh whoa, whoa, whoa, now... sing it!
Ba-da-ba-da-de-da-de-da-ba-ba-da-da!
Ba-ba-da-sha-la-la, ha-ha-ha-ha!
Ba-do, ta-do, da-do... hey! Hey! Hey, little missy, don't you cry!
Cancer's gonna sing you his lullaby!”

The mottled thing laughed, and Twilight gritted her teeth before she lunged suddenly forwards, spreading her black-edged wings and flapping them once to give herself an extra boost as her horn began to glow. She swung it down, sending a blast of blue fire bursting towards the monster, but Cancer nimbly leapt to the side before he half-turned and swung the instrument hard, smashing it across her face and knocking Twilight to the ground with a cry of pain before he grinned and stabbed a claw downwards, ripping it deep into her back as he rasped: “Now, you, sweet-pea, you look like you're gonna make a tasty little tidbit, ain't you?”

Twilight gasped in pain, snarling as she felt poison and disease spreading into her, felt tendrils of the beast's alien flesh trying to snake their way through her as the monster grinned down at her greedily... and then she gritted her teeth and glared up at it. “You should keep your... claws to yourself...”

Antares stared in shock, beginning to run forwards, but Celestia was past him a moment later: in that moment she passed, Antares' surprise only grew as he saw not only the coldness on her features, but the grim smile on her face... and then the young stallion looked up as his attention was drawn by a scream of shock from Cancer.

The monster was trying to yank his limb away, but it was like it had become fused to Twilight's body even as the Lich snarled in pain, her horn glowing brightly as the stitching over her form writhed and popped before one of her wings fell uselessly off, decaying rapidly... but the same rot was spreading violently up Cancer's limb, and the monster shrieked in torment before he yanked hard backwards and his front leg tore completely away at the shoulder. He staggered... then howled in pain when Celestia smashed into him like a freight train, knocking him rolling away.

Antares hurried to Twilight's side, but the Lich only shook her head violently, rasping hard as the glow around her horn died out. “Go help Celestia, I'll... be fine in a minute... need to reverse the cellular degeneration...”

The young stallion nodded hurriedly, then turned: Celestia was harrying Cancer with savage attacks, Tyrfing snapping back and forth and ripping through the mottled flesh of the monster as he howled miserably and tried wildly to scramble away. Then the destruction entity suddenly snarled when Tyrfing tore through his chest, raising his head and howling: “Fine! If that's how you really want to play the game, we'll play it like that!”

Cancer seized the sword, then grinned savagely as his body twisted and bloated, and Celestia's eyes widened before she leapt backwards: it was too little, too late, however, and a moment later the monster exploded in a blast of goo and toxic gases, hammering the ivory winged unicorn onto her back with a cry of pain as her own blade was flung into her from the explosion and poisonous gases seared her eyes and nostrils and mouth.

She collapsed, coughing and wheezing, as Antares stumbled to a halt in shock: the explosion had been powerful enough to shatter some of the nearby lanterns around the base of the monument, and oil and other fluids had spilled over the stone and grasses, flames spreading greedily as smoke poured up into the sky. For a wild moment, the young stallion thought it was over... and then his eyes stared as the whitish goo splattered through the area slowly began to pull itself together into one distinct puddle.

The slime humped upwards, transformed, and two red eyes opened in the mottled, goblinoid face that shoved out of the puddle, the monster grinning widely as it rasped: “Hey, did you miss me?”

Cancer laughed as he reformed, then he growled down at Celestia as she wheezed and slowly began to sit up despite the fact ugly boils and bruising were spreading over her features, and one of her eyes had already swollen shut. She coughed loudly, then spat blood and some unnameable substance out before whispering: “Antares... get out of here. I'll... handle...”

“Oh please, how pathetic! Maybe my poisons ain't strong enough to be lethal to a whatever-you-are like you yet, honey-bunch, but I sure as hell can finish the job myself with ease.” Cancer grinned widely as it rose a front leg, which twisted and split apart into several fleshy tentacles, each appendage barbed with hooks and blades of bone. “And you, little birdie, I'm not about to let fly away. You just look so sweet and savory, you punk little kid... oh yeah, ooh, I think I'm gonna gobble you right on up, yeah, yeah...”

Cancer licked his lips slowly as the tentacles squirmed slowly beside him, and Antares shook his head before he stepped forwards, breathing hard. The monster was terrifying, made all the more so by the way the light from the flames burning over the monument and slowly spreading through the grasses lit up its disgusting, mottled body, played over the dancing tentacles and grinning, lunatic features... but all the same, Antares forced himself to meet those scarlet eyes, to whisper defiantly: “I won't let you.”

“What? What? I can't hear you, little colt.” Cancer mocked, leaning forwards and cocking his head, raising an ear as his limb merged back together and he grinned widely. “Can you say it with a little more oomph, sing it with a bit of zest? Gimme a bar or two, kiddo! I wanna hear your hopes and dreams before I slash 'em up to make you scream!”

The destruction entity paused, then dropped his head thoughtfully forwards and mumbled: “Wait, wait, I can get a song outta that one, uh... gimme a minute, gimme a minute...”

As the monster became distracted, Antares grimaced and looked quickly over at Celestia, watching her struggling to sit up, and he hurried to her side. She reached up and seized his shoulder, her bloodshot amethyst eyes glaring into his own scared irises as she rasped: “Get Twilight. Escape. Now. That's an order.”

Antares trembled... and then he stepped slowly back and pushed her hoof away, shaking his head once and then pushing a hoof against Celestia's battered, armored chest. She gritted her teeth, but then groaned in pain as the glossy black young stallion gently forced her back down, saying quietly: “No, Aunt Tia. Just... stay still. I'll handle this.”

“What? You'll handle this? Like I'm... some kind of garbage to just be picked up and thrown out, is that it?” Cancer snapped, glaring furiously across at Antares, and the young stallion gritted his teeth as he looked up and forced himself to focus on the monster, despite how much it disgusted, it repulsed, it... it's going to attack!

Without warning, Cancer leaned forwards and vomited a thick gout of acid... but Antares was already reacting, his horn flashing as he winced and a barrier of blue energy appeared in front of him, shielding both himself and Celestia as the acid splashed uselessly against it. Then the young stallion flicked his horn to the side, dropping the barrier as Cancer stared, before slowly snarling, red eyes flashing. “So you got lucky, twitchy kid!”

Antares forced himself to focus, forced himself to lock on to the monster... and then he suddenly sidestepped, a moment before the creature lashed a limb out and sent a large, ugly chunk of white goo flying through the space where the stallion had been a moment before. Cancer let out a shout of incoherent rage, then the monster madly charged forwards, screaming furiously: “You stupid little brat, why don't you try staying still and fighting like a-”

Antares lunged, slashing his horn savagely forwards as it glowed blue, and Cancer squawked as a large slash was torn through his features, stumbling wildly before Antares forced forwards. His horn lashed back and forth gracefully, twisting and tearing its way through Cancer's mottled flesh, and the monster squealed in frustration and pain before Antares suddenly leapt upwards and slammed both hooves into Cancer's face, gritting his teeth and shoving the monster head-first into the ground.

Cancer flailed his forelimbs comically as his hindquarters wiggled wildly, and the young stallion leapt backwards, breathing hard. He winced when Cancer tore his head free of the ground, and Antares realized he'd accomplished nothing but make the monster even angrier a moment before it reared back as one of its forelegs split apart into a mess of tentacles. “I'm going to rip your face off and make you eat it!”

Antares leapt into the air as the mess of tentacles snapped cruelly towards him, just managing to throw himself overtop one before a second spiked appendage slammed against his side, knocking him out of the air. He cursed and hit the ground in a roll, but he was too slow to shove himself to his hooves and instead he half-stumbled, half-fell... and the four tentacles tore down, seizing him and constricting him, making him howl in agony as they crushed in his armor like a tin can before lifting him high into the air, and then slamming him savagely down in front of the burning monument of his parents, charred grass and ashes flying in all directions as the tentacles tore away from the young stallion and transformed back into a mottled limb.

Cancer strode forwards, spitting to the side and snarling as Antares shivered on the ground, breathing hard, staring at the sky: he had never felt pain like this before. He had never experienced this kind of agony, or numbing fear, or anything else, as he stared up at the seemingly-indestructible monster as it stepped overtop him and then slammed its hooves down against his shoulders, pinning him back as it rasped: “Cancer's a little upset now. You won't like me when I'm upset, boy. I get mean.”

Antares gritted his teeth, but that was all he could do as he stared fearfully up into those godawful ruby eyes: he couldn't fight, he couldn't bring himself to move, he couldn't do anything. Everything felt distant and impossible: the pain in his body, the feeling of the fire behind him singeing his mane, even the feeling of Cancer's hooves reaching up to lock around his throat, beginning to choke him as the monster leaned slowly down and whispered: “Yeah. I think I'm gonna hurt you a little. Get the blood and the juices flowing before I eat you up...”

“N-No...” Antares whispered, almost whimpering as he shook his head back and forth, front limbs sprawling wide as he stared up in terror at the evil, vicious thing over him, feeling the destruction entity's hooves squeezing tighter into his throat. Its eyes were like endless pools of blood, like deep crimson hells, like the skies of Armageddon... its mottled white flesh like... like...

Antares felt his eyes widen, his rasping breath catching, his heart thudding, screaming, as he saw that its forelegs were steaming strangely, and he realized its hooves felt hot... but in rage, the monster hadn't noticed. Cancer snarled at him as Antares looked back and forth desperately before his eyes locked on a broken, burning lamp nearby, and then he cursed when Cancer seized him by the horn and forcefully yanked his head back to look once more into those awful red eyes, the monster hissing: “Don't you turn away from me, honey, I want to watch that pretty face get all pale and sicky-wick after I give you a little taste of-”

Antares made a wild, desperate grab to the side, cursing in pain as he felt his hoof shove into the fire and seize on something hot and sharp and agonizing, but he forced himself to yank it upwards all the same as hard as he could, swinging it savagely into the side of Cancer's face. The broken, burning lantern crashed into the monster's head, and Cancer yelped in surprise,staggering sideways and grabbing at the lamp embedded in its squishy flesh... before it staggered backwards and screamed, desperately beginning to claw at its face as its volatile body burst into red flames, black, sick-smelling smoke pouring up from the monstrosity as its mottled flesh blackened, peeled, and crumbled away.

Cancer staggered away from the fire as he screamed loudly, flaming body a burning-red flare in the night, his tail snapping back and forth so strongly it eventually tore itself off as the monster melted like wax as he wailed: “Oh it hurts, it hurts it hurts hurts hurts so goddamn bad! Why, why, why, oh come on, gimme a break, dude, why? Get off, get off! Oh it hurts!”

He screamed again, shaking himself wildly, bucking and kicking in all directions before he fell over and began to roll back and forth over the sidewalk as smoke continued to pour up from his burning form and the crimson, toxic fire burned faster and hotter, sending out sparks and embers as Celestia stared in horror. Antares had rolled over, cradling his burned foreleg beneath his body and breathing hard, tears flowing down his cheeks: of shock, of pain, and of anger as he watched Cancer burn hotter and hotter...

Then the monster yelped... and simply exploded in an awful blast of white goo and red fire, black smoke clouding the area like fog as yells of surprise and shock filled the air. Pieces of blackened, hardened flesh hailed down in all directions as embers sailed through the night sky, and Antares breathed hard before he forced himself to his hooves, gritting his teeth as he stumbled into the smoke cloud even as Celestia called weakly to him from where she was trying to pick herself up.

Antares stumbled on three limbs, clutching his burnt foreleg tight to his body, gasping hard as he tasted death in his jaws and bittersweet smoke filled his nostrils... and then he gritted his teeth as he saw some awful thing slithering rapidly away, the young stallion shouting raggedly: “Stop that thing! Stop it!”

But it was already gone, the twisted, mutant form vanishing out of the cloud of smoke that had filled the world and into the night before Antares cursed weakly, legs shivering beneath him before he collapsed and whispered: “I couldn't... stop it...”

He cursed, then gritted his teeth before slamming his burnt hoof against the ground: the agony it sent through him was immeasurable, his eyes filling with tears as blood trickled down from raw, singed flesh, and then he slowly looked over his shoulder. Slowly, the fog of smoke was lifting, and the last of the infected beasts were being put down, many of them seeming to lose their fight with Cancer fleeing... but the statue of his parents was still burning, the fire beginning to crumble and melt the stone, dancing flames and warps in the rock making him feel like his parents were staring down at him with disappointment.

Antares swallowed weakly... and then he looked up, trembling, as Twilight slowly approached. The Lich was breathing quietly in and out, her eyes closed, her body heavily damaged and most of the stitching popped. Both wings were missing now, but all the same, she managed to smile at him faintly as she approached, then she reached up and hugged him fiercely around the neck, and Antares buried his face against her, hugging her tightly back as he shivered once.

“Come on. Let's get you cleaned up.” Twilight said quietly, drawing slowly back, and Antares nodded weakly before he cradled his foreleg against his chest with a quiet curse. The Lich looked at him softly as she sat down in front of him, reaching out to gingerly take his injured hoof, and then her horn glowed softly: the same aura spread over his hoof, and Antares swallowed thickly, feeling like his blood was boiling for a moment before a numbing coolness filled the entire limb. “Antares... you did well. Whatever else you're thinking, I want you to know you did well...”

“I should have done more... done better... we could have stopped him.” Antares whispered, and then he dropped his head forwards, clenching his eyes shut: but it wasn't because of the pain that filled body as burnt flesh was replaced with healing tissue.

Twilight only studied him silently, not speaking, not even knowing what to say as she finished healing the wound. There was no sense of victory as they tended to the wounded and help them to clinics, while a few soldiers stayed back to begin cleaning up: others went to help scan the town for any infected, working alongside demons, Phooka, and Nightmares.

Meanwhile, Twilight, Celestia, and Antares made their way slowly back to the library, and they were surprised to find it empty: when they had left, both Discord and Allonym had been here, arguing about what they should be doing. But it was probably for the best: all three of them were feeling low and weary and beaten, after all.

Then Twilight looked up and across at Celestia: she still looked ill, veins visibly pulsing through her bruised face, although the worst signs of disease had faded. “You need to go rest, Celestia. Sleep, get some of your strength back... maybe I should call a healer.”

“No, sleep will be enough. I just... don't want to go quite yet.” Celestia shook her head slowly, closing her eyes before she sighed softly and reached up to rub silently at her damaged, stained armor. “I feel foolish. We underestimated the foe. We should have handled it better... and Antares... you didn't listen to me. I need you to listen to me.”

“I needed to stop Cancer, and I almost did. I... I almost did.” Antares fell quiet, then he shivered before looking up and saying weakly: “I couldn't abandon you, and I'm sorry if that makes you mad, but I'm not losing you, too, Aunt Tia. Especially not if there's something I can do about it.”

“It does anger me, Antares, but it most of all makes me angry with myself.” Celestia said quietly, looking down and shaking her head slowly, and then she closed her eyes and murmured: “Twilight, you need a new body.”

“It can wait. I'll do a few grafts and staples tonight to make sure I hold together and... after we flush Cancer out of the sewers tomorrow, I'll find a new... donor.” Twilight shivered a little, not liking to think of the process she had to undergo now and then to replace her undead shell. Her body had a tendency to wear out, after all... something that happened more often when she was exerting herself or she took too much damage over too short a period of time.

Celestia nodded slowly, closing her eyes as she murmured: “If Cowlick's plan succeeds, we at least know that Cancer will not be able to survive her trap. It won't have anywhere to run to if we drop it in a pit of fire.”

Antares shivered a bit, looking quickly away, and Celestia glanced up to study the young stallion for a few moments before she sighed softly and said quietly: “You did well, Antares Mīrus. Your mother and father would be-”

“Don't say it, because I don't think they would be. I... I was so scared... I couldn't do anything. And I couldn't stop it.” Antares closed his eyes... then he slumped a bit when Twilight reached up and silently touched his shoulder. He gazed towards her, and then he trembled a little at how pleading her gaze was, shaking his head a bit and hurriedly averting his own eyes.

There was silence, and then Celestia quietly stood up from the table, saying softly: “I'll see you both in the morning. You should try and sleep as well, Twilight. Your body may not need it but I'm sure your mind would appreciate the rest.”

Twilight Sparkle hesitated, but then nodded a little after a moment in silent agreement, and Celestia gave a small smile before she turned and headed slowly off towards her room. Both Twilight and Antares watched her go, and then the Lich sighed softly before saying finally: “I'm going to head to my... my old bedroom, I guess. Take care of the wounds I can, then try to sleep. Make sure you get some rest in yourself, okay?”

Antares only nodded a little, and Twilight looked at him for a moment before she stood up and strode towards the stairs at the back of the room. Then she halted, hesitated for a moment... and finally looked over her shoulder, adding quietly: “Luna and Scrivener would have been proud of you. And I'm proud of you. But I don't like seeing you being so hard on yourself any more than they would, too. Get some sleep... you'll feel better in the morning.”

Antares glanced up, looking a little ashamed of himself as Twilight turned to head up the steps, and he hesitated for only a moment before calling quietly: “Goodnight, Mom. I... I will. I love you.”

“I love you too, Antares... son.” Twilight smiled a little, lingering for a moment at the top of the stairs before she turned and vanished through the archway, and Antares gazed after her before he looked quietly down at the hoof that had been burnt and injured. Now, the only real sign that he had ever been burnt was singed hair and the blank splotches of bare flesh... and Antares shook his head slowly, closing his eyes and resting his face in his hoof as he thought for a moment about how fortunate he was to have Twilight in his life. As a mother, and a guardian, and a friend.

He sighed a little... then glanced up in surprise as Allonym sat down in the empty seat across from him as if the Draconequus had always been there. He smiled across at him, putting his cane aside and resting his hands on the table before he said softly: “You know, I know it's not entirely fair, but I usually think badly of people who have a good relationship with their parents. Projecting, I know. And silly. Unless you end up being the kind of pony who brings Mommy to a job interview... not that, you know, I'd entirely blame you if you ended up being stalked to one by Luna. But she both likes to get her way and of course, she also falls under the category of Mom I'd Like to... Flaunt. I bet you thought I was going to say something different, didn't you?”

Antares smiled a little despite himself, studying the Draconequus quietly, and Allonym looked back at the young unicorn in silence. Finally, the quiet was broken when Allonym asked softly: “Why didn't you use Celestia's spell?”

“For the same reason I didn't grab the lamp with telekinesis, like I should have. I was scared.” Antares said simply, shaking his head slowly. “I didn't even think of using it. Then again, I... I don't think I would have had time to, even if I'd managed to summon up the concentration. Even if I'd tried just a wild telekinetic grab or attack... Cancer's as insane as he acts but he's not stupid. He would have... have hurt me.”

“You were scared that he was going to hurt you.” Allonym said softly, and Antares only nodded, knowing by now how the odd Draconequus worked, curious as to what the creature was getting at. “Are you scared of the pain in the future? Are you scared of what you now understand better the future holds?”

“I...” Antares hesitated, looking down at the table... and then he nodded slowly, closing his eyes. “Yeah, I am. But I have a newfound respect for my parents, too, and for Celestia and Twilight and... I mean, I... I thought I understood. When I was a kid...”

“Herrófriðr. He kidnapped you, and you were brought to Clockwork World. Terrified, out of your mind. Hurt.” Allonym said quietly, and Antares nodded a few times again, then glanced up as the Draconequus continued: “But what you didn't know... is how gently they handled you, compared to what they could have done. And the fear was mixed with confusion and uncertainty and eventually... numbness, and unconsciousness. Where you dreamed of your parents and your dreams were rewarded... almost.”

“Almost.” Antares echoed, and he shook his head slowly, sitting back and murmuring: “But fighting Cancer was an entirely different world. Because... it wasn't just me, scared and alone, waiting for rescue. It was me, and the only way I was getting out was to fight this thing... knowing that even if I did, I would likely die. Knowing that it was going to be all my fault that Aunt Tia was killed. Seeing her go down like that... it shook me worse than... than any injury that thing did to me, I think. It was awful. And then, looking into its eyes... seeing... that...”

He shivered violently, looking down, and Allonym smiled faintly as he said quietly: “No strength, no talent, comes without a price. Without a second edge, no matter how hidden it might be. Oh, your ability is wonderful Antares. You can see into people, you can understand them, you have a mental acuity and natural analytical skill that stage psychics and detectives would both kill for. You can see into the heart, the mind, and the very soul of a person and pick up on all the little details of what makes us, us, and apply that in any given situation.

“But you don't just see... you feel. And tonight, you looked into the eyes of a monster whose sole purpose is to destroy. To kill, to infect, to annihilate everything around it. It's no wonder you were so scared, Antares... having death breathing down your neck is one thing, but that was neither death nor Death with a capital D. You stared into the eyes of unadulterated... emptiness. Nothingness. A harbinger of the Void.” Allonym fell quiet, crossing his arms as he sat back and said softly: “Me? I wouldn't've been scared but still standing. I would have been terrified, curled up in a little ball, crying and trying to pretend it was all a bad dream. I have faith in you for a reason, Antares. Just don't end up being even more self-loathing than Scrivener was, huh?”

Antares Mīrus smiled faintly, nodding slowly as he bowed his head and closed his eyes. And for a little while, there was quiet as the strange Draconequus smiled and Antares only sat, unable to bring himself to ask all the questions he wanted to... and yet all the same somehow soothed despite everything that had happened.

Still Just Kids

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Chapter Eight: Still Just Kids
~BlackRoseRaven

Antares felt much more like his old self the next morning, and he felt even better when he left the bedding in the back room of the library and found Celestia was already up and drinking tea. She looked a little ill and weathered still, but she was smiling faintly all the same... and by the time Twilight joined them – wearing a sweater that did little to hide the fact she was undead now thanks to the additional stitching she'd been forced to apply around her face and over her haunches – both Antares and Celestia had helped one another feel better about things.

The plan for today was to head over to Cowlick's engineering facility and see if the Nibelung had finished sealing off the sewer and maintenance tunnels. Cancer was likely hiding out somewhere down there, and if they could confirm it, they could work on flushing him out and driving him into Cowlick's trap. Antares still had some lingering worries about this, but Twilight seemed to have gained a little more confidence, pointing out that no matter how viral and toxic Cancer might be, no matter what it was, the creature had been severely weakened last night and would probably take a long time to regenerate its powers. If they could lock it in the sewers and strike within the next few days, chances were they could drive the beast out without any further problems.

The three were talking about this even as they headed out the door of the library... and found a group of ponies and Nibelung all staring at a group of three Draconequus currently engaged in a loud argument with one-another. Discombobulation had his arms crossed, looking serious as always as Allonym leaned on his cane, grinning slightly, a black fedora now on his head topping off his strange outfit, and the third Draconequus was scowling moodily back and forth at them, rubbing miserably at a jaw that had one large fang sticking almost comically out of the end of his muzzle as he snapped: “Puppy, don't argue with your biggers and betters. And you, poser, go away. No one likes you. Just because you want to be here doesn't mean we want you to be here, right, puppy?”

“Au contraire, Discord, I enjoy anything that makes you miserable, big dog.” Discombobulation replied mildly, and Allonym snorted in amusement. “By the way, have I mentioned today how much I love your outfit? You look like a musketeer. Or a fop. You're the foppish musketeer.”

Slowly, Discord's expression grew even more sour than it had already been. His red eyes narrowed beneath his bushy eyebrows as he reached his eagle talon up and tugged on his white beard in vexation: his horns were mismatched, one a narrow antler and the other a gnarled blue spire, and his tail was long, red-scaled and draconic: one brown leg ended in a hoof, the other green limb a green claw, and the forelimb across from his eagle's talon was a lion's paw. On the back of the slender creature were two mismatched wings: one was feathered and blue, the other imp-like and leathery.

Allonym paused, then he brought his cane up, poking Discord in the chest a few times with a slight grin and further rumpling the bright red, pinstriped vest he was wearing; it matched his puffy shorts, and the red beret on his head that was topped by a white feather. “Or one of those dress up dolls you find in the bargain bin. Say, are you two a set, Discombobulation? You look like an action figure with that arm of yours, after all.”

“You stole that from me! Charlatan! Thief! I was calling the little puppy an action figure long before it was cool!” Discord snapped in an injured voice, and then he huffed and awkwardly smoothed down his vest before glaring over at Celestia as she, Twilight, and Antares exited the library with smiles. “Oh, what do you three want? Can I go home now?”

“No, please wait here, Discord. I'm not done looking over these reports yet.” Celestia paused, then she leaned forwards, adding gently: “Why don't you try and relax a little? You've been granted a second chance.”

“Actually, no. I've been imprisoned here against my free will and forced to work as a frigging delivery boy. And I look like a licorice stick.” Discord grabbed at his uniform, looking down sulkily, and then he glared when Allonym covered his mouth to try and suppress his laughter. “Oh, be quiet, poser. You're not even real. Even the puppy is better than you.”

“Why thank you, Discord. And I was just about to remark that you look like a peppermint lollipop, not licorice. You know, with that stick wedged up your rump and all.” Discombobulation remarked kindly, and then he gestured amiably over at Allonym. “But I suppose you know all about that, don't you, Allonym?”

“Hey, I already questioned your sexuality first by implying that you and Discord are a couple. Show a little originality here.” Allonym replied mildly, poking at the metal-armed Draconequus with his cane, and Discombobulation winced and poked the end of this with one finger before carefully guiding it away. “Oh wait, look who I'm talking to.”

Allonym smiled pleasantly as Discombobulation and Discord traded looks, then Discombobulation rose his metallic limb and said dryly: “If you were twice as smart as you are now, you'd be stupid.”

“Ordinarily, people live and learn. You just live. But don't worry, I bet your brain must feel good as new, seeing as you never use it.” Discord added mildly.

“I can see why you're so often lost in thought, after all. It must be unfamiliar territory. And I think it's wonderful how much you love nature considering everything it did to you... then again, really, all you are you owe to your parents. You should send them a penny, that should let you break even with them.” Discombobulation continued.

“Of course, brains aren't everything. In your case, they're nothing. Yours is just like a steel trap, after all, always closed. I wonder what things must be like from your point of view but I can't really cram my head that far up my own ass.” Discord grinned, winking across at Allonym.

“In short, you are dumb and smell like fart.” Discombobulation finished, then he and Discord turned and traded a high-five as Allonym stared, slack-jawed, his cane slowly toppling from his hands to fall to the ground.

Both Discombobulation and Discord crossed their arms and looked triumphantly across at Allonym, and the purple-suited Draconequus slowly made a moue of distaste before he held a hand out. In a puff of smoke, a leather-bound, well-cared for journal appeared, and Allonym grumbled under his breath as he reached into his suit jacket, producing a black and gold fountain pen. He continued to mutter grouchily to himself as Antares, Twilight, Celestia, and the other ponies all stared, pen racing along the page as he wrote something.

Discord and Discombobulation both leaned forwards uneasily, and then Allonym finished writing with a sudden flourish of the pen before he looked up with a pleased smile, announcing: “We'll see who's laughing by the next paragraph.”

“What are you-” Discombobulation halted, coughing once as he hammered a fist against his chest, and Discord winced before the two Draconequus slowly turned to look at each other... and then they seized one-another tightly, moving to kiss one-another fiercely for a few long moments as hands traveled up through each other's manes, eyes closed and-

Then Discord and Discombobulation both froze in mid-kiss, eyes snapping open as they registered each other with horror, both Draconequus paling before they shoved one another away. The group around them was only staring, even Celestia's jaw hanging open as the two flailed wildly and yelled curses and obscenities, Discord spitting violently in every direction and Discombobulation rubbing madly at his mouth and tongue.

Then the two Draconequus stared slowly towards the third, Allonym looking pleased with himself as he shut the journal tightly, and it vanished in a puff. He took his time tucking his pen away before holding his hand out, cane flying back up into his grip as he asked mildly: “Want to see what else I can make you two do?”

Discord and Discombobulation both shook their heads violently, and Discord shot like a rocket for the library door as Discombobulation vanished into thin air. Allonym brushed himself off and adjusted his rumpled suit with a positive smile on his features at this, then he cleared his throat and gazed over at Celestia, Antares, and Twilight. “Well then. Shall we?”

“What... what did you do?” Twilight spluttered out finally, as Celestia managed to shake herself out and sigh, and Antares only continued to stare disbelievingly. “I thought... you said... but... what did you do?”

“Humiliated them.” Allonym said with relish, and then the Draconequus cleared his throat and shook his head quickly, saying mildly: “Well, I'm not entirely without the capability to defend myself. But it's not like if something horrible ever happened I'd be able to just sit down and write my way out of it. I can make some minor changes here and there, edit this in or swap this out, but that's about it. I can't just write 'and then so-and-so exploded' and it happens.”

The Draconequus paused, glancing back and forth around him at the crowd, and a moment later he cleared his throat and gestured awkwardly with his cane, saying finally: “But perhaps we should get a move on. I don't like all these eyes on me. Makes me twitchy.”

“Well, I have to admit... I'm almost as surprised to see you standing out here, waiting for us, as I am by your display of power.” Celestia said after a moment, and then the ivory winged unicorn took the lead, the Draconequus turning to fall into pace beside her as Twilight and Antares stared for a moment, then both hurried quickly after her. “You've never spent so much time with us before. Been so open, and we've never seen you in a public place...”

“Like I said, I'm excited. But if you want me to go, I can go.” Allonym said mildly, glancing aside at Celestia, and she only favored him with a slight smile, making the male huff a little as he spun his cane easily at his side. “I don't like how hard it is to make you react to anything.”

Celestia only continued to smile for a moment, before she glanced over her shoulder with interest as Antares hurried forwards and asked quickly: “Is something wrong, Allonym? Why do you want to help us stop Cancer so badly?”

“Because I am a kind and helpful person?” Allonym suggested, raising a finger, and when it became clear none of the ponies believed this, he grumbled and took his cane between his hands, squeezing along the metal body of it compulsively. “Because maybe you ponies can't stop him without my help?”

Antares frowned a bit, leaning forwards and studying the Draconequus, and this plainly made Allonym look uncomfortable before the young stallion said slowly: “No. No, it's not just about Cancer, you're not here because of him, are you? There's something else... something you're trying to change...”

“Oh, look at the time, I have a dentist appointment.” Allonym said hurriedly, reaching into his suit jacket and yanking out a pocketwatch. He pretended to glance down at it, but he didn't even seem to realize he was holding it upside down. “Yep, yep, very late, very rushed, very got to go. Bye.”

And with that, Allonym simply vanished, and Antares winced and staggered to a halt as Twilight gave the air where the Draconequus had been an uneasy look. Celestia only shook her head as she continued to calmly walk forwards, however, saying quietly over her shoulder: “He'll return in time, I'm sure. But you should be more careful with your talent, Antares... you may not realize it, but your directness while using your acuity skills can be very unnerving. Particularly for our friends who like to keep their cards close.”

“I... sorry.” Antares said awkwardly, quickly following after the winged unicorn as Twilight Sparkle smiled a little, the Lich striding up to the young stallion's side as he glanced at her. She felt his eyes studying her, felt him seeing into her... but by now it was a feeling she was well used-to, had even learned to be glad for. She kept no secrets from the pony she thought of as her son, after all. “You feel nervous about him.”

“Of course I am. He's got... some kind of interest in you, Antares, and I worry about what that means.” Twilight replied quietly, nodding slowly once, and Antares nodded hesitantly in return as Celestia glanced over her shoulder. “It's not that I think he's... evil, for lack of a better word, but he does want something. I'm worried about what the fact he won't simply come clean about whatever it is that he wants means for us.”

Antares Mīrus nodded slowly, looking down and murmuring quietly: “Because you're worried it has something to do with me. But I'm not that special, Twilight... I just... I'm just trying to live up to my parents' name, and work towards finding them and... help out my friends and family. Isn't that what every pony is supposed to do?”

Celestia laughed quietly at this, looking ahead as she said softly: “Perhaps, but there are many ponies, Antares, who don't always do what they've been told to.” She paused, then shook her head slowly. “You're... optimistic, almost to the point of being an idealist, dedicated and honorable. You're very much the same as your parents, and very different, too. I just want you to know that I'll do anything to protect you. And if necessary, I'll protect you even from Allonym.”

Antares smiled despite himself, nodding slowly, and then the trio fell silent as they made their way to the engineering lab. Outside, they found Apple Bloom and Scarlet Sage standing together and talking quietly, and Antares cocked his head curiously before he smiled when the two mares gazed warmly towards the approaching trio.

“Twilight, Celestia, Antares... I... I know you're probably in a hurry, but... do you have just a minute? I want to tell you something, I haven't... had a chance to yet.” Scarlet Sage said quickly, blushing deeply as she turned towards them, and Apple Bloom turned almost the same color, even as she reached out and gently took one of the Pegasus' hooves.

Twilight smiled softly and nodded as Celestia gazed curiously at the two, and Antares smiled widely as he stepped forwards as Scarlet Sage took a slow breath... then she looked up, eyes shining as she squeezed Apple Bloom's hoof gently. “Apple Bloom... asked me to marry her, and I said yes! I... I'm getting married!”

“Oh, Scarlet Sage...” Twilight smiled softly, the Lich straightening as her eyes grew warmer, gazing between the two. “That's wonderful! Your... your parents would be...” She caught herself, closing her eyes, then smiled firmly, looking up and saying quietly: “They will be so proud.”

“Congratulations to you both.” Celestia said softly, gazing from one pony to the other before tilting her head with interest. “Do you have any plans for the wedding yet? Have you told Applejack and Rainbow?”

“No, I just... I just worked up the courage to ask her today.” Apple Bloom cleared her throat, looking embarrassed as she rubbed at the side of her neck, and when Antares smiled at her she huffed a bit. “Now hey, I heard you didn't completely follow my advice either, mister. Besides, we... we got so busy and just... but I asked her right in front of Cowlick this morning, I did. Probably should have waited for her to leave, though, now that I think about it. Ain't never been so insulted and complimented by a pony all at once.”

Scarlet Sage laughed and shook her head, saying quietly as she gazed radiantly over at Apple Bloom: “Yeah, but you and I both know that's just the way she is, Red. And I wouldn't care even if she'd been serious, you're... you're what makes me happy.”

The two mares gazed at one another as Celestia and Twilight both smiled, and Antares brightened visibly, sitting back and nodding as he murmured: “I'm so glad, big sister. I'm so really glad that... despite everything else, you two found a way to be so happy. And that makes me happy and... and... I'm glad there's bright spots even in the darkness.”

“Light shines best in darkness.” Celestia said softly, then she bowed her head and added gently: “And this goes without saying, niece, but I'll gladly officiate for you. I'm sure it will ruffle a few feathers in the Royal Court for me to be marrying two mares, but...” Celestia smiled slightly. “Maybe I'm a little more like my sister these days than I should be, since I rather enjoy that thought.”

Scarlet Sage laughed again, blushing deeply as she looked up and nodded, and Apple Bloom bowed her head, mumbling awkwardly: “Thanks, Celestia. We... we didn't figure on getting anything more than... you know, some courtroom marriage, but we sure as hell ain't gonna turn down... well, you know. It means a lot.”

“You're family.” Celestia said gently, and both Scarlet Sage and Apple Bloom looked humbled, bowing their heads low before the ivory winged unicorn smiled and asked: “Are you coming in with us to speak to Cowlick?”

“Red and I are going out to the animal care center, actually... we're going to double-check the sewer entrance over there, make sure it stays closed this time, and Fluttershy asked me to look at some of the surviving animals. Poor things...” Scarlet Sage shook her head slowly, closing her eyes. “Fluttershy was really upset, and she and Nirvana have been working hard all morning with Sleipnir and a few others. Just... trying to get things stable, trying to fix the damage Cancer did.”

Twilight nodded, saying quietly: “Let her know I'll try to stop in later, okay? I might be able to help a little, too.”

Scarlet Sage nodded back, then she said hesitantly: “Only... if you're sure, Twilight. You... you look pretty rough. You look like you need... do you want me to head over to the hospital, first? I can ask the morgue attendant...”

“No, it's fine. I already sent a letter this morning.” Twilight winced, glancing down and mumbling: “Sometimes I wish I was evil enough to dig up bodies from graveyards like in that story, it'd be less embarrassing... but probably even more uncomfortable than it already is, too. I wonder if any organ donors or ponies who donate their bodies to the science or medical schools in Canterlot expect this to happen to them...”

The ponies only looked at her softly, and then the Lich cleared her throat and shook her head quickly, saying finally: “No, I'll go over after Cancer's dealt with to get the bodies and... I'll find somewhere quiet to reconstitute myself. But let's... let's not talk about that. Besides, we all are... busy and... we should stay... busy.”

Twilight rambled to a stop, looking embarrassed before she shook her head quickly, and Scarlet Sage smiled faintly before Antares reached up and gently touched the violet unicorn's shoulder, saying softly: “You're not a freak, Mom. You're just a little different from other ponies, that's all.”

The Lich smiled faintly at this, nodding slowly as she glanced awkwardly at the young unicorn, then Apple Bloom cleared her throat before saying finally: “Well, uh... okay then. Guess Scarlet and me will be off but... hey, why don't you come on by our house tonight for dinner, Twilight, Antares? And you're more than welcome to join us too, Celestia.”

“I'd appreciate that. Thank you.” Celestia said softly, nodding once. “Good luck, and remember... keep yourselves safe as well. You're both very important to Ponyville, especially during troubled times like these.”

The two mares nodded with smiles before Scarlet Sage and Apple Bloom left, the Pegasus gently nudging her younger brother as she passed with an affectionate look down at him. He gazed back after her warmly, and then he glanced over at Celestia as she tilted her head towards the double doors and opened them with telekinesis. “You and Twilight know the layout of this building much better than I do. To be entirely honest, I think it scares me a little. I have difficulty at times understanding Kilby Kwolek and her alchemy... it's really no wonder she and Luna got along so well.”

Twilight laughed quietly at this, nodding slowly as she and Antares headed in first, followed by Celestia: thankfully, almost the moment they stepped inside, the secretary at the lobby desk glanced up before smiling and calling: “Hello, Twilight! Cowlick's expecting you... she and Rustproof are down the hall in the testing room, do you remember where that is?”

“What are they testing?” Twilight asked almost nervously, and the secretary cleared her throat and went pointedly back to work behind the desk. The Lich turned a flat look at the doors, muttering: “Oh no. Maybe we should just come back later.”

“I think it's best that we face our fears, Twilight. Try to understand the things that make us uncomfortable instead of simply rejecting them.” Celestia said softly, and then she frowned curiously when Twilight only gave her a wry smile over her shoulder.

“I don't think this is going to help you very much with your uh... concerns about Cowlick.” Twilight said delicately, but then she nodded and sighed as she started forwards, mumbling: “But okay, we might as well get this over with.”

Celestia only looked curious... but a few minutes later, she was staring in disbelief at the sight of Cowlick as the engineer grinned widely, the earth pony gesturing cheerfully over her shoulder at the large, turret-like machine she had built, saying cheerfully: “Me and Rusty have been trying to get this piece of junk working for years and it's finally running smooth! My kid's a damn genius, and this proves it, he finally figured out the motor components and I supplied the rest... and... dammit, Rusty, are you smoking again?”

“Momma, the nav motor's overheating again!” Rustproof replied hurriedly, and then the enormous earth pony scrambled to his hooves and bolted away from the machine as Cowlick simply glared at the machine. A moment later, there was a loud pop, and then a blast of smoke vomited into the air as a few chunks of metal flew out of the side of the device, Celestia, Antares, and Twilight twitching but Cowlick not so much as batting an eyelash even as a large, half-melted gear flew past her head.

“Dammit, Rusty, I thought you fixed that!” she complained, then she sighed and turned her eyes to the device: it was composed of two distinct parts, one a metal chair sitting on a raised base, support bars standing out here and there amidst jumbles of wires and metal, and other part rested on a framework of bars and piping in front of the throne-like seat: it was composed of a set of grips and some kind of axis built into a large, cubical body, a panel open on the side of this to reveal an engine and a feeder system of some kind. And sticking out of the front of this body, where the feeder fed into, were six elongated barrels.

Cowlick referred to it as a 'vulcan cannon:' it was a rapid-firing gun that she been working on for years, and to this day Twilight had no idea why Cowlick, who often complained about being forced to use her talents to make things used solely for killing other people, had been treating this weapon for years as her pet project. The Lich could only stare at the weapon as Cowlick studied the chair, then she sighed and shook her head, muttering: “Well, fine. We'll figure out the mobility issues later, for now she'll make a damn good turret at least... and one day I'll be able to mount this thing on a rail system. Let's see those bastards from Hellhorse top that!”

“You're in competition with a weapons firm?” Celestia asked with a frown, looking up at this name. “I thought part of the reason you left Manehattan was to get away from Hellhorse's recruiters?”

“Hellhorse, Stampede Industries, oh a whole bunch of places wanted to recruit me, yeah. And I wouldn't say competition, Celestia. That's like saying it'd be a competition if you entered a 'best magic' contest meant for kindergarten kids.” Cowlick grinned, reaching up and patting the vulcan cannon. “But when I put Parsimony here out on exhibition, I'm gonna steal all their funding right out from under their hooves for the factory I wanna build.”

“You have plans for a weapons company?” Celestia frowned deeper, seeming surprised as Rustproof hesitantly strode back over the the turret, kneeling down to begin tinkering with whatever had just exploded.

“Hell no. I have plans for a security company, a real security company, not like the thugs that run Hellhorse and ESS and all those other fake-ass mercenary fronts.” Cowlick said disgustedly, shaking her head. “I don't want to manufacture lethal weapons like this. I want to design nonlethal weaponry and build armor for our boys, and I want to make sure that the killer weapons we do make go to the good guys, they aren't just sold for the highest frigging profit to crooks and criminal organizations and the kind of scum they hire on at HMH.”

Celestia tilted her head with interest as Twilight looked curiously over at Cowlick, before Antares asked slowly: “But then why build... Parsimony? What does that mean?”

Cowlick grinned widely, winking over at him. “Law of Parsimony, kid. The simplest answer is the right one.” She slapped the side of the gun, saying easily: “Hellhorse, Stampede, ESS, all of them have a kind of competition every year. Their best and brightest trot out all their new weapon designs and stuff, to secure funding from the rich folk who usually just want a private army while lookin' like they really, really care about the safety of the nation. Usually the winner is some stupid remake of an old invention, you know, a ballista they made lighter by changing out the coupling material or some kind of transport. Parsimony here will blow 'em all away... figuratively and literally.”

“I don't know if I appreciate your plan or feel like I should point out the many flaws in your idea.” Celestia remarked, and Cowlick only shrugged and continued to look pleased with herself. “But... Kilby Kwolek, we-”

“Cowlick, Cowlick, Cowlick, call me Cowlick. Nopony ever called me Kilby except for my mom.” Cowlick said dismissively, then she patted the motorized gun, adding: “Hey, you wanna see a test run? She handles pretty well, think we still got a belt of ammo here somewhere...”

“Uh, that's fine, Cowlick, but we should talk about the sewers and Cancer.” Twilight said awkwardly, glancing down the length of the long, concrete testing room: shelves and a few crates rested against the wall for about half the length, but the last thirty feet or so of the elongated room was made of a softer, almost-pliant looking material, and drains and narrow trenches lined the floor to the very back. Torn-apart paper targets hung from some kind of rail system, and the wall behind these was littered with cracks and bullet holes and discolored smears of cement patching.

The engineer looked almost disappointed, but she nodded and sighed, glancing over her shoulder and saying mildly: “Rusty, go find your dad and bring him to Conference Room A, and bring Greece too if you run into him or see him in the lounge or office.”

She paused, then glanced meditatively over at Antares, asking: “You wanna do me a favor? You know where we keep our records, right? Well, Meadowlark is over there right now, digging up old construction documents to make sure we ain't missed anything. Go fetch 'em for me. I think Prestige is there too but I'm fine if you just kind of forget about her.”

“Bring Prestige too if she's there, Antares, she is... my student.” Twilight said tiredly, and Cowlick grumbled as Antares nodded awkwardly. He smiled at Rustproof as the enormous colt walked past, the glossy black young stallion following his friend back out into the hall.

The two nodded to each other, and then Rustproof said softly: “Momma's got some funny ideas, but they're good ones, you'll see.”

“I know, Rusty.” Antares smiled after a moment, then he leaned over and nudged the colt gently before he turned down another hall, as Rustproof continued to amble straight ahead. “You should ask your Mom if she wants to use your project, too!”

Rustproof only chuckled, shaking his head, and then Antares turned his eyes forwards, looking ahead as he laughed a little and said softly: “I think sometimes Rusty's the most talented of us all. He always does what he puts his mind to, after all.”

Antares fell quiet as he walked onwards through the familiar halls: he'd spent a good bit of time here over the years, after all, helping out Rustproof, digging through records, working with the Nibelung. This facility housed both new and old together, after all, and as part of his training, Sleipnir had taught him how to work at a forge and do repairs to his own armor. He wasn't very good at it quite yet, but as always, his uncle had smiled and slapped him on the back and declared: 'give it time.'

Time... the unicorn shook his head a little, leathery wings flapping uneasily once at his sides before furling with a faint tickle of pain. He felt like time was against them, like in spite of everything, they were racing the clock... like maybe they were underestimating what Cancer was capable of. For some reason, Cowlick's plan still simply wasn't sitting right with him, and the unicorn sighed a little before he mumbled: “No, no. It's gonna turn out fine, it is... I just... concentrate, Antares, come on. Focus on this.”

The young stallion nodded firmly to himself, looking nervously up all the same as he headed through the halls until he reached a wooden door clearly labeled: 'Records.' His horn glowed, and Antares grumbled under his breath as he forced himself to focus a bit more when the door only shuddered in the frame, muttering: “Oh come on...”

After a few more moments, the handle finally clicked, and the door swung open with a groan on hinges that desperately needed oil. Antares poked his head into the musty room beyond: it was packed with shelves and cabinets all loaded down with papers and files of every shape and size, with a tiny table in the center of the room where Meadowlark was working with her back pointedly turned on Prestige. The Pegasus looked up with a sigh of relief when she saw Antares, smiling at him and putting a file quickly aside. “Antares! It's good to see-”

“Are we being called?” Prestige interrupted, and Antares and Meadowlark both glared at her, the unicorn sniffing loudly and disdainfully. “Oh please, you're the one who claims she has a talent for observation and intellectual analysis. The only reason Antares would be here is if he was sent by someone to fetch us... I would guess the Baroness, since the Lich will likely have to reconstruct her body.”

“Don't talk about my mom like that, please.” Antares' tone was more exasperated than angry, far too used to this by now before he added dryly: “And can you please show maybe just a little bit of empathy here, Prestige? She's a good teacher, even you know that, and you can't understand how much she suffers when she has to rebuild her body...”

“Oh, yes, I feel awful for her. She's only nearly invulnerable and personal adviser to the Baroness.” Prestige retorted, looking grumpily down at the papers in front of her, and Antares frowned at her as he examined her closer: she looked frazzled and exhausted, like she hadn't slept the night before. “Besides, do you understand what she goes through, Antares Mīrus? Or are you simply being her white knight?”

“I'm her son.” Antares said quietly, studying Prestige closer, and the young unicorn mare snorted angrily, glaring balefully up at him.

“Yes, that is also something I fail to understand and find disgusting. Luna is your mother, and Twilight is your mother. Your father must have been very fortunate or very wealthy.” Prestige said acerbically, and Meadowlark and Antares both glared at her. “Please go away.”

Antares shook his head, forcing himself to calm down before he walked slowly around the table, asking finally: “What's wrong with you, Prestige? Why are you being like this?”

Prestige only huffed, looking down as she muttered: “Nothing is wrong with me, splinter-horn, I simply reminded myself of where I was and... what you and your kind are. Go away and take the shorn-wing with you, I'll stay here and wait for something more worthy of my attentions than the welfare of slave hoofs and their preening protectors.”

“You're acting like a child because you feel bad that I fought Cancer last night and you curled up and cried like a filly in the clinic.” Antares said sharply, his eyes flashing, and Prestige shoved herself violently back from the table, but she looked more startled than angry, vulnerable... and Antares bared his sharp teeth as he felt his anger boil over in that one moment. “You're a genius unicorn, Prestige. Just like everyone else in your family. You hate me because I'm just like my Mom and Dad, and you're just like your Mom and Dad too, right?”

“Shut up!” Prestige yelled brokenly, tears forming in her eyes as she staggered out of her chair and looked almost as if she'd seen a ghost, breathing hard before she shook her head wildly and then simply barreled for the door. And Antares stared in surprise over his shoulder as the seething rage in him vanished and instead he was left feeling... ashamed, and awful.

It was made all the worse by the way Meadowlark was looking at him now, one of her hooves silently touching her lips, and Antares swallowed thickly before he looked down and rubbed at his head slowly, mumbling: “Oh wow. Oh... wow. I... I gotta go apologize to her. I... Horses of Heaven, what did I do...”

Antares shook his head quickly, hurrying around the table before he stumbled to a halt in the doorway, blushing as he looked over his shoulder and said awkwardly: “Conference Room... A, I think, uh... the one Cowlick always uses, I... I gotta go. Just... go and... fill me in later, okay?”

“Antares!” Meadowlark shouted, but the unicorn only shook his head hurriedly before he turned and ran out into the hall. His hooves guided him on instinct, and his sharp, analytical eyes glanced back and forth, picking up every little detail he needed to track the unicorn: here, papers knocked off a tack-board by someone, there, Nibelung that were glancing down the hall and talking in hushed voices about someone that had passed, there a door that was still ajar...

He ended up leaving through the rear doors, and hurrying down a short alleyway: he knew Ponyville well, and he knew Prestige better than she thought: the few fresh hoof prints he saw in the dirt that undoubtedly belonged to her were more than enough to tell him where she was probably going, and he hurried forwards before cutting down a side alley, to try and get ahead of her.

Prestige was faster than he'd expected, though, and her head start combined with how upset she was meant that she was already there by the time Antares emerged slowly from an alley: Prestige's favorite thinking spot... a bench behind the memorial park for his parents, that looked out onto the schoolhouse in the distance.

Antares silently, quietly made his way forwards, breathing slowly as he strode slowly past the statue of his parents, looking up at them silently as they seemed to look down at him with disapproval on their charred, carved features. The statue was blocked off by yellow tape and warning signs, and all around the park, the grass had been burned and sod torn up: there were still stains from the battle the night before even on the dusty, abandoned streets.

The young stallion cleared his throat as he walked up beside her, and then he carefully sat down on the bench beside the unicorn mare as she snuffled and rubbed silently at her eyes. Antares glanced over at her, and then he closed his eyes as he reached up and touched her shoulder, saying softly: “I'm sorry.”

“Leave me alone...” Prestige turned her eyes away, trembling violently before she suddenly turned, shouting at him in a hoarse, breaking voice: “Do you think it hasn't been hard for me, too? For years, trying to adjust to what feels like an entirely different society! Forced to be as equal to savages, to act like I am... am no better than some trollop earth pony who sells her body for money, like there are no differences between us! There are all the differences in the world, Antares, there are all the differences in the world!”

Antares only looked at her silently, and the young mare shivered before she dropped her head forwards, burying her face in her hooves before she sobbed: “I... I am special! I'm a unicorn! I'm twenty years ahead of my level, most unicorns never learn the m-magic I do! So... so... s-s-so w-why couldn't I... do anything...”

The young stallion sighed softly, then he wrapped a foreleg around her, and Prestige half-flung herself against him, grasping at him with her hooves as she buried her face against his neck and cried. Antares only looked down silently, trembling as he felt her emotions, her pain, her suffering beneath all her layers of arrogance and superiority, felt tears forming in his own eyes. He could see into her, feel her emotions... and it made his heart thunder with sympathy for her, as he whispered: “It's not your fault. I don't know what you heard but I'm no hero. I failed too, and I only escaped with my life because of a fluke.”

Prestige trembled, then she clenched her eyes shut and shoved herself up and away from him, tears still running down her face as she glared at him. “But you were there! You did something... I... I simply saw the sick and... I saw them, d-d-dying, and... I couldn't... I, I couldn't...”

“I know.” Antares closed his eyes, bowing his head forwards before he murmured: “Prestige, listen. You're not... a bad pony. You're talented, and you're smart, and you work hard. You helped us figure out how this disease was transmitted and you... you won't freeze up next time. I know you won't, because I know you'll never want to... be here, again.”

“But what if I do? What if I choke again, what if I can only... run and hide in a back room, hoping no one will find me...” Prestige shivered, clenching her eyes shut... and then she looked up at him, breathing slowly before asking abruptly: “How did you know about my parents? That my father...”

Antares shifted uncomfortably, and when Prestige trembled a little, he sighed and squeezed her reassuringly around the shoulders. She settled a bit, closing her eyes and dropping her head forwards, and the young stallion said finally: “It wasn't that hard to put together, Prestige... you... the way you talk about them sometimes, how determined you are to make something of yourself... things like that. A lot of things that come together and... well...”

Prestige only nodded silently, and then she looked up at him as he gazed back at her, her tears finally begin to slow as she whispered: “The worst part about living here is feeling second class, each and every day... being a unicorn means nothing here. And after all the time I've spent here, I think... I think that I'm never going to feel like being a unicorn meant anything special at all, no matter how I tout my banners. Look at me, Antares Mīrus... I am no inventor, no warrior, no... nothing. I was born with my magical power, I have no skills, no hobbies, cannot... c-can't...”

“Prestige, you've worked hard to become who you are and... and... I like you, when you're not being a pain and all hoity-toity, okay?” Antares said finally, then he sighed a little as he gazed at her silently. “Did you ever stop and think that maybe it's a good thing you're... you're learning all this? Don't you understand that... everyone here, they're who they are because that's who they want to be? Prestige, you can be who and what you want to be too...”

Prestige looked up at him, a few tears still spilling down her cheeks from her metallic eyes, accenting the red flaw in one iris all the more as her lips fell open, and Antares swallowed thickly as she saw pain and understanding and mercy reflected in the young stallion's dark, cyan-green irises. For a few long moments, they only stared at one another... and then slowly, Antares leaned down, and their lips met for a moment in a gentle, quiet kiss.

The kiss lasted only a few seconds... and then their mouths parted, and Prestige flushed red and shoved at him, sitting hurriedly up and looking away as Antares blushed and wiggled away from her, dropping his hooves in his lap and clearing his throat. For a few long moments, there was silence, and then Prestige reached up and rubbed violently at her eyes, mumbling: “Well... shall we... shall we return to that awful place?”

“Why don't we just go back to the library?” Antares suggested, and when Prestige looked at him measuringly, he said awkwardly: “Okay, why don't... you go back to the library, and... I'll get us something to eat at Sugar Cube Corners?”

Prestige looked pacified, shifting a little, and then she added finally: “And... Antares I... would prefer you did not go bragging to anypony that... you took advantage of my moment of clear weakness...”

“I don't know what you're talking about, at all.” Antares muttered, looking hurriedly away, and Prestige looked away as well... before the two unicorns slowly turned to look at each other again, studying each other for a few moments.

Then Prestige almost threw herself onto her hooves, mumbling as she hurried quickly off, and Antares sighed and jumped up to his own, blushing deeply as he turned to hurry off in the direction of the well-loved candy store, thinking about how this day couldn't get any more awkward. And then he winced as he felt a very distinct set of hooves land on his back, turning brighter red than he already was as he said weakly: “No. No, no, no, no, no. You did not see that.”

“Oh yes, yes I did.” Avalon said with relish, and Antares looked almost desperately over his shoulder at her as the tiny Pegasus grinned cheerfully down at him, her red eyes gleaming with gleeful mischief. “This right here. This makes my day. Prestige is your marefriend!”

“She is not!” Antares choked out, glaring horribly over his shoulder at Avalon, who cackled, then leapt up and easily began to buzz along above him when Antares tried to buck her off. “It was a... a... a moment of weakness!”

“Oh you are such a loser.” Avalon flipped upside down, making kissy-faces as she wrung her front hooves together. “Antares is all growin' up, he got his first kissy-wissy from a girl... but Horses of Heaven, even Meadowlark is a better choice than Prestige!”

Antares fumed and blushed deeper as he began to run, but Avalon easily kept pace with him, before she scowled when he said in a mumble: “Well, I'm sure it was better than your first kiss from a girl.”

“Oh, don't take it so personally, Mir! Seriously, I just... you realize she's probably going to plant her eggs inside you or something while you sleep, that's all I'm saying. Prestige is a scary piece of work. And everypony knows she's evil.” Avalon paused, then asked mildly: “Why are stallions so stupid? Do they like getting hurt or something?”

“Come on, drop it, Avalon. Please.” Antares pleaded, and Avalon grumbled, but finally nodded as she flitted down beside him, and Antares wheezed and finally let his pace slow as he dropped his head forwards, looking moody. “And Prestige isn't that bad, really. I mean... well, remember when we first met her?”

“How could I forget? She got her flank kicked by Aphrodisia.” Avalon looked almost dreamy at this thought as she landed beside Antares, the tiny Pegasus trotting easily in pace with him. “We were... what? Rusty's age? And she comes strutting in and Twilight introduces her and leaves us to make nice. Then she tries to order Rusty and Aphrodisia to go fetch drinks for her, gets mad at Apple Pie, and before you know it Prestige is crying and Apple Pie is sitting on her, preening.”

“We could have made a much better first impression.” Antares mumbled, and then he shook his head and added quietly: “But I mean, honestly, think about how she used to be. She's gotten better... she actually uses the words 'earth pony' now and then instead of slave hoof.”

“Yeah, because like. Pinkamena would turn her inside out for calling her daughter a slave hoof.” Avalon said pointedly, and then she cocked her head curiously as Antares turned suddenly towards a building with several tables set out in front filled by happy-looking ponies. “Hey, what are we doing here?”

Antares only smiled over his shoulder, replying mildly: “You complaining, Aviator? Come on, let's pick up some treats.”

Avalon snorted and bounced into the air, easily buzzing after him as she grinned and remarked: “Real nice of you, Antares. I see that Prestige already has you wrapped around her hoof, doin' whatever she pleases. Smooth cover, though, offering to get me candy too.”

The young stallion only sighed as he pushed his way into the shop, the bell jingling as he strode past the booths and tables towards the glass counter at the back, and a bright pink pony with a cotton-candy mane and tail looked up and beamed brightly. “Oh hi, guys!”

“Hey Pinkie Pie.” Antares greeted: apart from her mane and the bright colors of her body, she was almost the perfect twin of Pinkamena... minus the tattooing and sharp teeth, of course. “How are you doing?”

“I'm good... wish I could help out more, though.” Pinkie replied softly, then she laughed and glanced over her shoulder with her bright sapphire eyes at her cutie mark: a trio of balloons, two blue and the center yellow. “But Lemon Drop says that I can throw a big getting-better party for everypony after we deal with... that thing in the sewers.”

She shivered a bit, and then she glanced over her shoulder as a youthful-looking dragon pushed through the swinging doors at the back of the shop, striding easily on two legs. He smiled warmly at Antares, emerald eyes bright as he rose one violet-scaled hand. “Hey, Antares, Avalon. Nice to see you two.”

Antares smiled to the dragon: the scales on his underbelly were the same lime green as his ear frills, while a ridge of deep green fins went from his forehead and all the way down to the tip of his pointed tail. He was tall and lithe, but his build was athletic and handsome: years of training and working at the local forges. His looks were accented further by the runic band tattooed around one upper arm: an enchantment that stopped him from growing to full dragon size, and as much a symbol of his commitment to his wife as the wedding band around his finger that was topped with a single emerald stud. “I just wanted to let you know I finished repairing Pinkamena's armor and knives... and I really appreciate the snacks, too. Don't tell Rarity, huh?”

Avalon snorted in amusement, flitting down and poking easily along Spike's chest as she grinned at him. “You know, Dad says that when he first met you, you were this tiny little baby dragon, and you were all chubby and cute and stuff. I find that hard to believe... well, not the cute part.”

“Gee, thanks.” Spike laughed, waving an arm at Avalon, and the Pegasus drew back even as she flitted around him cheerfully. “But it's true, right, Pinkie?”

“That was so long ago, though, huh?” Pinkie Pie smiled warmly, looking both nostalgic... and a little sad, Antares thought, as he looked at her curiously. “Ponyville... wow, when I think of how far we've all come, each and every one of us...”

Spike softened, then he nodded a little as he said softly: “Yeah, it really was. And hey, Pinkie, thanks again... not just for the snacks, for the work. I know Sleipnir's a way better blacksmith than I am, but I appreciate getting to keep my hands busy. Twilight and Rarity were both really worried about me getting too close to the infection, just in case...”

Pinkie only smiled, however, shaking her head with a laugh. “Oh, Spike, you're great at your job, though! And besides, Sleipnir's been running himself so hard lately... he's as bad as Lemon Drop when it comes to not taking care of himself, I think. You helping out means a world... especially since I get to pay you in cupcakes and candy and all.”

“Just... again, don't tell Rarity.” Spike grinned lamely, raising his hands and waving them awkwardly. “She gets mad at me because I can eat all the candy I want and still look okay.”

“I'll say.” Avalon said with a grin, and Spike coughed and blushed a little before the tiny Pegasus hopped into the air and buzzed around Antares in an easy circle, beginning teasingly: “Isn't it lucky that Prestige doesn't feel that way about-”

Antares leapt up and grabbed Avalon, yanking her out of the air and covering her mouth, and both Pinkie and Spike cocked their heads curiously before the young stallion said hurriedly: “Sorry, uh... yes, Avalon was just reminding me that we're supposed to pick up candies for everyone and then run off for a meeting. Uh... we need a box of a whole bunch of... stuff and... some of Pinkamena's stuff, too.”

Antares grinned lamely, and Spike still looked confused, but Pinkie Pie only smiled brightly before she nodded firmly once, ducking under the counter for a moment to produce a large cardboard box before she began to flit around behind the counter. She easily picked up food from both the metal shelving as well as the 'darker' side of the store: in this area, the counter was solid stone, and the sliding racks were filled with treats shaped like hooves, body parts, and other somewhat disturbing things, clearly the design of Pinkamena.

Avalon grumbled and squirmed in his grip, and Antares released her before looking at her pointedly, and the Pegasus huffed but nodded as she flitted into the air with a mumble. Then both of the ponies looked up in surprise as Pinkie Pie closed the box and neatly tied a bow around it so quickly it seemed like magic, the earth pony smiling warmly and saying cheerfully: “Lots of stuff!”

“Thanks Pinkie.” Antares smiled, picking up the box with telekinesis to drop it on his broad back, and Pinkie winked at him in response before the young stallion turned and headed for the door, adding over his shoulder: “Take care, huh?”

“You too, Antares!” Pinkie called, as Avalon zoomed out after Antares, and then the pink pony smiled and glanced over at Spike, asking curiously: “So do you think he found a special somepony?”

Spike snorted in amusement at this, then he smiled warmly over at Pinkie and reached up to squeeze her shoulder, replying easily: “You think so too, huh? But it's good for Antares. Always seemed like he was growing up... too fast, you know?”

Antares Mīrus, meanwhile, was now grumbling as Avalon floated along beside him, the two heading towards the library as the Pegasus said mildly: “You know it's totally just a matter of time until everypony knows, right? Besides, what are you, ashamed of her?”

“No! It's not like that, because... it's not like that. I don't... I don't like her. I don't.” Antares mumbled, shifting awkwardly as he looked embarrassedly down at the ground, then he glanced up almost nervously and asked finally: “I mean. How much did you even see?”

“The crying, the groping, the kissing.” Avalon supplied easily, and then she grinned as Antares glared at her, visibly twitching, before easily zipping down to land on his back before she dropped herself flat with a yawn, smiling and closing her eyes as she curled comfortably up on top of him. “You are seriously in so much trouble dude. Meadowlark always liked you.”

This made Antares stumble a bit, blushing a little as he glanced awkwardly up toward the sky, then he shook his head hurriedly and mumbled: “I really... don't... it was stupid, Avalon. Besides, why are you making such a big deal out of this, anyway?”

Avalon yawned again, already well on her way to having a nap as she mumbled: “Simple, dude. Because if it's true it changes everything... we might have to actually start pretending to like Prestige, and I don't want to deal with that. You're kind of the leader, Antares... even the stupid stuff you do affects all of us.”

Antares swallowed a little at this, looking down before he shook his head, muttering: “No, no. No. I'm... I'm no leader, Ava. And how does the stuff I do affect anypony? There's no way I'm that important or anything, I mean... I make weird or dumb decisions all the time and no one complains, right? Right?”

But Avalon was already snoring away on his back, and Antares groaned and shook his head: even after all these years, the tiny Pegasus was still capable of simply flopping down and going to sleep wherever and whenever she liked, and more often than not took advantage of this odd little talent of hers to avoid any serious conversation or answering questions she didn't want to. Antares always found himself feeling strangely envious of this ability: he had trouble even napping for a few hours a night, after all, and even if he only rarely felt tired, he still often found himself wishing he could just magically go to sleep whenever he wanted to, wherever he was.

The rest of the walk back to the library was quiet, and Antares couldn't help but hesitate a little when he reached the doorway, studying it apprehensively before he finally steeled himself and mumbled: “Okay, okay, okay, you can do this, Antares.”

“Told you she was your marefriend.” Avalon's voice floated up, and Antares ground his teeth together as the Pegasus rose her head from his back, yawning loudly and adding: “You wouldn't be this nervous if you didn't like her. This is just weird, Mir, I don't really do so hot when the team roster changes, you know that.”

“Thank you for your concern, Avalon.” Antares mumbled, and the Pegasus nodded agreeably before the large, glossy black stallion sighed and then stepped forwards, pushing through the door and smiling awkwardly as the first thing his eyes settled on was Prestige, seated at the library table.

He looked at her, and she looked back, before the young male gestured at the box of treats floating beside him, giving a lame grin. Prestige gave a hesitant smile, and the two unicorns studied each other... and then Avalon stood up on Antares' back and put her front hooves on his head, leaning overtop the young stallion as she said cheerfully: “Do me a favor and don't make out while I'm eating, or I might hurl.”

Prestige turned scarlet as Antares winced and dropped the box of food, but Avalon dove quickly forwards, grinning as she caught the box just before it could hit the ground. She buzzed back up high into the air with a cackle, popping the box open and greedily shoving her head inside as she safely flew around the ceiling, as Prestige shouted angrily: “Upstart shorn-wing midget!”

“Ava, come on! It wasn't anything like that!” Antares pleaded, but the Pegasus only grinned widely as she continued to fly in an easy circle around the ceiling, and then Antares looked in surprise at Prestige when the young unicorn mare shot him a surprised, almost-hurt look, and he stared back at her before asking both her and himself: “Was... was it?”

For a few moments, the two unicorns only looked at each other, Prestige fumbling for words and Antares shifting awkwardly. But both of them were saved answering when Avalon cheerfully flung a cream-filled pastry at the unicorn mare and it struck the back of her head to explode in a great burst of sugary goo. Antares winced, Prestige stared, and Avalon seemed to realize she'd gone a little too far a moment before the library erupted into utter chaos.

After several minutes of wildly-thrown spells, shouting, shrieking, arguing, and threats, the three finally reached an awkward stalemate after Avalon crashed headfirst into a wall and flopped bonelessly to the ground, while Prestige fell over on her side, looking winded from both her emotions and her magic. Antares looked awkwardly back and forth between them, and then Avalon popped up to her hooves and simply shook her head briskly out before she winced as she looked up at the large crack she'd left in the wooden wall, mumbling: “Whoops. At least it wasn't a window this time.”

Antares sighed at this, then he looked awkwardly back and forth around the library as he headed slowly over to Prestige. Papers and books were laying in messes everywhere, crushed and splattered baked goods dotted the walls and floor, and here and there were scorch marks from Prestige's wildly-thrown spells and Antares' attempts to counter her magic.

“I hope it's not like this every time I tell somepony Prestige is my marefriend.” Antares mumbled to himself, as he leaned down towards the young unicorn mare... and her eyes opened in surprise as she looked up at him, and Antares cleared his throat and blushed before he began to babble some denial, some retraction...

But their eyes met, and they studied each other, and Antares saw into her as she saw her emotions reflected back again... before the young mare blushed and smiled faintly with the tiniest of nods, and he simply smiled in return before reaching down and carefully pulling her to her hooves, then into a tight embrace for a moment that she gladly returned.

Avalon made a retching sound, and Antares sighed as Prestige glared at her before the young mare huffed and stepped back from the young stallion. She rose her head imperiously as the Pegasus studied her moodily, and then Prestige twitched a few times before she forced out: “I hope in the future we can be better friends, Avalon. You are a very... talented... Pegasus.”

“Well. That's a start.” Avalon muttered, and Prestige ground her teeth before the before the golden-coated pony sighed and hopped into the air, flying easily across the room to land in front of them before she glowered up at Prestige. “I don't like you. At all. But if Mir likes you then I'll put up with you, okay? I'll even help sell you to the others. Not for you, but for Mir.”

Prestige looked grumpily down at Avalon, and Avalon narrowed her eyes before she suddenly shot up into the air, even Antares wincing backwards in surprise as the tiny Pegasus hovered just above Prestige and snapped: “But if you screw with his head or any of us, Apps and I will beat the crap out of you and shove your horn up your butt, do you understand me?”

“Avalon, I'm standing right here and...” Antares began, and when Avalon shot him a fuming look, the young stallion cleared his throat and turned awkwardly away. “I'm going to to grab you a cola to help you calm down.”

“I'm calm, I'm calm.” Avalon grumbled, then she fluttered down to the ground and mumbled while she stomped her hooves up and down as Prestige glared down at the tiny Pegasus. “Alright, guess we should clean up this stupid mess. Do you think Celestia will notice we wrecked up her library?”

“I'll repair the damage to the building, you and Antares can focus on cleaning up the mess.” Prestige replied distastefully, then she sighed and added morosely: “Please do not tell Aphrodisia I am dating her cousin. I wish to tell her myself at... some... point...”

Avalon only grinned as the young unicorn mare walked by, looking over her shoulder with a wink and saying mildly: “If I were you, pal, I'd be a little more worried about just how Meadowlark's gonna react to all this. Sparks are gonna fly, and not the good kind.”

“What are you talking about?” Prestige Luster asked curiously, but Avalon only grinned wider before she flapped her wings and flew quickly over the floor, beginning to gather up books to put them back on the shelves. Prestige frowned after the Pegasus, then simply sniffed and shrugged before she awkwardly turned to gaze towards Antares, watching as the young stallion headed towards the corridor... and a faint, honestly-thankful smile lit up her features for a moment before she hurriedly pushed these strange new thoughts and feelings out of her mind to focus on the task at hoof.

Discussions Over Dinner

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Chapter Nine: Discussions Over Dinner
~BlackRoseRaven

Scarlet Sage and Apple Bloom lived in a cozy, large townhouse: their neighbors were friendly and they got along well with the ponies around them. They kept their little section of yard almost obsessively neat, and Scarlet Sage kept a small garden alongside the fencing that separated their property from their neighbor's. She and Apple Bloom loved to work in the garden together, even if all they had room for was a small, rectangular patch of flowers and herbs.

The inside of the house was gorgeous: the basement had Apple Bloom's shop, which was always kept neat and organized and polished, and mirrored what she'd been taught by Cowlick. The kitchen was kept just as tidy, and the den room had old, cozy furnishings, paintings on the wall, and a few pretty potted plants, including an enormous taper that was slowly trying to spread its domain through one entire corner of the room.

Their bedroom upstairs, likewise, told a world about the two: the bed was large and plush and soft, but while there were three pillows on one half, there was only one on the other. On either side of the comfy furnishing was a nightstand, and these mirrored each other in many ways: neatly organized, both with a family photo, both with books. But on one table, there was also a blindfold for sleeping, while the other had an artist's sketchpad and several pencils.

A trunk rested at the foot of the bed, filled with odds and ends, and stuffed animals sat on a folded blanket over the top of it: the plush toys faced towards a large closet with mirrored doors. Bookshelves rested against the side wall, opposite the large, open windows: they were filled with mythology, engineering and carpentry texts, a few art books and a few other pieces of particular literature half-hidden here and there. But all along the top of the shelves were figurines, binders, notes, and other trinkets: a bit of chaos amongst all the perfect order.

Antares marveled over the room, like he always did, as he stood in the doorway. His own room was much, much messier... but it was more than the neatness. For him, with his acuity and his ability to read into everything he saw, stepping into someone's bedroom was often like stepping into their mind, seeing their inner thoughts, their whole personality, laid out in front of him. And seeing the way that Apple Bloom and Scarlet Sage reflected each other as much as they meshed together... it made him smile, and gave him a lot of hope for their future.

The young stallion glanced back and forth, then his eyes settled on a black binder with a large, red sticker stuck to it on the top shelf, and Antares smiled again as his horn glowed and he lifted it free with telekinesis. He put it gently down on the bed, flipping it open and beginning to page through the notes inside as he mumbled: “Now Scarlet Sage said... here it is.”

He paused and peered down at the page he had turned to, glancing quickly over it: they were notes that Scarlet Sage had made on Cancer, the monster's disease, and what had happened when she'd analyzed several samples of the destruction entity that they'd managed to scrape up. He read quickly through the file, then nodded and closed the binder, lifting it up with telekinesis... and groaning when he fumbled it in his psychic grip and accidentally tossed the binder through the air, sending it clattering down in front of the closet.

Antares mumbled as he approached the mirrored doors, making a bit of a face as he looked at his own crystal-clear reflection: he wasn't too fond of mirrors, for some reason. It was almost like they made him look into himself, and he wondered for the umpteenth time why Apple Bloom and Scarlet Sage had...

Slowly, Antares looked back up into the mirror as he stood in front of it, seeing himself, and the bed behind him before he blushed red and scooped up the binder in his forelimbs, mumbling: “Oh not thoughts I want to think about, not thoughts I want to think about.”

He grumbled a little, beginning to turn before he paused and leaned to the side as he realized the doors were a little ajar... and Antares hesitated for a few moments before he carefully leaned forwards, peeking between the crack in the mirrored doors. Something glinted inside, and the young stallion smiled after a moment before he was unable to help himself from carefully pulling one of the doors open to gaze in at a beautiful set of battle armor secreted inside the closet.

It rested on an armor stand, gorgeous and lightweight and polished, and Antares pulled the second mirror door open so he could look in at the second set of armor that stood beside it. Both Scarlet Sage and Apple Bloom had been trained in combat by his mother, Luna, even if neither of them seemed like fighters... but they could take care of themselves and each other well. For a few moments, he marveled over the battle armor, how it was clearly well-cared for despite being hidden away like a secret, before his eyes roved absently along the shelves and cubbyholes in the wall of the closet... and then he stared dumbly at a few objects he was fairly certain he wasn't supposed to see before he hurriedly closed both doors.

Antares turned... and almost ran right into Apple Bloom, who was looking down at him mildly. Antares creakily looked up at her, then he offered a weak smile before dumbly holding up the binder, saying lamely: “I. I got it.”

Apple Bloom looked at him for a few moments... then she sighed and reached forwards, messing up his mane with a hoof as she grumbled: “Anypony else and I'd tan their hide, you know that? But come on, Antares, dinner's about to be served and I guess I can let it slide. Did a lot of damn fool things myself when I was your age, after all... and made the much worse mistake of looking in your parents' closet, too.”

Antares laughed in spite of himself, feeling relieved as he lifted the binder with telekinesis before heading out the door, glancing curiously over his shoulder at Apple Bloom. “Yeah? Did my Mom catch you or anything?”

“Yeah, of course. And her inviting me to 'try 'em out' was way scarier than if she'd just yelled at me or something.” Apple Bloom smiled slightly, shaking her head slowly and saying ruefully: “Your Mom always scared me a little, to be entirely honest. Mostly 'cause I was afraid of what she'd do if I ever tried to call her bluff while she was acting like she was flirting with me. But I know she and your Dad were... were good ponies. Great ponies... some of the best.”

Antares nodded with a faint smile as they stepped out of the hall and headed down the stairs together, before the glossy-black stallion murmured softly: “They are, Apple Bloom. They really are.” Then he glanced up, and laughed a bit as they walked down the hall and into the kitchen, adding: “You're great ponies too, though, you and my big sister... much better with other ponies, too, I think.”

Apple Bloom only shrugged with a smile as they passed through the back door and out into the semi-enclosed back yard, where they'd set up a large, square table for their guests. Twilight and Celestia were already seated at the table, both looking comfortable: passing ponies greeted them and gazed with interest at the Baroness, and there were eyes here and there peering out of windows, but they were still more respectful of their semi-privacy than ponies would have been in a lot of other places.

Scarlet Sage was setting out dishes of salad and a few other plates she had prepared, including a bowl of venison dumplings she put down near Twilight with a bit of a smile. The Lich glanced up at her thankfully with a slow nod, even as she blushed and rubbed at her face a little, and the other pony that had joined them for this meal cocked her head curiously as she asked: “What's that? They smell good.”

Twilight only mumbled a little, glancing embarrassedly away from Prestige Luster, and Antares smiled as he approached and sat awkwardly down beside her. When Twilight and Celestia had returned to the library and found the two working diligently together, they had both forgone scolding them for running off and instead Celestia had mentioned the dinner they had been invited to. And surprisingly, Prestige had agreed to come of her own free will, only nodding lamely when she had been asked if she wanted to join.

Celestia kept looking at the two intently, as if she knew something was going on between them, and Antares knew he was going to have to tell everyone sooner or later. As he put the binder down on the table, Twilight's eyes turned towards him and she asked: “Did you see anything interesting?”

“No, what?” Antares winced, glancing over at Twilight with surprise, and when the Lich frowned at him he realized that she was talking about the notes, not... oh Horses of Heaven. “Uh. I mean... well, I don't think so. Aunt Tia, maybe you should take a look, though. You know a lot more about this kind of thing than me.”

“I do. And I'm glad to answer any questions you might have.” Celestia replied calmly, and Antares reflected morbidly that now everything sounded like innuendo. He picked up the book, and then the ivory winged unicorn continued in the same easy tones: “Although I wouldn't recommend trying to jump into bed with this kind of thing right away Antares. Not until you know more about what you're getting into, and have a firmer grasp of the situation.”

Antares stared across at Celestia, who looked at him with her calm amethyst eyes as Twilight only shifted in her seat and looked almost impatiently at the house, where Scarlet Sage and Apple Bloom had run off to. Prestige, meanwhile, slowly rose her head as she saw Antares and Celestia looking at each other, before the ivory winged unicorn smiled and glanced back down at the binder now in front of her, adding almost offhandedly: “Of course, your mother would tell you to go right ahead with all speed, as would Sleipnir. But both would probably advise some degree of protection. Especially if it was your first time... otherwise you might end up being tied down by responsibilities you're not ready for to something you've put together with a pony you might not be with forever.”

Now Twilight glanced up curiously as Antares and Prestige both continued to stare at Celestia, before the rainbow-maned winged unicorn looked up with a slight smile and a wink. “But of course we're only talking about organic samples. A rubber glove should be enough protection for safe handling.”

Twilight glanced back down at her plate, even as Antares silently but wildly fidgeted, jaw working spasmodically as Prestige flailed her hooves and shook her head violently, but Celestia only hummed to herself, looking pleased as she returned her eyes to the binder. A few moments later Scarlet Sage and Apple Bloom came back, the Pegasus carrying the last of the plates of food for dinner and the earth pony a large bottle of wine, and they both looked awkwardly at the spastic young ponies before Celestia drew their attention with a curious question: “Not that I doubt your abilities, Scarlet Sage... but are you sure these are correct? The regeneration rate you noted here is extraordinary, even by a chaos entity's standards...”

“I tested it three times over several hours, and it never decreased.” Scarlet Sage answered as she set the food out on the table before sitting down on Prestige's other side, and Apple Bloom sat beside her fiancee, between the Pegasus and Celestia. “I think the results are a few pages further on... and did you see the energy charge? That's only an estimate...”

“I did, and even if this was overgenerous, the amount of bioenergy this creature is giving off is incredible. We might be able to use that to track its movements.” Celestia said thoughtfully, nodding slowly. “Apple Bloom, what do you think? You know what technology and Kilby Kwolek are capable of far better than I do.”

Apple Bloom smiled at the ivory mare, nodding firmly once. “I think Cowlick could do it, no problem. I think I might even have an idea myself about how we could do it. Maybe we can put that scary new toy of Cowlick's to use once we do. After seeing that thing in action, I'm pretty sure there ain't much that could survive being caught in its sights.”

“Parsimony?” Antares asked curiously, glancing up, and Apple Bloom nodded before she frowned curiously at how flushed Antares still looked. But the young stallion hurriedly shook his head before he asked impulsively: “Hey, have you been helping out Rusty at all with his project?”

“That crazy thing he's trying to build to impress Cowlick?” Apple Bloom grinned widely, shaking her head. “I get him parts now and then sometimes, but that's about it. The colt wants to do the whole thing on his own, has for all these years now... and you know what? I think he's finally got a working design. I think he might even manage to impress Cowlick, once it's done... and should be finished real soon, at that.”

“Good. I can't wait.” Antares smiled warmly, relaxing a little more now as Celestia closed the binder and put aside the file. Conversation turned to other topics as they began to dole food out, and Antares nodded gratefully as he took some of the venison dumplings when Twilight offered him the bowl: unlike most ponies, he'd been eating meat his entire life. He knew that his parents had often eaten meat themselves, although he was fairly certain his ability to process this kind of food had been passed on from Nightmare Moon, like his sharp teeth.

About halfway through the meal, however, Prestige quietly touched his side, and Antares glanced at her, studied her, saw into her... and he smiled after a moment at the look she gave him, turning his eyes forwards and clearing his throat quietly. All eyes looked towards him curiously as he rose himself up a little, and then he said awkwardly: “I... I just wanna say something.”

He fell quiet for a moment, as Twilight tilted her head slowly before swallowing the dumpling in her jaws and asked: “Well, what is it, Antares? We're all family and friends here. Even... you, Prestige, you're a friend.”

“She is... Prestige and I are... she's my marefriend.” Antares stumbled out finally, looking lamely up, and Twilight's jaw fell open as Scarlet Sage and Apple Bloom both stared, while Celestia only calmly continued to pick at her salad, eating slowly as she looked at the young stallion curiously. “We uh... yeah.”

Antares sat down, grinning dumbly over at Prestige, and the silver-maned mare sighed and closed her eyes, dropping her face against a hoof as she muttered: “Smoothly done, Antares.”

The young stallion grumbled a little, and then Twilight spluttered loudly before she asked incredulously: “And when did this happen? How did this happen? Oh Horses of Heaven, this didn't happen at the library, did it?”

“Mom!” Antares almost shouted, blushing deeply as he shook his head violently and rose his hooves. “I just... we haven't done anything, we just kissed and-”

“You what? When? Why? Where? What?” Twilight stared at him, jaw working as she looked almost desperately back and forth between the two. “But... I thought... I thought you and Meadowlark were...”

Antares blushed red again as Prestige looked up grumpily, but there was a pang of injury in her eyes as she crossed her forelegs and spat out: “What? Am I not good enough for him?”

“To be fair, we all know you do call pretty much everyone in Ponyville a splinter horn, slave hoof, or mudwalker on a regular basis.” Apple Bloom said pointedly, as she reached up and squeezed Scarlet Sage's shoulder soothingly, helping stir the Pegasus from her stupefaction. “We're just con... curious, I mean, we're curious about the way you two... got together.”

Prestige sulked a little, slumping back a bit in her seat, but thankfully either young pony was spared from answering as Celestia glanced up and said kindly: “I'm sure that they have their reasons, and Prestige and Antares both... are rational, reasonable ponies. At least most of the time.” She smiled a bit, adding quietly: “I'm hoping that you both learn from each other, through your relationship. However long or short it lasts.”

“Thanks, Aunt Tia.” Antares mumbled awkwardly, bowing his head forwards with a nod and a bit of a blush, and Celestia nodded slowly in return to him. Apple Bloom and Scarlet Sage both traded apprehensive looks, and Twilight settled slowly back, still looking almost suspicious before she sighed quietly and nodded with a mumble in hesitant agreement.

The rest of dinner was a little awkward, interspersed with quiet conversation here and there, but the food was good and the ponies settled with each other. Prestige looked uncomfortable but appreciated the silence, and Antares glanced nervously back and forth before he winced at the look on Scarlet Sage's face as dinner came to an end, and he nodded awkwardly, not needing to be told as he stood up to help her gather up the used plates and cups and other trappings.

Brother and sister headed into the kitchen, putting the dirty dishware in the sink, and then he sighed a little and looked up at her awkwardly as she stood for a moment by the counter, then finally asked in an almost pleading voice: “Why?”

“I... I don't know.” Antares said awkwardly, and Scarlet Sage looked at him tiredly, but then just gestured for him to go on, and the glossy black stallion mumbled: “Well, she's... I dunno. I mean... she's...”

“She's racist, rude, mean and entitled.” Scarlet Sage said flatly, and Antares winced even as he looked up at her almost as if begging for mercy, and the Pegasus sighed again before she stepped forwards, reaching up and gently grasping his shoulders as she gazed down into his eyes quietly. “I just want you to be okay. I want to know that... this is really something you want. That she... is really someone you want in your life, like that. I'm scared you're going to get hurt.”

“I know. I know, and I can't... I can't pretend I don't understand or get mad and say that's impossible, because... well, we've spent four years with her.” Antares laughed a little, glancing down and nodding a little as he murmured: “But she's... she's getting better. I think beneath the... the 'proud unicorn' front she always puts up, she's not a bad person at all. She just needs time and understanding and I think... I know that she's learning. She's becoming a better person. She's not just a unicorn, she's a pony, and I know she's starting to get that.”

Scarlet Sage hesitated, then she sighed tiredly and finally nodded, murmuring as she reached up and stroked his mane back gently: “Okay. Okay, Antares, okay. I'll trust you, little brother, but... boys are stupid.”

Antares only smiled a little, saying softly: “Lucky for you and Apple Bloom then, huh?” He laughed when Scarlet Sage shoved him with a wry smile, then she shook her head slowly before their eyes met again. “Thank you for... for looking out for me, Scarlet Sage. I... I think I can handle this, though, I think I'm doing the right thing.”

“I hope you're right, little brother.” Scarlet Sage studied him, then she sighed a bit and added finally: “I guess Aunt Celestia's right, though, too... you two can learn a lot from each other. When I don't think of Prestige as... Prestige... it makes it easier for me to think about how she's talented, and she's smart, and she is pretty. Those things are all usually outweighed by the fact she's Prestige, but... I'll try and look past that for you.”

“Gee, thanks.” Antares said wryly, and then he began to turn to head back outside before cocking his head when Scarlet Sage smiled and caught his shoulder with a hoof.

The Pegasus turned, heading over to open the refrigerator... and Antares smiled warmly when she pulled out a blueberry pie, his eyes lighting up as he took this from her in a light telekinetic grip. “Hold on, I have a few more treats here, too... don't worry, I did the cooking but Red did the baking, she's way better at that than I am.”

Antares smiled warmly, nodding before he laughed a little, and Scarlet Sage looked over her shoulder curiously even as she pulled out another pie that he easily lifted into the air. “Nothing, nothing, just... you know, you really took after Mom and Dad in a lot of ways. You can cook but you can't bake, you speak your mind, you don't care what ponies think of you... I admire you a lot. I wish... I wish a lot that I was more like our parents.”

Scarlet Sage smiled softly at this, glancing down and murmuring softly: “You are, Antares, in more ways than I think you understand. You're honorable, and strong, and stubborn.” She paused, then glanced up and added easily: “And sometimes you do things that no other pony really approves of but you still make it okay.”

“Thanks, really.” Antares laughed and shook his head, then he hesitated as the Pegasus pulled out one last platter before he turned to head for the back door, asking curiously over his shoulder: “Mom and Dad... did they... I mean, I hear funny stories all the time, and I know they lived... a lot differently from other ponies did...”

“They did.” It was Twilight who answered, as Antares stepped outside and approached the table, and he turned his eyes towards her automatically. For a moment, the Lich hesitated, glancing at Prestige... and then she sighed a little and nodded, reaching up with a faint smile to rub at her collar as she said quietly: “After all, your parents and I... the three of us were... together, like you know.”

Prestige looked up in surprise at this admission, blurting out even as Scarlet Sage and Antares put the desserts down on the table: “So those rumors are true?”

“Yes and no.” Twilight said with a sigh, glancing awkwardly over at Prestige before she nodded a little. “It's... a little hard for me to talk about and ponies are... well, they're curious but they don't want to hear about it, you know?

“Antares, your parents were... strange, weird ponies.” Twilight smiled a little as Celestia glanced up with a quiet laugh and nod of agreement. “But that's just part of who they were... it was part of what made them wonderful, and open-minded, and... and special. And I know growing up was a little funny for you for a lot of reasons, in the years that they were there, but I want you to just always keep one thing in mind: what they meant to you, what they mean to you even now. Don't worry about anything else, not even my opinion of them, and... just think of how you felt they stacked up as your parents, Antares. That's what matters most.”

Antares Mīrus nodded slowly, looking down thoughtfully before he sat carefully back in his seat as Scarlet Sage gazed over at him with a faint smile. For a few moments, there was only quiet, and then Prestige looked up and asked softly: “Is it true that Scrivener Blooms could use magic?”

“Yes and no.” Twilight replied quietly, smiling a little as she glanced over at Celestia, who nodded slowly. “Scrivener and Luna are linked... they share one mixed soul. They could... reach into each other, affect each other in incredible ways: Scrivener was able to mimic Luna's ability to fight and her athleticism, and Luna was able to see through Scrivener's eyes.

“Scrivener was... was not a normal pony. Celestia and I have talked about this a lot over the years, Antares. And we think that... maybe we should share what we figured out with you, and I guess now's as good a time as any.” Twilight glanced hesitantly at Celestia, who nodded slowly as both Antares and Scarlet Sage looked up, Apple Bloom and Prestige both leaning forwards as well... but with more curiosity and less intent, even if Apple Bloom looked a little worried for her fiancee. “It's important you know, though.”

Antares nodded a little, looking quietly across at Twilight before he asked softly: “This has something to do with... with because of how he was sick, right? Because of the fact there was corruption inside him... and how he could see things.”

“That's right.” Twilight replied quietly, glancing towards Scarlet Sage. “You were both... gone, when it happened. When me, Celestia, Luna and Scrivener, and... Gymbr... killed Wisdom, and Scrivener got the last piece of the puzzle...”

She quieted, rubbing slowly at her features before she smiled faintly and closed her eyes, adding softly to Prestige: “That's how I became a Lich, Prestige, to answer your old question. Wisdom poisoned Scarlet Sage, and then she killed me. I... I was carrying a music box as a gift for Luna and Scrivener, and I was able to begin the process and bind myself to it, and... Gymbr and a close friend...”

“You don't have to protect me, Twilight Sparkle. It's okay.” Celestia said quietly, before she turned her eyes to Prestige with a calm nod as the young mare looked up with surprise in her silver irises. “I finished the ritual. I'm responsible for making her a Lich.”

“What you're responsible for is saving my life, Celestia. I may be dead but... I'm still alive, too.” Twilight said softly, gazing over at the ivory winged unicorn with a faint smile, and then the Lich hesitated before turning her eyes back towards Antares and Scarlet Sage, who both still looked anxious. “You both know that Scrivener was... healed. But that's not... entirely the truth. He wasn't simply healed, he was... it made him stronger. And the corruption didn't go away... it was flowing freely through his veins.”

“What do you mean? What does that mean?” Scarlet Sage asked apprehensively, and then she frowned and shook her head, saying finally: “But Mom and Dad went and saved Antares and... and... everypony always tells me they looked so good, so healthy... are you saying that means that even if they survived, he'd be sick again? He'd have died no matter what?”

“You think Dad... was...” Antares shook his head in disbelief, then he shook his head sharply as he studied Celestia and Twilight, feeling a twist of what was almost betrayal in his chest mixed with... “No. No, no, that's... that's not...”

Twilight lowered her head silently, and Antares saw the doubt in her... and then he swallowed as he looked towards Celestia, her amethyst irises meeting his own eyes calmly... but the confidence he felt in her wasn't reassuring this time. It scared him, as he shook his head again and whispered: “You think my Dad was... turned into one of them? And you think that... that he's...”

“I... Antares...” Twilight looked up hesitantly, shaking her head quickly as she rested her hooves on the tabletop with a sigh. “I know it's hard to think about, but... I...”

Celestia reached over and touched Twilight's shoulder as the Lich quieted, the ivory mare's eyes still locked with Antares' as she said softly: “Yes, I believe that.. for some reason, Scrivener became like the Hexad. Like Decretum's soldiers, a Clockwork Pony. It's not a pleasant explanation, and it brings unpleasant thoughts to light, but it's also the only possible explanation I've worked out over literal years of thinking about this. About why he gained the strength he did, about how he could survive the corruption, and how Visionary could pass her powers to him, the first Clockwork Pony your father and mother encountered and the only one who ever proved to be an ally.

“Antares, I'm not saying your parents aren't out there, and are not alive... I cling to that I still want them back, and no matter what, and I pray for your success...” Celestia quieted, then looked evenly across at Antares, murmuring: “But you have to be prepared for what you might see. What you might encounter. And to consider the alternative reasons that Luna and Scrivener may not have returned from Clockwork World...”

Scarlet Sage shivered a bit, shaking her head slowly before Antares paled a little as he looked across at Celestia, as she looked calmly back at him. He wasn't able to look away, wasn't able to tear his eyes free from hers, wasn't able to stop himself from seeing her honesty, her dedication, her honor... and yet below it all, there was something else, too. He saw a million turning gears as fire vomited out of great furnaces and splashed molten magma against indestructible metal; heard a thousand clocks ticking, countless hands moving in different directions and at different speeds but all for one single objective, all eager to ring out at midnight; he smelled polish, and golden metal, and most of all, the coppery scent of blood.

Antares shoved himself backwards, finally breaking eye contact as he knocked his chair over, gritting his teeth as he looked aside and Celestia closed her eyes, bowing her head forwards... and for a few moments, there was only silence before the young stallion breathed hard and turned around to stumble inside, shivering violently. The table was silent, and then Prestige stumbled to her own hooves and turned, hurrying after the young stallion, and the quiet was broken as Scarlet Sage looked at Celestia and asked weakly: “Why?”

“Because you deserve the truth, both of you. And because... Scarlet Sage, your brother is going to find your parents no matter what, you understand that, don't you?” Celestia said quietly, looking over at the Pegasus, who shivered a little even as she nodded hesitantly. “None of us here know what happened... only that the Decretum was destroyed, and Luna and Scrivener have not returned. They could be alive... they could be dead... or they could be... different. Antares needs to be prepared for that... even if I know that I could tell him his father and mother had transformed into Tyrant Wyrms and I know that he would still go after them, intent to save them.”

“Celestia... how can you be so callous?” Scarlet Sage whispered, shaking her head in slow disbelief... and the ivory winged unicorn looked up with a faint, sad smile, her amethyst eyes glowing with pain.

“Antares needs to be prepared for the worst, so that when the time comes, he can make the right decision.” Celestia said quietly, before she lowered her gaze and whispered: “Because I wouldn't. Even in the worst case scenario, even imagining the most awful thing I can... that Scrivener and Luna haven't returned from Decretum because they've not destroyed it, but conquered it, and are preparing their own war machines... I wouldn't, couldn't stop them. I'd ask them to come home, and if they refused... I'd ask them if I could stay with them, instead. I might... lie to myself, or maybe I'd put on a show of pretending to stand against them for a little while. But I'm not Sleipnir, and I'm not Luna: after everything that's happened, everything I remember and want... I just want my friends and family back together, and to once more share our conversations and comforts.

“The story Discombobulation told us, of Gymbr, supposedly written first by the Norns... it's still one of my favorites.” Celestia closed her eyes, shaking her head slowly as Scarlet Sage and Apple Bloom both shivered, but Twilight Sparkle smiled faintly and reached up to touch the stitching along her features in understanding. “It's cruel and evil and violent, but we had one-another, and we were truly free. True freedom...”

She lowered her head, then confessed with a faint laugh: “Every day this last decade has been a struggle to not interfere with Antares' training, to not push him any harder than I already have. To not simply walk up to him and tell him: 'let's go find your parents,' and set off on a journey through every single layer, if we have to. I have a thousand years of betrayal to make up to Luna and Scrivener still... and countless more for everything else that has happened.”

Celestia fell silent, and Scarlet Sage lowered her head as Apple Bloom swallowed a bit and Twilight sighed softly, reaching out to pick up a dumpling from the bowl as she murmured: “I'm sorry, Scarlet Sage, Apple Bloom. We ruined dinner.”

The Lich bit down into the food, chewing slowly, and Scarlet Sage shook her head silently before Apple Bloom looked across at Celestia, asking finally: “You... you always put Equestria first, though. And you ain't left after them yet...”

“Only because I don't know where to go. And... I try, Apple Bloom, but I'm growing very tired of being a Baroness.” Celestia shook her head slowly with a quiet sigh, murmuring softly: “I know ponies look at me as a leader. I understand that, and I understand why. But... for the last few years, I've also been carefully, quietly pulling ponies aside to interview for a position of retainer. I would like a few years, perhaps a decade, where I don't need to worry about the problems of every other pony in Equestria. Where I don't need to be Equestria's figurehead and unofficial queen, with the way the other barons and baronesses all constantly look to me for advice. I need to find myself again, like I did long ago... except this time I need to do it properly.”

The table fell silent... and inside, Prestige was awkwardly standing across from Antares as he sat on a couch, eyes closed, hooves shoved up against his forehead, breathing a little hard. He had never seen that deeply into Celestia before: she had always guarded herself from him, and he had never truly been able to pierce through her defenses, see so deeply inside her... but now he had. She called herself a Valkyrie, and now he truly understood why, and what that meant: it scared him more than he could say.

Finally, he shivered a little and looked up, and Prestige frowned a bit before she said quietly: “I thought you... when you did that thing, you saw...”

“I see what's inside of people. But I can't... I saw... sometimes I see...” Antares fumbled his words, then he shivered and gritted his teeth before looking to the side and murmuring: “I saw my aunt's true face, and I saw... what she was willing to do, how far she was willing to go, to get my Mom and Dad back. I saw... who she was, a long time ago, and how that's still part of who she is today... I saw all that but that doesn't mean I can... that it doesn't have any power over me... she... she's my aunt. She's always been so good to me, so kind, I always admired her but now... and just looking into her I saw...”

He stuttered to a halt again, and shivered... and then Prestige stepped forwards and carefully hugged him around the neck, and the young stallion closed his eyes and instinctively wrapped a foreleg tightly back around her before pulling her closer. It surprised the young mare as she was yanked into a firm embrace... but then she settled against him, quietly resting her head against his own as she murmured: “It's... it's okay, Antares. It's okay.”

Antares Mīrus breathed a little harder, then he nodded slowly and slumped a bit, still holding tightly onto her as she squeezed him slowly around the neck. For a few moments, there was only silence between them, and then he finally relaxed little-by-little before glancing aside, murmuring: “My Mom and Dad are alive, and... and they're okay. My Dad isn't a monster. No matter what anypony thinks, my Dad isn't a monster.”

Prestige only nodded quietly against him, and then she sat back a bit and studied him quietly before hesitating and reaching out to touch one of his leathery wings. It flapped a bit as Antares looked up at her, and then Prestige said softly: “Antares... as you said to me, it's... we can become who we want to be. Some ponies, including... including myself at one point, would consider you a monster for these wings. Would assume you tampered too deeply in polymorphic magic or transfigurations, even if the truth is very different. I... I believe what you say about your parents.”

Antares smiled faintly at this, looking up at her as she gazed back at him, and then Prestige smiled hesitantly before quickly pulling away, shaking herself out and saying quietly: “Let's return and... fetch dessert, shall we? Put this behind us. I'm sure that the Baroness only wishes the best for you, no matter what her character may be. She deserves... the same understanding as me, does she not?”

“Yeah. Yeah, you're right. Thank you, Prestige.” Antares said softly, shaking his head a bit before he closed his eyes, bowing his head forwards in what was half-thought, and half-prayer. What you look like, what you are, none of that makes you a monster... it's what you do with what you're given. Your actions... my Mom and Dad aren't monsters, and they aren't dead. I'm gonna find them, I'm gonna save them... I'm gonna prove it. “Okay. Let's... let's go.”

Slowly, a hideous white limb stretched up out of a pool of slime and rotting garbage in the depths of the sewers, rising out a drainage canal to grasp the slick stone walkway and haul an ugly, mottled white and yellow body onto the cold cement. It laid like a beached whale for a few moments, an emaciated, ugly figure, and Cancer rasped quietly in and out before he snarled in fury as his red eyes glowed and slime spilled down his face like tears. “That little bastard...”

The monster pushed itself up to its claws, shivering once before retching, and then it snarled as it rose its head, eyes flashing as it began to haul itself along the narrow walkway. It passed through a set of bars without slowing, melding easily through the steel as it hissed to itself: “Oh, I'm gonna hurt him. I'm gonna hurt him good, I'm gonna hurt him bad, I'm gonna peel his skin right off his body and make him eat it, then I'm gonna cut it out of his stomach and drown him in it! Then I'm gonna set him on fire and see how he likes it!”

Cancer gargled, then he shook his head violently back and forth before snarling: the last thing the monster had expected was that its own volatile body would ever work against it. But apparently he had a nasty little vulnerability after all: beautiful as he thought fire was, he had gone up like a firecracker that had been dipped in gasoline for good measure. One little light, and poof...

Cancer shivered: his whole body ached from head-to-hoof, and he'd barely saved himself from being destroyed by blowing himself into pieces. He had sacrificed far too much strength in doing so, though, and his body was taking a long, long time to heal after the trauma it had sustained. He needed a fresh, living being to leech the life out of... preferably something big and stupid that he could easily rip his way into and use to lay low for a while. He had no idea what time it was now, if hours or entire days had passed... only that he was still hurting as much now as he had been before.

The destruction entity glared back and forth as it reached the end of the walk and slithered off into a larger tunnel, wading through the putrid water. It was just lucky for him that there were plenty of ways down into the sewers through the piping and a few open grates and cracks... but the piping was difficult for him to slither his way back up through, and he had no doubt they'd be sealing the rest of the easy ways in and out of his domain soon enough. But what did that matter? If they wanted to get him, they'd have to come down in here... and it was wet and slick and filthy in these sewers, all things that played to his advantage and would help keep him safe from being set on fire again.

“Need to work around that weakness... need to figure out a way to keep myself safe... need some goddamn eats!” Cancer yelled the last, and then he glared as several large insects skittered hurriedly by along a wall, muttering: “Sorry, boys, but small fry like you would just make my need for some munchies worse. Why ain't there ever a body around when you need one? Hey, I'll cut you bugs in if you lure me up something tasty.”

Cancer looked moodily at the wall, and then he turned his eyes away from the skittering bugs before he sniffed loudly at the air, looking back and forth before hurrying on ahead. He growled as he rounded the corner, then grimaced in disgust as his eyes locked on the carcasses of several rats, dead from nibbling on the slimy goo that was growing over the walls.

Then the monster blinked in surprise before he peered up at this, striding slowly forwards and reaching up to touch the goop... and he grinned after a moment, rasping: “Oh, sweetie! I left you behind? I'm so sorry, honey, you come back and give me a big old hug now, hear?”

The fleshy goop trembled, then bubbled for a moment before sliding slowly downwards, twisting its way up Cancer's forelimb and melding smoothly into his body. The creature twitched as his form thickened a little, some of the strength returning to him as he rasped quietly... before grinning slowly, licking his teeth eagerly as he murmured: “Baby oh baby. Not as good as a meal, but what do you know? Looks like my stuff grows down here real good, and ain't that a good turn of events for me?”

Cancer turned, approaching another slimy mess of goo over a wall, licking his teeth slowly: the goop he left behind seemed to continue to naturally try and grow and evolve even without his presence there to pull the strings and add mind to mayhem, and Cancer rumbled as the slime added to his body, restored some of his strength. Then he glowered down at the dead, rotting rats before he swept one up and dropped it into his jaws, swallowing it whole; for a moment, he made a face, swirled something in his cheeks... and then he spat out a tiny, broken skull, grumbling: “Just ain't as good as I hoped, dude, just ain't as good as I hoped.”

The monster sighed, then moodily turned and headed down the passage, muttering: “Gonna find me, gonna get me, gonna taste me some real good meat sooner or later, oh yes I am yes I am. But for now... I gotta find a safe place to hide, I gotta prowl around, growl around these catacombs, make sure ain't no one down here trying to mess up my day...”

He ground his teeth together with a snarl, then he twitched, his red eyes glowing brighter as he rasped: “Annihilate them. Murder them. Revenge...”

He shook his head quickly, then spat to the side and added in an indignant shout: “That's right, too! That's what I gotta do, moment I get me a chance! I gotta whole list of odds and ends to take care of while I kill every snotting creature above, but ooh, ooh, ooh, at the top of that list I'm putting 'kill the crap out of that stupid pony that burnt me up!' Yeah! I'm gonna rip him, and I'm gonna tear him, and I'm gonna kill the hell out of him! Kill the freaking hell out of him!”

Cancer stomped his hooves childishly, then he bounced back and forth with a yell of fury before dropping into the shallow water, rolling back and forth and flailing in all directions, sending up splashes of water as he screamed: “How dare he do that to me! How dare that stupid, worthless little runt think he's on par with me? How dare he try to dance my dance when toddler-boy looks like he ain't even old enough to give another pony herpes!”

The monster continued to shriek and yell to itself for a while, rolling and spasming through the water before it suddenly halted, all four limbs sticking high in the air, still on its back and snarling at the ceiling above as water flowed around the monster. “I should leave right now and go tear his ass a new hole... but I can't get outta here yet. I gotta get stronger, I gotta regain my old strength, and that little punk-ass bitch is gonna have all kinds of protection around him, I bet... he showed up with the big white weasel and the zombie. Stupid zombie... gonna stay the hell away from her. Gonna put her back in her grave if she messes with me again, but gonna stay the hell away from her while I do it. Don't wanna catch me no dead-pony cooties again.”

Cancer shivered a little, hugging himself with all four limbs before he rolled over and bounced to his feet, gritting his teeth and shaking his goblinoid head violently as he began to storm down the murky sewer corridor once more. “But that kid... that stupid, stupid kid... ooh, that damn, stupid, filthy, rotten kid... yeah, he smelled weird, though, didn't he?”

Cancer licked his teeth slowly, looking suddenly musing as he dropped his head a bit lower, muttering: “He smelled real funny. Weird-like. Edible-like... and the white weasel, the one who tried to cut me up, oh, why didn't I gobble her up when I had the chance? She looked so sweet and tasty, and if I could gnaw on one of those... well, that would solve all kinds of problems, yeah? I just gotta steer clear of the psycho zombie. Making herself rot... makin' me, me, die, when it's my job to make everything else in existence die... who the hell does she think she is? Ain't no one allowed to do that to me!”

The monster snarled in fury, then it twitched violently before dropping its head forwards, muttering: “They got all kinds of each-others, though, and that makes it harder. Ooh, I got my sweet poisons, and all my diseases, but... it was nice, real sweet, havin' me some pets to run ahead and gnaw on things for me, yeah. Yeah, I really liked that... they did some damn fine work, and I was damn proud of 'em. But... maybe, maybe, maybe...”

He looked away thoughtfully, then rumbled to himself as he reached up and rubbed at the underside of his muzzle. “I gotta find me some test subjects. See what else I can do if I just really believe in myself, if I put just a little faith in myself and then reach for the skies... well, not for the skies, really, more for their brains...”

The monster grumbled to himself, nodding a few times before he rose his head and scowled at the mossy ceiling above. Then his eyes narrowed as he heard something ahead before he grinned slowly as a voice murmured: “No, be careful... we be careful, monster is here...”

“Let it come.” muttered another voice, and Cancer slowly dropped down, body melting and reshaping, becoming serpentine as he began to slither easily forwards beneath the surface of the shallow water. “All the teams are getting in position. One of us is bound to run into that freak and the entire point of this is to drive the bastard out of hiding.”

“Now shush, sweetie, our enemy isn't deaf or dumb.” chided a third creature... and Cancer hissed to itself as it slithered into an intersection and peered through the murky muck at the sight of a Nibelung carefully adhering something to a wall, while a Pegasus hovered calmly with a rifle in his front hooves, and a demon of some kind smiled beneath her seaweed mane, eyes glowing, the water around her turned both dead black and yet sparkling clean from her presence alone. “You don't wanna give away the surprise now, do you?”

The Pegasus only snorted, shaking his head: he was dressed in light blue armor, and he looked warily at the Kelpie... and Hevatica looked calmly back, still smiling, even as her senses tingled faintly. Slowly, she blew the Pegasus above her a kiss, and he glared at her as their eyes met... and then his irises widened slightly as the Kelpie's glowed, and her voice sang softly through his mind: The beast is here... go on. Tell Lady Twilight or the Dawn Bringer.

“I... screw you.” The Pegasus muttered, shivering a bit, then he turned and flitted down the tunnel, and Hevatica grinned in approval even as she half-lidded her eyes: whether they were uncomfortable or not with the roles they played, the Starlit Knights all did their jobs well, and worked well alongside the servants of the night.

Her eyes slipped to the side, towards where the water was clearly being disturbed by the monster that she had heard coming from a hundred feet away... and then the Nibelung nodded once as he finished affixing the device to the wall. “Done. Fancy-corn could not do better!”

“I believe you, sweetie.” the Kelpie said kindly, and then she smiled and reached up to catch the Nibelung's arm as the dwarf began to turn away, the worker turning his attention to her with curiosity. “No, sweetie. Let's go this way. We should report in, first.”

The Nibelung paused for a moment, then he nodded slowly before the demon and dwarf both turned. Hevatica glanced over her shoulder once towards the device, checking it... and in her peripheral vision, making sure Cancer was still watching, before she turned her gaze ahead and began to hum softly as she half-led the Nibelung along the tunnel.

Cancer watched as the two left, then it licked its teeth before slowly reforming, pushing up out of the sewer water as it whispered after the two as they vanished into the darkness ahead: “Oh, don't hurry too fast now... what's this, what's this tasty delicacy you've left for me... ooh, I gotta poke it, I gotta, I gotta!”

The creature grinned as it slipped up to the strange, rectangular device before his eyes widened and he sniffed it greedily, whispering: “It's a bomb! A delicious, nutritious bomb! They were gonna try and blow me up or blow me down or seal me in, but ooh, ooh, ooh, look at this...”

Cancer grinned widely, shoving forelimb against the explosive device, and the monster's slime rapidly spread through the machine, devouring the explosive material it could smell within, swallowing down gunpowder, cramming its way through nodes and frying circuits as the monster cackled with delight... and then it frowned stupidly before the bomb beeped once, and Cancer squealed as it penetrated some kind of canister laced with pleasing chemicals and touched something that... “Oh Ginnungagap, that hurts!”

It yanked its limb back... and its foreleg shattered into pieces as Cancer shrieked, then looked down at itself in horror as coldness spread violently through its body. Blue mist was steaming up from the device now, turning everything around it instantly to ice as what felt like liquid Helheim burned through Cancer's veins, the monster's mottled white skin turning a faint bluish pallor as it literally froze from the inside-out.

For a few moments, there was silence... and then two Nightmares flickered into existence on either side of Cancer, smiling ruthlessly as one said quietly: “What pleasure. It is just as our mortal friends predicted, is it not, sister?”

“And it is delightful.” said the other Nightmare, before it easily flicked its horn forwards... and Cancer shattered like glass, frozen debris made of monster spilling through the water before the Nightmare whispered softly: “Goodbye, foul creature. Now be burned alive.”

Both Nightmares vanished from the spot, the water rippling where they had once been, leaving the broken pieces of frozen Cancer floating silently on the surface of the water for a few moments. Everything was quiet and silent, no sound in the tunnels but for the soft slosh of water and the tickling of the legs of unseen things crawling along the walls... and then this was joined by a quiet but insistent crackling as the frozen bits of Cancer trembled before sinking beneath the surface of the warm, sludgy water.

And a moment later, Cancer burst up from the shallows, gasping and panting hard, snarling in fury: large, horrific cracks were slowly merging and healing together like a grisly humpty-dumpty that was determined not to give in to fate, and the monster snarled before raising his head and screaming down the tunnel: “You're gonna have to do better than that! Come on, come on, come on, come and face me like the pissant little sissies you are!”

There was silence for a moment... and then Cancer slowly rose his head as a quiet splashing filled the tunnel, before his eyes widened at the sight of Hevatica strolling calmly towards him. On either side of her, Pinkamena and Aphrodisia were both grinning viciously, mother and daughter almost like twins in that look as Hevatica said sweetly: “Oh, I was so hoping, darling, that you would survive... now my delightful friends and I get to honor your request.”

Cancer stared stupidly at the three demons... and then the mottled white destruction entity screeched and spun around, bolting off down the tunnel as he called hurriedly over his shoulder: “Did I say 'pissant little sissies?' I meant to say 'sweet darlings who are so pretty!'”

Hevatica only smiled, trading a look with the demons on either side of her before they eagerly gave chase: everything was going exactly according to plan.

Springing The Trap

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Chapter Ten: Springing The Trap
~BlackRoseRaven

Antares awoke with a grunt and a start, looking up in surprise to see Twilight standing over him in the library. He blinked blearily a few times, and then the Lich gestured quickly to his armor, saying sharply: “Get dressed, quick! They're hunting down Cancer as we speak!”

“What?” Antares bolted off the bedding in the back room of the library, and then he nodded hurriedly and jumped over to his equipment, beginning to quickly slip himself into his gear as he asked quickly: “What happened? How, when did this happen?”

Twilight shook her head, smiling grimly as she explained: “Our plan, to drive it out... Tenochtitlan, with Cowlick's help, was able to put together a series of explosives: not powerful ones, not ones designed to even work, as a matter of fact. They were layered over canisters of liquid nitrogen, and it worked even better than we expected: Cancer was apparently drawn to one almost the moment they were setting them up, and he was frozen solid. He started to thaw immediately, of course, nothing is ever that easy, but Pinkamena, Hevatica, and Aphrodisia are chasing him through the tunnels, driving him towards the drop-off!”

“When... when did all this happen?” Antares asked incredulously, as he slapped a set of vambraces over his forelegs... and then he looked down at these, startled, before raising one: they were made of beautiful black alloy, covered in etchings of black roses. “These... these aren't mine...”

“They were your father's. I had Sleipnir alter them just a little, to better fit you.” Twilight said quietly, and she smiled a little as Antares looked up at her with surprise. “It was going to be a present for you when you left but... look, we can talk about that later. For now, we need to get moving. There are several teams of demons working to drive Cancer through the sewers right now, we need to get all the way out to the pit. Cowlick's already there, throwing Horses of Heaven know what into that death-trap.”

Antares nodded quickly, giving her a brief, warm smile as he finished fitting his armor on, horn glowing and tightening clasps along his body as Twilight turned and headed quickly out to the front of the library. The young stallion was surprised as he followed her and saw Prestige and Avalon both there: the young unicorn mare was uncomfortably wearing a gemstone-studded vest, while Avalon was grinning widely, a helmet ornamented with blade-like fins half-masking her features and tight, lightweight metal armor over her body.

Her limbs were protected as well, but by what were more weapon than armor: her lower legs had spiked guards over her shins, and her upper legs had crosshatch blades: the deadly, traditional weapons of Pegasus hunters, they were bracers that covered the entire lower portion of one limb, with four long, razor-like blades that ran the length of the vambrace at each cardinal compass point. Dangerous to use, but incredibly effective when mastered.

“Avalon, Prestige, Antares... you three and I will all be part of the security group at the pit.” Twilight said quickly as she headed for the door and gestured for the others to follow, and Avalon grinned widely, speeding along through the air behind the Lich as Antares and Prestige both hurried out after the tiny Pegasus. The group broke into a quick but easy run as they began to make their way through the streets of Ponyville: streets that were lit up almost as bright as day from the many houses that had turned all their lights on, plainly aware something was going on. “Our job is to make sure that Cancer falls into the pit.

“They managed to start driving Cancer through the sewer tunnels about an hour ago: it's taking so long to push him where we want him to go because he keeps trying to hide or dissolving himself, and we have to keep double-checking all exits are locked down and sealed. But he's getting close now, and soon he'll be in the final stretch... Celestia herself is going to wait near there, to give him the final push out.” Twilight continued, and when Antares looked worriedly at Twilight, she smiled faintly and shook her head quickly. “Don't worry, she'll be fine. She's strong, Antares. Have... have faith in her.”

Twilight looked back at him softly, and Antares knew the last comment wasn't just about Celestia's ability in battle... and Antares nodded hesitantly. No, dessert hadn't proven to be the best or most comfortable experience, and coming back to the library had felt strange and Antares had felt like just getting away from everypony and taking a nap... but he still cared about Celestia. He didn't want anything to happen to her, any more than he wanted anything to happen to Twilight, as he asked nervously: “When did Cowlick start setting all this up?”

“A few hours ago. She's had teams running through the sewers and helped Tenochtitlan finish off his devices...” Twilight smiled despite herself again as she continued to lead them quickly onwards. “She works fast; and I think that's the only reason we managed to actually get ahead of the monster in the sewers this time...”

“Where's Meadowlark and Rusty? And what about the other Starlit Knights?” Antares asked quickly, tilting his head, and Avalon grinned wryly as she looked over her shoulder at him: no matter how much he denied it, he was their leader, and they listened to him for a reason. “Is Sleipnir leading his own contingent?”

“Sleipnir will be on the far side of the pit with Rainbow Dash, Spike, Big Mac, and a few other Starlit Knights. Rustproof and Meadowlark are both helping out Cowlick.” Twilight replied quickly, then she looked up and added: “Everyone's being outfitted with additional protective gear, and I'll need you three to wear masks yourselves. We can't take any risks, Antares, even if for some reason contact with Cancer didn't make you sick.”

Antares nodded quickly, knowing better than to argue as they raced on through the night: knowing that the Lich could be right, as he thought of the destruction entity and grimaced as a shiver of revulsion ran through him. No, it was even deeper than that... and when Antares thought of those awful, red eyes, he couldn't stop himself from gritting his teeth, silently promising: I... I'm going to help stop that thing. No matter what else... I'm going to help put a stop to that monster.

Cancer wheezed as he staggered around a corner, looking wildly back and forth before cursing under his breath: demons, undead, other nasty things had been chasing him for longer than he could count, now, and every time he tried to wiggle into a crack or sneak his way out, some Helheim filth would blast him back into the tunnels.

He hissed to himself as he ran up a long, gentle incline, rasping in and out as his hooves clawed against slimy cement, his red eyes darting back and forth. “No, no, no, gotta keep it on moving, move it on over, rock it on over...”

He breathed hard, stumbling up the sloped tunnel before frowning and puttering to a halt, slowly looking over his shoulder... and when he didn't see anything, Cancer grinned a little, relaxing a bit as he muttered: “Or hey, hey, hey, maybe look at this! Maybe I lost 'em after all... stupid demons, couldn't find their own butts in broad daylight if they had flashlights crammed on up their-”

A rumble passed through the tunnel, and Cancer cocked his head before he squawked and staggered backwards when an explosion ripped through the air behind him, tearing through a wall in a gout of golden flames that left the sheen of slime over the stone boiling and the stone itself burning. Cancer squealed as he stumbled hurriedly away from the fire before he snarled as an ivory winged unicorn strode calmly through the shattered hole in the wall, her heavy golden armor seeming to glow faintly in the darkness. “White weasel! Oh, I remember you, lemme remind you of what happened last time you messed with me!”

The monster leaned forwards and vomited out a thick gout of greenish smoke that spilled down the tunnel, and Celestia flinched backwards as it filled the air around her, leaving her nothing but a dark shape obscured by clinging, toxic mist. Cancer grinned widely, his red eyes glowing as he licked his lips eagerly... and then the winged unicorn's wings spread before flapping firmly once, sending out a strong wind that tore the toxic smog to tatters.

Cancer stumbled stupidly backwards, his eyes widening in surprise as Celestia calmly rolled her head on her shoulders, then opened her eyes behind the protective, clear visor locked that was locked overtop them. She breathed slowly and easily through the mask over her muzzle: an impermeable, tightly-clasped rubber sleeve that locked into the bottom of the visor, and had several large, circular filters on its front and sides.

Cancer's eyes widened, and then Celestia tilted her head forwards slightly as her horn began to glow with golden flames. Electricity sparked through her rainbow mane as energy built in the air, and Cancer squeaked before he spun around and bolted up the tunnel, shouting desperately over his shoulder: “Now hang on, hang on, there's no need to get all hot under the collar, I just-”

Celestia flicked her horn forwards as it flashed, and a blast of golden flames exploded up the passage, charring the walls of the tunnel as a wave of heat and fire rushed after the monster. The mottled, ugly beast squealed as it sprinted as fast as its malformed, ugly limbs could carry it, bolting up the sloped tunnel before it looked up with a cackle as it suddenly tasted night air and saw the cloudy, black night sky ahead, blocked only by a few rusted bars...

The monster rushed forwards towards freedom as golden hellfire licked at its legs and back, charring its body before it easily tore its way between the rusting, ugly bars... and then screeched when it looked down in shock and found itself at the edge of a gaping, deep pit, scrambling almost comically for moment at the ragged end of the passage before the blast of golden flames smashed into it from behind and knocked it flying forwards with a scream of misery.

The monster became a mottled meteor that arced through the air, squealing loudly as it shot over the stony pit with a rooster tail of smoke and embers twisting out behind it... and then Cancer snarled, lashing both front legs forwards as they tore apart into thick messes of tentacles that slammed home into the rock face opposite.

Cancer reeled itself in with a wince and splattered loudly against the cliff face, then it winced as voices rose up all around it, looking up with horror to see that ponies were gathered all along the top of the pit it had been forced into... and oh, it could smell a garbage heap of delicious, delightful, wonderful chemicals and toxins beneath it, but it didn't take a genius to figure out these ponies were just trying to lure him in...

“Think fast, think fast!” Cancer hissed, as the monster's limbs and tentacles transformed, melded and warped into long, spindly claws that it used to quickly begin scurrying along the cliff face, rasping and looking desperately back and forth for some escape... but the wide, gaping garbage pit was maybe thirty feet in diameter, and every inch of the top guarded by ponies that were shouting and pointing at him and...

There was a loud bang, and then Cancer squealed as something tore through his back before he snarled furiously over his shoulder as more bullets peppered into the rock around him, Pegasi taking aim with rifles from the safety of the air a good distance above, and earth ponies sniping from the cliffs. Cancer hissed as several more rounds smashed into his body, sending up ugly splashes of goop and slime... and then his eyes widened with horror as he saw the violet, undead winged unicorn stride calmly to the front of the group, her horn glowing blackly.

The Lich flicked her horn forwards, releasing a blast of black flames, and Cancer yanked himself hurriedly along the cliff wall with a yelp, throwing himself along the rock face with a wince before the black fireball collided with the cliff and exploded in a tremendous blast. Chunks of stone hailed down into the swampy, tarry ooze below as ponies staggered, and Cancer looked up with a rasp, hauling himself rapidly upwards with surprising speed and tenacity before he cackled as he flung himself up and over the edge of the pit.

He grinned as he lunged forwards... and then a vine-maned head smashed in a savage butt into Cancer's own goopy skull, and the destruction entity was knocked staggering backwards with a squeak before he pinwheeled his forelegs violently as he reared back on his hind limbs, staring in shock at the grinning, massive earth pony in front of him. Cancer snarled, bringing a foreleg back as he managed to regain his balance, the limb splitting into a mess of thorny tentacles... and then the enormous earth pony winked before slamming both front hooves down into the ground.

Cracks ripped through the earth as the edge of the clifftop shattered, and the monster squealed as it fell backwards in a hail of broken stone and sod, tentacles snapping forwards in a wild, desperate grab at the rock face. They managed to snag into the crumbled, split stone, and Cancer yelled incoherently in victory before he squawked as he swung face-first into the cliff wall with a loud splat.

He snarled desperately, grabbing at the rock and knowing he didn't have long to figure out a way to escape, before his eyes widened as he felt a deep, cavernous crack in the surface of the stone just beneath his body. Immediately, he pushed himself closer, grinning widely as an idea came to mind even as several bullets hammered into his back, sending up blasts of goo as they tried to knock him into the trap waiting below...

“Blast him!” Cowlick's voice shouted over the din, and Twilight gritted her teeth before she flicked her horn forwards, unleashing a blue fireball. It tore through the air and crashed into the cliff face just above the monster, tearing apart the mess of tentacles still desperately clinging to the wall and launching it off the rocky surface, sending the creature sailing down into the depths of the pit.

Cowlick grinned widely even as Twilight frowned slightly... and behind her, Antares gritted his teeth behind the thick mask over his muzzle, feeling like something was wrong. Avalon looked down at him sharply as Prestige frowned over at the young stallion, both ponies wearing their filter masks, but then Cowlick's voice rang out through the air: “Heat it up, people!”

All around the battlefield, Nibelung and ponies both snapped open flares, tossing them in wide arcs over the edge of the cliff: almost a dozen fell like shining red stars, following the mottled body of the monster down into the murky liquid below. Cancer struck the bottom first, sending up a blast of brown and black gunk... but the moment the first flare touched the chemicals and poisons that had been poured into the pit, there was a tremendous explosion as a massive blast of red and orange flame vomited up towards the skies above.

Ponies yelled and staggered backwards in surprise as Nibelung winced and Cowlick only cackled, grinning widely as she stomped a hoof as the massive candle of heat and fire blasted to the sky above, shouting: “Yeah! Let's see how the hell he deals with that!”

Antares winced back a bit, feeling his worries settling some... but still, there was some lurking sense of unease as he nervously approached the edge of the cliffs as the flames gave way to smoke with a rumble. He leaned awkwardly forwards, but for now all he could see was thick black smoke that rose in a near-solid wall.

Then he winced when Cowlick strode over to him and firmly slapped his back, the young stallion looking at her awkwardly as she said in a pleased voice: “Look at this! We got him, Antares... damn, Rusty was right, too, I love that kid to death! He's got his momma's talent for explosions, that's for sure.”

Cowlick laughed, then looked almost delightedly forwards again as Antares only managed a weak smile, and Twilight frowned quietly as she strode over to him, the Lich asking slowly: “What is it, Antares? You don't think...”

“I... I don't know.” Antares said finally, reaching up to slowly pull down his mask, and Cowlick's grin slowly faded on her own face before the male hesitated, then glanced over his shoulder, calling: “Avalon, can you circle the perimeter?”

“Yeah, sure, no problem.” Avalon muttered through her mask, and then she flitted down, snatching Cowlick's goggles off her head and making the earth pony shout even as the Pegasus slipped them on and darted into the cloud of smog.

“Crazy little monster. Reminds me of Dash. You know, if he was actually a stallion and all.” Cowlick rubbed absently at her muzzle, then she sighed and looked almost pleadingly at Antares. “And for the love of all that is holy, can you wipe that damn look off your face and let me celebrate for one damn minute? Let me at least pretend now that we got that thing? How the hell could it escape, anyway?”

She grimaced, then muttered: “Foolproof trap. Fool-proof, dammit. Not even Sleipnir could have screwed this one up, and he didn't, see? Now you go telling me that we might not have gotten the slimy monster, whatever the hell he is, and I wanna laugh you off, kid, I do. I really want to. Except what keeps gnawing at me is how every time I fill a jar up with nuts and bolts you can tell me exactly how many are in there, every damn time.”

Antares smiled awkwardly in response, glancing over at Cowlick before he simply shook his head slowly. “I'm... sorry, but... it's almost too perfect, you know? And he's sly, more sly than we think because he's so...”

The young stallion shivered a bit, looking down as Cowlick frowned at him and Twilight tilted her head apprehensively, asking quietly: “What did you see, Antares? What did your eyes pick up?”

But Antares only shook his head again, then he glanced up awkwardly as Celestia emerged through the dark plume of smoke to wing her way towards them. She landed beside them, and for a moment, she and Antares only looked at each other quietly, their eyes meeting, silent communications passing between them before Antares finally asked softly: “You okay, Aunt Tia?”

Celestia smiled beneath her mask, nodding slowly to the young equine before she replied quietly: “I'm alright, Antares.” A pause, and then she looked slowly back and forth, asking calmly: “What's the decision regarding Cancer?”

“Ain't come to one yet.” Cowlick said moodily, glaring at Antares for a moment, and he winced and grinned lamely in response. “Your nephew says he's got some bad feeling. And now, even though I really want to be right and have this all over and done with, I've got a goddamn bad feeling too. But either way, Baroness, Mir... the only way we're going to find out for sure is once the fire dies down, and that ain't gonna be for a while.”

Cowlick gestured moodily towards the pit, and Antares leaned forwards apprehensively: the smoke was still streaming up thickly from the chasm, but he could see a little bit down the sides of the cliffs... and he couldn't help but wince at the sight of flames here and there burning along the rock wall, catching anything that was even the slightest bit flammable and greedily feasting on it. Even the rock itself seemed to be melting here and there, and the young stallion reared back a little as he asked incredulously: “And there's no magic at all here?”

“Hey, don't doubt me. Rusty, Greece and I all know what we're doing, and Rusty's got... Narcissa's talent for mixing up chemicals.” Cowlick wrinkled up her face as she nervously glanced back and forth, like she always did when mentioning Rustproof's biological mother. To this day, Rustproof didn't know he was adopted, and Cowlick saw no point in telling him: he was her son, through and through, and that's all that mattered to her. “Just glad that's the only part of her he got. Well, no, I'm gonna blame her for the cigarettes, too.”

Cowlick halted, then she glanced over at Celestia, saying in a quieter voice: “Chemicals will burn out in about forty minutes or so. I know it ain't my place to make suggestions, but all the same I'd suggest taking a look around the area. Let's make sure the bastard didn't sneak past anyone or anything, see if we can throw a little bit of doubt on mister cynical over here.”

The engineer grunted as she jerked her head at Antares, who smiled a little despite himself as Twilight nodded slowly, turning her curious eyes to Celestia. For a few moments, the ivory winged unicorn lowered her head in thought, and then she nodded hesitantly.

Before she could speak, however, Avalon came zipping back out of the smoke, zigzagging awkwardly through the air as she rubbed at her sooty goggles before she half-landed, half-crashed in front of Antares. The young stallion winced a bit and leaned down in concern as Prestige reared away with a look of distaste, and then Avalon coughed loudly through her mask before wheezing and looking up with swollen eyes through her stained goggles. “Oh hell, guys, it's gross down there.”

“You frigging idiot, I dumped so many chemicals in there we all already probably got our life expectancies shortened by a few years just from standing up here!” Cowlick snapped, and then she glared around at the ponies even as they all looked up and stared at her. “Okay, so maybe that smoke's just a little toxic, but it ain't nothing compared to that Cancer freak. Besides, what the hell do you all care? I see at least three ponies around me that don't have to worry about old age, and personally, I'd rather die long, long, long before I turn into an old mare. Furthermore, if I'd just let that Cancer freak run rampant all of us would be dead as sh-”

“Momma?” Rustproof cocked his head curiously as he approached, a Nibelung Architect striding along beside him, and Cowlick's mouth immediately slammed shut hard enough to knock her teeth together. She winced a bit over at her son, but Rustproof only looked at her calmly for a few moments before he gestured to the Architect beside him: a well-built dwarf, wearing a traditional, leather battle kilt and matching rawhide jacket. “Greece and me got the stuff for the tunnels ready.”

“Well, enough to start.” The Nibelung smiled, reaching up to absently rub at one nub of a shorn-down tusk before he hesitated and looked towards Antares with his intelligent, curious eyes. “Fancy-corn... what do you think?”

“Hey, I was here first!” Avalon wheezed loudly, and Rustproof and Greece both glanced down at the half-collapsed Pegasus with surprise: then again, she was curled up on the ground and her gear was stained dark from grime, making her even harder to see. “Jerks. And... I dunno, Mir, it looks pretty clean. I went all the way down to the pit, deep as I could take the frigging heat, and it's just a lake of frigging fire down there, dude. I ain't never seen anything like it. If I was a pyro I'd say it was real pretty.”

Antares sighed a little, and when all eyes looked at him, he shifted embarrassedly before dropping his head forwards. His mouth felt dry, and anxiety twisted through his mind... but then Cowlick looked up and said quietly: “Kid, go ahead. Ain't no one here going to doubt your instincts. You're a real special candle, Antares, you burn bright and we respect that, and we respect your crazy eyes.”

Antares smiled faintly, then he glanced up and said softly over to Greece, as the Nibelung frowned a little: “No. I don't think we got Cancer. I think he escaped somehow... Ava, what did the walls look like? Was there any way he could have escaped?”

“Dude, walls be on fire.” Avalon reached up, fumbling at her mask before yelping when Cowlick grabbed the back strap of the goggles with a huff, knocking the tiny Pegasus' helm loose as she yanked them off. “Hey, watch it, auntie!”

“Dammit, don't call me that, makes me sound so frigging old or nice or something. I ain't either.” Cowlick grumbled, and then she added moodily, as Avalon pulled her mask down and glowered at her: “And seriously, kid, you need to learn to calm the hell down. Don't go putting yourself into too much danger now, you ain't your daddy. We can afford to lose him and all now that he's slowing up in his old age.”

“Hey!” Avalon snapped, glaring up at Cowlick challengingly, but the engineer only grinned in return, and Twilight sighed tiredly. The Lich cleared her throat loudly, looking pointedly at the two as Celestia only stood with her head bowed in silent thought, and Avalon mumbled under her breath before sulking. “She started it. She's the grown-up, the one supposed to be setting the mature example for us 'little teenagers.'”

And with that, Avalon grumpily dropped flat, splaying her front legs out wide to avoid nicking herself with her crosshatch blades before she dropped her face against the charred grasses and promptly went to sleep. Cowlick looked at her almost enviously, and then Celestia rose her head, saying quietly: “I'm going to go and speak to Sleipnir and help with the search. Antares, wait here with your friends. Greece, Cowlick... please begin cleaning up the tunnels as soon as possible.”

“Yeah, you got it, Baroness.” Cowlick saluted, then she glanced over at Antares as he frowned a little. “Guess you haven't heard, but the demons and Nightmares had two jobs: hunting down Cancer, and purging the tunnels of any signs of disease. Me and Greece are gonna flush and fumigate the sewers now, too... it'll take a week or so, but we're gonna destroy every last trace of that psychotic... whatever the hell he is.”

“Destruction entity. Living disease.” Antares murmured, shaking his head a little before he smiled a bit and glanced up at Cowlick. “You really hate him, huh?”

“My... daddy, died of cancer. Not the schmuck, the actual... stuff. Every time I hear his name, brings back bad memories. Every time I see somepony sick...” Cowlick quieted, then she cleared her throat and looked over at Rustproof as Greece smiled faintly at the piercing-adorned mare. “Okay, enough sharing our feelings for one day. Come on, son, you can put those muscles of yours to use and carry the stuff for us.”

Rustproof smiled in response, and Cowlick nodded firmly as Greece half-bowed politely to the others before the Nibelung turned to lead the way. As they left, Celestia glanced over at Twilight, hesitated for a moment... then said finally: “You should join them, Twilight, just in case. Antares, I have a job for you and your friends, if you're willing.”

Twilight nodded slowly, then she strode past, sharing one quick, reassuring touch with her son before she headed on her way. Celestia glanced down at dozing Avalon for a moment as Antares turned his eyes to her, and then the ivory winged unicorn gave a small smile, murmuring: “In the past, seeing such a display would have made me feel... contempt, and anger. But I've learned not to underestimate any pony's worth, or hold their quirks against them... even if I would much prefer Avalon were awake right now.

“But the task I have isn't too serious, although it will require some effort.” Celestia looked up calmly, meeting Antares' eyes. “I am... not sure myself, whether or not Cancer was destroyed. Chaos entities are incredibly hardy, and incarnations of destruction even more so. Even with his vulnerability to fire, if only a single piece of Cancer remained, it might be enough for him to reconstruct himself. And I was watching closely myself when Cancer fell, and agree there was something... strange about what happened.

“Our only choice may be to wait and see, but this time, I want to be better prepared.” Celestia said quietly, shaking her head slowly. “I do have faith in my friends, and our allies of the night... and I know that no matter how reckless and violent our foe is, he's cunning as well. He'll find somewhere else to slip off to and hide, and we need to use this time to prepare.

“Find Discord at the library. I've left several letters for him in my room, they won't be hard for you to find, Antares.” Celestia smiled after a moment. “Tell him to deliver them on my orders. Then come back here... I'll be waiting for you with the second half of your job.”

“Running a message, no sweat.” Avalon yawned loudly as she sat up, shaking herself briskly out, and Celestia looked down with a slight smile at the Pegasus as she grinned up at the Baroness. “Hey, I don't sleep that much, you know. Mostly I just like to catch a wink here and there between everything boring.”

“Of course, it just... this seems a little strange.” Prestige said slowly, tilting her head with a frown. “Couldn't this wait? Or couldn't you send a servant?”

Celestia only smiled at them, and Antares studied the enormous, armored ivory equine for a few moments before he simply nodded slowly and murmured: “Okay. Come on guys... and wait, what about Meadowlark and Aphrodisia?”

“I'm sure they're helping out Cowlick and the others right now.” Celestia replied gently, and then she shook her head and said softly: “You and the rest of your friends all have different jobs to do, but right now we're all working together on this one thing. Go on, Antares.”

Antares hesitated only a moment, then he nodded quickly again and turned. Prestige bowed politely to the Baroness before she hurried after the male, and Avalon gave a smile, then buzzed into the air and flew after her friends.

They were quiet as they made their way back into town, Prestige looking awkward until Avalon finally buzzed down and landed on Antares' back to grin over at the unicorn mare, asking playfully: “What's wrong, Prestige? You trying to impress your coltfriend by being nice?”

Prestige glared at Avalon as Antares sighed, and then the tiny Pegasus looked moodily up, saying grumpily: “But seriously, I don't really like this. I thought we were being given something important but we're doing like... servant work.”

“How come when I say it, it's obviously some abhorrent slur, while when the angry midget speaks it everything is perfectly okay?” Prestige asked sourly, and Avalon gave the unicorn mare a glower as Antares mumbled to himself. “Well, it's true!”

Her only response was a particularly-rude gesture from Avalon, and then there was silence until they reached the gates of Ponyville and passed back into the village. Then Prestige finally rose her head, saying quietly: “I have a feeling of foreboding, Antares, and... worse... I think I'm only just beginning to understand what both you and Celestia said, and I don't enjoy the implications. If Cancer is truly... living disease, destruction incarnate, poison... how do we destroy him? How can we fight against something that awful, that... evil?”

There was silence for a few moments, and then Avalon looked up with a smile and a shrug, saying quietly: “We just keep beating on him until he stops. That's what I think anyway... and I know I might not be like, a unicorn genius like you two are, but... sometimes brute force works best, right?”

Antares laughed despite himself, shaking his head a little as he glanced up and murmured: “Oh, Ava. But... yeah, Aviator's right, Prestige. We gotta... train, though, and much as I don't like to, I know that we gotta rely a lot on my Mom and Aunt Tia. They've fought things like this before, and I know they'll figure it out. We... I want to be a hero like my Mom and Dad were, but...”

He lowered his head a bit, quieting, and Avalon softened even as she firmly stomped a hoof against his back, saying quietly: “Now hey, Mir, don't you start getting down on yourself. We all look up to you for a reason... ain't that right, Prestige?”

“I...” Prestige hesitated, then she smiled faintly and nodded silently once, and Avalon looked relieved as Antares smiled a little in return to the silver-eyed mare. She studied him, his expression, his eyes, his honest thanks and modesty... and she felt a warmth inside her that she couldn't explain, that gave her strength and helped steady her resolve.

They walked the rest of the way in quiet, and Antares smiled as he looked up and saw Discombobulation standing outside the library, the Draconequus looking down and remarking: “You're all much better looking than Larry, Moe, and Curly, but I have to say you're not nearly as funny. But then again, not everyone is as big a fan of slapstick humor as I am.”

“What are you doing here?” Avalon asked curiously, hopping into the air and buzzing easily up to head level with the Draconequus, and then she frowned and leaned forwards accusingly. “Wait, why aren't you helping out, you big coward?”

“Objection, your honor, asked-and-answered.” Discombobulation glanced up at the sky, and then he reached up and carefully placed one finger against Avalon's helmet-clad skull, gently pushing her back through the air as she huffed a little. “I am supposed to be here. As everyone should know, in times of emergencies useful Draconequus are always filed outside the library, while the useless Draconequus are stored inside as cannon-fodder.”

“You were asked to stay back and protect the town.” Antares translated, and Discombobulation looked down at him mildly, making the young stallion blush a bit. “Sorry.”

“'Sorry' is one of the most abused and overused words of our language: we speak it every day, often without meaning it, using it for everything from: 'I pity the situation which you are in' to 'I clearly have no real remorse for you and am in fact adding insult to injury with my feigned apology.'” Discombobulation paused, then said ironically: “Sorry. I rambled.”

Avalon rolled her eyes, and Prestige looked apprehensively up at the Draconequus. He looked back at her, then made a bit of a face before asking mildly: “Have you ever reflected on how lucky you are that Scrivener Blooms isn't here? If she saw you dating her precious little boy she might...” Discombobulation paused, then reached up and rubbed at one of his horns in vexation. “My train of thought seems to have derailed. There's simply too many different metaphors I want to use all at once and they don't mash very well together. Like modern art.”

Prestige sighed a little, grumbling, before Antares asked awkwardly: “So uh... is Discord in there? Celestia wants us to deliver something.”

Discombobulation nodded, gesturing absently at the door, and it swung open: sitting inside at the table, Discord glanced moodily up from where he was reading a book with a little, tinny radio playing beside him, and then the Draconequus groaned as Antares walked in with Prestige and Avalon. “Oh great, it's the do-gooder. Don't tell me, you're collecting for charity for Little Miss Little to buy some growth hormone, so ponies other than pedophiles will try to date her, right?”

“He's in a bad mood. He's very good at spreading his misery around.” Discombobulation said mildly, even as he reached up to catch Avalon by the tail as she tried to shoot forwards, glaring and flailing her forelegs at the air violently while Discord winced and half-hid behind the table.

“Let me go and hit him just once, just once!” Avalon grumbled, flailing her hooves through the air violently, and Discord glared at her before he rose his fist and shook it angrily from where he was half-hiding.

“Don't start a fight you can't win, kid, I was big dog king of chaos and mischief!” Discord said challengingly, and then he winced when Discombobulation let go of her tail and Avalon buzzed through the air, ducking under the table to hide from the Pegasus as he waved a hand in surrender. “Okay, okay, wait, wait, wait, you have those sharp edgy things and I don't even have my fighting face on!”

He paused, then poked his head nervously up as Avalon glared down at him before threateningly making a sharp gesture across her throat, and Discord grinned lamely, saying awkwardly: “I heard that short people were in this year.”

“Shut up, Slinky.” Avalon said flatly, and then she jerked her head at Antares, adding: “Mir has a message for you from Celestia. Something about letters.”

“Gee, how wonderful it must be to be so important, you use tiny angry messengers to deliver messages to other messengers who are in the same freaking room as you.” Discord said moodily, and then he winced and ducked when Avalon kicked a rear leg at him, before poking his head back up with a huff as he adjusted his beret. “It's a crime to attack me, you know, I'm a Royal Messenger. A stupid, lousy delivery boy when I was once counted amongst the most powerful of beings on this wretched little dirtball...”

Antares looked with sympathy at Discord as the Draconequus began to get up, while Avalon only continued to glare, before Discombobulation leaned in the doorway and added: “Before you got drunk that one time and accidentally destroyed the galaxy, correct? And then you made me run around the world rolling giant balls of everything you could imagine to launch into space and create new stars?” He paused and frowned meditatively, as Discord simply glared at his fellow Draconequus. “Or was that the strangely-addicting game I played the other day? I sometimes get other people's mistakes messed up with yours, Discord, but you can't really blame me; weren't you an accident yourself?”

“Oh very funny, Discombobulation, I see your wit is as sharp as ever.” Discord said moodily, and then he stood up as Avalon snickered, the Draconequus glowering up at her. “You annoy me, runt, almost as much as action figure puppy does. Who will never, ever be anything more than the little puppy he always has been.”

“Well, at least I'm not afraid of rainbows.” Discombobulation retorted, and then he rose his metal fist in front of him before miming turning an invisible crank: as he did so, whimsical, familiar music began to play through the air, and Discord watched sourly before there was a loud pop, and one of Discombobulation's digits rose as the melody finished playing itself out.

Discord muttered under his breath as Antares sighed and dropped his face against a hoof, then he looked up and asked almost pleadingly: “Will you please deliver the letters for Canterlot if I get them for you?”

“Anything to get out of here and retire to my cozy little nook away from you ponies for a little while.” Discord grumbled, nodding a little after a moment, and Antares smiled briefly before he hurried towards the hall to fetch them from Celestia's room.

As expected, she had left them sitting out on her bed table, two that were addressed to Canterlot and already sealed... but the last letter hadn't yet been put in its envelope, sitting invitingly open, and Antares hesitated only a moment before his horn glowed and he lifted it in front of himself with telekinesis.

He glanced quickly through it... and then his eyes widened before he looked down and closed his eyes. It was all too clear that Celestia had meant for him to read this, to see this... and he hesitated for only a moment before quickly folding it up and tucking it into the envelope.

He sealed it shut, looking at it for a moment: this third envelope wasn't going to Canterlot, but Subterra, and part of him marveled that Celestia would trust him with this at all... while the rest of him worried with unease that he wasn't prepared, he wasn't ready, he couldn't handle something like this. But then he forced himself to take a slow breath, nodding once as he gathered up the letters, then turned and hurried back out to the main room.

Discord looked up in relief as both Prestige and Avalon glared at him, and he held out his hands, making eager gestures. “Gimme, gimme, so I can get the hell out of here!”

“Two for the Royal Court, one for Subterra.” Antares said quietly, and Discord winced a bit at this before the young stallion smiled a little. “Don't worry, they won't hurt you. You just have to deliver it, that's all.”

“You know, they really like to kill the messenger down there, so it better be good news. Stupid, smelly demons.” Discord muttered, then he glared at Discombobulation. “You should do this! Or... make your stupid friend with the saxophone do it, since you're so debased you've gone about making nice even with their lowly kind.”

“Not all demons are scum, Discord, just as you being an idiot most certainly doesn't make all Draconequus whiny jerks.” Discombobulation replied mildly, crossing his arms, and when Discord gave him a flat look, Discombobulation rolled his eyes with a tired sigh. “Work is a necessary evil to be avoided... but fine. Since you're going to whine all day and night otherwise, I'll deliver it for you.”

Discord wheezed in relief as Discombobulation strolled through the room, then he paused and said thoughtfully: “Without work, all life goes rotten. But when work is soulless, life stifles and dies. You know, if you would-”

“Oh shut up, puppy.” Discord said flatly, shoving the black envelope into his metal hand, and Discombobulation looked moodily across at the cranky Draconequus before Discord muttered: “It's like you think your obnoxious little habit of quoting everything under the sun makes us all think you're smart or something. Watch, watch me, I'll quote someone right now: 'some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.' See? Do I sound smarter? And yes, I was referring to you.”

Discombobulation continued to look at Discord mildly for a moment, and then the metal-armed Draconequus slowly, calmly pointed a single finger upwards. Discord winced immediately, shrinking his head back a bit as he carefully peered towards the ceiling before frowning when he saw nothing there... and just as he began to look back down, Discombobulation suddenly stomped firmly down on Discord's dragon-like foot, making him yelp and leap backwards, spouting vulgarities as he hopped around on his hoof while grabbing wildly at his injured leg.

Discombobulation blew a raspberry at Discord before simply vanishing, and Avalon burst into laughter as she fell out of the air with a loud clank, hugging herself and rolling back and forth on the ground as she cackled. Prestige only sighed tiredly, and Antares looked up with a groan. Discord, meanwhile, was still hopping around and cursing, tiny wings flapping on his back to try and keep him balance before he finally, inevitably toppled over with a yelp, whining: “He broke my foot! I'm gonna neuter that puppy, oh, just wait and see!”

“You're fine, Discord, it's just bruised, not broken.” Antares said tiredly, looking moodily across at the Draconequus as he rocked back and forth on his back, cradling his injury. Discord shot him a horrible look, but the young stallion ignored it, saying hesitantly: “Listen, my friends and I should really head back...”

“Oh, yeah, great. Stupid... goody-two-hooves...” Discord mumbled, carefully rubbing along his foot before he glowered a bit over at the ponies, sitting up and grumbling. “I'm going to help myself to some of Celestia's food, then I'll go. I'll hobble all the way there on my injured foot. I hope you're happy.”

“I am.” Avalon said mildly, sitting up herself, and Discord snorted at her before the Pegasus flitted easily into the air with a wide grin, shaking her head slowly. “Amazing how you never learn anything, it really is. Even my Dad learned when to not pick on Mom, you know.”

“Well, old dogs can't learn new tricks.” Discord muttered, then he added waspishly: “And well, I'm sure it's much easier for your father to learn about mares, seeing as...” Discord halted as Avalon's eyes narrowed dangerously and she bared her teeth. “As... he... is... a very handsome and mighty stallion with... good. Taste.”

“Good.” Avalon grumbled, looking ruffled before she turned and shot out through the door. Discord made a face at her retreating back, and Antares grumbled before he turned to follow the Pegasus out with Prestige at his side.

The two found Avalon grumbling and making short, violent circles above the ground, and Antares reached out a hoof to stop Prestige when she began to step forwards. The unicorn mare glanced over at him with confusion, and maybe even a bit of concern, but Antares only shook his head and said softly: “It's fine. It's just a sore nerve. Give her a minute, you'll see.”

Avalon continued to circle violently for about ten more seconds... and then she simply halted in midair, breathing hard and looking down before nodding a few times and glancing over at them, asking irritably: “Well, are we going or not?”

“Just waiting for you.” Antares said with a smile, and Avalon grumbled as she flitted down in front of him, half-glowering at him... but then nodding once with a grunt and neatly flying over his head, landing on his back and making him wince as she flopped down and her crosshatch blades scraped lightly against his armored sides. “Hey, careful! You almost got my wings with those!”

“I'm careful!” Avalon complained, and Prestige sighed tiredly, favoring the Pegasus with an ill look as Avalon huffed a little and glowered over at her. “Oh, shut up, Prissy. I'm not trying to steal your coltfriend.”

“I know, I know.” Prestige muttered, and the two unicorns began to walk slowly back through town, Antares tossing a look up at the night sky, his eyes drawing to the moon and lingering on it before the silver-eyed mare asked hesitantly: “Antares... do you know what those letters were about?”

“Two were just Royal Court documents, I think, but... the last one... the one to Subterra...” Antares hesitated a moment, and then he shook his head and smiled a little, looking across at Prestige quietly. “Aunt Tia is sending all of us... you, me, Ava, Rusty, Apps, even Meadowlark, all of us, to Subterra for training.”

Avalon's head rose sharply at this, the young mare snapping awake from her half-doze as she said incredulously: “Really? But... but my Mom won't even let me try out for the Starlit Knights recon division until I'm an adult, and that's gotta be less dangerous than a city of... well... demons.”

“Subterra? Why Subterra? Why not Canterlot, that's... where the magic school is.” Prestige said nervously, wincing a little, and Antares gazed at her softly as he felt her shiver of fear. “I mean, that would make much more sense for you and me and... I'm... sure that Avalon could train with the guards and... well, the pros- I mean, your cousin might like Subterra, but...”

“Look, it's okay. Aunt Tia has something in mind... something big, I think, but I dunno for sure what.” Antares soothed, and then he added quietly: “And they're not monsters, Prestige, you've seen that for yourself... they're... just... demons. Different from us, sure, but... well, come on, you see some demons every day.”

“It's different, though. This is our territory, and Subterra is theirs.” Prestige mumbled, and Avalon grunted something that might have actually been a rare, moody agreement with the unicorn mare. “The Nightmares are always talking about how they protect us in 'our home,' but... how are we going to be expected to act in their home? I still don't understand how Baroness Celestia was talked into helping establish Subterra in the first place...”

“Because the demons and Nightmares help us, and they needed a place of their own. A... home.” Antares said awkwardly, although he'd almost used the word 'nest.' “Yeah, okay, I know that it's weird. But they protect Canterlot too, yeah? They keep it and everywhere in that area safe. And you know by now, Prestige, that Celestia's own bodyguards are Nightmares. My Mom and her... they established Subterra as...”

He fell quiet, and Prestige blushed a little as she lowered her head. They walked on in silence for a while, until Avalon rose her own head and asked quietly: “What's it like in Subterra, Mir? I think you're the only one who's ever been down there.”

“But only for a short visit, with Twilight.” Antares smiled a little, nodding slowly. He laughed a it as he realized both his friends were listening with interest, and he shifted almost embarrassedly before saying softly: “Well... it was really... I liked it down there, actually. They've done a lot of work to make sure all the catacombs and tunnels are safe, and there are enormous caverns that contain... almost little villages. And there are these giant crystals in the ceiling, that resonate with energy and light... it helps feed them, and keeps them from having too much of an effect on Canterlot above. Greece, Tenochtitlan, and Illyria apparently built the crystals, and Aunt Tia and Mom helped enchant them.”

He hesitated, then shook his head and continued thoughtfully: “If Aunt Tia... really wants us to go there, I... I think we should. There are all kinds of demons, after all... my Mom and Dad, they actually put together a bestiary long time ago, detailing all sorts of things about the different kinds of demons they encountered and it's amazing to see some of the things they've written down. Funny stories, notes about etiquette and stuff, how to work with certain demons...”

Antares blushed a little after a moment, then he quickly shook his head out and murmured: “But most important of all, they always said... that people are people. No matter what they look like, what they are, people are people, and deserve to be treated as such. That we only become monsters when we willingly give in to doing the wrong thing.”

Prestige looked thoughtful, then she snorted softly... but all the same, she was smiling faintly, as if for the first time Antares' often repeated message had reached her. Avalon, meanwhile, had gone back to half-dozing on the young stallion's back, smiling as she mumbled dreamily: “I wonder if I could get magic demon powers like Apps...”

“You're not a demon, Avalon, you just act like one.” Antares replied, and then he laughed when she headbutted the back of his neck lightly. Prestige laughed a little as well, then blushed when Antares looked over at her, before the eyes of the two locked and they shared awkward but tender smiles.

They returned in comfortable quiet to the pit outside of town, which was still smoldering, but now smoke and embers were all that were left of the great inferno that had once raged here. Antares looked curiously towards this as they walked around the edge of the pit, past Starlit Knights in their distinctive blue armor that were helping clean up all and lock down the area around the cliffs.

Celestia was standing with Sleipnir, who smiled warmly as the three approached... and then he wrinkled up his muzzle before giving a tiny, squeaking sneeze, and Celestia turned her head away to half-hide a smile as the enormous earth pony blushed and shook his head out violently. “Damned illness! Oh, how I suffer so, Celestia, a mighty brute as I that-” He squeakily sneezed again. “-that... that sneezes like a tiny filly! Damnation, set me aflame, sister, and burn the illness out of me!”

“No, Sleipnir, you just have a head cold. You should feel fortunate that your affinity with nature helps protect you even from Cancer's diseases.” Celestia half-chastised, and Sleipnir grumbled and pawed at the ground, looking sulky. Antares smiled despite himself at his uncle as Avalon giggled and flitted off his back into the air, and Prestige only sighed and shook her head before all three young ponies looked up at the enormous, ivory winged unicorn as she asked quietly: “Before I ask for your help with this second task... Antares Mīrus, do you understand what I request of you? Do you agree with my proposal?”

Antares hesitated, looking back and forth at Prestige and Avalon before he said slowly: “Wait, you... you want me to speak for my friends, too, don't you?”

“You're a leader, Antares. From birth... that duty rested on you.” Celestia smiled faintly, as Antares fidgeted and blushed, looking hurriedly away before the ivory mare said quietly: “I'm sorry, and I honestly am. I know it's not fun... but the most important thing you can learn, is how to be a good leader. To bear up the hardest of responsibilities, and to be able to make decisions that serve the best interests of those who follow you. Be they your friends, your unit, your army... you have to learn to speak for them at times like this, when a decision must be made quickly.”

Antares dropped his head forwards, and Sleipnir softened, adding quietly: “Thy mother, Antares... she placed great faith and trust in thee. And aye, an unfair burden, too, but... thou art gifted with a great lineage and great strength. Thou must learn to handle these gifts with all the grace and nobility and honor that sings in thy blood, my nephew. And 'tis a sad truth, but whilst thou must always be keen to listen to the voices of those who would follow thy leadership... sometimes thou must also go against what they speak and make a wiser or better choice.” Sleipnir paused, then smiled over at his sister, adding mildly: “Well, so long as it does not turn thou into Celestia, Antares. For the worst decision Celestia ever made was to never permit herself to risk a bad decision, is this not true?”

“Yes, Sleipnir, yes.” Celestia shook her head slowly, then returned her eyes to Antares, who was looking nervously back and forth between Prestige and Avalon even as they both gazed back supportively. “Go ahead, Antares.”

“Yeah. I... I know we all have to do this. But I want to know one thing, too, before I say anything final... Meadowlark and Rustproof. Rusty's just a kid and he's an engineer, and Meadowlark's talents are in gathering information, she's not really... a fighter. What will they do in Subterra?” Antares asked quietly, tilting his head.

Celestia smiled a bit at this as Sleipnir reached up and firmly grasped his sister's armored shoulder, shaking her lightly but insistently with an approving look on his face. Without looking, the ivory mare absently pushed her younger brother's hoof off, then answered gently: “There are Nibelung in and around the Subterra area that Rustproof can learn from, and he can also learn about demonic design and architecture; Meadowlark can spend her time at the archives, learning the history of demons and perhaps some of their language. She can also directly aid in investigating and analyzing Cancer, as well as putting together the clues we have about Clockwork World's location.”

Antares frowned at this, tilting his head and asking nervously: “So I was right? We didn't kill him after all?”

“That's what we're about to find out.” Celestia gestured towards the pit, looking calmly at Antares. “The fires finished burning down a short time ago, and the bottom of the pit has been cooled and hosed down. I'd like your help searching for any evidence.”

“Fire is a destroyer, though, sister, as thou well knows.” Sleipnir looked pointedly at Celestia, who sighed tiredly... and then the vine-maned stallion sneezed and cursed, grabbing at his nose with vexation before he glared up at Avalon when she snorted laughter. “Oh, quiet, thou tiny buzzing bird. Make me not use thee as a tissue.”

Avalon opened her mouth with a grin, then huffed when Antares glared up at her before Celestia interrupted smoothly: “Yes, the conflagration was incredible and intense... but if we're fortunate, there may still be remains, or perhaps we'll be able to note... a possible point of escape. And admittedly I also hope to find evidence that our worries are groundless and we did destroy the monster...” Celestia hesitated, then shook her head and added quietly: “But I also need you answer, Antares, regarding Subterra.”

Antares looked back and forth again, but Avalon only smiled and Prestige nodded nervously, both displaying their trust in him. Trust he didn't think he had entirely earned or deserved, as he shifted nervously... then sighed a little as he met his aunt's amethyst eyes, murmuring: “Of course. I know that my friends would want to do this and I know... we have to, anyway. Especially if they want to come with me still when I do leave. And even if... Cancer is still alive... we could use the extra training to help fight against him.”

Celestia nodded slowly, then she paused before gesturing towards the pit, saying calmly: “Let's head down into the site, then. Prestige, I'll teleport you safely-”

“Nonsense! Fear not, Celestia, I shall handle this!” Sleipnir said cheerfully, and Prestige had a moment to look up dumbly before the enormous earth pony leapt forwards and swept her up, tossing her onto his back with a squeak before he spun around and simply galloped towards the edge of the pit. “Hold on now, pretty mare... and say, is it true that my nephew is courting thee?”

Then Sleipnir hopped off the cliff, and Celestia dropped her face into a hoof as ponies and Nibelung around the area all looked dumbly up at the sound of Prestige's terrified screams. This was followed by a loud, echoing whump, and then a loud laugh that was cut off by Prestige's furious yelling, brazen and high-pitched enough it echoed up out of the chasm.

Antares stared in disbelief as Avalon floated dumbly by his head, and then Celestia shook her head slowly out before she spread her wings and leapt into the air, muttering as she hovered: “I suppose some things never change, no matter how much time passes. Come, then, let's go and ensure Sleipnir hasn't hurt himself.”

With that, the ivory equine turned and calmly sailed towards the edge of the cliff, letting herself veer downwards to dive gracefully, and Avalon snorted in amusement before she shot easily through the air after the Baroness. Antares stood for a moment, then he sighed and followed last, spreading his leathery wings at the last moment as he jumped over the edge of the cliff.

He dove down, wincing as he passed through one of the pillars of smoke still wreathing up out from the blackened, ashen ground below, and he grimaced a little as one of his wings twitched and his back gave a muted throb. But it was only a few more moments before he was nervously gliding just over the dark, ugly ground... and hesitantly, he dropped his hooves into the mushy ashes, shivering once at the feeling of the ill humidity steaming up from the burnt earth.

Slowly, Antares looked towards Sleipnir... who was smiling cheerfully even though he had ended up burying himself halfway into the sallow, ugly ground. Celestia was standing nearby, shaking her head moodily as Prestige breathed hard in and out and glared at him and Avalon circled the group with a grin, before the enormous earth pony called cheerfully: “Hello, Antares! My, but I can see now how much work thou has cut out for thee in taming this fearsome shrew of a mare, she is most rude. 'Tis funny, though: being called a 'slave hoof' brings back fair memories as well as foul.”

He paused, then looked curiously up at Celestia as he wiggled a little: “Now, in more important matters, can thou not offer me thy mighty stallion's strength, big sister? I seem to be stuck and 'tis rather hot and uncomfortable. Nature here has been blistered by poison, and I believe that I am getting a rash.”

“No.” Celestia said mildly, and Sleipnir looked up at her dumbly before he winced and began to wiggle frantically, trying to get himself free of the mushy ground. Antares could only stare, and then Celestia frowned before she asked apprehensively: “Do you feel any sign of Cancer?”

Sleipnir became serious again at this, frowning up at her before he closed his eyes and bowed his head, his strange mane of vines seeming to twist of its own accord... and then his irises opened, and he muttered: “I do not, not in this deluge of ashes and poison... none of these toxins have his foul reek, all of them make nature ache but are made from her own blood and sweat... Cancer is made of much different stuff than these bitter tastes.”

Celestia nodded slowly, then her horn glowed gold as she raised her head slightly, and Sleipnir grunted as the earth beneath his body rumbled upwards, leaving him sprawled on a mound instead of stuck in a depression. He smiled at her, nodding once, then picked himself up and shook his body firmly, legs and lower form coated with ugly gunk. “If thou art willing to listen to my humble advice, dear sister... thou should take the far side, and I shall continue to investigate here. Nature's burns are worse for some reason on that side of the field.”

Celestia glanced over her shoulder, and then she nodded slowly, saying quietly: “Yes, and I can see why. There's a slope... it was probably hidden under the water and chemicals. But all that was boiled away by the flames...”

“Aye, but there is bedrock not ten feet beneath us, Celestia, and this... disgusting sponge we stand upon.” Sleipnir grimaced, patting the packed ashes and charred soil. “Yet all the same there must be a drain that perhaps leads to some unknown, deep canal. 'Twill be on this side, I shall find it.”

Celestia nodded, then she closed her eyes and flicked her horn, a bright ball of golden light bursting from the tip of this to sail high into the air. It floated eerily above their heads in the center of the pit, the younger ponies wincing and blinking in surprise as their eyes adjusted from the deep darkness to sudden brightness.

The Baroness gave them a moment, then she instructed quietly: “Antares, please go with your uncle. Prestige, come with me. Avalon, I'd like for you to circle above, scan the entire area. You might be able to see something we'd miss on the ground.”

“Got it.” Avalon saluted as she flew up into the air, staying just a little lower than the burning ball of light as she began to scan over the ground below, and Antares and Prestige traded smiles before they turned their separate ways. Sleipnir gazed down at his nephew as he approached, and then the enormous earth pony chuckled before he gestured for the young stallion to follow.

“'Tis good to spend time with thee, even if we must spend it at such a time as this...” Sleipnir said softly, as he led Antares toward the stony wall, and the glossy-black unicorn smiled and nodded. He looked up at his uncle, not questioning his methods and instincts: Sleipnir was odd and more than a little eccentric, but there were precious few others Antares would pick to learn from over his uncle. “I dislike how busy I am, teaching and training the Starlit Knights, aiding with much around Ponyville... but as big sister reasons, if she must contend with dealing with the Royal Court, I must bear my own burdens fairly, and I know that I am fortunate. I only wish I was freer to travel... sometimes, I admit, I dream of convincing Celestia to go traipsing off with me just like the old days, when we and thy mother wandered Equestria...”

He laughed and shook his head, then paused and leaned forwards curiously as they reached the wall, knocking a hoof against it firmly. Antares cocked his head curiously, remaining quiet, and Sleipnir paused for a moment, looked thoughtful... and then simply brought his hoof back before punching the wall hard, sending an enormous spiderweb of cracks ripping through the surface of the rock wall. Antares' jaw dropped at the sight, despite full well knowing Sleipnir's supernatural strength, while the immense earth pony only leaned forwards curiously before he whistled loudly as he yanked a chunk of broken stone free, sending down all manner of fragments as he half-turned and flung the piece of rock through the air.

It sailed across the pit, and with only a glance upwards, Celestia caught it with telekinesis just before it reached it, halting the stone fragment in front of her face. She frowned after a moment, then cursed under her breath and nodded slowly, as Prestige looked up and asked apprehensively: “What is it?”

In answer, Celestia's horn glowed brighter, and the brittle stone fragment shattered to reveal several hollows inside. “The rock is permeable, and it looks like there maybe larger air pockets here and there... Avalon, check the walls above, tell me if there are cracks and flaws in the stone, if it feels brittle!”

Avalon looked down at Celestia's call, then the Pegasus saluted quickly before shooting off on her request. Antares barely had time to put together what this all meant before the Pegasus called down to them: “Yeah, there's... lots of cracks and stuff, but... that's just from the explosion, right? Right?”

The Pegasus winced when she received no answer, and Antares looked nervously towards Celestia: she looked tense, deep in thought, before her head rose and she ordered clearly: “Send word through the Starlit Knights to be careful and that our foe may still be alive. We'll finish the search here... and hope that at least Cancer has been driven back for now.”

Act II: The Bitter Sparrow

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Act II: The Bitter Sparrow
~BlackRoseRaven

As we grow older, we grow wiser, we're supposed to grow up...
To journey outwards and into our futures.
As we grow older, we grow mature, we're supposed to be stronger...
And we're supposed to do better than our parents ever did...

But the world can be cruel, the world can be tough, it can break a pup;
Hurt them on the inside and rip open old sutures.
But the world can be cruel, and it likes to make the long days longer,
It can crush the spirit of any poor young naïve kid.

The blessed are those who'll never be stupid nor all that unique,
Those who don't know what it means to taste real pressure.
The blessed are those who get to follow instead of lead another,
'Cause the world loves to toy with kings and break 'em.

Poor little boy, you tried so hard, and now the world is so bleak,
And again and again you get salt in the wound from that lecture:
Poor little boy, all you really want is to save your mother,
But more and more the chances are seemin' slim.

Try and keep your head up, don't let the world turn you,
Don't let the pain go affectin' the way you think,
Try and keep your head up, remember your parents' lesson,
They matter more than ever in the times they're hardest to remember...

All the psychopomps are singing, in pairs two-by-two,
And all the demons are out and looking for a drink,
All the psychopomps are singing, of love and depression,
And I know all you got to keep warm is love's last ember...

The world can bend you, and can break you, but you can fight back,
You can handle the aggression, you can parry it's attack,
Don't let yourself become another bitter singin' little bird,
Drawin' on the souls of the dead, crying your every word,
Only interested in the bitter end, and makin' even demons cry,
Tellin' them all your made-up stories, every breath followed by a lie,
Fly away little sparrow, remember what your real job should be...
Honoring who you are at heart, not bein' what others want to see.

The City Beneath The City

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Chapter Eleven: The City Beneath The City
~BlackRoseRaven

Cowlick grumbled under her breath as she sat with her head in her hooves at the library table, rubbing slowly at her temples before she muttered: “Goddammit. I knew it was too good to be true. I should have known there was something wrong with that perfect site since there was so little water at the bottom but... goddammit.”

Twilight only smiled faintly, reaching up to gently touch the engineer's shoulder, and Cowlick grumbled and shrugged her off as she mumbled: “Don't gimme sympathy, I don't deserve it. I really screwed the pooch on this one. And anyway, shouldn't you be off... uh... cleaning up?”

The violet mare blushed awkwardly, rubbing at the front of her sweater embarrassedly: the Lich looked emaciated now, and her body had deteriorated much further from the strain put on it as she'd helped clean the sewer tunnels and then spent the rest of the night searching high and low for Cancer. They had found no traces of the body that had fallen in the pit, likely thanks to the volatile makeup of the destruction entity... but on the other hoof, several Starlit Knights had found what looked like some kind of slime only ten or so feet away from the hole, near an animal burrow.

A short inspection confirmed the worst: Cancer had somehow crawled through a hole in the cliff wall, then slithered his way through the cracks in the permeable stone until he'd hit some poor animal's nest and escaped through that. Ten feet away... if they hadn't all been so focused on the explosion, on the shell of a body Cancer had simply abandoned...

“Since Antares and his friends are all going to Subterra shortly...” Twilight halted awkwardly at the baleful glare Cowlick gave her as she sat up, and the Lich hurriedly looked around the table for support... but Sleipnir simply whistled innocently and looked up towards the ceiling as Antares shrank in his seat and Celestia offered an awkward smile. “I... listen.”

Cowlick grumbled, then gestured moodily around the table at the others: Antares' friends were all present, along with many of their respective parents and guardians, leaving the table a little crowded. “Yeah, that's real funny, you guys making that decision for us. Right, Rainbow?”

“Actually, AJ and I kind of think it's a good idea... I mean... scary, yeah, but good.” Rainbow Dash said awkwardly, and Applejack smiled faintly down at Avalon with a slow nod, as the young Pegasus gazed warmly up at her parents. She looked excited and enthusiastic, and oddly enough, seemed the least out of sorts this morning despite having been up all night.

“Oh come on.” Cowlick groaned, then she looked almost plaintively around the table before sighing tiredly as her eyes settled on Meadowlark. The young, red Pegasus was sleeping fitfully over the table, face in her forelegs, and Cowlick softened before she said quietly: “Rusty's just a kid, though, and Meadowlark... doesn't have anypony to watch out for her, just stays here at the library all the time. Ain't fair, you hear me?”

“No, it is fair.” Pinkamena said mildly, glancing up from where she was sitting with a foreleg wrapped around her daughter's shoulders, as Aphrodisia smiled happily from where she was safely snuggled between mother and father. “Don't turn into a wimp now, Cowlick. You're supposed to be miss butch here, not mega-mommy.”

“Oh, screw you.” Cowlick muttered, and then she sighed and looked at Rustproof when he touched her foreleg, gazing up at her silently... and after a moment, the engineer relented and mumbled: “Great. Yeah, okay, but... come on. You need to go home, take a nap, and then finish cleanin' the lab, kid. And we gotta see your Dad, too.”

Rustproof smiled and nodded a little, bowing his head in silent gratitude, and Cowlick shoved herself away from the table before holding up her hooves when Twilight opened her mouth. “No, no, enough. Besides, seriously, not everypony here is like you and Antares and the two giants. We gotta get some sleep, yeah?”

“Now that I can agree with.” Rainbow muttered, holding up a hoof before he turned his eyes to Twilight. “Besides, Canterlot's right around the corner. You can give us the day before you go, right?”

Twilight hesitated, then she turned her eyes to Celestia questioningly... but the ivory winged unicorn only smiled a little and nodded in response, saying quietly: “Of course. And rest assured, Twilight and I will take care of everypony... the only reason we don't invite you along as well is because you'll be needed here. Ponyville will need to be protected, just in the event that Cancer attacks again.”

“Let the freak come. I'll be real glad to welcome him back.” Pinkamena muttered, and she gave Sleipnir a flat look when he drew a fawning gaze over her. “Don't give me that look, idiot. Besides, what the hell are you so happy about? I'm the one who'll be getting all the action, not you, if that thing shows up again. I'm tired of your girly sneezes.”

“They are not girly sneezes!” Sleipnir whined, and then he huffed before adding positively: “And besides, sweet phoenix, 'tis always wonderful to watch thou at work. Thou art rarely more beautiful than when I watch thee taking the battlefield, thou absolutely glows with radiance, my darling.”

Pinkamena muttered under her breath as Sleipnir smiled at her warmly, and Aphrodisia giggled a little between them. Then Celestia glanced up and suggested quietly: “Twilight, why don't you go ahead and take Antares to Subterra now? And I'll be glad to answer any questions I can that anypony might have. Then, tonight, I'll bring the rest of the group to Subterra myself.”

“I...” Twilight hesitated, and when Celestia gave her a gently-pleading, softly-concerned look, and Twilight smiled faintly as she nodded slowly. “Okay, Celestia. I... I wrote ahead and asked them to prepare some... things... for me anyway. Antares, though, you don't have to come if you don't want to right now, you can stay...”

“No, I'd like to go with you, Mom.” Antares said softly, and the Lich bowed her head towards him with a faint smile before the young stallion looked up around the table, then promised on a whim: “I'll take care of all my friends, okay?”

“You better, kid.” Cowlick muttered, looking over at Rustproof... and then she grunted and nodded, saying tiredly: “Guess that's that. Dammit, yesterday I was queen of the world and today I can't even get my own damn son to listen to me.”

She gently smacked Rustproof's shoulder, and the large blue earth pony simply smiled at her before Applejack added softly, gazing down the table towards Antares: “Don't you worry. All of us know what kind of mettle you got, Antares... Avalon trusts you, so I trust you.”

“Yeah, don't worry about a thing. Ava's gonna have your back, right?” Rainbow asked positively, looking down at his daughter, who nodded firmly once before the Pegasus stallion grinned and reached up to ruffle her mane firmly. “Just don't go showing him up too much, huh?”

Avalon laughed as Antares smiled despite himself, and then Prestige hesitantly rose a hoof and said awkwardly: “I wish to come as well.”

“Following after your coltfriend, are you?” Avalon asked loudly, and all eyes stared at her before Meadowlark's eyes opened in shock, and the tiny, still-armored Pegasus grinned lamely when Prestige flushed red and glared at her... although it was more likely Antares' look of utter horror that made her feel embarrassed. “Whoops.”

Meadowlark pushed herself up from the table, shaking her head weakly for a moment... and then the red Pegasus shoved herself away and bolted for the door. She ran into it, and it would have been comical if not for the hitching breaths she was already taking as she yanked it open and ran outside, and Antares cursed as he pushed himself quickly out of his seat, running after her.

Outside, Meadowlark leapt into the air, flapping her wings hard to fly clumsily but quickly upwards, and Antares shouted after her before he leapt up, forcing his own strong, leathery wings to carry him into the air... before he gritted his teeth as a cramp ran through his back, and he felt one of his wings twitch hard. It knocked him off course for a moment, and above, Meadowlark vanished into the cloudy sky as Antares cursed under his breath, then wobbled a bit in his flight before he felt another bolt of pain run through his body.

All the same, he forced himself to fly higher... then hissed through his teeth in pain when the strain simply became too much, and he felt both his wings stiffening, refusing to flap. It took much of his strength just to keep them open, and he glided slowly back down towards the ground, landing across the square in front of the library with a quiet curse as he lowered his head. But he only had a moment before Aphrodisia tackled him, knocking him skidding violently on his side before she shoved him down and glared into his eyes, Antares staring up at her with surprise before the demon shouted: “And what in Helheim's name were you thinking?”

Antares fumbled for a response, blushing, seeing how angry, upset, confused Aphrodisia was... but he was both stunned and spared from needing to reply when Prestige herself hesitantly walked up to the demon's side and nervously touched her shoulder.

Aphrodisia turned her baleful glare on Prestige, who hesitated for a moment... then the unicorn quietly, silently lowered her head forwards in a sign of respect and apology. The silence rang out for a few seconds... and then Apps simply snorted, then muttered: “We'll talk about this later.”

The demon burst apart into black smoke that twisted indecisively backwards, then hurtled around and shot into the air in the direction Meadowlark had gone. Antares looked up with a quiet sigh after this before his eyes turned slowly to the young unicorn mare, and she smiled faintly before saying quietly: “I'm tempted to make some remark about the unnecessary drama of our lessers, but... it's becoming hard for me to feel that way about them. Even if I desire to set the midget shorn-wing aflame.”

“Look, Prestige, I'm kind of mad at Ava too right now, but please stop with all the racist names.” Antares hesitated, then he closed his eyes as he simply laid on his back in the town square, not caring who saw him as ponies and Nibelung both passed by curiously. “Although she is a midget. And a jerk.”

For a few moments there was silence, and then Antares finally opened his eyes at the sound of familiar steps approaching. He looked up quietly as Twilight Sparkle joined them, and the gaunt Lich smiled faintly down at them, a simple cloak swaying around her body and a pack hanging at her side. “If you two are ready, we can... leave now.”

“Thank you.” Antares said quietly, looking up at her with a silent smile: Twilight always seemed to know when to prod a subject, and when it would be best to just move on. He appreciated her leaving it alone as he carefully sat up, then brushed at his dirty, scuffed armor before smiling faintly as he looked down at himself, sore wings flapping once before they furled loosely against his sides. “Are you sure you're okay for the journey?”

“I should be asking you two that.” Twilight laughed a little, shaking her head with a faint smile. “I'm fine, Antares, honestly. Try not to worry about me too much... you and Prestige just concentrate on yourselves, okay? And if you ever need to stop and rest, let me know... we can always take a few minutes at the side of the road or something.”

Antares nodded a little as Prestige shook her head, the unicorn mumbling: “This is not my ideal method of travel, nor a journey I look forwards to... but I suppose it is necessary all the same.” She sighed, looking morosely down at her gemstone vest before adding moodily: “My armor is uncomfortable.”

The young stallion only looked at her mildly as Twilight sighed a little, but Prestige only grumbled in response, and turned to follow when Antares and the Lich started down the road. Both traded a glance, and both reflected on how much Prestige had grown, particularly over the last while: maybe everything about Cancer was awful, but fighting him, being forced to go through what they had side-by-side, had taught all of them lessons they would never forget.

Twilight pulled ahead a little, and Antares let himself fall back a bit, to stay in pace with Prestige, who smiled at him and seemed to appreciate it in her awkward way. The trio remained silent as they headed out of Ponyville and onto the highway towards Canterlot, but it wasn't uncomfortable: it was hard to describe, like this time together was helping them understand each other a little more.

They stopped twice to rest on the way to Canterlot, but the breaks were short and they made good time. Prestige seemed surprised at herself: both at the fact she had kept quiet the entire journey, and because she had actually managed the travel with far less pain than she'd thought. Antares only smiled faintly, however, and Prestige blushed a little as she turned her head away as they approached, but she was smiling herself, feeling proud of herself... and a little fuzzy inside, when Antares hesitantly stepped a bit closer to her, and she closed her eyes and let herself draw a little closer to him.

Entering Canterlot wasn't difficult: the Royal Guard knew Twilight and Antares well, with their frequent visits and relations with the Baroness. Entering Subterra, however, was a little more complicated, and Prestige cocked her head curiously as they turned down a side street that led away from the mighty Canterlot Castle in the distance and instead headed into the lower quarters, the young unicorn mare asking curiously: “Why are we descending into the servant blocks of the city?”

“And of course you go and ruin everything, Prestige.” Antares said mildly, and when Prestige glowered at him, he smiled a little. “I'm kidding. But honestly, you do need to watch what you say more.”

Prestige only grumbled a little, and ahead, Twilight shook her head as they passed several down-on-their-luck ponies who were huddled at the side of the road. “Subterra has several entrances hidden around Canterlot, this is the closest and the easiest to get to. We have to keep them protected, after all, since... not all ponies are as accepting of the under-city as we are.”

“I'm not sure if I'm accepting of it yet or not myself.” Prestige mumbled, but she nodded hesitantly all the same as she looked back and forth, at the worn-down stone buildings and the signs of disrepair and dereliction. “This cannot be the same Canterlot that I am accustomed to.”

“It is and it isn't. You might be surprised, Prestige. Just because something looks bad doesn't mean it is.” Antares said softly, smiling a little over at her, and Prestige mumbled a bit under her breath, but her eyes lingered strangely on an orphanage as they strode past it, inspecting the rusting bars over the windows, the weedy yard, the torn fencing that embraced it like frail arms. “Prestige? Is something wrong?”

“No. No.” Prestige said quietly, shaking her head briskly, and she remained oddly quiet as they made their way through the lower quarters of Canterlot. Then she frowned nervously when they turned down a shady back alley, Twilight striding calmly past several overflowing garbage bins and leading them around a tight corner to a rusted iron gate that barred access into a dim tunnel beyond.

The Lich smiled over her shoulder, her horn glowing: with a click, the gate unlocked and swung open silently despite the rust. Prestige hesitated, but then she nodded nervously when Antares reached up and touched her shoulder, and the two young ponies followed Twilight into the darkness when the violet mare started forwards again. The sloping tunnel quickly became a staircase that led deep down into the earth, lit by torches that burned with blue flames, and Prestige shivered a bit at the strange feeling in the air: it was neither hot nor cold, comfortable nor uncomfortable. It was a shiver that pulsed through her... before Prestige's eyes widened as they emerged at the bottom of the staircase into a wide, dark cavern that was lit by blue-tinged radiance, filled with strange-looking black stone dwellings and populated by creatures the likes of which she had rarely seen.

Demons, Nightmares, other beings all congregated calmly here, as naturally as ponies did in the world above: two Nightmares were gazing into a reflecting pool with smiles on their faces, while in an open square a demon was arguing loudly with another demon behind a counter, who simply glared at him with his arms crossed. Over by an enormous pillar, some kind of undead pony was reading calmly from a book as he gestured at the carvings along the support structure, captivating smaller creatures that Prestige realized with surprise were the demonic equivalent of foals.

Her breath caught in her throat as Twilight and Antares began forwards, the young unicorn mare gazing around with amazement. High above, enormous crystals suspended from the ceiling shone down that strange light that made her body tingle, and while the homes all looked the same, it was clear that the buildings on the upper plateaus of this massive cavern were the much-more desired ones, from the demons that were sunbathing – ...crystal light bathing? – on the rooftops nearest the gemstones. And as they walked, Prestige realized that now demons were looking at her with curiosity, and a little distrust, and she blushed as she lowered her head at the turned tables: here, normal ponies were the outsiders, not forces of darkness.

Then Twilight glanced up curiously as a grinning, demonic unicorn slid out of the crowd and strolled towards her, his mane made of burning flames and his red eyes glowing in his sockets, coat shifting between reds, oranges, and yellows like magma. Prestige's jaw dropped at the sight, but Antares only smiled as Twilight's mouth slowly puckered like she'd bitten into a lemon as the tall equine drew towards them. He was handsome, he radiated not only heat but confidence and power, and his hooves made the ground beneath him steam as he approached the Lich and said delightedly: “Well, what a wonderful surprise to see you here!”

“Go away.” Twilight said in a surly voice, but when the fiery demon only chuckled, she sighed and glanced over her shoulder at Prestige, introducing with a grumble: “Prestige Luster, this is Burning Desire. Burning Desire, this is my student, Prestige Luster. Now please go away.”

“Oh, don't be like that, darling!” Burning said cheerfully, and then he leaned down, studying Prestige intently as she couldn't help but look up at his horn: it was tall and glowed red, but black runes had been etched all along its length in a vaguely-spiraled pattern. “It's very nice to meet you, Prestige... and young Antares, how nice to see you, too!”

The demon straightened with a smile, then he half-lidded his eyes at Twilight, studying her as he asked in what was almost a purr: “You look like you need some help fitting into a new body, my gorgeous undying violet. Shall I assist you?”

“Go. Away.” Twilight said slowly and clearly, but Burning Desire only chuckled again before Twilight ground her teeth together, then simply strode past him. Antares couldn't help but smile despite his best efforts not to as Prestige followed curiously, cocking her head towards him as Burning Desire hurried up to pace at Twilight's side.

“Now don't be like that! I know, I know, you're loyal and dedicated to Luna and Scrivener, but oh, I'm not asking for forever!” Burning Desire wheedled, gazing at her affectionately. “We had such a wonderful time together, didn't we? And oh, our nights of passion...”

“My son is right behind me, Burning!” the Lich said flatly, and then she gritted her teeth and added grumpily, as they made their way down the wide street: “It just didn't work out. Let it go.”

“Oh, but how can I? My sins are greed and lust, my nature compels me so for you, oh darling violet!” Burning Desire proclaimed, then he stepped forwards and suddenly hugged her, Twilight wincing as she reared away from him as he leaned in with a lick of his lips. “Entire harems mean nothing to me compared to your beauty! And you know I know that from experience: but oh, pretty violet, you would be the shining star of any demon's collection!”

Slowly, Twilight narrowed her eyes at him... and Burning Desire cleared his throat and carefully let her go, stepping hesitantly back as he added awkwardly: “Not that... not that I think of you like just an object, of course, I... I didn't mean to say... that is to say, I'm here because I care about you. I care about you very much, Twilight Sparkle, and I respect that we cannot have forever, but... oh, tonight, tonight, spend tonight with me, won't you?”

“No.” Twilight said flatly, and Burning Desire clutched at his chest before the Lich rolled her eyes with a tired sigh. “Look, I'm not... getting into that with you again. But maybe you can at least help me teach Antares and Prestige... Celestia sent them here for training, and she'll be bringing his friends as well.”

Burning Desire cocked his head with interest at this, turning his eyes towards Antares as he asked curiously: “The Dawn Bringer wants our kind to train you and your friends? What an odd turn of events... truly, things must be serious. I would have perhaps expected your mother and father, Antares, to make such a decision, but not Celestia...”

For a few moments, he looked thoughtful, biting his lower lip before he smiled over at Twilight. “Very well. You know I can't turn down any request of yours, gorgeous, ever-blooming violet. And Antares, I do like you well enough. Your mother and father were good to me, and I suppose there's also the fact I do like the thought of being rewarded when they return for training you...” He looked dreamy for a moment, turning his gaze back towards Twilight. “Perhaps they'll agree to share you with me.”

Twilight gave him a horrible look, and Burning Desire winced, wilting as the flames of his mane and tail both visibly shrank and dimmed, but then the Lich reached up and rubbed at her temples as if she had a headache. “Fine. Now if you'll excuse us, we need to go visit Selene. Please. Please leave me alone until I call for you.”

“May I have a kiss, just upon the cheek? Oh, it would mean so much to me!” Burning Desire leaned forwards, smiling brightly, his eyes pleading, and Twilight looked at him for a few moments before she sighed, mumbled, and stepped over to him, leaning in and giving him a hurried peck on the cheek. The demon's eyes lit up with this, and then he nodded rapidly before turning and prancing away... and then Prestige's jaw dropped when he burst apart into flames that reformed into a firebird that flew quickly off into the air.

Twilight sighed, and Prestige's mouth worked wordlessly before the violet mare gestured grumpily to them, saying finally: “Come on. We have to visit the Overseer, and then find you a room, Prestige.”

“I... who was that?” Prestige asked incredulously, and Twilight grumbled to herself as Antares smiled in entertainment and the group walked onwards. For a few moments, Prestige only stared ahead, barely noticing as they passed through an archway and a dark tunnel, and then she asked insistently: “I demand to know what just happened! It... it was a unicorn of fire!”

“It was a demon. A very, very, very, very, very annoying demon.” Twilight muttered, and then she sighed a little as Antares tried his hardest to hold back a snicker. “Oh stop it.”

“It's okay, Mom. Besides... I know that... my Mom and Dad would have wanted to see you happy, Twilight.” Antares said with a smile, and Twilight relaxed a little before he glanced to the side and added, as Prestige only continued to look confused: “Burning Desire was a unicorn, once... more than a thousand years ago, but he bargained with Helheim for wealth and... attention, right?”

Twilight nodded after a moment, as they strode out of the tunnel and into another cavern, this one even more enormous than the last. The Lich remained quiet as Prestige looked back and forth at the larger stone buildings on either side of them and the imposing, palatial structures near the center of the underground city section, the architecture gothic and jutting and yet beautiful for how intimidating it was... and then Prestige shook her head hurriedly and asked: “Wait, he was a unicorn once? A normal pony?”

The violet mare sighed tiredly, her hopes that Prestige would let the subject drop dashed as she nodded moodily again. “He was. More than a hoof-full of the demons you'll see around Subterra were once ponies of this world, who existed more than a thousand years ago and before... their civilization basically fell apart. They're demons now because of the bargains they made with Helheim: many souls who fall to Hell eventually transform into demons themselves, if they manage to survive for long enough. And they were among the most eager to ally with us because... it keeps them safe from Helheim, and they're fascinated with us ponies who basically... took over their abandoned world and replaced their crumbled ruins with the civilization that could have been, if they'd only all learned to get along.”

The Lich fell quiet, looking down thoughtfully before she continued softly, as they continued along the cobbled wide road: “Burning Desire was a noble. A bit of an oddball, studying the occult while the other unicorns were learning 'real magic' and horn foiling. He didn't want power, but he wanted people to adore him, he wanted... well, sex... and he wanted money to keep his lifestyle going. He made his deal, trading his soul to Helheim for what he thought would be a lot.”

Twilight smiled faintly, glancing over her shoulder at Prestige. “Two months later he was killed by a jealous ex-lover because of how many mares he was suddenly getting into bed with. He went to Helheim, and... became... that. When... when a pony becomes a demon, they become a reflection of who they are inside, in a way: they wear their sins, metaphorically-speaking, on their bodies, and their natural urges intensify. They can become powerful, sure, but it's at a cost. And if they fail to learn how to control themselves, if they give in to Helheim's influence completely, they become drones and monsters and toys for stronger demons. And they suffer...”

Twilight looked down, then she shook her head and glanced up, saying softly: “But he's a good person, at heart. He's full of longing, Prestige, and I'd watch out to make sure his hooves don't get grabby, but he's gentle and he's kind. And you two can both learn a lot from him... his specialty is clearly fire, Prestige, and that's one of the realms of elemental magic you excel in.”

Prestige nodded slowly, looking surprisingly humble as they strode calmly into a large square, and the young unicorn's eyes turned to a beautiful fountain that dominated the center of this. The water was tinted black, but seemed pure all the same as faint, soft music hummed through the air, a tall reptilian demon with several large sets of spines jutting from his body standing with his eyes closed as he played a slow, steady melody on his saxophone. Twilight smiled at this as Antares' head perked, the Lich halting as the demon opened one amber eye, and then he smiled slightly before bringing the melody to a slow halt.

He lowered the silver instrument, absently rubbing at one cracked, dragon-like horn before he looked meditatively down at the ponies, asking mildly as his long, two-tined tail flicked lightly behind him: “And to what do I owe this pleasure, Twilight Sparkle? Has my gracious melody truly attracted you all the way from dumpy little Ponyville?”

“No, Amdusias, I'm afraid not.” Twilight said kindly, smiling up at him, and she gestured at Antares and Prestige. The demon tilted his head with interest, rubbing at the navy scales that covered most of his strong frame as the silver and gold hide of his inner body flexed with his musculature. “Celestia sent Antares and Prestige here for training. Their friends are coming, too...”

“Celestia is sending mortals here?” Amdusias looked down with interest, then he frowned a little, narrowing his eyes moodily as his gaze locked on Prestige, who was looking up at him distrustfully. “Wait. Celestia is sending mortals here?”

The difference in his tone made the second question almost an accusation, and Twilight Sparkle sighed and rolled her eyes before she said mildly: “Amdusias, it's nothing personal, I'm sure. Celestia likes you a lot, and it's... very kind that you offer your help to her so often-”

“Not often, merely... when she seems to need help, which is... more often than I'd like, to be completely honest.” Amdusias said stiffly, crossing his arms as he grumbled to himself and a faint blush rose in his cheeks. “I simply find it... discordant that this is a clear insult to my offer of aid. I was a Lord of Helheim, and you've seen what I've done with those miserable little ponies I had under my watch. Except now I think if you want my help you should plead like the chorus of any hymn to your zombie pony savior.”

Twilight only looked meditatively up at Amdusias for a moment, and then she said mildly: “That's alright, Burning Desire offered his help.”

“What?” Amdusias looked horrified at this, then he ground his teeth together loudly. “That wretched jumped-up organ-grinder dares to think he's worthy enough to teach? If he tried to teach a bird to sing, it would end up growling like a tone-deaf Nibelung!”

“Well, that's very nice, Amdusias, but I was just taking Antares and Prestige to see Overseer Selene... and I'm sure that she'll be offering her help, too...” Twilight continued calmly, completely overriding Amdusias' words, and the demon's eyes went wide before he grumbled in vexation and glowered at her.

“Fine. I understand, my help is unnecessary.” Amdusias muttered... then he visibly wrestled with himself for a moment, before raising a finger and adding in a grumble when Twilight began to turn away: “But I suppose that I can spare a rest or two here or there should Prince Antares or his... friend... come and plead for my assistance.”

“Thank you, Amdusias. I appreciate it... I'm sure Antares can learn a lot from you.” Twilight smiled over her shoulder at him, and Amdusias looked pacified before the Lich asked curiously: “By the way, what are you doing out here? Usually you're running around Canterlot with your friends.”

“Associates.” Amdusias mumbled embarrassedly, and then he cleared his throat and added: “And I did not feel like dressing up and pretending to be a dragon today so I could wander Canterlot unnoticed. Besides, Riffraff and Graceful told me to meet them here, although they seem to be taking an obnoxiously long time to arrive. I do not want to guess at why.”

With that, Amdusias rose his saxophone back to his lips, beginning to play a soft, thoughtful song as the trio of ponies looked at him for a moment longer, and then Twilight smiled and nodded, turning to leave. Antares and Prestige trailed after her, the last looking back over her shoulder curiously before she hurried up to Twilight's side, asking incredulously: “Just how many of the Baroness' associates are demons? That was the head of Celestia's personal ensemble that she has play at the Royal Court! I... I thought he was just a dragon, in his uniform he just looks like a dragon!”

Twilight only gave Prestige an amused look, and then she shook her head slowly before Antares asked curiously: “Are you really going to send me to Amdusias for training, Mom? What kind of things can I learn from him? I mean... I've never really seen or heard about him fighting... and wasn't he... hurt, or something, a long time ago?”

The Lich laughed quietly, responding quietly: “Oh, he's not a fighter, Antares, and he did lose a lot of his strength crossing through the barrier between layers with his half-demon friend... but I think you two would be able to work well together. I don't think you'd find it difficult to master his illusion spells, even if he prefers music as his medium. It would be good for you to learn some incantations that focus on that... and furthermore, I'm sure Selene will want to share some of her skills with you.”

Twilight hesitated as they continued onwards, Prestige and Antares sharing a look as they walked on in silence: but slowly, the young mare couldn't help but find her attention drawn from her coltfriend and mentor to the enormous structure they were approaching. It was near the center of the cavern, a squat but immense step pyramid with a wide, flat top, a large set of stone stairs in front of them guarded by enormous statues of creatures that Prestige didn't recognize. The back of the pyramid seemed to connect into some other colossal, U-shaped structure that half-wrapped itself around the strangely hallowed-feeling building: this palatial structure had tall turrets and branch-like arms of metal, stone gargoyles that seemed to move whenever they weren't be directly watched seated here and there on these arches and the roof.

Twilight led them to the stairs, then she halted and turned around, her eyes meeting her student's. “Prestige, this is Thorn Palace. Selene, Subterra's Overseer, lives here and rules here. She's like... kind of like the mayor, except she reports to me and Celestia. But all the same, don't antagonize her. Her home is... is a little creepy, but you'll be safe here as long as you aren't rude to her, okay?”

Prestige grimaced a bit, but then she nodded sullenly, and Twilight sighed before the Lich turned around to lead them calmly up the stone stairs. Antares smiled supportively at the young unicorn mare, and Prestige grumbled a little, but felt herself calming a bit despite the burst of jealousy and frustration she felt inside of herself as she mumbled: “I'm not going to mess up.”

“I know.” Antares said softly, and then he looked ahead as the trio reached the top of the short, strange pyramid, stepping out onto the wide plateau. It was decorated with four enormous braziers at each corner of the area, each filled with burning blue flames, and a massive statue of Nightmare Moon posed in front of the full moon stood behind a small reflecting pool, detailed and incredible.

Prestige stared at this and winced despite herself: it was not the Nightmare Moon of the storybooks, but the true Nightmare Moon: there were scars on the statue's face, horns extending up from a mane of carved fire, countless awful knives and implements of suffering sticking out of her back... but it was the sharp-fanged grin and the almost-alive eyes that struck her to the soul. The apprentice of Twilight Sparkle breathed hard, looking nervously down at the pool... and then she was struck dumb as she saw nothing more than a single, beautiful white swan quietly floating in the water, calm and silent, looking as if it hadn't yet noticed the presence of the ponies.

Prestige nervously leaned around Twilight to stare at this, even as the Lich winced... and then the young, silver-maned mare glanced back and forth worriedly. The steps were behind them, down the southern face of the pyramid: to the north, east, and west, there were bridges of stone and metal that attached into the strange, warped palace that held this strange place in its embrace. “Do... do we go inside?”

“Only if I am not the one you seek.” said a soft, scintillating voice, and when Prestige looked in surprise back at the reflecting pool, she saw not a swan, but an ivory winged unicorn with a mane and tail of soft, glowing whiteness: feathers and flower petals fell from both, touching the surface of the pool she was standing on as calmly as if it were glass before they dissolved into motes of light, sending ripples along the deep pool's surface. Her horn was gorgeous gold, and her eyes seemed as deep, as dark, as richly-infinite as space, without pupil or iris but like swirling velvet galaxies...

Prestige shivered as she looked hurriedly down, blushing deep red as he breath raced in and out, and the winged unicorn laughed quietly as she strode over the pool, chiding gently: “Oh, Twilight Sparkle, don't be so hard on this one. I am not hard on demons for their natures; why would I be any harder on this mortal?”

Twilight smiled a little, bowing her head respectfully as Antares quietly stepped forwards and dropped his own head low... but the almost-glowing winged unicorn only smiled softly, slowly descending into a deep bow as she murmured: “No, no, I bow to you... not the other way around. It is my honor to have you here... and the Dawn Bringer's letter, her request, has filled me with more joy than I may properly express...”

The strange creature looked back up, her unfathomable eyes roving over them before she returned her gaze to Prestige, saying kindly as the unicorn didn't quite dare to meet her eyes: “Yes, young one. I am Selene, Overseer of Subterra. I took the name in honor of our mistress, in honor of the moon, which I have served since I was young in any event. And yes, you may call me demon, but I am Nephilim, in truth: my nature is much different from the creatures you have seen.”

“Not so different.” Twilight Sparkle said softly, and the Nephilim regarded her for a moment... then suddenly the strange creature smiled and nodded slowly.

“Perhaps not, after all, yes. I must not forget why I carry this task. Thank you for reminding me, Lady Twilight.” Selene said softly, then she turned her eyes to Prestige and leaned down to study her thoughtfully. “You are curious about me. Go ahead, child, ask your questions. I will not harm you... not so long as you pay me what respects I earn.”

Prestige smiled awkwardly at this statement, trying not to look into the Nephilim's eyes: the slightest meeting of their gazes, and the young mare felt like her brain was being sucked out of her head to be examined by things far, far more powerful than she could ever be. “What... how... did you get here?”

“I was born here, of purity tainted by sin. And then my mother left me, and I tried to follow her... but I fell.” Selene said softly, frowning and looking down before she nodded slowly once. “Yes, I fell. And I slumbered, and nature held me in her arms, placed me in her cradle. The mountains rose above, while I slumped further down beneath the ground; before the first stones of Canterlot above were laid, I was old, older than you can imagine. But she visited me, in my restless dreams: your mother, Antares Mīrus.”

Selene smiled lovingly over at Antares, then returned her eyes to Prestige. “I have never met her, but I have seen both her faces, and her husband. I admire Luna, and I admire Nightmare Moon: they remind me of mother. Purity, stained with sin, but striving all the same for Heaven. I was very sad when Luna and Scrivener left, just like my mother did... so sad, that I awoke, and cried for their loss...”

“There was an earthquake nine years ago, it caused ruptures all throughout Subterra... the timing was awful, we thought, because it was only a few weeks after Luna and Scrivener... were gone.” Twilight said quietly, glancing over at Prestige. “Then I got a letter from Celestia, asking me to hurry as fast as I could to Subterra. There was such... the air was heavy, and we were drawn to a vent that had opened up...

“Deep in the earth, we found Selene. She knew all about us... all about Scrivener and Luna. And when I crosschecked what she said with... with one of Scrivener's dream diaries... a lot of it matched up. Stories and conversations that Luna and Scrivy mentioned off-hoof now and then, but it turns out they were real.” Twilight smiled a little, glancing over at the Nephilim. “Normally we don't explain it to ponies, but...”

“Prestige would have found out anyway, as Antares' lover.” Selene said softly, and Antares blushed deep red as Prestige looked down, embarrassed. “It's nothing bad, young ones. You have done well with each other.”

She paused, then smiled over at Twilight. “But I am similar to the demons in many ways. I am impure, yet desire to seek to be brighter. Not like the Dawn Bringer... like your mother, Antares. Like Twilight, and like Luna.” Selene laughed quietly, then looked slowly up, murmuring: “That is why I took the name of a lunar goddess. But I must be very careful: I have great pride. I have greater longing. And I am powerful.”

Selene paused, then she looked down thoughtfully, nodding once before Prestige turned bright red as the Nephilim murmured: “I appreciate that you admire me so much... and perhaps I take pleasure in your envy, as well. For I am beautiful and strong... that is why I am tasked to watch over and protect Subterra. But it is my wisdom, not my strength, and the support of the Dawn Bringer and Twilight Sparkle, that gives me true control here.

“And yes, Antares. I shall teach you what I know of your mother's magic, but Twilight Sparkle knows more than me... and I apologize, I forget myself. But your thoughts are so loud, especially this close...” Selene closed her eyes, smiling softly. “And I am eager to share my strength with you, Antares. I am eager for... many things...”

Prestige winced at this, looking uneasily at Selene, but the Nephilim only smiled quietly before her gaze roved back to the young mare. “Steal him away from you? No. I am ancient, and you are both young... I am Nephilim, and you are both pony. The form you see me in is simply that which is most convenient at this moment in time. I do not know what my real shape is... I see you, and I wish to reflect you, that is all, as I have always reflected those whose dreams I have traveled in. But I enjoy this particular form... a Moon Blessed is fitting for the self-named Selene, is it not?”

The three were quiet, and then Selene smiled softly and bowed her head, saying quietly: “Prestige, I desire your company. You have struck my interest. Antares and Twilight, however, have a task ahead of them, and would prefer to deal with it in privacy. Is this correct?”

“I...” Antares hesitated, then he looked at Twilight, the Lich shifting apprehensively. She began to smile, but then Antares nodded quickly and blushed, looking over at Prestige as he murmured: “Don't... don't take this the wrong way, but I would... you should stay with Selene.”

“I understand.” Prestige looked at him quietly... and then both young ponies looked up when Selene leaned forwards and gave them an encouraging smile. And then both unicorns looked at one another before stepping forwards and sharing a tight embrace, and Antares closed his eyes as Prestige pressed herself against him, squeezing her hooves around his neck, both feeling a deep roll of warmth through their bodies before they pulled quietly apart.

They smiled hesitantly, looking deep into each other's eyes before trading slow nods, and then Selene said gently: “I shall take care of her, Antares. I shall provide a private room for you and her and have it set up to your tastes.”

“Now, hey, wait, let's not go that far...” Twilight said awkwardly, and when Selene only favored her with a tilt of her head, the violet mare sighed tiredly and mumbled: “I guess. If something's going to happen, it's going to happen, but...”

“Mom, can. Can we please just go?” Antares asked in a strangled voice as Prestige blushed deeply, and Twilight grumbled a little but then nodded at the look on the young ponies' faces. She turned, and Antares sighed in relief as he followed after her, calling awkwardly over his shoulder: “Uh... see you soon, Selene and... Prestige.”

Prestige smiled lamely back at him despite how uncomfortable she looked, slowly raising a hoof, and Antares turned his eyes back forwards as he and Twilight crossed over a steel and stone bridge and through a set of double doors into the western wing of the castle. For a few moments, there was only the sound of their hooves tapping along the marble tile underhoof, as they strode past display cases filled with strange and beautiful artifacts and suits of posed armor... and then Twilight finally sighed quietly, dropping her head forwards.

Antares looked up at her hesitantly, and Twilight smiled a little as she looked over her shoulder, murmuring quietly: “Look. You're no colt, Antares... I know that you're a stallion. Sure, you're still young. Some ponies would say you're not an adult yet, but... if age was really what made us mature adults, I wouldn't have to put up with Burning Desire, now would I?”

She sighed a little as Antares laughed a bit despite himself, then the Lich shook her head slowly as they turned down a side hall, continuing quietly: “Life is about experiences... but I just... my goal as your mother is to try and help you. To try and minimize the mistakes, or at least make sure the mistakes you do make are... learning experiences. But I don't want you learning what it's like to raise a bastard foal out of wedlock with a pony you might not have any feelings for give a week or two while still teenage years old.”

Antares blushed deeply, dropping his head forwards as he mumbled: “Yeah, I remember Aunt Tia's talk way too clearly, Mom. I'm... I'm not interested in that right now, anyway.”

Twilight looked amusedly over her shoulder at him, and when Antares looked back up at her, she said finally: “You're so different from your mother.”

“I don't wanna hear that!” Antares groaned, throwing his head back, and Twilight laughed and shook her head slowly, smiling warmly despite herself before the young stallion couldn't help but add: “And I really wonder sometimes which mother of mine you're referring to... Mom.”

This soured Twilight's expression, and she tossed him a flat look even as she fought to hide a smile before replying quietly: “Hey, if you haven't noticed, I haven't done a lot of dating, have I? But I guess... this dead body of mine isn't exactly appealing, either.”

“You're more alive than most ponies I've met, Mom. And you're still really pretty.” Antares replied genuinely, and Twilight turned back ahead, looking abashed, eyes filled with warmth as she opened a door with a gentle telekinetic push.

They made their way down a curving staircase, until they emerged into a dimmer underground area: it almost seemed like some kind of abandoned storage room, heavy crates piled to one side of the area and a few shelves stocked with odds and ends along another wall. Twilight and Antares made their way across the unused room to a rusting steel door, the Lich grimacing a bit as they passed into a long, downwards-sloping tunnel, and Antares soothed quietly: “It's okay, Mom.”

Twilight Sparkle smiled faintly over her shoulder at Antares, nodding a little as they began to make their way down the mildewed passage. The walls here were slick and moist, strange, living tendrils of plant and bramble growing here and there out of the dark stone surfaces as their hooves trod slowly along humid rock, slowly but steadily going lower and lower into the earth.

Finally, they reached a heavy, red-iron gate at the end of the passage, and Twilight's horn glowed: the gates rumbled for a moment, then slowly squealed open to reveal a large, octagonal room beyond. The walls were lined with rusting doors of burial vaults, each with small placards in holders showing the date of the interment and what precisely was contained inside; but what truly drew the eye were the four metal tables that sat in a circle around the open center of the crypt, and Twilight sighed quietly: cadavers rested on two of the tables, features hidden beneath white sheets but shapes clear and distinctive.

Twilight lowered her head and trembled a bit, and Antares reached up to touch her back quietly... but then the violet mare only shook her head, murmuring: “It's... it's okay. I'm okay. I just... I just hate this part, that's all. And Antares, you don't have to stay...”

“I want to, Mom. I want to help.” Antares said quietly, and Twilight smiled faintly but gratefully at him as the glossy black young stallion reached up to touch her shoulder quietly. “I'll help you every step of the way I can.”

Twilight closed her eyes and nodded a little, and then she sighed as she turned and strode down to one of the covered bodies. She grimaced a little, then her horn glowed and pulled the tag hanging out from under the sheet free, lifting it up so she could read quietly: “Name omitted... I hate when they do that... career criminal, died in prison, organ donor. Died of... infection after being stabbed. Okay.”

She took a breath, then grasped the sheet and drew the sheet quickly back, revealing the stallion's pallid body. She looked over him moodily, then bit her lip and touched hesitantly along his stomach to check for damage. When she was done, she grimaced and nodded, shrugging her satchel bag off and putting it aside, before she pulled her jewelry off piece by piece. She put her earring studs and collar aside on top of her satchel, then she sighed quietly again as she reached up and carefully levered the corpse's jaws open, muttering: “Okay. I hate this part...”

Twilight took a slow breath, closing her eyes tightly and gritting her teeth as her horn glowed... and then, slowly, she leaned carefully down until her mouth almost met the corpse's before she breathed out, long and loud, some glowing ephemeral shape passing from her open jaws and into the dead body's...

For a moment, there was silence... and then Twilight's body slumped backwards her stitching popped and snapped, the light fading from her eyes as she collapsed: but even before she hit the ground, her body was already falling apart and rotting rapidly away beneath the cloak. Antares flinched back at the sight and the reek, but then he forced himself to hurry forwards, looking nervously down at the corpse of the earth pony stallion.

At first, nothing, and Antares hesitated before he began to reach carefully up... but then he flinched backwards when the dead stallion's eyes snapped open and the corpse spasmed on the table, inhaling loudly. Its irises glowed violet before the color settled, and then it shivered and hissed in pain as the same color began to twist through the pallid coat of the pony, Twilight rasping out of the corpse's jaws: “Always... hate this...”

“It's okay Mom, you're doing fine, you're okay.” Antares soothed, reaching up to touch the corpse's shoulder, and finding it now felt hot instead of cold. He steadied himself as the body spasmed on the table, the features changing, the shape twisting as bones cracked loudly and the hide tightened, ripping here and there as Twilight cursed in pain from the body's jaws.

“Just wish... I didn't have to s-steal... from the dead...” Twilight whispered, breathing hard through the mouth that was now becoming hers as the body reshaped itself, and she trembled before Antares tightly took one of the now-her hooves in both his own, squeezing it comfortingly and gazing down into her eyes.

It was a painful thirty minutes... but finally, Twilight Sparkle sat up on the metal table, breathing hard and shivering a bit. Wounds had torn open here and there over her body from the transformation, but they were bloodless, and she was missing both her wings and her horn... but her body's shape and size, her color, her eyes were all the same as they had originally been. Even her emblem had replaced the cutie mark that had been on this body's haunch.

Twilight shivered weakly, and Antares patted her silently on the back before he turned and headed quickly over to one of the sets of crypts in the wall. He glanced back and forth, but then his eyes found what he was looking for: a polished steel door, labeled: 'Supplies' instead of with a corpse code and date. He opened it to take out some of what was inside: thick black string, a large needle, and a box of wet cloths.

He carried these over to Twilight, and she smiled faintly, closing her eyes and bowing her head forwards in thanks as the young stallion pulled out a wet nap to carefully wipe up around her messier wounds, murmuring quietly: “It's okay, Mom. Just try and relax, I'll clean you up, and then I'll help you find some wings.”

“No, it's okay, Antares. My wings will regenerate, just like my horn.” Twilight shook her messy, frazzled mane out before she reached up and silently tapped her forehead. “I just need to hibernate a little and... I should have brought my phylactery. It would have helped the process along a little faster.”

“It's okay, Mom. You've had a lot on your mind... we all have.” Antares replied quietly, and Twilight smiled a little as she closed her eyes and nodded slowly. For a few moments, there was silence, and then Antares hesitantly picked up the needle and thread.

Twilight opened an eye, looking at him softly, and then she murmured: “It's okay. I can do it, Antares, you're... you're here with me, and that helps more than I can say. I just... I just need to rest a minute or two more.”

“No, it's not that, I just...” Antares hesitated, then he leaned forwards and began to carefully sew up a particularly large, Y-shaped wound over her chest: a wound that her undead body always bore, that never healed. That was deep and wide enough when it wasn't sewn shut to reveal the fact that Twilight had no heart. “I just hate worrying that I'm going to hurt you.”

The Lich only smiled faintly, however, shaking her head slowly and saying quietly: “It's okay, Antares. My body is just a shell. Just... clothes. Stolen clothes.” She dropped her head forwards, muttering: “I hate when they just put 'criminal' on the donor label. I feel a little less bad at first and then I wonder whether I'm in the body of a murderer, a pedophile, or some poor idiot who mouthed off to the wrong police officer. And then I feel bad no matter what.”

“It doesn't matter, Mom. Like Sleipnir says, we only borrow our bodies during life: we come from nature, and when we die, we give our bodies back to nature.” Antares said quietly, continuing to neatly stitch up the visible, larger wounds over the Lich's frame. At first, seeing this, doing anything like this, had been almost impossible for him to handle without feeling ill, or scared... now he was just afraid for Twilight, with how much she could beat herself up over doing what was necessary for her to do once her body eventually wore out. “You're not killing these people, Mom. You work very, very hard to not disrespect their wishes. You don't steal bodies from graveyards or anything.”

Twilight nodded slowly, even as she continued to look down, before Antares smiled a little and said quietly: “You're not a monster. Mom and Dad... they'd still love you. They wouldn't feel any different about you now as they ever did. I... I only respect you more, each and every day.”

The violet mare looked up with a faint smile, then she closed her eyes in quiet gratitude as Antares continued to slowly work, his head bowed, the silence spiraling out between mother and son before the Lich reached up a hoof to touch the young stallion's shoulder. They both looked at one another and then Antares smiled and stepped forwards, and they shared a fierce, tight embrace before Twilight whispered quietly in his ear, as a single red tear spilled down her cheek: “I love you, Antares.”

Antares smiled at this, burying his face against the side of her neck, smelling not death, but lavender and life as her stitches tickled against him. He felt every thud of the heart that wasn't in her chest, every bit of warmth that boiled up from her very soul, felt her life as he murmured in return: “I love you too, Mom.”

And for a little while they just held onto each other in the quiet of the crypt, Twilight Sparkle feeling more alive in that moment than she had been for most of her long life.

Acting As Leader

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Chapter Twelve: Acting As Leader
~BlackRoseRaven

Antares Mīrus sighed in relief as a Nightmare opened a large steel door for him, smiling gratefully to it as he turned and strode into his guest room... and then he blushed awkwardly as he found it had only a single large bed that Prestige was already curled up on top of. He began to turn, but the Nightmare only smiled at him before the door closed, and the young stallion winced before looking hurriedly around.

The room was mostly empty: there was the large bed in one corner, a single crystalline lamp that hung overhead, and a small bed table. Prestige had taken her little gear off and tossed it all at the foot of the bed, and Antares hesitated before he carefully began to strip out of his own armor, taking his time so he could try and figure out what to do.

He grimaced at how dirty he was, brushing at himself before he grumbled a little under his breath, then he turned and pushed open the door. He looked back and forth, then bit his tongue before closing his eyes and focusing... but then he nixed the idea even as he began to cast the spell, wincing as a bit of electricity zapped over his horn from the sudden decision it would be better not to test his luck. It wasn't hard for him to send out a call to any Nightmares or demons in the area... but in a place like this, he'd end up calling an entire drove of creatures just to help him find a shower.

Instead, he stepped back inside with a sigh, closing the door quietly... before wincing a bit when Prestige said tiredly: “Oh, stop, Antares. I may not be fond of the idea of being forced to share a bed with you, but... your company is better than a demon's.”

Antares looked over his shoulder to see Prestige still laying quietly, but her eyes were open, studying him silently, and he smiled a little as he rubbed at his body. “I'm just... dirty.”

“Yes, you are.” Prestige said softly, smiling a bit in return, and when Antares sighed and gave her a look, she shook her head slowly and sat up a bit, before patting the ugly green blanket covering the bed. “Come here.”

The young stallion looked at her for a moment, then he walked over and slipped onto the bed, sitting down across from her as they studied one another. For a few moments, there was quiet, and then Antares asked curiously: “So what exactly did Selene talk to you about?”

Prestige remained quiet for a moment, then she shook her head and muttered: “I'm not sure. She made me uncomfortable, though, Antares... this whole place makes me uncomfortable. Living in darkness beneath Canterlot, so-called 'evil' entities all around us... why are we here? Why has the Baroness decided that these demons are the best teachers for us?”

Antares only shrugged and looked down a bit, and Prestige frowned at him before saying slowly: “Is there anything you won't consider a friend, Antares? Tell me, if you caught a cockroach out in the open, would you try to make friends with it or would you simply kill it?”

“Is it an intelligent talking cockroach?” Antares asked sourly, and Prestige huffed at him before he shook his head slowly. “They're people. All people deserve a chance.”

“They're monsters.” Prestige retorted, sitting up a bit, and the two glared at each other. “Did you see that fire demon? Right in front of you, he was courting your mother!”

“I... I don't know if you've ever called Twilight Sparkle my mother before. Not... seriously.” Antares said with surprise, and Prestige blushed and glanced away as Antares smiled a little. This time, he didn't try to look away, didn't hide his gaze as he studied her, and she tried to look everywhere but his eyes... but slowly, inexorably, her gaze was drawn to his.

Irises locked, seeing into one another, and lips parted... and then Antares leaned forwards, but Prestige reached up her hooves to grasp his shoulders as she met him. They kissed, slowly, passionately, savoring it, drawing it out as long as they dared... and then they parted, and studied each other again as they breathed unevenly in time with one another.

Then Antares blushed deeply and dropped his head forwards, and Prestige smiled faintly at him, studying him as she leaned forwards. Her hooves reached up, stroking through his mane slowly, and she laughed after a moment before whispering: “I hate you so much, Antares Mīrus.”

“I know. I hate you too.” Antares mumbled, and then he smiled and closed his eyes when she wrapped her forelegs around his neck and leaned forwards to kiss the base of his horn, before she dropped her muzzle beside his. Their horns touched, rubbing side-by-side before a sizzle sparked between them, and both unicorns twitched before Prestige laughed and Antares shivered a little in pleasure, in warmth, in... he didn't know.

He almost shyly opened his eyes as they drew apart a little, almost nose-to-nose now, studying each other again. They looked at one-another, and then Prestige asked hesitantly: “Antares... do... is this nothing but foolishness on our parts or do you think we stand a chance of... well...”

She blushed, lowering her head forwards, and Antares stared at her with surprise before he smiled a little, asking quietly: “What, is this your way of already telling me that I'm no good for you? Or are you trying to scare me off?”

“I don't know.” Prestige replied honestly, looking up at him before she shifted again and murmured: “I like you. And I trust you. And both these things, Antares... they're sources of unease. We had one wild, silly kiss, spur of the moment stupidity, and... but... that kiss we just shared now...”

She flushed and looked down, then closed her eyes and dropped her head against him, and he wrapped his forelegs around her... and it felt good. It felt... right, somehow, as he held her close against his body, looking down at her softly... and then blushing a bit as he wondered silently: Is this how Dad felt when he held Mom?

She curled against him, feeling comfortable... feeling... safe. Prestige smiled a bit to herself, then she carefully levered herself forwards and pushed Antares gently down, and he let himself fall quietly onto his back with a laugh, snuggling her tighter against him. She pulled herself on top of him, and Antares blushed deeply, then winced when she pinned him back, straddling him and gazing down at him quietly before she murmured: “I like you like this. Beneath me. Where you belong.”

Antares glowered at her, and Prestige leaned down... then she giggled a little after a moment, and he laughed despite himself, shaking his head slowly. “I can't believe you, seriously. What is wrong with you, Prestige?”

“I don't know. I'm... confused.” Prestige smiled all the same, rubbing her hooves along his chest thoughtfully before she murmured: “I like you, though. I like the way you make me feel. I like that... you're you, and I'm me, but you make me a better person, Antares, and I like to think... I don't know, somehow I do the same. But you're annoyingly perfect already.”

“I wish.” Antares said softly, gazing up at Prestige with a faint smile as he shook his head slowly. “I think... I think you do help me, though, Prestige. You give me something else to fight for, feelings I've... I've never had before, not even for... Meadowlark...”

He blushed deeper, looking away, and Prestige studied him curiously before she asked softly: “Why do you feel so much for her, Antares? And no, I do not mean that because she's a shorn wing and you're a splinter-horn, you're such a perfect match for each other...” Antares looked at her dryly, but was thankful that she was at least being teasing instead of serious. “I mean... don't think I never noticed the hierarchy. You, our leader... and me, at the bottom, the most disliked... but Avalon and Aphrodisia seemed to enjoy punishing Meadowlark from time to time as much as they liked to make me miserable.”

Antares shifted a little, and then he nodded after a moment, saying softly: “Yeah, I... I guess that's true. But it just means that Apps and Ava are slower to forgive than I am, that's all. And there's nothing wrong with that, really.”

Prestige smiled a bit down at him, tilting her head and asking mildly: “So it's fine for me to continue to bear a grudge against you, until you make it up to me?”

“I guess... you know, except for the fact that you're the racist jerk here.” Antares replied dryly, and Prestige rolled her eyes before shoving her hooves down against his stomach, making him wheeze loudly. “Hey!”

Prestige only huffed, rubbing her hooves up along his chest... then blushing as she slowly rubbed her hooves back down, seeming to realize where she had settled into place... but if anything, only settling herself firmer as she smiled down at him tenderly. Antares looked awkwardly back up, a flush suffusing his features at her gentle touches, and then the mare leaned forwards and asked quietly: “So what happened with Meadowlark? Is there a reason you're so... gentle with her?”

“I... don't want to talk about it. It has to do with Avalon's dad and... stuff.” Antares said finally, and Prestige grumbled a bit. “Prestige, you're my marefriend and I care about you, but... you know. Some stories still aren't mine to tell. And we...”

He looked up at her, and she gazed back before he said quietly as he turned his eyes embarrassed away: “We are different people, aren't we? And much as I like this time with you, I... I can't imagine that you're... thrilled with me. I'm... not really pureblood like you are, I'm... well, you always call me a splinter horn, and we both have different beliefs and stuff and like you said, this all so weird and I know... I know that tomorrow you'll probably call someone a name and I'll yell at you for being a racist and we'll get in a big fight and...”

He broke off as Prestige grasped his face gently with a hoof, turning him to look up at her, and then she leaned down and kissed him softly: he closed his eyes, returning it, and it filled him with euphoria as his whole body almost shivered with pleasure before their mouths parted, and Prestige looked down into his eyes softly as she whispered: “It doesn't matter. We can change, and adapt... and you make me feel safe.”

Then she closed her eyes and laid over him, burying her face into his neck as she slipped her upper limbs around his neck, and he hugged her fiercely back, closing his eyes and holding her tightly down against him as he inhaled the sweet scent of her mane and promised quietly: “And I'll always keep you safe, Prestige. I'll always protect you.”

And Prestige smiled softly, believing him, hearing the honesty, the dedication in his words as they simply held one another close and savored the feeling of sanctuary and warmth that came with it.

Antares awoke a few hours later with Prestige still curled close to him, smiling a little down at her as he stroked her face slowly with a hoof. He shifted a little, but only so he could move one of his wings out from where it was pinched beneath him, and then he simply pulled her gently closer and silently nuzzled her in her sleep.

He felt good when he was with her: it was silly, that Prestige of all ponies, made him feel this way, but he smiled all the same at her... before his eyes widened, and he paled as a familiar voice whispered teasingly in his ear: “What a cute couple you two make. So how was it?”

“Apps!” Antares rasped in a strangled voice, looking in horror over his shoulder as he rolled over a little too fast, one leg still curled around Prestige. She grimaced and groaned in her sleep, mumbling and rolling over, but thankfully not waking up as Antares flinched, then sighed in relief when Prestige didn't wake up... before he returned his glare to Aphrodisia, who was sitting back against the door and grinning at him with delight. “Get... get out! And nothing happened!”

Aphrodisia wrinkled up her muzzle, sniffing the air... and then she grumbled and nodded. “That's lame, Nova. Only you would skip the chance to-”

“What are you talking about! You... I... get out!” Antares' voice was so high it was almost a squeak as he gestured wildly at the door, but this only made Aphrodisia giggle behind her hooves as her eyes gleamed brightly. “Go, go, go!”

“Please tell me you got around first base at least. Second, even. Please tell me something happened apart from your mooshy-mooshy goo-goo cuddle-wuddles.” Aphrodisia reached her hooves up, making kissy faces and baby noises as she flailed her hooves at the air, and then Antares twitched before he yanked the pillow out from beneath his head and whipped it at her, hitting the demon in the face.

She winced, then huffed before leaping forwards before Antares could react, tackling him and knocking him crashing into Prestige, who snapped awake with a yell before she screamed at the sight of Aphrodisia leaning down in her face with a grin, before the young unicorn mare's horn gave a bright flash.

Electricity blasted through the air, sizzling over all three ponies, and yells rose up from all of them as it broke down into a wild scuffle, hooves and blasts of wild magic flying in all directions until finally, Prestige whimpered, laying prone beneath sprawled out Antares as the bruised and bludgeoned young stallion groaned, and Aphrodisia smiled with pleasure. The demon sat on top of the pile, butt firmly planted between Antares' shoulderblades as she sniffed loudly. “You guys freaking suck.”

“Okay, Apps, you ambushed us, I'm so, so tired, and you don't ever pull your punches.” Antares mumbled, then he spat out a bit of blood to accent this before adding tiredly: “If you don't get off me, I'll tell Aunt Tia you were the one who poured hot sauce in her tea that one time.”

Aphrodisia winced, then she grumbled and hopped off him, landing easily on the ground and glowering over her shoulder at the bed before giving it a firm kick to make both ponies wince. “Butthead. That's not playing fair. But come on, sleepyheads. Mommy sent me to get you because-”

“Wait, Pinkamena's here?” Antares rose his head curiously, and Aphodisia nodded with a bright smile. “Is she going to help train us or something?”

“A little, yeah. Daddy wanted to come too, but since he can't travel like Mommy and I can, he had to stay in Ponyville.” Aphrodisia looked a little disappointed, then she shook her head quickly. “But Mommy promised to give me and you and Avalon combat training. And Aunt Tia says she wants to train you herself too, Antares, you're really lucky.”

Antares only smiled a little, sitting up slowly before Aphrodisia looked pessimistically between the two. “I can't believe you two, though. What a waste of a bed.”

“Shut up, prostatot. Don't be disgusting.” Prestige muttered in distaste, then she sniffed and shook herself out before reaching up and carefully beginning to smooth down her mane. “Can't we stop for a shower or something?”

“I bet you two want to shower together.” Aphrodisia muttered, and the two ponies glared at her before she shrugged a bit and said finally: “I don't know. Mommy wanted me to bring you right to her, though. I think you're just going to get dirty again anyway, showers are stupid.”

“You're...” Antares shook his head slowly, then he laughed a bit and slipped out of bed, wincing a little at how sore he felt. By the way that Prestige tottered to her hooves, he could see she was feeling sore, too. “Okay. Do we need our armor?”

“Don't think so. I don't think Mommy's going to train you right now anyway, she just wants to talk to you two about something.” Aphrodisia rubbed absently at her face, then added: “The others aren't here yet, anyway. Aunt Tia should get here soon, though, I hope... I can't wait to see what they think of it here in Subterra, it's so cool.”

“Yeah. I know, Apps.” Antares smiled despite himself, then he shook his head a bit before leaning over and kissing Prestige's cheek, making the unicorn mare blush but then smile happily even as Aphrodisia blew a loud raspberry at them. “Lead the way.”

The demon grunted, then she kicked the door behind her open, turning and striding out into the hall. Antares and Prestige both followed, letting the heavy door swing closed behind them, and they only walked a short distance before Aphrodisia suddenly spun around, looking sharply from one pony to the other before she narrowed her eyes and said moodily: “Now listen. Nova. You're my bestest friend, even better than Avalon, and you're family. You're my cousin, but really you're my big brother and I love you.

“Prestige, I hate you. You're smelly and dumb.” Aphrodisia paused for a moment, then she sighed and dropped her head forwards, saying grudgingly: “But if Nova likes you... I'll try and like you. Just like Avalon said.”

Both ponies began to smile, and Aphrodisia's response was to hiss at them as her eyes glowed and her features became skull-like. But even though Prestige winced and staggered backwards, Antares only smiled warmly and murmured: “Thanks, Pinkslap. It means a lot to hear you say that.”

“Good. Better.” Aphrodisia grumbled, then she hopped around in a circle and bounced down the hall, adding in a brighter voice: “Meadowlark was upset as hell, though. I liked that.”

Antares groaned and dropped his head forwards, plodding after her as Prestige awkwardly followed along at the glossy-black stallion's side. Thankfully, it was only a short walk back out to the top of the pyramid... and Antares and Prestige were surprised to find not only Pinkamena waiting for them, but Selene, Burning Desire, and Amdusias.

Aphrodisia pranced over to her mother, and Pinkamena smiled as her daughter nuzzled into her affectionately, mother absently stroking a hoof through her child's raven-black mane before her eyes flicked up and she said mildly: “Look at the happy newlyweds.”

“Why are you so mean some days, Pinkamena?” Antares asked curiously, and Pinkamena shrugged before the young stallion looked back and forth with interest. “What's going on, though?”

“Wait, where's Twilight Sparkle? Shouldn't all of us be gathered here?” Burning Desire asked quickly, looking back and forth, and then the fiery stallion grinned widely as he looked over at Pinkamena and Aphrodisia when they both glowered at him, half-lidding his eyes as he said kindly: “Thankfully, having such beautiful cohorts as yourselves present helps soften the pain in my chest...”

“Oh shut up, you piceous wretch, before you get yourself torn into pieces.” Amdusias said moodily, glowering over at the demon stallion, and Burning Desire made a childish face at him in response. “The advice was for your own good. But look at me, a symphony musician speaking to an amateur idiot who couldn't properly play the triangle.”

“I only play one instrument... and I must say, I've never disappointed anyone in the crowd when I do.” Burning Desire grinned widely and leaned towards Pinkamena and Aphrodisia, waggling his fiery eyebrows... and then Pinkamena reached up and shoved a hoof against his face to knock him sprawling with a yelp.

“Hit on me or my daughter again and I'll gut you and eat you from the inside out.” Pinkamena threatened, and Burning Desire stared, opened his mouth, then promptly closed it when Aphrodisia hissed at him and Pinkamena bared her fangs.

There was silence for a moment, and then Selene began to open her mouth before the Nephilim slowly turned her head towards Burning Desire when the demon stallion leapt up and grasped at his chest with one hoof, beginning seriously: “But Antares, honestly, you have to tell me! I must go to my beautiful, undying violet and offer her my sweet help! I can't let her suffer alone, after all... I am a mighty stallion of honor that-”

Selene's eyes narrowed slightly as her horn gave a faint white pulse, and Burning Desire's jaw snapped shut and his eyes went wide as the flames on his body whiffed out completely, his shifting coat turning to the color of dying embers. For a few moments he simply sat, posed awkwardly, and then he slowly, carefully stepped back into line with the other demons as Selene looked ahead with a kind smile. “Handsome Antares. The Dawn Bringer contacted me with an interesting request...

“As you can see, gathered in front of you are those who have agreed to help teach you. Minus, of course, Twilight Sparkle and Celestia herself. But they will join us in time.” Selene smiled, bowing her head politely. “The Dawn Bringer has asked that you choose who shall teach who, bearing in mind that we will be tutoring most of you one-on-one... and that the more teachers a student has, the less they may learn in each field.”

“And who died and made the child leader?” Amdusias asked grumpily, and when Selene slowly turned her gaze to him, the demon cleared his throat hurriedly and mumbled: “I apologize. Perhaps that was out of tune with the rest of the band. I'll... stick to the rhythm set by the rest of the orchestra.”

“A wise decision.” Selene said gently, and then she turned her attention back to Antares, continuing calmly: “You may also ask for other teachers if you so desire, but please understand that Subterra's resources are not infinite, and that neither I nor the Dawn Bringer will force those to bend to your will on your behalf...”

But as Antares dared to look into the infinite gaze of the Nephilim, she smiled slightly and her strange, galactic eyes narrowed as her voice whispered through his mind, alluring, seductive, and full of promise: Unless you truly want me to.

Antares shivered a bit at this, hurriedly dropping his gaze before he swallowed thickly and nodded, then looked up and hesitantly drew his eyes over the group in front of him. He frowned for a moment, then closed his eyes and thought quickly. He thought about himself, and his friends... and then he looked up and said slowly: “I... I'll train with Aunt Tia, Pinkamena, Amdusias, and yourself, Selene. It's greedy, but I need to make sure I round out my skills as much as I can.

“Prestige, I'd like for you to train with my Mom, Twilight Sparkle, and... Burning Desire.” He grimaced a bit, even as Burning Desire looked up with delight at this prospect, the flames bursting back into being over his body as he leered at Prestige, who winced back in distaste. “Aphrodisia, no one can teach you better than Pinkamena... but I'd like you to train with me and Aunt Tia, too.

“I have to do the others, too, don't I?” Antares asked quietly, and when Selene nodded, he sighed a little and looked down, murmuring: “It's not fun being the leader.”

“It can be, Antares. It depends on your perspective... and while you feel pain in your friends' pain and losses, concentrate on the fact you will feel great joy in their successes as well... that if you assign them properly, they will learn much, and owe you gratitude and favor.” Selene replied kindly, and Antares nodded a little even as he kept his gaze carefully away from the burning-white entity.

Finally, he looked up, almost meeting her eyes but just keeping himself from locking gazes with her as he said quietly: “Avalon will train with Pinkamena and I'd like for her to train up in Canterlot, with the Royal Guard or the Yamato Elite. Rustproof...” He frowned a little, then said slowly: “Rustproof will spend his time with the Royal Guard, if possible, and... with the Nibelung engineers and the demons that keep things running here. And last, Meadowlark...” He hesitated. “I'd like Meadowlark to work with Amdusias and with my Mom.”

Amdusias frowned at this, looking up moodily. “I don't recognize this pony's name. Is she another impertinent unicorn?”

Prestige glared, and Antares shook his head quickly, saying awkwardly: “Actually, Meadowlark is a Pegasus, and she doesn't... really have any fighting experience or anything, like Rusty, but-”

“Then what am I supposed to do with her? I already have two obnoxious Pegasi to fritter away my time with!” Amdusias complained, shaking his head grumpily before he asked dourly: “What precisely could a bird-pony learn from me?”

“Well, you're a Lord of Helheim, right? Twilight was talking about how wise and knowledgeable you are just the other day, I thought you could maybe teach Meadowlark some stuff about Helheim...” Antares said carefully, and Amdusias looked pleased with this as he raised his head with a slight smile, nodding thoughtfully before Antares added: “And she can sing, kinda?”

“So?” All the same, Amdusias looked intrigued, tilting his head a bit as he rubbed at his chin slowly.

“Well, I mean. She hasn't for a while. She... used to sing a lot, though, and... maybe you could help remind her how to. You're a master of music and all, right?” Antares asked slowly, drawing his eyes over the demon, and Amdusias puffed up immediately, nodding with more emphasis at this. “Thank you, Amdusias. I really owe you one.”

“Yes, well. I'm feeling generous, that's all.” Amdusias said comfortably, polishing his claws against the smooth scales of his chest, and Burning Desire muttered something and slapped a hoof against his forehead before he winced when Amdusias booted him lightly. “Oh shut up, soul-seller. Go bury yourself in your money pit. And never come back out.”

“I don't have a money pit, I have a mare pit. And I wish I never had to come back out...” Burning Desire looked dreamily over at Aphrodisia and Pinkamena, who both glared at him. “Except all the most gorgeous mares seem to keep getting away.”

Pinkamena leaned over and punched Burning Desire hard across the face, a bit of molten slag splattering out of his jaws like drool as his head snapped to the side, and then his eyes slowly began to water – or rather fill with liquid fire – before he whimpered a little and forced a grin. “How. How feisty. I love a fighter, really. They remind me of my mother.”

“You dream about screwing your mother?” Pinkamena asked distastefully, and Burning Desire looked dumbly up before the Gluttony demon snorted and muttered: “Well, whatever floats your boat, flamer. From the looks of you I would have guessed your dreams are all about daddy, though.”

“I. Wait. How?” the fiery demon asked, frowning before he looked down at one hoof that was wreathed in flame, and then he stomped it firmly, glaring over at her as he said flatly, head tilting back and forth: “Oh, I get it. Ha, ha, you're so funny! Oh, look at me, I'm just splitting my sides laughing. Ha, ha, ha.”

“I'll split your sides open. I'll split all of you open. I haven't had stallion flambe for a long time.” Pinkamena muttered, glaring over at him, and Burning Desire winced.

Before it could escalate any further, however, Selene looked up from where she had been thinking and said softly: “I shall prepare a schedule, Antares. Your choices are very interesting... and somewhat unexpected. When the Baroness arrives, I am sure she will be eager to speak to you on your decisions... I, however, merely accept and honor them, and will do my best to see that all of your wishes are fulfilled.”

Antares smiled awkwardly, nodding a little before Selene smiled softly back. “Our business is concluded for today. Your friends will be arriving in short time, so perhaps you should prepare for their arrival...” Selene paused, then her horn gave the faintest of hums as she glanced to the side, and a moment later, a Nightmare appeared, bowing deeply to those present. “Your swiftness is appreciated. Please take Prince Antares Mīrus and Prestige Luster to where they may bathe, and attend to any other needs they may have.”

Antares smiled awkwardly, raising his head and saying quickly: “Really, just... getting clean will be more than enough, Selene. Thank you, honestly, for... everything. And all of you have my thanks, too... especially you, Pinkamena. I know it must be tiring for you to jump back and forth.”

“Hey, I ain't just doin' it for you, tumor, my daughter's here.” Pinkamena reached up a foreleg and wrapped it around Aphrodisia's shoulders, and the young demon smiled brightly before the dull-gray mare looked up and added softly: “Besides, kid. What are big sisters for, right?”

Antares smiled again, much warmer, and Pinkamena gave him a wink before her face went flat when Burning Desire wrapped a companionable foreleg around her, leaning in cheerfully and asking kindly: “Well, do you look out for Twilight Sparkle as well as you do Antares? Because she could really use a special healing touch right now, and I would love to give her that...”

“If you don't take your hoof off me right now, I'm going to bite it off and never give it back.” Pinkamena threatened, and Burning Desire winced and drew back before the Gluttony demon glared at him, then spat on the fire demon, making him flinch again as a bit of steam hissed up from where it splattered against his body. “Also, keep away from Twilight. She can afford better stallion whores than you.”

“Hey, how do you know how good I am unless you spend a night in my bed of fire?” Burning Desire asked with half-lidded eyes, winking at her before he added brightly: “And I always give good deals if you want to share, but there's always more than enough to go around... my two-for-one might become your new favorite-”

Pinkamena growled, then reached out and seized Burning Desire by the nose, and he winced before yelping loudly as the Gluttony demon dragged him forcefully forwards past her staring daughter, the fiery stallion wrinkling up his muzzle before he squawked when she flung him forwards and sent him crashing and rolling down the staircase, every bounce against the heavy cement steps sending up a burst of ashes and fire. Finally, just before he hit the ground, he erupted into a geyser of flames that transformed into a firebird, this flying hurriedly away as Pinkamena shouted after him: “Keep your hooves to yourself or I'll be having cooked chicken for dinner!”

“He's annoying.” Aphrodisia nodded rapidly, then she paused and smiled almost dreamily as Pinkamena returned, adding: “But he is kind of handsome, Mommy.”

“You're too young for that, kid. Wait a century or two, then I won't complain about you manipulating handsome demons.” Pinkamena muttered, then she glared around at the others, snapping: “Why the hell are you all still here? Hell, why are we still here? Come on, Aphrodisia.”

With that, Pinkamena turned and burst apart into black smoke, and Aphrodisia giggled before waving brightly to Antares and Prestige, then she transformed herself into a dark missile that whizzed through the air after her mother. Antares watched them go with a slow shake of his head as Prestige glowered moodily off into the distance at the thought of learning under Burning Desire, and then they both looked up as the Nightmare approached with a kind smile. “Please follow me, friends, now that the distractions are done with.”

Antares nodded, tossing a last glance over at the remaining demons... but Amdusias had made his saxophone appear and was gazing thoughtfully off into the distance as he played his dexterous fingers compulsively along the keys, and Selene had returned to sitting calmly on top of her reflecting pool, gazing with a strange, tender smile at her reflection in the water as feathers and flower petals floated around her.

The young stallion turned his eyes back forwards, wondering if he should say something as they stepped onto the north bridge, then entered the halls of the strange but beautiful Thorn Palace... but Prestige saved him the trouble, as she asked hesitantly: “Do... do you work here as servants... miss?”

“Miss. I have never been called this before.” The Nightmare gave a quiet laugh at this, then it shook its head before murmuring: “In a way, yes. But to think we serve Selene because she is our mistress is false. We serve her because we were asked to serve her by the Dawn Bringer... ultimately, our allegiance lies with the Dawn Bringer, with Mistress Twilight... and with you, Antares Mīrus. And of course... with the true Mistress and Master of the Night: we look forwards to when you bring them back to us. We know you will succeed, Antares... we long for Luna so.”

“I do too.” Antares said quietly, before he could stop himself, and Prestige gave him a soft look before he hurriedly shook his head and glanced awkwardly up as he asked finally: “What makes you so sure that I'll succeed though? And... and why is my Mom so important to you?”

“Because your mother forged the alliance with our kind... saved many of us from destruction as our original world fell apart, brought us here, and spread her rule into this world. We are allies with new powers now... our strength grows with every passing day.” The Nightmare sighed with soft pleasure. “Mistress Luna and Master Scrivener... we first feared them, but it was foolishness. No, because they are like us... they are like what we desire to be. And in return for our loyalty, they make us strong... they have made best friends of those who were once our worst enemies, and our hatred has become reverence.”

The Nightmare smiled almost tenderly, then it halted and bowed its head toward an open white door. Antares leaned forwards, looking inside to see an immense, rounded tub built into the ground that was almost the size of a pool, complete with a small staircase running along one side to safely get in and out as the Nightmare said kindly: “If you like, I and my sisters can join you... or fetch others to tend to yourself and your beloved...”

“I... no, no!” Antares blushed deeply as he realized what the Nightmare meant, stammering: “This... this is perfectly fine, uh... Prestige and I are fine, right?”

Prestige only blushed awkwardly and hurried into the bathing room, and the Nightmare smiled after them before Antares added lamely: “You can... go, then. We're... I'm sure we can find our way back afterwards. Thanks, though, uh... thanks.”

The Nightmare nodded, but continued to simply sit and study him, and Antares felt his blush worsening as he carefully stepped forwards into the bathroom, then turned and slowly shut the door. He paused, then nervously leaned forwards, peering through the slight space between jamb and frame... then winced a little when he thought he saw the Nightmare still out there, mumbling: “Oh god.”

Prestige glanced up with a wince from where she was testing the water of the tub, and Antares shook his head as he stepped away from the door before turning and approaching it himself. Then he and Prestige traded a look, and they both blushed a little before Antares said lamely: “Well... uh...”

“Sharing a tub with a splinter horn.” Prestige muttered, then she shook her head violently before sighing tiredly and nodding a little, dropping her head forwards and grumbling: “You can help me with my mane, then. I think I can trust you to do at least that, yes?”

“Like one of your servants?” Antares asked before he could stop himself, and Prestige looked at him sourly before she splashed a bit of water at him when he approached, making him wince. “Hey. And I thought you were cutting back on the whole... being a racist jerk thing.”

“It's not racism when it's true, Antares Mīrus, you are what any of my proud kind would consider a splinter-horn.” Prestige retorted, and then she hesitated before adding quietly when the male glared at her: “And... and to be honest, I would not have it any other way. Because being what you are...”

She quieted, then shook her head with a blush before slipping forwards and into the tub, and she squirmed a little in surprise as she mumbled: “It's rather hot.”

“Yeah?” Antares stepped forwards, carefully reaching down and swirling the water with a hoof, and then he smiled a little before hesitantly sliding into the tub himself across from her. The two looked at one-another awkwardly for a few moments as the waters rippled around them, and then the young stallion cleared his throat lamely as he scrubbed a bit at himself and asked dumbly: “Do you... do you see the soap anywhere?”

“I...” Prestige blushed, and Antares coughed, the two looking awkward and embarrassed and almost like foals before she glanced to the side and hurriedly swept a large bar off a nearby tray. Then she fumbled it with a curse, dropping it into the depths of the tub with a plunk, and without thinking Antares dove down after it.

He surfaced a moment later in front of her with a bit of a splash and an awkward grin, soap held between his hooves as he looked up at her, and she gazed back at him dumbly... and then a smile twitched at her mouth before she giggled a little, and Antares laughed himself. And in that moment, everything was alright again, as their eyes locked and they smiled at each other before Prestige said through her blush: “Go ahead.”

Antares looked at her with surprise... but then he blushed a little himself as she turned around, and slowly, gently, he began to rub the soap along her back. He built up a lather, and soaped down her entire body, massaging as he cleaned her, nervous hooves stroking along her form, taking in her details... enjoying himself more than he wanted to admit as he breathed a little hard through a dry mouth. But he was careful, too, not letting his hooves wander overmuch... letting her guide him... slowing when she stiffened, moving away when she shifted, but slipping a little closer and obeying her body language and her wordless whispers.

He repeated the process with just his hooves to rinse and massage her, and she was more open, he was more bold... until at the end, she was pressing back against him, and he was half-curled over her, embracing her fiercely as they kissed slowly. When it parted, she smiled up at him, and murmured quietly: “Now, splinter-horn, let me give you an honor almost unique to your kind... let me do the same for you.”

“Prestige, you don't have to.” Antares said awkwardly, blushing deeply, suddenly nervous... especially since...

He blushed deeper as she looked at him insistently, and then he leaned back a little when she picked up the soap and turned towards him, guiding him first to the side of the tub. As he leaned forwards, she began to scrub first along his back... but her hooves were bolder than his. For all her changes, she still clearly held the belief she could and should take what she wanted... and when he squeaked as her hooves encircled him and rubbed downwards, she leaned against his back and murmured: “Stop it. I'm not... what's... oh.”

She blushed herself... and he felt her tremble, and a heat that couldn't compare to the water radiating through her as she rested for a moment before a slight smile rose to her features as she murmured: “Idiotic slave-hoof. Unable to control yourself, are you? Without a unicorn's superior discipline... strength...”

“Prestige.” Antares mumbled, the glossy-black unicorn almost fire-engine red by now, and Prestige laughed... and despite his discomfort, it filled him with joy before he sighed in relief as her hooves moved away, and he closed his eyes when she continued her gentle ministrations.

She rinsed him afterwards, then turned him around, and they looked at each other for a few moments. And then silently, without needing to be asked, Antares picked up the shampoo bottle nearby and smiled across at her.

He washed her mane for her, and Prestige looked like she was in bliss as she stayed mostly beneath the water, little more than her nose sticking out of the surface as she gave a soft sigh that bubbled up through the liquid. Antares enjoyed her pleasure more than he wanted to admit, gazing down at her with affection... but what surprised him was when, once he was done, she sat up slightly and smiled over her shoulder, murmuring: “Now do my tail, and then I'll wash your mane.”

“I... okay.” Antares studied her, seeing her honesty: seeing more than that, how she wanted to return the favor, she wanted to give back to him what he gave to her. The thought filled him with warmth, and reminded him again of his parents: how they had always shared so much with one-another, how they had almost been like an infinite cycle, one perpetually sustaining the other.

The rest of the bath was spent in silence, and Antares enjoyed Prestige's hooves working along his scalp far more than he should have, leaving him feeling almost euphoric. And when they were finally clean, they studied each other, smiled, and shared another kiss, their bodies pressing against each other's but unmindful of it now... instead, cherishing this, and all the sensations that came with it.

They climbed out of the tub together, and helped dry one-another off, still studying each other. These experiences were all so new, so fresh, and then Prestige smiled at him and said quietly: “Any other stallion would be pressuring me for sex right now. At least, in my experience that is the nature of most males.”

Antares blushed, mumbling: “Well it's not as if I'm not thinking about it but... I think we have other things to worry about, and... and well...” He looked up at her hesitantly. “Have you...”

“Oh, as if I've ever had the time with how hard I've been forced to train in magic.” Prestige said crossly, and Antares laughed in spite of himself before she said mildly: “Besides, a purebred unicorn like myself, in a melting pot like Canterlot. I never even found a suitable friend, much less a suitable bedmate. Not... not until you.”

She looked up at him, studying him for a few moments, and then she smiled a little. “And now look what I'm with. A boorish unicorn who wants to be an earth pony. I, the cultured, pristine and pure unicorn... with you...”

She strode forwards, murmuring as Antares blushed deeply and grinned awkwardly at the way her eyes half-lidded, her gaze almost hungry: “Dirty. Impure. A mutt. Rough and strong and masculine. You're like an animal, a beast, all your... thoughts of nature and striving to be equal instead of superior... oh, how I used to revile you, and now you fascinate me, you're exotic, you're so handsome and big and your friends are demons and it makes me wonder, Antares, what's inside you?”

She reached up, stroking a hoof slowly over his chest as he stared at her, and she grinned up at him, eyes sparkling... and then she shivered and shook her head hurriedly, looking embarrassed as she dropped her head against the side of his neck. “Oh Horses of Heaven. I... I think it's the air of this place...”

“It's... it's okay. I... yeah, Subterra makes... emotions run hot.” Antares said finally, although he wondered at the same time how true that was, and how much of that had been... Prestige, beneath her perfection and her masks. Yet even as it admittedly made him wonder if he was just eye-candy for her... at the same time, he could feel her emotions, could see not just lust in her eyes, but admiration... could feel her, clinging to him not just because he was large and big and handsome, but because he made her feel safe and secure and... something else. Something almost sacred...

He cleared his throat and turned his gaze quickly away as he realized he had started deep-reading her by accident, and then he smiled after a moment, reaching up and rubbing a hoof through her mane. She blushed a bit, her silver locks a little messy instead of done up in their coiffed perfection, before she smiled radiantly when he said quietly: “You're really beautiful natural, you know. I like your mane like this.”

“Do you?” she asked almost timidly, and when he nodded, she smiled again, then bowed her head forwards and murmured: “Mother and father would be... horrified. One must always look their best, after all, as we are the superior species... and more than that, we are superior to the superiors, we are supposed to be the apex...”

She sighed a little, though, speaking with irony instead of pride before she looked up at him and said quietly: “I still think unicorns are superior, Antares, don't get me wrong. But at the same time... striving to prove it the ways we did... it all strikes me as nonsense. We were lazy... we were preening birds.”

She quieted, then shook her head before burying her face against his neck, and Antares looked down at her with surprise as she murmured: “I don't know if I wish to return home any longer. I think sometimes... I think... I've found my home.”

He wrapped his forelegs around her, holding her close and closing his eyes, and for a few moments, there was silence. The only thing Prestige could hear was the beat of Antares' heart... the only thing she cared about, was the strong thuds of that drum in his chest, and it soothed her before she smiled a little and gazed up at him, kissing his chin quietly when he looked down at her with such honest tenderness. How he could be so good to her, after how they always argued, after how she had treated him... how she could feel so much for him, not just in spite of their conflicted past, but she thought because of how different they had been and still were in many ways...

“Let's go.” she said softly, and Antares nodded, but he kissed her forehead tenderly before letting her go, and the simple, small affection filled her with warmth. Then they turned and made their way to the door, Antares holding it open for Prestige with a smile before they both emerged into the hall, the two gazing at each other affectionately before the unicorn mare's eyes shifted to the side... and then she stared and cleared her throat hurriedly.

Antares frowned, then he turned curiously even as a twist of anxiety ran through him... and he stared in surprise at the sight of Meadowlark standing just a few feet away. The Pegasus stared at him, and he stared back... then she flushed and spun around, but Antares hurried forwards, calling almost desperately: “Meadow, wait, wait!”

The Pegasus stumbled to a halt, and then she trembled like a leaf, closing her eyes and bowing her head forwards as Antares hesitantly came to a stop beside her, looking at her quietly. She breathed hard, shivering a little as Prestige nervously approached from behind, and then the Pegasus mare turned carefully around, looking from one to the other before she forced a weak smile. “Hi, guys... I... I was actually looking for you. I'm sorry I... I just...”

“No, you don't have to apologize, Meadowlark, I... I'm sorry you... I mean...” Antares felt his heart twist in his chest as Prestige shifted uncomfortably, and then the stallion hesitantly reached up and touched Meadowlark's shoulder. She didn't pull away, even as she continued to tremble weakly... and for a moment, the male simply looked at her before he sighed a little and murmured: “I'm so sorry.”

“No... it's... it's okay. You're... you two look good together.” Meadowlark said quietly, and she smiled again even though her eyes were gleaming with unshed tears. “Antares... I... it was silly, anyway. And... I'm glad you are happy. We're... we're still friends, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, of course, Meadowlark. We'll always be friends. And... you don't have to force anything...” Antares said quietly, looking at her almost pleadingly... and what broke his heart was the honesty in her words. He could see her ache, her pain... but at the same time, she was speaking the truth. She was upset and hurt and disappointed... and yet she was still happy for him. And even with his talents, he couldn't understand how she could still smile for him even if he had broken her heart.

Meadowlark only dropped her head forwards, whispering: “Good. I want to be friends... and... I'm not forcing anyway, I... I just...” She shivered a little, then looked up and breathed slowly, studying him with a tremble. “Don't... worry about me. I know it was stupid. You're a hero, Antares I... I... I'm just happy to be included. Especially after everything I did to you, and Avalon and...”

She shivered and looked away, then closed her eyes and nodded silently once before shaking her head violently when Antares began to speak. The unicorns instead remained silent and the Pegasus breathed hard before she finally looked up and murmured: “Celestia would like to meet with you. She's out with... that strange demon, Selene. And... thank you for... for including me. I know I'm useless to you here...”

“You're not useless... I...” Antares shifted, then he lowered his eyes when Meadowlark only looked silently at the ground. “I know you'll be a big help, Meadowlark. There's still a lot for you to do.”

Meadowlark laughed faintly at this, but then she nodded slowly and hesitated, before looking up and saying quietly: “Can I come back with you? This castle scares me and... I... I promise not to get in the way...”

“Meadow... I...” Antares shifted a bit, and then he nodded slowly before leaning forwards and quietly hugging her. Meadowlark hugged him tightly back, burying her face against the side of his neck and trembling... and even though he felt her pain flare up, he felt her silently thanking him, too, before they pulled slowly apart.

For a few moments, there was quiet, and then Prestige said softly: “Meadowlark... I'm sorry. Perhaps... perhaps we can be friends, too. But I understand if you'd... rather have nothing to do with me.”

“No, I... no. We need to work together, and get past this and... it was silly anyway...” Meadowlark shook her head vehemently, then she gave another faint, forced smile to Prestige, nodding a little and closing her eyes. “But Celestia is waiting and... yeah.”

Antares simply nodded, and he felt trapped for a moment: in front of him, Meadowlark, with so much pain and happiness he didn't understand, and behind him, Prestige, who was trying hard to be kind but he felt jealousy and fear mixing strangely with sympathy. Then the young stallion hurriedly turned, leading the two onwards... and he winced a bit over his shoulder at the two young mares, thinking morbidly of how complicated everything had gotten all of a sudden.

It didn't take them long to head back out to the top of the pyramid, where Selene was calmly talking with Celestia, although there was no sign of any of Antares' other friends. As they approached, Celestia glanced up and tilted her head with surprise at the trio, then she frowned a little and asked gently: “Meadowlark, wouldn't you prefer to head off to the guest quarters with the others? And Prestige, you may leave too if you desire... I only really need to speak to Antares.”

“I... would like to stay.” Prestige said hesitantly, and then she glanced over at Meadowlark as the Pegasus shifted awkwardly, before the unicorn mare visibly sighed inwardly, but said all the same: “And Meadowlark is... very intelligent. Perhaps... she could assist us if... she doesn't want to leave.”

“Kindness. A virtue, is it not?” Selene smiled a little, glancing with infinite, dark gaze towards Celestia, who nodded slowly as the ivory mare visibly softened. “You have strange thoughts and feelings, Dawn Bringer.”

“I do, Selene. I'm reminded of the past, that's all.” Celestia said softly, and then she turned her eyes calmly towards Antares, asking curiously: “Your choices for mentors... they were interesting. I'm glad that you made them, and I respect them, Antares, but I'm still curious all the same as to a few of them... Avalon and Rustproof, for example. The Royal Guard will not treat either of them kindly, you understand this?”

“I... didn't think of that.” Antares admitted, then he hesitated before shaking his head slowly. “But it doesn't change my opinion, either. It'll be good for them both, I think: I just... hope they aren't too mean to Rusty. But he can work with the rifle brigade, and I don't know who else could train Avalon. I figured your Yamato and the Royal Guard were the only real choices... well, and Pinkamena, of course.”

“I have a solution for that, as a matter of fact. A personal trainer who is willing to work with Avalon as a personal favor to me, although... it took quite a lot of convincing.” Celestia smiled slightly, and Antares tilted his head with interest. “Don't worry, Antares. It's a pony that I believe Avalon can honestly benefit from, in more than one way. And who will very likely teach her there is benefit to humility: Avalon Apple has some right to her bragging, after all, but... it does get a little... wearisome.”

Antares laughed a little despite himself, and then Celestia continued: “I hope you don't mind, but I've also taken the liberty of setting up a basic schedule, and where I could, I've paired together students. For example, I would prefer you and Aphrodisia to train side-by-side under Pinkamena. It's not just important that you learn to fight, Antares... it's important that you and your friends learn to better work together.”

Antares Mīrus nodded quickly, and then Celestia smiled softly, saying quietly: “Selfishly, I've scheduled us plenty of time together. I want you to know ahead of time I'm not going to give you gentler treatment because you are my nephew... if anything, I'll push you harder. Your mother would have wanted that... you understand, don't you?”

“I do, and I appreciate it, Aunt Tia.” The glossy-black young stallion bowed his head with a blush, and Celestia smiled approvingly. “I'm... sorry that I was so selfish in my choices.”

“No Antares, I understand. And it is necessary, even if I wish your mother was here... Luna could better train you than the rest of us put together.” Celestia said quietly, glancing away before she shook her head slowly, then she glanced over at Meadowlark. “Perhaps you could help me with the schedule. And... don't worry about Amdusias. He can be a little chaotic at times, but he's a good person at heart. He's more bark than bite.”

Meadowlark smiled a little, nodding slowly, and there was silence for a few moments before Celestia hesitated, then asked: “On... another matter... is Twilight Sparkle...”

“She's... regenerating in the crypt, yeah. Her wings and horn have to grow back still, and I know it's... it's not nearly as easy as she tells me it is. I know she doesn't want me to worry but... I do, all the same.” Antares laughed a little, glancing up at her hesitantly. “Could... could we visit her?”

“Of course. But first... let's walk your friends to their respective rooms, and deal with the business at hoof of letting them know what the days ahead hold. We can make a few small adjustments as necessary, then... go and visit Twilight.” Celestia replied quietly, and then she gave Selene a smile and nod. “Take care, friend.”

“You as well, Valkyrie... it settles my nerves to have you here, Dawn Bringer.” Selene replied softly, and then she settled slowly back down on top of the water of her reflecting pool, sending a quiet ripple through the water as she gazed down into it with a quiet laugh. “You remind me of mother, too. But not as much as Luna... we both look up to her, don't we?”

“She was my little sister... but she was also my guide, in more ways than she ever knew.” Celestia replied quietly, and Antares smiled silently as he looked up at his aunt as she calmly approached, before leaning down and nuzzling her nephew softly for a moment, and he blushed a bit but smiled wider in affection. “Come, Antares, and friends. Business before pleasure.”

Antares nodded firmly once, stepping aside to let Celestia pass, and then he turned to follow as Meadowlark and Prestige fell in pace on either side of him, both mares looking quietly towards the young stallion with longing and affection as for just a moment, everything else was forgotten.

Forever Longing

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Chapter Thirteen: Forever Longing
~BlackRoseRaven

Prestige Luster nervously strode through the streets of Subterra with her Nightmare guide, trying to ignore the looks she was getting here and there from demons and other creatures. The suspicious looks were bad enough... but there were plenty who were smiling tenderly, and some of them had already taken to calling her 'Lady Prestige,' and 'the Prince's lover.'

Prestige wondered awkwardly if Antares knew how much these creatures adored and looked up to him... and how many of them considered Antares to be just like them. And more, that made her wonder silently just what kind of darkness might lurk inside Antares himself, how many similarities he actually bore to these demons that were hidden beneath the surface, or maybe he only suppressed from the public eye...

But it didn't bother her: he made her feel safe, and good, and protected, and Prestige smiled a little before she stared as the Nightmare led her through the heavy, welcoming and open golden gates leading into the grounds of a beautiful palace. There was an enormous yard that strange trees and gardens of flowers and plants grew through in almost wild clusters in front of the gorgeous building of red stone and golden steel, and there was something... exotic about the whole design. It wasn't spiky and scary like the rest of the darker stone buildings that she had seen through the enormous cavern systems that made up Subterra, but rounded, and beautiful, and attractive, with strange wild flora growing here and there along it, soaking in the heat that radiated through the building.

The Nightmare smiled over at Prestige, then it bowed its head to her politely before simply vanishing, and Prestige squeaked a bit before she hesitantly looked at the golden stairs leading up to a beautiful, open archway leading into the palace. She felt like she was going to see some sultan or vizier, and she couldn't help but wonder how a demon that hadn't left an exactly good impression on her could afford all this.

Then Burning Desire pranced out of the open archway, looking down at her brightly and calling delightedly: “Come, come! What a pleasure, my sweet, oh, don't wait outside! How lucky am I, getting to teach such a pretty young thing, in my own home, and enjoy both the the benefits of tutoring another as well as the delight of having such a beautiful creature around!”

He laughed, and Prestige sighed tiredly before she nervously made her way up the steps as the fiery stallion eyed her appreciatively. She grimaced and shivered, half-wishing he'd at least hide his leering before he turned with a smile, turning and leading her forwards down the massive entrance hall. “Come, darling, I have a room all set up for us... and then once that's done, we can head over to the training area, how does that sound?”

He grinned roguishly down at her as Prestige flushed, looking hurriedly away at the red stone walls as they passed beautiful tapestries and coats of arms, before she stared: the hall was bottle shaped, and they were just stepping out of the thinner neck into the wide, open rectangular body... and here, lining the walls, were not tapestries but instead statues of gorgeous mares standing in sultry, provocative, and sometimes downright debauched poses that revealed every last detail of... “Oh god! How can you decorate your home like this! What about... god!”

“Oh, as if any god doesn't see this every day.” Burning Desire argued, shaking his head with a huff before the enormous, fiery demon leaned against her: he was almost twice the size of her, and his burning fire mane and tail both licked at her body... but the warmth they spread to her was only uncomfortable purely because the fire sent strange heat racing through her instead of burning painfully. “I have some statues of stallions down in the outer garden if you'd prefer to ogle, those, though... just as detailed, in various states of-”

“You horrible... pervert!” Prestige spat, looking up at him with horror as she stumbled to halt, looking once over her shoulder at the statues that lined one side of the wall before she glared forwards at Burning Desire.

The demon stallion struck a shocked pose as he grabbed his face with his front hooves, staring down at her as fiery mane and tail both burst backwards. “What? A Lust demon is a pervert? Oh, inform the magistrate, this is so unexpected and unacceptable!” Burning Desire proceeded to flail his hooves violently around, then he suddenly dropped them flat and leaned down, grinning widely as he pushed nose-to-nose with her, and Prestige stared stupidly up at him. “Some of the statues are modeled off me. Wanna guess which ones?”

“The ugly one at the very end with its rump raised in the air.” Prestige snapped, glaring towards the end of the hall, and Burning Desire's face puckered as he glared down at her. “Can we get to training? I'm beginning to think that you have nothing to teach but... but... how to be disgusting! And how to waste money on... there must be two dozen of these tacky statues here, and I dare not imagine how much other... filth and garbage you've lined this entire ridiculous castle with!”

“Hey!” Burning Desire put a hurt look on his face. “This isn't a castle. It's my palace of pleasure. My fiery furnace of fu-”

Prestige gave him the most horrible look she could, and Burning Desire cleared his throat before he sighed tiredly, then he nodded a few times before gesturing at the open set of crimson double doors at the far end of the hall. “Oh, fine, filly. You mortals are all so touchy these days. Even Twilight Sparkle, who I thought would be much more open-minded to this sort of thing. But it amuses me, I suppose, so it's a fair tradeoff.”

“My disgust amuses you.” Prestige said flatly, and Burning Desire nodded with a childlike smile before he turned and pranced forwards, and Prestige sighed tiredly before she mumbled and followed after him, wincing a bit at the posed statues on either side of the hall.

She followed him into another hallway, ignoring the pictures and tapestries that depicted things she tried her hardest not to look at... or worse, imagine... but thankfully, after a short walk, Burning Desire led her into a curiously-shaped room. At first Prestige winced a little when he closed the heavy metal door behind her, worried about what he was going to do... but then he simply strode down the center of the mostly-empty room, between the six plain pillars that fed up into the heavy ironwood rafters above.

He stopped in front of an empty fireplace, then flicked his horn with a smile, and it burst into vibrant life before he sighed in relief and turned around. Prestige was still looking hesitantly back and forth, but she was surprised to see no ornaments on the wall. Then she glanced up as Burning Desire said gently: “Come here, and gaze into the fire. This is my meditation room.”

Prestige hesitated, but then she grimaced and nodded, walking forwards, and she winced when he slipped a foreleg companionably around her when she sat down in front of the fireplace. She looked down into the fire, studying the way the orange flames danced before flinching a bit as the demon's mouth pressed almost to her ear, whispering: “This is where I come for quiet contemplation... my inner stronghold, my special place. Precious few ever see this... only those... who are special themselves...”

He stroked slowly along her side, then down her back, and Prestige swallowed hard as he leaned into her, nuzzling against the side of her neck as he licked his lips slowly, and the female shivered before muttering: “You need to learn personal space.”

“I can feel your desires, Prestige Luster. Come now, Antares wouldn't mind.” he almost pleaded, before smiling and dropping his face against her neck, making her flinch again... and yet she didn't pull away. Yes, he made her uncomfortable: he scared her a little, and he was touchy and grabby, but somehow, at the same time, she wasn't precisely worried... and Burning Desire chuckled quietly as he murmured, apparently tasting her emotions or her mind clearly enough to answer: “Because I can't force myself on you, darling. Oh, I can seduce, tease, touch, lust and long for you, but I can't force myself on anyone. I'm lust and greed, but what I want... what I need... is for people to give in to me...”

Slowly, his hoof rubbed down towards her flank, but he grasped her gently as he kissed a tender spot on the side of the unicorn's neck, making her shiver again as she shifted and muttered: “Get... off me.”

“Just a kiss? Just a taste?” Burning Desire leaned up, his breath slipping into her ear, making her tremble at the heat and the feeling and the desires that rollicked inside her even as she fought back against his influence, but everything was so hot and he was... he was so handsome...

Prestige clenched her eyes shut, resisting, and Burning Desire almost whimpered, making her curse in frustration as she glared at him before their eyes met, and she said slowly and firmly: “I... I love Antares.”

She twitched a bit, and then a thud ran through her at this confession: said to herself as much as him. The demon stared at her... and then he sighed wistfully, but smiled at her all the same as he leaned forwards and nuzzled her slowly, but it was different this time as his forelegs slipped up, not grasping her but instead embracing her as he smiled with genuine feeling for her. “Lucky filly.”

She frowned, freezing up a little in his embrace... but then he pulled back and gazed into her eyes, sliding his hooves up and grasping her shoulders as he smiled at her kindly. “You mortals are so silly. But I was silly once, too, and... I suppose I'm silly now. Very well, shall we get started?”

“I... what?” Prestige said slowly, staring across at him before she asked uneasily: “Is... are you... is this some kind of trick?”

“Oh, what, I stop groping you and now you get suspicious?” Burning Desire glared at her, and then he huffed a little. “No, filly. I do have my respect, and... no means no. Well. The fiftieth no means no. Of course, if you ever change your mind, just let me know...” He grinned toothily, leaning forwards and licking his lips as he added positively: “And oh, filly, I can help you learn just how to please a stallion in all the right ways if you want, too...”

He began to lean forwards, his hooves sliding down her sides as Prestige stared at him... before she almost fell over in shock when the metal door was smashed open and Aphrodisia charged in, barking wildly. Burning Desire squealed in terror as he hurriedly leapt away from Prestige, then he transformed in a burst of flame into a firebird that hurriedly shot up to the rafters above, half-flopping over one girder as Aphrodisia charged around in a circle below him, still barking like a dog and sending splatters of drool in all directions.

Then the young demon skidded to a halt before glaring over at Prestige, who was breathing hard as she stared dumbly back at Aphrodisia. The pale-pink mare growled at her, then she spat to the side before sitting down and glowering up at Burning Desire, shouting: “Mommy sent me to tell you to keep your hooves off Nova's marefriend, or she's going to geld you, dumb... bird-butt!”

“I wasn't doing anything!” Burning Desire half-argued, half-whined, and Prestige looked up in surprise as the firebird hopped up to his talons and glared down at him, the demon speaking as fluently now as ever. “You know the rules for my kind, or at least you should... I'm not like you, Dominia demon! Lust and Wrath get to take anything they want, they have to agree for me to get what I need... and besides, I don't interfere with love.”

“Love?” Aphrodisia stared stupidly over at Prestige, who turned beet-red as she glared angrily up at Burning Desire when the firebird nodded contritely. Then she growled again, turning towards Prestige and slowly storming over to her, before the unicorn yelped as the young demon easily pinned her by one shoulder with a strong hoof, glaring down into her eyes as she asked coldly: “Did you just tell the flaming demon up there that you love Antares?”

“Stop implying that I'm gay! Oh, I admire and respect a handsome male form, but I'd never have sex with another stallion... well... unless, you know, there wasn't anyone else around. Or it was me. I would have sex with myself a lot.” The firebird licked his beak, looking almost dreamy for a moment as he hugged himself with his wings. “That doesn't count, though.”

Aphrodisia glared up at the fire demon crankily, and then she returned her eyes to Prestige, who swallowed thickly before nodding weakly once... and for a few moments, there was silence before the young demon slowly stepped back off her, then she leaned down and said quietly: “You better. Because he could do so much better than you, Prestige Luster. Because you don't deserve him. But you show me you really care about him and I'll stick by you through anything, because he's my best friend ever and he always will be.”

She stopped, then sat up a little and sighed as Prestige didn't know whether to be insulted, scared, or touched, before the young demon grumbled and turned around. “I'm going to go play with your stuff, Burning Desire.”

“Please wash anything you touch.” the firebird muttered, then he hopped along the rafter when Aphrodisia glared up at him before he looked conspiratorially back and forth, then cupped his beak with a wing as he whispered: “I bought you a present, don't tell your mother. It's in my room, it's the big box. You'll like it.”

Aphrodisia's eyes lit up at this, her mood suddenly changing as she brightened and clapped her hooves as Prestige stared in confusion... and then shivered at she thought of all the horrible things it could possibly be. “Oh, oh, oh! Mommy wouldn't let me have one! Thank you, Burning Desire!”

“Yes, yes, yes, just go.” Burning Desire chuckled a little as Aphrodisia turned and scurried off, then the firebird calmly flitted down from the rafters. He hovered in front of the door, then flicked his head to the side, and it slammed closed as he murmured: “Such a little sweetheart, she is.”

The firebird turned, then flew easily through the air... and Prestige glowered upwards when Burning Desire landed on her head and then calmly turned around, furling his wings as his small talons pulled lightly at her mane before he settled comfortably. She cleared her throat loudly, and Burning Desire brightened as he craned his head down to peer at her upside down. “Oh, you're confused? Oh, don't worry, honestly, most of the time between us demons it's all just an act. And Pinkamena is such a wonderful soul... while Twilight Sparkle and I were seeing each other, she introduced me to her. I'm actually to be Aphrodisia's mentor when she's old enough... she's going to spend a decade or so learning about her heritage with me.”

“What?” Prestige looked up in surprise now, shaking her head a bit before she frowned: “Impossible. I... but Pinkamena herself is a demon, and training Aphrodisia!”

“Yes, but Pinkamena is a Devourer... Wrath and Gluttony. Aphrodisia is a Dominia, Lust and Wrath... her mother can only teach her to master half of herself.” Burning Desire replied cheerfully, shaking his head quickly. “And clearly I'm Lust and Greed, if you haven't already noticed. The eternal, hungering fire... Passion. I have a lot to teach Aphrodisia when she's ready... but always, always, we silly demons like to keep up appearances. Although mostly I do it for Pinkamena's sake... we all know how touchy she is about her reputation.”

He sighed in quiet pleasure, then the firebird paused before saying jovially: “But that's all in the future and what's important now is that we instead get you ready! Now, sweet little Prestige, I want you to know that I was a unicorn in life, and although I heard that you're very good at elemental manipulation I'd much rather start you off with a different kind of spell. Look into the fire, focus your magic on it... I've already started the enchantment and I'll help you along, if you'll trust me...” He paused, then added softly: “And you can trust me. Longing... is cursed to suffer, until what it desires is freely given to it. Those that long, can never steal, force, or snare... only take what is offered.”

He fell quiet, and Prestige shifted uncomfortably before she nodded a little, then sighed a bit and tilted her head forwards as the firebird settled itself a bit more comfortably atop her mane, mumbling: “I just wish you would get off my head, wretched demon.”

“Oh, shush. Do you know how many maidens I've wooed as a sweet-singing cardinal? And it's not a lie when I tell them I'll turn into the stallion of their dreams, if only they'll favor me with a kiss!” Burning Desire exclaimed, then he laughed and leaned down, winking into her eyes. “But focus! Focus on the fire!”

Prestige sighed tiredly, then grumbled as she did so, looking into the flames as her horn began to glow softly... and her eyes widened after a moment as the fire's dance and sway slowed, became strangely crystalline, and she whispered: “What... what is this...”

“Shh, shh, keep your mind steady and clear...” Burning Desire murmured, and then he instructed gently: “Think of one of your friends... not Antares or Aphrodisia, but someone out in the open...”

Prestige shifted and nodded, swallowing a bit as Avalon came to mind next... and her eyes widened as she stared into the flames as they hardened further, becoming like clear red glass as images began to form, and as she watched in amazement...

Avalon grinned widely, the Pegasus strutting proudly into the training arena used by the Royal Guard with Rainbow Dash beside her. The tiny Pegasus was in full armor, and her father smiled warmly as he said: “You're gonna do great, Ava. I'm so damn proud of you.”

“Thanks for coming, Dad... it... it means a lot that you did, you came to watch.” Avalon said with a small smile, looking up at him happily, and Rainbow Dash winked at her before they traded a fierce, tight hug... and in front of them, one of the Royal Guards gave a long, mocking catcall, to the laughter of the rest of the group.

Both Pegasi looked up sourly, across at the armored soldiers: there were five Pegasus Guard standing at the ready, two of them with crossbows. One of them stepped forwards in his polished golden armor, grinning mockingly as he asked easily: “Who are you, some new recruit? You're the one supposed to be wearing armor, not your ickle little filly there.”

Rainbow glared across at the Pegasus Guard sourly, then he glanced moodily back and forth, asking: “Who's in charge here? My girl Avalon is here for training.”

“What? Get the hell out of here, pal, this ain't a babysitting center.” The guard snorted in disgust and disdain, stepping forwards now as his friends behind him all chuckled. Rainbow Dash only glowered, however, and Avalon glared angrily up at the Pegasus Guard as he leaned down and asked mockingly: “Wouldn't you prefer to be playing with your dollies? What are you, five?”

“I'm seventeen.” Avalon said icily, and the Guard looked stunned... then he threw his head back and laughed before staring down at her again with something like amazement, and the tiny Pegasus leapt forwards, barking: “Yeah, big tough guy with all your friends, huh? My Daddy and I could trash you and every one of your friends here!”

Rainbow Dash winced a bit at this, looking awkwardly back and forth: Royal Guards, both on duty and off-duty, were up in the stands, and other soldiers were arriving through different gates, setting up targets and marking off sparring areas here and there in the coliseum, while others were just looking with interest at the developing argument. “Uh, sweetie...”

“Oh, yeah, your daddy looks like a real big tough guy, honey-cake.” the Pegasus Guard in front of them mocked, then he reached down and shoved Avalon backwards by the helmet, and Rainbow Dash snarled as he looked sharply up and Avalon glared furiously. “Go home. You got no business here.”

“Don't you touch my daughter.” Rainbow Dash said quietly, and the Guard glared across at him before Avalon reached up, grasping her father's shoulder firmly. He looked down at her, saw the plea in her eyes, and he hesitated... then he gritted his teeth and said sharply: “Not unless you think you're stallion enough to take her on, that is.”

“What? You gotta be kidding me.” The Pegasus Guard snorted in disgust, then he slowly grinned, shaking his head in disdain as he looked with entertainment over his shoulder at his friends. They all looked just as amused at the prospect, and the soldier looked forwards again with a snort, stepping back and smiling mockingly down at Avalon. “Okay, little girl. Tell you what. If you really want a spanking I guess I can dole one out for you. Come on, let's see your best shot!”

The Pegasus Guard grinned challengingly, and Rainbow Dash stepped carefully to the side as Avalon set herself and shivered, her wings slowly spreading, her body slowly straightening against her armor before the Guard jeered: “Yeah, like I thought, too scared to-”

In a blur, Avalon shot forwards, smashing like a bullet into the Guard's chest and cutting him off as he staggered backwards before she rose up in front of him and slammed her head into his face. He reared back with a yell of surprise, grabbing at his bloodied nose before both of Avalon's rear hooves shot up and kicked savagely off his chest, launching him staggering back on his rear hooves as Avalon flew backwards, then twisted her body gracefully and launched herself forwards like a missile.

She smashed into his chest while he was still staggering, and the Guard yelled in horror as the tiny Pegasus tackled him onto his back, his wings bending painfully as he skidded a good ten feet through the sand and his group of friends were sent scattering like scared rats. Then tiny Pegasus and Guard rolled together violently before the soldier's face smashed down into the ground as the small Pegasus ended up beneath him, a snarl of effort on her face as she pushed her back up against his stomach and all four powerful legs flexed.

Avalon launched herself savagely into the air before the stunned guard could react, reaching her front hooves up to seize him around the waist as she roared and he yelped in horror. Guards around the arena stared in dumb surprise as the tiny Pegasus hauled the fully grown, armored stallion high up above before she began to violently spin, and the Pegasus Guard flailed wildly before he shouted in frustration as Avalon half-threw him off her body... only so she could become like a blur, racing violently in a whirlwind around him as her tiny hooves smashed into his armor and every exposed bit of flesh she could find before she crashed savagely into his back.

The Guard howled as he stared in horror at the ground below, flailing his limbs wildly, but his wings were unable to get purchase even before Avalon started to spin violently as she held tightly onto him, forcing his body to corkscrew wildly. All he could do was yell incoherently until he crashed face-first into the sand in a puff, a single golden blur rocketing high into the air after the impact before it flipped gracefully once... and then Avalon dropped and slammed both rear hooves with a crunch into the unfortunate Guard's back, and he squeaked in pain.

The tiny Pegasus dropped back to all four hooves, standing on top of him primly before she stomped viciously up and down, and Rainbow Dash gave her a pointed look before his daughter snorted and rose her head proudly. “He just got what was coming to him, that's all.”

On the ground, the Pegasus Guard whimpered as he lay in a broken heap, slowly bleeding from the nose and mouth as tears leaked out of his eyes, and Avalon stepped carefully off him before she moodily kicked a bit of sand back into his face. He whimpered sluggishly again as soldiers stared and pointed, and Rainbow couldn't help but laugh before he chastised gently as Avalon bounced happily over to him: “Look, only thing worse than a sore loser is a sore winner, kid. No need to add insult to injury. Not after you did that to the poor jerk.”

Avalon only huffed, but she nodded and gazed up respectfully at her father, before both Rainbow Dash and Avalon looked up with surprise as a soft voice said: “Most impressive. Your daughter fights almost as well as my little sister.”

Avalon blushed and smiled radiantly at this compliment as Celestia calmly approached in her own armor, smiling softly at them, and then she glanced over at the Pegasus Guard as they saluted her, looking pale. “You are all dismissed. Take your comrade to the infirmary and have his wounds treated...” She paused, then added quietly: “I hope this serves as a lesson to all present not to underestimate any pony's worth, no matter what they might look like. And... on that note...”

Yamato Elite approached, and Avalon's eyes glittered as she grinned widely... and then stared when the guards parted, and Fluttershy made her way slowly forwards, head low and a meek smile on her face. For a few moments, Avalon's mouth worked stupidly as Rainbow stared dumbly at his friend, and then Celestia bowed her head and said quietly: “I've found you a tutor, Avalon.”

“I... but.. you're not, she's... Fluttershy, I... your wing, too...” Rainbow babbled awkwardly, and Fluttershy blushed deeply as she bowed her head a little.

Avalon was shaking her own head in disbelief, and then Fluttershy looked up at Celestia and said quietly: “If... I really don't want to cause any trouble, and there are so many ponies around that... well... you know. I... I don't know if...”

“It's perfectly alright, Fluttershy... don't worry. Your friends are only surprised, that's all.” Celestia soothed, and then she looked up and said in a gentle voice that all the same carried the tone of command to it: “Fluttershy is doing me an enormous favor, facing both her past and her own anxieties in order to help your daughter, Rainbow Dash... and more than that, she's doing both you and Avalon an immeasurable service. Please treat this opportunity with the respect that it deserves.”

Avalon shifted apprehensively, but Rainbow blushed and bowed his head forwards, saying quietly: “I'm sorry, Fluttershy, Celestia, I just... it surprised me, that's all. You never... well...” He halted, then smiled a little and nudged his daughter. “Thank you, Fluttershy.”

“Yeah... I... thanks?” Avalon said doubtfully, but Fluttershy smiled warmly all the same, seeming to draw strength from this as she looked up. Her single wing flapped a bit as she breathed quietly, and then Avalon couldn't stop herself from blurting: “But what am I thanking you for?”

Celestia sighed a little, but it was Fluttershy who answered, bowing her head and saying quietly: “My... my mother trained me since I was a child in... combat. I remember... enough, that I hope I can be of service. Ever since... ever since ten years ago, when Prudence attacked, I've... been having memories surface, and it's been very hard for me to deal with them. While Celestia has been so generous to me and treats me like I'm doing such an enormous favor to everypony here, I really think... this is a favor to me. Perhaps if I can use these memories for something good... I can forgive the past, and let things finally rest. Let my mother's memory... finally fade.”

She quieted, and Rainbow Dash nodded silently before he reached up and touched Avalon's shoulder when she opened her mouth. The tiny Pegasus frowned, looking over her shoulder at her father, but she remained quiet at the look on his face, and Celestia nodded approvingly before she said softly: “Perhaps, Fluttershy, if you're ready...”

“Just... just one moment, please.” Fluttershy said quietly, and she glanced over her shoulder... and Celestia smiled softly, stepping carefully back and aside as Nirvana approached. Phooka and one-winged Pegasus gazed into each other's eyes, and the Phooka's glowed faintly before Fluttershy smiled a little and nodded hesitantly as her own irises reflected the creature's green-fire eyes.

For a moment longer, there was quiet, and then the two embraced fiercely before Fluttershy drew back and took a slow breath, nodding once. Nirvana rumbled quietly, then he, Celestia, and the Yamato Elite drew back to watch as Fluttershy looked up and smiled hesitantly. “Before we begin... please let me know at any time if I'm too rough. I have no desire to hurt you. But don't be afraid of trying your hardest... I won't be mad if anything happens. Okay?”

“I... okay.” Avalon said, looking nonplussed, and then she looked lamely up at Rainbow Dash before sighing and fidgeting awkwardly as her father smiled before patting her and drawing back, the foal looking a little miserable as she mumbled: “Sorry, Fluttershy. I... guess I'll try not to hurt you.”

Fluttershy only smiled, bowing her head politely, and Avalon made a surly face before she simply strode forwards and threw a simple, straight punch, aiming for the shoulder of the one-winged Pegasus. The foal wasn't exactly shocked when Fluttershy flinched back... but she was surprised to realize that Fluttershy had actually caught her hoof, as the gentle mare murmured: “Excuse me, Avalon, I... don't mean to be rude, but I know you can fight much better than this... please try again, okay?”

Avalon glowered a little, and then she grunted and stepped back before swinging another hoof up, in a harder, sharper blow... and while Fluttershy winced a little again, she easily blocked the hook punch, saying quietly: “It's okay, honestly, Ava. I'm not going to be mad at you. You can try harder.”

“I don't want to hurt you, Fluttershy, I mean... no offense, but I just took down a Pegasus Guard.” Avalon complained; in the background, Rainbow Dash winced and then grinned lamely at Celestia as the Baroness frowned a little. “You're... really nice and all, but I don't know how much you can help me.”

She stepped back as Fluttershy blushed and lowered her head a little, murmuring: “I'm sorry you feel that way, Avalon... maybe you're right. But all the same, I would very much like to teach you what I could.”

From the sidelines, Nirvana rumbled something in his own language as Avalon sighed, then frowned when the one-winged Pegasus cocked her head curiously. Fluttershy looked back at Nirvana, then asked something in that strange, sibilant language that the Phooka spoke... and Nirvana replied quickly, leaning forwards a little, visibly encouraging her.

Fluttershy smiled after a moment, then she returned her eyes to Avalon, saying kindly: “Here's an idea. Why don't I attack you, and you block? I promise to be gentle. Only pins. And again, we can stop any time you feel uncomfortable.”

“I... don't...” Avalon looked almost desperately towards Rainbow Dash, and then she quailed at the glare her father gave her before turning towards Fluttershy, nodding quickly as she mumbled: “Well. Okay, fine. I guess that works. We can start when you're ready.”

Fluttershy smiled, then she nodded as she took a few deep breaths, straightening before murmuring quietly: “Okay. Here I come.”

Avalon smiled indulgently... and then stared stupidly, slowly blinking. The world was upside down, and there was nothing under her hooves... before she realized she was on her back, her jaw falling open as Fluttershy asked nervously: “I didn't hurt you, did I? Oh, Avalon, I'm sorry.”

“I... I... what?” Avalon asked stupidly, and then she rolled back to her hooves, gaping, staring back and forth. She looked desperately at her father, but Rainbow Dash was sitting with his own jaw dropped, and Celestia was smiling warmly, looking impressed. “I... what happened?”

“I'm sorry. I didn't hurt you, did I?” Fluttershy leaned forwards, looking over the tiny Pegasus with concern, but Avalon hurriedly shook her head before staring as Fluttershy said nervously: “Well, perhaps this wasn't such a good idea after all...”

“N-No! I... let's do that again!” Avalon said hurriedly, frowning. Fluttershy nodded apprehensively, and Avalon gritted her teeth before snapping as she dropped to a ready position: “Okay, let's go!”

Now that she was paying attention, she saw it: Fluttershy made a grab at her, but Avalon hurriedly leapt backwards... before staring as the Pegasus in front of her moved like liquid, pursuing her with so much grace it was a like a ballet more than a battle. On instinct, Avalon swung a hoof out hard and fast, cursing herself even as she did so... and then gaping when Fluttershy easily locked her own forelimb around Avalon's before...

The world was upside down again, and Avalon was laying just as speechless and stunned as before, not entirely sure what had happened. She rolled to her hooves, breathing hard, and Fluttershy complimented quietly: “You're quite fast, Ava. I think you're even faster than Rainbow Dash was at your age... you must make him and Applejack very proud.”

“Again!” Avalon demanded desperately, and Fluttershy smiled kindly, nodding once... and then the two Pegasi moved like lightning, Fluttershy so graceful and elegant it was like gravity itself couldn't bear to hold her down, Avalon like golden electricity and limitless energy ricocheting itself in any direction it could move.

She leapt backwards, and Fluttershy's hoof grasped her head all the same, beginning to gently push her down; Avalon yanked her head back and swung both front hooves up to try and seize the limb, and Fluttershy's other hoof almost cradled her beneath the body, pulling gently to the side as she twisted the held limb at the same time. A moment of weightlessness... and Avalon flapped her wings hard, launching herself backwards to just barely escape.

But Fluttershy kept up with her: again, Avalon felt the hoof on her head pushing her down as the world seemed to move in slow motion, and in desperation, the tiny Pegasus yelled desperately before letting her front drop as she flipped herself, swinging both rear legs down in a savage bicycle kick.

And next thing the tiny Pegasus knew, she was somehow on her stomach, one of Fluttershy's hooves tenderly rubbing her back as the maternal Pegasus smiled down at her softly. “Are you okay?”

“What happened?” Avalon wheezed, staring stupidly up and vaguely aware that her body was trembling. Fluttershy only shrugged, and Avalon staggered to her hooves, breathing hard as she stared desperately up at the one-winged Pegasus. “How... how... how can you do all this stuff? I... you... but y-y-you're...”

“My... my mother taught me. Her name was Sol Seraph, and she was...” Fluttershy looked silently down, murmuring quietly: “She was a predator, and a hunter, Avalon. She taught me awful things, how to hurt, how to kill, tried to raise me to believe in... awful things. But I never... was very good at what she wanted me to do. I could never hurt, and the thought of killing... still makes me feel sick to my stomach.

“I was never... good... in my mother's eyes. But even though I couldn't bear the thought of harming another pony... I had to learn to protect myself. I had to learn to block her blows when she would 'train' me and I had to learn the evil things she taught me, if only so I could survive, because... she would have killed me many times as a foal, if I hadn't. And I'd like to teach you that, Avalon, how to protect yourself.” Fluttershy looked quietly down into Avalon's eyes, then she reached up a hoof to gently cup her cheek. “But you have to promise me you won't use these skills to hurt other people. If I'm going to do something good with these... awful talents... I need that promise, because you have a lot of skill, Avalon... but you have a bit of a temper, too.”

Avalon swallowed thickly, then she nodded slowly before whispering, trembling a little: “Fluttershy I'm... I'm so sorry for... I didn't think, I mean, I... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insult you. And I promise. I promise, all I really want is to help ponies, I won't just... I'm sorry.”

“It's okay. You didn't hurt my feelings.” Fluttershy smiled softly, stepping forwards and hugging Avalon tightly, and the young Pegasus hugged her fiercely in return, burying her head against her body, humbled and trembling as Fluttershy murmured softly: “What's important to me is helping protect ponies. Maybe my mother's evil.. can become another pony's good, if we try hard enough.”

She closed her eyes... and Prestige gasped and staggered backwards in surprise, the red crystal becoming red flames again that swirled and danced as the vision faded. It had been like she had been right there, the whole time, somehow so much more intense than any scrying magic she had ever experienced before...

On top of her head, the firebird chuckled before he hopped off her, smiling warmly. In a burst of flames, Burning Desire transformed back into a fiery stallion beside her, the demon gazing down and saying delightedly: “Beautiful! You did gorgeously, pretty filly! What a grasp of magic you have... no wonder you were made the apprentice to Twilight Sparkle.”

He threw a companionable foreleg around her, and Prestige winced a bit... but she didn't try to shrug it off this time either, as she looked up and asked in disbelief: “What... what happened, precisely? Such magic...”

“Demonic magic.” Burning Desire waggled his eyebrows, and Prestige ground her teeth together nervously before the fire demon threw his head back and laughed, rubbing her back soothingly. “Oh stop! It's nothing evil or even sinful... just like your mortal magic, we demons have plenty of spells that are neither distinctly good nor distinctly evil... just gray, or perhaps not even that, more for... amusement than anything else. We've had a long, long time in Helheim to train in and learn magic, after all... but admittedly, this was a spell I worked on while a mortal, too. I only perfected it after I was dragged down to the pit, though... I must admit, the one nice thing about being in Hell was all the time I had to further work on my magical talents.”

Burning Desire looked up musingly, then he smiled down at her and asked gently: “Did you feel the basics of the spell out? This time, I'd like you to focus on another of your friends, and cast the spell without me amplifying its effects, and let's see if you can create such a powerful vision. The nicest thing about this spell is the fact that all those who gaze into the scrying medium will be able to experience the vision, you see...”

“Wait, when... when is this happening? Is this past, present or... or future?” Prestige whispered, and Burning Desire chuckled quietly, leaning down, inches from her face as his crimson eyes gazed affectionately into her own silver irises.

“Don't be silly. No one can truly see the future.” he said softly, and then he straightened and smiled down at her kindly. “What we're seeing is... technically, the past. But the beauty of this spell is that it's only one or two seconds behind... really, for all intents and purposes, we're gazing across the present, which is normally very hard... but that tiny buffer of spent time makes all the difference in the world to the casting difficulty. Yes, I know I'm a genius as well as handsome.”

Burning Desire leaned back, combing his hooves through his fiery mane as his strong, masculine body flexed slowly, and Prestige grimaced at him as she muttered: “You're handsome, at least.”

The demon glowered at her sourly, then he huffed a little and gestured with his horn towards the fireplace. “Come on, let's see what your other friends are up to.”

Prestige sighed a little, but then she nodded hesitantly before looking towards the fire... and then Burning Desire reached up and touched her shoulder, saying in a more serious voice: “But not Aphrodisia, nor Antares.”

Prestige winced a bit at this, not wanting to imagine what the young demon could be getting up to before she hesitated, then asked curiously: “You... called Aphrodisia a Dominia...”

“Yes, Lust and Wrath. Control, power, strength and hunger... but not the gluttony kind of hunger. In our demonic hierarchy, she would be First Tier.” Burning Desire said proudly, raising his head with a warm smile. “But look at her parents, what apart from exceptional could be expected?”

“What tier are you?” Prestige asked curiously, and Burning Desire immediately soured and mumbled under his breath, and the young unicorn smiled despite herself before she turned her eyes back to the fire, murmuring: “I suppose... it doesn't matter. Not if you spoke the truth earlier, and... not if you continue to be... a fair teacher.”

“Good.” The fiery stallion reached down and firmly swatted her flank, and Prestige twitched before glaring at him, but Burning Desire only smiled brightly at her. “Perhaps later you'd like me to teach you some of my other talents? I might have to charge you for the overtime as your tutor... but oh, I think we'd both be the winners with how I delight in taking my fee.”

Prestige muttered under her breath, looking into the flames as she concentrated, trying to replicate the spell she had cast before: without Burning Desire's help, it was much harder, making her strain a little as she breathed slowly in and out... and then her eyes widened before she saw Meadowlark...

The red Pegasus smiled awkwardly up at Amdusias as the demon looked down at her meditatively with his arms crossed, standing at the front of the wide concert stage. There was no orchestra present here, however, and no audience in the worn seats of the cozy theater, nor the boxes or balconies above. Instead, there was only the chair that Meadowlark was sitting in... and several tables near the back of the stage, stacked high with books, tomes, scrolls, and archive papers.

“Are... you... shouldn't we be working?” Meadowlark asked finally, and Amdusias huffed a bit, the Pegasus wincing a little as she held up her hooves embarrassedly. “I... I really appreciate all the time and stuff, I just... I mean, you want me to...”

“I want you to sing. Come now, you're named after a songbird, and Antares mentioned you have a beautiful voice.” Amdusias said mildly, flicking one hand... and then he winced at the look that passed over Meadowlark's face, before he sighed and mumbled, dropping his hand in his hand. “This is why I don't like singers. They're more broken than actors. And actors are nothing but hyperactive attention-seekers.”

“Antares and I were in a play together once, for Nightmare Moon... he just had a minor role, but... he... he really supported me. He helped me get the role of Nightmare Moon.” Meadowlark whispered quietly, and Amdusias gazed at her softly. “It meant... he... it was the first time I'd really sung in years. And I sang... for him... believing every word I belted out...”

“You still remember the song. You remember it, because you sang it for him.” Amdusias said quietly, and Meadowlark swallowed as she nodded a little, looking up at him quietly. The demon studied her for a few moments, then he sighed softly, crossing his arms and inviting gently: “Sing me a verse or two. Believe it all over again, little mortal. And remember... nothing fuels the poetry of music like unrequited love's hopes.”

Meadowlark trembled... then she looked up at the demon and closed her eyes, breathing slowly before she whispered in a voice that sounded a little hoarse and weak: “Okay. I'll do my best...”

Amdusias grimaced a little, shifting a bit... and then Meadowlark took a long breath before raising her head, eyes glowing with her unshed tears as her voice burst from her with a strength that surprised the demon:

“Why have you forsaken me, my people that I have served for years?
A thousand nights have passed, and not one did you revere...
I showed you stories in the stars that could never be seen in the day,
I gave you the beacon of the moon to always light your way...

And yet here you leave me, forsaken, alone, wishing away my night!
I gave you lullabies and dreams and you call my dark blanket 'blight?'
I have have never asked once for thanks or tribute despite how I slave away,
But do you think I'll just stand by and let you mock my night all day?

I'll teach you all a lesson that none of you ponies shall ever forget,
I declare the sun shall never rise again, after it next sets in the west,
Not until you little ponies learn about something called respect,
And you learn of the consequences that your cruelty can effect!”

Meadowlark dropped her head forwards, flushed, breathing hard as he rubbed slowly at her throat... and Amdusias smiled faintly, shaking his head slowly as he murmured quietly: “Remarkable. You still care about him, despite everything, don't you? Yes, a song of revenge... but you sang it with the tenor of a plea.”

Meadowlark flushed deeply, looking up silently... and then Prestige trembled as she dropped back from the fire, breathing hard as Burning Desire murmured quietly: “Poor girl. But you must hold on tightly, Prestige... even when the emotions are jarring. You must master the spell, and not let your emotions get the better of you, even when you see... something... painful.”

Burning Desire looked over at her softly, and then he smiled a little before saying quietly as Prestige began to open her mouth: “Now, why don't you see what Antares Mīrus is up to, if your thoughts turn so tightly to him?”

“I...” Prestige shivered a bit, shaking her head a little before she asked quietly: “Do I have to? And why... why are you so intent on...”

“Because this is more than learning a spell, my darling... this is learning discipline, and to override your emotions.” Burning Desire smiled at her, reaching up to gently stroke under her muzzle before he leaned down and kissed her forehead tenderly, and Prestige closed her eyes with a shiver before her eyes snapped open as the demon asked quietly: “Your father never loved you?”

“W-Why would... you... why would you...” She shivered, looking up at him and breathing hard... but there was gentility in Burning Desire's eyes before she gritted her teeth and looked away, whispering: “Unicorns are superior. But male unicorns are the most superior.”

“Yes, they are.” Burning Desire smiled sadly, before he lowered his head and murmured quietly: “Unless they're eccentric failures, of course. Then they'll never amount to anything in the eyes of anyone, not even after they die, especially not their fathers... but who needs a father, really?”

Prestige glanced up silently, and Burning Desire smiled again and closed his eyes, tilting his head to the side. “Well, I said you don't need a father, Prestige my sweet. But if you have the rare fortune of a good father... then I can think of no one who deserves more envy.”

Prestige laughed in surprise, looking up at him silently before she nodded slowly, sitting up as the demon said quietly: “You must learn to master your emotions, and your beliefs, and everything else inside of yourself. You must learn to use your magic under any circumstance, at any time, without hesitation, with ultimate focus. You must learn to be able to use magic even if it will hurt you: you must learn most of all... to never be afraid. Master yourself, Prestige, and you'll be able to learn any spell... and better yet, you won't end up like me, a mess of nothing but longing and silliness.”

Burning Desire smiled radiantly down at her, and Prestige nodded slowly, breathing quietly as she sat slowly up and gazed towards the fire. She leaned forwards a bit, then closed her eyes when the fiery stallion carefully slipped to the side and overtop her, pressing down against her back with a slight smile as she blushed a little but murmured quietly: “I do not believe this is part of your training.”

“Oh, what do you know, filly? It might very well be.” Burning Desire replied positively, and then he chuckled quietly before kissing the side of her neck, then he whispered into her ear as he wrapped his strong forelegs around her, making her blush as he pulled her back against him. “Prove your strength to me, Prestige. Prove your loyalty, and your focus. Then I'll go away.”

Prestige grumbled under her breath, then she nodded hesitantly before staring into the flames... but then she smiled faintly, feeling the demon curling over her... and the heat of his body, the strength of his form, it wasn't possessive, or lustful. It was protective: it was... he was... is this friendship?

She didn't need to speak it, as Burning Desire hugged her tighter, and curled closer, and she felt strength filling her body as she looked into the flames, her horn glowing... and then becoming all the brighter as she thought of Antares Mīrus, his smile, his...

The young stallion's midnight cyan eyes looked apprehensively towards Selene as she mulled over the question he had asked, before she simply nodded slowly, murmuring quietly: “Yes. I can try to teach you this, at least, Antares Mīrus... it is... interesting to me, that you desire to master such an art, though. I would have thought different faucets of your mother's magic would have interested you...”

“I... feel like this is important.” Antares said finally, bowing his head forwards. “Aunt Tia taught me a purification spell, but... I can't use it very well. But I was thinking... if I modify it with my mother's magic, one of her own exorcisms or spirit-burning spells... maybe I could... I dunno...”

“You wish to mix light and darkness together? I do not know if that is even possible.” Selene said softly, but her galactic eyes studied him with interest before she murmured softly: “Yes, it is true... light shines best in darkness. Brightest light has much more meaning in the deepest shadow... but that is metaphor, handsome Antares, and applies much more to the ups and downs of life than it does actual magic.”

The young stallion nodded slowly, and then Selene paused thoughtfully before asking curiously: “What is bothering you so much? Something is on your mind.”

Antares sighed after a moment, then he hesitantly glanced up, feeling a strange tickle run through his body before he looked back at Selene, saying quietly: “I'm scared. Cancer's out there somewhere, Selene... and I know that... we have to stop him before I can leave to find my parents. But at the same time, I'm getting... more and more and more afraid of what's going to happen when I finally leave for that. Yeah, I know, all my friends are training and stuff, but... what if I'm wrong? Celestia already had to make a few adjustments-”

“She did not make these changes because of a lack of faith in you and your abilities, Antares. She made these changes because new possibilities became available, that is all.” Selene interrupted gently but firmly. Antares shifted but nodded after a moment, and the two studied each other before the Nephilim smiled and slowly stood up, striding quietly off her pool and approaching Antares.

He shied back a bit, swallowing a little, and then she reached up and touched his shoulder, looking down into his eyes. He stared up at her, feeling her gazing beyond his mind, into the darkest reaches of his soul, with her unknowable, alien eyes... and then she smiled softly, whispering quietly: “You carry more of your father and mother in you than most ponies would ever guess. Antares, you are a natural leader. Do what your instincts compel you to, and you will lead your friends well. And you will find your parents... you will save them.”

“That's all I want.” Antares closed his eyes, bowing his head forwards, and Selene smiled softly as she hugged his head up against her body, laughing quietly.

“Yes... that is what many of us desire, Antares.” She paused, then finally slipped back, her body thrumming with energy as Antares shivered a little post-contact: it felt like he'd been touched by electricity, and she had left him feeling both numb but also... excited. Like her emotions had passed into him by her touch. “But my training comes with a cost, Antares. We have spoken much today, gotten to know one-another better, and you have held up your promise to dialogue with me. I enjoyed our conversation... but there is a further cost. I will require you to do something you will not like for me, Antares...”

Antares shifted nervously, studying the Nephilim before she said softly: “I cannot train you unless I know that you are honest. Unless you are willing to show your true face, your true heart. Do you understand?”

Antares only smiled faintly, however, bowing his head forwards as he said quietly: “I try to be honest every day of my life...”

“No, you try to live up to your parents' vision, and you are not always honest. No with yourself, not with your desires, not with many things.” the Nephilim replied calmly, and Antares shifted apprehensively before Selene asked conversationally: “Meadowlark and Prestige. You wish you did not have to choose between them, don't you?”

“Of course. I hate seeing Meadowlark in pain... I... I care a lot for her. But Prestige... makes me feel... we found...” Antares fidgeted, and then he finally looked up and said quietly: “I... care about her.”

“Yes, but you know little about her. If you knew more of her past, you would not be so fond of her.” Selene replied, and Antares made a face before Selene said quietly: “Speak your mind. Be honest.”

“I... you're wrong.” Antares said quietly, and when Selene tilted her head, he hesitated before continuing quietly: “The past is the past. I... I won't hold it against her. I'll stand beside her, and I'll help her... make what wrongs there may have been right, and... I can see her, becoming a better person every day. And she makes me... a better person.”

Selene laughed quietly at this, saying kindly: “That is a lie. She is racist and rude. How can a flawed person make someone who sees himself as perfect even better?”

“I... I don't!” Antares argued, shaking his head violently before he continued sharply: “And... because she's helped me understand that... she, and people like her, they're not... they believe in something really stupid but that doesn't mean they can't change! That they can't be shown why they're wrong, that they'll never understand-”

“Celestia still doesn't understand. She speaks quietly, but no one is faster to violence than her... nor more eager to kill.” Selene remarked, and Antares ground his teeth together in frustration.

“No, that... she... in the past, maybe, I-”

“But so was your mother. Luna, I mean... such beautiful darkness. A killer, alongside your father. They lured in Twilight with their gorgeous webs and she became like them, but... twisted. She kills the dead to live, and awaits their return... but she is thankful, you know.” Selene smiled as Antares trembled. “I expect she will bind herself to Luna and Scrivener when you bring them back. And she'll forget all about you... they all will. They'll thank you, but if your mother and father ever loved you they never would have abandoned you in the first-”

Antares lunged, tackling the Nephilim backwards as he bared his fangs and his eyes glowed, snarling down at her: “Stop talking about my parents like that or I swear by Yggdrasil itself that I'll kill you! Don't you ever talk about them or my family like that!”

He breathed hard, sharp fangs glinting, flexed body and spread leathery wings making him look monstrous... but Selene only smiled softly on her back, eyes gazing almost tenderly up into Antares' pale-glowing irises as she whispered: “And now, we see honesty. Hello, Antares. I am so glad you decided to join us down here, in Hell.”

The glow faded, and Antares breathed hard before he shoved himself backwards, shaking his head wildly as he stammered: “No, no, I... I'm not like that, y-you were... I mean, I'm sorry, Selene, I didn't mean to... I d-didn't...”

“What is spoken cannot be unspoken... what is done, cannot be undone.” Selene bowed her head politely, still smiling softly before she sat slowly up and gazed across at him, saying quietly: “Antares, you have bottled up all the sins of your parents inside of you. You hide it spectacularly well... I do not think even Celestia suspects the depths of darkness you possess. But as you were saying, the brightest light burns in darkness; what you forget, Antares, is that the greatest and deepest darkness may very well hide safely behind the brightest light. But I know this well.”

Selene closed her eyes, bowing her head forwards before she said kindly: “We will attend to your problem in time. But if you do not learn to vent this pain inside you, if you do not learn to truly trust others, to let your friends support you... Antares, you will become everything you've tried so hard to avoid becoming. You understand that you must accept help from your friends; what you fail to understand, is that sometimes you must do more: you must tell them you hurt. You must entrust them with your pain... for it is not a burden, Antares, to carry a friend's pain. It is a demonstration, of the deepest of trusts, where something awful may form into a concrete bond.”

Selene smiled, then slowly, she glanced up and said gently: “And this goes for you as well, Prestige Luster. Trust Antares Mīrus with your pain. You two have much to give each other, and much to learn from each other.”

Antares glanced up in shock, tears spilling down his cheeks with the jerk of his head upwards... and Prestige recoiled back against Burning Desire, who winced a bit with a grunt before he squeezed her firmly, murmuring quickly as she gasped for breath: “It's alright, it's alright...”

“I... I... I've never seen Antares... truly angry...” Prestige whispered, and then she trembled and shook her head. “And now he'll think I've been spying and-”

“No, Selene will explain it, I'm sure.” Burning Desire soothed, and then he smiled as he rocked her slowly in his limbs, grinning down at her and adding gently: “And you can always stay with me, Prestige. I'll always have a place for you here, sweetie.”

Prestige only glowered up at him, and the fiery stallion cleared his throat before he carefully let go of her and stepped back. She turned around, and then sighed and dropped her head... before looking up in surprise as he said kindly: “Go ahead, go see Antares. We can pick up with another magic lesson later... but, oh, oh, wait, I want to give you something first.”

The young mare winced when Burning Desire leaned forwards with a smile, his horn glowing... but before she could argue, he touched the tip of his against the base of hers, and Prestige winced at the sizzle she felt before blinking in surprise as she felt something lock into place around the base of her horn. Prestige chuckled, then he winked as he flicked a hoof up through the air, a sheet of fire bursting into life beside him that solidified into a crimson mirror. “A token of my affection.”

Prestige Luster stared in surprise at the red ring now locked around the base of her horn: it was in the shape of a serpent, spiraling several times around the base of her horn and magnificently detailed. Then the mirror burst back into flames that faded from existence and Burning Desire looked down into her eyes as he said softly: “If you ever require my aid... focus your magic into that ring, all the magic you can. I'll come running, my sweet.”

Then he paused before grinning, leaning forwards and licking his lips slowly: “Please don't be shy about using it if you're feeling particularly lonely or adventurous...”

“Goodbye, Burning Desire.” Prestige said flatly, shoving past him to the doors... before she hesitated, then smiled a little over her shoulder, saying quietly: “I am glad that... Twilight Sparkle was correct. You... are kinder than I expected, and a good teacher. Although repulsive, too.”

With that, she turned and left as Burning Desire sat back on his haunches, bowing his head forwards as his eyes closed in gratitude and a smile lingered over his tragic and handsome features.

Piecing Things Together

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Chapter Fourteen: Piecing Things Together
~BlackRoseRaven

In the mountainous region outside of Canterlot, a group of Nibelung were excavating a private, semi-legal dig site under the waning light of the setting sun. It was only partly-illegal because they had all the deeds and paperwork: the problem came into play from the fact they had stolen said papers off a corpse they had discovered about a hundred feet away several days ago.

One of the Nibelung sneezed loudly, then shook his head out wildly before he complained as he tossed his pickaxe away: “This no good!”

“Oh, shut up.” snapped another Nibelung, before he added: “And if was no good, pony would not have worked self to death. Remember, we chase off Diamond Dogs from here, we find big bag of jewels. Must be more, yes?”

The other two Nibelung only mumbled disconsolately as they hacked away at the stone with their own tools, and then one of them sneezed loudly as the other rubbed with a miserable look at an ugly rash that had spread over his arm and body. He groaned as several chunks of fur fell out around this, then rose his limb and whined: “I need go home! Need ice!”

“Ice not help rash, stupid!” The leader of the quartet smacked the rashy Nibelung with the shovel in his hands, making him yelp before he growled moodily. But the leader only grumbled, then turned and stormed into the little campsite: it was little more than a big tent and a table with some maps over it, a wagon with a broken wheel sprawled nearby. “Idiot.”

The trio of Nibelung all grumbled, and then one of the Nibelung sighed and looked almost longingly at Canterlot in the distance, leaning on his sledgehammer. They had only uncovered a few gemstones here: in all likelihood, the pony had already gotten the most out of this little claim that he could, and had just been scraping out the last of the scraps when he'd died. “Boss, pony-city right there, road to pony-city only short walk away... pony pay good money for big bag of gemstones we got...”

The other Nibelung looked up at this, but the leader only huffed before pointing violently at the rocky face of the slope. “Keep going! I go check body!”

The three Nibelung grumbled, but they went back to work as their leader grunted at them, then turned and headed around the side of the mountain they were working at the base of, following a path tread into the dust by Nibelung paws. He looked back and forth, the dwarf making a face at the fact the only sounds he could hear were coming from their little work site. Then again, they were far enough off the main road that they rarely heard ponies or other creatures passing... but all the same, even though these mountains were mostly stone and rock and dust, the lack of life was still disconcerting at times.

After a minute or two, the dwarf slowed his pace as he reached a narrow cave in the mountainside, blocked up by several rocks. He began to reach towards this, where they had stored the pony's dead body out of habit more than anything else: if they just left it sitting out in the open, after all, it would look like they killed him, even if the pony had clearly died of some kind of poison or disease. So he had made one of his minions drag the body out of the open, and then they had covered it up while he had hunted down the location on the map they'd found on his body.

Then the dwarf stopped and frowned as he grasped the first rock on top of the pile, before making a disgusted face as he stepped backwards and looked down at his now-slimy hands. He cursed under his breath, then groaned as he realized the rocks had been disturbed and moved out of place here and there, muttering: “Stupids not pack good...”

He reached forwards... and some kind of horrible white claw tore up out of a gap in the rocks, seizing into the Nibelung's wrist, and he yelled in surprise and fear before something terrible smashed its way up through the loose stones...

Back at the camp, the other Nibelung heard the yell, immediately halting their work... and then one of them coughed loudly. It seemed to echo through the mountains in the silence of the fading day, and one of the other Nibelung whimpered: “Oh no. Oh no.”

“B-Boss?” called one Nibelung nervously, while the other two rose their pick and sledgehammer respectively. Then the Nibelung with the rash coughed again, before he clutched at his throat, wheezing and rasping for a moment as the other dwarf beside him hurriedly patted on his back.

When his coughing fit ended, there was only silence again... before all three Nibelung looked quickly at the sound of several stones rolling down the mountainside. It was little more than a sprinkle of gravel... and yet it sounded as loud as an avalanche before a quiet chuckle spilled through the air, and the Nibelung traded terrified looks with one-another as the unarmed dwarf hurriedly picked up rock from the ground, trembling as he drew his arm back and shouted: “We... we not afraid! You go away, and we not kill you!”

The chuckle again... and then a mocking voice sang, seeming to come from all around them:

“Sha-ba, do-do-do-do-doo, have I ever got a story for you!
It's about four little piggies, who thought they were wolves,
Hangin' 'round in the mountains, diggin' silly little holes,
Oh, ba-da-ba, yeah, yeah, hey...
Ain't that a funny thought... pork chops who think they got teeth.”

“S-Shut up! We not afraid of you!” yelled one of the Nibelung, staring back and forth in terror, and this time the voice giggled before all three dwarves turned in the direction of a small slide of dust and dirt that trickled down the side of the mountain, staring desperately around for any sign of their attacker.

“La la da-ha, la da-ha-ha haa... mm, first little piggy, I knew him well,
I felt every part of him when down my gullet he fell,
And oh little piggies, I gotta say it was his taste that was the sell...
Oh, yeah, that's right, right there... la-di-da...
Ha, ha, ha... that made me wanna eat you all up... tonight.”

There was a crash like cymbals, and the Nibelung carrying the rock howled and flung the stone wildly in the direction of the sound, hitting nothing but the mountain before he turned and bolted away. The other two Nibelung called after him as he stumbled past the wagon... and then both stared in horror when something seized him, yanked him backwards as he screamed... and then the howls were cut off by a horrible, crunching, slurping sound.

Both Nibelung stared in shock, whimpering and raising their weapons uselessly as a slithering sound filled the air, stumbling backwards... and then something wet and slick and hot wrapped around both of their shoulders companionably, and they both slowly turned to stare with horror at a monstrous, goblinoid face as it said cheerfully: “Hey boys!

Second little piggy, he was so fine, I knew I had to cut in line!
Oh ba-da-ba-da-doo, yeah! Second little piggy had damn fine taste,
I crunched up his bones so I could lick out the sweet marrow paste...
Ooh, ha ha! Don't you fret boys, I'm hungry tonight!
You won't feel a damn thing when I... make you both... my...

dinner.” Cancer growled, then he licked his lips before his forelimbs both transformed into savage sets of tentacles that snapped viciously around the dwarves, drool leaking from his jaws as his grin stretched wider and his eyes glowed with hunger, the dwarves screaming...

Cancer sighed in delight as he sat back on the ground, slowly slurping his claws clean before he glanced up irritably as what looked like a sallow clone of himself slouched its way slowly out from around the wagon. The monster sniffed, then the destruction entity beckoned irritably, and the copy of Cancer stumbled forwards before transforming into slime that merged back into Cancer's body, the monster grunting before rolling his head on his shoulders as he sighed in relief. “Ooh, delightful, much better, much better, yeah, yeah, yeah... gonna be a real handy trick...”

Cancer grinned to himself, nodding as he licked his teeth slowly, and then he looked up at the deepening dusk above before grumbling to himself and popping to his hooves. His forelimbs transformed back into pony-like legs from claws as he began to stride slowly around the mining camp, looking moodily back and forth as he muttered: “But even with all this... ain't enough, no, no, not yet. Not after what they did to me... I gotta get my claws into something good.”

He ground his teeth together in frustration, then shook his head slowly before glaring towards Canterlot in the distance, half-slithering up along the side of a mountain in his way as he whispered: “Oh, you think you're safe in that great big city, right? Safe, hiding away from Cancer... but Cancer's gonna get you, yes he is, yes he is, yes he is...”

The monster ground his teeth together, then he twitched violently before his eyes glowed bright red as he rasped: “Poison, destroy, make them suffer...”

“Yeah, yeah, you bet I'm gonna make them suffer!” the destruction entity shouted furiously, as his head snapped to the other side and he shivered in fury once, then glared forwards and screamed: “You hear me out there? Oh, I'm gonna rip you all up to pieces and chew you to the bones and then I'm gonna puke you out and drink you like soup!”

He raved and foamed at the jaws, shaking his head wildly back and forth for a moment before hissing in disgust... and then the monster glowered at a patch of flowers as he passed, spitting on them in disgust. A moment later, the flowers shriveled up and rotted rapidly away into a patch of reeking death, and Cancer muttered as he continued onwards: “All part of the master plan, though, oh, it is. Don't you ever doubt it, don't no one ever doubt that for one single little moment. That stupid little village is locked down good and tight, the sewers are all full of the stink of polish and prettiness, but I'm gonna force my way in through the front gate. And I'll be more than powerful enough to, too, once I bag me a white weasel and all those scumbag punks I saw her walking with...”

He growled, then snarled: “Not to mention that bastard kid! Stalked him and his pretty and the zombie almost all the way there, but... oh, oh, why couldn't they give me a single opening when they weren't... cuddling on the road the whole... stupid... time... but oh, I'm patient, I'm patient, I'm...”

Cancer halted, then he howled at the darkening sky and flopped over, screaming and convulsing on the stony ground as he kicked and flailed wildly in all directions. “Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on! I need to get in there, I gotta have it, I gotta get in, I need it, need it, need it need it need it! Gimme a chance, you'll see, I'll do it!”

He came to a halt, breathing hard in and out, eyes glowing and body shivering before he snarled furiously and spat to the side, looking disgusted. “What a mess. Oh, oh, oh, what a mess, and it ain't a good one. I gotta get inside there... but all those demon scum, I need something... something strong. Something powerful...”

He looked up, then whined at the sky: “Where the hell is a dragon when you need one? Come on! I deserve a little something, yeah? Gimme something better than these Nibelung! They make a tasty snack, sure, but their bodies break down too fast... I don't need food, oh no, I need a monster. I need something I can use my newest new power on...”

Cancer rolled onto his stomach, then he glared at a centipede that was crawling by before reaching out and squishing it under a hoof, burying it in white slime. Then his eyes narrowed and flashed before he drew his hoof back... and grinned as he watched the centipede convulsing before it grew rapidly in size, jaws growing monstrous, limbs distorting, body warping... and then the mutated bug simply exploded, splattering Cancer's face with green goo.

He squealed and shrieked and rolled backwards, flailing wildly in all directions in frustration: his infective powers were growing in leaps and bounds, but all the same, he still required a host that was powerful enough to handle the mutations... anything else, well...

He huffed, then rolled onto his stomach, muttering to himself as he dropped his face against the ground. Then he slowly rose his head, peering at the bug's corpse before his tongue shot out, licking it up and drawing it into his jaws with a loud crunch as he said moodily: “Waste not, want not. But those demons... they're careful. And oh, I get stronger with every meal... no, with every passing day! But I can't just barge into demon-town that I smell beneath that big ugly-ass white stone city... I need me soldiers. An army. Zombies!”

He huffed, then rolled onto his back, mumbling: “Maybe if I infect enough ponies... yeah, that might be fun. 'Cept the demons will catch on way too fast to what's happening above, oh, they are such a nuisance. No, I needs me a tank. Something big and scary to distract 'em all, while I bag me the weasel... the weasel's gonna make me strong. I'm gonna infect her, get inside her, eat her up and ooh, she's gonna be delicious and make me like a damn god...”

He drooled a little at this thought, then shook his head and whispered: “But it'll be nothing compared to when I get into that hot place in Ponyville. It all stinks of chemicals, but there's something even better there, that draws me on in... that I need, need, need so bad I wanna pee myself. Oh, there's gotta be a way I can do this... there's gotta be an answer! Gimme a sign, sweet disease-ridden Heaven! Gimme a clue!”

Cancer grinned up at the stars hopefully... but they only looked coldly down at him as the moon slowly began to rise, a giant eye that stared down with contempt and disdain. Cancer stuck his tongue out in disgust and blew a raspberry, and then he turned with a huff and stormed off, Canterlot to his back as he muttered: “Gotta figure this one out. Gonna figure this one out, oh yes I am... and then I'm gonna have me some fun.

“Yeah... gonna eat me a white weasel, one way or another.” Cancer licked his lips slowly, then he shivered with rage and whispered: “And gonna kill that kiddy bat, too, for what he did to me. Gonna have me the perfect revenge before I get my booster shots... and then I'm gonna make this whole world just like me, sweet baby, yeah, yeah, yeah...”

Antares awoke, breathing a little hard, bathed in cold sweat, and Prestige leaned up with concern, looking down at him worriedly as she asked quietly: “Are you okay, hero?”

“I... don't call me that.” Antares mumbled embarrassedly, and then he nodded a little as Prestige reached up and stroked slowly his mane gently out of his eyes. “Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine, I am. Just had a bad dream, I guess...”

Prestige smiled a little down at him, and Antares gazed up at her quietly as she brushed their covers back a little before closing her eyes and settling on his chest. She listened to the strong beat of his heart as it slowly settled, her forelegs wrapping around his neck as he settled one limb over her, gazing down at her with silent gratitude.

His relationship with Prestige was moving fast: they spent their nights together like this, in this quiet little room they had made their own over the last two weeks of staying here, training in Subterra. Their friends, meanwhile, had slowly spread out to their own quarters throughout Thorn Palace, and gradually grown comfortable with both their immediate surroundings and Subterra itself. Better yet, training was going well for all of them, and Antares could say he was honestly proud of how he and his friends were all holding themselves up.

Twilight was back on her hooves, too, looking vibrant and alive... but here in Subterra, she didn't feel the need to hide the fact she was a Lich with one of her thick sweaters. Instead, she walked around, wearing only her collar and her stud earrings as she discussed things with her son or his friends and the various friends she had around this place... or those who came to visit her from Ponyville. Rarity, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Sleipnir, Cowlick and Ross... they had all been here at some point or another, while Pinkamena and Fluttershy were essentially staying in Subterra for as long as Antares and his friends were here, training.

Antares had learned a lot about himself in these last few weeks, and a lot about Prestige. They had shared secrets and grown comfortable with each other, and their trust grew every day. Avalon and Aphrodisia were both still skeptical of the relationship, although they did their best to try and support them – well, mostly Antares – and Rustproof only just smiled, as he always did... while Meadowlark, little-by-little, was adjusting to things. It still made her visibly ache... but all the same she was striving her hardest to get past her problem for everyone's sake.

Antares ached for her, but at the same time... Prestige made him happy. Now that he was able to see her, the real her that had been locked away under her superior unicorn exterior, he could see how truly... vibrant she was. How beautiful, and how wonderful, and how strong she was inside.

They laid together, cuddling in the darkness, before Prestige gently kissed the side of his neck, and Antares smiled a little before she slowly pushed herself up and murmured: “We should get ready to go, hero. It's going to get late if we stay here much longer.”

“Yeah. You're right.” Antares shook his head a little, then he studied her before saying softly: “You help me sleep, you know that? I used to always have problems getting... a good, long sleep in, but... with you here...”

“Well, they say beautiful sights help you to sleep.” Prestige said softly, and Antares laughed before he reached up and stroked her face gently with a hoof, and she smiled softly before turning and kissing this gently. “Come on, hero. I don't want them blaming me for making you lazy.”

Antares smiled and nodded: they slipped out of bed, shared another quick kiss, and then headed out into the hall and began to trace the now-familiar route towards the dining room, where they always met the others for breakfast these days. On the way, they found Meadowlark waiting for them, her back to her door and a large notebook open in front of her, the Pegasus glancing up with a faint smile as they approached.

She closed the book and tossed it into a satchel sitting beside her, then slipped this on without speaking. Antares and Prestige both smiled at her hesitantly, and then Meadowlark nodded to them before she asked quietly: “You two sleep well?”

“Yeah. What about you?” Antares tilted his head, and when the Pegasus gave a small smile and nodded, he hesitantly returned the gesture and murmured: “You really... don't have to wait for us if you don't want to...”

“I... I like to.” Meadowlark replied after a moment, then she shook her head and turned, adding in a firmer voice: “Anyway, I have something to show you, too. Twilight and I found it while working late last night... you were already in bed and... well, I didn't want to disturb you.”

Antares smiled lamely as Prestige blushed a bit, before she said awkwardly: “It... wouldn't have been any disturbance at all, Meadow, I... understand that this is all very important.”

Meadowlark just smiled a bit, saying softly: “Well... still. Anyway, I don't know how important this is, but the historical records say that years ago, a probe meteor from Clockwork World was sent into our world. The reports state that it was dismantled by Strange Ones, which Celestia and your... your parents, Antares, all witnessed. Celestia was given samples, but nothing ever came of them.

“I was crosschecking this with invoices from the magic school on a hunch, since it's a Canterlot-run institution... it turns out that they were the ones who ended up buying much of the dismantled probe.” Meadowlark continued quietly. “They've been keeping it in storage, and while... Celestia's tests were all negative on the smaller pieces... maybe if something larger is reassembled, something more like the full probe, it might still try to call home to Clockwork World. If that's true, we might be able to trace the signal back to Decretum...”

Antares looked up at this, nodding slowly as he whispered: “And find my Mom and Dad... Meadowlark, you're a genius!”

“Not yet. Not until we know if it's possible or not, we'll have to talk to Celestia about it.” Meadowlark smiled a little. “And then there's the issue of getting it working, amongst everything else...”

“We'll figure it out.” Antares smiled warmly over at Prestige, then he nodded firmly to the red Pegasus, saying quietly: “Thank you, from the bottom of my heart for... for not forgetting about this. For working on that for me between everything else, it... it means a world to me.”

“It... means a lot to us both.” Prestige said quietly, blushing a little as she looked awkwardly at the Pegasus: even as she felt a twist of envy and jealousy and perhaps a bit of overprotectiveness, she was all the same honestly glad, too... the way Antares had lit up...

Meadowlark only smiled again, and the rest of the journey was spent mostly in quiet. When they reached the dining room, they were unsurprised to find the enormous, black table was empty, the long hall almost seeming ghoulish thanks to its creepy decorations like the gargoyles that lurked on the rafters above, but by now the three were used to it, as they took their places at the table.

A moment later, a Nightmare appeared with a calm smile nearby, bowing its head courteously: something else they had thankfully gotten used to, although when the Nightmares appeared at seeming random in other areas of the Thorn Palace it usually caused more than a slight fright. “Shall I fetch breakfast?”

“Uh...” Antares looked awkwardly back and forth, but Meadowlark shook her head and Prestige shrugged, so the glossy-black stallion replied after a moment: “No, we're fine for now, thanks. We want to wait for the others to get here.”

“As you wish. Simply call if you need anything, Antares Mīrus.” the Nightmare said softly, smiling at him kindly, and then it vanished from sight. Antares looked awkwardly at the space where it had been as he wondered whether it was really gone or not, and then he cleared his throat and shook himself out a little before turning his eyes back to Meadowlark as she pulled her notepad out.

She began to go over notes again, and Prestige shifted awkwardly and sighed inwardly, looking anxiously up towards the ceiling as Antares asked curiously: “What's that?”

“Just... something. Amdusias told me to do it.” Meadowlark said quietly, shifting a bit and then looking pointedly at Antares when he leaned forwards to try and see, and he gave her an embarrassed look before nodding and hurriedly sitting back, glancing over at Prestige and gently touching her hoof.

The unicorn mare softened as she glanced towards him, and there was a strange silence between the three for a little while. It was uncomfortable... and yet none of them wanted to break it, or move, or do anything. It was bittersweet: it felt bad, and yet all the same it felt... good.

Thankfully, Avalon and Aphrodisia showed up shortly, and Rustproof followed with Twilight, Cowlick, and Ross. The last was a smiling ivory unicorn, with a golden blonde mane and tail and matching eyes, his cutie mark that of a puzzle piece. He was a little different from most ponies, but he was gentle, kind, and Cowlick adored him for a hundred different reasons. He was her special somepony, her husband in every way... except legally, of course, since they had never actually had a wedding or gotten married. But to Cowlick, he had been her husband since the day she had given him a set of monogrammed coveralls and a toolbox of his own. Even if said toolbox was now decorated with stickers of cartoon animals.

Antares often found himself watching Ross closely, curiously, ever since he had realized that it seemed often like Ross reacted to events before they happened, and he could sense things better than Antares could. He had mentioned this one to Cowlick, who had only grinned and replied cheerfully: “Yeah, I could have told you that after how often I come home randy and find Ross hiding under the bed.”

Ross glanced to the side, before Antares even felt it... and a moment later, a Nightmare appeared, Cowlick wincing away with a wheeze that interrupted Twilight's rambling as the Nightmare asked calmly: “May I fetch breakfast?”

“You idjits need bells.” Cowlick muttered, and then she rose a hoof, saying mildly: “Get me and Ross something that doesn't have meat, will you? Seriously, we ain't all freaks like Twilight and Antares. And Celestia, I guess, but... is she coming?”

“Yes, Cowlick, if you'd listen to me you'd know that.” Twilight said tiredly, taking her seat on the other side of Meadowlark as Ross and Cowlick sat with Rustproof. Avalon and Aphrodisia had already found their own seats a good distance down the table, and Twilight looked meditatively down at them before rolling her eyes and deciding to leave them alone as demon and young Pegasus visibly schemed something together, tossing looks every now and then at Antares. “Oh, my friend Fluttershy is also joining us this morning, she's going to be here in a few minutes with Celestia. Please bring her a salad, too, she doesn't like meat.”

“Of course, Mistress Twilight.” the Nightmare said kindly, and it smiled before vanishing once more. Ross waved a little after it, and Cowlick gave her husband an amused look before the engineer glanced down the table, yawning and stretching slowly.

“You know I usually listen to you, but... it's morning. God, I hate mornings.” Cowlick mumbled, rubbing slowly at her face. “Dunno why everypony thinks I must like 'em. Six AM should only exist as a bedtime, though, after you've spent the last six hours drinking. Not for you, though, Rusty, you're too young for that still. Speaking of which, you been stayin' away from cigarettes, yeah?”

“Yes, Momma, I have been.” Rustproof smiled honestly, gazing up at them with a quiet nod. Cowlick grunted, then looked at him pointedly, and the growing colt shrugged a little. “Guess it's the work.”

“If work stopped you from smoking, you'd never have started in the first goddamn place.” the mare engineer muttered, rubbing at the underside of her muzzle, and then she cocked her head curiously as she looked around the table. “So what's going on with all you guys, precisely?”

This was only answered by a few awkward looks, and Cowlick huffed, saying flatly: “Hey, I can be curious! 'Sides, it's weird not having any of you kids around Ponyville, right, Ross?”

“Right.” Ross agreed with a smile, then he added kindly: “But they aren't really kids, Cowlick. Nope. Not even Rustproof, no, no, no. He's growing up big and fast and not a goat.”

“Not a... oh, Ross.” Cowlick rolled her eyes, but she was smiling all the same as she looked over at him, then turned her eyes towards the enormous, blue-coated earth pony that was her son. “No, my kid's always gonna be my kid, no matter what happens. And I'll always be his Momma and there to take care of him.”

Rustproof smiled awkwardly and blushed a little even as he bowed his head towards Cowlick, and then the engineer turned her eyes back down the table, asking loudly: “Pinkslap, are you ten years old today or twenty years old? I hate keeping track.”

“Fifteen!” Aphrodisia replied brightly, and then she added informatively: “Antares and Prestige are sleeping together.”

“Yeah, we already knew that, but Twilight would have a lot more popped stitches if they were finally getting down and dirty with each other.” Cowlick replied absently, jerking her head at the Lich. The violet mare flushed deeply, her stitches visibly creaking as Antares and Prestige both stared with horror at Cowlick, who simply turned her attention to Avalon and asked curiously: “And you, your daddy told me that you're actually being a good girl these days.”

“Hey! I'm always good.” Avalon retorted, huffing and raising her head before she smiled a little. “But... I'm tryin', Auntie Cowlick. Fluttershy is teaching me a whole lot.”

“Only what I can.” murmured a soft voice, and all eyes glanced up as Fluttershy entered the room with a quiet smile, followed by Celestia. They took their own places at the table as Twilight gazed warmly across at her friends and Antares sat up a little, as the blonde, one-winged Pegasus looked back and forth before smiling again. “It's wonderful to see so many ponies here, though. But it's never very lonely here in Subterra. There are many strange and wonderful things here.”

Cowlick grunted, and Celestia nodded slowly before gazing around the table. “And I'm glad to see all of you here... Meadowlark, Twilight tells me that you have an interesting idea.”

Meadowlark glanced up abashedly, then she nodded awkwardly before answering quietly: “Well, without the help of Twilight and Amdusias I never would have come up with this before. But... simply put, I want to reconstruct the probe that was sent here from Decretum... purchase records show that most of it was bought back from the Strange Ones and locked in the magic school's vaults...”

Celestia tilted her head with interest at this, asking curiously: “When did this transaction take place? Five years ago I tried to locate the meteor fragments myself, but I only managed to find a few of the crystals and that a caravan had already left with the rest.”

“Two years ago, from...” Meadowlark flipped through her notebook, murmuring: “They bought it off a Strange One freight wagon.”

The ivory winged unicorn nodded thoughtfully at this, then she bowed her head and frowned a little. “It's possible. But there are two problems: the Strange Ones destroyed many of the crystals to ensure that the probe's signal was halted, and the probe will require a power source that I'm not sure unicorn magic can provide alone.”

Meadowlark flipped through her notebook again, and then she looked up and said hesitantly: “There were some notes that I cross-referenced with other logs and records, Baroness... the Strange Ones are more than capable of designing imitations of other enchantments and magic sources. I think... I think it might be very possible for them to make replicas of the same crystals they destroyed, if we can provide them with the right material...”

“Just Celestia, titles of the above world mean nothing in Subterra.” Celestia said quietly, but she was smiling now, looking interested before she glanced curiously over at Cowlick as the engineer waved a hoof through the air.

“If you get Greece and me some samples, we'll figure out how it works and build us a nice big battery source.” Cowlick grinned a little, glancing over at Ross as he nodded hesitantly in agreement. “Yeah, thought so. Power's power. We can figure out how to build a convertor if we gotta, but me and Greece have done a good bit of experimentation with voltaic topazes, ever since Rarity told us about 'em. I bet those'll work if we can give 'em the right charge.”

Celestia looked thoughtful, but she was spared from answering right away as a small group of Nightmares strode in through the doors, heavy, covered trays floating through the air around them. They smiled as they put them on the table and removed the lids, revealing a full banquet: all kinds of baked goods and foods preferred by ponies, salads for those who had requested it, and a few simple meats for those who were interested: sausages, dumplings, and bacon.

Antares smiled awkwardly as he helped himself to both a few muffins as well as some of the meat, unable to deny how good it smelled to him even as Ross and Fluttershy both carefully kept their eyes on the vegetable fair. Hesitantly, Prestige took a single dumpling, and Meadowlark looked as she always did with a strange kind of wanting over at the two, before she turned her eyes embarrassedly back to the baked goods and just took some toast for now: the one time she had tried to eat just a slice or two of bacon, she had ended up throwing up for most of the morning.

They ate breakfast in quiet as Celestia contemplated things: it was only near the end of the meal when the Baroness broke the silence, saying softly: “This is an excellent chance. Meadowlark, you've done a phenomenal job: I never thought to check the sale records and receipts. If you don't mind, I'd like you and Twilight Sparkle to both come with me today to the archives, I could use your help.”

Meadowlark smiled at this, glancing up and nodding hurriedly, and Twilight tilted her head curiously as she glanced up to ask: “What about training, Celestia?”

“Antares can go to Amdusias today instead, and Prestige seems to be getting along well with Burning Desire.” Celestia nodded slowly, then she glanced up and called calmly: “Discombobulation?”

There was silence for a few moments... and then a long, tired sigh from above, and all eyes looked up to see the Draconequus sitting upside-down on the ceiling, most of the ponies looking surprised as Celestia only smiled. “It's very embarrassing when you actually do ask for my help, Celestia. I come here, show up, and all you silly ponies go 'what Disco-Bob actually showed up when Tia called him? That implies so much!'”

He flailed around a little, then glowered a bit down at Celestia, but she only smiled up at him and asked courteously: “Could you please take a message to the Strange Ones for me?”

At this, Discombobulation winced and shook his head violently, earning a frown from Celestia: but it was a look of concern, not of irritation, at the vehemence of the Draconequus. “Oh, no, no no no. Definitely can't do that, Celestia. Uh. Send Discord, they won't stab him.”

“What are you talking about?” Celestia frowned up at Discombobulation, who cleared his throat and tugged at an invisible collar. “Did something happen between you and the Strange Ones that I should know about?”

“Well, everyone should know something, Celestia. What we should know precisely varies from person-to-person, and too few people understand they should just be happy with what they do know instead of going out and seeking all that delicious forbidden knowledge. You'll end up getting your face melted off.” Discombobulation replied reasonably, and when the ivory winged unicorn only continued to look at him mildly, he finally awkwardly rose a finger and said delicately: “This may come as a great shock to all of you, but I'm not actually a pony. I am a Draconequus.”

“No, really?” Aphrodisia asked ironically, and when Discombobulation gave her a flat look, she growled and then barked at him several times, making him wince back.

He grumbled under his breath, then glanced down as Celestia said slowly: “The Strange Ones were told to work beside us by Odin, but since Odin is... gone...” Celestia's eyes flickered slightly, and Antares softened as he looked towards his aunt before she continued slowly: “Odin told the Strange Ones that Discord was not our enemy, that he was now in a much more effective prison and rendered harmless. But you always avoided contact with the Strange Ones...”

“They think of me as an interloper. Which is funny, because I've technically been here longer than any of you.” Discombobulation said moodily, rubbing absently at his chest with his metallic claw. “But us patchwork dolls have never gotten along with anyone, especially not ourselves, as you've seen very clearly. Oh, I have an idea, don't send Discord. Antares, send your silly friend Allonym. That would be fantastic.”

Antares only shook his head, and then Celestia glanced up and nodded slowly. “I'll ask Kvasir to talk to the Strange Ones on your account, the next time I have a chance. They... don't listen to him as much as I'd like, but they also aren't hostile towards him. For now, please find Discord, then, and ask him to find me in the archives in roughly an hour. I'll have a message for him to take to the Strange Ones on my behalf.”

“I still say Allonym should go. If I had to compare us to celebrities, I'm obviously the actor who can play both an exiled angel in a comedy but also be a super action hero, Discord is clearly a scientologist that likes to jump on couches, but Allonym is a soap opera guest star.” Discombobulation said mildly, and then he paused before looking nervously back and forth. “He's... he's not here right now, is he? I think I'm going to indulge my inner coward and run away now.”

With that, Discombobulation slowly sank into the ceiling as it rippled like water, still peering nervously back and forth until he finally vanished. For a few moments, the roof continued to ripple like water, and then it turned solid again as Celestia shook her head slowly before she looked curiously over at Antares. “On that note... have you seen Allonym at all?”

“Only glimpses.” Antares replied with a bit of a smile, as Prestige nodded slowly beside him, nibbling carefully at her dumpling. “He's been... trying to give us privacy, I think. I mean, all of us, not... I mean...”

Antares blushed a little, but Celestia only smiled; all the same, her eyes were drawn to the side as Meadowlark shifted uncomfortably, and for a few moments there was awkward silence before the ivory mare said softly: “Alright. Meadowlark, Twilight, would you like to join me now on the walk up to the Canterlot archives? And to the rest of you, good luck with your duties and training today... and if I can offer a bit of advice, Antares, perhaps you should try to talk to Allonym. We can use every bit of insight we can get at this point.”

The young stallion smiled and nodded a little, then he glanced over at Meadowlark as she hurriedly stood up and tossed her notebook into her satchel. The red Pegasus hurried after Twilight and Celestia as the two adults left, and Antares felt his eyes lingering over her despite himself, and he felt something – Shame? Fear? Affection? – when she glanced quietly over her shoulder at him just before hurrying out the doorway.

There was a little bit of conversation, but Antares missed most of it, lost in thought even as he wrapped a foreleg around Prestige and she leaned against him, looking nervous. The two remained sitting even as others started to filter out... and then the young stallion finally glanced up, smiling a bit as he said quietly when they were alone: “Go ahead, Prestige... I'll see you after... tonight.”

“Yeah.” Prestige said softly, and the two ponies looked at one another for a few moments before they shared a short, sweet kiss, and then a tight embrace. They lingered, and then she pulled away and smiled a little at him over her shoulder as she headed out, adding quietly: “Don't hurt yourself, Antares. You're doing well, hero.”

Antares only smiled lamely at her as she vanished out into the hall beyond, leaving him alone in silence: it lasted only a few seconds, though, before the glossy-black unicorn closed his eyes and laughed a little as someone pulled out the chair beside him to sit down at the table. “Do you actually come when I call or... are you going to blame this on coincidence?”

“Neither. There were a whole bunch of ponies talking about me and asking for me, and... well, what kind of benevolent Draconequus would I be if I didn't answer the prayers of all you silly ponies?” Allonym said comfortably, putting his cane aside as he leaned back in the chair that was a little small for him, then he grimaced and shifted back and forth, rubbing absently at one of his legs. “Today isn't precisely a good concentration day, by the way. Storm's rolling in, and it makes me sore. Makes me... twitchy... and the future probably isn't going to be pleasant.”

“I think I'm starting to understand you're not psychic, you're just really pessimistic, Allonym.” Antares opened his eyes, glancing over at him and hesitating before he felt his eyes slowly reading through the Draconequus, picking up his emotions and the thoughts turning calmly way beneath the facade of the chimerical creature before the young unicorn asked slowly: “Did you always know about this... darkness... in me, as Selene put it? Is that why you're here to help?”

“Yes and no.” Allonym said softly, then he reached up and squeezed Antares' shoulder gently. “We all have darkness inside us. But that's important: that's good, as a matter of fact. It teaches us balance, and it helps us understand that...we are all flawed, and to understand that we are all equals. And that those who are truly worthy of respect are those who overcome their failings and their darkness; tell me, honestly, what's to admire in someone who's so pure of heart they have no evil, no weaknesses, no flaws to overcome in themselves? If your nature is nothing but pure good, and you do nothing but pure good... are you really brave, are you really a hero? Or are you just a slave to your nature, not even like an animal, but a machine, following its predetermined course, set by... chemicals and energy and oh who knows what the hell else?”

“You're so jaded and cynical.” Antares said softly, smiling faintly, and Allonym shrugged. “I... but someone like that could save thousands of lives...”

Allonym laughed quietly, looking down and murmuring: “If the world was black and white, maybe. But it's not... I don't think our pure good hero would last very long in this world before becoming consumed with bitterness and self-loathing over some of the dirt he's had to plunge his hands into.”

Antares was silent, and then Allonym reached up and squeezed his shoulder slowly, saying softly: “You're going to suffer, Antares, with the choices you'll have to make in the future and the things you're going to see. But you're going to survive, and I have faith you'll make the right decisions, because inside you is that darkness. That willingness... to dip in blacker waters if it's necessary. You're going to kill Cancer, aren't you?”

“Yeah, I am.” Antares said quietly, without hesitation, and Allonym smiled a little as Antares closed his eyes, shaking his head slowly. “He's a monster, though. I don't think anyone could show him mercy, or feel sorry for him.”

“You'd be surprised.” Allonym replied softly, looking up at the ceiling before he pulled a set of prayer beads out of his inner jacket, beginning to slowly play them one-by-one between his fingers. The eyes of the Draconequus slipped closed as his breathing evened out, working slowly and calmly as he rested back in his seat, and there was silence between the two before the strange creature murmured: “The idea is a good one, about the meteor I mean... it might work. A lot of it depends on how much the others are able to figure out, but... I think they'll be able to start putting things together. But... Antares, you have to deal with Cancer first. You cannot permit Cancer to set foot in a place like Decretum, do you understand?”

Allonym sat up and looked calmly over at Antares, his eyes sharp and serious, and Antares frowned a little as he leaned nervously back before saying apprehensively: “I... I think so. Is... wait, does that mean that Clockwork World... everything's still powered on there, or...”

“Just trust me on this. If Cancer were to reach Clockwork World, it would be... bad.” Allonym said delicately, shaking his head slowly before he sighed and looked up moodily at the ceiling. “One last thing, too. Trust in your friends... I can't help but notice that despite all this training, the only ponies you're really working side-by-side with are Prestige and Aphrodisia. You need to develop your teamwork more thoroughly with all of them if you want to save your parents, Antares. You're talented beyond your years, sure, and your friends are all amazing individually... but that's not enough. None of you are adults, and none of you have a lot of battle experience yet. If you want to stand a chance against Cancer, you need to work together.”

Antares shifted, then he hesitated before looking up and saying quietly: “We do, and I appreciate the advice, Allonym, but... I also have Twilight, and Celestia to help me, and many ponies who do have a lot of combat experience. I feel that it's more important we first concentrate on getting our strength up... on preparing for what's ahead, before we start teamwork exercises. That won't take us as long to master, not with how long we've all been friends.”

“Selene?” Allonym asked curiously, and Antares blushed a little and nodded, making the Draconequus smile a little. “Well, at least you're taking someone's advice and speaking your mind more, instead of just shying away or using your crazy x-ray eyes to say what the other person wants to hear. But Antares... believe me: your friends are the hardest people to learn to work together with. Just ask Twilight Sparkle.”

“Maybe I will, then, and... I'll consider it. But we need to be strong, Allonym.” Antares said quietly, leaning forwards and shaking his head a bit, before he winced when Allonym picked up his cane and bopped him gently with the dragon-shaped handle. “Hey!”

“See, there's that inner darkness of yours rearing its ugly head and making you a little stupid.” Allonym calmly stood up as he tucked his onyx prayer beads back into a pocket, and Antares scowled despite himself before the Draconequus said quietly: “Most powerful is he who controls his own power, Antares. And this is your most powerful weapon right up here.”

Allonym brought his cane up, bopping Antares gently on the head and making him wince a little, rubbing awkwardly at the crown of his skull before the Draconequus smiled slightly. “Just because you've mastered a few nasty tricks and treats, don't forget your most basic talent, Antares... to analyze someone, to see inside them, and react based on that. Don't forget that your mother and father brought down a Jötnar whose strength far dwarfed their own by seizing the opportunities they were given and turning his machinations against him.”

Antares nodded a little, rubbing slowly at his head still, and then the Draconequus turned and strolled calmly towards the door before the young stallion said impulsively: “I'm... I'm not like my Mom and Dad, even if I wish I was. But I'm... trying to be what they wanted me to be.”

“You are, Antares, you need to stop worrying about that. And what they really wanted... was for you to be yourself.” Allonym answered, then he smiled and said softly: “Don't disappoint them, huh?”

With that, the Draconequus turned and strode out of the room, leaving the young stallion to gaze after him as he swallowed... then he closed his eyes and bowed his head forwards, promising as he hugged himself tightly: “I won't.”

Divided We Fall

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Chapter Fifteen: Divided We Fall
~BlackRoseRaven

A week passed, during which Antares hesitantly suggested doing group training exercises to Celestia, who agreed to the idea after some consideration. And Antares found himself more than a little horrified when Allonym's prediction proved right: their first training session was against simple wooden dummies, and the wooden dummies thoroughly trounced the young ponies despite the fact all they were supposed to do was smash them while Celestia timed how long it took.

Antares had shouted orders... and then promptly gotten his attention wrapped up in fighting and forgotten to give further directions. Avalon had disobeyed his directions to go for a closer target, and ended up being shot by Rustproof: thankfully, he was using rubber bullets, but Avalon had immediately dropped what she was doing in favor of tackling him. Meadowlark had simply sat in the background, not knowing what to do, while Prestige kept looking at Antares for approval she wasn't getting, and Aphrodisia tackled Avalon before Antares realized what the others were doing.

Allonym was right: they had trained so hard as individuals, they couldn't function as a group. Furthermore, when Antares had trained side-by-side with Aphrodisia and sometimes Avalon, he always let the other pony lead and used his perceptions to follow them in rhythm... and in spite of the fact they all looked up to him off the field, on the field, Avalon thought combat was like any other sports competition, where she was the most valuable player and essentially did her own thing no matter how often she was yelled at. Antares was their leader everywhere except where it counted, crunching in his self-confidence and making him feel like the fall guy: it affected his ability to give orders and made him meeker than usual, refusing to add anything to conversations unless poked and prodded for his opinion.

There were a lot of arguments during the week, as they failed out of training exercise after training exercise: Celestia often had to stop them during target practice when they turned on each other or started slowing down while Antares mumbled directions and they just stood awkwardly around. Even when Celestia tried to get them to work together by putting them in a simple game of rugby against a few Royal Guards, their dynamics fell quickly apart: Aphrodisia and Avalon were overaggressive, Antares didn't lead so much as react, and Prestige and Meadowlark both stayed far back afield, doing very little while the Royal Guards bruised and battered their way through the others.

Celestia's legendary patience finally came to an end when she arrived at the large, open square in Subterra they used for their exercises and found Meadowlark crying in a corner while Avalon berated her. Prestige was half-clinging to Antares, almost holding him back as he shouted weakly at Avalon, and Aphrodisia was only grumbling and lingering around the side of the area, acting completely disinterested in the others. Rustproof, lastly, was smoking anxiously on the other side of the field, several cigarette stubs around on the ground around his hooves.

“What is going on?” Celestia shouted furiously, and everyone went dead silent: it was loud enough that several demons peered curiously up over the walls that surrounded the wide, open cement field. Antares winced and shrank down as Avalon fell out of the air and turned beet-red, while Meadowlark turned away and rubbed violently at her face. Rustproof's cigarette fell out of his muzzle, and Aphrodisia's eyes slowly widened as she dropped heavily on her butt and shivered.

Celestia strode forwards, her eyes narrowed dangerously, her features tense: her golden armor almost glowed with her anger as her mane sparked with electricity before she closed her eyes and held up a hoof when Antares opened his mouth, saying sharply: “No. I don't want to hear it. I have had enough of this. Line formation in front of me, now.”

She looked up, saw the young ponies all staring at her, then she leaned forwards and ordered coldly: “I said now.”

That got the six ponies to hurry forwards, Rustproof stumbling and dropping his cigarettes all over, but not stopping to try and grab them up as they all sat at sharp attention in front of Celestia. She looked slowly back and forth over them, and then her eyes turned towards the side of the area, where tables had been set up... and her disgust and anger deepened at the sight of their equipment. It was laying willy-nilly all around the table, a few bits of gear here and there, one of Antares' vambraces half-polished... but the polish canister had been knocked over and left out, and the goo inside had dried all over the table and some of the other equipment in a hard, thick crust.

Slowly, she forced herself to breathe, then she looked forwards and shook her head grimly. “Perhaps my original expectations were high. Perhaps I do not know foals as well as I thought and perhaps I treated all of you as special and different for too long, and gave you too much leniency. But no more. Your parents would be disappointed in all of you... we've put in at least ten hours every day this week into team exercises, and you six friends have not learned to get along. Instead, you've all become so convinced of your own superiority or inferiority that you've devolved into a pack of animals. Except packs of animals at least have a hierarchy and order.”

“Meadowlark started it, she-” Avalon was cut off by Celestia stomping a hoof hard enough to shatter the stone beneath her, and the tiny Pegasus quailed, hurriedly dropping her eyes to the ground.

“We are going to train now.” Celestia said slowly, her gaze icy, drawing slowly back and forth over them. “Since every other method has failed, I'll teach you teamwork the same way I taught it in the old days. I will be your opponent, and you six will attack me. The training exercise will not end until I am satisfied. Is this clear?”

The six shared worried looks before Antares slowly began to turn towards the table, and Celestia said quietly as she stomped her hoof again to get his attention: “I did not give you permission to move, Antares Mīrus. Where do you think you're going?”

“I... Aunt Tia... I was just going to get our equipment and...” Antares broke off, shaking like a leaf as he looked up and saw the fury and the disappointment in Celestia's eyes. “Aunt... Aunt Tia...”

“Enough. You will refer to me as Celestia, and you will speak to me with respect.” Celestia said sharply, and Antares wilted before the ivory winged unicorn straightened and said quietly: “And none of you deserve that equipment. You will fight me as you are.”

Celestia's eyes looked coldly back and forth: her heart hurt, but at the same time, her mind had already locked on this course of action, and she would see it through no matter how much it pained her. Since they refused to learn any other way, she would teach them that there were consequences for their actions, for their failures... for the way they, six friends, were attacking each other and making a mockery of everything they had learned. Maybe they had all become strong... but that very same strength had made them all weak, as well.

“I'm... I'm not a fighter...” Meadowlark whispered, looking up pleadingly as tears fell from her eyes. “And I... I can't... help...”

“Be silent. I did not give you permission to speak. If you wish to speak you will raise your hoof like the children you are and wait for me to address you.” Celestia's voice was soft but dangerous, and then she gave a thin smile when Antares looked up and she saw the flash of anger, as Meadowlark's lower lip trembled.

She didn't say anything, only looked at him... and Antares dropped his eyes, trembling himself. The ivory winged unicorn shook her head slowly, electricity sparking through her mane again before she stepped calmly backwards and looked coldly over the group. “All of you are supposed to play a role in the team. Antares is your leader. Prestige provides magic artillery. Aphrodisia is your heavy hitter. Avalon is vanguard. Rustproof is range and technology. Meadowlark is planning and medicine. All of you have a role on the battlefield and none of you understand what your role is. But you will. This exercise does not stop until you understand or you can no longer stand.”

Celestia turned and strode slowly away, then she lowered her head and said coldly: “Let us begin. Attack me, now, and do not disappoint me like you've disappointed me every day his week.”

“I don't care that you're the Baroness, you can't talk to us like that!” Avalon shouted furiously, her eyes filled with tears, and then she launched into the air and shot forwards... only for one of Celestia's rear hooves to smash into her chest and knock her shooting across the field.

She hit the ground hard, rolling several times as the others looked in shock before the young Pegasus fell in a slump, shivering and coughing weakly. She clutched at herself, trembling violently as tears ran from her eyes, before slowly forcing herself to her hooves as Celestia turned around and said quietly: “This is not a game, Avalon, and you are not the strongest warrior on the field. I hope I have made that clear. You all desire to be treated as adults, to participate in a real war, on a real battlefield? None of you have any idea what that means. Especially not you, Antares.”

Antares trembled and shrank back, and Prestige gritted her teeth before she looked at him almost desperately. Then, on his other side, Aphrodisia roared before running forwards, and Prestige stumbled after the demon, not even knowing why even as her horn began to glow...

Aphrodisia lunged at Celestia... and was crushed out of the air by a simple swipe of a front hoof, her head smashing painfully into the stone ground before Celestia's horn glowed gold. Her eyes remained calm and emotionless as golden arcs of lightning blasted over the demon's body, Aphrodisia shrieking in pain as she wriggled helplessly beneath the pin and agony rapidly stole her will to fight.

Prestige flicked her horn, launching a blazing red fireball at Celestia... and the ivory equine's eyes flicked to the side before she rose her other hoof and simply slapped it away. Prestige could only keep running forwards, pumping all her strength into a second spell as she snapped her horn forwards, and a blast of force fired like a cannonball towards the winged unicorn.

And without missing a beat, Celestia simply scooped Aphrodisia into the air in front of her, and the blast of force smashed into the demon, knocking her limply backwards... only for Celestia to slam a vicious punch into her back and send the demon shooting through the air like a rocket, crashing into Prestige's head and knocking them both rolling backwards with screams of pain. Celestia's expression was neutral, unchanging, even as Avalon shot forwards and Rustproof desperately ran for the equipment table.

“I said you didn't earn that privilege.” Celestia said quietly, flicking her horn to the side... and spikes of stone erupted from the ground all around Rustproof, one jagged blade of rock ripping a gash in his side and knocking him sprawling before the young male curled up, rasping hard for breath in terror as he was caged in by the jutting blades of earth.

At almost the same time, without bothering to look, Celestia simply slapped Avalon to the side, knocking the Pegasus out of the air. The tiny female crashed face-first into the ground with a cry of agony, bouncing and rolling several times before she came to a halt, and Celestia shook her head slowly before turning her eyes coldly towards Antares and Meadowlark.

Meadowlark backed slowly up, breathing hard in fear as Celestia calmly approached, the red Pegasus staring weakly up at her as Antares simply shivered violently, his jaw hanging open, tears in his eyes... and then he cried out weakly when Celestia shoved a hoof into Meadowlark's chest and stepped forwards to slam her cruelly down onto her back. The Pegasus bounced once with a cry of agony, spittle flying from her jaws before she whimpered, rasping for breath as Celestia leaned slowly down and said quietly: “Do you think your enemies will have any mercy for you, just because you're crying? No. They won't. They'll have less mercy than me.”

Meadowlark only trembled, shivering beneath her hoof before Celestia rose up and calmly strode over to Antares, who was laying on the ground on his stomach, shivering as tears leaked down his cheeks. He stared up at her, and Celestia looked down at him, then she ordered quietly: “Stand up.”

Antares shivered, then he slowly hauled himself up to his hooves... and a hoof smashed across his face, knocking him crashing onto his side. He clenched his eyes shut, face throbbing, body trembling before he slowly looked up as a weak sob escaped his jaws to see Celestia looming over him again, before she repeated coldly: “Stand up.”

Antares trembled... and Celestia reached down, seizing him by the mane and hauling him to his hooves before she slammed a hoof once, twice into his chest. He gagged, leaning forwards, limbs going weak beneath him as his vision blurred, and he tried to mouth something before Celestia simply dropped him and shook her head slowly. “Your parents would be disappointed in you. In everyone here. Get up, Antares. Get up, and fight. Show me that you know this is not a game.”

Antares only trembled... and then he slowly curled up and began to cry like a child, trying to hide his face in his hooves as his entire body shuddered with his sobs. His friends all lay beaten and bloody, petrified and wounded, and Celestia shook her head slowly and closed her eyes, feeling pity... but also disgust, anger, and even contempt.

She didn't speak as she turned away, slowly making her way to the exit and leaving the six sprawled out and shivering in their various states of denial and suffering. She left them behind, and Antares sobbed all the harder, the pain, the self-loathing biting deeper and more savagely when he realized that she was gone... that Celestia hadn't just lost faith in him, she had decided they weren't worthwhile enough to even waste her time punishing them... that he had failed in her eyes, because he couldn't lead, he and his friends had turned against each other, and they weren't proud warriors... they were stupid, selfish children who still hadn't processed how the real world worked...

A pair of limbs wrapped around him, and Antares yelled and tried to shove at the pony that had embraced him, but it only clung tighter before a wet face buried into the side of his neck. And in response, he grabbed wildly at the shape, and before he knew it, he was hugging her back, and they cried together before he felt more ponies coming over, turning into one fierce embrace shared by six ponies.

When Antares' tears finally slowed and he managed to get a bit of control, he saw all his friends sitting around him. He breathed hard in and out, seeing the pain, the tears in their eyes, and then Avalon trembled before she said weakly: “I'm sorry. All of you guys, I'm sorry, I... I'm stupid. I got so much pride but I know I need to stop. I need to listen and... Antares, I'm gonna listen...”

“I won't be scared... I... we need to work together, I don't... I don't want to be like my parents, I don't want to run away anymore...” Meadowlark whispered... and Antares realized that she had been the one to first embrace him. That she was still clinging to him, even as Prestige rested her head on Antares' other shoulder, trembling.

“Aunt Tia's never been so mad at us, so disappointed...” Aphrodisia looked up, trembling, before she half-lunged forwards and hugged Antares fiercely, burying her face against his chest as she whispered: “I wish she had hit us more if it would have made her less disappointed in us, Nova. And I'm sorry. You're my best friend. You're my best friend, I should've listened all those times...”

Rustproof only snuffled a little as he dropped his head forwards, and then he closed his eyes and dropped his head against Meadowlark's shoulder when she reached up and wrapped her other foreleg around him silently. He breathed hard in and out, and Prestige whispered: “Antares, you're our leader. I don't call you hero just because it's cute and... and... I've never felt more proud than when I was working with you and your friends. And I've never been more disgusted with myself than now... we didn't work together, and...”

She laughed brokenly, and then Avalon looked over at her and said quietly: “You're our friend too, Prestige. And Meadowlark, you are too and... I'm sorry.”

Both Prestige and Meadowlark nodded silently, and then Antares closed his eyes before he whispered: “Then we need to work together. Forget... everything else, we need to work together... I'm sorry I couldn't bring us together before but... I... I... I'll find... I swear I'll find a way to make this work...”

“You already bring us together. We just... need to listen. Antares, believe in yourself... you're...” Aphrodisia broke off, bowing her head and trembling a little as she held onto him. “You're the big brother.”

Antares laughed weakly, but he nodded slowly as he reached down and stroked his cousin's mane back before closing his eyes. “Okay. I'll... I'll try. Then...” He looked up, silently turning his eyes towards the table of littered equipment, and shame flushed his features as he saw the carelessness, the contempt... the fact he had treated the prized vambraces given to him by Twilight sitting in waste like they were garbage. “Then first... we need to earn our equipment back. We need to start at the basics.”

The others nodded, hesitantly pulling apart... but the group was humbled, working in silence with each other. It was small thing, but important and necessary, as they cleaned up, then gathered their equipment, polished it, touched it up as best they could. Ponies passed their equipment over to Antares, who cleaned out the dings as best he could, while Meadowlark and Rustproof polished gear and ensured everything was clean and in working order. Avalon and Aphrodisia worked alongside Prestige to go over the rest of their equipment while this was being done, organizing everything and also working on figuring out how they could all work effectively in combat.

What it came down to, was that they would have to listen... but Antares would also have to give orders. He didn't like the idea, but he saw the necessity for it in their eyes, and felt their faith in him... and that gave him strength. Not confidence, but he was willing to try, if only to avoid disappointing his friends and save them from receiving another beating... or much worse.

Celestia was right, after all: in a real battle, they would have been destroyed. Celestia had hurt them, but she could have done worse, and Antares knew that... and what hurt a lot more than her hooves was the feeling of failure. Was her words... the pain of her hooves faded quickly, but the pain of what she had said, the thought of his parents being disappointed in him...

Twilight Sparkle came looking for them when Meadowlark didn't show up for work at the archives... and while at first she smiled at the sight of them working together, she then saw the signs of battle, the bruises, the splatters of blood. She ran in, but Antares only shook his head sharply to the others... and to his surprise, they all immediately dropped their heads forwards and let him slowly tell her what had happened, and not even Avalon had spoken out.

He had simply said that they had been taught a lesson. It wasn't a lie, even if it wasn't entirely the truth, and he thought Twilight had some idea of what had likely gone on, but she had only left in silence afterwards. Antares put his mind back to the task at hoof, helping finish organization and equipment preparation before saying quietly: “Every day, we meet here. No other training, we're going to come here, we're going to learn to work with each other, no matter what. Allonym is right: it doesn't matter how strong we are apart if we can't work as a team. And we're going to start today.”

The others had agreed: and the more they listened, the more confident Antares became in giving orders. Now that they were working together instead of trying to outdo each other, focus only on themselves and their training, or simply butt heads of the sake of butting heads, they were beginning to understand how they could all play separate roles but still work together as a team.

It was an important start, and they were dedicated to it: dedication that showed when they returned to Thorn Palace late at night simply to go to bed, and the next morning headed as a group back to the training area, all anxious to work as much as possible. It made them all the more surprised when they found another table set up in the center of the arena, with food set silently out, inviting them to breakfast. Someone had also left them a book of exercises and battle strategies, and Antares silently touched this, not eating as the others did; instead, he was looking quietly out towards the entrance to the training grounds, wondering if the glimmer of a glowing mane he'd seen was real or just his hopes and imagination playing tricks on him.

Discord grumbled under his breath as he adjusted his satchel bag at his side, rolling his sore shoulders as he muttered: “Stupid ponies... would it kill them to give me a backpack? No, the messenger needs a messenger bag... I look like a retarded post office employee.”

Discord stuck out his tongue and crossed his eyes, saying in a falsely-bright voice: “Hyuck, hyuck, hyuck! Why hello everypony, look at me, I'm the post-Draconequus! I give happy letters to happy ponies and every day is happy happy happy...”

He blew a loud, angry raspberry as he slumped forwards, features souring as he stomped slowly along the road leading back to Canterlot through the mountains, mumbling: “Celestia could at least not send me on foot to the stupid Strange Ones. Lazy... glowy... prissy princess thingy. Ooh, look at me, I'm so pretty with my fancy swirling mane and my... shoes... and stuff. She can teleport! I have to hoof it through all the... sludge and forest and the singing ponies and the drunken Nibelung and the... stupid... everything.”

He grumbled under his breath, huffing a bit to himself before he frowned and halted in the middle of the road. Slowly, he looked back and forth apprehensively as he sniffed a bit at the air, reaching nervously up and grasping the strap of his mailbag as he realized there were no sounds coming from anywhere around him. No birds singing, no insects buzzing, just silence except for the whisper of the wind. It was sunny, it was bright, the blue sky overhead was pleasant and yet... he felt cold. He felt scared, as old instincts tickled along his spine, triggered a sensation he hadn't felt since Ginnungagap...

“I... I'm a messenger of the Royal Court, you know!” Discord tried to shout, but instead his voice came out hushed, weak, as he looked apprehensively back and forth and licked his lips nervously. “It's... a federal offense to annoy me! And... that's bad!”

Nothing, no response, and Discord hesitantly took a step forwards before a quiet chuckle spilled through the air. The Draconequus shivered, looking fearfully back and forth before he said hoarsely: “I warn you, don't make me get all crazy in here now! I can totally still do that if I want to, I just happen to... to like the color red!”

Discord rose his arms threateningly, waggling his fingers as he looked back and forth, but he felt pale, and scared, and... something reeked. Something smelled like burning and death and carnage and destruction, and his breath raced in and out as his eyes flicked back and forth before a voice sang softly:

“Well now, now... what do we have here? Is that Mr. Discord the Draconequus I hear?
Ooh... ha, ha, ha... how delightful... how insightful... how spiteful... how... rightful...”

“So you can rhyme, you should be really proud of yourself for that and... I'm going on my way now!” Discord shouted, wincing, and he spun to hurry down the path, looking back and forth in terror before he stumbled into a full-out run as several rocks spilled down a slope at his side, shaking his head and shouting as his hat flew off his head but he didn't dare turn back for it, sprinting down the road towards Canterlot.

And yet the castle was barely visible in the distance, he was hours away by the road, and whatever was here with him, whatever it was that filled him with such revulsion and terror and horror was easily keeping pace, moving so fast and sleekly along the mountains that he only caught glimpses of its shadow and profile, even as it continued mockingly:

“Hey, mister, mister, don't you be so afraid,
Even if you can sense that I'm the Ace of Spades,
And you're just a joker, yeah that's true...
But oh honey, I got the perfect use for a wildcard like you...

Oh, ba-da-ba-do-bop, yeah, yeah...
Sha-dada-do-dop, whoa, oh...
Ba-dee, ba-doo, ba-da-da-ta-ta-ta...
We're gonna be best friends, ah ha...

You and I, we got a little somethin' in common see,
Both you and me come from the deep dark chaos sea,
But I see you see the sea life weren't for you and me,
Ooh, but honey this place here's the land of opportunity...
Where perhaps even you and I can be best friends-'til-the-end...
A chaos beast like you... and me, a destruction entity.”

“I don't blind date!” Discord managed to shout over one shoulder, continuing to sprint forwards... and then he staggered to a halt when he heard something hit the ground in front of him before he tripped over a rock and fell to all fours, looking up in horror as Cancer leaned down with a wide, vicious grin, his red eyes glowing.

“You'll make an exception for me, honey bunch.” Cancer said kindly, leaning his goblinoid, mottled white features in, and Discord shouted in revulsion and shoved himself backwards before Cancer pounced on top of him, slamming the Draconequus down onto his back as his forelegs transformed, hooves splitting into slimy tendrils that eagerly tore down through cloth and skin into flesh, spilling and spreading through Discord's body as he howled and shook his head wildly in denial, shoving uselessly at the slick, hideous monster pinning him down as Cancer gave a snarling grin. “Yeah! Oh, what's this? You got something restraining those chaos powers of yours... perfect! Ooh, I wish I could eat you up but honey, sweetie, baby, lovey-dovey, I'm gonna make you into something even better than dinner or dessert... now you hold real still, 'cause this is gonna hurt...”

Discord stared in horror, shaking his head violently before he arched his back and screamed as those awful, hideous tendrils crawled through him, and pain was the last thing he knew; the pain of something spreading inside him, the pain of his body beginning to warp and change, the pain of losing his mind not to madness, but something far more sinister and foul as the last thing he saw was Cancer's glowing red eyes... and then Discord was only aware that he was gone, and something else had taken his place.

Antares smiled a little as he glanced slowly around at his friends: their polished, well-maintained equipment gleamed over their bodies as they all stood at the ready, smiling warmly around at one another in the small arena. Wooden targets lay demolished, and there wasn't a single mark on any of them as Avalon and Aphrodisia both grinned and punched their hooves together before Avalon turned to Prestige, holding out a hoof. The unicorn mare looked surprised... but then she blushed and awkwardly reached up to tap her hoof against Avalon's, mumbling: “You... you did well.”

“You too, Prestige.” Avalon smiled and nodded, then she hesitated before glancing towards Antares, saying quietly: “And hey, Antares, I... I think... we're ready for something a little more intense. I know you've been having us do these basic exercises over and over again, but... I'd like to suggest – and just a suggestion, of course – that we move on to something a little harder. Maybe we can't do... you know, big stuff yet, but... how about a relay?”

Antares looked around at the others, his eyes picking up the details, their reactions... and then he smiled a little, weighing what he saw in them against his observations of their improving teamwork over the days that had passed since their trouncing by Celestia. He began to open his mouth... and then he looked up in surprise at the sound of a sharp bell tolling in the distance.

The others looked up too... and more warning bells joined the chorus, filling Subterra with noise. Yells rose up, and Antares opened his mouth before he cursed and reminded himself of his duty, shouting clearly: “Everyone, line up!”

Immediately, his friends formed a line in front of him, and that one simple order and action took away the sense of panic, made it easier for both them and Antares to think as Meadowlark said quickly: “I think that's the alarm bell! It sounded like it came from-”

“It's not an attack on Subterra, it's above.” snapped a voice, and Antares looked to the side to see Pinkamena running towards them, before the demon gave a wry grin as she looked over the group. “Well, you guys are doing better than expected. Okay, Antares, since you're head rooster, listen to me and listen good. You and your friends are supposed to go back to Thorn Palace. That's Celestia's orders, not mine, so don't even think about disobeying. Princess Sunshine's been in the pissiest mood ever these last few days and not even I would consider going against her right about now. Me, her, and a bunch of others are going upstairs to deal with whatever's attacking us.”

“Okay, Pinkamena.” Antares nodded quickly, and the Gluttony demon frowned at him before she narrowed her eyes and leaned forwards, looking suspicious. But Antares only looked at her calmly, saying quietly: “I'll keep my friends safe.”

Pinkamena grunted, then she nodded hesitantly before turning and bursting apart into black smoke that shot quickly through the air. Antares grimaced a bit, then he shook his head and glanced at the others, saying quietly: “Alright, back to Thorn Palace. We can find out from Selene what's going on and figure out what to do from there.”

The others nodded, and Antares turned, leading them quickly out of the training grounds. As they hurried through the streets of Subterra, Antares couldn't help but look back and forth, seeing how the demons and creatures of this dark city were rallying, many hurrying for the surface and others guiding younglings and others to safety. The glossy-black unicorn felt his leather wings tensing, wanting to join them, wanting to help... but knowing he had to consider the situation they were in, and keeping in mind that for all he knew, it was nothing more serious than an attack by a raiding party of Nibelung thugs that was about to suffer a quick and painful defeat.

They hurried through one of the long tunnels that connected to the cavern the Thorn Palace was in, before Antares frowned and looked sharply up as the frequency of the bells changed, as the jangling became more dissonant... and Meadowlark shouted from the back of the group: “That's another alarm! It's nearby, too!”

Antares gritted his teeth, then he shouted over his shoulder: “Let's check it out, just in case! But we don't fight unless we have to... Avalon, take point, fly up ahead and scout it out, then hurry back.”

Avalon nodded quickly, shooting up into the air in the direction of the alarm as Antares led the others through the dark stone streets... then winced a little as he saw Twilight Sparkle run out of an alley ahead, the Lich glancing back and forth before she did a double-take, then glared at him “Antares, what are you doing here? You need to-”

“We got trouble!” shouted Avalon's voice, and Twilight glanced in surprise towards the yellow blur as the Pegasus came shooting back at full speed, crash-landing between Twilight and Antares and wincing as she skidded painfully to a halt before scrambling hurriedly to her hooves. “Guys, guys, there's something horrible over there!”

“Cancer is attacking above with more of his infected monsters, you need to get back to Thorn Palace and-” Twilight was cut off by a horrific roar that made the very air around them vibrate, and the Lich staggered to the side, staring over her shoulder in horror as she asked incredulously: “What was that? Oh no, he didn't infect a dragon somehow, did he?”

“Worse, way worse... but Antares, we need to help!” Avalon almost pleaded, looking up even despite the fear in her eyes, teeth grit as she nodded firmly. Antares grimaced, but then he looked up at Twilight, who breathed hard... then the Lich cursed under her breath, and Antares nodded sharply.

The violet mare turned, running towards the disturbance as the others followed behind her, beginning to open her mouth to ask what Avalon had seen... and then, as they turned onto another street, the Lich could only gape in horror at the hideous thing that had somehow torn its way into the caverns.

It was some bestial, awful mishmash of countless creatures, hobbling along on legs that were different lengths, one shrunken and ending in a hoof that dragged over cracked cement, the other fleshy and massive and with a hooked claw. Its chest was broad and covered in hideous cysts and what looked like staring but blind eyes all along one side of its breast, and one shoulder was far larger than the other. The arm on this side was monstrous, raw flesh and muscle and sinew flexing as huge, vicious claws raked against the ground to help drag itself forwards.

Its other limb was almost as long, but gangly, twisted and gnarled, and countless smaller arms ending in hands that seemed to reach weakly to the sky in supplication struck up all along its back. Its tail dragged along the ground, ending in an enormous blade that sent up sparks as it scraped over the black stone.

Drool dripped from oversized jaws, gnarled teeth sticking out in every direction as a crown of twisted and magnificent horns gleamed above eyes that glowed out of a face twisted into a permanent grin. It roared as it looked back and forth, swinging its oversized claw forwards to smash through a stone building like putty, and then Twilight snarled in fury as she looked up at the awful, familiar shape standing on its pustule-riddled, oversized shoulder. “You!”

“Hey, toots, I got a name you know, won't kill you none to use it.” Cancer said in a hurt voice, and then he grinned and slapped the side of the behemoth's face several times, winking over at it brightly. “Not that it would matter if it did, right, right, right?”

Cancer threw back his head and laughed as the behemoth simply loomed forwards at the end of the street, at least thirty feet of hunched, rasping death, steam pouring out of its jaws as poisonous sweat trickled along its disease-riddled body. “So where the hell is the white weasel, little ponies? Don't tell me she went up into Canterlot already, lookin' for little old me? Ain't nothing up there but them chickens! Well, and a few unfortunates who happened to be right where I needed 'em... you ponies. Sitting out, looking up at the night sky, oh how sweet and romantic... do I ever love me some take out and delivery.”

He winked, then Twilight snarled, leaning forwards as her horn glowed. “This was a stupid move, Cancer! You may have brought some kind of monster here but once Celestia figures out you're not up in Canterlot-”

“Oh, but I am, babe!” Cancer grinned widely, then he slowly tilted his head to the side... and his flesh and slime bubbled, a second head forming and pulling itself slowly to the opposite side, leaving the monster with two grinning faces as he said mockingly from one: “You could say... I have a split personality!”

Cancer chortled at his own joke, slapping the shoulder of the behemoth wildly before he gargled, eyes glowing red as his heads merged back into one before he rasped: “Infect, destroy, annihilate, murder them... murder them all...”

Then he twitched and screamed, which shortly transformed into another fit of wild, jagged laughter. It cut out as suddenly as it began, Cancer leaning forwards and hissing: “Besides, little ponies, I picked myself up the most magic-resistant thing I could find to shape up into this hell of a Jabberwock I got here. Oh sure, he can't call down the thunder like I wish he could, but now I got me his antibodies, I got me his genes, I made myself even better while I turned him into something a whole lot worse than any of you pissant little ponies can handle...”

“I.. wait...” Twilight paled, her eyes widening as she stared at the monster as it rasped for breath, mindless, soulless, monstrous... before a tremble ran through her as she whispered: “Discord... you... this... was Discord?”

“Sounds like the babe has a girl crush on you, honey. Ain't that cute, the zombie's got a wittle heart.” Cancer made smooching sounds, leaning down as Twilight's eyes glowed with rage, and then he winked before leaping cleanly backwards and off the beast, calling cheerfully: “Go give her a kiss... or kill the hell out of her, whatever feels more natural!”

The Jabberwock gave an earth-shaking roar, and Twilight Sparkle leaned forwards, screaming back as the air vibrated with magic and power around her, before she snarled and snapped her head forwards even as tears spilled down her face. A blue fireball burst from her horn, crashing into the monster's chest and erupting in a massive blast of sapphire flame and sound, but the Jabberwock barely flinched, only thrown off balance by the attack but not actually hurt.

Twilight's eyes widened in horror, and then Antares leapt forwards as Cancer's cackles rose up through the air, the young stallion seizing Twilight and shouting desperately: “Come on! We need to regroup, we need help!”

“No, no, no, we have to stop them here!” Twilight shouted back, turning with a snarl and charging forwards, looking up with pain and desperation and something approaching madness in her eyes. “Discord! Discord, listen to me, don't make me-”

The monster snarled at her as it regained its senses, swinging its massive claw down... but Twilight was tackled out of the way by a red streak, the Lich wincing as she and the firebird rolled violently into the side of a building. The Jabberwock hissed, dragging itself forwards as its jaws opened wide, acidic drool spilling out of its mouth... and then it squealed in shock when a blast of white light smashed into the side of its face, grabbing at its head with a gangly limb as Antares shouted: “Over here! Come get me, right here!”

Antares snarled, terrified and yet determined, as the Jabberwock's attention slowly focused on him... and then he looked up with a wince as Cancer yanked himself onto a nearby rooftop, snarling and shouting: “Oh, you again? Trying to interfere with my plans? Fine, you so eager for some fun, then you go right on ahead and have all the fun you and your kiddy friends can handle! Jabberwock, forget the zombie trash, kill that kid!”

The monster roared, swinging its claw forwards, tearing up the ground as it half-fell into a staggering gait... and Antares winced as he spun around, yelling to the others: “Lead it to the square, go, go, go! Come on, come and get me, we aren't afraid of you!”

“Then why are you running, you dumb punk?” Cancer all but screamed, before he snarled as he looked down into the street, rasping: “I'll cremate that zombie myself.”

Twilight cursed under her breath as the firebird transformed into Burning Desire, the fiery stallion saying hurriedly: “Twilight, forget it, if you want to help your students then you need to get them to safety and get Celestia! We already tried to push that thing back when it ripped into here, it's almost invulnerable to magic and-”

“It's Discord! I have to... I have to stop him or save him... you don't understand.” Twilight snapped, breathing hard as her stitches pulsed and she shoved her way to her hooves, grimacing in the direction of the monster... before both she and Burning Desire looked forwards as Cancer landed on the road across from them, grinning darkly.

Twilight's eyes flashed, and Burning Desire stepped forwards with a snarl, the stallion's eyes glowing as Cancer shook himself out and licked his teeth hungrily. “Hello there, honey-buns. Sorry to interrupt your cuddle-time, but you see, I got this garden back home and I need me some fertilizer. You don't mind if I cut you up into pieces and use you for that, right?”

“You stay away from her.” Burning Desire growled, the fiery demon's eyes glowing as his mane and tail flared bright red, exuding waves of heat and malice.

“Oh, what are you gonna do, pretty-boy, turn back into a songbird and give me some scratches? Peck at my pretty little eyes?” Cancer batted his red eyes at him mockingly, grinning widely as he posed in mock surrender. “Oh look at me, I'm so terrified! Don't hurt me mister big scary demon who has a little crushy-wushy on the smelly zombie bit-”

Burning Desire leapt forwards, transforming in a blast of flames into a monstrous, serpent-bodied beast, with an upper body that was wreathed in red fire. Huge claws smashed down on either side of Cancer as the demon leaned down and roared with a fang-filled jaw in Cancer's face, his eyes glowing bits of hellfire as he now towered high over the staring, mottled creature.

Then, almost disdainfully, Burning Desire leaned back and simply sent Cancer flying far down the street with a hard backhand slap, the mottled-white creature squealing as he flew through the air before colliding with a building with an audible splat. Burning Desire glanced over his shoulder at Twilight, the half-unicorn, half-snake giant giving her a rumble and a wink. “Go help the others, violet, I'll deal with this!”

Twilight gazed after Burning Desire, smiling faintly before she turned to sprint down the road, wincing at distant roars of the Jabberwock; the behemoth had already reached the square, where Antares and his friends, and the few demons that had the courage to stand with them, were trying to hold the monstrosity at bay.

Cancer had spoken true, and Prestige cursed as another spell simply bounced off the Jabberwock's frame, stumbling backwards before she shook her head quickly to Antares when he glanced at her. The glossy-black stallion cursed, then he looked up and watched sharply as Avalon shot in at the behemoth's skull, slamming both her rear hooves into its forehead... and getting little more than an annoyed snarl as it twisted its body to swing its oversized arm at her.

Avalon shot backwards, barely dodging the attack: the arm swung with all the grace of a falling tree, and dropped just as quickly and heavily, ripping through the front of a building and sending up a cloud of dust as the beast almost overbalanced. But awkward and slow as it was, even Aphrodisia couldn't damage it as she ran up its spine, stomping and punching along its vertebrae before kicking herself backwards when the thin, smaller arms that stood out of its back snatched wildly at her.

Nightmares and other demons peppered the monster with spells, and it was all ineffective, doing nothing more than aggravating it further before the beast suddenly half-turned with a howling roar, ripping its massive arm around in a semicircle that tore its claw through the ground and smashed several unfortunate Nightmares backwards. Antares winced, then he cursed as the others regrouped quickly around him, Meadowlark asking hurriedly: “What do we do? We can't hurt it!”

Antares opened his mouth to answer... and then the Jabberwock's tail lashed out as it hissed over its shoulder at them, and he winced backwards: but a moment later, a demon appeared in front of the group and took the worst of the blow for them, knocked sprawling into the ponies.

The young stallion cursed in shock, looking down in horror as the demon coughed blood, grasping at the tear in its stomach... and then he said sharply: “Meadowlark, Rusty, drag him to safety! Avalon, Aphrodisia, Prestige, we can't sit here and talk! If we're going to all be a team we need-”

The Jabberwock interrupted them with a roar as it turned around, lashing its long, thin limb forwards in a wild grab at them, but Prestige stepped forwards with a snarl as she swung her horn outwards, a sharp wall of ice ripping up from the ground in front of them. The monster's claw collided with this and was knocked backwards, and Antares and Prestige shared a quick look before they both leaned forwards, snarling and horns glowing, before snapping their heads upwards in perfect time.

The wall of ice tore free from the ground and shot into the Jabberwock's face, crashing into it with enough force to knock the brutish monster staggering with a howl of rage. It shook its head wildly, fragments of frost falling all around it as it clung stubbornly to the ground with its oversized claw for balance... and then Twilight Sparkle shot beneath the malformed thing's legs and flicked her horn as she passed, the earth behind her rupturing and knocking the monster crashing backwards.

It howled in frustration as it began to claw wildly at the earth and rock itself back and forth, trying to force its hunchbacked, distorted body back up to its feet; it gave Twilight more than enough time to join up with the others, Antares and Prestige stepping up to one side of the Lich, Avalon and Aphrodisia on the other. “We need to subdue him somehow... Antares, anything, anything at all?”

“None of our magic works... it just bounces off him or makes him madder, and we can't seem to tear through his hide... it's like he's made of rubber or something!” Antares said quickly, as the beast began to crawl slowly upwards, rasping in and out. “We need help! We need Celestia, or-”

“We're not killing him!” Twilight shouted almost desperately, and Antares looked up in surprise before the Lich shook her head violently, trembling as she whispered: “I won't kill Discord again. There has to be a way to stop him, to save him, we have to figure out how to undo what Cancer did to him!”

“Maybe there is.” muttered a voice, and the others looked up in surprise, Twilight looking over her shoulder with wild hope in her eyes at the sight of Discombobulation walking towards them, his features tense and serious before he gestured sharply at the Jabberwock as it dragged itself around in a circle to face them, snarling. “But first we need it distracted while Twilight and I-”

“You heard him!” Antares shouted, and then he gritted his teeth before leaping into the air, ordering quickly: “Avalon, let's keep his eyes on us! Prestige, Aphrodisia keep him off balance!”

And Twilight stared in surprise as the young ponies shot forwards, rushing headlong into danger without hesitation as they followed Antares' directions without question, pushing beyond fear. Avalon and Antares shot towards the Jabberwock's face, getting its attention as the leather-winged unicorn winced and launched himself out of the way of a grab from one leg, as Avalon flew in and slammed all four hooves into its cheek, roaring into the monster's eye before she kicked off as it snapped its jaws wildly after her... while meanwhile, Prestige flicked her horn, the ground shattering beneath one of the monster's warped legs as Aphrodisia sprinted forwards and launched herself into its kneecap, the behemoth swaying unevenly as it was distracted with a hiss.

Then Twilight winced as Discombobulation grabbed her shoulder, saying quietly: “This is going to hurt a lot, Twilight Sparkle. But it has to be you, I'm afraid... both because of what you are, and because I know you'd rather not see another pony die.”

“It's okay. I have a few spares.” Twilight replied quietly, allowing Discombobulation to pull her backwards and away from the main conflict. She couldn't help but look up again, feeling fear and worry and pain... but also pride, as Antares flicked his horn down in midair and set off a bright flash directly into the Jabberwock's eyes, making it howl in frustration as it swung its massive arm blindly back and forth.

Discombobulation nodded calmly, then he winced a little before raising his natural arm in front of himself, and swinging one of his sharp metal fingers down in a swift cutting motion: with a spark, a long, thin line was sliced in his arm, and the Draconequus gritted his teeth as he slowly flexed his metal fingers and made a cupping gesture with his metal hand: blood spilled out from the wound in a long, concentrated stream, swirling and growing into a sphere of glowing crimson in the Draconequus' metal palm before it hardened into a crystalline orb.

The Draconequus wheezed as he clutched this tightly, a little pale from the exertion as slumped a bit, and Twilight looked up at him with worry before he slipped the sphere into his other hand and muttered: “Sorry about this.”

With that, he simply lashed his metal claw down across her chest, flaying her stitches open and making the Lich curse in surprise more than anything else: it revealed the open, never-healed socket that gazed in on her empty chest, before the Draconequus grimaced in distaste as he shoved the red crystal into her, and Twilight flinched, then gave a short shriek, eyes beginning to glow as it felt like her veins caught fire, her mind went wild with images and words and visions-

“Focus, Twilight, focus it!” Discombobulation rasped, panting hard as he pointed at the Jabberwock, and Twilight shook her head back and forth, gargling, staring wildly up as she saw colors and beautiful visions and madness before Discombobulation seized her by the back of the head and forcefully twisted her around to look at the Jabberwock, shouting: “Do you want the good ending or the bad ending? Mash X, dammit!”

Twilight clenched her teeth so tightly she felt them cracking, dredged up every bit of discipline and focus out of her mind as she could even as her body rippled and steamed, as stitches popped like firecrackers and her eyes glowed ivory, electricity sparking around her body... and then she arched her back before screaming: “Get out of the way!”

Antares looked sharply over his shoulder at this, and then his eyes widened before he yelled to the others: he wasn't even sure what it was, but it got the message across, the four scattering in all directions as the Jabberwock swung its massive limb at them with a hiss... then looked down a little too late as Twilight snapped her horn forwards, a blast of radiant light erupting from her and smashing into the massive monster. The Jabberwock screamed as it was driven backwards by the stream of energy, falling forwards and clawing into the ground as fractals of light and sound-made-visible sparked and danced around it, a glow steadily building around the monster's malformed body as the barrage of energy continued to barrel into it before Twilight released another shriek.

The monster was obscured by a blast of light, and an eruption of power ripped through the Lich's body, the crystallized chaos essence inside her exploding with enough force to almost tear her in half. She fell backwards in a broken pile of body parts, feeling boneless and agonized as smoke burst up from her desiccated form, rasping weakly in and out as a shiver ran through her... but the pain, the wild thoughts still running through her head, everything and nothing mattered as she stared at the glowing cloud of chaotic light and energy.

And then, with a crackle and an almost comical pop, the cloud sparked out of existence and a single figure fell to the ground with a thud. It landed on its hands and knees, retching several times before vomiting loudly... and blearily, Discord's eyes slowly opened before he sat back on his haunches and grabbed at his face, staring stupidly around and mumbling: “What... what did I eat? I... puppy?”

Discombobulation smiled faintly as he held onto his side, and Twilight tried to raise her head... then cursed weakly as she found she didn't have the strength. She felt like she was dying... but then she smiled weakly at this thought, closing her eyes for a moment as she corrected mentally: Physically dying, but not... I can't die that easy...

She laughed weakly to herself, and Discombobulation carefully dropped to a kneel beside her. And as the ponies nervously looked at Discord as he staggered up to his feet, Antares turned, then trembled and ran towards Twilight, whispering: “M-Mom... oh... oh Horses of Heaven, look at...”

“It's okay, Antares. I just... I'll be okay.” Twilight whispered from where she was laying brokenly. The Lich smiled faintly, breathing slowly before she murmured: “I'm just... drained... and... Discombobulation... thank you...”

“No, Twilight... thank you. Even if you make me feel ashamed of myself, for the fact I would never sacrifice so much for big dog over there.” Discombobulation said quietly, smiling faintly as he reached down and stroked slowly through Twilight's disheveled, smoldering mane. Twilight laughed weakly, opening her mouth... but then her eyes opened, and all present turned at the sound of a long, drawn out hiss.

Discord stumbled to his feet, staggering around and then almost falling over again as Cancer approached from the street. The monster was snarling and smoldering, his red eyes glowing with rage as he rasped: “Can't trust... anyone to do your job for you these days... oh, well, looks like I'll get to have myself a meal of you after all...”

“N-No... Burning Desire...” Twilight rasped... and then Discombobulation and Antares both stared in disbelief as the Lich gritted her teeth... then slowly, despite her wrecked and tattered frame, the obvious breaks in her spine, the missing leg and torn-apart chest... she pushed herself up to her hooves, breathing heavily in and out despite her lungs being flayed and needing no air. “What did... you... do to h-him...”

“Wouldn't you like to know, zombie? Why the hell don't you have the sense to lay down and stay dead?” Cancer snarled, and then he flicked a foreleg out, launching a glob of poisonous, volatile slime at Twilight... but then there was a sharp crack, and the ball of slime burst into green flames that disintegrated in midair long before reaching Twilight.

Cancer grunted, and Discord winced as he grabbed at his stomach with his lion's paw... then slowly frowned and looked at his eagle talon as energy sparked over it. His eyes widened in realization before he looked over his shoulder, grinning widely even as he said disgustedly: “Oh, puppy, don't you dare think this makes us even or even scores you a promotion. But you know what they say... one good turn deserves another, and much as I would absolutely love to pick on you ponies for making my life a living hell...”

“What? You... you think... filthy foul freakish flopping frakking fool!” Cancer raged, frothing at the jaws as his eyes glowed bright red, leaning forwards with a snarl. “I spared your life, I gave you a part in the band, I made you strong and we laughed and cried and had such fun together while you were all... brainless brute, and you're turning on me over one little itty-bitty monsterization? Oh hell no! Now you listen to me, boy, you get your ass over here and you start killing the crap out of everything, or so help me I'm gonna-”

“I really don't like it when people give me orders.” Discord's eye twitched, then he rose his talon and snapped his digits, and a large, steel girder popped into existence above Cancer's head before crashing down on the monster, sending up a burst of white slime and knocking the creature flat. It howled in fury, and Discord grinned before he laced his fingers together and cracked his knuckles. “Now let's see if I still remember how this goes.”

Cancer threw the metal beam off, standing up with a howl... and Discord began to make violent gestures with his hands as if conducting a symphony: with every sharp movement, a heavy object fell from the sky and crashed down on top of Cancer: anvils, girders, pyramids of steel, refrigerators, and all assortment of other things hammered down into the destruction entity, burying him beneath a jumble of every kind of object imaginable before Discord rose both arms high above his head with a flourish, then bowed low and swept his arms down deep.

An enormous bank vault appeared above the pile and crashed down with an incredible bang that shook the ground, sending the ponies staggering in amazement as a cloud of dust slowly wafted by, and Discombobulation calmly strolled up to this before spinning the handle on the vault door and yanking it open to reveal Cancer inside buried up to his neck in coins, jaw gaping and body broken and shivering, staring wildly back and forth. Discombobulation smiled and twiddled his metal fingers at the destruction entity, and then he held his hand out, and an enormous, cartoon-like black bomb appeared in this before he tossed it into the vault, kicked the door shut, and then spun the valve closed.

He walked calmly over to Discord, and they easily traded a high five before both Draconequus turned to face the vault and put their hands behind their back at the same time... and a moment later, there was a tremendous bang that rattled the walls of the immense safe before it simply collapsed into pieces, revealing an ashen-black Cancer that was now smoldering visibly, sitting in a broken pile of wreckage. The monster stared at them, and the ponies gaped in amazement... before Cancer's eyes glowed brightly as it lunged suddenly forwards, body rippling as its forelegs turned into claws, its jaw expanded, the hideous thing taking on new monstrosity as it shrieked: “You think I'm playing a game here, punks?”

Discombobulation and Discord both screamed girlishly and hugged each other immediately, and Antares snarled as he began to step forwards and Twilight winced, trying to concentrate... but before anyone could react, a cane lashed out and smashed into Cancer's face, knocking him flying backwards. The monster hit the ground and rolled violently back into the wreckage in the road as Allonym stepped elegantly in front of the two other Draconequus, spinning his cane easily before leaning easily sideways against it.

“Who the hell are you?” Cancer snarled, looking furious at being robbed of its prize, eyes glowing with bestial hunger.

“I'm Mister Deus Ex Machina, bitch.” Allonym retorted, and then he rose his hand and calmly snapped his fingers, and an immense steel crane appeared above Cancer's head, the creature looking stupidly up before this dropped on top of the monster with a sickening splat.

Allonym grinned over his shoulder at the two other Draconequus... then winced and shouted when they both seized him, yanking him back and forth as they grabbed at his jacket. He flailed violently at the two, then stared in horror as Discord tore his leather-bound journal free from his inner pocket and Discombobulation snatched a fountain pen away from him. Allonym grabbed wildly at them, but Discombobulation danced backwards and tossed the pen over Allonym's head as he leapt and grabbed at it, shouting: “You can't do this! This goes against every rule in the book!”

Discord caught the pen, then he spun around and popped the black book open, hurriedly writing something as he kicked a leg backwards into Allonym to try and keep him at a distance, asking grouchily: “So how does this work now that I've written it in, does it just-”

The crane exploded a moment later in a magnificent blast of fire and light, and Cancer was sent rocketing skywards with a miserable scream towards the cavern roof high above. All eyes stared to follow this, Allonym's jaw dropping before Discombobulation hurriedly ran over to Discord, snatched the book and pen away, and then jotted something down himself in the time it took Cancer to begin falling back towards the ground.

Just before the mottled monster could hit the ground, a figure in a red helmet and a blue uniform appeared and slammed a yellow-gloved fist directly into the monster's face, the image of a crimson bird of clearly flaring into life behind him with the distinct roar of: “Falcon punch!”

Cancer was knocked flying head-over-heels through the air, screaming the entire time... before he simply sparked out of existence in a burst of fireworks. Then the figure of the being that had just struck him struck a pose, giving a thumbs-up to Discombobulation and Discord as the two Draconequus saluted him sharply, before the uniformed creature puffed out of existence in the same burst of sparks.

Allonym stared at this, then he glared at Discombobulation before snatching his book and pen away when they were carefully offered to him. “Where the hell did you send him?”

“Through the fourth wall.” Discombobulation informed, then he slowly looked back and forth before cupping the side of his mouth and whispering loudly to Discord: “That's a meta reference.”

Discord nodded seriously, and Allonym glared at them furiously, the strange Draconequus shoving the book away inside his torn jacket as he snapped: “Do you two idiots have any idea what you're doing? You can't just-”

Discombobulation swung his metal fist up and punched Allonym in the nose, the purple-suited entity grabbing at his face with a squawk before Discord childishly kicked him in the shin, and Allonym hopped backwards before falling heavily on his rear, staring stupidly up at them. Both Draconequus glowered down at their fellow, and then they looked at each other and nodded firmly.

Antares slowly walked forwards, still looking disbelieving before he asked slowly: “So... so is Cancer gone, then? Like... gone, gone?”

“If only it were so easy.” Allonym mumbled in a muffled voice through his hands, then he hissed a little in pain, adding in an infuriated voice: “I think you broke my nose!”

“You deserved it. All this time, and you could have just undone that monster like pressing 'ctrl-z' on the keyboard.” Discombobulation said distastefully, before he frowned at the sour look Allonym gave him through his watery eyes. “What?”

“If it were really so simple, do you think he'd be here at all?” Allonym muttered, and then he rubbed slowly at his face before grimacing and grabbing his cane, carefully pushing himself to his feet before the Draconequus shivered a little. “Perhaps it's a worthy sacrifice to get him out of Subterra, though... if he'd stayed here...”

“Burning Desire... please...” whispered a voice, and all eyes turned to Twilight, the Lich hauling herself forwards a little even as she trembled: her body was visibly trying to give away, and yet all the same she was hauling herself painfully forwards on three legs. “Please...”

Carefully, Discombobulation reached out and gently grasped Twilight's head, saying softly: “Stop and lay down, Twilight Sparkle... you've already done more than enough, don't you all agree?”

He glanced back and forth, and the ponies nodded as they gathered in, Antares smiling faintly as he looked from Twilight to Discord before saying quietly: “I... that was amazing what you did, and you guys are too... you're... we're lucky that-”

Discord, however, only huffed and hurriedly shrugged off the others, stepping backwards and raising his hands moodily: “Whoa, whoa, let's slow down here. I am grateful that you saved me, but... I also don't like any of you very much. Especially not you, puppy.” Discord sniffed disdainfully, and then he added moodily: “But thank you, I suppose. Still, I'm not all touchy-feely so... goodbye. I have a lot of catching up to do.”

With that, Discord bowed deeply, blew a loud raspberry, and then simply vanished. Antares looked stunned, but Discombobulation only smiled and shook his head, saying quietly: “Don't worry. He's like a certain movie about dinosaurs in the land before time. He'll be back. And Twilight Sparkle, why are you being so silly? You'll never find your friend, alive.”

Twilight frowned, gritting her teeth as Antares looked up, then his eyes widened in understanding: when the Lich saw Antares' reaction, her own frazzled mind processed what the Draconequus had said, and then she smiled faintly before murmuring: “You're right.”

With that, Twilight closed her eyes... and Prestige gasped as the Lich's body collapsed and began to dissolve away into nothingness. The unicorn mare staggered forwards as the others gave cries of shock and stared in horror, but Antares only smiled a little, hurriedly shaking his head as he said quietly: “It's okay guys, don't worry. Mom... Mom just... needed to go somewhere for a little while. She'll be back, though, you'll see...”

He turned... then frowned as he realized that Allonym had vanished, too. But Discombobulation only shrugged, rubbing slowly at his chest with a bit of a smile as he said quietly: “Chaos entities like me come and go as they please, Antares... I'd say there's no logic or reason to it, but I'm sure you can figure out when and why and maybe even where we like to slip away to.”

Antares nodded slowly, and then he silently looked down the street before asking hesitantly: “But Cancer... and Discord...”

“Discord is smarter than he looks, which... is saying about as much as that he's smarter than he acts... which isn't saying much at all.” Discombobulation shrugged though, rubbing thoughtfully at his chest. “Big dog will show up sooner or later. But come, Antares Mīrus and friends. I might as well try and make a good impression on Celestia and escort all of you back to that nasty, scary place in the center of Subterra with that nasty, scary Nephilim. I'm sure Twilight Sparkle wants that, too... and I'm sure she's very proud of you all, but... emotions can make things run fast and get in the way at times.”

Antares smiled faintly... and in the distance, an invisible shade sprinted along the street, gazing back and forth worriedly before it trembled in both relief and fear as it finally found what it was looking for: a burning bonfire surrounding the body of a demon that was laying prone and wounded. She ran towards it, trembling, feeling the warmth of the flames lighting up her spirit as she leaned down over Burning Desire's curled up body.

Slowly, one of the fiery stallion's eyes opened, and he smiled faintly up at her, whispering: “Oh, my shrinking violet... do you always have to come to me as a dream...”

Twilight's specter laughed silently, relief filling her up: his mane and tail had mostly died out, but the demon had managed to summon up enough strength to create this protective shell of flames around him... something Cancer hadn't been able to reach in through. But his chest and body were flayed open, and Twilight guessed the polymorph hadn't helped... she knew that Burning Desire could only maintain his Salamander transformation for a short period of time, fearsome as it was. For a few moments, they looked at each other: her, invisible to everyone but the few gifted enough to see her, and him, nothing but a red shape in a protective cocoon of flames.

The only sounds were his breathing, and the crackle of fire... and then Twilight leaned down, pushing her lips to his ear, focusing all the little strength she had left as she whispered into his mind: We can't have forever, Burning Desire. But if you like... we can have a little while. And we'll always be friends.

Burning Desire trembled a bit, and then he closed his eyes and murmured softly in return: “Nothing would bring me more honor, Twilight Sparkle... a little while with you will make the eternity I've gone without... worthwhile.”

Twilight smiled faintly, and then she nodded slowly before demon and spirit studied one another, and he leaned up as she leaned down: for a moment, they felt each other's lips as they kissed... and then Twilight flickered out of existence even from his eyes, but her taste lingered... and Burning Desire smiled tiredly in his bed of flames as he coughed once before closing his eyes, murmuring: “What a tease.”

With that, the demon let himself settle to the broken street... but he was confident now that even if he fell into darkness, he'd survive these wounds, one way or another. After all... now he had something to live for, at least for a little while. And that gave him all the strength in the world.

Bonds Of Blood And Honor

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Chapter Sixteen: Bonds Of Blood And Honor
~BlackRoseRaven

Antares and his friends were gathered in front of Selene's reflecting pool, glossy-black young stallion unable to stop his eyes from roving up to the statue of Nightmare Moon and studying it as they waited in silence. They were tired, and they were sore... but they were also proud of themselves, for what they had done and taken part in. Even if they were a little scared, too, of what the consequences for their actions might end up being.

Selene had asked them to wait here while she and Discombobulation conferred with Celestia, who had returned twenty minutes or so ago. Antares admittedly felt nervous as hell: they had disobeyed orders, and while they had managed a good result, Discord was back at full power and had run off into the wilds, Cancer was apparently not destroyed, Subterra and its denizens had been the victims of a lot of collateral damage, and Twilight Sparkle had been very literally blown to pieces. Yes, Antares was proud of himself, and of his friends, his team: but after what Celestia had done to them, he also knew better than to expect that everything was instantly forgiven. For all he knew, they might just end up in even more trouble for all the things they had done wrong.

He shifted nervously, then smiled a little as Prestige wrapped a foreleg around him and dropped her head on his shoulder. Beside them, Meadowlark gazed at the two, but she offered a faint smile and a small nod, and Antares nodded slowly back to her. Rustproof looked calm as ever beside Aphrodisia, who was staring raptly up at the statue of Nightmare Moon as Avalon floated through the air and fidgeted, looking anxiously back and forth as she mumbled: “What about our armor? It's all scuffed and dirty... even you, in your stupid vests, Prestige, Meadowlark. And Rusty you got a big scrape on your breastplate... how'd that happen?”

“Demon. He didn't mean it none, though, he was just hurt and scared.” Rustproof answered quietly, then he glanced up pointedly towards Avalon, who grimaced, but then mumbled and sighed and nodded, dropping out of the air to her hooves. She started to pace a little, but quickly tired of this and instead flopped down to roll onto her back and gaze up at the cavern roof above.

“It's... weird here.” Avalon said finally, and Antares smiled and nodded a little in agreement. He knew she meant in a good way, even without looking at her, and a moment later Avalon continued quietly: “I don't think I've ever fought for anything before in my life. You know, other than myself and to prove I was the best at something. And honestly... how much fighting did we ever do in Ponyville? Precisely, pretty much none at all. And all our training there... was like games, compared to here. Not that I have anything against what Mom and Dad taught me, but...”

She laughed and shook her head, the tiny Pegasus closing her eyes. “Who would have thunk that Fluttershy would know more about fighting than my Dad and Mom combined? They're both brawlers but she's... I don't know what she is. Calling her a warrior feels like I'm insulting her these days. And I look back at us, Antares, I think of us like, only weeks ago... and we were all so stupid, weren't we? We got so wrapped up in ourselves and how we were all going to be the best at what we did that... we almost ruined everything.”

“You're growing wiser, Avalon Apple. It's good to see.” said a soft voice, and Avalon was immediately on her hooves, blushing deep red as she and the other ponies all hurried to attention. Celestia was walking towards them from the Thorn Palace, a measuring look on her face as Discombobulation and Selene strode on either side of her. Her own armor was scuffed and stained, splattered here and there with blood and gunk, but it only served to make her all the more intimidating as she asked in a gentle but serious tone: “Report, Antares Mīrus?”

“Yes, Baroness Celestia.” Antares bowed his head quickly as he stepped forwards, saying quietly and only stumbling a little over his words: “We followed the orders passed on from Pinkamena, but then heard another alarm going off nearby. I decided that we should check it out, and sent Avalon ahead to scout. We ran into Twilight on the way, and Avalon returned to warn us of the monster, which was actually Discord infected by Cancer. We engaged the monster and distracted it with the help of demons and then Discombobulation, and gave Twilight the time necessary to... defeat it and free Discord from Cancer's control. He, Discombobulation, and Allonym defeated Cancer and sent him... somewhere else. Discord left, Twilight Sparkle lost her physical body, and we returned here.”

“You disobeyed a direct order from me, Antares.” Celestia said quietly, her amethyst eyes locking with the young stallion's. “You countermanded it and put your untested team in extreme danger. Less than a week ago, had this happened, you would have all died. As it is, the cost is high: demons have been injured, some even fatally, Twilight Sparkle will again have to go through a painful and time-consuming process of regeneration, Discord has fled into the wilderness with full possession of his powers thanks to the blast of Ginnungagap energy used to cleanse his system. Do you understand this?”

Antares nodded, then he bowed his head and said quietly: “I do. And I take full responsibility, Celestia. It was all me: I won't make any excuses for my actions.”

“Good.” Celestia paused for a few moments, studying the six silently before she shook her head slowly. Then she glanced to the side when Discombobulation cleared his throat loudly: he looked down at her pointedly, and the armored winged unicorn looked back as Selene smiled slightly, before Celestia finally sighed and nodded, turning her eyes forwards and straightening slightly as she said quietly: “Antares, Discombobulation insists that I should apologize to you and your friends for how I treated you before. And I suppose in this instance he's correct: I was much harsher than necessary. I resorted to violence and name-calling like in the old days, dealing with things like a frustrated foal myself, and if my sister and brother were here I'm fairly certain I would not be standing right now. As it is, Pinkamena and Cowlick have shared some very choice words with me, as has Twilight Sparkle.”

“It's okay, Baroness Celestia, we... we needed to wake up.” Antares said quietly, bowing his head and closing his eyes. “It hurt a lot, but it was necessary. It got all of us on our hooves and... if we hadn't been woken up so quickly, so harshly, we never would have survived what happened today. And I'm sorry if I've disappointed you again by... not following orders and letting.. so much bad happen.”

“No, Antares, don't apologize for that: even with the perfect strategy, nothing ever goes according to plan.” Celestia said quietly, shaking her head slowly. “What you did was bold, and foolish, and yes, there was damage to both sides... but in the end, Antares, you minimized casualties and intercepted and helped stop a serious threat before it could push into the heart of Subterra. Cancer showed a much greater depth of cunning than I thought: it was a much smaller attack force that struck above than it seemed, but Canterlot was in a panic and it made it seem much more devastating because of that.

“Once Twilight Sparkle has regenerated and I've taken care of several things at the Royal Court, we will be leaving Subterra and returning to Ponyville.” Celestia smiled after a moment, as Antares looked nervous, visibly worried that this was a punishment or reprimand. “You've learned much here, and it's more important that you focus on mastering these new skills you've been given... and better learning to work together as a team. Pinkamena, Twilight Sparkle, and others will continue to train you, but we have duties to attend to at home, comfortable as Subterra has been for this last month... and if you'll permit it, Antares, I'll continue to train you myself, as well.”

Antares smiled faintly, bowing his head in respect and gratitude, and Celestia bowed her own in return as she murmured softly: “I also have other tasks for you to complete over the coming days. Things I feel you deserve to be entrusted with... because you and your friends do need the experience. I think you can handle it... I think you've all... grown more in the last few days, than you have in the last month, Antares.”

The young stallion blushed and dropped his head forwards, and for a few moments there was quiet before he finally looked up and promised quietly: “We're gonna do our best, Celestia.”

“Aunt Tia, I think he means.” Discombobulation said mildly, glancing at Celestia, who sighed and gave the Draconequus a flat look... but then she nodded slowly, and the chimerical creature smiled slightly as he reached up and gently squeezed her nose. “Doesn't that feel better? You don't have to always be such a hardass, Tia. You take speaking gently and carrying a big stick far too seriously with that nasty sword of yours and your bad habit of killing everything that looks at you wrong.”

Celestia only shook her head slowly at this, smiling despite herself before she turned her eyes towards Selene, as the Nephilim said gently: “I would like a moment to speak to Antares, if that's acceptable, Celestia. Alone, preferably.”

“Of course. Antares, you and your friends should get some rest when you can... but Prestige, I'm going to visit Twilight Sparkle first, ensure she's not having any trouble renewing her body. Would you like to come with myself and Discombobulation?” Celestia asked curiously.

“Oh, look, subtle orders that are subtly ordering me to come with you, Tia.” Discombobulation said mildly, and then he frowned a little when the winged unicorn smiled up at him, her amethyst eyes meeting his inverted black irises before he mumbled: “Please don't look at me like that. It chills me to the bone. I'm trying to make you angry, work with me a little here.”

“For some reason, I never really get that angry with you... Bob.” Celestia replied easily, and Discombobulation puckered his mouth as he glowered down at her, before the ivory winged unicorn turned her eyes forwards and smiled over at a nervous-looking Prestige. “I think it would do good for Twilight Sparkle for you to... see her like this, and not be afraid. You've... grown perhaps most of all in the last month, Prestige... but I want to see how much of what you've learned has truly been sinking in.”

“I understand, Celestia. Of course.” Prestige nodded, then she smiled a little over at Antares, saying quietly: “Don't wait up for me if... I end up being a little while. I want to find out how Burning Desire is doing as well.”

Antares nodded, and then he cleared his throat as his other friends looked at him, blushing a little but still managing to sound fairly confident as he said: “Go get some rest, everypony. We did good today, but... remember, we still have to practice the basics and work our way up. But this proves that we can do more than just be a bunch of ponies on a battlefield, we can work together as a team. Let's all remember that and do even better next time.”

The others nodded, Avalon saluting and Aphrodisia shaking her head with a smile. The two young mares turned to head away, joined by Rustproof, before all three looked over their shoulders curiously as Meadowlark stayed awkwardly behind... but before even Antares could ask what was going on, Selene said gently: “Of course. You may stay and listen if you like, Meadowlark, perhaps we can use the help of your knowledge.”

“I... okay, if it's something like that.” Antares said awkwardly when Meadowlark looked at him for confirmation, and she smiled before the glossy black young stallion looked pointedly – and admittedly, with a bit of confusion – over his shoulder at the others. Aphrodisia only shrugged, however, then continued on her way, Avalon and Rustproof both following automatically after the demon despite their own visible curiosity.

Celestia was already walking away with Prestige and Discombobulation, although Prestige seemed almost nervous and was visibly resisting the urge to look back at them... but Selene quickly drew the attention of both young ponies that remained with her as she asked curiously: “Why do you struggle to remain friends despite all that has occurred between you both?”

Antares and Meadowlark both blushed and shifted awkwardly, tossing nervous little looks at one another as the Nephilim studied the two with her endless, dark eyes, and then Selene smiled calmly before saying quietly: “Of course. I understand, then. What bonds mortals share. What foolish instincts they have. What idle thoughts and odd rules...”

They both looked at her apprehensively, and then Selene calmly turned her eyes to Meadowlark and said softly: “Still, you hold onto him fiercely. Still, you hope, don't you, that he will turn to you... yet somehow, your love does not become bitterness. It merely is.” The red Pegasus flushed, but didn't answer as Antares winced before Selene turned to him curiously. “And you. Comparing one to the other. Wishing it were simpler. But you are not as selfish as your mother and father were, nor would either be as willing to... indulge. Strange and pretty... like the ornaments and tinsel of Hearth's Warming Eve. And like Hearth's Warming Eve, meaningful only to those who choose to celebrate the event.”

“I... don't know if you just complimented or insulted me.” Antares said finally, and Selene's response was just to nod, which only served to confuse him further. He grimaced a little, rubbing awkwardly at his face before asking finally: “Okay, uh... what... what is it, Selene? I know not to question you by now, I just mean... you... wanted both of us here, didn't you?”

“Your ability to read me is getting better, Antares. I'm glad for this.” Selene said softly, and then she paused and looked up before murmuring quietly: “Above, in Canterlot, a medical clinic has been set up to treat those hurt in the attack by Cancer's doppelganger and infected minions. They all carried disease, but the unicorn healers have developed spells and medicines to counteract all but the worst illnesses and injuries. Among the infected are your parents, Meadowlark.”

Meadowlark looked up in shock, breathing hard as she stared in disbelief, and Antares stiffened immediately: for years, Meadowlark had been tracking her parents after they had abandoned her with her aunt. But Ameliorate and Engelhart had always moved fast, staying ahead of the guard forces that were chasing them: scared and ashamed and unwilling to pay their dues for the fraud they had committed, they had abandoned everything to live a life on the run. And Meadowlark, meanwhile, had spent only a few months with her aunt before she'd moved first to a community shelter in Ponyville, and then out on her own into a little apartment in Ponyville.

Twilight Sparkle had always helped Meadowlark out whenever she could: the Pegasus made a piddling wage at the local newspaper that was barely enough to buy groceries, let alone pay for her apartment, but Antares knew that Twilight often asked Meadowlark to help her with research projects and paid the Pegasus as much as she could hassle the Canterlot Magic School or the Royal Courts into giving up. Meadowlark was always grateful for the money... and perhaps just a little bit ashamed, even though there was no need for it.

But even after all these years, Meadowlark had been tracking her parents, had been searching for them, wanting answers, validation, an apology... something from them, anything. She stared across at Selene, then leaned forwards, asking weakly: “Wait. But... but last I heard, they had been sighted in Saddlehorn, way out west... if they're here now... were they caught?”

“You'll only know if you go and find out for yourself. The medical center is only a short journey away... it should be no problem for you to reach through the exit west of here.” Selene gestured calmly to the side with a smile, bowing her head as her eyes glimmered with all the darkness of space. “Go ahead.”

Meadowlark turned and ran to the edge of the pyramid, spreading her wings as she leapt into the air, and Antares winced before he stumbled after her. He tossed one last look at Selene, then leapt up high and flapped his wings hard, wheezing a bit in pain: after flying so much during the fight with Jabberwock, he could feel them starting to stiffen up...

But he looked ahead, focused on Meadowlark, who was flying clumsily but quickly through the cavern ahead, and he gritted his sharp teeth, promising mentally: Not this time, no matter what... “Meadowlark, wait! I'm coming with you!”

For a moment, there was no response, and Antares cursed, calling her name again as he pushed himself harder, forcing himself to fly forwards even as pain radiated through his back... and then Meadowlark looked over her shoulder and nodded hurriedly once, reaching a front hoof back towards him and calling: “Come on!”

He flew forwards, taking her hoof with a smile and then grunting as she flapped her wings hard, half-pulling him along. Their speed increased as they flew through the air, hooves locked tight together, and it made Antares hurt more as he pushed himself harder... but at the same time, it made the flight all the easier, it made the pain diminish, it made everything have more meaning...

They sailed upwards into a tunnel near the roof of the cavern, flying up the center of it past several Nightmares and other creatures that watched with interest before they ascended up through a broken, steaming grate and into the depths of an abandoned, empty well. But high above, like a beacon, Antares could see the moon glowing in the night sky... and it gave him strength, let him push himself harder as he and Meadowlark flew side-by-side up the wide gullet of the well and then shot out and into the air of Canterlot, surprising a patrol of passing Royal Guards.

Thankfully, they weren't pursued: in all likelihood purely out of luck and the fact they vanished quickly into an alley as quickly as they'd shot out of the well. Their hooves finally unlocked as they both dropped to the earth, and now it was Antares who took the lead, glancing over his shoulder at the Pegasus mare and saying firmly: “We'll find them, Meadowlark... I promise.”

Meadowlark only smiled faintly, breathing hard through her mouth: but she didn't seem to notice either her own visible aches, nor her exhaustion, as she ran quickly after the glossy black unicorn. They hurried through Canterlot, tracing out the path that Antares' sharp eyes let them on as he looked back and forth and somehow found his way through the night streets of the enormous city as if it was familiar to him as the back of his own hoof, as if he'd always known where to go despite the fact he hadn't even been up in Canterlot for more than a week now with all the time they'd been spent training in Subterra below.

Then they stumbled off a side road and onto a main street, tall buildings looming around them but one in particular lit up by magic and spotlights, tents set up in the wide square in front of his structure as a pony's voice called over the milling crowd: “This area is under quarantine! Please, stay back, and your loved ones will be sent out to you when their illness and injuries have been treated! No pony may enter this area unless they have permission from the medical staff and have already been immunized!”

“Come on.” Antares murmured, carefully striding forwards and beginning to gently push his way through the crowd, and Meadowlark followed with her head nervously bowed. A few ponies were calling worried questions out to the sentries guarding the tents before the two young ponies managed to wiggle their way to the front of the group. Immediately, a guard frowned at them, but Antares only had to look at him for a moment before saying clearly: “We've been sent from Subterra. We need to take stock of what happened for the Baroness, we're both immune to the disease.”

The guard hesitated, but Antares didn't flinch, didn't look away, and then the soldier grunted before waving them past. Antares and Meadowlark both hurried forwards, the young stallion smiling as a few shouts of worry and question came from the crowd behind them, but the guard only stepped quickly back into place.

They passed into the tent beyond, and a medical pony frowned at them from where he was making notes amidst a cluttered desk of papers. But then an aging unicorn called out to Antares, and the young stallion looked with relief to see a teacher from the magic academy approaching, asking sharply: “Antares Mīrus, is Celestia on her way? What about Twilight Sparkle, why hasn't she come here?”

“My Mom is... incapacitated at the moment.” Antares said carefully, and the graying unicorn's eyes widened in surprise before Antares shook his head hurriedly. “No, don't worry, she's... she'll be back on her hooves by tomorrow. Prestige and Celestia are both helping her right now, but... we heard that... I mean...”

He cleared his throat as the unicorn frowned and leaned forwards, and then he gestured quietly to Meadowlark as she bowed her head silently, Antares saying quietly: “We're looking for my friend's parents. It's very important we find them... they... might be under guard.”

The older unicorn frowned, shifting nervously... and then he shook his head quickly and gestured through the tent at the rows and rows of ponies laying in various states of illness on cots and blankets and anything they could find. “Most of the ponies here are from the poorer Crescent District at the edge of Canterlot, which was attacked first. No... prisoners, to speak of, but there was a refugee shelter that was attacked. They're in the far corner, keeping to themselves.”

“Thank you, sir.” Antares smiled and bowed his head, then he turned and quickly trotted after Meadowlark, who was already working her way carefully down the aisles of sick, mumbling apologies as she stepped over people here and there and brushed up against doctors and other workers. Antares followed after her, looking back and forth, feeling eyes on him and feeling a strange chill in his body: for some reason, it felt like Selene wanted him to see something here. That Meadowlark and her parents were just the lure, and there was some other ambush laying silently in wait.

The refugees were from all across Equestria, it looked like, and many bundled tightly up, hiding their faces, their scars, their illness. Some of them didn't seem to even want to be treated, while others were simply watching everything anxiously, suspiciously. Meadowlark looked back and forth desperately as Antares drew his eyes slowly over the crowd, and then the Pegasus asked quickly: “Have any of you seen... a large Pegasus, tan-colored, broad shoulders, or... or an earth pony? She would have a cutie mark of a stethoscope...”

The refugees were silent as Antares looked nervously back and forth, and then he frowned a little as his eyes locked on one. One who was sitting a little apart from the others, who had his hood up and didn't seem to quite belong, the body language of the ponies around him tenser, distant... and slowly, the glossy-black unicorn leaned forwards before asking quietly: “Why are you hiding?”

There was silence from the shape as it fidgeted nervously on the cot it was sitting on, and Antares stepped forwards. The moment he did, the pony turned to try and run away, but Antares pounced forwards as the refugees only looked on curiously but a doctor shouted, guards starting to hurry towards the disturbance as the pony yelped beneath Antares.

The young stallion pinned the shape easily, then winced at the sound of crackling and crunching before he rolled the pony onto his back, and the cloak concealing the haggard-looking stallion tore open, pills and medical supplies spilling out in a pile all around him. Antares glared down at the pony, and the earth pony grinned weakly before he said lamely: “I got a bad cold?”

“Where are Engelhart and Ameliorate? You know them, don't you?” Antares asked sharply: at first, the earth pony only gritted his teeth... but when a pair of angry-looking Royal Guards stepped up to either side of Antares and glared down at the earth pony, he paled and hurriedly held up his front hooves in a gesture of surrender.

“Okay, okay, calm down! Look, they slipped out the back and went to grab some more medical supplies from where they're storing them, just take it easy!” the earth pony babbled, shaking his head hurriedly. “Weren't my idea, okay? I'm just a mule!”

Antares opened his mouth, and then he cursed when Meadowlark took off behind him, the young stallion hurriedly shoving himself off the pony and turning to hurry after her. One of the guards began to turn to follow, but then the earth pony thief hurriedly scampered away, yelping as he evaded the other soldier's grab at him and drawing the attention of both Royal Guards.

Meadowlark moved surprisingly fast, jumping over a pony doctor that ducked with a wince before she turned and leapt out through an open flap in the tent. Antares grimaced as he followed sharply after her, sprinting the short distance to the open doors leading into the lobby of the hotel that the guards had commandeered for their clinic services.

Medical staff had taken over the lobby, using it to sort and distribute supplies and to keep themselves organized, and a few ponies frowned in surprise at the sight of the red Pegasus that ran into the building, followed by the leather-winged unicorn. Meadowlark looked frantically back and forth, ignoring the frustrated-looking soldier on security duty that was approaching her, and then her eyes locked on a pretty-looking, if gaunt, earth pony wearing a dirty lab coat. “Mom!”

The earth pony mare looked up in shock, eyes turning towards Meadowlark... and then she forced a weak smile, raising a hoof as more ponies looked up, Ameliorate saying hurriedly: “M-Meadow... this... this isn't what you think...”

“She's a thief and a liar!” Meadowlark shouted, pointing at her mother even as tears formed in her eyes, and now all eyes looked sharply towards the earth pony as Ameliorate winced and gazed back and forth, shaking her head wildly. “I trusted you! I thought you and Dad meant it when you said you were going to come back, you were going to set things right... but you're just taking the easy way out again, aren't you?”

Ameliorate flinched... then grabbed a wild hoof-full of pill bottles from the cart and turned to bolt towards the back doors, even as the entire room filled with yells as ponies leapt to their hooves. Security guards shot after the earth pony mare and doctors yelled and others grabbed at her, but it didn't matter: Meadowlark was sitting down, trying her hardest not to sob as tears leaked down her cheeks, and Antares had his focus only on her, hesitating only a moment before he hugged her tightly and she buried her face against the side of his neck, clinging to him silently as she cried quietly.

It only lasted a few minutes, though, before Meadowlark silently pulled back and Antares carefully guided her over to one side of the room. They sat for a little while, Meadowlark calming down little by little before the old unicorn Antares had recognized from inside the tent came and found them, and shook his head with a small smile as he looked down at the two.

“Thank you, young lady. I... understand it must have been hard for you, but you did a good thing here. Their patsy inside already confessed to what they were doing... Ameliorate and her friend were stealing medication and passing it to Engelhart, who was dressed up as a guard. He stored it in a safe place, so they could come by at the end of the night and pick it up to later sell. They slipped in with the refugees... they came back to Canterlot after they heard about the plague. Greed, it sounds like, since Ameliorate knew she could slip in with the crowd here in all the chaos...” The graying unicorn shook his head slowly. “I'm sorry, young lady. I imagine this isn't want you wanted to see.”

“No, but...” Meadowlark fell silent, and Antares closed his eyes, squeezing her gently around the shoulders. She smiled faintly, looking up before giving a weak sigh, and the aging unicorn looked at them quietly before he turned to leave.

Then he paused at the doors and hesitated, before adding over his shoulder: “Would you two mind lending us some help? Meadowlark, you could stay here and go over the inventory, and Antares, you can help me heal the seriously injured. You can perform healing magic, yes, you learned about that in Subterra?”

“I can do some basic cleansing spells now, at least. I should be able to heal infections and weaken the disease enough for pills to take effect.” Antares replied quietly, and the aging unicorn nodded slowly before Antares glanced at Meadowlark apprehensively, but she looked up and met his eyes with a faint smile, and he nodded hesitantly again before murmuring: “Okay. But if you need me, I'm here, okay?”

“Thanks, Antares...” Meadowlark closed her eyes, dropping her head against him for a moment before she carefully stood up, smiling faintly at him. He smiled back, and then they drew apart before Meadowlark slowly made her way towards an inventory desk as she shook herself out a little.

Antares turned his eyes towards the aging unicorn, nodding hesitantly, and the teacher motioned for him to follow: and while it was a bit of a strange experience actually working alongside other unicorns like this, Antares found that he enjoyed the work. He hated seeing ponies in pain, but he liked knowing he was helping them, smiled at their gratitude and even more, their relief, when he was able to stop the pain or help calm their suffering.

It was hard for him, but it was worthwhile, too: it made him wish that he'd worked harder to learn and develop his magic, even if that wasn't his field of expertise or where his talents laid. And the unicorns seemed to appreciate his help, which was nice: often, Antares didn't get the most pleasant reception from the magic academy and its staff. He had never attended, after all, and even if he was taught by one of their most accomplished graduates... said alumnus was also a Lich whom all kinds of rumors floated around Canterlot about. He was well aware that Twilight wasn't the only one who there were rumors about, too... but for once, no one was looking at his transmogrified wings, but only at the fact he was putting his best hoof forwards.

After some forty minutes of work, however, as Antares was taking a short break, a unicorn strolled slowly through the crowd, dressed in a black, armored vest and with golden cusps on his shoulders. He had stony, rough features, and Antares frowned nervously as he looked up, feeling a strange chill as the imposing stallion approached him: one of his eyes was covered by a thick cloth patch that almost mixed with his drab chestnut coat. The color of his body, and his short-cut, deep black mane and tail told him that he was likely from the rough, traditionalist north... not to mention the proud stance of his form.

There was a short sword sheathed over his back, and Antares looked awkwardly into the hazel eye of the unicorn. For a few moments, there was silence between them, and then the unicorn stated more than asked: “Antares Mīrus. Son of Her Highness Luna and Scrivener Blooms?”

“Yeah... I mean, yes, I am.” Antares sat up a little, looking back and forth before he studied the unicorn... and he winced a little mentally at that calm, solid gaze. Whoever the unicorn was, he was hard to read: Antares could tell that he was growing older but still strong, that his family probably had a strong military background, that he believed strongly in tradition and likely superiority. He was unflinching and a little scary, and Antares asked awkwardly: “Do... you... who are you?”

“Colonel Scutum, head of Baroness Caprice's security detail.” the unicorn replied calmly, giving a quick nod, and Antares tilted his head curiously at this before the unicorn gestured shortly behind himself. “Let's walk. Baroness Caprice is feeling under the weather and requires a healer.”

“Oh, I... there's a lot of ponies here that are way better than that, ponies who are... you know, much better than me...” Antares began awkwardly, and then he winced at Scutum's gaze: that single eye seemed to look right into the depths of his soul like a laser, and Antares leaned nervously to the side, awkwardly inspecting Scutum's cutie mark of a shield before he said lamely: “I'm really more... of a soldier myself, you know.”

“No, you're not.” Antares wondered dumbly for a moment if this was how ponies felt when he called them out with his own talents, as a blush rose in his cheeks. “Shall we? I've already cleared this with your superiors and I would like to go. Baroness Caprice is secure in the hotel and awaits our presence.”

There was no arguing with Scutum, and he nodded finally, turning to follow the one-eyed stallion, and Antares mumbled a little as he dropped his head a bit. He looked back and forth uneasily as they made their way out the back of the tent and into the hotel, and Meadowlark frowned in surprise from where she was working as Antares crossed the lobby, the young stallion shrugging in response before he winced when Scutum said calmly: “You won't be long. Your friend can wait.”

“Who the hell are you?” Antares asked incredulously, and Scutum paused in front of the elevator at the back of the lobby, then slowly turned around and looked down at him, as Antares looked nervously back and cleared his throat, saying embarrassedly: “Sorry. Long... long day. Giant monsters and... disease... and... I'm a little tense. I'm sorry.”

Scutum only regarded Antares for a few moments, then he nodded shortly before turning around, hitting the call button for the elevator. It dinged quietly open to reveal two Royal Guards already standing inside, and the colonel gestured moodily at Antares, who winced and squeezed in beside the large, armored unicorns before Scutum slipped in as well and hit the button for the seventh floor.

The elevator rose, and Antares felt the short ride was tied with the time Twilight Sparkle caught him staring at the centerfold of a particular type of magazine he'd happened across for 'most awkward moment ever.' When it dinged open, he hurried out into the hall after Scutum... then winced at the sight of two more guards standing down the hall in front of a closed door.

The young stallion couldn't help but notice these guards were also unicorns, and they both bowed their heads respectfully when Scutum approached. The colonel shoved the door open, then he looked back over his shoulder when one of the guards reached towards Antares, saying curtly: “Not necessary. Let him pass.”

The guards both settled and nodded, and Antares smiled lamely as he hurried past the two unicorns and into the luxurious room beyond. He stared dumbly back and forth around the posh suite as he realized that it was probably even nicer than a lot of the rooms in Canterlot, before Scutum announced calmly to the hyperventilating mare across the room: “Antares Mīrus, as requested, Baroness.”

“Oh, oh, oh good!” the mare rambled, blushing deeply beneath her pale coat, flailing her hooves a little as the silver-maned unicorn beside her winced away with a look of distaste... and Antares stared stupidly as he realized that sitting calmly beside Caprice, apparently in the role of secretary, was none other than Prestige Luster's mother. She had the same silver mane, except hers was coiffed back much more elegantly, and the same fleck in her eyes... but her coat was a pretty pink, and her hooves polished and painted silver, and everything about the unicorn was prim, perfect, and neat.

The Baroness was much the opposite: she had too much makeup on, her blonde mane was in a rumpled bun held in place by a few large golden hairpins, and she was wrapped in messy furs as she smiled a little too much at Antares as he hesitantly stepped forwards, before wincing a bit as she hopped off the bed and almost staggered into Scutum. The colonel didn't even flinch, however, only continuing to stand at attention as she veered just past him before skidding to a halt in front of Antares, reaching out to seize one of his hooves and shake it wildly as she declared: “A pleasure, such a pleasure, an honor to meet you, Antares Mīrus! Look, look, oh, do get a photo, Rosewood! Look at me, here, shaking hooves with Antares Mīrus, the Baroness's nephew, what a perfect specimen of pure unicorn heritage!”

“Yes, Baroness Caprice.” Rosewood said tiredly, putting aside her clipboard and gesturing irritably at one of the several large, burly security guards standing around the area. The unicorn soldier quickly turned to a traveling bag, lifting out a camera and passing it with telekinesis to Rosewood.

Caprice smiled brightly as she posed beside Antares, throwing a foreleg around him and making him wince, and Rosewood moodily lifted the camera with telekinesis and snapped a few pictures. Antares only winced and fidgeted, and then he cleared his throat when the pink unicorn put the camera aside, saying lamely: “You said you were... sick, Baroness Caprice? I... I'm really no healer...”

“Oh, now, now, there's no need to be so modest here!” Caprice said kindly, looking up at him and nodding rapidly. “Why, you came most highly recommended from another unicorn healer, and oh, I feel dreadfully under the weather but I'm sure that you can get rid of this awful achy feeling in my head and stomach.”

She looked pitiably at Antares, who sighed a little before he said finally: “I can... cleanse your system, at least. Give your immune system a boost, but-”

“Splendid! I feel better already!” Caprice declared, then she sat herself down in a large armchair nearby, smiling warmly over at Antares and making him wince a little at the fervor she studied him with. “My assistant, Rosewood, tells me you know her daughter Prestige Luster. But then again, Prestige has a great future ahead of her, doesn't she, Rosewood? Her father is the mayor of Silver Hoof, and he's my personal choice as successor! What an unrivaled mind, what a sharp wit, how forwards-thinking he is.”

Rosewood shifted nervously, and Antares looked up, catching a glance from her before Scutum said calmly: “With all respect, Baroness, perhaps you can speak to Antares after he heals your... illness. We wouldn't want it spreading, would we?”

“Oh, oh, no, no, no...” Caprice shook her head at this, looking nervous again as she wiggled in the armchair, and then she gestured a few times at Antares. “Go ahead, then, we can speak afterwards of course... Rosewood, do be a dear and put on tea if you can manage to squeeze into that atrocious little kitchenette.”

Antares couldn't help but lean a little to the side to gaze past Caprice and the separator that divided bedroom suite from the kitchen.... and he stared a little. What Caprice thought was 'tiny' looked larger than the kitchen in his cottage home, and like it had more appliances, too. Then he quickly sat back as Caprice looked at him nervously, and the glossy black young stallion smiled awkwardly before he mumbled: “Uh... just hold still, and I'll be done in a moment.”

Caprice beamed at him as Antares concentrated, breathing slowly and wincing a bit as magical recoil shocked painfully over his horn... but he had just enough strength left for a simple cleansing spell that washed over Caprice, making her squeak a little before she sighed in relief and hugged herself as the glow began to fade, saying cheerily: “Yes, I feel much, much, far better already! You have my gratitude, young Antares, why, what a fine young stallion you are! Now please, sit, sit!”

She gestured almost frantically around at the other furnishings, and Antares hesitantly took a few paces backwards to seat himself on a footstool. He glanced nervously at Scutum, who was still standing calmly nearby at attention, but Caprice had eyes only for the young stallion, leaning forwards and speaking again, her voice fast, overeager, making his nerves feel frayed. “So, tell me, Antares, how is life treating you in Canterlot? Do you live with the Baroness or are you simply visiting? Do they treat you with proper respect? I swear, the nerve of some of these slave-hooves you meet on the street, daring to speak the names of their superiors without being given permission, looking us in the eye, talking to us like commoners and ruffians like they themselves are! Ridiculous!”

Antares bit his tongue, only managing to grunt a little in response: Scutum's eye clearly flicked to the young stallion, studying his reaction, but Caprice only nodded violently as if Antares had heartily agreed with her. “Precisely! But what were we talking about before... oh, yes, Prestige Luster! A true pureblood unicorn... and her noble family; oh, Rosewood, where have you gone, come speak to Antares Mīrus!”

Caprice looked back and forth, and then Rosewood strode back into the room, looking nervous more than anything else. Her eyes drew apprehensively over Antares, studying him, sizing him up, and Caprice smiled and waved hurriedly at the pink pony before she asked the young black stallion curiously: “So do you know Prestige well? Oh, it's too bad she isn't here, we could have such a nice little chat if she was, but I understand her studies require much time and effort... Rosewood, dearest, you said she wasn't just apprenticing under Twilight, but another unicorn sorcerer, yes?”

“Yes, yes, she told me his name was Burning... Flame or something like that. A... a professor at the Magic Academy. And Prestige has written to me about you, of course, Antares.” Rosewood looked awkwardly at Antares, and Antares looked lamely back as he picked up on her emotions, feeling a turbulent mix coming from her... but yes, there was genuine affection and concern for Prestige in there as well. “She tells me you are a... pureblood unicorn. That you and her share... much in common.”

Antares hesitated... and when Rosewood looked almost pleadingly at him, he forced a smile and nodded slowly as he looked at Caprice, saying quietly: “Prestige and I are very good friends. We... we work together a lot, and I trust her. I trust her.” He repeated, looking directly at Rosewood, and the pink unicorn grimaced but nodded slowly.

Caprice looked delighted, clapping her hooves before she said slyly: “Well, perhaps we can interest you one day in coming to visit the proud north... what a handsome suitor you'd make for Prestige, no? Pure of blood, very handsome, many talents and so modest! Why, I'm sure you'd quickly garner the approval of the mayor, too, yes?”

“My husband... would... approve of his pure blood.” Rosewood said awkwardly, and Caprice smiled benevolently, waving a hoof even as Rosewood started to look strained.

“Now don't be like that! Antares is a fine catch, is he not? I'm sure he knows all about our traditions, and approves.” Caprice nodded firmly, and Antares shifted awkwardly before the Baroness asked almost too eagerly: “You haven't been paired off yet, have you? I know the Baroness Celestia can be 'equal thinking' and all, but I expect that she and her marvelously-talented unicorn apprentice both desire to see you with another pureblood, to continue to make the line stronger...”

Antares shifted, blushing a little, but Rosewood interrupted quickly: “There are more factors to consider in partnerships than just talent and attractiveness of course, your ladyship. Antares and Prestige are already very close friends. It might not be proper...”

“Oh, fiddlesticks. I know your husband well, Rosewood, and he's always telling me about how hard Prestige has been trying to follow in his hoofsteps. I'm rather surprised she hasn't already tried to chase you down, young Antares, magnificent specimen that you are, and of such royal heritage!” Caprice crowed, and Antares felt his blood chill a little as Rosewood forced a weak chuckle. “I'd be careful if I were you now, Antares Mīrus. If you were to end up in a romantic situation with Prestige in the heat of the moment, you'd compromise her dowry.”

“What?” Antares asked in a strangled voice, looking up as Rosewood clenched her eyes shut and grabbed at her face in vexation, but Caprice looked both surprised and delighted. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh come, unicorn tradition! Arranging marriages between noble born to ensure the pure-blood line continues.” Caprice said firmly, before she lit up as Antares stared at her. “Oh, or did you mean the dowry, do they no longer have that tradition here? Why yes, you see, the lesser-born family – and of course, Rosewood, I mean no disrespect to you or the mayor – pays the higher-born family a tribute, and pays for the costs of the wedding itself, which is done as soon as all payments are made in full and a formal promise of marriage has been declared and signed. I must say, I'm surprised you aren't seeing suitors already... you would be highly-prized up north. And no matter what a shrewd businesspony your husband is, Rosewood, even the Mayor would have to pay quite a handsome fee... but every bit and treasure paid would be worth it, Antares, don't ever doubt your value!”

Antares could only stare, breathing slowly in and out before Caprice continued cheerfully, even as Rosewood continued to just sit with her face in her hooves: “But of course, the dowry is decreased, even waived completely, if you have sexual relations with the bride-to-be before you're married. And I'm sure the Mayor would seize on this... why, we called him the Mayor long before he was made Silver Hoof's actual mayor, after all! He is such a genius investor, buying up land and lots, and shows such wonderful dedication to his work... even when those slave hooves refused to sell their silly... school? Shelter? What was it, Rosewood, I can never remember.”

“It was an orphanage.” Rosewood mumbled, and Caprice nodded a few times before frowning at Rosewood as the pink pony looked up listlessly.

“You look as if you've caught an awful chill. You'd best go fetch the tea for us, Rosewood, then make yourself a nice cup and sit in the kitchen for a while. Wouldn't want to get anypony sick now, yes?” Caprice asked kindly, and Rosewood slowly pushed herself to her hooves as Antares only sat back, not knowing what to think... and he could only listen in disbelief as Caprice continued easily, as if she was telling a happy story about puppies and kittens and moonbeams: “In any event, the Mayor wasn't deterred at all by their refusal to sell. He simply dug up some ancient land use laws and figured out how to apply them in civil court! A load of unnecessary work, I dare say, since no unicorn court would ever side with a filthy slave hoof, but all the same it showed his character through and through. His work ethic is just incredible, truly admirable. And he plowed down that ugly, nasty spectacle of a mudwalker's nest and put up the prettiest memorial you ever saw, dedicated to the many unicorns that died during the brutal but failed slave-hoof uprising some seventy years ago.”

Caprice sniffed at this, then smiled when Rosewood returned with a cup of tea, taking the saucer in her hooves and inhaling the steam with a smile. “Fitting justice, isn't it? And how irresponsible, isn't it, to make all those foals and then simply toss them on the streets. Mudwalkers have always bred out of control, just like animals, though, and then they blame us for it, the unicorns, like it's somehow our fault those foals don't have mothers and fathers who love them, like it's our fault that they end up out on the street.”

Antares could only stare, feeling hollow inside as Caprice calmly sipped at her tea, and Rosewood looked at him with mixed feelings in her eyes. He slowly turned his gaze to her, and he saw anger, and contempt, and maybe even bitter relief... but at the same time, he also saw longing, and sorrow, and pain, and strangest of all, what seemed like a plea.

The young stallion shakily stood, and Caprice looked up curiously. She started to open her mouth, but Scutum said calmly: “Antares Mīrus has another appointment to attend to, Baroness. I believe he's going to meet Baroness Celestia now.”

Antares looked dumbly up at this, and Caprice squeaked as she almost threw her teacup into the air, quickly shoving it aside onto the arm of a chair. She didn't seem to notice as it spilled over the edge of the furnishing to land on the floor below with a clink, leaping to her hooves as she said hurriedly: “Well, I'll go as well, then! Always a pleasure to meet with the Baroness of Canterlot, after all, Celestia is such a dear and-”

“I would not advise it, Baroness Caprice. You may become sick again, the illness is still being dealt with in the hotel.” Scutum replied calmly, and then he gestured towards Rosewood as Caprice immediately halted in mid-step towards Antares and stared anxiously past him at the closed door, as if Scutum had informed her there were barbarians and demons sitting outside instead of a sickness that so far had proven to be little nastier than a flu virus for all its resilience. “If I may, I would suggest that your assistant could carry a message for you.”

“What a wonderful idea!” Caprice clapped her front hooves together as she sat back on her haunches, nodding rapidly before she gestured quickly at Rosewood, smiling over at her before she enunciated carefully, looking down at her as if she was a child: “Tell Celestia that I would very much like to meet with her, and that it would be very nice if she could bring your daughter, Prestige Luster. Send her my best regards and ensure you treat her with proper respect, Rosewood, can you remember to do all that for me?”

“Yes, Baroness Caprice.” Rosewood said in a mumble, looking dejected, and Antares shivered: now he could see some of why Prestige Luster had taken so long to get used to the idea of equality, had been so viciously defensive of her 'superiority;' now he saw how even amongst unicorns, there were those treated as 'superior' and 'inferior...' and Rosewood's clear pride in her daughter, her conflicting emotions over her and Antares, were beginning to make more sense.

“Excellent.” Caprice said cheerfully, and she reached up and patted Rosewood condescendingly on the head before adding almost dismissively: “And oh, on the way out, ensure that you give whatever mudwalker decreed this hotel of all places should serve as the grounds for their silly medical clinic a firm reprimand and inform them I will be making note of this at the next Royal Council meeting. What idiocy, quarantining this hotel! I bet all the other unicorn and Pegasi are as enraged as I am!”

“The disease was detected here, Baroness Caprice, this is all part of an effort to minimize its spread. But the unicorn doctors informed me that by tomorrow morning they'll have enough vaccines for every pony in the hotel.” Scutum replied calmly, and Caprice wilted a bit at this before she paled visibly as he added with the same unflinching seriousness: “I'll make sure that you are among the first to receive the vaccine in the morning, ma'am. I believe it only requires two needles.”

“Oh my.” Caprice shrank down a bit, trembling before she grinned weakly and asked: “Do... do you think there's any chance we could get our fellow unicorn brethren to mix me a potion or elixir of some sort? Skip that nasty process of needles?”

“I believe it has to be injected directly into the liver, Baroness, for full effect.” Scutum answered, and Caprice stared at him before she slowly turned green as she turned away, and the colonel nodded politely to her. “If you'll excuse us, then. Antares Mīrus, please.”

Scutum politely gestured towards the door, and Antares took the lead, glancing awkwardly over his shoulder and not wanting to admit how nice it made him feel to see Caprice looking so harried, despite the many fears, pains, and that... that sense of emptiness inside of himself.

They made their way out to the hall, and the moment the door closed behind the trio, Antares opened his mouth... and Scutum simply gave him a curt look, the glossy black young stallion awkwardly closing his mouth. They walked towards the elevator, Antares wincing a little before Scutum hit the call button, and the doors again slid open to reveal the cramped compartment and the two guards still standing as stoic and stony as ever.

The three forced their way in, and Antares winced as Rosewood pressed close to him, muttering under her breath as Scutum squeezed in front. It was by far more awkward riding down than it had been riding up, and even Scutum gave a breath of relief when the doors opened and the trio were able to pile out and back into the lobby.

For a few moments, the three just gathered their wits... and then, as the doors of the elevator slid closed, Rosewood straightened a little and said grudgingly: “Thank you for not telling Caprice that you're banging my daughter, splinter-horn.”

“Oh, so you're a nice pony after all.” Antares mumbled before he could stop himself, and then he winced back when Rosewood glared at him, grinding her teeth together loudly as he leaned awkwardly away from her before he felt his emotions twist inside him. And in a moment, he stepped forwards again as all his emotions spun on their head, surprising her with his sudden aggressiveness as he asked sharply: “So what exactly am I to you, then? Splinter horn or pure blood or what? Because you know what, you're not the one here who gets to be angry!”

Rosewood rose a hoof as if to slap him, and Antares steeled himself before he blinked in surprise when Scutum reached up and caught her foreleg. For a moment, Rosewood only breathed hard, and then Scutum said quietly: “Cool down. I don't want a repeat of your last big mistake on my hooves.”

“I am calm, and... this is different.” Rosewood muttered, and then she glowered when Scutum only shook his head slowly, the mare growling under her breath as Antares continued to glare and the one-eyed stallion kept a firm grip on her foreleg until she finally slumped and jerked herself away with a mumble. “Fine. You're getting soft, though, colonel, protecting this mudwalker.”

Antares growled at her under his breath, and Scutum only favored Rosewood with a mild look, saying quietly: “I'd rather be seen as soft by our kind than cruel and stupid by theirs. I'm not your husband, after all, Rosewood.”

The pink mare flinched at this, and Antares opened his mouth before he leaned nervously back when Scutum's single eye turned to him and locked on him. Then the colonel grunted and jerked his head to the side, and Antares and Rosewood both dropped their gazes with grumbles before following when the military unicorn led them away from the elevator and towards a quieter corner of the lobby. The medical workers gave them space... but as Antares looked around, he couldn't help but note in the short time he'd been gone, they'd already packed up most of the supplies that had been here and quite a few of the staff were missing, including Meadowlark. It made him feel nervous for a moment, but he figured that they were likely packing up the clinic: he had faith that Meadowlark wouldn't just leave him.

Then he shivered a bit, thinking of how he'd had faith, too, that Prestige Luster actually cared for him, and he looked slowly towards Rosewood as she surveyed him silently, asking quietly: “So what am I to your daughter? I thought... I thought she actually gave a damn.”

“She...” Rosewood hesitated, and when Scutum looked at her seriously, the pink unicorn sighed grudgingly before looking moodily over at Antares. “My daughter, Prestige Luster, is a pureblood of the most noble rank. She is not only a unicorn, and not only an aristocrat with her father's heritage, but capable of great feats of magic... and she deserves, deserves, a suitor that is her equal.”

“You didn't answer my question at all.” Antares studied her, forcing his emotions down so he could concentrate and summon up his abilities, and Rosewood shifted nervously before the glossy black stallion's eyes narrowed. For a few more moments, there was silence... and then Antares gritted his teeth before he asked sharply: “Why the hell do you look at me with such disgust and yet... Caprice was slavering all over me? I don't understand what's going on!”

“Because you're a splinter-horn mudwalker, and I don't want my daughter being exiled from Silver Hoof and losing everything she could be because she's apparently decided to waste her life with you instead of a proper unicorn!” Rosewood spat out, but she was trembling as she glared furiously down at Antares, pain and sorrow in her eyes as much as anger.

Antares fell silent, staring up at Rosewood as she breathed hard, glaring challengingly at him, and his mind slowly processed her words before his instincts kicked in, as he frowned and lowered his head. The silence drew out, and then Antares looked up and asked quietly: “If you really didn't want me in her life, then why... you saw how upset I was, I know you did, when I thought Prestige was using me. You could have lied a hundred times and driven me off, you could... why are you here, Rosewood, if you think I'm scum?”

“I didn't say I think you're scum, Antares Mīrus. I said you're a splinter horn.” Rosewood replied quietly, bowing her head and closing her eyes tightly, and Antares frowned at this before the mare sighed quietly, then looked up and said in a tired, weak voice: “You have no idea what it's like to be a mother. My daughter is beautiful, and talented, and she's as snarky and rash as me and as calculating and smart as her father. She has his mind... but she has my heart. Antares, most ponies know that your parents were a slave hoof hornless unicorn and the Champion of Equestria, Luna Brynhild... but unicorn blood can flow through the veins of a slave hoof just as water can be pumped through bad piping. Sure, to mate with such filth is wretched and disgraceful, but... the rare blooded slave hoofs are dragged into bed by desperate unicorn mares more often than you think. They're scum... but prized scum. As long as they have pure blood, for whatever defect took their horn from their heads...”

Antares shivered at this, shaking his head slowly, disbelievingly, before Rosewood continued distastefully: “But I know all about you, Antares. Not just your physical deviancy, which unicorns wouldn't be so eager to overlook up north if you weren't known as the Baroness's favored nephew... but how you're no proud pureblood.” Rosewood gave a shiver of disgust, shaking her head slowly. “Preaching equality and that proud unicorns should lower themselves to the level of their servant-class brethren...”

Antares frowned at this: both in revulsion and in thought, as he heard something in the unicorn mare's tone, the structure of her words... “But that's not your problem with me, is it? I mean, it is, but... it's not the fact I believe we're all equal, it's because-”

“Because your beliefs are tarnishing my daughter!” Rosewood spat, glaring furiously at the glossy-black young stallion. “Insolent whelp! You're going to make her lose everything she's ever worked for, spent her entire life trying to become!”

“Maybe, but maybe she can earn something with real value now instead. Maybe I can give her more than the 'proud unicorn north' ever could, here in Equestria, where everyone actually earns their place instead of just being... born lucky or not.” Antares replied sharply, shaking his head. “The old ways aren't good simply because they're old, Rosewood. Traditions like unicorn superiority should die out... should have been dead a long time ago. How could you not see that?”

Rosewood only glared at him dangerously in response, breathing hard in and out, before Scutum cut in quietly: “Don't you believe in your own superiority, Antares Mīrus? From a purely logical standpoint, we unicorns are better, stronger, more equipped to deal with the threats of this world than our kin are. How can you argue that we're equals... how can you not be a hypocrite when you yourself possess wings as well as a horn, making you truly exceptional even among unicorn elite?”

Antares shifted nervously at this, and then he looked up and met Scutum's eye, evenly, saying quietly: “I believe it, though, Scutum, from the bottom of my heart, that we're all equals. Just because someone's stronger, or can do magic, or... anything else, it doesn't make them better. I have a friend who's the smallest Pegasus you'll ever see, even if she's only a little younger than I am... and yet she's the best young athlete in the region and she could take down a platoon of Royal Guard with her hooves tied behind her back. And I have another friend, an earth pony who's little more than a colt, who looks like a big dumb brute... but he's the gentlest, kindest pony you'll ever meet, and he's so smart and talented that it makes me... it makes me jealous sometimes.

“Yeah, because I am some... 'superior' unicorn. But I can't do magic like Prestige. I can't put together or even get technology to work that well, like Rustproof. In a million years, I could never be as fast or as sharp a flier as Avalon. I can't think around corners the way Meadowlark can. And my cousin... little sis, Aphrodisia, I've got nothing on her raw, glowing passion and strength.” Antares closed his eyes, bowing his head forwards. “My friends never, ever give up. But I do, all the time. My friends don't fixate on the past that they've lost, they move towards the future. And I get jealous and envious of all the things they can do but I never will, mighty unicorn or not. What the hell does superiority mean, Scutum? What's strength, really? What about honor, where's the honor in tyrannizing all these talented, wonderful ponies who are each special in their own way, have strengths that no matter who or what they are, we unicorns can never achieve by magic or theft or all the dirty, filthy things I've learned our ancestors did for power... how can you still think you're superior when the only way we Equestrians have ever gotten anywhere is by standing up as equals and working together, not as unicorn or Pegasus or earth pony, but... just as ponies?”

“I didn't say I was superior, Antares. I said I was stronger, and that I'm better outfitted to survive in this harsh world we live in.” Scutum replied calmly, and for a few moments the two studied each other before Antares smiled faintly, feeling something clicking into place in his mind.

“The strong have to protect the weak, right?” Antares asked quietly, and Scutum nodded calmly. The glossy-black young unicorn smiled wider after a moment, studying the unicorn before he turned his eyes to Rosewood, who had her head lowered, looking uncomfortable. “Prestige is... she's learning a lot here, Rosewood. She's learning that ponies are equal, no matter what she was taught in the past, even if... she slips a little now and then. And... I... I care about her. And I want to believe that she cares about me.”

“She does care about you.” Rosewood said quietly, looking slowly down, and Antares leaned forwards, heart thudding in his chest before the pale pink unicorn looked up and shook her head slowly. “She tells me everything, Antares. She told me about your first kiss, and about all her training in Subterra... under a demon, of all things. She told me about how close you are, and she writes in her letters all about how her world view is changing, but Antares... Antares... I don't want her taken away from me. I don't want her disgraced, do you understand that?”

Rosewood trembled a little, leaning forwards and shaking her head. “If word of this got out, the Mayor would tell Caprice, and Caprice would exile her. I would be shamed and become a laughingstock. They'd run me out of the baronies and my daughter and I would have to start over... would be left with nothing. I grew up from nothing, Antares: my family is not noble-born, and there are no powerful magicians... only... servant unicorns. But I was the most feasible option in Silver Hoof, and the Mayor married me, and I... bore him a foal, and that sealed our partnership. I have everything I've ever wanted, and even if the Mayor only looks at his daughter as an heir to be paired with another noble unicorn and continue the pureblood lineage, I love her. I love my daughter, Antares, so much so, and I don't want her to have to live as a poor, worthless soul, in an Equestria where no pony will look at her for the shining perfection she is. When her training is done, Antares, and she comes back home, they'll treat her like royalty, they'll give her everything she wants, unicorns will bow to her-”

“And none of it would mean anything! Open your eyes, Rosewood... what would you prefer, Prestige to earn real respect and admiration and friendships, or do you want to turn her into something fat and slovenly and as entitled as Caprice?” Antares shot back, and then he winced when Rosewood snarled at him and lunged forwards, Scutum gritting his teeth as he grabbed the pink unicorn and held her back.

She grabbed wildly at Antares, but he leaned out of the way as Rosewood shouted furiously: “My daughter is nothing like her! What the hell is worth living for down here, Antares? Do you really think their kind will ever forgive our kind for what we've done to them? Better to sit at the head of a table of unicorns than it is to spend every day getting looked down on by mudwalkers because you're trying to fit into their society! You don't know what it's like, pure little 'hero,' for me or for Prestige, or how they hold all the crimes of every unicorn over our heads... I... I...”

Rosewood trembled, then slumped and dropped her head, whispering: “I don't want Prestige to go through that. She can be a queen of the north, even if the north is just a lie... or she can stay here in the Canterlot Barony, and spend the rest of her life as some nameless unicorn magician, stuck in your shadow, and smeared by everything her family's done in the past. No pony will ever forget that, Antares. Slave hooves have long memories and angry hearts. Or do you want to wake up every morning beside a miserable wife to find angry letters and graffiti telling you and your kind to go back to where you belong?”

“Prestige has to make the decision herself.” Antares said quietly, and then he hesitated before looking across at Rosewood and saying softly: “And... Rosewood... I'm going to take care of her. I promise that I am. Equestria isn't like you think... or at least, it's treated Prestige a lot better than... I'm guessing it treated you.” He quieted, studying her as she slowly looked up, before he smiled a little, bowing his head silently. “I'm not going to steal her away from you, Rosewood. I'm... I want to help.”

Rosewood looked at him for a few moments, then she slowly shook her head and muttered: “Slave hoof. Don't patronize me... I'm not so desperate that I need the help of you or your kind. I... I only want the best for my daughter.”

For a few moments, there was silence... and then Antares looked up in surprise as Meadowlark's voice said quietly, the Pegasus approaching from the side with a faint smile on her face: “He is the best thing that could happen to your daughter, miss. He's... he's the best thing that could happen to a lot of ponies. And Prestige... she was hard for all of us to stomach at first, but she's... a friend now. She's smart, and she and Antares... are good together.”

It caused Meadowlark visible pain to say this as she looked quietly at Antares, who smiled back, swallowing a little. Rosewood and Scutum both observed them silently for a few moments, and then Scutum glanced over at the pale pink mare and said quietly: “Don't be an idiot, Rose.”

“Screw you, Scutum.” Rosewood retorted, and then she shook her head slowly and looked moodily over at Meadowlark, saying moodily: “A shorn-wing just walks up and gives me advice on my own daughter, this-”

“Don't talk about her like that.” Antares said sharply, and Rosewood looked surprised at this before the young stallion blushed a bit, even as he straightened and said quietly: “She's my friend, and a friend of Prestige... shouldn't that... isn't that proof enough that maybe her life here can be a good one? That unlike you... she's escaped?”

Rosewood hesitated for a few long moments... but before they could further argue, Scutum said calmly: “Caprice will be whining by now for the guards to come find us. We should return to the room, Rosewood.”

The pale pink unicorn stuck her tongue out at him childishly, but then she nodded grumpily before turning her eyes to Antares. The two looked at each other for a moment, and then he yelped when she slapped him across the face, Meadowlark staring and Scutum only sighing before Rosewood said moodily: “Treat my daughter nicely, mudwalker. And don't get her pregnant on top of everything else.”

“We're not even doing that yet!” Antares said in a strangled voice, a little louder than he meant to, and then he blushed as several ponies turned to look at him. Rosewood only ignored him, and the glossy black stallion sighed before he looked up awkwardly as Scutum studied him silently.

Then the one-eyed stallion nodded once before saying calmly: “Baroness Caprice has business here for the next few weeks. I would request that we meet at some point during that time, I have something I want to talk to you about.”

“I... uh... okay. I'll be in Ponyville shortly, though...” Antares said awkwardly, but Scutum only nodded before he turned and strode off, and Antares looked blankly after the large stallion before he mumbled to Meadowlark as she winced a little: “Let's... let's just head back to Subterra. And... thanks.”

Meadowlark only shrugged and smiled a little, turning to follow him quietly to the doors, and the two young ponies stepped out of the hotel. Antares blinked in surprise as a white flake of snow landed on the end of his nose, and Meadowlark laughed, then blushed when Antares gave her an amused and surprised look as she reached up to cover her mouth. Then both ponies looked skywards, gazing into the cloudy night sky as more flakes of snow twinkled slowly down through the air, Antares murmuring: “First snowfall of winter... real late, but... better than never, right?”

“Late... is always better than never. And sometimes waiting makes it better.” Meadowlark agreed, and she smiled softly as she gazed quietly at Antares as he looked up into the night sky above.

Warmth In Winter

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Chapter Seventeen: Warmth In Winter
~BlackRoseRaven

Winter was late in coming, but moved in with a vengeance when it did: it began with a gentle snowfall, but soon escalated into a blizzard that raged on and off for an entire week, heavy enough to force Celestia to put off the trip back to Ponyville for another day once Twilight had healed thanks to the roads being blocked up with snow and sleet. Not that anypony minded: they were still able to train while in Subterra, and it was warm and cozy in the underground caverns compared to how cold and blustery it had become up in Canterlot. It was a good place to think, too, which Antares needed right now: he and Prestige were in an uncomfortable fugue over Antares' confrontation with Rosewood, both ponies doing their hardest to think things out and dancing around the subject whenever it came up.

But Celestia refused to delay long: although it was still snowing and the roads hadn't been completely cleared by the day that followed, she pushed them into a hard march into the winter snowfall in full armor. It was cold and rough, but Antares recognized that it was more than just Celestia making them miserable, too: it was a learning experience, even if Avalon complained loudly the entire time and kept landing on Antares to curl up in a little armored ball on his back. Not that Antares minded: Avalon's extra body heat was welcome in this cold weather.

He was surprised to find that Prestige didn't seem to care about the cold all that much: of all of them, she handled the weather almost as well as Twilight Sparkle and Celestia did, smiling a little now and then at Antares when he grumbled and giving Avalon entertained looks when the tiny Pegasus cursed at her every now and then in frustration. Meadowlark and Rustrproof were trailing at the rear of the group, but both were holding up well despite their own shivers, while Aphrodisia looked sulky as she dragged her hooves through the snow in front of them, complaining almost as much as Avalon and yelling every so often at Burning Desire.

The fiery stallion was cheerfully prancing along beside Twilight Sparkle, who kept absently nudging him away every time he got a little too grabby, but she was smiling all the same. The demon had decided to come with them to help continue training, and because he had gleefully declared that he was going to spend as much time as possible with his new marefriend. Twilight only rolled her eyes at this and called him a child every time he brought this up, but she looked... happy, all the same. Like she had found something that helped her cope, even if nothing could ever replace Scrivener and Luna... and Burning Desire, to the surprise of the younger ponies, seemed to not only understand this but even be okay with it.

The demonic stallion had healed well, although he still bore some ugly bruising over his body, but asking him if he was in pain had only led to him bragging about what a fight he'd put up against Cancer. Antares was unnerved by the fact that Cancer had actually taken down a demon made of fire, considering what they had thought his weakness was... but on the road back to Ponyville, when Antares had brought up this concern, Burning Desire had only shaken his head violently and explained easily: “No, no, no! These flames that protect my body might look like normal fire, but if they were there would be many more badly-scorched mares walking around Subterra and Canterlot and... well, right beside us.”

Burning Desire leered over at Twilight, who glared at him even as she blushed deeply. Then he laughed before continuing in a cheerful voice: “The fires that enshroud me affect people's emotions, not their physical bodies. Sure, I burn hot...” He licked his lips slowly, leering at Twilight again. “But I'm a lover, not a fighter, for the most part. Given the right kick I like to think I can be as fierce as any Wrath demon, but if I want to set someone on fire I have to use my magic, not my mane.”

He flicked this to the side, then paused before swinging his tail out, drawing a trail of heat through the snow beside him and leaving a melting trench of white powder. “That monster, though, he didn't handle my heat very well, and for once I don't mean to make a pun. But he was slippery... and any time I managed to set him on fire he would shed his skin or split apart or do some other disgusting cheating thing. But he's dead, yes? The chaos entities sent him back to the Void?”

“I'm not sure where he was sent... and I doubt it will be that easy.” Celestia replied softly, and Burning Desire frowned a bit as Antares looked up nervously: this topic had been almost taboo for the last week, and Celestia hesitated before her eyes focused on the silhouette of Ponyville in the distance, a black shape barely visibly through the thin veil of snow whipping back and forth as they plodded on beneath listless gray skies.

At first, Antares thought she wasn't going to say anything further, as they walked on for a few minutes in awkward silence, Twilight looking apprehensively at Celestia as Burning Desire frowned and lost some of his playfulness... but then Celestia spoke again, and Antares looked up in surprise as she asked quietly: “Do you believe that Allonym was telling the truth when he told you he couldn't affect things as he desired?”

“Yeah, I do. I know that Discombobulation and Discord managed to make Cancer vanish, but... I don't think it's permanent. I don't...” Antares hesitated, looking up at the ceiling of clouds overhead before he said finally: “I just... I think about what he said, too. He implied there could be consequences for... trying to make Cancer just vanish. And I don't like to think about what he could have meant by that...”

Celestia nodded slowly, then she murmured quietly: “Meddling with reality is never a good idea, Antares... I can only imagine the dangers of making even the smallest of changes. Not even the Norns had absolute control, as my little sister proved...” Celestia hesitated, then she smiled faintly as she dropped her eyes towards the snow-strewn path in front of her, murmuring: “I wonder what she thought of Allonym, if his story about meeting them is true...”

Antares smiled faintly at this, nodding a little himself before Celestia shook her head quickly, then straightened and murmured: “We'll have to be careful. But we might have time, too, even if Cancer does return. Winter has moved in hard, but it might give us an advantage against an organism like Cancer.”

The young stallion looked up curiously, and then he looked over his shoulder as Meadowlark said hesitantly: “Because... you think it'll slow him down?”

“I'm certain of it, with what we've seen of his physiology.” Celestia said softly, then she grimaced a little. “But we should prepare for the worst in any event: he's chaos as much as he is destruction, and who knows how that will drive him to react and adapt? What also worries me is that if the cold does begin to slow or hamper him, he might be driven to attack the nearest source of heat and life he can to try and sustain himself through the winter. We'll need to ensure Equestria is aware of the threat he poses and we should begin sending out scouting teams immediately. We need to destroy it as soon as possible.”

Antares shifted uncomfortably, looking down and nodding slowly, and his nervousness seemed to ripple through the ranks. It drew Celestia's attention, the ivory winged unicorn looking over her shoulder with a bit of a frown, but then her eyes turned to Twilight as the Lich said quietly: “If we have the chance, maybe instead we should focus on training, and on healing the disease where it's still spreading. I heard that Canterlot still has ponies coming in sick... and that the disease has made its way as far as Manehattan and Hoofston.”

“It's spread to a few of the larger metropolitan centers, yes... my guess is diplomats and businessponies who thought they were too important or in too much of a rush to bother with the required health screenings.” Celestia shook her head slowly. “This sudden winter hasn't helped matters: more ponies are reporting illnesses and it could cause a panic. As it is, the plague is already difficult to follow: the only things about it that stay constant are its extreme virulence and its resilience. And with the way it evolves itself once inside a host...”

“You're scared many ponies could be infected and not show any symptoms other than a cough or sneeze, passing it on to others... and then it's either going to mutate, or Cancer's somehow going to seize control of his own disease and make it mutate, and they'll go from sneezing and coughing to heart attacks and organ death.” Twilight said quietly, and Celestia nodded with a grimace. The Lich shivered a bit at this thought as Antares and his friends traded nervous looks, before Twilight hesitantly looked over her shoulder and asked quietly: “Could any of us... I mean, not me, clearly but anyone else here...”

“I don't know.” Celestia said honestly, then she sighed softly and shook her head slowly. “We'll need to figure out a better way to screen for the illness than we currently have, and we'll need to put more effort into developing stronger vaccines and antivirals.”

She grimaced, looking ahead and murmuring: “Biological warfare. There's nothing worse, and nothing more cowardly than this indiscriminate poisoning. Cancer fills me with disgust, on every level of my being: he is dishonorable, contemptible, and pathetic.” She closed her eyes, then smiled wryly and shook her head slowly. “And Luna will never let me live it down if I fail to put a stop to an overgrown flu before we bring her and Scrivener Blooms home.”

Antares and Twilight both laughed a little at this, and then the group fell quiet again as they continued to make their way on towards Ponyville. As they drew close, the snowfall lightened, and they were greeted by Nibelung and ponies that were clearing the roads leading to the open gates, Celestia smiling and Antares feeling like the world had just grown warmer despite the biting wind and the frost that clung to his armor.

They made their way into the village, passing bundled-up ponies that greeted them warmly and waved to them, and Antares smiled back and forth, blushing a little at the welcome. It was a welcome for heroes, not for a team of ponies that had just started to learn how to properly work together, but all the same he couldn't complain. Not with the happiness and pride he felt filling up his friends... not with the joy that filled him up, and reminded him of exactly what and why he was determined to fight so hard... not with the hopes it brought for the kind of welcome back his parents would receive, when he saved them from wherever they were.

Celestia brought the group to the front of the library, then she turned around and said calmly: “For today, I'd advise all of you to rest... you've earned a day off. Tomorrow, we'll resume training and I'll explain some of the duties I expect each of you to begin handling. Meet me here at the library at seven.”

“Seven in the morning?” Avalon groaned loudly as she flitted through the air, then she slapped moodily at her own face as the others only looked at her, mumbling: “It better not be snowing again. God, this sucks. This sucks, doesn't this suck?”

“You suck.” Aphrodisia said sourly, and Avalon glared at her before the demon asked curiously: “Wanna go get hot chocolate at Mommy's store?”

“You're such a foal.” Avalon said mildly, and when Aphrodisia huffed and then turned to gallop off, the tiny Pegasus winced and hurriedly shot after her. “Wait a minute, I didn't say I didn't want to come! Hold up!”

Antares shook his head, then he glanced towards Meadowlark... but the Pegasus was already leaving with Rustproof, and the young stallion smiled for a moment before awkwardly looking at Prestige. She hesitated, looking at the library as Celestia turned to the door, but then the ivory winged unicorn smiled over her shoulder, saying quietly: “Go ahead, Prestige Luster. Besides, I look at Twilight Sparkle, and think... maybe I still have more to learn from my old apprentice than I thought.”

Celestia smiled a bit as Antares and Prestige both glanced towards the Lich, who was laughing as Burning Desire grinned widely, gesturing energetically as he told some story in a confident, carrying voice, and then both young ponies looked towards the ivory winged unicorn as she nodded slowly, saying thoughtfully: “Yes. There's nothing wrong with finding happiness where you can... with taking pleasures when they present themselves. And it amazes me again... to see a demon that has a depth of understanding and compassion rivaled perhaps only by my brother, and yet here I am, still thinking...”

She quieted, then smiled softly, looking down at the two young ponies as she said gently: “Don't waste the precious time you have with one another on anger and sorrow. And don't keep secrets, or leave things unsaid because you're afraid of what might happen. If you two truly care about each other... you'll find your way through things.”

Antares and Prestige looked at each other... then they both slowly nodded as their eyes locked. Celestia smiled at them in approval, then she turned around and headed into the library while the two young ponies only continued to study each other, before Antares said quietly: “Prestige...”

“Let's... just enjoy the walk.” Prestige said awkwardly, and Antares hesitated before she reached up and touched his shoulder, saying quietly: “When we get back home... we can discuss everything then.”

“Home.” Antares smiled a little, tasting the word, studying Prestige curiously with how naturally, easily, she had used it, and the young unicorn mare blushed a bit before Antares leaned forwards and kissed her. She returned it, and he felt her warmth, her honesty, her compassion, and that bittersweet tickle when their mouths parted... and the pleasure that came with knowing that at any time, any moment, they could share another kiss any time they desired.

They turned, approaching Burning Desire and Twilight Sparkle as the Lich laughed, then turned her eyes towards them before smiling amusedly and reaching up to cover the fiery stallion's mouth, saying easily: “Okay, okay, enough, Burning, before you traumatize anyone here... and that includes me. Am I ever glad you and Luna never met.”

“And yet all the same I can't help but hope we do one day, even though I know that will be a day of both great joy and great sorrow for me.” Burning Desire smiled warmly, touching his chest, and Antares looked surprised at the honesty that radiated from the Passion. But Burning Desire only chuckled, gazing back with entertainment at the surprise on Antares' features as Prestige gazed up at her mentor with quiet affection that had grown in leaps and bounds over the last few days. “Antares, I have spent thousands of years in longing and desire and contemplation. But longing like mine can again, only be filled by that which is freely given... never by force. Do I feel jealousy? Of course. But I'm not a demon of envy. My jealousy is not like hatred... it is sorrow, for what I long to always have standing freely beside me...”

Burning Desire softened, gazing at Twilight Sparkle as he murmured quietly: “And after a thousand years of desire, my sweet undying flower has come to take that pain away. It may be for a week, for a month, for a year... and then, yes, I know she will return to those she loves more than she could ever love me. And yes, I will cry like a little filly, but I will... I will let her go.” Burning Desire reached up, touching the Lich's face gently, Twilight blushing as she bowed her cheek against his hoof. “Because I truly care for her. She is no pretty object to add to my collection, she is neither crown nor crown jewel... she is like my goddess, and I am merely the humble devil that sits on her shoulder to keep her entertained and happy on the journey.”

Burning Desire paused, then he smiled softly, glancing over at Antares and Prestige as he said quietly: “Being a demon has taught me that mortals are such idiots. They desire so much, they constantly go to one extreme or another, they can so rarely ever be satisfied with their lot in life unless castrated or brain-dead. And most annoying of all, they have the awful, awful habit of taking everything and everyone around them for granted unless given a rough kick every now and then. But of course, my passion never dies, and some would say that's a bit of a character flaw itself.”

Antares smiled after a moment, and Prestige nodded slowly, looking up at him with softness and respect, taking in every word he spoke. Burning Desire looked back and forth over the young ponies almost curiously, then he returned his eyes to the Lich, grinning slightly. “Besides, who knows? Maybe I'll succeed in stealing her away from greedy Luna and Scrivener. Or at least stay friends with benefits. Luna sounds like the kind of pony who could appreciate that.”

“Can... can we not talk about my mother like that while I'm right here?” Antares asked awkwardly, looking up with a bit of a wince, and Burning Desire looked at the young stallion with amusement. “It's always a little uncomfortable to think about... well... you know.”

“Oh, it's all very natural Antares. Mostly. I heard your mother was a very adventurous type. Why, Twilight has told me all kinds of stories about-” Burning Desire was cut off as the Lich shoved him firmly into a nearby pile of snow in a sprawl and burst of flame and powder, before he yelped and wheezed a few times as the pile of snow rapidly began to melt around him, water boiling up into steam as he whined: “Well what's the point of sharing stories if I can't share them with others?”

“Let's just go.” Twilight said tiredly, blushing a little, and Antares nodded quickly as Prestige gave Burning Desire an amused look over her shoulder. The demon huffed from where he was now sitting in what was mostly a puddle, splashing moodily at the water before popping to his hooves and bouncing hurriedly after the trio as his mood returned.

The walk back home felt almost unfamiliar to Antares with all the time he'd spent away from the cottage, but all the same he felt the forest silently welcoming him back, felt the vibrant life that was still here, even with much of the world hidden beneath the blankets of white snow that covered the trees and layered the ground.

Burning Desire marveled over the forest as they made their way through the woods, smiling widely and seeming to enjoy the long hike: but here inside the forest, the cold wind couldn't bite at them, and despite the powder that came up past their hooves, the snow did little to hinder their journey. And the sights they caught here and there helped make the journey feel shorter, and more comfortable: Phooka that surveyed them curiously through the trees, wild animals that darted here and there across the path, and the simple, raw beauty of nature that was all around them. Nature that was wild, but was stronger and far more majestic than the all-but-synthetic nature ponies had once maintained in place of this verdant empire.

When they reached the cottage, Twilight couldn't help but smile warmly: someone had been out here and had shoveled a path through the snow-filled yard to the deck, which they'd also taken the time to clean off. She gazed back and forth curiously, wondering who could have done this kindness, as Burning Desire murmured: “I'll never get over what a pretty home this is, Twilight Sparkle... and what feelings are invested into it... now, if I recall, the stairs are around back, yes?”

He chuckled quietly, then halted in front of the deck and smiled as his horn glowed before he flicked it firmly. Immediately, a sharp, hot wind whistled past, making Antares wince a bit, and then stare as the wave of heat visibly carved a path through the snow that curved around the side of the cottage and to the back of the house, as Burning Desire grinned and winked. “Tell you what, kiddo. You and your girl get the upstairs for yourselves, and me and Twilight will take the first floor for a few hours. I'm sure we all can agree to that, right?”

Antares groaned and rolled his eyes, then he smiled awkwardly at Twilight when she blushed and said hurriedly: “Just ignore him, Antares, he's... well...”

“No, no, Mom... it's okay. I know what he means.” Antares hesitated, then he said softly, glancing between the two adults: “And... I'm glad... you have each other. You seem to make each other happy and... Mom and Dad would want you happy, Twilight, not spending every day pining for them. Hard... hard as it is. And... I know, I'll come down, help you make dinner in an hour or two, huh?”

“Alright, Antares. That sounds good.” Twilight smiled a little, then she glanced up at Burning Desire as the demon winked at her. “Stop that. I'm already regretting this decision.”

“Oh, you are not.” Burning Desire sniffed, then he leaned down and half-shoved Twilight around in a circle, pushing her towards the door as the Lich winced and the fiery stallion called cheerily over his shoulder: “Knock first!”

Antares groaned and rolled his eyes as Burning Desire yanked the door open and half-tossed Twilight through before gleefully prancing in himself, and the young, glossy-black stallion sighed tiredly and shook his head slowly before Prestige said awkwardly: “I'm sure he's just... teasing, Antares...”

“I know. I know, I know... he and Mom...” Antares hesitated, then he shook his head slowly, softening. “I know what's really going on. Burning Desire and Mom are probably talking about... me, right now, not... doing anything. Because it's... it's all such a weird situation, and I know he really does care about her but...”

Antares sighed a little, then he turned to follow the path Burning had made for him, Prestige softening as she followed after him as the glossy black young stallion murmured: “I think sometimes... how none of this is fair to Twilight. She's pining for the ponies she cares about, and she's a wonderful mom but she already has so many responsibilities on top of looking out for me... Burning Desire is one of the only ponies who's ever shown interest in her of any kind because she's... and that's not fair. It's not fair that she...”

Antares shook his head again as Prestige gazed after him softly, and then they were silent as they made their way to the back of the house, then turned and approached the steps. All the same, Antares hesitated for a moment, glancing towards the window as he said quietly: “I kind of wish they really were... you know... almost. And Twilight wasn't instead laying down ground rules and telling him what's okay and what's not and making it clear that she's my mother and he's not to boss me around and... she's so protective. I just...”

He lowered his head, then mumbled as he made his way up the stairs, and Prestige followed after him quickly, studying him silently as they headed up to the door leading into the second floor. Antares pushed his way through this, smiling a little at the closed door of the office before he made his way quietly down the hall to a den room at the end.

Twilight was always very careful to never change the layout of the house around too much: this room was probably the one she had changed the most. It had been a guest room or something once, but now it was more just a place to go and relax. There was a large, plush couch that folded out among the other furnishings, a coffee table that had all kinds of board games and trinkets in the shelves on its underside, and a few squat shelves against one wall with children's literature and coloring books.

Antares headed for the couch, and flopped down on it with a sigh... then he glanced up quietly as Prestige strode in and smiled faintly at him. She shook herself a little, then carefully pulled off her cloak before her horn glowed, undoing the clasps holding the lightweight vest closed over her body as she said softly: “Come on, hero. Take off your armor, at least.”

“I don't really want to.” Antares mumbled, rolling over and mashing his face into the cushions of the couch, and Prestige laughed before the young stallion arched his back and smiled despite his best efforts not to as he felt a warm tickle run through his body, heating up his veins, making his blood run a little faster as he murmured: “I'm not tired, Prestige, energizing me isn't going to do anything...”

“It'll do something.” Prestige said softly, as she strode forwards and reached up to gently begin undoing his armor, and Antares closed his eyes and smiled faintly as she pulled his gear off, bit-by-bit. She set it aside with more reverence than she treated her own with, from breastplate to additional guarding and gear until she reached his vambraces.

He rolled onto his back as she climbed carefully up, straddling him as she reached down and slowly pulled these off to put aside on the table, gazing at the rose-etched metal before turning her eyes back to Antares. He looked up at her, leaning up for a moment... but she grasped his shoulders and pinned him back gently, murmuring quietly: “Wait.”

Antares hesitated, tilting his head a bit as he shifted beneath her, their eyes locking before Prestige said quietly: “I want you to know that... I... did want to be like my father. I did want to impress him... and one day, outdo him. But Antares Mīrus... that kiss... there was nothing behind us getting together. Not even when we first met, did I ever think of you as just... a possible candidate for... pure and noble blood. Because to me you're not a pureblood, you're not a proud unicorn...” She bowed her head forwards, closing her eyes. “You're a splinter-horn, a mudwalker, a pony that always has and always will look at his lessers as if they were his equals. And you showed me there's more honor and happiness in that than there is in being the proudest and mightiest and loneliest unicorn in the world.

“Antares... I...” She took a slow breath, leaning down closer, before whispering: “I love you. And... and I'm going to tell my mother that I'm not going to go back to Silver Hoof, if... if you'll have me here. Even if things don't work out between us, Antares... you opened my eyes, and I've never had real friends before like I do now. I want to stay here, one way or another. And I want it... with all my heart... to be with you.”

Antares trembled a bit, swallowing slowly before he reached up and hugged her fiercely, and she buried her face into his neck as she curled herself down against him, clinging tightly to the young stallion as he whispered: “I believe you. And I think it was when I started talking to Rosewood that I realized... how much I cared for you, that... I love you too, and I don't want to ever let anything separate us.”

Prestige slipped back, swallowing a little before she closed her eyes and bowed her head forwards, then smiled faintly. “I've... I've spent this entire week trying to find the words, Antares, to figure out what I wanted to do, and... and no matter what else entered my mind, I always thought back to how you would hold me at night, and everything would be okay. I thought about a lot of things and... I want to be with you, Antares. And I want to be beside you, every step of the way.”

The young stallion nodded, then he leaned forwards and kissed her slowly, firmly, and she met his lips with just as much passion, sharing breath and life as they squeezed one another closer, felt their bodies press tight together before their mouths slowly parted, and they gazed deeply into each other's eyes before Prestige quietly pinned him back and leaned up, licking her lips a little as she whispered: “Oh, hero... I... I want...”

Antares swallowed at this, blushing a little as he leaned back, reaching his hooves up to rest on her shoulders as they locked eyes... and then Prestige blushed and shook her head slowly, smiling faintly again as she murmured: “You are like no other stallion I've ever met, Antares.”

“I... sorry.” Antares mumbled embarrassedly, and then he closed his eyes and said quietly, as Prestige reached a hoof forwards to stroke his face gently: “It's... it's not that I don't want to. But... then I think of what your mother said to me and... I...”

“I understand. But... you do know that... I'm telling the truth, yes? And if I stay with you Antares, either way... my father will do everything in his power to ensure I can never go home again.” Prestige said quietly, and she lowered her eyes as Antares frowned up at her with concern. “No, it's not worth talking about. Unicorns place pride and their pure blood above all else, that's all... and all I've always been aware of is that for all my father's pride in me, it was always tinged with the disappointment that I was his talented daughter instead of his talented son.”

Antares grimaced a bit, then he leaned forwards and nuzzled her soothingly, and she curled herself down against his body as she closed her eyes. The two held tightly onto each other in silence for a little while, before Prestige hesitantly asked: “Would you mind... telling me about your mother and father, Antares? Not... Twilight, of course, although... her relationship to your parents boggles my mind even more than how Burning Desire can be so... okay with things.”

“That's because you never knew anyone like Sleipnir.” Antares smiled a little, then he shook his head and hesitated before nodding slowly and murmuring: “I guess I do talk about trying to find them and everything all the time but... I never really told you anything about them, huh? Well... I mean... what do you know already, Prestige?”

“I'd rather not repeat silly stories, Antares.” Prestige glanced up with a smile, and then she laughed a little when the young stallion gazed up at her pointedly. “Oh, fine, fine, but don't get mad at me should I say something wrong.

“It's common knowledge, of course, that the Baroness had a sister she found living in the Ponyville area, which is why she began to spend so much time here... and that her sister, Luna, helped form the Starlit Knights, the elite force that protects Equestria.” Prestige continued, looking a little awkward, but Antares was only nodding quickly, looking almost enthralled. “There are all kinds of stories and rumors about how... she has connections to the night, and the dark places of Equestria. And that she was a warrior, but... after seeing what Celestia is truly capable of... I have to say, it scares me a little to wonder what Luna must have been like if Celestia is considered the gentle Baroness and your mother is supposed to be the wild warrior.”

“Mom was amazing.” Antares said softly, smiling warmly and nodding quickly, and then he laughed and shook his head. “Mom and Dad... they'd train and spar all the time, and Mom taught me everything I know about horn foiling and fighting. Aunt Tia uses swords, but... my Mom had a treasured spear she named Andlitstingar after Aunt Tia was given Tyrfing. Mom was silly like that... she always competed with Aunt Tia, but... looked up to her. But even though my Mom was the younger sister, Aunt Tia looked up to her, too, idolized her in a few ways... and she and my Dad were good friends, even though Aunt Tia was the one who gave my Dad that big scar on his face.”

Prestige cocked her head in surprise at this, and Antares smiled warmly as he slowly drew his hooves along Prestige's frame, murmuring: “Yeah. They had a big fight, many, many years ago, before... this Equestria was formed. Mom and Dad had some crazy stories about that, too... they used to tell me all about how life used to be so different. And they told me all about how the story in my room, those paintings all along the edge of the ceiling, that's really how they came together.

“I asked Aunt Tia about it before, and... she said it was true. That she used to be... the word she described herself with was 'mercenary,' and I don't think she meant like she took money and did jobs for ponies. I think she meant... she didn't care about anything but the job she had to do at the time, and that even then... it was only for her own ends, her own ideas.” He quieted, then shook his head slowly. “I... I saw into her one time, and saw... well, you remember. It was dinner, you were there.”

He closed his eyes, then simply leaned up and kissed the side of Prestige's neck, and she closed her eyes as she massaged her hooves slowly over his chest, asking quietly: “But we can all change, can't we? Even I've changed... at least, I hope I have. It's still very hard for me to think of other ponies as my equals, after all...”

“Maybe it'll surprise you, Prestige, but I look down on other ponies sometimes, too.” Antares smiled despite himself, glancing up and saying quietly: “I mean, I spend so much time with demons and ponies who are the best of the best at what they do and all sorts of weird and wonderful things that sometimes... I forget that normal ponies are out there for more reasons than just to get in the way, you know? I forget that they can stand and fight for themselves, and that they have their own talents, too.”

Prestige smiled a little in return, shaking her head slowly as she said softly: “That's different, Antares. And your father... he was a unicorn, but he had no horn, correct?”

“That's right.” Antares nodded slowly, gazing up at her quietly. “I guess Caprice's ranting makes more sense now, with... what I've learned about unicorn traditions from you and that talk with your mother. He carried pure blood in his veins, and... even though she had wings, they look at my mother as an ideal unicorn, don't they?”

“Some of the old traditions state that in the first days, all unicorns had wings... but they lost them as punishment for letting their divine blood mingle with slave hoofs.” Prestige blushed a little, and then she reached up and quietly took Antares' face in her front hooves, gazing at him quietly. “They say that when the bloodlines are purified once more, then our wings will come back... but I never believed in such stupid stories.”

“Good.” Antares smiled a bit, leaning forwards as their lips almost brushed, murmuring: “Because I'm just a splinter horn, and these wings... well, you've been told how they came about...”

Prestige smiled in return, then their lips met briefly before she half-lidded her eyes, wrapping her forelegs around his neck as she murmured softly, pressing down against him: “You're a filthy splinter-horn, touched by darkness and evil... and yet here we lay, me, a pure and vulnerable pureblood unicorn noble, and you're nothing but a scared little colt who won't lift a hoof against me.”

“Oh, stop it.” Antares laughed, before he smiled as he gazed up at her with amusement before sliding his hooves along her sides, murmuring quietly: “I think you only care about me for my body.”

“You should be flattered either way, Antares Mīrus.” Prestige replied, and then she sat up and looked down at him, hesitating only a moment before she asked softly: “And me, Antares? Do you find me attractive?”

Antares gazed up at her, at how vulnerable she seemed in that moment, strangely innocent even with the coyness that lurked in her eyes... and he licked his lips slowly before grasping her sides and suddenly rolling on top of her, Prestige gasping, then laughing when he pushed her down with a wink and smile, murmuring softly: “You're beautiful, Prestige. I find you beautiful.”

Prestige smiled, and then Antares leaned down and met her lips in a kiss, the unicorn mare closing her eyes in delight as she arched her body up against his. They shared affection and warmth and love as they explored one-another's form and shape, both ponies only aware of each other... and that with every day they passed, they were growing closer and closer together.

The wind screamed through the mountain peaks as the gray clouds rumbled, snow whipping violently through the dark night air. These crags and cliffs to the west of Canterlot were lifeless and abandoned even during the best of times... but now, with the temperature sitting at well-below zero and the cruel snowstorm that reminded many demons all too much of frozen Helheim, not even the undead dared to wander the jagged slopes or cracked plateaus.

Then a sound picked up, at first mixing with the wind, then shortly overwhelming it as it grew to a fevered pitch, like a scream of nails against a blackboard: it echoed through the mountains, disturbed drifts of snow, and sent down a brief avalanche before a white shape shot out of the sky and hurtled into the mountainside with a sickening splat. Even soft as it was, the meteor struck with enough force to shatter the stone plateau.

Electricity crackled through the clouds above as the hum faded out, before the snow covering the windswept plateau shifted and rippled... and a few moments later, a mottled white entity slowly formed, shoving itself to its false hooves with a scream of mixed agony and frustration. Red eyes snapped open, and Cancer looked wildly back and forth before it threw its head back and screamed again... and as if in response, the mountains rumbled, resulting in another avalanche of snow and rock collapsing down into the valleys and nooks below.

Cancer dropped forwards, rasping hard in and out as his eyes blazed and he gurgled low in his throat. His gaze snapped in all directions, taking in where he was before he hissed furiously at the dark skies above, then spun around before his gaze locked on Canterlot in the distance, shivering and snarling once before screaming: “I'll be back! I'll be back, you hear me? Gonna hunt me down all y'all! Gonna rip you up and tear you down and... and... I'll kill you all!”

The monster shook its head wildly back and forth, then started to shriek again, throwing itself down on the plateau and jouncing and rolling back and forth in a psychotic temper-tantrum, acidic drool flying in all directions as snow clung to its wet and hideous body. Legs kicked and slashed and gouged at the air as its whole form rippled, muscles expanding, then shrinking; sinews and veins stood out like cables before sinking back into flesh; jaw stretched wide enough with every bellow to swallow a pony whole.

Cancer rocked and rolled back and forth, then leapt up to his hooves... and promptly skidded on some half-hidden ice with a yelp before a fierce wind caught him in the back like a foot to the flank, the monster's eyes bulging as he slid forwards before screaming when he toppled off the edge of the cliff. He crashed into the mountainside with a thick crunch, then bounced and rolled to the bottom of the enormous mountain as the cruel wind seemed to howl with laughter.

The monster ended up crashing into a heavy pile of snow at the bottom of the tall mountain, sending up a puff of powdery spray as a few large rocks tumbled after the monster. For a few moments, there was no response... and then Cancer tore his way up and out of the snowy mound, growling in frustration as he half-swam through the snow before toppling and rolling onto a mostly-dry stone path left uncovered by the cruel wind.

He skidded over a bit of ice again, hissing in frustration before a shiver tore through his body, and then he snarled in fury, breath rushing in and out as he glared in the direction of Canterlot. “Oh... you gonna get yours... don't you worry. I'm gonna destroy that whole city... but again, again, the zombie interfered, ruined my plans! And those worthless patchwork dolls got in the way too... and that kid! That kid was there yet again! The stupid little runt... oh, oh, oh, I'm gonna rip that kid to pieces when I find him! I'm gonna bleed him, and I'm gonna kill him, and I'm gonna crush him!”

Cancer gnashed his teeth wildly at the air, snarling as he glared furiously back and forth before shaking his head out quickly, red eyes glowing as electricity sparked over his body. He shivered, then snarled as his head twitched back and forth before gargling and clutching at his throat. He shifted back and forth as if agonized, steam hissing up from his body before he screamed; but this cut out a moment later as his back arched unnaturally, standing on his hind hooves as his front limbs froze in place in midair, rasping in an echoing, soulless voice: “Murder and destroy, bleed and perforate, infect and kill, kill, kill...”

Then he screamed and twitched violently again, grabbing at his head and dropping forwards, curling up as he shrieked: “I'm trying! Don't you think I'm trying, dude? But they're stronger than we gave them credit for! What the hell am I supposed to do, chief? What the hell are we supposed to do?”

He gurgled, then his eyes flashed red before he grinned insanely, drool dripping from his jaws as he slowly picked himself up, whispering: “Yeah. Yeah, maybe you're right. I gotta stay positive, keep on smiling, and keep on trucking on. Gonna spread my sweet nectar to every corner of this world... but if I'm gonna do that, I gotta keep a smile on my face, my chin up, and my claws buried deep into every fleshbag I find. And yeah, yeah, they tried to send me away, but ooh, I'm back, and I'm badder than ever...”

Cancer looked down at one of his forelegs, then he grinned as the hoof-like end of it shivered before transforming into talons: these flexed, then transformed again as bones jutted cruelly upwards and fused together, transforming into an enormous, hideous blade of saw-toothed ivory. “Well hello! I couldn't do that before... oh, but even though it weren't no pleasure cruise they sent me on, I got a sweet taste of home, a delicious dessert of chaos, and some mm-mm good radiation... and I had more than enough time to process all the tasty genes and samples I ripped out of the patchwork punk and that love-struck necrophiliac of a demon. Yeah, ooh, yeah, I'm learning how they work... learning how they speak... and soon enough baby, I'm gonna learn what makes 'em tick and what to tweak!”

He threw his head back and laughed as the bony blade shivered, then transformed back into a hoof as Cancer grinned widely: he felt full of energy, full of strength and life, as he stepped forwards... then frowned slowly as he heard a strange tinkling sound before slowly looking over his shoulder and hissing in disgust at the sight of ice that had already formed over one slick hindleg.

He breathed slowly in and out, licking his teeth with a snarl before he looked back and forth at the snowy, windswept mountains, as if he was just now processing the cold and the winter climate. Cancer cursed, then he snarled in the direction of Canterlot before shaking his head in disgust, whispering: “Oh, smoothly played, big white weasel and friends, well-frigging-done. Bet you and the zombie must just love this... what the hell is this?”

Cancer reached down, pawing at some of the snow nearby, then he leaned down and bit into it... before spitting violently in all directions, flailing his limbs around as he shouted in disgust: “Water! And no contaminants in it but the dirty dirt dirt! What kind of nonsense is this? Ginnungagap made more sense than rain that's nearly solid! Is this snow? Snow? But snow's supposed to look like ashes, why don't it feel and taste like sweet ashes too?”

The monster growled in frustration, then shook his head wildly back and forth before his red eyes flashed as he shivered once. Then he hissed and violently shook himself back and forth, his body starting to steam rapidly as he stomped his hooves up and down and forced his body heat to rise: but now that he was aware of it, the monster could already feel the cold quickly cooling down his almost gelatinous form: not that cold could kill him, oh no, but if he wasn't careful...

“They're trying to freeze me solid again. Oh, in the time I was gone, them ponies done hooked the whole world up to a giant freezer unit!” Cancer cursed as he looked back and forth, eyes blazing with fury. And again, he looked in the direction of Canterlot... before screaming in frustration as he realized... “Goddammit! No, no, no, no! I don't wanna wait for my revenge, but all those demons are gonna be on the watch for me, and if I show up at their door a frozen Cancer-sickle that Gluttony whore will pop me in her mouth and chew me up like a lollipop! I gotta... gotta find another target... I gotta find me something that I can hurt... that I can crawl into, somewhere nice and warm, like those sewers...”

Cancer gritted his teeth, and then he looked up sharply, breathing harder as he whispered: “Yeah. Yeah, the white weasel was in that nasty demon hive, along with all her friends and pals... maybe that dirt-smear village of hers is unguarded right now! Maybe I can sneak my way in, have me some fun, let her come home to the sight of a real hot party... and ooh, there's that hot-spot in that place too, yeah? A hot spot I can heat myself on up at, yeah, yeah, yeah, that would be real nice...”

The monster nodded rapidly to itself, then he licked his teeth hungrily before hissing quietly and shaking himself violently out, bits and pieces of ice hailing down off his form as he attempted to raise his body heat again, rasping: “No, no, no... gotta keep focused, gotta keep myself warm, don't wanna be no topiary... c'mon, c'mon, focus now, you hear?”

Cancer nodded violently to himself as he dropped a little lower and began to scuttle forwards through the snow, breathing hard in and out as he whispered: “Just gotta get me to that vacation spot, and then I'll find my way in and curl up for a nice long nap right inside that beautiful bulging cyst they've built. Ooh, yeah, just gotta keep up my pace now, keep the blood flowing...”

The monster nodded to itself as it slithered through the snow, body rippling a little as it rasped slowly for breath, turning away from Canterlot with a growl to begin the journey towards Ponyville. And even though the night was dark and the screaming wind and whipping snow blinded and burdened anyone trying to push through the darkness, even all the miles away that he was, Cancer still zigzagged almost straight in the direction of Ponyville, sniffing out and hunting down his objective as he whispered: “Yeah... no hiding from me... I know just where you are...”

He grinned, then giggled a little as he slipped down into a shallow trench that was free of snow, body lowering further to get himself out of the blistering wind for a moment as he shook ice and water off his body before murmuring: “I need me a pick-me-up, though... but ooh, you know what always helps on the way, keeps a mind happy and distracted?”

He giggled a little, licking his teeth slowly before he dropped his head forwards, slinking slowly onwards as he began to hum to himself. Then, as he emerged back onto the snow-swept earth, he arched his back and rose his head, singing in low, rusty tones:

“Ooh, walkin'... on my way through the winds...
Getting my feet all dirty as I pace on through the snow-oh-oh...
Filth and grime, oh, so sublime, awaits me when I get there,
Such a sweet scent fills the air, it makes me think of ho-o-ome...

Ba sha da do da dop, wop wop, ain't nothin' gonna stop me now,
Ain't nothin' gonna slow me down, as I go, go, go...
Ba da do da do dop de dah, sha-ba, sha-be, oh whoa whoa,
Hey baby, don't you fret, the boogeyman ain't late for his date, with you... quite yet.

Oh whoa, whoa! Snow, sleet and hail, I like you even as I ail,
Because really, you and me are a pair, about the wide wide world neither of us care,
We just do what nature compels us to do and make the fleshbags rue...
The day... they... encountered us... oh yeah, ha ha ha...”

Cancer grinned widely at this, licking his teeth slowly as he nodded firmly, prancing down a path that had formed naturally in the snow before he slipped easily forwards and into a narrow tunnel, belting out and making frozen icicles above shiver violently with his echoing voice:

“Yeah, why would I waste my time on dealin' with Helheim,
Not when nature is so much sweeter and crueler...
She's the bitch-queen of the apocalypse, she lights fires and drowns babies,
And she and me are one-two-three and the same!

Hey, hey, hey, yeah... ba-da-ba-do. do-dop, oh whoa ho-ho oh no, no, no! Yes! No! Yes!
Yeah, nature-nature honey, gimme another kiss, of your poisons and your pain!
I'll put up with your ice if we can cut a deal, and you pump your poisons into my veins,
Yeah, gimme your poison, gimme your pain, gimme your last long breath,
'Cause I'm here doin' just what Momma Nature intended, bringing disease and spite and... and...

death.” rasped the monster, his head twitching to the side as his eyes glowed fierce red, and then he gargled before looking up with an insane, twisted grin as he walked out of the other side of the tunnel, as the wind howled as if in response to his song. “Yeah... you and me gonna get along just fine... I gotta stop being so selfish! But it's hard, hard, hard, when you make me so sleepy, sweetie... ooh, cold is freezing up my joints, getting in my veins, but I know, baby nature, I know you got big plans for me... you want me to kill those suckers, is that it? You're softening 'em up for me with all this biting wet and cold... oh, but why can't you rain acid? Vomit up a volcano? March on in a horde of parasites and cockroaches and diseased vermin? Ooh, gimme a snack! Gimme a sign!”

Above, there was a rumble, and Cancer looked up almost excitedly as he stepped into an open valley before a powerful gust of wind snapped by, stirring up a wave of snow from the top of one side of cliffs and sending a thick wave of white powder washing down and splashing over the monster. Cancer yelped as he was buried beneath the snow before snarling in frustration, then shivering once as the frost began to work its way into his veins again, hurriedly starting to claw his way out as he rasped: “I get that you wanna put me to bed, Momma Nature, but oh, no, no, please, I gotta make my way to that village... I gotta keep me awake, not asleep...”

The monster emerged from the blanket of snow, gasping before he hissed as another wave of snow burst down over him, and Cancer gargled before his mottled white skin started to turn faint blue. He shivered violently, then began to shake himself rapidly, but just as he began to heat up the wind kicked up again, and a shelf of snow clinging to the cliffs just above him trembled before collapsing. Powder and chunks of ice and thick sheets of snow splashed down over the monster, knocking him flat and burying him deep beneath the snow as he squeaked, knocked senseless for a few moments... and then Cancer's red eyes stuttered before he whimpered weakly: “But I didn't do nothing wrong, Momma Nature! Why are you sending... me to... bed...”

Slowly, Cancer's red eyes became like crimson glass, as mottled white body became brittle and icy beneath the blanket of frost and snow... and by morning, when the snow finally stopped, the monster was left buried beneath almost a dozen feet of snow and ice, a frozen statue buried in a deep gorge somewhere in the wild mountains around Canterlot. For now, the destruction entity had been stalled... but as the overzealous sun gazed down from above and heated the world, the melting ice made it clear it wouldn't be entombed forever.

Contests Between Friends

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Chapter Eighteen: Contests Between Friends
~BlackRoseRaven

Antares Mīrus smiled warmly over at Prestige Luster as they walked side-by-side through the streets of Ponyville: Antares was wearing a heavy hide jacket and a wool toque, while Prestige had her blue scarf wrapped tightly around her neck and a matching cloak covering her body.

Celestia had been running drills with them for the last few days, and had organized the young ponies into doing simple tasks for her: Avalon was running messages and helping with patrols, Aphrodisia was on official Starlit Knights duties, Rustproof was working hard with his mother almost every hour of every day in the engineering building, Meadowlark and Prestige had both been assigned to research and Antares had been training constantly. Not just his body, but his mind: he had already twice been put in charge of running drills for trainees hoping to become Starlit Knights, a task that had proven much, much harder than Antares had thought it would be. Not just because of how he had to organize everything, but because of the fact that quite a few of these trainees looked down on him because most of them were adults.

But today, Antares and Prestige both had the day off. So did Avalon, but it was only ten in the morning so she was likely still at home in bed and asleep... but they had plans to meet up with her later and pick up some treats at Sugar Cube Corners to bring to Fluttershy and Nirvana at the animal care center. The one-winged Pegasus was still training Avalon when the tiny mare had free time... which, thankfully, wasn't hard for her to find as long as she wasn't running errands for Celestia, thanks to winter slowing down the work that had to be done at the farm.

The glossy-black young stallion gazed warmly over at Prestige, who looked back and opened her mouth... then stumbled to a halt as her eyes snapped forwards. Antares frowned a bit, stopping and glancing up himself before he reared back in surprise at the sight of the armored unicorn striding calmly towards him. “Colonel Scutum?”

Scutum nodded once, coming to a halt in front of Antares and looking down over him measuringly with his single eye. Antares gazed back up awkwardly, giving a lame smile before he asked hesitantly, as the silence spiraled out between them: “What are you doing here?”

“Baroness Caprice has a meeting today with Baroness Celestia.” Scutum answered, gesturing absently at the library in the distance, and Antares nodded a few times before he cocked his head curiously as the one-eyed unicorn continued quietly: “I decided it would be a good use of my time to find you.”

Antares hesitated, then he shifted absently and said lamely: “That's... nice? I, don't get me wrong, I'm happy to... you know, see you and all, but I don't really know what you want and... Prestige and I-”

“This is important.” Scutum said mildly, and when he glanced at Prestige, she immediately lowered her head and shrank back, making Antares frown a little before Scutum simply turned and gestured. “Come with me. We should step outside of town.”

“Uh... why?” Antares asked slowly, even as he carefully began to follow, and Prestige hesitantly strode after him, looking as unnerved as the young stallion felt.

“Because I'm challenging you to a duel.” Scutum said calmly, and Antares wheezed in surprise as Prestige flinched visibly. The two young ponies stumbled to a halt, and then Scutum glanced over his shoulder, saying quietly: “I need to judge your character, Antares. And after what Lady Celestia has told me, I need to know if you're prepared for this or not. She's granted me permission to issue you this challenge on the condition that I allow you to set the rules of engagement.”

“I... oh... Horses of Heaven, I thought Aunt Tia was honestly giving me the day off.” Antares groaned and dropped his head forwards, but he admittedly felt relief mixed in with his frustration and apprehension: if Celestia knew what was going on, it meant that Scutum probably wouldn't kill him... probably. “I... what do you mean, set the rules?”

Scutum only grunted, and Prestige shifted and fidgeted awkwardly beside Antares as the two younger ponies followed the larger unicorn stallion, who easily strode down the snowy streets. Ponies hurried out of the way of the large stallion, looking at him nervously; Scutum clearly wasn't just a unicorn of the north, after all, he looked particularly imposing... and he had both Antares and Prestige trailing behind him almost like prisoners of war.

They reached the gates leading out of Ponyville and made their way through as Scutum looked back and forth: the road had recently been shoveled by the Nibelung that were now sitting on either side of the gates, chatting cheerfully away. He tested the smooth, frosty ground beneath his hooves, then nodded at how packed the little powder left had become as he said quietly: “This will work fine. Prestige, please wait at the sidelines. This is one-on-one.”

Prestige mumbled something, and Antares frowned a little for a moment at her before he apprehensively turned his eyes back to Scutum. The Nibelung were now looking up with interest from the gates, and Antares fidgeted a bit, only glad that there at least wasn't a larger audience: the snow-filled fields were empty, and since they were on the road leading towards the Everfree Forest, there was no need to worry about travelers... although of course, ponies could be watching from the nearby animal care center, but Antares awkwardly put that out of his mind. “I... don't know how to do this.”

“You're free to set any limits or rules you prefer, Antares.” Scutum said calmly, bowing his head politely. Antares eyed him nervously, then he nodded slowly before reaching up and adjusting his jacket with a grimace. His equipment was a comfy winter coat and a fuzzy hat; Scutum was in full armor, had his sword sheathed on his back, and was a unicorn who had likely trained all his life in combat and military tactics.

Antares closed his eyes, thinking slowly... and then he finally looked up and said quietly: “No killing, obviously. Fight until submission or surrender. I won't... force you to put down any of your equipment or limit your magic. If you had been an enemy or something, it's not like... I could just ask the bad guy to simply put down their sword and fight me hoof-to-hoof.”

Scutum didn't seem to approve or disapprove as he studied Antares, then nodded shortly before dropping to a ready position: Antares breathed slowly, then anchored himself as well, horn taking on a faint glow as he mumbled: “Well... let's get this over with, Scutum.”

“Show me how much of your parents live on in you, Antares Mīrus.” Scutum said calmly, and Antares looked up sharply, distracted as he realized what Scutum was implying before the larger unicorn stallion charged suddenly forwards, surprising Antares before the glossy-black youth winced and lashed his head to the side as Scutum's sheathed sword glowed and the pommel snapped forwards, aimed at Antares' face.

It whickered by, and then Antares cursed as he was forced to lash his horn forwards, sparks flying as the short sword snapped viciously in a circular cut towards Antares' skull. Horn and steel clashed, and then Antares cursed, fighting more on instinct than anything else as his horn and Scutum's sword slashed violently together again and again, every blow sending up a hail of sparks as Antares realized with shock that Scutum wasn't just using telekinesis: he was focusing some kind of magic into the sword, boosting the power of every blow.

Antares leapt backwards when Scutum stomped both front hooves forwards and swung his sword to the side at the same time, the glossy black young stallion staggering before Scutum quickly jumped backwards and anchored himself, sword falling back to a ready position at his side. Antares breathed hard, remaining loose and staring with surprise across at the one-eyed stallion before the military unicorn said quietly: “Not bad. But luck won't take you as far as skill.”

“Actually, my Mom always said it's better to be lucky than skilled.” Antares replied in a mumble, and then he winced when Scutum ran towards him again, spreading his leathery wings and gritting his teeth before he snapped his horn forwards, sending a blast of telekinetic force at Scutum.

The military unicorn slashed his sword into this as it glowed, countering the blast of raw force with pure power but then grunting in surprise as his weapon shuddered in the air, and Antares leapt forwards, boosting himself with a hard flap of his wings to swing his horn savagely down into the sword of the larger male. It knocked the weapon loose from Scutum's telekinetic hold, the larger unicorn's horn sparking as the colonel winced backwards from recoil... but before Antares could react, Scutum lunged forwards and smashed a hoof down across the glossy black stallion's face, then swung his other hoof in an uppercut that caught Antares under the jaw, knocking him flying backwards to crash down on his back.

He skidded painfully over the snow, gasping in pain as his eyes widened before Scutum flicked his horn upwards; his sword was launched high in the air, and then Scutum snapped his horn forwards, and the weapon shot at Antares like a missile. The young stallion barely had time to react, throwing himself to the side with a yelp and barely avoiding being skewered. “Oh come on!”

Scutum ran forwards, bowing down as Antares looked dumbly up before Scutum smashed into his stomach in a full ram and knocked him flying backwards with a hard rising slash of his horn. Antares cried out in pain as he flew backwards, blood flying from a cut torn along his stomach before he hit the road and skidded down the frosted hardpack on his back, cursing and hugging himself before he gritted his teeth as Scutum pressed the attack even harder, leaping forwards, calm and merciless...

Antares shoved against the ground with his hind legs, spinning himself onto his back so his lower legs were aimed towards Scutum before he kicked both rear hooves hard into Scutum's surprised features, knocking the military unicorn crashing backwards.

Scutum rolled once, then slammed all four hooves down against the ground and skidded to his hooves, straightening as he looked sharply up. Antares rolled to his own hooves, breathing hard as he spread his wings and flapped them once to limber them up a little, gritting his teeth as his horn glowed. The two faced each other, and then Scutum's eyes locked on where his sword was buried in the ground before he shot towards this as his horn began to light up.

Antares shot forwards as well, and Scutum looked surprised at the speed of the young stallion as the glossy black unicorn's horn glowed brighter and the sword lit up with the same aura. It snapped upwards and free as Antares grinned, snapping his head to the side to swing Scutum's own short sword at him, and the military unicorn flinched out of the way before he flicked his horn forwards.

For a moment, the two males halted, both gritting their teeth as they dropped to anchor themselves, wrestling for control of the sword as energy sparked over it and it glowed with the telekinetic power of both unicorns. It shivered violently back and forth, and then Scutum cursed before he flicked his horn sharply forwards, sending a blast of energy into the sword that made it glow white.

Antares winced, then he yelped in surprise as he was blasted backwards by magical recoil when the sword released a surprisingly-powerful shockwave and he felt his telekinetic grip knocked loose. The young stallion reared and staggered as he flailed his hooves at the air while Scutum flinched himself, before the one-eyed stallion leapt forwards and caught the sword's handle, lunging with it and leaning into a flurry of short, vicious blows that tore back and forth against Antares' body.

The young stallion cursed in pain as the weapon tore back and forth against him before Scutum attempted to thrust the sword forwards, and the glossy black stallion clapped his front hooves into either flat of the weapon, catching it and straining his muscles as he felt the tip of the weapon puncture into his body, cursing under his breath as Scutum bore relentlessly forwards.

Antares' horn glowed... and then sparked violently, making him flinch a bit as he realized that Scutum had somehow enchanted the sword to reflect telekinesis. He cursed, knowing he couldn't win against the larger stallion's raw strength before Scutum suddenly let go of the sword, and Antares' eyes widened before he released the sword himself and twisted sharply to the side when the larger unicorn slammed his hoof into the pommel of the blade.

The short sword shot narrowly by like a rocket, just scratching through Antares' side as the glossy black stallion winced, then gritted his teeth as he dove away from Scutum. The larger unicorn pursued him, beginning to raise his horn, and Antares reacted immediately, kicking both rear legs hard outwards and snapping his lower limbs around Scutum's neck before twisting hard to the side.

The two unicorns crashed down on their sides against the frosty road, and Scutum cursed before he pried himself quickly free from Antares' grip. The military unicorn leapt backwards, and Antares climbed quickly to his own hooves, breathing hard and glad for the reprieve, but at the same time wary considering how aggressive Scutum's attacks had already been.

Then the young stallion winced and readied himself as Scutum's horn glowed... before the glossy-black male stared when Scutum calmly flicked his horn forwards as he spread his front hooves slightly, and ice spread violently up his own limbs in thick bracers: a moment later, these sprouted blades of frost that quickly thickened and hardened into deadly edges, and Antares winced as he mumbled: “Crosshatch blades. I hate crosshatch blades.”

Scutum's only response was to charge forwards, then suddenly sidestep when Antares leaned forwards to try and intercept him: instead, Antares found a crosshatch blade of ice swinging towards his face, and the unicorn winced and swung his horn hurriedly down, parrying the attack even as he rose a forelimb on instinct to block a punch that hooked in from the side.

His horn chipped at the icy blade, but it was thicker than he'd expected, and Antares cursed before lashing out with a raw, wild telekinetic blast to knock Scutum staggering. The colonel grunted as he was knocked back only a pace, but more important, his focus was interrupted. Antares took the moment to lean forwards, swinging a hoof hard into Scutum's face and knocking the older unicorn staggering before he replied by swinging a hoof up in a savage uppercut aimed at Antares' throat.

The young stallion dodged backwards, remembering the crosshatch blades too late as Scutum's upper arm swung purposefully too high... and Scutum leaned forwards as he swung his foreleg hard forwards: a blow that normally would have been an ineffective slap was made agonizing by the icy blades as they tore a swathe down Antares' breast and knocked him stumbling with a yell, before he snarled when Scutum threw his shoulder into a fast, sharp jab of his hoof.

Antares' horn swung into Scutum's hoof, knocking him back as the military unicorn winced, then sharply drew up a foreleg to block as Antares lunged into a hard swing: the glossy black unicorn's hoof swung into the icy vambrace between blades of jutting frost, and Scutum flinched backwards in surprise as the crosshatch blade of ice shattered into fragments from the force of Antares' too strong blow. It knocked Scutum staggering in surprise, however, and even as Antares stumbled forwards himself he managed to shove himself into a half-pounce, half-fall, and slam his head firmly into Scutum's.

The young stallion knocked himself staggering dumbly backwards as Scutum was slammed flat to the ground with a grunt of pain. He laid on the frosty road, breathing hard, as Antares stood over him, barely staying on his hooves before the young stallion gritted his teeth and glared down challengingly at the military unicorn. “I got... I got lots more where that came from!”

Scutum slowly pushed himself up to his hooves, and Antares winced and lost a bit of his nerve, breathing hard as he stepped carefully backwards. Scutum shook his head out once, then he stomped the hoof still covered by the crosshatch blade of ice: this shattered a moment later, and Antares looked dumbly surprised before Scutum bowed his head politely and said calmly: “I've learned what I need to. I concede, Antares Mīrus.”

Antares stood awkwardly, and then Scutum drew his gaze slowly over him, continuing calmly: “You're quiet, like your father... but when your emotions rise, you begin acting as brash as your mother. You have a lot left to learn, but you're talented and determined. You didn't give up even when you began to be afraid, even when you understood that I would not kill you, no, but I also wouldn't hesitate to maim or severely injure you if necessary to stop you from fighting... because I recognized that if I wanted you to surrender, I would have to incapacitate.”

The glossy black young stallion continued to look dumbly across at Scutum, and then the military unicorn paused before glancing towards his fallen sword. The strange aura around it was slowly beginning to fade, and Scutum studied the weapon where it lay, the tip tinged with the faintest amount of blood before the colonel said quietly: “You're awkward with a sword. Clumsy. But you're fast fencing with your own horn. You should concentrate on taking an enemy's weapons away, not attempting to use them yourself.”

“I... I always ended up focusing on my hooves and my horn when it came to weapons training. Aunt Tia said that maybe one day I would find something that fit me, but... I never really did.” Antares said quietly, and then he smiled a little as Scutum turned his gaze to him before the young stallion bowed his head and murmured: “Thank you for the experience and the lesson, Scutum. I don't think that I would have won if we'd kept going.”

“It wasn't about winning or losing, Antares Mīrus. It was a test.” Scutum paused as he looked back at his sword as the glow faded, and he picked it up with telekinesis to sheathe it back on his back. Then the colonel gave a small smile as he seemed to relax a little, returning his eye to Antares. “I think Baroness Celestia was right to place so much faith in you. I wasn't sure at first, but... I am now.”

Antares blushed deeply as he bowed his head low, and Scutum shook his head, saying softly: “Stand up, look at me eye-to-eye. You have my respect, and I'll help you as I can now, as it was my honor to help your parents. My loyalty is to the crown, to Celestia: I still see her as Queen, even if she calls herself Baroness. As I still see your mother and father as Champions worthy of great respect, even if one was a rude slave hoof and the other spent most of her time causing mayhem.”

The young stallion laughed a little, nodding slowly before he asked curiously, as Prestige nervously approached from where she'd been watching: “So you did know my parents? When? And I mean... does that... did Caprice?”

“Caprice doesn't remember clearly. I don't know why some of us remember and others don't, nor is it important to me. The only other pony I met in the North was a shorn-wing named Swiftly Wing.” Scutum paused, then shook his head at the awkward look Antares gave him. “She doesn't deserve respect. She's a coward and a smuggler. She abandoned one of your parents' friends to die... even if we all fell to the Black Wolves, it's no excuse for what happened.”

“What are you talking about?” Prestige asked slowly, but Scutum only shook his head, and the unicorn mare sighed a little as she murmured: “Colonel Scutum, I've changed. You've always been good to my mother but so awkward with me, and I know it has to do with the Mayor, but... I... I am not like my father. Not anymore, at least...”

Antares tilted his head as Scutum shifted at this remark: he studied the colonel intently, but there were no further signs, no further tells, Scutum once more becoming impassive. But he did answer, even if his tone was careful and almost guarded: “It was Ragnarok, Prestige. The Black Wolves were the bringers of Ragnarok. I remembered it from the day I came back: I remembered everything, even being a Pale, even if everypony around me seemed to have forgotten. I envied them at first, but now I only pity those who have no memory of what occurred, and think we've always lived like this, under the Barons, with the Nibelung and Strange Ones.”

Prestige frowned and tilted her head as Antares looked up, then nodded slowly and smiled a little, murmuring: “It's... it always amazes me, Scutum. I find it so hard to believe in those stories, you know? Even though I've read all the journey accounts and everything, seen the giant tome Celestia keeps at the library with information on all the worlds, most of it written by my Mom and Dad... it's... it's so much for me to try and live up to. It scares me.”

Scutum only looked calmly down at Antares, and then he reached up and rubbed slowly at his face, saying quietly: “When I came back to this world, I was still missing my eye, but all my scars were gone. I felt young and strong and thankful. And I thought about how hard it would be to repay your mother and father for what they did, until I realized that if I was ever going to do that, first I had to make amends for the mistakes I made in the past. And then I realized that living up to the example set by others is almost impossible when you first have to seek atonement and redemption. Unlike me, Antares, you can live up to the faith that ponies have placed in you. You're starting on even ground: that's a much higher starting point than all of us who have dug ourselves holes.”

Antares laughed a little despite himself, nodding hesitantly, and the two regarded one-another for a few moments before the glossy black stallion rubbed a little at the wounds on his body, glancing down and mumbling: “You really hit hard, you know that?”

“I can heal you... both, I suppose, if you'll allow me to.” Prestige said quietly, glancing over at Antares, then hesitantly looking up at Scutum. Scutum looked back at her, his body language impassable and unreadable before he finally gave a short nod.

Antares looked awkwardly back and forth between the two, and then he smiled a little when Prestige closed her eyes and concentrated, feeling his wounds tingling as pain faded and cuts and bruises began to slowly fade. Scutum, meanwhile, was again looking at Antares, studying him intently before he said softly: “I'll tell Rosewood that her daughter is in good hooves.”

Prestige blushed, glancing up as the spell stuttered out, and Antares shifted a bit with a smile as he looked up at Scutum, saying softly: “Thank you. That... that means a lot to me, colonel.”

“There's no need to use my title, Antares. It's a ridiculous thing, given to me by Caprice when she made me head of her security staff. It means nothing.” Scutum replied with a slow shake of his head. “I've already asked Baroness Celestia if she had a position in Canterlot available. It's a little warm here, but I can get used to it.”

Antares winced a bit at this, looking awkwardly back and forth at the high-piled snow around them and feeling the distinct chill in the air before he said awkwardly, as Prestige glanced up with a slight smile: “You northern unicorns are way tougher than I am.”

“We just have worse things than cold to occupy ourselves with.” Scutum replied calmly, shaking his head again before he glanced at Prestige, falling silent as the young mare hesitantly stepped forwards, horn glowing as his wounds began to heal. He remained silent for the process, then nodded slowly to the young mare when the glow faded out from around him.

The three were quiet, and then Antares looked up, asking impulsively: “That trick you did with the sword... how you made it reflect magic and telekinesis. Could you teach it to me?”

Scutum studied him, then he nodded slowly. “I will, but later. For now, I need to return to Baroness Caprice. I'm sure by now she and Celestia are finishing up their meeting, and I don't want to leave either Baroness waiting.”

Antares smiled a little, nodding slowly before Scutum turned away and headed calmly back through the gates, ignoring the Nibelung that were now chatting excitedly over the sparring they had seen. Antares gazed after him thoughtfully, then he turned his eyes towards Prestige, asking curiously: “What's up between you and him?”

“Oh, he just doesn't like me, that's all. And I suppose I can't blame him, now that I understand him a little better...” Prestige sighed a bit, shaking her head slowly, and Antares couldn't help but smile at the grumpy look that passed over her face. “He and my mother spend a lot of time together, since they both work for Caprice. He's always been cordial with her, but he's always ignored me or looked down on me, and he hates the Mayor.”

“He's a strange one.” Antares said softly, and then he studied Prestige before smiling and gesturing towards the forest. “Hey, why don't we go for a little hike, since we're out here? Avalon won't be up until the afternoon, anyway, and maybe it'll get our minds off things. Sparring loosened me up, even if... he kind of beat on me a lot.”

“You held up fantastically, hero.” Prestige said softly, and she visibly cheered up a little, nodding with a bit of a smile. “Yes... a nice walk. Your Everfree Forest is so much different, so much more pleasant than our woodlands in the north. Everything here is nicer... more... worthwhile.”

She nodded slowly, thoughtfully, and Antares smiled back at her as the two turned and headed quietly down the path and into the forest. But this time, instead of following the trail that would bring them to the cottage, Antares turned down a game trail that was almost invisible in the snow, Prestige tilting her head curiously as he said softly: “Come on. I know just the spot... just watch your hooves. Nibelung sometimes leave traps out to catch animals and stuff.”

Prestige nodded slowly, then she hesitated before asking curiously: “How do you not feel... strange, when you eat meat, Antares? Some of these creatures that the Nibelung catch resemble ponies, like deer. It's almost cannibalism, isn't it?”

“Oh please don't say that, I really try not to think where my food comes from, for one thing.” Antares mumbled, dropping his head forwards a bit, and Prestige laughed as they wended their way carefully through the trees, the glossy-black stallion hesitating before he shook his head a little and said quietly: “And... I just, always have. Look at my teeth, Prestige. And my body processes it well, too... not like you or Meadowlark or most other ponies, even if you've... you know, learned to eat a little yourself.”

Prestige blushed a bit, and Antares hesitated before he looked forwards, saying softly: “I do feel uncomfortable sometimes, sure. I wonder... I wonder every now and then how much of me is pony, and if I'm actually... something else. And I know that I could never eat anything that was intelligent enough to communicate, but I know that's a thin line and it's still so... weird. I guess I just rationalize a lot, and... try not to think about it.”

“I understand, Antares... I just... it's curious. And usually you seem to have all the answers... I think that's why we all look up to you as the leader of our little group.” Prestige said softly, and Antares only smiled at this, shaking his head slowly.

“I almost never have any answers, Prestige. I just... plow forwards and rely on all you guys and my Mom and Aunt Tia and... everyone else. I'm just lucky enough to always have someone to turn to.” Antares replied honestly, and then the young stallion gestured ahead at a furrow through the snow that formed a more-visible trail.

They made their way carefully towards this, before Prestige winced when Antares tripped over something and stumbled forwards... then yelped and hurriedly ducked his head low a moment before a large rock snapped by at what had been neck-level. It narrowly missed, smacking loudly into a tree trunk opposite before swinging slowly back, and Antares wheezed loudly before Prestige asked awkwardly: “Would that be one of the traps you were warning me about?”

“I uh... yeah.” Antares said lamely, and then he shook his head and smiled awkwardly over his shoulder, clearing his throat as the rock continued to pendulum back and forth in front of him. “The Nibelung use uh... inventive traps. Usually there's some Phooka nearby and they uh... well, let's just keep going.”

He looked lamely at the swinging rock, then used telekinesis to gently stop it as Prestige mumbled: “It all seems rather barbaric, though, Antares... and while I can stomach the thought of eating a little meat every so often, I still have to admit it doesn't sit entirely right with me. But this is just... crude.”

“Since the Architects are usually busy with other concerns in town, the Nibelung workers and laborers are usually the ones on hunting duty... they might be peaceful and have learned some manners and all, but they're still ingrained in their bad habits.” Antares replied, shrugging a bit as he smiled a little across at Prestige. “But... I try and remind myself that... it could be a lot worse. I mean, I think about Mom and Dad's stories of old Equestria, where a lot of the animals were intelligent and stuff and... I think about what it would be like if they were all as smart here, if they could all talk or understand us or, you know...”

Prestige shivered a little, mumbling: “I would rather not think about such things. The dwarves are brutes. I may be able to accept that ponies may all... have some value, but you can't convince me that the Nibelung are anything but beasts that walk on hind legs.”

“We're not going to get into another argument, are we?” Antares asked awkwardly, and Prestige blushed a little and glanced lamely away. The two were quiet as they made their way forwards, and Antares decided to simply let the subject go for now, as they followed the narrow path through the snow until they found themselves under the shade of a thicker canopy above, less powder over the ground here and the snow that was here much more packed.

Antares frowned as he heard a soft voice, singing quietly... and then he smiled a little, gesturing to Prestige. She looked up curiously as they strode up the gentle slope, and then her eyes widened in surprise as she gazed out into a shallow, bowl-shaped field that was surrounded by gentle hills and walls of piled-up rock, several burrows visible in a larger hillock opposite them. And sitting on top of a rock in the middle of the frozen pond near one end of the field, Fluttershy was singing with a soft smile and the accompaniment of Hevatica to a herd of Phooka... and a cluster of tiny Phooka foals that were gazing raptly up at her.

Prestige breathed slowly in and out as Antares smiled softly, then he leaned over and whispered quietly into her ear: “Not what I expected to show you... but this is a Phooka den. Come on, let's go sit with them. Just don't startle them, I think they're still getting used to you.”

Prestige nodded uncertainly, and then Antares carefully stepped forwards, striding quietly down into the open field with the young mare trailing shyly behind him. She looked back and forth, marveling over the natural beauty of the little natural settlement: as they approached, several Phooka looked back at them and Hevatica nodded with a warm look from where she was seated next to Fluttershy, but the Pegasus still had her eyes lowered on the Phooka foals, all her attention on the little ones that had all their gazes focused on her.

The two unicorns sat themselves carefully down at the back of the group, and they listened and watched along with the Phooka, beginning to feel as enthralled as the young, somehow more-solid foals. And it wasn't just because of Hevatica's magnificent voice: Fluttershy's own tones held so much strength and emotion as she sang that it was hypnotizing in a way that even the Kelpie's siren song couldn't match.

Finally, Fluttershy's voice fell to a soft hum, opening her eyes... and then blushing in surprise when she saw Prestige and Antares at the back of the crowd of Phooka, covering her mouth with one hoof as she murmured: “Oh my... Antares, Prestige, when did you get here? I got so caught up in what I was doing...”

“Sorry, Fluttershy, I didn't meant to interrupt or anything... I just wanted to show Prestige the Phooka's home here... it's so beautiful, even in the middle of winter.” Antares said softly, and Fluttershy smiled softly as she nodded in agreement. Phooka rumbled and looked at each other, a little nervous with the strangers here: when Fluttershy stepped carefully down off the stone, however, they all immediately turned to look at her as if for guidance.

She only smiled around at them, then leaned down and nuzzled one of the Phooka foals, which murmured softly before she said something gently in the strange, sibilant tongue of the Phooka. And the crowd parted like a wave as Antares smiled and Prestige hesitantly leaned forwards, staring as Fluttershy quietly nudged one of the foals, and the younglings carefully stood up and turned around, staring with curiosity and timidity at the unicorns.

Fluttershy stayed behind them as they approached, and it seemed to reassure both adult and child Phooka before Antares smiled, leaning down and saying softly: “Hey, guys. Nice to meet you... my name's Antares. And this is Prestige.”

“Hello... foals?” It was almost a meek question, and Fluttershy laughed quietly, nodding slowly as Hevatica strolled forwards, the Kelpie smiling in delight at the two young unicorns.

“Yes, foals. The oldest is...” Fluttershy hesitated, looking into the crowd, and one of the Phooka murmured to her before she smiled warmly, turning her attention back forwards. “The oldest is Lethe, at eighteen months. Obscurity is the youngest, only six months, but they develop very, very fast.”

Prestige tilted her head with interest, leaning down and murmuring quietly: “But my... look at them, they're so... they already look so... strong.”

“Yes, they do... because they are.” Fluttershy smiled softly, reaching up to slowly stroke along the back of one foal, who shifted with a soft rumble and a smile over its shoulder up at Fluttershy, tiny, green fire eyes glowing brightly. “They can't hypnotize yet, but they're already able to project images into the minds of others, if they desire, and Lethe has grown old enough to communicate telepathically. It only takes a few years for them to grow into full adults... but then they live for far, far longer than we do.”

Fluttershy laughed quietly, gazing softly over her shoulder as Nirvana emerged from the crowd of Phooka, quietly nuzzling into her neck protectively, and she closed her eyes as she wrapped a foreleg around his neck and squeezed him silently, murmuring: “But that's okay. Sometimes nothing else matters but the here and now.”

Nirvana rumbled quietly again, then he rose his head and nodded once as Antares gazed across at them warmly before Prestige rose her head and asked hesitantly: “I... hope this isn't rude, but... is it true that Phooka and ponies can... bear children together?”

“It is.” Fluttershy nodded with a soft smile, glancing over at Prestige. “It's rare, but it can happen... and those foals will often bear the characteristics of both parents. But it requires a lot of trust... a depth of understanding... love.” She looked softly across at Nirvana, as Nirvana rumbled softly and met her eyes, sea-green irises meeting burning but gentle green flames fearlessly. “Phooka take care of their foals and their family above all else, Prestige. They nurture, and love, and they don't judge. They're not the monsters that we were once all told they were, they're just... a little silly sometimes.”

Fluttershy smiled a little, and Nirvana gave a quiet rumble that sounded almost like a laugh before Hevatica added quietly, glancing over at the unicorns with a warm smile: “And I must say, it's so strange to see all this... the ponies who first existed in this world were never so kind to the Phooka... and nor did I ever expect to stand in one of their homes accepted as kin and entertainer. We demons have our own history with these nature spirit tricksters.”

The Kelpie gazed around at the smoky entities, and then she shook her head and said kindly: “But all the same, I'm glad for it, Antares. Your mother began this process... it is our honor to continue it, and forge our alliances and bonds tighter. Not just because of how eagerly we look forwards to her approval when you bring her and your handsome father back... but because working together ensures not just our survival, but that our strength and pleasures will only continue to grow in the future.”

Antares looked at the Kelpie with gratitude, and Hevatica smiled at him before she reached up and combed his mane back in a gentle, maternal gesture, saying softly: “Oh, look at you, child, growing up so wonderfully... you're going to make Mistress Luna so proud. You already bring such pride to Lady Twilight, after all.”

Antares blushed and fidgeted a bit, but joy emanated from him as he nodded with a warm look to the demon before she paused and turned her eyes with a soft smile to Prestige. “And you, Prestige Luster. You were a silly child when first we met... but you have grown up well. And somehow, I think that Scrivener Blooms will approve of you most of all. Antares' father... was always a little smarter than he acted.” She winked over at Antares. “Just a little.”

The unicorns both laughed a little, Prestige now blushing as well before Fluttershy said softly: “Yes... Luna and Scrivener will be so proud. I hope they approve of all of us...” Fluttershy closed her eyes with a soft smile as the Phooka around her rumbled softly. “I don't think they ever understood how much they helped with things.”

“But they couldn't've done it without all the help they got... from you all here, from their other friends, from everyone.” Antares said softly, and Fluttershy looked up radiantly as Hevatica glanced up with affection for the young stallion. “They never forgot that. They never forgot about any of you... there are so many stories written about everyone in the office at home by Dad, so many sketchbook full of pictures by Mom... and Twilight is always telling me about all her good times with her friends.”

Fluttershy laughed quietly, then gazed over at Nirvana, and he nodded with a soft rumble. “We all helped each other... we always have. One pony, alone, can't do much in this world... but none of us are alone anymore. None of us ever have to be alone again.”

Antares nodded firmly in agreement, and there was quiet for a few moments before Prestige quietly reached down and picked up one of the Phooka foals, cradling it in her limbs as she gazed softly, wonderingly down at it... and then a slow, soft smile spread over her face, as she murmured quietly: “We're all people, aren't we? So different outside... but inside...”

The others nodded slowly as the Phooka rumbled quietly, milling around the field as they relaxed and welcomed the presence of the unicorns, the demon, and the Pegasus... and the last smiled as she dropped her head against the shoulder of the Phooka beside her as the sun shone down from the blameless sky above into the beautiful sanctuary below.

When Antares and Prestige returned to town – Prestige still a little flushed and delighted-looking after spending an hour or so playing with the Phooka foals and acting like a child, something that Antares had never expected to see – they found a strange sight in front of the library, the two young unicorns joining the small crowd that had gathered there.

Burning Desire was grinning widely as Sleipnir paced back and forth across from him, vine-maned stallion and fiery demonic unicorn mirroring each other in spite of the fact they looked like physical opposites. The snow had been cleared away in a rough ring they stood inside of, and Antares glanced with interest towards Pinkamena and Twilight as Aphrodisia bounced between her mother and aunt, cheering her father's name loudly. “What's going on?”

“They're competing to see who's the bigger macho stud.” Pinkamena said mildly, jerking her head with a look of wry amusement at the two large stallions, and Antares and Prestige both gazed back with surprise at the two. “Now, don't get me wrong. I think they're both complete idiots. But complete idiots make for the best entertainment.”

“Daddy's going to kick his butt.” Aphrodisia chirped, and Pinkamena grunted and nodded as Twilight only laughed and shook her head. “Stupid Burning Desire made fun of Daddy's cold, so Daddy didn't have any choice but to challenge him.”

“Yeah, Sleipnir wagered his mane and tail and promised to be Burning's servant for a week if he loses, and Burning Desire put up some of his statues and a free contract.” Pinkamena licked her lips slowly, grinning widely. “Either way, somepony's gonna look real stupid shortly. Either I get a vacation from Sleipnir, or one free wish. Real useful, having a demon like Burning Desire around, especially when he's stupid enough to agree to something like this.”

Twilight only smiled amusedly at this, however, glancing over at Pinkamena and reminding her: “Yes, but Burning Desire can only do so much even obligated by contract, because he's not a full greed demon.”

“So what? Sometimes to think big you think small. I could still order him to kick Princess Sunshine in the ass every day at twelve sharp, and he'd be obligated to do that until I stopped finding it funny and told him he could stop.” Pinkamena paused, then she added meditatively: “And I would never not find that funny.”

“Oh Mommy, you're so silly.” Aphrodisia giggled, and then she brightened and pointed as Sleipnir and Burning Desire approached one another. The two nodded to each other, and then Burning squawked when Sleipnir grabbed his shoulders and firmly kissed the demon on either cheek. “Why does Daddy do that?”

“Because he's a weirdo.” Pinkamena muttered, and when Twilight gave her a pointed look even as Aphrodisia nodded seriously, the Gluttony demon rolled her eyes and said finally: “Because Burning Desire's your godfather and Sleipnir respects him, and it's... some old tradition or something, I don't know and don't care. He just likes him a little too much, if you ask me.”

Aphrodisia giggled at this as Sleipnir and Burning Desire stepped backwards, then both bowed deeply to each other before a grinning Rainbow Dash cheerfully hopped into the center of the arena. Antares looked up in surprise at this, then quickly scanned the crowd before he smiled and waved to Avalon, who was standing with Meadowlark and Applejack in a cluster of ponies on the other side of the square. Big Mac was there, too, with a blue Pegasus that had a dark navy mane leaning a little against the scarlet earth pony with a smile: Soarin', a former Wonderbolt who had his own little place in Ponyville, but spent much of his time out at the Apple Family farm.

Then Rainbow Dash cleared his throat before announcing cheerfully: “Ladies and gentlecolts, this is a contest between Flaming Desire-”

“Burning Desire, you jerk.” the demonic stallion huffed, glaring at Rainbow, who pasted an innocent expression on his face before Burning Desire leaned towards him moodily. “Don't make me seduce your wife.”

“Are you sure you really want her?” Rainbow asked mildly, and then he winced when a snowball smacked into the back of his head, to the laughter of most of the crowd, as the Pegasus grinned lamely over his shoulder at Applejack. “See, this is what I'm talking about. But okay, this is a contest between Flaming Desire and Slippers...” A pause, but Sleipnir only smiled benevolently at the Pegasus stallion with a childish nod. “To settle their dispute. Something about Slippers' girly sneezes.”

“They are not girly sneezes!” Sleipnir almost shouted, looking outraged... and then his muzzle wrinkled up before he gave two tiny, squeaking sneezes, and he blushed deep red as Burning Desire cackled and the crowd laughed. “'Tis... 'tis only the calm before the storm!”

Rainbow Dash cleared his throat, doing his best to suppress his giggling before he finally looked up and continued with a grin: “But just like me and Applejack once did, and I rocked, we're holding a series of contests to see who is the better pony. Let's see who wins at the end of this ten round contest! And no offense, Flaming, but my money's on Slippers.”

“None taken.” Burning Desire said kindly, and then he flicked his horn when Rainbow Dash turned away, and the Pegasus yelped as a blast of fire singed his tail and rump, leaping forwards and landing heavily on his rear in a snowbank with a wince as steam hissed up around him. The demonic stallion smiled cheerfully, then he grinned over at Sleipnir, leaning forwards and asking easily: “Shall we begin?”

Sleipnir grinned, stomping a hoof in excitement before a pony trotted forwards with a rope. “Oh, yes, the tug of war! 'Tis marvelous, it has been so long since I have had the glee of such fun and games... Celestia! Celestia, get out of that stuffy library and come and watch thy little brother soundly crush this fearsome demon!”

After a few moments, a curtain drew back and Celestia stuck her head in the window, then only looked moodily at Sleipnir when he stared at her pleadingly before she sighed and said tiredly: “I have to finish drafting these bylaws, Sleipnir. Please try not to make too much of a ruckus, I don't know if I have the time to put Ponyville back together today.”

With that, she left the window and closed the curtain, and Sleipnir huffed before Burning Desire asked kindly: “Would you like me to set the library on fire?”

“Nay, I fear if thou does that Celestia will then set us on fire. And her fire will be much more fearsome than thine own.” Sleipnir remarked, and then he gave a tiny little sneeze before shouting in a frustrated voice: “Oh damnation! To the rope! To the tug of war! First I shall defeat thee, and then I shall raid the library!”

Burning Desire seemed confident in himself up to the point he picked up the rope; then, with a single tug, Sleipnir yanked the demon through the air and sent him headfirst into a snowbank. The earth pony awkwardly apologized afterwards, but Burning Desire didn't seem to hear as he stumbled around stupidly, looking as if the crash had knocked his brain out of his skull.

When the sense finally returned to him, they moved onto the next event: shot-put. Sleipnir had picked up the steel ball with a cheerful grin, tossing it from hoof-to-hoof before leaning back, and Burning Desire had winced... before Sleipnir had given another tiny, awkward sneeze just as he began his throwing motion, and the shot-put had flown out of his hoof and landed beside him.

Sleipnir had stared, and Burning Desire had sighed in relief, then grinned and cheerfully picked up his own before throwing it down the street. Twilight had cheered a little despite herself, and Burning Desire had grinned widely at her as Aphrodisia and Pinkamena both glared, the Lich blushing awkwardly and mumbling: “Well, it... it was a nice throw.”

As Sleipnir and Burning Desire got into position for a short race, Discombobulation had wandered in wearing a green visor and a pair of sunglasses, calmly set down a folding table, and then pulled a cash register and a slew of betting tickets out of nowhere. The Draconequus had quickly started bringing in money as ponies flocked over to place wagers.

Demon and enormous earth pony both readied themselves for the race as Pinkie Pie giggled and happily bounced over to stand with her front hooves raised... then she snapped them down, signaling the start, and Sleipnir shot forwards in a rapid sprint... before Burning Desire became a streak of flame that transformed quickly into a firebird, zooming to the end of the street to perch on one of the finish posts. Ponies yelled at the demon as he preened and other ponies cheerfully collected their winnings from Discombobulation, while Sleipnir huffed... but as Burning Desire transformed back into a fiery stallion, his grin was short lived when grappling was announced by Spike as the next contest.

The two competing stallions returned to the ring in front of the library, argued for a little while, and finally agreed on the rules while ponies hurried to place bets, and then both readied themselves. During this time, Pinkamena sent Aphrodisia off with Pinkie Pie to Sugar Cube Corners, and the two returned with a large food cart just before the match began.

Burning Desire and Sleipnir grappled with each other, the demon wheezing loudly and pushing and flailing against Sleipnir as the enormous earth pony easily kept his balance, laughing cheerfully and shoving back against the demon almost playfully until he finally simply picked him up and dropped him face-first into the ground. Burning Desire yelped... before squeaking when Sleipnir dropped on top of him and pinned him down, wheezing for breath as he flailed wildly before Spike, acting as referee, rose his claw awkwardly and said finally: “You uh. You just had to get him off his hooves, Sleipnir, you technically won about thirty seconds ago.”

“Oh. I suppose I got lost in the... heat of the moment.” Sleipnir remarked cheerfully as he straightened, nodding a few times as Burning Desire wheezed loudly, and then the demon squawked when Sleipnir reached down and set the large, fiery stallion on his hooves as if he were nothing more than a foal, brushing a bit of dirt off him. “'Twas well done, though! Thou did not cry even a little!”

Burning Desire only mumbled, then perked up when Spike glanced down at the listing somepony had taken the time to write out, reading awkwardly: “Uh... does that say 'bard?'”

“Oh, excellent! Yes, I plan to recite a poem I had writ about my sisters!” Sleipnir said cheerfully, nodding rapidly before he grinned widely across at Burning Desire. “Let's see if thy pretty bird's song can match up to my most delightful of verse!”

Burning Desire smiled delightedly in response, rubbing his front hooves together before he said courteously: “Then why don't you go first, Sleipnir, when we're ready, and I'll just do my best to try and follow what I'm sure will be a truly... unforgettable... poem.”

Sleipnir nodded rapidly, and Pinkamena groaned from the sidelines, rubbing slowly at her face before she looked grumpily down at Aphrodisia, who was giggling a little. “I'm tempted to send you home now.”

“What? Come on, Mommy, I wanna hear Daddy's poem!” Aphrodisia wheedled, and Antares couldn't help but laugh: some days, even with her adult mare body, it was easy to remember that she was still emotionally only around a decade old.

Pinkamena grumbled as ponies chatted curiously with each other, and Twilight winced as Celestia stuck her head out the window again, frowning at the activity. Sleipnir waved brightly at his older sister, and the ivory winged unicorn now looked even more suspicious, but she slowly retreated back into the library after a moment of indecision. Antares cocked his head curiously at the relief he saw on Twilight's face, asking as Prestige frowned: “It can't be that bad, can it?”

“It's like you don't know your uncle at all.” Twilight said after a moment, and Antares smiled despite himself before the violet Lich shook her head, then glanced up with a wince as Sleipnir loudly cleared his throat. “Oh great. Here we go.”

Sleipnir smiled benevolently around at the crowd as they fell silent and Discombobulation closed his till, all eyes on him as the stallion gazed back and forth happily... and after a few moments, the earth pony rose his head and recited in a cheerful voice with childlike enthusiasm:

“My sisters sway the chariots of the sky,
Spinning their spokes in e'erlasting succession,
O'er the sacred soil garden of middle-earth,
Slicing air-sea's splendid balance in twain.”

“Well, I have no idea what he just said, but it sounded... nice.” Prestige said awkwardly, but Pinkamena only grunted moodily and gestured for them to keep listening as Sleipnir beamed happily around at the group.

“Sweet sibling higher shines brighter than what misers hunger for,
She stands mighty as Midgard's horns, and is fierce as sky's kings,
Failure's bane and victory's most-loved maiden,
She makes both swords and stallions sweat and sing her praises;
She is limitless, master of all battlefields, bed and war both her slaves:
The mightiest warrior is but serf before her, pays tribute in nectar of life and sleep,
But her strength is always superior, she makes sport of sovereigns,
Supreme swordmaiden who rides her horses fearlessly into war and milks them of all essence.”

Sleipnir smiled brightly at the crowd around him, as Aphrodisia began to giggle madly and Pinkamena rubbed slowly at her face, Twilight groaning as Antares turned bright red. “I... did... is he saying that... oh no, he's not going to talk about-”

“Shimmering sibling smaller, strong as nature's coyest hunter,
She is fellowship's humility and safekeeping of trust; none are so honorable as she!
Standing tall and always second to those who are worthy of the shining feast-hall,
And always first to set her spear against the shivering cowards of ice;
Yet coldest and warmest both, if they are strong, she offers solace and Baldur's gift,
Wild and sublime, and all the same first-hon'ring her king, she has her soft petals,
But savors the thorns, and sleeps beneath stars with shadow and savior both,
She knows not the rules of stallions, but sows her own law.”

“Oh god. Well, that could have been worse at least.” Antares mumbled, wincing a little before he added as Twilight rubbed slowly at her face. “As long as I concentrate a little on not understanding it, I think I'm fine...”

And then Sleipnir smiled before declaring jovially:

“Yes, I am the luckiest of stallions, protected and loved by shield-bearing sisters,
Standing side-by-side with them as sibling brother, helping them in their conquests
Upon the gutted soil wet only by sword's rain, where all who stand are equal, if stand they do;
Sweet sisters, saviors of my love! Were we not siblings I would sow endless bounty with them,
Till their crops, spill seed and showers over fertile fields of their hungry soil.
Oh, for what more supreme mares have ever lived? Strong, sensual as dew, sharp as Mimir,
Braver than sought souls of the shining hall, free as the sea's breath,
Sweet sensual shieldmaidens who make slaves of stallion and mare alike!”

All eyes simply stared at Sleipnir as he breathed hard in and out, looking happily back and forth before he frowned a little as the silence simply spun out around him. Then it was punctuated by Burning Desire's giggling, and the titanic earth pony favored the demon with a curious look, asking with interest: “'Twas not a proper rhyming poem for silliness, 'twas a poem in worship of my delightful sisters. Why art thou laughing? Did I speak a verse wrongly?”

Burning Desire only continued to giggle for a few moments, and then all eyes looked up as the library door swung open and Celestia stormed out with her eyes locked on Sleipnir. The younger brother only smiled brightly, however, declaring cheerfully: “Sister! Did thou hear me recite the poem I wrote for thee and-”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Celestia cut him off, leaning moodily over him as Sleipnir winced back a bit, before the Baroness leaned in and asked in a sharp whisper that everypony could hear anyway, even over the giggling of Burning Desire and several other ponies: “How many times do I have to tell you to keep that poem to yourself, Sleipnir? How do you still remember it after a millennium and a half?”

“Because I put weeks of effort into that poem!” Sleipnir retorted, looking injured as he leaned back, then he flailed a bit as he argued: “And 'tis a beautiful verse, if I may speak of it so myself! It honors the beauty and valor of Luna, thy wild spirit that canst be tamed by any stallion and-”

“It's a poem about how much you wish you could have sex with me and Luna!” Celestia hissed through grit teeth, glaring at Sleipnir, who shrank a little under her baleful gaze and cleared his throat.

“'Tis a compliment?” Sleipnir said after a moment, raising a hoof... and when Celestia's eye twitched, he flailed his forelimbs violently and exclaimed: “Oh, cease! Wretched Celestia, what would thou prefer? Shall I speak to thy strength and beauty and fearlessness, or shall I speak some boring poem about how thou art a boring ruler upon thy boring throne doing boring things and being a boring noble? Thou art no boring noble! Thou art Celestia, thou art Freya, and thou wert so delightfully fun sometimes in the old days, like when thou decided to teach Luna and I a lesson in humility and-”

Celestia held up a hoof, and Sleipnir stuttered to a stop before she reached slowly out and poked his chest, her eyes glowering down into his. “No more reciting poetry, Sleipnir. Ever. Now please keep it down, I'm trying to work.”

With that, Celestia turned on her heel and stormed back into the library, slamming the door behind her. Sleipnir huffed at the closed door, then blew a loud raspberry before glowing over at Burning Desire, muttering: “I suppose 'tis thy turn now. Although I am tempted to recite the other poem I wrote about the cruelty of certain mares. And how stuffy they can be.”

He huffed a little again, and Burning Desire grinned as he leaned in with a wink before flicking his horn: in a blast of flame, an oak violin and a golden bow appeared above his head before the demon reared back and caught both objects in his front hooves, saying cheerfully as he set the violin against his shoulder and Sleipnir stared: “Well, worry not, Sleipnir! This contest was over before it began, although I can't thank you enough for helping it along with your fun little recitation. Now, let me show you why we demons like contests of music.”

Burning Desire began to tap a rear hoof as he stayed standing on his hind limbs, smiling benevolently before he started to play, filling the air with a sharp, fast melody: already, ponies began to move to the rhythm, and Sleipnir's face slowly puckered as the demon stomped a hoof firmly to the upbeat tune before he threw his head back and began a shanty in a cheery, fast voice:

“Oh! I was a pony who lived by the sea,
Strong and courageous and honorably,
Had me a home and had me a wife,
But always felt there was somethin' missin' in life!”

The demon spun in a slow circle on one rear hoof, stomping the other firmly as he leaned forwards, making the violin sing and tremble as he belted out and ponies clapped and stomped their own hooves in time:

“Oh whoa, hey hey!
What's life if you're bored all day?
Hey hey, whoa oh!
Gonna find adventure, time to go!”

Burning Desire grinned brightly as he straightened, rear hooves moving in a short, fast kickstep before he danced gleefully over to Sleipnir as he leaned back against the enormous earth pony, who was still looking at him sourly as ponies laughed and continued to clap along.

“So one fine day I decided to leave,
Knew a new path I had to weave,
I kissed my wife and said to her 'goodbye,'
And she replied: 'It's about damn time!'

Oh whoa, hey hey!
What's life if you're bored all day?
Hey hey, whoa oh!
Gonna find adventure, time to go!

So I set sail out over the sea,
Felt right away this was the life for me,
I made it all the way out of the bay,
And I couldn't help but say:

Oh whoa, hey hey!
What's life if you're bored all day?
Hey hey, whoa oh!
Gonna find adventure, time to go!

It was a great start I have to say,
Now if only I'd plotted the way,
My travel ended up a little brief,
'Cause I keeled my ship on a coral reef!

Oh whoa, hey hey!
What's life if you're bored all day?
Hey hey, whoa oh!
Gonna find adventure, time to go!”

Even Sleipnir couldn't help but laugh now, shaking his head with a smile as he stomped a hoof in easy time with Burning Desire's rapid playing. Ponies were singing and dancing, and Burning Desire was grinning widely as he danced in an easy circle around Sleipnir before winking over at Twilight Sparkle, who blushed a little and gazed back warmly as Antares and Prestige both stomped their hooves and watched the demon with surprise and delight.

Then Burning Desire shook his head quickly, before he played a quick flourish and stomped down, bow poised over the violin strings and trembling slightly with his energy as he belted out, the whole crowd halting to look at the demon and listen in the otherwise silence:

“So I had to swim back home, and tell my wife,
That it looked like I'd be stuck, livin' this life...
And do you know what she said to me?
She said, 'Maybe you honey, but I'm runnin' free!'”

Burning Desire winked, then he leapt backwards, dancing in a gleeful circle like a puppy on his hind legs as he played his violin, and the gathered ponies all joined him for the chorus, belting out the song with him as they stomped their hooves to the rhythm:

“Because, oh whoa, hey hey!
What's life if you're bored all day?
Hey hey, whoa oh!
Gonna find adventure, time to go!

Oh whoa, hey hey!
What's life if you're bored all day?
Hey hey, whoa oh!
Gonna find adventure, time to go!”

The demon finished with a flourish, then swung his forelegs wide and bowed deep, breathing hard in and out as the crowd yelled and applauded. Sleipnir was laughing loudly, stomping his hooves rapidly before he ran over and threw a companionable foreleg round Burning Desire's neck, who laughed as well and fell against the enormous earth pony as Sleipnir declared: “Oh, what better bard ever there was than thou! I concede with admiration, brother!”

Burning Desire laughed again, but he clearly looked delighted as the two turned to each other and shared a tight embrace for a moment, Pinkamena smiling and shaking her head slowly as Aphrodisia all but rolled on the ground with laughter, and Twilight gazed affectionately to the fiery stallion... before there was a loud thud, and the library door swung open, all eyes turning awkwardly to Celestia as she slowly strode outside with a calm, unreadable expression on her face.

Burning Desire and Sleipnir both stared at her as she approached them, then looked mildly down at Burning Desire before sitting back and holding up her front hooves, asking calmly: “May I?”

The demon awkwardly looked at his violin and bow, then carefully handed them over: Celestia studied them both for a few moments, then she nodded thoughtfully to herself before saying softly: “A very fine instrument. Perfectly maintained...”

She carefully set it to her shoulder, then put the bow to it and closed her eyes, playing slowly: at first, the notes sounded drawn out and lethargic, but slowly, she began to build speed, moving with grace and growing energy. All eyes stared, then Burning Desire leaned back as Celestia began to play more complex chords and notes, vibrating the strings and smiling a little to herself as she moved from the expected operatic tunes into something faster, sharper, but folksy, her speed now building at a rising rate...

She sawed away at the violin, bow almost a blur as it a cacophonous melody played through the air... and then Burning Desire squeaked as Celestia suddenly drew back with a sharp flourish, and the strings of the violin snapped, all except for one. Celestia regarded this with the same calm smile, and then she simply plucked the string with the bow, and the frayed wire broke with a loud twang.

Burning Desire wheezed loudly in and out, staring with horror before Celestia gently pushed the broken violin and bow back into his trembling limbs, saying kindly: “You should probably think about tuning it.”

Celestia turned and headed back into the library, and Sleipnir scowled as she closed the door before he looked back and forth, then his eyes settled on a discarded shot-put. He immediately swept up the metal sphere, then flung it forwards grouchily... and winced when it shattered a window instead of hitting the door, before there was a loud cry of pain from inside.

A moment later, the door was almost slammed off its hinges as Celestia leapt out, glaring furiously and with her teeth bared, a large bruise already forming around one eye. Sleipnir gave a little squeal of fear, then he spun around and sprinted away with a girlish scream: Celestia tore after him a moment later, her usual calm demeanor completely abandoned as she shouted curses and swore at him in another language, electricity sparking through her mane.

Burning Desire stared dumbly after this, still cradling his broken violin, and then Discombobulation stood up at his table, waving his metal hand as he called calmly: “Everyone who bet on the contest ending early, come claim your winnings.”

Rainbow Dash whooped gleefully as he flew quickly towards the gambling table, and Pinkamena groaned and shook her head in disgust, muttering: “Great. Guess that invalidates both sides of the bet... and here I was starting to really hope that Sleipnir was going to be bald for a while. Would have been hilarious to see his shrubs finally pruned.”

“Oh, we can cut Daddy's mane and tail any time, Mommy.” Aphrodisia said kindly as she sat up and smiled warmly at her mother, and Pinkamena sighed, then nodded and rubbed moodily at her chest before the young demon gazed brightly over at Burning Desire, who was now looking both pleased and surprised as ponies clustered around him, congratulating him and talking to him with honest admiration and friendliness.

Twilight shook her head slowly, then she smiled softly as she glanced at Antares: he gazed back at her with a smile, as Prestige leaned her head on his shoulder, and then he said quietly: “Go on, Mom. He looks real happy, but... I think he'd be happier if you were over there, too. He's a good person. And he was pretty amazing.” He paused, then asked awkwardly: “You don't think. Celestia is going to hurt Sleipnir too badly, do you?”

Twilight opened her mouth to reply... then winced and glanced up as there was a rumble like thunder in the distance, all eyes turning towards this as Sleipnir howled before the Lich sighed and dropped her head forwards, mumbling: “Celestia really can be just like Luna sometimes. But no. They're just... they're just uh... playing.”

“We aren't foals, Twilight.” Prestige said after a moment, wincing a little over at the distance as the ponies slowly went back to their conversations, while Avalon and Rainbow Dash were both gleefully sweeping up bags of bits from Discombobulation's gambling table, as the Draconequus calmly swept his own earnings into a large sack: they seemed like the only three who hadn't noticed the tremendous bang.

“I'm serious! Celestia and Sleipnir would never hurt each other. Badly. They're siblings.” Twilight said finally, and then she shook her head before smiling a little, turning her eyes towards Burning Desire as she murmured: “But excuse me, you two. I think... I'm going to see if Burning Desire wants to go get a little lunch to celebrate his victory.”

Antares smiled softly, watching as the Lich approached the fiery stallion, who glanced up from were he was chatting with the crowd before he brightened immediately as Twilight approached, gesturing to her quickly, and she laughed as she slipped through the crowd and to his side before smiling softly when he wrapped a foreleg around her. Antares and Prestige gazed at the two, and then the young mare shook her head slowly before smiling a little as she said quietly: “Amazing, Antares. They know it won't last forever... and yet all the same...”

The young stallion nodded slowly, glancing over at Prestige softly... and then both unicorns glanced up as Avalon flew towards them, calling gleefully: “Come on, come on! Let's go to Sugar Cube Corners and spend some of these winnings! Then I wanna go out to see Fluttershy!”

Antares nodded, then smiled when he glanced up and saw Meadowlark almost shyly approaching as well, lingering on her for a moment before he cleared his throat and said quickly: “Fluttershy was at the Phooka den... hey, let's get enough for everyone, you definitely won enough.”

“Yeah, yeah, guess I should spread the wealth. But okay, let's go, you guys, come on!” Avalon agreed cheerfully, and Antares and Prestige both smiled before laughing as Aphrodisia joined them and Meadowlark beamed, before the five friends turned to hurry down the street, together.

Act III: The Wounded Hawk

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Act III: The Wounded Hawk
~BlackRoseRaven

Oh, fickle hawk, bird of prey, with whom do you make war?
Bloody broken avenger, eying the weak with derision,
Who are you to say,
They should die today?
Why is it when you prey,
You hunt the weak with such absolute precision,
And stay far away from those who would fight with conviction?

Oh, wicked hawk, your talons are so sharp, your beak is keen as an axe,
In your eyes burn fire as you stare down from the sky so high,
So tell me vicious bird,
When you look down at the herd,
Why are you in a word...
Jealous? Hateful? Envious? Scornful? You sigh!
And yet I see cowardice in your eyes when you say it's because they'll all die!

Oh, battle hawk, I see you girded for a coming fight!
Your feathers are your mail, your talons your knives,
And yet I smell hesitation,
A sense of trepidation,
Is that self-preservation?
Or fear of the death you've dealt yourself to so many lives!
Oh, how ironic: inside you the pestilence of cowardice thrives!

Oh, wounded hawk, you've become so bitter and disillusioned,
You know the world is shades of gray, not black and white:
You call yourself warrior,
Fancy yourself death's courier,
But I've never seen anyone sorrier:
Yes, my wretched friend, you are a truly pathetic and broken sight,
You wanted to grow up a hero, but instead became only a cruel blight.

Oh, dying hawk, your beak is chipped, and your wings have been broken,
You scream for mercy, but to whom do you dare plead?
To the ghosts?
To your hosts?
To only the empty coasts?
The hood is gone, little hawk, as here you lie and bleed,
Broken from the very war you tried to lead.

Lambs In The Wild

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Chapter Nineteen: Lambs In The Wild
~BlackRoseRaven

Celestia looked thoughtfully over the six young ponies that she had gathered in the library, drawing her eyes slowly back and forth over the group in front of her. Antares gazed respectfully up at his aunt, dressed in his full armor, while the others were in lighter gear: Prestige and Meadowlark were bundled up for winter more than war, and Avalon and Aphrodisia both were wearing lightweight armor, the demon grumbling as she continually adjusted her gemstone vest. Rustproof, meanwhile, was still in his grease-stained coveralls and a gray cap, earmuffs pulled down around his neck as he looked attentively at the winged unicorn.

The ivory mare smiled after a moment, then she gestured gently to several saddlebags beside her, saying softly: “This is going to be your first major mission, Antares, for you and your friends... your team. It's not a difficult task, and I or Twilight would normally handle it ourselves... but the Strange Ones tend to treat Twilight... coldly. They don't like what she's become. And I have a meeting with not only Caitiff Caprice over the next week, but several other dignitaries who are visiting. I would much prefer to leave this mission in your capable hooves.”

Antares nodded quickly, as Avalon pumped a hoof in the air with a quiet grunt and the others gazed up with attention and respect. Celestia smiled slightly, then she looked at Antares, continuing: “The Strange Ones from the settlement past the barrens have sent me a letter saying they have finished work on several artifacts for us, including the components we need for the meteor. I need you to collect these things, then bring them back to Ponyville, specifically to Kilby Kwolek's engineering building. We've decided that is the safest place to begin work on this project, since it will take a long time to complete and we don't want to risk Cancer or any of our other enemies interfering with it.”

The young stallion nodded slowly, then he asked quietly: “Do you have a list or anything of what I'm supposed to pick up? And do we have a set time frame?”

“I'd like you to make it back as soon as possible... you should be able to make this journey on hoof and even with the added difficulty of winter, in two or three days' time. But I'm going to give you four days, just to be safe.” Celestia said softly, nodding slowly. “If at any point you run into danger, Aphrodisia can call Pinkamena or Prestige can summon Burning Desire. Bear in mind they'll have their own tasks to handle as well, however, so they may not be able to answer your call immediately.”

Antares nodded as he glanced over at Prestige, who smiled a little as she glanced up at the red ring around her horn. Then the glossy black unicorn turned his eyes back to Celestia as she gestured at the bags. “I've already packed you basic supplies, a map, and the list of things to pick up in the bag... but I don't expect you'll need the last. The Strange Ones are very distant from us, but they're honest and they continue to be our allies even now, even if they still... think of themselves as caretakers and guardians, not equals.” Celestia smiled a little. “But I think their kind enjoys duty, and that's not as alien an emotion as the rest of what they seem to feel.”

The young stallion nodded again, then he glanced back and forth over his group before gesturing to Meadowlark when she looked at him hesitantly. She smiled after a moment, then turned her eyes to Celestia, asking quietly: “Are there any dangers we should know about?”

“Nothing serious: the route isn't very dangerous, the terrain is simply... difficult.” Celestia shook her head, then she returned her eyes to Antares, saying quietly: “But in the event you run into a prowling dragon or Cancer, call for help and retreat as fast as you can. Don't do anything rash, Antares... I can't emphasize that enough.”

“I won't. Not with my friends around.” The young stallion smiled a little, meeting the amethyst eyes of the ivory winged unicorn before he closed his own and bowed his head forwards. “I'll take care of myself and them, Aunt Tia, and I won't disappoint you. I promise.”

Celestia studied him for a few moments, and then she nodded slowly before straightening and looking over the young ponies. “I think you're all ready for this. Take two hours now for last-minute preparations and to plot your course.”

Celestia hesitated, then she turned and headed to the window as the six young ponies nodded, the winged unicorn gazing out of the library and into the blue sky above, feeling a strange nervousness twine through her body at the sight of the rivulets of water dripping down from the branches of the tree and running along the glass. “It feels like the next few days will be warm, so you shouldn't have to worry too much about weather-related difficulties...” And yet for some reason, that thought only makes me more nervous...

Just outside of Ponyville, several Nibelung were cheerfully building snow-dwarves in the field, another guard sitting grouchily by the gates and glowering at his peers, while Pegasi soldiers perched on the walls above only laughed and relaxed. It was a warm, beautiful, bright day, only a few wisps of cloud floating through the skies and the wet snow perfect for snowball fights, making forts, and other indulgences.

It felt like a day where nothing could go wrong... and near the western edge of Ponyville, a mottled white shape slowly lumbered through the knee-deep snow, rasping hard as it snarled and glowered back and forth, red eyes gleaming dangerously. A sheen of sweat covered its hideous body, and its tongue was hanging out of its panting jaws as its eyes locked on Ponyville in the far distance, and the tiny shapes of living creatures that stood here and there around it... creatures that smelled of flesh, and blood, and the sustenance that Cancer so desperately craved.

He breathed hard in and out, shivering once before spitting to the side and slumping, muttering: “I feel... I feel all... sick. Yeah, how about that, I feel sick? Oh, it's so hot and so cold at the same time! Damn you, snow, you think that was a funny joke you played on me? Gone and screwed up my game...”

Cancer hissed to himself, then he began to slowly wade forwards through the snow again, growling in disgust: he had spent days, perhaps a week, frozen under a blanket of frost until the snow had melted enough to expose him to sunlight. Then his body had quickly warmed up, and he'd eventually crawled his way up out of the valley, cursing in frustration the entire time as he'd shaken himself around and forced his body to heat up faster to melt down the still-frozen chunks of ice inside his body and stuck to his slimy shell.

It had been an unpleasant experience... and worse, it had left him feeling the way he still felt now: achy, lethargic, infuriated and wrathful. Parts of his body felt hot, the rest of him felt cold, and the little mind he had was having trouble processing these sensations at once. And he was hungry, and felt weak, and knew that he needed to get his teeth into something, anything, to restore some of his strength before he tried to make an attack on the village ahead...

He sniffed at the air, then moaned weakly and shivered once, pawing at the snow in front of him as he whispered: “Oh come on! It seems so good and so sweet and sultry... and dammit, wait...”

He frowned, raising his head and licking his lips before his red eyes glowed... and then he snarled and shook his head, rasping: “White weasel! I smell me a white weasel... and demons and rats and scum, oh my! How much time did I lose? How many days have passed? Why ain't she back in that demon city underneath the big pony buffet? No, no, no!”

Cancer snarled and shook himself violently, dropping flat in the snow as he whispered: “All the trouble I went through to not set off any alarms, to go carefully tick-tick-tap-tap-tap around the edge of those stupid pony hicks that live on the outskirts, to try and get me towards a safe, empty corner where I can sneak on up to the food pen and whisper through the walls to the dumb ponies until a tasty morsel comes to take a peek at me, and now I smell vermin! Now I see the delicious treats just waiting out there on display, but oh, oh, standing behind the table are the weasel and her achy-breaky demons... dammit, dammit, dammit! Gimme a break!”

Cancer hissed... then his eyes widened in surprise as shapes emerged through the gates, one tiny streak of yellow shooting ahead and doing a loop as others followed after it. Cancer's eyes focused in on this as he dropped forwards, half-hiding in the snow as he stared at them... then snarled slowly, rasping: “The punk... it's that goddamn punk, that stupid little kid who dared to think he was a match for me...”

The monster hissed again, his red eyes glowing like spotlights before he twitched to the side, gargling and shivering before he gurgled: “Kill him... take revenge, destroy, exterminate, obliterate... make an example of him...”

Cancer's head snapped back and forth, foaming at the jaws as he convulsed once before grinning slowly as he leaned forwards eagerly. His gaze sharpened and focused, scrabbling slowly forwards through the snow and breathing hungrily as he watched the dark-coated pony direct the others, and the monster salivated as he whispered: “Oh... oh, is this what I've been prayin' for? Hopin' for? Wishin' and livin' and dyin' for? Oh sweet and delicious miracle of miracles! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, come to me, come to Cancer, come to... I... dammit, where the hell are they going?”

The young stallion was leading five other ponies through the field, and Cancer snarled before he stepped forwards... and promptly tripped over his own feet, flopping down in the snow and sending up a burst of powder. He opened his mouth, then hurriedly covered his jaws with his own limbs, muffling his own scream of frustration as he winced before carefully drawing his forelimbs away as he whispered: “Dammit! Gotta be stealthy... gotta be serpenty... gotta be cool...”

Slowly, Cancer's mottled body twisted on itself, transforming as the heat increased in his form, melting and warping as it gathered itself into a new, serpentine shape. The monster licked its lips, breathing hard as it began to snake forwards through the powder, red eyes beginning to glow faintly as it locked onto the scent and sounds of the ponies and their body heat, their biorhythms, and the distinct reek of the young demon that looked like a pony who was traveling with them.

He slithered unseen just beneath the surface of the snow, eager and hungry as he passed carefully along the outer edge of the field to follow the young, plodding ponies as they headed towards the Everfree Forest... and as they strode onwards, Avalon keeping to the air and humming cheerfully as Antares stayed in the lead, the young, glossy-black stallion felt a strange tingle before he nervously looked over one shoulder.

He saw nothing but fields of white, even though something inside him whispered nervously: something deeper than his talent for seeing into others, something instinctive and strange. He shifted apprehensively, and Meadowlark frowned as she looked over her shoulder as well, while Avalon called irritably: “Hey, what, did you forget something?”

“No, no.” Antares looked back up ahead at the tiny Pegasus as she hovered moodily in the air, and then he shook his head quickly before smiling despite the way nervousness still plucked at something in his chest. “Just had a strange feeling. Probably just anxiety, I guess.”

“Yeah...” Meadowlark said slowly, and then she shook her head nervously before saying hesitantly: “Antares, maybe... maybe we should head back to town. Just to double-check things...”

“I...” Antares looked for a moment at Meadowlark over his shoulder, then he shook his head before turning his eyes ahead, saying softly: “No, it's nothing. We should get moving... we don't wanna disappoint Aunt Tia or anypony else, after all, not with how we're being depended on to do this. It's not a big task, maybe, but it's definitely an important one.”

Avalon grunted as she flew a little higher in the air, adding quickly: “Yeah, besides... I'll keep up above and watch things, Antares has his freaky sees-all eyes, and Apple Pie can keep our backs covered with her demon senses.”

“Don't call me that.” Aphrodisia complained, and then she grumbled and nodded, glancing over at the still-nervous Meadowlark. “But yeah. You should stop worrying so much. You'll get all wrinkly and you're already hard enough on the eyes.”

“Apps.” Antares said tiredly, as Meadowlark blushed a little, and the demon blew a raspberry at him before the young stallion shook his head quickly. “Let's keep moving, okay? I bet it's just nerves... and as long as we maintain a good pace, we can probably make it at least most of the way to the Strange One village by tonight. We'll cut through the game trails that I know to shave off some time, and we should come out right near the mountain pass we'll have to go up. Come on, guys, let's just keep ourselves moving.”

The other ponies nodded, while Meadowlark shifted uncomfortably, then sighed and nodded as well, and Antares smiled before he started forwards. Prestige strode at his side, tossing one awkward look back at Meadowlark and not knowing if she felt more glad or more nervous that the red Pegasus had been overruled, and Rustproof gave his friend a kind look as the satchels swayed against the behemoth young pony's sides.

The six walked onwards, Antares keeping the lead and feeling his own anxieties settling a little as they entered the forest: not any of the main paths, but one of the thinner, hidden trails that were difficult to find unless you knew where they were. Avalon grumbled under her breath as she zigzagged between the trees, weaving over and around branches until she finally flitted over to Antares and dropped down on his back, muttering grumpily: “I'm going to take a nap. It's too crowded off the main path, Antares, all I see are trees, branches, snow, and more snow.”

“That's alright, Avalon, I'll wake you up when we get to the pass.” Antares replied absently, and Avalon dropped herself over him, the young, dark-coated pony sighing a little as he felt a moment of relief for the fact that the tiny Pegasus wasn't wearing her crosshatch blades.

He tossed a glance over his shoulder, looking past Avalon at the others, who had fallen into single file as they made their way through the wet snow: Prestige smiled at him confidently, as Rustproof followed behind her, calm as ever, and Aphrodisia was loitering along next, Meadowlark following a little close to the demon and still tossing looks now and then over her shoulder. But she blushed as she glanced up and caught Antares studying her, hurriedly dropping her gaze, and the glossy-black stallion smiled a little a he turned his eyes forwards. Okay. It was probably just her nerves after all, we're okay. We're all okay.

The walk through the woods helped settle Antares, even if Aphrodisia complained about the snow and Meadowlark still seemed bit unsettled by something. But once they emerged onto a dirty, ugly road that ran alongside a cliff that had sheltered it from most of the frost and snow, the spirits of the others seemed to lift and Avalon leapt back into the air without complaint, yawning once as she shot up to the edge of the cliff and looked back and forth, before pointing down the road and calling: “Okay, I think I see the pass, you were right, Antares! We came out pretty close to it.”

She glided back down to hover over his head as Antares nodded, then said thoughtfully: “Can you stay about... twenty feet above us? Just keep an eye on things, I don't want us getting surprised by any hungry animals. You should be able to spot timberwolves or a grouchy manticore long before it spots us.”

“Yeah, no problem. Don't think there's anything around here, though, it's pretty ugly.” Avalon replied mildly, even as she did as Antares had asked. The glossy black unicorn smiled up at her, not bothering to answer: he knew that Avalon wast just complaining to complain... if anypony here had learned to prepare for the unexpected and not underestimate your friends or foes, after all, it was her.

They made their way down the road... and along the edge of the forest, moving through the shadows and slithering beneath the snow, Cancer watched them hungrily, licking his lips eagerly. It took all of his strength not to simply leap out and try to gorge themselves on the succulent little ponies... but they had that damn demon there, and that complicated things. The baby demon could very well call for Mommy again... and if Mommy was in the village, the Gluttony demon could get to him long before he could chew up the whole group. They were still too close... he needed to wait. He needed to watch. He needed to be sneaky and stealthy and not press his luck...

Cancer salivated, watching the ponies hungrily, eagerly, as they walked, smelling their sweat, the chemical reactions in their bodies; seeing the beautiful flexing of muscle and sinew, the faint pulsing here and there where veins pumped sweet, sweet, sweet coppery blood on their routes through their organic shells. He heard the thudding and throbbing of their hearts, felt their emotions and their thoughts, and every part of him wanted to scream and destroy them and drink their blood and every other sweet and putrid liquid he could squeeze from them. He craved to cut, tear and kill... but oh, oh, he was weak, too, and he needed to bide his time like a good little destruction entity... but six ponies, young or not, would make a fine meal. And sweet revenge on the bold little punk would be the best dish of all...

Cancer breathed slowly in and out, shivering in delight before he rumbled hungrily: “Yeah... yeah... just wait, ooh, just you wait and see... you're gonna be a nutritious meal for me...”

At the back of the group, one of the ponies frowned and looked nervously up... and Cancer winced and closed his mouth, sliding back into the shadows in his mottled, serpent-like form, as Meadowlark asked uncomfortably: “Did... did anypony else hear that?”

“Frigging Helheim you're twitchy.” Aphrodisia muttered, looking back and forth before she scowled at the forest as the wind rustled through the branches. “Stop whining, smelly. If Antares and I don't sense it, it's probably nothing more than your imagination, which I hear is just really fantastic thanks to all the stories you used to make up.”

“Lay off, Apple Pie, that's my bit.” Avalon said absently from above as Meadowlark flushed, and then the tiny Pegasus glanced down at Antares as he frowned a little over his shoulder at the red Pegasus. “What do you think? You see anything?”

“I...” Antares hesitated, glancing towards the forest, feeling a tickle in his mind again... but after a moment, he slowly shook his head, putting that whisper in his mind off to Meadowlark's nervousness starting to make him feel a little paranoid. “No. No, I don't think there's anything there... besides, look Meadow, we're almost at the pass. Once we climb it, we'll be moving through some rocky terrain and the barrens, and I don't think anything could follow us there without revealing itself. It's probably nothing... or just a wild Phooka or demon or something that hasn't allied itself with us. There's still lots of creatures out and around that don't see us as friends.”

“That's an inspiring speech, Nova, good work.” Aphrodisia said wryly, and Antares gave the demon a flat look before the pink mare shook her head, nervously reaching up and brushing her black mane back. “I don't want to run into any strange demons. Mommy says if I see a strange demon who isn't a friend or ally, I'm supposed to call her right away.”

Avalon snorted in amusement at this, earning a baleful look from Aphrodisia, before Meadowlark asked uncertainly: “Why would a strange demon follow us, though, or...”

“A strange demon wouldn't be able to follow us without me picking up on it.” Aphrodisia said crankily, but then she hesitated and became visibly more anxious again, revealing that at least some of her crankiness likely was due to her nerves getting the better of her. “I... at least, not unless it was Sloth, or Pride. And we really, really don't want to run into an angry Pride demon...”

The whole group went quiet as they continued onwards, anxiousness spreading through the ponies in a ripple as Meadowlark flushed, feeling responsible for the wave of dread, and Antares winced over his shoulder. Even Avalon was looking uncomfortable as she gazed back and forth apprehensively above their heads, and the glossy black unicorn shifted nervously as he wondered how he could reverse this before Meadowlark said abruptly: “You must know a lot about demons, Aphrodisia.”

The demon looked up almost suspiciously at this, then she nodded slowly before frowning as Meadowlark asked quietly: “I've always wondered why demons frame themselves after the classical seven sins... because the meaning to them is often different than we think of, isn't it?”

“I... yeah.” Aphrodisia said slowly, and when Meadowlark looked at her encouragingly, the demon shrugged moodily and looked forwards. “Well... it's just convenient, they're just easy labels. And we like to confuse and play with mortals... we don't like to reveal too much about ourselves, except to people we know and... trust.”

She stopped, then shook her head slowly, saying quietly: “Our natures aren't as linked to sins as ponies think. I was born to Mommy and Daddy, after all... I didn't just come into being because I'm supposed to be some evil incarnation of bad-touching and hurting...”

She stopped, then shook her head slowly, murmuring: “Mommy is Gluttony and Wrath, but she's not evil at all, not as mean as ponies say she is. And Burning Desire isn't what ponies think he is either. Not even Hevatica and Atrus are, and they're not even First Tier like me and Mommy and Burning Desire.”

“Burning Desire is that powerful? But when I asked him where he stood on the scale, he refused to tell me.” Prestige said in surprise, glancing over her shoulder, and Aphrodisia smiled a little.

“Because he's lust, but not just lusty-lust, even if he's all about indulgence and touching and dirty things. He longs to be more than who he is, he longs to become a better, stronger person, but he's already at the very top of the heap and so it's like having an impossible dream, it's like feeling constantly like trying your very best is never, ever going to even be equal to someone else's very worst. That hurts him...” Aphrodisia paused, then dropped her head and mumbled: “Even though he should know he's... he's pretty okay, I guess.”

There was quiet for a few moments, and then Antares gestured towards the base of the snowy pass, feeling relieved. “Here we are, see? Let's keep going, we're making good time.”

The others nodded, some of their nervousness fading as they turned up the pass and fell into loose formation, Avalon flying quickly up past the cliff face to scout ahead and then wait for the others. And Antares didn't know whether to be happy or grouchy when they reached the top of the cliff to look out over a snow-covered plateau that sloped down into a shallow vale beyond, cliffs and hills standing almost randomly here and there along the way and in the distance. Frost-kissed trees towered here and there, bending and swaying in the winds, many of them with their leaves robbed by frost while evergreens stood clothed in white: the snow was deep in pockets and had formed into wide banks and natural walls here and there, and it all seemed to form some kind of crazed natural labyrinth, as Antares mumbled: “No wonder Aunt Tia said ponies usually fly over this.”

“It's real pretty.” Rustproof commented, and Antares smiled despite himself, nodding after a moment in agreement. Then he glanced over his shoulder, but Rusty only smiled back at him with an easy shrug of his large shoulders, and Antares sighed after a moment: if the young colt-going-on-stallion didn't have a problem with it, Antares supposed that he probably shouldn't either.

They marched for another eight hours, and as Celestia had told them, it wasn't a daunting journey... they simply weren't able to move fast, thanks to the heavy snow, the rises and falls and twists and turns of the land in front of them, the pleasant-unpleasantness of the terrain. Sure, everything was very pretty and even Aphrodisia seemed to appreciate how gorgeous their natural surroundings were, but while it helped keep their spirits up it didn't make it any easier to muddle through.

They came to a stop just past a box canyon, just after sunset: the Strange One village wasn't much further from here, according to the map, but Antares both wasn't sure if the Strange Ones would give them lodgings, nor if it would be a good idea to try pressing on through the night. He thought it would be better to take their time, break for camp for the night, and then hopefully wind their way back to Ponyville tomorrow: he would rather be careful than put his friends in any possible danger.

They stopped in a wooded area, making themselves comfortable in a circular, little field beneath the canopy of bare branches. Aphrodisia, Rustproof, and Meadowlark gathered up firewood while Prestige carefully set up a simple warding enchantment: it would warn them if any supernatural entities drew in close. But then Aphrodisia crossed over the line drawn around the edge of camp and set it off, the boom and flash of light startling all six ponies... and unbeknownst to them, Cancer where he was lurking in some bushes a short ten feet away.

Aphrodisia had yelled at Prestige angrily for a while as the unicorn had embarrassedly reset the ward, and the demon had been grouchy at the prospect of being stuck in camp all night, but had grouchily agreed it was for the best. So she had set up the fire while Antares and Avalon put up the tents and Meadowlark had come back to sort through their food bags.

The six nestled in close as they built as large a fire as they dared, huddling in around it as dusk moved into darkness and they all shared the simple rations that Meadowlark had prepared: they only had two tents, but Aphrodisia mumbled that she was going to spend the night outside by the fire. Avalon, Meadowlark, and Rustproof would take one, Aphrodisia, Prestige and Antares the other. Most of the ponies had headed off early with little to do... but Antares and Aphrodisia had stayed up together, sitting side-by-side as they both gazed into the bonfire, and above their heads, the stars twinkled quietly as the moon shone down her blessed light, making the snow almost glow.

Cancer had slunk silently around the edge of the campsite, but something had kept him away: something had almost made him nervous, as he'd lurked outside the edge of the enchantment circle. It made no sense: he thought he could lunge in, subdue the demon long before she could scream for help, and then he'd be able to rip apart the punk, the punk who was right there... or hell, he could attack the tents, kill or infect some of their friends.

But he felt like the moon was watching above, and the warding line could disorient him, and he didn't dare underestimate the demon or the punk pony who had messed his plans up so badly last time. And Cancer licked his lips as he nervously looked at the roaring bonfire that was casting warmth and light over the area, shivering and drawing instinctively back. He was sweating still, his body was hot despite the cold, and even from here he could feel the heat of the flames; he saw the punk there, and he saw the fire, and he thought of when he'd been burnt up... he thought of how much fire hurt, even though he'd eaten up that fire demon...

As the night wore on, Antares stayed with Aphrodisia, who rested her head on his shoulder, eyes closed before she murmured softly: “Thank you for staying with me, Nova. You didn't have to, though.”

“What are big brothers for?” Antares asked softly with a smile, and Aphrodisia smiled radiantly at him for a moment before she huffed and bit his unarmored shoulder, making him wince back a little. “Hey! Apps!”

Aphrodisia only grumbled at him, then she dropped her head back against him, closing her eyes and mumbling: “I wish we weren't adults, Nova. I wish we were silly kids. And I like doing adult things and being big and strong but I still miss when we could just... sit around and play silly games together. I feel like that all went away too fast.”

“It did... for both of us.” Antares said quietly, glancing over at Aphrodisia and smiling a little. “I grew up too fast mentally and you... well... look at you.” Antares laughed a little, gesturing at her, and the demon grumbled but nodded against him as she reached up and brushed her mane back quietly. “But Phooka grow even faster, you know. How do you think they feel?”

“Oh screw you, Nova. Great way to make me feel better.” Aphrodisia shoved him, and Antares laughed even as he swayed to the side before the demon softened and looked up at him, studying him quietly. “Do you think... we're doing okay as grownups? Do you think... our parents will be proud of us? And when Uncle Scrivy and Aunt Brynhild get back... what do you think... they'll think of both of us? Mommy says Uncle Scrivy was... is... her best friend. I want Mommy's best friend to like me.”

“You don't have to worry about that, Apps, you're amazing. Mom and Dad were both really fond of you, you know that...” Antares laughed a little, bowing his head forwards and closing his eyes. “With the way things have been lately, I think I have a lot more to worry about there than you do... I still think about how much I disappointed Aunt Tia and... it hurts. It hurts so much, still.”

He reached up, touching his chest quietly and shaking his head slowly as he murmured: “I'm supposed to be a leader, and strong, but I question myself every day, Apps. I wish I was more like Mom and Dad. Braver, stronger, just.. just all around better.”

“You're too hard on yourself.” Aphrodisia said quietly, nudging him gently before she smiled a little, adding softly: “Besides, look at you, big and strong and handsome. And you got Prestige, which is cute now that I've gotten over how much you two make me want to vomit and she's not a total bitch anymore. She still smells, though, and she's dumb. How can she be so smart and so dumb at the same time, Nova? I know you didn't do that to her. You're boring, you haven't done anything to her except tried to make her a better person. What kind of loser does that?”

“Oh shut up, Apps.” Antares was laughing though, shaking his head slowly before he smiled over at her, and she smiled back before they traded a fierce hug. “Thanks. For... for everything. And you know Prestige and I... I just...”

He stopped, then smiled a little, glancing quietly up at the sky, and Aphrodisia nodded slowly before she murmured: “You're silly. You're a lot more grown-up than me, Antares, but you still think such silly things about Aunt Brynhild and Uncle Scrivy. They're gonna be proud of you. They're gonna be happy to see you... you know. You found somepony. I just still really hope she isn't your actual special somepony. Still, you know, you should take the opportunity while you got it and all.”

“Yeah, I'm really gonna take advice from you on that subject.” Antares smiled all the same, looking over at the tent and shaking his head slowly as he said softly: “Yeah, I mean... I don't know if it's going to last forever. But I think... does it have to last forever to be real, to be good for us both, to be true? If... if Prestige and I part one day, I want it to be on good terms. I want us to be happy, and able to think of the time we spent together... with happiness. I want us to still be friends. But I also don't see that happening... any time soon. She... we go together, you know?”

“Yeah, I know. And I hate it.” Aphrodisia hugged him around the neck, and Antares laughed, closing his eyes and bowing his head forwards. “You make me think of Mommy sometimes. Mommy only has eyes for Daddy. Even if Daddy has eyes for everything.”

“We're such a weird family.” Antares said mildly, and Aphrodisia nodded happily a few times before the young stallion gazed up at the moon overhead, smiling a little as he felt a strange warmth flow through him, murmuring softly: “But that's perfectly okay, 'cause we take care of each other and we're happy. Well, as long as your Dad doesn't make Aunt Tia too angry.”

Aphrodisia giggled a little as she buried her face into his neck, and Antares wrapped a foreleg around her, hugging her lightly against his side with a soft smile. Eventually, Antares fell asleep, curling up a bit beside his cousin, but she kept him close and the fire burning high, the protective demon keeping a close eye over the young stallion she held up as a beloved big brother.

In the morning, Antares awoke feeling a little awkward, smiling lamely at Aphrodisia as he rubbed slowly at his face, before murmuring: “You make me have the weirdest dreams.”

“Yeah, I know. Be glad I'm not a little older.” Aphrodisia smiled a little, then she patted Antares' head childishly before asking curiously: “What'd you dream about?”

Antares mumbled and looked awkwardly away, and the demon grinned, half-lidding her eyes and leaning in excitedly. “Oh come on, I spent the whole night up! I love a story, tell me a story, and don't spare the details!”

“Later, I promise.” Antares said finally, glancing up at the russet sky overhead: the sun was slowly rising, and he shook his head as the demon sulked a bit. “Honestly, I'll tell you later. But we need to get the others up, and get on the march before it gets late, if we wanna make it back to Ponyville ahead of schedule.”

Aphrodisia nodded with a grumble, then she glanced moodily over at the tents before half-shoving Antares over and bouncing towards the cloth enclosures. She stopped outside of one, sticking her head through the flap... and then Antares slapped his forehead as the demon began to bark loudly and wildly, electing a series of startled, surprised and scared yells.

Once everypony was up – or more accurately, once the chaos in the campsite had ended, since Aphrodisia's little wake-up resulted in what had pretty much been a miniature riot – Prestige took down the warding circle and the others packed up while Meadowlark prepared breakfast. The ponies ate quickly after getting their gear together, then put out the fire and set out at a comfortable pace once they route had been planned, Avalon flying a little ahead to make sure they were on the right course.

Meadowlark, however, had the same sensation from yesterday, as she looked nervously over her shoulder every now and then... but the others were more concerned with the fact that the skies above were growing cloudier and darker, even though it was warm. Avalon loudly voiced her concerns that it was going to get cold again... but Antares was much more worried about a possible rainstorm. Cold they could deal with: if it rained, he wasn't sure they could handle that kind of bad weather with them all unused to extended marches like this, much less a hard march through nasty weather while trying to bring precious materials back to Ponyville.

There was one creature who was hoping for a storm, though: Cancer glared up at the sky as slithered and crawled after the ponies, his body morphing and rippling as he pulled himself through the snow. A heavy storm would make the ponies in front of him easy prey... and after a night spent doing nothing but lurking and observing them, he knew he had to eat soon. He was getting hungrier and hungrier... and his body was losing its coherency, he was becoming like nothing but a rippling mass that transformed based more on instinct and the world around him than any conscious thought he had.

He was serpentine one moment; the next, an arm was reaching up to seize a rock and yank himself upwards before it melted back into his body as he slithered through the snow; a moment later, he was quadrupedal, loping hurriedly behind a tree that he grabbed into and skittered up so he could hide in the cluster of dead branches and glare balefully in the direction of the ponies.

It was good and bad: it meant he was still strong, even if hunger made him feel weak. But it also meant his mind was reverting, becoming primal chaos, losing his ability to think for himself. He kept rumbling and rasping, as if trying to sound out a song, but he couldn't find the words and had to keep silencing himself: he was keeping a good distance between himself and the delicious-smelling morsels, if only to make sure he didn't charge wildly in for the kill, but soon enough the hunger would win out completely...

Cancer shivered as he trailed after them in the safety of the shadow cast by a jutting cliff, drooling and breathing hard, whispering: “No, no, oh... oh, we're gonna have the best delights ever, chief, but come on, gimme a little longer, a little further, before I... I...”

His head jerked to the side, eyes glowing red as he fell forwards, shivering violently as veins pulsed visibly through his mottled flesh and he rasped: “Kill, destroy, feed, infect. Spread... spread... consume life... all must join the Void...”

Then Cancer wrenched his head to the side, pleading with himself as he fell over, staring after the ponies as they breasted a snowy rise and they stood framed for a moment against the cloudy, listless sky... “Oh, oh, oh, it's beautiful... they look like the angels in the cemetery, they're the beautiful decorations we gonna put on display when we turn this whole world into one big mass grave... but oh, oh, I've come so far! I'm so, so hungry, but if I hold out just a little longer, then maybe... just maybe... oh, maybe maybe maybe maybe I can catch them unaware, and then we won't have to worry about Mommy coming in to rescue the demon bitch, or the patchwork dolls, or anything else...”

He gurgled, then hissed before reaching up, seizing the side of the cliffs and whispering fiercely: “Don't you want to make sure our revenge is successful? Oh, I wanna live, sure, I'm scared of burning up before I burn the world up, but that punk kid is the one who screwed with us before... who keeps showing up! He's the one to blame, him! We gotta kill him, we gotta wait and watch and kill the hell out of him and make sure we do it right...”

The monster's head twisted to the side, licking his lips as he gazed almost rapturously towards the ponies, before he whimpered as they began down the other side of the hill, and Cancer threw himself forwards, plodding through the powder as he staggered a little back and forth, whispering: “I love you need you want you miss you! Come back ponies, come back... come on into my mouth... it's getting so... so...”

Then Cancer frowned, hesitating as it caught the smell of something else in the air... something weird and unknown and... strange to it. It licked its lips slowly, then shook its head out as it murmured in surprise: “Ooh... what's this? Something brand new... something exotic... oh sweet, sweet salvation, hallelujah, the stupid little ponies have led the way and my prayers are answered!”

Cancer cackled... then covered his mouth before dropping flat in the snow, sending up a puff of powder that quickly settled... and ahead, Meadowlark had stopped in the middle of the snowfield they were crossing, looking worriedly over her shoulder as the other ponies stood awkwardly before the red Pegasus said almost desperately, looking back forwards: “You can't tell me that none of you heard that! Antares, I... I know I heard something, something's been following us this entire time, and-”

“Then why haven't I felt it? Why hasn't Avalon seen it, or super-eyes here seen anything out of the ordinary?” Aphrodisia asked waspishly as she jerked her head at Antares, but there was a hint of nervousness to her reaction. “I think you're just trying to get a pat on the butt for-”

“Enough, Apps, okay?” Antares said quietly, and the demon blushed a bit as she dropped her head with a grumble, before the young stallion glanced up and said quietly: “Avalon, do a quick search of the area behind us. Everyone else, we keep moving forwards. The Strange Ones are literally just up ahead: even if we are being followed, the best thing we can do is push forwards to safety.”

Avalon flew up into the air as Aphrodisia, Rustproof, and Prestige all gave hesitant nods, and Antares looked at Meadowlark almost pleadingly. The red Pegasus looked back, swallowing a little... then she closed her eyes and sighed quietly before nodding as well, saying finally: “Okay. I... okay, you're right, Antares. I'm sorry.”

“It's okay.” Antares shook his head, and there was silence for a few moments before Avalon returned and landed with a grunt on Antares' back. The stallion looked at her, then he simply nodded, murmuring: “Then let's just keep going. It might just be nerves, Meadow.”

“Yeah...” Meadowlark lowered her gaze uncomfortably, and Rustproof reached up to squeeze her shoulder gently, giving her a consoling look before he and the others strode onwards. Meadowlark hesitated for a moment, looking over her shoulder, then she sighed quietly and looked ahead, following quickly after the other ponies and glancing apprehensively ahead.

There were few signs of habitation, as they crossed the field, but it was obviously some kind of settlement: snow had been cleared away all in front of the tall cliffs that stood before them, and immense bonfires burned like beacons here and there. On closer inspection, it became clear that not all the rock formation was natural: large slabs of stone had been set up here and there to form the walls of dwellings, and windows and doorways had been carved into both these homes as well as the cliff face itself. There were caverns and entrances both at ground level, and along a rocky ledge above, suggesting that there was might be more hollow space in the mountains than there was stone.

It all looked empty and abandoned, though... that was, until they drew close. As Antares felt the warmth of the bonfire, bizarre, bipedal figures calmly began to emerge from homes to stare at them silently as if they had been waiting this entire time for them, and the glossy-black stallion swallowed a bit as they drew closer. Prestige instinctively fell back a little, looking nervous, and even Rustproof's features tensed: but only Antares had ever been to the village before, and the others had only a few passing experiences with the so-called Strange Ones at most.

All of them wore tan, hide-colored robes or cloaks, with thick cowls pulled up over their faces. Simple ropes were wrapped around their waists like belts, and what looked like nooses hung from the necks of each and every one of the beings. They were tall, even though most of them stood hunched forwards, and even with every inch of their forms shrouded by the cloaks and cowls they wore, they exuded a presence that could only be described as 'alien.'

After a few moments, Antares swallowed before stepping forwards, saying in as clear a voice as he could manage: “I'm here on behalf of Baroness Celestia to pick up supplies... we were told that you had completed work for her and... I'm here to pick that up.”

Antares fidgeted lamely, and then one of the Strange Ones stepped forwards and calmly swept an arm out, gesturing down the clean path alongside the mountains. “Antares Mīrus, son of Valkyrie Brynhild and Scrivener Blooms, you and your friends are welcome here. The supplies are being prepared as we speak.”

“Thank you.” Antares said awkwardly, then he glanced slowly in the direction the Strange One was still indicating, before clearing his throat and saying finally: “We'll... we'll go over there, then.”

The Strange One made no response, no movement, and Antares shifted nervously before he turned and hurried down the path, his friends quick to follow after him as Aphrodisia looked distrustfully at the creatures. Antares couldn't help but look over his shoulder, sighing in relief when the only Strange One that had moved finally lowered his arm, but then he caught the creature turning towards him and he hurriedly looked back ahead, giving an involuntary shiver despite himself. The Strange Ones – or Skin Walkers, as he had also heard them referred to – were unreadable to him. Whether they were wearing their cloaks or not, he simply couldn't read their emotions: these creatures were simply too... different.

They walked slowly along the path, trying to ignore the other Strange Ones that had gathered outside their homes to watch as they passed... and Antares winced a little as they passed by one that didn't have its cowl up, revealing the bulbous, rhombus-shaped head, the enormous, glassy and almost insectile white eyes, the creature's rubbery white skin. Prestige almost choked as they passed by it, but even Meadowlark had to turn away as the smooth-faced being stared after them, its large, lipless jaw nothing but an emotionless line as its sunken eyes regarded them inquisitively.

Antares thought that was what bothered him most about the Strange Ones: not that they were so different, but the fact they felt so distant. It was like they had no emotions, and they seemed to be on the thin border between absolute tranquility and complete nihilism. Nothing mattered to the Strange Ones except for their duties and obligations, their strange laws and codes and rules: they were an incredibly talented tribe, capable of creating beautiful artifacts and tools and weapons, and yet they would trade them away for the rawest of materials. Likewise, they would lend any assistance they were asked to give to Equestria's ponies and the Nibelung, but at the same time they refused to share almost any news or history with ponies, even if entire Strange One settlements were destroyed by disaster or rampaging dragons: they said their duty was to protect, not to be protected.

Antares glanced up as they approached several huts that were set up at the edge of the long cliff face, and several Strange Ones emerged from these thick hide tents, each carrying a heavy steel trunk. They wordlessly set these down before turning to go back inside, and Antares grimaced as Prestige murmured: “I hope that we don't have to carry those things in their entirety...”

“If we had to carry chests, I know Celestia would have sent us with a wagon... or she would have at least warned us.” Antares said after a moment, but he felt a moment of hesitation all the same, wondering if this could possibly be another test as two of the Strange Ones returned, one carrying a large, metallic tube and the other a satchel bag.

The Strange One with the tube put this calmly down beside one of the trunks, then turned and headed back into the tent he had come out of: the other put down the satchel bag, then opened the first chest as it said quietly: “We have prepared what we were asked to prepare by Valkyrie Freya. Lord Kvasir has told us to listen to her, so we listen: Lord Kvasir told us to follow, and we follow as much as we are permitted. You must deliver a message to him for us, Antares Mīrus: it is important for both our peoples that you do.”

“I... wait, what? I thought you guys could... I mean...” Antares fidgeted, looking uncomfortable. “I can't get to Valhalla. I mean... I don't think I could get there and... come back, maybe I should say.”

“Perhaps. But Valkyrie Freya can send our letter onwards, and it is important that he receives it. We have included it here.” The Strange One gestured towards the metal tube, looking up at them, darker-hued skin just visible beneath his cowl. “There is an interloper in this world that would do us all harm. We must prepare accordingly.”

“Cancer...” Antares said quietly, and the Strange One nodded calmly. For a moment, the glossy-black unicorn hesitated as his friends shifted behind him, while the Strange One only carefully opened the other chests, revealing the contents of all three: what ranged from trinkets and strange decorations to crystals, gemstones, pieces of armor and weapons, and devices Antares didn't have a name for, but often looked wonderful and dangerous in the same breath. “What... I mean...”

“You and your friends may take all that you desire. Only ensure that you also take what is important.” the Strange One said quietly, gesturing at the open chests. “They are tools we give to you freely to use, as is our duty.”

“I... you're really giving us all this stuff if we want it?”Antares hesitated, looking up almost nervously as the Strange One looked back impassably. “And... is the stuff for Celestia in there or...”

“As I have indicated, yes. Take what is important for Valkyrie Freya, and for yourselves. You may have need of it in the near future.” the Strange One replied softly, then it bowed its head politely to them before turning and simply head back inside one of the tents. For a few moments, there was silence, and then Avalon whooped and shot forwards, grinning brightly as she looked back and forth over the open chests excitedly before awkwardly clearing her throat when most of the group glared at her.

“What?” she asked dumbly, then huffed at the glowers she received. “Hey, they're the ones giving us stuff we didn't ask for. Free stuff. Cool stuff. Besides, doesn't Celestia always say that the stuff made by the Strange Ones is some of the best stuff around?”

“Except for what Sleipnir makes, yeah.” Antares said after a moment, and when Avalon looked at him imploringly, he only hesitated for a few seconds longer before sighing tiredly and nodding once. “Fine. But on one condition...” Avalon froze in mid-cheer. “First we sort this stuff out and load up what we need to bring back to Aunt Tia. Then you can grab whatever you want out of what's left, as long as you can carry it yourself. Same goes for the rest of us, too.”

Antares shook his head slowly as Avalon whooped again and then the young stallion muttered as Prestige looked at him awkwardly: “Well, Aunt Tia does always say that it's rude to turn down a freely-offered gift. Besides, Avalon's right. The Strange Ones really do make the best gear around.”

Meadowlark smiled a bit as she stepped up on Antares' side, touching his shoulder gently, and he sighed before nodding with a mumble. “Right, right, okay. Let's get the inventory sorted out, then, and then... hopefully we'll find some useful stuff among everything else.”

Avalon was already digging through the chests, but she was at least sorting things into piles based on what they were, and Antares gestured gently at the others to start helping her. As his friends walked forwards, he dug out the inventory list from his satchel, mumbling to himself as he looked over it before asking curiously: “Meadow, do you know what the crystal antennae look like? And Rustproof, what's a 'topaz battery?'”

Rustproof answered by turning and picking up a large, oval-carved golden crystal that seemed to glow strangely from within, as Meadowlark answered over her shoulder: “They're those things, actually... I think the Strange Ones actually made more than we really need...”

Antares nodded with a frown, glancing at the pile of rectangular, crystalline rods that Meadowlark had indicated before he shook his head, looking down at the list. “Yeah... well, we should take them all anyway.”

“Oh come on! There's so much cool stuff here!” Avalon wheedled, and then she whistled loudly as Antares gave her a half-exasperated, half-amused look, the tiny Pegasus scooping up what only looked to him like some kind of weird chain. “Oh hell, wing bracers! These are usually for show, but these ones actually look like they might be the real deal.”

“No taking stuff until after we get the important things packed up, Avalon. And it'll be good to have spares, or extra pieces. Maybe we can amplify the power further or something with them.” Antares replied, and Avalon grumbled but relented, before the young stallion read out quietly: “We need the antennae, the topaz batteries, uh... core rods, at least eight of them, and... a convertor core or something?”

“Big thing.” Rustproof grunted as he reached into a trunk, and Antares glanced curiously over at the enormous young earth pony before the glossy-black unicorn winced as Rustproof dragged a large, dome-shaped crystal set into some kind of heavy metallic base free, the other ponies staring before they all winced when the earth pony fumbled it and dropped it to the ground with a loud clank and a wheeze of effort. “Real big.”

Antares looked awkwardly at the core, feeling his stomach drop a little: with how heavy it seemed, it was clear that they were going to end up losing more time than he wanted to trying to transport it. Either he or Rustproof would have to carry it across their back: it was as wide as a wheel for a troop transport wagon, far larger than anything they could carry in their satchels.

Antares shortly realized that they would have a similar problem with the antennae: they were simply too long to easily fit in any of their packs, which meant they would have to bundle them together and somepony would have to carry them on their back instead of in a satchel. Which meant it would probably have to be Meadowlark, if she could bear the weight: Avalon needed to be able to stay airborne, and overloading Aphrodisia with supplies would be like using a battle axe as a table: it just was not bound to end well.

There were at least a dozen antennae, and Antares had a feeling they should take every one of them: the bundle wasn't too heavy, at least, although Meadowlark clearly found it uncomfortable to carry them. She didn't complain, though, and Antares admired that, even as he worried for her.

Prestige, meanwhile, would carry the core rods: the eight or so stout, octagonal crystals all fit in one satchel. In the saddlebag hanging on her other side, she carried two gemstone batteries... but they were much heavier than they looked, and when Rustproof glanced up with a silent offer, Antares agreed after only a moment with a sigh: Rustproof could carry the three remaining batteries in one satchel, while he had slipped on the other saddlebag filled with what looked like pieces of slate and carved tile. Antares wasn't entirely sure what they were, but he also wasn't about to question the importance of them, either: he knew enough about the Strange Ones to know if they had brought these specifically, whether they were on the inventory list or not they qualified as something important to take.

When Avalon realized they had distributed the gear and still had two empty satchel bags, she rubbed her hooves together gleefully and began digging through the remaining artifacts in the trunk. Antares sighed, but when Prestige and Meadowlark both looked at him awkwardly, he gestured to them almost grumpily and both mares brightened before hurrying forwards to the other chests.

Rustproof and Aphrodisia, meanwhile, were both poking curiously at the piles of sorted-out equipment, and Antares looked moodily over the things the Strange Ones had left out before he finally sighed and strode forwards, almost nervously pawing at one of the piles. There really was some gorgeous equipment here... but the idea of just taking these things didn't sit well with his stomach for some reason.

Avalon had already fitted a set of matching wing bracers she'd found on, and Antares paused to look up at this. At first he half-wanted to scold her, but then he only frowned and studied the strange armor curiously: they weren't chain after all, but U-shaped, carefully molded pieces of metal that clipped on over the upper edge of Avalon's wings. They moved with Avalon's wings as she carefully bent them back and forth, then flapped them rapidly: not to try and take to the air, but make sure the silvery bracers were on tight. Then she grinned widely, and Antares shook his head slowly with a small smile before the tiny Pegasus said enthusiastically as she caught him looking: “Dude, I've always wanted a set of these, but Dad said they're hard to find even in Cloudsdale and cost a fortune. But now look! They fit perfect!”

“You just want to hit things with your wings.” Aphrodisia remarked, and Avalon nodded in agreement with a grin, the demon snorting in amusement before her eyes locked on a set of hoof-boots with heavy steel guards that extended up to protect the lower leg, her eyes widening in delight. “Ooh! Pretty smashy things!”

Antares looked at the two, then his eyes roved to Prestige, Meadowlark, and Rustproof, and he was somehow unsurprised to see they were enjoying themselves as well. Prestige had picked out up pair of silver and obsidian earrings that she was marveling over, and Antares smiled a little before he leaned over and said quietly: “Careful what you take, Prestige. The Strange Ones put charms and enchantments on almost everything they make... even if it looks simple or just pretty, everything here has some kind of charm or ward woven into it. All of them are meant to... to do something.”

“I know, hero. I can feel the magic.” Prestige smiled over at him, and then her horn glowed, lifting the earrings from the ground and up in front of her eyes: for a moment, the aura around her horn grew brighter, and then she said quietly: “My mother bought me a set of earrings like these a long, long time ago... concentration charms. I broke them by accident... they were simply so old, so fragile, that when I lost control of a spell they shattered thanks to the recoil.”

Antares nodded a little, smiling a bit... and then Prestige laughed quietly before she smiled, the rune-shaped earrings sliding through the air and gently setting themselves into place in her ears. They glimmered quietly, and then Prestige turned to Antares, smiling over at him. “You should find something for yourself, hero. And stop worrying.”

The young stallion nodded hesitantly, then his eyes turned to Meadowlark, who smiled a little as she glanced up at him softly. She had found a pen and a few baubles among the piles of stuff that she was poking at, and Antares regarded what she had taken curiously before he simply nodded a little, saying finally: “Yeah. Yeah, I know we have to make the most of what we're offered.”

All the same, Antares only picked his way through the piled-up objects before he finally settled on a strange token. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but for some reason it called out to him, and he slipped the simple wooden circle into his satchel bag as he glanced around at the others, then sighed at Aphrodisia and Avalon. “You guys.”

“You said we could take as much as we could carry!” Avalon argued immediately, and Aphrodisia nodded violently as Antares looked at them sourly: Avalon had bundled Horses of Heaven knew how much stuff into a chainmail cloak, balled it all up, then jury-rigged it to her back like a pack with a harness. Aphrodisia, meanwhile, was wearing slightly-too large greaves over her hooves with extended guards that went up over her lower legs, enormous spiked pauldrons, had a buckler hanging over each hip and a skull-shaped half-mask with a crown of horns and silver thorns over her face. Antares was pretty sure she had a bunch of other trinkets tucked beneath her armor as well, not to mention the weapons sheathed over her back...

Then Avalon grinned as she leapt up... and wheezed loudly as her wings flapped wildly, blurring the air as she carefully forced herself several feet higher, gasping: “See! See! I can still... do my... job!”

Then she winced as one of her wings twisted slightly, and she fell out of the air to crash with a loud thud to the frostpacked ground, the chainmail cloak bursting open and sending objects flying in all directions. Antares threw his head back with a groan, and Avalon grinned lamely as she carefully picked herself up from the snow. “Ava!”

“Okay, okay, okay. I got the message.” Avalon mumbled, and then she paused before hurriedly snatching up a few of the other trinkets. Antares looked at her sourly, then he sighed when Rustproof stepped forwards to help before nodding moodily.

“Let's clean up and toss everything we aren't taking back in the trunks. Then I guess we can start the march back... and hope that we make it by tomorrow. I'm not so sure anymore we'll even be able to reach the Everfree Forest by nightfall...” Antares hesitated, looking up before he shook his head slowly as he gazed nervously in the direction of Ponyville, murmuring: “I wonder if Aunt Tia knew how big the core was. I... wonder.”

He quieted, then shook his head slowly before clearing his throat and looking at the others, saying finally: “Well, let's not dawdle or anything, right? We got a long walk ahead of us, and... we got work to do right now. But we'll get this done, we'll do it right, and we'll play it safe again on the way back and everything should go fine. Okay?”

The other ponies nodded, smiling at Antares... but Meadowlark felt a twist of nervousness inside her as she looked up and past the young stallion, shifting apprehensively after a moment. Antares barely seemed to notice, however, fixated as he was on his own thoughts and worries... and the red Pegasus finally shook her head, deciding to leave him alone for now as she gazed at him with softness, concern, and barely-hidden affection. She had confidence in him, faith that he'd make the right choice, that he'd notice if something was really wrong, after all...

But still, something nibbled at her mind and twisted inside her stomach, some desperate voice trying to warn her that something was wrong even as she did her best to brush it aside.

The Joker In The Deck

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Chapter Twenty: The Joker In The Deck
~BlackRoseRaven

Cancer shivered slowly where he laid, concealed in a dip in the snowy fields outside the Strange One encampment, breathing heavily, eyes burning with need and want and desire. He watched as the group of ponies made their way slowly across the field some thirty feet away, nervously looking back at the cliff side as the creatures they had consulted with calmly and quickly returned to their homes with all the silence of spirits fading back into their crypts... and the monster almost moaned in his throat, slavering as he whimpered: “Oh why can't I have my cake and eat it too? Oh, why are you so cruel sweet-honey-child, why are you so cruel to me?”

He snarled up at the gray skies overhead: the temperature had dropped a little, and the clouds had darkened, but there hadn't been any storm, hadn't been even a single drop of rain. And oh he was hungry... he was utterly starving, as a matter of fact, and he could feel his need to destroy, destroy, destroy rising higher and higher inside of his body...

“But chief, we gotta wait... just... just gotta wait just a little while, ooh...” His eyes followed the trail of the young ponies longingly, before he whispered: “Look at them, though, carryin' all that stuff like they're big boys gettin' milk from the store for Mommy all by themselves... but ooh, we got a surprise for them, right?”

Cancer licked his teeth slowly, rasping hard in as he trembled, then gargled and convulsed for a moment before clawing into the snow, burying his face in the powder as he gave a low, whispery scream. “No! N-Not yet... oh, look, honey, honey, I know the buffet is right there, sweetie-pie delight, and we're gonna help ourselves.. oh, oh, oh yes we're gonna have ourselves the munchies... but we gotta wait, don't you get it? Work with me, I and you! And if everything goes according to plan, those kids are gonna stop for the night again, right? So we're gonna wait, just a one-two-three-ten-thirty-sixty minutes... and then when those stupid unsuspecting brats are nice and far away...”

Cancer slowly looked up, licking his teeth as his red, insectile eyes stared hungrily towards the abandoned-looking mountainside... but oh, the smells he smelled, the sounds he heard... “Dinnertime.”

The monster grinned slowly... then shivered as it turned its head in the direction of the young ponies, adding in a murmur: “And no, no, oh no no no... we ain't forgetting about those half-dozen cooked turkeys, just waiting to be gobbled down. And we're gonna eat every last one of 'em, we're gonna suck the creamy marrow from their bones and drink down their very goddamn spirit... but not just yet, oh no. We gotta get ourselves some nutritious and delicious brekky first before we go lickin' lollipops for dessert, and have ourselves the sweet coke cake of... r... r...”

The monster gargled, then its eyes glowed bright red as its head twisted violently to the side, rasping: “Revenge... we will have our revenge... we will skin the child while he lives and melt his living flesh from his bones, feast upon his organs, kill, absorb, infect, evolve... we shall evolve to destroy...”

The monster trembled, then slumped, body rippling, losing its physical coherence as bones jutted cruelly and wildly up from it, a limb transformed into a melted mess of a tentacle, teeth grew too large in its jaw as it moaned... and then in a flash, the transformations reversed themselves as the goblinoid monster curled up in the fetal position in the dip in the fields, whispering: “Hold on just a little longer, sweet cheeks, then I'll let you out to play and oh, oh, oh we'll have so much fun doing ring around the rosey with our pockets full of ashes, hush now, hush now, the poisoned posey brings the foals... all falling down...”

Cancer grinned widely, shivering once where he lay in the snow, breathing hard in and out as his amorphous form rippled and distorted before he straightened a bit and whispered: “Yes... yes... we're almost there... we just gotta wait... we just gotta take our slow, slow time, and wait for the kiddies to go so far away they won't hear a thing... and then, then we get our strength back...”

The monster breathed harder in and out, eyes slowly raising to stare up at the gray skies overhead, delighting in its find even as it bemoaned being forced to wait again to take his revenge on the foals. He occupied himself for more than an hour thinking about all the things he was going to do to the young ponies, all the pain and suffering he was going to heap on their heads. Especially the punk... oh, the demon too he was going to peel apart piece-by-piece, but especially, especially the little stupid kid that dared to challenge him, that had dared to actually fight him, that had taken his cheap shot and almost cost him the war...

Cancer's eyes glowed with rage with these thoughts, breathing hard as he slowly pushed himself up to his feet. He twisted back and forth as claws sprouted from the half-melted ends of his legs, became bony, deadly hooks as his jaw grew larger, an extra, twisted limb sprouting from one shoulder as his mouth fell open in a hungry gape. Drool dripped from his jaws as he staggered towards the cliff face, breathing harder and heavier, his red eyes glowing all the brighter as he threw his head back and screamed: “Dinner time!”

The monster grinned widely as it eagerly dragged itself onto the packed snow and carefully edged around one of the bonfires, rasping hard as cloaked Strange Ones emerged from their homes as calmly and silently as they had for the ponies. They looked at him fearlessly, emotionlessly, and Cancer giggled wildly as his head twitched back and forth before he licked his oversized teeth, eyes blazing as his claws scraped delightedly against the ground. “Yes, yes, yes, comin' out, savin' me the trouble of-”

Then the monster stuttered to a halt as his back arched, his eyes widening as he felt something pass through him so fast he didn't even have the time to register pain. The Strange Ones only stood, and Cancer gurgled and twitched before he looked slowly back and forth: on either side of him, Strange Ones in stiff leather armor had landed beside him after leaping from some unseen vantage point, and their dexterous, long-fingered hands both clutched the bodies of spears... spears that were buried all the way through Cancer and now anchored into the ground, forming a perfect X through the creature's body.

Cancer screamed and began to jitter wildly, the wooden poles feeling strange and agonizing, his red eyes glowing as one of the Strange Ones said quietly: “We appreciate your arrogance in coming to us. We have dealt with invaders before. We do not fear you.”

“You'll learn to fear me, honey!” Cancer screamed in rage, before he snapped his forelimbs out to either side as they turned from claws into tentacles, wrapping violently around the Strange One warriors, hooked blades and thorns ripping out along their length to puncture, rip and tear as the monster shouted furiously: “I ain't like anything you ever dealt with before!”

Ignoring the spears buried through him, Cancer jerked backwards, yanking both warriors off their feet before slamming them savagely down into the ground in front of him with a loud crunch. The cloaked Strange Ones, meanwhile, simply traded looks and reacted with unfettered calm: some simply turned to walk calmly away, while others strode towards the bonfires, reaching down to pick up burning pieces of wood.

The lack of fear, the casualness of it all enraged Cancer as he lashed his tentacles backwards, ripping them free of the broken bodies of the Strange Ones in front of him and splattering himself with their watery blood before he snapped one mess of tentacles forwards as the other limb transformed back into a claw. These snapped into the nearest cloaked Strange One, ripping through rubbery skin like daggers, constricting and seizing limbs and hefting the creature into the air before he snapped it quickly backwards into a group of the slowly-approaching beings, hissing: “You stupid clowns don't get it, do you? I'm here to kill you all!”

The Strange Ones were silent as they continued their calm approach, before Cancer leapt backwards with a yelp, making the spears still buried in his body clack together as another warrior landed in front of him, its long spear digging a thin gash along Cancer's shoulder. The monster snarled in fury, but then skittered hurriedly backwards with a wince when the warrior stood and smoothly began to drive forwards: unlike the other Strange Ones, the warriors moved with grace and speed, the destruction entity barely able to keep himself staggering backwards and out of the way of the rapid series of stabs aimed at his body and face.

“No fair, I don't got... oh wait!” Cancer snarled, even as several more Strange One warriors sprinted into the field, and then his tail snapped out behind him, becoming longer and whiplike before it lashed up and wrapped rapidly around the body of one of the spears still buried through his body, yanking it free and flinging it hard forwards.

The Strange One easily parried the spear with his own, but it gave Cancer the time to rip the other free with his tail before he looked back and forth stupidly as he realized the Strange Ones he had seen moments ago advancing on him... were now all around him. “Holy hell, you guys move-”

Then Cancer screamed, arching his back in horror as no less than eight spears tore through his body from all around him, the Strange Ones all leaning on the ends of their weapons to keep the monster anchored in place as one of them bowed his head forwards, saying quietly: “Keep up the pressure. He cannot transform if we keep him pinned.”

Cancer gargled and rasped, foaming wildly at the jaws, shrieking in agony as his body convulsed and rippled: bones pulsed up out of his flesh here and there, and his semi-solid frame tried to spread up the spears, but even the most reaching tendrils could only go a little way along the body: the pain, and moreover, the unnatural pressure the weapons put him under was just too great. All he could do was gargle and shiver and shriek as several of the cloaked Strange Ones calmly approached with burning timbers, one of them murmuring: “He is too dangerous to let live. He is invader, and unnatural; both things that we strive to purge from the world we guard.”

“Cleanse him, with fire.” said one of the Strange One warriors, and the others nodded in slow agreement as Cancer gargled, howled, screamed... and then suddenly grinned widely just as the Strange One began to bring the torch forwards.

“It must be my birthday! Let me blow out the candle!” he cried: the Strange Ones didn't react to him any more than they had reacted to his screams, before Cancer leaned forwards and released both a howl and a blast of reeking mist. The moment the toxic smog made contact with the flame, it erupted into a cloud of septic, greedy fire that splashed over the alien entities.

The cloaked Strange One staggered backwards, then seemed to shiver as the flames rapidly consumed its body, reeking steam rising up with the smoke: the two warriors that had been set aflame were burning up rapidly as well, and yet somehow still they only calmly leaned on their spears, showing no more emotion or pain than any of their compatriots did. The other cloaked Strange Ones continued to advance, and the warriors stayed steady as Cancer's eyes widened in horror... and then he snarled as he felt the heat of toxic flame racing greedily along the wooden spears back to its own source, and he snapped: “No one blows up Cancer but Cancer!”

The monster arched his back, howling in pain as his body rippled, his form bulging unnaturally as another of the cloaked Strange Ones brought a burning log forwards... and then Cancer exploded in a tremendous double-bang, turning the spears buried through him into shrapnel that pelted the warriors along with the monster's toxic, gooey body. Strange Ones were knocked sprawling in all directions as snow was kicked high into the air, mixing with the smoke and poison into a reeking miasma that hovered ominously above the ground.

For a few moments, there was silence: the few cloaked Strange Ones that had stood far enough to survive stood with their burning logs in hand, simply surveying the situation calmly as the poisonous mist slowly began to fade. In a few moments, the results of Cancer's blast were revealed... and the sights were horrifying, made massacre of the mind.

The snow was steaming and bubbling here and there, and chunks of Cancer's putrid form were twitching with life that even now refused to be snuffed out. Strange One warriors lay staring at the sky soullessly, no life in their eyes, their bodies steaming violently as they rotted away... and what was left behind was not bone, or flesh, or blood, but as rubbery skin tore and dissolved, water splashed out. Water that looked stagnant and poisoned, in which parasites almost visibly danced and cavorted.

For a few moments, the Strange Ones only stood... and then one of the cloaked figures calmly strode forwards as the few remaining creatures saw the still-living goo of Cancer shift unnaturally, beginning to puddle together. But before it could go far, the hand of a corpse lashed out, seizing the cloaked Strange One by the ankle and halting its progress as the corpse looked emptily up... and then suddenly grinned as red light filled the warrior's eyes, even as ashen rot spread over its rubbery shell. “Why are you in such a rush, friend?”

“Desecration. Ultimate defilement.” whispered the Strange One, and then it shoved the still burning branch down into the warrior's face, but it only gave a sickening squelch, the flames not catching against the corpse's wet and rubbery skin. Cancer only laughed through the body's jaws, squeezing harder, grinning widely as he spread his infection into the cloaked Strange One...

And horribly, the Strange One gave a quiet gasp, like that of surprise more than pain... before water burst in all directions through a cloak that collapsed soundlessly to the powder, sending up a quiet puff. The only sign it had ever been worn at all was the wetness... and the scraps of steaming, stretched rubber hide half-hidden beneath the cloth.

Cancer cackled, then he grinned viciously through the Strange One's mouth, the emotion so foreign on the face of the calm creatures that it transformed the warrior's corpse into a hideous mockery of its living self even more effectively than the visible rot and distortion of the body did. It jerked back and forth as it stood up, Cancer's living slime drawing its way through the snow to the corpse's feet, where it slithered up the puppeted warrior's legs to sink in through his flesh as the monster rasped: “Yeah, ooh, oh oh oh, now I'm starting to understand you guys real well, real swell... you're starting to make perfect sense to me, one-two-three, oh honey, honey, honey, and then... I...”

The corpse swung its arms out, and there was a horrible squelching sound before the body simply burst apart into rubbery ribbons, fetid, infected water spurting in all directions and leaving dark patches over the snow, revealing Cancer standing in all his glory, his mottled body shiny as it rippled strangely, his eyes glowing red, his teeth bared red fangs as the cloaked Strange Ones calmly looked at him. They made no move to either fight or flee, and Cancer's eyes glowed brighter before he grinned slowly, licking his teeth. “Good. I can smell it... yeah, I warned you, honey-honey... I'm the monster in your closet, I'm the snake under your bed, I'm everything you're scared of...”

He twitched to the side, gargling, body rippling as he grew in size before he reared back with a fearsome roar, forelegs splitting apart into cruel, spiked tentacles as his eyes glowed red, rasping: “And now I'm gonna make you dead!”

The Strange Ones only looked up at him silently, betraying no fear, no sorrow, not even anger; at most, there was only a sense of shame and disappointment before Cancer lunged...

Twenty minutes later, Cancer was licking his lips slowly as he strutted through the remains of the Strange One village. Homes had been shattered, and here and there, parts of the mountain had caught aflame or collapsed from the wrath of the destruction entity. The bonfires still burned away, but they were lower, weaker, as if the great fires knew their masters had been extinguished, and snow had begun to fall, mixed with sleet, like nature's tears: it was like the entire world was reacting to the eradication of the village... or at least all the Strange Ones that Cancer had cared to find, anyway.

He shivered in delight, then sighed in relief, saying easily as he paced down a narrow path almost hidden in the cliffs: “Oh, my, they're such a strange and wonderful treats, though! All full of delicious, sweet-tasting water... water I can sour in their veins in a snap, and oh, no, they don't like that. They're rubber duckies, they're the ones, they make bloodbaths so much fun!”

Cancer laughed loudly, voice echoing along the narrow trench cut into the cliffs before he winced as some snow spilled down from above. He growled up at this in irritation, then shivered a little before he glanced to the side with a frown and sniffed loudly at the air: he'd grown bored of hunting down the last Strange Ones sitting here and there, who seemed to simply be calmly waiting for death, and instead decided to take a look-see around what this place had to offer. The homes had been disappointing, and there had been little in the way of chemicals or poisons... but maybe he'd just been judging these puritan-seeming creatures too fast, maybe they did have some dirty little secret after all...

He followed the scent, breathing heavily in and out: something ahead smelled delicious. Reeked of something he couldn't quite identify... but as he made his way slowly down into a cavern, Cancer grinned widely as he found his path suddenly blocked by two Strange One warriors, both armed with spears, both standing in his way. Both ready to die to protect whatever was in this cavern... whatever was so important that they had stayed down here on guard duty to keep an eye on it instead of joining the battlefield above.

Cancer grinned widely, his eyes blazing before one of the Strange Ones lunged, and the monster yelped as the spear tore through him... before his grin resurfaced as a foreleg transformed into a bony blade and he slammed this home into the warrior's stomach. At first, the Strange One showed no pain... and then a moment later, it twitched, its mouth parted slightly... and then its body steamed rapidly as it collapsed backwards, rubbery hide bursting apart in a toxic, watery spray.

It spilled backwards to the ground, and the second Strange One started forwards... but Cancer didn't give it the chance to attack, belching out a blast of fetid, poisonous gases into the Strange One's face. It stumbled backwards, and for a moment, there was silence as Cancer grinned as the Strange One shifted... then lifelessly collapsed, clinging lichen spreading over its features as it steamed faintly.

Cancer hummed to himself as he cheerfully reached up and yanked the spear out of his gelatinous body, tossing it aside before stomping his way over the corpses with a giggle, enjoying the feeling of their strange bodies crunching beneath him. He emerged into a larger cavern after a moment, looking curiously up a long set of stairs to something crystalline and cylindrical, and that delicious, delightful scent was strong here as he strode to the base of the steps, then called cheerfully: “Hello? Hey, hey, hey, what's that I smell? Are you a little bit of Heaven? Or are you a little bit of Hell?”

“H-Hello? Is someone out there?” whispered an excited voice, and Cancer grinned wider, his red eyes glowing with delight before he cackled and scurried up the steps, sprinting a little too fast and smacking headlong into the clear crystal prison at the top. The creature inside shrieked in surprise, rearing back in horror, her poison-green eyes widening in shock as she asked in surprise: “Who... no, what are you, monster? Wait... the Skin Walkers... did you kill the Skin Walkers?”

“I'm a pony! I really really clearly obviously want to be a pony, yeah? We all wanna be ponies, you me he she them us!” Cancer crowed, and then he grinned brightly, leaning forwards and breathing hard as he mashed his face against the glass... before the chitinous, black-coated creature inside leaned back with a shiver of disgust as Cancer's head slowly spun all the way around, whispering: “You're beautiful... oh, did those nasty weirdos lock you up in there, sweetie? Don't you worry, honey, Cancer took care of all those nasty-wasty rubbernecks for you.”

“I... you killed them all?” the creature's bug-like wings buzzed at her sides in excitement, her tattered blue mane swaying around her features as she grinned widely, revealing dangerous, toxic fangs. Her slit-like eyes glowed as she stepped towards the edge of her circular cell on limbs filled with gaping holes, and Cancer giggled at the sight of these before he marveled over the green, saddle-like structure that covered her back, and the warped black crown sitting atop her head, behind her jagged, zigzagging horn. “Oh, yes, yes! Now free me, my friend! I've been waiting so long to be free... and I can offer you anything you desire...”

The creature's eyes glowed as she leaned forwards with a sultry smile, and Cancer met her gaze... before the bug-like being inside the cage recoiled, gasping in shock, staggering hurriedly away as a tremble ran through her. Cancer only grinned wider, however, his red eyes glowing as he slowly reached up to stroke his hooves along the cage, whispering: “What's wrong, honey? Didn't you like what you saw?”

“D-Destruction... raw, horrible, the Void...” The bug-like entity trembled, then it forced a smile, bowing her head respectfully as she whispered: “P-Please don't harm me... I am the Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings, and I know my babies must still be out there, somewhere, hungry and wanting and needing their queen, needing me, to lead them... and I can. I can and will... we can work together! I require ponies for food, and you require ponies to destroy... I'll farm them, take over their society, and then give you as much as you wish to glut yourself with...”

“Oh, honey, I don't work like that.” Cancer clucked his tongue, then he grinned widely, bringing a hoof back before it transformed into a bony blade, and he thrusted this savagely forwards, sending it tearing through the crystalline shield. Chrysalis shrieked in shock, hurriedly scrambling to the opposite end of the cage, before Cancer yanked the bony blade back and then laughed loudly. “Oh, sweet pea! Don't look so frightened! If I wanted to hurt you I would have done it by now!”

Chrysalis forced herself to straighten, then she winced when Cancer slammed his head into the cracked wall of the prison, shattering it further before he sang softly and sweetly, the Changeling Queen staring in disbelief:

“Look at your eyes, so pretty and so wise,
Look at your face, puttin' angels to disgrace,
Look at your body, babe you're a hottie,
But sweetheart, it's your soul... that makes you beautiful...”

Cancer drew his head back, then swung it forwards again, smashing the prison wall in further, sending cracks rippling through the surface before he swung both hooves up into the crystalline prison on either side of where his head still rested, licking his lips hungrily. As more cracks spread through the wall, Chrysalis stared, but then began to slowly smile as Cancer wooed, voice rhythmic, coy, surprisingly-gentle:

“My heart's thuddin' your name, I'll never be the same!
I need you in my life, gotta have you as my wife,
You're the Queen of my dreams, you make me wanna scream,
I need you... it's true, it's true...”

Chrysalis straightened a little, looking flattered even as she also still seemed wary, as Cancer leaned back and then slammed both limbs into the wall, sending chunks of crystal flying in all directions as he smashed a hole in the prison. As the dust settled, he slipped inside, his red eyes half-lidded, a smile on his face as he slipped forwards and cajoled:

“I know we only just met, but my heart's already set,
I gotta have you as mine, if only for a little bit of time,
Oh honey you're so sweet, you make me feel complete,
And I ain't worthy miss, but may I have just one kiss?”

He leaned towards her, winking, licking his lips slowly before he grinned brightly, sidling slowly up to her... and for a moment, Chrysalis hesitated before she smiled in a sultry, delighted way, saying kindly: “Well... I suppose that one kiss couldn't hurt...”

She leaned towards him, and Cancer leaned down, mouths meeting... and then Chrysalis' eyes bulged as agony ripped through her, feeling something rip up into her chest before she gasped and jerked her head back, eyes staring in horror at Cancer. She shivered violently, gargling as dark blood spilled down his mottled limb, the bony blade sticking out of the end of this buried deep into her chest.

She stared up at him, and he looked back tenderly, leaning down and kissing affectionately over her face as he said lovingly: “Oh sweetie, don't you fret now, only gonna hurt for a minute! Let's just say I'm making you my wife the good old fashioned way...”

Chrysalis shrieked, then dropped her head forwards, gargling, limbs shaking as she shook her head wildly back and forth, snarling in fury as her horn sparked violently... before she felt something horrible, something dark, and something powerful passing into her, her green eyes taking on darker tones and a deeper glow. Her chitinous hide cracked as veins pulsed up beneath her skin, and her voice became guttural before agony turned to pleasure, before fear and horror turned to joy, before her anger and hatred of this horrific thing turned to worship and delight as she slowly looked up at him... and Cancer grinned savagely down at her as he whispered lovingly: “Oh sweetie, only the best for you, my fellow parasite. I hope you don't mind that I raided your pantry to give myself a little somethin'-somethin' extra... but honey, honey, honey, oh... I'm giving something back see?”

Chrysalis drooled, then snarled before trying to speak... but what came out instead was a barking, rumbling sound as she felt heat and power and pleasure taking over her mind. As she felt her body mutating, changing, transforming, raising a hoof slowly in front of her face to watch it split apart into a monstrous, gnarled claw, and Cancer grinned in excitement before he laughed in glee, stomping his hooves as he watched the transformation with delight.

It took half an hour... and it was only the start. Dark, mottled webbing and Cancer's slime had begun to spread over the walls of this cavern they were going to call 'home' for now... but Cancer giggled delightedly as he stuck his head cheerfully out of the cave, breathing hard. It wouldn't last them very long... his new wife was growing into a big girl now, and they'd need to cut out of this bachelor pad and find themselves a proper home for two newlyweds to settle down in. Especially since they were newlyweds who would be expecting a family sooner rather than later...

Cancer glanced up at the snowy sky above, licking his teeth slowly as he whispered: “Griselda and me are gonna be real happy, just you wait and see. She ain't no chrysalis no more, after all... she's turning into the most beautiful, beautiful butterfly you ever did lay your eyes on! Gotta find her a meal, though... gotta keep up her strength... and oh, I'm gonna take my time now, taking care of her, building her up nice and big and strong, 'cause she's gonna help me knock all the blocks down...”

He grinned hungrily, licking his teeth slowly as he shivered in delight, feeling his own body strengthening, solidifying, as it processed the Changeling's genes and the powers he'd torn from her body. She was old, and she was strong, and she had the most deliciously metamorphic structure that let him do things to her even good ol' Discord hadn't been able to handle. She wouldn't become any mindless drone like the Jabberwock had been... she was going to be perfect for him, in every single way. She was going to be the most beautiful wife ever... and now, he giggled at the thought of letting those stupid kids get away. Oh, it was well worth it... it was better than worth it. Let the ponies run, let them hide, let them prepare and think what they wanted!

Because when everything was said and done, he was going to march right on into their pretty little village. When his wife was good and ready, Griselda and he would be able to storm the gates of the filthy demon garbage heap under the giant buffet-city, and they'd make mincemeat out of everyone there... but oh, first. First he wanted to attack the little dirt-stain town. First he wanted to get his claws into the white weasel, and gobble her down. Then he'd feed the zombie to his pretty wife, and then he'd hunt down and make that stupid punk kid really suffer... oh, yes. Now waiting didn't bother him, waiting just made it all sweeter, because he had Griselda, his butterfly, to help grow big and strong. Now he had someone to entertain him so he wasn't so alone anymore.

Then Cancer glanced up with a curse under his breath as he looked up past the cliff top. He was protected on the path to some extent by the narrow cliffs above his head, but the sleet and powder had turned to a heavier blizzard that he didn't dare go too far in, for fear of once more being turned to ice. The monster grumbled under his breath, then he grimaced when he stepped on a Strange One's corpse... before shrugging and easily picking this up, tossing it over his back as he began to whistle loudly, turning to head back towards the cave. He and his wife would keep each other warm over the long winter, that's all there was to it... and he grinned slowly as he licked his lips, whispering: “Ain't nothing better than being in love, ain't that right?”

Cancer threw his head back and laughed... and as if in response, the earth trembled with the roar of the hideous monstrosity lurking beneath the ground. A beast aware only of its endless hunger, and of its servitude towards the monster that provided it with power and a corrupted, twisted lie of love; a prisoner of Cancer's perverse games more enslaved now than she had ever been in her crystalline cell.

Carrying the equipment was hard enough, even distributed as fairly as possible between the ponies as it was... but when the snow and sleet began to fall, Antares wondered miserably if they had just stepped out of Equestria and into some twisted circle of Hell.

As he had been worried, they simply weren't prepared for the bad weather: snow would have likely been bad enough to slow them down, but the addition of the wet, icy rain felt like unnecessary cruelty, as they stumbled their way sluggishly through the valley beneath the pelting sleet. It was heavy enough to drive Avalon from the air, making her spit curses as she tried to hide herself on Antares' back but did little more than make both herself and the young stallion even more miserable. She clung to him but kept slipping against his wet armor as he stumbled up a slope here or down into a depression in the valley there, but the glossy-black unicorn didn't have the heart to tell her to get off him, either: the sleet had turned the snow over the ground into sludge that went up to at least their shins, and he was worried that the tiny Pegasus could literally be washed away in the churning snowy sludge.

Rustproof was at the back of the group, the enormous earth pony breathing hard and looking strained as he staggered forwards step-by-step: and yet in spite of everything, he refused to give up or slow down, even as the large core wobbled slowly back and forth on his back, sparkling with the sleet and snow dripping along its gemstone face. He was the youngest, and yet all the same, the enormous pony bore up the heaviest burden perhaps not with grace, but without complaint.

Meadowlark had her head low and eyes mostly closed, trembling beneath her coat as her wings kept shivering: she kept stumbling a little over the terrain, but she was forcing herself to bear onwards. Prestige, meanwhile, wasn't doing as well... she kept mumbling to herself and cursing under her breath, stumbling a little here and there and slowing down as her horn glowed brightly, trying to keep herself warm and the area around them lit with magic.

Aphrodisia, lastly, was plodding onwards at their side, breathing hard and growling every so often at the sky, as if she thought she could intimidate the sleet into stopping. As she waded through the slurry, she grew more and more visibly frustrated, her breath rushing in and out, glaring back and forth as she snarled, demonic temper and child-like emotions both fueling her frustrations all the higher.

Antares looked up, forcing himself to stare through the oncoming sleet with a wince as he cursed under his breath... before yelping when he felt something give way beneath him, and he tumbled forwards, cursing in pain as he rolled down into a ditch with a loud splash. Avalon was flung from his back with a yelp before she splashed down beside him in the shallow, murky water, and there were yells from above before Aphrodisia leapt forwards, skidding down the snowy embankment as the others stood at the top of the narrow trench and looked down worriedly. “Nova! Aviator!”

“Ain't n-no Aviator right now...” Avalon mumbled as she picked herself up, shaking herself off and shivering violently as the sleet continued to pelt down. The wet, filthy snow came up almost to her neck, and her armor and gear was now dripping with water as her breath hitched once, Antares looking over at her sharply... but then Avalon growled at him, gritting her teeth and swallowing back her emotions as she asked roughly: “Are we gonna keep moving or not?”

Antares shivered a bit, flapping his leathery wings once as he turned around and carefully began to scramble back up the embankment. Aphrodisia reached down, grabbing him firmly and helping drag him up, as Avalon crawled her way through the slurry and then up the snowy slope, shivering harder. She cursed under her breath as she skidded a little, but Meadowlark grabbed her and pulled her forwards, and both Antares and Avalon winced as Prestige's horn glowed brighter and a wave of heat encircled the group of ponies, as she muttered: “I can't hold this for long but the last thing we need is you two getting hypothermia.”

“Nice seeing you caring for a shorn-wing like me.” Avalon muttered, and Prestige only smiled wryly before the tiny Pegasus flapped her wings a few times and hopped into the air, carrying herself back onto Antares' back as she muttered: “I hate being a midget.”

“You're not a midget, Ava. Besides, that's one of my favorite things about you.” Antares said softly, and Avalon snorted in amusement and hammered a hoof gently against his back before she curled up with a mumble. Antares glanced thankfully over at Prestige, but he didn't even have to say the words for her to smile back at him and nod slightly. For a moment, the two just looked at each other, and then Antares shook his head slowly, grimacing a bit before he shivered as the sleet seemed to become heavier, every half-frozen droplet feeling like a dagger against his face. “We need to push on and find somewhere to stop. We're still out in the open in this valley...”

“I don't remember passing this trench, Antares... we might have stumbled off the path at some point.” Meadowlark said nervously, and Antares grimaced and shivered at this thought before he glanced back and forth, then cursed under his breath quietly. “I... I think that maybe we should head this way...”

She gestured to the right, and Antares hesitated as he studied Meadowlark. For a moment, he wanted to say no, wanted to say that they should find a way over the ditch and keep going, not wanting to admit that he might have led them on the wrong path... and then he gritted his teeth before finally sighing and nodding a little, murmuring: “I... maybe you're right, Meadow. Let's try your route.”

“Thank you, Antares.” Meadowlark said softly, and Antares smiled faintly at her, nodding hesitantly before she turned and strode forwards, and Antares walked up beside her as Prestige's horn continued to glow, sustaining the circle of heat around the ponies.

Aphrodisia and Rustproof followed last, the demon frowning a little at the young male as he kept his head down, breathing hard and flushed deeply despite the cold and heavy sleet. Then the demon shook her head, wading grouchily up to the front of the line as she called sharply: “Antares, we need to take a break soon!”

“If I'm right, there's a place just up ahead where we can stop... somewhere sheltered, I mean. We just need to push a little further... but it's hard to say how far because of the storm...” Meadowlark replied, and Aphrodisia glanced over at her before the red Pegasus hesitated, then asked: “Wait, Aphrodisia... you can become immaterial, right? Could you scout ahead?”

“Not with all this gear on.” Aphrodisia shook her head, then she hesitated for a moment before saying meditatively: “But maybe I don't need to fall back on fancy powers or anything. I'll be back in five.”

With that, Aphrodisia lunged forwards, grunting as she barreled her way through the slurry, and Antares shouted after her with surprise before he cursed under his breath. Meadowlark gazed in surprise after the demon, and then the red Pegasus flushed deeply when Antares looked over his shoulder at her with a mix of anger and embarrassment in his eyes. “What do you think you're doing? You're not the leader, Meadow, I am, and you can't just send Aphrodisia out alone... who knows what might be out there? And I already can't see her thanks to the storm... how's she going to find her way back to us?”

“I... Antares, I...” Meadowlark trembled a little, looking at him with surprise and pain in her eyes before she frowned and shook her head quickly, replying in an unsteady but sharp voice: “Well, just wandering around through the storm isn't getting us anywhere! You need to listen to us, Antares, we're all a team here... I'm part of the team, too!”

Antares shifted uncomfortably, grumbling a little to himself as he looked away, and then Meadowlark halted and simply glared at him, and the young stallion sighed as he came to a stop. He felt Avalon shift uneasily on his back, as Prestige came hesitantly forwards and Rustproof joined them, both the aura of heat and the stinging of the sleet going unnoticed for a few moments before Antares finally sighed, opened his mouth...

And beneath their hooves, there was a loud crackling before a thick sheet of ice broke apart thanks to their weight and the heat aura, and the young ponies all yelled as they tumbled into a sludgy pond with loud splashes and clatters. They toppled all over one-another, Meadowlark shrieking in pain when Rustproof fell heavily on his side and the gemstone smashed down on one of the Pegasus' wings, and Avalon was flung into Prestige's face, the unicorn crying out in pain and agony as cold metal armor tore gashes against her features. Antares scrambled madly for his own hooves, but something caught his leg, and he fell backwards with a splash... and then a yell of his own as the ankle of one rear leg twisted painfully and there was a muffled snap.

He kicked out with his other leg, bracing himself against something and shoving off it to grab the edge of the pond, hurriedly crawling up and out as there was another cry from behind him. Antares hissed in pain as he forced himself to sprawl on his side and wiggle around in a circle, staring through the hail of sleet as Avalon coughed and gargled, hauling herself up out of the pond beside Prestige. Rustproof was stuck on his side though, gasping for air, struggling hard, and yet Antares only stared numbly as the young colt splashed helplessly, pinned by the heavy core with his face half-buried in the sludge and ice. And Meadowlark lay in the middle of the shallow pool, hugging her stomach, whimpering, one wing bent and twisted horribly.

Antares trembled, then he tried to get up before flopping down, clenching his eyes shut, his ankle throbbing: but that was nothing compared to the sense of dull defeat that overwhelmed him and smothered his senses. He breathed hard in and out... and then Aphrodisia rushed past him, splashing down into the water and hurrying past Meadowlark with a curse to grab at the bindings holding the core to Rustproof's back, then she snarled and simply ripped one of the tethers loose.

She seized Rusty and yanked him up to his hooves, helping drag him to the side of the pond, and he splashed hurriedly out onto dry land before falling forwards and collapsing, coughing and gagging as his breath whistled in and out. The demon was already back in the pool, and she grimaced as she slipped under Meadowlark and hefted the red Pegasus. But Meadowlark screamed in agony, her eyes clenching shut even as Aphrodisia muttered: “Just hold on, just hold on...”

She carefully shrugged Meadowlark off beside Avalon and Prestige, then looked sharply towards Antares... but he was only staring, breathing hard himself before the demon stormed through the shallow pond, reached down, and hit him across the face with one front hoof. The slap knocked Antares sprawling onto his back, and then Aphrodisia leaned down and grabbed the collar of his armor, shaking him violently once as she shouted: “Wake up! I need you to wake up, Antares, we need you!”

Antares nodded weakly, breathing hard before he clenched his eyes shut and forced himself to nod harder, looking up and muttering: “Okay... I... okay, I'm here.”

“Good. What do we do?” Aphrodisia asked, and Antares didn't know how to respond to the question, looking up at her blearily for a few moments before he carefully forced himself to stand, if only because the slow, painful movements bought him a little more time to think.

He looked slowly through the sleet at his friends, then cursed quietly at the sight of the core where it had lodged in the pond, slowly sinking deeper into the slurry. He grimaced, then rasped: “We need to get the core out-”

“No, forget that, we need to help our friends first, Antares!” Aphrodisia retorted, and Antares looked at her with surprise before the demon gestured angrily behind her at the ponies: Rustproof was shivering violently, breathing hard still and crying silently; tears streamed down Meadowlark's cheeks, as she held tightly onto her stomach, sobbing; Prestige was clutching numbly at her cut-open face and shivering, one of her earrings missing; Avalon's teeth chattered and her whole body shook, almost convulsing as she huddled up in as small a ball as she could make herself.

Antares shook his head weakly, and then he gritted his teeth, closing his eyes and beginning weakly: “We need to... we need to do what we were told, Aphrodisia, and we need to-”

“Will you forget about the stupid chores we were given?” Aphrodisia shouted, and then the demon shook her head violently before she reached up and shoved the young stallion hard. He stumbled, putting too much weight on his ankle, and he cried out in agony as he fell backwards and clutched at this, shivering violently as he realized it was broken.

The demon winced, leaning back... and then she cursed under her breath before looking back and forth as Antares just laid on the ground, trembling. After a moment, Aphrodisia turned away, hurrying over to the other mares and looking back and forth between Prestige and Meadowlark before asking roughly: “What do we do? Do we call for help?”

“Antares...” Prestige looked over at the stallion, shaking her head a bit before she began in a trembling voice: “Shouldn't... he's the...”

“He's out of it. I need to know what to do! I don't want to disappoint Aunt Tia and Mommy, but maybe we should give up, maybe we need to call for their help, I don't know if we could even reach the forest ahead...” Aphrodisia began, and then she halted with a frown when Meadowlark looked up sharply and swallowed back her sobs.

“H-How... far?” the red Pegasus asked, and then she whimpered a little. Aphrodisia studied her, then she leaned in closer, and Meadowlark shook her head even as tears continued to roll down her cheeks. “Lead... Avalon and Prestige there... I'll follow with Rustproof...”

“Shut up.” Aphrodisia murmured, but it was surprisingly gentle as she leaned forwards and gently forced Meadowlark's hooves away from her side... and she shivered at the sight of the ugly, swollen purple bruise, whispering: “That's not good, oh that's not good at all... Mommy and Daddy taught me about what that means, you're bleeding inside you...”

Meadowlark only gasped and shook her head sharply, then she almost shouted, glaring up at Aphrodisia challengingly: “Just listen to me! Take...” She shuddered, clutching at herself with a whimper again, as Prestige and Avalon both looked up with disbelief and yet total attention. “Take... Prestige and Avalon. Prestige can light a fire, Avalon can... start setting up camp... we... we need to get warm and get out of this weather... I'll follow once I get Rustproof.”

“I'll come back for you.” Aphrodisia promised, and then she hesitated before leaning forwards, asking quietly: “Do you trust me?”

Meadowlark looked up at the demon, trembling, before she nodded hesitantly... and Aphrodisia nodded back before she leaned forwards, baring her fangs before biting firmly down into Meadowlark's shoulder. The red Pegasus moaned, but the pain was far overridden by the utter agony bulging up from her midsection and ruptured wing... but then, slowly, agony faded into numbness that was tinged with the faintest bit of pleasure, and Aphrodisia leaned back after a moment, spitting out both red blood and orange toxin as she muttered: “Don't go to sleep. You might not wake up. I... I don't want you to not wake up.”

Then the demon stepped quickly past the red Pegasus as she sat blearily back, and Avalon yelped as she was easily tossed onto Aphrodisia's back before the dull pink mare grunted at Prestige. “Come on, let's get going.”

The unicorn mare nodded nervously, then she turned to hurry after Aphrodisia, looking apprehensively over at Antares... but she only shivered, turning her gaze forwards as she trembled a little at the sight of the young stallion, who was simply laying on the ground. She wanted to run to him... but at the same time, the unicorn recognized that she had a job to do, and that Aphrodisia might not be so forgiving if she tried to run over and cuddle Antares back to health instead of helping do something in order to try and keep herself and her friends alive.

Meadowlark, meanwhile, was carefully hauling herself to her hooves, breathing hard, eyes closed as she began to drag herself slowly around the pond. She groaned quietly as some of the pain returned, but most of her body still felt pleasantly numb, floaty... but it made her want to collapse, want to give in to the lethargy, have a nice little nap...

She shook her head hurriedly out as she stumbled a little... then she looked up with relief as she saw Antares carefully walking on three hooves towards Rustproof, who was still crying quietly. Giant earth pony or not, he was also only thirteen years old, emotionally and physically exhausted, and his pallor was sickly. And then Meadowlark looked up sharply, breathing harder as Antares leaned down and shook the younger male slowly, whispering: “Come on, Rusty. Give me a hoof getting that thing out of the pond.”

Rustproof only trembled, before Meadowlark rasped weakly: “Wait... don't... forget about it, we can come back and get it later, we need...”

“We can't risk losing or breaking it! We need to do our job!” Antares shouted, his voice cracking as he looked up furiously, and Meadowlark winced back at the almost-madness in his eyes as the young stallion shook his head violently back and forth. “I won't be a disappointment again, we... we can do this, do this all by ourselves, and...”

“No, we can't. It's... it's too much!” Meadowlark whispered in return, shivering beneath the heavy sleet as she breathed hard in and out, then coughed hard, shivering once. “We need to get to safety... need to call for help...”

“I won't give up, I won't! Rusty, come on, help me!” Antares shook the large earth pony firmly again, then gritted his teeth and shook him rougher, as Rustproof only tried to turn his head away, crying harder. “Please, I need... come on!”

Meadowlark gritted her teeth, then she stumbled forwards and reached up, gasping in pain as she shoved Antares. He stumbled, then cursed and fell back on his haunches, breathing raggedly as the Pegasus leaned down and hugged Rustproof tightly around the neck, whispering into his ear as he blindly reached up to cling to her: “Come on... come on, it's okay... we'll get it l-later... let's just walk, okay, you and me... we'll walk to where it's safe, and dry, and you can lay down...”

Antares panted hard, staring at the two with a deep ache in his eyes as he rested back on his haunches, trembling from the cold and the pain. He watched as Rustproof and Meadowlark slowly stood up, and the Pegasus glared at him as she began to lead the earth pony forwards... and the look that Rusty gave him, full of disappointment and pain and betrayal, filled the glossy black young stallion with misery as he shivered before dropping his head forwards in shame.

He looked up through the sharp sleet, seeing Aphrodisia coming back from wherever she had led them to help support Meadowlark and lead them to safety... and Antares dropped his head, breathing hard and shivering as he sat alone, feeling miserable, feeling like a failure. Slowly, his eyes roved towards the core that the Strange Ones had created... and he gritted his teeth before forcing himself to his hooves, breathing hard as he limped forwards and rasped: “Fine... fine. I'll do it myself, I'll... I'll fix everything...”

He trembled, staggering down into the shallow pool and cursing in pain as the sludgy, half-frozen water sloshed around him. He leaned forwards, pushing at the core, before gritting his teeth as he sat back on his haunches and grabbed the weighty dome, shaking it back and forth to try and dislodge it from the sludgy bottom of the pool it had sunken into. He grimaced, then yanked backwards on it, before gritting his teeth as his horn glowed, trying to use telekinesis as well as he levered the core back and forth before forcefully dragging back with all the strength of both mind and physical power...

He gave a curse of pain, then frustration boiled up a burst, and he shouted wordlessly as he yanked savagely on it again, this time throwing his whole body into the motion... and with a squelch, the core popped upwards and toppled back on him as Antares fell over, before he howled in agony as he fumbled the heavy dome and it fell on his bad ankle before he could pull it away, a loud crunch filling the air.

Water and gunk splashed over him as Antares shoved madly at the weight, crying out again as he tried his hardest to scramble backwards before he tumbled over, shivering and whimpering and grabbing weakly at his injured limb. He breathed hard in and out, shaking his head weakly as moans slowly rose up from his muzzle, numbness steadily spreading through his body as he laid back in the murky pool and bubbles floated up quietly from the core now hidden completely beneath the surface of the liquid.

Moving carefully, Antares stood up on three wobbly legs, then felt around his front hooves until he managed to grasp the sides of the core. He trembled a little, then whimpered as he half-fell, half-stumbled backwards and forcefully dragged the core beneath the surface of the liquid with him. His ankle felt like it was on fire, the pain keeping him wide awake and alert despite the numbness spreading through his body from the pond.

He got the core most of the way up the pond embankment, before whimpering when it slipped a bit in his grip, almost tumbling back to the water. He barely managed to catch it, placing it nervously down against the edge of the frozen pond before he carefully stumbled around it and down into the pool, getting to the other side of the device and shoving it upwards with a grunt, breathing hard as he forcefully pushed the core up past the surface of the pond, and finally over the lip of the pool and into the snow, laughing brokenly despite the pain that jolted through him with even the slightest bit of pressure on his bad ankle.

He breathed hard, closing his eyes as he crawled slowly up after the core to fall to the ground beside it in a shivering, gasping mess... and then he slowly, stupidly looked up to see Aphrodisia standing quietly over him, looking down at him silently. Antares looked back at her... and then the demon shook her head slowly before she reached down and seized the sides of the core, then gritted her teeth and hefted it up before slamming the wheel-sized dome down across Antares' back.

The glossy-black unicorn howled in pain, eyes bulging before Aphrodisia leaned down and shouted angrily into his face: “You want it so bad, Antares, you carry it! You carry it all the way back by yourself, now get up! Get up! Get up!”

She shoved and grabbed at him, and Antares shook his head back and forth, clenching his eyes shut and cursing before he forced himself up to his hooves: he wanted to argue, but a single look at the demon told him that would only make things worse as Aphrodisia harried him until he stood, then forcefully bulled into him. He stumbled along, crying out in agony every time he stepped on his broken ankle, his body shivering violently as he lurched back and forth, but Aphrodisia was always there; to keep him on his hooves, to catch him when he fell, to shove the weight back into place over his back as she forced him forwards.

After minutes that felt like hours, Antares staggered through a narrow copse of trees and into a small field, sheltered by a short, natural rock wall and several enormous, gnarled trees. A fire was already burning brightly in the middle of it, and Avalon had set up a makeshift shelter with some sticks and one of the tarps they had brought, and they had stacked their soaked gear under this on top of a frayed sheet.

Rustproof was setting up the tents, but he stopped to stare with the others when Aphrodisia bulled Antares into the campsite and drove him around the bonfire, the young stallion gasping in pain as tears leaked down his cheeks. He stumbled, and the demon finally grabbed him and flung him down, the core toppling off his back with a loud clang as it bounced off a rock and fell in the snow, the young stallion wincing before Aphrodisia snapped: “Take off your gear, we're stopping here until tomorrow!”

Antares breathed hard in and out, shivering, before the demon shook her head and looked up, heading over to Meadowlark as Prestige hurried to Antares' side. But the young male didn't even look at her, not even when the unicorn started to carefully pull off his equipment, whispering soothingly down to him.

Meadowlark looked quietly up at Aphrodisia, breathing slowly and heavily before she murmured, lowering her head: “Please don't be... so hard on him. He's trying, Apps...”

“I...” Aphrodisia halted, then she sighed and mumbled, not answering as she studied the mare before asking quietly: “Are you okay, Meadowlark? I mean, I don't care either way obviously, I just... don't want to drag your corpse back. That would be too much work.”

Meadowlark smiled faintly, and Aphrodisia leaned forwards before asking nervously: “Should I call Mommy or Burning Desire? You don't look well...”

“No... no... I just need...” Meadowlark shivered, then she looked over at Prestige. The unicorn seemed to feel her eyes, glancing up nervously from where she was tending to Antares before slowly nodding, carefully putting the stallion's breastplate aside before she awkwardly stood up.

Prestige lingered only a moment longer, stroking through Antares' mane soothingly before heading over to Meadowlark. The two regarded each other awkwardly for a few moments, and then Aphrodisia shook her head with a growl that brought them both to reality, before she muttered: “You two can't spend all day hating each other and competing for Nova unless you're both alive. So hurry the hell up and heal her.”

Prestige only sighed tiredly, and Meadowlark laughed weakly, looking away silently before the unicorn reached forwards and silently touched the large, distinct hoof-print over her ribs. The red Pegasus flinched at this, and Prestige breathed a little harder before she glanced slowly up, murmuring: “I... I want to apologize on Antares' behalf to you, Meadowlark... and because this is partly my fault, too. If I had been more careful with my magic, this wouldn't have happened...”

Meadowlark only shook her head silently, murmuring: “It was an accident and.. and...” She breathed a bit harder, leaning back with a bit of a tremble. “I can't blame Antares, still. He's trying so hard, he's... just...”

Her eyes roved away, and Prestige nodded silently before she closed her eyes, breathing slowly as she bowed her head forwards and murmured quietly: “This will hurt. I can heal you, but... this will hurt.”

“You want me to dose you again?” Aphrodisia asked quietly, but Meadowlark only shook her head, then reached out and grasped one of the demon's hooves firmly. Aphrodisia looked down in surprise at this... but then she slowly tightened her grip even as Rustproof approached and silently reached up to squeeze Meadowlark's shoulder as well.

The Pegasus breathed a little harder, shivering before she quickly nodded, gritting her teeth... and Prestige leaned forwards, focusing on the magic, wincing a bit before a bolt of energy shocked over Meadowlark, and she cried out in pain, then screamed louder when Prestige leaned forwards and a glow built over the Pegasus' body, as she squirmed back and forth and clung to both Rustproof and Aphrodisia.

Prestige breathed hard in and out, gritting her teeth as she continued to concentrate on her magic, even as Meadowlark's body began to steam and she cried out louder in pain, head wrenching back and forth before she finally slumped and moaned as magical recoil sparked along Prestige's horn and the unicorn stumbled backwards.

The only sound for a few moments was the heavy breathing of the ponies, the crackling of the fire, and a single moan from Meadowlark... but after a few moments, the Pegasus mare slowly settled, trembling a little as she looked weakly down at her side and hesitantly touched it.

Her rib still felt tender and fractured, but it was a vast improvement on it feeling like it was floating around somewhere else inside of her, and better yet the horrible blotching had faded out from her stomach. She was still bruised, but she no longer felt like she was like a bloating balloon, and she smiled faintly after a moment as she silently tested along her side before nodding slowly to Prestige, whispering: “Thank you.”

“I... it's no problem, but... I feel very tired now.” Prestige murmured quietly, and then the unicorn turned towards Antares, hesitating before asking quietly as she studied the glossy black stallion where was still laying weakly: “Aphrodisia... bully or not, you know him best... how is he doing?”

“Bad.” Aphrodisia hesitated, and then she sighed and shook her head out, mumbling: “I'm going to go splint his stupid ankle. You can heal it later.”

“Okay.” Prestige said simply, and when the demon looked at her with surprise, Prestige couldn't help but smile faintly. “You care about him, even if you are a prostatot demon child. I... I want to help him, but I'm... scared, too. And exhausted and... I'm... I don't understand what took over Antares to make him want to push us so hard...”

She looked down silently, then shook her head slowly as she murmured: “The only reason I don't call Burning Desire is because I do trust my hero, I do... but... I also trust the rest of you. All of you. It's... if I've seen one thing, it's that... you are all worth of respect. Mudwalkers or not.”

A chuckle came from near the fire, and then Avalon sat up from where she had been laying as close to the flames as she dared, the tiny Pegasus shaking herself quickly out before she muttered: “Never expected to hear you of all ponies say that, Prissy. But if you're honest then... you know I got your back. And I guess I've gotten used to having you and all your racism around.”

“Good. I don't intend to leave anytime soon.” Prestige said after a moment, smiling a little, and then she shook her head slowly before glancing up as Aphrodisia calmly walked over to Antares, hesitating only a few moments before sighing and striding after the demon.

Rustproof looked down quietly at Meadowlark, rubbing a large hoof soothingly along her back, but the red Pegasus only smiled a little before she shook her head, wincing a bit as she reached up and touched her stomach. “It's... I'm okay, Rusty. I'm just going to lay down at the fire... you should join us, you look all beaten up yourself. And sick...”

Rustproof only gave a shake of his head, then he hesitated for a moment before turning and heading towards the tents. Meadowlark frowned at him, then she sighed a little when the earth pony came back with a box of cigarettes, saying tiredly: “Rusty, honestly. This isn't the time for that...”

“Screw that, it's the perfect time for that.” Avalon grumbled, and Meadowlark glared at the tiny Pegasus as she sat up with a grimace, then held out a hoof, adding in a mutter: “Also, if you give me one, I won't tell your Mom that you've been smoking again. Haven't smoked since I was sixteen... you guys remember that?”

Meadowlark laughed despite herself, then she winced a bit at the sound of Antares giving a moan of pain, looking nervously over to see Aphrodisia doing something to his shattered ankle... and the red Pegasus shivered, feeling a bolt of sympathetic pain herself when Antares gave another low cry. She hurriedly forced her attention back to Avalon, though, as the tiny Pegasus hesitated only a moment before half-forcing a grin, continuing quietly but clearly: “Yeah... oh, were they ever pissed about finding me with smokes, and I think Mom blamed Cowlick and Dad would have too, except Dad's kind of scared of Cowlick. But then, of course, Mom decided to take a look through my whole backpack, make sure I wasn't hiding anything else... and she finds the half-empty bag of pot. Thank the Horses of Heaven she didn't know how much had been in there, but did she ever lay into me over it. And then the punishment! I was doing delivery duty by myself for a month, and I just about rebuilt the house from top to bottom with all the repairs and paint and spackle they made me put on everything.”

Rustproof chuckled as he passed his box of cigarettes to Avalon, and she pulled one free before making a face at the slightly-squashed, wet cylinder. She held it out towards the fire apprehensively... then grunted when it caught, bringing it back to take a slow draw on before blowing a puff of smoke into the air.

Meadowlark sighed as the tiny Pegasus passed the cigarettes back to Rustproof, who calmly lit one of his own before taking a low, easy drag, and the red Pegasus muttered disapprovingly: “Your mom's gonna find out, Rusty, and she's gonna be mad as hell. And Avalon, I thought you were smarter than the whole 'live fast, die young' lifestyle you put on.”

“Well, no way in Hell I'm ever growing old.” Avalon muttered, shaking her head with a snort as he took another drag on her cigarette, before smiling a little as she glanced over at Meadowlark. “Do you want one? Help you relax a little. Maybe stop you from being the mother of the group for a little while, huh?”

“No, I don't want one.” Meadowlark said waspishly... and then all three ponies at the fire winced as Antares cried out in agony. They all looked towards the glossy black stallion, but Aphrodisia was soothing him even as she grumbled at him a little, and Prestige was shivering, helping her bind the splint in place to a hoof that was now dripping blood. Meadowlark didn't want to guess what had happened, so she only shivered, turning her attention forwards and mumbling in a quieter voice: “I just... we're all supposed to be smarter than this, you know?”

Avalon only shrugged slowly, smiling after a moment herself as she closed her eyes and said quietly: “Who's smarter, Meadow? The old lonely pony who lives to a hundred, watching all his friends around him die off one after the other, always doing what he's told and never taking risks and being boring... or the pony who lives to forty or fifty, but has a ripe, whole life, full of adventure and living her dreams and doin' everything she ever wanted? Besides, I'm not doing cocaine and partying all night and day. I'm just... having a cigarette with a friend. There ain't nothin' wrong with that, is there? I mean, overlooking the fact he's still just a dumb kid.”

Avalon reached up... then grumbled when she could barely reach the upper leg of the behemoth beside her, as Rustproof smiled kindly down at her. Then the earth pony chuckled and lowered his head as far as he could, and Avalon grunted as she reached up and firmly ruffled his mane before leaning forwards and adding firmly as she almost shoved their faces together: “But hey, you listen to me, okay? This is a special occasion. Don't you go around thinking it's cool to do whenever the hell you want... and I really do wish you'd stop smoking, poo-brain. You're too young to live like me.”

“You're too young to live like you, Avalon.” Meadowlark said softly, and Avalon grinned widely before the larger Pegasus mare shook her head slowly, saying quietly: “And besides... none of us here are all that smart, or going to live to a hundred. Look where we are, what we've gotten involved in...”

“Hey, I dunno about that.” Avalon shook her head after a moment with a bit of a laugh, then she looked down and said softly: “Aren't we all here to like... fight for something we believe in? I mean, beyond Cancer and beyond... Antares' parents... I feel like my whole reason to live isn't just about flying fast, or being unstoppable, or fighting... it's about...” Avalon halted for a moment, then looked up quietly, nodding slowly once as she murmured: “It's about helping my friends and family, and making sure we all have something to believe in, to have hope in. Ain't the people who live the longest... people who got stuff like that to live for?”

There was silence... and then Avalon only laughed and looked up at the canopy of branches above, muttering: “But what the hell do I know? Just damn glad those trees are keeping out the worst of the rain.”

Meadowlark nodded slowly, then she glanced up as Antares silently approached with Aphrodisia and Prestige. The three sat down, and for a moment, there was a long, awkward quiet... before Antares closed his eyes and bowed his head forwards, whispering: “I'm sorry. I lost sight of... what I'm supposed to be doing here. You're my friends, not my soldiers, and I care about all of you, I just... got so scared and wrapped up in our job...”

He stopped, and Meadowlark smiled faintly before she shook her head slowly, looking at him softly. “It's okay, Antares. We... we all forget ourselves from time-to-time. And... look, we're all already doing better. We'll... if we take it slow, we can make it back to Ponyville in one piece, by ourselves, right?”

There were a few nods... and then Antares whimpered a bit when Aphrodisia punched him in the side, the demon adding quietly: “But we'll replace you with Meadowlark if you act like a flank-face again, got it?”

“Fair enough.” Antares wheezed, and then he dropped his head forwards and smiled faintly as Prestige wrapped a foreleg around him, squeezing him tightly. All the same, the young stallion's eyes roved first to Meadowlark, his gaze both apologetic and pleading... and Meadowlark only shook her head a little, glancing down but smiling all the same, closing her eyes before giving the smallest of nods to show that in spite of everything that had happened, in spite of all the choices they had made... they were still okay.

And the six stayed huddled close around the fire as storm slowly turned from sleet into heavy snow, blurring and blinding the air around the campsite, but leaving the ponies safe in the little sanctuary they had made for themselves. The temperature dropped, but the fire kept the warm; darkness came on fast, hastened all the more by the heavy clouds, but the campsite was bathed in the light of flames; night-creatures prowled and hungered, but the six ponies managed to salvage a meal from their soaked packs, and settled around the guardian flames, entrusting their safety to the rumbling fire over the soaked and frail tents.

The day had been long and rough, but the night showed compassion... and as the other ponies fell asleep one-by-one around him, Aphrodisia mumbling her forgiveness before she dropped her head against Antares' other side while Prestige curled to his chest, the young unicorn stallion felt like his mother and father were telling him to rest; that tomorrow would be a new chance to prove himself.

It's How You Play The Game

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Chapter Twenty One: It's How You Play The Game
~BlackRoseRaven

Antares awoke the next morning to find that Meadowlark and Rustproof were already up: Meadowlark was carefully going over their gear and examining everything for any damage, while Rustproof was taking down their unused tents and packing thing away. One of them had thrown a few fresh logs on the still-crackling flames: it looked like the fire had lasted the entire night, and for some reason, it felt like a good omen to the young stallion.

He glanced over his shoulder to see Aphrodisia had rolled around in the night, and was now clinging to tiny Avalon like a doll, while Avalon was smiling dreamily and chewing sleepily on her hoof. Prestige, meanwhile, was resting against him... but Antares was able to carefully shift himself away, and she only stirred a little before falling back into deep slumber.

Antares glanced up at the gray, listless sky, and he grimaced a bit before circling around the fire and quietly striding towards Meadowlark: after only a few steps, he felt a sudden, sharp bolt of pain from his back leg, and he cursed and stumbled before falling in a sprawl, startling the Pegasus before she sighed in relief at the sight of the glossy-black stallion as he winced and groaned on the ground. The Pegasus nervously approached after a moment, questioning quietly: “Are you okay?”

“Mostly. I forgot about my ankle.” Antares mumbled, shifting slowly before he sat carefully up with a grunt, shaking himself out and smiling awkwardly across at the Pegasus. She blushed a little, lowering her head, and there was silence between them for a few moments before Antares looked up and said quietly: “Thank you for taking over yesterday, Meadowlark. I want to promise you right now I'm not going to lose sight of things again, and I'm not going to turn on you, or disregard your advice or anything like that. I... I think I got jealous of you, too. You're a better leader than me.”

“No, I'm not. I only... it was just a rough day for all of us.” Meadowlark shook her head, then she stepped forwards a little, their eyes meeting silently. “I appreciate it, though... and... I was studying the maps earlier, and I think I have a route we can take...”

“Okay. We'll work together, side-by-side.” Antares nodded firmly, stepping towards her with a smile, and the two looked at each other silently, before the stallion glanced slowly back and forth. Rustproof was calmly going about his own business though, and the others were asleep, and Antares hesitated for a few long moments before he closed his eyes and said quietly: “I'm sorry about... everything else, too. Meadow, I... I still... you're still...”

Meadowlark leaned forwards and quieted him with a gentle, chaste kiss to the end of his muzzle, and Antares flushed as he opened his eyes and looked at her. She smiled faintly at him, gazing back into his eyes before she said softly: “I know. But it's okay. You... you and Prestige are good together. It... it just hurts, and it's going to take me time before...”

She stopped, then looked down and murmured softly: “Antares... you'll... you're always going to have a place in my heart. You're my friend, and I want to be your friend and... I care about you. So I just want to wish you well with things and hope it all works out for the best, and... let you know that... I'll always be here. Just like I hope that... you'll always be there for me, too.”

“I...” Antares nodded after a moment, and then he smiled faintly and glanced towards the fire, murmuring quietly: “Relationships are hard.”

“Yeah, but... I hope... I hope it works out for you both.” Meadowlark smiled sadly, but honestly, looking up at him quietly. “You know, Twilight... I wonder how she felt. I wonder what it was like with her and your parents, how they could do that, when... but I guess that was different.”

“It... was.” Antares smiled after a moment, then he murmured quietly: “Even though, sure, I wish I could... have you both.”

He blushed a bit, but Meadowlark smiled even as she blushed as well and glanced away. Then the young stallion shook his head before continuing quietly: “But it was different, yeah. Because... they all cared about each other. That's... why it's so easy to call her Mom, Meadow. Because Twilight really, honestly cared for both my Mom and Dad, and they cared for her just as deeply, just as much. I don't think... you or Prestige could ever feel that way towards each other. And I don't think... either of you are willing to... share.”

He finished lamely, and blushed deeper, but Meadowlark only laughed again and gazed at him silently, nodding slowly. For a few moments, there was quiet between them, before the young stallion said quietly: “But I hope you find somepony, Meadowlark. You're... you're brilliant, and beautiful.”

“Friendship is more than enough for now, Antares. Besides, it'll come... when it comes.” Meadowlark smiled after a moment, glancing quietly over at him and saying softly: “I always did like your Dad's romance poetry. The... the real stuff, not the poems that were all scary and bleak.”

“That's funny, Dad always said those were the real love poems.” Antares said ironically, and Meadowlark laughed despite herself and nodded, gazing at him with warmth before the glossy-black unicorn straightened a little, then he visibly steeled himself before leaning in and giving her a quiet peck on the cheek. “Okay. But you know you're smarter than me, right?”

Meadowlark only shrugged with a soft smile, and the two looked at each other for a few moments more before the Pegasus shook her head and murmured: “But come over here, you can help me sort out the equipment and I'll tell you about the route I found.”

Antares nodded firmly, following after the Pegasus and smiling at her: and as she talked, they worked side-by-side together, cleaning off gear, ensuring that water had been completely drained from their equipment, double-checking any damages to ensure they weren't serious and repairing what little they could fix. Antares enjoyed himself more than he could express... and he loved listening to her voice, the way she laid out her plans so calmly and clearly.

Eventually, the others woke up one-by-one, and joined them in taking down the campsite and making the preparations to move out. They were once more looking to Antares as leader, and whatever lingering suspicions or doubts there might have been were clearly remedied by the fact that Antares was working side-by-side with Meadowlark.

Antares also volunteered to carry the core himself, and he and Meadowlark had planned out several rest points, as long as the weather didn't worsen. But while the temperature had plummeted, the skies seemed overcast but far from stormy: none of the ponies expected they'd have to deal with another storm of blizzard and sleet.

The group got underway as soon as they could: once more with their gear distributed, most of their rations eaten, their equipment back over their bodies, Meadowlark and Antares led the group at a comfortable pace through the snowy wilderness. It made the way going a little more difficult, since it covered up landmarks, pitfalls and more dangerous terrain... but with Avalon scouting ahead and Antares and Meadowlark both constantly surveying the path in front of them, they were able to catch all but the most well-hidden of difficulties.

Prestige looked a little grumpy as she trailed behind with Rustproof, who had an unlit cigarette jutting out of his muzzle, rolling it slowly back and forth as he hummed a bit to himself. Antares looked back at her apologetically now and then, but he and Meadowlark were keeping up a fair stream of conversation, too... except his eyes seemed to linger on her as he looked a little too closely at the pegasus. Even if she was a little jealous, however, Prestige soon found herself frowning a little nervously at Meadowlark as well... she had realized that Antares seemed worried about her more than anything else, and the red Pegasus did seem a little unsteady, a little pale. And behind them, even from the back of their little caravan, Aphrodisia looked moody and worried herself.

Yet all the same, none of them said anything: after all, they were making good time, Meadowlark seemed rational and determined not to let whatever might be possibly paining her slow them down, and the whole group had agreed to skip the first rest stop with how good their pace was going and how, even with the difficulty of wading through the deeper patches of snow here and there, the march was easier than expected. Possibly because some of the snowy blanket had been washed away in places by the sleet, leaving only hardpack and even bare ground behind... but maybe it was also because the whole group of young ponies was feeling good, and felt determined to push through to the very end of their journey one way or another.

They reached the next point that Meadowlark had noted could be a possible stop for them by afternoon, and they decided to take a break for lunch. The red Pegasus only shook her head when offered food, adjusting her cloak and smiling a little... but Antares and Aphrodisia both traded looks before the demon finally said quietly: “You don't look so good.”

“It's.. nothing.” Meadowlark shook her head, smiling faintly as she rubbed at her pallid features. When the two only continued to look at her, she blushed a little... but not much blood tinged her pale face, as she murmured and lowered her head: “Honestly, I don't think it's any big deal... I just... I just feel nauseated, and a little lightheaded. It doesn't bother me as much while we're walking, though...”

Antares grimaced a bit, glancing over at Aphrodisia, who frowned and leaned forwards as she studied the Pegasus. Then she shook her head slowly, muttering: “You don't smell good.” Meadowlark sighed and rolled her eyes, and the demon glared at the crimson mare. “No, not like that! I mean... you don't smell healthy.”

“That's creepy, how you do that.” Avalon remarked, and Aphrodisia gave the tiny Pegasus a sour look as she flitted over, then frowned a bit at Meadowlark. “Hey, are you okay? You look kind of like I did that time I drank a whole bottle of Big Mac's whiskey. And then Mom made me clean the composter out.”

“Your Mom can be kind of mean. Rusty, you better hope she and Cowlick never team up on you for your dumb smoking habit.” Aphrodisia remarked, and then she sniffed a little, adding: “My Mommy says that when I'm just a little older I can smoke all I want and it won't hurt me like it hurts silly mortals. What do you think of that, Prestige? We demons make you unicorns look like dumb.”

“Apps, don't be a jerk.” Antares said dryly, and the demon huffed at him before the young stallion returned his eyes to Meadowlark, saying quietly: “If you're really hurting, Meadow, we can... we can slow down, or we can... call for help.”

The others glanced with surprise at the glossy-black unicorn, but Meadowlark only smiled faintly, shaking her head and murmuring: “No... thank you Antares, honestly, but it's okay. I'm okay... I just... we just... we should just keep going, okay?”

“Meadow...” Antares leaned forwards nervously, not needing his powers to feel there was something more than a little wrong with her speech, but Meadowlark only shook her head quickly again before she grimaced and swayed dazedly on the spot. Antares winced at this, then he reached up and touched her shoulder, saying apprehensively: “Look, if you're not well...”

“No, I... I'm fine. I swear.” Meadowlark murmured, then she gave a faint smile, looking up into Antares' eyes. “I wouldn't... I wouldn't lie to you about this. I can make it, and I don't want to mess things up any further, Mir. Besides, I feel better when we're moving... and when we get back to Ponyville, your sister can take a look at me if I still feel... not my best.”

“Alright.” Antares said finally after a moment, and then he nodded hesitantly as he traded looks with the others. They looked as unsure as he felt, but nodded themselves after a moment, and the young stallion grimaced a little as he murmured: “Then let's get ourselves going again. I think my ankle's starting to swell so... we'll have to move a little slower, anyway. But no, no, Rusty, it's okay. I can still carry this. I just need to hobble a little more.”

The group gathered itself up, and continued: Antares felt pain with every step he took, but it was dull and distant, and what preyed much more upon his mind was Meadowlark's state. Aphrodisia and Prestige lingered behind them, and Rustproof followed at the back of the pack, while Avalon continually scouted ahead and reported anything out of the ordinary or possibly dangerous that she saw. Thankfully, however, as they made their way up the slope, the valley's terrain became more normal instead of strewn with trees and rocks and gaps, and they made good time until they reached the path at the edge of the Everfree Forest.

Antares groaned in tangible relief as the others laughed a little: Ponyville was still hours away, sure, but Antares knew the Everfree better than any other pony around, with the possible exceptions of Celestia and Twilight... and maybe Zecora, but the zebra shaman was so mysterious it was difficult to tell exactly how much she knew about anything.

The glossy-black young stallion led them almost straight across the frost-speckled dirt road to the woods, quickly searching out a nearby game trail that he was able to bring the other ponies on, and Avalon flitted down to land on Rustproof's back and curl up with a content sigh, the tiny Pegasus mumbling: “Well, I'm done my job. Let me know if something horrible shows up, but otherwise, I'm catching a nap.”

“Ava, you could walk here if you wanted, the snow isn't even-” Antares began, and then he winced in surprise as something enormous stepped into the path ahead, staggering to a halt and cursing in pain as he readied himself. The demon only rumbled moodily, however, leaning forwards... and as the other ponies stared, relief spread over Antares' face as he looked up and said awkwardly to the scaly, ram-horned entity: “Atrus! I... sorry, I didn't recognize you at first...”

Atrus only grunted, then he said in his soft, serious voice: “The Dawn Bringer asked me to watch for you... I did not doubt her wisdom, but I questioned how badly six little ponies could injure themselves on a simple walk. I see I was wrong in underestimating your ability to find trouble.”

Antares smiled lamely, and Atrus looked ponderously over them before he stepped forwards, reaching his enormous claws out to undo the ropes holding the core on Antares' back before he easily lifted this free. The glossy-black young unicorn blushed a bit as the demon stepped back, then said quietly: “I will deliver this to the Dawn Bringer with the news of your return. I am sure she will send others to aid you, young prince. Please do not further injure yourselves while I am gone.”

With that, Atrus stepped backwards and vanished with the core, and Antares groaned and dropped his head forwards, mumbling: “I both like him and really really hate him sometimes. Alright, guys, let's keep going. Looks like we're going to get an escort, though.”

“I like demons.” Aphrodisia said positively, and Avalon laughed as Meadowlark and Antares smiled at each other and Prestige fought hard to repress her own giggle. Rustproof gave the demon an amused look, and Aphrodisia winked at him, saying kindly: “I like you too, Rusty, don't you worry. When you grow up you'll probably be as big as my Daddy. And I like my Daddy even more than I like other demons.”

Rustproof chuckled quietly, and the young ponies continued onwards; it was no surprise when only a few minutes later, Hevatica and several other Kelpies appeared. Antares smiled a little as his group came to a halt, and then Hevatica strode forwards and nuzzled him affectionately before sitting back and gently stroking under his chin with a cloven hoof, saying softly: “Look at you, young Antares. Do not fear... your first mission should not be a flawless victory. It puts far too much weight on a person for those missions yet to come... it raises your expectations too high. In the difficulties you've faced, I expect you've learned much about yourself and your team, though, have you not?”

“My friends and I...” Antares looked hesitantly over his shoulder, and then he returned his eyes to the Kelpie in front of him as the other demons watched with fascination and strange affection. “Yes, we have. But I was the one who screwed up, Hevatica. I think I'm... I really am starting to learn what being a leader is all about. What it means to be who I am, and... what the most important thing in any mission is.” Antares smiled a bit, glancing quietly towards Meadowlark. “I'm lucky to have such good teachers. And such good friends to... to show me when I'm right and when I'm wrong.”

“Yes. Let us purify your wounds, young ones. The Dawn Bringer's special guard are coming to escort you to her.” Hevatica said kindly, and then she smiled slightly, glancing up at Rustproof. “We'll clean your lungs too, silly child. You reek of smoke: your mother will know what you've been doing.”

Rustproof blushed a bit, and Avalon winced as she sat up on his back, asking lamely: “Hey, what about me, then? Cowlick's got a nose for that but so does my Mom.”

“Most mothers do. Good ones, at least, like those you are blessed with.” Hevatica smiled ,then she gestured at the other Kelpies, who strode calmly down the group with soft smiles on their faces. “Worry not, children. We'll take care of everything. Just trust in us.”

The Kelpies were true to their word, although their methods were strange: they rubbed snow into wounds and made the young ponies drink water: the reason for it being that the Kelpies purified any water they came in contact with. It worked to cleanse their wounds and flushed most lingering poisons out of their systems... except Meadowlark still looked sick, and Hevatica frowned with concern over the Pegasus, something that made Antares nervous.

All the same, the Kelpies said nothing about her and escorted them forwards, Antares grimacing a little as his swollen, broken ankle trembled beneath him... but it was much easier going without the core on his back, and while he was still hobbling and favoring the leg heavily, it had also been numbed from both the cold and the demons. And halfway through the forest, the Yamato Guard joined them to lead the group the rest of the way out in silent formation, and Antares felt a strange relief to have the golden-armored Nightmares all around them, guiding them through the end of their journey.

It was still evening by the time they reached Ponyville, the Nibelung and pony guards at the gate waving to them warmly, and the young ponies smiled awkwardly back as they continued forwards with their escort. Other ponies were on the street, watching as the large group walked by, some calling congratulations and others clapping, but Antares didn't feel like this was a victory, or a triumph. This had simply been an exercise they had barely passed; he didn't think he or his friends quite deserved applause just yet.

They reached the library, and the Yamato parted ways with them here, as did the Kelpies that Antares didn't know: Hevatica opened the door for them and led them inside, and Antares nodded his thanks to her before blushing a bit when she kissed his cheek as he passed by, saying kindly: “Your mother would be very proud, Antares Mīrus.”

Antares only smiled a little over his shoulder, then looked awkwardly up as he stepped into the library, and blushed embarrassedly at the many eyes that gazed at him: Celestia, Twilight Sparkle and Burning Desire, Fluttershy and Nirvana, Spike and Rarity, the parents and family of his friends... and as the group carefully assembled and finally was able to sit down and drop their loads of equipment, Celestia said softly: “I actually expected that you would call for help during the storm... I'm surprised that you didn't. But I see... there have been difficulties.”

Antares nodded, and Celestia held up a hoof when Sleipnir opened his mouth, not even glancing up as the enormous earth pony huffed. The Baroness was still almost solemn, however, gazing silently across at Antares as she asked quietly: “What happened? You're all tired, bruised, and beaten. Meadowlark, you... seem particularly hurt. Your wing is badly injured... and you...”

She frowned after a moment as Meadowlark smiled faintly, then Celestia glanced to Scarlet Sage, who was sitting at the edge of the room with Apple Bloom. “Please take Meadowlark upstairs to the guest room immediately, and tend to her injuries.”

“I'm... I'm fine, really, I just...” Meadowlark flushed a bit, then she said hurriedly, as Scarlet Sage walked forwards with a soft look to the red Pegasus: “It's my fault, Celestia, I-”

“No, Meadowlark. You... you saved everypony. And you saved them from me.” Antares said quietly, and then he looked up at Celestia, stepping forwards and swallowing thickly before he spoke again, meeting her eyes firmly even as his voice trembled: “It was all my fault, Aunt Tia... Baroness Celestia. I am responsible for everything that's happened... I forced our march through the storm, and I led us right into a ditch, and I was... I refused to listen to Meadowlark's advice, any advice at all. I led us over bad terrain and was the reason we all fell into a pool, I focused solely on the mission, on getting that core back to safety, while my friends suffered. I tried to overlook their pain and injuries... Meadowlark, even hurt as she was, she... she's the reason we're all standing here. And everything went smoothly when I listened to her, because she put our friends first. I only thought of the mission.”

“You remind me of a very foolish pony, Antares...” Celestia was smiling faintly, however, closing her eyes as she bowed her head forwards. “She learned the same lessons, but it took her... much longer to grasp the concepts than you have. The value of life, and of friendship, and of other ponies over... the 'mission.' I'm glad you've learned faster than she did... than I ever did.”

Celestia looked up at him quietly, then she frowned at the nervous look on Scarlet Sage's face, asking slowly: “What is it?”

The Blood Seer shook her head quickly, however, looking at Meadowlark before she said quietly: “Meadow, I need you to come with me. Celestia, I need to take her to the clinic, right now... Twilight, I really, really could use your help.”

Meadowlark only tilted her head, then she frowned and murmured: “No, n-no, I'm fine, honestly. I just feel sick to my stomach, but... I haven't eaten much and-”

“We'll talk about this in a few minutes, okay?” Scarlet Sage said gently, reaching up and soothingly stroking the red Pegasus' mane back; Antares frowned worriedly as he looked towards his sister, but she only smiled faintly, shaking her head once and meeting his eyes. Then the older Pegasus mare looked up as Twilight hurried forwards, and she carefully guided Meadowlark back towards the library door, saying softly: “It's going to be okay, Meadow, it is... just... come with me, okay?”

Twilight gave Antares a quick, anxious smile as she passed, and the young stallion winced a little at the worry in the Lich's eyes, feeling a twist through him: of guilt, of pain, of affection and concern. But Scarlet Sage was already hurrying Meadowlark out, and Twilight followed, and before Antares could think about doing or saying anything, Celestia said softly: “It's alright, Antares... you have an injury yourself that hasn't been dealt with. And your friends need to heal, too... let's save our conversation until after everypony's been tended to.”

Antares nodded hesitantly, and Celestia nodded slowly back, as his friends went to their family, their guardians, their caretakers. All except for Prestige, who had no one there... but when Celestia quietly approached Antares, the ivory winged unicorn smiled calmly over at the young unicorn mare and asked quietly: “Would you like to come with us? You don't seem badly injured.”

Prestige blushed and nodded a little, then she slowly looked back and forth through the room as Antares looked softly over his shoulder at her. The silver-maned mare regarded the others: Rustproof, with Cowlick and Ross both fussing over him, the young male smiling embarrassedly as his mother half-heckled, half-smothered him with affection; Avalon, grinning and bouncing back and forth as Apple Bloom laughed, Applejack smiled and Rainbow Dash talked warmly with his daughter; Aphrodisia as she clung to her father, who gazed down at her with warmth as he held her close and Pinkamena quietly rubbed over her daughter's back, Pinkie Pie bouncing beside them. And Spike and Rarity and Fluttershy and Nirvana were congratulating them each in turn, speaking with the young ponies here and there, while Antares and Prestige and Celestia sat in this quiet pocket in the center of the room: watching, and yet somehow... apart.

Then Celestia shook her head, turning and gently gesturing to Antares: he followed quickly, and Prestige did as well. They smiled when ponies called out to them, but continued on their way to the back steps, not slowing down or altering their course... but Antares was glad for it. He didn't want praise, especially not right now. He felt he still had a long way to go before he deserved anything like that... and first he wanted to know how Meadowlark was doing, too. If she was badly hurt after all...

They stepped into the guest room, and Antares softened as he looked back and forth: he knew that this had once been Twilight's room years ago, when she'd lived here in the library, before Celestia took it over. Then he smiled despite himself when Celestia gestured at them, saying quietly: “I'm going to go and talk to the others for a moment, make sure no other ponies are badly hurt. Take off your equipment, and Prestige, get him into bed and make him lie down.”

“Yes, Baroness.” Prestige smiled, then blushed a little when the ivory winged unicorn gave her a soft look. “I mean... Celestia.”

“Good.” Celestia said softly, then she turned and left: for a moment, Antares and Prestige only gazed at the doorway, and then they looked at each other before the unicorn mare leaned up, placed her hooves against his chest, and then leaned forwards to kiss him gently for moment.

He kissed her back, closing his eyes, then smiled faintly when their lips parted. His eyes remained closed as he heard her slowly removing her gear, before he finally sighed softly as they flickered open, dark cyan irises gazing quietly down at his swollen hoof before he began to quietly pull off his own equipment, murmuring: “Dammit, dammit, dammit.”

“Stop that, hero. Look, we did it. We're back home, and we can rest now.” Prestige said softly, glancing up at him, and Antares hesitated for a moment, but then finally nodded slowly in agreement. Then he smiled a bit when Prestige reached forwards and carefully helped him out of his breastplate, the young mare continuing softly: “It was... it was a very difficult journey, but look. Don't they seem proud of us? Even your Aunt... she's not disappointed at all, like you were concerned about.”

“I don't know about that. We'll know for sure when she comes back after talking to the others... and whether she's disappointed in me or not is now secondary to... to Meadow. I hope she's okay...” Antares murmured, shaking his head slowly before he sighed a little bit, saying quietly: “God she's strong... put me in my place, and walked back here even with something wrong with her, carrying some of our gear...”

“She is.” Prestige said quietly, glancing away as she put Antares' breastplate aside, and then she leaned forwards and hugged him fiercely around the neck, closing her eyes and burying her face against him. Antares hugged her back, closing his eyes, and the two were silent for a few moments before she sighed and sat back a little, pushing at him quietly: “Get into bed, go on.”

Antares smiled a little, and he crawled onto the mattress before grimacing a bit over his shoulder, half-rolling to raise his injured limb in the air. Prestige shivered a bit at the ugly splint, and the blood staining and half-frozen over his hoof, but Antares only shook his head as he mumbled: “It's still kinda numb, but I think it's going to start hurting a whole hell of a lot when it thaws. Apps fixed it, though, she knows that kind of stuff pretty well.”

Prestige nodded hesitantly, then Antares sighed and flopped over on his side, letting his leg drop to the mattress as he curled up a bit. The young mare looked at his back, and they were quiet until Celestia returned a few minutes later. She studied the two as Antares rolled over, looking up both worriedly and expectantly, but the winged unicorn only smiled at him and reached out, touching his shoulder gently. “Try and concentrate only on yourself for now, Antares. You've been through a lot. You need to rest.”

Antares nodded hesitantly, and Celestia studied him for a few moments before she glanced towards his ankle. She apprehensively touched this, and Antares flinched a little before the winged unicorn murmured: “I'm going to try and heal this, but it's going to be hurt. Splinting it isn't nearly enough for this level of injury, and the fact you've been walking on it has only worsened the damage.”

The young stallion winced a bit, and then he grimaced as Celestia's horn glowed before pain filled up his body, cursing under his breath as he clenched his eyes shut. Prestige reached out, grasping one of his front hooves between both her own, and Antares breathed harder, gritting his teeth and shivering as he squeezed convulsively against her grip. But the pain at least forced his mind to clear, and was almost welcome after how responsible he still felt for everything that had happened.

Antares looked ashen and ill as he stepped out of the clinic doors, dropping on his haunches and lowering his head with a tremble. He breathed roughly in and out as he clenched his eyes shut, then he shook his head slowly before grinding his hooves into the frosty ground, lowering his head forwards and cursing under his breath, trembling and only glad it was so early in the morning there were no other ponies around to see him like this. To see him at all, so he could slink back to the library or all the way back home in shame.

No pony blamed him, but that didn't matter: he blamed himself. He cursed, then looked back at the hind leg now wrapped in a cast before stomping it firmly, and sending a welcome blast of pain through his body, gritting his teeth and flinching but feeling vindictively, sickeningly glad for it. His ankle had been broken in three places, and the healing process had been excruciating... but it was nothing compared to what Meadowlark was going through.

She had spent the entire night at the clinic, and Scarlet Sage wanted to keep her in one of the special care rooms for the rest of today, too, to monitor her while she slept fitfully. He had gone in to see her, hoping for the best.. and just the look on Scarlet Sage's face when he'd stepped inside had been enough to kill all hope that things would be okay, that her injuries were gone and healed.

Prestige's magic hadn't properly healed Meadowlark's broken rib, or her internal injuries: the rib had instead warped and stretched, fusing into an organ as well as sealing along where it had been broken. Her inner punctures had clogged up, but her veins and innards were all a mess, fused together willy-nilly, new flesh here and there where there shouldn't be. And she had still been bleeding from a tear hidden deep in her abdomen... a slow leak that had filled much of her stomach with blood, hiding any telltale signs of internal bleeding.

And Meadowlark hadn't complained once about the pain. Had just wanted to impress them, to be like the ponies she not-so-secretly admired, a strong Pegasus instead of what she saw herself as, just a bookworm researcher. Antares trembled at this thought, then stomped his back hoof again, sending another bolt of pain through his body and cursing weakly. The only pony he could blame was himself... Prestige had just been trying to help, after all, and he hadn't been there to warn them, to help them, to guide them. He had been sulking and crying... and he had been the one who had kicked Meadowlark's ribs in while trying to lunge out of the pool.

Now she needed healing that Scarlet Sage could only do so much of, even with her powers and working all night: later this afternoon, Meadowlark would be moved to Ponyville hospital, for surgery. Either way, she would likely never be the same again... never as strong, never as active, never able to participate in all the things she had longed to, thanks to how fragile this would likely make her. And Antares hated that thought, knowing what it would do to Meadowlark's self-esteem... knowing that she would blame herself, when it was all his fault.

He rose his hoof again... but a voice said gently, before he could stomp it down: “That's not going to solve anything, kiddo. And you'll just make the pretty lady even more upset when she does wake up. You don't want that, do you?”

Antares grimaced a bit, and then he looked to the side with a quiet sigh, glaring at Allonym. The Draconequus only smiled at him, however, a fedora on his head and a leather jacket hanging over his shoulders like a cape, the sleeves swaying quietly on either side of him. His hands rested atop his cane, and the young stallion looked at him moodily before Allonym glanced towards the dark gray skies above, murmuring: “I'm not a morning person, you know, but at the same time... I do love mornings. No one else is out, and if I can manage to wake myself up, I feel good.”

Antares only shook his head slowly at this, sighing quietly before he asked after a moment: “What do you want, Allonym? I... I don't know if I can exactly put up with mystic, mysterious advice right about now.”

“I might be cryptic, but I don't think I'm really mysterious or mystical. Come on, kid, cheer up. Let's walk.” Allonym gestured calmly to the side, and Antares frowned moodily at him before the Draconequus said quietly: “It's important, okay?”

Antares Mīrus hesitated a moment longer... then he sighed and nodded, striding over to the Draconequus. Allonym smiled down at him, reaching up to tap the brim of his fedora before he turned, cane tapping quietly against the frozen ground as he carried it more than used it. Antares fell in pace beside him, looking down the icy road as they made their way slowly through Ponyville, before the Draconequus said softly: “Everyone will tell you they want a story that's real... but often, people don't, did you ever realize that? I mean, seriously. When Arthur Conan Doyle killed Sherlock Holmes, he got so many angry letters he was forced to bring the great detective back. He's just lucky that Moriarty chucked him off a waterfall instead of set him on fire or something.

“Anyway, I'm no sir. I'm not even Scrivener Blooms.” The Draconequus muttered under his breath, shaking his head slowly. “Annoys me that your dad is a better writer than I am. Seriously grates my nerves. But anyway, whether I'm a hack or not, I do still have some advice for you, kid, and I do still want to try and turn out... the real story here. Help things reach a decent conclusion instead of...”

He halted, then shook his head slowly and smiled slightly, reaching up and tapping his temple gently as Antares frowned nervously up at him. “There's a few possible endings. None of them are... particularly pleasant at this moment in time. But am I ever hoping we can change that, gods am I ever. But here's the thing, Antares...”

The Draconequus stopped and swung his cane out gently, putting it across the young pony's breast and stopping him as the strange creature continued to look up at the sky, even as Antares looked up at him silently. “Antares, don't... go overboard. You've got what it takes to be a good person, a real, tried and true hero... but you have this little self-esteem issue. More than that, you have...” He paused, looking thoughtfully down before shaking his head slowly. “Look, kid. You don't have to save the world. Stopping Cancer won't save the world. Saving your parents won't save the world... for all you know, it could screw things over in the long run, wake up some of that dormant machinery still eternally waiting in Clockwork World for... for some new master to get the gears running and the pistons pumping and the corruption flowing again.

“You need to concentrate on yourself a little more, and on your friends, too. And you need to learn that what you think, what you feel, what others think of you... doesn't matter in the long run.” Allonym smiled a little, glancing over at Antares as the young stallion frowned up at him. “I know, and it's not that I don't care about you, or your opinion. I want you to be happy, kid, I do, because there's going to be suffering in the future. But if you want to make everything work out... sometimes you have to disappoint people a little, sometimes you have to say no, sometimes you have to do stuff that makes no sense to anyone else. But Antares, if disappointing your Aunt today meant saving one of your friends' lives tomorrow, would you?”

Antares hesitated, then he nodded slowly and sighed quietly before asking quietly: “But how the hell am I supposed to know when to do that, Allonym? You... do you think I'm choosing to screw up or something? Do you think that just because I can see into people, it means I should be able to magically know just what to do?”

“No, I'm not saying that at all.” Allonym glanced down at him mildly, then he smacked his chest gently with his cane. “Chill out, cranky-flank. You're too young to be bitter yet... hell, I don't want to see you turning bitter and grumpy on me at all, there's enough ponies like that around as it is.

“And you know, Antares, don't give me that bull that you don't.” Allonym turned towards him, and Antares opened his mouth, but Allonym simply tossed his cane up to catch by the neck and shoved the snarling dragon handle against Antares' face, making him wince and fall silent. “No, listen, kid. With Meadowlark, you wanted to call for help, but she said no. So why didn't you? Yeah, I know the answer... because you didn't want to disappoint her, or your friends and family. You didn't want to go against her, especially under the gazes of all your friends, after you'd screwed up once already. But you know you should have.”

Antares closed his eyes tightly, then he reached up and shoved the cane away, trembling as he looked up and snapped: “I don't... I don't need these lectures anymore! You, Aunt Tia, Twilight... you all expect so much of me, but do you know what it's like, living in my parents' shadow? Expected not just to live up to them, but to somehow be even better than they ever were? It feels impossible, Allonym! I'm tired of it, I'm sick and tired of all of it... why the hell am I supposed to be so much better than everypony else and why the hell can't any of you just cut me a break?”

Allonym looked at the glossy black stallion, who breathed hard in and out before he finally shuddered and closed his eyes, bowing his head as a flush suffused his cheeks before he mumbled: “I... I'm sorry. I'm... the stress.”

“I know. And I am going to be understanding and kind as I can, Antares, but you... you're so stubborn and thick-headed at times that you seem to only learn through hard lessons.” Allonym said quietly, then he turned around and closed his eyes before saying softly: “Here. Let me show you what could happen if we weren't so hard on you, though. If all of us didn't push so goddamn hard to train you, and teach you, and keep you on the right path.”

Allonym rose his hand and snapped his fingers... and a moment later, Antares was shrouded in shadows, staring back and forth in confusion before reality faded in around him, in grays and blacks. He was standing alone in an empty field, the grass under his hooves dead, a few scraggly trees here and there... and then he stumbled backwards with a yell of surprise as broken stones and monuments tore suddenly up out of the ground, sending sprays of earth and rock in all directions.

He fell backwards with a grunt as something ripped out of the earth behind him, wincing as he smacked into something... and he stared up over his shoulder in horror at a decaying statue of Celestia, posed with her head proudly raised, marks of wear over her cheeks as if the statue had been crying... and for so long it had worn down the stone.

Antares turned around, stumbling away and looking down as he saw the plaque at the bottom of the... the grave. Oh god, Aunt Tia's grave... “N-No... how could this-”

“Because they died, honey, protecting you from me... always hoping that at the end, my sweet little pet, you would be the leader, the savior, the shining light they would all believe in... but oh, handsome colt, you never rose to the occasion...” said a mocking, teasing voice, and Antares looked back and forth amongst the broken gravestones and wretched monuments, breathing hard before he caught sight of a flash of crimson eyes as a figure darted through the corner of his sight, then chuckled quietly. Antares whirled to face it, but it was already gone as its voice whispered from all around him: “Yeah, how pathetic. You couldn't do a thing...”

“No! No, I... I always... I tried my hardest!” Antares shouted, looking desperately back and forth, and Cancer's voice laughed again at him.

“Really, sweet-cheeks? You tried your hardest? Oh, that's hilarious!” Cancer mocked, and Antares staggered around in a circle as fear overwhelmed him, bolting past graves and tombstones, looking back and forth in terror. “Looks like you're trying your hardest again! Oh I love this!”

“Shut up! Leave me alone, this isn't real! Allonym, stop it, stop!” Antares shouted desperately, looking back and forth before he staggered to a stop in front of a mausoleum... and his eyes widened before he staggered backwards as tears spilled down his face.

The decrepit stone mausoleum was overrun with vines and black roses, and engraved over the front were three names: the names of his parents. He moaned weakly, staggering backwards... and then looked up in horror as a mottled white monster crawled slowly to the edge of the rooftop to grin down at him, red eyes burning as Cancer whispered gleefully: “You were so focused, sweetie, on getting Mommy and Daddy back... that you just kept running away. You were so focused on 'the job' or whatever, that you were willing to send your friends into the fight against me... you said you believed in them, but oh, that wasn't true, was it? No, no, no... instead, you just wanted to buy yourself more time. You were scared of what I could do to you, and oh sure, maybe you were scared for them, too... but Mommy and Daddy, Mommy and Daddy, it was all about Mommy and Daddy, right?”

Cancer cackled, half-falling forwards and slamming a hoof against the front of the mausoleum before he snarled and straightened, whispering: “And oh, honey. I adored it. I stopped hating you, sweetie, and I started loving you! You made it so much fun! And you led me right into that dark, dangerous, dank, blood-filled place where ooh, I got such a taste of power...

“You woke Mommy and Daddy up, sure, and I was scared for a little while... but oh honey, then I saw how weak they were, and how horrified when you brought them home here, and they found all their friends gone, only the zombie waiting for them, because by then the white weasel finally was giving in to my infection, the infection I spread all through this world... because you see, you were the butterfly. You flapped your wings on one side of the world, and caused a typhoon on the other: your sweet, delicious refusal to help your friendy-wendies out, the way you sacrificed them for your own goal, the way you kept running away because you were so scared of me... oh honey. I loved it, because then your friends' friends and their parents came a hunting for me... and just mm, made the most delicious little meals...”

“No! No, I would never do that! I'd fight you, I'd... I'll kill you!” Antares shouted furiously, and Cancer laughed loudly before he slowly stood, grinning, mottled and yet magnificent atop the mausoleum, terrifying as he looked cruelly down at Antares.

“Really? You were so obsessed with your jobs you just sent your friends off to ambush and distract me while you did the mission. Whenever we met, you did whatever you had to in order to get away from me. And for some reason they never stopped believing in you. Always held you up, sweetie, as something to protect... that's why attacking you became my new favorite past time. You never hung around... but all your friends, oh, they would run out to protect you... and I caught them one by one by one, with you as my sweet little bait. You, who they never abandoned... and yet you never listened. You kept running out into the field to play with all the posies... that was how I got your parents, too. They died protecting you, don't you remember? They died, and the zombie crawled after them into this big above-ground grave, and they all lay together sweet and serene. I left 'em perfectly preserved, all for you... all to remind you of what a disappoint you are. A failure.” Cancer giggled, licking his lips before he leapt forwards, landing in front of Antares as the young stallion breathed hard in and out, staring weakly across at this horrible, terrible entity. “It turns out me and you... we ain't so different. You kill, I kill, we kill. That's why I kept you alive. That's why honey...”

Cancer leaned forwards, breathing slowly over Antares' face as his red eyes glowed with delight. “I ain't gonna kill you now. Or ever. Oh no, sweetie, don't you worry, don't you cry. I'm gonna keep you strong and healthy, because I adore your pain. I love the way you struggle. Because, punk, you're a failure. And destruction and failure go claw-in-hoof.”

The mottled monster laughed in Antares' face, and the young unicorn shouted wordlessly before slashing forwards with his horn into the monster's face. Cancer shattered like glass as reality burst into fragments with him, stunning the young stallion as he staggered backwards and fell heavily on his haunches, gasping hard... before he looked stupidly up to see Allonym standing calmly, quietly beside him in the town square of Ponyville, the Draconequus gazing down at him before he reached a hand up and gently ruffled the unicorn's mane. “We push you because we believe in you. If we believed in you without pushing you, you'd be a different person than you are, Antares. You'd think you were the chosen one, and as long as you survived, you could fix everything... but you're not, and you can't.”

There was silence for a few moments, and then Antares shivered for a moment before he dropped his head forwards, swallowing thickly as he whispered: “I... I'm never going to turn into that, Allonym. I'm not going to sacrifice my friends for me, I never could... be so selfish, I know... I know Mom and Dad would be disappointed in me if I even considered doing something like that and... and...”

Allonym only smiled faintly, then he looked up at the sky and said softly: “Only a couple of days ago you were yelling at a kid four years younger than you to help pick up what's essentially a giant gemstone, while your other friends bled and suffered and risked hypothermia and death. Antares, you weren't so far away from the edge as you think you are... but that's our fault more than yours, maybe, with how often we tell you what faith we have in you, what... a spectacular hero you could be one day.”

He fell quiet as Antares lowered his head in shame, then shrugged and glanced over his shoulder, smiling a little as he gestured towards the library across the square. “Go in there, tell your Aunt and Twilight-Mom how much you love 'em, give 'em a hug and make a promise to them. Promise 'em... you're gonna make them proud. And I'll see you in a few weeks, but I'm not sure if you'll see me or not.”

Antares looked up quietly, and then, as the Draconequus began to walk away, he asked quietly: “Allonym... why don't you just fix me? Fix everything?”

“Because you're not broken, kiddo. And I can't do that...” Allonym looked over his shoulder, shaking his head slowly. “Any more than I can give away the plot twists ahead, or anything else. I can warn you of imminent danger... but if I give away much more than that, it could be the equivalent of sending you to your deaths, or making you prepare for one nasty danger while another crops up somewhere else.

“Look, Antares. You're growing up.” Allonym smiled a bit, saying softly: “One day you'll look back on all this and be proud of yourself for pushing through everything... you know, if you manage to do it right. If you keep on a solid path. One day, you'll understand that the time you spent in pain taught you more than the time you spent happy, that you're shaped by experiences positive and negative. That you need both to... become the kind of pony that I know you want to be. Just keep swinging, kid. You'll be fine.”

With that, Allonym turned and calmly strode away, and Antares sighed a little as he watched the Draconequus head to a side alley and vanish into it. For a few moments, he was tempted to try and follow, but then he only shook his head before apprehensively turning his eyes towards the library.

He made his way slowly towards it... then he glanced up with a surprised frown when a voice called his name, before dumbly glancing over to the side to see Sleipnir approaching with a cheerful smile on his face, the enormous vine-maned stallion gazing at him benevolently. Antares smiled awkwardly, and then his uncle asked him kindly as he drew in close: “'What burdens thee, Antares? Was it the Draconequus I saw thee chatting with?”

“Kind of. And other stuff, too.” Antares admitted, glancing up at his uncle before he smiled a little and shook his head, asking quietly: “What are you doing here, Sleipnir? Do you want me to get Aunt Tia for you?”

“Nay, I am here for thou, actually. And 'tis both a pleasant surprise and most disappointing to see thou art already awake, Antares, I most direly wished to wake thee up myself.” Sleipnir said cheerfully, reaching up and ruffling the young stallion's mane, and he laughed despite himself before the earth pony continued easily: “I require some aid at the forge today, and as handsome Spike is not available, I was hoping thou could lend me thy hooves. I shall pay thee most handsomely for thy aid.”

“Oh, well, you don't have to pay me, Sleipnir... working and learning beside you is an honor.” Antares said awkwardly, smiling a little up at the stallion, who only chuckled quietly in response. They looked at one-another for a few moments, and then the glossy-black unicorn glanced towards the library, saying finally: “I'll just let Aunt Tia know-”

“Nonsense, thou art going about this all wrong.” Sleipnir huffed, and Antares looked dumbly up at him before the enormous, vine maned male leaned forwards and shouted at the door, making the windows rattle and Antares wince backwards, blushing deeply as he wondered how many ponies Sleipnir had just woken up: “Celestia! I am kidnapping our nephew for much of today! And thou may not have him back until I say so!”

There was silence for a few moments, broken only by the occasional click as ponies opened doors around the square to stare out at Sleipnir and Antares, as the young stallion grinned lamely and awkwardly looked up at the enormous stallion, who only looked cheerful as ever... and then finally, the library door swung open, Celestia looking mildly out at her younger sibling before she said dryly: “It's six thirty in the morning, Sleipnir. You likely just woke up half of Ponyville. And the blacksmith's isn't even running at this hour.”

“Well, if I woke up half of Ponyville, then perhaps the blacksmith's was on the side that was awoken. 'Twill be no problem to get in and use the forge then.” Sleipnir said blandly, and Celestia sighed tiredly at this logic before the enormous earth pony added meditatively: “And only half of Ponyville? 'Tis disappointing. My lungs must still be infected from this most terrible of diseases, aye, that is all.”

Celestia rolled her eyes, then she glanced at Antares, opening her mouth: before she could say anything, however, the vine-maned stallion wildly shook his head and stomped a hoof, making Antares wince and Celestia glare as he said firmly: “Nay, 'tis my nephew now, not thine, until we are done at the forge! Thou may not ask any questions of him, sweet sibling, not until I give him back to thee.”

“Sleipnir.” Celestia glowered at him, but Sleipnir only huffed and looked pointedly in return, and finally the winged unicorn rolled her eyes and gave a tired sigh. “Oh, why bother even trying to argue with you? But please try and come back by early afternoon, Antares. I want to speak to you and your friends about what's happened.”

Antares nodded as Sleipnir grumbled something about rule-breaking, and then the young stallion hesitated before looking up and saying quietly: “Aunt Tia, I'm sorry about everything. I want to promise you that I'm gonna do better and make you proud in the future. And I want you to know that... I love you and respect you, and I understand why you need to be hard on me at times.”

Celestia smiled after a moment, looking touched as she bowed her head quietly forwards... and then Sleipnir huffed again before he wrapped a foreleg around Antares' shoulders and squeezed him almost painfully, complaining: “And what of me! 'Tis not my fault that thy delightful mother Twilight and wicked Celestia keep thee confined here, all to themselves! Oh, Twilight Sparkle, I can understand: she is as much a mother to thou as Luna was...”

Sleipnir halted for a moment, then softened and looked down, shaking his head slowly as he murmured softly: “Oh, little sister, how I wish I could honor thee and thy husband more each and every day... but at least I can look upon thou with confidence, Antares, and know thou art... thou art on the right path. Thou shall make them proud... nay, thou makes them proud already! And I suppose with that in mind, dear sister... 'tis probably for the best he is under thy constant watch instead of off cavorting with me. I fear that little sister would not take it well if I challenged her son to drinking contests and games of sport.”

Celestia only laughed at this, however, loosening up visibly as she gazed quietly down at Antares but spoke to her brother, replying gently: “Maybe, but maybe not, Sleipnir... and maybe I am being perhaps a little... selfish. There is much you have to teach yourself, after all, and sometimes I think the things you've mentored Antares in so far are much better than the little I've taught him... and I'm sure Luna would desire for you to teach the full extent of your knowledge with her son... whatever that meant. She always thought the world of you.”

“She thought the world of us both, Celestia, and she idolized and loved thee as much as me, if not greater.” Sleipnir replied empathetically, and then he smiled softly as he glanced down at Antares and slapped the young unicorn on the back, almost knocking him sprawling as he gave a little squeak of pain from his cast-covered hind leg kicking reflexively against the ground. “But aye, perhaps I shall strive to teach thee a little more today then, Antares Mīrus. I have not much to teach... but thou art like a son to me.”

He paused, then grinned and winked. “Then again, my daughter is also like a son to me, and I do delight in seeing the two of thee together. How it reminds me of the old days, Celestia!”

“It reminds me of Scrivener and Pinkamena, actually.” Celestia said softly, and then she shook her head and smiled softly as Antares blushed a bit, glancing warmly back and forth between his uncle and aunt... his family, and two treasured mentors. “But don't let me keep you any longer. I'm sure your uncle has much to share with you.”

Sleipnir nodded firmly, and then he winked down at Antares, saying cheerfully: “But I shall have to be careful all the same, for thou art still young and as it is, my lovely phoenix has battered and bludgeoned me for sharing too many details with my sweet daughter about certain lessons of life's battlefields. And I do not need both her and Celestia pummeling me for telling thee all the many ways a stallion may make a mare squeal by using his-”

Celestia glared at him as Antares blushed, and Sleipnir reared back as if offended, saying in a hurt voice even as his eyes glimmered with mischief: “Poetry! Poetry, of course, is what I meant to say, for what is-”

“Just leave, Sleipnir. And no poetry.” Celestia said tiredly, stepping back and closing the door. Sleipnir only laughed, however, then he smiled down at Antares and winked... and the young stallion smiled back after a moment despite himself, knowing that there was a world he could learn from his uncle... as long as he remembered to try and tune out certain favorite subjects of the enormous stallion, that was.

Learning Little By Little

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Chapter Twenty Two: Learning Little By Little
~BlackRoseRaven

In the week that followed their retrieval of the materials, Antares and his friends slowly recovered from the surprising ordeal that the thought-simple travel had proven to be, and went back to both training and doing small jobs for the Starlit Knights and Celestia. Avalon often ran patrols with her father and Soarin', and had even been given a few simple courier missions to deliver letters to diplomats and officials around Equestria. She always acted like it was no big deal, or pretended to be cranky about being a 'delivery girl,' but Antares didn't need his ability to read into people to see how delighted she really was about the whole thing. It was a step closer to being accepted as a Starlit Knight, after all... and something else that she could brag about being fast and trusted enough to handle.

Rustproof was caught with his cigarettes again, and Cowlick's ranting could be heard across most of the village for an hour or so afterwards. This was followed by Rusty being put on cleaning and assembly duties for a month for the entire facility, and on top of this, he was helping work on reconstructing the meteor. It was a massive responsibility... and it never failed to amaze Antares how Cowlick could both punish and reward her son at once with all the work she was giving him. After all, apart from Rusty, Ross, and Cowlick, only trusted Nibelung Architects, Twilight Sparkle, and Celestia were being permitted to even enter the hangar where the project was being pieced together.

Prestige was spending a lot of her time in the library, studying new magic and constantly pushing herself to better develop her abilities and her stamina. She was getting stronger... and she had a new respect for the ponies she had trudged though the snow and sleet with, even if she still called Avalon a shorn-wing when she got frustrated and tended to spit other less-than-pleasant remarks when someone pushed her buttons, particularly at the end of a long day.

Aphrodisia was spending more time with both her mother and other demons, learning to better develop her demonic heritage. It also wasn't uncommon to see her with Burning Desire: when she wasn't angrily chasing him around and barking at him, she looked up to him with clear respect and affection. It was awkward for ponies who didn't know the two, but it simply made sense to those who did... more so if they had met the Dominia demon's eccentric parents.

But Meadowlark wasn't holding up quite as well as her friends, in spite of the brave face she always put on in public: the only ponies who really knew how much she was hurting were Antares, Twilight, and Scarlet Sage. Antares spent a lot of time with her in private these days, which Prestige did her best to be understanding about... but right now, the injured Pegasus really needed a friend, and Antares was willing to give her that even if it meant he had to spend a good while each night reassuring his marefriend that he was just there to support Meadow.

She was on her hooves, but weak from the surgery, and she had to spend a lot of time resting or in bed. She tried to keep herself busy doing research, but Twilight Sparkle was very gentle with her, always trying to get her to slow down, making sure that she was taking care of herself among everything else. In a strange, rare gesture of trust, Twilight had even shared one of Scrivener's old poetry books with the Pegasus, in return for the promise she'd make sure she took care of herself and didn't spend all her time wracking her brain with research instead of sleeping, resting, and just concentrating on getting better.

But not all the damage done to Meadowlark could heal, and Meadowlark's secret dreams of one day being a fighter like her friends had been crushed. Her stomach and other organs couldn't take that kind of strain, and the surgeons had been forced to completely remove two of her ribs, thanks to the fusing and warping they had undergone.

Antares reassured her every day, though, that she didn't need to be some warrior to attract attention, that she was strong as it was, that she was still not only their friend, but a part of their team. Her talent for observation was clearly almost as strong as Antares' was, and her ability to study and research was enviable. But Antares knew that only Meadowlark would be able to pull herself out of the pit she had fallen into... he saw all too clearly that his words did very little to help.

He still offered his encouragements, though, every moment he could: he spent his free time beside her, and reassured her quietly that there was nothing he'd rather be doing. And there wasn't: they were friends, and she needed him right now, especially because he was the only one she had told so far about just what was wrong with her. He saw something almost like shame in her... and he saw what was almost a need for her to protect him, that she was scared the others would blame him. Somehow, despite everything, she still didn't hold him accountable... even though Antares knew it was all his fault.

Antares himself, when he wasn't with Meadowlark or with Prestige, was training: but more than his body, he was training his mind. He studied nature beside Sleipnir, who was all too delighted to help teach the young stallion more about listening to nature and hearing her voice in the wind, the trees, beneath one's hooves; he spent hours reading strategy books given to him by Twilight Sparkle; he played chess and hneftafl and logic games with Celestia. And all of these things taught him not just new arts, new ways to think, but discipline as well.

He knew they all had a long road ahead: they all had much to learn still, and much to adjust to. They all had their own unique desires, but also one clear-cut goal: to be strong enough to protect their friends and family, and the innocent people of Equestria. To save people, to guard what was most important to them... to do the right thing. And apart, they maybe weren't strong enough to do that... but together, they could be. If they worked together, they could do anything they set their minds to, they were learning... but working together was a lot harder than it sounded.

And that was why Antares made sure to find a day where they could all spend time together, and get back to working as a group: thankfully, he didn't have to wait more than a few days after that first week after the mission, and the young stallion smiled a little as he walked into the snowy orchards of Sweet Apple Acres with Prestige at his side.

Avalon was sitting in a treebranch above and snoozing, and Aphrodisia was pawing at the trunk and barking at her every now and then like a dog, but mostly going ignored. Rustproof was sitting back in a heavy, fluffy coat with Meadowlark beside him, dressed in her own thick jacket, scarf, and toque. She looked almost embarrassedly across at Antares, but he only shook his head with a bit of a smile. He was wearing a jacket and toque himself, after all.

“Hey, guys.” Antares said warmly, and Aphrodisia glanced over at him before barking once as Avalon stirred awake on her tree branch, glancing up with surprise. Then she grinned as Antares strode forwards with a smile, saying quietly: “You all ready to get to work?”

“Hell yes.” Avalon said cheerfully, then she easily glided down and landed on Rustproof's back when the enormous earth pony stood up, the behemoth yawning a little and not even seeming to notice Avalon even as she continued easily: “I mean, you know I'm so busy now that I'm like, a top-secret message delivery person, but I figured I could spare some time and stuff. Even if you did want to be out here so early in the damn morning.”

“I figured it'd be best to take as much time as we could to train... Rusty's got so much work to do, after all, and you have your deliveries, and Meadowlark's got all her research.” Antares replied with a shrug, glancing towards the red Pegasus, and she blushed a little and glanced away. For a moment, the young stallion looked at her, then he shook his head and cleared his throat, saying quietly: “It's really important that what happened to us in Subterra doesn't happen again. That we always put our teamwork first... even above our own training. We're all strong on our own, yeah. But it's only as a team that we're really going to prosper, especially against an opponent like Cancer.”

The others nodded, and Antares hesitated before he looked over at Meadowlark, saying quietly: “Listen. Everypony here is important. But especially you, Meadow. If you can... I want you to still act as our medic. And I want you as my second-in-command... since you'll be staying back, it makes sense. You can watch the battle and give us warnings or orders. I... trust you.”

Meadowlark swallowed thickly, smiling faintly at him... and then she closed her eyes and nodded a few times before looking up and saying hesitantly: “But... if I slow you down...”

“You aren't going to slow us down, Meadowlark.” Antares replied quietly, and Rustproof smiled as Avalon grunted and Aphrodisia nodded after a moment in agreement, even if the demon looked grudging. But it did a world for Meadowlark... just as it did when Prestige smiled faintly and bowed her head in respect to the crimson Pegasus. “Alright. I have a few drills in mind for today...”

Antares couldn't explain the relief he felt when the team didn't just listen to him, they listened to each other, and worked together well. There was still some clear tension, certainly: Prestige disliked taking orders from Meadowlark, and the red Pegasus was having a bit of trouble making herself heard to the others... but they weren't ignoring her on purpose. They respected her: Antares thought that even Avalon respected Meadowlark these days, in spite of their rocky past.

They did have some refining to do: on the ground, Aphrodisia tended to take over the battlefield, and in the air, Avalon and Antares had whacked loudly into each other more than once... but unlike some of the nightmarish training sessions of the past, they had just laughed it off and tried to figure out where things had gone wrong.

The most embarrassing part of the day actually came a few hours later, when Antares suddenly stumbled to a halt in mid-charge he was leading against several targets of ice created by Prestige to turn and see they had an audience. The rest of the young ponies stopped as well, most of them blushing a bit as they saw Fluttershy and Nirvana sitting comfortably back with grinning Applejack and a relaxed Rainbow Dash, Big Mac watching calmly as Soarin' smiled from his perch in a tree-branch above. Pinkie Pie waved brightly at them as Pinkamena rolled her eyes, and Sleipnir smiled and nodded firmly. But most touching of all for Antares was when Celestia looked up from where she was sitting beside Twilight, and she said simply: “Continue.”

Her eyes carried all the warmth and approval Antares had ever hoped to see... and the young stallion had redoubled his efforts, feeling confidence burning inside him. It was a warmth that spread to his other friends, who redoubled their own efforts: not young ponies at play any longer, but ponies working together, learning to trust in one another as they trained and challenged each other, as they strengthened friendships, loyalty, and trust.

And what truly delighted Antares was when Celestia stepped forwards during a brief break and said calmly: “Perhaps, Antares, you'd allow me and some of the others here to assist. We can help run a few more advanced drills and exercises.”

Antares glanced back at his friends, who all gazed back at him, telling him they trusted in him with their eyes, and then he turned back to Celestia and nodded firmly. “We would be honored.”

Celestia only smiled slightly in response... and for the next hour, they ran through exercises that strained every pony there, young and experienced alike. By the end of it, though, they all felt accomplished, all had a greater respect for each other... all of them recognized more what each other was capable of, and took gladness in it.

The group had broken up after that, but Antares was quick to set another time to meet with his friends for more work as a group. Celestia had only smiled at him, and it wasn't until later that night that she had finally quietly congratulated him, and told him that if he ever needed any help at all in training, she would be more than happy to provide anything she could.

They were good days: even the rough days that followed were good, even the hard days were good, because Antares felt like he was making slow but steady progress. And he felt like he was becoming more of a real leader... that he was learning to be a better pony, and to do what was in the best interests of his friends and family, not just himself.

Every now and then, Celestia also gave him a task or two to do: sometimes things he could handle by himself, other times short missions he did alongside others. He understood that it was Celestia's way of showing not just how much she respected him, but to help him get experience, and help broaden his horizons: on one particularly-interesting job she gave him, after all, he was sent with Sleipnir, Pinkamena, Aphrodisia and Prestige to locate a nearby dragon aerie, and deliver a diplomatic message. It had been nerve-wracking, since Antares had no idea what he'd do in a fight with a dragon... but he'd been stunned when Sleipnir cheerfully chatted the dragon out of wanting to eat them and into laughing at his stories about his siblings, before politely accepting the diplomatic letter and making a promise to not attack any caravans that passed through the area.

“How did you do that?” Antares asked finally, as they'd been walking away, and Sleipnir had merely winked as Pinkamena smiled amusedly and Aphrodisia giggled. Prestige was staring too, but couldn't seem to find the words as Antares asked again: “Just... I mean... how?”

“Oh, 'twas quite simple, Antares. I open my mouth and the words fall out.” Sleipnir replied with a shrug, then he had smiled warmly. “Celestia would not send all thee with me if we were to deal with a brute. The dragon knew our language, and 'twas not attacking villages, only unfortunate traders and merchants. Not every enemy is a nail to be pounded down by a hammer, Antares, sometimes one must merely politely ask the giant, terrible monster to stop eating people, and it may very well oblige.”

Antares spent a long time thinking about this, musing a lot over the subject, and realizing how he had always applied those thoughts to demons, but never to other things. And yet he knew that all the same he should have: after all, he was the one always saying that people were people, among other things.

It was strange, but the cold and dead of winter was proving to be a time of growth and transformation for Antares and his friends. Literal in some forms, like Rustproof's fourteenth birthday: an awkward party, since it was easy to forget how young he really was and all his friends were older than him. But all the same, Cowlick had ordered Pinkamena and Pinkie Pie to make the best cake they could, and the Pink Twins had put together a delicious replica of a motor engine made of cheesecake, filled with chocolate sauce instead of oil. Rustproof was thrilled by it, and he looked honestly delighted with every gift he was given: from the smallest to the largest, it was clear that each present meant the world to him.

Cowlick had put her fury aside for the occasion as well, and smiled warmly when Rustproof opened the box from her to stare as Ross winced a little: Cowlick had built her son a gorgeous silver and mahogany rifle, and she rested her hoof on his shoulder as she said softly: “You just keep in mind what these are. Gears and moving parts, metal and wood. A gun is only as dangerous and as good or bad as the pony that wields it, Rusty. It can be somethin' pretty like this thing is meant to be, something for protecting other ponies from those awful things that exist in this world like Cancer, or it can be the favored toy of a tyrant, used just to hurt others. It ain't no toy, and you ain't no stallion, but... I... your damn friends have made you grow up faster than I like to think.”

The engineer smiled up at Antares and the others... even Prestige was here, and even she had tried to get a gift for the young male, with a little help from Antares. And for a few moments, there was quiet, before Cowlick cleared her throat and said quietly: “I love you, Rusty. I just know I ain't always gonna be there to protect you, especially with all the stuff that's happening in this damn fool world. So I'm trying to help you get the tools you'll need to protect yourself, and others.”

Rustproof had smiled warmly, then nodded silently and turned to embrace his mother fiercely, and Cowlick had hugged her son tightly, tightly back, almost looking as if she was going to cry for a few moments. Then she'd stepped back, and Ross had traded a hug with his son as well, before the unicorn murmured softly: “We both love you, Rustproof, we always will. You make... tomorrow brighter.”

Hearing Ross say that had visibly made Rustproof brighten, looking touched beyond all reason by his father's words. The young male had enjoyed a wonderful birthday with friends and family all around. When the next day came, it seemed like he'd had more than a birthday: it was like he'd become a new person somehow, even though he was still clearly the same old Rustproof. He often carried the rifle with him, and seeing him at the target range during his free time was common... but he treated it with the same respect as any old warrior had ever treated their weapon of choice.

Time moved on: after Rustproof's birthday had come preparations for Hearth's Warming Eve, and Antares had been dragged into taking part in the traditional play about the founding of Equestria despite not wanting to by Meadowlark. Prestige had actually encouraged this instead of showing any signs of jealousy... mostly, Antares thought grumpily, because of how much she liked to laugh at him after they forced him into a Windigo costume.

Meadowlark's role was Private Pansy: meanwhile, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom had all been heckled into playing the roles of the three leaders by Rarity, who was in charge of the play. Sleipnir had direly wanted to play a role as well, but Celestia had hurriedly nixed that idea, much to her little brother's chagrin.

It would be a short play, but Rarity had decided that with two talented singers in the cast, and the ability to easily get a chorus together of other musically-inclined ponies, she would give things a more musical theme. She clearly adored working on the play, and even more, that all her friends were working beside her: Applejack, Big Mac and Rainbow Dash were all building the sets, Twilight Sparkle helped her modify the script and add lyrics, Fluttershy lent her musical talents and even more importantly, spoke to Phooka and others on her behalf. And Spike and Pinkie Pie both helped with the costume design while Pinkamena grumbled grouchily but agreed to run a confectionery stand with Sleipnir and her twin sister. It was like old times... even if many things were markedly different.

When Rarity had gone to get a band together, they had been graced with the presence of several ponies she hadn't been expecting, among others: a small, piercing-studded Pegasus with a cerulean mane and periwinkle coat, and his partner, a larger pony of the same winged race, his coat scarlet and his mane and tail pink. Graceful Melody and Riffraff... and with them, their demonic consort, Amdusias, who said very clearly as he peered distrustfully down at Rarity while almost cradling his saxophone against his chest: “I am here because Celestia the Dawn Bringer begged and pleaded for my attendance. Not because of you. Not because I believe you are worthy whatsoever of my talent and presence. I hope I made myself clear.”

“Ooh, wait, if he's here, I have to be here!” a voice had called, and then Amdusias had glowered as Grace had simply waved brightly and Riffraff had sighed while absently tuning his battered acoustic guitar, as Discombobulation charged to the front of the line of musicians Rarity was interviewing, then hip-checked the demon firmly, knocking him sprawling with a squawk. “I'm a pianist! I'm much more valuable than a saxomaphone player. His instrument wasn't even invented until about a century ago.”

“By foolish mortals, perhaps! Go back to your child's keyboard, patchwork doll, and gloat over how you've finally learned 'chopsticks.'” Amdusias retorted as he sat up, tined tail snapping out behind him as the line behind the awkward group in front of Rarity carefully backed up.

“How did you know?” Discombobulation asked seriously, and when Amdusias looked at him sourly, the Draconequus held one fist up, fingers slightly spaced apart. A moment later, two chopsticks appeared in his grip, and he slowly gestured at these with his metallic hand as Amdusias continued to glare at him, looking less than pleased.

And then Discombobulation leaned down and firmly shoved both chopsticks into Amdusias' nose, making him yell in consternation as he fell backwards while grabbing wildly at his face, and Discombobulation stepped backwards as he said calmly: “Now, to imitate a certain woodpecker...”

He firmly dropped his arms against his sides, leaping into the air and floating as he flapped his feet up and down, giving several repetitive, high-pitched giggles before dropping back to his feet and dashing off. Amdusias leapt to his own feet and charged after the Draconequus, one chopstick still sticking out of a nostril as he shouted furiously: “Imbecile! I'll bring such an opera of pain down on your head that it will never be forgotten!”

“It's easy to forget wasted time!” Discombobulation shot back, as he hopped up onto the half finished set, and Amdusias clawed his way madly onto this as ponies shouted at the two in frustration: seeing a demon chasing a Draconequus around had become far too common a sight in Ponyville over the last month, particularly in the theater.

All the same, despite the small setbacks and the chaos here and there, they put the play together well, and were prepared and rehearsed by Hearth's Warming Eve. And although Antares had a bit of stage fright, he reminded himself that all he had to do was look scary with the other demons they had chosen, and sing as part of the chorus. Nothing strenuous.

Amdusias was in the role of conductor for their ratty little symphony, wearing ceremonial robes and a funny, square cap on his head. He looked moodily over the misfit band he was directing, then glanced almost jealously across to the other corner of the stage, where Fluttershy was standing with Nirvana and gazing warmly up over the chorus group.

Behind them, the seats of the small theater were filled, and many more ponies, Nibelung, and others were standing and watching curiously. Celestia was seated near the front, smiling warmly and with Twilight and Burning Desire beside her, the Lich resting her head on the demon's shoulder and quietly holding a hoof with him, dressed only in one of her thick sweaters. And Burning Desire had looked strangely exhilarated: he had never seen this play before, and the sights and sounds of the theater were all a wonderful new experience for him.

The play had gotten under way smoothly enough: forty minutes, followed by a brief intermission, and then roughly half an hour more: it wasn't until the last ten minutes when Antares finally started to get over his stage fright, which was moot because he and the other Windigos were hauled off stage about ten seconds after he started to enjoy himself. All the same, he felt not only relieved... but happy he had participated.

It was a big success, and even though Meadowlark seemed a little strained by the end of the play, she was smiling happily too, looking absolutely thrilled with herself and everypony else. There was a short after-party, but Meadowlark and Antares didn't stay for much of it: instead, they headed out to the theater to join Celestia, Twilight, and Burning Desire, and head back to the library together.

Burning Desire didn't really understand the concept of Hearth's Warming Eve: ponies had never really had the chance to celebrate it in this world before they'd been destroyed, after all, and he had been a unicorn noble from the unicorn nation that had existed more than a thousand years ago, when the ponies had all still lived separately. He loved it, though: he loved the tinsel, the decorations, the ideology, and of course adored the gifts... although what Antares found surprising was that the Greed demon didn't just enjoy getting presents that he crowed over with delight, he had brought gifts for Twilight and all her friends and family and seemed to take great pleasure in when they opened them and found out what they were.

They weren't small gifts, either: Antares felt a little bad that all he'd bought for Burning Desire was a book that Twilight had suggested – which was probably not the brightest thing to buy the demon to begin with – and Burning Desire gave him a gorgeous coronet of gold with a cradle support for his horn, clearly designed for horn fencing. After some inspection, Antares thought it was actually better than his other coronet, and he'd thanked Burning Desire repeatedly and empathetically... as had Prestige, when she had opened her own gift and found a gorgeous set of four anklets, each inset with a different colored gemstone and embossed with the name of an element written in runes.

Meadowlark, too, had been given a gift by Burning Desire, surprising her... surprising her more when she found it was a crystalline fountain pen topped with a small, enchanted bauble that when turned, lit up with red flames from within. She hadn't gotten him anything, since she barely knew the demon, and he just scoffed and shrugged... and then she had hugged him, and the demon had seemed surprised before smiling softly and gently returning the embrace.

It was a wonderful way to spend the evening... made better as more friends and family joined them together for one comfortable gathering in the library. Sleipnir eventually teased Celestia into a song, and she had laughed before the two had sung an old hymn together, swaying easily with one-another as Aphrodisia and Avalon had marveled over this sight with jaws gaping.

It didn't break up until early morning, and even then, some ponies simply found comfortable corners of the library to sleep in. Prestige and Antares had already claimed the guest room, and they curled up together, sharing affections, comforts, holding onto each other and stroking each other's form... but not quite daring to go too far yet, even as they murmured how much they loved one-another... and how deeply, truly they did.

The next day had been one of relaxation, apart from cleaning up the aftermath of the party. But it wasn't much work: it had mostly been a reunion of old friends, nothing raucous or wild even with all the drinking that had gone on.

The days had gone on: Prestige and Antares shared affections and went on dates, shared more of themselves with each other, and learned to trust one another more and more. Meadowlark studied medicine, and one day ran into the zebra shaman, Zecora, while fumbling her way through trying to pick up ingredients at the market for a few basic potions. Zecora had taken an interest, and Meadowlark had begun to visit her cabin, to learn more about making potions and remedies... and more, to learn about Zecora's culture, something that clearly pleased the zebra. Many ponies came asking for her help, after all... but not a lot of them ever took such an interest in her people, and her heritage.

Avalon continued running deliveries and patrols, and worked hard with Fluttershy: she had also agreed to help out at the animal care center and with Fluttershy's other duties around time, in return for training. And not long after Avalon had started work at the care center, Fluttershy found herself honestly smiling for the first time while sparring with Avalon, as the tiny Pegasus grinned widely even as she breathed hard and her body ached with the effort of keeping up to Fluttershy's speed and grace; for the first time, Fluttershy honestly believed that she could take these evil teachings and use them to do good.

Aphrodisia continued to learn about her heritage and talents, developing more and more as a demon, strengthening her emotions and mind to try and catch up to the growth of her physical body. She had begun to pick up on more advanced abilities of demons, starting to understand how possession worked, as well as influencing others... and Pinkamena had finally agreed to start teaching her daughter the thing Aphrodisia had longed to learn almost since she was born: how to shed her mortal form at will, and let her full demonic shape rise to the surface.

Rustproof had also been putting the time to good use, working fervently on his personal project between everything else now that Cowlick was finally starting to forgive him a little for his cigarettes. That was, until she found another pack of smokes on him. Antares, Avalon, and Prestige had actually been coming to pick Rustproof up for a job for Celestia when they'd found Cowlick shouting furiously at Rustproof in front of the engineering building, smacking him on the head every now and then with the pack of smokes, and the three had sat back to let the mare wear herself out: by now, the trio knew that trying to interrupt Cowlick would only result in her turning her full fury on them.

And then all eyes had stared when a firebird had shot down, stolen the pack of cigarettes, and flown quickly off into the skies. Cowlick had shouted furiously after what was obviously Burning Desire, then turned and given chase, giving Rustproof enough time to hurry away. Then Cowlick had come back, shouting at the still-staring Antares and friends like a mother grizzly looking for her cub, and the three young ponies had hurriedly turned and bolted.

Thankfully Cowlick was wheezing by town square, so they were able to make good their escape into the library, where Rustproof was hiding as Celestia calmly lectured him on not smoking and Twilight looked almost as worried as the young ponies that Cowlick was going to storm in and start yelling at them all.

But Cowlick's possible rage was avoided for almost a week: Avalon, Antares, Prestige, and Rustproof were instead sent out to fix what Celestia called a signal amplifier. Not even Antares knew what this was... but Celestia had only smiled softly and said quietly: “An important artifact from more years ago than I care to think of now. It's older than you are, Antares... we've already lost several, but I'd prefer to see this one repaired instead of reclaimed by the wild. It won't be a hard job, but it's two days' march, which is why I'm sending you four. Better safe than sorry.”

Antares had been warmed by this, and they had left after getting their gear together... although it was kind of strange at the same time, to travel without Meadowlark or Aphrodisia. But Aphrodisia was off on a trip with her mother, and Meadowlark was going to use the time to learn more under Zecora, and do a short trip to help the shaman gather some rarer flowers and plants. They would all be busy... and they could all catch up when they returned.

On the road, they ran into a few Nibelung bandits who thought they would be easy pickings because they were young: after Avalon smashed the tusks out of one thug's face and then proceeded to stomp wildly on him, and Prestige froze another solid in a block of ice, the remaining thugs fled in terror. Antares couldn't say how relieved he was not only that he and his friends did so well against their foes, but also that they hadn't been forced to kill anyone.

Thankfully, that was the roughest part of the two day journey: they arrived at the location Celestia had marked on one of their maps without any further incidents, and Rustproof marveled over the lopsided, rune-covered conductor before he'd gone to work while the others had simply sat back after setting up the tents. Prestige had given a little bit of magical aid, but it was minor at most, and she had perhaps been the most impressed of them all by the way that Rustproof so quickly and efficiently made the repairs to the magical construct despite the fact he was only a fourteen year old earth pony.

The way back was smooth from start to almost-finish: things only got complicated as they'd been approaching Ponyville. The walls were some hundred feet in the distance, and the road was clear, the sky sparkling and beautiful with the sun just beginning to set, and Avalon had been cheerfully relating some story she was probably exaggerating a little, doing lazy figure-eights around the three ponies walking calmly beneath her. Then the Pegasus had suddenly yelped, and there had been a loud crash as she'd fallen prone to the ground, twitching a little.

Antares frowned dumbly down at her... then something smashed into him and knocked him senseless. Prestige was knocked flat a moment later with a squeak, leaving Rustproof staring towards Ponyville and slowly paling as he saw a distinct glimmer at one of the top walls a second before a rubber bullet crashed into his skull, and the behemoth earth pony staggered backwards with a grunt... then calmly shook his head even as he blinked slowly a few times, mumbling as Antares stared up at him blankly from the ground: “Momma's mad.”

Antares winced... then yelped and spasmed when something smacked into his cheek, making him flail wildly; it had been a rubber bullet that had ricocheted off one of Rustproof's legs, knocking his forelimb out from beneath him and sending him sprawling face-first into the snow-covered road. There was silence for a few minutes as the four simply laid dumbly on the path, none of them quite daring to get up just in case Cowlick was still watching... and then the sound of crunching snow filled the air, and they looked slowly up to see the engineer herself approaching with her rifle on her back and goggles pushed up on her forehead, grumpily surveying the young ponies as they all simply stared at her.

Then Rustproof – still laying with his face half-buried in the snowy ground – mumbled in a muffled voice: “I'm sorry, Momma. I won't run away again. Promise.”

“Good. 'Cause when you run, honey, Momma thinks that you're her prey and then she has to shoot you.” Cowlick said kindly, before sticking a cigarette in her mouth and muttering: “Dammit, kid, you're making me into a hypocrite here. Got me so stressed out that I'm going through coffin nails like a drunk without his drink. No offense to your Daddy, Mir.”

Antares only mumbled, then he awkwardly looked up, asking after a moment: “So can we get up now?”

Cowlick grunted as she pulled a butane torch out of the tool belt around her waist, the younger ponies wincing as she lit up with this before flicking it off and tucking it back into place around her waist. Her equipment made Antares nervous, wondering morbidly if she was going to torture them all... but then the engineer nodded and said moodily: “Yeah, yeah. I guess so. But don't you punks run off on me again or I swear to Helheim I'll hunt you down and turn you all into... I dunno. Prestige, Antares, guess you two might make good lamps. Bet I could cure some good leather from your wings, too, Mir. Dunno what I'd do with you, Avalon, maybe make you into a throw pillow.”

“The only reason I'm not kicking your butt right now is because my Dad says I'm supposed to be scared of you, Auntie Cowlick.” Avalon mumbled, and Cowlick grinned widely.

“Kid, I just shot you down from a hundred feet away, and you're the size of a small cat. Besides, Rainbow's right. I could kick his butt or yours any day of the week.” Cowlick said cheerfully, and then she grinned when Avalon immediately leapt to her hooves and glared up at her challengingly. “I like you. You're feisty and stubborn and a little bit stupid. You're like me, just with less bad habits.”

Avalon huffed a bit at this, looking oddly insulted by the last remark before she said brazenly: “Yeah, well, what do you know? You're like. A crazy old lady now. Smoking's not cool, you know.”

Cowlick replied by blowing a smoke ring, then blowing an arrow of smoke through this ring, and Avalon failed to come up with a response to this as the others crawled up to their hooves. Then the engineer glanced at Rustproof and grunted, jerking her head at him. “Anyway, son. You and me got another job to do already, out at the dam. If you want, I'll cover for you, but I'm gonna need another set of eyes and hooves with me so I'll need you to find someone at the labs to send out to me...”

Rustproof only smiled, shaking his head quickly, and Cowlick gazed at her son affectionately with a slow nod. “Okay then. You still got your gear?” She glanced down, and he patted the tool kit around his own waist, earning a grunt of approval. “Good. Still kid, you use a weird setup. If I saw any other pony using strictly seven-eighths like you do for every little thing, I'd call 'em an idiot.”

The young but enormous blue earth pony shrugged easily, and Cowlick grinned and shook her head. “Yeah, yeah, okay, fine. I ain't one to talk. Anyway, Celestia's at the library, waiting for the rest of you. Come on, Rusty, let's scoot.”

Rustproof nodded firmly, and Antares and Prestige traded looks as Avalon huffed, and then Cowlick simply winked at them before striding easily past as her son turned to fall in pace beside her. For a moment, Avalon glowered at their backs... and then she hesitantly, surprisingly smiled, shaking her head slowly. “No wonder Rusty's so poo-brain. His mom's absolutely crazy.”

“I heard that.” Cowlick called over her shoulder flatly, and Avalon yelped before shooting up into the air and disappearing into the sky, and Antares and Prestige both stared up after the blur that had been the Pegasus before they traded another look, then laughed.

They headed into Ponyville to make their report to Celestia, who looked pleased with the result... although also spent a little time curiously examining the large bruise on Antares' forehead before he finally lamely explained where it had come from. Celestia had sighed tiredly at this, and then Twilight had looked awkwardly up from across the room, where she and Burning Desire were reading through some book. “Just be glad she didn't shoot you with real bullets. She seems to think that since I'm... you know... and all, it's perfectly fine for her to just shoot me whenever she has some new... horrible... thing she wants to test out. I really need to stop answering her invitations to see her 'great new invention' at the lab.”

“Oh, I'm sure it can't be that bad, my violet. She shot at me a few times with one of her odd weapons, after all, and I'm sure she wouldn't dare harm any of... all this.” Burning Desire leaned back with a grin, slowly gesturing at his handsome body as he winked at Twilight, who only smiled amusedly and then shoved him gently backwards by the face.

“I hate to break it to you, Burning Desire, but Cowlick doesn't think of you as... 'all that.'” she replied dryly as she mimicked his previous gesture, and the demon huffed and crossed his forelegs, looking insulted. “And I don't think she'd really mind actually hurting you, which has me a little worried sometimes. Mostly because a lot of Cowlick's weapons cause collateral damage and I don't want to get caught in the crossfire.”

“Violet!” Burning Desire whined, and Antares and Prestige laughed as even Celestia smiled despite herself, giving a slow, entertained shake of her head.

That night, they headed home... and Antares found himself unable to sleep, even as Prestige snored soundly, curled up against his side in his room. And slowly, Antares gazed up and around at his surroundings, his eyes able to see almost as clearly in darkness as they did in the light thanks to his heritage.

All around the ceiling were painted tiles, depicting a story of a princess and a scribe that had won her love, before they had eloped from a castle together to escape the evil queen. It was loosely based on the real story of his parents, Antares knew now. It was pretty and beautifully done... but the true centerpiece of this room was beside his bed.

It was a massive mural, painted not by his mother, but left by a strange being known as Gymbr, who had been Antares' guardian in its own strange way. The mural looked polished even after all the years that had passed, as fresh as it had been when first painted... and it displayed countless ponies and other beings, all faces of friends and family and those who had some meaning in Antares' life, one way or another: from falcon-headed, deceased Odin, to his mother and father, to Antares himself... and she smiled as his eyes lingered on the illustration of him. When this had first been left on his wall, he'd only been a foal... but Gymbr had painted him as an adult, and it had gotten every visible detail flawless.

And they were all smiling, standing on the hills in front of a massive, black castle: every single one of them looked happy. This had perhaps been what Gymbr had ultimately longed for... and Antares couldn't help but let his eyes trail to the picture of the gunmetal-colored, winged unicorn. Its wings were black as night, and its mane and tail had been made of dark fire... and its emerald eyes, even now, seemed to gaze out of the painting and deep into Antares' soul, as he regarded the image silently.

Then the leather-winged unicorn sighed softly as he turned away, carefully pushing himself to his hooves. He looked back and forth through his room, at the bookshelves, the armor rack that held his equipment, the small desk stacked with a few notes and a half-complete model Pinkamena had given him years ago... and then slowly, he turned around, and gazed quietly at Prestige.

She was smiling in her sleep, curled up in the bed that was just a little too small for them both... and yet they made it work. She had shrugged the blankets down a bit, but Antares' horn glowed, and he tucked her gently in with telekinesis, saying softly: “I love you, Prestige Luster. You're... I'll always love you.”

Prestige seemed to smile wider, shifting quietly in her sleep, and Antares gazed at her quietly for a few more moments before he finally turned towards the door. He let himself out into the hall, glancing quietly across at the closed door to his parents' room... but then he simply shook his head, turning to head quietly down the corridor before looking up in surprise as he saw Burning Desire resting in front of the fire.

The demon smiled over his shoulder at him, then he gestured quietly to Antares, and the young stallion hesitated only a moment before walking forwards and sitting down beside him. They both gazed into the flames, and then Burning closed his eyes and said softly: “Your Mom's asleep up in her room. She really runs herself hard... and forgets that tiredness isn't just in the body, it's in the mind and spirit, I think. But you know... she adores you, Antares. And your Mom and Dad, well...”

He smiled after a moment, glancing over at the young stallion as he nodded and blushed a little. Burning Desire looked back into the flames, and they were quiet before the demon said softly: “Listen. I've been wanting to talk to you for a little while now. I know that you have a better view of demons than most, and it means a lot to me that you're nice to me. I know that probably sounds stupid in a way, but it's true, because I know you don't have to be, either; violet would probably blame me for it.”

He chuckled, and Antares shrugged, smiling a little as he glanced over at the demon and said quietly: “She... she really cares about you, Burning Desire. And you... I can tell you care about her. Besides, you're good to me. You treat me well.”

“Well, I am a hell of a handsome master of all that is passionate.” Burning Desire replied cheerfully, reaching up and rubbing a hoof through his flaming mane as it flared up for a moment, then he shook his head and smiled warmly, reaching out to squeeze Antares' shoulder. “And I'm just trying to do the right thing, which is much harder than it sounds. Especially with how selfish I am... how often I do hope, Antares, that... she and I will have a long, long time together, even though I know... we probably won't.”

Burning Desire only chuckled quietly again, though, looking down into the fireplace before he said softly: “And no matter how much she cares about me and I about her... you were here first, Antares. I want you to know I'm not going to ever get between you and her or try to take her away from you... any more than I'd.. try to take her away from Luna and Scrivener.”

He quieted, and Antares glanced up, but the demon only shook his head, closing his eyes and smiling a little. “Don't start, Antares, about how I'm noble or any nonsense like that. Because I'm not. I might be a fire demon but I'm also a wet towel when it comes to stuff like this, when it comes to Twilight Sparkle. And the worst part is that I do want her to be the happiest she can be, honesty, I do, and I know that won't be with me. Your parents gave her something... I never could. And honestly? Maybe that's part of the reason why I long for her so much. Because my kind is cursed to want most what we can never have...”

Antares reached up and touched the demon's shoulder quietly, and Burning Desire smiled at this again before he nodded a little. “So how are you and Prestige doing? I know I'm no father figure but I know a hell of a lot about lust, and a teeny-tiny bit about love.”

“We're good.” Antares said softly, and when Burning Desire looked at him pointedly and waggled his eyebrows, the young stallion glanced away with a blush. “We... aren't doing anything like... that. We just... uh... can we talk about something else?”

“Virgins. So cute!” Burning Desire said with relish, and Antares grumbled under his breath before the fiery stallion asked curiously: “What about you and Aphrodisia?”

“Oh don't talk like that. She's my cousin.” Antares groaned, rubbing at his face, and Burning Desire snorted in amusement at this before the young stallion mumbled: “You were a unicorn before you were a Lust demon, so don't give me any excuses about... you know.”

“Yeah, and I was an exceedingly-lonely noble while I was a unicorn, and unlike you I had to pay to get rid of my virginity. Unless Prestige is a prostitute. Is Prestige a prostitute?” Burning Desire looked at him curiously, mischief gleaming in his eyes, but Antares only gave him a dry look, not rising to the bait, and after a few moments Burning Desire grumbled under his breath. “Oh fine. But you and Aphrodisia are very close, yes? She always seems... different around you. She's very protective of you.”

“Yeah, we are. We're like brother and sister.” Antares answered finally, and Burning Desire nodded thoughtfully before the young stallion hesitated, then asked curiously: “What about you? I mean, apart from Pinkamena... you must have people you're close to, yeah?”

“I have Twilight Sparkle.” Burning Desire glanced away with a quiet laugh, shifting awkwardly before he said finally: “Lust demons and Greed demons... for the most part... are not exactly good companions. Lust demons like me can become far too emotionally-involved with their 'friends,' or are just there for one... obvious... thing... and Greed demons tend to hang around just long enough to make you owe them a favor before they run off. It's just in our natures...”

Antares nodded slowly, and then Burning Desire rested back a bit before he said finally: “Perhaps Hevatica. She's a strange one for a Kelpie, though... but it seems to me like the demons who spend their time with you and knew your parents, Antares, have all been influenced in one way or another by them. Then again, I suppose that goes for Twilight too, and maybe even the Dawn Bringer now. Celestia has been trying very hard, after all, to be more like your mother.”

The glossy black young stallion smiled after a moment, shifting a little, and then Burning Desire gazed into the fire before he suddenly grinned and looked over at Antares, asking easily: “Hey, would you like to try and learn some demonic magic? I mean, just on the subject of influencing others... I bet I could teach you a simple coercion spell. Very useful for helping to give people a little incentive to make them do what you want... and I admit that I've used them more than a few times for my own nefarious ends.”

“You're less threatening than other demons because I know that when you say 'nefarious ends,' you mean you tricked them into sleeping with you.” Antares said mildly, and Burning Desire huffed a little at this.

“Not always! Sometimes I just wanted their shiny trinkets. I am half-Greed.” he said pointedly, and then he smiled slightly as he leaned in closer, saying curiously: “But you're interested, huh? Not so pure and innocent as I thought, are you?”

“I didn't... I mean...” Antares blushed, shifting awkwardly before he sighed and shook his head, looking up after a moment and mumbling: “Yeah, of course I'm interested. Besides, I... that's kind of like what I do already, isn't it? I read into people, I see what they want me to say or what they want to hear... and I figure out what means what, what reaction will get me what. It doesn't always work perfectly, sure, but...”

He shook his head a bit, then said softly, rubbing a hoof awkwardly at the bedding they were seated on: “It's appealing, but not because... it would give me control over... other people so much as... if I had that ability to give an extra nudge, maybe I could talk more of my enemies down. Maybe I could avoid fights and conflict, and avoid putting my friends in danger. I... I keep being told about how powerful my ability to see into people is, but...”

He quieted, and Burning Desire nodded slowly before the demon turned to face him. The two looked at each other, and then a smile quirked at the demon's mouth as he said mildly: “Violet is going to be very upset with me for this, but... fine. I'll try and teach you, then. Tell me, Antares, how well do you handle your magic? Twilight has told me you put a world of effort into your learning...”

“Mom's too nice. I'm... I'm not very good at most forms of magic.” Antares laughed and shook his head a bit, flapping his leathery wings once before grimacing and furling this carefully to his sides as his back gave a faint throb of pain. “But I was able to learn from Selene, and from Amdusias... illusions, mental control and some of my mom's old magic. So I'm confident I can at least get the basics of what you want to teach me.”

Burning Desire nodded thoughtfully, then he absently picked up a log and threw it into the fireplace, the crackling flames rumbling higher. Antares smiled after a moment, glancing at this and reflecting on how rare it was to see natural flames burning away here... usually, Twilight always lit sapphire flame in the fireplace, just as his mother had. It was a strange, small detail, yet all the same it stuck with Antares before he asked slowly: “Your fire... it's different, isn't it? I mean, that's normal fire, but your mane and tail, you can generate...”

“I see what you're getting at.” Burning Desire smiled slightly, looking surprised but also pleased. “You're sharp, Antares... I mean, its easy to tell the difference between your mother's fire and mine. Blue flame that chars away the spirit and can burn almost forever. That only destroys what Luna wishes to destroy: powerful magic that Twilight dearest has mastered as well. But my fire and natural fire looks almost the same... although yes, feels very different. Mine can burn emotions, which I like to think can be just as powerful as your mother's... it can drive someone into frenzy, or make them suffer, or numb, without taking a single ounce of blood or flesh.

“Fire is a living metaphor, Antares. It's an animal, and it's an idea given shape and form. It's rage, and it's passion, and it's warmth and comfort...” Burning Desire paused for a moment, then he smiled over at Antares. “What does your fire look like, Antares?”

“My fire... I don't think I have fire.” Antares replied with a laugh after a moment, shaking his head, and when the demon looked at him insistently, the young unicorn shifted awkwardly. “Well... I mean, I can kind of use my Mom's blue flames when I concentrate really hard, but...”

The fiery stallion laughed and slapped Antares on the shoulder, gazing at him warmly. “Then we have something else to work on, too. I'm going to show you how to give your fire life... every unicorn, every pony, has a fire burning inside them, Antares. You need to merely let it out... or at least, that's what I believe. But of course, I may be a little biased, being all made of hotness myself, as your darling mother says.”

Burning Desire posed a bit again, raising his head proudly, and Antares couldn't help but smile as he replied pointedly: “Actually, I'm pretty sure Mom says you're made of hot air.”

The demon huffed a bit, then paused before looking thoughtfully over Antares. Antares looked awkwardly back, feeling a little thrown-off by the change of the demon's demeanor as he shifted a bit back and forth... and then Burning Desire smiled slightly and reached a hoof up to tap his own nose, murmuring softly: “Yes, yes, that's exactly what I thought I saw.”

“What are you talking about?” Antares asked awkwardly, and Burning Desire only gave him an amused look... but it was enough that the young stallion felt his ability to understand things kicking in, reading the body language and the eyes of the demon before the glossy-black unicorn frowned a little. “I... I mean... I just... I do want to be like my parents more, I hope I'm more like them than I feel at times, but... I know I'm different, too...”

“You have fewer failings, from what I've been told... but don't worry, Antares, there's plenty of time to develop more.” Burning Desire said kindly, and then he shook his head as Antares laughed a little despite himself, but continued to study the demon with interest as Burning Desire looked back at him with that same almost-musing look. “It's simply strange. How can you long to be flawed, to be more like your parents in bad ways as well as good, when at the same time you seem to wish that you could be... for lack of a better word... the 'perfect' hero?”

“Hey, you of all people should know that desires don't always make sense.” Antares muttered, and the demon nodded thoughtfully in agreement before the young stallion looked down, saying quietly: “I'm confused, maybe, I dunno. So much is expected of me, but I'm still... young. Every time I think I know which way is the right way to go, I screw up. I'm supposed to be some shining star and yet what do I keep doing? I keep... I keep getting my friends and the ponies I care for hurt. I don't understand how I'm supposed to be so good, how I'm supposed to be 'better' than my parents... but my parents were so 'flawed' and yet they did so much good, and I'm so 'perfect' and all I seem to do is... screw up.”

Burning Desire chuckled at this, shaking his head slowly before he reached up and squeezed Antares' shoulder gently, saying empathetically: “Antares, you're mature, strong, a stallion in every way except for your age, and even then you're not that far away. But all the same, you still see your parents through the eyes of the colt you were... you still look up to them, seeing these mountainous horses who did incomparable feats, that you can never compare to. But size isn't everything: they cast shadows, but you burn like a beacon, do you understand?”

“No.” Antares said moodily, and Burning Desire chuckled before smiling across at the young stallion, who hesitated before he closed his eyes and bowed his head forwards. “I wish I could talk to them. I wish I could know them. I wish they were here to guide me...”

“They are always with you, Antares...” Burning Desire replied in a quieter voice, becoming more serious as he squeezed slowly into the younger male's shoulder. “I feel them in every board, every painting, every furnishing in this house. In Twilight Sparkle and in Celestia and in you. They're here, Antares, they are always here to guide you... you just need to listen to what they've left behind.”

The young stallion looked up at this, and Burning Desire smiled a bit, adding quietly: “And of course, that's why I'm working so hard to be good to you and please my sweet violet. I loathe to think of what your parents would do to me, even from the beyond, if I displeased or hurt either of you. I heard your mother and father were both very protective... wanted to make sure that first and foremost, you were able to grow up happy, grow up strong, and most of all, grow up to be the stallion you wanted to be. Not anypony else's vision, not even their own: Twilight tells me all the time they simply had faith that you would one day be a great leader, and a great stallion. Do you understand me, Antares Mīrus?”

The young stallion was silent for a few moments, then he turned and silently embraced the demon, who hugged him tightly back without hesitation, closing his eyes as he said softly: “Good. Now go back to bed, and tomorrow I'll teach you all the things I shouldn't.”

“Thank you, Burning Desire. You're...” Antares drew back a bit, and then he simply smiled before bowing his head and turning away, heading quietly back towards his room and silently thanking Twilight, understanding all the better why she was willing to give Burning Desire the time with her he had longed for.

Kin And Kindred

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Chapter Twenty Three: Kin And Kindred
~BlackRoseRaven

Winter remained heavy and cold, but it wasn't entirely unpleasant, and did little to slow anypony down: Antares and his friends continued to train anywhere and everywhere they could, sometimes even braving heavy blizzards; in fact, on more than one occasion they forced themselves to work together in the worst of conditions with a minimum of gear, Antares shouting orders and Meadowlark learning to belt out her own commands over the screaming wind and through the most muffling hail of snow. They also began to learn to communicate using taps and gestures... but it took a while for Avalon to understand that being tapped on the shoulder didn't mean she should immediately spin around and punch whoever had just touched her.

The young ponies also continued to run short missions for Celestia, whenever she asked them to: often they were assigned to work with other Starlit Knights, sent in pairs or trios, and only rarely were all six sent off together. Antares wished that Celestia would send them more often as a group, but he knew why she was doing this: not only because it was safer to send them out in smaller units, but because they had to learn to work with others, as well as themselves. If they wanted to one day be Starlit Knights themselves, they had to understand they wouldn't have the luxury of picking and choosing their units or platoons, nor who they worked under, and they would have to learn to get along with whoever they worked with, not just those who knew them best.

Antares felt like he and his friends were in a strange kind of place now: they were halfway between living the dream they had always wanted to, and being forced to adjust to reality. Some of them were better off than others: Rustproof was well on his way to becoming Ponyville's best and brightest engineer, Avalon was able to work often with Soarin' or Rainbow Dash or other Pegasi she knew... and others less so.

Meadowlark, for example, had a hard time adjusting: other units tended to treat her with kit gloves, and some of the less-understanding Knights often told her to keep out of the way or to back off from her duties. But she was a good medic, augmented by the fact she was learning more and more zebra medicine and craft from Zecora. It was taking her a long while to master even the basics, but that was partly because she was learning about zebra culture perhaps even more than she was learning about alchemy and potions: the Pegasus had gained the shaman's trust in more than one way.

But Meadow was strong, never failed on the field, despite the fact she had to avoid combat and sometimes flagged, grasping at her still-scarred, slightly malformed side. She always wore something these days: a vest, a chemise, even just oversized saddlebags, anything to keep her side hidden from view. She was ashamed of it... and Antares often wondered silently how she could still not blame him for everything that had happened.

Antares, meanwhile, was getting more respect despite his age... and while he preferred leading and working with his friends, he had gotten used to leading smaller groups of rookies on training exercises, and in one field test he had actually been placed in charge of two of the younger Starlit Knights on a short, simple scouting mission. They had been wary at first, but Antares had been firm and concise in his orders, and had only been forced to fall back on 'the Baroness ordered this herself: do you really want to argue with her orders?' once.

They had scouted about five miles to the west of Ponyville, where fires had been reported: during winter, Nibelung raiders and other mercenary bands often became more aggressive and desperate, and it was important to keep an eye on any suspicious sightings round the village.

They found a small mercenary band of Nibelung, but they were clearly in no shape for combat with how beaten up they all looked: the smoke had come from them burning the remains of several carriages. One of the young Knights had wanted to attack, looking furious, but Antares had hurriedly stopped him and said quietly: “No, there's no point.”

“It looks like they just burnt out a caravan, and who knows how many they killed! Look at them, we'll take them by surprise!” the Knight hissed in return, but Antares had only shaken his head shortly. “Why not? Kid, seriously, this is our chance to-”

“No, it's not.” Antares said forcefully, and the Knight frowned before the young leather-winged unicorn pointed down, saying quietly: “Weapons buried in the ground, the wagons and their remains dragged into a circle, and the Nibelung are still sitting around. They didn't attack a trade caravan. Their caravan was attacked and destroyed. From the surrounding damage and the injuries, I'd guess a dragon, maybe two.”

Both Knights had looked again, then the one who had spoken out had grudgingly nodded after a few moments and calmed visibly. They had returned to Ponyville to announce what they'd found, and one of the Knights apparently said a few good words about Antares that reached Celestia, who had congratulated him quietly. He was making good progress... and while he was young, she was glad she had made the decision to give him more and more responsibility.

This wasn't precisely what Antares had dreamed of, all the same: he and his friends all working together, their own little unit, working to save Equestria and bring back his parents. And Antares couldn't help but mull over this one day near the end of winter, as he sat quietly by himself on top of a fallen tree deep in the Everfree Forest, in a quiet little thinking spot.

Prestige was busy with Twilight and Burning Desire today, learning magic... Meadowlark was working with Zecora, Avalon had a message to deliver all the way to Cloudsdale, Aphrodisia was on a short courier mission to Subterra with her father to pick up some more pieces for the meteor project, and Rustproof and Cowlick were re-purposing the old water defense system that surrounded Ponyville. Originally, it had been designed to create a sheet of water around the village that would hold back any attacking Clockwork creatures, since many of their drones were destroyed or weakened by contact with liquid; now, Cowlick had gotten the idea to add a purifier to the water system, something that could make it painful for Cancer or his infected to pass through the barrier.

But since Celestia was gone today, too, it meant that Antares had little to do, little to keep himself busy. He half-wished that she had brought him with her to Canterlot, just so he could watch how she handled her own leadership responsibilities at the Royal Court, and negotiating as Baroness with the other Barons... it would have been something to do, at least.

He'd already polished his armor and all his equipment, he had exercised and run through a few drills, he had done some flight practice until his wings had gotten sore and worked on the magic he'd been taught by Burning Desire. Slowly, he was beginning to pick up on more advanced magic, bit-by-bit he was mastering his abilities... but it took him so much effort to master a single spell that he wondered moodily sometimes if it was worth it at all. Particularly because his magical energies regenerated so slowly on top of that... he could toss out maybe three spells before he felt drained and started risking not just recoil, but hurting himself or miscasting his magic.

And it was only just after noon now, so here he was, sitting alone in this little field in the forest. It wasn't too far away from the Phooka den, and he thought in a little while he might walk over there, see if they needed help with anything or if Fluttershy or anyone else he knew was hanging around. She might need help out at the care center or something, after all, and by now, he really felt like he needed something to do.

Part of him was glad for the little break, though, as he sat quietly back, looking up at the gray skies above as a few of the hardy birds that stayed through winter chirped in the trees. He closed his eyes, thinking of how hard they had worked over these last few months, how many ponies told him he deserved little breaks like this... but did he really? For all the work they'd been doing over winter, Antares could only be thankful that they had never had to contend with Cancer, or any of his infected. Plague and disease were still cropping up here and there, but there had been no signs of him... and Cowlick, between all her other projects, had been working on and off with Greece and Tenochtitlan on designing a system that could detect the monster's disease, or at least warn them of his presence if he got close to the village.

Antares sighed a little, absently brushing at the half-frozen log he was seated on before shaking his head out a bit and closing his eyes, murmuring: “I just wish... we were stronger. All of us are supposed to be... I dunno. Better. But are we really?”

He shook his head a little, thinking quietly of all the stories he'd heard about his parents, and the parents and older family of his friends. They all had so much to live up to, so much to strive to be... and that was just to be equal. Yet he knew that even Avalon felt it sometimes, like they had an impossible goal ahead of them: when their parents had been only a few years older than they were now, they had already been seen as heroes and saviors. Well, except for Antares' own parents... but he had the heritage of a Valkyrie to try and live up to. And he had no idea how in the name of hell he was supposed to manage that.

“Excuse me.” said a soft voice, and Antares flinched in surprise before he looked quickly around, then smiled in relief at the sight of Fluttershy, who was gazing at him with gentle warmth. “I don't want to intrude, but are you okay, Antares? You seem a little sad, sitting out here all alone...”

“I just... I guess I've been thinking too much, Fluttershy.” Antares answered finally, and then he nodded a little and looked down, quietly turning around and shifting off the log as he paced through the powder, smiling a bit as it crunched under his hooves. “You're so quiet. How do you move like that, so... silently, so gracefully?”

“I had to learn how to when I was just a filly, Antares, to... get safely around my own home.” Fluttershy quieted, then she looked down and said softly: “I was never really allowed outside in Hoofston, you know. Every day was... training, training, training, unless I was lucky and mother was away on a business trip or a... a hunt.” She stopped and shivered a little. “And then one day I was sent to Cloudsdale, for flight camp, and... it was so strange, Antares. Blue sky, all around. Soft clouds. No smoke in the air, no blood, no... 'trophies.' But I was still always careful to be quiet, because I was so afraid that these other Pegasi were going to be like mother.”

Antares nodded a little, studying the blonde Pegasus quietly. He hesitated as they looked at each other, and then he asked finally, as respectfully as he could: “How... how is it after everything she did to you, Fluttershy, you can still... you still talk about her as your mother? You still...”

But Fluttershy only smiled a little, closing her eyes and bowing her head. “Yes, she was... she was cruel, and heartless, and evil. She did terrible things, for terrible reasons. But all the same, Antares, she was still my mother... nothing can change that. So there's no point in trying to, no point in pretending otherwise, that her blood doesn't flow in my veins... but my father's blood does, too. And I stop and think about...”

Fluttershy looked down at one of her hooves quietly, then she shook her head slowly and murmured: “It wasn't entirely my mother's fault. I think she was brought up... harder than I was. She was broken by her experiences, Antares, and they made her into a predator, made her into a destroyer. But somehow... maybe because of my father's nature, maybe... maybe because of my mother's own strength in me... what she put me through taught me such empathy for others, and taught me no matter how bad our pain is, we can learn to push through it. I thought of the pain and suffering inflicted on me, and how mother was always so cold, and distant... I thought of all her trophies, and how she only looked at them sometimes, with... disappointment.

“But when I helped others, in spite of my own pain... it made my pain less. It made them smile, and seeing others happy made me happy.” Fluttershy glanced up, laughing quietly. “And I thought of all the animals, when I saw them for the first time, how wonderful they were when alive, how kind and gentle. How beautiful nature was compared to the prison of my home or the lonely clouds in the vast blue sky. I think if only my mother had been able to experience that herself... she could have been a good person. But she was never allowed to experience that, or see that way, Antares.”

The young stallion nodded slowly, and then he shook his head and said quietly: “You're still a far better pony than me, Fluttershy. And... it makes me understand how lucky I really am, even now. My Mom and Dad... they truly loved me, after all. They took care of me, and they... they helped make me strong. And I need to repay them for that, if I can.”

“You do every day, Antares.” Fluttershy said softly, and the young stallion blushed but smiled warmly before Fluttershy hesitated, then asked curiously: “Would you like to come back to the den with me? The Phooka and I are having... there's going to be a little celebration today. It... it would mean a lot to me if you would come.”

“Of course, Fluttershy, you know that I'd be happy to.” Antares replied with a smile, glancing up at the Pegasus and nodding one, and she blushed a little and nodded almost shyly in return. For a few moments, Antares studied her... and then understanding dawned over his features before he smiled up at her, asking: “Do you want me to ask Mom to come, too? Or some of the others?”

“No, Antares, this isn't anything... too big. This is just... a welcoming. Besides, they're busy, but you're here... and you've always been welcome in the Phooka den, you treat them with kindness and respect and they think very highly of you. Not that they don't like the others, only that...” Fluttershy smiled a little. “Well, you know how they are. Protective. Quiet. And they like to tease and play their games. I think it's best if just you come for now... it means no one will get too anxious. Then, later...”

Antares nodded slowly, then he stood up with a soft smile, bowing his head forwards as he murmured quietly: “Then of course, Fluttershy, it's the very least I can do... I... Mom and Dad would be really proud of you. Really happy for you, too. And Twilight will be thrilled, I know she will.”

Fluttershy smiled softly, closing her eyes and bowing her head forwards, and there was silence for a few moments between them before she turned and gestured silently, and Antares nodded and followed. They were quiet as they made their way through the forest, but it was comfortable... and again, Antares marveled a little over the way Fluttershy moved, with both gentility and dignity, and how the forest itself seemed to bend around her, moved and swayed to give her a clear path.

They reached the Phooka den in good time, and Antares bowed his head politely to a group of the semi-ethereal beings, who bowed their heads almost solemnly back. He could feel seriousness in the air... and also pride, as he looked up with a smile when they strode carefully down into the beautiful field, before the young stallion laughed a little as he saw a familiar Kelpie striding towards them. “Hevatica, what are you doing here?”

“Well, darling, you don't think I'd miss this, do you?” Hevatica smiled warmly, then her eyes roved tenderly to Fluttershy, who blushed a little but gave a small, warm nod all the same. “I'm here to support a dear friend. Because you are, Fluttershy... you take such good care of the children, and you're so gorgeous and compassionate. And it's very nice to see the way that over the last while you've finally started to loosen up, instead of being such a bundle of nerves...”

“I'm very glad to see you, Hevatica... although I do have to admit it's a little odd.” murmured Fluttershy, blushing a bit as she bowed her head forwards, and Antares only smiled warmly. “You're such a pretty, popular person, after all, and I'm, well...”

“Oh don't even start that, now.” Hevatica laughed quietly, the sound seeming to echo strangely in the air, tantalizing the senses of those close by. “A demon like me has much to learn from mortals, and there is a world you can teach me, Fluttershy... and of course, I should selfishly admit that your emotions help fuel me as well... but I like to think we help each other there. You become nervous so easy, darling, when I know if you wanted to, you could likely bring down a dragon with your bare hooves: I feed off your nervousness, and gobble up that nastiness so instead you're only left with tranquility. It's good for us both, is it not?”

Fluttershy blushed and shifted lamely, and Hevatica gazed at her for a few moments before saying softly: “But silly Fluttershy. Just because I'm an old girl doesn't mean that we can't be friends. You underestimate your value... you have much my kind longs for. Such a pretty voice... such grace... so good with the younglings.”

Hevatica gazed affectionately over at Antares, then she reached up and stroked his face gently, smiling kindly. “You should tell her more often how proud you are of her. She's a beauty, isn't she? And aren't the Phooka fortunate to have her looking out for them, especially Nirvana?”

“They are, Fluttershy. You shouldn't ever doubt that... you're the one who really helped the Phooka and the ponies adjust to one-another, after all. Helped Ponyville see how they were worthy of being treated as equals, and... how much good they could do to help out the town.” Antares smiled, nodding a few times in agreement with the Kelpie, and the Pegasus closed her eyes and bowed her head forwards in silent thanks.

Several Phooka approached them, and Antares glanced curiously over at these before he smiled as he realized that among them was Nirvana. The distinct Phooka looked almost nervous, fidgeting a little, but as Fluttershy gazed kindly into his eyes, he seemed to relax almost immediately. They both fell quiet, studying each other for a few moments... and then Fluttershy simply nodded before looking up and saying softly: “Excuse me. I need to get ready... but... thank you both for being here.”

“It's our pleasure.” Hevatica said kindly, and Fluttershy bowed her head to them again with another happy blush before she turned and left with Nirvana and the other Phooka. Antares and Hevatica watched, and then they glanced at each other before the Kelpie shook her head and chuckled quietly. “This is cute. And it's a nice change of pace, I have to admit, darling. We demons aren't usually so calmly invited to such pretty gatherings.”

“Times are changing. I think we're... all evolving, in a sense.” Antares said softly, and the Kelpie nodded thoughtfully in response to this statement before the young stallion glanced back and forth at the other Phooka around the den: some were hurrying through the area, others were milling around, some were gazing towards their guests with interest, and the glossy-black unicorn murmured: “It's weird, you know? I don't think Mom and Dad were ever this accepted.”

“You're special, Antares. And you're special to Fluttershy... and it's less that your mother and father weren't accepted out here, it was more that Luna and Scrivener were so often busy, and did not desire to enforce their presence over these children of nature.” Hevatica replied calmly, smiling softly. “Silly young stallion. Always so concerned you're being put up on a pedestal.”

Antares shrugged lamely, and Hevatica studied him for a few moments before she asked curiously: “Tell me, young one. How is your training with the twit going?”

The glossy-black unicorn gazed amusedly up at Hevatica, but she only sniffed disdainfully, replying mildly to this: “No matter what I may think of Burning Desire, no matter how important he might be to you and Lady Twilight, he's still a twit. For many reasons.”

Antares sighed a bit, then he asked finally: “Why can't demons ever just, you know, be nice to each other? I mean, why all the mind games and the teasing and the... everything else?”

“Because we all are victims of our own natures.” Hevatica replied kindly, and Antares looked meditative at this, bowing his head forwards before he nodded a little to himself. Hevatica nodded firmly back, then she tilted her head, gazing down at the male questioningly.

For a few moments, Antares gathered his thoughts, and then he shrugged and gazed back up at the Kelpie, replying quietly: “I wish I had my Mom's talents a lot, to be honest. He's working really hard with me, and I'm putting my all into it, but... all the same, I still can't seem to grasp everything that I want to. I still find myself having so much trouble with even just the basics...”

“But you are learning, Antares, don't be so hard on yourself.” the Kelpie half-chastened gently, and Antares blushed but nodded a little before Hevatica reached up and touched his face gently. “Tell you what, darling. Let's enjoy this little ceremony here, and then we'll head back to your cottage and I'll help you train a little. Would you like that?”

“I really would. Thank you.” Antares replied with a smile, and Hevatica only smiled back and shrugged before the young stallion glanced towards where the Phooka had begun clearing snow from the natural stone step in the center of the pond, murmuring: “I'm really glad I get to see this. I almost feel bad that... the others don't.”

“They'll see something similar in time. Such strange rites these Phooka have, but I suppose it could be worse.” the Kelpie said thoughtfully, and then she huffed a bit when a Phooka walked up to her and nuzzled against her, half-pushing at it grumpily. “Oh stop. You're all as touchy as Lust demons.”

Some of the Phooka seemed to chuckle in response as one nuzzled her insistently again, and the Kelpie rolled her eyes as she reached a cloven hoof up and stroked slowly down the back of its neck. Antares laughed despite himself, shaking his head before he smiled when a Phooka approached his other side, reaching up to quietly rub a hoof along its back as it rumbled contentedly. “They only like to be touched by those they trust.”

“Yes, and then they want to be petted constantly. Like cats. The act is much less cute when you know they're intelligent and rational beings.” Hevatica replied dryly, even as she continued to moodily stroke along the Phooka's spine. Antares only smiled across at her, shaking his own head a little as he relaxed and more of the Phooka made themselves comfortable around them even as their attention was drawn up towards the front of the field, when more-industrious Phooka began to set up some kind of stage around the stone.

For a few more minutes there was quiet, with only the rumbles of the Phooka and Hevatica's occasional complaints spilling through the field, and then silence fell as the Phooka stepped away from the ritual site they had finished. Carved staves formed a crisscrossing backdrop around the frozen pond, sweet-smelling braids of grasses and herbs curled around many of these, and sitting around the stage with a strange pattern to their placement. Antares watched curiously as the crowd of Phooka all sat up, almost going rigid as they rose their heads proudly before bowing forwards respectfully as Nirvana and Fluttershy approached the stage from different sides, and Hevatica and Antares both hurriedly mimicked the Phooka around them, dropping their heads respectfully as the two strode to the cleared stone in the center of the pond.

They both stepped onto it at the same time, trading a tight, fierce embrace as the Phooka rose their heads. They all gazed respectfully at the two as Antares felt a strange twist of amazement run through his body and Hevatica smiled softly, before Nirvana began to speak in his own language. And while Antares couldn't understand the words, he recognized the tone, felt the emotion in the strange entity's voice, and the young stallion smiled warmly at the honor and warmth of the Phooka.

After a few minutes, he quieted, and Fluttershy rose her head, saying something softly first in the language of the Phooka before she closed her eyes with a soft smile, murmuring in her own tongue in a voice that all the same carried clearly through the field: “We're two people coming together. Two cultures, but... we have many similarities. We come from the same nature, and have formed a bond I will always cherish, and am honored to have. I'm only glad that this is being witnessed by two people very dear to me... both friends. Thank you for being here, and being with us. For accepting us...”

Fluttershy reached up, rubbing a hoof quietly at her eye before she and Nirvana gazed at one-another softly, and he said something quietly as he rose a hoof and touched her forehead gently. And Fluttershy smiled in return even as tears filled her eyes, repeating the gesture, and replying in her own language: “And I see you, Nirvana. I see you and I welcome you.”

They looked across at one another, eyes locked... and then both lowered their hooves and they pulled each other into a fierce embrace, and the Phooka threw their heads back and released a single long, drawn out note that echoed through the field, Antares' eyes widening in surprise as Hevatica closed her eyes and shivered in strange pleasure, a smile lingering on her face. And then the Phooka fell silent, gazing up towards the two as Fluttershy and Nirvana smiled at one another, then traded a short, brief nuzzle, followed by a short, soft kiss, and then another tight hug.

When the two finally parted, Phooka strode quickly forwards, rumbling what could only be congratulations and warm welcomes. Antares hopped to his hooves, joining the jostling crowd, eager to give his own... but before he even had a chance to speak, Fluttershy jumped towards him and hugged him tightly around the neck, making the young stallion blush and smile as she whispered: “Thank you.”

Antares only hugged her tightly back, and Hevatica laughed quietly as she joined them and reached up to touch the Pegasus' shoulder. When the mare drew back, Antares smiled... only to laugh in surprise when Nirvana hugged him as well, reaching up and blushing as he awkwardly returned the surprisingly-tight embrace. “Hey, I... I was just happy to be here, guys. You both... I was really... you deserve this, Fluttershy. This was... more than a welcome, wasn't it?”

“It's how the Phooka acknowledge a newcomer to their tribe, and... make them feel that they belong. It's rare for a pony to become part of their clan, but... it happens sometimes.” Fluttershy looked softly over at Nirvana as the Phooka stepped back and nodded with a quiet rumble, gazing back at her affectionately. “They keep telling me that... I'm special. I don't think I am... but I do like to think that there's plenty we share. That they and I... are much the same.”

Antares stayed to talk with Fluttershy and Nirvana, spending some time with the other Phooka as Hevatica seemed to drink in the energy in the atmosphere, looking delighted by it. She seemed to enjoy herself, so Antares took his time, learning more about the Phooka, warmed by the way Fluttershy and Nirvana were more openly expressing their obvious affection for each other, and reassuring her the few times she needed it that her friends would accept and welcome her and Nirvana when she finally put the rumors about her relationship with the Phooka to rest. When she finally shared with them that she and Nirvana were intimate, and more than just friends: that on top of that, she had been given the honor of becoming part of his tribe.

When the demon and the young stallion left, he fell into thought as the Kelpie studied him with interest, before the glossy-black unicorn finally looked up and said softly: “Love can change you, can't it? I mean... I think about how Prestige has affected me, made me... more resilient in a lot of ways. Given me more to fight for, in the here and now, instead of the future... and I think of her. She's so much looser than she used to be, and a lot less racist... even if, you know, when she gets mad...”

“She goes back to her old ways, yes. Love is a delicious emotion, even at its weakest, Antares, especially for my kind.” Hevatica softened, glancing over their shoulder. “The love that Fluttershy and Nirvana experience... it is an almost forbidden love. The Phooka are close to pony, but nature spirits... although many think of them like beasts, or monsters. Their love grew slowly, and took its time. But they were patient with one-another... even if it has taken them many, many years to finally be ready, to reach this point... if you could taste their love like I do, you would understand that the time and care they have taken with each other has become like an indomitable mountain.

“Your love with Prestige is... spicier. A fast and vibrant and living courtship, but it burns like fire.” Hevatica smiled softly at the young pony, bowing her head towards him. “She is your first relationship, Antares. Do you think she'll be your last? Your father and mother both had many suitors.”

“I... I don't know.” Antares said honestly, then he shook his head and said softly: “I try not to think about it, to be honest. I just... want to do the best I can with her. I want us to... always be friends, and I don't know sometimes if that means we're going to be together forever... or in order to stay friends, we'll have to... break up.”

“A very strange sentiment, but I understand.” Hevatica said softly, then she looked ahead and nodded once before looking at him tenderly. “Please don't misunderstand, young Antares. I only want to see the very best for you... you're important to me. Very, very important... I've known you since you were just a baby, helping care for you beside your mother.”

Antares nodded with a small smile, studying her quietly before the Kelpie looked ahead as they strode side-by-side through the forest, her eyes glowing with warmth. “I like this place. Equestria has everything my kind could desire: strife and chaos, love and affection, the young to nurture, the old to fascinate, the handsome in the middle to adore. And best of all, it has you, and it has your family. And somehow I know that when you bring back Mistress Luna... everything will only get better.”

“Sometimes I think... people are just humoring me when they say stuff like that.” Antares said softly, and Hevatica gave him an entertained look as the young stallion glanced over at her with a bit of a laugh. “Seriously! I just... so many people have so much faith in me... and so much faith in my parents, too, that... when they come back, things will be... better. But Equestria is already wonderful, apart from... well, the current problems.”

Hevatica only smiled softly, however, saying quietly: “Yes, but as much as the Dawn Bringer and Lady Twilight try, young Antares, and as much as you speak for us... it was Mistress Luna who truly brought us together first. Who gave us demons reason to work alongside you ponies, who was always able to bring light into darkness, and darkness into light. She was special in that way... and we look forwards to the era of peace and strength she will continue to build. I and my kind, young stallion, simply believe in her, feel our contract to her still alive and well, which gives us faith that somewhere out there, your parents wait... and you don't have to grow up any faster than you already have in trying to act as our perfect ambassador. You don't need that pressure or weight, handsome child. Stay in the daylight for a while longer, or at least in the gorgeous dusk... our kind has no desire to tar you with our darkness quite yet.”

Antares blushed at this, dropping his head forwards as he murmured softly: “I think I'm already a creature of the night, Hevatica...”

“No, you are a creature born of night, that came from darkness, but burns brightly all day long.” Hevatica smiled kindly, leaning over to kiss his cheek gently, making him blush. “You are a knight of the day still, Antares Mīrus. And your parents will be pleased to see you haven't yet been forced to suffer what they did in the past.”

Antares only nodded a little, and there was thoughtful quiet between them as they headed back to the cottage: even while they trained, Antares remained mostly silent, deep in thought even as he worked hard to follow Hevatica's instructions as closely as possible. Hevatica gave him the time to think, moving through the exercises slowly, studying him with interest the whole time until Antares finally loosened his stance and looked up embarrassedly as they stood in the snowy backyard together, saying embarrassedly: “Sorry. I... can't clear my head.”

“It's alright, Antares. You've been doing well all the same. Let's try just one last thing before we stop for the day, sweet young colt.” Hevatica said kindly, and Antares hesitated, but then nodded with a small smile in agreement, shifting a little as the demon approached and studied him. For a few moments, they were quiet, and then the Kelpie leaned in closer, their eyes locking before her own glowed as she said softly: “Relax.”

Antares forced himself to do so, even as he winced a little at the feeling of the demon reaching into his mind... but to his surprise, he didn't feel her grasping at his thoughts or feeling out his emotions, he felt something slipped into his brain, locking into place before she smiled slightly and drew back as her eyes lost their glow, gesturing calmly with one hoof at a small mound of snow in the distance. “Draw upon the memories I have shared with you, and the magic that flows in your veins and heritage. Combine the powers.”

Antares nodded slowly, breathing in and out before his horn glowed as he leaned forwards, concentrating hard as memories rose up in his mind, letting the images form... and feeling shock run through his body as he saw the image of a grinning, sapphire winged unicorn, almost felt her presence, his body thrumming with the mental imagery of her snapping her horn upwards as her magic flowed through her blood, the same blood that ran through his own veins...

He mimicked the mental image without even realizing it, letting out a short, sharp cry, and his horn gave a sharp pulse before a large spike of solid ice tore up from the earth and blew apart the snowy mound. Antares stumbled backwards with a wince as recoil jarred down his body, and then he gave a sharp, surprised laugh, staring in surprise as Hevatica smiled slightly over at the pale, almost perfectly-clear stalactite of frost, murmuring softly: “Excellently done, sweet Antares. Remember who you take after... but remember also that your magic is different from your mother, or your father's. You are your parents' redemption. You are light in the darkness.”

“I... I just... I saw that memory of my mother you planted in my mind, felt her magic... saw her magic, and tried to copy it... how did you know?” Antares asked quietly, glancing over at Hevatica, who only shook her head with a soft smile.

“You love your parents. I just needed to give your memories a little boost, Antares... and I still remember how eagerly you trained beside your mother and father as a little colt.” Hevatica winked to him, nudging him gently. “Your magic is not as strong as your mother's, may never be... but don't forget that her powers run through you, as do your father's.”

Antares nodded with a blush, bowing his head forwards and closing his eyes in gratitude, and Hevatica looked at him for a few moments before she smiled and asked: “Do you have time for a cup of tea, Antares? We can sit and talk inside. I'd like that.”

“I would too.” Antares replied with a smile, straightening a bit and gazing warmly at the Kelpie, and then he looked towards the gleaming cone of ice that was already beginning to melt away into pure water, thinking of his parents before he closed his eyes and murmured softly: “Thank you.”

The mottled white monster crawled slowly along the clifftop through the snow, giggling quietly to himself as he licked his lips eagerly. Down below, four Strange Ones in cloaks were striding calmly through the narrow gorge that led to what had once been a prison cave, and now served as a storage cell to the enormous, infected hive that had grown through these poisoned mountains.

On the outside, though, everything looked the same: sure, the Strange One village was in shambles, and the once-beacons of the bonfires had burned down to nothing but ashes that had been swallowed up beneath the powdery snow... but apart from the wreckage, at a distance it looked almost the same as it always had. There were no visible signs of Cancer's presence, or of his lovely wife's... Cancer had been very careful to make sure of that.

Other Strange Ones had been regularly showing up all winter: they seemed to know that something was wrong out here somehow, but weren't quite sure of what it was. Either that, or they were just stupid and suicidal, and Cancer didn't really care which it was. All he knew was that they were providing lovely meals for himself and Griselda... and their ever-growing family. But it was a lot of mouths to feed, and Cancer was only glad that he didn't have to worry about shoving food down the little snots' throats too often: instead, they had one big meal or two while they quickly grew up big and strong, then went down for a long nap in one of the other hollowed-out caves.

Oh, they had been lucky! The mountainous region beyond the Strange One village was just a mess of empty caverns and hidden chambers and secret places likely made by the Strange Ones. And there had been a few more caged up nasties... but since Cancer already had his lovely wife, he had just made good, delicious meals of these unfortunates instead of bothering with infecting them.

Griselda – he had already forgotten her actual name – was parked back in what had clearly once been some kind of enormous underground cemetery that the Strange Ones had built. She had made a feast of the corpses she had been able to tear out of the ground and crypts, and it had delighted Cancer. She was primal, vicious, ever-hungry and in a state of semi-hibernation, surrounded by her children, surrounded by eggs and slime and wax and flesh. She was getting stronger and more beautiful every single day, and oh, how eager he was to ride her all the way to the white weasel...

But the cold had slowed them both down: at night, and when the temperature plummeted, Griselda fell into a deep sleep: she wasn't able to move much, and just getting her out of the prison cave and back into the mountains had been difficult enough... and Cancer spat to the side at this thought, muttering: “Moving her fat ass was no small feat. Nothin' about her be small anymore. Gonna have to be patient, oh yes, oh yes... gonna have to wait. But waiting will make it sweeter, 'cause the longer we wait, the bigger our family...”

He licked his teeth slowly, then looked down into the narrow pass below, before giggling as the Strange Ones turned to the prison cave, apparently not noticing or caring about the strange heat emanating from within, nor the dark mosses growing here and there along the stone. Then again, they didn't seem to even notice or care about the fleshy, slimy substances that grew all over the deeper regions of the cave... they only started reacting and recognizing something was wrong when...

Animal shrieks rose up out of the cavern, and Cancer sighed dreamily as he dropped his muzzle in his front hooves, listening to the sound of primal screaming and raging that echoed up out of the cave tunnel with a look of delight on his mottled features. He shifted a bit in the snow, then huffed to himself as he realized pieces of his body were beginning to freeze, so he hurriedly scuttled forwards and scurried down the rock wall of the cliff like an enormous, mutant bug, his red eyes glowing as he muttered: “Do I ever hate this cold, though... and I'm gonna have to figure out me a way to get to that stupid little village, take a look-see around there... yeah, yeah, I wanna make them know I'm a-comin', after all, I wanna make 'em scared, so scared, they bring all the pretties to one place... the white weasel, the zombie, the demons and that punk kid who thinks he's king dung beetle, sittin' on his throne of crap and garbage. Yeah... gonna take me my time with him, ooh yeah...”

Cancer grumbled to himself as reached the ground, then turned down the trench and strode towards the front, ignoring the crunching and strange roars echoing up out of the tunnel behind him. They no longer held his attention as his mind drifted angrily through schemes of revenge and tilted, shadowy memories, growling under his breath before he stepped out of the narrow pass and into the snow-strewn field in front of the once-village he had taken over and destroyed.

He sat back, looking grumpily up at the dark sky and the setting sun, and then he shook his head out before tapping a hoof against the frosted ground. For a few moments, he only thought, even as coldness began to spread up through his body... but the monster had become not only arrogant, but fearless out here. Even if he froze solid – as he had on more than one occasion – either his sweet little babies would come out and rescue him, or he would thaw the next time the sun came out and shined on down on him, the monster often continuing to just sit and think like nothing had happened.

Cancer licked his lips slowly, then he spat to the side before shivering and shaking himself violently, raising his internal body heat as his fleshy form rippled violently and heated up. Then he winced as he heard an echoing, almost-mournful roar, and he sighed tiredly, slumping visibly... then a moment later, that roar came again, and Cancer's head twisted almost backwards on his shoulders as he screamed: “Will you give me a goddamn minute to myself, you crazy needy stupid fat lady!”

There was silence for a few moments, and then another roar, and Cancer groaned, rolling his eyes before his body spun around almost like a top to match the position his head was in, beginning to storm forwards and back down the path as he called tiredly: “Coming, dearie, oh, I'm coming, rotten apple of my eye. Don't you go tying yourself up in knots now, sweetie-pie, big daddy's comin' to give mommy her tender kiss goodnight...”

The whole world around him rumbled as a hiss echoed through the air, but Cancer barely paid attention to this, grumbling under his breath. Griselda had extended her reach down deep into the ground and all through these mountains, and the living hive itself worked to feed her eagerly. Her children – those who had grown large and strong enough to survive the cold – hunted for her as well, as did Cancer when he felt like it. But Griselda needed him to survive, too: needed his presence, needed to be exposed regularly to his poisons, needed to be 'refueled,' so to speak. Except he knew she was greedy, too... she was more and more becoming a raw animal, but that animal hungered for two things: food and power. And he was the catalyst that made her stronger...

“I ain't blind to it, baby, and I ain't saying it's a bad quality or nothin', sweetie, but still. It's annoying as hell.” Cancer muttered, then he licked his own lips slowly, adding meditatively: “Still, I'd do the same thing myself, so I guess I ain't so much one to talk. And as long as you remember your place, well, I'll give you all the munchies you want...”

A rumble tore through the mountains as Cancer reached what looked like the end of the path, where the cliffs on either side of the gorge converged into one jumbled, messy wall... but Cancer didn't even slow down, his body rippling as he slipped like living syrup into a large crack in the wall, twisting slowly through the narrow, zigzagging passage. He felt a distinct rumble pass through the rock passage, and Cancer grunted irritably before he poured out the other side and into a wide stone tunnel like a waterfall of disease, forming a puddle that lazily laid for a few moments on a warm patch of stone.

Then a rumble echoed around him again, and Cancer's head pushed up from the muck, groaning before he shouted irritably: “I said I was comin', didn't I? Will you give me five minutes to get to you, honeybuns, it's a long damn walk and I swear I'll give you all the kisses you want when I get there!”

The voice rumbled again, sounding almost worried and yet affectionate, and Cancer sighed... then the puddle burst upwards, transforming quickly back into the creature as he popped to his hooves and said with a grumble despite his suddenly-tender smile: “Oh, I just can't stay mad at you... mad as hell as that makes me. Fine, sweetie, fine... look, I know. I'll sing away the tears and the blues, honey, how about I do that?”

There was another rumble that shook the wide tunnel Cancer was now striding down, and the creature grinned to himself as he nodded a little, saying soothingly: “Exactly, babe... exactly! Yeah, you should know that you never gotta fret, silly... big daddy Cancer, he's always got your back. Warts and pustules and eyes and all, sweetie, he loves every little part of you... 'cept, well, there ain't much of you that's little no more.”

He laughed, shaking his head and smiling lovingly as he began to walk over a green, red and black, flesh-like substance that had spread over the surfaces of the tunnel here, and only grew thicker and larger the deeper he went into the passage, with strange, pulsating tumors here and there in the gunk. Cancer sighed in delight, feeling heat and warmth and sickness throbbing up out of the webbing before he began to hum softly, tilting his head back and forth as he continued down the long passage, eyes glowing in the darkness.

The only light came from strange pustules here and there in the webbing itself, glowing with ill, trapped green fire. It made the atmosphere feel strangely, deliciously romantic to the monster, as he licked his lips before singing in a coy, teasing voice:

“Oh, honey, you know that I love you so much... so deep...
Even when I lose my temper, oh, your touch... makes my heart leap...
Oh honey honey, baby doll, I wanna make you... all mine...
You know that what I say is only the truth... I think you're real fine...”

There was a loud, pleased rumble at this, and Cancer grinned widely, leaning forwards and adding in a teasing, playful voice: “Oh, well, don't you worry dollface, 'cause I'm just gettin' started on telling you how...

You're my favorite disease! You're my most delightful disgrace!
You're a poisonous breeze! You're a curse on the pony-wony race!
Hey, hey, oh... ba-da, do-dop, oh whoa ho-oh...
You're the raven dressed out in black! You're the curse on the innocent's head!
You're the fever, the chills that wrack! You're the one who's gonna make 'em all dead!
Ha-ha! Yeah, yeah, yeah! Ha ha ho ho hoo hee hee haw, wha-cha da da-doodle, dah...”

There was a loud roar that shook the cave, as if in approval, tinged with pleasure, and Cancer threw his head back and laughed as he cried: “Oh, finally, someone who appreciates my fine music! Yeah, honey, it's what I wrote for you, 'cause it's all true, true, true!”

He grinned wider, his eyes glowing in the darkness as he followed the passage around a corner, almost strutting now as he let his head bob back and forth, singing delightedly:

“Oh! You and me are gonna go far, we're not gonna give up, we're gonna be the stars,
You and me are gonna make it to the top, we're gonna kill 'em all, 'cause ain't no one can stop...
Cancer, Cancer, I'm Cancer honey, and you're my sweet missus darling, you're the Mrs. Cancer too!
We're a plague, a disease, a wretched blood curse, we're gonna beat 'em all black and blue!
And when we're done, we're gonna eat 'em up, we're gonna crunch 'em like candy between our teeth,
Oh Mrs. Cancer, I promise you this, 'cause you and me are at the top of the food chain... and they are...

beneath.” Cancer rumbled hungrily, as he slowly licked his teeth and shivered in delight. He heard the monstrous Griselda rumble in agreement from the cave ahead, as he walked over hot, fleshy webbing, past enormous, thick cables of the same horrible substance that looked like immense veins, pumping slime and poison through them both into the massive cavern beyond and out of it, to further fuel the spread of their hive. And here and there, Cancer's own white and mottled ooze had spread over the walls, mixing with awful, poisonous kinship into the netting and webbing of hive.

Here and there, broken pieces of stone monument still stood around the hive, broken stone guardians that diseased and dying Strange Ones and a few Nibelung and other creatures were bound to by strings of fleshy rope and gooey slime. This enormous burial ground had become the perfect home for the destruction entity and his so-called wife... and slowly, Cancer grinned as his eyes roved upwards, over the massive, monstrous silhouette of the entity that towered in the center of the room, larger than a dragon and breathing hungrily as the mottled white creature slowly approached.

“Oh my sweet, my beautiful, my big bad girl... I'm so glad we decided to give it a whirl...
Together we're better than we ever were apart, ooh, you fill me up honey, warm my dark heart!
Oh whoa, whoa oh ho ho... I ain't never felt this way about no one before...
Oh no, no, whoa whoa oh... you make feel like I got somethin' to fight for...
Yeah, yeah, hear me my sweet, destruction is our purpose, for you and me!
The body ain't nothin' but a lock, and we're the ones with a skeleton key...

Oh baby, baby, do you hear my voice? We'll be together forever, you're my girl, and I'm your boy,
'Cause there ain't no greater purpose in our lives than to reach out and destroy, destroy, destroy,
'Cause you and me, will always be, the makers of death's latest and greatest and coolest toy,
And oh there's no greater pleasure than when we move forwards with our latest ploy,
To thrill 'em, to kill 'em, to spill their blood... to destroy!

Kill, kill, kill... destroy! Kill, kill, kill... destroy! Kill, kill kill... destroy!
That's our job, honey-child of mine... in a single word, our job, our life's work... is to... destroy!”

Cancer threw his head back and laughed long and loud, and before him, the enormous monster that had once been Chrysalis roared in delight and agreement, as all around her smaller, hideous shapes buzzed their wings and looked up with hisses of agreement, wretched, soulless eyes glowing with unquestioning servitude to the mottled white monster and his horrific bride. And Cancer grinned widely as he dropped his head forwards, red eyes flashing brightly as he whispered: “That's real good honey, sweetie, lovey-dovey baby-pie. Yeah... yeah, you and me, oh, we're gonna have us some fun soon enough. Now come on, lean on back so Cancer can go give you a big delicious kiss and put you to bed, baby, safe and sound inside your shell... and when you wake up, I'm gonna feed you a good home-cooked meal, and we're gonna cuddle, and then my growing girl can take her vitamins so she gets bigger and stronger... 'cause oh, just you wait and see, baby. Just you wait and see.

“Ain't gonna be long now, sweetie, before you and me pay the ponies a little visit...” Cancer grinned, looking up and licking his teeth slowly as he gazed into the eyes of Griselda, which gazed down at him with servile, glowing green eyes filled with lust for power, and loyalty to the living disease that had enslaved her. “And we're gonna have us a great, grand ol' party when we get there, the kind that ain't never gonna be forgotten.

“And then, honey...” Cancer reached slowly up as the monster leaned down, touching her snout as he half-lidded his fiery red eyes. “We'll move on to the main course, once I've taken care of a few little nasties who need a spanking... and you and me are gonna devour this whole world whole.”

And in the darkness of the cave, Cancer laughed, joined by the eager growl of the monstrosity he had created... and in this wretched place, it seemed not like a wild dream, but a terrible and unstoppable promise for the future.

Turn Me On

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Chapter Twenty Four: Turn Me On
~BlackRoseRaven

The cold of winter clung on gamely for quite a while, but all the same seemed to fade quickly to Antares: then again, he and his friends were so busy with training and running errands and missions for Celestia that months passed by in a blur. Before he knew it, the snow was melting, and Winter Wrap Up had commenced: something that all the ponies of Equestria were given the day off to take part in. Then again, since the so-called festival was really just more work shoveling snow, it was hard to think of it as a day off, something that Avalon complained strenuously about.

For Antares and his friends, it was much more fascinating than it was for older ponies: the celebration gave them a glimpse of the old Equestria that had once been, where nature and everything in it had been controlled and regulated by ponies. In a single day, they made winter all but disappear and brought what felt almost immediately like spring to Equestria, and nature seemed to bow her head in resignation with the fact there was only one small snow flurry in the days after Winter Wrap Up before the weather began to warm up in earnest.

Antares felt like they had all grown much stronger over the winter, but at the same time, he was very well aware that they all still had quite a lot of room to improve, too. But he felt more confident now that they would be able to meet any challenges that came their way head-on... and that he wouldn't let himself screw up everything again.

Everypony had been putting their best hoof forwards, particularly as winter had started to close, like they all sensed that as winter ended, so would their safety; that Cancer would likely start moving again. Meadowlark had spent almost every day out with Zecora, learning everything she could about both their culture and their shamanistic arts... and Zecora had rewarded her with a potions kit and another zebra relic that Antares hadn't had a chance to see yet.

Rustproof was learning the finer arts of using a rifle from his mother, although thankfully he wasn't as trigger happy as Cowlick was. He was picking it up, slowly but surely, though... but more importantly, he and Cowlick had been working hard on the meteor and the channeling altar alongside Celestia, Twilight, and Prestige Luster, and had made good progress on assembling the strange and alien probe. It was very slow going, thanks to how delicate the work was and how the crystals all had to be fitted in very specific places, but thanks to what the Strange Ones had provided for them, they had a good idea of what they were doing. It would just take time, and require patience.

Prestige herself was honored to be working on the meteor, that Cowlick had finally let her into the inner sanctum of the engineering building... and the once-haughty unicorn truly seemed like almost a completely different person than she had once been. And her magic had only grown for it: even Twilight said she was surprised and perhaps a little proud of how far the young mare had come along, and how much she had grown... both as a pony, and as a mage.

Aphrodisia had become more mature, but also still had her quirks and childish moments: she was more excited about her upcoming birthday than the fact she had started to understand how to transform herself at will, for example. Not that anypony could really blame her: Pinkamena, Pinkie Pie, and Sleipnir always threw an incredible party for the young demon, and she was always showered with affection and compliments... things she cherished far more than the generous gifts she received.

Avalon was doing perhaps the best of them all, delighted to have been nominated for a junior position in the Starlit Knights. She was still running messages and doing courier services for Canterlot's Royal Court and between Starlit Knight units, but she had started to enjoy the job more openly. Not nearly as much as she liked to train, though: she and Antares sparred often during their free time, and while Avalon fought savagely, she also displayed courtesy and respect: something Fluttershy was delighted to see in her student, and that made her willing to continue to work with Avalon even as Fluttershy started to hesitantly teach the young filly more advanced and dangerous fighting techniques.

Antares himself had been working hard: he was developing his acrobatic fighting style out further with the aid of both Celestia and Sleipnir, trying to draw on his mother's magic more often, and he had begun to take time to himself every day to simply sit and meditate, to clear his mind, help his focus, and better understand himself. He always looked to his friends for advice and guidance, even if he was a leader... but he saw in each and every one of them things he wanted to one day exemplify himself.

Others were growing and changing, too: Nirvana and Fluttershy were as common a sight as ever, but they were open and clear that they were 'joined,' as Fluttershy gently phrased it. Most welcomed it, and even though Fluttershy now spoke of herself as part of the Phooka clan, she still lived in her comfortable cottage just outside of town... the only real difference was that now there were a few more Phooka visitors that moved in and out of the area, and could be seen helping out with chores.

And Apple Bloom and Scarlet Sage were putting together a quiet little ceremony that was going to take place at their townhouse, a little later in the spring. They were both working hard: Apple Bloom aiding Cowlick with the meteor on occasion, but mostly working on other projects, like the new security system Cowlick wanted put up. Likewise, Scarlet Sage was either working at the clinic, or in the Ponyville hospital and sometimes even Canterlot, using her abilities to further investigate and study the strange, mutating infections left behind by Cancer, in the hopes that they could find an actual cure instead of being forced to rely on heavy-duty spellwork followed by hopeful infusions of various medications.

Burning Desire was doing everything he could to make Twilight Sparkle happy... and Twilight really was happier than she'd been in years. Still, she longed for Scrivener and Luna, but Burning comforted her, never held it against her: he had his own experiences with longing, after all, and knew it well as both friend and foe. But that was perhaps part of why the two meshed together so well... and could be so understanding with each other, in spite of everything.

Antares had also heard that Scutum had been transferred to Canterlot, which was good... but he'd furthermore received a message that Rosewood would be coming to Ponyville on business for Baroness Caprice, which had the young stallion a little concerned. But only a little, as he walked slowly down the street beneath the warm sun, his star necklace glinting as he smiled up at the blue sky and closed his eyes at the feeling of warm rays on his face, as a soft breeze kissed through his mane: on a day like today, it was impossible to be too stressed about anything, even if he felt strangely like he'd forgotten something rather important.

The young stallion opened his cyan eyes to gaze towards the library at the side of the square, smiling to himself as he approached. He had the day off today, and when he'd gotten up, Prestige Luster, Burning Desire and Twilight Sparkle had already been gone, so he had lingered for a while around the house before deciding to come to town. If he was lucky, perhaps Celestia could spare some time with him... or maybe he'd find the others here, and he could help with magical studies or something.

Antares pushed the library door open... then stared in surprise at the sight of not only the family he'd hoped for, but also Discombobulation, Scarlet Sage and Apple Bloom. They were all seated around the table, and Prestige Luster looked up with a bright smile, waving at him as she trilled: “Antares!”

“Uh. Hi?” Antares said lamely, looking awkwardly over at Prestige before he cleared his throat as he walked into the room, looking dumbly back and forth. Burning Desire and Twilight were almost leaning together, and Scarlet Sage and Apple Bloom were holding hooves without shame, the Pegasus wearing a beautiful silver bracelet that matched the golden band around Apple Bloom's own forelimb. Celestia was sitting back, smiling, but her eyes had a look of lingering longing as Prestige gazed with bright affection towards the young stallion that seemed a little... intense today...

“Oh look, he doesn't know what day it is. See, Celestia? This isn't that important a day to be alone on after all. You know, like you always are.” Discombobulation remarked, and Antares cocked his head dumbly as the other ponies glared over at the Draconequus, while Celestia only sighed tiredly. The chimerical creature flinched a bit at the glares, then he held up his hands with a huff, mumbling: “So touchy, on this, the most commercial of all commercialized holidays. You know, if you need a reason and a specific day to show how much you care about someone, then you probably really don't care about them at all, do you?”

“Oh, come now, Patches, there's no need to be so cynical! I prefer to think of it as an excuse to put my hooves all over a particular pretty mare in this room.” Burning Desire said cheerfully, throwing a foreleg around Twilight, who sighed and rolled her eyes but only smiled after a moment, settling a little against his side. “See? I like this... Hooves and Hearts Day.”

“Hearts and Hooves Day.” Twilight corrected automatically, and Antares started, his eyes widening in surprise before the Lich smiled slightly despite herself as Prestige stared at the young stallion. “Don't tell me you forgot, Antares?”

“I... I've never really... had a reason to remember the day before so... and... I mean...” He cleared his throat, turning beet-red before looking almost desperately back and forth, then hurrying forwards as Apple Bloom grinned and Scarlet Sage hid a smile behind a hoof. “Prestige, I.. uh... I know, let's go out right now and uh... we can... date! Dinner, no... lunch, breakfast... brunch! How about brunch? Brunch?”

“Horses of Heaven, you remind me of Dad.” Scarlet Sage remarked, and Antares have her a consternated look that only made the Pegasus giggle loudly, as Twilight worked hard to repress her own laughter and Prestige only sighed and looked grumpily at Antares. “Now you really remind me of Dad!”

“Scarlet! I... Prestige, I'm really sorry, I had no idea what day it was, I... let's figure something out, okay?” Antares asked almost desperately, and Prestige huffed a little at him before reaching out and firmly shoving a hoof against his muzzle when he ran forwards, before he could speak again.

He blinked and crossed his eyes dumbly to look down at her hoof, and Prestige shook her head grouchily before saying dryly: “If you're done, hero... I believe that Miss Twilight had plans for us all tonight. We can figure out what we're going to do with the rest of the day once she's done telling us about them.”

Twilight half-nodded, replying after a moment: “Well, technically they're Pinkie Pie's plans. She wanted to throw some kind of party at the karaoke bar, apparently she's already over there setting up for tonight. Older ponies and couples mostly, but of course there's always a chance to meet somepony there.” Twilight smiled after a moment, glancing amusedly over at Burning Desire. “That's not an invitation, though, are we clear?”

“I only have eyes for you today, my sweet.” Burning Desire said kindly, then he added mildly, glancing over at Apple Bloom and Scarlet Sage: “Mostly because they already turned me down. And rudely.”

The Lich only sighed tiredly, rolling her eyes and absently adjusting her thick black sweater, before she blushed deeply as Burning Desire tugged lightly at this and added kindly: “And tonight, darling, you are going to wear something far nicer than this.”

Twilight grumbled and shoved at him a bit, and Antares blushed as he looked lamely at Prestige, who pulled her hoof away from his muzzle, then smiled at him and said quietly: “Brunch would be fine, Antares. Perhaps... your uh... sister and her... friend... would like to come?”

Prestige looked almost lamely across the table, and Scarlet Sage and Apple Bloom looked almost as surprised as Antares, before the Pegasus blushed and nodded once, and Apple Bloom smiled a little, asking in a quietly-entertained voice: “You don't have a problem with a slave hoof lesbian and her shorn wing bride-to-be?”

“Please don't make this more difficult than it already is.” Prestige mumbled, but it was only greeted by laughter before the young unicorn mare looked up and said finally: “I understand that if I want to be with Antares, I... I have to get used to certain ideas not so widely held in the north. I figure this is... as good a day as any to... move forwards.”

Antares smiled warmly, gazing adoringly over at Prestige as his blush faded slowly, before Twilight Sparkle glanced over them and smiled: “Do you have room for us, too, then? I don't want to make things awkward, either, but...”

“No, Mom, you never do. Aunt Tia, Bob, do either of you wanna come too?” Antares asked curiously, glancing up, but Celestia only shook her head with a small smile as Discombobulation rose his hands grumpily.

“No, that's fine, Antares. I think I'm going to stay here and... finish up some work.” Celestia replied quietly, and the young stallion nodded hesitantly, studying her... but it was hard to see past her amethyst eyes, her emotions complex and hidden, but... she was a little sad, for all the positivity he felt coming from her. “Go on ahead, all of you.”

“Yes, go ahead, and enjoy yourselves.” Discombobulation paused, then leaned back, a notepad appearing in one hand and a large quill in the other, as he checked something of and said pleasantly: “And that's one of six impossible things to believe in before breakfast.”

Scarlet Sage rolled her eyes, looking entertained as Apple Bloom huffed a little, but Twilight only rolled her eyes and stood up. Then she grumbled when Burning Desire burst into flames beside her before transforming into a bird that cheerfully flew up high into the air, doing a loop before zooming down and landing on Prestige's head: the young unicorn immediately looked sour at this, and Antares hurriedly turned away to hide his grin as the firebird preened and then pointed a wing forwards, declaring: “To the mortal cuisine! It has been such a long time since I've sampled good fare!”

“And it'll be longer still if you don't get off my head.” threatened Prestige, even as she began to walk towards the door, and Antares laughed as his sister and her fiancee followed. Twilight hesitated for only a moment, glancing over her shoulder... but Celestia smiled and gestured quietly for her to go on, while Discombobulation pointedly ignored her, jotting something down on his notepad.

The violet mare nodded after a moment, then turned her eyes back forwards, hurrying after the others as they left. The only sound was the closing of the library door, and the silence spiraled out as Celestia sat quietly back in her chair and Discombobulation simply stood, looking moodily at her until he finally sighed and stepped forwards. “Now stop sulking, Celestia. I thought you were into jazz, not blues.”

“I like both, and they have their similarities.” Celestia said after a moment, smiling over her shoulder at Discombobulation before she shook her head slowly, then glanced awkwardly down again. “I suppose that it's just... I feel alone these days. I don't want to be jealous of Twilight... but sometimes it even borders on anger, and that just makes me feel worse about being-”

“Don't care!” Discombobulation tossed his notebook and quill into the air, the former exploding apart in a flurry of papers that floated all around them as he waved his arms wildly, and Celestia looked at him flatly for a few moments before the Draconequus sighed, then slowly reached up and rubbed moodily at his forehead before saying grumpily: “Alright, Celestia. Because I utterly refuse to take part in a chick-flick and sit down and eat buckets of ice cream with you while sympathizing over how sad it is you can't find a boyfriend, I'm going to be proactive instead.”

He held out a hand towards her, raising his head imperiously as he gazed down at her seriously. “Come with me if you want to live.”

Celestia only looked up at him suspiciously... and the Draconequus sighed and slumped, reaching up to rub at his forehead again. “Great. Great way to ruin everything. Okay, fine: in the words of an animated hyena's voice actor, it's time for you to get your groove back, sister. That means I'm going to take away all your sharp objects and give you a slight makeover so you don't go scaring the hell out of all the pony boys. Most stallions, Celestia, won't date a mare that can kill them just by looking at them and make them look like gnats in physical comparison. Scrivener Blooms and Luna were not a normal couple.”

“But they were better for it. Discombobulation, look, that is a very nice offer, but I think I'll just spend today working and finishing this up. Let the young mares and stallions have their fun, and-” Celestia was cut off when Discombobulation reached down and firmly shoved a metal finger against her lips, looking at her pointedly.

“No. I'm going to put you in a dress, and then I'm going to give you the tools to knock the socks... stockings... horseshoes... whatever ponies wear, you're going to knock them off. And no, you're not going to use a sword or your hooves or magic or anything, you're going to do it with your killer good looks.” Discombobulation halted, then hurriedly added: “Metaphorically killer. You are not going to kill anyone tonight, Celestia. I want you to understand this.”

“I'm not Luna.” Celestia grumbled, shoving his hand away from her mouth, and then she softened and shook her head, muttering: “I'm not Luna. Luna could do this, I don't know if I-”

“Stop talking!” Discombobulation almost screeched, grabbing at his head and shaking himself wildly, and Celestia stared at him. Slowly, she opened her mouth, and the Draconequus glared at her as his face puckered as if he'd bitten into a lemon, then he grabbed his horns and threw his head back, howling: “Unacceptable!”

This was followed by him waving his arms wildly as he continued to yowl, and finally Celestia winced and rose her hooves, shouting over the din: “Alright, alright, if you'll just be quiet I'll play your damned game, Discombobulation!”

“Good, because this is all for your benefit.” the Draconequus said mildly, immediately becoming as calm and serious as he normally was, and he polished his metal claws against his chest as he studied the ivory equine as she glowered at him. “This will be my greatest challenge yet. We go.”

With that, Discombobulation calmly reached down, grasped the table, then simply threw it off to the side, sending books and papers flying in all directions as it lazily half-flipped before crashing loudly down to the floor. Celestia stared at him, and then she looked slowly up at the ceiling as if praying for patience and a quick end as the chimerical creature calmly strode towards the library door, one hand raised up by his head and a single finger pointing at the exit.

Then he paused to look over his shoulder at her insistently, and the ivory mare sighed loudly before simply climbing to her hooves and following morbidly, muttering: “Mimir's head, why didn't I just go out for brunch...”

That night found Mike's Karaoke Bar to be the most crowded place in Ponyville. It had formerly been a nightclub run by Vinyl Scratch... before an attack by a Clockwork Pony had scared off most of the club's posh clientele, and the massive damages done in an ambush by another that had followed had finished the job of gutting the business. It had been bought about five years back and converted into a friendlier karaoke restaurant, and the business had been booming ever since.

Singles milled around the large bar area that was off to one side, some looking a little desperate, others simply seeming bored: likely those who had been dragged here by friends who already had dates. Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie was bouncing happily across the squat wooden stage as a large, brown earth pony tried to explain something to her for the hundredth time, but she only pointed again towards the mass of round tables filled with happy couples, saying excitedly: “Almost everypony is here! Oh, we're gonna have so much fun and sing so many songs!”

“Please don't break anything. Please. Please.” begged the earth pony: Mike Bass, the owner of the club. He looked nervously over Pinkie Pie, dressed in a half-tux and a red bowtie, with a top hat on her head. “I did this as a favor to you and because your sister scares the hell out of me, so please be gentle with the equipment.”

He gestured over the stage: there was a small, tilted screen slightly to one side, where the lyrics would scrawl over, while enormous speakers were mounted on the back wall and matching but smaller speakers sat around the room. Several microphones and stands sat in a rack by the back wall, and to one side of the wide stage was a beautiful grand piano, polished and sparkling, clearly one of the prize jewels of the club.

Pinkie only smiled over at Mike, winking at him and saying kindly: “Oh come on, look at them! They're all so happy!”

Mike winced as he looked out over the floor: almost every table was full in front of the stage, all the way to the crowded booths at the back. His servers were running back and forth, taking all kinds orders, and while this was great for business, he saw several faces he'd learned were synonymous with disaster among the group, and he sighed before dropping his head in a hoof, groaning: “Just don't let the happy ponies smash up anything, okay? And please don't dance on top of the piano. Don't. Don't even let anypony touch the piano.”

“But you gotta touch a piano if you wanna play it.” Pinkie said positively, and Mike stared at her before he slowly turned away and headed off the wide stage. Pinkie only giggled at his back, then she glanced quickly around, making sure everything was in place before leaping forwards and grasping the mic stand that had already been set up at the front of the stage, spinning herself around it once before saying cheerfully into the microphone: “Hey everypony! Let's get the party started!”

Cheers and laughter rang through the crowd... and from one of the booths in the back, Sleipnir and Pinkamena both roared and rose their flagons of ale, and Aphrodisia laughed and clapped brightly, her eyes glowing. Beside the young demon, Avalon looked grumpy before she quickly peered back and forth, ensuring that neither Rainbow Dash nor Applejack were in earshot. Then she leaned forwards, asking Sleipnir: “Hey, can I uh... go get a whiskey?”

“What, whiskey?” Sleipnir looked surprised, and Pinkamena only snorted as Aphrodisia giggled and picked up her own flagon of ale, sipping at it greedily. Then Sleipnir frowned thoughtfully, asking curiously: “How old art thou again?”

“Sixte- uh... seven?” Avalon said dumbly, looking lamely at the enormous earth pony, who frowned and leaned forwards pointedly.

“Sixty-seven? I think not! Bah, thou liar! As punishment, I decree thou shan't be permitted whiskey, but must instead join myself and mine family in a round of solid ale!” Sleipnir said firmly, and Avalon leaned back and brightened before Sleipnir smiled cheerfully and rose a hoof, calling to a nearby waitress: “Another flagon of ale, and with it another pitcher!”

“Idiot.” Pinkamena said almost tenderly, and then she leaned out of the booth and grinned at the seats behind her, where Apple Bloom and Scarlet Sage were sitting across from Twilight Sparkle and Burning Desire. “If you tell your Mom, it was his idea, not mine.”

“I didn't hear nothin'.” Apple Bloom said pointedly, turning her eyes upwards, and Pinkamena grunted before the golden earth pony smiled amusedly over at Scarlet Sage, who gazed at her with warmth and a quiet laugh. “Hey, she's my niece. I can let her have a little fun now and then... 'sides, ain't like I can say I never done nothin' stupid.”

“I'll say, Red.” Scarlet Sage replied, and then she laughed when Apple Bloom punched her shoulder lightly, before the Pegasus gazed out across the booth towards one of the tables in the distance, where Antares and Prestige were talking warmly with Fluttershy and Nirvana, Rarity and Spike also seated at their table and smiling. “Look at him, growin' up so fast...”

Twilight Sparkle nodded, gazing affectionately over at the young unicorn stallion, and then Burning Desire grinned as he pointed at another table, where Big Mac, Soarin', Rainbow Dash and Applejack were all sitting and having easy conversation. “Now tell the truth, violet and cute fillies: are there two couples at that table or only one? Because what a blessing it is for me if there are two less handsome males to worry about competing with over mares in this room!”

Twilight sighed at this, rolling her eyes and glaring at Burning Desire, but he only pasted an innocent look on his face before Apple Bloom remarked mildly: “You really are one big flaming demon, aren't you?”

“The filly-fooler is making a joke about me being gay? This is precisely why I don't like lesbians.” Burning Desire retorted, then he leaned forwards and fluttered his eyes at them. “Unless you'll spend some quality time with me. Then I'll like you a whole lot.”

Twilight Sparkle smacked the back of Burning Desire's head, making him yelp, and Apple Bloom snorted in amusement as she grinned widely and said mildly: “Y'know, I'm a mare who likes mares, and then there are colts out there who like colts. Seriously, how are we supposed to get along? Discombobulation said something like that to me once... guy ain't so bad if you just remember not to take everything he says seriously. Right, hon?”

“Right, Red. I knew you'd start liking him more eventually.” Scarlet Sage smiled, then she and Apple Bloom leaned a little against each other before the Pegasus laughed quietly and murmured: “I guess I just wish that Aunt Celestia had her own special somepony, too. If only for today, you know... I look around and it seems like half of Ponyville has paired up...”

Twilight smiled a little, opening her mouth to respond before Pinkie Pie's voice echoed out through the speakers again, as she said cheerfully: “Our first song is gonna be by a special guest, and the music's going to be provided by none other than our very own Discombobulation!”

Pinkie Pie turned, clapping rapidly as the Draconequus stiffly strode on stage dressed in a simple black suit. He turned and bowed almost solemnly, and a few ponies in the crowd cheered and clapped awkwardly before the Draconequus turned and headed to the piano. He sat down at it and played a short flourish along the keys before a second figure strode on stage, and Pinkie glanced over her shoulder... then simply stared along with the rest of the crowd.

Celestia strode forwards, a slender, tight red dress that was cut high up one back leg flowing elegantly around her, leaving her back bare and wings free. Her rainbow mane flowed radiantly, amethyst earrings that matched her eyes gleaming in either ear. She seemed to almost sparkle as she walked slowly up to the microphone, saying softly: “I'll take it from here, Pinkie Pie, thank you very much.”

Slowly, Celestia looked up, then smiled as she leaned back a bit, all eyes staring at her before Sleipnir cheered gleefully from the back booth, as Pinkie Pie hurried off stage with a fit of amazed giggles before the ivory mare leaned forwards and said softly: “This is a song that a dear friend found for me to sing, saying it fit me... and I couldn't agree more.”

Celestia closed her eyes, and Discombobulation began to tap softly over the piano keys, visibly loosening up as a slight smile spread over his features, swaying a little with the music. Celestia breathed slowly in and out, her own smile sultry, her eyes closed even as she leaned forwards and sang in a throaty, low melody:

"Like a flower waiting to bloom,
Like a lightbulb in a dark room,
I'm just sitting here waiting for you,
To come home and turn me on.

Like the desert waiting for the rain,
Like a school kid waiting for the spring,
I'm just sitting here waiting for you,
To come on home and turn me on..."

All eyes stared at her, Celestia's strong, surprisingly deep melody drawing attention from as far as the bar as ponies stared towards the stage; her eyes opened, her expression coy, making her beautiful form all the more seductive as she shifted lightly as Discombobulation continued to calmly play. She licked her lips briefly, then continued, her emotion, the wanting in her voice deep and vibrant, hitting like a bass tremble, an echoing quiver:

"My poor heart, it's been so dark since you been gone...
After all, you're the one who turns me off...
You're the only one who can turn me back on."

She leaned back, taking a slow breath, swaying her head slowly as her ephemeral locks swirled tantalizingly around her body, her form moving slowly to the rhythm of the piano. A front hoof reached up, stroking slowly up along her breast, then along her own cheek as she tilted her head slowly to the side, before calmly reaching forwards and resting on the microphone as she leaned forwards, amethyst eyes opening and gazing longingly into the very souls of those they drew over, her powerful voice making bodies tremble and hearts stutter:

"My hi-fi's waiting for a new tune,
The glass is waiting for some fresh ice cubes,
I'm just sitting here waiting for you,
To come on home and turn me on...

Turn me on..."

The piano slowly began to wind down to a finish as Celestia's tongue flicked over her lips, giving a single wink out into the crowd as she tilted her head seductively away, and then Discombobulation finished with a flourish of the keys. For a few moments, there was only silence... and then loud cheering erupted from across the floor, and Celestia blushed a bit as she bowed her head forwards, looking both honestly surprised and delighted as ponies clapped, stomped their hooves, and yelled raucously.

She stepped backwards, blushing and bowing her head, closing her eyes as she shifted a little, then gazed up warmly over the crowd. They continued to cheer for her, and Celestia shook her head after a moment before stepping forwards, leaning towards the microphone... and then she looked over her shoulder in surprise as Discombobulation played a quick burst of notes over the piano.

She looked at him as he gazed back with a wink, then he rose a hand and snapped his fingers, and the lights across the hall dimmed as spotlights flashed on across the stage. Music began to play from the speakers, a backbeat and some high, sharper sound, and Celestia shifted in surprise as the spotlights centered on her before one roved quickly to Discombobulation, as he leaned forwards and said gently: “With apologies, of course, to Lily Allen.”

He leaned forwards, then tapped a quick set of chords out over the piano, before leaning forwards and singing in a strong, deep voice that carried throughout the room with ease, gazing over at Celestia, his tone soft:

“When we were growing up, you always looked like you were having such fun...
You always were and you always will be, the taller and the prettier one...
People seem to love you, they gravitated towards you,
That’s why I started to hate you so much... and I just completely ignored you.”

He smiled a little as took a short breath, then sang in a sharp, quick rush, his eyes locked on Celestia's surprised amethyst irises as his fingers danced over the piano keys, his words in perfect time to the beat of the music around them:

“I don’t know why I felt the need to keep it up for oh so long,
It’s all my fault, I’m sorry, you did absolutely nothing wrong,
I don’t know why I felt the need to drag it out for all these years,
All the pain I’ve caused you, the constant flowing of the tears...
Believe me when I say, that I cannot apologize enough,
When all you ever wanted from me was a token of my love,
And if it’s not too late, could you please find it deep within your heart...
To try and go back, go back to the start?”

Discombobulation closed his eyes, fingers dancing over the keys as he leaned forwards, shaking his head as he continued in a softer voice:

“I’ve been so evil, with my constant invasions,
But you made it so easy for me, you'd always rise to the occasion,
I’d always pull you up on every stupid thing that you said,
But I found it so entertaining, messin' around with your head.”

He looked, up, then suddenly shoved himself up from the bench, stepping quickly around the piano as he half-sang, half-spoke the words, half-circling around Celestia as she gazed after him with amazement before dropping down on one knee beside her:

He reached up, taking one of her front hooves gently into both of his hands, smiling softly at her as he spoke the words more than sang, as the music softened to match his tone:

“This is not just a song, I intend to put these words into action...
I hope that it sums up the way that I feel to your satisfaction.”

He closed his eyes for a moment, bowing his head forwards as the music echoed in the quiet... and then, as the spotlights flashed, the Draconequus leapt back to his feet, firmly yanking Celestia up on her rear hooves, and the ivory equine allowed herself to be pulled up against him as he pulled her into a sharp, quick dance, looking down into her eyes, smiling as they spun together, the mare able to do nothing but move with the Draconequus as his voice rang out:

He spun with her, then dropped forwards, bowing low and dipping her as her front hooves automatically grabbed into her shoulders, the Draconequus breathing hard as he supported her easily with his metal arm with his other flung out beside him, the music around them dropping down into echoing, blurring tones before the spotlights flickered out and the lights returned to normal, the speakers giving a final buzz of static as the two locked gazes... and the two smiled at each other before the Draconequus said gently: “Happy Hearts and Hooves Day, Ce-”

Celestia leaned up and kissed him firmly, and Discombobulation's eyes widened stupidly for a moment before they slipped closed, as cheers and laughter and clapping echoed through the bar, Sleipnir's voice rising up gleefully: “Oh Celestia, what a foul creature thou art, seducing the wits out of that poor chaos entity!”

The kiss broke after only a few moments, but the applause continued even as the two hurriedly drew apart, and then looked awkwardly at each other before the Draconequus cleared his throat and offered his hand to her. She reached up to settle a hoof in his palm with a smile, and then the two leapt forwards and off the short stage, both smiling and blushing a little.

It took a little while for things to settle down after the two sat down at a table, joining Cowlick and Ross as Ross continued to clap brightly and Cowlick only laughed and hammered a hoof on the table, saying cheerfully: “I guess opposites must attract, eh, Ross? These two are almost as weird a couple as me and you!”

“Oh, no, nothing weird at all, nope. You can't help but like someone who makes you smile.” Ross replied kindly, and Cowlick grinned a bit, then nodded after a few moments with a grunt as the applause finally began to die out, before he added: “You look very pretty, Miss Celestia. Not like a schoolteacher at all.”

“Thank you, Ross, I appreciate that.” Celestia said softly, smiling and shifting a little as her eyes roved to Cowlick, studying her rough denim vest and the bandanna tied tightly back around Cowlick's forehead, before she said mildly: “But I must say, Kilby Kwolek. You're very fortunate to have such a loving husband all the same.”

“I know, right? He's handsome, a real sweetheart, and best of all I don't have to prostitute myself out to get his attention.” Cowlick agreed with a wink, and Celestia couldn't help but laugh before the engineer mare grinned as several other ponies approached their table, including a jovial-looking Sleipnir, and the piercing-studded mare turned her eyes towards Discombobulation. “Careful there, looks like you're going to have to fight off a whole bunch of horny studs if you wanna keep your marefriend now.”

“I'm a lover, not a fighter. Actually, I'm... not even a lover, technically speaking. She should be the one fighting for me.” Discombobulation said mildly, jerking his head towards Celestia, and the winged unicorn laughed before gazing over at him kindly, reaching a hoof up to touch his arm, and the chimerical creature huffed and shifted awkwardly as a faint blush rose in his cheeks. “Stop that.”

“Yes, do not molest the Draconequus in front of us, Celestia, 'tis most disturbing. Although I do wonder of what matter of sword he has sheathed away, and whether or not 'tis as madcap and mismatched as the rest of him.” Sleipnir said thoughtfully, peering at the chimerical creature, who blushed and then grumbled, crossing his arms and turning away as Burning Desire giggled behind his hooves, and Twilight sighed and shook her head slowly. “Oh come now! Thou art all thinking it!”

Sleipnir glared around at the group, and Celestia smiled despite herself before Twilight reached up and touched the winged unicorn's shoulder, saying quietly: “Your song was amazing, Celestia... I... the way you sang it...”

Celestia only smiled, turning her eyes towards Discombobulation and saying softly: “Well, I had a lot of help... without which, I wouldn't have even come here tonight.”

Burning Desire smiled warmly, glancing towards the Draconequus before he said kindly: “Then I suppose we all owe you quite a vote of thanks, friend... and perhaps I speak on behalf of many of the stallions here about how angry we all are that you brought her in, let her sing like the most gorgeous of songbirds, and then promptly stole her away in front of all of us.”

“I fell in love with my own creation. I'm Henry Higgins.” Discombobulation muttered, and then he blushed when Celestia turned soft eyes on him. “I meant the other L-word! Lesbians! And even then I'm definitely not in lesbians with you, definitely not, stop... putting words in my mouth!”

“Actually, 'twas sister's tongue that invaded thy mouth earlier, I do believe.” Sleipnir said blandly, and Cowlick and Burning Desire both cackled, the demon falling over and Cowlick collapsing over the table as she slammed her hoof against the surface. Celestia blushed slightly as Discombobulation fixed the enormous earth pony with a horrible look, but the vine-maned stallion only smiled childishly as Twilight slapped her forehead.

Antares cocked his head curiously as he approached with Prestige, but just as Sleipnir began to turn towards them, there was a loud thud and the huge male squeaked before slowly keeling over, hugging his stomach. All eyes stared at Pinkamena as she calmly drew a hoof back, and Discombobulation wheezed in relief before the demon looked moodily over at him and said mildly: “Never say I didn't do anything for you. And of course you owe me a favor, which you're now going to repay by getting back on that stage and giving Slippers here a song to sing. Preferably something stupid and sappy and about me. Don't worry, he's got a good memory, he'll remember the words if you repeat 'em once or twice.”

Sleipnir giggled between his pained wheezing, and Discombobulation looked meditatively at Pinkamena before he said thoughtfully: “I think I have just the song in mind. It's not usually done to piano, but... we'll make it work. Celestia, if you'll excuse me.”

The Draconequus climbed to his feet, and then he glanced down in surprise as the ivory equine grasped his wrist and looked up at him with a tender smile, her intense amethyst eyes focused on the chimerical creature's as she said softly: “Just come back once you're done, Bob.”

“Of course... Tia.” A slight smile twitched at Discombobulation's mouth, and then he bowed his head towards her before turning and hurrying onwards. After a moment, Sleipnir wheezed and hauled himself to his hooves after the chimerical creature, giggling stupidly still as he half-stumbled cheerfully towards the stage.

Antares laughed and shook his head slowly, then he gazed over at his aunt, saying warmly: “Me and Prestige just wanted to say... I mean, wow, Aunt Tia! I never knew you could really sing... I mean, I mean I knew you could sing, but not sing like that, that was really amazing and... just... we're glad that...”

“We're glad you're able to enjoy yourself, Baroness.” Prestige finished, and Antares nodded a few times quickly as Twilight smiled softly. Celestia smiled warmly in return, a faint blush tinging her cheeks as she awkwardly smoothed out her red dress, and the young unicorn mare added after a moment: “You look absolutely stunning, by the way. I don't think even I ever owned such a fine dress back home.”

Celestia only shrugged, seeming almost shy for a moment as she shifted a little in the beautiful scarlet gown, and then Twilight nodded in agreement, gazing softly at the ivory winged unicorn before she reached up and squeezed her shoulder firmly, smiling at her friend and former mentor. “Luna would be... so proud of you, Celestia.”

The rainbow-maned mare smiled warmly at this thought, nodding slowly, and for a few moments the quiet spiraled before the Lich finally cleared her throat, then glanced over at Pinkamena, asking hesitantly: “Not to... you know, question anyone here or anything, but uh... do you think it was really such a good idea to let Discombobulation come up with the song that you signed Sleipnir up for?”

“The only reason I signed for him is because the idiot barely knows how to read or write. Besides, what's the worst song he could get that lunkhead to sing?” Pinkamena said dryly, and then she frowned a little as music began to play through the speakers and Discombobulation stared to hammer away at the piano, which the Draconequus had somehow tuned with his powers to sound like a guitar.

Then Sleipnir bounced happily on his hooves before he leaned forwards and sang brightly in a cheerful, uneven voice, his eyes locking on Pinkamena as she stared and turned bright red: “Well, I wanna hump you, that's the only thing I wanna say... I wanna hump you every night and every day... so don't get mad at me 'cause that's the only thing I wanna do... 'cause listen up baby, this song's for you!”

“I'm going to kill them both.” Pinkamena muttered, and then she reached up to slowly rub at her face as Twilight and Antares gaped, Cowlick and Burning Desire once more dissolved into laughter, Ross smiled brightly, and Celestia hid a smile behind a hoof. The demon groaned, dropping her head forwards as Sleipnir started in on another verse, continuing to almost burn red through her gray coat as she mumbled: “I don't even care that he sounds almost normal. I'm going to kill them both.”

“You did tempt fate, Aunt Pinkamena.” Antares said finally, and Pinkamena growled at him, making the young stallion wince a little before he looked awkwardly towards the stage at the repetitive chorus, adding lamely: “It could be worse?”

Then Sleipnir cheerily started in on the next verse, and Prestige looked morbidly up at the stage as Pinkamena turned around and stormed back to her seat, before the young unicorn mare remarked dryly: “I believe it just got worse. Do you see why I always thought slave hoofs were inferior, Antares? Do you see how I believe in a greater and a lesser class of pony?”

“Oh, believe me, Prestige Luster. My brother is usually among the most... honorable, dignified and best of...” Celestia halted as Sleipnir began to dance around on stage, making awkward little thrusting motions, and then she sighed, reaching up to rub at her forehead slowly as she muttered: “Nevermind.”

When the song came to a very awkward end, Sleipnir cheerfully hopped off the stage and pranced back to the booth where his family and Avalon were sitting. Avalon, a little tipsy from the ale she had been guzzling, cheered loudly for him, and Aphrodisia giggled and did the same. Pinkamena just glared at the enormous earth pony until the stallion leaned forwards and delicately kissed her forehead, saying kindly: “And I do wish to lay with thou, sweet phoenix. For there are none in all the layers of Midgard prettier than thou.”

Pinkamena only sighed tiredly, then grumbled under her breath before Avalon whooped loudly as Rainbow Dash flew up on stage, laughing as Pinkie Pie waved at him excitedly. Discombobulation, meanwhile, had sat himself back down by Celestia, and Antares and Prestige were sitting with them as Cowlick yelled loudly up at Dash and Ross gazed back and forth, seeming to enjoy the warmth of the atmosphere and all the singing.

The night went on, and almost everypony performed a song, with varying degrees of success. Burning Desire actually succeeded in dragging Twilight Sparkle up on stage for a duet, and Prestige and Antares ended up doing the same, the young stallion laughing almost the whole time as Prestige blushed deeply but sang away with determination.

No one left the party until at least one in the morning: then Cowlick had left with Ross and a few treats for Rustproof, and other couples had begun to filter out. Rainbow Dash carried his stupidly-drunk daughter on his back as Applejack simply rolled her eyes and muttered that the hangover would hopefully teach her a thing or two, and Prestige and Antares left shortly after that, both deciding they had enough energy for the long walk back to the cottage.

Twilight and Burning Desire stayed with Celestia and Discombobulation and the others until past closing time, singing now and then, but mostly chatting around the rearranged tables, enjoying each other's company, gazing at the way they had all grown up, grown together. The Lich and the fiery stallion accepted an invitation from Apple Bloom and Scarlet Sage to stay at their place in the guest room, as long as Burning kept his hooves and eyes to himself.

Couples found their way home, and many found their way once home to bed: some, like Cowlick and Ross, simply curled together, the unicorn gazing tenderly down at the earth pony engineer as she snored and drooled a little on his neck, clinging to the stallion she adored; others, like Pinkamena and Sleipnir, found themselves moving together, breathing in rough time, making their love physical in the deep of night.

Prestige and Antares, meanwhile, wandered through the darkness of the Everfree Forest together, smiling as they took their time with the walk. It was almost three in the morning now, and Antares knew by the familiar landmarks – so clearly recognizable to him, even in the dead of night, beneath the shadows of the trees – that they were nearly home. Then he cocked his head curiously as Prestige halted, hesitating before she smiled a little at him and gestured towards a fallen tree, murmuring: “Let's stop for a minute, hero.”

Antares hesitated, and then he nodded a little, striding over to her: they sat down together, side-by-side, and Prestige slipped a little closer and he put one forelimb around her. She simply dropped her head against his shoulder, closing her eyes, and he looked at her softly, studying her through the darkness, the two ponies breathing quietly as they listened to the sounds of the night: chirping and softly-calling birds, crickets playing their high-pitched violins, animals quietly sliding beneath the trees, rustling leaves and grasses as they passed.

For a little while, the two simply listened to the sounds of nature around them, and then Prestige shifted a bit, pulling herself a little closer as she said quietly: “Antares... I know that we've had our ups and downs, our... bad moments, as well as our good. I know sometimes you still get worried about me: about what I'm doing here, about whether or not we'll be together for weeks, months, or years, and I know that most often you worry about... what I'm giving up.

“But I've met your friends and most of your family, I've come to know you intimately, in ways I never expected to... I've changed from who I was.” She hesitated, then looked down and said quietly: “But I've remained the same, too. I still think – I almost know – that unicorns are superior, but... I've realized more and more from experiencing you and Miss Twilight and Baroness Celestia and even Burning Desire, the way they treat other ponies... I've seen that superiority does not mean we are permitted to simply... do whatever we like. We can be superior without treating others as inferior. Perhaps that is what makes us truly superior: recognizing they too have value, are considered... the norm, the necessary median. They are not animals or slaves... they... just are. We're better than them but they're not worse than everyone else.”

“You're so...” Antares shook his head, smiling a little before he asked quietly: “Are you ever going to let go of those beliefs, Prestige? I still... can barely believe that here I am, dating the most racist unicorn in all of Ponyville.”

“Oh stop it.” Prestige muttered, shoving at him a bit, and Antares laughed despite himself before the young mare sighed and lowered her head, hesitating for only a moment. “You... you and I... we're strange together, but I think we're good together. Unicorns live long lives, especially the pure-blooded like us. I wonder sometimes, what would it be like, to wake up beside you every day? And Antares, I... I like that thought. I like the answers that come with it. I like thinking that... together... maybe we can make things work for the long run. Maybe...”

She looked slowly up at him, and Antares softened as he gazed back down at her, reaching up and taking her face gently in his front hooves. “Prestige... I love you. I do. From the bottom of my heart, and I would do almost anything for you... I just... I don't know what the future holds for us either right now. All I can concentrate on is trying to push forwards, trying to find my parents, and trying to put a stop to Cancer. I know he's still out there...”

Prestige sighed a little, bowing her head forwards before she hesitated, then glanced up and asked quietly: “And what about Meadowlark, Antares? None of your hesitance comes from wanting to be with her?”

Antares was quiet, looking at Prestige, studying her, reading into her as she looked up at him silently... and then he closed his eyes, bowing his head forwards so their horns brushed together, sending up a quiet spark as their foreheads touched. For a few moments, they both remained silent... and then Antares said softly: “I care about her, Prestige, that would be stupid of me to deny. And I know you two... I know you both try, but you both are... awkward with each other because you're on very different ends up the spectrum with most things. But...”

He shook his head slowly, murmuring: “I'm with you, Prestige Luster. I'm here, with you, right here, right now, and I don't plan on ever abandoning you. I want things to last for as long as possible, too, I just...” He smiled a little, shifting a bit as he sat up and then gazed up through the thin canopy of leaves above, at the starry night sky and the glowing, quiet moon. “Don't you think that I'm insecure about things, too? You're beautiful, you've grown from a snobby, flashy unicorn with a few spells to an exceptional young mage. I'm... none of that. I'm still just a kid who misses his Mom and Dad, and is doing everything in his power to bring them back. I'm supposed to be the independent leader, but all I can do is rely on the help and hooves of everypony around me. I feel like... I feel like such an idiot all the time. I feel like I should be doing harder, striving to be better, and yet this is the best I can do already, do you understand? But all of you... especially you, Prestige... you're growing. You're getting better. And all I can think about is the past.”

Now Prestige was quiet, looking up at him for a few moments before she closed her eyes and dropped her head against his neck, squeezing him fiercely as she murmured: “But that's one of my favorite things about you, hero. You never, ever give up on anypony... you've never, ever given up on your parents, in spite of the fact that so many other ponies have told you to stop, that they can't be alive, that... that have just humored you, which I know to you is all the more insulting because of the way you see into people. And yet you still don't stop. You still refuse to give up or give in. I wish all the time... that I could be half as strong as you: that I could believe in something as much as you do.”

“Don't you believe in me?” Antares smiled a little, tone teasing, and Prestige laughed quietly before she pushed him onto his back, and Antares let himself fall over the log, feeling the bark crunching beneath him, smelling moss and leaves and soil and sweat as Prestige leaned over him and pinned him by the shoulders. Then he softened, reaching up and touching her face as he asked quietly: “Don't you believe in yourself?”

“I have better things to believe in than that.” Prestige murmured, leaning down and kissing the side of his neck. Antares closed his eyes in pleasure, then he smiled softly as she settled down against him, wrapping her forelegs around his neck. He embraced her fiercely in return, holding her closely down against his body, gazing at the stars up above as a soft wind rustled the trees, as if the forest was whispering its promise of protection to the young couple.

Prestige felt so safe, so warm in the young stallion's embrace that she eventually fell asleep, murmuring a quiet 'I love you' before her eyes slipped closed and she curled herself close. Antares was glad to hold her tightly, feeling strangely comfortable, smiling a bit as he relaxed in the natural surroundings of the forest before his own eyes slipped closed, and he breathed slowly in and out, gradually dropping off into a deep rest of his own.

He awoke only a few hours later, before sunrise: Prestige had shifted a little overnight, half-curled up beside him now, and he was half on and half off the log. He grimaced a bit as he carefully slipped away from her, leaving her on the bed of the fallen tree-trunk as he stood and cracked his back loudly, then smiled despite himself. Curled up like she was, smiling and content, Prestige Luster looked like some wild forest princess instead of a noble unicorn from the north... and then Antares looked over his shoulder with a curious frown as he felt a tingle run through his mind.

For a few moments, he tried to ignore it... but the feeling quickly grew too strong, and the young stallion finally turned, striding across the beaten path and into the wild forest. After only a few moments, he realized he was on some hidden path: not a game trail, not a hunting path, but something different. Something almost beneath the layers of reality, and he breathed slowly as he carefully strode forwards before smiling a little despite himself as he emerged into a small clearing.

There was a natural well here that looked like the gaping jaws of some drooling beast, the ground and roots torn up around it and forming earthen teeth. And in front of the well, Allonym was sitting, his cane across his lap, prayer beads in one hand and a photograph in the other that he was studying quietly. He didn't seem to notice the presence of the young stallion, so Antares hesitated before he cleared his throat quietly, and the Draconequus flinched before hurriedly stuffing the photograph away as he glared over his shoulder at the young stallion. “Hey! Privacy!”

“What are you doing here? “ Antares asked curiously, and the Draconequus mumbled a little before the young stallion hesitated, asking awkwardly: “It's just... don't you have somewhere else you usually hide out between... you know...”

“Tormenting you?” Allonym asked sourly, and when Antares gave him a look, the chimerical creature grumbled and muttered: “Sorry, sorry. I hate today or yesterday or... whatever. Anyway, I... well. I kind of do. But I spend a lot of time here. Here, there, everywhere; anywhere I am, I can also be here, thanks to my handy-dandy notebook.”

Allonym paused, then he straightened and smiled a little, rubbing slowly at the back of his head. “Okay, so... I was wondering if we'd bump into each other, even though I didn't expect you to be here so early... but you have a bad habit of surprising me. A really annoying bad habit, at that...”

The Draconequus hesitated, and then he shook his head slowly, glancing down at the mala in his hand before he played his fingers through the long string of onyx beads, then closed his eyes as he tucked this carefully away. “Something bad is coming. I'm going to go against the rules a little bit, here, Antares, and I'm going to give you the help I can... but I need you to understand something, something your friends still don't believe.” Allonym picked up his cane, pointing it at the young stallion as he said softly: “I can't solve all your problems. I can't magically just make things vanish. I wish that I could, because we'd never be here. The story would be much happier, with a far-more-positive outcome. Everything would fall a little neater into place and gods above know there wouldn't be so many secrets left in the fabric of the plot.

“I think... I think there's still time before things get really bad. I think there's still time to prepare, and you'll have forewarning... but Antares, the days ahead won't be pleasant.” Allonym halted, then he leaned on his cane and closed his eyes, bowing his head forwards as he said softly: “Ultimately... they will lead to you finding your parents, I believe that. I have a lot of reasons to believe that. But I know you're smart enough to recognize that... there will be a cost. Are you prepared to pay it?”

“I want to pay it myself, I don't... I don't want my friends to suffer. I'd die to save my parents.” Antares said quietly, and Allonym chuckled softly as he shook his head slowly. “It's true. I would, I would do anything to-”

“What a kind way to return their generosity, Antares. Dying for them after they died for you.” Allonym murmured, and Antares flinched before the chimerical creature quietly held up a hand. “Sorry. Figure of speech. Look, you still need to get things in order in your head. And remember, above all... remember what you meant to them, what you mean to them even now. Don't screw that up, kid.”

Antares hesitated, and then he nodded slowly, grimacing a bit all the same, and the Draconequus smiled before he strode forwards, reaching into an inner pocket of his jacket and pulling out a large, black can of something. He held this out to the young stallion, who frowned a bit as he awkwardly sat back before reaching up to take it, glancing lamely down at the beverage... and then scowling when Allonym ruffled the pony's mane firmly, smiling down at him. “I'll be around, kid. Things are going to get messy, but you have my word I'll do what I can to interfere here and there. Just gotta be careful... if I screw around too much, I could just make things worse, after all. But you take care of yourself, and Prestige. You're going to need all your friends in the future, especially if you want to force your way through Clockwork World in one piece.”

The young stallion nodded awkwardly, looking down at the large, black can in his hooves before he glanced up and asked finally: “With all due respect, can you stop calling me 'kid?' It's just... kind of weird coming from you. And you say it a lot.”

“A kid is a goat and a dude is a pimple on a donkey's butt.” Allonym remarked, and Antares didn't know how to quite take this before the Draconequus shrugged and turned around, striding off into the woods. “You're gonna go far, kid.”

“I'll take that as a 'no.'” Antares muttered, and then he sighed as he looked down at the can in his hooves, studying the odd label before shrugging and popping it open before sipping at the cherry-flavored beverage. He thought of the warning that the strange entity had just given him... and then he sighed and shook his head morbidly, wondering if there would ever come a time when the future would be filled with kittens and puppies instead of lurking, imminent doom.

Love Is Love

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Chapter Twenty Five: Love Is Love
~BlackRoseRaven

There was an air of excitement around Ponyville as, a week after Hearts and Hooves Day, Apple Bloom and Scarlet Sage held a gathering at their house for their quiet commitment and marriage ceremony. Or at least it was supposed to be quiet: but Sleipnir showed up with a keg of ale and many more guests than the two had expected, and they had ended up with guests milling in the front yard, back yard, and all throughout their townhouse.

Apple Bloom and Scarlet Sage were both a little more dressed-up than usual... but only a little. The earth pony had her mane tied back with a gemstone band, and the Pegasus had some of Luna's few pieces of jewelry on and a red rose tucked into her scarlet mane. They both looked awkward with how many ponies had shown up, including some more distant relations of the Apple Family, something that Apple Bloom hadn't quite expected. She knew her family was always there for her, whether they approved of her or not; but she had gone quite a different route than the rest of her farming family had, and she had never quite been sure of what that meant for how willing they'd be to celebrate those differences with her.

Since they no longer really had the room in the townhouse, they ended up moving several tables outside and letting the party naturally spread into one of the yard areas that separated the rows of townhouses. This drew out both neighbors and curious ponies, who wanted to see what the early afternoon party was all about, and to sample the free food and drinks now sitting in the open with little guard. But it was nice, all the same, as curious ponies wandered amidst invited guests, some of them striking up conversation here and there as Pinkie Pie hurried in and out of the kitchen with Aphrodisia, helping put together more food.

Prestige seemed to relax in the atmosphere herself, dressed up a little for the occasion, although Antares had only put on a rumpled, old suit jacket that had once belonged to his father. And he had smiled warmly when Scarlet Sage had slipped through the crowd to approach, the two embracing fiercely before she kissed his cheek and said quietly: “I'm so glad you're here, Antares. Will you... stand up beside me while Celestia does the ceremony? Kind of like my best stallion.”

“I thought Apple Bloom was the guy in your relationship.” Antares said softly, and Scarlet Sage laughed and shoved at him gently, the young stallion laughing as well before he smiled up at her and nodded slowly. “Of course, big sister. You know I'd be glad to.”

“Thank you. That means a world to me. A whole world.” Scarlet Sage leaned forwards, kissing her brother's forehead gently, then she reached up and ruffled his mane as she softened. “I just really wish Mom and Dad were here.”

“One day they'll be back. I promise. We're all working hard to bring them back.” Antares said quietly but firmly, and Scarlet Sage gazed at him before she nodded slowly, smiling a little after a moment. The two gazed at each other as conversation flowed around them from the many milling guests, before Antares smiled as he glanced over at Prestige, gesturing at her silently.

Prestige blushed, and Scarlet tilted her head curiously before the young unicorn mare stepped forwards and swallowed a bit, then said finally: “I... I want to congratulate you, Scarlet Sage, and your... soon to be... wife. This is very... not... I mean, I think... no matter what I think, I mean, I can't help but be impressed by how you and Apple Bloom are so... strong, together.”

“It's not hard for us to be strong, and there's not a world to admire, Prestige.” Scarlet Sage said softly, and the unicorn looked surprised at this response before the Pegasus smiled softly. “We're just two people in love, like anypony else. Nothing different, nothing more admirable or deplorable than that. Especially not when we look around and see all the family and friends gathered here to celebrate and support us: we're just two ponies. That's all.”

Prestige looked down thoughtfully at this, then nodded slowly and hesitantly before Antares smiled softly, saying quietly: “You've always been so modest. And kinda weird.”

“You're one to talk, little brother.” Scarlet Sage smiled at him, then she reached up and nudged him gently. “Ceremony's going to take place just before dinner. I've gotta go make nice for an hour or two more before I get ready. I... I have something for you, too. Just something to finish off your outfit.”

She paused, then smiled amusedly and reached up, adjusting his jacket a bit as the young stallion shifted awkwardly, before she murmured: “You really do remind me of Dad some days, Antares, but... there's a lot of Mom in you, too. I'm glad for it. You make me feel close to them, and you help me keep faith in the fact that... they may still be out there somewhere.”

The young stallion only smiled and bowed his head forwards silently, and then Scarlet Sage smiled softly before she turned and headed quietly back into the crowd of ponies, awkwardly responding to a cheery call of her name from Cowlick. Antares shook his head, then he glanced over at Prestige as she reached up and absently brushed at his shoulder. “You really are a mess. I suppose that's what she meant by you reminding her of your father, wasn't it?”

“Both.” Antares smiled after a moment, shaking his head a little with a quiet laugh. “Neither Mom or Dad were ever... you know, all that neat. They weren't messy but they weren't neat, you know?”

Prestige Luster only gazed at him softly, and Antares smiled before he shifted a little, gazing up towards the sky before his attention was drawn towards Burning Desire and an embarrassed-looking Twilight Sparkle, who was wearing a long dress and chemise in an attempt to cover up her stitching as well as to try and look nice. For the next hour, Antares found himself making conversation with much of the party, glad that for the most part he knew the people here: there were also a group of Nibelung and ponies that were Apple Bloom's friends and coworkers, and some of the clinic staff. It was strange to see people he wasn't as familiar with from around town... but then again, it wasn't like Antares knew any of the neighboring ponies who had come over to help themselves to the free food and drink, either.

But before Antares knew it, Scarlet Sage had slipped through the crowd again and carefully pulled him away, bringing him into the house and up to her room. She smiled softly at him as they managed to get the moment alone, breathing a little hard and looking nervous as Antares studied her, then softened and reached up, touching her shoulder as he reassured quietly: “It's going to be fine, Scarlet. You and Apple Bloom... you have a connection. One that's always been there. And no matter what happened... you always came back to each other, didn't you?”

“We did.” Scarlet murmured softly, glancing down and nodding hesitantly before she sighed a little, her eyes roving up as she smiled a little. “I know. I just... I'm scared, Antares. I don't... there's no going back, this is enormous, and... I know from now on, both of us have to actually be the adults we're supposed to be instead of arguing and then storming off.”

The young stallion nodded, and then Scarlet Sage shook her head quickly, saying softly: “But that's not important. Here, I got this for you.”

Scarlet smiled a little as she turned and picked up a box off the nightstand, then carefully pulled the lid off and held it out on one hoof so that Antares could lean forwards and look down into the container... before he laughed a little, his horn glowing and quietly lifting what looked like a silver pocketwatch free. He gazed over it, smiling wider as he realized it was inscribed with the same symbol as his cutie mark, and he clicked the small button at the top to open it, gazing warmly at the quietly-ticking hands as he murmured: “It's amazing.”

“Turn it around.” Scarlet Sage said softly, and Antares cocked his head curiously, then he did so before he realized that the back could be pulled open as well. He hesitated, then shrugged when the Pegasus gave him an insistent look, popping it open... and his breath caught in his throat at the sight of not the ticking gears and guts of the clock he expected, but instead pictures of his mother and father, inset into the backplate and the swinging panel.

It was like a locket and a pocketwatch in one, and Scarlet Sage said softly: “The pictures can slide in and out, and the whole back can slide off so you can get to the insides of the watch... but well... I thought those ones were the best I had in my collection of Mom and Dad. Red and Pinkamena were working on this for quite a while. You'd never believe what Pinkamena wanted in return, though.”

Antares swallowed thickly, then he quietly closed the open doors of the watch, closing his eyes as he tucked it carefully away into his jacket. It felt like a warm weight, the ticking sounding like a beating heart before he walked quickly forwards and hugged Scarlet Sage fiercely, and she hugged him tightly back, closing her eyes as they sat together in silence for a moment. He didn't have to thank her, as she reached up and slowly stroked the back of his head, murmuring softly: “They're always here with us both, Antares. Mom and Dad... were always there for us.”

Antares only rested against her, breathing softly before they slowly pulled apart, gazing at one another quietly before she smiled quietly, reaching up and taking his face between her hooves silently. “They adopted me, but I never once felt like I wasn't your sister, and you weren't my brother. I was so glad for Mom and Dad when after... so many years, they finally were able to have you... and I was a little worried and jealous, too, but... all the same, they never alienated me or pushed me away. They took care of me.

“Antares, I know that... sometimes it probably seems like I'm not trying hard to work beside you, and find Mom and Dad... but I know that you can, and the best thing I can do to help is to stay back here, and heal you and your friends if you ever get into trouble, and support you from here. Because I have faith in you, that you'll find them...” Scarlet Sage rubbed her hooves down to his shoulders, scarlet eyes gazing quietly into midnight cyan of Antares'. “Because you remind me so much of them. How they would go to any lengths to save friend, family... and anyone who deserved it. They never left anypony behind, and I know you'll never leave anypony behind either. I'm only glad that you're not trying to do this alone, that you don't have to do this alone... and Antares, I'm going to help you every way I can.”

“I know. You do help, Scarlet, you... you really do. You, Celestia and Twilight all took care of me after...” The young stallion glanced down, then he swallowed a little and glanced up, smiling faintly. “And you three were also who... continued to teach me all the lessons that Mom and Dad couldn't, since they weren't... there. I'm the pony I am today because of... you, and Twilight, and Celestia as well as Mom and Dad. You've already helped a world. All I'm doing is... is running the last leg of the marathon.”

Scarlet Sage laughed quietly, shaking her head slowly before she reached up and tapped his horn gently, making him wince a bit. “Just remember we're here for you, then, okay? Now come on. I need my little brother to stand beside me while I share what was supposed to be a quiet, private moment with Apple Bloom out in public. Horses of Heaven am I ever scared something's going to go wrong.”

“Nothing will, Scar. Come on, let's go.” Antares smiled up at her, saying softly: “Just like you've always been there for me, I'm going to be there for you. That's a promise.”

The Pegasus gazed down at him affectionately, nodding slowly, and then the two ponies turned and made their way, side-by-side, out of the room, down the stairs, and back out to the yard. Someone had already taken the initiative and set up a small but pretty trellis, and quickly decorated it with flowers and tapers and a few pretty ornaments, and Scarlet Sage blushed quietly at this sight as she silently made her way through the crowd, a natural hush falling.

Celestia was standing in front of the trellis, and Apple Bloom was there was well, with Applejack smiling warmly beside her. Cowlick was grinning widely near the front of the group with benevolent Ross, and Big Mac had a proud smile on his face. Avalon was perched over her father's broad shoulders, watching warmly and trying to hide how much she was clearly enjoying this.

Twilight was standing with Prestige and Burning Desire, the Lich rubbing at her face a little, all but glowing with maternal adoration. And even Celestia looked proud, gazing affectionately from Scarlet Sage to Apple Bloom as the mares shifted and stood a bit taller, gazed with respect and anxiety and eagerness up at Celestia as the ivory mare said softly: “Congratulations to you both. And now, let me begin the ceremony...

“Friends, family, neighbors... strangers...” Celestia smiled slightly, glancing back and forth through the crowd at the curious faces of ponies who had simply wandered into the party here and there. “Today we are here to celebrate the coming together of two lives... Apple Bloom, and Scarlet Sage. My niece, and the mare she loves.

“I hope you'll join me in wishing them fortune today: and I hope you both know that your parents would have be proud, to see what their daughters have become, to see the strength of your love and commitment.” Celestia continued, and Apple Bloom and Scarlet Sage both blushed and lowered their heads as Applejack nodded firmly and Antares gazed up with warmth. “But you do both have family here, family who I can see the joy in... joy I myself feel for you both.

“Now, Apple Bloom... do you take Scarlet Sage as your partner, to love and cherish, to spend your days and nights beside, until death do you part?” Celestia turned her gaze to the earth pony mare, who stood up proudly as she took a slow breath.

“I do.” she replied quietly but firmly, and she smiled softly, reaching a hoof up to silently take Scarlet Sage's, the two gazing at each other with absolute trust, and absolute love.

“And Scarlet Sage... do you take Apple Bloom as your partner, to love and cherish, to spend your days and nights beside, until death do you part?”

“I do.” Scarlet Sage had no hesitation, no fear now, her anxiety falling away like leaves in the wind as she straightened a little, gazing deeply into the eyes of her chosen love, her special mare.

Celestia smiled softly, and she straightened and nodded before saying quietly: “Then I am proud to announce you as partners for life, and it is my honor to be the first to congratulate and welcome your union. Apple Bloom, Scarlet Sage, you may seal your bond with a kiss.”

The two mares gazed radiantly to one another, then leaned forwards, their lips meeting in a soft kiss. Applejack smiled brightly, then began to stomp her hooves, and soon the whole crowd was cheering and applauding the two as their mouths drew apart, Scarlet Sage and Apple Bloom looking happily out over the gathered ponies, both with pleased blushes on their faces as even strangers clapped for the two mares.

The moment Apple Bloom and Scarlet Sage stepped away from the trellis, they were swept up by the crowd, congratulated, cheered, complimented, and even thanked: Celestia watched this with a smile, then glanced down in surprise when Applejack suddenly hugged her impulsively, the ivory winged unicorn looking awkwardly down as the goldenrod earth pony glanced up and said softly: “It means a lot that you were willing to do this, Celestia. It means a hell of a lot to me and a hell of a lot to them. I can't begin to thank you enough.”

“All I care about is that they make each other happy, and their love is true... and I see both those things and so much more, Applejack.” Celestia replied softly, glancing up at the two mares as she nodded slowly, and Applejack grunted as she slipped backwards and reached up to adjust her cowboy hat, smiling warmly up at the larger mare.

The crowd around the two newlyweds only thinned slightly when music began to play through the fields, surprising most of the ponies... but Celestia only smiled when she glanced up to see Discombobulation leaning calmly against a set of enormous speakers before he gestured absently at Cowlick, who was running extension cords out with the help of several Nibelung. The mare approached with an entertained look, and the Draconequus glanced down at her, cocking an eyebrow. “Don't give me that look now, Celestia. I only brought the speakers here. This was all Vasquez's fault.”

“Stop calling me that, somehow I know it's code for 'butch.'” Cowlick called irritably, and Discombobulation only smiled with wry amusement over towards the engineer before he glanced down in surprise as Celestia calmly rose a hoof to him.

“Would you like to dance, Bob?” she asked softly, and for a moment the Draconequus looked embarrassed, but then he cleared his throat and nodded awkwardly, and Celestia easily stood up on her rear hooves, leaning her body forwards against his as the Draconequus took her in his arms and closed his eyes at the feeling of her form pressing against his own, one of his limbs wrapping tightly around her as she smiled and dropped her head over his shoulder, saying quietly: “I think we're what each other needs. If only for a little while.”

“A little while to them or a little while for me or a little while for you? Because with all the years you've lived, old Valkyrie, I know that a little while could be quite a long while indeed.” Discombobulation replied mildly, smiling slightly, and Celestia only smiled in response, before the Draconequus said wryly: “But then again, it's useless to hold a person to anything they say while in love, drunk, or running for office. I think you might be all three.”

Celestia only laughed at this however, shaking her head and replying mildly: “If I was drunk, Discombobulation, we wouldn't be dancing right now. We'd be somewhere else, and it would likely end with you in tears. I've been told that... drinking makes me selfish. And rough.”

“We're opposites, I apparently amuse you between annoying you, and I have to admit that you outright terrify me even more often than Scrivener Blooms ever did. It's no wonder we get along so well.” Discombobulation commented, and Celestia smiled warmly up at him as they spun slowly away from the speaker to the rhythm of the gentle music.

Ponies danced through the field, while others sat back and watched, helping themselves to more drinks and food from the table. And in the center of it all, Apple Bloom and Scarlet Sage moved slowly together, pressed tightly together, holding onto each other like they were the only two ponies in the world... and at the moment for the two, they were, as their hearts beat in time together and their emotions rolled together, their minds linked by bonds of love and understanding.

It wasn't until evening that things finally began to break up and ponies began to head home: the neighbors and strangers first, but friends and acquaintances began to excuse themselves next. It was a little late to bring out the dinner they'd prepared – not that they had enough to go around anyway, even now – but no one complained: there had been more than enough snacks and treats prepared by Pinkie and others on hoof to tame the worst of their hungers, after all.

A good few ponies stayed to help clean up, even as Rainbow Dash and Avalon took most of the Apple Clan back to find them places to stay out at the farm: in the end, the group ended up in a little gathering inside the townhouse, eating the last of the treats and some of the extra desserts that had been meant to be served after the dinner they had never eaten.

Rustproof and Avalon traded bright smiles as Aphrodisia gazed up adoringly at Apple Bloom and Scarlet Sage, as the two mares sat comfortably back together in a loveseat just the right size for them. They were talking warmly with Burning Desire and Twilight Sparkle, as Big Mac relaxed with Soarin' resting beside him and Applejack looked at her younger sibling with warmth glowing in her eyes. Antares and Prestige sat back beside Celestia; outside, Ross and Cowlick were cleaning up the last of the speakers, with the help of Discombobulation.

Then Pinkie Pie bounced happily into the room, several plates balanced over her back that she easily tossed to ponies around the room, somehow managing to serve them out to the right ponies without breaking anything. It made made Ross smile brightly as Apple Bloom and Scarlet Sage both winced, then looked relieved at the lack of mess or destruction, as the bright-pink pony said warmly: “Thanks for letting me and Lemon Drop do some of the work today, guys! It meant a lot to help out, since... you know, you didn't ask for any other presents. I mean, you guys didn't actually want presents, right?”

“We just wanted you all here. That was the real present to us.” Scarlet Sage replied softly, and Apple Bloom nodded in agreement. Then she gazed around the room, continuing easily: “Apple Bloom and I were considering taking a little honeymoon out of Ponyville... does anyone have any suggestions for good vacation spots?”

“I know a gorgeous spot where you two pretty mares could spend some time.” Burning Desire said with a grin, and then he winced when Twilight elbowed him firmly, rubbing at his side. “Violet! I didn't say anything yet!”

“You see that right there? That's you admitting that you were about to say something stupid.” Twilight remarked, and the fiery stallion looked stumped by this response before he grumbled and closed his mouth, as the Lich smiled and smoothed out her dress carefully. “I think that's a great idea, though... maybe you could go to the ocean, or visit the western mountains.”

“I was kinda thinking we might head north.” Apple Bloom said after a moment, and Scarlet Sage blushed but nodded a little, Twilight looked surprised, then leaned forwards a bit. Antares cocked his own head curiously, and Apple Bloom smiled lamely before she said finally: “We just... we were thinking about retracing the path of the Starlit Knights. I've never been, after all, and I'd love to see Charger's Crossing, and the far north, even though I hear it's all rather... unfriendly... but I heard that the mountains are beautiful. That they got climbing and hiking ranges out there and well... we thought it'd be good for us both.”

“I'd like... it's not that I want to relive what we went through, but I want to experience that journey again. I want to see what memories come back, and... I think it'll help me remember Mom and Dad a little, too.” Scarlet Sage said quietly, and Twilight and Applejack both softened at this statement as Big Mac nodded slowly and Celestia simply studied the mares with interest, while the other ponies continued to look curious.

But Scarlet Sage fell quiet, and for a little while there was only silence, before Burning Desire complimented the two mares on how natural and beautiful they had been today. It started another chain of conversation, this time sticking to congratulations, compliments, and talk about the near future, until Celestia finally quietly excused herself with a smile when Discombobulation walked in. Shortly after they left, Twilight Sparkle and Burning Desire did as well, and bit-by-bit, other ponies filtered slowly out, until Apple Bloom and Scarlet Sage were left with only Antares, Prestige, and Aphrodisia.

Scarlet Sage and Antares were talking with each other warmly, as Apple Bloom leaned back in her seat and gazed adoringly at her beautiful wife and Prestige sat comfortably, slowly relaxing as she gazed around at how... normal everything seemed in the household. Then Aphrodisia cleared her throat loudly and stood up, and all eyes turned to her before she leaned down and firmly yanked Antares to his hooves, the demon saying mildly: “Come on, Nova, that's enough. Apple Bloom and Scarlet Sage have to go get dirty in bed now. And you and Prestige should do the same.”

Scarlet Sage cleared her throat as Apple Bloom blushed a bit and glowered, then said sourly: “Apps, if you weren't Pinkamena's daughter and I still didn't know what age to treat you like, I'd be tempted to put you in a world o' hurt right about now.”

“I'm just saying what everypony's thinking.” Aphrodisia complained, and then Antares winced when the demon punched his shoulder. “Come on, let's go. I'll wait outside for you and Prissy. Goodnight Scarlet Sage, goodnight Apple Bloom. Have fun together bumping uglies.”

Antares turned beet red as the demon calmly made her way out, Scarlet Sage groaning and rubbing at her face before Apple Bloom mumbled: “Mine ain't ugly at all.”

“I... think we should go.” Prestige said lamely, and Antares cleared his throat as he waved a little. “Goodbye, Scarlet Sage, Apple Bloom. Thank you for inviting us and including Antares in the ceremony, I... it meant a lot to him.”

“It did mean a lot to me, I... thanks.” Antares half-glared at Prestige as she tugged on him, and she looked embarrassed after a moment before the young stallion turned his gaze back ahead, stepping quickly forwards to trade a short, tight hug with his older sister. “I love you, big sis, and you too Apple Bloom. Be good. And uh... have... fun?”

“I love you too, Antares. And we will.” Scarlet Sage smiled despite her blush as Apple Bloom smiled and sat up a little, raising a hoof to him. Antares smiled a little in return as he cleared his throat, then the young pony turned and followed Prestige out, giving her a flat look again as they headed through the door.

Aphrodisia was at the window, peering through it with a wide grin on her face, and Antares gave the demon a grumpy look as well before he asked flatly: “Can you like, not do that? That's my sister, and Apple Bloom means a lot to me, too. Besides, they're both technically your cousins too, Apps.”

“Oh shush, Nova. I'd gladly have a throw-down with you, do you really think I wouldn't do the same with somepony as pretty as they are too?” Aphrodisia remarked, and Antares turned beet red again as Prestige winced and made a sound of disgust, but the demon only huffed.” Hey. Lust and Wrath. Lots of crazy emotions and no moral guidelines. Besides, I'm a demon, you're handsome, we're both growed-ups.”

“The very fact you used the term 'growed-up' means that somepony here isn't.” Antares commented dryly, and Aphrodisia gave him an amused look as the young stallion smiled a little despite himself. “Okay, okay, maybe I'm just... grouchy. Let's go... Apps, where are you headed?”

“I think I'll walk with you. Can we have a sleepover?” the demon asked curiously, and Prestige looked surprised by the almost-childishness of the demon as Antares smiled softly at the dull-pink pony, then turned his eyes curiously to Prestige. Prestige looked lame, clearly unsure of how serious the demon was or even what she was supposed to say, and Aphrodisia immediately took advantage of this by trilling cheerfully: “Good! I'm gonna run home and get my things and tell Mommy and Daddy!”

With that, Aphrodisia vanished in a burst of black smoke, and Prestige stared after the receding demon before she glared over at Antares, saying flatly: “You can't be serious.”

“What? It's fine, she's my best friend and my cousin, Prestige. And the company is really important to her... she doesn't usually show this side with other ponies, it means she trusts you.” Antares said softly, and Prestige grumbled under her breath, the young stallion wincing a bit before he sighed and said finally: “Just... trust me, it's a good thing, she just wants... it's her way of saying she wants to trust you more. To... be better friends, I think.”

Prestige only shook her head grumpily, and the two unicorns walked quietly through the night together before the young mare dropped her head and muttered: “I wish your family was more normal, Antares. I don't want to imagine what your parents must have been like after all.”

Antares stiffened a little at this, and before he could stop himself, he retorted: “Better than your parents, at least.”

This made Prestige glare up at him sharply, and the young stallion winced as they stood in awkward standoff for a few moments before Prestige finally said sourly: “I think I'm going to go to the library and spend the night there, Antares. Have fun with your delightful cousin.”

The young stallion only stood awkwardly, words escaping him as part of him wanted to be angry, part of him wanted to apologize, and part of him just gaped with confusion and disbelief: this last was what continued to keep a strong hold over the young stallion for a few more moments, before he winced when Aphrodisia came galloping down the streets towards him, the demon smiling brightly as she skidded to a halt, then looked back and forth, a large bag hanging from her side decorated with brightly-dancing ponies and with a sheet and several other odds and ends dangling out of it. “Mommy said I could and... where's Prissy?”

“She's mad at me.” Antares said moodily, and the demon looked at him softly before he grumbled and lowered his head... then blushed a bit when Aphrodisia nuzzled him comfortingly, pushing at her a little. “Apps...”

“Oh shut up, Nova. If she takes me seriously enough to get jealous then she's the one with issues, not you. Besides, you two have been spending like, almost every day and night together since you got together. Everything will be fine by tomorrow.” the demon reassured, and Antares looked up with a surprised smile at her compassionate advice before the Dominia grinned and winked. “Now come on, let's go home and have fun. We can pour some water on Burning Desire, that'll cheer you up.”

Antares only grunted, then he dropped his head forwards and nodded a little as the demon smiled and nudged him lightly. All the same, the stallion still felt a painful twist inside himself, looking in the direction that Prestige had gone and wishing that he was with her.

The next day, Antares came into town looking exhausted: Aphrodisia had kept him up almost the whole night, and even if he didn't sleep much, roughly an hour of napping on and off was short even by his standards. He yawned tiredly as the demon bounced beside him happily, her saddlebag swaying at his side, rambling cheerfully away about this and that as they made their way towards the library.

Antares butted the door open with his head, mumbling a little to himself before he looked tiredly up and smiled awkwardly at Prestige. She didn't look like she had slept the best herself, and the young mare gave him a look that was half-embarrassed, half-apologetic from where she was sitting beside Celestia, cups of tea in front of them both. Discombobulation was standing nearby, sipping calmly at his own mug before he tossed Antares a meditative look, then said mildly: “You need one of those things that Allonym is always drinking. Disgusting as they are. When he has a heart attack let's all point and laugh at him.”

The young stallion only mumbled as he walked towards the table, Aphrodisia bouncing happily alongside him before Prestige awkwardly climbed to her hooves and strode towards Antares. Then she winced when the demon jumped in front of her, leaning forwards and glaring into her eyes as she almost shoved their faces together, Aphrodisia enunciating slowly: “You play nice, or else.”

“Aphrodisia, please don't stir the pot. Every couple has its spats.” Celestia said quietly, then she glanced mildly over at Discombobulation. “Some perhaps more than others, isn't that right?”

“Are you talking about us? Are we a couple now? A couple of what, though?” Discombobulation replied mildly, swirling his mug of whatever he had before he said thoughtfully: “I can think of a couple of things I would like to be. I can think of a couple things I would like to be a part of. But I don't know if I could stand to be half a couple myself. Coupling is for trains.”

“That wasn't your view last night.” Celestia remarked calmly before she sipped at her tea, and Aphrodisia giggled as Antares and Prestige both slowly stared upwards, as Discombobulation turned bright red. “Antares, Prestige, I am glad you're both here, though. I was looking over my schedule for today and it seems this morning I'm going to be meeting with a Miss Rosewood, who is acting as a representative for Caitiff Caprice. Rosewood is your mother, isn't that right, Prestige?”

“Oh good, all the embarrassment in the room just shifted off of me and onto the teenagers who both have issues coping with themselves.” Discombobulation remarked in a relieved voice, and Antares and Prestige both glowered at him before the Draconequus sidled over to Celestia and leaned over her shoulder as the ivory winged unicorn opened a schedule book, remarking seriously: “Well, I suppose it's a happy coincidence then that even if they didn't get your owl, Harry Potter over there still arrived three hours early for his hearing.”

“Twilight had an owl once.” Celestia said mildly, before she smiled when Discombobulation reached over her shoulder and poked something on the page. “Thank you, Bob. Yes, in... about ninety minutes. It doesn't seem like it's anything serious she wants to discuss, so I have the feeling she's really here to visit you, Prestige.”

“I... suppose that may be true.” Prestige mumbled, shifting awkwardly, and Antares softened as he reached up and squeezed her shoulder slowly. And in that single gesture, their silly argument and everything bad from the night before was forgotten and washed away, as the young mare smiled before looking up hesitantly at the winged unicorn and taking a slow breath. “My mother is... my mother is a good pony, but she's also very... she probably has some other reason, not to do with me, to come here... maybe she's trying to impress the Mayor or Caprice was busy or wanted to seem more important or...”

“The Mayor... you mean your father, Grindstone Grasp, correct?” Celestia asked gently, and Prestige shrank at just the name, nodding a little as Antares gazed at her softly. For a moment, Celestia frowned a little, studying the young mare, but after a few moments she tactfully changed the subject, glancing at Antares and asking: “Would you like to have a rest in the back room? I don't have any work for you or your friends today, or for the next few days... things have been quiet recently. Well, apart from some strange weather patterns to the east, but it was only Discord.”

She sat back, then smiled a little over at Discombobulation, saying softly: “I find it... strange, to sit back and so calmly allow a Ginnungagap beast like him run free, causing a little mischief here and there... but then again, now that I'm... seeing clearer these days, I understand that's all it is. A little mischief, that reverts itself over time once he's left the area or that can be fixed with the right push. And besides, it seems like Discord doesn't dare draw too much attention to himself... not with so many demons wandering this Equestria, as well as the Strange Ones and the threat of Cancer...”

She lowered her head, then shook it slowly before glancing over at Discombobulation. “Do you think you could find him someday for me, and take him a message? I want to do what I should have done in the world I came from... I want to try and make peace with him, instead of neutralizing or imprisoning him.”

“I'm sure he'll be delighted to hear that, Celestia.” Discombobulation said dryly, and Celestia gave him a slight smile, tilting her head towards him, but the Draconequus only huffed in response. “Oh, don't give me that look. I'm not jealous in the slightest. I only dislike the thought of being used as a messenger boy to my former slave-master. This isn't Star Wars and there's no double-canon here.”

Celestia only continued to smile, then she turned her eyes to Antares, saying softly: “Go on, and get some rest for a while. Both of you should, as a matter of fact. Prestige, I heard you up most of the night out here.”

The two young unicorns nodded after a moment, and then Aphrodisia sniffed loudly before she turned and headed for the door, calling over her shoulder: “I'm gonna go home too then. Should I bring Daddy by later, Aunt Tia?”

“No, I think I'll come over to Sugar Cube Corners later today myself.” Celestia replied with a smile, and Aphrodisia brightened a little at this, nodding a few times before she waved quickly over her shoulder.

Antares and Prestige both waved back before ascending the stairs, and then Aphrodisia glared at Discombobulation, who sighed before tiredly raising a hand and twiddling his fingers. Then, as Antares and Prestige disappeared up the floor above, the Draconequus turned his eyes to Celestia and said mildly: “You shouldn't encourage teenage pregnancy, Celestia. They're already enough trouble as it is, and you really don't want Prestige to be Lorelei and her child to be Rory, do you?”

“In some of the old baronies in the old days, if Prestige had failed to provide a foal by now, she would have been deemed barren and no stallion would marry her. Her family might have sold her off for slavery or done other nasty things to her. Or she may have become a prostitute or joined a nunnery.” Celestia paused thoughtfully, glancing up at the chaos entity. “It's funny how those coincide, isn't it? If that most-cherished part of a mare's body can't be sowed, then either a mare could sell her body without having to worry about the consequence of a child, or she could use it as a sign that she is to follow the path of the divine, and give up the physical pleasures of the body for a greater power.”

Discombobulation looked for a few long moments at the ivory mare, as she gazed back, and then he reached up and slowly stroked his fingers through her rainbow mane, asking mildly: “If I make out with you now, will you please stop talking and filling my head with all those horrible thoughts and images and horrible history lessons?”

“Yes.” Celestia replied with a smile, and then she leaned up as the Draconequus leaned down, sharing a short, surprisingly-gentle kiss before their mouths parted and Celestia gazed up at him with warmth, murmuring softly: “Innocent as a young colt.”

“Shut up.” Discombobulation mumbled awkwardly, clearing his throat and shifting lamely, and then he sighed and complained: “None of the pieces I was built from are made for... that! I'm put together from pieces of nerds and obsessive-compulsive musicians and bad actors and dramatists who were scared of their mothers and you're not just some gorgeous giant pony, you're a Valkyrie and metallic jazz and jazzy metal and blood and... other things.”

Celestia was only smiling warmly, however, tilting her head towards him as she asked softly: “Discombobulation, did you just refer to me as 'gorgeous?'”

“Do I get a cookie?” The Draconequus asked sourly, and then he winced when Celestia grabbed him and yanked him down, winking at him as he said in a strangled voice: “I'd really much prefer a cookie thank you!”

Upstairs, Prestige and Antares both glanced up at a yelp from the Draconequus, and then the young mare shook her head and smiled a little, glancing quietly over at the glossy-black stallion as she said softly: “I think that your aunt is... enjoying herself a little too much.”

“Aunt Tia's never really... had anyone, though. I think it's good. And Discombobulation wouldn't hang around if he didn't like it. I think.” Antares said finally, and Prestige nodded before the two looked at one-another. For a few moments, there was only quiet as they sat together, before the young stallion began awkwardly: “Look, I'm sorry about last night, and-”

“No, I think... it was both of us last night. I pushed, you pushed back...” Prestige murmured, and then she closed her eyes and smiled a little, shaking her head as she added quietly: “I suppose it just surprises me now and then, when you... get upset. Usually you're so calm, so gentle, but when I...”

“I know. You don't have to say it, I know. There's something... mean inside me.” Antares replied quietly, reaching up and touching his chest, and Prestige laughed quietly as she gazed at him affectionately, earning an awkward look from the young stallion. “What? What?”

Prestige studied him for a few moments, and then she leaned forwards and kissed the side of his neck before resting her head against his shoulder, half-embracing him, and Antares slid his forelegs around her as he gazed down at her softly. “I didn't say it was a bad thing, did I? I simply... I forget sometimes, Antares, that you're not just some softhearted splinter-horn. You have teeth and claws and your horn is as real as mine...”

Antares only smiled a little, rubbing his hooves slowly down her sides as he murmured quietly: “I don't have claws, Prestige... just hooves.”

“That's not what it feels like sometimes.” Prestige replied softly, glancing up with half-lidded eyes, and Antares blushed a bit before she leaned up and kissed him slowly. He gladly kissed her back, their tongues twisting together before their mouths parted, and they smiled at one another before Prestige lowered her eyes and murmured: “But it does make me worry, Antares, about what's going to happen with my mother. Because undoubtedly... she is here to see us. I just don't want to imagine what her business with me might be.”

“Rosewood... Rosewood really does care about you. I saw that when I talked to her myself last time, Prestige.” Antares said quietly, and Prestige shifted with a mumble, the young stallion gazing at her quietly. “Look, either way, we can... we'll deal with it together, right? You and me, we're a team. You're my marefriend, and I'm your coltfriend, and we're... we're together.”

The young ponies smiled at each other, and then embraced; for a little while, they rested, curled comfortably together, each listening the sounds of one another's bodies. Their breathing, almost in perfect time; the rhythm of their hearts, Prestige relaxing more and more with every strong thud of Antares' in his chest; the sound of skin scraping against cloth, and rubbing together as their frames shifted against one-another and the bed.

All too soon, they heard sounds downstairs, like somepony else had entered the library, and the two listened intently as they pressed together. Whoever was here, they were calm and courteous, and while the two ponies could make out that people were speaking, they could only hear dulcet tones and the rumble of words that were too quiet to be made out clearly. Prestige leaned forwards a little more, and Antares winced a bit as he half-rolled a little, whispering awkwardly: “P-Prestige, wait, what are you-”

But Prestige only covered his mouth with a hoof, then Antares winced as she leaned further forwards, putting more pressure on him, and the stallion feeling himself slipping sideways a little bit more before his eyes widened as he realized he couldn't feel the bed under his back anymore. He flailed his forelimbs, trying to throw himself to the side, but the result was Prestige losing balance with a curse and falling forwards on top of him... which sent them both flopping out of the bed to crash down loudly on the floor of the guest room together with a bang that sounded tremendously, horribly loud in the calmness of the library.

Prestige and Antares laid on the floor, the young mare sprawled overtop the prone young stallion as they both stared with wide eyes towards the guest room entrance. For a few moments there was quiet... a short buzz of conversation... and then Celestia's voice called clearly: “Prestige, Antares, would you please come downstairs?”

“Crap.” Antares mumbled, and Prestige grunted something that sounded like an agreement. The two hurriedly picked themselves up, and Prestige quickly reached up and smoothed down her mane before grabbing Antares before he could step past, reaching a hoof up to hurriedly attempt to neaten his messy mane as well as he flailed at her a bit.

He grumbled at her, but she only muttered back at him, the two glaring at each other as Prestige brushed at him hurriedly, then quickly ran forwards before taking a sharp breath and raising her head, her posture going from relaxed to proud and sharp as Antares stared at her. She strode calmly out to the stairs, and Antares followed her almost sheepishly as the young unicorn made her way down the steps and into the library room.

Rosewood was sitting across from Celestia, but the unicorn stood with a warm smile at the sight of her daughter, bowing her head towards her politely. Prestige bowed her head back, and there was happiness in her eyes... but it was tinged with anxiety that bordered on suspicion, as she said softly: “Mother, it's such a surprise to see you here... a pleasant one of course, though... I... I expect you must know the Baroness already, and I know that you've met Antares Mīrus as well, mother, my... my coltfriend.”

Rosewood, to her credit, hid her grimace quite well: Antares only noticed it because he had expected it. For a few moments, there was awkward quiet... but then the prim pink unicorn cleared her throat and bowed her head towards Antares, saying cordially: “It is very nice to see you again, Antares Mīrus, and I was very sincerely hoping that... I would be able to have a word with you and my daughter. It is very important to me, as a mother, to... to get to know those who are having such an impact on my daughter's life. To try and build bridges.”

“It's perfectly alright, Rosewood, you may speak freely here. But if it helps, I made a promise to go and see my brother today... why don't I let the three of you catch up?” Celestia asked courteously, and Rosewood looked surprised as Antares winced and looked almost desperately at the ivory winged unicorn, but Celestia only smiled across at him, saying gently: “Some challenges we have to face alone, Antares.”

Antares winced again, but then he sighed and nodded a little, visibly deflating a bit as Celestia stood up. She bowed her head politely to Rosewood, who quickly dropped her head respectfully in return, and then the winged unicorn calmly made her way around the table and to the door, letting herself out with one last encouraging look over her shoulder to Antares.

Prestige quietly walked forwards to nervously sit at the table, as Antares stood in front of the stairs, wondering moodily if he bolted back up to the room and hid under the bed whether or not Rosewood would come and find him... and then he winced as the pink unicorn glared a little more obviously at him, but managed to keep her tone polite as she asked: “Why don't you take a seat at the table with us, Antares?”

The young black stallion cleared his throat, then he walked forwards and carefully sat down, tapping his hooves nervously against the tabletop as a horrible, painful silence spun out for a few long moments. Rosewood looked at them meditatively, and Prestige shifted in her seat, and Antares tried to look everywhere except at the pink unicorn... except again and again, his eyes kept being drawn back to her. He found himself studying her, her pulled-back silver mane, the strange flaw she had in one eye, the prim posture of her lithe body... all things she shared with Prestige. He looked at her, and she looked back at him before Prestige finally asked quietly: “Why are you here, Mom?”

“To check up on you, Prestige. To make sure things are going well...” Rosewood halted, hesitated... and then sighed, saying softly: “And because you're almost eighteen, and the Mayor has heard a rumor from a noisy little bird that was recently in Canterlot about how well you've been doing in magic school. How you've excelled... how it's almost time for you to come home.”

Prestige flushed at this as Antares looked up sharply, and for a few moments the young mare only breathed hard in and out, not looking up as Rosewood gazed across at her daughter silently. It was tense and painful, and Antares wanted to scream, but knew that right now, he had no place to speak... before finally, Prestige half-rose her head, but kept her eyes low as she whispered: “I don't want to leave, Mom. I don't want to...”

“I know.” Rosewood said softly, sighing quietly as she lowered her head and reached up to slowly rub at her face, before murmuring: “Horses of Heaven, you can be so much like your father sometimes...”

“How?” Prestige asked sharply, looking up and seeming almost hurt by this statement, and Rosewood flinched a little as the young mare almost yelled: “I'm not like him! I don't want to be like him! Yes, I am a pureblooded unicorn and yet... I don't care anymore, I'd throw it all away and be just like the rest of these mudwalkers if I could, if it meant... I get... I got to... I...”

“Enough, Prestige. Enough.” Rosewood said quietly, but for as firm as her voice was, she was gentle too as she rose a hoof, then shook her head slowly and murmured: “It's amazing how things change. Four years ago, I remember how excited you were... how you talked about the future so happily. How much you looked forwards to coming home from the Canterlot Magic Academy once your training there was complete, and arriving not only an adult, but a noble of the highest standing. Able to pick and choose from the suitors that would undoubtedly be eagerly lined up, waiting to meet you... that the Mayor already has set up, in expectation for your return...”

She sighed softly as Prestige trembled a little, the mare looking down and whispering: “Mom, I... please don't make this harder than it already is. I'm... I'm not going back. I'm never going back. I love you, and you've been so good to me, but I'm not going back to the Mayor, because... I can't be part of that world I came from anymore. I... I learned too much. Please don't make me feel any guiltier than I already do, I... I don't want to choose but... it's not just Antares anymore...”

“I see that.” Rosewood looked away silently, and then she sighed softly before raising her front hooves and smashing them against the tabletop. It made the glossy-black young stallion flinch away, but Prestige only continued to look silently at the surface of the furnishing before the pink mare sighed quietly again and asked softly: “Do you think it's going to be worth it, Prestige Luster? Answer me honestly... do you understand what you're giving up for him? Do you realize what this means?”

“I... I do. I do.” Prestige murmured, glancing up and nodding slowly once, and then she lowered her head again and laughed weakly. “At least, I think I do. I'm so confused and scared, Mom, but... I love him, and I don't... Antares and I... we don't want to be apart. And I don't want to go home with all this... everything I've learned and earned, to pretend to be somepony I'm not, just to be some pureblood stallion's... breeding toy and trophy wife.”

Antares nodded slowly at this, managing to look up and across at Rosewood as the pink mare closed her eyes, and for a few moments the silence spiraled out before Prestige looked up and said quietly, trembling a little: “I'm sorry, Mom. I am. I love you and I'm sorry I disappointed you-”

“No, don't say that, because you are not a disappointment.” Rosewood replied forcefully, looking up and pointing at her with one hoof, and Prestige blushed and lowered her head quickly. “You've never been a disappointment, Prestige... and... you've always, always known just what you wanted in life. You remind me of...”

Prestige winced as she looked up, and Rosewood smiled faintly, shaking her head slowly. “I wasn't going to say the Mayor. I see... you really have grown different from him, and that makes me... I can say that makes me proud of you, now. You're your own person, Prestige Luster, and I... I am very glad you're making this decision, even if it means things... your future might not be as bright.”

Rosewood quieted, looking down and sighing softly as she began to trace a hoof moodily over the tabletop, before glaring over at Antares and making him quail a little as she muttered: “You better be worth it, Antares Mīrus. You and this whole nasty little community of mudwalkers.”

“Mom...” Prestige blushed a bit, and Rosewood glanced up before muttering to herself and nodding once. For a moment, there was silence... and then Prestige closed her eyes and whispered: “I'm so sorry about where this puts you... about what it means for you. I hate that I know this will complicate things for you up in the North... that the Mayor shall perhaps lay my faults upon you and... that you will...”

“It's okay, Prestige. I'm your mother... you're my daughter. Mothers are supposed to look after their daughters and I haven't done a good job of that for much of my life. Even if I tried to provide you with everything, I never... I never set a good example for you.” Rosewood shook her head slowly, lowering her head forwards with a soft sigh. “If anything, I suppose I'm glad, Prestige... you're a better pony than I ever was. You deserve a good life, and you're an adult, capable of making your own decisions on what that life should entail. Better decisions than I ever made...”

Antares hesitated, and then the young stallion finally dared to look up as he said quietly: “Rosewood... you sound so regretful. Like you know this is... I mean, if it's okay to ask... why didn't you ever try to escape before? Were you hoping for something like this to happen when you sent Prestige to-”

“Don't presume to know anything, splinter-horn, especially not about me.” Rosewood snapped, but when Prestige looked at her mother imploringly, the pink unicorn sighed and grumbled under her breath before nodding moodily. “Alright, alright, I'll... fine. If you must know, nosy little miscreant, when I was younger I did in fact try to leave the north; it's not that I have any sympathy for slave-hoofs and mudwalkers, but I didn't like the idea of competing over pureblood stallions with all the other mares of my similar... station... and then living a life as nothing more than... an attachment. A pretty, decadent thing on the limb of another pony.”

Antares gazed across at Rosewood softly for a few moments, and then he winced when the older mare glared at him. “Don't give me your sympathies, mudwalker, the rest of your kind certainly didn't. For how much you all claim to be so noble and generous and good, your kind seems to bear grudges for a long time, and loves to take their pain out on those who have had nothing to do with suffering they've never felt. When I lived briefly in Hosston, I had mud thrown at me and my name was slurred by earth ponies and Pegasi and even my fellow unicorns... except they were all mudwalkers, all of them. Earth ponies who had never been under unicorn hoof would call me names, and treated me like garbage, and I had never been above the bourgeois in Silver Hoof! Some even demanded recompense from me... for suffering that I have never caused them, for... pains that my ancestors caused theirs, but what madness possesses these ponies to think our ancestors ever even crossed paths? Your greedy kind, the mudwalkers, are just as entitled as any snobby unicorn noble who thinks they have a right to the world simply because of the blood that flows in their veins.”

Rosewood breathed hard in and out, as Antares leaned back awkwardly, swallowing a little. Prestige seemed a little stunned too, and there was a long, drawn out silence for a few moments before Rosewood finally closed her eyes and slammed her front hooves down against the table again. Antares flinched and Prestige dropped her head, and then the pink unicorn looked up and said moodily: “And yet even now I treat my servants with more dignity than your kind ever treated me, show them more leniency than I was given. So don't give me your sympathy, splinter-horn.”

“Mom...” Prestige said quietly, and Rosewood mumbled but nodded, grumbling something that could also be an apology. For a few moments, there was an awkward silence before the young mare finally looked across at her mother and asked softly: “What do I do?”

“Prestige... you've already made your decision. I... don't want to argue with you about it. I see no point in arguing with you about it. But I am worried...” Rosewood closed her eyes, shaking her head slowly. “These ponies are not always so understanding... and... where will you live? What will you do? And if Antares is the one you've chosen...”

She gave the young stallion a look of distinct distaste, and the glossy-black male shrank a little in his seat, not liking how strangely, deeply intimidated he felt by the pink unicorn. “What are you going to do? Will you be getting married, or will you wait? Most purebloods marry young and quickly, get a dowry and tribute, and conceive foals for both the status and the wealth that the barony showers upon pure-blooded unicorns, as further incentive to try and keep our race pristine. But... you won't be getting any of that if you stay here, nor will you have status. You'll be a traitor to both sides: other traditionalists and purebloods will see you as a betrayer to the culture... and the mudwalkers won't accept you. They'll always look at you as scum... as less than you are, than you deserve to be looked at. They'll treat you with disrespect and intolerance...”

“No, they won't...” Antares said quietly, sitting up before he took a slow breath, reaching out to grasp Prestige's shoulder as he forced himself to meet Rosewood's dangerous eyes. He gazed into them, saw that same flaw she had in her iris; he saw the same things he saw so often in Prestige's eyes, only hidden under anger and self-loathing. “I love your daughter and... I'll do whatever it takes not just to have her in my life, but to make her happy. And we stand together here, as equal ponies, together with other good ponies who accept her, and think highly of her... because of where she's come from and who she's become.”

“I don't need... to be sold off like a pretty thing, and I don't need to rush to have foals just for status and more money and false honor.” Prestige said quietly, bowing her head forwards and blushing a bit as she nodded slowly, then she looked up and swallowed thickly. “I'm not thinking like the Mayor anymore, and... I don't care if I get exiled, or I can never go home, because... because this is my home now. It has been for a long time, longer than I understood myself... but it is. And I don't plan to turn my back on it, or on Antares or... any other pony here. Even the... the ponies who aren't unicorns... they... they perhaps deserve my respect these days now most of all.”

She fell quiet, and there was silence for a few moments before Rosewood nodded slowly, turning her gaze away. For a little while, there was nothing else... and then finally, she looked towards Prestige and said softly: “Alright. Where do you stay, Prestige, at the library here?”

“No... I... I stay with Antares. In his home.” Prestige said awkwardly after a moment, and there was silence between the three before Rosewood sighed tiredly and reached up to rub moodily at her features.

“Wonderful.” Rosewood muttered, and then she shook her head and said finally: “When I return to Silver Hoof I'll... have what I can of yours sent here. Quietly, I hope. And if not quietly, then perhaps under the pretense that you're staying for an extra few months for advance work under the Baroness herself, and have asked for a few additional comforts. But soon enough, the Mayor is going to take an interest. Once he does... there's nothing else I'll really be able to do for you, Prestige. It won't be long before I end up being driven out of Silver Hoof myself.”

“I'm so sorry Mom...” Prestige murmured, looking up quietly, but Rosewood only smiled faintly and shook her head, closing her eyes.

“Don't be, Prestige. Don't be, it's not important. Everything I did, I always did for you... your happiness is what matters most to me.” Rosewood closed her eyes, nodding slowly before she grimaced a little as she looked quietly across at Antares. “Apparently, you are what makes my daughter happy. So... I'll hope all the best for you both.”

There was quiet for a few moments, and then Antares began to open his mouth before he quailed back when Rosewood glared at him. “Shut up, mudwalker. Prestige, how are things going otherwise here? You have friends, you've been excelling in your studies?”

Prestige nodded, smiling a little as she looked up and replied quietly: “I have, Mother, yes. I've been doing very well with my magic, and Miss Twilight is very proud of me. I... I like her being proud of me, and feeling like she's more than a mentor these days, she's a friend.” The young mare hesitated, then looked down and smiled awkwardly. “And I do have friends. This little beautiful village... it's so nice here. It's so pleasant. And the ponies treat each other well, and many of them are so talented. Remarkably so, enviably so.”

She halted, then looked up and asked apprehensively: “Mom, are you sure you're going to be alright? I... I hate thinking how much my choices will affect you...”

“No, don't. Don't.” Rosewood soothed, reaching up a hoof and shaking her head slowly, and then she sighed a little before continuing quietly: “It might not be fair, no, but... it's not like I was never... prepared for this turn of events, Prestige. I think you know by now there's little affection between myself and the Mayor... and... this is for the best. I'm going to continue to live in Silver Hoof for a while, and then once things... start moving, I plan to move to Canterlot. Please keep me up to date on things, though, so I can try and stay ahead of the game.”

Prestige Luster nodded quietly, and Rosewood leaned back, studying Antares for a few more moments before she shook her head slowly and murmured: “What absolute nonsense this has all proven to be. My daughter is going to spend her years with a prince of mudwalkers, and throws away everything she ever tried to be... and yet I can't be sad for it. Oh, Prestige...”

Slowly, Rosewood shook her head again, then closed her eyes and gave a faint smile, resting her face in her hooves. “I remember when I gave birth to you, I was so happy. You had my eyes, and I could tell right away you were going to have my stubbornness and a lot of my worse qualities, too. But you had your father's...”

She stopped, then shook her head and instead smiled, reaching across the table to touch her daughter's face silently. “No, that's not important anymore, because you've grown into your own strong person, your own strong pony. You're going to be free, Prestige, and upset as I am you won't be a noble, you won't have a throne... I'm so glad you'll be free. I love you, my little girl, and you'll always be my little girl, and what's important to me is that you get what you're after in life... and Antares, as long as you take care of my daughter, I'll... overlook how much I don't like you. I just hope that she bears strong foals. Children as talented in magic as she is.”

Prestige only smiled awkwardly at this, blushing and bowing her head forwards silently before she murmured softly: “I know how lucky I was, Mom, since neither you nor the Mayor are very talented at magic. But Antares is... is a good stallion, and I promise to pass everything I can down to my foals. When... when we're ready for that, of course.”

She looked silently over at Antares, and he gazed back, mouth dry, thinking of everything that implied... but it wasn't fear, or anxiety, or anything negative. It was the simple amazement that this beautiful, gorgeous unicorn could already see such a future with him, a future he didn't know he deserved or not.

He stroked slowly down her foreleg, and Prestige smiled softly at him before Rosewood sighed and nodded, then said grudgingly: “But I suppose... I should play the role of responsible and welcoming parent, then. Come, Prestige. I'll buy you and your young stallion lunch, if the mudwalker thinks he can put up with the company of the unwelcome proud-horn.”

Antares smiled awkwardly, saying after a moment: “Rosewood, it's... I don't not like you, honestly. I'm really happy to see how much you care for Prestige, but... you scare me a little. Okay, I guess you actually scare me more than Scutum scares me.”

For a few moments Rosewood looked across at Antares, and then she snorted and muttered: “Well, maybe you have half a brain after all, mudwalker. Keep that in mind and stay respectful, and we'll get along fine.”

“I will.” Antares smiled lamely, and Rosewood studied him for a moment longer before she stood and gestured to the two. Both Antares and Prestige stood as well, the young mare smiling gratefully before Rosewood turned to head to the door, and the young stallion leaned over to mumble to her: “Your mom isn't going to kill me, is she?”

“I think she likes you, honestly.” Prestige said quietly but positively, nodding once... and Antares winced as Rosewood kicked the library door open, shrinking his head a bit as Prestige smiled and hurried after her mother, and the young stallion followed last, wondering morbidly if this meant that in the future Prestige would be even scarier than she already was too.

The Simple Solution

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Chapter Twenty Six: The Simple Solution
~BlackRoseRaven

Cowlick grumbled under her breath as she tinkered with a tall, gleaming pillar of metal, several panels on it pulled open to reveal the complex insides: wires and crystals were both twinkling in the bright sunlight, and the engineer grumbled to herself and shook her head out quickly before looking down at the open notebook sitting on top of her toolbox, muttering as her eyes flicked over hastily-sketched schematics: “Looks like everything's in order...”

She returned her eyes to the pillar, slamming the panel closed before nodding firmly and picking up a screwdriver. She began to tighten it closed, then groaned as the crystalline orb on top of the pillar lit up red, shouting: “You piece of junk, you couldn't go and have your little breakdown before I started closing your guts up?”

She kicked the pillar bad-temperedly, then frowned after a moment, looking sharply up as the red glow around the orb intensified. The mare glanced back and forth, then gestured quickly at Rustproof, asking sharply as the young earth pony looked up from where he was complacently sitting nearby with a dandelion sandwich: “Hey, hey, do you remember what Greece said this thing was calibrated for?”

“Four 'round Ponyville. Overlapping. Two or three kilometer radius to blanket the area.” Rustproof replied slowly, lowering his half-eaten sandwich. “They light up when they detect heat signatures of a hundred and fifty Celsius or more. Experimental, 'cause Momma, you said-”

“Yeah, yeah, I went over the reports we got about the infected with Celestia and Scarlet Sage, and we locked down that anything touched by Cancer's disease heats up like crazy. Bastard himself must run hot...” Cowlick frowned, then looked up at the pillar, asking sharply: “There any fires today? What about Burning Desire? He might set these sensors off. 'Cept the damn thing's getting brighter and brighter...”

“Yeah, you might want to do something about that.” remarked a voice, and Cowlick winced and stumbled to the side in surprise before she turned and stared in shock at the sight of a Draconequus in a purple, patchwork suit that was leaning on a cane and standing nearby as if he'd always been there. Cowlick's mouth worked stupidly before she looked over at Rustproof, but the large blue colt had returned to eating his sandwich, looking as if nothing was out of the ordinary as he only glanced curiously at Allonym. “High-range thermal scanners, though, that's a pretty cool idea. No... pun intended. Is that really a pun? I think that's a pun. Anyway, the point is that it always amazes me what-”

Cowlick shouted a vulgarity, then flung her screwdriver at him, and Allonym cursed and flailed wildly as it bounced off his chest. “What the jumped-up jackassery are you doing here, and who the hell are you? No, wait, actually, I don't frigging care who the hell you are or who the hell you think you are, either tell me what the hell you're talking about or-”

“I could write you out of existence!” Allonym threatened... and then Cowlick slung her toolbox open, sending her notebook flying and papers scattering before she yanked out several tools, flinging one of them at the Draconequus. Allonym let out a sharp 'ha!' as he managed to swing his cane out and block the little plastic screwdriver... but a moment later, the wrench that had been in Cowlick's other hoof smacked directly into his eye, and he staggered backwards with a yell of frustration, dropping his cane to grab at this. “Oh gods why do you stupid ponies insist on hurting me?”

“Because we don't like being spied on by some patchwork puppet who's got his head crammed up his own ass!” Cowlick snapped, and then she dug in her toolkit before yanking out a knife, flicking it hard to the side to snap the sharp blade into position as she glared at him. “Now talk to me straight, 'cause I ain't as nice as Celestia or Antares, and if that tower ain't malfunctioning you better tell me what the hell is on the way.”

“I was just getting to that.” Allonym muttered, rubbing slowly at his bruised eye before he wrinkled his snout. “You are the most monstrous little pony that ever... okay, okay!” Allonym hurriedly rose his hands when Cowlick made several violent stabbing gestures. “Overreact much?”

“I haven't slept in three days, I've been out here working my flank off alone setting up all these scanners, and just as I think one is picking up something bad heading our way you show up, scare the hell out of me and my boy-” Rustproof was only finishing up his sandwich, calmly surveying the scene. “-and start making those little quips that Antares is always talking about! Hell, I didn't even realize you were real until... like... now.”

“If I pretend to be imaginary, will you put the knife away?” Allonym asked awkwardly, pointing carefully at the weapon, and Cowlick only looked moodily in return to the Draconequus before the chimerical creature cleared his throat. “Alright, alright. I came out here to warn you that... a nasty little something is on its way, yes. But it's not the big attack yet. I came here to tell you specifically, Cowlick, because Cancer's biggest interests in Ponyville are revenge... and getting into your lab facility.”

“My facility? What the hell do you mean, 'my facility?' How much do you know about that freak?” Cowlick asked sharply, then she frowned and stepped moodily forwards, flicking her knife closed even as she narrowed her eyes dangerously at the Draconequus. “And just how much do you know about me?”

“More than I want to, on both counts.” Allonym replied sourly, before he winced and rose his hands again when Cowlick glared at him. “You didn't really get older and wiser, did you? You just got older and angrier.”

Cowlick muttered under her breath, and then Rustproof asked curiously: “Is it 'cause of the poisons? He likes the poisons, right?”

Allonym nodded as the mare engineer looked up in surprise... then frowned before nodding slowly, rubbing at her face as she muttered: “Of course. All those chemicals and everything stored in there, not to mention the locked-down hazmat vault... must tickle that monster's senses like a fine shot of whiskey. So he's on his way, is he? What do you mean, though, this ain't the big show?”

The Draconequus hesitated, then he shook his head and said carefully: “I can't tell you too much. And more importantly, I shouldn't tell you too much. What I'm doing right here, right now, is just to try and give you a fighting chance. If I go telling you everything, it's going to-”

He was cut off as Cowlick flung the thankfully-closed knife at his head, the Draconequus hurriedly ducking under it with a wince as the earth pony engineer snapped: “This ain't a game! Now cough it up, what do you know?”

“I knew I should have stuck to talking to Antares. Look, I've already given you the warning, you figure out how to run with it.” Allonym grumbled, and then he winced when Cowlick began to step forwards before the Draconequus hurriedly swung a loafer-clad foot out, slipping his toe just under the body of his cane and kicking it forwards. It flew upwards on an arc and smacked loudly into Cowlick's face, sending her stumbling backwards in surprise with a barrage of curses when it bounced off her head, and Allonym swiftly raised a hand as the cane flew back towards him to catch it.

He spun the cane once at his side as he raised his other hand and tipped an invisible hat to the engineer, then simply vanished from sight as Cowlick lunged forwards. The mare cursed as she tackled only thin air, skidding through the grasses before grumbling moodily to herself. For a few moments, she only laid there as Rustproof calmly climbed to his hooves and strode over to glance down at his mother, and then the engineer looked up at her son meditatively and asked: “You got any cigarettes on you, kid? This is the one time I won't be mad at you if you do.”

Rustproof hesitated, then he nodded and reached into the front pocket of his overalls, pulling out a few rumpled smokes. Cowlick grumbled, snatching them away and shoving one into her mouth before Rustproof pulled out a box of wooden matches and calmly lit it for her. The mare leaned backwards as the young but enormous male shook the match quickly out and flicked it away, before Cowlick said thoughtfully through an exhale of smoke: “Okay. We got some useful info at least... and you know what? If Cancer's so attracted to our lab, maybe we should invite him on in. Maybe we should set us up a trap for that bastard; hell, let's make it a surprise party and invite all our friends.”

Rustproof only looked nervous as he pulled another cigarette out of his pocket, raising this to his mouth... and Cowlick absently reached up and yanked it away before tucking the cigarettes into the front pocket of her denim vest, nodding thoughtfully. “Just trust your Momma on this, Rusty, she knows her traps. Come on, you and me got some work to do, so let's get at things. Let's go find the others and warn 'em that we might got a bogey on the way.”

The young stallion nodded after a moment, then he headed back to his things as Cowlick turned to quickly toss her tools back into her toolkit, the enormous blue earth pony trying to push away the anxiety twisting and turning all throughout his stomach.

Slowly and sinuously, a shape twisted out of the Everfree Forest long after night had fallen, the mottled white creature chuckling to himself as he licked his lips slowly. His red eyes glowed with feverish delight as he carefully slipped lower in the grasses, shivering in pleasure as he eyed the walls of Ponyville in the distance. “Ooh, yes, yes, yes... there you are, I've been looking forwards to this, oh, yes I have...”

The monster licked his lips slowly, shivering in delight as he stared over the village before rumbling in his throat, feeling hunger, anger, excitement, and a profound, dark joy all mingling together in his maddened mind. He breathed heavily in and out, then giggled and popped up to his hooves as he leaned forwards and cooed: “Oh, sweeties, I hope you're all tucked nice and tight into bed... Big Momma's on the march, but Daddy Cancer couldn't help but come and take a look-see ahead of time...”

Cancer grinned widely, red eyes glowing brighter as he slowly began to walk, swaying back and forth with every step he took as he hummed to himself and salivated at the sight of the village in the distance. He growled in delight, rolling his head on his shoulders as another tremble ran through his body... and then he winced a bit as something a short distance away gave a bright red flash, staggering to the side with a yelp.

He blinked stupidly, staring towards this thing that had turned on, and Cancer growled in disgust, steadying himself: was it some kind of alarm? Some kind of warning system? For a few moments he only stood, shivering, breathing hard as he stared at the red beacon in the distance... and then it flickered violently before going out, and Cancer frowned stupidly before he carefully dropped low and almost crawled forwards, rustling the grasses around him with his slow passage.

The light blinked on again as he drew closer, and Cancer hissed... then snorted in disgust as he stood up and leaned forwards to moodily examine the pillar and the glowing red orb that sat atop it. He poked at it grumpily, then sniffed at it before making a disgusted face, muttering: “Ain't worth peeling this pretzel-stick open. I don't smell nothin' better than copper spaghetti and some kind of magic charge...”

Cancer hesitated for a moment, feeling a tickle on the back of his neck before he glared towards Ponyville as the red light blinked and lit up his mottled white body, making him almost glow red as he studied the village in the distance. There was no alarm going off, no klaxon, no sign of life or movement... and then Cancer snorted in disgust as he realized there were other red lights blinking in the distance in rough time, a grin returning to the monster's face as he muttered: “Oh, how cute! They lit up their village just like a birthday cake for me... either that, or they're trying to wave a big neon sign to something else lookin' for a free meal... stupid idiots...”

Satisfied that the beacon wasn't an alarm system, but just some kind of signal light, he turned his attention back to Ponyville and calmly made his way forwards, rumbling moodily to himself as he licked his teeth slowly. The monster easily shrugged off his former worries, a grin spreading over his features again as he giggled a little and shifted to stand higher, his eyes burning as he whispered: “Yeah. Yeah... getting close now... oh, don't you worry, Griselda, your lover-boy promises he's only going to take a few nips... and he'll make sure he brings you back a doggy bag, wifey-poo. Yeah, I'll bring back something real nice for her... something like... like...”

The mottled monster staggered to a halt, then he gargled, head twisting violently back and forth as his red eyes flashed before he rasped: “Plague. Infection. Death.”

The creature shivered, then fell forwards on his face before giggling into the ground as his red eyes rolled in his head, breathing heavily in and out. For a few moments he only laid there, and then he slowly picked himself up and shook himself briskly, whispering: “Because ooh, don't you know, I wanna give my sweet girl nothing but all the very best, oh yes, yes, yes...”

Cancer looked up, then cursed under his breath as he saw a patrol calmly striding along the top wall: a Nibelung guard, with a Pegasus flying easily beside him. The monster hissed in derision at this, not wanting to be forced to start a confrontation unless he had to: after all, he didn't want these stupid little meatbags having any warning that he was coming for them. No oh no, he wanted it to be the most delicious little surprise ever when he came to their village with Griselda, kicked down their door, and painted the town red with the blood of ponies alongside his gorgeous wife before they turned their sights on Canterlot... and after that, all of Equestria would follow and become his personal playpen until he got bored and it was time to move on.

The monster grinned a little, then laid himself low before he sniffed at the air: there was a hint of something acerbic and tart, and he rumbled curiously at this before murmuring: “Oh my, oh my, what could this be... ooh, it's a strange smell, its intoxicating, it's... oh, honey, ooh, you’re leadin' me on now like a dirty girl!”

Cancer grinned as he turned and hurried along the side wall of the village, breathing a little harder as he kept a short distance away to avoid being seen by the occasional patrol he passed or sensed. A feeling like electricity tingled through his veins as the scent grew closer, and the smell became more tantalizing, lighting up his senses as he whispered: “Have we met? We must have met... oh, you and I are gonna do wonderful things together when I find you, yes, yes, yes we are...”

The monster hurried onwards towards the source... and then his crimson eyes gleamed as he giggled and danced on the spot, prancing towards the wall as his eyes locked on a large hole that had been torn in the surface, shivering in delight as he leaned down and licked the edge of the rotten breech in the wall, unmindful of the splinters that got stuck in his tongue as he whispered: “Oh me oh my oh golly-gosh-yes... acid, the kind that scorches and poisons and burns and worms its way right down into the lucky victim's beating heart...”

He rasped in delight, then hopped through the hole, grinning wider as he found himself in the darkness of an alley. Then he leaned down and nearly shoved his face into the ground, inhaling deeply as he whispered: “Oh, oh yes... oh, I got me the trail now... there's a bad pony in town, ain't there, someone nasty, someone who's gonna give me a hell of a sugar rush when I give 'em my special kiss...”

He giggled insanely, then hurried after the trail, droplets of poison here and there on the ground almost glowing in Cancer's vision. He slipped and twisted back and forth, ducking down beneath windows and grinning as he stayed to the shadows and dark alleys, but the streets were clear and empty, and he giggled in delight: he could parade down the road big as day if he wanted, and no pony or Nibelung would see him! All their defenses seemed to be concentrated around the outer perimeter... it was no wonder whatever he was following had torn its way in so easily!

In his elation and his desire, Cancer failed to sense the invisible Nightmares and demons standing here and there on rooftops, keeping sharp eyes on the monster as it followed the path of poison through Ponyville. Then one of the Nightmares smiled slyly, glancing towards an invisible sibling beside it and as it said softly: “Go and inform Mistress Twilight that the monster approaches. We shall seal the exits, as instructed.”

The second Nightmare bowed its head courteously, then vanished even from the senses of its siblings as it became completely incorporeal. The other creatures turned their eyes back towards Cancer, watching as the monster trotted straight towards the trap that had been laid for it, giggling the whole time and looking as eager and stupid as a gullible and greedy foal that thought it was all alone in a candy store... but if everything went according to plan, soon the monster would learn that not everything was always what it seemed.

For now, Cancer was breathing eagerly as he looked back and forth, following the trail around to the back of a building that smelled... delicious. Of heat, and power, and life... and the monster shivered in joy as he found a half-open shutter over a shattered window, slowly leaning forwards and becoming like liquid as he flowed over the cracked frame, peeling shards of glass with him as he whispered: “Delicious...”

The monster splattered to the floor, and quickly reformed before grinning widely with a mouth full of glass-shard teeth, then it turned and spat these out with a giggle as its ugly, yellowed fangs shoved back up into place, whispering: “Oh, honey, honey, honey. Right where I always wanted to be... can tonight get better?”

The monster grinned as he looked back and forth: this room wasn't very exciting, it only seemed like some kind of office, but oh, oh, the smells... the very feeling that thrummed inside this place! Cancer giggled to himself, then he hurried forwards to the ajar door and slid out into the hall beyond, looking sharply up and down the brightly-lit but empty, sterile-seeming hall before his eyes locked on several dark splotches on the ground ahead. He pranced hurriedly in this direction, his heavy breathing echoing up and down the corridor as he followed the path of the droplets excitedly, snuffling hungrily after them.

He headed down a staircase, grinning widely at the lack of ponies, shivering in delight as other delicious smells surrounded him, made him quiver in anticipation, but for the moment he continued to follow the droplets. The other doors he passed were all closed and locked down, while the droplets... oh, they still sang with such poison, and now they looked fresher, he could already almost taste their source in his drooling jaws...

And then Cancer turned, following the trail through a pair of burnt swinging doors and into a large, elongated room before he looked slowly up, then frowned even as he licked his lips at the sight of several barrels sitting across the room. There was a large, mostly-empty flask sitting on top of them, and he bounced towards this... before freezing halfway across the room when there was a loud clanking behind him a shutter slammed down over the doors, before he slowly, creakily turned his head to stare at the sight of several ponies standing around what the monster instinctively recognized was a weapon from the gleam of metal and the reek of gunpowder and chemical smells that rose up from it.

He snarled, and Cowlick grinned in response at the monster standing in the middle of the long testing tunnel, resting forwards in Parsimony's control seat as Rustproof calmly finished fitting an ammo belt into the side of the gun, and Twilight Sparkle, Burning Desire, and Antares all leaned forwards at the sides of the turret. Avalon, meanwhile, floated overhead with a wide grin beneath the heavy gas-mask and visor she was wearing, crosshatch blades gleaming over her forelimbs and what wasn't covered by armor protected by a thick, clinging bodysuit.

Lastly, Discombobulation was smiling calmly, his arms crossed before he glanced towards Cowlick, saying mildly: “Just remember, if the gun overheats it gives the boss a chance to rush you. Fire in bursts, and aim for the weak points.”

“Don't tell me my job, Bob, I know my damn job.” Cowlick retorted, and then she leaned forwards over the handles of the gun as Cancer breathed hard, growling slowly at the group that was only some twenty feet away even as he gave a nervous twitch. “Nice of you to come by and check out the facilities here, Cancer. Don't you worry, we got a nice smelter here too, and a furnace we use to burn up all the toxic waste like you. If you want one last drink, that acid I splattered everywhere is right over there, you can help yourself before we burn you up.”

“You pathetic pony scum!” Cancer screamed, even as he looked almost desperately back and forth before his head twisted all the way around on his shoulders, staring down roughly forty or so feet of nothing but empty cement tunnel that ended in a solid wall dotted with bullet holes in front of a grated floor. The monster breathed hard in and out, and then he looked forwards, his eyes glowing brighter red as they locked on Antares, and he hissed: “You again... you, you, you, you, why do you keep getting in my way... oh, you stupid little worthless punk, I'm gonna rip you apart limb-from-limb, I'm gonna tear your heart out of your chest, I'm gonna infect every inch of your body with the most painful diseases I can think of...”

“I'm not scared of you.” Antares said coldly, stepping forwards as his breastplate gleamed over his body, coronet securely locked around his head... and beneath his armor, he felt the comfortable weight of his watch, giving him luck. Cancer snarled at him, but Antares met his eyes... and for all the fear, for all the anxiety, for all the disgust and revulsion this godawful monster filled him with, he refused to look away as he said sharply: “It's over, Cancer, make this easy on everyone and give up. Die with dignity... because even if you manage to run away, Prestige and Celestia are waiting for you through the only possible exit with a cadre of demons. This facility is sealed from top-to-bottom. You can't escape, and you can't win.”

“Shut up! You don't know anything, fleshbag pony!” Cancer shrieked, and then he snarled, body rippling and expanding, features growing more monstrous as he howled: “I'll rip you all into pieces! Your skin and armor's nothing but a wrapper to me and how I long for the gooey candy of your flesh, and now I'm gonna get me some of that!”

Cancer charged forwards, but Twilight immediately stepped ahead with a snarl, the Lich flicking her horn to send a fireball rocketing into the monster. Cancer was blasted backwards by it with a shriek, and Antares dropped into a ready position as Avalon snarled, before Cowlick shouted: “Why don't you chew on this!”

She took aim with the vulcan cannon, grinning savagely as she leaned over the controls and depressed one trigger: immediately, the barrels began to revolve, rapidly picking up speed as Cancer picked himself up with a gurgle, then looked up and stared before Cowlick squeezed the trigger on the other control stick's handle, and the whirring of the engine was replaced by a tremendous roar that lasted for several seconds as a stream of bullets fired towards Cancer, the monster shrieking as enormous bullets moving at incredible speeds tore through his body like it was water, sending up thick gouts of white goo-

Something popped loudly, and Rustproof was knocked flying backwards with a cry of pain as the ammo belt snapped and whiplashed into his face. Cowlick's eyes widened as several loud clanks and bangs came from the turret beneath her as steam hissed up from the engine, and then she cursed under her breath before shouting at her shocked allies: “Goddammit, bullet must have jammed... keep that son of a bitch busy and away from us while I fix Parsimony! Rusty, Rusty, up on your hooves, Momma needs all the help she can get!”

Cancer was swaying on the spot, but seemed to slowly be getting his senses back as he looked up, and Antares stared in horror over his shoulder... but even as he registered what was going on, the young stallion felt his body beginning to move on instinct, felt his mouth forming the words before he even processed what he was about to say, as he ordered sharply: “Avalon, Burning Desire, let's get him! Mom, Bob, I need you two to protect the gun!”

Then Antares lunged forwards before he was even fully aware he was doing it, charging straight at Cancer... and for a few moments, the monster only stared at him even as the wounds across its frame closed, before Antares snapped his horn forwards.

A blast of white fire shot from his horn and smashed into Cancer, knocking the creature skidding backwards as it screamed in horror and agony, steam and white goo bursting up from its body from the purifying flame. For a moment it only sat back, rigid, ashes wafting up from the front of its body... and then its eyes glowed neon red as Antares leapt towards the monster. “You dare to hurt me?”

A slimy forelimb smashed into Antares' face, knocking the shocked pony flying backwards before he flapped his wings hard with a curse, flipping his body gracefully and landing on his hooves a good ten feet away as Burning Desire charged by and Avalon shot through the air. Cancer was foaming at the mouth in rage, screaming as his head jerked back and forth, body rippling and distorting as he seemed to temper tantrum without noticing the other ponies closing on him. “No, no, no! No no no! No, no no, no no no! No!”

Burning Desire flicked his horn to the side, sending a blast of red fire surging towards the monster... but Cancer wrenched his head suddenly upwards and vomited a stream of toxic acid in response, quenching the flames rushing at him and making Burning Desire curse as he threw himself to the side. Then Cancer swept a foreleg up as it burst apart into hideous, thorny tentacles that whipped across the demonic stallion, knocking him crashing and rolling backwards. Cancer's rage turned to the demon as he reared back, swinging the mass of tentacles backwards as they thickened and coiled in preparation to strike out again-

Avalon's rear hooves slammed into the back of Cancer's neck, and he howled in frustration as he was knocked sprawling, tentacles snapping like wild snakes in all directions before the tiny Pegasus dropped straight down on the middle of the monster's spine, sending up a short blast of goo. She grinned for a moment before her eyes widened as Cancer screamed beneath her in rage, kicking off him on instinct before flinching backwards as a moment later, enormous, jagged spikes of bone erupted all along the creature's back, Cancer howling: “I'll rip you all to shreds, I'll tear you all to bits, I'll-”

Burning Desire sent a fireball hammering into Cancer's face, and the monster shrieked as his features burst into flame immediately, the fire greedily starting to spread over the volatile monster's mottled flesh... but then, in a strange, rippling movement, Cancer snapped his head upwards and an entire layer of goo splattered through the air, shedding the parts of his body that had been set aflame. In the same moment, the mess of tentacles all curled together, strings of viscous slime forming and merging them into one horrible, mutant arm that ended in grasping, thick digits.

Burning Desire began to lean forwards... and a hard punch from the oversized now-arm of the beast smashed into the demonic stallion, knocking him sprawling before Cancer hammered his fist down on top of him. Burning Desire cried out in agony as Twilight yelled, and then the Lich snarled, snapping her horn outwards as it glowed sharply.

An enormous spike of ice formed in a blue glow, shooting up through the air to slam through the palm of the giant hand as it began to rise, and Cancer yelped as its oversized limb was yanked high as the missile of ice pinned the huge hand to the ceiling above. The monster's digits flexed as Twilight's eyes glowed brighter, cold visibly spilling through the limb even as Cancer's arm began to ripple, before the Lich snapped her horn hard to the side as stitching over her body popped with the strain of her spellwork.

A rumble of force tore through the air... and then the half-frozen limb of the monstrosity simply shattered into fragments of glassy ice. Cancer staggered backwards as the rest of the oversized limb simply tore off at the shoulder from the vibrations traveling through the rippling body of the monster, and Antares winced before he looked sharply to the side, shouting: “Avalon!”

Avalon gave a sharp nod in response, and the two young ponies rushed forwards as Cancer looked stupidly up before Antares smashed a shoulder into the lower body of the enormous, mutant beast, and the tiny Pegasus rammed directly into Cancer's face with a satisfying crunch, knocking his head whiplashing back. And Antares yelled as he forged forwards, lashing his horn sharply back and forth as it glowed with white light, every hard slash sending up a burst of goo and a blast of steam from the monster's body as Avalon floated above, front hooves a blur as she snarled and slammed vicious blow after blow with liquid grace down into Cancer's head and breast.

Cancer could only shriek as he was knocked staggering brokenly on his three remaining limbs before he attempted to yank himself backwards, narrowly pulling away... but immediately, Antares leapt forwards and Avalon dove low, the tiny Pegasus hitting the ground beneath the glossy-black unicorn as he slammed both his front hooves into Cancer's face, before Avalon shot up and lashed both crosshatch blades sideways into the monster's gut.

Cancer leaned forwards, acid beginning to bubble up his throat... and Antares' hoof slammed up under his chin, knocking his head snapping backwards and sending the spray of acid back over Cancer's own body even as Antares balanced on his hind hooves and forged forwards, ignoring the droplets of acid that splattered over him and burnt through his coat, exposing raw flesh as he hammered hoof after hoof into Cancer's breast and body: and below, Avalon's hooves crashed up into the monster's stomach between hard slashes and rips of her blades that sent splatters of white goo in all directions, Antares almost straddling the small Pegasus as she kept her body low and her wings tensed.

And then the monster screamed in fury, and even as Antares saw what was happening, there was no time to react as the monster's body rippled... and horribly, a multitude of new limbs ripped out of the creature's body, ending in bony claws that seized into Antares' chest, face and forelegs and lifted him high as a larger tentacle snapped out of the base of his torn shoulder, snapping down to wrap around Avalon. The Pegasus gargled as she was constricted before she was slammed like a miniature wrecking ball into the glossy black stallion's stomach, then Cancer yanked her above his head, glaring up at her furiously as the monster seized the winded unicorn by the back of the neck with his other foreleg as it became a deadly talon. “Worthless, pathetic crowbait!”

The small claws dug into Antares' breastplate and his exposed flesh, making him curse in pain as Cancer yanked his head up to snarl into his eyes as he jerked the unicorn off to one side, keeping him easily restrained as Avalon gargled in the death-grip of the monster's coiled appendage. The destruction entity opened his mouth, exposing his fangs, but a moment later a metallic fist slammed down into his features, almost crushing the monster's head completely in as he staggered stupidly backwards and lost his grip on both ponies.

Discombobulation seized Antares and Avalon both as they began to fall backwards, then he simply vanished from the spot, reappearing with a loud crackle beside the vulcan cannon that Rustproof and Cowlick were still working madly over. Twilight looked towards them with a wince, Burning Desire breathing hard and laying nearby, infections pulsating sickeningly beneath his shifting coat; but before the Lich could speak or even think, her attention was drawn as Cancer screamed in fury, body rippling as he lurched forwards and snapped his tentacle out to send a missile of goo at the Draconequus and the stunned-looking young ponies.

Twilight cursed, then leapt into the path of the missile and snapped her horn down, creating a solid shield of magic... but the sphere of goo exploded with enough force to shatter the barrier and send her rocketing through the air, the Lich crashing into the back wall behind the turret with a gasp of pain. Cancer grinned, and then he snarled when Cowlick leapt back up into the seat, shouting: “Hit it, Rusty!”

“I don't think so!” Cancer snarled, and the monster's tentacle snapped upwards, hammering into the ceiling and sticking there before it leapt forwards, appendage yanking taut like a bungee cord and sending the creature flying forwards before the tentacle simply tore off as a new, thin arm formed in its place, ending in a bony blade. There was no time to react, there was barely the time for Rustproof to begin to raise his foreleg before Cancer crashed down in front of the young pony and slashed viciously into his half-raised limb, knocking the young pony onto his back with a howl of pain.

Cancer leaned forwards with a cackle, bringing the bony blade back, but then he shrieked when both of Cowlick's rear hooves slammed into his face as she shoved herself out of the turret, shouting furiously: “Don't you touch him, you bastard!”

The engineer tackled the monster back to the ground, rolling with the destruction entity before she managed to roll on top of him, swinging both front hooves viciously down into the mottled monster's features again and again, trying to drive her punches ruthlessly into his oversized eyes and jaw. Cancer howled in frustration more than pain however, before he seized Cowlick by the face with his claw and rolled over, slamming her head-first back into the ground with a crunch; her body went limp as blood burst from her cracked skull, but it wasn't enough for the monster as he leapt to his hooves, hauling her into the air and then bringing her slamming bonelessly down into the ground again.

Cancer grinned as he rose the earth pony mare's limp body again... and then Burning Desire stabbed his horn into the monster's side, Cancer squealing before he screamed as the fiery stallion shoved all the power he could into a blast that knocked the demon rolling backwards with a hiss of agony, but knocked Cowlick out of Cancer's grip and sent the monster flying down the long hall like a comet. The beast tore in half when it struck the ground, its lower half bursting into a bonfire as its upper half shed charred slime in a torrent, before Cancer finally came to a halt, half-melted, facing away from the group as the destruction entity panted roughly in and out.

Then the monster snarled, eyes glowing red as it began to yank itself upwards, body rippling as it began to pull itself back together even as burning and eroded slime melted slowly into the ground... before Cancer's eyes widened at the sound of a click, and it looked over its shoulder as its mouth fell agape as a low hum filled the air.

Rustproof was bleeding heavily, tears leaking down his cheeks as he leaned on the side of the turret, but he had fixed the damage to the machine and loaded a new belt of ammo that snaked down into a seemingly-endless box of munitions. The barrels of the vulcan cannon were already revolving rapidly as Discombobulation leaned over the seat, his eyes sharp and narrowed, aiming down the sights before he shouted: “Yippee ki-yay, motherfucker!”

He depressed the other trigger, and a roar filled the room that drowned out even Cancer's screams as a stream of bullets tore through the monster's mottled body faster than he could regenerate, sending up fountains of white slime as the creature was driven backwards by the furious barrage. Bone fragments and slime and goo flew in all directions as Discombobulation strafed the vulcan cannon after the monster as it tried to throw itself out of the way, the destruction entity all-but-disintegrating under the hail of bullets.

Steam rose up from the vulcan cannon as countless bullet casings tinkled to the floor in a rain, the Draconequus leaning on both triggers even as the weapon began to hitch slightly, ripping more holes in the all-but-unstoppable monster before Cancer finally shrieked and threw his head back with a look of horror as he burst apart into a waterfall of slime. And finally, the Draconequus dropped backwards with a wince, breathing hard as the gun jittered and the barrels slowly revolved to a stop, the only sound in the air the tinkling of the last few cases as they hit the ground, and the heavy, broken breathing of wounded ponies.

Rustproof closed his eyes, bowing his head forwards... and then they snapped open, and he trembled as Cowlick croaked: “I think that beautiful music just brought me back from the dead. What'd you do, shoot the angels that were coming for me?”

“Momma!” Rustproof almost fell over as he scrambled over to Cowlick, hugging his bloody limb up against his body, and he gave a wide, relieved smile as he reached a trembling hoof forwards, touching her face quietly as tears leaked down his cheeks. He fought for words for a moment, mouth working uselessly... but when Cowlick smiled faintly, the blue earth pony nodded once, shivering as tears dripped down to the floor and he simply gazed down at her with a tremble.

Burning Desire chuckled quietly from where he was laying, and then the fiery stallion groaned as he forced himself up to his hooves, as Avalon grunted and hugged her aching ribs, and Twilight unsteadily climbed to a standing position as well. She swayed a little on the spot with a wince, cursing quietly to herself as a shudder ran through her body, and then she looked up with a lick of her lips as she asked quietly: “Is... is everypony okay?”

“I think so.” Antares murmured, glancing up at Discombobulation, and the Draconequus nodded slowly before the glossy-black stallion looked nervously forwards. The entire hall was splattered with Cancer's goop, and he shivered a little before he asked weakly: “Is... so is that it? Is it over?”

“Not until we burn every trace of him in this room.” Twilight replied quietly, shaking her head briefly before the Lich gritted her teeth and grasped at her chest. Antares looked at her worriedly, but she only shook her head, murmuring: “I'm fine. Just... flayed.”

Antares winced a little as he studied the violet mare: she had chosen a good word for the state she was in, with her body visibly torn open. The young stallion shook himself a bit, then he turned his eyes back down the hall, seeing Cancer standing there-

Antares' eyes widened in horror, staring in shock, breathing hard: and yet around him, everyone else was inspecting their own wounds or each other's. Twilight was saying something in her calm, quiet voice, trying to get things back in order, but it was like a buzz in his ears he stared down the corridor, and Cancer glared back at him with those red, hell-light eyes...

He tried to speak, and couldn't; he tried to move, and he couldn't, as Cancer slowly rose a front leg that formed into a blade, then made a silent cutting gesture not across, but through his own throat. It left a bloodless wound, and Antares stared, trembling, at this monster that seemed almost hollow, that was pale and nearly translucent and watery, but was still alive, still there, and had such hideous vitality in his eyes... and then Cancer simply grinned silently before whispering in a voice that somehow only Antares heard: “You can't destroy destruction, honey. But destruction can destroy you. You mark my words, boy, I'll be back... I'll be back, and when I do come back, my bride and I will rip this village of yours apart before I peel you like an orange, squeeze out your juices, and crunch what remains in my teeth...”

Cancer licked his lips slowly, then he melted down through the grating, chuckling quietly... and Antares shook his head wildly before he broke into a charge that made the other ponies stare in horror, the young stallion yelling in a raw voice: “No! No, you come back here, you come back here and fight! Fight me, I'm right here... right now!”

“Antares!” Twilight shouted... and then her eyes widened in horror as a blast of poisonous gases burst up from the grating at the end of the target hall, the Lich cursing as Antares continued to almost blindly stumble towards this before she shouted again: “Antares!'

The glossy-black stallion didn't stop, and Twilight cursed as her horn glowed violet before she vanished in a flash of light, reappearing a moment later in front of the young stallion, and he plowed into her with a grunt before stumbling and falling back on his haunches. Immediately, Twilight leaned forwards and embraced him fiercely, then she winced over her shoulder as the dense fog of poison rolled towards them before she flicked her horn, a protective bubble of energy forming around them as the Lich shouted: “Hurry, get out of here!”

Burning Desire winced, then the demonic stallion coughed violently several times before he half-stumbled to Cowlick, lowering his horn and touching the side of her neck with it. The earth pony mare moaned in pain, then shivered once before she grinned weakly, eyes fluttering as Rustproof worriedly looked up at the demon. “Oh hell. Maybe you aren't... such a bad guy after all...”

“Yes, well, as beautiful as you are we should probably concentrate on getting out of here for now.” Burning Desire replied with a strained smile, and he reached down to carefully haul Cowlick's weak body up over his, mumbling: “Enjoy the pleasure while it lasts... I don't have much magic left and that spell only works for the short term...”

“Rusty... vents...” Cowlick whispered, and Rustproof nodded before the enormous blue stallion hurriedly staggered around the vulcan cannon and stumbled over to the shutter controls by the sealed doors. Avalon, meanwhile, was back in the air despite how hard she was breathing, and Discombobulation was grimacing at the cloud of poisons rolling towards them before the Draconequus rose a hand and snapped his fingers.

A powerful wind blew across the tunnel, Avalon cursing as she was almost knocked out of the air, shooting a baleful glare at Discombobulation before looking hopefully down the tunnel: but even as the poisonous cloud was blown backwards, it seemed to almost thicken before spreading forwards again, and Discombobulation muttered: “That's bad. I don't think Cancer created this... tell me, what's beneath this facility...”

“He must have broken the pipes that run down to chemical storage and added... something... can't think...” Cowlick mumbled weakly out, and then she managed to just lift her head slightly as the shutters locking down the door slid open, murmuring: “Good... good boy, Rusty... get... vents...”

She slumped, and Burning Desire coughed hard several times before he glanced nervously into the fog, but Discombobulation only shook his head and gestured hurriedly at the demon: Avalon, meanwhile, had already flown ahead, half-chasing after Rustproof. “As anyone who plays survival horror will tell you, don't stick around in the lab facility for very long. Let's get out of here before we all end up turning into zombies; the bioweapon you're dating that we have on our side can handle the rest.”

Burning Desire grunted, but he looked too ill to manage much more of a response, stumbling quickly forwards as Cowlick groaned a little on his back... and in the safe bubble in the poison fog, Antares trembled, his head bowed against the nape of Twilight's neck as she held him silently close, both of them breathing hard as the toxic smog flowed slowly over the glimmering shield. In the poisons, Antares' could feel Cancer's destructive influence, as he whispered: “How... how do we stop him?”

“We... we almost did. We underestimated how strong he's grown, that's all... he must have... the power he must have taken on over winter...” Twilight closed her eyes tightly. “To think he could regenerate so fast after being completely destroyed... we reduced him to nothing but water, and... how did you see him? None of us knew anything was wrong...”

“I didn't just see him, I... I heard him...” Antares trembled, looking down and reaching up to rub at his forehead slowly, shivering as his horn gave a weak spark. “He said he was coming back, with... with his bride, whatever that means. He said he was going back to kill us all, and... Twilight, I don't know if he can be stopped... I... we got so close, but he gets so much stronger every time he gets away...”

“He might not get away, though, not this time. The exits are all sealed down... Celestia, Prestige, Pinkamena and Aphrodisia are all out there, among others, waiting for him just in case.” Twilight said quietly, shaking her head slowly before she shivered as she looked up at the green fog swirling around them, then she grimaced a little. “Look... why don't you wait here, and I'll go open that panel he tried to escape through. Even if he's gone by now, I think I can hear where the gas is coming from, I can close it off and-”

“No, don't!” Antares looked up almost frantically for a moment, and the Lich leaned back in surprise before the young stallion hugged her fiercely around the neck, trembling violently. “I don't want to lose you too. Please... he's... I can feel him, he's still close by. He mixed his poisons into this gas somehow, just... please, Mom. We can't... we can't take risks right now.”

The Lich closed her eyes, reaching up and taking Antares' face into her front hooves as she looked down at him and said quietly: “Antares... I love you. You're my son, and I would never do anything to hurt you on purpose... and I know you're still young. You did so well today, but don't let the fear and the panic take over. Don't let it seep into your emotions... sometimes, you have to use your head over your heart, and over your fears.

“I'm your mother... but I'm also, like you, someone who's fighting to put a stop to the mayhem, and the violence, and Cancer. Who wants to bring Luna and Scrivener back, yes... but knowing full well that if I want them to be proud of me at all, I have to continue to carry out their legacy, and protect you, protect our friends and family, and protect Equestria. I can't not take risks, just because it would put me in danger... because of what may or may not happen. I can't let other ponies suffer in my place... especially not when I'm... I'm hard to kill, Antares.” Twilight Sparkle smiled faintly, closing her eyes before she leaned forwards and kissed his forehead gently, and the young stallion bowed his head silently to her as she reached up and stroked his face quietly. “So I'm going to go and see if I can find where the leak is. You stay here, until the poisons clear.”

“Okay.” Antares said quietly, and he hesitated for a moment before looking up at the Lich, saying quietly: “Mom and Dad would... I just mean... I'm glad you're here, Twilight. Thank you for... being my mother, and being my friend.”

Twilight nodded slowly, then she turned and silently strode through the translucent bubble, the surface of the forcefield rippling quietly with her passage through it but not breaking. The Lich halted with a smile over her shoulder as she looked silently at Antares, green-tinged gases flowing harmlessly around the violet mare before she nodded once to him, then turned and strode quietly off.

She vanished into the thick, toxic smoke, and the glossy-black young stallion swallowed a little as he stared nervously after her. He shivered, breathing quietly in and out as he licked his lips apprehensively, not knowing what to do or say as he hugged himself with his forelegs, then closed his eyes as he felt the watch shift beneath his armor against his body. With how tense he was, he thought that he could feel the minute vibrations of every tick against his skin, and the young stallion shook his head weakly before he reached up and rubbed slowly at his features, whispering: “I feel him... everywhere... why do I feel him everywhere...”

Antares looked down, and then he frowned before reaching a hoof slowly out, stroking over the ground. There were streaks and swirls stained over the cement, like from water... and Antares shivered as he thought of how translucent Cancer had been, the way he'd rippled and transformed, the slick, ugly wetness of his body...

“Oh Horses of Heaven...” Antares whispered, drawing his hoof hurriedly away from the water stains, and he shivered in horror at the thought that occurred: what if Cancer could survive in a liquid state now? It seemed like the only advantage they still boasted over the monster was the fact that whatever else, the creature's volatile chemical makeup meant it was extremely flammable... but how much did that matter if Cancer could develop more ways to shed, more ways to change, more ways to extinguish himself? How were they supposed to fight and put a stop to this monster if he just kept getting stronger and stronger?

“And he scares me... he scares me so goddamn much...” Antares whispered to himself, clenching his eyes shut: in spite of everything he'd said, after all, it was true. Again, he'd looked in the eyes of the destruction entity... again, he'd seen such... such inconceivable... nothingness. Below the chaos and the madness, the screaming and the anger, the worst thing about Cancer was that his red eyes glowed so brightly because they were so empty. So devoid of understanding, or meaning, or love, or real emotion: it was not happy, it did not seek happiness, and it didn't even want to be happy. All it wanted was to destroy... because that was what it was. Destruction, emptiness, the Void given form and shape, masked in chaos...

The young stallion gritted his teeth, clenching his eyes shut... and he could almost see the monster in his mind, with his senses so heightened by adrenaline, with his acuity and his ability to understand things going haywire with his emotions and the awful sense of energy in the air. He could feel Cancer rushing, rushing, rushing onwards... and he wasn't in the vents, he wasn't going to be stupid enough to fight Celestia, he was smelling for demons now and he was sly and careful because beneath the lunacy he was coldly, cruelly rational, clinging to his life so he could fulfill his destiny of destroying the lives of others...

Antares could feel him... as Cancer yanked itself through the piping, rasping, cursing weakly to itself as the semisolid slime shivered. It contorted and spasmed as it forced its way along a pipe, following a trickle of water with a gasp as pain ripped up and down the creature's system.

He had been oh-so-tempted to slide his way into the exhaust pipes, to feed off those delicious poisons and hopefully restore his strength while he made his way to whatever little chemical heaven they came from... except now he was paranoid and terrified, suspicious of every little thing and unable to even keep a coherent form, and what would it matter if he reached some little patch of poisonous paradise if they just immolated it and him? What if it was another lure?

“Oh, oh no, not gonna fall for that again...” Cancer whispered to himself, voice echoing through the pipes before he curved upwards, following the path of strongest flow as shivers racked his body, and he rasped weakly. “No no no... they ain't smarter than me... they ain't better than me... oh... oh, gotta find a way outta here...”

The shapeless slime gurgled, twitching violently and making the pipes around itself rattle before it turned down another offshoot, and Cancer moaned in pain before gargling as he hit something. Some kind of obstruction in the narrow metal tube... and the monster hissed in disgust as the elongated slime shivered back and forth, rattling the pipes louder before the slime shoved itself forwards, ripping through whatever was blocking its route and sending chunks of metal flying in all directions.

The slime burst upwards, then splattered down in a sink and over a counter in an abandoned break room, wheezing weakly. Cancer's head slowly formed from this awful mass, red eyes pushing up into its malformed, goblinoid features as at looked back and forth weakly, then hissed under its breath before licking its lips slowly as it leaned forwards and poured itself out of the sink and off the countertop.

Cancer splattered to the ground, then slowly picked himself up, transforming and shifting back into his ugly, mottled pony imitation shape. He groaned, shivering, clutching at himself: his hide was transparent and flaky, his form seemed half-melted, and while his eyes were glowing like crimson spotlights, everything else about the monster was dull and drab and unstable as water leaked down his body like sweat.

The creature shivered, then stumbled slowly towards a closed door, plowing into it with a quiet thunk and a sickening squelch. Cancer rasped weakly in and out, groaning in pain, and then he clawed at the handle before managing to yank the door open... and snarling in disgust as he saw it led into a storage closet, not the exit. The monster muttered under his breath in disgust, but then he frowned, looking down as his eyes alit on several large bottles of stuff sitting in a plastic pail on the floor, and he whispered: “Chemicals... gonna make me a cocktail.”

Cancer licked his teeth slowly, then hurriedly reached down and tore the tops off the bottles before upending them speedily into the pail. A sick chemical reek filled the air as Cancer wheezed in and out, not caring about the cleaner and solvent he splashed himself with before he picked up the pail and overturned it above him.

Chemicals splashed down over him, and Cancer greedily guzzled down as much as he could as the rest spilled over his form and was absorbed through his thin hide, the monster twitching and gargling for a moment before it dropped its head forwards and rasped: “Oh, that's a little pick me up, stir it all together, go from good to bad and bad to good in my guts and my veins and my... oh yeah...”

The monster shivered, then belched out a thick burst of toxic mist as some of the color restored to it features. “Yeah. That should be enough to get me outta here... oh gonna need to grab some fast food on the way out though, oh gonna have to be sly and careful...”

Cancer shifted, then turned towards the only other door, half-staggering over to this as he breathe unevenly in and out before pressing against it and growling under his breath as he heard something outside in the hall. His eyes flicked back to the sink, but then the monster shook his head as his eyes lingered on the broken faucet, whispering: “No, no, that's too obvious. They'll know what I'm doing, and they'll flush me out... gotta... gotta sneak out another way...”

The monster cursed under his breath... then he slowly looked up before grinning to himself, pressing his hooves against the door as they became sticky. And on the other side, several Nibelung grimaced as the door banged several times, Greece cursing under his breath as he squeezed the round object in one hand slowly before one of the two Nightmares supporting the group asked nervously: “Should we call for help?”

“No, this is just like any chemical spill or magic project gone wrong back at the Academy. We're just the cleaning crew.” Greece replied calmly, and then he stepped forwards, grasping the handle of the door as he took a slow breath before looking over his shoulder, saying curtly to the Nibelung soldiers standing at the ready behind him: “In three, two, one...”

Greece shoved down the handle, shouldering the door partially open as he tossed the object in his other hand forwards, then yanked the door shut. A moment later, there was a loud bang and pulse, before Greece threw the door back open as he shouted: “Go!”

Nibelung soldiers ran forwards with swords and axes at the ready as the Nightmares vanished from sight, and the dwarves stormed the room before simply halting in the center of it. The Nightmares flickered back into sight after a few moments as well, and Greece leaned in with a frown before one of the Nibelung pointed at the sink and said worriedly: “Is not here, boss! Plague-beast fled!”

“Dammit.” Greece hurried over to the broken faucet, stopping a few feet away before he looked down with a frown at the fragments of metal that lay here and there, before he quickly looked over his shoulder. Almost immediately, he saw the shoved-open ceiling tile, and the dwarf shook his head sharply, pointing at this: “No, he must have gone that way! Nightmares, track him if you can, and I need two of you warriors to come with me. You, do you have the oil?”

The last Nibelung warrior nodded quickly, patting a large bottle at his belt as he lowered his sword, and Greece pointed at the slime here and there on the wall and floor. “Pour it down the drain and the faucet, just in case I'm wrong. Valhalla's blessed oil hasn't failed us yet... even if he tries to absorb it somehow, it should just make him all the more flammable. Then head to the barracks and get more help, we'll need all hands on deck.”

“Yes, boss!” The Nibelung saluted sharply, and the Nightmares only hesitated a moment before following the Architect's instructions, vanishing from sight before there was a strange thudding as a bit of dirt shifted around the hole, likely from the Nightmares passing into the narrow passages above.

Greece paused a second longer, then he turned, and the other Nibelung soldiers followed the Architect out. For a few moments, the remaining Nibelung looked out the door after them, and then the wolf-pig grunted before turning to the sink, grumbling a little as he sheathed his sword.

He didn't hear the closet door swing slowly open, as Cancer grinned despite the faint shocks traveling over his body from the anti-magic pulse: luckily for him, he had been protected from the worst of the damage in his little hidey-hole. He licked his lips slowly, then became like liquid, sweeping slowly across the floor as the dwarf pulled the jar of holy oil free from his belt and put it on the counter.

The Nibelung didn't even feel it at first when Cancer's slime began to slither up over his booted feet as the dwarf leaned forwards... and then translucent tendrils and ropes snapped violently up around him, and the dwarf tried to yelp as he was yanked firmly back down into the slimy mass before he gave a muffled shriek of terror as horrible, putrid heat surrounded his body and crushed and constricted him as vile poison flooded into his jaws, his nose, his eyes, his ears...

Then there was silence... before the dwarf giggled, and his eyes gave a brief red glow while he hauled himself up to his feet, breath rasping in and out as he grinned maliciously and licked his lips hungrily. He rolled his shoulders slowly, then turned and hurried towards the doors as Cancer whispered through his mouth: “But I gotta be quick-quick-quick! Ooh, don't worry, stop struggling, honey, I'm shutting down all your mental processes I can, but I still need the skeleton crew working, I still need a bit of your brain runnin', and maybe I'm just in a real bastard of a mood and want to enjoy your suffering a little, too, if you want me to be totally honest.”

Cancer chuckled through the dwarf's jaws, hurrying through the halls of the facility, trying to look busy and intent. He passed several other Nibelung, but they were on their own way out... and it didn't take Cancer long to find an exit, shoving out into the night air of Ponyville even as he felt the dwarf's body beginning to overheat beneath his armor, felt his rampant diseases beginning to mutilate the fleshy mortal body and take hold...

He forced the body to turn down the street, and he gritted his teeth, suppressing every instinct inside of him as he walked past several medical ponies who were tending to the earth ponies he'd wounded in the battle. The butch mare that had tackled him was alive, although she looked a little senseless, while her giant momma's boy kid beside her had his head lowered, wincing in pain as another pony stitched the wound in his foreleg carefully closed.

Cancer growled under his breath, then turned his eyes ahead as he continued quickly down the street, passing by a large demon that studied the dwarf with a frown. But Cancer simply kept himself going, taking the first chance he had to turn and slip into a side alley: it seemed like most of Ponyville was awake, and was working to respond, was trying to hem him in, but oh no, he wouldn't give them that chance...

The monster that had taken over the dwarf's body finally managed to reach the outer wall that surrounded Ponyville, and he looked up with a wince, pressing quickly back against the wall and hiding in the deep shadows as several Pegasi shot by overhead: thankfully, their attention was on the outer perimeter, not inside the walls. But that likely meant there were other patrols as well, and Cancer cursed to himself before he grimaced and rose one of the dwarf's arms, glowering in disgust at the fact that large clumps of fur had started to fall out, and infected blood was leaking steadily through the dwarf's skin like red sweat. “Well... no, no, wait-wait-wait... maybe, just maybe...”

Cancer grinned slowly, and then the dwarf gurgled, hugging himself tightly around the stomach before he leaned forwards as the monster writhed inside of him before shoving his way upwards and out of the body he'd taken over... and less than three minutes later, a passing patrol shouted an alarm, pointing at a bloody, diseased-looking Nibelung that was attempting to climb the wall.

Demons and soldiers converged on the dwarf as it snarled and climbed as quickly as its slippery hands would let it, rasping for breath as it shivered from the infections. It looked both insane and mindless all at once, like some hollow, tormented ghost... but all Ponyville's forces could do was react to the threat, to the sight of this vile thing trying to escape.

And while the Nibelung distracted the soldiers and warriors, Cancer smoothly slid up over the wall, giggling at how effective his decoy had been as he dropped down into the plains outside Ponyville... then winced at the loud bang that tore through the air, followed by yells of pain and horror. He grinned over his shoulder viciously, licking his lips before he mocked: “Gee, if people aren't supposed to explode, then why the hell are they all so volatile, huh? Why does everyone have all those nice gaps and spaces to stuff full of poison gas? Oh honey, you just don't make no sense!”

Cancer laughed as he turned, then he leapt forwards as his body transformed, becoming serpentine as he slithered hurriedly away through the tall grasses, the long, mottled snake almost impossible to see as he twisted towards the Everfree Forest. The living woods seemed to shiver at his approach, trees rustling, roots seeming to subtly try to draw away from the monster as the destruction entity passed into the darkness of the forest canopy.

The monster seemed to sense the forest's revulsion, but Cancer only grinned wider as he twisted upwards, taking back on his mottled, pony-like form as he hopped to his hooves and licked his lips slowly. His red eyes blazed with eerie, unnatural light, and he strutted calmly forwards through the trees, glancing back and forth with a giggle as he whispered: “Yeah, you go ahead and tattle on me if you want, Momma Nature, but it's too late. I'm gonna run all the way back to my sweetie-pie Griselda now, and then me and her are gonna come back in full force and full swing... and oh, oh, oh me and her and my army of little whelps are gonna just have us a hell of a ball...”

Cancer grinned wider, licking his teeth as he hurried through the forest, rasping hungrily as he looked back and forth, murmuring eagerly: “I just gotta find me a snack on the way back... but oh, once I'm with my sweetie, we're gonna make each other feel all better, real fast... and then I'm gonna ride on in, and finally take my revenge on all these scumbag fleshbags... especially that one little meat-sack, that punk kid who keeps trying to get in my way... oh, yeah, I'm gonna take my special time with him...”

The monster growled to himself, then nodded firmly once before he licked his teeth slowly, his red eyes burning like beacons as he vanished through the forest... leaving behind a startled Ponyville that had been warned of the worsening storm to come, but for now could do nothing more than wait for the inevitable attack by the destruction entity and his bride.

Locusts

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Chapter Twenty Seven: Locusts
~BlackRoseRaven

Meadowlark gently finished changing the dressing over Rustproof's forelimb, shaking her head a little before she glanced quietly towards the zebra standing nearby. The black-and-white striped mare studied the large blue earth pony quietly, and then she leaned forwards, emerald eyes kind as she said gently: “Listen to me, little one, your strength is to be admired... you bear your wounds without even letting the others see you tired. But take some time and rest Rustproof, all is well for now... and I know that in the near future all of Ponyville will need your know-how.”

Rustproof only shook his head quietly, glancing almost embarrassedly towards the zebra: golden rings glinted around her neck, and large hoop earrings adorned either ear. Bangles of the same metal encircled one forelimb, and her mane was done up in a checkered mohawk; last but not least, she had a swirl on her flank, a symbol of some kind. All that the ponies really knew was that it wasn't a cutie mark like theirs... Zecora always played her cards close, after all, even if Meadowlark and Apple Bloom both knew her well, and Luna and Scrivener had been good friends with her in the past.

Antares was sitting silently nearby in a chair at the library table, along with Prestige and Aphrodisia. Avalon, lastly, was snoozing on a pile of books in the corner of the library, but she was shivering a little now and then: in spite of all the protection she'd been wearing, Cancer's disease had still infected her, although thankfully the worst she was suffering was chills and a weak fever. But still, the disease was in her body... and Antares felt all over again like he had failed her.

They were all gathered here, waiting for Celestia and Twilight Sparkle to join them. Twilight had to make some repairs to her body, though – an unpleasant process, but not as uncomfortable as when she had to switch bodies in some ways – and Celestia was still trying to piece together everything that had happened last night, everything that had gone wrong and allowed Cancer to escape from what should have been a foolproof trap. It was ironic that so far, Discombobulation had the best answer for that, when he had muttered: “That's exactly what went wrong: we thought we trapped destructive chaos perfectly. We were too confident: and like Discord once said, if you're sure of anything when it comes to chaos, you've already lost.”

Demons and Nightmares had been sent out to scour the wilderness and try to track where Cancer had gone... but Antares knew that they wouldn't be able to find him. The monster was able to move too fast, ignored the treachery of terrain, and could slip into any crevice, find any escape that presented itself... and anything that dared pursue it too close would be made a meal of, would only further fuel the monster's seemingly-boundless strength and evolution.

Antares lowered his head, clenching his eyes shut tightly, and then he glanced up in surprise as Zecora said gently: “And you, young leader, son of Luna and Scrivener Blooms... do not despair, do not give in to thoughts of dooms and glooms. Your friends survived the battle, and so did you... and we learned a little about what he plans to do, too.”

“I... I know you're right Zecora. I know that moping is useless, and I should be glad that... there were so few deaths. But every death feels like a knife in my heart, because we should have prevented it. We should have been better prepared... Cancer shouldn't have been allowed to escape like he did.” Antares murmured quietly, dropping his head forwards and closing his eyes tightly. “And Rusty, Burning, Avalon... Cowlick... seeing all my friends hurt, infected with his poisons, and that monster still managing to get away, it... it makes me feel...”

Prestige silently rubbed soothingly down Antares' back as Meadowlark gazed up at him compassionately, and then Zecora smiled faintly, shaking her head slowly as she strode towards him. “Antares Mīrus, you were a leader from birth... your parents had much faith in this, and in your worth. They would be proud of you to see the path that you are taking... but would feel great guilt themselves over how your heart is aching.

“A leader's true strength comes from what they let themselves feel; many try to become distant because it's easier than admitting the costs are real.” the zebra continued gently. “But you, Antares, have an open heart, and a strong sense of wrong and right; but as you are experiencing now, sometimes that only makes it harder to fight.”

“So what are you saying? I should be... colder? I should not care about my friends, my family?” Antares asked weakly, looking up and shivering at this thought, and Zecora shook her head, smiling as she reached up to gently touch his shoulder.

Their eyes met, and she said quietly: “Your depth of empathy is what will always let you make the best decision in the end, even if it means that sometimes the choices will your heart and soul offend. You are learning to be wise and strong, and to value life first and foremost: what you have to learn is not to act as guilt's host. It's okay, Antares, to hurt for those who have been lost, be they friend or stranger... it's not okay for you to blame yourself, when they went in knowing full-well the danger.”

Antares looked down for a few moments, then he nodded a little, saying quietly: “Yeah, I... I know I can't let things... screw me up. But still, Zecora, the guilt is still there... the feeling that... this is my fault somehow, because I didn't do things right, because I'm still just a stupid kid...”

“Mir, you're a good leader. You're younger than even I am, but being young doesn't automatically make you stupid or incapable... your Mom and Dad spent years teaching you and grooming you for this.” Meadowlark said quietly as she finished closing her medical kit, raising her head with a soft look towards the young stallion. “Antares, what you lack is experience, that's all. You need to be more confident in yourself... you're strong, and smart, and you're going to be one of the best leaders Equestria has ever seen.”

“I don't know about that.” Antares laughed a little, but he smiled faintly and nodded slowly, even as he glanced towards where Avalon was sleeping uneasily. Then he sighed a bit as Prestige squeezed him supportively around the shoulders, returning his eyes to Rustproof and asking finally: “How are you holding up? Does it still hurt?”

Rustproof only smiled a little and shook his head, closing his eyes as he hesitated visibly for a moment... then finally said quietly: “Pain don't mean nothin'. Momma's alive. That's all that matters.”

“Your mommy's strong, Rustproof. Almost as strong as my mommy. She'll be fine.” Aphrodisia said quietly, looking up confidently, and Rustproof nodded slowly as he gazed across at the demon with a slow nod of his head. “And you need to stop being dumb, Nova. Because the others are right, you really are a great leader... it's not your fault everypony is so stupid.”

Antares laughed a little and shook his head slowly, and then Zecora added quietly: “Being a leader can be a heavy burden to bear... but all here believe that you can weather that pain fair. Antares, there's a reason we've all placed faith in you, and yes I include myself in that number too: your mother was a great leader, your father proud and strong, and we know they taught you to always do right instead of wrong.”

Antares closed his eyes, nodding once, and then he smiled a little up at the zebra, saying quietly: “Yeah, but... I'd be lying if I didn't admit that part of the reason I want to bring my Mom and Dad back so much is so that... I won't have to be a leader anymore. At least... you know.”

Zecora only shook her head, gazing at him kindly as she said gently: “Antares, the crown of leadership does not simply slip off one's head... you've been blessed and cursed to lead friends and strangers from birth until you are dead.”

“What a nice way to put it.” Antares mumbled, and there were a few laughs before the glossy-black unicorn sat up a bit with a grimace, glancing over at Prestige. “I guess... it could be worse, though, huh? After all, it's not like you ever listen to me.”

“And I have no plans to, either, don't worry about that hero.” Prestige said softly, and the two smiled at each other as Meadowlark shifted silently, then the Pegasus turned to hurry over towards Avalon. Zecora, meanwhile, studied the two unicorns for a moment, then turned her own attention back to Rustproof, giving the large blue earth pony a pointed look when he began to raise a cigarette to his muzzle, and Rustproof awkwardly, hurriedly tucked the little white cylinder back away as the shaman approached and began to lecture him dryly, her habit of rhyming making the words all the more sharp.

Soon enough, the door opened, and Celestia walked in with Twilight Sparkle behind her, both looking tired, but Twilight seemed more listless than anything else, while Celestia had an air of grimness about her. Antares winced a bit as he looked up at the two, hesitating for a few long moments, but then Celestia only shook her head slowly as she approached the table, heavy armor clanking quietly around her body as she murmured: “I'm glad you're all here. We have a lot to discuss, quickly, and I need your insight, Antares... and any help that you can offer as well, Zecora.”

“Of course, Celestia, you know it is my pleasure... after all, Ponyville and our friendship I have come to treasure.” the zebra replied quietly, taking a seat at the table herself. The others joined as well after a few moments, Avalon waking up with a grunt but only groggily buzzing to a chair before half-collapsing over the table... but her tiredness clearly couldn't be held against her, from the puffiness around her eyes and the paleness of her skin.

Celestia glanced apprehensively towards Avalon, then slowly turned her eyes to Rustproof: even though the large blue earth pony wasn't showing any signs of pain, there was still the small tell he kept making, rubbing at his bandaged stitches every now and then... and much clearer than that was how bruised and ugly the skin around his wound looked. For a moment, the ivory winged unicorn was silent, and then she shook her head slowly, saying quietly: “Many of you still look sick. I appreciate you all being here, but... you should go and get some rest.”

“No, I... I'm totally awake.” Avalon mumbled, raising her head almost defiantly... and then she blinked owlishly a few times as she slowly looked back and forth. “Hey, wait. When did all you guys get here?”

“Avalon, it might be good if you at least consider going to get some sleep. You've been up all night on top of getting poisoned...” Meadowlark began carefully, but Avalon only glared at her... then slowly blinked before the tiny Pegasus keeled forwards and her head thudded loudly into the tabletop, beginning to snore as Meadowlark sighed and rubbed slowly at her face with a hoof. “Well, at least she's resting. I'm sorry, Baroness, I can take her home...”

“It's alright. Sleipnir was always much more of a distraction at any table.” Celestia smiled after a moment, shaking her head slowly before her horn glowed as she looked at Avalon, and the tiny Pegasus fidgeted for a moment before her features smoothed out, body slumping a bit more against the table. “There. A little less pain for her to worry about... your friends are strong, Antares.”

Twilight Sparkle nodded slowly in agreement as she adjusted the bloodstained sweater she was wearing, saying softly: “I think you're all even stronger than we were, even after we gathered the Elements of Harmony. But then again... I know that the world we were raised in was a lot different from the world you've all been born into. But you've all been doing well, you've all worked hard to become who you are now... and maybe that's one of the biggest differences between us. I only ever really started training with Luna... after everything started.” She glanced at Celestia, the two trading faint smiles. “And my friends only really began to train, to try and adjust to the darkness, after the darkness was well on the rise.”

There was silence for a few moments, and then Antares only shook his head, murmuring quietly: “I want to believe that's true, Mom, not because... I think anything but the world of you... but because I know my friends and I have to be strong. But I don't know if it is or not... you and your friends... you weren't warriors, and yet you faced down incredible odds and enemies.”

He looked up with a bit of a smile, then shook his head slowly and closed his eyes. “You amaze me, you and everypony else. And none of us would be here without you and... all these other ponies we have in our lives. Who are just as amazing, who... have helped shape us into who we are today. I want to be strong, but I know a lot of that strength comes from my parents, and you, and Aunt Tia and... everypony else that's helped shape me. And that's a lot of people.”

Twilight smiled a little, and Celestia gazed quietly across at Antares, studying him before she said softly: “You're having doubts and worries again, aren't you? But I understand, Antares... we've put a lot on your shoulders, especially for someone as young as you are. We expect a lot from you... but the reason we expect so much, Antares, is because all of us here honestly believe that you're capable of handling it and bearing up under the weight of those hopes and desires. The reason I've asked you specifically to be here, and for the help of your friends, is because I have such faith each and every person here. And I know that we're going to need the help of every hoof we can get, both to deal with Cancer and to help with your own personal mission, Antares Mīrus.”

Antares nodded hesitantly, and Celestia looked slowly back and forth before she said quietly: “As you all know, Cancer escaped. He used a decoy filled with explosive, poisonous gases to buy himself all the time he needed to get past the perimeter and through the fields. I sent Nightmares after him as quickly as possible, but he moves quickly when he's focused on something, and his path is clear but difficult to trace because of his chaotic nature. The Nightmares have to move slowly because they're afraid he may attempt to ambush them.

“I've also dispatched Sleipnir to try and find what you mentioned from Cancer's threat: his so-called 'bride,' which I don't dare guess at the nature of.” Celestia continued quietly, then she shook her head slowly. “I also don't want to assume at what he may have meant by that choice of words, though. I've sent Hevatica and Pinkamena with him as support... but made it clear under no circumstances are they to engage the enemy. As we clearly know now... Cancer is simply too dangerous.”

There were a few nods, and Antares shivered a bit before he murmured: “He looked like water, Aunt Tia... he looked like he... he was... able to turn himself not just to slime, but something like liquid. More, that he was able to reconstitute himself just from that, alone...”

Celestia nodded slowly, looking across at the young stallion before Zecora asked quietly: “If this destruction entity can heal from such a condition... how can we expect to put the monster out of commission?”

“He seems to still have a vulnerability to fire... the problem is that he's been learning more and more to... adapt himself.” Twilight said quietly, rubbing slowly at her sweater before grimacing a bit as she drew her hoof away and looked down. “Sorry. Excuse me for a minute, my stitching's come undone.”

The Lich carefully slipped out of her seat, hurrying around the table and towards the corridor, and Zecora glanced after the violet mare quietly. Then the zebra shaman sighed softly, murmuring: “It's funny, Celestia, I have to admit... never did I think with a Lich and demons I would sit. My people don't think much of the citizens of the night, not after we experienced first-hoof Veliuona's blight. And while I cannot say that I was around in that time long past, the scars of what she did to my homeland even now last.”

“I know, Zecora, and I can only thank you for... your willingness to work with us, and how open-minded and accepting you've been with not only our darker allies, but especially Twilight Sparkle. Your friendship means a lot to her.” Celestia replied gently, and the zebra gave a small smile before the ivory winged unicorn returned her eyes over the group of young ponies. “What Twilight said is correct, though: Cancer is volatile, and vulnerable to fire. We also know it's possible to freeze him solid, at least for short periods of time... we need to exploit these vulnerabilities somehow.”

“We also need to prepare for the coming of his bride... I... I get the feeling whatever the hell it is, it's going to be very bad.” Antares murmured quietly, rubbing slowly at his face before he sighed quietly, looking nervously towards the back corridor. He could feel everypony's attention turning to him – well, except for Avalon, who was drooling over the table – and the young stallion shivered a bit before hurriedly pushing himself away from the furnishing, saying abruptly: “I need to go check on Mom.”

No pony said anything as Antares hurried across the room and into the corridor, quickly striding down towards the kitchen... and Twilight smiled a little as she glanced up at him from where she was washing her sweater out in the sink, and Antares shivered a little at the sight of her body: she was wrapped in bandages that were stained with blood, and somehow that always worried him more than the sight of raw stitching did, as he asked worriedly: “Are you okay?”

“It's just taking time for the new... parts... to fuse, that's all. Don't worry, I can't really bleed to death, Antares, being... dead and all. It's just a little gross, I know.” Twilight replied quietly, smiling a little as she glanced down at herself, then shook her head and simply dropped the sweater in the half-full, soapy sink-water. She turned to him as Antares strode up to her, and the violet mare leaned down as she reached up and gently took his face in her hooves, leaving a trail of soapy suds over his cheek as she murmured: “Antares, if it's too hard right now... Celestia won't blame you if you need a break. None of us will.”

“I will.” Antares said quietly, and then he shook his head hurriedly when the violet mare gave him a soft look. “I'm... I'm okay, Mom. I really am okay.”

“You always say that, just like your parents always said that...” Twilight closed her eyes, shaking her head slowly and laughing quietly, and then she leaned forwards and kissed his forehead before sighing and drawing back, studying him silently. “Remember. We're all here... for each other. To watch out for each other and to take care of each other. Don't get so wrapped up in the idea of being a leader that you forget we're here to take care of you, too. It's okay to not be okay.”

The young stallion nodded a little, and then he hesitated for a few moments, before finally looking up at Twilight as she frowned curiously. But still, he didn't speak... and finally, the Lich leaned down, reassuring softly: “Anything, Antares. You can say anything to me or tell me anything, you know that. I'm here for you.”

The young stallion nodded slowly, taking a deep breath before he asked quietly: “What... what does it mean that Cancer can't seem to... to poison me? I... even more than that, Mom... Cancer seems to be drawn to me, and me to him; and even if he scares me, he's everything I fear and hate, I... understand him, in a way I don't want to. I look at him and know what he's going to do, even if he's supposed to be unpredictable chaos: I hear him and sense him even when no one else can... I... I know how his mind works. What does that mean... for me? Am I... am I going to become...”

Twilight softened, shaking her head firmly as she said quietly: “Antares, if anyone here is the antithesis to Cancer, it's you. But... light and dark, peace and war, chaos and harmony parallel each other. Absolute opposites are dark reflections... they mirror each other. You understand him because he's everything you're not: just like he seems to be drawn to you, he hates you so much, for the exact same reason.”

Antares looked down, nodding silently once as she shivered a little, and Twilight quietly stroked his cheek before she smiled a little. “You, your mom, Celestia... even me... we all have... darkness inside us. All of us have... have bad parts in us. But Antares, you... you're different from us.”

“I don't think so. And Mom, you're a Lich but... I've never seen you lash out in anger like I have sometimes, or anything like that.” Antares said quietly, looking up at the violet mare with a faint smile. “And Aunt Tia... she works so hard. She's got such a terrifying part of herself but she uses it... like I know Mom and Dad always used and controlled their own darkness.”

Twilight only laughed quietly however, shaking her head slowly and murmuring: “No, Antares. Even before I was a Lich, I had... I had a certain... something, inside me.” Twilight looked down, rubbing a hoof slowly at her chest before she closed her eyes. “You know that dark story, Because Love Conquers All... don't forget that's who we all almost were. And you've seen what happens when I get... angry, like I did while we were fighting Cancer. My magic intensifies... and I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it, too, in a dark, twisted way.”

She shook her head slowly, smiling a little as she opened her eyes to glance down at the young stallion quietly, and he looked back up at her silently. “But we should go and talk to the others, Antares, we've wasted enough time here...” She paused, reaching down to touch the stitching and discolored coat across her breast that wasn't covered by the bandaging. “Besides, I've stopped bleeding now, so... that's one worry less.”

Antares nodded a bit, and he shifted a little, then said quietly as he turned around: “Alright, Mom. You're right, we need to stay focused on things anyway. We got a lot to do, don't we?”

“Yeah, we do.” the violet mare said softly, and she shook her head before following quickly after the young stallion, gazing at him tenderly. “Just remember, taking care of yourself is important, too. You can't help if you aren't at the top of your game.”

Antares nodded again, closing his eyes and blushing a little, and then he looked up as they returned to the library and found Aphrodisia, Meadowlark, and Zecora were now missing. Avalon was still drooling on the table, and Rustproof was sitting nearby, nervously rubbing at his bandaged forelimb as Celestia said quietly: “I hope you don't mind, but I've already started sending the others out on a few tasks.”

“You're the boss, Aunt Tia, not me.” Antares laughed a little, blushing a bit at the almost-deference from the enormous, rainbow-maned mare before he hesitated, then asked finally: “But where did you send them, then? Did... something come to mind?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes.” Celestia smiled after a moment, nodding slowly before she explained: “Meadowlark and Zecora are interested in seeing if they can create a remedy to the afflictions caused by Cancer... they've apparently been hard at work on attempting to develop a cure for quite some time, and I thought this was a better use of their time than sitting here, listening to me talk about things I'm not entirely sure of. Aphrodisia, meanwhile, I've sent on a short trip to Subterra to ask for help on my behalf. I recognize that in the near future, we may require as much aid as possible from out darker allies, after all.”

“Although now, Cancer's diseases are able to infect even demons...” Twilight murmured quietly, grimacing a little as she thought of Burning Desire: he was resting fitfully back in the library, slowly recovering from not only the infection and poisons of Cancer, but the equally-agonizing purification magic that had been the only way to wash Cancer's poisons out. It had unfortunately been necessary... even if for a demon it was also painful beyond description.

“Yes, it's an unfortunate development... but at the same time, demons are still more resilient even to the infections he can poison them with.” Celestia replied quietly, and the Lich nodded slowly, looking down meditatively but also seeming nervous still. “But I don't plan to use them as shields, don't worry. I'm asking our dark friends to stand beside us, not in front of us: the only way we'll be able to conquer a threat like Cancer is by working together, after all.”

There were nods around the table, and then Celestia turned her eyes towards Rustproof, adding quietly: “Furthermore, I would like outfit the Starlit Knights with advanced equipment. Ranged weapons like your mother is so fond of, rifles and other modern-day tools. They have a few advantages over crossbows, and it's important we're able to strike at Cancer from the greatest possible range while dealing the highest level of damage we can, especially if he attacks with a force of infected. But these kinds of weapons are outside my area of expertise, and I need your input on what needs to be produced, how they would be used, and how we could train our soldiers to use them.”

Rustproof shifted awkwardly, looking lamely towards Antares, but Antares only looked pointedly back and shrugged a little... and finally, after a few moments, the large blue earth pony smiled lamely and turned his eyes to Celestia, saying quietly: “I can't really speak for Momma or nothin'. I'm just a colt, still.”

Celestia only smiled softly at this, however, saying quietly: “Rustproof, despite how young you are, you're also a prodigy, and your mother adores you... and more importantly, has as much trust in you as I have trust and faith in Antares. If anypony here can tell me what I need to know, I have confidence it's you.”

Rustproof blushed deeply and dropped his head at this, smiling faintly after a few moments, and then he simply nodded once before looking up. His gaze met Celestia's, and he seemed to read into her thoughts before he said hesitantly: “I... Momma told me how Hellhorse and them train their rifle corps. Intensive... ain't just about aiming and shooting, that's the easy part. It's about learning how to take care of the gun, and keepin' her clean, and how to load and reload, too.”

Celestia nodded slowly, continuing to study the young earth pony, and Rusty hesitated a moment before he said finally: “Carbines, I think, would be good to start with. They ain't too difficult for us to put together, and... it's what Momma started me with, too. Okay clips, ponies can hold 'em fine... we got lots of hoof-trigger adjusts and stuff.” Rustproof paused, looking down and nodding hesitantly. “Yeah. No need for anything fancy or nothing, at least not to start with. Just the basics, but they'll pack a good punch.”

The ivory winged unicorn looked for a few moments at Rustproof, and then she said gently: “You can go if you like, then, and head over to the engineering lab. Inform Greece or whoever is currently in charge that I'll be needing enough of those weapons made and readied for a full platoon of Starlit Knights, who will then require training. The fields outside of Ponyville should do nicely enough to begin training as soon as possible, correct?”

Rustproof only shrugged a little, giving Celestia a nervous look, and the armored mare smiled reassuringly back, saying quietly: “Then just report to Greece for now and I'm sure he or one of the other Architects will come and find me to tell me what's best. And make sure afterwards you get some rest... your leg still looks hurt. If you put too much pressure on it you could just end up hurting yourself more.”

Rustproof hesitated, then nodded and turned away: just as he reached the door, however, Celestia added calmly, without glancing over her shoulder at him: “And please don't give in to the temptation to smoke, Rustproof. It might only exacerbate your illness, and that would just worry Cowlick further.”

The young blue earth pony blushed a bit, then he gave a quick, abrupt nod before hurrying out the door, and Celestia shook her head slowly even as she moved her eyes towards where Avalon was snoring weakly. For a few moments, she just looked at the young pony, then the Baroness' amethyst eyes were drawn to Antares as he asked nervously: “What about Prestige and me, what can we do?”

Celestia looked at the two thoughtfully, then she shook her head and said softly: “Antares, you need to rest until the afternoon... then you, Twilight Sparkle and myself are going to be extremely busy. As it is, Twilight, I'm afraid I have to ask you and Prestige to head to the medical center and lend what aid you can to the ponies there...”

“No, I'm glad to help... besides, it's... it's not like I tire like other ponies do.” Twilight said after a moment, smiling a little as she reached up and silently rubbed at one of her stitched shoulders, and Celestia softened as she and the Lich studied each other before the violet mare added quietly: “But... please take an hour or two to rest yourself before you go back to trying to look after every detail, won't you, Celestia? You're going to run yourself into the ground and get sick... and... we can't afford to lose you. I can't afford to lose you.”

The Baroness smiled faintly at this, lowering her head and closing her eyes, and there was silence for a few seconds before she finally nodded hesitantly, glancing over at Avalon. “First I'll take this young one home. Then I'll come back and... perhaps rest my head for an hour or two. Antares, go ahead and use the guest room, it should be all ready for you.”

Antares hesitated, but Prestige reached up and touched his shoulder, saying gently: “Go on, hero. You took a beating and you've been working hard all night. Go and get some rest, you could use it.”

The young stallion shifted a little, and then he finally sighed and nodded, reaching up to rub quietly at his features. “Yeah. Yeah, I... I guess. I just don't want to let anypony down...”

“You won't.” Prestige said quietly, and Antares glanced up before he and the young unicorn mare traded a tight hug, eyes closing as they all-but-clung to one another for a few moments before drawing slowly apart, studying each other before Prestige finally gave a small smile. “Good. I'll catch up to you as soon as I can, I promise.”

“Alright.” Antares nodded a bit, and then he traded smiles with Twilight when she reached up and touched his shoulder, before the Lich turned and led her apprentice out of the library. For a few moments, there was silence except for Avalon's quiet snoring, and then Antares awkwardly looked over at Celestia as she tilted her head towards him, before he asked softly: “What's it like, Aunt Tia? Being... a leader like you are? You're always looking after all of us... trying to do everything for all of us, and... I wish I could be a leader like that, but I'm scared of it, too. Scared of what it means, to watch all my friends and family... putting themselves in danger... to care about them, and yet... know...”

“They'll die, yes... but Antares, watching a friend die is far from the worst thing that can happen.” Celestia said quietly, smiling faintly over at the young stallion, and Antares frowned as he sat back a bit before the ivory unicorn closed her eyes. “Friendships come and go, lives rise and fall... and being ageless is not always a blessing. And whether you believe it or not, it's not difficult to grow used to the thought that... you won't just be there to watch as newborns grow into adults, into old ponies: you'll watch as ponies who will become your friends and loyal allies are born, you'll watch them develop, you'll watch them grow old, and you'll see them pass on... but death is far from the worst fate. It leaves a pang, yes... but my silly little brother taught me that it's a generous trade. There is hurt in any relationship, no one can avoid making or losing friends, no matter how much they want to or how hard they try: and when you get to see that entire cycle, Antares, from my point of view, you can smile for them even when they pass on, especially if it was a natural, gentle sleep they sail into. You can be happy for them, because it would be incredibly, stupidly selfish to be upset. It would be rude, and cruel, and arrogant, not to celebrate the fact that these ponies have lived long lives... and shared almost that entire life... with you.

“No, Antares. Even watching soldiers die on the battlefield, it's... hard. It hurts much more... but at the same time, I know that those who die with honor, those who go down fighting, will surely find their way to the sacred halls of Valhalla above.” Celestia continued, closing her eyes and bowing her head forwards. “And they are to be honored, and celebrated. We mourn, selfishly, but we have to remember that it is selfish... we're not crying for them, we're crying for the loss of them, and how that affects us, and... you learn, eventually, that while that hurt is unavoidable... basking in it too long is just silly, and pointless, and instead you realize you have another reason to be proud of them. They're gone, on to wherever their spirits have fled... but all life is about coming together, and moving apart, and only one pony can walk that journey, that path...” Celestia stopped, then smiled faintly. “Unless they're very, very lucky, like your parents were, to have someone who is truly tied to them and always, eternally, at their side.

“Death becomes... a casual acquaintance after a while. I wouldn't say 'friend,' but you begin to understand... it's there for a reason, and that he's only doing his job: he's not glorifying in taking away your friends, and he's leaving you with memories you can cherish, and bringing them to the next stage of their journey.” Celestia said quietly, and then she bowed her head a little further, murmuring: “And you learn there are far worse things out there. Worse than a friend who dies is a friend who betrays you, and turns on you or your beliefs, or grows jealous and hateful because they don't understand your life and power has its fortunes, but also its pitfalls. Worse than a friend who dies is a friend who you watch suffer at the hooves of others because they are different, and you are powerless, even with all your power, to do more than offer companionship and useless advice. Worse than a friend who dies is watching when the coward named disease crawls his way into them, with his only purpose to sap their life, their energy, and make them feel valueless and broken. Watching friends tortured, turn on each other, watching them give in to despair or lash out at the innocent, seeing your friends lose their minds, their memories, their hopes and dreams... there are far worse things than losing a friend to death, whether it's gentle or on the battlefield.”

Antares shivered a little, looking down and nodding silently, and for a few moments there was quiet before Celestia said softly: “But with a little luck, Antares, you won't have to worry about that just yet. Instead, we should focus on our plans for dealing with Cancer, and... I suppose both of us should honor our word to Twilight Sparkle.”

“Are you...” Antares looked up, blushed, then dropped his head embarrassedly, wishing he hadn't blurted that out. Now Celestia was looking at him curiously, and he knew he had to ask the question, even as he shifted a little before glancing up and asking through a blush: “But are you glad that... Twilight is... going to live forever?”

“How could I not be? I was the one who made her into a Lich.” Celestia smiled faintly, glancing down and closing her eyes. “It's... it's funny, Antares. While I'm happy to apply my philosophies to everypony else... I hope and look forwards to when your parents come back. More than that... I have a morbid hope that Twilight, Luna, and Scrivener will all outlive me... or perhaps we'll all die together, so I don't have to go through losing them. Losing them would be... different.”

Antares looked down awkwardly, mumbling: “I don't even wanna think about that, Aunt Tia... I can't even stomach the thought that my parents are... might not...”

He shivered a little, and then glanced up when Celestia stood up and strode around the table, before reaching forwards and hugging him tightly. Antares returned the embrace with both surprise and gratitude, burying his face against her bare neck, and Celestia simply held the young stallion against her for a moment as she said softly: “It's okay, Antares. I... I don't want to think about that either.”

Antares nodded against her, closing his eyes, resting in the safe embrace of the enormous, armored winged unicorn, trembling a little as thoughts both good and bad ran through his overstressed mind, making him wonder if everything was really worth fighting for... and if being called a 'hero' was really an honor or a curse.

Sleipnir grunted as he ran onwards through the valley, never once stumbling over the terrain as Pinkamena ran at his side, cursing every now and then when she slipped on a rock or narrowly avoided a tree or bush. Behind them, Hevatica was following at a distance, struggling to keep up as she complained: “Not all of us are earth creatures here, you know!”

“Then go incorporeal or something!” Pinkamena snapped back, before she grunted in surprise when Sleipnir skidded to a halt. She looked at him, opening her mouth... and when he quickly held up a hoof, she immediately fell silent, her usual mockery vanishing as her eyes became sharp and serious at the look on Sleipnir's face.

She didn't speak, and neither did Hevatica as she managed to catch up to them, slipping a bit against the mossy rocks that made up the broken slope on this end of the vale. Around them, the trees creaked and groaned in the faint wind, and after her years with Sleipnir, Pinkamena could almost understand them, glancing towards the nearest gnarled oak... but then Sleipnir grasped her face gently, cupping along her cheekbone and tilting her head towards him, to guide her red-rimmed eyes into looking deep into his own chestnut. In his gaze, she saw a warning, an instruction, an oath... and slowly, Pinkamena nodded.

Sleipnir smiled at her, nodding firmly in return, and then he turned and was gone in an instant: Pinkamena couldn't help but grin a little at the speed and sudden grace with which he moved, leaping over to a rocky, mauled cliff-face and ascending rapidly to the top. Both demons gazed up after Sleipnir, as the Kelpie said admiringly: “You're so fortunate, Devourer. The Heaven-sent looks so pretty in the fading light... it's like he was made for you.”

Pinkamena grunted, not answering as she glanced in the direction of the setting sun: the red hues that it cast over everything made the rocks around them look like they were soaked in blood, made the few twisted trees standing here and there seem black and distorted. The sky was like a crimson and purple wound, and Pinkamena licked her large teeth slowly as she muttered: “Well, Kelpie, I wouldn't go that far. If he was made just for me he wouldn't be such a stallion-whore.”

Hevatica only smiled slightly, however, then glanced up as Pinkamena's own blue eyes gazed apprehensively towards the clifftop that Sleipnir had vanished over... and the enormous earth pony himself was now standing on a high, square plateau that was covered in scraggly trees, like an island of earth that had been vomited up out of the valley on a pillar of uneven stone. He could feel nature's pain under his hooves, could sense her despair, and it filled him with concern: something wasn't right.

He shook his mane of vines out, striding quickly through the trees before leaning carefully forwards through a bush as he reached the western edge of the plateau, and he frowned at what he saw. Something was strange up ahead... it looked like there was a flock of large birds flying all around the mountains in the distance near the Strange Ones' settlement, and there was a large, ugly hill he didn't remember ever seeing before, perhaps a few kilometers distant... before his sharp eyes widened as the mountain visibly moved.

“That is no mountain...” Sleipnir whispered, and then he looked up in horror, at the darkening sky that was almost black with a flock of what couldn't be birds. Of what had to be something else... and Sleipnir hurriedly shook his head, whispering: “By Mimir's head... I... we'll have to make all haste back to warn Celestia, she'll know what to do... but by my Father's face, what in the name of all that is sacred could that thing be?”

Sleipnir leaned forwards, trying to focus on the shape, but it was hard to make out: a good mile or so away, with the setting sun to its back, it was just a dark, moving blot profiled blackly in the red light... but he thought he saw huge claws, and a head, and a large, hunched and humped back, and-

There was a shriek, and Sleipnir looked up almost too late before his eyes widened in shock as something insectile and putrid shot down towards him: at the same time, he heard the primal screams of other monsters as they eagerly attacked the demons below.

Sleipnir leapt backwards, wincing as the monster tore through the brush, grabbing wildly at him... while below, Hevatica recoiled and Pinkamena only snarled in disgust as two more of the creatures landed in front of them, drooling green, viscous poison from their fang-filled maws. Their eyes glowed with baleful light, gray and black, ridged plates making up a chitinous hide that armored their bodies, bony talons flexing against the ground as segmented, whip-like tails snapped back and forth.

Their dragonfly-like wings buzzed as one of them leaned forwards with a roar, the gnarled horn standing out of its head gleaming with a sickly green aura: but Pinkamena thought the idea of these insectoid monsters using magic seemed as farfetched as them deciding to have a pretty little tea party together. The other insect-beast's horn lit up in response to the first's, however, and when both turned and lunged straight at the Devourer demon, she grinned disgustedly as her twisted but analytical mind quickly put one and one together. Bet anything that's used for telepathy...

Instead of letting them tackle her, Pinkamena leapt forwards, swinging both front hooves out to seize the tops of the monsters' skulls before she slammed both of the beasts face-first into the ground with squeals of pain. They both clawed wildly at the earth before yanking themselves backwards, and Pinkamena pursued the one closest to her aggressively, slamming a hoof up under its chin to knock it staggering and rearing back slightly before she leapt forwards and smashed her head into its face, sending the bug beast collapsing onto its side as it clawed and kicked wildly at the air. “Hevatica, deal with the other one!”

“I'm afraid we have more guests!” Hevatica replied sharply, and Pinkamena growled in frustration as a loud buzzing filled the air, taking a short, sharp glance upwards to see two more of the insect monsters were eagerly flying down towards them. The demon cursed as she looked towards this, then she snarled at the two monsters that were already back on their claws, one rushing towards her-

Pinkamena swept up a loose rock underhoof and smashed it under the bug creature's jaw, sending up a burst of green and black blood as the monster shrieked before the demon leapt forwards and roared as she windmilled her foreleg, putting all the strength she could into slamming the sharp, heavy stone viciously down into the skull of the monster. Its skull gave a satisfying crunch as it was knocked flat to the ground, horn sparking weakly once, but the monster beside it barely seemed to notice its companion's demise as it tackled the demon while she was still leaning over the corpse, knocking her onto her back as she lost her grip on the stone lodged in the shattered head of the other beast. She snarled as she felt herself crushed down beneath the monster as it pinned her, biting savagely at her neck, but she yanked her head hurriedly out of the way of its jaws before snapping her own fangs viciously up into its exposed throat, the insectile beast shrieking in pain.

She twisted herself sideways, shoving up into its breast as it clawed wildly at the ground and tore rips in the sides of her forelegs and her shoulders, the demon rasping through the foul-tasting blood spilling into her mouth before she shoved upwards as she ripped her head to the side, spitting out a stream of black and green bile in disgust. The monster, meanwhile, staggered backwards with another gargling shriek, horn sparking before it collapsed weakly on its sides, claws still twitching once as Pinkamena winced and shoved herself up, grasping at one of her flayed-open shoulders.

Hevatica had managed to pin one of the other monsters, her eyes glowing as she throttled it, the creature staring helplessly up at her as it whined and whimpered before one of the second wave bug-beasts shot in to tackle the Kelpie: but before it could, a limp body shot through the air like a meteor and slammed into the flying monster, knocking it from the sky and face-first into the base of a tree in a dazed heap, twitching weakly. A moment later, Sleipnir leapt down from the cliff above, running quickly forwards before snagging the vertebrae-like tail of the stunned bug-monster.

He half-spun and flung it hard before it could regain its senses, sending the creature hurtling through the air to crash face-first into the rocky cliff-face, the monster colliding with a loud crack and falling limp. Sleipnir grimaced and shivered once at this, then he looked sharply over at Pinkamena, hurrying towards her as the last beast fell limp beneath Hevatica's cloven hooves. “Phoenix! Art thou alright?”

“Better than you, Slippers.” Pinkamena replied moodily as her wounds slowly began to patch themselves closed, and then she frowned and winced as distant, howling shrieks filled the air, muttering: “Oh hell. I guess it's true, for every one roach you see there's fifty more laying in wait.”

“Aye, these plague-beasts are many in number... and worse, I think I've set mine eyes upon the wretched bride of so-called Cancer. We must hasten out of here... Hevatica, thou should go immediately on ahead, tell Celestia of the threat we have encountered and that a titanic monstrosity is upon the march to Ponyville.” Sleipnir ordered sharply, pointing in the direction of the village as the Kelpie nodded quickly. “I estimate 'twill take several days' time for the beast to cross this treacherous valley at the speed it moves, but we must not dally!”

“Get your flank going, Hevatica. And check in on my daughter for me, make sure she's not doing anything stupid.” Pinkamena added sharply, and Hevatica smiled a bit before she turned and burst into black smoke that shot up through the air before seeming to vanish completely from sight. For a few moments, Pinkamena only looked up after this... then she reached a hoof up and shoved it firmly against Sleipnir's lips before he could even open his mouth, saying icily: “If you tell me to go on ahead, I'm going to bite off your genitals and leave them here for the giant bugs to eat.”

Sleipnir only smiled, however, reaching up to gently take her front hoof between his own before he kissed it and replied softly: “Now that is an empty threat, sweet Phoenix, I'm fairly certain that is the one part of my body thou wouldst not do harm upon.”

Pinkamena smiled despite herself at this, eyes flicking towards him before she gave a slight nod, and the enormous stallion grunted and nodded in return. “But we must not dally, aye, we can continue our banter on the way. Mother Nature quakes and warns me there are countless vermin behind us, and I am not fond of bugs.”

“Me neither.” Pinkamena grunted, turning to fall in pace with the enormous equine as they both hurried back the way they had come, the demon grimacing as she looked over her shoulder and added disgustedly: “And if those bastards can fly...”

“Fear not, sweet phoenix. They shan't go far from what I fear more and more must be their monstrous mother... aye, I think I know what awful blight has occurred here, and if I can remember with all the holes in my head, then I am sure my big sister will no doubt figure it out as well.” Sleipnir muttered, as they hurried down the rocks and past the scraggly trees, and Pinkamena shot him a sharp look. “I remember it because Luna spoke to me of a monster that could change its shape...”

“And you'd remember that because it would be something you'd want to yank in the sack, so you could do dirty things to yourself.” Pinkamena muttered, and Sleipnir only nodded seriously, the demon growling at him but a slight smile twitching at her mouth all the same. “Filthy narcissist.”

“Oh come now, given the same chance how many would turn such a chance away? Thou would certainly not.” Sleipnir grinned toothily over at her, and Pinkamena resisted the urge to punch him before the enormous equine shook his head quickly, becoming serious once more. “Chrysalis, they called it... Changeling, I believe, they called her, called her 'Queen...' and now it seems that Cancer has gone and transformed her into a monarch of monsters. And those hideous things... they seem not like Changelings to me, but Nature whispers they seek, they hunt, they steal...”

“Takers. Great.” Pinkamena muttered, then she shook her head, features darkening as she followed Sleipnir's leap to a fallen tree that bridged a narrow creek. “Could really use Scrivener and Luna right about now... Scrivy would make up some fancy name for the bastards and we could use him as a meat-shield, and your baby sister could do what she does best and start murdering things...”

“Aye, I miss them too. The pain never fades... but neither does the joy have to, Pinkamena, and the good memories are far stronger and more important than the pain.” Sleipnir replied with a smile, even as Pinkamena snorted and blew back the waterfall of mane that obscured half her features. “And besides, phoenix, they shall return... jealous as I am of the damned poet for all his nonsense.”

“Yeah. I'm really going to kick the crap out of him.” Pinkamena muttered, and Sleipnir chuckled as he turned his eyes back ahead, the two running sharply onwards before the demon growled to herself, looking moodily down at the uneven earth underhoof. “Feelings are stupid...”

“Aye. But so am I, and thou loves me all the same.” Sleipnir replied quietly, and Pinkamena snorted at this before the stallion cursed suddenly and looked sharply over his shoulder as they began to sprint through a short field. “Damned monsters!”

Pinkamena shot a look back herself, then bared her fangs: at least a dozen monsters were flying towards them... and this time, among their number, she saw not only the smaller Takers, but much-larger, beetle-like entities that rumbled behind the main swarm on enormous wings, rippled, uneven shells glinting. She cursed under her breath, her own body shivering with the urge to fight even as the wounds that had healed to scratches on her shoulders pulsed as if warning caution... and then she looked sharply forwards as Sleipnir shouted: “Ahead!”

Sleipnir was barreling towards a hole in the earth, and the demon groaned but followed close behind him, leaping after the stallion as he dove into the wide tunnel. She landed on top of him with a curse a moment after Sleipnir splashed down in an underground stream, and then she winced and seized into his neck with a yell of frustration, clinging to him as the gigantic earth pony shot forwards down the narrow passage beneath the earth. “Goddammit, Sleipnir!”

“Hold fast, phoenix!” Sleipnir replied quickly, dodging around a wall of roots in the path as the scream of Takers behind them filled the tunnel, as the insectile monsters began to swarm in after them. Pinkamena shot a look over her shoulder, and snarled in disgust as she saw the horns of the bug-like beasts were casting a toxic glow that only made it all the more horrifying as they raced along walls, ceiling and through the shallow stream after the two ponies.

Sleipnir ran forwards, making a short, sudden leap over a sinkhole hidden beneath the gurgling stream, his heavy hooves slamming along the side wall and kicking up dirt and rock before he threw himself forwards, neatly hopping across a large stone and into a curving offshoot. Behind them, the Takers continued to rush forwards, half-impeding each other before one screeched as it fell into the hidden sinkhole, lodging in the slimy sand and water as the rest of the insects mindlessly trampled the caught bug-beast, single-minded in their pursuit.

Sleipnir, meanwhile, raced up the tunnel branch, then suddenly glanced up at a crack of light above before he grunted and threw himself upwards, seizing into several roots and hauling himself quickly into the narrow space above. Pinkamena cursed as she was crushed between loose soil, gravel, and the body of her husband, shouting curses in his ear as Sleipnir forcefully squeezed his huge body up into the opening before yelling as he launched himself upwards just as the Takers flooded into the tunnel below, the earth crumbling down in a thick hail of soil as Sleipnir's escape caused part of the tunnel to collapse.

It disoriented the Takers, as they screamed and howled in frustration, clawing at the loose dirt pouring down over them ... and Sleipnir grinned slightly before he leapt backwards and slammed both front hooves hard against the ground, sending a tremor through the earth. It made the tunnel below shake violently, and Sleipnir roared as he slammed down into the ground again, and the unstable soil collapsed in a thick avalanche as the enormous earth pony quickly leapt away, burying the Takers beneath them in a prison of dirt that would take them quite a while to dig out of.

Sleipnir grinned to himself, nodding with a pleased look as he backed away from the sunken sod and crumbled earth, a single Taker's claw uselessly sticking out of the ground and flailing around. The enormous earth pony turned, Pinkamena looking moody on his back, streaked with filth and dirt... and then both ponies stared as a massive, beetle-like monster crashed down in front of them, roaring through its dripping mandibles at them as its eyes glared at them with unintelligent fury beneath a tiara of blade-like horns. Its broad wings buzzed loudly before the huge, steel-like carapace on its back sealed closed: ugly barbs and sharp, rippled edges stuck up from the uneven shell here and there, and it had six squat legs beneath it that all ended in dangerous-looking hooked talons, Sleipnir giving the creature a look of disgust as he muttered: “Well. I suppose 'twas too easy, aye. Fly, phoenix!”

And with that, Sleipnir leaned forwards and bucked hard, and Pinkamena grinned as she hauled herself upwards by Sleipnir's shoulders at the same time, launching herself off the enormous stallion in a straight tackle into the beetle's mutated, scaled face, knocking its head back as its mandibles clacked wildly.

It reared back as Pinkamena jackknifed its head, seizing it by the horn and the side of the face as she yanked back and braced her rear hooves against the back of its shell, and the monster howled in frustration as its head was pulled back. The monster's squat legs clawed at the air as Sleipnir dropped low and shot forwards, then rammed his shoulder in a rising lunge into the monster's stomach, knocking it back and exposing the soft, writhing gray underbelly of the beast.

The beetle howled, stumbling backwards on its two hind legs as its four other limbs writhed and flailed at the air before Sleipnir leaned forwards with a grimace and slammed a front hoof forwards: the punch was so fierce that it sent almost his entire front leg ripping into the monster's stomach, and the beetle howled as Sleipnir winced in disgust before leaping backwards and yanking his leg free in a burst of dark-colored blood and clearer juices.

Pinkamena grinned as the creature writhed in pain, trying to bend forwards: but before it could, she kicked off it and dragged it forcefully backwards by the head. It squealed, then crashed down on its back as the half-demon hit the ground and rolled, her eyes blazing as she shouted: “Finish the goddamn thing off, you pansy!”

Sleipnir only grumbled as he ran forwards, leaping above the beast as it convulsed on its back, legs clawing wildly at the air, then he crashed down on top of its breast, stomping both front hooves savagely downwards to crush in its frail chest. The beetle howled in misery and fury, eyes glaring out of its sockets as Sleipnir looked down at it with distaste, then shouted in frustration when the monster wrenched its head forwards and vomited out a blast of sticky green goo over the pony.

It splashed over him, dripping down in thick ropes: but in literal moments the viscous goo hardened, and Sleipnir cursed in pain, the greenish, now rock-solid gunk burning where it clung to his body, cementing him in place on top of the beetle's chest. Pinkamena gritted her teeth as the beetle writhed once, drool dripping down its maw as it began to reach up with one limb... then the creature shivered before finally falling limp with a rasp, the light fading from its eyes.

All the same, Pinkamena could hear a buzzing in the distance, and the howl of those monsters... could see the dirt shifting as Takers industriously tried to claw their way out of the soil. The demon grimaced up at Sleipnir, but the enormous stallion gritted his teeth before he grunted and threw his head back, flexing his body and shattering most of the greenish cement imprisoning him.

He shook himself out with a curse of frustration, wincing as he ripped his hooves slowly free of the indents in the monster's body as Pinkamena grunted and jerked her head at him, saying mildly: “Fun as it is to see you beat on things and vice-versa, we better get out of here, Slippers. One-on-two might be fun but I'm guessing these things are trying to swarm us in numbers for a reason.”

Sleipnir grunted, grimacing as he shook his mane out before making a disgusted face as he realized the vines were saturated with greenish cement as well, grumbling under his breath before muttering: “Aye, thou speaks the truth, much as I wish to bring the wrath of Asgard down upon these living aspects of blight for the damage they have done to my pretty mane. We must fly from this place with all haste.”

Pinkamena nodded, then she frowned and tilted her head when Sleipnir gave a few small, whispery sneezes before shivering once, shaking his head out briskly. “Damnation! Let us move, and quickly at that, before my cold worsens.”

He began to run onwards, his hooves automatically finding the easiest path over the rough terrain as Pinkamena turned to follow after him, hesitating for only a moment before she asked in a quiet voice, her features softening for a moment: “You okay, Slap?”

Sleipnir smiled softly over his shoulder at her, giving a brief nod as he replied quietly: “Thou only ever calls me that when thou art afraid for me, for whatever incredible reason I have earned for thou to care so deep upon the behalf of this foolish stallion... but of course, my darling. Fear not, the monsters merely carry some weaker form of Cancer's plague within their veins, and likely in that blasted goo I was showered with... we are not all so fortunate to be demons of Gluttony, sweet phoenix.”

Pinkamena closed her eyes, smiling softly... but a moment later, she glared ahead, snorting and running up beside the enormous stallion to firmly check him, saying irritably: “Then just don't slow me down too much with your stupid girly sneezes, got it? Besides, you and me should be able to make it back to Ponyville in a few hours instead of a few days, don't go disappointing me now.”

“Never! And they are not girly sneezes!” Sleipnir argued, and Pinkamena only gave him a dry look even as they weaved easily around the trunk of a burnt-down tree, then both leapt off the edge of a short cliff to land in the field below, turning their eyes ahead as they ran with all speed and strength towards Ponyville. Side-by-side, they shot forwards, Mother Nature seeming to guide their hooves as they moved like the wind, and even as their eyes looked ahead, the focus of the two was clearly on one-another, protecting and supporting each other in spite of how often they seemed at odds.

Both only hoped that Hevatica had arrived at Ponyville with all haste... and that this awful swarm following behind the two ponies could be defeated, and the monstrous Queen that Sleipnir had only caught a glimpse of stopped before its hordes began to spread across all of Equestria.

Attempted Quarantine

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Chapter Twenty Eight: Attempted Quarantine
~BlackRoseRaven

The news was grim: Celestia wasted no time the moment Hevatica made her report to send out an alarm to Canterlot and the Starlit Knights, warning Equestria of the impending threat. Even if it was clear Cancer was guiding his monstrous 'bride' right to their doorstep, intent on revenge, there was no telling how the bug-like creatures Hevatica reported would act, and to what lengths they would go to try and attain food.

The moment Sleipnir and Pinkamena returned, Celestia sent the demon to Subterra to request further reinforcements from Selene and dragged Sleipnir into a tactics meeting. Sleipnir had only complained once about being covered in goo before he consented to helping, showing how serious the situation truly was... and making a lump form in Celestia's stomach out of fear for what they were up against. Sleipnir, after all, had run laughing into battle against Tyrant Wyrms.

With the aid of both Sleipnir and her scrying mirror, Celestia was able to isolate several choke points in the route the monster would likely approach them from. With her mirror, she was also able to get a glimpse of the beast they were up against... but the shape of the awful thing was horrifying, caught only in patches, so large and with so many Takers swarming around it that Celestia was unable to see anything except that the hideous thing was so enormous it would tower over even dragons.

Pinkamena was the only one who seemed to find anything to smile about ironically enough, taking a strange pleasure in the fact they had adopted her name for the monstrosities. She returned from Canterlot with Aphrodisia with good news, however, that lightened the mood a little: Selene would come herself to help preparations, and with as many demons as she could gather.

Celestia was already making plans, estimating the speed of the monster, keeping an eye on the swarm through both her scrying mirror and a Pegasus watchpoint she had ordered set up on the clouds above Ponyville, high, high in the air above, and developing where they could best attack. Discombobulation was following her around, carrying an armload of papers and supplies for her and looking unnerved by the recent turn of events, while Zecora and Meadowlark were hurriedly mixing up potions and salves for those who would be involved in the battle ahead.

Celestia estimated that the monster and its horde would reach the first choke point in the mountains by early afternoon tomorrow. Since her attempts to contact the Strange Ones' village had failed, she thought she had confirmed the theory put forwards by Sleipnir: Cancer had destroyed the Strange Ones, captured the imprisoned Queen Chrysalis, and mutated her into the monstrosity now marching against them. Celestia didn't want to think about how powerful Cancer truly was if he could perform such a dark, miraculous transformation... and she shivered despite herself, taking a moment to breathe as she shook her head out and muttered: “Nothing miraculous about it, no...”

“You're thinking about things that should not be again, Celestia...” Discombobulation said quietly from behind her, and Celestia closed her eyes, breathing slowly. Her armor gleamed over her body in the darkness... not that it was all that dark. It was the dead of night, but all of Ponyville was lit up with preparations for war, Nibelung running back and forth, demonic reinforcements marshaling outside the walls, organizers and administrators heading to the library and the first regiment of Starlit Knights sent from Canterlot as further aid and reinforcements just arriving. It was noisy, lanterns burned brightly, and Celestia could feel time slipping steadily away between her hooves like sand.

All the same, she forced herself to calm down and breathe a little, turning around to look up at Discombobulation as he shifted a bit, looking at her with honest concern on his features. She smiled faintly after a moment at him, then said softly: “We're all what we're not, aren't we?”

“I couldn't've put it better myself.” Discombobulation replied gently, then he shook his head a little and said hesitantly: “Maybe it doesn't mean much, coming from me, even now... but you are already strong enough to deal with things. I believe in that, and I believe in you, as much as I believe in unicorns and mad hatters and wonderland. You aren't a monster. You're a monster slayer.”

Celestia looked away, then she nodded a little before saying quietly: “It means more to me, coming from you, Discombobulation, than you'll ever know. I need you standing beside me on the field today... even if you don't fight. Do you understand?”

“I understand, and am honored and a little insulted. Of course I'm going to do my best to fight beside you, even if I happen to be the as useless and difficult to master as Momoko. What's the punch button do again?” Discombobulation paused, then leaned forwards and looked over Celestia meditatively. “You? You're more like Samus Aran. Before the fans started howling over the betrayal of her characterization in that one game. But I've never seen you roll up into a little ball, can you do that, Tia?”

“You should know I'm very flexible by now, Bob.” Celestia replied with a bit of a smile, and the Draconequus cleared his throat loudly before the ivory winged unicorn shook her head slowly, hesitating for only a moment before gesturing towards the library. “You're right, though. I shouldn't be wasting my time out here. The Starlit Knights will inform me if something changes, let's head to the library to discuss the plans with the others.”

“Good. Sometimes taking a step backwards in taking a step forwards.” Discombobulation said gently, and Celestia nodded slowly in agreement as she turned, heading calmly down the street with the Draconequus in tow, blue-armored soldiers, ponies, and other entities hurrying past in groups as they fortified Ponyville and went about the many other tasks that had to be seen to. “Also, Celestia, while I'm sure this is going to sound a little cowardly... are you sure you want to put so much weight and emphasis on trying to stop Frankenstein and his evil bride at the first of three possible ambushes?” A pause, and a grumble. “Wait, should have gone with a Bride of the Monster reference there. Comparing Cancer to the creature of the Modern Prometheus makes me feel like I'm comparing McGonagall to Shelley. Uh. Percy, not Mary. Confusing, I know. I bet they could put on a hell of a poetic duel with Luna and Scrivener Blooms, though... although I'm not sure who I'd put my money on. Luna only wishes he could write like either Shelley but I'm not sure their words would be powerful enough to stop Scrivener Blooms from simply beating them into the ground and declaring herself the winner.”

“I've always liked that you refer to my sister and my brother like that, Discombobulation, by each other's names... for some reason, it... it's always carried a strange reassurance.” Celestia said softly, glancing over her shoulder at the Draconequus as they approached the library door... and then she hesitated before adding quietly: “Thank you for always knowing... when to distract me from my own thoughts. I don't deserve your kindness.”

“You deserve that and much more.” Discombobulation replied gently, and then he winced when Celestia looked up at him pointedly, before grumbling and leaning down, making a face as Celestia leaned up and kissed his cheek. “Maybe Freud was right. I have a feeling you'd be like my mother, if I had a mother.”

Celestia only smiled again, then she flicked her horn to open the door and stride inside, Twilight looking up with relief as she stood up, saying quickly: “We were just trying to settle on our plans, Celestia... we could really use your help.”

“Aye, nothing is better than thy sharp and terrible mind, big sister.” Sleipnir added from where he was sitting beside Antares, before the enormous stallion smiled benevolently as he reached up and ruffled his nephew's mane, making him blush. “But Antares is beginning to show quite an excellent eye himself, and I only hope he stays much less scary than thou art.”

At the other end of the table, a little apart from everyone else, Selene slowly rose her head with a soft smile, her dark, galactic eyes seeming to shimmer strangely as she said softly: “Do not fear... Antares' path is very different from the one the Dawn Bringer walks. Is that not so, Valkyrie?”

“It is.” Celestia said quietly, as she strode towards the table and glanced back and forth: Zecora, Meadowlark, Prestige, and Greece were all in attendance as well, and the ivory winged unicorn took her seat between the dwarf and the Nephilim as she asked gently: “How's Cowlick holding up?”

“She's...” Greece hesitated, looking out over the table, and then he sighed a little at the quietly-insistent look that Antares gave him. “She's not well. Crazy mare was already back in the laboratory earlier this evening, but... even though she knows how to do things, it's like her hooves have forgotten how to work, fancy-corn. I thought at first it might be just her memory, something temporary... but when I suggested that, she yelled the entire construction process for the small engine she was trying to piece together at me and then said she just... couldn't...”

He quieted, and Zecora shook her head slowly, saying softly: “There's no magic potion that can give her that back... we'll only have to hope it's a temporary loss of track. Where is she now, Greece, Artificer? She's not still in the labs amidst such an emotional twister?”

“No, no. Thankfully, Ross came by, picked her up and brought her back home...” Greece shook his head and laughed a little after a moment. “It's funny to think of, but he really does just as good a job at taking care of her as she does of him. I've heard from a few sources that the Cowlick we know is much easier to work with than the Cowlick of the past.”

“Yeah, I can believe that. I just hope she's okay.” Twilight murmured, but then the Lich shook her head, smiling a little as Discombobulation sat himself down beside her before she gestured over the rough map laid out over the table: it was little more than a large sheet of paper that several distinct marks had been drawn on, with a bit of roughly-drawn territory around each of these points. “Look at this, though. We've drawn this up quickly and illustrated the choke points, and we were wondering if we should redistribute the attacks... if we concentrated our ambush at the second point...”

But Celestia only shook her head slowly, saying quietly: “I appreciate your desire for caution, but the most effective place we can strike is at the first choke point on the map. Does anypony know if the estimated time of arrival for the monster has changed? And are there any signs of Cancer's presence?”

“He's there.” Antares said quietly, before he could stop himself, and then he blushed and shook his head hurriedly when Celestia and most of the other eyes around the table glanced towards him. “Sorry, Aunt Tia. I... no. And Mom's been keeping track of the rate the monster's moving at...”

“No changes since ten minutes ago. We're checking every half hour, and we'll check every fifteen minutes before we leave.” Twilight replied quietly, and Celestia hesitated, then nodded slowly when the Lich gave her a quiet look. “We're going to go in as prepared as possible, Celestia. But why is it so important that we hit it at the first area? This... isn't just about revenge, is it?”

“No, I... no.” Celestia looked up, then smiled a bit and shook her head slowly. “I promise that it's more than that, and more than wanting to be out on the field myself, as part of an aggressive assault force. I honestly believe it's our first and greatest chance to stop the monster, and hopefully put a stop to Cancer as well. Furthermore, at that distance, once their Queen is dead the rest of the Takers may either disperse or may settle into the area, but that's assuming we're able to eliminate Cancer as well or they don't try to follow him, as he apparently commands this monstrosity.”

There was quiet for a few moments, Celestia lowering her head in thought before she said softly: “Our plan of attack is simple and direct. This section passes through mountainous terrain, and the straightest route towards us is over a natural highway of stone that crosses a gorge: the highway itself is heavy and wide, and the mountains on either side of the region form a natural wind tunnel. We'll exploit this: we should be able to create a tempest powerful enough in that area to force the Takers to the ground. They may attempt to rush us, but we should be able to hold their forces back if they're only able to come from one direction and forced to do so over ground. And when the Queen passes onto the bridge, we blow it out from under her with a mix of magic and explosives provided to us by Greece and other Nibelung.”

Twilight nodded hesitantly, before Celestia closed her eyes and said quietly: “But it will require a very powerful force to ensure the success of this attack, yes. Myself, Twilight Sparkle, Sleipnir, many demons... and Antares, if you're willing, I could use your aid as well to marshal the forces. Both demon and Starlit Knight respect you and will listen to you, especially acting as a lieutenant passing on my orders. It would be greatly appreciated.”

Antares nodded slowly, swallowing a little as he shifted at the thought of this responsibility, but Celestia smiled at him reassuringly after a moment, raising her head and opening her amethyst irises to look at him squarely. “I believe in you, Antares. I wouldn't be giving you this responsibility if I didn't... and if what I was saying wasn't true.”

“I shall also be there, Antares... and I speak for many in Subterra when I say that I think you are a worthy inheritor to your mother, Brynhild.” Selene added softly, her dark, deep, unknowable eyes settling slowly on the young stallion. Antares looked back at her, although he clearly seemed a little unsettled, and the two studied each other before Selene's strange smile spread a little wider. “Yes. Good.”

Antares got the feeling she was responding to something apart from his reaction, like she was reading into him far deeper than he was able to read into her... before something gnawed at his senses, and the young stallion slowly turned his head to look at the back stairs of the library. A moment later, Discombobulation did the same, scowling, before the chimerical creature asked sourly: “And precisely what are you doing here?”

“Hey. Hey. Don't be like that.” Allonym said mildly from where he was calmly, complacently sitting on the steps, his cane resting against the stairs beside him and one of his energy drinks in his laced-together hands. Most of the eyes in the room stared at him, although he only visibly winced when the Nephilim turned her endless gaze on him, flinching away a little as he lowered his head and mumbled: “One of these things is not like the other...”

“It's alright, Avatar. None of us here would do you serious harm... not at this moment in time, in any event.” Selene said softly, but Allonym didn't seem to take this quite as reassurance, only mumbling a little as he shifted nervously. “We welcome your help, with open arms.”

“Ponies don't have arms.” Allonym muttered mostly to himself, then he shifted a bit again nervously before clearing his throat, adding dryly as he half-raised the can to his lips: “Also, the whole staring at me thing? Not a great way to make me feel welcome and stuff.”

Silence fell for a few moments as Allonym sipped slowly at his drink, and then Celestia finally cleared her throat, tossing a pointed glance at Discombobulation when the Draconequus began to open his mouth before she returned her gaze calmly to Allonym. “Then if I may be direct, Allonym... why are you here? We can use all the help we can get, but we aren't all as appreciative of your... methods.”

“I know. You're mad at me. That's understandable.” Allonym shook his head a bit, saying finally as he rose a single finger, gesturing with the can in his other hand. “In all fairness, I did try and warn Cowlick the ambush wouldn't go as well as planned-”

“Maybe something a little more than just a warning was in order, Allonym... and why didn't you tell us about that giant monster on the march here?” Antares' voice was sharp, sending surprise through some of those sitting at the table, although Celestia and Selene both only looked at the young stallion quietly as he sat up and asked almost angrily: “Well? You said you were here to help!”

Allonym grumbled a bit, shifting on the stairs as he sipped at his drink again before replying in a surlier voice: “I am here to help. You don't have to be all... bossy now, Antares. That's not cool. As much as I understand your frustration, yes, but you should be mad at the giant blob, not me. The giant blob made stronger and who got the week-long vacation from reality thanks to a certain other patchwork doll in this room...”

“You know, there's a new biography of Quisling, I think you might like it.” Discombobulation remarked sourly, glowering over at Allonym, but the Avatar only sipped moodily at the large can in his grip with a grunt.

“Sure. No idea who that is.” he replied after a moment, when the metal-armed Draconequus continued to glare, and now Discombobulation huffed in response and shifted awkwardly, gesturing lamely with one hand.

“Uh, Norwegian guy, World War II traitor. The fact I have to explain this kind of takes the edge off my flow.” Discombobulation paused, then he reached up and moodily rubbed at his metallic arm, adding mildly: “You're no fun at all, you know that? And I really hate not knowing if you're just playing along and lying to me or you're telling the truth. You're confusing, and I enjoy that, but you confuse me, and that's far less fun than when everyone else around me is confused.”

Allonym grunted, and then Celestia leaned forwards and asked quickly, before anyone else could further interrupt: “What kind of help are you offering us, Allonym? Especially because you've hinted in the past that the use of your powers doesn't come without some kind of cost.”

For a few moments, the chimerical creature hesitated, and then he sighed a little and nodded, shifting on the spot. “I'm offering... direct help, direct aid. I want to take part in the defense of Ponyville and I want to offer what abilities I do have to be put to use at the bridge. I can make minor adjustments to reality and descriptions without creating a flux or a recoil, or worst of all, a paradox... and I may not be as well outfitted power-wise as your standard Draconequus-”

“Like Discord says, he's a poser.” Discombobulation said seriously, looking around the table and nodding a few times to himself. Allonym looked at him sourly, and then the chimerical creature rose his hands with a huff. “It's not my fault that you're about as big a fraud and charlatan as Mr. Satan. Your hair's a little nicer, though. Just a little. Do you think their hair gives them power or something, because that's the only explanation I can think of for why most anime characters have crazy hairdos with the spikes and the defiance of gravity and the endless bottles of hairspray that must be required.”

“Could we get Discord's help as well?” Celestia asked curiously, and Discombobulation almost fell out of his chair as Allonym looked up in surprise, the latter which was mirrored by everyone around the table. For a few moments, there was silence, and then Celestia smiled a little before she shook her head slowly and said quietly: “I'm very well aware we need absolutely all the help we can get. Discord isn't our enemy, he's simply... what he is. And he would be a great help in dealing with what's to come, even if I know what we're asking is... short term.”

“You should never ask Draconequus for anything different: how much they cooperate and how long they stay depends entirely upon their whims, after all... and well, how much they happen to like the people they're working with, but that can change too.” All the same, Discombobulation smiled a little over at Celestia, before he sighed and glanced over at Antares, adding drolly: “Do me a favor and keep the poser here. If you'll all excuse me, however, it seems that I need to go and tell a certain Draconequus that we absolutely do not require his help and want him to stay as far away from Ponyville as possible.”

With that, Discombobulation slowly climbed to his feet, standing up on the chair and bowing politely once before he swayed on the spot and clapped his hands beside his head, vanishing a moment later in a puff of neon smoke. Those gathered looked far from surprised, but Zecora turned hesitant eyes to Celestia after a moment, asking slowly: “Celestia, I trust you and the decisions you make... but are you sure this is the wisest course of action to take? Discombobulation I understand is a friend, and Allonym I see is... of a particular bend...”

“Are you calling me gay?” Allonym asked mildly, looking up, and then he sipped slowly at the drink in his hand as the zebra gave him a moody look. “I'm not gay. Not even in the happy sense of the word. Do I look happy to you? I'm never happy. How dare you accuse me of being happy? Zebras.”

“I would ask you to treat me with more respect, but I have the feeling you have some mental defect.” Zecora said mildly, and Allonym opened his mouth, then closed it slowly, only glowering at her before the zebra sighed and returned her eyes to Celestia, saying in a quieter voice: “As I recall, the Discord of this world started as a foe: how can you be sure he won't just work to bring us woe?”

It was Twilight who answered, the Lich looking up and saying softly: “It's not in his nature to, Zecora. Besides, if he wanted to attack us... there have been many opportunities since he's been freed, and even when he was forced to fight us for Clockwork World... the only reason he did was to save his own life. In a way, he was even trying to save us... better to be surrounded by chaos than death, by his own admission.”

The zebra looked for a few moments at the violet mare, and then she softened and smiled a little, saying quietly: “Twilight Sparkle, you'll never change... seeing the best in everyone, no matter how strange. I wish I could be as open-minded as you are, but my clan and I are much less open to the bizarre. We never really recovered after our dealings with Veliuona the witch, and even now... it's hard to make my views switch. But Twilight, whether or not you're of a... a different mold... I want you to know that you are still my friend when all is told.”

Twilight bowed her head with a blush, and Zecora nodded after a moment, drawing her eyes to Celestia. “So if Twilight speaks for him as well, then I suppose your plan is swell.”

“I hope so, Zecora. I'm not entirely sure how Discord will respond but... I do have faith that Discombobulation will be able to figure out one way to get him to help us.” Celestia hesitated, then she looked over at Allonym, asking quietly: “How much will you be able to help us?”

“Enough, I hope, to make a difference.” Allonym replied quietly, then he shook the now-empty can in his hand before grumbling and tossing it away, and it vanished after a moment before the Draconequus sighed and sat back, rubbing slowly at his face with one hand. “I can help with the weather conditions, my powers allow for that much. And even though I'm an absolute wimp I can stand on the front lines and draw their attention. Thanks to my uh... special position given to me by management, I'm just about indestructible. I just wish that also came with being immune to pain and actually being able to defend myself more properly.”

He quieted, and Celestia nodded slowly before her eyes turned to Prestige, asking the young mare quietly: “Would you be adverse to joining the front lines as well? We can use every little bit of magic we can get to ensure the storm is powerful enough to drive the Takers to the ground.”

Prestige traded a look with Antares, who gazed at her with concern, but then she nodded slowly... before surprisingly, Meadowlark looked up and said quietly: “I'd also like to be present as field medic... if you're okay with that, Zecora. But I know you wanted to mix up more powerful potions, and I want to respect your traditions and privacy...”

“I have no need to keep such arts secret from you, young Meadowlark... but I agree, you're ready for this, even though it will be no walk in the park.” Zecora said quietly, nodding firmly before she turned her eyes to Celestia, adding softly: “I will remain in Ponyville and mix what potions and salves that I can make... I only hope that you won't need to use them, for all of our sake.”

Celestia nodded slowly, then turned her eyes to Greece, who hesitated before he said finally: “We won't have the carbines ready before tomorrow at the earliest... and even then, we'll only have a handful assembled, fancy-corn. But in an hour, the explosives should be ready... you'll have to travel carefully, though. They'll be volatile, and I'm not sure how you plan to detonate them...”

“Leave it to me.” Celestia smiled slightly, shaking her head and asking quietly: “They'll be able to level the entire highway of stone?”

“Friend Illyria is examining the layout of the natural bridge as we speak now, he'll find the most vulnerable points to target with the few explosives we'll be able to provide.” Greece answered, the dwarf nodding quickly before he hesitated, and asked finally: “Are you sure you want to go ahead with this, Baroness? I don't doubt in your wisdom, but we are acting with great haste...”

Celestia nodded slowly, bowing her head forwards before she said quietly: “We have no choice. We have to put a stop to Cancer and his bride, and such a terrible force cannot be permitted to reach Ponyville. They'll overwhelm and destroy the village, and we can't let that happen.”

There was silence, and then Allonym snorted in amusement, murmuring: “Takers. Not bad. Simple, but somehow effective... and Cancer called his 'Queen' Griselda. But he's part chaos after all... he's as fond of wild references as any Ginnungagap entity.”

“Griselda...” Antares seemed to taste the word, then he shivered and looked over at the Draconequus, asking quietly: “What can you tell us about Cancer, and... Griselda, Allonym? Please. Please tell us. Please don't hold anything back.”

“Kid...” Allonym hesitated, then he sighed before smiling faintly, shaking his head slowly as he closed his eyes. “Alright. Fine, let's break a few more rules, why not? The worst that can happen is that I get fired, right? Well. No, worse things than that could happen, but...”

He quieted, looking over at the group as the table of ponies looked back at him, and then Allonym closed his eyes and bowed his head forwards, saying quietly: “I don't know all the details, but I can at least shed a little light on how Griselda came to be... and why Cancer was attracted to her in the first place...”

Antares stood silently beside Celestia on the wide, natural stone bridge, looking straight ahead. They were both wearing freshly-polished armor, and Tyrfing gleamed almost eagerly on the much-larger winged unicorn's back as she asked quietly: “You feel it, don't you?”

“I can hear them, Aunt Tia.” Antares whispered, and Celestia frowned a bit as she tilted her head towards her nephew, who shivered once as he stared past the open, gaping maw of the mountains in the distance, on the other side of the bridge. “Not just the buzzing of their wings, but... I hear this... humming in my mind. They're not far away now... but I know that just like I can hear them, they can sense me. They know I'm here, so Cancer knows I'm here... I'm just not sure how deep that awareness goes. If they know that you're all here, too, if they know about our plan...”

Celestia nodded slowly, looking down at the young, glossy-black unicorn before she turned her eyes ahead, saying quietly: “It may be because of your ability to see into others, Antares. Pinkamena did suggest they were telepathic and Allonym confirmed they have a hive mind. But either way, it's too late for them to turn back and it's too late for us to change our plans. Maybe this will play to our advantage, though... Cancer and his Takers may become overeager.”

The young stallion closed his eyes, nodding hesitantly, and there was silence for a few more moments before Celestia glanced over her shoulder at the sound of hooves. She smiled after a moment at Twilight Sparkle, who was wearing only her collar and her earrings, stitching flexing a little over her body as she smiled hesitantly. “We're ready.”

Celestia rose her eyes slightly, looking past the Lich: Selene, Burning Desire, Pinkamena, Hevatica, Aphrodisia, and many other demons all stood at the ready in a double-line that stretched across the wide base of the bridge, along with her golden-armored Yamato Guard, Sleipnir, Selene, and others. Behind them, Prestige and other unicorns were putting the finishing touches on a simple runic circle: very basic magic, but it would allow them to better pool all their power together. Allonym was standing near the unicorns, drinking one of his energy drinks and looking nervous, while Discord was sitting on a ledge above, slowly eating popcorn out of a large paper bucket.

Above, Pegasi had gathered some patches of cloud to form one large bed, upon which a firing line of Starlit Knights now rested with rifles at the ready. And a little ways behind them, Rustproof and Greece were working with the rest of their support crew, ensuring everything else was in order and that if they had to make a hasty retreat, they would have a clear path.

The ivory mare nodded slowly, electricity sparking through her rainbow mane as she turned her amethyst eyes back ahead and said quietly: “I'll join the unicorns in the concentration circle in a moment. Antares, I'm leaving you in charge of the front line. You need to let us know when the Takers begin their approach: we can't risk letting any of them cross that gorge.”

She paused, studying the enormous, expansive bridge: it was almost half a kilometer long and wide enough that at least thirty ponies could stand side-by-side on it comfortably. The rock was thick and ancient and worn more on one side than the other, and Celestia only hoped that Illyria was right about the placement of the explosives across the natural structure, hidden on the underside of the stone.

Then she glanced towards Antares, who was still staring forwards as well before she reached up and gently touched his shoulder, and he twitched before looking up sharply, then blushing and dropping his head forwards, mumbling: “Sorry, Aunt Tia, I... yeah. Of course, I'll do my best, I promise. I won't let you down.”

Celestia nodded slowly, gazing at him quietly before she turned her eyes towards Twilight Sparkle, saying quietly: “Tell the others to get ready. I have a feeling it won't be long now before we see the enemy, and I have a feeling that once they make their appearance, things are going to move very quickly. Let's just hope it all plays into our favor.”

Twilight nodded, then she glanced at Antares as the young stallion took one last glance down the bridge before turning. He and Twilight fell in pace, heading back to their appointed positions, while Celestia turned her gaze back forwards, amethyst eyes grim. She felt a curdling in her stomach and a distinct tingling in her veins... she felt the tenseness of the coming battle growing moment after moment, and the ivory mare took a slow breath before she closed her eyes and bowed her head forwards, murmuring: “May Odin's memory watch over us and grant us strength and victory. Let fortune favor our boldness and courage.”

Then Celestia finally turned, heading back through the battle lines: she nodded to Antares as she passed, then paused and smiled a bit when Sleipnir reached up and touched her shoulder, returning the gesture before they traded a slow nod. Then Celestia continued on her way, striding towards the circle that the unicorns had gathered around, some of them with their horns already glowing as they focused their magic.

She looked back and forth, then turned calmly around, clearly speaking to the group even as she gazed ahead and Twilight and Prestige stepped up to either side of her: “Remember. Don't just concentrate on the amplification circle and each other, our powers are going to be further enhanced by our other allies as well. Together, we'll create the initial storm: it will be up to you to maintain it for as long as possible, however, while Twilight, myself, and the others deal with the enemy.”

The other gathered unicorns all nodded: they were all dressed in the armor of the Starlit Knights, all clearly nervous but ready to do their part. Celestia glanced over her shoulder at them, then gave a small smile as she said quietly as she carefully stepped backwards so her rear hooves were within the line of the runic circle: “Don't forget to keep part of your body inside the circle at all times. Otherwise, the connection will be broken and your magic will not work as effectively.”

The unicorns nodded again, and Celestia gazed back ahead, focusing on Antares... and the young stallion flinched a bit as if he felt the white winged unicorn's eyes on him, breathing a little harder before raising his head and gritting his teeth, murmuring: “I... I got this. I can handle this. But that buzzing in my head...”

“They're going to be drawn to you, Antares.” Allonym said quietly, and the young stallion glanced to the side, somehow unsurprised to see that the Draconequus had decided to come and stand here with him, in front of the battle line: at the very tip of the spear. “Cancer hates you. And they sense you, they smell you, precisely because of that. They're Takers: what better thing to take back to their greedy master than you?”

Antares shivered a little, and then he and Allonym both turned their eyes ahead again, looking down the bridge before the Draconequus sighed and swung his cane up to absently slip it beneath one arm, pulling out his journal and a fountain pen. He let the book spill open, the pages rustling before he looked down and smiled, laughing a little as he poked at a line. “Hey, I remember writing this... these silly little tidbits I record, they're often what I'm proudest of, you know? No, it's... stupid... what few parts I actually am...”

He halted, then shook his head and smiled slightly, closing his eyes as he murmured: “Not important right now.” Allonym flipped absently through the book, then settled on a blank page, glancing up before he murmured quietly: “Descriptions, descriptions. I actually hate descriptions, you know? But you don't half-ass things, that's what I've always believed.”

“Okay, here we go...” Allonym's fountain pen scratched quietly over the paper, and a soft rumbling filled the air before all eyes glanced up in surprise as the skies above darkened slightly, a pall of clouds slowly rumbling in from all around them with surprising swiftness. A moment later, several dry, dead leaves breezed quietly by, and Antares wrinkled his snout in surprise as one tickled along his muzzle before the Draconequus smiled slightly. “Okay, okay. Too much flourish, got it.”

The breeze picked up, became an ill rasp that groaned quietly in the natural tunnel formed by the rounded gorge: it bit like winter's breath that had hidden from spring, felt as cold as the northern wind. Allonym grunted as he looked ahead, closing the book before he tucked it away as several ponies shivered as the bitter wind dug into their bones as the edge of it brushed against them... but at least the looming mountains to either side gave them some shelter. There was no protection out over the bridge itself, as dust and pebbles were brushed from the smooth surface of stone by the grasping claws of the growing gusts. “There. That should keep up for a while.”

Antares nodded, then frowned as he heard something rising higher over the groans and rasps of the wind... before he leaned back, eyes widening, as he saw something moving in the distance. He looked down as he felt a weak vibration... but soon, it became a tremor that only grew moment by moment, and he looked up sharply as shapes began to rise through the air before the young unicorn shouted: “They're coming!”

Moments before there had been nothing: and now, at the other end of the bridge, a dull buzzing was growing louder and louder with every passing moment as a swarm of Takers filled the air, flying eagerly above some gargantuan shape grinding and yanking itself up the steep mountain pass on the other side. And Antares could almost hear Cancer's eager cackles as more insects raced fervently over the length of the bridge, moving with horrible speed before Celestia's voice commanded sharply: “Now!”

The chorus of rumbles and buzzing from the other side of the bridge was met and joined by a growing hum from the gathered forces, and Antares winced at the build of power in the air before he began to raise his own horn... but Allonym reached sharply down, grasping the young stallion's horn and shaking his head curtly, and the glossy-black unicorn hesitated... but then only nodded quickly, before looking forwards again, breathing hard as the feeling of growing energy built around them, and the winds hissed as that power began to fill the air...

Celestia, Twilight and Prestige leaned forwards, bowing their heads as the unicorns behind them all did the same, the runic circle pulsing with light beneath their hooves as the Yamato Guard all bowed their heads forwards, pouring the fury of their Nightmare powers into the mix as well. Discord flinched away from where he was still sitting on the ledge, and Discombobulation only stood calmly amongst the demons and others, watching beside the other warriors as all around them, ponies, creatures of darkness, and people of every other shape and size and caliber poured their strength into the growing storm.

There was a crackle above... and then a blast of lightning shot down from the sky, striking and chaining between several of the higher Takers as the clouds rippled and swirled. Insect-beasts squealed, and then began to zigzag violently in the air as the windstorm picked up, the whisper of the wind becoming a hiss, becoming a snarl, becoming a furious roar that tore down the natural wind tunnel before slamming with hurricane force into the first wave of the swarm that was attempting to cross along both bridge and through the air.

Takers were knocked out of the sky and thrown from the bridge like straw in the tempest, hurled screaming in every direction as panic rippled visibly through the swarm: in the mountains on the other side of the gorge, those unfortunate to be close enough to the natural tunnel were yanked forwards into the jetstream, shrieking as the vicious swirl of wind smashed their bodies fiercely into the mountainside and hurled them like puppets down into the sharp rocks waiting eagerly below. Much of the swarm was forced to land, screeching and screaming over the wind... before a horrible, earth-shaking roar ripped through the air, almost disrupting the concentration of the ponies as Antares' eyes widened in horror.

Griselda snarled as she yanked herself up into the mountain pass, leaning forwards as her monstrous jaws dripped ooze and slime, her green eyes glowing with mindless, poisonous light. She dwarfed even the dragons Antares had seen by far, towering to the sky like an ominous, living mass of flesh and poison and bone and death.

Scale-like plates covered her features and body, of black and dark green, but they didn't line up properly, often stood out like ridges, and had peeled off here and there, revealing bruise-colored flesh beneath. Her shoulders were enormous, and pustules and massive cable-like veins stood out of her here and there, pulsing with venom and corrupt blood. She reached one immense, gnarled claw forwards to seize into the bridge, and she dragged herself slowly forwards with gargantuan, oversized arms that pulsed with raw flesh, as a thinner, emaciated set of forelegs standing out of her underbelly clawed cloven, broken hooves against the rock, helping to yank her slithering lower body forwards.

She reached her other arm ahead, growling, seizing into the side of the bridge and pulling herself fearlessly into the wind: it whipped up the scraggly blue vines that remained of her mane around the tall circlet of horns and thorns sticking up from the top of her head in a grisly, mocking crown. She bowed forwards with her movement, and her humped-up, hunched back bulged and flexed, countless pustules and what looked hideously like birthing pods and eggs clinging to her warped flesh and the oversized, exposed vertebrae of her spine all rippling with her movements.

Antares moaned in horror, shivering and stumbling as yells and howls rose up through the crowd: Griselda was almost too wide for the bridge, the stone creaking under her weight as her Takers swarmed visibly up along the thick, serpentine body-tail that made up her lower form, leaving a trail of greenish slime behind her with her movements like she was some immense slug, tiny legs all along the length of this ticking and trying to help propel her forwards. She was horrifying; she was malevolence, embodied; she was Cancer's ultimate creation.

“Look at it! Push through your fear, Antares, and look at her!” Allonym shouted, grasping the back of the young stallion's head before he pointed at her, and Antares moaned in horror, but forced his eyes forwards, studying her, every detail, forcing himself to stare before his eyes widened in shock as he saw what the Draconequus wanted him to see. He saw what this beast truly was: a living, mobile hive. The Takers' Queen, and the Takers' nest, all in one.

The monster leaned forwards, clawing into the bridge, yanking herself upwards again even as the winds only grew fiercer, and then Antares looked over his shoulder as Celestia strode quickly through the battle line still standing ready despite its horror, the young stallion shouting: “We won't kill her if we blow the bridge!”

“We have to try. We at least have to hope it stops her here.” Celestia replied calmly, despite the faint tremble that ran through her body. And then she glanced over her shoulder, shouting sharply: “Discombobulation!”

“No, let me show the puppy how it's done, he'll wet himself otherwise!” Discord shouted clearly over the wind, and the Draconequus leapt to his feet with a grin that did nothing to hide the terror in his eyes as he vanished from the spot, while Discombobulation simply flickered out of existence himself. For a few moments, there was nothing, as all eyes looked in horror to see the monster dragging itself even closer, snarling eagerly as it loomed over them even from only halfway across the bridge, countless Takers clinging against their Queen even as the whipping storm blew insect-beasts from its body now and then. Almost the entire swarm had landed on her, and Antares gritted his teeth, hoping his instincts were wrong before a massive bang ripped through the air over the sounds of both the focused tempest and the countless eager Takers and their Queen.

Immediately, Celestia flicked her horn firmly, creating an enormous wall of golden energy in front of them as the immense monster twitched with a rumble, the bridge rattling beneath her before there was a second massive blast, and this time the ponies were able to see chunks of stone flying in all directions out from beneath Griselda as she was rocked by the blast, before the monster pitched backwards with a roar of shock as the massive stone bridge all but disintegrated beneath her and she was pitched down into the gorge below. Takers were thrown from her body into the merciless winds and fell around her in a hail of bodies and screams, before the whole world seemed to shake when the Brobdingnagian monstrosity struck the bottom of the gorge far below, kicking up a cloud of dust that was quickly blown away by the tempestuous winds.

Unicorns stumbled out of the circle, and cursed in pain as recoil blasted over their horns, Prestige crying out and almost knocked flat as the powerful windstorm was almost immediately choked off, dying back down to a weak, cold breeze. For a few moments, there was only silence apart from the sound of shifting rock and stone plummeting down to land on soft carcasses or bounce along tattered cliff-side, and a few last bits of debris that had been flung high bounced uselessly off Celestia's shield: most of the bridge had collapsed, the only exception being the hundred feet or so of cracked stone outcropping in front of them.

The glow around Celestia's horn faded, and with it, the barrier disappeared as well, the ivory equine leaning forwards and looking out over the gorge silently. On the other side of the mountain pass, the Takers that had been left behind were buzzing wildly around, visibly agitated but like they had no orders and no sanity... at least for the moment.

The silence spiraled out, and Celestia and Antares both traded a nervous glance... then looked sharply up as a voice rasped: “You cowards, you traitors, you scum...”

There was a rumbling, a shifting... and then, at the jagged edge of the bridge's remains, a white claw appeared and seized into the stone before Cancer yanked himself up with a snarl, his red eyes glowing but a twisted grin on his face as he hauled himself upwards. Antares gritted his teeth, a tremble of fear running through him as the destruction entity strode forwards, looking like he had completely healed from the battle only a day ago as he licked his teeth slowly.

He faced them fearlessly, his eyes glowing brighter as he dug his claws against the ground, shaking his head slowly as he chided: “You dumb, numb, stupid little bite-sized treats don't get it, do you? You ain't done nothing but piss me and my old lady off now, you hear? Unless this is all one big misunderstanding, and you're just gonna quietly march on over here and offer yourselves up one by one to me and her in apology... and ooh, if you're nice, I just might let you choose your method of sacrifice...”

“We're here to stop you, Cancer. To destroy you. You will not take another step towards Ponyville. Here and now, you and your so-called 'bride' are both going to be destroyed.” Celestia said quietly and calmly, leaning forwards as Tyrfing lifted free of her back and into a ready position in front of her.

Cancer only grinned, however, leaning forwards as he giggled insanely, drooling a little as he whispered: “Oh yeah. White weasel, and the zombie, and the punk kid who I... I...” Cancer gargled, then dropped forwards, his red eyes glowing brighter as he almost convulsed.

“Hate-kill-destroy-eliminate-loathe-fear-murder... must murder... must kill... revenge, hunger, you are mine...” Cancer gurgled, then he threw his head back and screamed, even the fiercest of demons shivering at the sound of the howl before Cancer suddenly looked forwards again, grinning and posing as if nothing had happened as he tapped his hooves cheerfully back and forth against the ground in a quickstep.

“The kid who I'm gonna rip up and rip down and take out on a date in town. A dinner date. My dinner, to be precise.” Cancer said conversationally, and then he giggled a little before rubbing slowly at his features, beginning to breathe a bit harder as his eyes glowed brighter. “Oh, but this time I got plenty of friends of my own, see, who are all so eager to fight you for me...”

The mottled white destruction entity leaned forwards, then he began to step ahead... before snarling when Allonym stepped quickly ahead, spinning his cane around by the neck and pointing it at the monstrosity as he said quietly: “I don't think so. I think you should just stop right there. I'm not letting you get your greasy, cheating claws on these ponies if I can help it... I think I can throw at least one more wrench into your plans.”

“Get out my way, patchwork poutine! I'll deal with you later, eat you up nice and delicious with a side of cheese!” Cancer shouted angrily, clawing at the ground before he stepped forwards... and Allonym gritted his teeth, tossing his cane in the air before he caught it by the handle and slammed it savagely point-down in front of him, cracks radiating out through the stone as the rolling clouds above rumbled before unleashing a blast of lightning that hammered into the broken bridge halfway between him and the monster.

Cancer yelped as the surge of electricity blasted and arced across the bridge, thunder rumbling and energy crackling through the air around them as the Draconequus leaned forwards and shouted: “Go back to the Void! You shall not pass!”

Cancer rasped hard, eyes wide as the electricity continued to surge between them before the lightning finally died out... and then the monster snarled in fury before roaring and running forwards... only for Allonym to raise his cane in front of himself and simply flick it to the side, and the cracked, damaged bridge beneath the destruction entity shattered and erupted upwards. The mottled white monster shrieked as he was knocked stumbling, then dragged backwards as the remains of the bridge collapsed, leaping desperately forwards.. but it was too little, too late, as Allonym only smiled calmly from where he was standing at the safe edge of the natural bridge before he began to turn away.

Cancer screamed in fury, lashing one foreleg upwards as it erupted into a mass of tentacles, and several of these gouged uselessly into the stone side of the cliff... but one of them managed to wrap around Allonym's ankle, dragging him backwards as his eyes widened in surprise before he fell forwards with a wince and clawed wildly at the ground as he was pulled backwards. And all eyes could only stare as the Draconequus barely managed to snag the edge of the cliff with a wince, gasping in pain as Cancer grinned savagely up at him, red eyes glowing as the Avatar looked over his shoulder with a curse of pain as his blood spilled down the tentacle as others snapped cruelly back and forth, before he whispered: “Fine. We'll do this part of the reference, too.”

And with that, Allonym looked forwards, grimacing at the ponies as Antares stumbled towards him, but was thankfully caught by Discombobulation when the metal-armed Draconequus appeared beside the young stallion before Allonym barked as he felt Cancer beginning to slowly reel himself in on his own mottled appendage: “Fly, you fools!”

With that, the Avatar simply shoved himself backwards off the cliff edge, and Antares leaned forwards, yelling the Draconequus' name as Discombobulation seized tightly into his shoulders, stopping the young stallion from charging stupidly after the falling creatures. Allonym snarled as he spun around, cane still in hand as Cancer screamed in fury and outrage before lashing his other foreleg up as it exploded into a mass of tendrils that ripped savagely across Allonym's frame, sending up blood and making the chimerical creature howl in agony as Cancer yanked himself up while gravity pulled them both down, down, down...

Cancer's jaws bit at him, but Allonym managed to get his hand under the destruction entity's chin even as the awful, thorny tentacles constricted him with all the more force, as the Avatar leveled his cane up with his other hand, then thrusted it viciously forwards, plunging it through Cancer's chest. It tore all the way through his body, and the destruction entity screamed in shock and agony, his grip on the wounded Draconequus loosening enough that the chimerical creature was able to shove himself firmly away with a gasp of pain, tearing free of the monster's coils before he simply vanished in a burst of green electricity.

Cancer clawed wildly at the air, shrieking as he fell until he crashed down in a splatter on top of the fallen body of Griselda. The monster gargled, his red eyes flickering as his forelimbs slowly knotted back together and formed back into claws, and he rasped in and out as his body flexed and shivered around the cane buried through his frame, reaching up and grasping weakly at the handle of the walking stick pierced through him and now buried into the flesh of the enormous monster he was laying on top of, snarling in fury. “Gonna... hurt them all... so bad...”

Slowly, the monster began to sit up, mottled flesh shivering and then ripping as he yanked himself free from the cane that had been pinning him like a bug, and the destruction entity grinned insanely as he flopped forwards, grasping into the hot, pulsating flesh beneath him as his breath whistled in and out while the wound in his body healed. Then he threw his head back and howled before suddenly racing forwards, tearing along Griselda's slumped body as the stunned and confused Takers all responded with shrieks of their own, raising their heads high before Cancer reached the gigantic monster's upturned stomach, and a shuddering maw in her strange and alien body.

He tore into this, and heat and darkness surrounded him for a moment before the monster lurched into a cavern of flesh and bone and chitinous plating. Honeycombed passages led in all directions, and small, sleek insects were racing around, hissing quietly to each other as they moved eggs and frantically worked to repair their Queen: their Hive.

And in the center of it all, the floor pulsating around her, thick veins and cables of flesh pulsing down from her back and into the fleshy ground she herself was melded into, was Griselda. Her upper body was layered with black plating and her eyes were closed, blue, ragged mane spilling around her tiara of three tall horns. She had long, gangly arms that ended in dexterous claws, and Cancer licked his lips as he approached her before cooing: “Sweetie, time to wake up now... honey-buns, I know you took a big nasty fall, but now Cancer's gonna make it all better...”

The monster grinned as his red eyes glowed, then he leaned forwards and breathed toxic, poisonous gases out over her features, and Griselda shivered... then inhaled slowly as her eyes glowed, before she snarled and opened her mouth wide, hissing loudly. Cancer only chuckled however, slipping around her sinuously, reaching up to massage her shoulders lightly as he whispered: “They're waiting for us up above. They're stunned and scared and don't know what to do. Get moving, honey, and I'll sing you a song.”

Griselda hissed again, then she threw her head back and screamed, and Cancer cackled as the walls rippled... before the outer shell, the living hive that both was and protected Griselda, slowly began to haul itself up to its claws, throwing its head back with a roar that shook the mountains and awakened the Takers from their stupefaction as their horns all glowed brightly.

Then, in one, awful wave, the Takers that had survived began to flood towards the wall of the gorge and threw themselves into the air, shrieks and buzzing filling the air as above, Celestia cursed and shouted: “Now, now, we need the wind now!”

But even as the wind began to grow in strength again, the Takers began to surge upwards over the lip of the gorge, moving with awful rapidity as they screamed and shrieked: more buzzed quickly into the air, and Celestia cursed as she gestured with Tyrfing sharply to the battle line. “Hold them here! Destroy them!”

Even if their numbers had been severely reduced, the Takers still greatly outnumbered the ponies... and even if Celestia had withdrawn the battle line slightly and Antares was delivering orders to Greece for her – and hopefully by now, helping with their escape options – the moment the monsters had reconnected their hive mind they had all begun to move en masse on the offensive. And worse, the confused creatures on the other side of the gorge were no longer confused, and rushing eagerly to join their brethren in a full assault.

The Pegasus snipers above targeted the flying Takers first, but they were sleek and fast: any hits scored came mostly out of raw luck and the fact that the swarm was moving in so thickly that any shots were bound to hit something. But it did also draw the attention of many of the insect-beasts, which buzzed greedily towards the line of rifle-wielding Starlit Knights.

One of the soldiers panicked, yelling and flinging his rifle away as he turned to flee into the sky, while others fired and some of the Pegasi tossed their guns down to engage in the melee; a moment later, the group of Takers buzzing towards the Pegasi was greatly reduced as a massive blast of flame ripped through the air and tore through the center of the group, the bodies of the bug-beasts catching quickly alight as they screamed and shrieked and panicked.

Below, Burning Desire snarled as he flicked his horn hard, sending a second enormous comet of flame rocketing forwards into the thick of another group of Takers, scattering them as he shouted furiously: “Come on, come on, come and challenge us!”

Demons smashed into bug-beasts, and Nightmares in golden armor ripped apart and crushed monsters under their plated hooves beside Celestia, as Tyrfring tore back and forth through the surging crowd of insectile creatures. Takers screamed and fought back savagely, vomiting acid, ganging up on demons, pouncing like animals on the backs of victims to bite and rend. And even as unicorn and demonic magic blasted swathes through the horde and sent entire groups of Takers flying, even as Sleipnir smashed his way through bug after bug and Twilight lashed out with spells that reduced masses of the monsters to ashes, there were always still more flooding forwards: their numbers never seemed to dwindle, they never showed fear, they constantly pressed viciously, cruelly forwards with their attacks.

Prestige stumbled backwards with a shriek as a Taker lashed a claw across her, then she snarled, eyes and horn both glowing as she swept her horn viciously downwards and sent a blade of fire shooting forth, slicing through several of the bug beasts before it exploded in a blast that rattled the cliffs. Then she cried out in fear as behind her, a unicorn mage was tackled to the ground, screaming as the bugs began to rip and shred him apart, jaws biting and savaging before she leapt out of the way when another Taker dove clumsily at her from above, crashing uselessly into the ground before she turned and sprinted hurriedly towards the nearest ally.

Discombobulation cursed as he slammed his metal fist across the jaw of a Taker that threw itself at him, knocking it sprawling before he winced and snapped his fingers as several more lunged at him: instead, they only crashed into walls of thick plate glass that formed around him, then toppled onto the aggressive bugs, squashing them flat.

The Draconequus cursed, then looked up as Prestige ran towards him, making a face before he stepped quickly forwards as a baseball bat appeared in his grip, and he swung this firmly out as Prestige ducked with a wince before the steel bat collided with the face of a lunging Taker. It was knocked flying with a squeal, and Discombobulation quickly spun and flung the bat into the face of another bug creature, knocking it rocketing into the air with a shriek as he shouted: “You better be Zelda, not Jigglypuff!”

“This is no time for jokes! What do we do?” Prestige cried, even as she flicked her horn firmly, a spike of rock tearing out of the ground and knocking another Taker flying backwards with a howl... but two more were already rushing forwards greedily to take the place of their fallen comrade and renew the attack.

“We try really, really hard not to die!” Discombobulation answered in a strangled voice... and then he cursed and staggered, the mountains rumbling as another roar echoed up from below, and the Takers all screamed a response that made the strained fighters all flinch before the Draconequus howled in pain as one of the insects ripped its claws into his chest as it tackled him backwards.

Prestige immediately turned with a yell of shock, snapping her horn out on instinct more than anything else, and a blast of flame hammered the monster off of the chimerical creature. Then she shrieked, beginning to turn as more beasts lunged in towards her back... but in a moment, Twilight was in front of her apprentice, the Lich snarling and simply ignoring the claws that ripped into her body before she snapped her horn back and released a powerful shockwave of force.

It smashed the insects around them backwards, and they squealed and writhed before Celestia's voice rang out through the mountains, as an enormous claw smashed through the remains of the stone bridge and seized into the side of the ragged cliffs: “Retreat! All forces fall back!”

Prestige turned to bolt at this order as Discombobulation staggered to his feet, beginning to hurry away before he frowned and looked over his shoulder at Twilight, who was only staring towards Celestia... Celestia, who was standing near the edge of the cliffs in dented and blood-splattered armor with her loyal Yamato Guard around her, and Discombobulation mouthed several choice words as Twilight ran straight into the horde of Takers between her and the winged unicorn, the Lich blasting and rushing through them as the bug-creatures swarmed wildly after the fleeing warriors of Ponyville.

“Oh hell.” Discombobulation groaned, then he winced and smacked a Taker that lunged at him, knocking it flat before the Draconequus vanished from the spot... and reappeared beside Celestia just as she viciously slashed another of the bug-creatures in half, the chimerical creature wheezing: “And just what about you, Tia?”

“It's not time for me to run yet.” Celestia said quietly, glancing over at the Draconequus with a faint smile even as Griselda slowly hauled herself upwards with a furious roar, Takers continuing to flood towards them... but met with Celestia's sword, the Yamato's hooves, and the claws of demons like Atrus and Hevatica, driving them back and keeping them at bay. “You don't have to stay, Bob.”

“And never hear the end of it? I don't think so.” Discombobulation replied quietly, then he winced as a blast of force ripped through the nearby crowd of Takers and sent them bug creatures flying in all directions as a flayed Twilight Sparkle finally lunged forwards to join the pocket of resistance standing near the end of the pass. “Oh good, you made it.”

Twilight only smiled faintly, then turned her eyes calmly forwards even as one of Griselda's roars echoed through the air around them, vibrating the ground beneath their feet and sending stones tumbling down the side of the cliff it was clinging to, the monster snarling as the Takers all shrieked in what sounded like triumph. The knot of warriors stood proud, though, heads raised and fearless as the Takers fell back slightly, no longer attacking but forming a perimeter as Celestia, Twilight, and Discombobulation looked calmly up at the sight of Cancer as Griselda rose her head high and hissed slowly.

“Oh look at this, look at this, look at what we have here... are you the entertainment for today, boys and girls? That's too bad... but hey, intelligence is the better part of cowardice, ain't it? Or are you really the brave and noble jackasses who thought they'd stay behind as munchies and crunchies for all my kiddies while your friends ran back home crying?” Cancer leaned forwards, red eyes glowing mockingly from where he stood on Griselda's skull in front of her natural crown, the destruction entity licking his lips slowly. “You look so stupid and small down there, white weasel, zombie, and patchwork toy... ooh, yes, three peeps I'm gonna take my sweet, sweet time with...”

Celestia only smiled calmly, however, glancing over her shoulder even as enormous Taker Beetles and stranger-still insect-creatures swarmed forwards, the ivory winged unicorn asking quietly: “If you're so confident, Cancer, then why exactly are you hiding up there, while we're all right here? Although it is a little disappointing how much of your army's chosen to pursue my friends and allies... I was hoping for a better challenge.”

“Cocky little bitch!” Cancer threw his head back and laughed, the mottled-white entity grinning slowly as he licked his teeth eagerly, entertainment gleaming in his eyes, and then he leaned forwards and whispered: “I promised my sweetie here a song, and I think I got just the right one to deliver. Tell you what, white weasel, you and your friends make it to the end of the tune without being subdued by my love-children, and I'll kill you fast. Scout's honor, won't turn you into a monster or nothin'.”

“You fail to recognize one important thing, Cancer.” Celestia said quietly, closing her eyes as she bowed her head forwards and electricity sparked through her mane... and then she looked coldly, sharply up, flares of golden light bursting through the air around her and transforming into three golden short swords. “I'm already what many would consider 'a monster.'”

Tyrfing and the short blades lashed out, ripping into the crowd of Takers and sending up thick gouts of green and black blood, and Cancer threw his head back and laughed before he crowed: “Get 'em, boys and girls!”

Monsters swarmed forwards on all sides as more leapt into the air, shooting eagerly down... and as Celestia, Twilight, Discombobulation and their allies met them, the destruction entity threw his head back with a whoop before he started to sway his head back and forth, shaking his body as he chanted:

“Oh, oh, oh, oh, hey! Time to dance, time to sing, time to play,
It's my favorite part of my favorite day:
Killing time! Ha, ha, ha, yeah!

Oh-oh-oh! Oh-oh-oh! Party time, let's go, go, go!
We gonna have ourselves some fun today and all night,
We gonna cut 'em down... we gonna bleed 'em dry-dry-dry!”

Celestia snarled as a Beetle lunged at her, smashing the flat of Tyrfing into its features to knock it staggering backwards with a rasp before all three of her short swords plunged forwards just over the back of its head, sinking deep through the back of its neck just above the shell. The monster fell limp, and Celestia leaned forwards as her swords yanked free, blasting the immense corpse rolling backwards and knocking Takers flying like bowling pins.

Another Taker lunged in at her side, but one of the Yamato intercepted it, yanking it out of the air and crushing it into the ground before the golden-armored, faintly-steaming Nightmare kicked another of the bug creatures away when the Taker tried to pounce on its back. The bug-beast had only a moment to squeal before it was disintegrated by a blast of magic from Twilight, however, as the Lich fought viciously, her remaining stitches straining and popping as steam hissed up from her undead body, bared teeth and glowing eyes making her all the more fearsome a sight to behold.

And Cancer laughed at the sight, grinning viciously as one of the demons was buried under a swarm of bug-creatures and a Kelpie was covered in goo that rapidly turned solid, leaving her vulnerable even as Yamato rushed to try and defend her. And still, the mottled monster sang:

“You know, you know, you know you ain't got what it takes to fight,
Baby-baby-baby, it's too late to set anything right!
Yeah, yeah, all you can do, all you gonna do is... die!

“Oh, sha-da-do-da-do-do-bop, oh whoa, how it's gonna hurt,
Oh, sha-dee-da-do-da-what

the hell?” Cancer almost bit his own tongue as as a rumble went through the air and there was a flare of vibrant light in the distance, Griselda rearing back with a loud hiss as Takers all looked up and shrieked in confusion.

And then Griselda gave a furious roar, her eyes glowing brighter as Cancer snarled and gazed off into the distance, cursing under his breath as he anchored himself and stared in shock at the sight of golden flames burning violently along the mountains, Celestia looking up and shouting as the monster was distracted by the sight of the trap that had hopefully incinerated most of the Takers: “Hit her with everything you've got!”

Celestia snapped her horn upwards, and there was a flash of light far above, a blast of flame forming into a golden meteor that shot from the skies and smashed directly into Griselda's face. The tremendous explosion knocked the monster off balance and sent flames ravaging along its skull, Cancer knocked flying from the blast with a squeal of shock back into the depths of the gorge behind it. A moment later, a blue fireball smashed into Griselda's features, erupting in a tremendous boom before Twilight snapped her horn down with a yell, even as the rest of the stitches violently snapped over her body and she visibly rippled.

An immense bolt of lightning hammered down from the skies, smashing across Griselda and jolting violently over her body, the monstrosity dropping its head forwards and hunching up its gnarled shoulders with a howl of pain and shock as electricity jarred between its horns, the Takers around them screaming in pain.

Before Griselda could recover, Discombobulation gritted his teeth and reached behind himself, then yanked a long, thick green tube out of seemingly nowhere, raising it to his shoulder. He pulled the trigger, and there was a burst of sound and a blast of fire as a rocket shot from it to hammer into Griselda's features, exploding in a tremendous, neon bang of smoke and fireworks and flames as the monster's claws dragged trenches in the rocky earth.

“Idiot ponies can't do anything right!” snapped Discord's voice from where he was standing on a nearby ledge and glowering down at the scene. Then he winced as several of the Takers below screamed up at him, before the Draconequus hurriedly snapped his fingers when Griselda began to lean forwards and regain her senses.

The earth the monster was clinging into transformed into what looked like chocolate pudding, and Griselda's heavy claws sank into this as she slipped backwards before howling in fury and frustration as she tumbled off the ledge. She crashed back down into the gorge below with an enormous rumble, the Takers shrieking and seeming to panic as a sludgy waterfall of chocolatey goo poured down over the monstrosity that had tumbled down into the gorge.

Immediately, Celestia turned around, flicking her horn sharply to send a blast of fire ripping through the crowd of Takers, and a straight corridor was blown through the disoriented bugs as creatures shrieked and yelped, before the ivory winged unicorn shouted clearly over the din of howling bugs: “This way, now!”

Discord simply made a childish face and blew a raspberry and vanished from where he had been standing, as Celestia led the others on a sharp, hard charge through the thin gap in the ranks of insectile creatures, knocking the Takers that got in their way flying or trampling them under hoof. Discombobulation vanished himself once he saw things were clear, and the demons burst into dark smoke as the Yamato Guard stayed close by Celestia, Twilight rasping hard as she followed in her flayed body before snarling over her shoulder as the thronging bug creatures began to regain their senses, as a roar from Griselda surged through the air.

The bug creatures turned, and Twilight looked ahead as Celestia looked back: now it was only them and the Yamato Guard, and far ahead down the mountain pass, Twilight could see not only wreathing, gray smoke rising to the skies, but yellow flames still dancing back and forth: holy fire that had charred many of the bugs into ashes or turned them into broken, burning stone statues. And Twilight breathed hard before she gritted her teeth, letting herself fall back as she shouted: “Go!”

Celestia was loathe to... and yet knew no other choice, rushing onwards and clenching her eyes shut. It wasn't farewell, with Twilight being who and what she was... but all the same it hurt, and she knew it would hurt Antares, as she and her armored bodyguards ran straight at the wall of golden flames. And even with the screaming and the crackling of fire, even as the ground vibrated from Griselda's roars of outrage and fury and Celestia thought that in the distance, she could hear the faintest sounds of her friends and family fighting off the Takers that had survived the blessed oil trap that Greece had laid... everything seemed silent.

Sound wasn't sound, it was something else, something she almost felt, like prickles on her skin... until that one sound she was listening for came, and it took all her strength not to look back as the explosion ripped through the air. She felt herself singed by the touch of it, and at the same time, the blue flames almost caressed her: to do a little more damage to Cancer's forces, to buy them the time to escape, Twilight had used herself as a decoy and detonated her body.

Nothing that would kill her... but now they would need to find her a new body, and she would require a period of rest after such a massive magical exertion. And now Celestia would have to explain to Antares why Twilight wasn't coming back with her, why over these next few crucial days, Antares would be without a mother and they would be without the help of one of the greatest ponies Celestia had ever had the honor of meeting and knowing.

They charged into the wall of holy fire, and Celestia closed her eyes as the Yamato around her gleamed brightly, their armor protecting them from the flames, while Celestia felt only the faintest pain as her mane and tail glowed brightly and surged with electricity. They ran through the inferno... and Celestia only hoped that they would be enough to hold off the monstrosities behind them for just a little while longer while she tried to figure out a way to destroy destruction incarnate.

Do Something

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Chapter Twenty Nine: Do Something
~BlackRoseRaven

Antares shivered a bit as he sat with his back to the library door, simply breathing slowly in and out. He closed his eyes, then swallowed thickly as he tilted his head up towards the night sky, feeling the moon's rays shimmering down over him quietly before he murmured: “I just... Mom, Dad, if you're out there somewhere, if you can somehow... help... please. I could... we all could really use your aid right about now.”

“They are always with you, Antares, even when they are not.” said a gentle voice, and Antares twitched before grimacing a bit at Selene as the Nephilim slowly strode towards him, a soft smile on her face. “Greetings, young prince.”

“Selene...” Antares murmured, and he looked slowly over the strange creature, before half-turning his head away and mumbling: “I don't know if I can honestly say it's good to see you or not. Maybe it's not fair, but you didn't do a whole lot to help out... in fact, it seemed like you were happy to just sit around and watch us all struggle until Greece finally lit the holy oil.”

“I suppose I was confused. Normally I am not permitted to fight or show great feats of power... worry not, in the future, I will remedy this.” Selene smiled gently, then she added softly: “Besides, what does it matter? We have eradicated many of the Takers. You and Celestia spoke at great length before she left again... the Dawn Bringer will no doubt figure out a way to stop the monster.”

Antares was silent, and Selene's endless gaze seemed to intensify, the Nephilim tilting her head with interest. “You are angry with her. And afraid... and do not believe that things will work as hoped.”

The glossy-black young stallion closed his eyes, bowing his head forwards as he reached silently up to place with the onyx star hanging around his neck as he murmured: “What's the point in trying to lie, Selene? It's one in the morning, my Mom is... gone again... Celestia is being blinded by emotion and she made me stay here. She barely took the time to wash off the blood and repair her armor before she ran back out to the battlefield with Sleipnir. Pinkamena, Apps, you, and a whole bunch of other demons are all on duty too, I know... but right now, she's out there, with my uncle and a whole bunch of Starlit Knights and Nibelung and... I barely even know what they're doing.

“I get that I'm young. I get that... she wants to protect me, and protect Ponyville. But at full strength, with a massive army, with a trap that worked perfectly... we still... people still...” Antares shivered. “And Cancer and Griselda shoved us back. If we hadn't had luck on our side, if Greece hadn't been preparing that escape plan... the Takers would have chased us all the way into Ponyville. We would have all died...”

Selene only smiled, however, asking gently: “Then what would you have her do, Antares? What would you do, given the situation? It is easy to criticize, but-”

“You know that's not what I mean!” Antares replied in a frustrated voice, stomping a hoof against the ground, and then he clenched his eyes shut when Selene only gazed at him almost tenderly. “I... sorry. It's just... everything that's happened...”

“I cannot say I understand... but I sympathize, young Antares. At least to a point.” Selene replied softly, and she looked thoughtfully over the young unicorn for a few moments before continuing: “Celestia is trying her best. But the Dawn Bringer is a creature of passion. She acts logically, yes, and her stratagem is always sound, but she is all the same driven by her emotions. This creates... confusion.”

“I know... I know.” Antares murmured, glancing up. “And it's not that I don't trust her or doubt in her. It's that I'm scared of Cancer and Griselda... that I have this awful feeling in my gut things are going to get a lot worse before they start getting better.”

Selene smiled calmly at this, tilting her head as she asked: “And why is that a bad thing, Antares Mīrus? You long for experiences, do you not? You desire to be on the battlefield, to take on great odds as your parents did. This is that very opportunity; you should be happy for it, young prince of the night.”

The glossy-black unicorn looked almost repulsed at this thought, shivering a bit as he shook his head weakly, and there was silence between the two for a few moments before Selene tilted her head and asked curiously: “What will you do if the Valkyrie fails? How will you lead us if the Dawn Bringer falls? There is no one else, after all, with Twilight lost...”

“My... my mom isn't lost, she's fine, and... I mean, there's you, and Sleipnir, and... and... Celestia is going to be fine!” Antares argued, grimacing and shaking his head hurriedly as he glared across at the still calm, smiling Nephilim. “Selene...”

But the creature only continued to gaze at him with interest in its endless, galactic eyes, before she replied gently: “I am only an administrator first and foremost, Antares. I do not give commands and take leads for my sake or that of others, but merely follow the orders that I am given by the few I find worthy of my appreciation and idolization. The Dawn Bringer has always been most efficient in this... it is why she favors me as head of Subterra. I am a figurehead, and an obedient daughter of the moon: but I am no guide myself.”

For some reason, this made Antares shudder, and he grimaced a little before shifting uncomfortably as he carefully drew his eyes over Selene, trying to read her body language, sizing her up apprehensively. But the Nephilim was almost impossible for him to get a fix on: she was so strange, so alien, and her body stood almost stock-still, never betraying a twitch or a movement, as beautiful and frozen as a statue. Her expressions were like masks, worn in imitation of the emotions around her, like a machine that was trying to convince itself and the world it was alive. The only thing that gave away anything at all was her gaze, but when Antares met those eyes, it was like staring into the depths of space and hoping to catch a glimpse of god among the stars...

Antares realized he was looking into Selene's eyes, and he winced back and closed his own tightly, taking a short, sharp breath as the Nephilim chuckled quietly, murmuring: “Fear not, Antares... fear not for yourself, and nor for me. Simply breathe: what will happen, will happen, and you cannot stop it. You cannot save everyone, but you will not fail everyone either; you are a worthy successor to your parents' victories and defeats.”

“I don't know if I should thank you or be mad at you.” Antares mumbled, and Selene only laughed quietly before the young stallion sighed, looking ahead and saying finally: “Just... be careful, and keep an eye on Celestia. Make sure she gets out okay... that things don't go wrong.”

“I am afraid that last order has already gone wrong, Antares... I do not have the power to force everything to go right.” Selene said gently, and Antares grumbled under his breath as he dropped his head forwards. For a few moments, silence spiraled out, and then the Nephilim turned away and said softly: “Your friends are still awake inside the library. They are scared for you, young stallion. Go, spend some time with them.”

Antares sighed after a moment, watching as the glowing, winged unicorn-shaped creature walked slowly away. He watched her go, then closed his eyes and bowed his head forwards, murmuring: “I guess... I guess I should.”

He shook his head slowly, then turned around and silently pushed the door open, smiling awkwardly as he carefully made his way back inside. Rustproof, Meadowlark, Prestige and Avalon all looked quickly up at him from where they were sitting in an awkward circle on the floor, and the young stallion quietly closed the door behind him as he walked over to join the circle before lowering his head and mumbling: “I'm... I'm okay now. I'm sorry I got so upset guys, I'm being stupid about this whole thing.”

“No, you ain't, Mir. Hell, I was pretty damn angry myself, after all.” Avalon said moodily, looking up at him and nodding once. The tiny Pegasus was wrapped in a blanket, and had a mug of tea in front of her that she kept making faces at, but when Meadowlark reached out and nudged her firmly, the young golden mare finally groaned and picked this up, sipping at it grouchily and shivering once. “I... I ain't so bad off. Really.”

“Yes, midget, you only vomited once tonight.” Prestige said softly, and Avalon gave her a surly look. The two studied each other for a moment, and then the young unicorn mare shifted a little before saying quietly: “I would prefer you didn't die. There aren't many angry shorn-wing runts in Ponyville that I could see myself getting along with.”

“I hate you, Prissy.” Avalon smiled all the same, then she rose her head and shook it quickly as Antares sat down by Rustproof, as the enormous blue pony gave him a nod and a reassuring look. “But hey, I am doing better. I just need sleep. And we all know I'm great at sleeping.”

“Yeah, I don't know if that's something you should say with such pride.” Antares said with a small smile, and Avalon grunted as she sipped at her tea before the young stallion shook his head a bit. “But I'm glad. I really am... you... you all mean a lot to me. I'm glad I can depend on all of you even now, but... Aviator, you should go and get some rest. All of you should, we've... we've all had it rough.”

“No, not yet.” Meadowlark said softly, glancing over at Antares, and Rustproof nodded a little in agreement as the young unicorn stallion looked up curiously. “Antares, we're... we all know that Celestia is setting up something tonight, for another battle with Cancer. Do you know where it's taking place and what's going on?”

“I...” Antares hesitated, and then he nodded after a moment, sighing. “Yeah, I do. I know the basics of the plan... even though Celestia wants me to stay out of this one. The reason Apps isn't here is because she, Pinkamena, and a whole bunch of other demons are getting ready...”

“So's Zecora, but she wouldn't tell me anything about what's going on.” Meadowlark murmured, and then the red Pegasus shook her head slowly, looking apprehensively at the floor. “It makes me really nervous, Antares. Celestia seemed... really angry when she left. And she took most of the Starlit Knights that had arrived with her... what's she planning? The... the attack...”

“Yeah. It wasn't good.” Antares shook his head a little, then he hesitated before closing his eyes. “I think she's going to target the Takers this time... I think she means to destroy as many of them as possible and then... attack Griselda, but I don't know. She was hard to read... she was so focused, so intent, but so...”

He fell quiet, and there was silence for a few moments before Rustproof shifted slowly, then reached up and carefully pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his breast pocket. Meadowlark sighed tiredly and looked across at him imploringly, and then Antares smiled a bit, glancing over at the young male as he said softly: “You better not, Rusty. Not just because you're not supposed to but because if Mom or Aunt Tia smell your smoke in the library, they'll probably do some pretty awful things to you.”

Rustproof paused at this, then slowly tucked the box of cigarettes back away in his pocket before Avalon mumbled: “I could really go for a smoke right now. Or a whole buttload of caffeine. Or one of those pills your Mom takes sometimes, Rusty, that let her work for twenty hours straight. Your Mom's really weird, you know that?”

“Yeah. But she's a good pony. So's Dad.” Rustproof said softly, nodding a little as he smiled a bit and glanced down. “I'm lucky they're my parents.”

Antares smiled a little himself as Meadowlark gazed across at the blue earth pony softly, and Prestige shifted uncomfortably before Avalon said mildly: “Even though Cowlick's kind of psychotic sometimes and you spend like. Ninety percent of your time working?”

“I like working. I like the facility. And I like Momma. She makes me feel just like I'm her real son, after all.” Rustproof replied with another small smile, and the other ponies all looked with surprise at the earth pony before he chuckled a little, glancing up quietly at the others and only giving them a quietly-entertained look.

Prestige was the first to react, shifting a bit before she asked finally: “So you... your parents told you that...”

Rustproof only gave the unicorn mare a gentle look, then he turned his eyes back over the group with a slow shrug. “I ain't stupid. Momma's real strong but she's not too tall. Dad's lanky-like. I don't look none or seem none like either of 'em, too, and... ain't like I never heard none of the rumors or nothing. But it's okay. Momma's my Momma. Dad's my Dad. That's all there is to it.”

There was quiet for a few moments, and then Antares reached up and firmly squeezed Rustproof's shoulder, and the young earth pony smiled softly before Meadowlark murmured quietly: “So I guess you really are lucky in a way then, huh?”

Rusty agreed with a smile and a nod, and Avalon snorted as she sipped slowly at her tea, muttering: “You're way too nice, kid. Me? I'd be breaking things and screaming my head off if I found out I was... you know. But I think that's because... you know. I'm kinda attached to my Mom and Dad.”

“They'd still be your parents.” Antares pointed out, and Avalon blew a raspberry at him that shortly turned into a long yawn. Then she cursed tiredly and slumped a little, rubbing slowly at her face. “Ava, seriously, you should go to bed...”

“Oh, fine, I'm going to go sleep in the guest room then. I'm too goddamn tired to go home and... and Mom and Dad are both gone with Celestia.” Avalon quieted, lowering her head a little, and Antares softened as he inwardly cursed himself: he'd gotten so caught up with everything he'd forgotten that all his friends had plenty of worries of their own. From badly-hurt parents to ones freshly taking to the battlefield... but Avalon seemed to catch the train of his thoughts, looking up with a small smile. “Hey, it's fine. Big Mac and Soarin' will help take care of 'em both, and there's lots of others there and stuff. Besides, Mom and Dad are... they're really tough.”

There was quiet for a few moments, and then Avalon cleared her throat and nodded before putting the half-full mug of tea down and pushing it away with a grimace “Yeah, bed. Bed would be swell. And Rusty, you should head home too. If tough little me is going off to sleep then a big softie like you really should consider hitting the hay.”

Rustproof hesitantly nodded, and then he glanced over at the window and murmured: “Yeah. Home would be good.”

The earth pony climbed to his hooves, and Meadowlark smiled as she stood up as well, saying quietly: “Then I'll walk with you, Rustproof. And Antares... get... get some good sleep yourself, okay?” The red Pegasus hesitated for a moment... then she hurried forwards, and the two traded a tight hug as Prestige glanced awkwardly away. Meadowlark pulled back after a moment, though, and Antares smiled faintly at her before the scarlet Pegasus glanced between the young unicorns, murmuring: “Take care of each other.”

“I promise.” Prestige said softly, glancing almost embarrassedly at Meadowlark, almost like she was ashamed of herself, and Meadowlark nodded slowly before turning as Rustproof tossed the others a quick wave, then followed the mare out. For a few moments there was silence... and then it was interrupted by Avalon sneezing loudly as she looked up at the two thoughtfully.

Prestige and Antares both looked mildly over their shoulders at her, and then Avalon cocked her head and began curiously: “So like, when you two have sex...”

“Oh shut up, Ava.” Antares muttered, blushing beet red, and Prestige grumbled and pointedly looked away as the young Pegasus grinned up at them... then sneezed again, and the young stallion winced a bit as he asked quietly: “Hey, are you sure you're okay? You look kind of... flushed.”

“Maybe I'm...” Then Avalon halted in whatever rude response she was about to give as she visibly swayed on the spot, before grasping at her head and mumbling: “Oh hell. Oh hell, that's not good. Okay, screw this, I'm going to bed.”

With that, Avalon carefully shrugged off the blanket and climbed to her hooves, awkwardly beginning to turn around... but instead, she tripped over the blanket and fell in a sprawl, wings buzzing weakly once as her eyes blinked lethargically. Antares looked down at her with concern, but Avalon only smacked her lips loudly before her eyes slowly closed, and a few moments later, she started to snore.

Prestige looked with disbelief at the tiny Pegasus before Antares sighed tiredly, walking forwards as his horn glowed and gently, carefully lifted the small body of the mare off the ground as he muttered: “I'll put her up in the guest room, Prestige, and meet you in Celestia's room in a minute, okay?”

“Alright, hero. I'll be waiting for you.” Prestige replied softly, and Antares smiled after a moment, nodding to her as he gently dropped Avalon's small body over his back. Prestige leaned in quickly, and the two unicorns traded a gentle kiss before the young stallion turned and headed for the stairs, feeling things inside him... finally starting to settle a little.

He carried Avalon over to the bed and shifted her off to set her down on it, smiling a little as he reached for the quilt at the bottom of the bed... and then he winced when Avalon's eyes opened and she grabbed his foreleg, looking up at him blearily before peering at him meditatively: “Hey. Am I drunk or sick?”

“Sick.” Antares answered awkwardly, and Avalon nodded slowly before she gently let go of him, then flopped backwards and rolled over onto her side, curling up in a tiny ball. The young stallion hesitated, looking at her before he slipped forwards, reaching up to gently brush her rugged mane back as he muttered: “Avalon, you feel really hot... you're... sweating and... I think I should go and get Meadowlark or somepony, or maybe we should go to the clinic...”

“No, fine, I'm... I'm fine.” Avalon mumbled, opening her eyes and blinking slowly before she glanced over her shoulder at him with a brief shake of her head. “No... no hospitals or nothing. And no unicorns or... Meadowlarks or Scarlet Sages... just... put a blanket on me and... let me sleep.”

“Do you want me to get your tea? Or water or anything?” Antares asked quietly, his horn glowing as he lifted the quilt from the bottom of the bed with telekinesis to drape it gently over the Pegasus, but she only mumbled and pushed her face into the bed. Antares hesitated, and then he leaned up and reached out to touch her shoulder, saying quietly: “Okay. Let me know if I can do anything for you, okay? Prestige and I will be in Celestia's room.”

“Getting busy.” Avalon mumbled, and Antares sighed, but at the same time it reassured him a little as he smiled a bit and reached a hoof out to rub her back through the blanket. The tiny Pegasus shifted a bit, then smiled herself, mumbling: “Go touch your marefriend. You wanna cheat on her go see Meadowlark, I'm too... too tired for sex right now.”

“You don't have to always act so tough, Ava.” Antares said quietly, and Avalon was quiet before the young stallion finally nodded a little and stepped back, adding softly: “I'll come check on you later, okay?”

There was silence, and then Avalon mumbled and nodded, seeming to loosen up a little before the young stallion turned away, heading out of the guest room with a smile and back down the steps. Then he frowned and halted in the main room, feeling a chill run through his veins as he looked down at the floor and saw... blood?

Slowly, the young stallion looked back and forth, feeling his mouth go dry as he followed the trail of droplets with his eyes. It led down the corridor, and Antares felt a wild moment of fear as he bolted forwards, knocking the mug of tea still sitting on the ground flying as he rushed down the hall and shouted: “Prestige!”

“Antares?” Prestige sounded confused as she poked her head out of the door, and the young stallion breathed a sigh of relief: before he could explain or even point out the trail of droplets that went past the door, however, there was a loud clanging from the kitchen, and the unicorn mare flinched before gritting her teeth as her horn glowed, trembling even as she forced herself to straighten as the young stallion slid to a halt beside her. “What was that?”

“Let's... let's check it out.” Antares said quietly, and Prestige looked nervous, but she managed to nod all the same. Antares smiled at her reassuringly, then he grimaced as there was a rattling again before starting slowly forwards, with Prestige following just behind.

The two unicorns strode to the kitchen, before Antares flinched at a scraping sound before he gritted his teeth and began to leap forwards: but just as he began to jump, a hand reached into the doorway and seized him by the mane, yanking him painfully into the air as he yelled and he heard Prestige scream before there was a whirl of sound and violence and distortion...

Vertigo ripped through his mind, followed by the very painful, cold feeling of landing with a loud smack on... snow? But... “Sorry. Pain... hurts.”

“What?” Antares shook his head out weakly at the voice, and then he frowned slowly before looking up... and staring in shock at the sight of Allonym, knocking everything else out of his mind for the moment. The Draconequus was a bit pale, his suit jacket hung in ripped tatters, and white, blood-soaked bandages were wrapped all around his chest and here and there over his limbs. Antares could only gape, flabbergasted, as the Avatar slowly straightened before reaching up and rubbing at his bruised features. “Y-You... Allonym?”

“Yes, me Allonym.” the Draconequus muttered, and then he closed his eyes and shook his head slowly, shivering a bit as he hugged himself around the middle. “This sucks. Thank crap it's cold out here and it's numbing me. I'm... healing slower than anticipated.”

“Allonym, I saw you f-fall, I thought... are you... wait, where... where are we?” Antares looked incredulously back and forth as the wind whipped by, kicking up a gust of snow that blew past them, and the young stallion winced and cursed under his breath as he flinched away from the biting frost. He shivered, stomping his hooves in the knee-deep snow as he looked back and forth before realizing he couldn't even see that far: it wasn't snowing, but the wind kept kicking up drifts here and there, swirling the powder into a blinding gale around him, and the clouds covered the night sky above. A moment later, Antares frowned a little, realizing how close the clouds were before he looked sharply back and forth and understood they were standing on some high plateau, likely far above the ground. “Where... why is it... I don't understand.”

The Draconequus was silent for a few moments, but Antares gave him time as he looked apprehensively at the chimerical creature: he looked like he was trying to dredge up his strength, and it made the glossy-black unicorn nervous. How badly hurt was he? Had Cancer infected him? Did- “Enough questions, kid! My head can only take so much right now!”

Antares flinched in surprise, and then Allonym mumbled to himself, closing his mismatched eyes as he rubbed pointedly at his temples. “I'm fine. Sort of. Yes, I look like garbage, and I'm bleeding basically everywhere, but that's not important. Fun fact about being an Avatar: apparently I'm pretty much indestructible and nothing I've run into so far can kill me. Another fun fact: I still feel all the pain and suck and lameness of whatever happens to me.”

There was silence, and then Allonym closed his eyes, rubbing at his face slowly as he mumbled: “I shouldn't've interfered, though. Who knows what happened when Cancer got his tentacles on me? Who knows what I've given him, how much stronger I'm responsible for making him, I'm so stupid, stupid, so goddamn stupid... and now I got no choice but to keep interfering. To try and set things right...”

“Allonym, hey, calm down.” Antares said quietly, stepping forwards nervously, and the Draconequus looked up miserably, before the young stallion shook his head and closed his eyes. “It's my fault. I was the one who kept pushing you... you've been warning us the whole time your powers have consequences... you should have stayed back instead of trying to protect us.”

“No, it's my fault. I tried to make the headlines instead of just sitting back and writing things down like I should have.” Allonym murmured in response, sighing a little and dropping his head forwards. “And now here I am, trying to do it again. We're... I dunno. Somewhere near Celestia's planned ambush. Griselda and Cancer are on their way, they'll be attacking her just before morning. But you can't kill Griselda with a powerful force. She's a living hive... that outer shell, however monstrous it looks, it isn't what's important. You need to kill the real queen inside her... you know that, don't you?”

“I... I don't know.” Antares replied weakly after a moment, and Allonym frowned down at him, tilting his head before the young, glossy black stallion trembled. “I only know one thing for sure, okay? It's that I have a really bad feeling about things. But I haven't had time to think, none of us have, and Aunt Tia is so furious... she wants to destroy that monster at any cost...”

“And that's the catch.” Allonym responded, closing his eyes and shivering a little. “She can, Antares, she can and will destroy the hive. But the cost will be enormous... and it won't kill Griselda. Slow her down, but she and Cancer will rebuild the living hive... will evolve, will spawn a whole hell of a lot more Takers that will be even tougher than the bugs you've already dealt with. You need to convince Celestia to change her plans or draw her forces back or... or something.”

“Or something?” Antares asked incredulously, and then he snarled, leaning forwards and asking sharply: “What the hell kind of plan is that, Allonym? How is that helpful?”

“It's helpful because if you don't do something, you all die.” Allonym retorted, and Antares fell silent at this before the Draconequus winced and looked back and forth as the wind blew and snow blasted over them. “I don't know where we are. I'm hurting too much to get a good lock on anything, I just took you as close as I could manage in one jump. Now go find Celestia and do something.”

With that, the Draconequus vanished in a puff, and Antares cursed under his breath before he closed his eyes tightly, digging his hooves through the snow as he shivered and the wind blew fiercely, pelting him with a wave of snow. He shifted for a moment, then rose his head and gritted his teeth, looking up at the cloudy skies above before he spread his leathery wings and simply charged towards the edge of the plateau.

Antares leapt off, looking down into the white-stained shadows below through a blast of snow and wind, cursing as his leathery wings flapped hard and sent a tremor of pain through his body. He swayed unevenly in the air as the howling wind whipped by, looking sharply back and forth before turning in a slow, wide U, glancing at the plateau he had leapt off of and grimacing: it was almost at the top of what looked like almost a straight, natural tower of stone, and the young stallion shook his head with a curse... then looked sharply back at this landmark, whispering: “Wait!”

With that, Antares curved his flight to the side, letting himself drop lower, remembering when Avalon had pointed it while they were walking... but they had been distant, and the view from the ground had mostly been obstructed because...

“There!” Antares shouted to himself, as his eyes locked on a dim glow coming up from a narrow gorge, flanked on either side by enormous, dangerous cliffs. And then what should have been obvious to Antares from the start finally struck him, and he half-fell out of the air, zigzagging down as one of his wings twitched in midair and refused to flap for a moment. He gritted his teeth, then suddenly spun himself sharply before arching his back, and his whole body flexed as his wings flapped hard and he was able to shoot back towards the skies instead of crashing into snow-covered rocks below.

Snow: he had only half-noticed it before, then disregarded it in his absolute confusion about everything. It looked like the dead of winter here, and Antares breathed hard as he shot towards the gorge disbelievingly. He winged down, curving his flight to dip into the trench, and his eyes widened as he flew low over barricades and traps that were being hurriedly set up: there were countless barrels of Valhalla's oil, unicorns were placing dangerously-glowing runes here and there over the walls and floor of the bottleneck gorge, and demons and Starlit Knights all stood at the ready in-

A bolt shot by, and Antares winced and almost flew into a wall of the gorge as yells rose up through the trench. Knights pointed and stared and called to each other as Antares flailed his hooves, shouting: “Wait, it's me! It's Antares Mīrus!”

There was another rumble through the crowd as Antares winced and let himself drop a bit lower, sailing towards the back of the trench... and then he sighed in both relief and more than a bit of fear as he saw Celestia standing ahead with Sleipnir, the ivory winged unicorn staring up with disbelief as the young stallion dropped to his hooves in front of her with a wheeze. Burning Desire was nearby as well, looking dumbfounded, while Selene only smiled calmly from where she sat against the far stone wall with a bevy of demons in masks, the Nephilim saying softly: “How interesting.”

“Interesting, no. Antares, explain yourself immediately.” Celestia said sharply as she stepped forwards, amethyst eyes flashing, and Antares winced back a bit before Sleipnir quickly strode up to his sister's side and reached up to firmly grasp her shoulder. The ivory mare grimaced, but she seemed to relent a little, sighing quietly before saying in a quieter voice: “I told you to stay at home for a reason, Antares. Did anyone else come with you?”

“I... no, no, I was at the library, and then I found... I mean, I saw a trail of blood. I followed it and Allonym grabbed me and then... we were over on top of that big tower of rock.”Antares said finally, shaking his head out as he looked up at her, before gazing back and forth as he felt a cold, bracing wind whisper through the trench: but even though it was freezing, there was little snow here at least. “What's... what's going on?”

“The cold should help us slow down Cancer and Griselda, and I'm hoping it affects the Takers badly as well.” Celestia shook her head, then she sighed and said quietly: “Antares, if you want to help, you may stay, but we don't have much time to finish preparations. Every second is crucial and I-”

“No, I... Aunt Tia, wait, you need to listen. This... this won't go well. You can't stop Griselda like this, Allonym told me.” Antares said almost desperately, and Celestia frowned, her amethyst eyes darkening as she leaned back a bit. “Griselda's outer body isn't important, she'll... she and Cancer will just regenerate. You have to attack her core. The real Griselda, inside that thing...”

Celestia was silent as she looked down at Antares, seeming to weigh his words... and then, finally, she slowly shook her head, the glossy-black young stallion looking up weakly at her as she said softly: “Antares, I trust you. But I don't know how much I trust Allonym, and I believe in not only myself, but the power of the people around me and the soldiers under my command. Once we bring down Griselda and Cancer, we'll incinerate them both. There won't be a scrap of either of them left behind.”

Antares only shook his head worriedly in response, however, looking up almost pleadingly as he whispered: “Aunt Tia, please, you've never doubted in my instincts before-”

“And I don't doubt them now, but we have no choice but to push forwards.” Celestia said quietly, but her voice carried more of a tone of command, and her eyes betrayed a mounting tenseness that bordered on frustration. “We need to do this. I need to do this, and stop this monstrosity, and this is our best chance to do so-”

“That's what you said last time, Aunt Tia!” Antares shouted before he could stop himself, and when Celestia flinched back in surprise, the young stallion clenched his eyes shut and whispered: “I know you're... angry, and upset and you feel guilty as hell but this isn't the way to solve that, and-”

“Enough.” Celestia said sharply, and then she shook her head, electricity sparking through her rainbow mane as she leaned forwards, eyes cold and dangerous and maybe the slightest it uneasy. But any discomfort she was feeling was hidden in the firmness of her voice, as she ordered: “Sleipnir, take Antares to the rear echelon. He can help clean up.”

Antares opened his mouth, but Celestia only shook her head shortly, holding up a hoof. “No, enough. Burning Desire, Selene, both of you come with me. Sleipnir, meet me-”

“I shall meet thou, where I meet thou, sister.” Sleipnir said courteously, and when Celestia frowned over her shoulder at him, the vine-maned stallion smiled and bowed his head a little, but his gaze carried a gentle chastisement as he said softly: “Perhaps thou shall feel more like thyself when we meet again, Celestia.”

Celestia shifted uncomfortably and turned her head quickly away, closing her eyes... and then she simply gave the briefest of nods before beginning to stride down the gorge towards the front lines. Burning Desire smiled awkwardly at Antares as he followed, and Selene laughed quietly, followed by the masked demons as she gave a curious look to the young stallion as she passed.

Antares only stood with his head bowed, eyes clenched shut as he breathed roughly in and out before he felt Sleipnir's hooves gently grasping his shoulders, as the enormous stallion leaned down a bit and asked quietly: “Tell me what the Draconequus told thee, nephew.”

“He said... I had to do something.” Antares laughed weakly, shaking his head slowly before he looked up into his uncle's concerned, gentle features, and then he smiled weakly. “That was all he said, and I got so mad at him, but he said if I didn't do something, anything... everyone dies. I don't know what to do, though, Sleipnir, I... I just know that Griselda can't be stopped here. Can't be defeated like this... or... I don't know, maybe she can, but if Cancer gets away, or Celestia doesn't... I... I...”

“'Tis alright. 'Tis alright, Antares.” Sleipnir said quietly, and then he shook his head slowly before hesitating and glancing up at the top of the cliffs, murmuring: “Celestia has wagered heavily upon the hope that the monsters will avoid the snow and cold, and will try and attack us directly as they did last time... but we are in a bad position. Oh, aye, Griselda will undoubtedly storm straight down the gorge, and will suffer the full wrath that Celestia plans to bring down upon her head... but if the foe takes even a moment to think, to try and work around our plans...”

“We'll be swarmed from behind and above.” Antares murmured, shaking his head before he frowned and looked up in confusion. “Wait. What time is it?”

“'Tis about four in the morn, why?” Sleipnir frowned, and Antares winced a bit, then shook his head, not wanting to think about how he had apparently lost at least two or three hours of time. He'd thought that Allonym's teleportation had been instantaneous... but now it sounded more like... he didn't even know. He wasn't sure he even wanted to. “Antares, thou should leave, the monster will be drawing within striking distance soon, and mother nature whispers that the enemy is ferocious, and the cold has only worsened their hunger. Find a safe place to watch, and should the worst happen, then thou can-”

“No, I won't... I won't let that happen.” Antares said sharply, and then he looked down the trench, breathing hard before clenching his eyes shut. I have to do something. I have to change things somehow... “I just wish I knew what to do.”

Sleipnir only smiled at this, however, reaching up and silently ruffling the younger stallion's mane, making him glare a little despite himself up at his uncle as the enormous earth pony chided: “Antares, thou hast already done much! Look at thou, standing here with all of us, 'tis something is it not? Unless I am very much mistaken, something can be almost anything... and Celestia took thy warning to heart, I know she did, no matter how... upset... she may have seemed. Celestia is merely... prickly at times. Do not fear, 'tis not thy fault.”

Antares only lowered his head, frowning a bit before he looked up and asked uncertainly: “Is... her plan that good? That... do you think...”

“There is always a chance of victory, Antares. And with Celestia, that chance is usually quite high.” Sleipnir replied gently, and then he hesitated for a moment before shaking his head as he glanced nervously up at the cliffs. “As I said, 'tis only that... I think Celestia overestimates the cutting power of the cold against these monstrosities, and perhaps their minds, but... I do not know how intelligent these creatures truly are, and nor do I dare guess. My beloved sister is enraged... and just as when she was Freya, she seeks blood now, and is willing to take risks to get it.”

“So if you had some way to guarantee they swarmed down the gorge...” Antares murmured, and then he lowered his head before looking up sharply, muttering: “Sorry, Sleipnir, I gotta go do something.”

With that, Antares leapt into the air, flapping his wings firmly as he winced, and the earth pony looked dumbly up after him before grasping at his skull with a groan, shouting: “No, Antares! Oh damnation, sister shall have my head and thine if thou does not come back here!”

The young stallion ignored his uncle, keeping his eyes forwards and staying intent on the path ahead as he shot down the trench. He flapped his wings firmly, propelling himself as fast as he dared as he gritted his teeth, ignoring the pain radiating through his back before he shot over Celestia's head, the ivory winged unicorn looking up in surprise before shouting: “Antares, stop!”

Antares ignored her, even though it took more willpower than he knew he had to resist listening to Celestia: his aunt, his mentor, and a pony he idolized as a heroine, a warrior, and a leader. A pony who was almost everything he wanted to be... even though he was well aware that just like him, she had her flaws.

Then the young stallion winced as he heard a shouted order, and even though he was already moving at breakneck speeds, it was only moments before he could hear two Pegasi behind him, and then Rainbow Dash's voice shouted: “Dammit, Antares, the hell are you doing? You're acting crazier than my daughter!”

“I got him!” Soarin' called, and Antares winced, risking a look back over his shoulder: fast as he was, he was no match for two former Wonderbolts, and two of the fastest Pegasi in Equestria, especially with his aching wings... and then Antares' eyes narrowed before he gritted his teeth, waiting before he sensed more than heard Soarin' lunge with a grunt, and the young stallion simply furled his wings and dropped out of the air.

Soarin' winced as he missed, but without missing a beat, the Pegasus twisted his body and hammered his hooves into the wall, charging along the cliff face before his wings flapped a few times and he launched himself easily back up beside Rainbow Dash, who grinned in spite of himself: now Antares was sprinting along the rocky floor of the gorge, and the powder-blue Pegasus veered down, saying sharply: “Okay, you're fast as hell on hoof, Antares, but I'm still way faster in the air than you and-”

Antares, however, shot the two Pegasi a half-embarrassed grin over his shoulder as his horn glowed, and Rainbow Dash had enough time to feel a moment of surprise before the young stallion's horn flashed brightly, and then he vanished from sight. Rainbow gaped in shock, flapping to a stop as Soarin' stared and did the same, the two Pegasi still able to hear the young stallion's hooves against the rock and see a strange twist of light here and there, but both were too stunned to keep up the pursuit... and Rainbow Dash was well aware that while nabbing Antares would be difficult to begin with, stopping the young stallion while invisible... “Oh dude. Celestia's going to kill us.”

“Only if that thing doesn't kill us first.” Soarin' almost whispered, and Rainbow frowned before looking up... and staring in horror alongside his fellow Pegasus at the massive monstrosity that was perhaps only a few kilometers away, slinking as low as its monstrous, enormous body would let it, squeezed between the walls of the deep trench before Rainbow cursed under his breath.

The Pegasus hovered for a moment, then he glanced over at Soarin', saying quickly: “Quick, you head back and warn Celestia that thing is on its way. I'm gonna go after Antares and find out what the hell he's thinking.”

Soarin' nodded quickly in response, and then both Pegasi turned and shot through the air in opposite directions, Rainbow careful to raise his flight higher through the air, into the uncomfortable cold and bluster of the false winter that Celestia had brought into this section of the rugged terrain. Behind him, the ambush was like a glowing beacon: in front of him, the hulking monster was a glowing, black and green mass that was slowly forcing its way down the trench, with countless squirming shapes around it in the darkness covered in faintly glowing points of ill viridian light...

And then Rainbow's eyes widened in shock as he stared ahead, Antares' voice breaking the near-silence, piercing through the terrible rumbles in the night as he yelled: “Hey, Cancer! You and your wife looking for me? I'm right here!”

Griselda growled, raising her massive head as her bulky body flexed, her eyes glowing brighter at the sound of the voice. And atop one of her oversized shoulders, the mottled beast that was Cancer looked up sharply, snarling in surprise as a ripple went through the swarm of Takers flooding all around their Queen, huddled together in a single mass for warmth and because Cancer wanted to hit the all-too-obvious ambush ahead with a nasty counterattack of his own.

But only a hundred or so feet away from the edge of the swarm, there was a flicker... before Antares Mīrus seemed to burst out of thin air, his horn glowing brightly as he rose his head defiantly, glaring at the horde of Takers ahead of him as they screamed in hunger and bloodlust at the sight of the young unicorn. Before any of them could rush forwards, however, Griselda leaned down, and Cancer leapt onto her face and scurried hurriedly down to the end of her scarred, burnt muzzle, shouting furiously: “Everyone please take a seat and shut the hell up!”

The swarm fell silent, the only sound in the air buzzing wings and Griselda's heavy breathing as Antares came to a halt, his horn raised high and glowing like a beacon as Cancer glared down at him, then leaned forwards and shouted: “You! You dirty little punk, what the hell do you think you're doing here? Standin' out there, glaring up at me, like I'm the bad guy here?”

Cancer paused, frowned at this thought and leaned back, rubbing at his face as he mumbled: “Am I the bad guy here? I dunno. I might be. Oh who cares! The point is that you're a snide little bastard if you're here for any reason except to be quickly and cruelly torn into shreds and eaten. And you better damn well have brought a napkin and some cigarettes or mints if you have!”

“No, actually, I'm here because...” Antares stopped, then looked at Cancer... and even with all the distance between them, even in the deep darkness as they were, it felt like they were only a few feet apart, crimson, glowing eyes locked with the cold midnight-cyan of the young stallion.

He was silent, not letting the monster rush him even as the mottled white entity squirmed and gestured impatiently, not letting the fear take over even as he saw destruction, and emptiness, and everything he had been taught to fight against in that scarlet gaze... before Antares smiled calmly, and said in as gentle and kind a voice he could manage: “I am here because I pity you, and think this is all a big misunderstanding we should sit down and work out. I am here because I believe that really, you're nothing more than a sad, pathetic, and lonely little pony who just needs a friend, and a hug, and I would like to offer that to you.”

Cancer stared in disbelief, jaw falling slightly agape before he slowly gritted his teeth, his red eyes glowing brighter as his body rippled grotesquely, a snarl spreading over his face before he leaned forwards and shouted furiously: “What the hell did you just say? Don't you talk down to me, boy, don't you say a goddamn word to me, you don't got no idea what the hell-”

“I understand and accept your anger and I'm really just here to try and help move past that. It's okay if you're having feelings you can't understand right now, we'll help you work through them every step of the way. I'm sure you're just very confused.” Antares said seriously, taking a few steps forwards, trying to make himself appear more loose, more welcoming as he forced himself to smile wider despite the tenseness of his body. “You have a right to exist. You and I are going to be best friends, isn't that right?”

Cancer gave a horrifying, wordless, strangled scream, clawing wildly at the end of Griselda's muzzle as the gigantic hive-beast only rumbled, and then the destruction entity leaned forwards and shrieked: “Have you lost your stupid little mind, kid?”

“Anger is a very natural response, but I know, why don't we sing a song together? You like to sing, don't you?” Antares said reasonably, even as he felt some insane, internal joy that he knew was half-mean and half-hysterical, as he focused on the destruction entity and everything this creature didn't want to hear. Then he forced a wider smile, sitting back on his haunches and beginning to clap his front hooves childishly, starting to sing in an off-key voice: “Oh, everybody needs a friend, you and me all need a friend, why don't we be each other's friends? Yes, you and me, we can be, the very best of-”

Cancer screamed furiously, his body warping and distorting with his rage as he whipped his head back and forth, frothing at the mouth as he temper-tantrumed and shrieked: “Kill him, kill him, kill that little snot, rip him to shreds, forget about everything else and kill him the hell dead!”

The Takers all screamed, the swarm rippling as Antares winced and spun around, shouting over his shoulder as he began to bolt away: “I respect your opinions!”

“Get him get him get him get him!” Cancer howled furiously, slapping the end of Griselda's muzzle as his eyes burned with rage, leaning forwards as the swarm began to rush straight down the gorge after Antares. “Forget everything, but you kill that little bastard or you grab him and bring him to me, nothing else matters, only the punk, get the punk, kill the punk!”

Griselda leaned forwards, her own furious roar adding to the mix and making the rocky trench vibrate as Antares sprinted as hard and fast as he could force himself to run, moving like lightning along the ground... but the Takers were eager, bolting after him and buzzing through the air on their insectile wings. Antares knew he couldn't keep this up forever... but hopefully, he wouldn't have to manage it for long as his eyes locked on the barricade ahead before he winced as something shot down from above, but he refused to look back, refused to lose his momentum.

And thankfully, a moment later, the presence shouted at him: “Antares, I am now questioning a whole hell of a lot if you're really half as smart as everyone says you are!”

“Monsters focused on me... only me... only me! Celestia... tell Celestia!” Antares managed to shout out between rough pants for breath as he bolted along the trench, and above him, Rainbow Dash's eyes widened before he grunted and shot forwards, a rainbow blur through the air as he poured all his energy into racing to Celestia.

Thankfully, the ivory winged unicorn was standing just behind the raised barricade at the front of the trench, and Rainbow Dash almost crashed to the ground beside her as the enormous, golden-armored mare looked at him sharply as he wheezed out: “Antares... they're after Antares, he said... only him, though!”

“I...” Celestia's eyes widened slightly, mind processing what this could mean for them if it was true, and then she gritted her teeth and nodded, saying quickly: “Go join the other Pegasi above and spread the word through the ranks that there is no retreat no matter how we may seem to be overwhelmed, not unless they see my flare! Selene, Burning Desire, retreat to the second barricade, I'll be the first to test Antares' theory.”

Burning Desire winced as Rainbow grunted and hurried off, but Selene only bowed her head before she turned and strode the short ten feet or so to the second barrier wall, saying calmly: “There is no time to argue with the Dawn Bringer. In moments, Antares will arrive... in moments more, so will the Takers.”

The fiery demon grunted, then he hurried to the other side of the second barricade, slipping through the narrow passage in the wall to take position beside the Yamato Guard. Celestia, meanwhile, only strode forwards to once more look out overtop the barrier, watching calmly as Antares shot down the gorge before leaping upwards and flapping his wings hard to launch himself over the high wall.

He made it, passing overtop Celestia, their eyes meeting for a moment of frozen time in silent apology to one-another... and then the young stallion was past, charging through the maze of barricades and around traps and demons and Starlit Knights.

Celestia, meanwhile, calmly faced back ahead, Tyrfing glowing faintly as it lifted a few inches off her back, hovering ominously as the shrieking and screaming horde of Takers approached. She made no move against them though, only stood and waited as they crashed against the barrier and yanked themselves up along it and over the sides of the chasm, surging over the wall in an awful, hideous tide... and not a single one of the insectile monsters made any move to attack her.

It was almost as if they didn't see her, as they swarmed around her, shrieking furiously. They bounced off her armored frame and leapt over her and ground against her as they passed, but not one tried to claw at her, not one tried to bite or seize her... and Celestia smiled a little despite herself before she tilted her head forwards, feeling both amazement and dark pleasure as she murmured softly: “No need to rush.”

As the insectile creatures sped and leapt past, Celestia breathed slowly in and out, calmly raising her horn as it began to glow brighter and brighter with the energy she gathered, the magic she focused, electricity sparking though her mane as she closed her eyes and let her head fall back. She let the power build through her, until every nerve of her body felt alive with it, until all the strength she wanted to use against the enemy was focused on one spell... and Celestia snapped her horn forwards as her eyes flashed open, glowing almost as bright as the spire standing from her head as a blast of golden flame erupted from her body, disintegrating the Takers unfortunate enough to be passing by her before the aureate fire spread violently to either side of the gorge, racing up along the rocky walls and incinerating more of the beasts as it formed into an immense wall of all-consuming fire.

And yet all the same, the Takers rushed through it, intent only on their prey ahead, thinking nothing of the golden fire even as they were burned to ashes as they tried to rush through the inferno. With their sheer numbers, all the same some of the insect-beasts forced through the glowing holy flames... but calmly, Celestia turned around and strode out of the conflagration, rolling her head on her shoulders as Tyrfing lashed out and tore a stumbling Taker into halves, a slight smile on her face as her amethyst eyes gleamed with battlelust and her horn continued to sizzle as energy wreathed around it, powering the barrier of flames. She could deal with the brunt of the blindly-attacking bugs: she wasn't so greedy she would try and steal every moment of glory from her soldiers.

But all the same, she could hear Griselda roaring in the distance, and even as Celestia's sword began to lash back and forth, tearing apart any Takers that passed close to her, she knew it wouldn't last forever: the swarm was moving far faster than their Queen, but eventually Cancer would understand what was going on and send his forces into attacking anything they were close to instead of all of them charging after Antares. Worse, the wall of fire she had summoned had consumed much of her remaining strength, and keeping it powered would drain her magic reserves further. She wouldn't have enough power left to bombard Griselda safely...

She fought with her body, with her magic, and in her own mind at the same time, reaping through insectile monsters with Tyrfing as she continued to adjust her plans, as her magic kept the powerful barrier running... and behind her, Burning Desire and the Yamato tore their way through the bugs passing by them, as Selene only sat back with a smile, her eyes lingering with interest over the sights around her. Then she glanced up, noting a group of swarming Takers that were charging along the wall high above, and the Nephilim calmly flicked her horn to the side as she said softly: “That won't do.”

The rocky wall beneath the group of Takers burst upwards, knocking them into the air... where they and the dislodged stone eerily floated as black electricity sizzled around them, an awful hum growing before one after the other, the Takers bulged and gargled, then simply exploded, leaving only silently floating remnants behind. Selene smiled calmly, then closed her strange, galactic eyes, and the stones and gore tumbled to the ground as she murmured: “Yes. Burning Desire, friends... we are needed above. The monsters swarm around the cliffs. They are not entirely stupid after all.”

Burning Desire grunted, then he leapt upwards and transformed into a firebird in a flourish, shooting up into the air as Selene smiled, then spread her majestic wings and took flight, rising into the skies above. And all along the tunnel, other demons and Nightmares turned their attention to the cliffs, hurrying to the top of the gorge to attack the Takers that were trying to swarm in: not with the intention of pincering the warriors, but only in eager pursuit of the prey they had been given.

But many Takers were spilling down the cliffs as well, and plenty charged through the maze of barricades, smashing through walls and soldiers only when there was no other way around, screaming eagerly as they tried to close in on Antares. Still, the young stallion was running, but he was able to move at a slower pace now, taking his time to avoid setting off any traps while baiting the monsters into dangerous areas, unable to repress a bit of a grin when a trio of Takers charged over a glowing rune and it exploded, releasing a massive electrical surge that sent all three bug-creatures to the ground.

The young stallion looked ahead and winced as he saw a group of Nibelung and what looked like supply carriages, set up at what was undoubtedly the end of the long ambush corridor... and the glossy-black unicorn gritted his teeth as he charged into the open area, skidding around in a circle before he raised his head high and shouted: “I'm right here! Come and get me!”

And the first wave of Takers that had survived the pursuit screamed as they charged towards Antares, their horns glowing as they excitedly relayed the news through their hive mind to their Queen... and inside the living hive, Cancer grinned widely, his red eyes glowing brightly. One of his claws was buried deep in the real Griselda's back, and the Queen was shivering in not pain, but ecstasy. Her center horn was glowing brightly, and all the information she was getting was being passed on to Cancer, who giggled insanely, red eyes glowing as he whispered: “Yes! Yes, that's it, get him, boys! No, nothing else matters, I don't care how many of you babies die, as long as you get me that pony... don't pay attention to any of them! Don't mind your comrades, they're dying for a good cause, don't care how you do it, but you get me that punk, you bring him to me or you make him dead and then you bring him to me so I can feast on his entrails!”

Cancer threw his head back and laughed as Griselda arched her own back and gave a primal, undulating scream... and the massive, living hive leaned forwards and roared at the wall of golden flames that was only fifty feet away now, joined by a chorus of answering and eager shrieks from the swarm that was still charging eagerly forwards all around her, more Takers swarming out of large rips in the gargantuan monster's hunched-up back to join the army already making its way eagerly forwards.

Ponies and demons both winced at the awful, shrieking cacophony and the terrible rumbles sent through the gorge by the gigantic monstrosity's roar. More than ever, though, the Takers only had eyes for Antares, swarming greedily towards where he was waiting for them at the end of the long ambush path, hooves and horn lashing out as he fought savagely against the Takers swarming after him, knowing he had no other choice.

Antares gritted his teeth as he leapt backwards, avoiding a Taker's pounce before the young stallion threw himself into the air and flapped his wings once, launching himself upwards to avoid two more Takers that charged in from the side, screaming. They skittered into each other when they tried to spin around, as other Takers clawed and threw themselves over one-another to try and get to Antares, whipped into a frenzy by Cancer's orders to destroy or capture the young stallion.

Antares crashed down on top of a Taker's back, squashing it flat before he winced when another of the swarming bug creatures tried to lunge in from the side... but a moment later, most of its head was blown away by a Nibelung with a rifle as other engineers and workers began to hurriedly yank weapons out of carriages.

The young stallion grinned... and a Taker's claw ripped into his side, knocking him staggering with a yell of pain before at least four more of the bug beasts lunged on top of him, crushing him down into the ground. Antares was only aware of pain and sound and blurs of carapace and claw as he tried to yank himself free, shouting wordlessly as he shoved at the ground, the heavy bodies on top of him, panic threatening to overwhelm his senses as he felt claws both scratching through his coat and trying to seize eagerly into him so they could drag him away-

“Barbarians, thy kind are worser than the mountain whores!” A hoof smashed into one of the Takers on top of Antares with enough force to knock the entire group of insect-beasts flying like dominoes, squealing as they crashed and rolled in all directions and Antares was able to lunge to his hooves, gasping and covered in bruises, cuts and blood. Then he looked up in dumb surprise as Sleipnir seized his shoulder and steadied him, grinning down at the young stallion cheerfully. “Fear not, nephew, the better and friendlier half of thy family is here to protect thee... that, and it seems that where thou art, 'tis where the most battle is to be had.”

Antares stared a little, then he winced and looked ahead as a Taker rushed towards them, screaming... but Sleipnir only smiled indulgently a moment before Pinkamena leapt in from the side, an enormous, black-steel Nibelung battle axe in her hooves swiping viciously upwards and decapitating the bug-beast as the half-demon grinned widely, red-rimmed eyes flashing. “I should thank you, Antares, you're an even better trouble-magnet than your father!”

A moment later, another Taker was crushed as Aphrodisia dropped down on top of it with a wide, vicious grin on her features, the young demon's eyes glowing as she called eagerly: “Look at them all, Mommy! And we get to kill them?”

“We do. Slippers, you stay back and watch out for Antares, my little girl and me are gonna have some fun.” Pinkamena licked her teeth slowly as another wave of Takers charged forwards, the banded metal armor covering the demon's body glinting as she rolled her head on her shoulders, leaning forwards over her axe as she scraped it against the stone floor of the gorge.

Sleipnir grunted in agreement even as he stomped a hoof firmly down on a crippled Taker that was trying to crawl towards Antares, as behind them Nibelung and ponies fired into the thin ranks of the next wave of insect-creatures that had survived the run through the ambush trench. There were perhaps a dozen of them... and yet Pinkamena showed no fear, and Aphrodisia was grinning widely, her body shivering with excitement beneath her gemstone vest as Antares looked slowly up and whispered: “Guys... thank you.”

“No, Antares... thank you.” Pinkamena said almost gently, even as the first Taker sprinted forwards and away from the pack, trying to lunge past her... and with a sudden fierce reap of her axe, the insect creature's legs were literally cut out from beneath it as the demon leapt forwards and roared: “Tear them apart!”

Aphrodisia laughed in glee, her eyes glowing as she lunged into the fray, pouncing on the nearest Taker as the Wrath side of the demon clearly began to overtake her personality, and Antares winced as two Takers managed to slip past the demons, dropping into a ready position... but Sleipnir was in front of him in a moment, launching one bug-beast backwards with a single blow before his other front hoof whipped out and caught the bony tail of the second as it passed, yanking it backwards by this before flinging the squealing Taker in an arc high through the air. “Ready thyself, Antares! There are many more on the way, and we must hold as long as possible!”

Antares nodded, wincing, as more shrieks rose through the air, mixing with the sounds of battle across the gorge... and at the very front of the ambush line, Celestia looked up with a snarl as Griselda hauled herself within fifty feet of the golden barrier of flames that the ivory winged unicorn had created. All around her were countless corpses of the bug-beasts, many of them smoldering and burning slowly away to ashes, and yet they only continued to surge forwards in greater numbers: there were always more coming, and Celestia was beginning to wonder if there was any end to the horde.

“Get out of the way, weasel!” screamed a voice, and Celestia looked sharply up to see Cancer sitting on the end of Griselda's muzzle, leaning down with fury burning in his crimson eyes. “I'll kill you later, get out of the way, I got a bone to pick with that dumbass kid of yours!”

Celestia breathed hard in and out, and then she looked sharply back and forth before shouting: “Selene, Burning Desire, to me!”

And without waiting for a response, Celestia concentrated, rearing back as her glowing horn surged with electricity and power, and the wall of golden flames in front of her trembled before it was drawn backwards towards her horn in a rush. The holy fire coalesced just above her head in a swirling, ever-shrinking maelstrom, Cancer leaning forwards with a wide grin as he said cheerfully: “Well, that's more like it, weasel, maybe you got some sense after-”

The golden flames condensed into a miniature, white-hot sun, and then Celestia snapped her head forwards with a curse of pain to fling it towards Griselda's features, the recoil enough to blow the ivory winged unicorn backwards and sear her own features. But the recoil was nothing compared to when the orb collided with the monstrosity above, striking just beneath its jaw and exploding in a concentrated blast that launched Cancer high into the sky with a squeal of agony and simply disintegrated most of Griselda's head.

The hive-entity staggered backwards, its hunched back and upper body catching aflame as the monstrosity screamed... and inside Griselda, the core, the true Griselda arched her back as her eyes bulged, howling in misery. All across the gorge, Takers shrieked and wailed as they felt the same agony as their Queen, staggering and becoming even easier prey than they already were: an opportunity that Antares and those guarding him seized eagerly on at the other end of the trench.

Burning Desire and Selene both appeared by Celestia a moment later, the fiery stallion flicking his horn forwards with a snarl to send a red fireball rocketing into the mess of golden fire burning rapidly over Griselda's hulking form: it exploded, but the effect wasn't so much to damage the monster; instead it intensified the flames, spreading them faster over the giant's body before Selene arched her back, the glowing Nephilim laughing as her eyes and horn glowed and she whispered: “Mother taught me that Heaven does not know mercy.”

A rumble spread through the air and the ground beneath their hooves quaked, cracks ripping through the rock as chunks of stone slowly began to lift into the air around Griselda. The monster howled as it too was lifted slightly as well, gravity warping and distorting around the goliath as rips and cracks burst through its heavy carapace before there was a loud, tremulous bang, and parts of Griselda's back and chest both crunched inwards, ripping the strange tunnels leading into the living hive-monster open wider and crushing the Takers that were trying to swarm out of the creature's giant body.

A shockwave tore through the air as Selene snapped her horn back downwards, the Nephilim's endless gaze locked on Griselda as the power of her spell knocked the behemoth back a step before Griselda howled pitiably from the stump of neck that was all that remained of its head, and slowly toppled forwards over its own massive front limbs, body reeking as it burned and smoke roiled up from its charring, awful frame. Celestia breathed hard as she gritted her teeth, forcing herself to trembling hooves as Burning Desire laughed in amazement, the shocked sound strangely sharp over the screams of the Takers as they convulsed with the agonies of their Queen.

Then Selene leaned forwards, her features becoming tense as she said quietly: “The monster still lives. There is too much for even you to burn away, Dawn Bringer, you are weakened...”

Celestia hesitated... and then she suddenly snapped her horn upwards, sending a flare of white light into the air before she turned around and spread her wings, flapping them hard as she shot skywards. Burning Desire flinched in surprise, but Selene only smiled calmly as the Nephilim turned and leapt into the air as well, flapping her own glowing wings hard: a moment later, Burning Desire joined the two in his firebird form, as Celestia breathed hard but said clearly: “We've done what we could: with luck, Griselda's progress will be slowed and we've greatly reduced the Taker swarm. It's time for a full retreat... Burning Desire-”

“No need to say it, I'll take care of it!” the firebird replied quickly, swooping down, and the flames around the firebird intensified slightly as he sailed lower through the gorge, just above the traps and barriers. The Takers were still screaming and panicking, while the soldiers and demons were hurriedly retreating up the trench as fast as they could, and Burning Desire glanced quickly back and forth to make sure their allies had safely fled before the firebird flew quickly past a barrel that had been wedged up against the cliff wall.

The firebird's flames wreathed against the dry wood as it passed, the barrel catching alight as Burning Desire shot hurriedly onwards... then winced as the barrel exploded as flames spread to the volatile fuel stored inside. It sent out an avalanche of stone and obliterated the Takers nearby, flaming chunks of rock flying in all directions to pelt other bug-creatures that were still screaming in the trench.

Burning Desire repeated this process with several other barrels, causing portions of the cliff to collapse and incinerating the nearby monsters as he hurried onwards... and as demons vanished and fled and soldiers speedily retreated, the Takers slowly began to get their senses back as Griselda's enormous, charred body gradually started to quiver. Bit-by-bit, the living hive began to rise with a snarl, as inside the beast the true Griselda slowly straightened, bleeding heavily from one eye before she screamed in fury and rage.

The Takers looked up, their horns all pulsing, their eyes glowing as they snarled and lunged no longer after Antares, but at whatever was nearest: but thankfully, most of the soldiers had made their way to the end of the ambush site, where the monsters had been drastically reduced and the rest were being trampled under hoof by escaping Starlit Knights. Sleipnir shouted orders and encouragements from where he stood at the end of the line, marshaling and hustling soldiers past as Antares helped Pinkamena and Aphrodisia drive back the Takers that remained.

Then Sleipnir glanced up sharply as Celestia shot by overhead, and the enormous earth pony ordered: “Now! Do not dally any longer, 'tis time to retreat!”

Pinkamena growled but nodded, smashing down one last Taker before she spun and sprinted after the rest of the Knights, as Antares blasted a Taker that lunged at him backwards with a burst of white flames before he winced as he glanced towards Aphrodisia. She was laughing, her eyes glowing as she tore through the bug creatures like a whirlwind, and the young stallion cursed after a moment before he ran towards her, even as Sleipnir shouted something... and then the young stallion gargled when Aphrodisia turned from the monster she had just torn through to seize the glossy-black unicorn by the neck, grinning up at him through skull-like features as she rasped: “Oh Nova, it's so much fun! Aren't you going to help me have fun? Or do I have to show you the hard way what a delight this is?”

“Apps...” Antares rasped, reaching up to grasp her foreleg, and Aphrodisia grinned wider, baring her fangs at him as she dragged him in closer before he whispered: “Little... sister...”

The light in Aphrodisia's eyes flickered... and then she shook her head violently out before clenching her eyes shut, shivering hard. Antares wheezed, feeling a moment of relief as her grip loosened... before it turned to horror, as a voice screamed: “You stole my sweet victory from me, but you ain't getting away this time, kid, this time I'm going to rip you apart myself!”

Antares and Aphrodisia both looked to the side in horror to see Cancer charging at them, his red eyes glowing, his body smoking and blackened in places but the mottled monstrosity seemingly powered by psychotic rage that gave him endless, freakish vitality. And following him, either on instinct or because of command, a swarm of Takers was heading straight for them, smashing through anything that got in their way and heedlessly trampling any slower-moving or wounded bug creatures that were between Cancer and his prize...

Cancer grinned in triumph, his eyes blazing... before a carriage crashed down halfway between him and his target in a burst of wooden fragments, and the monster skidded to a halt with a squawk even as the Takers continued to swarm forwards before a fireball shot down from the air and crashed into the wagon, flames spreading greedily over it as Cancer squeaked, smelling fuel and chemicals and-

The carriage exploded, the monster howling and yelling in frustration as he was sent rolling violently backwards and the Takers that had stupidly continued forwards were obliterated. Then the mottled white entity crashed down in a prone heap, gargling weakly as he twitched a few times, red eyes staring blankly at the sky as more flames lit up the early morning. But for a few moments, Cancer was too stunned from the series of explosions he'd been caught in over a short period of time, the destruction entity slowly rippling as his cohesion returned little-by-little before he sat up, his wounds already regenerated, the dead and burnt slime replaced with new, viscous flesh.

He shook his head out as Takers paced hurriedly around, screaming and shrieking, a few still trying to pursue the ponies and demons... but they were long gone. Cancer snarled as a shiver ran through his body, staring down the gorge before his eyes widened as he realized they had coated a good portion of the trench ahead with oil and set it alight. The bonfire that had resulted was enough to make it difficult for his Takers to pursue... and from the bangs he could still faintly hear, he guessed that the ponies had plenty of other cheap tricks to keep his babies at bay until they escaped the swarm's range.

Cancer breathed slowly, his red eyes glowing before he straightened and glared furiously down the trench, then looked over his shoulder and screamed: “Hey, bitch! Get your fat ass moving, we got us some ponies to kill!”

A roar echoed down the trench in response, and Cancer grumbled in disgust before he looked back ahead, snarling: “Fine. We'll put you back together, honey, and then we'll charge all the way to that little dirthole village. And we're gonna raze it to the ground, but oh, baby... we're gonna catch that punk kid. Even more than destroying the white weasel and all those other little fleshbags... I want that kid. I want that punk. I want him brought to me alive, at any goddamn cost. And I'm going to take my time eating his insides while he's still breathing, and I'm gonna make the little snot watch.”

Cancer spat to the side, then he turned around, slowly beginning to storm back towards Griselda as he trembled with rage, swearing he'd make all of them suffer for daring to stand up to him... and that he was going to make that punk kid regret he had ever been born.

For A Mother's Love

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Chapter Thirty: For A Mother's Love
~BlackRoseRaven

Celestia was tired, but there was little time to rest as she compiled information and tried to piece together a strategy that would let them put a stop to the monstrosity on the march towards Ponyville. She knew there wasn't enough time to set up another ambush at the last remaining choke point... they would have to meet Griselda somewhere outside Ponyville, preferably a good distance away, with an attack in the open. But she also understood they wouldn't survive a prolonged battle: even with the Taker swarm greatly reduced, their number was vast and the monsters seemed tireless.

They had maybe a day from now to finish preparations, and Celestia thought they had one chance, given what they had been told about Griselda: a single focused attack that could smash into the monster and find the so-called 'core' inside it. She spent hours going over the roster of who was available, and hated what she found herself forced to settle on.

And that was why Celestia now sat in the library with only Antares for company after a long and difficult conversation, looking down at him quietly as she asked: “Do you understand?”

Antares trembled a bit, and then he swallowed thickly before he looked up and nodded slowly, whispering: “I do. I'm...” He closed his eyes, forcing back everything he wanted to say, everything he was afraid of: that he wasn't ready, that he couldn't do this, that there was no way he could handle something of his magnitude. “I'll do everything I can to stop her.”

“I know you will.” Celestia stopped, then closed her eyes as she murmured: “But don't become me, Antares. The mission is not all important. Your friends are. I... I am trusting you most of all to know the difference between sacrifice and slaughter.”

There was silence, and Antares looked up, opening his mouth, but Celestia only shook her head and rose a hoof, smiling faintly. “Don't. There's no need for you to apologize, Antares. And nor do we have the time or luxury for it. We can discuss it later... for now, I want you to repeat back to me what your mission is.”

“To keep my friends alive above all, if possible...” Antares murmured, and Celestia bowed her head forwards silently. “But you, Burning Desire, and Selene are going to blast open Griselda's chest, because while she's been regenerating... you think there's still a weak point there. An opening leading into... into the hive. Myself, Avalon, Aphrodisia, Pinkamena, and Rainbow Dash are going to rush inside to find and attack the real Griselda... the core, that controls the whole hive-body while your team continues to attack any weak structural points they can find on Griselda's outer shell, with the hope that if you keep harrying her outer body, it'll keep whatever defenses are... inside... distracted.”

“That's correct. Sleipnir, meanwhile, will be leading the forces that will be engaging the Takers, to keep them distracted as well. Remember that: if you're forced to retreat, send up a flare and he'll do everything in his power to help you get clear from Griselda.” Celestia replied quietly, meeting her nephew's eyes. “What I'm asking is unfair. But I'm... I'm drained, Antares, and we have no idea what awaits inside the living hive. I only hope that I and the others will have enough power to blast a way in. You are a good leader... you'll be able to fly in quickly with the others, and make a direct attack.”

“I just wish Avalon was healthier.” Antares murmured quietly, closing his eyes and nodding a little before he sighed and dropped his head forwards, shifting uncomfortably. “I just wish I had more faith in myself. What about Discombobulation and Discord?”

Celestia smiled faintly at this, shaking her head slowly. “Discord refuses to approach Griselda, but has agreed to help keep an eye on Ponyville. I'm still not completely sure of precisely what his motivations are, but I'm glad he's willing to help. And Discombobulation will be out on the field with Sleipnir... he insisted, even though... I'm worried about him straining himself. I don't want to lose him.”

There was quiet for a moment, and then Celestia shook her head slowly, continuing: “Meet me back here in five hours, Antares, that's all the time we have left. Use that time wisely: rest, speak to your friends, and mentally prepare for what's coming. Zecora has agreed to provide potions to give your team extra energy and strength, and I have the feeling we're going to need every advantage that we can get.”

Antares nodded slowly, lowering his head and grimacing a bit before he murmured quietly: “Thank you, Aunt Tia.”

“No, Antares. Thank you for rising to meet this challenge. I applaud it.” Celestia said softly, and their eyes met before she gestured gently at him. “Go ahead, Antares. I'll let you know if anything happens. But make sure you use this time well.”

The young stallion nodded again, and the two looked at each other before the glossy-black unicorn stepped forwards and leaned up to hug his aunt fiercely. She returned the embrace tightly after a moment, closing her eyes and holding him close. Then, as the embrace broke, she smiled silently as Antares turned and strode quietly to the door, his own head bowed as he swallowed thickly and tried to take reassurance in the faith he felt Celestia had in him.

He stepped outside, into the noonday sun and the warm air, looking slowly back and forth... but the whole village felt afraid. Not that he could blame them: a giant monstrosity and her army of bug-children were on their way, guided by a destruction entity that was plague and poison incarnate. He was scared too... he wished that he could run and hide, or even consider fleeing, but he couldn't: not when so many ponies were depending on him, and not when he had such a duty and obligation towards Ponyville.

Antares closed his eyes, dropping his head forwards as he slowly walked through the streets, barely seeing the Starlit Knights and others that strode quickly by with Nibelung laborers to continue the fortification of Ponyville. Defense posts were being set up, as were traps here and there throughout the field, in the event that the Takers continued to attack after Griselda was destroyed.... or honestly and more likely, that they failed to put a stop to Griselda.

Antares was barely aware of where he was going, what he was doing, as he strode silently through town: he thought of Celestia's advice, but he didn't know if he had the heart to see his friends right now. He was supposed to lead them into a deathtrap, after all... including Avalon, who had barely had time to be healed by magic before she was supposed to join them in this do-or-die confrontation. Meadowlark was working at the clinic with Scarlet Sage, Pinkamena was with Aphrodisia, helping her get ready for tonight, Rustproof was with Cowlick as she struggled away in the engineering center, trying to regain her old skills...

Even Prestige had her own tasks to deal with, helping the unicorn mages from Canterlot, he knew: he didn't want to interrupt any of his friends, just for his selfish reasons. So instead, Antares quietly let his hooves guide him through Ponyville, until he reached the small park where the statue of his mother and father sat.

It had been repaired since the battle that had happened months ago now, and Antares looked up silently, studying the images of his parents. He wished Twilight was here, but she was deep in Subterra right now, once more forced to go through the torment of making a new body her own... and he knew with so many body trades so fast, she was in agony, and it would be much longer than usual before her powers were fully restored. He wished he could be with her... he wished he could do something, anything for her...

Antares closed his eyes, breathing slowly in and out before he murmured: “Mom, Dad... I'm scared. I don't know what to do, or who to turn to... or what to even say. I'm going to fight with all the strength I have but... but what if it's not enough? What if I fail? What if my friends get hurt or... worse? I know... I know. I have to do this. I don't want to, but I know that I have to. I wish you were here, though, because... I'm not ready to lead... I always wanted to follow in your hoofsteps and be like you always were, but I'm not ready, I can't handle this... I just want my Mom and Dad back...”

Antares trembled a little, and then he lowered his head as he strode forwards and hauled himself up onto the base of the statue, shivering and closing his eyes as he curled up with the stone imitations of his parents. He swallowed thickly, trying to ignore the feeling of tears running down his cheeks as he tried to make himself small, trying his hardest not to give in to all the pain flooding through his mind and heart and soul as he whispered: “I'm just gonna pretend for a little while. Just... just for a little while...”

And for a little while, that was what Antares did... but in a strange way, it helped, more than he thought it would. Hours later, when he finally slipped away from the base of the statue, he felt like he'd been drained of much of the poison that had grown inside him, like the built-up stress and frustration had ebbed out, and the young stallion swallowed a little and closed his reddened eyes as he murmured: “I'm gonna do this. I can do this. I'm your son, and I'll never forget that...”

Forty minutes later, Antares strode calmly into the library in full armor, coronet of twisted horns supporting his proud horn and his father's vambraces proudly displayed over his forelegs. He glanced back and forth quietly at the ponies that were gathered and waiting, and he smiled faintly, bowing his head forwards as he murmured: “Sorry. I... I was visiting...”

He broke off, but there was no need for anything further as Celestia nodded slowly: she was once more dressed in full armor herself, with Burning Desire and Selene flanking her. Then Antares' eyes were drawn to Zecora as the zebra stepped in front of the table, dressed in what looked like some kind of stiff hide armor and with a strange bracer around one foreleg: a needle extended out from it, and Antares wondered nervously what the tool was used for as she gestured at the five jars on the table. “This energy brew will grant both speed and strength, but its effects will only last for half the night's length. Then, unfortunately, all of you are going to experience quite a crash, so I must ask for all of you to be careful, not brash.”

“It's going to hurt afterwards for a while... although you all might be so exhausted when the effects wear off you might just collapse and sleep through the pain.” Meadowlark smiled faintly, and Antares nodded slowly as he looked at the Pegasus: she was wearing a gemstone vest and had her medicine bag hanging off her side... and he realized she was wearing the same kind of strange bracer as Zecora had on, too. “Still, it's... it's the best we can give you. And while it lasts... it'll push you past your normal limits.”

“And normally I would never give such a dangerous brew to forces of the night...” Zecora paused, then smiled faintly over at Pinkamena and Aphrodisia, who were resting with Sleipnir and Pinkie Pie. “But I understand well that perhaps your help is instrumental in stopping this blight.”

“Screw you too, Stripes.” Pinkamena grumbled moodily as she sharpened her axe slowly, but when Pinkie Pie looked at her imploringly, the demon sighed and added grudgingly from behind her waterfall of mane: “But thanks, too, I guess.”

Zecora nodded once, and Rainbow Dash grunted as he looked up from beside Avalon, lightweight plate gleaming over his body. Applejack sat on his other side, rubbing one of his shoulders worriedly, dressed herself in a gemstone vest and with a rifle slung over her back as she said quietly: “Just make sure you all get back in one piece. Wouldn't be right for Zecora and all us to do all this for you and you to go dyin' on us, right?”

“Right.” Rainbow smiled after a moment, then he winked at her and shook his head briefly. “Hey, don't you worry, I got this, okay? Me and Avalon... no better team, right?”

“Right.” Avalon nodded firmly, and the tiny Pegasus held a hoof up to bump it against her father's as her crosshatch blades gleamed dangerously over her forelegs, before she shook her armored body out and grinned slightly beneath her bladed helm. “Yeah, I'm getting excited, I ain't scared at all... we're gonna kick her ass.”

Antares smiled faintly, then he looked quietly, silently across at Prestige, who gazed back at him softly, not speaking. She was smiling, but worry was in her eyes, and Antares did his best to reassure her with his gaze before he returned his eyes to the table, as Celestia said quietly: “If it's at all possible, I'll try to follow you in to help your attack on the core. But I have confidence in you all, and my powers might be put to better use attacking and harrying Griselda from the outside anyway. But remember: if things don't go according to plan, make your own strategy as you go. Victory begins with a strong strategy but the triumphant are those who can learn from and adapt to the situation as it evolves.”

The young stallion nodded quickly, and Antares glanced back and forth before he asked finally: “Where's Rustproof? Already dispatched?”

“He and Cowlick are working with the Nibelung Architects to finish fortifications and traps outside of Ponyville, yes.” Celestia nodded, then she gestured to the table, saying softly: “But we're running out of time. Antares; you and your team drink the potions, and then we'll move out.”

Antares nodded in answer, taking a slow breath before he strode towards the table as Rainbow Dash, Avalon, Pinkamena and Aphrodisia all did the same. They glanced down at the potions before Rainbow hesitated, glancing up and asking: “Celestia, are... you sure you don't want mine? You would be a lot better to have out on the field, at full strength...”

“Thank you, Rainbow Dash, but I have enough strength for what we have to do.” Celestia replied softly, shaking her head and giving a small smile. “Besides, I could accidentally hurt myself or others with my magic if I was overcharged. And the price I would pay afterwards for using such an amplifier...”

“It's better we don't give Tia too much power, she'll overload like a microwave.” came a wry voice, and Celestia glanced over her shoulder with a quiet laugh as Discombobulation strode down the back steps of the library, grimacing a bit. “This is going to go great, really. This is like that annoying point in the story where you're supposed to lose, no matter what you do. I hate those parts.”

Celestia only shook her head slowly, then returned her amethyst eyes over the others as the five hesitated for a moment longer... then Antares swallowed thickly as he picked up the potion, looking down into the open jar before murmuring: “Good luck to all of us. Let's make our friends and family proud.”

With that, Antares tilted the jar back and drank deeply from it, surprised by the sweet, cloying taste of the potion; the others did the same, before empty jars thudded back down to the table as Antares felt his eyes widen, gasping in surprise at the feeling that sizzled through his body as Pinkamena grinned and Aphrodisia hugged herself with a low, soft sigh.

Avalon was breathing rapidly in and out, and Rainbow had his teeth grit before he looked up with a grunt, his magenta eyes flashing. “Holy hell, I feel like I could move faster than lightning!”

“Let's test that theory later.” Pinkamena muttered, and Rainbow glowered across at her as the demon looked up with a slight smile, her eyes almost glowing with unnatural light. “But that does have a kick to it... almost as much as...”

Pinkamena stopped, glancing at Antares, and the young stallion frowned... but before he could question anything, Celestia took over, saying clearly: “Sleipnir, you know what to do. Head out and get ready. Everypony else, get into your teams, or head to your stations. We all have our jobs.”

There were nods and sounds of agreement as all eyes looked up at Celestia, who nodded quickly back, and Antares was glad to simply fall back and let the enormous winged unicorn take over for this part as the others hurried on their way. Yet all the same, as Celestia strode past and he moved to follow her, Antares could feel Avalon and Aphrodisia immediately falling into pace on either side of him, and even Rainbow and Pinkamena looking at him: like already, they trusted him as their leader, even though he was only a little older than Avalon and they were both far more experienced.

But part of him was glad for it, too, and he felt honored by their respect, their almost-deference to him, even as he visibly focused on Celestia, listening as she began calmly: “Griselda, by now, will have reached the Everfree Forest. The Takers seem to be trying to avoid traveling inside the forest itself: on the last check, the swarm was staying airborne if possible, overtop the canopy of trees. This works to our advantage.”

Antares nodded, focusing on the winged unicorn as they left the library and began quickly down the street: his concentration felt sharp and acute, and his mind felt like it was moving faster. Better still, it was easier than usual to push away his anxieties and fears before they could start to mount, as he asked quietly: “Will it be to Sleipnir's benefit as well?”

“Undoubtedly. The Everfree as it is protects us, thanks to the living heart and soul of the forest. These monsters not only repulse the sentient forces of nature in the woods, Sleipnir has a strong affinity and alliance with nature. I have no doubt that the forest will shelter and even protect our forces, while impeding the Takers and Cancer.” Celestia said quietly, then she looked pointedly towards Antares. “There is one last thing I need to mention. If you see Cancer... I want you to retreat immediately. He is too dangerous to engage, especially inside the hive. But if you lure him outside or into the open... I will deal with the monster myself.”

Antares nodded slowly at this, picking clearly up on what Celestia was saying beneath her words before she looked ahead again and began to rehash other points they had already discussed. Antares listened closely all the same, even as he felt a few uneasy stirrings and strange thoughts of his own murmuring just beneath the surface of his conscious mind. He could feel the tenseness of the ivory winged unicorn, and a hunger that lurked beneath her calm features and soft voice: a desire for revenge she planned to get, one way or another.

Celestia led them out of Ponyville, and then stopped, looking silently over the fields, at the traps that were being set, the defensive positions being dug in, the fortification and barricades. For a moment, the group was silent, before Greece caught sight of Celestia from where he was directing a short tower being set up, and the Architect winced as he hurried towards her, calling: “Fancy-corn, we have a problem, we used up almost all of our blessed oil in the ambush and I have none left to-”

“It's alright, Greece. One way or another, this will all be over shortly. Just do what you can with what's left, and let us handle the rest.” Celestia said quietly, and the dwarf looked at her nervously before the ivory mare smiled and bowed her head to him. “Please excuse me now. We have to go and deal with the enemy before it gets any closer to Ponyville.”

Greece hesitantly stepped back as Celestia calmly spread her wings, and Antares simply stood for a moment, breathing slowly. With his senses so attuned, he realized he could feel not just Celestia's emotions, hidden beneath her porcelain features, but a terrible, cruel rumbling in the distance beneath the dusky evening skies. He realized that even if Griselda was far enough away they couldn't yet see her with their naked eyes, after almost three days of travel, the monstrosity was close enough that her awful presence could be felt, mixing with the raw, destructive force that was Cancer... and both those evils could in all likelihood feel them just as clearly.

Then Celestia leapt into the air, and she was joined a moment later by Selene and Burning Desire in his firebird form, the two flanking her as Antares silently watched for a moment, feeling all that weight dropping on his shoulders at once... and yet inside him, something stirring. Something that made him bear up even under the stress and the fear and everything else, as he spread his own leathery wings and took a slow breath... then threw himself into the air, hearing Avalon and Rainbow Dash take flight beside him as Aphrodisia and Pinkamena both burst into dark smoke.

He tossed one nervous look over his shoulder as they left the ground, seeing Sleipnir waving encouragingly from the gates of Ponyville... and both Meadowlark and Prestige, the latter smiling and waving herself despite the worry still clearly shining in her eyes. He could feel the wish for silent luck from them both, though, for him and everypony taking part in the spearhead... and he closed his eyes as he faced back and forwards, feeling a tremble run through his body as he silently promised again to do his best... to make things work out, one way or another, in the best possible way that he could.

There was no more need to talk, though, and no more need for words as the group flew forwards, Antares grimacing a little at the pain that went through his body with every flap of his wings, but he kept himself steady, breathing hard and focusing on what was ahead as the group sailed through the air together, with the two shapeless, smoky serpents that were Pinkamena and Aphrodisia circling lazily around the flying ponies.

It was only fifteen minutes before they saw the shape of Griselda on the horizon, and Celestia leaned forwards slightly, her eyes focusing on the behemoth. The Taker swarm surrounded her, buzzing around her almost like a living shield as her monstrous arms reached forwards, clawing up entire tracts of forest as the smaller, hoof-ending limbs extending from her chest stomped and crunched broken trees beneath them, leaving splinters and ruin in her wake. And Antares shivered as he looked ahead, sharp eyes and heightened acuity taking in details he wished could go unseen: in the short few days that had passed, he could see even from here that the living hide had regenerated a new head in place of the old... but it was little more than a warped and monstrous skull covered in slimy wax and webbing, with a single glowing eye in one socket and an oversized mouth filled with oversized teeth.

And he could feel it again... the buzzing in his mind, but it was more distinct, again likely thanks to his heightened senses. He could feel the rage, and hunger, and blurred, primal emotions that were all Griselda had left in her body: she was like a savage and beaten dog, too stupid to understand her master was the hoof that beat her, not fed her. She was little better than the Takers themselves: mindless and drooling sycophants, oversized insects that could only obey the orders of their Queen and only possessed hunger and whatever they were forced to attain to feed that hunger...

Antares gritted his teeth... and then he looked up sharply as a ripple passed through the swarm as they drew closer, and Griselda roared loudly enough to make the air around the vibrate, the Everfree Forest seeming to shudder beneath them before Celestia said calmly: “Antares, keep your team back for the moment. Wait for us to strike, then move in immediately: by then, Sleipnir should be moving his own team into position to draw the Takers' attention into the forest. Selene, Burning Desire... it's time.”

And without further ado, without waiting for questions or anything else, Celestia lunged forwards, her horn beginning to glow brightly as her wings flapped powerfully, a golden aura steadily growing around her. Antares winced, then grimaced as one of the demons shot up past him, calling on instinct: “It'll be okay, Apps, just hold on!”

“Don't tell anypony you guys... but I'm scared as hell.” Avalon muttered as she hovered, breathing hard and looking forwards even as she ground her crosshatch blades together, before the tiny Pegasus smiled as Rainbow Dash ruffled her mane quietly. “But I'm gonna do what I do best, Dad.”

“Good. Me too, Ava. Try and keep up to your old stallion now, huh?” Rainbow Dash grinned and winked before he looked ahead, adding: “And Antares, I hope you don't let me down either. Twilight never stops talking about you, and even my daughter here says you're pretty damn amazing... so let's see what happens when you're not trying to pull off some crazy scheme, huh?”

Then the trio looked forwards as the two demons swirled around them, attention drawn by rising howls of the Takers in the distance as the swarm began to converge on the glowing light that was Celestia, Burning Desire, and Selene. There was a moment of worry, as what looked like a black cloud fell over them... but it lasted only a moment, as the radiant beacon ripped its way fearlessly through the swarm of Takers that attempted to converge on top of them like an arrow through smoke.

But Celestia was so intent, so focused, that she barely noticed the Takers she simply crashed through, her teeth grit, her horn glowing as her entire body burned with golden fire. She hurtled onwards like a rocket, Burning Desire wincing and barely able to keep up with her as Selene flew on her other side, the Nephilim's endless gaze locked on Griselda as the monstrosity leaned up and roared at them, beginning to reach one of its massive claws slowly up as if it thought it could catch them, as Takers swarmed out of holes all through her hunched back and even up from the empty socket in the massive, living hive's skull.

And then Selene simply vanished in a burst of white light before reappearing only a short distance from the monstrosity's chest, snapping her horn forwards with a calm, cold smile on her face. There was a thunderous rumble, followed by a tremendous boom as Griselda's back arched, the monster howling as its enormous limb swung slowly backwards and immense cracks ripped through its chest and body. Chunks of carapace tumbled down from it as cavernous openings were hammered wider and Takers swarming over the creature simply exploded as if suddenly placed under immense pressure.

Selene launched herself backwards with an easy flap of her wings as Griselda began to lean forwards again, before Celestia rocketed down from the sky and smashed directly into the softest target she could see: a wide, half-shut wound in the stomach region, the ivory winged unicorn tearing into this with enough force to rip the opening wide before she snapped her horn forwards with a snarl and kicked off with all four hooves.

A shockwave of golden fire erupted from her body in all directions, with such tremendous force that it launched Celestia backwards into the air as a tunnel leading into the hive was revealed and blown wide open from the force of the blast. Griselda roared in fury and pain, which audibly rose to new levels as Burning Desire shot down, the firebird flapping his wings hard as his eyes flashed to send a wave of red flames washing up over her, searing the area around the wound and sending a wall of flames wafting down the tunnel to further amplify the golden fires burning here and there, and incinerate the Takers attempting to rush up and out of the living hive.

Then the firebird shot upwards as Selene twisted in one direction and Celestia rose as well, snapping her horn forwards to fling a blade of golden flame into the monster's skull-like features. It drew the beast's attention as the Takers shrieked and swarmed after the three, as the massive monstrosity grabbed at Celestia.

The slow swipe was easy enough for the winged unicorn to avoid, grimacing as she twisted around the immense limb before flicking her horn to the side, a beam of golden firing from her horn and burning a trail up along Griselda's skull. It did little damage but infuriated the monster further, the creature turning with a roar as Celestia fought the urge to dive down into that hole she had opened, to rush inside and try to destroy this beast herself even as she sensed the others moving in fast... before all her attention was drawn towards a voice that shouted furiously: “White weasel! You really so eager to die, you stupid ass crowbait?”

Celestia looked down with a snarl to see Cancer standing on Griselda's hunched-up back, the mottled-white monster glaring up at her before he shouted: “Forget about them, honey-cheeks! Keep moving towards that little dirt-heap town and let the kiddies do their-”

Then part of Cancer's shoulder was blown away as he screeched in surprise, grasping at the wound and looking back and forth in shock. He snarled up at Celestia, but she only grinned before the destruction entity yelped a second bullet plowed into his chest, glaring downwards now as he howled: “They're in the trees! Half of you deal with the white weasel and her friends, the other half of you get those stupid ponies out of the forest! Now let's march, Griselda, I don't got all damn-”

Celestia smashed both rear hooves into Cancer's turned-away head, knocking him flying down Griselda's hunched back before the ivory equine landed on top of the living hive, her eyes glowing with fury as her three golden swords formed in the air around her. She began to stride forwards as Cancer clawed his way up to stand, his crimson eyes furious as screaming Takers began to emerge from half-hidden holes and vents all along Griselda's back, but Celestia paid them little heed as she said softly: “No easy escape this time, monster. I've been waiting for this chance for a long time now.”

“Bring it on, white weasel. You'll make a delicious appetizer.” Cancer growled in return, his front limbs becoming claws as his body rippled, his grin spreading wider as his jaws expanded and his red eyes glowed. “Sic 'er, boys!”

Takers lunged at her from all sides, and Celestia's swords whirled around her, ripping through the bodies of insect-beasts as Cancer charged at her with a cackle even as Celestia leapt forwards as well with her horn glowing. Valkyrie reborn and destruction entity clashed, power sizzling through the air at their combat as more Takers swarmed in, drawn by the ferocity of the battle.

Guns fired from below as Takers buzzed down and tried to force through the thick canopy of trees, squealing in frustration as branches seemed to shift now and then to block their progress. More hissed through the air, chasing after Burning Desire as he winged back and forth in firebird form, then dove low along Griselda's body tail before transforming back into his fiery stallion shape, galloping along her immense, slimy lower body as he flicked his glowing horn to create a cloud of smoke in front of himself that several Takers charged blindly into. There were several bright flashes... and a moment later, Burning Desire calmly walked out of the cloud, leaving only ashes and embers behind as he gritted his teeth and looked up as more Takers swarmed down towards him.

Selene shot by Griselda's skull, swinging her horn out... and the massive monster was stalled as a blast of pressure surrounded its single eye, dropping its head low with a roar of agony. Then she smiled over her shoulder as she felt a tingle in her mind, dark, galaxy-like eyes easily watching as Antares shot in towards Griselda's stomach with the Pegasi flanking him on either side, the dark shapes of Aphrodisia and Pinkamena both shooting forwards eagerly into the wound first. “Good.”

Black, smoky shapes tore through a tunnel of wax, flesh, and sludge, bursting out into a wide central chamber before they both solidified into demons... and Aphrodisia winced as she looked down at herself, her armor gone before she complained, oblivious for the moment to the hissing insect-creatures that filled the room: “Mommy! I lost my armor!”

“I told you that you needed more practice. Transporting other crap while incorporeal is hard as hell.” Pinkamena grumbled in response, then she reached up and yanked her axe off her back before tossing it over to the younger demon, Aphrodisia catching it with a warm look. “Have fun, kid.”

“Thanks, Mommy!” Aphrodisia said brightly, and then she grinned as Antares shot out of the tunnel entrance and into the room, the young, glossy black unicorn rearing back in shock as he dropped to his hooves between the two demons, while Rainbow Dash and Avalon took up position just above, looking in horror out at the room. “Look what Mommy's letting me use, Nova!”

“Think we got bigger concerns at the moment, Pinkslap...” Antares murmured, shivering as he stared in horror across the enormous, dome-shaped room. It was filled with chitinous-armored, small and sleek Takers, all with glowing eyes and somehow much more intimidating than the larger creatures outside, reeking of malevolence as more of them slowly crawled out of other openings all throughout the room. And in the center of it all, was Griselda, the core, the true Queen of the Hive.

Antares shivered in disgust at how she was melded into the hive itself, and then he shouted in shock, the others looking at him with surprise when he felt Griselda's mind tear savagely at his own. Not with any concentrated telepathy, not with some mental attack... but her mind was like a rabid animal's mind, biting and ripping at his just from the barest contact of their eyes. And Griselda snarled, leaning forwards as she gurgled, then rasped, drool dripping from her jaws: “Pony... kill... kill... kill them!”

Griselda threw her head back with a scream as her horn glowed venomous green, and the Takers echoed her cry before they swarmed forwards in a dark wave. Antares snarled, then he looked up sharply, shouting: “Get the queen, just plow through her guards!”

Antares snapped his horn forwards, unleashing a blast of white light that knocked several of the bug-creatures sprawling backwards, and Rainbow and Avalon both shot up into the air, immediately launching themselves towards Griselda. Takers leapt up at them and launched themselves off walls and even the ceiling, wings buzzing to propel themselves into the path of the Pegasi, but both Avalon and Rainbow dodged around even the swiftest of bug-beasts with ease.

Avalon lashed her crosshatch blades out as she passed the Taker Guards, sending up sparks as the sharp blades tore into surprisingly-solid natural armor while her father kicked off the head of one bug creature that tried to get in his way, giving himself an extra boost before he dove straight at Griselda with a snarl... but the monster only hissed at him, her horn continuing to glow brightly as a dome of green energy sizzled into being around her, and Rainbow's eyes widened a moment before he crashed into this, then cursed and kicked hard off it, wincing at how solid the force-field felt as he yelled: “We got a problem, An-”

Two Takers collided with him in midair, ripping and tearing at his armor, and Rainbow yelled in surprise even as Avalon crashed into the shield herself before she snarled as she began to hack and smash against it viciously. But inside, Griselda only grinned widely, hissing through her fangs up at the tiny Pegasus as her eyes glowed out of skull-like features, broken mind still working enough for the monster to take cruel pleasure in the failure of the tiny Pegasus to damage her protective barrier.

Then a Taker seized Avalon's rear hooves and yanked her down, another slashing a claw viciously into her wing and sending up a burst of feathers as the tiny Pegasus howled in agony, then spun around and kicked both hind legs hard into the Taker that had grabbed her. It screeched as it was knocked flying, and Avalon swung her forelegs in a windmill as she rolled quickly up to her hooves, eyes blazing as she shouted angrily: “Come get some, then!”

The Takers were more than happy to oblige, one lunging straight at her with a scream... and Avalon swung both forelegs down into its features, sinking the elongated, razor-like blades deep into its skull before slamming the monster hard to the ground. She threw herself backwards, flapping her wings once to propel herself a little higher even as she cursed in pain before wincing as she felt her hind legs contact with Griselda's force-field, and she kicked hard off it to launch herself forwards, forcing her wings to flap again despite how badly the injured one hurt.

She crash-tackled a Taker Guard backwards and kicked off it like a springboard, the insect-beast letting out a snarl as Avalon attempted to rejoin her friends, wincing over her shoulder... then grinning despite herself, feeling a surge of both admiration and pride as her father shoved the last Taker clinging to him off his body before firmly kicking it in the gut with both rear hooves, knocking it flying into another of the bug-beasts that was just beginning to lunge.

Rainbow launched himself sharply downwards with a flap of his wings, smashing into another of the carapace-armored Takers and crunching it to the floor, pausing for a moment with muscles tense and teeth grit, wings shivering before he threw himself upwards and flapped them as hard as possible, a short, intense boom sounding as the surrounding Takers were disoriented by a short, sharp shockwave of force and he was thrown back into the air, flapping his wings hard again to shoot forwards to join the others as he shouted at Antares: “We're gonna need a hell of a hit to get through that shield, and I don't have the room for a Rainboom!”

Antares cursed under his breath as he dodged away from another Taker, swinging a hoof up at the last moment to hit it just under the jaw and knock it sprawling. But as his eyes looked back and forth, his sharpened senses went to work, analyzing the situation as the demons fought on either side of him with hoof and axe.

Pinkamena was grinning coldly, smashing in armor-like bodies with her front hooves and throwing Taker Guard in all directions, while Aphrodisia was laughing, looking almost crazed as she swung the crescent-bladed axe viciously back and forth in wide but smooth arcs: her movements were wild and long, but Aphrodisia was twisting her entire body into each and every swing, almost dancing with the deadly axe as she tore through bodies and cut off limbs, evading all but the fastest attacks from the-

A Taker seized into Antares' side, digging its hook-like claws into his armor and yanking him viciously to the ground to try and pin him as another Taker lunged forwards, and Antares was only saved by instinct as he yelled in shock and flicked his horn out, releasing a blast of telekinesis that knocked the diving Taker away. Then he hurriedly forced himself to half-roll onto his back, seizing the Taker's knocked-loose limb before flinging himself hard in the other direction: the result was the Taker being slammed face-first into the floor and Antares rolling to his hooves above the stunned bug-creature before he twisted hard, snapping the monster's front leg.

The Taker screeched, and Antares leapt backwards, eyes locked on the bug beast as it hurried up to its clawed feet... and then the young stallion stared in shock as the Taker's horn glowed sickly green before its limb took on the same aura, the creature's limb cracking loudly before it visibly snapped back together and its claw flexed.

Antares heard Griselda's hiss as he looked back and forth, seeing the other Takers: how their horns were glowing here and there as well, how even the worst of wounds were healing as crushed chests pushed back out like dents being hammered out of metal, as awful wounds filled with black and green sludge that hardened like cement, as the monstrosities reattached limbs with all the ease of gluing broken toy parts back together.

The Taker lunged at him again, and Antares swung his horn viciously into the creature, knocking it staggering before he snapped his horn out and blasted the beast backwards, breathing harder as he looked back and forth in horror as Griselda gave a raspy, hoarse laugh beneath her shield, watching with eagerness as the Takers hissed and howled and swarmed. And even with Rainbow fighting next to Apps and Avalon supporting Pinkamena, Antares could see with horror that sheer numbers were going to win the day... even without considering the awful regeneration of the puppet-like Guards.

Two Takers lunged at him, and Antares barely reacted in time, seizing one in midair and swinging it into the other to throw them both to the ground. The monsters hissed and screamed, and Antares stumbled backwards, shaking his head wildly as panic surged through his senses before he gritted his teeth and concentrated on a spell Selene had taught him, snapping his horn upwards as he dropped his body low.

There was a bright flash, and an illusionary image of Antares leapt high into the air, its horn a vibrant beacon as its leathery wings flapped hard and carried it over the crowd of Takers. Griselda looked up at this with a growl as it seemed to shoot straight for her, and the attention of the Takers were drawn to the almost-perfect copy of Antares as the young stallion winced from where he had simply pressed himself as low to the ground as he could, shouting quickly: “We need to get out of here!”

Griselda's attention snapped back forwards at the sound, even as the illusionary Antares sailed just over her shield as Takers lunged up and after it, a few managing to claw through the image and distort it but none of them intelligent enough on their own to understand what it actually was... and Rainbow Dash cursed as Aphrodisia whined while raising the axe high over her head: “But we were just getting start-”

She was cut off with a gurgle when a claw plunged into her exposed stomach, Pinkamena snarling... but Aphrodisia's eyes glowed as she hissed in fury, slashing viciously down and slicing the Taker in front of her into two halves. Then she cursed and spat blood, shivering once before Pinkamena slapped a Taker away and shouted: “Aphrodisia, go find Daddy! Let's get the hell out of here!”

Aphrodisia leapt backwards without argument, hissing at the Takers before she burst backwards into dark smoke that shot quickly for the tunnel, Pinkamena's axe flying through the air before the Devourer demon barreled across the crowd of Takers to catch it just before it could hit the ground, skidding around on her hind hooves as she lashed it viciously outwards, knocking several of the bug-beasts flying. “And the rest of you, you heard the kid! Go!”

“That includes you too, Pinkamena!” Antares shouted, surprised by his own forcefulness as Pinkamena glanced over her shoulder with surprise... then grinned a little as she nodded shortly, snapping her axe onto her back before she leapt smoothly out of the way of a Taker that dove at her before bursting apart into black smoke.

As the second demon fled, Antares hurriedly backpedaled towards the entrance... before wincing as Griselda screamed, and the Takers surged forwards intently. Immediately, the young stallion turned and bolted for the exit, Rainbow Dash already flying down the tunnel and Avalon sprinting after her father as Antares winced over his shoulder: the bug-beasts were only a few feet behind him, clawing and biting after him, some of them leaping to the walls and ceiling to try and surround and overwhelm him completely.

Antares spread his wings and leapt forwards, flapping them hard to give himself an extra boost just as he reached the tunnel exit, leaping out towards safety... and then he howled as he was tackled from above by another Taker, the monster biting savagely down into his shoulder and crunching the steel pauldron like paper, young stallion howling in agony as he and the bug creature fell to the ground below and hit with a loud crunch. They bounced along the forest floor, the monstrosity thankfully knocked loose as Antares rolled onto his stomach with a curse of pain, looking up towards the Taker with a snarl.

But the danger didn't come from the stunned bug-beast: instead, Antares felt his instincts screaming at him a moment too late, looking over his shoulder before a Taker Beetle's claw descended on his back, crushing him down into the ground before the monster leaned over him and spewed a stream of green goo over his pinned body. Antares howled, squirming and trying to throw himself upwards, but it was to no avail as he found himself caught in the hardening substance, his eyes going wide with terror as the Taker Beetle drew back with a low growl as other Takers screamed and Griselda roared, the enormous, living hive calling out to the nearby Takers to come and fetch their prize.

The bug-creatures began to swarm in, screaming and hissing eagerly, but then the monstrosities flinched, seeming almost confused as Selene appeared out of thin air just above Antares. She smiled calmly, flapping her wings slowly before she closed her eyes and tilted her head back, and Antares felt the ground beneath him shatter; felt a horrible, tremendous surge of power as his eyes widened in shock, pressure building around him as the world became dark.

The screams of the Takers seemed distant now as his vision became bruised purple, the only points of light from white streaks that shot back and forth in front of him, gargling as he felt like his body was being crushed by an impossible, endless weight... and then, above it all, he heard Selene's voice saying gently: “Sometimes we must hurt the ones we love to save them. Take solace: I shall hurt our enemies far more.”

Even from where she was battling Cancer atop one of Griselda's oversized shoulders, Celestia felt the shockwave that tore through the air, staggering as Cancer squawked before the ivory winged unicorn gritted her teeth as she saw a purple flare burst high into the night sky: the sign that Antares had been forced to retreat. She looked towards the mottled white monster, breathing hard as blood dripped from her mouth and slime from her golden, glowing swords, and Cancer glared back at her before his red eyes glowed as he gargled, then rasped: “Destroy. Kill. Revenge. Nothing matters, all must die, all must be purified in the Void...”

Celestia's eyes widened slightly as Cancer's head wrenched back and forth, the monster shrieking in fury as its claws grabbed at its head wildly, its body rippling as bones and extra limbs and horrific mutations tore across its frame... and yet beneath this mass of unstable destruction incarnate, she had for a moment glimpsed herself, her own motivations, what she had once nearly become... what she was almost becoming again, for all her good intentions. And then Cancer looked up at her, screaming: “Stop staring at me, white weasel, and just die already!”

The monster leapt towards her, and all three of Celestia's swords shot forwards, burying through the beast's body and knocking him staggering backwards. But a moment later, Cancer howled in rage, reaching up and yanking two of the swords free with his front claws before leaping towards her again and swinging them viciously downwards, and Celestia winced before she flicked her horn hard, creating a barrier of golden light.

Her own swords clanged into it as Cancer crashed into the golden wall, hind legs kicking into it as tentacles of mottled flesh and grasping arms ripped out of his body, seizing, clawing, crashing into the barrier. The monster screamed at her through the wall as Celestia leaned backwards in shock, before the destruction entity slammed his face into the golden light-made-solid, howling: “Kill her, kill her, kill you!”

Celestia could hear more Takers buzzing in from behind her, as Cancer managed to crack the magic barrier in front of her, the winged unicorn cursing as she looked back and forth... and then her eyes widened as she spotted a gleaming, dragon-headed cane sticking out of Griselda's shoulder, lodged deep in the mutant flesh. She seized into it with telekinesis, and it lit up brightly as she flicked her horn to the side, yanking it free with surprising ease before glaring at Cancer and shouting: “This isn't over yet, monster!”

The ivory winged unicorn snapped her horn forwards, and her golden swords blew apart one after the other in bursts of aureate fire, knocking Cancer senseless as his claws were all but disintegrated and chest blown open. Then he screamed as the barrier exploded as well, knocking him flying backwards like a comet, wreathed in golden flames as he bounced several times along Griselda's shoulder before slipping over the edge and falling with a howl of outrage to the ground far below.

Celestia spun around, swinging the cane with her movement by telekinesis, and the first Taker to try and tackle her was smashed through the air like a toy, colliding with another bug-beast and sending them both hurtling towards the ground. Then Celestia leapt forwards as she guided the cane in another vicious strike down into the skull of the next Taker in line, knocking it out of her way as she spread her wings and flew up towards the sky above, cane lashing out like a sword around her as she shouted, fighting down fear and passion and most of all, battle-rage: “Full retreat! Return to Ponyville!”

Griselda roared loudly as if trying to drown out this order, but many of the forces from Ponyville were already hurriedly escaping, and the rest were quick to listen to Celestia's order despite their own furies and misgivings. And yet Celestia knew they had no other choice, even as she cursed quietly to herself, looking over her shoulder with her teeth grit: they had failed, and they had lost their last chance to keep Ponyville safe: now the most they could hope to do was minimize the damage... and hope that Ponyville wouldn't be the site of their final stand.

Antares awoke with a moan of pain to a world that was only blurs and sounds, coughing blood before he heard a curse that sounded both frustrated and relieved at the same time... and then he cried out in agony as he felt hooves press against his chest, before Scarlet Sage's voice whispered to him soothingly: “I know it hurts, little brother, just hold on... hold on...”

Antares groaned again... then arched his back, eyes snapping wide as his blood seemed to boil in his body, unable to repress a howl before he slumped as the pain ended as suddenly as it had come. He breathed hard in and out, then trembled and touched his chest, trying to sit up... before shivering at the fact he couldn't, his eyes looking weakly back and forth as he whispered: “Where... where am I...”

But his vision was returning now as Scarlet Sage leaned over him... and his eyes widened as he realized she was dressed in her armor, the silver scale mail gleaming over her frame and a bladed bracelet glinting around one foreleg as she said quietly: “You're at the clinic, Antares. You need to stay here with the others... you're out of this fight.”

“No, I can... I, I can...” Antares tried to sit up again, but Scarlet Sage reached up and grasped his shoulder gently: not to stop him, but more to comfort him, as he failed again to sit up when agony blurred through him and he slumped back to the pillows and bed. He shivered weakly, then looked up and whispered: “What... what happened? I... oh no, I failed...”

“No, Antares, you did what you could. The others told Celestia what happened, it's not your fault.” Scarlet Sage said forcefully, and then she shook her head and added quietly: “You need to stay here, and don't try to move too much. Selene saved you but... you got caught by her powers too. Your ribs were... crushed, and there was... a lot of internal damage. I've done the best I could but you need to let your body heal what it can, and Zecora and I will continue to treat you afterwards. It was a really bad combination with... with the potion you took wearing off, and the pain side effect kicking in.”

Antares whimpered a little despite himself, slowly staring down at his chest: wrapped in bandages, and he realized there was something hard over him, almost like breastplate... to protect his body, he thought. He breathed slowly in and out, shaking his head weakly before Scarlet Sage leaned in and touched his face, saying quietly: “You're going to get better. We have some of the best healers around who are going to do everything to make you better, Antares. But we're... we're short on time. Griselda is maybe ten minutes away from Ponyville and her swarm is-”

Scarlet Sage looked up with a wince as a klaxon cut through the air, and she gritted her teeth before shaking her head sharply. “The swarm is here. Meadowlark, Antares is awake! Keep an eye on him and everypony here, I need to go help out the others!”

Meadowlark looked up from across the room, but Scarlet Sage didn't have the time to wait for a response; the silvery Pegasus spun around, running towards the door even as a bolt of pain ran through her as she heard Antares calling weakly to her.

In moments she was out of the clinic, looking quickly back and forth before a terrible roar shook the air, and Scarlet Sage spread her wings and leapt upwards, flying quickly into the air and gazing over the wall with a wince at the sight of the massive, hulking monstrosity that was Griselda in the distance. And worse, as she looked up, she saw Takers descending from the sky towards them as other bug-creatures tore through the field, screaming and shrieking and heedless of the bullets and arrows and magic that was already pelting into the attacking horde.

Scarlet Sage dropped back to the street, beginning to run towards town square, and a Taker leapt into her path: without slowing, Scarlet Sage simply slammed both front hooves into its head and vaulted over it, flapping her wings once to launch herself further away from the disoriented beast as she focused on her objective. Then her eyes widened as there was a rumbling before a Taker Beetle plowed out of an alley, knocking wooden fencing and debris flying as it skidded into her path and turned to roar at her furiously.

Scarlet Sage set herself, gritting her teeth before the Beetle leaned forwards, vomiting a stream of goo at her, but the Pegasus quickly sidestepped, then flapped her wings and propelled herself upwards, quickly using the bladed bracelet to slice her own foreleg open before swinging her limb out as her eyes began to glow.

Blood splattered down over the Beetle's features, and it snarled before Scarlet Sage's red eyes flashed as she grimaced and shoved a hoof towards the monster: immediately, the blood that had splashed over the monster bubbled and swirled before hardening, becoming like cement over the creature's eyes and blinding it as it howled in frustration and stumbled back and forth. The Pegasus used this opportunity to fly quickly past the blinded monster, reminding herself that she had to get to Celestia: that nothing else mattered at this point but-

She saw the Takers too late, and Scarlet Sage yelled in shock as the three bug-creatures tackled her out of the air, driving her down to the ground with a loud bang. She snarled as one bit at her, just managing to yank her head out of the way before she slammed her skull into its nose, and the bug creature hissed and staggered backwards before the Pegasus kicked the second beast off her, then cried out in agony when the third monster raked its claws through her wing.

Feathers and blood burst up, and Scarlet rolled to her hooves before one of the Takers tackled her, crushing her down as her wounded wing flapped, sending droplets of blood everywhere. Scarlet Sage released another hiss of pain as the monster's claws tore at her scalp and its jaws bit at her, thankfully only getting a mouthful of her mane and little more than a nip to her skin before her eyes glowed as she arched her back, uncontrollable fury filling her up for a moment.

The droplets of her blood over the ground and that had splattered on the Takers boiled violently, then burst into intense red flames that distracted the monsters as they shrieked in agony. Immediately, Scarlet Sage yanked herself free from beneath them, then she spun around and slammed a hoof into the nearest Taker's head, knocking it stumbling before she slashed her bladed bracelet hard across the monster's face.

It sent up a burst of green-black blood, the Taker shrieking as the red flames burnt themselves out but the other monsters continued to shake themselves violently, still distracted by the pain. Then the Pegasus leapt forwards, seizing the monster she had just attacked around the neck and wincing in disgust even as she forced herself to lean down and lick up the awful blood from the bug-like monster's wound, then shove it backwards as pain wrenched through her system.

Buzzing voices entered her head, whispers that were both insane and primal, and Scarlet Sage gasped for a moment before she looked up as her eyes flashed as the Takers all looked suddenly, sharply up... and then the Pegasus bared her teeth, her eyes glowing brighter as she realized these monsters all shared almost identical blood, that she wasn't just tapping into the wounded beast, she could tap into the others nearby as well.

Green electricity sizzled over the Takers' horns, and then they threw their heads back and screamed: and behind her, where the monster had stumbled back into the alley, the blinded Taker Beetle howled miserably as well as psychic static shocked through its mind. The Takers collapsed one-by-one as Scarlet Sage used her powers to block the mental link between the servants and their Queen, even as she could feel the accumulating rage of their hive mind trying to smash into her own brain, trying to order her to do things, trying to simply hurt this intruder into their mentality as Scarlet Sage shivered, then spread her wings and leapt to the air, rasping: “Just hold on... just hold on...”

But the blood was already taking a toll on her: even if she was immune to most diseases and blood-borne infections, the blood was alien, monstrous, unnatural: and far worse were the effects on her mind, as it gave her both the power to crush the minds of the Takers near her, but also made her into as much as a receiver for Griselda as the rest of the hive was. She could feel the mental pressure building slowly, and she knew it wouldn't be long before she would have to break the link she had forged through Taker blood or risk her mind crumbling, and... who knew what would happen then.

But for now, she shot onwards, and the Takers she passed or who drew near to her shrieked in agony, feeling mental static blasting through their minds and severing the ever-important link with their Queen when the Pegasus came within twenty feet of them. Scarlet Sage was already beginning to turn pale, though, and she was unsteady by the time she reached the square, which was littered not just with bodies of Takers but barricades and a few fallen Starlit Knights and Nibelung as well.

Celestia glanced sharply towards her, and Scarlet Sage stumbled, then leaned to the side and vomited loudly before shivering once. But then her pallor slowly began to return as the winged unicorn approached with Sleipnir, Discombobulation and Pinkamena, and Scarlet Sage looked up as she shook herself out, whispering: “I'm okay. I was able to make a blood link with the Takers... it lets me break into their minds. But it hurts like hell and I felt... I felt myself losing myself. I just broke the connection, and I can already feel my strength coming back, though, I'll do it again in a few minutes.”

“Scarlet Sage, it's too dangerous if it has that much an effect on you.” Celestia said quietly, but Scarlet Sage shook her head vehemently as she slowly straightened.

“No, it'll be fine.” she said forcefully, breathing a little harder, and Celestia looked down at her apprehensively before the Blood Seer whispered: “I want to use my powers for good, not evil. Healing ponies is a start, but fighting these monsters off is even better in some ways. Besides, it's the best way to ensure that you guys get to Griselda, Celestia.”

“You're taking after your mother, Scarlet Sage.” Celestia said softly, and Scarlet Sage smiled wanly before the ivory winged unicorn nodded quickly, looking up towards the sky as the screams of Takers sounded from above. “We have no time to argue, anyway. Discombobulation, where's Discord?”

“Either hiding or 'lying in wait,' but they both amount to the same thing.” Discombobulation replied mildly, rubbing slowly as his metallic limb as he glanced moodily up. “Don't count on Discord to help, Celestia. It's the only way you can be sure that he will. Don't worry, I'll do the dreaded 'protect the village' mission and wait out the timer until he decides to show up.”

The winged unicorn nodded quickly, then she glanced over her shoulder as the Draconequus bowed and vanished: Sleipnir was bruised, his armor damaged, but he looked ready: likewise, Pinkamena had a few cuts that were healing much slower than her normal rapid regeneration, but she was grinning and her red-rimmed eyes were all-but-glowing, as she looked up and said coldly: “Come on, Princess Sunshine. We don't got time to dally.”

“You're right.” Celestia closed her eyes, rolling her shoulders slowly, feeling Tyrfing's strangely comforting weight before she glanced up as one of Griselda's echoing roars tore through the air, saying sharply: “There is no failure here. We either achieve victory or we are all destroyed. Understood?”

“Aye, big sister, and let us hope we do not die just yet. 'Twould be embarrassing, Luna would surely never let us live it down... or well, thou knows what I mean.” Sleipnir replied with a firm smile, looking up and nodding quickly, and Celestia shook her head slowly as Pinkamena smiled wryly at her husband. “Honor to us, sister!”

“Honor above all.” Celestia agreed, and then she turned and began to sprint forwards, the other ponies falling in pace beside her as she shouted: “Let's show these cowards what that means!”

Sleipnir and Pinkamena both roared, and Scarlet Sage gritted her teeth as the group sprinted down the road, charging past Takers and soldiers that were fighting back the invading bug-beasts alongside demons and other forces; they passed ponies young and old fighting as fiercely and fearlessly as they could against monsters spawned by raw destruction, and sights both incredible and terrible: and yet all the same, there was no time to slow, to stop, only to charge forwards as the looming monster in the distance tore itself ever closer.

They reached the gates in record time, trampling their way through any monstrosity that dared to get in their path, and as they shot out into the field they were joined by Burning Desire, Selene, and Zecora. The group of demons, pony and zebra rammed down a safe aisle left between the traps and barricades, as Takers engaged the first line of defense and stumbled into traps and clawed over walls, howling in hunger and fury as the horde pushed ever forwards.

A bug-beast lunged into their path, and without slowing, Celestia leapt forwards as Tyrfing snapped off her back, whickering out to decapitate it in one fell swoop. The others leapt around the stumbling, headless body, but Scarlet Sage spread her wings and swiped her hooves through the monster's blood as she passed before quickly licking it up as she flew above the group, her eyes beginning to glow as she reforged the mental link and looked up with a snarl.

She felt their minds again, felt the link becoming solid... and then Griselda roared, and horrific, animal visions tore through her brain, Scarlet Sage screaming in shock before blood burst from her ears as she reared back, a convulsion ripping through her body as mental claws savaged her mind, mental jaws bit violently again and again and again into her psyche. She tumbled from the air with a gargle, and Burning Desire winced over his shoulder as Takers screamed in what sounded like mocking pleasure before the demon leapt backwards with a curse to charge towards the fallen Pegasus.

He smashed one Taker away as it lunged towards Scarlet's prone, drooling form, then snapped his horn outwards, creating a cloud of smoke around them. It disoriented the other beasts that were trying to close in, and a moment later Burning Desire lunged out of the crowd with a curse, hurrying back towards the front lines with Scarlet Sage on his back.

He risked a look over his shoulder, and then snapped his horn to the side to create a wall of fire that drove back the Takers trying to follow him, before looking ahead and wincing as a Taker leapt in front of him; he was saved by a golden blur, however, and the demon staggered to a halt as the Taker was crushed face-first into the ground.

A second Taker lunged at the back of the Pegasus, but she calmly swung one rear hoof back and smashed it backwards, before her single wing flapped as she pushed herself off the ground, doing a short, rolling flip over a Taker that tried to dive into her. Both her hooves crashed down into its back and forced it down, and like liquid, she swept one hoof quickly to the side: it first smashed across the back of the pinned Taker's head, knocking it senseless, before catching a second Taker by the face and slamming it firmly down into the one she had already pinned, cracking both their skulls.

Then Fluttershy looked over her shoulder, eyes glowing with a strange luminescence as she said quietly: “Please, let's hurry back inside. I don't like doing this, even though I let Nirvana take away my fear for now.”

Burning Desire nodded curtly, then he risked another look back over his shoulder even as more Takers screamed and surged in around them... but the group was almost at Griselda now. But Celestia snarled as a swarm of Takers charged towards them, led by several enormous Beetles... except Sleipnir barreled past her with a grin, shouting to his sister as he ran by: “I shall join thee as soon as I can, Celestia, but it seems first I must play a game with these silly children!”

“Sleipnir!” Celestia shouted... but the gigantic earth pony had already rammed into the first Beetle, knocking it flying and drawing the attention of the other monsters to him. Then Celestia cursed, leaping to the air and spreading her wings as Zecora skidded to a halt and yanked a potion out of the belt around her body, throwing it with a hard toss into another Taker Beetle that was running towards them, and it exploded with a tremendous bang as the zebra shouted some insult in her own language, drawing attention to her as well.

A bug-beast lunged at the striped equine's flank, and Zecora winced... but a moment later, Pinkamena crushed the beast out of the air with her axe, grinning darkly over at the zebra as she said easily: “Looks like you owe your life to a demon now, shaman. Must be humiliating, being saved by one of my kind and all.”

Zecora only gave a thin smile even as her eyes flicked up, sending a silent prayer to Celestia and Selene as the two flew quickly towards Griselda. The monster glared at them with its single, baleful green eye, roaring as it dragged itself forwards, and Celestia's eyes locked on the wound in the living hive's stomach before Selene said softly: “I'm sorry, Dawn Bringer. It looks like you face this alone.”

Shrieks sounded through the air, and Celestia looked up in shock as a swarm of Takers lifted off from where they had been roosting over Griselda's back, flying eagerly forwards... but Selene gracefully shot upwards to meet them, the Nephilim's horn beginning to glow as her endless gaze locked on the horde, saying softly: “Your kind means nothing to me.”

Celestia cursed and forced herself to look down even as a shockwave rippled through the air, pushing herself into flying harder, faster, diving towards the open entrance that led into the living hive as Griselda roared and continued to drag itself ever forwards... and just as she arched her back, swooping in as Tyrfing drew back beside her, just as she began to drop into the torn-open jaw of the cavern, a hideous, mottled white shape lunged out and tackled her, knocking her crashing backwards as Cancer's claws ripped into her armor and he screamed gleefully into her face: “Been waiting for you, white weasel! What took you so long?”

Celestia's wings flapped wildly as she shouted in pain, twisting back and forth as Cancer cackled as his lower body became serpentine, twisting violently around Celestia's lower body before they both cursed as she zigzagged through the air and ricocheted off Griselda's chest. Still, the winged unicorn forced herself to continue to fly upwards even as Cancer tried to drag her down, his claws locked into her shoulders as he constricted tighter around her, turning her armor into a painful cage as he continued in a vicious, eager voice: “You and me got a bone to pick before I kill you, bitch! You're gonna be the perfect bait for that scumbag crowbait punk kid of yours!”

“Get off me!” Celestia snarled, sweeping in Tyrfing, but Cancer only shoved himself against her with a snarl, making her body sway and narrowly dodging the awkward swipe of the blade before the destruction entity leaned back and swung a claw out, hitting the flat of the sword and knocking it loose from Celestia's telekinetic grip. It fell through the air, spinning wildly as Celestia tried to turn, still trying her hardest to fly, to stay in control, as Cancer clung to her and they shot higher, higher, higher...

Celestia's horn began to glow, and Cancer snarled as he brought a claw back as it warped into a bony blade, preparing to strike... and then he screamed as both he and Celestia were encased in a golden glow. They were flying above Griselda now, twisting back and forth through the air, both of them shining with radiance, Celestia wincing in agony as she felt the monster crushing her even as she forcefully tried to neutralize him, making the beast's body ripple as he howled in pain and struggled against the energy that was coursing through him and turning his body to wax. They were trapped in stalemate, Celestia unable to focus on another spell as her pain worsened with every movement, and Cancer unable to move with the holy energy flooding his poisonous system, unable to transform his body or swing his bony blade forwards no matter how hard he tried.

They were like a glowing beacon, and Cowlick cursed from where she was standing on top of the engineering building, binoculars focused on this before they roved to Griselda. The monster was still moving closer, was beginning to tear into the plains now, and after that it would be mere minutes before it reached Ponyville. The glowing star could only be Celestia trying to fight off something, and if even Celestia was being kept busy she didn't want to guess what had happened to the others...

“Momma, what is it?” Rustproof asked worriedly as he hurried towards her, and Cowlick grimaced over her shoulder at her son. He was dressed in his rumpled engineer's overalls, but one of the dark stains along his arm was clearly blood or pus from his wound that still wasn't healing properly.

“Get back inside, Rusty, that's an order not just from your Momma but from your boss.” Cowlick said sharply, and Rustproof winced before the engineer growled out at the battlefield, tossing the binoculars away and turning to half-shove Rustproof towards the door. “Come on, I need you shipping stuff out. Looks like everything's gone to hell... you rigged up the last of those barrels of blessed oil yet, in case Greece has gotta try and buy time for Ponyville to be evacuated?”

“Bombs are set up...” Rustproof said nervously as they strode through the open door and hurried down the stairs, Cowlick still pushing her son ahead of her before he added quickly: “Momma, you need to go stay with Dad, you ain't-”

“I'm fine!” Cowlick shouted, then she shook her head sharply as Rustproof quailed a bit, cursing under her breath before looking almost pleadingly at her son. “Kid, you gotta do what's right, no matter what other ponies tell you, okay? What happens to me don't matter, not if it protects you and your Dad, and goddammit, I am not going to just sit around here and wait to die! I might not be able to stop that monster out there but I'm gonna damn well kill every one of those fugly bastards I can!”

She half-shoved Rustproof across the second floor landing, then pointed at him and said firmly: “Go down to the basement, help the others. Momma's gonna go out and do what she does best. You take care of things, Rusty, you're... you're my son, and I love you. You take care of your Dad, too.”

“Momma, no!” Rustproof shouted, but Cowlick only shook her head and turned, shoving through the doors as the blue earth pony looked after her with a tremble, then he winced and grabbed his wounded limb as it gave an ache... but the tears in his eyes weren't from any physical pain as he looked after her, whispering: “I love you too, Momma, but...”

Rustproof trembled, then reached up and rubbed at his face before turning and stumbling down the stairs to the basement level. He shoved his way through the doors, the enormous blue earth pony breathing hard as he hurried towards the assembly room, where workers were assembling clips of bullets, guns, everything and anything that could be passed out in a hurry to the soldiers outside.

Yet his hooves stopped and refused to take him forwards another step as he began to pass the testing room, breathing hard as he slowly turned his attention towards the double doors before hurrying forwards and shoving his way through. He looked first at Parsimony, then towards the wooden barrels that had been rigged into crude bombs, alongside several tanks of chemical fuel Rustproof had been mixing and working on timers for before he'd gone to worriedly look for his mother when she hadn't joined him... and then lastly, his eyes roved to what they'd moved out of the assembly room and into here for storage. Rustproof's personal project...

His eyes locked on this, then moved towards the barrels: he glanced back and forth, breathing hard before he felt a strange epiphany rise in his mind, a sense of destiny, of everything that had meant to be. And the earth pony turned his eyes towards his toolkit before he ran forwards, gritting his teeth as he went immediately to work, moving faster and more desperately than he ever had in his entire life.

Only a floor above, Cowlick strode towards the doors leading out of the engineering building, her bandanna tied tight around her forehead and goggles over her eyes, rifle on her back but another weapon of her own design holstered by one hip: the handle was built to lock around her hoof, with no guard and a lengthened trigger her hoof could use easily. It had twin, black barrels and she needed to reload it after every shot... but she had plenty of shells for the shotgun in the bandolier around her body.

She opened the pack hanging on her other hip and yanked out a plastic bottle, fumbling off the cap before simply tilting it back to pour several pills into her mouth and loudly chewing the amphetamines up. She simply tossed the rest of the bottle aside, then reached back and pulled out a cigarette and a lighter. She took her time lighting up, letting the amphetamines kick in, senses sharpening, muscles tightening, her already wild thoughts becoming a little more blurred together before she tucked the lighter away and shoved the doors open, storming out into the street and cracking her neck as she exhaled a blast of smoke from her nose.

The engineer turned to stride fearlessly down the street towards the open gates, ignoring the screams of the Takers, ignoring the corpses she strode over, her eyes glaring out from behind her goggles. She could see the monster closing in, could hear Griselda's roars echoing through the dark sky, and it made her blood boil as she snarled: “I swear that if I have to I will kill you myself, you oversized bitch. I may not be any demon or Valkyrie or hero or whatever, but I'll be damned if I let you lay a single goddamn claw on my town or my son while I'm still breathing!”

Then Cowlick glanced up as a scream filled the air and a Taker dove down towards her, but the mare leaned back and shoved her hoof back through the loop handle of the shotgun, yanking it free from the holster and swinging the sawed-off up to fire a shot directly into the monster's face, blowing most of its head away as she shouted furiously: “I ain't scared of you! I ain't scared of any of you! I can't put stuff together no more but I can sure as hell take each and every one of you bastards apart!”

Cowlick snapped the shotgun open, ejecting the empty shells and shoving two more quickly into place as her eyes glowed with rage, adrenaline, and amphetamine-enhanced madness, and then she hurried forwards as fast as she could on three legs with the shotgun secured over the forth. Another Taker attempted to charge in from the side, but Cowlick only slapped it hard across the face with the sawed-off, making it squawk before she shoved the gun into its jaws, grinning viciously before she pulled the trigger and reveled in the splatter that resulted.

She reloaded and continued forwards, tucking the shotgun away only after she passed through the gate and the Starlit Knights and Nibelung that were firing into the ever-forcing-forwards crowd of bug-creatures along the front lines. The engineer licked her lips at this, rolling her cigarette between her teeth before she drew her rifle off her back, taking aim with it and muttering: “This is where I wanna be. Let me show you how it's done.”

Her hooves were steady, her aim was as good as ever, and bullet after bullet blasted into Takers, some passing dangerously close to other warriors and demons on the field. But she didn't care: her mind was a maelstrom and all she could think about was killing these monsters, was hurting them, was fighting for as long as she could, to give her family a chance to survive and escape. She snarled, fearsome as any demon on the battlefield, her mind filled with swirling images of love and death.

Then she frowned as a rumbling filled the air, looking up sharply: it grew, louder and louder, and Cowlick cursed before she turned around, beginning to raise her rifle, wondering if it meant the monsters that were flying over them had decided to try and pincer the front line instead of wreaking havoc in town... before she simply stared in shock at the sight of what was approaching with a mechanical roar.

It was the project Rustproof had been building to try and impress her: a motorized bike, a wide, almost one-ton two wheeled monster of a machine with a low saddle seat and polished black and blue metal making up the thick frame. The engine of the motorcycle roared as it shot towards them, powered by chemical fuel and enhanced with voltaic topazes, and Rustproof himself was astride the goliath bike, rear hooves locked securely into fitted cusps and front hooves grasping the wide handlebars, his orange mane blowing back in the wind as he leaned forwards.

And on either side of the motorcycle, he had managed to rig up the explosive barrels and fuel containers near the additional thrusters on the bike's rear, and Cowlick could only gape as Rustproof shot forwards on the motorcycle, unable to fathom what she was seeing before her son blasted by and the force of his passage knocked her stumbling. She stared after him, and then her eyes widened, forgetting about the bloodshed, the violence, and everything else as she threw her rifle away and sprinted into the field, screaming: “Rustproof, stop!”

But the enormous blue earth pony only closed his eyes for a moment, shivering as he twisted the throttle higher, and engine roared in response as the motorcycle tore through the field. Then he looked sharply up, breathing hard, and feeling a strange serenity despite everything else that was going on around him as he weaved past screaming Takers, barricades, and startled soldiers, swerving back and forth as the motorcycle he had poured so much of himself into building responded like it was part of his body, better than he'd ever dreamed.

The rubber tires ripped up the field as he tore through it, and Rustproof gritted his teeth, eyes blazing as he focused on his objective, determination rising up through the strange sense of peace: no longer was there fear, or anxiety, or anything else. Just a need to do, just a need to follow through with this, just the one chance he knew he had to protect the ponies who had always protected him. Who had taken him in, loved him, made him feel like he belonged here in this village, with all his friends and family he would do anything, give anything, to save...

The earth pony twisted the handlebars hard, then dropped a hoof back, seizing the lever that stood out on the side of the bike as he skidded around a Taker Beetle that lunged at him before he tensed his body, leaning back slightly as another Taker Beetle directly ahead set itself in his path and roared at him... and just past it was Griselda, dragging herself ever closer, ignoring enemy and ally in her way as the wound pulsed in her stomach...

The Taker Beetle vomited a spray of goo at the motorcycle, and Rustproof leaned to the side, rider and machine just swaying out of the way before he leaned backwards with a grunt and yanked hard on the handlebars: the front tire of the bike rose high as Rustproof shot towards the Beetle, then the motorcycle slammed into the monster, Rustproof grunting as the bike bounced and the creature was squished back with a shriek before the motorcycle shot up the dome-shaped carapace like a ramp and launched into the air.

The earth pony leaned forwards as he flew towards the opening leading into the inner hive, but the arc was too short to make it... and then, just as he began to fall, he slammed the lever forwards, and the thrusters around the motorcycle's back tire burst into life, giving him the extra boost he needed into the tunnel. The bike shot straight through the passage like a steel comet, Rustproof leaning forwards as he bounced painfully before hurtling into the chamber that housed Griselda, the motorcycle knocking Taker Guards flying like dominoes as the Queen reared back in shock at the sight.

Her horn started to glow too little, too late, as she shrieked in surprise... and then Rustproof wrenched the handlebars hard to the side, and the motorcycle twisted as it skidded over the floor before crashing sideways into Griselda, one of the barrels of blessed oil bursting apart as the Queen started to raise her arms defensively. One of her limbs was wrenched almost out of her socket as the other snapped like a twig, and the bike rose halfway up her twisted body as fuel splashed up over the monstrosity.

Griselda screamed as a shudder ran through the living hive and the Takers all squealed, Rustproof cursing in pain and disorientation at the sudden stop... and then he closed his eyes, breathing slowly as the knocked-flat monster snarled, then reached a claw up and seized into the handlebars of the stalled motorcycle, yanking herself slowly up as she bared her fangs at him, then screamed at the earth pony. Yet Rustproof didn't look at her: he didn't even look at the Takers as they began to close in, instead slowly straightening with his eyes still closed before he calmly reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a box of cigarettes.

He popped this open, leaning down to put one between his lips before he rose his head and opened his eyes, and then he absently shook a single wooden match out of the box into his hoof. Griselda froze at the sight of this, her claw still grasping the handlebar of the bike to hold herself steady, other arm hanging limply at her side as the Taker Guard all froze as well. She seemed to realize what it meant, as fuel continued to spill out from the shattered barrel, forming a larger and larger puddle around them as it glistened over her body and half of her skull-like features.

Rustproof smiled calmly, then he brought the match up and gently put it against Griselda's skull-like face before flicking it firmly, and the monster flinched as the match sparked into life. Slowly, Rustproof brought it back, lighting his cigarette and taking a deep inhale as Griselda rasped in and out, trembling at the sight of the burning match before Rustproof slowly shook it out and tossed the blackened stump quietly away.

The monster hissed at this as if relieved, glaring more defiantly up at Rustproof now, even as its eyes stayed nervously on the lit cigarette as the earth pony took a long drag, then pulled it out of his muzzle with a smile. He studied the cylinder as he blew out a plume of smoke, and then his eyes flicked fearlessly up to Griselda, saying quietly: “It's funny, you know. Momma always said smoking would kill me. Says I gotta quit these things before somethin' bad happens to me. But it was always hard for me, findin' a reason I should stop. Always felt like it was part of me somehow.”

He stopped, then brought the cigarette to his muzzle, taking another slow drag before tapping the ashes aside... and then he smiled again as he looked calmly into the monster's eyes, pulling it loose from his jaws and saying softly: “I guess we were both kinda right.”

For a few moments, Rustproof studied the cigarette in his hoof like it was the final piece to some magnificent puzzle, the answer to all of life's riddles... and then he simply held it out to the side and allowed the cylinder to drop. It spun once as it fell through the air, and Griselda shrieked and grabbed wildly at it as Taker Guards rushed vainly forwards, and Rustproof only smiled and closed his eyes.

The cigarette landed in a puddle of golden oil, floating for a moment before the volatile fuel burst into aureate flames that raced up along the streaks of chemical and blessed oil over Griselda's body. The creature threw her head back and screamed in terror as much as pain, rearing away and staring in horror as the fires eagerly spread backwards to the shattered barrel in the same moment-

The living hive's howls of agony were nothing compared to the explosion that lit up the night, the entire monstrosity becoming nothing but a massive bonfire of gold and red and toxic green. It screamed, and the Takers screamed with it, and Cancer looked down with shock from where he and Celestia were still wrestling in the skies above, his grip loosening and giving Celestia enough time to snap her horn out and blast Cancer loose from her body, sending him falling with a howl of denial towards his burning bride below.

Cowlick's wordless shriek cut above even the screams of the Takers and their Queen, and ponies stared in awe, in shock, in joy, in pain towards the living hive as it gave another mournful wail, as more explosions tore up through its body as it burned rapidly away from within. The monstrosity quaked, then howled in torment before slowly, lethargically beginning to collapse forwards, crashing down to the field and shaking the earth with its death.

Takers too, were falling, their queen's death sending the furthest into short-lived frenzies before they fell still, the closest simply slumping to the ground, mindless and dead. In one fell swoop, the living hive and its terrible, insectile army had been eradicated... and not by any Valkyrie or demon or warrior, not by winged unicorn or chosen one, but a young earth pony who was really only just a colt for all his size, by a prodigal engineer who had always been quiet, and kind, and done his best to be good for all his flaws.

And even as a few soldiers tried to cheer, Cowlick's cries of pain and denial was what tore loudest through the air as she hammered her hooves against the ground, goggles doing nothing to hide her tears as she stared weakly at the burning pyre that was her son's last act of love, devotion, and sacrifice.

Act IV: The Murdered Albatross

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Act IV: The Murdered Albatross
~BlackRoseRaven

How beautiful it is, our guide who hangs aloft in the skies,
As it flies, on and on, through the blue ocean above the sea.
How gorgeous it is, and I am jealous of its magnificence,
I, the Captain, and it, living beacon leading onwards towards safety.

I want it for my own, so I think that I shall take it,
I shall break it, for what better way to idolize an idol?
Let us kill him, and mount him upon the ship's prow as watcher,
Then he shall guide us forever, protect us from the ocean's treachery.

Yes, with pins and needles, arrows and bolts, a net of steel,
I leave the wheel: I stand alone on deck in blackest, deadest night,
As still the Albatross flies above, and I smile, assured of my decision,
My ship will be the envy of every sailor who's ever sailed the sea.

It's not hard to bring it down: it takes little more than a swing,
An easy fling: it's like he wants to be caught, but oh, his eyes...
Mournful, crying eyes he looks up at me with, as I approach,
But I reassure: “We'll wander the ocean, wide and safe and free.”

They say I murdered the Albatross: I say I made him eternal,
He is paternal; he would want this, to watch over us forever,
From where he is tied to the prow of the ship, to do his hero's work,
Molded by my touch into the thing that looks and watches and sees.

The crew said we were cursed, but we reached port right and fine,
It was a sign: it was a calling down telling me I had done right,
My crew fled, but that was best, for I could wander forever now,
With my Albatross, with my ship, and never fear the water's mutiny.

We sail together into the mist, through the endless expanse of the sea,
Him and me: the Albatross, my hero, killed and stuffed and forever here,
Forever to guide my way forwards, my savior and my chosen martyr:
He gives me what I crave: nothing but my ship, and the sea, for all eternity.

I am the Captain, and he is the living beacon leading onwards towards safety:
He shall guide me forever, protect my ship from the ocean's treachery,
My ship is now the envy of every sailor who's ever sailed the sea,
I reassure myself: “We'll wander the ocean, wide and safe and free.”
For he was molded by my touch into the thing that looks and watches and sees,
He is my Albatross, and in my ship, we shall never fear the water's mutiny,
He gives me what I crave: nothing but my ship, and the sea, for all eternity;
He has given me what I craved: nothing but my ship, and the sea, for all of eternity.

Dedication

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Chapter Thirty One: Dedication
~BlackRoseRaven

Outside Ponyville, there was still wreckage everywhere: signs of battle, broken traps, barricades that had yet to be taken down. The many, many corpses had been taken care of, at least: the dead of friends and family attended to, the bodies of bugs thrown in with the hulking ruins of their former queen and burned until nothing was left.

There was still much damage to be repaired throughout the town, but the blood had been wiped up, and the most necessary repairs had already been made. More important than tending to the village, however, was the rituals of tending to their lost and dead. And today, only a few days after everything that had happened, there was a gathering in front of the library around a polished ironwood casket that sat upon a golden stand, Rustproof's cutie mark carved into the lid, and bouquets of flowers laid out all along the surface of the coffin and the base of the supporting frame.

Celestia stood silently behind the coffin adorned only in bandages, looking silently over at Cowlick and Ross. The earth pony mare was breathing shakily, eyes red from crying, a veil over her face and black scarf tied around her neck. Ross had a black band around one upper limb, his eyes low, a foreleg wrapped tightly around Cowlick as he trembled a little now and then: death was hard for him to see. The death of his son was almost impossible for him to deal with.

Antares sat at the front row, rubbing at his eyes over and over, tears spilling down his cheeks now and then despite his best efforts to be strong. He felt like a miserable, worthless failure, and he couldn't believe that Rustproof had sacrificed himself, still couldn't grasp that his friend... was gone.

Prestige sat beside him, carefully rubbing Antares' back, creating a gentle rasp with each pass of her hoof over the bandages wrapped around the glossy black stallion's ribs. And Meadowlark was on his other side, trembling violently, rubbing at her own eyes every so often as her other hoof tightly clutched a bauble hanging on a string around her neck. A toy Rustproof had given her when he was just a baby and she had been a young, mean-tempered foal. A token that she had always kept... that she would never, ever let go.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack were with Avalon, who had her head bowed silently, one wing in a cast. And Twilight was here as well, wearing a thick cloak to keep her body out of sight, stitching over her face and the Lich's features mostly restored, but still a little visibly unstable, visibly strange. But even if she wasn't complete yet, she had to be here for Cowlick and Ross. She had to be here to support her friends, and her family's own suffering. And she had to be here to honor Rustproof and what the colt had done for his friends and family and Ponyville.

There was silence... and then finally, Cowlick shakily stepped forwards, taking a slow breath before she rose her head and said quietly: “Rustproof... was my son. Was the greatest damn boy... the greatest damn blessing... I could have ever asked for in my whole stupid life. I look out over all of you today, and... I know that I... didn't deserve him. I don't know how the hell he turned out as wonderful as he did. I only know that each and every one of us here owes him our lives, and I know that he did it for... for me, too. That he saw his Momma being... being an i-idiot... and he s-s-saved me like he'll never know that he always goddamn did so many times...”

Cowlick clenched her jaw, shivering violently as she leaned over the coffin, then she looked up and slowly over the group: almost every pony in Ponyville was here, every Nibelung, demons, faces she knew and faces she didn't before she breathed slowly and forced herself to straighten, shaking her head out violently. “Don't any of you forget what he's done, why he did it. He didn't do it to hurt nobody, Rusty wasn't ever like that, not even... not even with people who deserved it. He didn't do it to kill or destroy, he did it to save us. He took on that monster to save us, not to take revenge, not because he wanted to hurt it. All of you remember that. And all of you... make sure you do what it takes to prove we all deserved that. Because I sure as hell didn't.”

Cowlick dropped her head forwards, breathing slowly in and out as she trembled a little, then swallowed thickly before stepping back and nodding to Celestia. The ivory winged unicorn bowed her head silently to Cowlick, then she stepped forwards and said quietly: “We will now proceed to what has been chosen as Rustproof's final resting place.”

Antares trembled for a moment, then he took a slow breath as he stood, along with Rainbow Dash, Greece, and Meadowlark. The four strode silently to the coffin, regarding it for a few moments before Celestia nodded slowly, and they each walked to a corner of the casket, Antares reaching up to silently touch the ornate, shaped black handle.

He looked at the coffin: smaller than Rustproof would have fit in, and he wondered silently for a moment why they were doing this. But as he and the the other three all lifted the handles at once, the ponies settling the larger grips across their necks and Greece setting his own on his shoulder, keeping it gripped steady in one hand, he realized why as his eyes traveled to Ross and Cowlick. This was closure. This was a ritual not for the dead, but for the living, as Celestia strode ahead with the mourning parents, and the pallbearers followed... and following them, came first Rustproof's friends and family, and then the rest of those who had gathered.

It felt like they were leading all of Ponyville in procession, as Antares bowed his head low, keeping his pace slow and steady. At the other front corner was Rainbow Dash, while Meadowlark and Greece brought up the back. It was hard, and it hurt, and Antares felt tears pricking his eyes again and on his cheeks as he breathed quietly in and out, but moving made the pain easier. Carrying this coffin didn't feel like a weight: it felt like an honor he didn't deserve, as he wondered silently where Rustproof was... if he was gone forever, if his spirit lingered here in Ponyville, if he was in Valhalla above.

They headed outside of Ponyville, and to a beautiful little hill lit by the bright noonday sun, as clouds rolled carelessly through the blue skies above that were free, and happy, and gazed down upon the earth below and all the trials that the world faced without either mockery or compassion. Antares breathed quietly as they reached the top of the hill, where a tombstone had been placed... but no hole had been dug in the earth, no grave gaped, waiting hungrily for the coffin.

Celestia, however, gestured gently at them to set the coffin down, and the pallbearers did so, not questioning what was going on before they stepped carefully back. Others began to gather around them in a loose circle, blanketing the hilltop and gazing silently at the coffin. Then Celestia rose her head and began to speak, but Antares barely heard the words: all he was able to do was study the coffin, and think of Rustproof, and everything that the earth pony had done... how the young colt had been everything Antares knew he had to try and become himself.

He didn't realize how much time had passed, or even that the funeral was over until Meadowlark quietly touched his shoulder, and the young stallion looked up to see everypony was filtering away. He looked back and forth, and Prestige smiled faintly before she simply bowed her head to him silently and respectfully turned to follow Celestia, and Antares gazed after her with thankfulness before Aphrodisia said quietly: “I miss him.”

“Me too. He... he was always...” Avalon shook her head slowly, trembling a bit, and Rainbow Dash nodded silently as he reached up to touch his daughter's shoulder gently, as Applejack sat back with her hat held tight to her chest.

Cowlick and Ross were standing on the other side of the grave as well, and then the engineer mare trembled a bit before she looked up and asked in a surprisingly dry voice: “You still up for... spending some time together tonight, Dash?”

“Yeah. Definitely, Big Mac and Applejack will have the whole... everything set up. Pinkamena's helped a lot too.” Rainbow said finally, and Applejack nodded firmly. Cowlick only gave a faint smile, and Rainbow hesitated... then simply nodded, patting his daughter on the shoulder before he turned to leave with his wife.

Avalon rubbed at her face again, and then she looked up finally and said quietly: “I wish I'd treated him better.”

“You treated him fine. You treated him good.” Ross murmured, and then he looked up and smiled faintly, the unicorn trembling a little. “Rustproof always liked you, he did. He wouldn't want you to feel bad... he... he always just wanted to make ponies smile.”

“He did. He always did.” Avalon whispered, and then she trembled a bit before cursing quietly to herself and turning away. After a few moments, Aphrodisia followed her as well, giving a faint smile to Rustproof's parents but clearly not knowing what to say or do otherwise, as she and Avalon left.

Meadowlark and Antares simply stood for a while at the base of the coffin... and then Cowlick finally leaned up and whispered something to Ross, and the unicorn nodded quietly before he and the engineer traded a fierce, tight hug. Then he turned, walking quietly towards town, and Cowlick gazed after him silently as she said quietly: “There's nothing wrong with Ross, you know. Best goddamn thing that ever happened to me... except for Rusty. And I'm... I'm glad that Rustproof grew up so much like his Dad, nothing at all like... me...”

She almost spat the last word, and Antares glanced up silently as Cowlick shook her head slowly, then closed her eyes and leaned over the coffin, resting her hooves against it as she murmured: “I wish... I'd never kept anything from him, whether it was for good or bad. He deserved more. He deserved to know that... that...”

“He did know.” Antares said quietly, and Cowlick looked up sharply, the young stallion gazing silently down at the coffin. “He knew, Cowlick, that you and Ross... weren't his birth parents. But he said it didn't matter. He said he was lucky to have you... both of you. He loved you, Cowlick, with all of his heart. He admired you... you and Ross... you were all he wanted to ever impress. To ever be like.”

“I...” Cowlick trembled a bit, and then she dropped her head forwards, shivering a little. Antares and Meadowlark were silent, and then both traded a look before beginning to turn away... but before they could get very far, Cowlick looked up and asked quietly: “Hey, where do you think you're going? We ain't done yet.”

Antares frowned, looking over his shoulder as Cowlick reached up and yanked off her veil... and then she smiled faintly, even through her tears, as she walked over to them. Meadowlark and Antares both winced when she threw a foreleg around them both, hugging them firmly up against her before they returned the embrace, and the engineer dropped her head forwards, closing her eyes as she whispered: “All you kids are so goddamn important to me... now, now more than ever. Meadowlark... he adored you. And you were always good to him, no matter what else you might have once been. And Antares...”

Cowlick drew back as Antares glanced up at her... and then he yelled in shock when she punched him hard in the face, knocking him onto his back as he grabbed at his bloody nose in shock, staring up at her stupidly before the earth pony seized him by the ruff of the neck and jerked him up off the ground, glaring down into his eyes. “Don't piss on my son's memory by thinking you should have done better, or whimpering about how it's all your fault. Learn a thing or two from him, 'cause goddammit, he looked up to you like a big brother, always counted on you. And you didn't fail him. You didn't fail anyone. This wasn't your fault.”

Cowlick closed her eyes, then she dropped him and shook her head out, looking silently over at the coffin as Antares breathed heavily, laying on his back as Meadowlark stared in shocked silence, and then the engineer nodded once to herself before turning and quietly striding back up beside the casket. Slowly, Antares forced himself up to his hooves... and then he stared as Cowlick grasped the lid of the coffin and opened the top half of it. She reached in... and to Antares' further disbelief, pulled out a six pack of beer.

She yanked one of the cans free and tossed it to Meadowlark, who caught it out of luck more than anything else, then tossed one to Antares, who fumbled it, then clutched it between his hooves as the mare sat back against the open casket. She pulled a can free herself, then dropped the rest in her lap as she gazed up at the sky overhead, saying quietly: “Rusty wouldn't want us to be sad, and I'm not very good at this whole... funeral business. After my Dad died, I didn't cope too well... lots of drugs, uppers and downers. I think it'd be better to honor my son's memory... to remember him... if you two will share a beer or two with me, and we can talk about old times.”

There was silence for a few moments... and then Meadowlark slowly walked forwards, and quietly sat down beside the engineer. Both mares looked towards Antares, who breathed slowly in and out, feeling tears drying on his face and blood still running from his nose... and then he sighed tiredly and shook his head before striding forwards, sitting down beside Meadowlark and dropping his back against the coffin as he mumbled: “Cowlick, if anyone sees us...”

“Screw 'em and screw what they think.” Cowlick muttered, and then she cracked her beer open. Meadowlark smiled faintly as she did the same, and Antares hesitated a moment longer, then sighed and nodded, opening his own. The three bumped their cans together, then Cowlick nodded firmly once before raising hers high and saying firmly: “To Rustproof. To my son. The best engineer who ever lived, and the bravest son of a bitch ever to set hoof in Ponyville.”

“To Rustproof.” echoed Meadowlark and Antares, and then all three ponies drank deeply, Antares closing his eyes at the coarse taste of the beer before he lowered his cane as Meadowlark grimaced a little, and Cowlick drained at least half of her can in several large swallows. Then the engineer sighed and settled, the three lowering their heads silently.

Finally, Antares couldn't help but look up and ask finally: “Is the whole coffin full of beer? And how did you get that past Celestia, anyway?”

“No, there's only a few packs in there, and either Celestia didn't notice me throwing stuff in or she just didn't care. This thing is just... just for show, anyway.” Cowlick reached back and knocked quietly on the coffin, lowering her head a little as she closed her eyes. “I ain't gonna even bother putting it in the ground. I don't need to, I guess I just needed... to get it out here. To go through all the motions to... start... processing what happened.

“Rustproof...” Cowlick lowered her head, and then she smiled faintly even as a tear spilled down her cheek. “Always so good tempered. And so goddamn big, I remember that even as a foal he was so goddamn big. Ross and me... we were so scared when we first adopted him. I mean, us, parents, of this kid I was basically getting not because I even wanted one, because I wasn't about to let that jackass Narcissa sell some poor baby off to the highest bidder.

“And Ross, well... yeah, his wiring's a little funny, so I was worried about him. But wouldn't you know it, I'm the one who ends up being cranky and whiny all day, who doesn't cope well with the baby, and Ross... Ross, he blossomed. You shoulda seen it, the way he handled that kid... he was goddamn amazing. So gentle, so good, just... always knew what to do.” Cowlick laughed, shaking her head slowly as she whispered: “But Ross has got so much empathy... such a big damn heart. Me, I don't got that.”

She quieted, then shook her head slowly as Meadowlark laughed a little and glanced over at her, murmuring: “You're too hard on yourself, Cowlick... Rusty always told us... how good you were to him. How much he didn't deserve you two... how he hated when he made you guys upset.”

Antares nodded as Cowlick glanced up quietly, looking at them silently. “He was never mad at you two... and I know that sometimes, even I was... I didn't always get along with my parents. But Rustproof, I never heard him say a bad word about either of you once, and he always knew you were fair with him. If anything, he was only ever upset with himself... like with smoking. He knew he deserved the punishment and... he was always most worried about... if he was just disappointing you two all over again.”

Cowlick nodded slowly, looking down before she shook her head and murmured: “Seems so stupid now. And what a hypocrite I am, right? I was always telling Rustproof not to do this or that but half the time I'm hopped up on amphetamines or got a cigarette jutting out of my face. I was never a good girl... got in all kinds of crap all the time because I can't keep my mouth shut and I always had to be so damn tough. But Ross, and Rusty... they... they were so gentle to me. Good to me. They made me understand I could just be me... that I didn't need...”

She fell silent again, and for a few moments there was quiet before Meadowlark murmured softly: “I think Avalon really is sorry about... you know.”

“So what, she was tough on Rusty now and then, called him poo-brain. The kid was a little poo-brain.” Cowlick was smiling again as she shook her head though, closing her eyes. “But it wasn't nothin' bad. It just went to show that... he had his flaws. And you know, he worked for everything he did, worked his flank off. If he was a prodigy, it wasn't because he had all the right switches on upstairs. It was 'cause he was so... so... I don't wanna say driven...”

“Dedicated.” Antares said quietly, looking up, and Cowlick grunted as she gestured towards him with a firm nod.

“Dedicated! Exactly! And in everything that was important to him in life...” Cowlick smiled faintly once more, looking down and murmuring softly: “I like to think he got that from me, but... I dunno. I've always had a knack for stuff, but... if something got too tough I bitched and moaned and gave up. Rusty... he never gave up. And the results of that... that Iron Horse of his! You two missed it but...”

Cowlick looked up at the sky with shining eyes, laughing even through her tears. “I thought he was crazy when he told me about his idea, motorize a bicycle... I mean, who the hell rides bikes around here anyway? Not even the Nibelung do... but he came up with the idea, he drew it all out, and I still thought he was crazy as hell but decided to let him try and put her together. And the Iron Horse... Horses of Heaven, of all the names he could have chosen, why the hell did he have to go with that?”

The engineer mare shook her head slowly, laughing again as Antares and Meadowlark both listened intently, leaning towards Cowlick as she continued: “But I'll be damned if he didn't start putting things together in ways that... that I never even envisioned, and you've seen that crap I've been up to before, how I've tinkered in robotics. But he didn't need no stupid magic... the most he ever had to do was put together voltaic topaz batteries, and those things hold electricity naturally. And he finished the project and... and...”

Cowlick looked down slowly, sipping at her beer before she shook her head and murmured: “She was a beaut. Big, heavy thing, powerful engine, decorated and detailed. He impressed me. I told him he impressed me. But I never let him test drive her... we turned her engine on, sure, made sure she didn't explode but I still didn't ever let him get on that thing. I was... I was scared for him. And maybe I was even jealous of my own son. I should have let him, though, and I should have celebrated with him, because now the only time I saw that monster working was when... when he...”

She closed her eyes, biting her lower lip for a moment before a shudder ran through her, and there was silence until Antares said quietly: “He saved us.”

“He did. He goddamn did.” Cowlick murmured, closing her eyes before she drained her beer and tossed the can down the hill. Then she nodded firmly once to herself, eyes opening again as she rubbed her tears away and said quietly: “I think I'm gonna take a look at Rusty's schematics. See if I can figure out his doodles for that thing, and when... when I get better and my brain's all in order again, and my hooves start listening properly, I'm gonna see about building some of those things. Motorcycles, he called 'em. Yeah... and enough weapons. I've built enough stupid weapons over my lifetime, it's time for a change of pace. It's time to build stuff that saves people, like Rustproof would have done.”

Cowlick looked ahead, then she fumbled another beer out of the six pack before opening it. And for a little while, there was quiet as the three ponies drank, Antares and Meadowlark finishing their own cans and neither complaining or arguing when Cowlick tossed them each a new beer. The trio just sat back together, letting the conversation come when it did, talking now and then about things Rustproof had said or done until they were joined by Celestia... and with her was a beetroot-colored unicorn who was walking on his hind legs, his mane and tail flaxen gold, his horn and eyes both ivory.

Antares' eyes widened in surprise as the strange unicorn reached up with not a hoof, but a black, lineless hand to calmly adjust the lapels of the simple suit he was wearing, and Celestia gestured to him quietly as she said softly: “Cowlick, as... a gesture of gratitude, I've asked Kvasir to let us know when Rustproof finds his way to Valhalla. Because I am sure that your son has well-earned a place there.”

Cowlick glanced up moodily, and Kvasir nodded as he glanced meditatively over the trio of ponies before looking mildly at Celestia, asking dryly: “Is this a common funeral rite?”

“Very funny, jerk. Here.” Cowlick reached back into the coffin, pulling out another six pack of beer as Celestia looked meditatively at the engineer... but when Cowlick distributed the cans to each of the people there, none complained, none declined. They opened their cans almost as one, and then the engineer rose her can, saying quietly: “Here's to my kid, again. And not just him, but every single one of us. Except for you, Kvasir. God or not.”

Kvasir only smiled wryly, but he joined them in the toast as they clacked their cans together before they all drank deeply, and there was silence for a few moments as the five sat back. Then, after a moment, Cowlick looked at the strange unicorn and asked quietly: “You can't... give him back, can you? You're boss of Heaven and all, but... you can't bring my boy back to me, can you?”

“Not if his spirit has moved on willingly to Valhalla. And even if his Pale wanders reality here, his spirit may be looking for closure, not new life.” Kvasir replied quietly, shrugging a little before he glanced at Celestia hesitantly, but when she gestured to him with a hoof, the god nodded a little and said awkwardly: “I am... sorry for your loss. But...”

“No, I get it. I do.” Cowlick shook her head silently, then closed her eyes as she murmured: “I wish he could come back... I do. With all my goddamn heart. But you can't... change some things. And I wouldn't want to bring my son back as... as something he wasn't, or worse.”

Antares lowered his head a little as Celestia nodded quietly, and Kvasir silently sipped at his can of beer. For a few moments, there was silence, and then Cowlick looked up and asked moodily: “So when does god himself have time to make social calls?”

“The Valkyrie asked me to. Furthermore, we all know what I am, a homunculus created by Valthrudnir out of the blood of the Aesir and Vanir.” Kvasir looked distasteful, but Antares smiled faintly: the fact that the god was talking about his origins at all was a good thing, meant he was moving past that shame he had once carried and becoming more confident in himself. In who he was, not just what he was. “I'm a glorified administrator. And besides, I decided to oversee the latest shipment of blessed oil from Valhalla personally. Business.”

“Business.” Cowlick repeated, and then she shook her head slowly and took another drink from her can of beer before sighing and glancing moodily over at Celestia. “I bet you were never very good at giving gifts, were you?”

Celestia only smiled and shrugged in response, drinking from her own can as Antares shifted a bit and Meadowlark gazed quietly between Baroness and Kvasir, looking a little out of her element. But after a few moments, Kvasir turned his attention to Antares, asking quietly: “Have you reflected at all on recent events, Antares, and your own quest?”

“I... my parents aren't dead.” Antares murmured, shifting a bit as Celestia shot a sharp look at Kvasir, but the god only surveyed him silently as the glossy black stallion closed his eyes. “I believe they're out there. And... I know I'm not very good at letting go, but... I don't... see any reason to let go, not just yet.”

There was silence, and then Kvasir nodded before he glanced down at the can of alcohol in his grip, saying quietly: “If I could bring Odin back, I would. I... miss him. And I know that you do too.” He glanced towards Celestia, who shifted a little and looked down with a silent nod. “But as painful as it is... I know that I have to move on without him. Just reflect on things, Antares... I'm not asking you to give up your quest, or saying that you're being foolish. Only that... you need to be ready for what you might discover at the end of your journey.

“And on another matter, I'll also be speaking to the Strange Ones on your behalf, even if they are not quite as... obedient to me as they were with Odin.” Kvasir paused meditatively, before his eyes roved to Cowlick. “If you desire, while I'm there I can have something made to honor Rustproof.”

“Like a commemorative plaque?” Cowlick asked distastefully, and then she guzzled the rest of her beer before flinging the empty can at Kvasir, the homonculus god wincing as it bounced off him. “Thanks but no thanks. I already got lots to remember my colt by. And I got friends and family to help me feel better so... why don't you leave me to mourn?”

Kvasir sighed a little, but then he nodded after a moment as Cowlick picked up the last beer in the six pack and cracked it open. The god glanced down at his own beer, then he shrugged and sipped at it before turning around, saying mildly over his shoulder: “Thank you for the water.”

Cowlick smiled wryly despite herself, then she shook her head slowly before glancing over at Celestia, asking mildly as the Baroness sipped slowly at her can: “Are you going to lecture me too? Or are you really going to just sit there are enjoy a drink with me?”

“I think I'd prefer the latter, even if you could have gone with something better, Cowlick.” Celestia glanced down at the can in her hoof, and Cowlick laughed and nodded, smiling faintly as she sat up a bit.

“I could have, but... I don't want to be getting drunk today or anything, Celestia. That's no way to honor my son. Just... a good drink, and a good talk with friends.” Cowlick replied quietly, raising her own can, and Celestia smiled after a moment before the engineer closed her eyes. “Yeah. I'm glad you understand. And thanks for... the offer and stuff. I know you mean well and it's appreciated, even if... I think it kind of hurts more, to think my Rusty might end up way up there in Heaven, but it's a place that... you know. I can't ever get him to come down from, any more than I can get up there myself. Like I'm a midget and it's the real high shelf in the supermarket.”

“I thought you said you weren't trying to get drunk.” Celestia said gently, and Cowlick grunted and shrugged as she smiled wryly. Then silence fell between the group, but there was no real need for words for a little while, as they sat together, thinking of Rustproof... thinking of everything he had meant to them all, and everything that the earth pony had saved.

Celestia studied the maps silently, jotting down notes and locations on a paper pad every now and then as she murmured to herself a little. On the floor across the room, Discombobulation and Discord were sitting and playing a game of battleship: Discord would use his powers every now and then to move the positions of the ships on his side of the board around, but Discombobulation only continued to calmly bombard his ships peg after peg, turn after turn.

Then Discord grouchily looked up at Celestia before he leaned forwards and asked mildly: “Just what is she doing, puppy? You should know, you're her girlfriend.”

“And she's my boyfriend. She wears the pants. She has the p-” Celestia looked sourly up from the table, and Discombobulation hurriedly cleared his throat as Discord giggled childishly before slowly leaning a little further forwards, then wincing when Discombobulation slapped a hand against his face and shoved him backwards. “Don't be even more of a cheat than you already are. Battleship was always the one game you played with some degree of honor, even if you move the pieces around more often than a shark goes swimming.”

“Ships move. This is battleship, not battle island. Battle island would be lame. 'Oh no you sunk my immobile island!'” Discord grabbed either side of his face in mock-vexation, and Celestia rolled her eyes as she went back to work before the chaos entity added grumpily: “But I always knew you were a girl. All that screaming and moaning and primping your mane.”

“You never made me scream and moan, Discord. And if you think about making me scream and moan than I have to politely point out that while my girlfriend is also my boyfriend she is also very clearly a she.” Discombobulation replied mildly, gesturing absently at the winged unicorn, who was pointedly ignoring both Draconequus now. “But to answer your question, she's looking for the particularly nasty piece of work that's slipped into this layer.”

“The destruction entity.” Discord grimaced, then he poked a stick into place in the grid, and there was a whistling sound as a miniature missile shot down from the sky and struck the field on the other side of the game board, exploding with a small pop but not hitting any of the playing pieces. “And I know you're cheating, by the way.”

“On Tia? Never. On you? Always.” Discombobulation remarked, and then he rose a peg before pausing, then closing his eyes and saying mildly: “A5, A6, B10, C10, C1, D1, E1.”

Discord looked dumbly down at his board, then winced at the tiny gray ships resting in each of the areas Discombobulation had named exploded piece-by-piece, before the red-eyed Draconequus sulked and waved the game away. “How wonderful. Do you mind if I leave now? I think I've fulfilled my quota of helping stupid little ponies and playing childish games with my gimp of an ex-acolyte.”

“I learned it from watching you!” Discombobulation whined in return, and when Discord gave him a horrible look, the metal-armed chimerical creature added mildly: “And if you really wanted to leave, you'd just leave. It's very clear to everyone here that you secretly want to help. You're just embarrassed. And scared.”

“I am not afraid of anything!” Discord retorted indignantly, and then he paused and tapped meditatively at his chin. “Well, okay. Perhaps that's a stretch. The thought of just what you and that giant of a pony over there get up to in bed together, that scares me a lot. Also for some reason, socks and sandals. I mean, honestly, who does that?”

“It is a very horrible offense.” Discombobulation agreed almost solemnly, nodding slowly. “And believe me. It scares me as well. That's why usually I can't remember anything afterwards. At least I think I can't remember anything afterwards: how can you remember not remembering something if you don't remember it, after all?”

Discord looked at him for a few moments, then opened his mouth to reply in as rude a manner as possible, but he was interrupted Celestia glanced up and asked curiously: “Can either of you sense Cancer's presence? I'm... concerned that he didn't die in the fire, even though I saw him fall myself...”

“You saw what you want to see, Celestia, you ponies always see what you want to see, which is why you're just oh so fun and easy to play with.” Discord replied dryly, and then he twiddled his lion paw and eagle talon together as he looked moodily across at Discombobulation. “So uh. That is a good question though, puppy. What's the answer?”

Discombobulation frowned, and Discord winced visibly at this: at the sight of both Draconequus showing such clear unease, Celestia felt a nervous twist run through her body before she leaned forwards and asked in a sharper voice than she intended: “What is it?”

Both chimerical creatures flailed a bit, and Celestia sighed tiredly, looking both exasperated and a little embarrassed before Discombobulation rose his metal arm and muttered: “Well, before, yes, we could easily sense him. He's destruction and all, that reeks even worse than Helheim. At least Helheim often has a point, unless the demons have gone completely Willy Wonka on us. But neither of us could sense him in that last battle... like something has hidden his reek in the air, like an invisibility cloak.”

“Yeah, sorry, my bad.” mumbled another voice, and Celestia glanced up in surprise as Discombobulation gave a little shriek and leapt into Discord's arms, the Draconequus clinging to each other with winces before the red-eyed chimerical creature glared and threw Discombobulation off.

Allonym was sitting on the back steps of the library, smiling wryly, wrapped in bandages and still looking bruised and battered. A black fedora was on his head, and he was playing slowly with his mala of onyx beads as he murmured quietly: “One hundred and eight beads... ninety and nine, plus nine again. A different prayer for every bead, to be repeated a hundred and eight times... to gain transcendence. Freedom. Peace.”

The Avatar closed his eyes, then he said softly: “I'm sorry, although... relieved, in a sense, too. Cancer, as you'll recall, sank his claws in me. I don't know if he's even aware of it, but he managed to get a piece of me, absorb some of my abilities. Thankfully, since I'm ridiculously underwhelming in that department without my tools of the trade, it seems all he managed to make off with is my stealthiness. And you'll be pleased to know, Celestia, that even if these two idjits can no longer sense him, Antares will still be able to see him and know where he is. Him and those x-ray eyes of his.”

Celestia looked quietly at Allonym as Discombobulation and Discord both grumbled a little, and then the ivory mare shook her head slowly before asking quietly: “Antares and Cancer... they're polar opposites, and you've been trying to guide Antares into destroying Cancer from the very beginning, haven't you?”

“Cancer is... not entirely my main concern.” Allonym said carefully, continuing to slowly play his prayer beads through his hands, and then he sighed a little and lowered his head, murmuring: “But he is dangerous, yes, very dangerous, and a large part of the reason that I've gotten involved is to make sure that... that he's stopped. That nothing worse happens than already has... that we don't end up with something... going wrong, and everything ending up...”

He quieted, and Discord rose a hand before announcing loudly: “I have a question on behalf of the class. Hey, Mr. Poser? Why don't you just write him out of existence?”

“Didn't you two already try that?” Allonym asked sourly, and Discord and Discombobulation both shrugged and looked at the Avatar pointedly, who rolled his eyes and muttered: “Okay, let's pretend for a moment this isn't real life. That this is just a story, probably written by some douchebag who has too much time on his hands... or maybe he just cleverly has no social life and a job where he sits around bored all day, don't know, don't care.

“Now, in a story, you have a clear progression of some sort, right? Even in a horrible story with no plot, you have progression from A to B to C. But imagine if you removed parts B through Y to cut right to the end. For the person writing that story and whoever is unfortunate enough to read it, sure. It's godawful but it's still kind of a story. Kind of. For those unlucky characters in that imaginary story, however, I imagine... something unfortunate may happen. Since parts B to Y have been tossed into the Void, there's bound to be paradoxes everything, dissimilarities and simply put... problems. Mr. Writer Up Above might still be able to see the story, but us unlucky characters? We all get...”

Allonym reached up, making a loud squelching noise as he made a cutting gesture across his throat, and Discord slowly closed his mouth as Celestia frowned, leaning forwards and saying quietly: “I thought you said your powers were limited.”

“Yes, they are. They are extremely limited, Celestia, because if they aren't limited and I write 'and then they all lived happily ever after' I create a black hole that sucks us all in. Sure, we get to all smile and dance and wave sparklers around while we're crushed into absolute nothingness, but somehow I'm guessing that's not a whole lot of consolation.” Allonym replied dourly, making a grumpy gesture before he finally tucked his mala safely back away beneath his suit jacket. “Besides, there's always a chance that when I do try and affect reality, nothing will happen or things will react in an unexpected way. There's a lot of laws and rules and tenets to keep in mind... you know, like any big magic. God, I hate magic.”

Celestia smiled a little at this despite herself, shaking her head slowly before she murmured: “I think I'm starting to understand, Allonym. But doesn't that mean you could theoretically use your powers to modify or destroy Cancer?”

“No, it doesn't work like that.” Allonym reached up and rubbed at his face slowly, as the other three measured him with their eyes, the Avatar grimacing before he said finally: “What I do is more like... I insert extra. I create these... checkpoints, these moments of destiny, if you'll let me be a little whimsical. I can't go back and change the past, and it's pretty goddamn hard to change the present when I need to physically write in my journal. And like I said before, there's all kinds of weird rules I need to follow... at most I could write down something like 'and then Cancer exploded,' but he'd probably put himself back together. And reality has a funny way of twisting exactly what I write, so he'd probably explode near an orphanage or something, infect all the foals inside, and become even stronger when he puts himself back together from consuming an entire pack of children.”

The white winged unicorn grimaced at this, shaking her head slowly as Discombobulation and Discord traded looks, and then the latter Draconequus rose a finger and said distastefully: “So essentially you want us to believe that your powers are so flawed that if you try to do anything apart from party tricks, we'll all die?”

“Well, that's the gist of it. I'm obviously not sure what happens if my powers backfire entirely, I might just be the one who explodes.” Allonym replied wryly, and then he looked down at his prayer beads, muttering: “Things also tend to go wrong when I'm not uber-specific about just what I want to happen. You'd be amazed how many ways 'a bird flew into the air' could be interpreted badly. And for some reason it's always 'badly,' it's never 'oh, hey, that wasn't what I was expecting but gee is it ever a pleasant surprise!'”

“You are whinier than Eeyore. Then again, he does represent chronic depression. And he's not nearly as annoying as you.” Discombobulation added mildly, and Allonym grumbled under his breath before the Draconequus added moodily: “Also, none of us want you here. Go back to your own... wherever it is.”

“Yeah, poser, get out of here and stop stirring the pot. It's my job to stir the pot, not yours. You aren't nearly as handsome or charismatic as I am.” Discord added mildly, touching his own chest as he preened a little. “Me? I'm the Draconequus everyone loves, even if they love me 'cause they hate me. You? You're like... uh... puppy, give me a good reference here.”

“You're Waluigi. You're the evil version of a sidekick no one cares about and who is really just a tall running joke. You're a miscarriage of Japanese comedy.” Discombobulation said mildly, and then he and Discord traded serious looks. “He gets involved in stupid games too, with ghosts and tennis and monsters from different worlds all brawling it out like brothers as they smash everything in a real super melee. Like elves with robot pants. Genre mixing alert, anyone?”

With that, the two Draconequus began to make mocking siren noises, swaying slowly back and forth as they did so. Allonym glowered at the two, then he sighed tiredly and reached up to rub at his forehead, muttering over the incessant 'wee-oo wee-oo's:' “Guys. Guys. Guys, come on. Guys. Guys, seriously. Guys...”

The Draconequus continued on for a few moments as Celestia only rolled her eyes, and then finally quieted before Discombobulation announced dryly: “Baffling.”

“Baffling. Baffling.” Discord repeated, nodding in agreement, and the two continued to echo this sentiment for almost a minute as Allonym glowered at them. But as he opened his mouth, Celestia cleared her throat loudly before things could fall into further chaos.

“How can you help us, Allonym?” Celestia paused after a moment, then smiled a little as she added quietly: “By the way, I have something of yours. It's much more solid than I expected it to be, but I certainly can't complain about that point. It's a fine tool.”

Allonym glanced up curiously, studying her for a moment before he smiled and snapped his fingers. “You found my cane! Excellent, then maybe I can be a little help after all... as I already mentioned, I do require particular objects to be able to actually put my few abilities to any use. The cane is one of those things... I'm glad I don't have to go digging through bug-guts for it.”

“It's his magic staff.” Discombobulation whispered loudly, and Discord nodded seriously before both Draconequus winced when Celestia shot them a moody look, both holding up their hands hurriedly in a gesture of surrender. “It's not my fault that Pseudonym wants to be a multi-class Gandalf. Even though really, he's far more of a wretched little Gollum than anything else.”

“Wretched little ponieses has my precious, but we won't let the precious go, oh no, oh no.” Allonym said in a raspy, high-pitched voice, and then he gave a broken little giggle as he grinned widely, twisting his head almost upside down as he stared across at the two Draconequus, who both winced and leaned back. But a moment later, Allonym was suddenly serious again, sitting back and moodily rolling his head on his shoulders as he said dryly: “Not so much fun when people actually understand your deluge of references, is it? And Allonym is not a Pseudonym. It's just my nym.”

“It. It could be. If you didn't suck.” Discombobulation argued lamely, and then he rose his metal hand and added: “I volunteer for patrol duty.”

With that, the metal-armed Draconequus simply vanished, and Discord huffed before he glowered moodily between Celestia and Allonym, crossing his arms. “Well. I'm not staying and playing Chatty-Cathy with you two. You two are weird. So I'm going to go and pick on some ponies. Goodbye.”

Discord vanished a moment later as well, and Celestia sighed and shook her head slowly before glancing towards Allonym, saying softly: “While I understand that it's not really my place to offer advice... you may want to work on your people skills, Allonym. The Draconequus seem to be afraid of you for some reason.”

“I wouldn't say 'afraid,' more like...” Allonym paused thoughtfully, tilting his head back and forth as he made rolling gestures with his hands. “Discomfited. They're without law and boundary: I'm a force of control. Of course we're going to butt heads.”

Celestia only smiled a little at him in response, and Allonym shifted before he mumbled awkwardly: “You're far too good at this game, Celestia. You've mastered the art of forceful silence. You could make the hardiest of sociopaths sweat and start spilling their guts.”

The Draconequus fell quiet for a moment, then glanced up and began to open his mouth before he simply stared dumbly as the library door swung open, and Antares, Prestige and Twilight all strode inside. They looked with surprise at Allonym as he stared dumbly back, and then Antares glared at him and the Avatar shut his mouth with a wince.

He began to hold up a hand, but Antares snapped his horn hard forwards, sending a bolt of white light hammering into Allonym's face. Twilight immediately yelled something at Antares and Prestige gasped as the Draconequus was knocked sprawling backwards, and then he slid painfully down the steps to the floor, head thumping loudly against each and every step until he finally laid prone on his back, as Antares shouted: “Why didn't you warn me? Why didn't you do... something?”

“Because I don't write the stories.” Allonym muttered, and he slowly sat up, adjusting his skewed fedora before wincing when both Prestige and Antares glared at him, even though Twilight had a hoof on her son's shoulder and Prestige was almost clinging to his neck. “I'm being honest! I can't make everything better, Antares, and I did warn you, I have warned you every step of the way that things aren't going to turn out perfect, haven't I?”

Antares pawed a hoof against the ground, gritting his teeth and snorting as he shivered a little, and then Allonym stood up and rubbed absently at a large welt on his face with a grimace. “Believe me, kid. I understand that you're angry with me. And you're going to continue to be pissed at me, and that even if there's good stuff in the future... sometimes beautiful flowers have ugly thorns, and sometimes their blossoms look gorgeous but are full of poison. And until you reach the end of the story, there's still a chance everything can go to hell, that we could end up at the bad ending instead of the good one. All I can say is... cherish the time you have with the people around you. Who knows what could happen even an hour from now?”

With that, Allonym rose his hand... then halted, looking awkwardly at Celestia. “Can I have my cane back, before I go?”

“Of course. I'll go get it for you.” Celestia said calmly, standing up and heading towards the hallway, and she gave a look over her shoulder to the trio that had just entered, Antares nodding once with response with a bit of a sigh.

The glossy-black young stallion cast his eyes down, and for a few moments, there was silence as Twilight and Prestige both loosened their grip on him before he murmured: “I'm sorry, Allonym. My temper got away from me... I swear, all this... all this struggle has changed me. Brought out... more of my mom or something.”

He laughed a little, glancing up awkwardly, and Allonym smiled after a moment before he shrugged slowly. “Well... don't worry about it, kid. Just please don't set my head on fire or anything, but... I guess I probably deserve a smack or two.” He stopped, then softened as he strode forwards, reaching up and grasping the back of one of the chairs at the table. “And listen. I want to be clear with you three that I don't... enjoy seeing you three suffer like this. Sure, I might be a little twisted, but I feel for you all. Especially you, Antares... in a lot of ways I envy you. Family...”

Allonym silently stroked over the back of the chair, closing his eyes, and then he shook his head slowly before smiling a bit and glancing up. “But that's why I'm going to help as much as I can with things. Celestia asked me before what I can really do, and a lot of what it comes down to is getting information and helping out with things like that. Even if I'm useless everywhere else, I think I might just be able to help you on the way to Clockwork World.”

“I hope so. The meteor project has been stalled for a little while with... with everything that happened.” Twilight said quietly, hesitantly drawing her eyes over the Draconequus. “We know what we need to do... it's just the actual doing it that's been proving kind of tough.”

Allonym nodded, and then he glanced over his shoulder as Celestia returned, the Draconequus smiling at the sight of his cane floating along beside her before he held up a hand: immediately, the cane flew out of Celestia's telekinetic grip and returned to the Avatar, and he spun this easily between his fingers before catching it by the body in both hands, gazing affectionately over the walking stick and down at the dragon-headed handle. “Thanks, Celestia. I see you polished her up.”

“Your cane's a female?” Antares asked dryly, and Allonym looked sourly over at the young stallion, who winced and cleared his throat a bit as Twilight smiled despite herself.

“Ignore Antares, that's just his father coming out.” she said softly, reaching up and ruffling his mane, and then she smiled and glanced up... before blinking in surprise as she saw that Allonym had simply vanished, the Lich staring at the blank space where the Draconequus had been before she shook her head slowly. “Is it just me, or are all Draconequus really bad at goodbyes?”

“It does seem that way.” Celestia said softly, and then she glanced towards Antares, who shifted awkwardly under his aunt's gaze. “And Antares... please try and contain yourself a little more in the future. You've managed to last quite a few years without picking up your mother's bad habits, after all.”

“I'm sorry, Aunt Tia. I just... Rustproof, and everything, and with his funeral only yesterday...” Antares halted, and then he smiled faintly, reaching up and rubbing slowly at his forehead. “And I'm still hung over from that... gathering at Sweet Apple Acres.”

“You held your own well, though, Antares.” Celestia smiled slightly, nodding after a moment before she added gently: “But try and show a bit more discretion in the future. Although I'm somehow sure that Luna would be proud of you.”

Antares laughed despite himself, nodding again before he strode towards the table, Twilight and Prestige joining him before the young unicorn mare asked quietly: “Have you had any luck looking for Cancer, Celestia?”

“Not yet. I've scanned the area with my scrying mirror, and I've asked my Yamato to search thoroughly through the Everfree Forest nearby, but there's no sign of him. It's why I'm keeping Ponyville on a state of heightened alert for now.” Celestia replied, becoming more serious before she gestured at the map in front of her. “As you can see, I've circled several areas where scouts have come across unnatural phenomenon, or what looks like areas affected by pestilence or plague. Each of these areas will need to be scoured for any and all signs of Cancer.”

The other three nodded slowly, and then the ivory equine shook her head slowly, murmuring quietly: “I never thought I'd be as glad as I am today that Luna made her pact with these darker forces. It's strange, Twilight: in the past, I would have been... I would have thought it was treachery. Now, I recognize it as the one thing that might save us from this true abomination we're faced with.”

“We live in strange times.” Twilight replied quietly, smiling faintly as she reached up to touch some of the stitching crossing her face, and Celestia gazed at her silently before the Lich shook her head and pointed down at the map, changing the subject hurriedly. “Are you sure he hasn't tried to hide out in the sewer systems or maintenance tunnels again?”

Celestia nodded, glancing down at the map and saying softly: “Positive. Not only did I send Hevatica and several other Kelpies to sweep through, Greece and the Nibelung installed sensors at every entrance and random points throughout the tunnels. We've had minimal activity of any kind.”

The others nodded, and Celestia paused for a moment, glancing at the three... but when she saw not just their willingness to work, but that same desire to keep busy, that same need to keep herself moving, she began quietly: “Here's what I've established so far, and some of my ideas...”

The others listened intently to Celestia, and Antares was more thankful than he could say for this: not just the distraction, but working side-by-side with his family on a solution to the biggest threat that still loomed over their heads. It was comforting, to push forwards... to feel like they were working to ensure that Rustproof's sacrifice wouldn't be in vain, that they would finish everything he had given them a chance to complete.

And more than ever, Antares understood Celestia's words: the pain was tremendous, and he knew that it would hurt for a long time now... but it made him cherish and understand, too, how important his friends and family that he still had were. It helped him truly understand the pain of loss... but also understand that in that pain, there was a lesson to be learned, that death had meaning and a place in the world, hard as it was... that more than ever, he had to stand firm beside his friends and family, and take solace in the fact that they were still here. Not to turn away... to embrace, in spite of understanding just how deep loss cut... how short time could be... how any moment of any day, something could happen.

They worked until late in the evening, and then Celestia asked if they would mind her spending the night with them: Twilight had been more than happy to accept her presence, though. And almost the moment they left the library, Discombobulation appeared with a courteous bow to join them, and a firebird flitted down from the sky to transform into Burning Desire, who winked and grinned as Twilight blushed a little at the comments he promptly made, but gazed at him with soft, true affection in her eyes.

Three strange couples made their way to the gates of Ponyville, and out into the Everfree Forest, enjoying the walk together as they shared soft conversation. Celestia and Discombobulation strode in the lead, the Draconequus making calm, easy gestures as he spoke, and Burning Desire laughed as he followed close behind with Twilight, grinning at the quirky sense of humor of the eccentric creature. Prestige and Antares trailed a little behind, side-by-side, the young mare resting her head against the glossy-black unicorn as he smiled a little at her and traded soft affections every now and then.

When they reached the cottage, they chatted until Twilight and Antares put on a simple dinner: salads for Prestige and Celestia, venison dumplings for Burning Desire, Antares and Twilight, and Discombobulation was content with a cup of the strong tea Twilight put on. It was a soft, quiet evening that they spent together, until Antares and Prestige headed quietly to the young stallion's bedroom, and Celestia and Discombobulation to the guest room upstairs.

Antares closed the door to his room gently, and then he smiled softly as Prestige reached up and rubbed his shoulders, studying his bandaged body slowly before she leaned in and they shared a slow, passionate kiss. Her hoof slid up and grasped him gently by the necklace, pulling him over to the bed, and the two slipped quietly, carefully in together... but they only curled tightly up, Prestige settling against him as they embraced each other tightly, breathing slowly and listening to one-another: their breaths, their heartbeats, the whisper of their thoughts in the movements of their bodies.

Finally, Prestige smiled a bit, pushing a hoof against his chest as she murmured softly: “I love you, Antares Mīrus. I love you with all my heart and soul, and... I know things have been very hard lately. For all of us, but for you especially... because I always looked down on Rustproof, until it was almost too late.” She looked down quietly, murmuring: “I'm only glad that... I was able to see him for who he was before he... did what he did. And any delusions I may have had left about unicorn pride or worth... what Rustproof did...”

“Yeah.” Antares murmured quietly, and he pulled Prestige closer as he closed his eyes, wondering if that ache would ever stop hurting... but it was tempered now, by not just pride, but good memories: joys that he had shared, and thoughts of all the things that had made up the young blue earth pony. “It... I only hope I can be half as brave as he was, Prestige. It hurts now, but... almost in a good way, too. I remember why he did what he did and it's... it's not so hard to smile. I remember who he was and what he taught me, and... I think I understand how Cowlick can already be pushing herself forwards. Well, that and she's... she's tough.”

“She's incredible. I always thought she was just rude and arrogant, but... I see now that she's... she is strong. Admirable, even.” Prestige murmured, then she smiled a little as she added quietly: “But don't tell her I said that. I... have to admit that I do find her method of mourning a little... reprehensible in spite of everything, after all.”

“Yeah. She's... yeah.” Antares laughed a little despite himself, shaking his head slowly before he closed his eyes. “But I wouldn't want her to change, either.”

“I know.” Prestige fell quiet, and the two let the silence spin out between them before Prestige hesitated, then looked up and said quietly: “Antares... I do... believe in some unicorn teachings still. There are some tales that I'd like to have faith in... and one is that... when two unicorns find each other, are drawn together by Destiny... they can never be torn apart. No matter how different they are, no matter what happens between them... their magic will resonate with each other's, from hoof to horn they will join together. They will simply know that they are meant to be together, and they will. Forever. I believe in that... and I want to be with you, Antares. Forever.”

Antares was silent as he leaned back a bit, the two gazing deeply into each other's eyes before Prestige smiled softly, bowing her head forwards as she blushed a little and whispered: “You've brought me into a new world, and I don't want to leave, I see nothing of value left anymore in my old home. I feel safe, and like I belong, and... I feel as if we've found each other. I'm going to live my life with you, Antares, if you'll have me... I'm going to spend every hour of every day beside you. I want to raise children with you one day, and I see myself waking up every day beside you in the future. And being happy, and proud of you. I love you.”

“I love you too, Prestige...” Antares murmured quietly, and he opened his mouth... before simply smiling at her, knowing he didn't need to say anything more. She smiled back at him radiantly, and the young stallion leaned down to kiss her softly. She returned the affection, and then they embraced fiercely, pulling each other close and holding tightly onto one-another's bodies, silently promising each other a future that would be shared together.

Closure And Comfort

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Chapter Thirty Two: Closure And Comfort
~BlackRoseRaven

In the early hours of the morning, Antares and Prestige crawled out of bed together, yawning and smiling at each other before sharing a quick kiss, and an affectionate nuzzle. The young stallion gazed over her warmly, feeling lighter than he had been in days before he reached up and stroked her face quietly, murmuring: “You can go back to bed if you want, Prestige.”

“No, hero. I think I want to stay up with you, if you don't mind.” Prestige smiled after a moment, shaking her head slowly before she added softly: “Besides. Now that... things are calming down... I was hoping we could head into town together early, get back to work on that meteor project. I can just imagine how... anxious you must be to find Clockwork World, especially now.”

“I... yeah.” Antares admitted, and then he shook his head a bit as he reached up and awkwardly toyed with his necklace, mumbling: “I wish you wouldn't call me that. Or you know, read my mind like you seem to be able to. Is that how other people feel when I read into them?”

Prestige only laughed and shook her head, then smiled as she glanced to the side, picking up Antares' pocketwatch from where it was resting on the table, and the young stallion blushed deeply as she slipped the silver chain gently around his neck, saying softly: “We need to get you a proper holder for this, hero. You look silly with both those things around your neck.”

“That's why I was going to leave the pocketwatch here.” Antares said mildly, and when Prestige gave him an amused look, he grumbled but then nodded, reaching up to silently touch the silver metal before his eyes roved awkwardly to Prestige. “About... about Rosewood...”

“Don't worry. My things are on their way and Scutum agreed to help her set up in Canterlot. It's strange, but I think he's proud of her... of course, anything that upsets the Mayor has always seemed to please the eccentric Colonel Scutum as well.” Prestige said wryly, and Antares laughed and shook his head before she smiled across at him softly. “You should keep your treasures close, Antares. Otherwise greedy gremlins may steal it.”

“Is that another northern legend?” Antares asked with entertainment, as Prestige flicked her horn to open the door, and the young mare only smiled at him amusedly as she strode by.

“I find it amusing that you used to take such issue with all my stories, and now here you are, wanting to know more about unicorn culture and folklore.” Prestige said wryly, and as the two strode down the hall, she glanced up and smiled at the sight of Burning Desire and Twilight, who were both resting in front of the fireplace. “Good morning.”

Twilight blushed a bit, reaching up to absently touch her chest: there was more stitching than usual, and still discolored patches here and there where her body was still transforming. But Burning Desire only smiled warmly in return, winking at Prestige and Antares as he asked cheerfully: “Good morning indeed! You two look like you've finally gone and done just what you young, stupid ponies are supposed to do and indulged in the pleasures that two ponies can make when they-”

Twilight punched the demon lightly in the shoulder, and the fiery stallion winced and huffed at her before the violet mare said softly: “It's good to see you two. I think Celestia and Discombobulation already left for Ponyville... we were talking about heading in a little early ourselves. But do you want breakfast or anything, first?”

“Maybe we could just pick up something in town. Prestige had the idea that we could go work on the meteor some... you know, keep things moving, since... Celestia trusts her Yamato to look for Cancer, and I... I know I have to keep myself focused on the end goal, not just let myself get distracted by... him.” Antares said quietly, nodding a little, and then he smiled a bit. “I know after everything that's happened I... can't give in to the desire to just run out and take revenge. I need to... I need to be like Rusty was, do what he did, and keep moving forwards. Create and protect, not... destroy. Not even if the reason seems good.”

“You're a good pony, Antares. Better than any mortal I've ever met.” Burning Desire smiled slightly, winking over at Twilight and nudging her lightly. “But I only say that, my darling violet, because you are no mortal. You're the sweetest and most blessed of angels.”

“The deadest, too.” Twilight said dryly, and Burning Desire laughed as Prestige and Antares both smiled despite themselves, and then the violet mare nodded hesitantly, saying finally: “I guess it wouldn't hurt to keep busy, and... that was admittedly where I was going to head myself. I can't use too much magic right now with my body still adjusting, but I can at least help sort out the pieces and everything. I know it's important.”

“And Sleipnir and I are apparently supposed to go tracking Cancer in the wilderness, but I have the feeling that the oversized lout just wants to go for a hike in the forest. He seems a little... unconcerned over things.” Burning Desire paused, then added softly: “And that comforts me, to be honest. His instincts are good, and he's more than just a handsome face.”

“Which is a lot more than I can say for you.” Twilight said mildly, and Burning Desire nodded cheerfully, then frowned suddenly before glaring at her as he realized what she meant. But the Lich turned her eyes over to Antares with a smile and a shrug, saying softly: “Well, when you're ready, then, we can go ahead into Ponyville.”

Antares and Prestige nodded and smiled, and then the young, glossy-black stallion shrugged as he looked at his marefriend warmly before answering: “Then I guess we might as well get going.”

The next few days passed in comfort as Ponyville slowly returned to calm and found closure. The marks of battle outside the village were taken care of little by little once repairs inside the town had been completed, and ponies recovered from the ordeals they had faced, and surmounted sorrow, suffering, and loss in the company of friends and family.

Fluttershy was helping take care of the injured, looking a little awkward at the attention she was getting after she had demonstrated her prowess on the battlefield with a little help from Nirvana's hypnosis. Avalon was again training under her with renewed passion and respect, and the young Pegasus had visibly learned much from Rustproof's sacrifice about what she was fighting for, and what responsibilities came with her strength... but then again, they all had.

Meadowlark was continuing to work with Zecora, who was helping out at the medical clinic treating those who had been wounded in the battle with Griselda. Thankfully, even though they were facing another bout of illnesses and infections, they were much easier to treat this time: the bug-creatures didn't seem to carry the same ever-evolving-and-mutating plague that Cancer himself did, even if some of the diseases they were forced to treat were particularly resistant ones.

Scarlet Sage wanted to help, too, but Apple Bloom was firmly keeping her wife at home and in bed, the Pegasus mumbling complaints that she was fine despite the fact she still looked under the weather from the mental attack she had suffered. Antares made sure to visit her and scold her a little himself, but he was proud of his sister... even if she had clearly shown that just like the rest of her family, she had a bit of a self-destructive streak.

Aphrodisia and Pinkamena were keeping busy with their own talents, patrolling the outskirts for any signs of Cancer, running errands between Subterra and Ponyville, and helping out as was necessary with other little chores here and there. Apps seemed the least affected of them all... but when Antares spent some time alone with her, she had just walked over, hugged him tightly, and refused to let go for the longest time as she'd shivered and hidden her face against his neck, and he knew that maybe the demon was the one with the deepest reaching emotions after all.

Selene had returned to Subterra to continue her administration, after stopping in long enough to give a gentle apology to Antares that had made him feel oddly unsettled, for some reason; he had the sense she was apologizing for something apart from catching him in her gravitational blast, and it lingered even now. Discord had also gone on his way, although no one was quite sure where the Draconequus had vanished off to, and Discombobulation had just grumbled that Discord would be back sooner or later to stir up more trouble, or when he could conveniently save all their lives from certain doom or something ridiculous like that.

Cowlick and Ross, with the help of their friends, were slowly beginning to put the pieces back together, and find their way forward. Ross still sometimes quietly wondered if he would see Rustproof 'tomorrow,' but Cowlick only reassured him gently that one day they would. To Ross, after all, 'tomorrow' could mean any time in the future.

Both of the ponies had nearly regressed: Cowlick to her old, overaggressive, everything-abusing self and Ross had almost let himself drop back into the broken jumble of mixed-up-everything he had fought so hard to crawl out of. But Rustproof had given himself up to save them, to save his family even more than Ponyville, and they were both determined to honor that. To not forget him, to cherish his memory, and to follow through with the last silent wish of their son.

The engineer was working slowly but steadily, and putting all the strength she could into refreshing her old skills and getting back her cherished dexterity and talent with her hooves. And little by little, she was doing it: even more important than that, as she began to work slowly through making her hooves remember what they had lost, the more came back to her, the easier it became to do harder things. Little-by-little, she knew she'd regain all the talent and ability she'd once had... although she found that having a cigarette steadied her hooves and helped her work.

Ross was helping out as well: it was common to see him working around the facility, doing math calculations for Cowlick's various projects, including the reconstruction of the meteor probe. The unicorn would sometimes seem to vanish from the work site, however, and Cowlick would go downstairs and usually find him in the assembly room, where Ross would smile at her and say quietly: “I was just talking with Rustproof.”

Cowlick had always smiled faintly: she often talked to Rustproof herself while she was working alone, or having a cigarette. Sometimes she'd talk to her father, too, and wonder aloud how they were treating each other, wherever they were... but one day when she'd gone down to fetch Ross, the unicorn had glanced up from the table with a smile and gestured at a half-assembled engine, saying softly: “Rustproof was just teaching me about the pistons, Cowlick. They're really interesting. He's really smart to have figured all this stuff out.”

And Cowlick had just stared at the engine for the longest time, walking over to it and touching it silently as she studied it. She knew no Architect had been in here, and no matter how savvy the other Nibelung workers were, none of them had the talent or the vision to put together something like this. It was a design like she had never seen, complete enough she could guess how the other parts were supposed to fit in place, even expand on it if she wanted to... and the engineer had closed her eyes before she murmured softly: “He ain't just smart, Ross. He's dedicated as hell... but you know that too, huh?”

Ross had only smiled, in that way he did that made everything better, and after that Cowlick had felt at peace. Felt like wherever Rustproof was, he was watching over them quietly, he was there to make sure his parents didn't do anything stupid. And it was what gave her the strength and the drive to work as hard as she could on her projects, and what made her desire all the more to help create this link to Clockwork World: to help give Antares the closure he deserved, whether it was finding his parents alive, or helping him work through their loss and understand they had died for the same reasons that Rustproof had, and that he could survive and keep moving towards the future without them.

The meteor probe itself was coming across very well, and Kvasir himself had stopped to take a curious look over it, remarking that it looked like the Strange Ones had provided the beginnings of a channeling altar as well to further enhance the probe's signal and power, and make it easier to trace to wherever Clockwork World was. He had also done them the courtesy of providing them with the little information he had managed to gather together about what they might expect in Decretum, Valthrudnir's world of absolute order, which Antares had appreciated more than he could express.

They didn't entirely know what they would be getting into: from the few and far-between encounters with Clockwork Ponies they had endured after Luna and Scrivener had attacked Decretum, they knew that the Clockwork King and the Prophet had both been defeated, and they knew that the gears of their mechanical empire had ground to a halt. But they knew little else: entire armies of Clockwork Ponies and monsters might remain, Tyrant Wyrms might freely wander the world, and it was impossible to say for sure whether or not they would be going into a world that was in ruin or an empire that had already reinstated some new mechanical overlord to try and keep Valthrudnir's ambitions ever in motion.

Antares didn't want to think about it, but he knew he had to, just like he had forced himself to finally try and consider the idea that they might finally reach Clockwork World at the end of the long journey only to find his parents... couldn't be saved. But he was determined to try his damnedest... and while he had forced himself to think about it, he couldn't believe or stomach the thought that they could reach Clockwork World and find his parents...

Antares shook his head hurriedly, and then he shifted a bit before reaching up to absently rub sweat from his brow, taking a few steps backwards as he called loudly at the enormous explosion-proofed windows: “I'm going to take a breather for a minute!”

From the other side of the glass, Cowlick rose a hoof and waved at him, and Antares smiled as he glanced out into the hangar for a moment: Prestige, Twilight, Greece, and several Nibelung Architects were all diligently fitting pieces of crystal inside of a large, cradling metal bowl structure, around a central core made up of six glowing rods caging a single ominous, rune-covered obelisk. It was much harder work than it looked at first: each crystal had a specific place and angle to fit into the cradle at, according to the markings on the bottom of each gemstone. But it was the last part of the work: crystalline batteries had already been locked into place in even intervals around the cradle, and the cradle itself was locked down into the channeling altar that had been constructed beneath it in the middle of this wide steel hangar. All they had to do was finish putting these puzzle pieces in place, and then they could finally run a charge through the reconstructed probe and hope like hell it worked properly.

Cowlick, Ross, and Celestia were all still figuring out how much of a charge to power the device with: Cowlick's argument was for one big blast, reasoning that so long as it sent out a pulse and established a connection, the fancy instruments she was going to set up everywhere and the channeling altar would be enough for them to lock on to Clockwork World's coordinates. Celestia, on the other hoof, wanted to start small and build steadily up. And Ross, meanwhile, was just scrabbling away with chaos theory and seemingly-random calculations in an attempt to figure out the exact charge necessary.

The young stallion gazed quietly over the channeling altar, feeling a small thrill despite himself as he turned around and approached the heavy, secure vault door leading out: the hangar here was in the fortified research wing, and only so many ponies had access to this area. The doors were all sealed shut with gemstone eyes powered by unicorn magic and Nibelung craft: only ponies recognized by the gemstones could unlock the doors from one side.

Antares flicked his horn, spinning the valve on the back of the door with telekinesis and sending up a loud hiss as it swung open, and he strode calmly out before glancing over his shoulder and pushing it closed. It clanked loudly shut, hissing as the valve spun back in place and the gemstone eye set high up in the top of the plated door seeming to stare out at him, and the young stallion couldn't help but study this for a moment before he mumbled: “Cowlick comes up with really weird stuff.”

“That wasn't entirely Cowlick. I believe Tenochtitlan had something to do with it as well.” remarked a voice and Antares looked sharply forwards, then let out a wheeze of relief at the sight of Allonym, who was leaning casually against another sealed door with his cane grasped in one hand. “This is the control room, right? I can't get inside.”

“How did you get in here at all? The whole wing is supposed to be secure.” Antares said flatly, and the Draconequus looked at the young stallion mildly before the glossy-black stallion sighed, asking wryly: “So chaos means that you can only sneak by some security protocols and not others?”

“That, and a Nibelung held the door open for me. Greece, I believe it was. Very nice fellow, I'm glad not all the Nibelung are complete jerks.” Allonym replied dryly, and Antares sighed again after a moment before the Draconequus hesitated, then shook his head slowly, adding quietly: “And Antares... you remember what I said, right? You have to stop Cancer before you go to Clockwork World. If you don't... bad things will happen.”

“I know. I remember, I do, and... I'm going to. But this is important too.” Antares stopped, then he shook his head slowly. “And for more reasons than just... because it's part of finding my parents, and getting them back. It's important to Cowlick, and it's important to me, and it's... moving forwards, moving ahead, without destroying. Yeah, I want to stop Cancer but... I... I need to do it right, don't I?”

“Maybe you're smarter than I thought.” Allonym smiled after a moment, and then he nodded a little, standing up and leaning on his cane. Antares studied him curiously, ignoring the slight jibe before he frowned a little as something tickled at his senses, his gaze sharpening a bit: Allonym was no longer in bandages, had only a few visible bruises over his frame, and yet... “Hey, don't give me that look, there's nothing here except what you see.”

“What I see isn't like what everypony else sees, Allonym.” Antares said quietly, and Allonym grimaced a bit, seeming to search for a response before the young stallion tilted his head slowly. “Why are you so low on energy? What were you doing?”

Allonym only mumbled, and then he paused before leaning slowly forwards and saying seriously: “I was out hunting wabbits.”

Antares looked at the Draconequus mildly for a few moments, and then he said dryly: “You know, for some reason, it's really not quite as funny when you dodge the question with references like Discombobulation does.”

“You know what was cute? When you were a baby and you dragged yourself around on your bum.” Allonym remarked, and Antares winced and turned beet-red, fumbling for a response before the Draconequus glanced to the side and asked casually: “So do you know how much dangerous stuff is in here? And precisely why, of all the places in town, Cancer keeps getting drawn to this place?”

The young stallion frowned through his still-visible embarrassment, shifting a little before he followed the Draconequus' gaze towards another locked vault door, that had a sign above declaring it clearly as 'SECURE STORAGE 3.' for a few moments, the young stallion looked at this, and then he said slowly: “Because this is where everything ends up if it's not destroyed... Clockwork technology, weapons, artifacts... but it's got something to do with Clockwork World, right? Cancer is being drawn to something dangerous we have here, something that was recovered during the war with Decretum that would... make him stronger, I'm guessing, right?”

But when Antares looked forwards, the Draconequus was gone, and the glossy-black unicorn made a face before he frowned curiously and looked down at the ground as something caught his eye. His horn glowed, lifting the object carefully, and he realized with surprise that it was a notebook of some kind: he opened it to the first page, and tilted his head curiously as he murmured: “These look like... coordinates or something...”

The young stallion closed it after a moment, then approached the door to the control room and knocked twice before leaning up to look directly into the crystal eye: it reacted to his proximity, lighting up as it detected him before the armored door clicked loudly and swung slightly ajar, and Antares hauled it the rest of the way open with telekinesis as Cowlick looked up from where she was leaning over her desk, saying grouchily: “Hey, we're kind of in the middle of something here, Mir, and you've totally used up your five minute break.”

“What's that?” Celestia asked curiously, glancing at the book floating beside Antares, and the young stallion shrugged as he passed it to her, Celestia taking it with her own psychic grip to open it and frown thoughtfully over the numbers and strange words on the pages.

“I dunno. Allonym was just outside...” Antares ignored Cowlick when she scrambled past him, glaring back and forth. “But when he vanished, he left this behind. It looks like... a star chart or something, doesn't it?”

“No, it's not. It's a map of sorts...” Celestia said softly, and Antares looked up in surprise as the ivory winged unicorn nodded, smiling slowly. “It's coded, and written out in words, but this is a navigational map. I need a piece of graphing paper or anything we can divide into segments... it needs to be a hundred by a hundred, at least.”

“Oh, I can do that! Yep yep, just like quiet time in the center, when they had us sit down and work by ourselves on things.” Ross smiled warmly, turning and glancing back and forth before frowning a little, but Cowlick only shook her head as she walked back into the room, as the unicorn murmured: “Where'd the paper go...”

“Come on, Ross. You can do it, you know this.” Cowlick said gently, and Ross glanced up and across at Cowlick hesitantly, before he nodded a little when she gave him an encouraging look, and the unicorn turned and studied the cupboards almost nervously. Then he reached out and carefully pulled open one of the lower drawers... and smiled happily when he looked inside to see the drafting paper and tools stored there. “See? Good work, handsome. All the stuff should be in there. You wanna do it or should I?”

“I can do it, Cowlick.” Ross replied with a smile as he pulled out the paper and drawing kit, and he turned to the cluttered table before wincing when Cowlick reached forwards and simply swept everything off, saying awkwardly: “That wasn't very nice.”

“Yeah, but it wasn't mean either, was it? We're all way more eager for this.” Cowlick replied with a shrug, and Ross nodded thoughtfully before he quickly laid several sheets of paper out. He glanced over them, then smiled as he flipped the sheets over and arranged them with blank sides up before hurriedly taping along their backs, and when he flipped the sheets back over, he had created one large, one hundred-by-one hundred square grid as the engineer muttered: “Perfect overlap. How the hell do you do it, Ross?”

Ross only smiled, and then he picked up a sketching pencil, and Celestia looked surprised at this before she started to open her mouth. Immediately, however, Cowlick glared at her, and the ivory equine actually winced a bit at the boiling expression in the engineer's eyes before she said finally: “The first point is ninety-five, ninety-eight, and the indication to the next point is three hundred degrees to the southwest, three spaces.”

“Three spaces.” Ross murmured, putting the mark on the grid and then simply tracing a quick line downwards, and Celestia winced... then looked surprised as she leaned forwards, realizing Ross had either traced the line dead on or gotten damned close. Close enough she felt confident about continuing, watching as Ross traced lines long and short with the same ease, never hesitating as he went from point to point.

Then Celestia asked him to switch to a different colored pencil, which caused him a bit of confusion before Cowlick explained quickly that it was a different part of the picture, so he needed to use a different color. Ross had nodded a few times with a smile, and by now, Prestige, Twilight, and Greece were all curiously standing at the window, watching with interest as Ross made several more points along the image he had drawn.

Then he smiled, leaning back after Celestia read off the last point, and he said softly: “Yep, you were right, it is different, really different! It's not happened yet, that's it, isn't it? The first part of the picture is all real stuff, but the new part of the picture is stuff that's not real, not yet. Right, Cowlick?”

“Yeah, but we're gonna damn well make it happen.” Cowlick muttered, nodding slowly as she reached out and tapped the map slowly: the coordinates hadn't just created an outline, but had formed into little images here and there over the map, giving them an idea of the basic topography and points of interest, like the little crown that Antares was willing to bet represented a castle. The route in red went through this, and along what looked like the remains of what could possibly be a bridge... except the bridge-shape ended, but the red line continued to that strange circle.

Antares studied the map silently, touching it quietly before he looked up at Celestia and said softly: “That's why Allonym was so tired-looking when I saw him. He found his way back to Clockwork World... he mapped it out for us. I don't know why he didn't just leave us the map himself, though...”

“I think because he's worried about interfering too much with us, Antares. I think this is his way of trying to get us to figure things out for ourselves, while giving us the tools to find the answers we need.” Celestia replied quietly, studying the map silently before she glanced across at Ross, adding softly: “You did a wonderful job. Thank you, Ross... you may be as good as my sister at art.”

“That wasn't art, though, that was just following instructions.” Ross smiled at this, looking up and nodding, and Celestia smiled despite herself before the unicorn looked back down and added thoughtfully: “But it looks big, real big. It looks scary, too... and all the coordinates are wrong, that's silly.”

Celestia frowned curiously at this, but Ross was oblivious to Celestia's expression, only continuing to look at the map before Cowlick asked gently: “What do you mean, Ross? What's wrong about 'em, and why do you think it's scary?”

“Because it's like I drew our home, but not our home, you see?” Ross replied with surprise, reaching forwards and tapping the map as he nodded rapidly a few times. “All these numbers are all way off because of that. It's not really one to a hundred at all. That's silly.”

“Like our home...” Celestia frowned thoughtfully at the map as Ross nodded a few times, and Cowlick was rubbing at her own muzzle meditatively before the ivory equine looked up, asking quickly: “Ross, would it be possible for you to plot this map with the actual coordinates it should have, assuming that this is a mirror of Equestria?”

“Well, it's only part of Equestria. That's Canterlot, right there. But not-Canterlot. That's Canterlot but not-Canterlot, that's what I think anyway.” Ross replied with a nod, tapping the crown on the map a few times before he smiled after a moment. “And I can do that, yes I can, but that means I gotta get rid of the old numbers, first!”

Cowlick, however, quickly held up a hoof, saying quickly: “Wait, Ross, I got a better idea. Let's you and me go up to one of the Architect's labs and we'll get us some big mapping paper and a set of maps of this region, and make us a real map out of this. How's that sound?”

Ross nodded a few times, and Celestia nodded in agreement as well, saying softly: “Thank you, Cowlick. I'm glad you're so willing to help.”

“Who am I helping right now, you or Ross?” Cowlick replied mildly, and Celestia couldn't help but smile again before the engineer grunted and nodded. “Right. Besides, this is my territory, I call the shots and I gotta take care of my workers. And right now that includes even you Baroness, and we still gotta figure out how much kick we're gonna have to give that meteor.”

The engineer paused, then glared at the window wall, and the three staring in all winced when she shouted: “And will you jerks get back to work? Enough bein' so damn lazy, I already got Mir sitting on his butt in here when he should be out working!”

Ross winced a bit at this and shrank his head back, and Cowlick sighed before mumbling: “Sorry, Ross. Okay, come on, let's get our own flanks moving. This is a good thing though, you nail this down and we'll another worry off the list, assuming we can trust Allonym.”

The unicorn nodded quickly, brightening again as he answered: “I think we can trust him, Cowlick, he seems like a silly person, but I think he means well.”

Cowlick only shook her head, smiling as she bustled past with Ross following after her, and Celestia watched the two leave before the ivory winged unicorn sighed a little and dropped her head forwards. Antares laughed awkwardly, glancing lamely up at his aunt, but she only shook her head, mumbling: “It's funny, Antares. Most ponies I wish would treat me with a little less deference. But when it comes to Kilby Kwolek, I always find myself hoping that she'll find a way to both be herself and be a little more polite than usual.”

Antares only shrugged at this, then he began to turn away, but Celestia called him back, the young stallion glancing over his shoulder curiously as the winged unicorn flicked her horn to lift the swept-off papers up from the ground. “I could use your help with something else, Antares. I don't want to work on the calculations while Cowlick and Ross are absent, but we have another difficulty to deal with in terms of Clockwork World that we haven't yet touched upon, and now seems a good time to do so.”

Celestia paused, then glanced quietly up at the window wall, but Twilight, Prestige, and Greece had gone back to work on the meteor, and the ivory winged unicorn smiled for a moment before her eyes drew back to Antares, saying quietly: “We... no, you, Antares, have to decide on who you're going to take with you to Clockwork World. Who is going to make up that convoy. We cannot march an army through the Bifrost, but if I may make a suggestion, we should be able to bring twenty or so ponies, and the supply carriage that Luna and Scrivener used themselves while traveling between layers.

“But in the end, this... this isn't my choice to make. Returning to Clockwork World, finding your parents... it's your mission, and I respect that.” Celestia fell quiet, closing her eyes and bowing her head forwards. “A large part of me does want to take over, yes. To handle everything from this point on... but it wouldn't be fair to you, Antares, and it wouldn't be fair to your parents, who I know have entrusted you with their legacy. And it would be wrong, because of all of us, you're the one who's always pushed for us to find a way back to Clockwork World, who kept faith in the belief that either Luna and Scrivener would return, or you would go out and find them yourself. You've earned both the privileges and the responsibilities that come with the end of this mission.”

The young stallion nodded slowly, looking down for a moment as Celestia neatened the papers she had placed over the table, then drew a blank page towards her as she picked up a nearby pen with telekinesis, asking softly: “Give me a list, Antares. And remember, we'll be spending a week in Clockwork World, in an unknown, possibly-hostile environment. We need a group that can handle that.”

The glossy-black young unicorn grimaced, nodding after a moment as he reached up and touched his own face, murmuring quietly: “Right, because the Bifrost will need at least that long to regenerate. And... well... I am open to suggestions, Celestia.”

“I'll be coming with you, no matter what else you may decide.” Celestia said calmly, and Antares looked up with a small smile before the ivory winged unicorn shrugged slowly. “My duties as Baroness are far less important than my duties as big sister and friend... your parents are... are more important to me than the politics of the Royal Council. Than many things, as a matter of fact.”

Antares smiled faintly, then he closed his eyes and bowed his head forwards, murmuring quietly: “And Mom and Dad... they'll be honored to hear it, Celestia. I don't think you ever really realized how important you were to them both. How much they both adored you... Mom looked up to you, no matter how she acted, and Dad had nothing but respect for you.”

“I know, and I didn't deserve it.” Celestia closed her eyes, saying quietly: “It was amazing, Antares, how your father... how I heard so much more respect in his voice when he called me casually by my name or 'sister' than when he used my title. But your parents...” Celestia smiled softly, glancing up. “I look forwards to seeing them. Soon.”

Antares smiled wider at this, looking up as he heard the faith in Celestia's voice... and yet for a moment, he felt a strange chill as well. Then he shook his head quickly, deciding it was just a moment of anxiety as he asked hesitantly: “Could Twilight make the journey?”

Celestia hesitated, and then she tilted her head back and forth, saying after a moment: “I don't know. It would be dangerous, Antares... she would have to bring her phylactery with her, and it would have to be shielded carefully inside the carriage to make sure it wasn't damaged. But at the same time, if Twilight desires it and you want her to come with us... I won't argue. I know that... this has been even harder on her than it has been on me.”

The ivory winged unicorn looked down, shaking her head slowly and murmuring: “But I'm not even sure how well Twilight's body would be able to handle the energies of the Bifrost, passing between worlds... but I suppose if Luna's story about bringing Velites across the Bifrost was true, then Twilight should be more than capable of surviving as well. I'm just... protective of her, Antares.”

“I am too. She's my Mom.” Antares smiled a little, glancing up at Celestia, who nodded after a moment with a bit of a smile in return. “But I know it would hurt her to have to stay behind again... I think sometimes she wishes...”

Antares fell quiet, and Celestia laughed softly before murmuring: “Don't worry about those wishes, Antares... I've had them myself from time-to-time, after all. Besides, if everything works out as we're hoping it will, those wishes will be just like the memories of all the years we've had to spend without your parents around... in the past.”

The young stallion nodded hesitantly, looking down for a few moments before he said quietly: “Prestige, Avalon, Meadowlark, and Aphrodisia all have to come with me. We're all young, but... they told me, back on my sixteenth birthday, they were going to come with me when I went looking for my parents. It's the whole reason we started training so hard together, working to really... become... more. I can't take that away from them, Aunt Tia, even if a big part of me is scared that...”

He broke off, and Celestia nodded slowly, before she said quietly: “I understand. But you know that means their parents and protectors are going to want to come too.”

Antares nodded, glancing up and saying quietly: “I know. And I know that Pinkamena will have to come, no matter what... she was Dad's best friend. I think... Dad still is her best friend, even though she's hard for me to read. But she's my aunt and like another big sister to me. I don't think Sleipnir should come, though... I'm really worried about how Clockwork World could affect him. Nature is his best friend here, and he has a powerful connection to the earth: but if everything in Clockwork World is... well...”

He broke off, but Celestia nodded slowly in return, saying quietly: “Good. You're thinking ahead. What about Applejack and Rainbow Dash?”

“Rainbow Dash, yeah. He and Avalon can keep an eye on things for us, but... Applejack, no. I want to say yes, and I know she's gonna be upset, but... her lungs and everything.” Antares hesitated, and then he continued quietly: “Scarlet Sage, and I'm going to offer a spot to Cowlick, too, because... she deserves it, and Rusty deserves it. I don't know if I should ask Burning Desire, though... it feels like it would be cruel.”

“He would come to support Twilight, though. Let her mention it to him if she decides to come with us, and let them talk about it. Demon or not, he has an enormous respect for love and life in all its forms... I think he would regret more not being given the chance to help make Twilight truly happy.” Celestia stopped, then looked away and said softly: “Imagine loving someone like that, Antares, with all your heart, but knowing you were destined to one day... part, knowing you weren't truly the one for them, no matter how much they were the one for you. And yet doing it anyway. Burning Desire is more courageous than I could ever be.”

“I don't know about that. Look at you and Bob.” Antares smiled a little, but Celestia only smiled softly back, shaking her head slowly.

“It's different, Antares. Neither of us expects it to last forever... as a matter of fact, I don't think either of us even wants things to last forever. Just... for long enough.” Celestia nodded slowly, looking down thoughtfully as she murmured: “But I do care very deeply for him, and he does for me. And I know we always will, too. It's just that things between us can't last.”

Antares shifted awkwardly, and then Celestia shook her head slowly before saying quietly: “You may want to consider bringing Hevatica as well, and perhaps Atrus. They're both very loyal to your parents, and to you as well.”

“That would be...” Antares mumbled names to himself, tapping his hoof against the table to try and keep count. “Fifteen, I think, including us, and assuming Burning Desire wants to come. Should I look into a few others, get it up to twenty? Or do you think that's enough?”

Celestia only shook her head, saying gently: “Trust in your instincts, Antares, this is your mission, not mine. And to be honest, I'm not as concerned as I could be about Clockwork World. Considering the behavior of the few Clockwork Ponies we've seen since the war with Decretum, we're more likely to enter a desolate and broken-down wasteland than we are a well-defended, organized enemy empire. We need to be prepared and not underestimate what we're walking into, but we need to make sure not to over-prepare either: the last thing we need to do is strip Ponyville of all its resources and leave it defenseless. With the way our luck has run in the past, we'll come back to find a war band burning the village to the ground, and that's not the welcome I want your parents to receive.”

“I dunno, Mom might not mind. She always was a little... big on fighting and stuff.” Antares replied, and Celestia chuckled and shook her head slowly, looking entertained despite herself. “Aunt Tia... I... thank you. For believing in me, and... believing in my parents.”

“I have many reasons to believe in your parents, Antares... I should be the one thanking both you and them for always believing in me.” Celestia replied softly, and the young stallion smiled warmly up at the ivory equine. “But I'm curious about your thoughts on Allonym. Do you think that he'll offer any further aid once we're in Clockwork World?”

“I don't honestly know... he seems to help when he wants, and that's that.” Antares shook his head a bit before murmuring: “But he must have plotted out this map for us, and I know that's a big start. Now we have a heading, even if I... I always felt that the moment I set hoof in Clockwork World, I'd be able to find my parents, you know?”

Celestia smiled after a moment at this, nodding slowly as she said quietly: “I do, Antares, and I believe that as well... but knowing the route will help. And if Ross is able to figure out the coordinates that should be on the map of this reflected Equestria, then maybe we can even skip ahead a little. It's very difficult to open the Bifrost in a specific area, but working alongside Twilight and others, we should be able to get relatively close to any point we desire.”

Antares nodded slowly, rubbing at his face apprehensively before he murmured: “I just hope we don't come out overtop an army or something, then, or worse, a chasm... I don't want to guess what all those extra lines here and there were, you know?”

“It was strange map. Equestria but not Equestria... Valthrudnir must have done terrible things to the layer he took over.” Celestia said softly, shaking her head slowly. “We'll need to bring as much equipment as possible in the little room we have. And everypony will need to carry some of their own supplies.”

She stopped, then looked up silently towards the window wall, the two sitting for a few moments as Antares looked up at her and the winged unicorn simply watched the probe slowly coming together in the hangar, piece-by-piece. The young stallion softened after a few moments as he watched the way she shifted, saw the things she knew she had to say even if she didn't want to, and he lowered his head forwards as he murmured: “It's okay, Aunt Tia. I know. I know that we could... we could find something that neither of us wants to when we get to Clockwork World. And I'm scared, but... I know we also both believe we're going to save my parents. But I do know that we might not, too, as hard as that is for me to think about, as much as I just... I refuse to accept that. But all the same I have considered it, I just... can't... believe it.”

“And I can't either. Still, we have to both keep in mind that... something may have happened.” Celestia quieted, looking down before she glanced up and asked softly: “Do you remember the story 'Because Love Conquers All,' Antares? The story that Discombobulation told, and your father wrote down?”

“I do, yeah. I read it again sometime last year, I think it was, because... I could understand more of it.” Antares smiled awkwardly, then he glanced down and shook his head, saying softly: “It was Gymbr's story, I remember that, too. Sometimes I remember him, Aunt Tia, and he was always so... so sad, beneath everything. I don't know a better word than that, although Dad probably does.”

“Your father once said that sometimes the best words are the simplest ones.” Celestia replied gently, and then she hesitated before saying quietly: “Did you understand how that could have been all of us... that the only exception was you?”

“I think Midnight Hour was me. Was what I could have been... and that scares me.” Antares replied quietly, and Celestia frowned as she tilted her head curiously, the young stallion closing his eyes and shaking his head with a faint laugh. “Celestia, I'm not as... not as pure and good as everypony thinks I am. I'm no chosen one, no savior, no saint, no... nothing but another pony. Yeah, I try my hardest to be good, to be honorable, to be what my parents wanted me to be and yet... I fall so short, so often. I get so scared, and I get so angry, and I feel like I've changed from my experiences, but not for the better. I'm not the brightest, or the strongest, or anything but... just... able to read people really well, you know?”

He glanced down silently, breathing slowly before looking up quietly: “And yet I'm lucky because of that. Because look at Midnight Hour... he started off as... perfect. He was a true prodigy, he was powerful, he was... smart, and strong, and brave. He could do anything, and he wanted to grow up to be just like his parents, just like me... except... his parents were... lost.”

Antares looked down, rubbing slowly at his face as he said quietly: “And like you've seen... sometimes I act like Mom or Dad myself. In good ways and bad ways. Midnight Hour... grew up just like his parents did, inherited the good and the bad from both of them, but in that story, there was a lot more bad, there was a lot more pressure, and because he was so good at everything... he thought he was better than everypony else. And the scary thing is... he was right.”

Celestia frowned curiously at this, as Antares looked up with a faint smile. “He wasn't a pony, or a Tyrant Wyrm. He was this... thing, supposed-savior, born of two self-proclaimed 'gods.' He could do anything, anything, he set his mind to. He controlled what we perceive as time itself. His touch alone could steal a person's strength, life, and powers, making him even stronger, better. He was better than everypony else, he was, strictly-speaking, a superior, ultimate being. And I can't begin to express how glad I am that... I used to scoot around on my butt in diapers and I'm just the same as everypony else.”

The ivory winged unicorn nodded after a moment in understanding, and for a few moments there was silence before the young, glossy-black stallion looked up and said quietly: “I know that Mom and Dad have a darkness inside them. I know my mother is Nightmare Moon, and that you believe my father might be a Clockwork Pony, transformed into one of them by the corruption or... something. Because Decretum was trying to spread their influence to other worlds or... I don't know. But what I do know is Mom and Dad are still my Mom and Dad, no matter what. They aren't... Evil Luna and Tyrant Scrivener. And Celestia, even if something did happen, they went... bad...” Antares closed his eyes and smiled faintly. “They wouldn't've left us here alone for all these years, would've they?”

Celestia looked down silently, then she closed her eyes and smiled faintly, murmuring softly: “You're right, Antares. And for some reason... I find that an incredibly comforting thought. Maybe because I know it must mean that your parents are... stuck somewhere, or maybe because I just... like to believe that no matter what, your parents would still come for us, always cared for us no matter what, and always wanted us to stand alongside them.”

There was silence for a few minutes, the two only sitting and thinking in the quiet before Celestia looked up as there was a knock at the door before it clicked, then swung open. Antares smiled after a moment at Prestige, the young unicorn mare shifting awkwardly before Celestia smiled. “It's alright. You're not interrupting anything; what is it, Prestige Luster?”

“Twilight and Greece are going to keep working on the meteor, but... Antares, would you like to join me for lunch? I'd appreciate the company.” Prestige said softly, then she added quickly: “As long as you're not busy, of course.”

Antares glanced at Celestia questioningly, but the ivory mare only shook her head with a soft smile, gesturing at him with a hoof. “I'll go ahead and put together an equipment list, Antares, and I'll speak to the others you chose for our mission to Clockwork World. It's the least I can do... and besides, you've been here every day, helping out. Take the rest of today off, both of you. Enjoy yourselves together: it might be weeks before you get the chance to relax again.”

The young stallion hesitated, but when Prestige gave him a gently-imploring look, he sighed a little before nodding and saying finally: “Alright. I... you're right, Celestia. Things are going to start moving fast once we find Cancer, I know... and Clockwork World is going to require both a lot of preparation and a lot of work. Are you sure you want to talk to everypony, though? Maybe I should go talk to Mom right now...”

“No, I'd... it would mean a lot to me if you could let me handle that.” Celestia said quietly, and Antares tilted his head curiously, but when Celestia only remained silent, her amethyst gaze steady, he finally nodded slowly, and she smiled across at him. “Thank you. Go on, now, both of you. Enjoy yourselves.”

“We will.” Prestige promised, smiling across at Antares, who shifted awkwardly before nodding lamely when Celestia laughed and shook her head slowly. Then the young stallion hurried to his hooves before striding quickly over to the young mare, and he let Prestige take the lead even as he gave her a mild look.

Prestige ignored this pointedly, however, striding easily through the halls of the facility, but she remained quiet until they were outside of the engineering building and making their way down the street. Then she suddenly turned towards him, and Antares winced a bit in surprise as she asked curiously: “And where are we headed, Antares Mīrus?”

“Uh. Library?” Antares suggested lamely, and Prestige nodded with a smile, gazing over him thoughtfully and making the glossy-black young stallion glower a little. “I hate it when you give me that look. I always feel like you're sizing me up for something. Like I'm your prey and you're just waiting for a chance to eat my head.”

“All stallions are the prey of pretty mares. That is true of every class and species.” Prestige replied comfortably, and Antares rolled his eyes as he fell in pace beside her before the young unicorn smiled over at him softly. “I was just thinking of how handsome you'd look in a suit, that's all. A traditional unicorn suit, perhaps made by that pretty unicorn Rarity... tell me, is she pureblooded?”

“Why, because that would make the suit even better?” Antares asked dryly, giving the young mare a pointed look, but Prestige only nudged him firmly with her shoulder as she smiled and blushed a little.

“No, because... pure-blooded unicorns tend to live longer. Unicorns live long lives, and I was thinking of her and her husband...” Prestige looked ahead, the young stallion looking surprised. “They would have been utterly reviled in the North. Yet all the same... they did it for each other, didn't they? Doesn't it strike you as foolish, giving up so much for each other?”

Antares, however, smiled as he looked ahead, replying quietly: “And you gave up a life of immense luxury and power to be a normal pony, living beside me, Prestige. What's silly, giving up a short life of immense pleasure or a long life that would have been spent mostly in solitude and as an outcast, since Spike was raised by ponies, like a pony, and comes from an entirely different layer than these much rougher dragons of Looking Glass World? Who, need I remind you, also seem to like living either in solitude or in crowded, very closed-in nests.”

Prestige dropped her head forwards thoughtfully, murmuring: “I didn't think of it like that before... but who knows what the future could have held? Perhaps Spike would have been king of the dragons had he not married Rarity. And perhaps I would have been thrown in a dungeon during an uprising by treacherous Pegasi who finally realized that the unicorns who paid their wages are almost all as defenseless as drunken kittens.”

“Drunken kittens. You got some weird forms of entertainment up north.” Antares remarked, and Prestige laughed and shoved him as the young stallion grinned and staggered, adding mildly: “And what, you couldn't blast your way out of a dungeon?”

“Not if I had become a noble. I'm sure I would have been much weaker... would have forgotten all but the showiest of my magic, lost my stamina and strength, and...” Prestige quieted, then she looked down before suddenly leaning up and kissing Antares' cheek firmly, making him glance up in surprise. “Thank you.”

Antares only blinked dumbly, and Prestige smiled at him as they continued on their way before the young mare brightened at the sight of several earth ponies in brown uniforms unloading wrapped objects, boxes, and furniture from several wagons. She bounced forwards, and Burning Desire looked up with a smile from where he was directing the ponies, saying easily: “And look, there she is now! I was just about to come and find you, Prestige, it seems all these things here are for you.”

“This stuff is definitely not going to fit in my room.” Antares remarked dryly, wincing as he looked back and forth through the myriad of things that the workers had unloaded so far. Prestige, meanwhile, began to glance back and forth through the piles of boxes and furnishings as the workers finished unloading the variety of things, Antares moodily approaching and poking at a large dresser with a gorgeous framed mirror. “Is that real silver? Please tell me this is not real silver.”

Prestige only smiled amusedly over her shoulder, then glanced up as an earth pony approached warily with a clipboard: but when Prestige took it and signed with a smile and a 'thank you,' the earth pony visibly loosened up a little. Not that Antares could blame them for being suspicious: from their rugged looks and darker coat colors, they were likely from the far north, and had been expecting to deliver this to some obnoxious unicorn noble. Then Antares paused meditatively, thinking about how in some ways Prestige was still an obnoxious unicorn noble as he strode carefully past a stack of boxes to poke at an antique wardrobe made of polished oak, examining the incredibly-complex designs detailed across the doors as he asked flatly: “Just how much money did you have, Prestige?”

“More than a mudwalker like you has ever seen.” Prestige retorted, and the three earth ponies all glared at her before staring when the unicorn mare hopped quickly through the piles of stuff to hug Antares fiercely around the neck, making him laugh and smile despite himself. “And none of it matters anymore. Besides, Antares, some of your old, clunky things need to be replaced, and we can sell some of this... you there, earth ponies!”

The earth ponies looked apprehensively at Prestige as the young mare pulled away from the glossy-black unicorn and strode quickly towards the workers, looking over them meditatively before she asked in a serious voice: “Have you been paid for your services?”

The workers traded looks, and then one stepped forwards, saying awkwardly: “Uh, no, ma'am, we were just told to deliver this to you, and then we'd be paid in Canterlot by Lady Rosewood.”

“Wait here.” Prestige turned and strode quickly to the library, Burning Desire cocking his head with interest as the earth ponies shifted uneasily, one of them stealing nervous looks every so often at the demonic unicorn and another looking curiously at Antares. It was only a few seconds before Prestige returned, however, tossing a small bag of bits towards one of the earth ponies, who caught it in his hooves and looked down in surprise. “There are thirty or so bits in there, take it and... thank you, earth ponies. I appreciate your efforts.”

The three earth ponies looked stunned, and even Antares stared with surprise at Prestige as she nodded once, then rose her head proudly before turning around and flicking her horn, easily lifting a cluster of boxes with telekinesis to carry them into the library. Burning Desire snorted in amusement, and then he grinned and shook his head, saying mildly: “Incredible. And to think, once upon a time that little runt made us unicorns from the old days seem as welcoming as old friends.”

The demon paused, then he glanced curiously over at Antares as the earth ponies hurriedly went about packing up their wagon to move on, likely not wanting to risk sticking around in case Prestige changed her mind. “Antares, should I move some of these things out to the cottage? I can teleport at least a few of the objects.”

“Don't ask me, ask Prestige, I guess.” Antares said lamely, and then he winced as he looked over the piles of things, mumbling: “But seriously, there's a lot here. Not all this stuff is going to fit in the cottage, much less my room.”

“Then maybe it's time you and Prestige found a home of your own.” Burning Desire suggested kindly, and Antares looked up in dumb surprise, blushing a bit before the fiery stallion smiled softly. “You care for each other, don't you? And oh sure, you're young, but that argument bores me. In my day and age you two would have had at least one foal by now.”

“I...” Antares only blushed deeper, not knowing how to respond to this before he shook his head violently, then stumbled to change the subject, saying awkwardly: “I want to talk to you about something, by the way-”

“Well, Antares, I would recommend starting slow. Kiss her gently, first, then trace kisses down the side of her neck, she seems to have a sensitive spot right about here.” Burning Desire said kindly, reaching up and touching just above the junction of shoulder and throat as Antares stared blankly and slowly processed what the demon was explaining. “And grasp into her. Not so gentle she can't feel it, not so firm it's like you're trying to control her. Let your body-”

“Not that!” Antares shouted, and then he winced as several ponies halted to stare at him, clearing his throat hurriedly before the young stallion scrambled forwards and glared up at Burning Desire, whispering fiercely: “I don't need any tips about that, thank you very much. I wanted to talk to you about-”

“About Twilight Sparkle, I'm guessing. Or rather, Twilight Sparkle and your parents.” Burning Desire said gently, as his smile dwindled down a little, but it still remained as the fiery stallion reached up and took Antares' shoulders gently, the glossy black unicorn falling quiet. “That is between myself and Twilight, Antares Mīrus, so don't you worry your handsome head about it, okay? Love comes, love goes, and that is simply the way of the world... fools fight it, and the greedy refuse to take less than they desire, never realizing what idiocy that is, and ending up like me... cursed to long forever, because they just couldn't be satisfied with what they had, never realized that at the end of the day, they were the ones responsible for their own misery. Oh, sure, it will be bittersweet... but sometimes there's no greater pleasure than the pleasures that have a little pain.”

Antares fell quiet, and then he simply nodded slowly: he didn't completely understand what the fiery stallion meant, but he did get the message clearly enough. He would let Twilight ask Burning Desire... and for a few moments, the two looked at each other before the demon winked and said cheerfully: “But on much more important matters, Antares, you should know that the most important thing is not to be a selfish lover. You're not selfish with her, are you, Antares?”

“I'm going inside now.” Antares mumbled, turning quickly away, and Burning Desire grinned at this, following after the young stallion into the library.

“Prestige, apparently Antares wants to go inside. Can I watch?” he quipped as he strode through the doorway, and Antares groaned and dropped his head forwards as Prestige only grumbled from where she was digging through a box. “Or maybe I can go inside myself, how would you like that?”

Prestige glanced up, then her horn glowed brightly before she flicked it firmly, and Burning Desire yelped as there was a flash of bright light before the demon spun around and leapt away, bursting apart into flames that quickly reformed into a firebird and shot through the open door. Antares looked dumbly over his shoulder, and then he returned his eyes to Prestige as the young mare muttered: “A simple exorcism to cleanse a home of unwanted spirits. Just enough to push most demons out the door for a little while.”

“You're learning really fast, Prestige.” Antares looked awkwardly over his shoulder, feeling the thrum of energy through the floorboards before he smiled a little as he approached, asking quietly: “So uh, Prestige, about your things...”

“I just need to see what's here, and then we can figure out what to do, Antares. I do hope Celestia doesn't mind me storing some of them in here for now, though... at least until I can sell off what we can't store elsewhere.” Prestige said softly, and then she glanced up in surprise as Antares reached up and gently touched her foreleg.

The two looked at each other for a few moments, and then the glossy-black young stallion smiled faintly before he said quietly: “Prestige. I've been thinking, and... well... looking around at everything, thinking about us...” He hesitated, then asked finally: “Do you want to find a place to move in together?”

She looked at him with surprise, leaning back as her eyes locked with his, and Antares hesitated before plunging on: “Look, we've... been together for a while now. I love you, and I still don't know... entirely... where our future is headed, but I do know that you make me happy. That I want that future to be... with you, and I know we can work through almost anything together. I know we've both changed for each other, and... grown together. As it is, we already live together, pretty much, and... I was thinking that... maybe we should try living together on our own, without Twilight or Celestia or anyone else around, in our own place, and it would really help... settle things for us. It would help us both really settle on what the future can hold for us. Because Prestige, it's not that I'm scared of spending the rest of my life with you... it's that I'm scared you're going to realize you can probably do better than me, and I'm not the hero everyone thinks I am.”

Prestige only smiled softly at this, however, reaching up to take his face silently in her hooves as she leaned forwards and murmured: “Antares... I don't call you 'hero' because of the burden that's on your shoulders, because of the faith everypony has in you... I call you hero because you're my hero. And I think you always will be.”

They gazed at each other quietly, then shared a short, soft kiss for a few moments before parting, the two smiling at one-another before Prestige asked hesitantly: “But... what about your parents, Antares? I don't... desire to make you choose...”

“I never have to choose between them and you, Prestige.” Antares reached up, taking her hoof quietly. “I'm going to spend a lot of time with them, yeah, and I want you to spend time with them, too, I want you to know them and see my Mom and Dad like I do. But I also know and understand that I have to live my own life, make my own decisions, and that... I can't just pretend to be a foal again and get all those years back when they come back. I can spend time with them, I can be their son, I can hang out in my room and what will always, always be my home... but I need to move forwards with life, too, not backwards. You helped me see that... that maybe I don't need to let go, but I do need to carry on, one way or another. And I'm going to. I love you.”

“I love you too, hero.” Prestige said softly, and they shared another slow kiss, followed by a fierce, tight embrace. For a little while, they just rested together in silence, holding each other close as time spun out around them, and nothing else mattered. There was just them, and their future, young lovers who were ready to walk side-by-side through a life they were ready to share together.

Our Divided Destiny

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Chapter Thirty Three: Our Divided Destiny
~BlackRoseRaven

The Everfree Forest was almost silent, the only sound coming from the leaves rustled by the wind. It was a gorgeous day, with the shining sun above casting bright light through the crisp morning air, a few clouds lazily rolling through the sky above... and yet somehow it all seemed cold, and wrong. It felt not like tranquility, but hollowness and sedation. It felt like the silence before the storm.

Hoofsteps sounded along the path, and the leaves whispered quietly in the breeze as if nervous, as if the forest was trying to cry out to Antares and Twilight as they strode side-by-side towards Ponyville. The Lich still looked tired, thick turtleneck sweater scratching against her stitches as she said softly: “I don't know, Antares... you're young. I don't mean that in a bad way, either, I just mean... you know. There's a lot of things that could change.”

“I know. That's why I want to move in with her before I do anything... you know, dumb.” Antares said awkwardly, and he felt butterflies twisting nervously through his stomach, distracting him from the lack of sound, the weak whimpers of nature as he asked hesitantly: “Besides Mom, I... I know it's a little awkward for you even now, but... how old were you when... you know...”

The Lich blushed a bit, but she smiled all the same at Antares as they continued along the path before she replied gently: “Older than you and Prestige, but... less mature in some ways, too, I guess. I never really understood how lucky I was with your Mom and Dad, how... I could have easily been... getting myself involved with the wrong sort of crowd. But... okay. I guess we can take an hour or so to look around for... what were you interested in?”

“A townhouse or something. Prestige has a lot of stuff.” Antares said, smiling warmly up at Twilight and feeling relief bursting through his system, nodding fervently and missing the signals in the trees, the crystalline feeling in the air, the whispers of his own instincts as he rambled: “She wants to come too, too, of course, but I mean... you know, she said she trusts me and I wanna do good and find a good place she can approve and stuff when she comes into town herself, and...”

Twilight laughed and shook her head, the two continuing on, oblivious to the feelings around them... and the forest almost sighed as there was a rustling behind them before a mottled-white monstrosity dragged itself slowly onto the path. Red eyes glowed balefully, but it was shivering, skin flaking off, badly burnt and blackened here and there, leaving slimy footprints behind it as Cancer whispered: “Punk... z-zombie...”

Cancer rasped weakly for breath, head lowered, eyes flickering weakly before he bared what teeth remained in his rotting jaws, and he slowly rose one front limb as it half-transformed into a shivering claw that reached after the ponies in the far distance now... and then it melted, and Cancer moaned weakly, the destruction entity shaking his head violently as sweat ran slowly from his pores. “No, no, no...”

He was losing cohesion. More and more, his body was falling apart, giving up, rotting away to nothing. And unless he found something to stabilize himself, like some powerful, potent poison or a host that he could hide away in, that he could incubate in and rebuild his breaking-down core cells, he was going to soon be nothing more than a puddle on the ground.

Cancer shivered, then he slowly looked over his shoulder, beginning to drag himself down the path in the opposite direction the two had come from. All roads led to somewhere, after all, and he'd been stuck wandering the Everfree Forest blindly, absorbing the little nutrients he could here and there out of trees, but that just made the forest scream... and when the forest screamed, the Phooka and the Nightmares and the demons and the things that wanted to kill him dead showed up...

The monster dropped his head forwards, wheezing slowly and ignoring the feeling of a large piece of his body simply falling off before the wound feebly began to regenerate. He moaned, and then shivered as his voice whispered: “Dyin' hurts so bad, hoss. What the hell do I do, chief? I need a meal, but the white weasel has all her forces out, keepin' me dancin' constantly... but I can't dance no more. I'm so hungry now, all I can do is hope that the Void has mercy on me, that Momma Nature gives me a freebie, that someone or something out there remembers my purpose is to destroy, not to be destroyed!”

Cancer gargled, and then he looked up, spotting some structure in the distance as he blinked owlishly before beginning to haul himself forwards, breathing harder. There had to be something there, right? There had to be something he could use... he was hurting, oh how he was hurting! He'd been blown up too many times now, and he'd had to sacrifice so much of his strength to escape the burning bonfire that had been Griselda, his wife-become-deathtrap...

“Stupid bitch couldn't do one thing right... hell, she couldn't even die with a little dignity, or at least in a way that would have done anything but turn me into...” Cancer coughed hard, stumbling before he snarled as stepped off the end of the path and in front of a two-floor house, breathing slowly as he drew his eyes along the structure before whispering: “I smell something in there... something good and something bad, something sweet and something sour and... oh, a taste of power, too! I need it, oh I need it...”

Cancer shivered violently, and then he hurried forwards to the door, clawing at the handle before smashing forwards and knocking it open. He looked up as Prestige glanced up in shock, just emerging from the bathroom, dripping wet and with a towel wrapped around her mane. For a moment, they stared at each other... and then Prestige shrieked and staggered backwards, shaking her head wildly to try and free her horn from the towel.

Cancer snarled at her like an animal as he lashed a limb upwards that transformed into a long, slimy tentacle, smashing across Prestige's chest and knocking her backwards before the monster loped forwards. The young mare hurriedly sat up... then gargled, eyes widening in horror and terror as Cancer tackled her and shoved her down, dripping sweat and ooze over her as his long, distorted limb slowly twined itself around her throat and body. He breathed hard in and out over her face, drool dripping over her features as his red eyes bored down into hers, and she shook her head weakly, shivering, eyes wide as the monster chuckled... then leaned down and whispered quietly: “Hello, honey. You look delicious... but I just had me a hell of an idea..”

Slowly, Cancer leaned down, licking up the side of her face as Prestige moaned in horror, feeling the tentacle constricting around her before her horn began to glow... and immediately, Cancer bit savagely down into her shoulder, making her shriek and disrupting her concentration before she cried out in agony as what felt like broken glass filled her veins, her eyes bulging as Cancer drew back and grinned savagely. A spiderweb of black lines was spreading slowly through her shoulder, gradually crawling up along her neck and over her face as they swept downwards as well, and Prestige screamed in pain again before Cancer laughed as he withdrew his tentacle-like limb from around her, letting most of it dissolve before he shoved a melted hoof down against her chest and said coldly: “Don't go trying anything funny now, dollface. You feel that poison? You feel those bubbles forming under your skin? You try any of your fancy unicorn magic without my say-so, and I'm gonna make you burn.”

Prestige screamed in pain, shivering beneath the monstrosity before he seized her by the mane snarling as he yanked her head up high into the air, then grabbed her by the face and slammed her skull into the wall with a sickening crack, making her cry out again as he pinned her by the face and shouted: “You're gonna listen to me, fleshbag! You listen and you play nice...” His voice became silkier, smoother, grinning brokenly at her as his red eyes gleamed with madness: “You play nice, and you got my promise, my word, my everything that I won't kill you. In fact, I might just make you strong. Stronger than I made Jabberwock, better than I did with Griselda. I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you? Bein' alive, and bein' strong...”

“P-p-p-please... st-stop...” Prestige whimpered, giving a broken sob, and Cancer snorted before he drew his limb back, then slapped her hard across the face, knocking her sprawling as the unicorn curled up and grasped at the pustules and boils that had started to form over one side of her features, moaning in agony as dark poison pulsed through her body. Then she snarled, looking up through teary eyes... but the moment her horn began to glow, she felt that toxin bubbling inside her veins, and she was only able to cry out in agony and drop back to the floor, curling up and sobbing weakly.

Cancer snorted in disgust, then he licked his teeth slowly as he breathed hard in and out before kicking her hard in the stomach, Prestige half-rolling onto her back before he leaned down and asked suspiciously: “Why the hell do I smell the zombie here? I saw that freak go by with the punk kid. Tell me!”

Cancer glared at her, and the poison bubbled in Prestige's veins, making her scream and convulse before the mottled monster leaned down, spittle flying from his jaws as he yelled furiously: “You tell me right now or I make this pain here seem as pleasant as a summer's breeze in comparison to what I'm gonna do to you! You tell me right now or I eat you alive!”

“P-Phylactery!” Prestige finally howled miserably, a twist of despair running through her as she opened her bloodshot eyes, and the pain boiled down to a dull ache again as Cancer looked down at her intently, frowning in confusion as the unicorn whimpered and breathed weakly, a bit of foam falling from her jaws as tears rolled down her cheeks. “Phylactery...”

The mottled white monster growled at her irritably, clearly not understanding, and scared of the pain, scared of the monster, scared for her life, Prestige looked up and said in a broken voice: “She's a Lich. She's anchored to this world by a physical object... her music box... it... it contains her soul...”

Slowly, the monster grinned as he leaned forwards, looking excitedly back and forth. “Now we're getting somewhere! Yeah, you keep this up, girl, and I'll make you big and strong, just you wait and see... so this is where the punk and the zombie live, huh? Good. Good, I'm gonna take a look around... you pick yourself up, little girl, and don't do nothin' stupid. You're startin' to look real sick, and I'm the only one who can keep you alive.”

Prestige moaned weakly, trembling on the ground as she breathed harshly in and out, and Cancer grinned before he turned slowly around. He headed down the hall first, sniffing at the doors before shoving one open and looking into a room that looked long unused, eyes roving back and forth before he licked his teeth in delight as they settled on the thing that the reek of the zombie was coming from, and he walked over to peer down at it with interest.

It was a box of some kind, with a figure of a winged unicorn on top of the ornate, antique wooden rectangle. It was pretty, and he guessed it was fragile, too, as he reached up... then grimaced and looked down at his half melted foreleg before turning and heading out into the corridor, shouting: “Hey, girly! What happens if I smash this thing that smells like the zombie?”

Prestige shook her head weakly, and Cancer glared at her before his eyes glowed: a moment later, the unicorn was writhing on the ground, screaming in agony before she shrieked: “I... I don't know!”

“Oh, fine, loser. You're stupid.” Cancer muttered, glaring at her still and making her convulse with pain before he finally let the poisons settle, and Prestige fell over on her side, sobbing weakly before the destruction entity added disdainfully: “I don't like your whining. Get your ass off the ground, go wait for me in that big room up there, and shut your weak little face. We gonna have a chat once I'm done looking around.”

Prestige could only whimper in response, shivering as she slowly hauled herself to her hooves. She trembled violently, thinking of running, of trying magic, of doing something, anything... and then instead, she simply slowly dragged herself into the room and silently looked up and around at the pictures on the walls. She saw Antares' family, and Antares himself: she saw honorable ponies, and warriors, and the strong and the loyal, and tears slowly spilled down her cheeks as she dropped her head forwards and whispered weakly to this family: “I'm s-s-sorry...”

She couldn't do anything. She couldn't do anything, even as she heard crashing and clanging, and then Cancer chuckled before he left the room that was almost sacred to Antares and Twilight: Luna and Scrivener's old bedroom. The mottled entity grinned as he crossed the hall and shoved through another door, before sniffing at the air as he crowed: “Oh how cute, it's the punk's room! And it smells like you, too, oh, how sweet!”

He laughed, then paused and glared at the mural covering one wall, shivering in disgust at sight of it before stepping forwards as one foreleg transformed, raking a bony claw across the surface. Plaster burst up as paint chips flew in all directions, and then Cancer glanced absently at a pocketwatch sitting on a nearby bed table before slamming his claw into this as well, smashing it as he said disgustedly: “What a piece of garbage.”

With that, Cancer turned and headed back into the hall: he continued his rampage through the house, guzzling down the few chemicals he found, chewing up magical artifacts, ripping apart papers and tearing holes in walls and destroying what he pleased. And Prestige only sat mindlessly, numbly holding herself and shivering as pustules and ugly blisters pulsed slowly over her features and one side of her body, black poison visibly throbbing in her veins as she tried her hardest not to cry... but did nothing even when Cancer ripped his claws through the paintings here and there around the living room, sparing nothing from his destruction.

Then, finally, the monster headed down the hall... and he came back with a grin, dropping the phylactery to the floor. Prestige stared down at it, and Cancer licked his teeth slowly as he stroked along the top of the music box, saying coldly: “Babe, you don't got a choice... it's do or die. You don't do what I say, you don't listen to me... I'm going to torture you to death. You listen to me, honey... and I'll take you in, under my wing. I'll give you power, but you gotta help me get what I want, and I think you can, sweetie-pie.”

“What are you talking about...” Prestige whispered, looking slowly up, and Cancer grinned at her widely, his red eyes glowing as a shiver passed through him.

“I ain't stupid, honey, I recognize you now that I got myself a few vitamins pumping through my system, giving me some of my old strength back.” Cancer licked his teeth slowly, stroking slowly over the music box. “You been there from the start, from when I first laid eyes on the punk-ass kid. He's important, you're important to him, hence you must be important. Important peeps go where the hell they want, and you... you're gonna take me into that dirt-hole little village. You're gonna walk me right up to and on in to that delicious-smelling place in the village. You're gonna help me find whatever the hell it is inside there that makes me so goddamn excited, and I'm gonna have myself a feast and get my strength back. And then you and me are gonna destroy that place from the inside out.

“But here's the rub. I need to know that you really aren't gonna do anything stupid.” Cancer stepped backwards, licking his teeth slowly. “And I need to take things careful and safe myself... so you're gonna smash up this pretty music box. You're gonna deal with the zombie for me, make sure... nothin' bad happens when you break this thing into pieces. And you remember, girl, I can hurt you. I can hurt you in ways you can't imagine... but if you listen to me, and behave yourself, sweetie, then I'll make you big and strong and more powerful than you can ever imagine. You and me together, we'll be a tide of awesome destruction to rip through this world... or go ahead, be a noble little goody-two-shoes, and I'll kill you and smash the box anyway.”

Cancer grinned wider, raising his head proudly, his eyes glowing with red malice as Prestige trembled violently, then slowly looked at the container that held the soul of her mentor, her friend, her teacher. “So what's it gonna be, bitch? Unspeakable torment, or ultimate power?”

“I... I...” Prestige trembled violently, and then she slowly looked around at the destruction Cancer had wrought. At everything he had done, that she hadn't stopped... and slowly, she rose her front hooves in front of herself, a sob hitching up out of her throat. Antares... I'm sorry. I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... “Please... p-please don't hurt me anymore... I'll... do it.”

The mottled destruction entity cackled, leaning forwards, eyes bright before he shoved the box towards her, and Prestige trembled and closed her eyes as she rose a hoof... then gritted her teeth before slamming it down on the box, denting in the cover and sending a crack through the antique wood before she hit it again and again, even as a strange glow surrounded it, as jarring, discordant notes rose up from the box like wails.

And just inside the gates of Ponyville, Twilight halted in mid-sentence as she stumbled, then leaned forwards and vomited black bile and blood, her eyes bulging in her sockets as steam burst up from her body. Stitches across her frame snapped, and then she screamed in agony, Antares yelling in shock as ponies and Nibelung stared in horror, watching as the Lich's head snapped back and forth as rot began to rapidly spread over her body and blood exploded from wounds that formed as her skin tore and burnt like paper.

The Lich staggered back and forth, crying out miserably as her mane burst apart and one of her limbs snapped off, her eyes rolling wildly in her head as she felt every blow against her phylactery crash into her like a strike of lightning from a vengeful god above, before she threw her head back with a scream as energy blasted through the air around her in a rush of sound and light that knocked Antares and everyone within twenty feet of her flying. And then Twilight collapsed with a broken gargle, one eye staring sightlessly, the other missing as smoke and blood and tarry black goo boiled up out of an empty socket...

And Prestige shivered as she stood over the remains of the music box. She had crushed and hammered it into nothing but an unrecognizable hulk, splinters of wood and pieces of surprisingly-brittle metal laying around it as it whispered broken notes into the air. Cancer laughed loudly at this, then he reached down and swatted the box hard aside, sending it crashing into the wall to bounce brokenly off and fall to the ground with a final, tremulous clang, shouting gleefully: “Bye-bye, zombie, and hello honeybuns, you and I are gonna have the time of our lives!”

Cancer reached out and seized Prestige by the face, grinning brightly as he half-lifted her into the air despite her cry of pain and revulsion, before he leaned forwards and chided: “Now don't you gimme that look! Out with the old, in with the new... and speaking of which, knowing the zombie's friends – oh, sorry, former friends, you killed her, toots! And hallelujah for that! – we better shuffle on out of here and hurry to that little mudspeck town!”

Prestige only nodded numbly, looking silently up at Cancer as he dropped her... then she shivered as he became nearly liquid, slithering forwards and twisting around her body, adhering himself over her body like a slimy coat. She shuddered weakly, feeling an awful, acidic burning over her frame as needles tore themselves into her back, before she gasped and blinked as the pustules and blisters over her face receded with an awful suction feeling, but left discolored bruising in their wake.

Then she stared up in shock as Cancer's voice whispered cunningly into her ear, despite the fact the shapeless thing was clinging over her body like a suit: “Honey, honey, time to go. I'm gonna ride like this... unless people go looking close, I doubt they'll notice me. But you know your tricks, don't you? So I'm gonna let you do a little magic... you just stay away from fire, babe. You won't like what happens if you try and call up a little fire.”

Prestige swallowed thickly, nodding nervously and breathing hard as she stumbled to her hooves and down the corridor, clenching her eyes shut before Cancer rasped: “You better move faster, girly. Once they come looking, don't think I won't sell you out in a heartbeat. Hell, I'll hide on inside you: make the punk you're so sweet on kill you. How would you like that?”

“What does it matter... he'll never forgive me for this, and... I... I can't fight you... I...” Prestige trembled as she strode forwards, breathing hard as she clenched her eyes shut... then gasped in pain when Cancer's needles tore deeper into her body, whimpering weakly as agony shocked through her.

“Don't cry, pansy!” he snarled, then added mockingly: “But fine then, be a good girl and tell you what, maybe I'll put the punk in a cage instead of killin' him outright. Maybe I'll let you eat him... maybe I'll cut pieces of him off and fuse them into you, how would you like that?”

Prestige only shuddered, whimpering a little, and Cancer chuckled quietly before the unicorn shivered and looked up, whispering: “I... I can teleport us to Ponyville if you let me. Or just outside at least... but I don't have a lot of strength left...”

“I can fix that.” Cancer whispered almost tenderly, and Prestige cried out as she felt agony again... before her eyes bulged, gasping in shock as adrenaline pumped through her veins, before she gritted her teeth, eyes glowing faintly as something else pushed into her. A terrible, twisted energy that made her body ripple, her horn sparking darkly as Cancer murmured: “See, babe? I can make you even stronger, too. I can make you better than Griselda... that worthless, mindless animal was nothing more than a living breeding ground, after all, a hive of dumb insects. You, though, all that magic power? I can amplify it... but...

“I need you to go to the village now!” Cancer screamed in her ear, and Prestige shrieked, staggering to the side as the amorphous jelly wrapped around her body constricted, the unicorn nodding hurriedly as she breathed shakily in and out before clenching her eyes shut, her horn glowing brighter... and after a moment, she vanished in a burst of light.

Only seconds later, in the Everfree Forest just outside of Ponyville, there was a crackle of energy and another burst of light before Prestige stumbled forwards, gasping hard. And yet, with this new strength running through her provided by Cancer, she had barely been drained at all, and it made her shiver at the thought even as temptation licked at her hooves: if the monster could do this for her even while so weak...

But then she felt Cancer constrict her and somehow force her down, like he had temporarily hijacked her muscles to make her drop low as she looked back and forth... then stared upwards in shock through the canopy of trees as several shapes shot violently past. Cancer chuckled in her ear at this, his voice carrying his unseen grin as he whispered: “Oh yeah, a whole bunch of problematic ponies just went barreling out to where we're not... and now, sweetie, now let's get into that town... you're gonna take me to that facility, because I know you want what I'm offering. I know you need it, babe, and there ain't nothing to be ashamed of in that. You want superiority? I'm gonna give you power in spades and diamonds, sweetheart.”

Prestige shivered violently... and then she nodded slowly, swallowing thickly as she dropped her head forwards and forced herself to stand. For a few moments, she was silent... and then she clenched her eyes shut, whispering: “Promise me.”

“I promise... you'll be like a goddess...” Cancer whispered silkily... and finally, Prestige slowly looked up and gave a weak smile through her tears, trembling hard as she nodded slowly.

“Okay.” Slowly, Prestige forced herself forwards... but after the first step, it became easier. After a few stumbling paces out from beneath the trees and into the field, her gait straightened out, and she strode quickly towards the open gates. Cancer snarled at this, as Nibelung guards looked at her with shock before hurrying towards her, and she murmured: “Trust me.”

Cancer growled at this, but as the Nibelung drew close, Prestige looked up and said weakly: “Help me, I... I was attacked... I need to know where everyone is... I need to warn Antares and Cowlick...”

“Fancy-corn just left after dead-corn... dead!” one of the Nibelung babbled, then he winced as Prestige whimpered, not needing to fake this as she stared weakly up at the dwarf. “I... fancy-corn Baroness and others gone, say you in danger...”

“Young fancy-corn at labs!” said the other Nibelung hurriedly, gesturing though the gates, and Prestige nodded, shivering and not liking this response before the dwarf frowned and leaned forwards, reaching out to touch her slimy shoulder. “What happen...”

“Cancer... I... I need medical help.” Prestige managed, and the dwarves both looked at her, one shifting suspiciously before she clenched her eyes shut and whispered: “Sorry.”

Prestige flicked her horn firmly, and there was a bright, blinding flash of light that knocked both Nibelung sprawling before the unicorn launched herself forwards, bolting into town. The other guards still standing at the gate didn't know how to react, one yelling, but the town was already in chaos from what had happened to Twilight and the fast departure of Celestia and others. It wasn't hard for Prestige to simply barrel through town, attracting only shouts as Cancer cackled in her ear and rasped: “Yeah, you're better at this than I thought, oh, look at 'em all riled up but heads jammed in their butts and no idea what to do!”

Prestige moved faster than she ever had in her life to the engineering building, feeling the monster's thoughts pushing into her mind, her instincts growing more attuned with his as his needles pulsed inside her body, as his poisons pumped into her veins. She felt strong and weak, she felt miserable and insane, she felt a wild delirium driving her onwards... and above it all, she felt broken and defeated. If she fought him... she would die, and he would murder everyone she had come to care about. If she didn't fight him, then she lived, but she would be forced to hurt her friends, and Antares... except Antares would never forgive her for what she had done. But what was she supposed to do? If she had resisted, he would have killed her and killed Twilight anyway... the only thing she could do was keep herself alive. Keep herself alive, and hope this monster was telling the truth: that it would make her strong. That it would help her... not care anymore... with the path she had been forced to choose.

She reached the engineering building in record time, and without stopping, she slammed into the front doors and barreled past several Nibelung workers in the lobby to crash through the employee's only doors. Cancer cackled gleefully at this, rippling over her body, becoming more visible as Prestige moaned and felt the pustules and signs of infection pushing back out along her body, as the monster declared gleefully: “Yeah, honey, honey! Oh, you know where to go, too? This day gets better and better and better and-”

They rounded a corner, and Prestige skidded to a halt: just a few feet away, Antares was opening the door to the secure research wing, and he stared in shock at the sight of Prestige as the door behind him swung open. He gaped at her, and Prestige stared back... before Cancer screamed: “Kill the punk and get him out of our way!”

Antares' eyes widened... and Prestige snapped her horn forwards with a snarl even as tears flew from her eyes, blasting Antares with a psychokinetic hammer that flung him backwards through the doorway and sent him crashing into the wall opposite with enough force to shatter cement, and Cancer cackled in delight as Prestige leapt through the door and flicked her horn to slam it closed behind her. Antares gasped in horror and pain, staring up at Prestige with disbelief before a voice shouted from across the checkpoint room they had entered: “What the hell's going on?”

Cowlick ran out of a doorway, followed by Avalon and Aphrodisia, and Prestige snarled as she snapped her horn to the side, poison and pustules pulsing over her features as her horn sparked darkly. Antares howled in agony and shock as blue mist burst up around him before hardening rapidly into ice, encasing three of his limbs in solid frost as the other ponies stared in shock... and then Cancer's slime rippled over Prestige's body before the destruction entity's head shoved up out of the mass, grinning widely over the unicorn mare's shoulder as he rasped: “Get me to the poisons, sweetie, and then we'll kill 'em all!'

Prestige shivered, then gritted her teeth and turned, running towards the door that led to secure storage. Immediately, Cowlick tried to jump in her path... but with only a flick of her horn, Prestige smashed the earth pony out of the way before she snarled and snapped her horn upwards as another surge of power ran through her, spikes of solid ice ripping up from the ground and forming a barrier between her and the ponies as Antares only stared miserably, disbelievingly, from where he had been trapped.

Prestige began to jump towards the sealed door, and then Avalon shot over the barrier, the tiny Pegasus snarling as the unicorn looked up too late with a wince... and then a tentacle of mottled flesh snapped out from the rippling mass of Cancer, slamming into the Pegasus and knocking her crashing face-first into the wall in front of them with a howl of pain. The Pegasus fell to the ground, senseless, and Prestige shivered for only a moment before leaping forwards, seizing Avalon by the shoulders and mane, and yanking her up to slam her face-first into the sealed door in front of the crystalline eye.

The orb glowed as Avalon shoved wildly at the door, and then the lock clicked, and Prestige threw Avalon to the side just as Aphrodisia smashed her way through the ice barrier, skull-like features snarling before she cursed as the tiny Pegasus bounced off her. It gave Prestige more than enough time to leap through the doorway into the corridor beyond before she snapped her horn hard, and the door behind them slammed closed, sealing them inside the corridor.

Then the unicorn gritted her teeth, horn glowing brighter as she concentrated, and a blast of lightning shocked into the door: there was a mechanical whine, and then a loud pop as the crystal eye set into the other side of it exploded and a short, beeping alarm went off. Electricity continued to spark along the door, even as something pounded savagely into the other side of it in an attempt to force it open, and the unicorn shivered before she groaned as Cancer peeled himself off her, whispering: “Yes, yes, yes! You followed the trail just like I hoped, oh, you're a good girl! Look at us, what a pair we make!”

Cancer grinned widely as he slowly forced himself up into his mottled shape, rasping eagerly for breath before he growled at the heavy door, the sign above labeled: 'SECURE STORAGE 1.' For a moment, Prestige trembled as she heard another bang at the door behind them... but it would take them a long time to force it open. They had plenty of time, she knew, as she slowly looked towards the door leading into the hangar and the meteor probe, breathing quietly as Cancer slunk towards the door, then shouted over his shoulder: “Open this!”

“Y-Yes, okay. But... you're going to make me stronger, right? I... we can't hold them off forever...” Prestige trembled, then she hesitated before looking almost pleadingly at Cancer, even as she approached the door: “Can't we make them... can't you make them...”

“Oh, you wanna save your friends?” Cancer began to grin in derision, and then he paused and looked down in thought as the green orb in the door glowed before the electronic lock clicked loudly... and as the door slowly opened and Cancer inhaled what was within, a shiver of delight went through him as he whispered: “Maybe we can.. actually, more puppets is not a bad idea... but oh, sweetie, I smell it... I smell it, finally, that intoxicating poison I've been after!”

Cancer cackled, and then he leapt through the doorway into the storage room, and Prestige trembled as she stepped in after him, looking back and forth. Volatile chemicals, dangerous-looking artifacts, massive drums labeled with warning stickers reading things like: 'Unstable: do not bring within 50 ft of open flame' and 'Do not allow to reach temperatures exceeding 10C.' It was cold in here, and Prestige shivered a little as she looked down at the vents along the floor that were constantly pumping cool air into the room, coolant pipes and strange machinery thrumming over the walls like mechanical organs.

But Cancer had eyes only for one thing: at the back of the cubical storage room, past the shelves and drums, and everything else, was a single large glass tube and four smaller vials, all filled with black liquid. They were locked inside a transparent gemstone case, and Cancer licked his teeth slowly as he almost ran towards this, hammering on it with his hooves before snarling.

Slowly, Prestige looked back and forth, and then she clenched her eyes shut as she heard hammering on the door in the hall again, whispering nervously: “It... it won't hold them forever...”

“Then do something!” Cancer snarled over his shoulder, snapping at her disgustedly: “What do I look like to you, your mommy or your boy-toy?”

Prestige flinched, then closed her eyes before nodding, turning and flicking her horn to close the storage room door behind them. Cancer, meanwhile, had turned his eyes back to the case, and he snarled at it before leaning forwards and vomiting acid over the front of the polished, gemstone locker, and he grinned in pleasure as the acid melted the crystalline covering slowly away, rasping: “Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, come on, precious, come to Daddy...”

He giggled insanely, staring down at the melting case, before Prestige shuddered and twitched away as he sang sweetly:

“Oh, there you are, I've been waiting for so long,
Oh, oh, oh, my heart's beatin' so strong...
For you... you... and only you...

Oh, I've been waiting so long, heard your cries all night!
And getting' here took all my will and my fight,
But I'm here now, for you, you, you...”

Cancer giggled to himself, then he licked his lips as he pushed his front hooves against the rotting crystal, dragging them slowly down against the surface and accelerating the decay as he added in a hungry voice: “Just riles my blood on up, yeah... oh, the songs I'm gonna sing once I get this stuff in my system...”

“Are you going to make me strong now?” asked Prestige quietly, and Cancer glared over his shoulder at her irritably as the unicorn mare shivered, tears pricking at her eyes as the cold tickled over her body .”I don't... they'll never forgive me... I need... I don't want to feel anymore...”

“I hate your whining.” Cancer muttered, and then he grinned as he glanced back at the melted casing, shoving a hoof forwards to seize into the large tube at the back of the locker before yanking it free and gazing raptly down at it, whispering: “But yeah, toots. I'll make you real nice and strong... once I get a taste of this myself.”

Cancer slowly rose the tube above his head, then he twisted it hard and snapped it in half, eagerly opening his mouth wide as black corruption and poison spilled over his features and into his maw... and almost immediately, Cancer shivered before throwing both sides of the broken tube away, screaming in delight and making several of the chemical jars and beakers stored over the shelves tremble violently. “Yeah! Oh yes, yes, yes! It's what I've always wanted, oh hell, that has a kick!”

And Prestige could only stare in horror as before her eyes, Cancer absorbed the dark, potent liquid into his body, which filled out, became solid again, his mottled white flesh returning to normal as his red eyes blazed before he gargled, head snapping back and forth, grabbing at his skull as he rasped: “Destruction. Evolution. Hatred. Kill them all. Only the Void. Return all to the Void. Become powerful... end all existence...”

Cancer shrieked, dropped forwards... and then snapped his head up with an insane giggle, staring across at Prestige as she stared back in horror, breathing hard before the monster turned around and greedily smashed through the rest of the melted locker, grabbing up the vials as he whispered: “Oh honey! Once my body absorbs all this power, all this poison, I'm gonna be perfect. You and me, toots, we're gonna kill everyone, and then ourselves and who the hell cares about anything else, right? Hell, maybe I'll let you have some fun on the way, oh, oh, oh, I need to get more of this stuff!”

Prestige was only staring across at Cancer, at this mottled, monstrous thing, understanding that no matter what it said or did... it was only going to destroy. And slowly, her fear ebbed away as she looked at Cancer's back as he shoved vials in his mouth and chewed them up like a greedy animal, swallowing corruption and glass shards alike without a care in the world as the unicorn mare looked down silently. She had no doubt that Cancer would make her powerful... she had no doubt that even if the cost was high, she wouldn't care. And she knew that no matter what she did now, she would never, ever be forgiven for the pain and suffering she had caused.

She was a unicorn, a pureblooded unicorn noble, but she was no hero. Like all in line before her, she was a coward and a failure, not a victor: her ancestors had simply abused the gifts they were given, to enslave other races and steal wealth and prosper on the backs of others. And here she was... ready to destroy everything she had helped build. She would be lying if she didn't admit the allure of power was part of it... but she would be lying as well if she didn't say that most of all, she was just afraid of pain and death.

But as she reached up and touched her own face silently, she thought of Burning Desire: willing to let Twilight Sparkle, the mare he loved, go free to the ponies she cared about most when they returned. Willing to aid in every way with bringing those she adored back, giving his all to help her... even though it meant that he would lose her, whom he loved so deeply and dearly and truly. And she couldn't even face a moment of pain to say 'no,' had eagerly helped out Cancer to avoid suffering and hurting... had hurt Antares Mīrus, who she loved.

The first lesson with the fiery unicorn slowly came to mind, unsummoned, filled up her thoughts, and he heard his voice, the tenderness, the strength, the wisdom beneath the masks the demon wore: You must learn to master your emotions, and your beliefs, and everything else inside of yourself. You must learn to use your magic under any circumstance, at any time, without hesitation, with ultimate focus. You must learn to be able to use magic even if it will hurt you: you must learn most of all... to never be afraid. Master yourself, Prestige, and you'll be able to learn any spell... and better yet, you won't end up like me, a mess of nothing but longing and silliness...

Prestige breathed slowly in and out as Cancer twitched and giggled and rippled in front of her, and then she slowly closed her eyes, tears rolling down her cheeks as she understood what she needed to do. What she should have done from the start before she slowly looked back and forth at her surroundings... and then smiled faintly, realizing that no. Maybe everything had worked out for the best after all. Maybe Destiny could be cruel, but now this moment in time was hers to choose what to do... whether to be strong, or be nothing more than a coward.

Prestige's horn began to glow... and she twitched as it lit up with radiant light, Cancer frowning as his head rose up before he snarled over his shoulder at her, asking sharply: “Hey! What the hell are you doing, I don't need no goddamn magic help, I just need-”

And then Cancer's eyes widened as Prestige gritted her teeth, her tears beginning to boil on her face as she rose her horn higher, and sparks shocked along her body as the glow built, and built, and built. Cancer stumbled, dropping the last vial of corruption to the floor as he spun around, shaking his head wildly as he asked incredulously: “You crazy bitch, what the hell are you doing?”

“What I should have done before...” Prestige replied in a whisper, and yet it was like a shout in the stillness of this room, as Cancer's red eyes widened and he shoved himself back against the wall... and the agony, the pain in her body, the feeling of the poison and blood boiling in her veins meant absolutely nothing as images of Burning Desire, and Twilight Sparkle, and most of all, Antares Mīrus, filled up her mind. “I am Prestige Luster...”

Her horn glowed brighter, a single flame bursting from it... before the blisters over her features popped with bursts of steam, and the side of her face and her mane burst into flames, fire spreading greedily to her shoulder and down along her back and one limb, as Cancer looked wildly back and forth... but there was no exit, no escape, as chemicals began to bubble and boil around them. “I am a pureblooded unicorn, of noble heritage...”

“You... you stay away from me! Stay the fuck away from me! Get back, you crazy bitch, get back!” Cancer screamed, his red eyes glowing with terror, mottled white body rippling violently as he shook his head wildly. But Prestige only snarled, her eyes and horn glowing through the flames wreathing her entire form now as she forced herself to step forwards, her hooves so hot that they melted the floor beneath her with every dragging step she took.

“I am a citizen of Equestria, and Ponyville... and above all, I am a pony who will live up to the example set by those around me... and I won't let you hurt Antares or anyone else!” Prestige shouted, no longer feeling pain, no longer feeling anything but raw determination as her body surged and wreathed with fire and flames, as heat boiled off her in waves, cracking glass and warping metal. Cancer fell backwards, staring up at her with terror, covering his face as she loomed over him, a pillar of radiant flame before she threw her head back and roared, as sharp tears cut through the flames burning over her face: “I'm not afraid!”

Cowlick and Aphrodisia both looked up in shock at the scream of terror and fear that rose up, the wail of absolute defeat, as they tried to pry open the security door... and the explosion that followed blasted the door open with enough force to send them both flying across the room, crashing limply into the wall next to Antares as cracks ripped through the ceiling above and Antares was jarred free from the last of the ice covering him. Even Avalon was knocked sprawling with a yell from where she had been helping tear up the frost, whacking her head off the wall as Antares cursed in shock at the tremors that passed through and all around him before he looked up as dust pattered slowly down from the ceiling, and screamed: “Prestige!”

Antares rushed forwards, forgetting everything else as he rushed through the shattered doorway and into the hall beyond, gasping at the wave of heat as he looked in shock at the sight of what had once been a storage room... and now, was nothing but a massive, gaping crater, a few chunks of steel standing up here and there, liquified metal dripping slowly here and there from distorted girders jutting like bones out of the wide hole in the rooftop. Antares shook his head in disbelief, staring at the melted floor, the ashes and embers, the smoke that filtered up from the wrecked and broken hulks... before one blackened, broken shape stirred near the center of the crater, and Antares trembled as he looked at this, whimpering weakly.

Slowly, a red eye opened... and then broken, gnarled teeth spread in a deranged grin as the twisted maw rasped for breath. The ugly, mottled hulk of the blackened and burnt body shivered, nothing but a melted ruin of what had one been an upper body, and a single limb: the raw force and heat of the explosion had turned its hide into nothing but blackened glass, distorted and almost completely destroyed it as the shape gargled... then managed a weak, broken laugh.

Antares stared, breathing hard in and out as Cancer grinned up at him from the bottom of the crater, single eye staring as he whispered: “Oh, look, it's the... the punk-ass kid. W-What's wrong... you look... like you're gonna... cry, cry, cry...”

The young stallion only shook his head mutely, then he strode slowly forwards, ignoring the heat, the pain in his hooves as he strode disbelievingly down into the crater, staring in horror at the remains of the destruction entity as he gave another gurgling laugh, then slowly forced his head up... but just that exertion caused new cracks to form in his skull, ashes and embers floating off the charred husk as he rasped: “Yeah... I see, you... you were just the distraction... a... worthless bluff. What... what's wrong? Oh, I didn't expect... the bitch to turn on me like she did... but I made her kill the zombie. I made her hurt you. And... it didn't take... all that much...”

“Shut up...” Antares whispered, trembling, staring down at the horrific, mottled ruin in front of him. “Don't you talk about my Mom or P... Pres... Prestige...”

He clenched his eyes shut, shivers wracking his body, and Cancer gave a weak, broken laugh before he leaned up a little further, asking tauntingly: “What's wrong, boy? You... you hurting? Oh... that makes me feel like even... even if... I didn't make it all the way... I still succeeded. Look at you... failure written all... all over your face...”

“Shut up...”

“Nothing but a... child... crying for mommy... who I made your little bitch kill. And she... she killed me, alright, but I... still poisoned her. Took her away from you... and she was so eager to get power that I think she would have done anything I asked if I'd had the mind to...”

“Don't... don't say another word, you... you stop it... you stop right now.” Antares breathed hard in and out, rasping for air, tasting smoke and death and poison as he snarled down at the monster and shivered as tears spilled down his cheeks. “You s-stop it right... n-n-now...”

Cancer grinned... then reached up and seized into Antares' face in a sudden movement, even as pieces of his claw and limb peeled and broke off. He forcefully yanked the young colt's head down, single, insane eye glaring into Antares' own as he mocked: “What are you going to do... cry about it? Look at you. Pathetic pile of shit... couldn't save anything, could you? Couldn't stop me... led me right to the Skin Walkers and the bug queen... got your friends killed and mommy dead and your girlfriend torched herself and here I still am. Here I still am, and all you're doing is crying and moaning...”

Antares shoved Cancer's limb away, and it shattered like glass into embers and smoke as Cancer fell back, laughing loudly. The young stallion felt his mind breaking down, felt rage and something deeper and crueler rising up in him, felt like he was losing himself before the destruction entity grinned. “How's it feel to be such a weakling? How does it feel to know that... that this all could have been stopped... if you only had a little bit of guts, punk? If you weren't such a worthless failure?”

Antares snarled and leaned forwards, slamming a hoof into Cancer's face, and he brought blow after blow crashing down into the monster, crushing in his ruined body, splattering his remaining red eye, sending up ashes and embers and smoke and the little goo that remained beneath the brittle, molten shell that had formed over the monster, until finally, Antares dropped forwards, breathing hard in and out, tears cutting through the filth now splattered over his features as he leaned on a hoof pinning down the remains of Cancer's chest... before the monster chuckled through its broken skull and whispered quietly: “Just what... I expected from you. Even after I kill your friends, your family... you can't bring yourself to... to do a damn thing... about it. All you can do is cry... and make your stupid... futile little gestures... and... give me one last laugh before I die. But look on the bright side... mommy and your precious little... Prestige... will never know what a coward you are...”

The young stallion shivered, eyes wide and staring, breathing hard as he felt something inside him quaking, trembling... and then he gritted his teeth as it snapped and whatever was inside him gave way, plunged down, and a vicious, roaring, primal instinct took over that refused to be denied as he shoved himself away from Cancer, his horn glowing white as he snarled: “Am I a coward now, Cancer?”

He snapped his horn upwards, and white flames burst into being over the destruction entity's mottled hulk, the monstrosity screaming in agony but Antares' sharp fangs twisting into a grin, head raised high and eyes glaring furiously down at the monster through the blood masking his face. Cancer shrieked and howled as he spasmed, smoke boiling up from the little that was left of his remains as he was slowly, painfully charred away little-by-little over slow, drawn out minutes of agony. And the entire time, Antares only grinned, his eyes glowing, taking pleasure in the cruel, vicious revenge...

And finally, Cancer's howls ceased, and Antares let the white flames die out as he lowered his head forwards before he stomped a hoof down into the little that remained of the destruction entity. The few pieces that remained shattered into a cloud of ashes, and Antares smiled grimly before he shivered once, reaching up and touching his forehead, breathing slowly as everything that had happened crashed into him all at once... and slowly, he drew his hoof down his face, smearing the ashes and gunk there as he stared down at what he'd done: at the pieces of the broken and dead destruction entity, and he shook his head weakly before staggering backwards and forcing himself to stumble around in a circle.

Antares dragged himself up to the lip of the crater, stepping out into the hall as a shiver went through him, and when he looked slowly up, he found Celestia standing silently, waiting for him. He looked up at her, and she gazed back down at him before she closed her eyes, bowing her head forwards as a tear rolled down her cheek, and the young stallion lowered his head as another tremble went through his body. His heart thudded, and his entire frame quaked as he breathed weakly, tasting death and poison as his eyes slid closed... and as he thought of Prestige, and of Twilight, and of Rustproof, and everything that had happened, it all simply became too much, and all Antares knew next was that he was crying, he felt alone, and there was nothing at all in the world that could console him.

The Solace Of Bittersweet Memories

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Chapter Thirty Four: The Solace Of Bittersweet Memories
~BlackRoseRaven

Twilight Sparkle was no more alive than she had been before... but she was only a little more dead, too. One of the few comforts that could be taken among everything that had happened, as the Lich laid in her old room at the library, breathing heavily, with the pieces of her music box sitting on a table nearby. The larger pieces still held a few shards of her essence, and while the phylactery had been battered and broken, it hadn't been completely destroyed: her soul still clung tenaciously to it, and music notes every now and then weakly whispered out of the object. But it had to be replaced, and that would take time, effort, and Twilight would need to recover her strength. And right now, she didn't even have enough strength to leave the broken body she was in without risking simply... dissolving.

Burning Desire was staying with her, and Celestia checked in as often as she could on the violet mare who was friend and family to her. Antares visited sometimes, too, with Scarlet Sage... but right now, Antares was having trouble coping with... anything and everything. Most of the time, he just curled up with the statue of his parents... the rest of the time, he locked himself in their room, laying on their bedding beneath the covers, playing with the star necklace around his neck, thinking of them... and of Prestige Luster.

The ache he felt for Prestige made him think bitterly that everything Celestia told him was a lie. The loss of her hurt worse than any wound he'd ever suffered, compared even to the loss of his parents... but maybe it was even worse, because he knew he was going to bring his parents back. In fact, that was the only reason he was able to force himself to do anything at all: more than ever, he needed to find and save his parents.

Everyone tried to comfort him: no one could do anything for him. He blamed himself for not sensing Cancer, for not saving Prestige, for a thousand other reasons. He was no hero, no leader, everything Cancer had said about him was right, and it made him sick to his stomach. He hurt, and he felt like he was going insane, and all he wanted to do was sleep or cry, but when he slept he had awful nightmares, and when he started crying he found it almost impossible to stop.

Slowly, Antares forced himself to sit up: he was locked in his parents' room, wrapped in blankets, clinging to a pillow. His eyes were reddened, and his pallor was sickly: he looked unhealthy, unstable, and nearly broken. Rustproof had hurt, but Prestige hurt so much worse, and brought back the pain of Rustproof... made him look at death and see all the awful things about it, made him feel... horrific. Made him want to die just so he could be with his friends and his beloved Prestige again...

He swallowed thickly, then trembled before forcing the tears away, whispering: “And Avalon, Aphrodisia, Meadow... they're all going to die, too. And it's going to hurt. Every time it's going to hurt and... why should I go through this pain again and again and again...”

The young stallion clenched his eyes shut, reaching up and rubbing slowly at his throbbing skull before heading quietly towards the door, pushing it open and murmuring: “I am just a failure... I... I am just a coward, why should I pretend any different... I... I just need Mom and Dad back, and then I can hide here forever, and I'll be a foal again and they'll take care of me and it'll all go back to the way it should have been...”

Antares shivered, closing his eyes and breathing harder as he paced slowly down the corridor, then looked miserably up at the ripped paintings around the den. Most of the other damage had been cleaned up by Celestia and Scarlet Sage, and Antares breathed slowly as he turned his eyes to the photographs on the wall, settling on a picture of his parents and Twilight all standing together with smiles marred by the cracked glass that covered it. “I'm so sorry I failed you...”

“Antares?” called a voice, and Antares winced and turned quickly around, beginning to stride down the corridor, but Scarlet Sage hurried in through the back door and across the kitchen, saying sharply: “Antares, wait!”

The young stallion halted halfway down the hall, closing his eyes before he turned slowly around, looking miserably up at his sibling. She was still a little pale herself, not in the best condition, but she had insisted on staying out here with Apple Bloom to keep an eye on him. He looked up at her with an empty gaze as she looked back down at him silently, then she sighed softly and said quietly: “It's been five days, Antares. You're going to mourn and hurt for a lot longer, I know... but it's time for you to start putting yourself together. Come on, Antares. I'll take you into town to see Mom, and you can see your friends, too. You should talk to them before... before the funeral tomorrow.”

“No, I... no. She's... she's not going to get better. Not with her phylactery broken, not stuck in that body.” Antares whispered, looking down and closing her eyes tightly, and Scarlet Sage looked at him silently. “And I'm not going to the funeral. It hurts too much...”

“If you don't go to that funeral, Antares, you'll regret it forever. It's your last chance to say goodbye to Prestige.” Scarlet Sage said quietly, and Antares shook his head and gave a shout as he glared up at her defiantly, even as his eyes filled with tears.

“No, I lost that chance already! She's dead and gone, and the dead don't hear us up in Valhalla, and I'll only ever get to see her again when I die myself... that is, if I don't go to Helheim for being such a stupid goddamn coward!” Antares shouted, breathing hard, and Scarlet Sage only looked at him silently before she closed her eyes as the young stallion whispered: “Goddammit, Scarlet, you have Apple Bloom still. And you've always been more Mom's kid than I ever was, adopted or not. I'm nothing like Mom and Dad wanted me to be. I'm a failure. I'm-”

Scarlet Sage reached up and quietly put a hoof to Antares' lips, silencing him as she kept her head low before saying softly: “Then maybe you shouldn't go to Clockwork World after all. Just leave Mom and Dad to sleep, because I can't think of what would hurt them more or leave them more disappointed in you than seeing you acting like this.”

With that, the Pegasus simply turned and left, and Antares' mouth worked, the glossy-black unicorn shivering violently as he stared after his big sister as her words cut him down to his very soul. He breathed hard in and out, then dropped his head shamefully even as he silently looked up at all the pictures on the wall, all the photos of his parents... and then he trembled before shaking his head violently as he stumbled through the kitchen and outside.

Scarlet Sage glanced up from where she was sitting with Apple Bloom, and Antares walked over to her... then simply hugged her, buried his face against the side of her neck, and started to sob. The Pegasus closed her eyes as she embraced him fiercely, soothing him silently as she stroked through his mane, and Apple Bloom slipped forwards to hug the young stallion tightly as well, keeping him held between the two mares, letting him feel the warmth, the love, the sympathy and sorrows of them both.

Finally, when Antares managed to get himself back under control, he joined them at the little table and Apple Bloom went inside and returned with another mug. She poured him a cup of tea from the kettle on the table, and Antares smiled faintly at her before he rubbed slowly at his eyes and whispered: “I'm sorry.”

“It's okay, Antares. I don't... I can't imagine how hard it is for you right now.” Scarlet Sage said quietly, and Antares closed his eyes, shivering once before the Pegasus glanced across at Apple Bloom, who smiled faintly and nodded slowly. “But you... you do have to keep yourself going. Not just for yourself, or Mom and Dad, but... because Prestige would want you to, wouldn't she?”

Antares nodded silently, looking down and whispering: “And so would Rusty. I keep comparing Rustproof's death to Prestige, but now I realize... I should have been thinking of it the other way around. Prestige gave up her life to save us, and... I don't know and don't care how much of what Cancer said was true. I only know that no matter what happened, at the end, she.. she died to protect us, to destroy him and give us a chance to keep going. I... I need to honor that, no matter what else I might be feeling. I need to... remember her and Rusty, in good ways, not bad.”

“You need to go see your friends, Antares. You need their help... and they need yours.” Scarlet Sage said quietly, and Antares looked up at her for a few moments before he closed his eyes and nodded slowly in understanding, the young mare smiling faintly. “Thank you.”

“No... thank you, Scarlet, for... for always being here. And you too, Apple Bloom, you're... you're a lot nicer to me than you have to be.” Antares laughed faintly, reaching up and rubbing slowly at his face as he closed his eyes. “Okay. Okay, I'm going to wash up. And then... I'll go into town.”

“We'll walk you. Ain't no reason for you to go alone... I want to see Twilight myself anyway, she...” Apple Bloom smiled faintly and shook her head slowly. “She means a lot to me, and she helped me and Scarlet more than she'll ever know, I think.”

The young stallion nodded gratefully, looking up with a faint smile between the two before he shifted and closed his eyes, bowing his head forwards. He simply took a moment to breathe, then he reached down and picked up his mug of tea, drinking it in a few long gulps before putting it down and realizing with something like surprise it was the first thing he'd really had in days. He studied the dregs in the bottom of the cup silently, but he didn't even have to ask for Scarlet Sage to say quietly: “Mom and Dad always had the same problem taking care of themselves, yeah. And... Mom and Dad were always hard on themselves, too. Too hard... like you are.”

“I...” Antares stopped, then he simply smiled faintly and nodded slowly, pushing away from the table and lowering his head in thought as he headed for the door. He made his way through the house to the bathroom, but then halted, hesitated, and instead walked to the door leading into his parents' bedroom.

For a few moments, he simply stood there... then he reached forwards, gently grasping the knob and slowly pulling the door shut. His hoof slipped away from the handle, rubbing quietly over the hardwood before he whispered quietly: “Mom, Dad... I... I am going to do everything in my power to make you both proud. And... and you too, Prestige, and you, Rusty, I'm gonna try and live up to what you all thought of me. I'll never be a hero, maybe... but I'll be... I'll be something. And I'll start doing that today.”

The young stallion nodded firmly, lowering his head forwards and trembling once before he finally smiled faintly and turned away, heading down the hall to the bathroom door. He let himself through, looking into the mirror, seeing his mottled-white reflection grinning back at him, his crimson eyes like spotlights, his-

Antares stumbled backwards, breathing hard, but when he looked into the mirror again it was just him... not Cancer. For a few moments, he trembled, staring at his reflection before slowly striding forwards, and he silently reached up to touch the glass, gazing at himself quietly as he whispered: “I'm... I'm not him. I'm nothing like him...”

The young stallion closed his eyes, shivering once, before he looked up again, and for a moment his eyes seemed to glow red, for a moment, he saw his fangs bared like an animal, in a cruel, vicious expression. Then it was gone, and he was only looking at his pale, sweaty features, his mane hanging around his face, his eyes bloodshot only because of tears. Not because he was turning into a monster, not because he was going to become Midnight Hour, not because he had such a depth of evil and darkness inside him...

Antares studied himself, then he lowered his head forwards and whispered: “No. Like I said... I'm not going to give in. I'm going to do what Rustproof and Prestige did... I'm going to protect. I'm going to be like my parents, and if there is something evil inside me I'll... I'll bend it, and twist it, and force it to turn into something good. I don't have to be anything except who and what I want to be.”

He hesitated for a few moments more all the same, then shook his head and quietly turned towards the shower stall. As he adjusted the taps and then stepped into the spray of water, he wondered silently if this was what his parents had gone through... and as he lowered his head beneath the lukewarm spray, he wondered quietly how strong they must have been to survive as they had. To have made themselves stronger from the experiences they had gone through, instead of allowing those experiences to drain them.

The water got hotter and hotter, until steam was rising up from his skin, the heat almost scalding him as he felt his mind emptying out. He stood for a good ten minutes or so under the hot shower, and then finally turned the taps off and watched as the liquid flowed down the drain, swaying a bit before he shook himself briskly out, lightheaded but glad for anything that distracted him from his depression and self-loathing.

He dried off slowly, then frowned a bit as his eyes caught something. A strange glimmer under the sink that wasn't from any water droplets... and Antares curiously leaned down before he softened as he reached out and gently picked up Prestige's single focal earring. He held it and silently stared down at this pretty little silver and gemstone thing, that glowed quietly even now... and Antares closed his eyes as he bowed his head forwards and whispered: “I'm sorry, Prestige.”

He quietly lifted it with telekinesis, then turned and silently made his way out of the room, wondering how long it had been there in the dust, laying on the bathroom tiles, ignored by everypony. Unseen because he had nothing but tears in his eyes and a mind full of garbage and stupid self-pity. A little piece of Prestige, fallen and ignored because... he was so goddamn stupid sometimes.

Antares made his way to his room, and he gently laid the earring down on his table beside his bed. He reached up and brushed back his wet mane, and then he closed his eyes, bowing his head forwards as he promised quietly: “I won't forget again, Prestige Luster. I love you. Thank you... for... for everything. I won't... I'll never forget you.”

He breathed quietly in and out, then frowned a bit as he heard a quiet click before opening his eyes... and then the young stallion swallowed thickly, staring as he saw the earring was no longer alone, but its long-lost mate was sitting beside it now on the table. And for a few moments Antares could only look at this before he closed his eyes and bowed his head forwards, trembling a little as he understood, whispering as he felt a gentle presence brush quietly against him: “Thank you.”

Prestige's funeral was harder than Rustproof's, and yet in some ways, easier, too: Antares had more of an idea of what to do, and Prestige's death had drawn him together with others in a way he'd never imagined had been possible. In a way that was a blessing, for all the pain and suffering her death had caused him and others.

Antares had only handled a little of the funeral preparations: he didn't know how to do this, or what to do, and Celestia had gently taken over for most of it. That is, until Rosewood had arrived from Canterlot, and gone about funeral arrangements quickly and sharply, knowing exactly what she wanted where and how things were supposed to go. She was firm, and seemed distant, and rough with everypony, but Antares saw her pain. How she was trying to cope by making sure everything was in place, as if somehow that wouldn't just honor Prestige's memory further, it would keep her daughter around for just a little longer.

But when Rosewood finally saw him, she had stormed over, and Antares had winced, fear of her cutting through him for a moment... but she had stopped, stared at him for what felt like the longest time, and then slowly, silently reached up and hugged him, trembling. He'd hugged her back, and for that day, at least, they'd been together in sorrow.

Scutum was there, too, quiet and stoic as always, helping Rosewood along, and yet he hurt too. He hurt much more than Antares had expected to see, as the young stallion had sat beside the old, strong unicorn in his pristine Canterlot military uniform. For some reason, during the service, Antares kept looking at him, not at the coffin filled with flowers and trinkets that had been important to Prestige, not at Celestia as she gave the speeches, and even when Antares had gone up to give a quiet, unsteady eulogy, his eyes lingered over the front row most of all: Scutum, Rosewood, a few other unicorns he didn't know, a haggard-looking Twilight in a wheelchair and thick blanket, and Celestia.

It was a blur, and before Antares knew it, they were in the cemetery, and the last rites had been held, and he was watching as the grave was lowered in the ground. Dirt and ash was sprinkled over the coffin, and a prayer was whispered from someone, and Antares closed his eyes, trembling, as hooves touched his back and ponies spoke things he didn't understand, didn't really hear... and when he next opened his eyes, he was standing at the foot of a filled-in grave, and Scutum and Rosewood were the only ponies left beside him.

There was silence, and then Antares looked up at Scutum, who glanced over at him... then he simply nodded slowly before returning his eyes to the grave. The large, one-eyed stallion took a quiet breath as his single eye drew to the funeral marker they had chosen: a simple stone, carved with Prestige's emblem, and then he lowered his head as he answered the question Antares silently asked: “Yes. She was my daughter.”

Rosewood closed her eyes, silently hugging Scutum around the neck and burying her face against his shoulder, and Scutum looked slowly up as Antares stared across at him and swallowed, whispering: “And she never knew...”

“No one did. No one could.” Scutum said quietly, the faintest of tremors running through him. “Rosewood was married to the Mayor. If a Pegasus or unicorn had found out, it would have been over for both of us... she would have been run out of town, I would have been sent to the prison caves, Prestige would have been... they would have relegated her to the slave class and possibly removed her horn. I couldn't let that happen to my daughter...”

“So all these years...” Antares looked silently at the grave, then he shook his head slowly, laughing faintly. “I... so she... she was...”

“We were going to tell her, but... we were waiting until Rosewood had moved into Canterlot. When it would be safe...” Scutum sighed quietly, murmuring: “And now I'll never get that chance. To tell her... why I was always hard on her. Why I always kept myself distant... and how proud I am of her, even if I'm only her father because... a long time ago, I had to spend three days as her mother's bodyguard on some political mission to nowhere...”

“One was the worst day of my life, and the other two were some of the best.” Rosewood murmured, trembling a little before she slowly looked up, shaking her head weakly. “And now my daughter... our daughter... is never going to know that she... she had a good father.”

Scutum looked down silently, closing his eye as he shook his head slowly. “No. I don't think I was a good father... I was... I was her father by blood, but I was never there for her. I should have trusted her and told her... and I should have had more faith in her. But I saw her, being raised by that bastard Grindstone... but she was more honorable than me. She was more loyal than me, Antares, look at her: she gave her life for you and these ponies and this village, this village that represents everything she was taught to hate up north by the purebloods and yet... changed her, anyway. You changed her.”

Scutum breathed quietly as he looked slowly up, and Antares only shook his head slowly, murmuring: “No. I didn't... it was always there, Scutum. She was such a pain in the flank for four years but she was holding so much inside of her that... it just... it just needed a place where it could come out. That's all. Because she was... she was a wonderful person, and yeah, she was loyal, and honorable and... I hope... I hope I can be as strong as she was.”

Antares fell silent, and Rosewood closed her eyes before the pink unicorn said quietly: “Antares, my daughter... my daughter adored you. She... she was so goddamn stubborn about it, and not just because of old, stupid traditions, but because she really, honestly believed you were the one for her. She always knew what she wanted, though, and... she was... she was ready, Antares, to spend the rest of her life with you. I understand that's not how things work down here, but up north, you had a period of courtship, but you always... married young. Just like the old days...

“And yet it wasn't those traditions that made her so... taken with you. She talked all the time about you in her letters, she... she loved you. My daughter truly loved you, felt you were her mate, that you were her perfect match... she was scared of losing you. And when you two were moving in together, I... I was happy, because... she could have made a worse choice. She wanted to marry you, and have a family with you, and be part of your family, and she wanted you to be part of our family, too.”

Rosewood fell quiet for a moment, and then she glanced down and said quietly: “So Antares, I'm... I'm not much of a mother, but I want you to know that you are part of my family. Now and forever. And I want you to honor my daughter's memory, I want you to be a better pony than me or Scutum. I want you to remember what she wanted, and... kid, come here.”

Antares only looked awkwardly at the two, and then Rosewood grimaced before she pushed away from Scutum, walking around the stallion and striding quickly over to Antares. The two looked at each other for a moment, and then she leaned forwards and embraced him tightly, pulling him close against her as she muttered: “You're not the kind of son I ever imagined myself having, but... you're going to be that for me right now. We can go back to hating each other later.”

“I never hated you. I was always just... scared of you.” Antares admitted after a moment, awkwardly fidgeting a little... but after a moment, he allowed himself to lean a bit against her, closing his eyes as he dropped his head against the unicorn mare and a tremble ran through his body.

“Then maybe you're more like a son to me than I thought.” Rosewood murmured in response, and Antares laughed a little, then finally reached a foreleg up and hugged her back, and after a few more moments, they finally parted.

The two studied each other as Scutum strode quietly up beside Rosewood, and then the mare closed her eyes and shook her head before glancing over her shoulder at the grave, whispering: “Prestige Luster... sleep well now, okay? Mom and Dad... we both love you. More than you'll ever know, even now.”

“Say hi to Rusty for me, Prestige, and... we'll see each other again one day.” Antares added quietly, drawing his eyes towards the grave as well before he smiled faintly. Then, slowly, he and Rosewood turned away, before the young male hesitantly looked over his shoulder at Scutum, who was only gazing silently at the grave.

“He and Prestige have some things to talk about. Come on, Antares, you and I should... start taking care of ourselves.” Rosewood said softly, and the young, glossy-black stallion nodded hesitantly as he and the pink mare made their way slowly through the cemetery and back into Ponyville.

He spent the entire day that followed the funeral with Rosewood, getting to know her, and when evening rolled around and Antares quietly made his way to the library, he felt... immensely better. Not simply like a weight had lifted off his shoulders... like in the time he'd spent with Rosewood, he had felt himself settling, like for the first time in days he'd managed to see a little bit of good amongst the bad, like the time with Rosewood had somehow given him a little more time with Prestige, too.

All the stories that Rosewood had been able to tell, and how forceful she was, and the way she reminded him of Prestige... it helped, in its strange, weird way, even as it stirred his sorrows. But even though he knew it would hurt for a long time, he had started to slowly climb his way out of the abyss after six days of deep and dark and seemingly-endless misery. And there was only one thing he really wanted to concentrate on, and that was trying to keep swimming to the surface.

Celestia greeted him quietly in the library, and so did Twilight from her wheelchair, the Lich smiling tiredly. Sleipnir, Aphrodisia and Pinkamena were there too, and as the evening wore on, Scarlet Sage and Apple Bloom arrived to check in and make sure he was doing okay. They were treating him with gentility and kindness he didn't entirely deserve, but he wasn't going to complain about it.

He spent the night with these ponies who made up his family, and the next day, he walked quietly out of the library in the morning to find Meadowlark standing silently and waiting for him. For a long time, the two just looked at each other, and then Antares nodded hesitantly to her, and the Pegasus smiled faintly as she strode forwards and hugged him fiercely.

He hugged her tightly back, closing his eyes: they were friends first, and friends always, and right now they needed each other. The two turned and strode in silence through the streets of Ponyville, Antares not sure where they were going before he asked finally: “How's Avalon?”

“Rough. We should visit her later, Antares... I know it's asking a lot, but she needs your help. Needs a little support, too. I think she needs to hear from you that... Prestige didn't hate her, and knew that Avalon was her friend. I don't think she'll believe it from anypony else.” Meadowlark murmured, shaking her head slowly. “But I know I'm asking a lot when... you're hurting bad, still.”

“I am. I am hurting.” Antares admitted, and Meadowlark looked almost surprised at his admission before he smiled faintly as he glanced over at her. “But you know what? Helping other ponies makes me feel a lot better. And reminds me that... I'm not the only pony who suffered, who hurt. And I know Prestige always... wanted me to help. To be happy.”

“Yeah.” Meadowlark said softly, and the two looked at each other for a few moments before the Pegasus lowered her head and said quietly: “I'm sorry, Antares. I am, about... everything.”

“No, Meadow... no. It's... it's not okay, but there's no need to apologize...” Antares looked away, shaking his head slowly. For a little while, there was silence as they continued down the street, walking into a quieter area of the village before the glossy-black stallion asked finally: “So where is Ava?”

“Out at the animal care center, working with Fluttershy. It seems to help her a lot...” Meadowlark halted, then she smiled a little as she glanced towards a ramshackle apartment building nearby, gesturing at it quietly, and Antares nodded after a moment with a faint smile.

They headed towards it, following the beaten stone path to the open front door. The exterior was rough, paint peeling and boards loose here and there, but the inside was clean, if old. The two headed up the stairs to Meadowlark's apartment on the third floor, and the Pegasus unlocked the door and let Antares head inside first.

Her apartment was small: one room had a bed, a cluttered desk, a trunk she kept all her clothes in, and there was a kitchenette separated from this single everything-room by old, beaten limestone counters. Everything was worn-down, but it wasn't unpleasant or uncomfortable... just small.

The ponies sat side-by-side on the bed together as Antares looked slowly around: Meadow had a few framed articles on the wall, and a scrapbook was sitting on the kitchen counter, stuffed full of clippings and other things. He smiled faintly, then shook his head slowly as the Pegasus looked at him curiously before the young stallion finally murmured: “This feels weird.”

“I know. I'm... I'm sorry.” Meadowlark said finally, and when Antares shook his head, she quieted for a moment before continuing softly: “Then okay. I'm not sorry, but I do wish that... things were different. That Prestige was still alive above all, but... if that couldn't happen, that we... were really just friends, and not...”

Antares only shook his head slowly, then he reached out and touched her foreleg, Meadowlark blushing a bit. “Meadow... it's okay. It really is. I just... you understand that...”

“Antares, I know we might never be together, I do. It's hard but... all the same, I don't blame you, and I'm not pushing for... for that. It would be stupid, especially right now. And until you've got closure... until after you've... healed as much as you can... I'm not going to press that angle.” Meadow murmured quietly, closing her eyes and shaking her head briefly. “And I know we still have to find your parents first, too, and... a lot of other things. But it'd be even crueler of me to just sit back and hide and not give you these chances to talk things out... to not be there for you, when... Antares, you need your friends and family right now.”

“I do. I know, I'm... I'm not going to fall back into that hole again. If only because Rosewood would beat me to a pulp.” Antares murmured, looking down with a faint smile, and the mare nodded slowly, studying him quietly with a bit of relief, but also concern still in her eyes. Then Antares closed his eyes, reaching a hoof over to take hers, squeezing it silently. “I can trust you, right?”

“Always. And I trust you, Mir. I always have. I always will.” Meadowlark said quietly, and Antares nodded silently before the Pegasus glanced down, continuing softly: “Maybe... you should take a few weeks to pick up the pieces, Antares. You, me, Avalon, Apps... we can go to Subterra, or someplace even further away than that. Spend some time just... healing.”

“No.” Antares glanced up, and Meadowlark looked surprised at the firmness in his voice, before the young stallion smiled a little as he looked at her quietly. “I... I can't let anything get in the way of what I set out to do in the first place. Prestige... sacrificed herself to save us, to destroy Cancer, and that's all created this chance to... to save my parents, too. To get to Clockwork World, and... I have to finish this. I can't let it all be for nothing...”

“It would just be going away for a little while, Antares. It would just be taking time to yourself, to ourselves, to... quiet down from everything.” Meadowlark said soothingly, but Antares shook his head before the Pegasus softened, studying him before she asked quietly: “What is it? And be honest with me, Mir. Why are you so... determined?”

“Because I... I just have a feeling.” Antares murmured, reaching up and slowly rubbing at his face as he closed his eyes. “And it's been... it's been so long, Meadowlark, and we've all gone through so much... I don't want Rusty and Prestige to have died for nothing.”

“They didn't die for nothing, Antares... and they didn't die just to get you to Clockwork World and save your parents.” Meadowlark said quietly, and Antares looked up with a wince, seeing the hurt in Meadowlark's eyes as she leaned forwards and continued softly: “Antares, I understand how important this is to you, saving your parents, bringing them back... but it's bridging into obsession now, and blinding you from... seeing the truth. Seeing what's all around you... Equestria, Ponyville, all your friends and family.

“They didn't die for your quest to save your parents, I'm sorry... they died to protect you, and to stop Cancer not just because it was... some first step in getting to where your parents are, but because if Cancer wasn't stopped he would have killed everyone and everything around him. Can't you see that, understand that, Antares? There... there's more for you in life than just saving your parents. Completing the mission. Bringing back the ponies who yes, loved you and shaped you and brought you up, but... didn't they believe in you, want you to move towards the future, not just the past? Or do you really believe that unless Rustproof and Prestige died in the name of your stupid crusade, they died for nothing?”

Her voice was gentle, but her words drove a weight of shame into Antares that made him feel... small, in a word. He lowered his head, shivering a bit before Meadowlark reached up and squeezed his shoulder, whispering: “Take a week or two. Let's just take a week or two to recover, can you afford that much? Let's just go somewhere nice, and quiet, where you can heal.”

There was silence for a few minutes, and then Antares finally nodded and closed his eyes, lowering his head as he murmured: “Okay. You're... you're right, Meadow. I can't rush this. But I don't really want to go anywhere, then, I want to stay here. Close to Prestige and Rustproof, and I want to spend time with all of you, not... as a soldier, or a leader, just as a friend. I want to do what I should have been doing for a long time now.”

Meadowlark nodded with a faint smile, and then she sat back a bit, the two looking at each other before Antares glanced down and said quietly: “I really am lucky to have you around. To keep me... to remind me of stuff like this. I don't know how it is that some ponies can still think so much of me when I keep... you know.”

“It's okay, Antares. I know you're... you're in pain right now, and pain makes you think in silly ways.” Meadowlark reached up, rubbing silently at the scar on her side before she shook her head quickly. “I think that might be a good idea, though. Maybe we can spend some time in the Forest, or out at your cottage. There's... a lot of stuff we can do here. And just spending time together right now, that is the most important thing.”

Antares nodded slowly in agreement before the two studied each other, then the young stallion reached up and quietly rubbed a hoof along her back, Meadowlark smiling a little at him. They were quiet for a little while, just resting side-by-side until the Pegasus finally headed to the kitchen, and Antares let himself drop back on her bed, closing his eyes and letting his thoughts spill out.

The smell of something cooking brought him out of his daze, and he sat up with a curious look towards her before the Pegasus smiled over at him, saying quietly: “Twilight told me that you haven't been eating much at all, Mir. So... I got some of those thingies you like from her, the meatballs.”

“Dumplings, you mean?” Antares asked curiously, and Meadowlark nodded before the young stallion laughed a little, shaking his head and murmuring: “That's funny, Meadow, as I remember you threw up all over the place when we had bacon that one time.”

“I know, but... I know you like them. I can cook it, I just... don't know if I'll ever be able to stomach it.” Meadowlark replied softly, and Antares nodded a bit. They were quiet for a little while, until the Pegasus removed the tray from the stove and poked a bit at the dumplings, mumbling: “I dunno how to tell if they're cooked or not...”

“They're cooked. You left them in long enough and I can see they're all golden and stuff from here.” Antares replied, leaning up a bit, and Meadowlark nodded before she opened a cupboard to take out a plate. She carefully moved the dumplings onto this, then smiled when she put it on the counter and Antares strode over to pick one up, biting into it... and wincing a little as he took a few sharp breaths. “Hot!”

“They did just come out of the stove.” Meadowlark laughed despite herself, and then she smiled softly at him as the young stallion rubbed at his face with one hoof before she hurriedly turned towards her beaten-up fridge on the pretense of getting the glossy-black unicorn a drink, not wanting him to see her blushing. Try as she might, after all, she couldn't bottle up the feelings she had for him... but she would do everything she could to honor her promise and not push him, to be there for him as a friend, and not shove her own agendas on him. Not just because she cared about Antares, but because Prestige had been her friend, too, at the end of the day... and she honestly mourned the loss of the talented young unicorn who had overcome so much, and been such a good fit to the glossy-black young stallion. She had hurt to see them together, yes... but she hurt far worse with Prestige gone, and Antares left in such pain himself.

He ate almost all the dumplings she made, apparently hungrier than he had realized, and Meadowlark hesitantly split the last one with him. But it was a different texture than the bacon she had eaten before, and with the breading, she didn't have to think as much about the fact she was eating meat. The spices were pleasant, and the taste was strange, but not entirely bad... and even though her stomach gurgled, it didn't bother her as much as she'd expected it to.

In the evening, they finally made their way back to the library together: Twilight Sparkle was nowhere in sight, but Burning Desire was talking quietly with Celestia, and Antares hesitated only a moment before he traded a look with Meadowlark, then stepped forwards and said quietly: “I... I'd like to take a week or two to recuperate, Aunt Tia, before I do anything else. Just to spend time with my friends, and recover from things. Then, if the meteor is complete... I'll be ready to go to Clockwork World.”

Celestia was quiet for a few moments as Burning Desire gazed softly at Antares, nodding approvingly, and then the ivory winged unicorn said gently: “The actual physical construction of the probe will be finished tomorrow, but Greece and Tenochtitlan will both be happy to know they have plenty of time to test and ensure everything's in order. In a few days, we'll activate it, Antares, and I'd like you and your friends to be there for that... but tracing the signal will take time and effort as it is. Take all the time you need, Antares, two weeks, even a month. And at the end of it, we'll be ready to open the Bifrost and find your parents. I'm glad you've decided to go into this with a clear head.”

The young stallion smiled faintly, and then he glanced over at Meadowlark, murmuring quietly: “I wouldn't be if it wasn't for my friends, though, Aunt Tia.”

“I know exactly what you mean.” Celestia closed her eyes with a smile, and then she added softly after a moment: “Your mother's upstairs, but I think she'd like to see you, and hear your plans. Why don't you go talk to her, Antares, let her know how you're doing?”

Antares smiled a little, and then he glanced over at Meadowlark, giving her a silent 'thank you' with his eyes before striding around the table and heading to the back steps. The Pegasus watched him go, then she blushed a bit and mumbled something, starting to turn away; before she could even take a step, however, Burning Desire cleared his throat and knocked once on the table, saying quietly: “That could kill you, you know. Most people couldn't juggle those emotions. They'd get bitter and wrinkly... sometimes, it's best to... to let go.”

Meadowlark looked silently down, and then she smiled a little before glancing over her shoulder, saying quietly: “I'm not most people, Burning Desire. And no matter what happens, I am Antares' friend first. I know how precious that word is to him, what kind of meaning it carries, and I'm never going to turn my back on him or betray him.”

“Good.” Burning Desire smiled a little, then he leaned over to Celestia, winking at her. “Giving up is for sissies, you know.”

“If you haven't noticed, Discombobulation and I are still... us.” Celestia smiled a little despite herself, glancing down and nodding slowly before she murmured: “But Meadowlark, please... keep yourself in mind, too. And remember that this... has hurt Antares deeply. He may never be the same, and things between you and him... might never be.”

“I know. And that's okay. Because I'll still be his friend, just like always.” Meadowlark looked up with a faint smile, nodding slowly and closing her eyes. “I owe him that and more, after everything he's done for me, and the chances he's given me after... what I did in the past. We were just kids, but that doesn't excuse anything or make it any less serious than it was.”

She quieted, then blushed and asked curiously after a moment: “But... about Twilight, and Luna and Scrivener... I've always wanted to know... how did that all start? How did they... come together, when it's so... uh...”

Celestia only shook her head, laughing quietly and replying softly: “Yes, it is strange, and to be honest... I don't know entirely how it really began. I just know that whether I like it or not, I had a hoof in the chain of events that led to that... but it's funny, how some of the worst things can create the best and strongest of bonds...”

The ivory equine looked down quietly, and then she nodded slowly before smiling a little as Meadowlark bowed her head politely. “Come and join us, Meadow, you're welcome here. And maybe you can help me... you're excellent at research and unfortunately, the duties of the barony don't stop just because I'd like them to. I could use a little assistance.”

“I'd be honored, Baroness... I mean, Celestia.” Meadowlark corrected, when the ivory winged unicorn gave her a look, and then the Pegasus blushed and shook her head, adding awkwardly as she approached the table: “I'm sorry, it's just... strange. You're noble, strong, important... I'm... frail, and not a warrior, and... you know. Really poor.”

Burning Desire laughed at the last, shaking his head as he grinned at her before Celestia said gently, smiling a little herself: “And yet Meadowlark, you still keep fighting no matter what. You still stride onto the battlefield to help your friends despite not being a warrior, you still push yourself as hard as I've seen anypony work despite your pain.” Celestia stopped, then she shook her head slowly, murmuring: “There's little to honor in me being stronger than everyone, and walking fearlessly into battle because of that. There's worlds to honor in how you strive to always do so much for the ponies you care about, in spite of your limitations.”

Meadowlark blushed scarlet, dropping her head forwards in gratitude before Burning Desire held up a hoof and added: “And I would be very glad to offer plenty of wealth, Meadowlark, in exchange for a few minor services...”

The Pegasus glowered at him as Celestia sighed and shook her head slowly, and the demonic stallion huffed a bit before remarking mildly: “I'll have you know that at one time, certain ladies of affection were so longed for that they were considered to be among the elite of society.”

“Yes, and yet they weren't often that respected all the same.” Celestia remarked, and then she shook her head slowly before glancing over her shoulder towards the back steps, as Antares quietly made his way down them, looking quiet but also.. almost relieved, like a burden had begun to lift from him. “Antares, would you like to help us with this? You could draft a few responses to these letters for me. They're mostly just announcements and invitations I plan to decline politely.”

“I... okay, but you know I didn't really get Dad's gift for writing.” Antares tilted his head curiously, smiling a little despite himself. “What are the invitations for, though, Aunt Tia?”

“Mostly political events, rallies, and private parties I have no desire to go to.” Celestia shook her head slowly, smiling a little as she said quietly: “I think once your mother and father are back, I'm going to start looking more earnestly into finding a replacement for myself on the Royal Council, however temporary it might be. I would... just like a break for a little while. Rulership has been lonelier than usual, lately.”

Antares nodded slowly as he slipped into a chair, then glanced down at the stack of letters, pulling one over. He smiled a little as he glanced through it, feeling Celestia's emotions and Meadowlark's soft gaze, understanding why his aunt had asked him to do this. To help keep him busy for now, to give him something to focus on, and he was glad for it as they worked late into the night together.

Finally, after Meadowlark had fallen asleep at the table, Celestia gently picked up the Pegasus and Burning Desire volunteered to walk home with Antares. The glossy-black young stallion hesitantly shook his head, however, surprising them both when he said quietly: “If it's okay, I'd... I'd like to just take some bedding into the back room, and I'll sleep there. I... want to be near my friends and family instead of... sitting around alone.”

Celestia had been all too happy to have him stay here, and Burning Desire seemed to welcome it as well. A few minutes later found Antares laying quietly in the back room on top of the bedding they had brought out of storage, the young stallion feeling the same pang of loneliness and pain he always did when he laid down in bed, alone: he'd gotten so used to having Prestige always there... to holding her close, or at least having their bodies resting together, side-by-side...

He shifted back and forth, tossing and turning for a good fifteen minutes as thoughts of Prestige ran around and around in his mind. He couldn't stop thinking about her... and then he sat up with a sigh and rubbed slowly at his face, trembling a little and trying to reel his emotions in before he lost control. Despite everything, he felt himself beginning to drop again, felt bitterness taking hold, and painful whispers etching their way through his mind.

“Here.” said a soft voice, and Antares looked up in surprise, almost falling backwards as his eyes settled on the sight of Celestia. She was standing only a few feet away, and there were two glasses floating beside her, as well as a bottle of... “It's whiskey, aged nicely. Sleipnir gave it to me a few years back, and I've been saving it.”

Antares hesitantly reached up and took one of the glasses in his hooves, sniffing at it a little before Celestia sat across from him. For a few moments, they were quiet, and then Celestia said softly: “In the days I spent as Freya, I had a twin brother, named Frey.”

The young stallion looked up in surprise, and Celestia smiled after a moment before she continued quietly: “He was a wonderful, handsome person, and a valued member of the Aesir. Of course, Frey and I were not originally from the Aesir tribe, but the Vanir, but how we came to join Odin and his people, how we came to be known as Aesir ourselves, and I as Queen of the Valkyries... that is a story for another day. And perhaps when you're older... some things growing young stallions don't need to know until they're too old be shocked by certain situations anymore.”

Celestia paused, then she sipped slowly at her glass, and Antares hesitantly took a drink of his own before wincing a bit at how strong the alcohol was, swallowing and wheezing a little as Celestia smiled slightly. “Small sips, Antares.

“But back to the story: Frey and I... were inseparable, at least when we weren't on duty, or I wasn't... indulging.” Celestia smiled slightly, shaking her head slowly as she closed her eyes. “You would not believe the kinds of things I used to engage in. Frey was known himself for his exploits, but... he was quieter about it, all things considered, and he was not known for being a warrior as much as he was an inventor, an artificer. He had countless treasures, and was in charge of the gardens and maintaining both the Ambrosia trees and the weather. He was noble, and he loved peace... I was brash, and I thrilled in war. He was my other half.

“And I lost him, Antares, and it has... never truly healed.” Celestia quieted, then she knocked back the rest of her glass, drinking down the whiskey as Antares looked up quietly at the ivory equine, as her amethyst eyes shone with regrets and memories that had become almost sweet after being steeped for so long in sorrow. “But it was not losing him that has left my heart marred, it was... what losing him made me do. It was the fact that we found my beloved twin brother dead by what looked like the hands of the Vanir... but never, ever, would they have killed him. We had been alongside them once upon a time, after all, and the Vanir had as much honor as the Aesir, if not more so: they were one with nature, and always worked towards what was in the interests of the world around them. They were wild, and free, but being untamed does not mean being savage.

“But... it was too much for me to bear. And Frey had always been my voice of reason, my conscience: now he was lost, my other half was dead, and all I heard were the war trumpets and Odin's call to arms. Even when your mother, Brynhild, tried to stop me... I didn't care. I told her to fall in line, and dragged her and the Valkyries onwards into war with who had once been my own people.” Celestia closed her eyes, pausing to take a slow drink of her whiskey, and then she sighed softly before smiling faintly and murmuring: “We killed them all. We slaughtered them, like animals, with me at the head of the pack. What idiocy...”

She shook her head slowly. “I stained my brother's memory with the blood that I spilled, Antares... and worse, I hurt those around me. I was angry, and I lost my focus, and I never questioned Odin's own actions when he grew more and more... lost. Not until it was too late, and he had damaged the Aesir beyond repair, and he put Brynhild to sleep for refusing his advances. And I would have led a coup if it hadn't been for Helheim's attacks... for Valthrudnir to pour all the furious and animal demons he could into self-mutilated Heaven.

“When I awoke in Midgard, in the mortal world... I felt all that same anger and rage and hatred from my past. I felt the abandonment... and keenest of all, I felt that I had lost everything important to me in one terrible saga. It made me lash out at the world, hurt everyone around me, it blinded me with rage and fury. I was mercenary, and cruel, and worst of all was that I was ruthless even while knowing what I was doing was wrong.” Celestia closed her eyes, then refilled her glass again, but this time she only looked down into the amber contents, saying softly: “But when Sleipnir and Luna managed to become close to me... I clung to them. And in some ways I was even more dangerous, Antares, because now I was able to justify any collateral damage logically and coldly as being done in the interests of protecting them. My family was all that I had, and all that mattered to me.”

She fell silent, then turned her eyes to Antares as he sipped slowly at his drink while looking up at her quietly. “But I've learned to be better than that. That if I truly want to honor Frey's memory, and everything he taught me and meant to me, then I do have to protect my friends and family... but never, ever at the cost of other innocent lives.”

The two looked at each other for a few moments, and then Antares lowered his head before he asked hesitantly: “Could... could you tell me more about him, Aunt Tia? He sounds like... he left a mark on you. That even if you and Mom and Sleipnir all forgot who you were for a long time, he still... you still kept him in your heart.”

“I think, somehow, that even when I didn't remember him... I never forgot him, either.” Celestia said quietly, and then she smiled softly, closing her eyes and bowing her head forwards as she murmured: “But alright, Antares, let me tell you about my twin brother.”

And for almost the entire night, Celestia talked, recounting old stories, tales of good and evil, joys and sorrows: Antares listened and clung to every word as the whiskey in the bottle grew steadily lower and lower, until finally it was empty. And not long after, Celestia realized that Antares had slumped down to bed himself, and she simply smiled softly.

The ivory winged unicorn gently tucked the young stallion in, then leaned down and kissed his forehead softly, rainbow mane swirling slowly backwards before she reached down and touched his face gently. She studied her nephew for a moment, but he was breathing slowly, sleeping soundly for the first time since Prestige had passed on... and Celestia smiled softly as she turned away to leave the young stallion to rest, hoping that he would remember her words, and thinking of how much he reminded her of the brother she had lost long ago.

Finishing What Was Started

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Chapter Thirty Five: Finishing What Was Started
~BlackRoseRaven

Antares glanced apprehensively over at Cowlick as they stood in the hangar containing the completed probe, asking anxiously: “Shouldn't we be... you know, in the safe place behind the super-thick glass?”

“Don't be such a goddamn coward. I don't have to be here, but look at me, here anyway to support you, because you agreed to hang out here, Mir. Now do you want to go to Clockwork World or not?” Cowlick asked waspishly, and Antares grimaced before he looked nervously over the probe: the steel cradle gleamed brightly, filled with countless shining gemstones of varying shape and size, all surrounding that enormous core. Rods and supports fed down into rune-covered tiles that thrummed faintly with power, and had been further reinforced by a border of steel.

Then his eyes roved upwards, looking awkwardly at the ceiling above: Cowlick had set up some kind of dish with a large, crystalline antennae, and massive cables held in place by oversized staples lined roof, feeding down into a steel box beside Cowlick. The engineer was glaring at him, an unlit cigarette standing out of her muzzle and grease-stained coveralls on: both of these were bad signs. “I know you need a unicorn, but... why me? Celestia is right there, and... I mean, there are academy unicorns who are way better at this stuff than me, and...”

“Because if something goes wrong, Celestia has to save us.” Cowlick replied mildly, jerking her head towards the plated glass: glass that hadn't been repaired or replaced despite several large cracks through it since their first attempt at starting this up. Behind it, Celestia looked apprehensive, although at least Greece seemed confident. He could also see Meadowlark, Avalon, and Aphrodisia, the latter two females looking a bit too eager for his liking. “Look, kid, it's going to work. It screwed up last time because I misinterpreted what the Strange Ones built that channeling altar for. It's not to record the signal, it's just to further amplify it, make it nice and loud so we actually can pick it up. Now with your freaky mind powers-”

“I don't have freaky mind powers.” Antares said flatly, looking grumpily at Cowlick, and then he winced when she glowered at him, holding up his hooves. “Can we please move a little slower, here, Cowlick I still-”

“Oh stop whining, you've been on holiday for a month.” Cowlick grumbled, and Antares sighed and closed his eyes, not knowing if he should argue or not: he knew that Rustproof's loss still ached for her, like how he hurt to think about Prestige, but this was also Cowlick's peculiar way of... moving forwards, and making sure no pony was left behind. “Listen, that dish is going to catch the signal as it's emitted, translate it into data. It'll transmit those coordinates to that box there, which has a memory crystal inside it. Said crystal will capture that translated data... or should at least. There's a lot of chaos theory involved in this stuff that Ross says makes perfect sense, but I have no idea how the hell this all works, so... you're the backup plan.”

“Great.” Antares mumbled, then he rubbed slowly at his head, adding dryly: “I basically stand here, right?”

“Right. Remember, last time we powered this up, every unicorn in Ponyville got a fuzzy feeling. Even though that room behind us has lead-lined walls, you and Celestia were both almost knocked on your butts by it.” Cowlick replied, nodding before she became more serious, saying in a gentler voice: “Kid... don't be a hero, though. If it hurts too much, run for it, and we'll shut things down. But you are our best shot, even better than Celestia because of that way you read into stuff, you know? I don't understand your crazy unicorn stuff, but... all you gotta do is catch that charge on your horn. How hard can that be?”

Antares mumbled a little at this, thinking of how difficult it had been for him to mimic even the simplest of magic done by Amdusias, and he sighed after a moment before nodding a few times. “Okay, I'll... try, at least. I know I have to try. Your machine will work though, right?”

Cowlick only shrugged at this, and Antares did not like this response, wincing a little before the engineer grunted and held up a hoof. “Get ready, kid.”

Antares breathed slowly, looking up, shivering once before Cowlick hesitated, then asked finally, even with her hoof still raised: “Listen, are you sure you're up for this? You don't look so healthy these days, Mir. You're all skin and bones and ashen and you kind of need a shower.”

The young stallion blushed, looking down awkwardly for a moment, shifting and not wanting to admit that he probably wasn't in top form. Even after the time he'd spent relaxing with his friends... he kept having nightmares, awful nightmares, about Prestige, and Cancer, and worst of all... himself, what he'd become when Cancer had pushed him too far, about darkness rising up from inside him and making him into...

He shivered and shook his head, then looked up and finally gave a smile, saying quietly: “I'm... I'm okay. I just haven't been taking care of myself lately, but... maybe that's just all the more reason we should find my parents, huh?”

“Please tell me you aren't fantasizing about Mom and Dad taking care of you like a little foal.” Cowlick said wryly, and she seemed both surprised and relieved when Antares actually laughed... and it was the rare, honest laugh that came from him these days. But the very fact he had started being able to laugh again... it was reassuring. “Okay, okay. Greece, let 'er rip!”

Cowlick swung her hoof down at the same time as she spoke, and Greece nodded from behind the plated glass as Antares winced, hurriedly anchoring himself and raising his head as he snapped: “Cowlick, you can't just-”

And then there was a loud crackle as a power surge burst along the meteor, before the countless gemstones that filled the cradle of the probe all began to glow, the core antennae at the center sparking with electricity as a thrum filled the air. Runes shone with iridescent, supernatural light that spilled up from the carved altar, and Antares cursed in pain as electricity sizzled over his horn before it began to glow in response to the tremendous force of energy being emitted from the probe.

They had purposefully enhanced the design of the meteor to emit a signal far more powerful than necessary: it greatly heightened their chances of being able to trace the signal to the coordinates they were bound for, after all. The problem was that all that power created some very intense side-effects, not the least of which shocks of energy and force that had caused the cracks in the heavy glass and started to damage the meteor itself.

Antares struggled to think, gasping in shock at how much psychic pressure he felt being exerted against his mind this close to the meteor, as images of a world he'd only briefly seen flashed violently through his mind. He saw a hulking ruin, and a castle, and a broken train bridge, and a deep dark pit, and Antares latched onto these visions and the power he felt thrumming through them, onto the thoughts of this world before Cowlick gave a loud yell as she was knocked off her hooves by a booming explosion.

Antares cursed as another shockwave rippled through the area, before his eyes widened as he heard a whisper, saw gears, felt something both inside him and across time and space stir... and then the large dish above sparked before it tore loose from the ceiling and toppled down, crashing into the meteor. The probe sizzled with electricity as gemstones exploded like fireworks, rattling the dish as Antares stumbled backwards, cursing and staring at the meteor, at his one hope of reaching Clockwork World, as it shattered and energy sizzled through the air-

The young stallion blinked... and frowned stupidly as he stared at the ceiling above. It looked white, and there were bright lights, and he didn't smell electricity or fire or metal before he groaned as he sat up. He looked dumbly down as he realized he was in a folding bed, before staring across from him at Cowlick as the engineer asked moodily: “So did you get anything out of that or are we back to square one?”

“I... is this the clinic?” Antares asked stupidly, looking back and forth, and Cowlick grumbled before the young stallion looked across at her with shock, realizing one of her forelegs was heavily bandaged as she puffed moodily on a cigarette. “You're hurt...”

“You're a genius, Antares, really. Those mental powers of yours really are just friggin' shining right about now.” Cowlick said grumpily, and Antares looked at her sourly before the engineer sniffed and blew out a plume of smoke. “Since you were obviously out of it, what happened is everything basically freaking exploded. Too much electrical buildup from the meteor, and so... everything just went to hell. Celestia said she tried to copy the energy pulse but she couldn't... she was really hoping you did, but you were just drooling and staring until you-”

“Dammit, Cowlick!” interrupted a voice, and Scarlet Sage stormed in through the open clinic door, the engineer wincing away before the Pegasus reached up and yanked the cigarette out of her muzzle, then crushed it out on a side table, glaring down at the earth pony. “Give me your cigarettes, you can have them back when you leave.”

“Why don't we just skip a whole bunch of stuff and you let me leave right now?” Cowlick asked mildly, and when Scarlet Sage only looked at her pointedly, the engineer mumbled before sighing and reaching into a side pocket, pulling out a rumpled back of smokes. Scarlet Sage took these with a grumble and tucked it into a pack at her side, and the earth pony said dryly: “I better have all eight in there when I get that pack back.”

“I might just throw them out now.” Scarlet Sage grumbled, and Cowlick huffed before the Pegasus turned and strode quickly over to her brother's bedside, the unicorn smiling lamely at her, but she only reached up and gently checked his pulse as she asked softly: “How are you feeling?”

Antares shook his head, rubbing at his face slowly before he hesitated and said quietly: “I... I think I might know where Clockwork World is.”

Cowlick looked up sharply at this as Scarlet Sage leaned down intently, and the young stallion frowned and reached up to touch his face, murmuring: “I'm not... entirely sure, but I felt... I felt something. Something intense, and I feel like I know the way to the world, I just have to... to... reach out, you know?”

“Wait, Antares, we're doing blood work on you and Cowlick, just in case, and you came in unconscious and bleeding a little.” Scarlet Sage said slowly, and then she began to shake her head, looking over the young stallion and saying quietly: “And you haven't been taking care of yourself, look at you... you should rest, and I'll get you a good meal, and-”

And then Scarlet Sage winced in surprise when she felt a hoof reach into her pack, glaring over her shoulder as Cowlick yanked her cigarettes free to cradle them in her wounded limb before grunting and jerking her head at Antares as if Scarlet Sage wasn't even there, saying mildly: “Come on, let's go see Celestia, kid.”

“Cowlick, you can't just walk out of here!” Scarlet Sage said in a frustrated voice, rounding immediately on the earth pony as Antares winced and shrank back a bit in bed, wondering awkwardly which pony he was more afraid of. “Your blood work is still being processed, and you suffered a concussion and some extremely large lacerations, and-”

“Look, me and Antares are just going to fidget and whine and make your life hell if you force us to stay, and I don't want to take the risk that whatever the kid figured out, it fades out of memory before he gets to see Celestia. Furthermore, I'm pretty sure that you're the only pony in this clinic with the balls to try and stop me from leaving.” the engineer retorted, and Scarlet Sage glowered at her before Cowlick leaned forwards, adding moodily: “The emphasis is on try, by the way, 'cause I will kick your flank if you try and stop me, understood?”

Slowly, Scarlet Sage rubbed at her face before muttering: “You're even worse than Pinkamena. Fine. Fine, Antares, if you feel well enough, you can go...” She halted, then reached up and squeezed his shoulder firmly, looking down into his eyes quietly. “But come and stay at the house with me and Apple Bloom tonight. We'll make you a good dinner and you can just relax, okay?”

“Now if only she wasn't your sister, right, Antares? Unless you're into that.” Cowlick said dryly, and Scarlet Sage looked slowly, grouchily up at the engineer, who leaned down and nuzzled into her pack of cigarettes as she muttered: “I'm nicotine-deprived, sore as hell, and about half of my facility is still in a state of 'blown-to-pieces.' You should all feel lucky I ain't running my mouth worse than I already am, since you're a stallion now and all, Antares.”

“I...” Antares shifted a bit, then he shook his head and smiled faintly, shaking his head as he murmured: “Not for a few months yet, Cowlick, it hasn't even really cooled down into autumn yet.”

“Kid, age doesn't make you an adult. If it did, Dash would have a way bigger brain and I wouldn't be popping amphetamines and drinking all the time.” Cowlick replied mildly as she finally managed to pull a cigarette free from the pack, and Antares sighed before he smiled a bit as Scarlet Sage helped him out of bed, before wincing when Cowlick slapped him on the shoulder as she turned and limped towards the exit. “Now come on, let's go see Celestia. I'm starting to really believe what Luna used to say, you know, that Celestia always knows something. Mare plays her cards close and always has too many of them in her hoof, you know what I mean?”

“Not at all.” Antares muttered, and Cowlick only grunted as Scarlet Sage followed behind them, the young stallion adding over his shoulder to the Pegasus: “But... I'll definitely come by tonight. Is it okay if Aphrodisia wants to come, too?”

“It always is.” Scarlet Sage said softly, and Antares smiled a little before she sighed when Cowlick grinned wryly. “Don't say anything or I swear that I'll make your head explode.”

“Touchy, touchy. And here I thought you lesbians were supposed to be nice.” Cowlick muttered, and Scarlet Sage grumbled under her breath as Antares simply dropped his head, following the engineer awkwardly out of the building as the Pegasus waved them moodily away.

They headed towards the library, the young stallion striding up beside the limping earth pony and nervously looking at her, but Cowlick only shook her head as she rolled her unlit cigarette back and forth between her teeth, murmuring: “Don't gimme that look, Antares. I'm fine, I've had a lot worse than this happen to me... hell, Rusty... when he was young, first learning the work, engine blew up on the kid, right in front of him. Hurt him real bad, I remember... I was so scared for the poor colt. He had to spend a week in hospital...”

“I remember that.” Antares said softly, and he smiled a little, shaking his head slowly. “Avalon and I were so worried about him. I remember some dumb kid made fun of him, and Avalon just... zoomed over and rammed into his head and knocked him out. She got in so much trouble.”

Cowlick laughed and shook her head, grinning a bit as she looked up. “Yeah? Good on her. I always liked that little firecracker. Tiny little runt, but Dash is always saying how she makes him look slow and AJ never shuts up about her either, even these days. But I get that... and I know that I still talk about Rusty all the time and how much... he's always made me proud.”

She nodded a little, looking down before asking quietly: “How are you coping over Prestige, kid? You holding up okay? And be honest, don't give me your usual horseapples.”

“It's hard, but... I dunno.” Antares halted, glancing over at the engineer and smiling faintly, and when Cowlick grunted at him, he added quietly: “I don't want to say I'm okay, because... I don't know if I am, and I don't know if that's the right thing to even say, you know? I'm scared of what other ponies-”

“Oh, screw other ponies.” Cowlick muttered, shaking her head and saying irritably: “Who cares what they think, because... because you or I ain't crying in our sheets every night. I don't give a rat's ass what anypony thinks about how I should or shouldn't remember my son... I'm remembering him my way, and I'm moving forwards with life. And nopony loved that boy more than me and Ross did, not one, but I ain't gonna turn into some sad sack over the fact he's gone. He's supposed to be in a better place, right? He hated to see me crying, right? Then I want him to know that I'm happy. I'm goddamn happy, because that's all my kid wanted for me, wanted for the world. Screw wasting time being sad. You don't have to be sad to honor and respect and remember the people you've lost.”

Cowlick shook her head violently... and then she winced when Pinkamena all but materialized beside her, grinning as she tilted her head towards the engineer and said mildly: “Careful, Cowlick, you keep talking like that and you'll end up sounding just like an angrier version of Slippers.”

“Yeah, well, I don't go around screwing everything, do I?” Cowlick asked mildly, and Pinkamena gave the engineer a sour look before the demon reached out and swiped her cigarettes away, Cowlick halting in the road with an outraged shout.

Antares sighed as Pinkamena shoved a cigarette in her muzzle, then rolled her eyes and pushed the cigarettes a little too hard back into Cowlick's wounded foreleg, making the engineer wince as the demon said moodily: “Anyway, dyke. I'm here because Princess Sunshine is looking for you and Antares, but I see you two are on the way anyway. She got a message from Kvasir about Clockwork World: apparently they have an idea of where it is from that last signal. And oh, Antares, by the way: if you don't let me come with you, I'm going to gut you like a fish and eat your intestines.”

“Yes, Aunt Pinkamena.” Antares said tiredly, shaking his head slowly, and the demon looked grumpy at this lack of response before the young stallion glanced up and said quietly: “Dad was really that important to you, huh?”

Pinkamena only grumbled, and then Cowlick snorted in amusement before she glanced up at the sky as she started to limp down the dusty road again, murmuring: “Gotta admit though, kid. It'll be nice to have your parents back... and with all the hype and stuff in the air, I can't help but feel and hope that you're right. I mean I always hoped, but... it felt like a wild hope before, you know? Now... now I almost believe a hundred percent myself that they must be out there somewhere, waiting for us.”

Antares smiled a little, nodding slowly before the engineer smiled a bit, looking forwards as she said quietly: “Yeah. Your Mom and Dad were great damn ponies, Antares. I'm eager to see both of 'em, but especially Luna... she was always so damn fun. Your Dad was more of a creepy dude.”

Pinkamena grunted in agreement, and Antares smiled and shook his head as the trio continued onwards towards the library, crossing the square at a slow pace as Cowlick grumbled and limped moodily along. The demon pulled ahead when they reached the door, kicking it open to stride inside and announce loudly as Celestia looked up from the table: “I brought the losers back with me.”

“Did the CIA blow up their helicopter and leave them for dead?” asked Discombobulation mildly, the Draconequus leaning over Celestia and grasping her shoulders lightly, and the ivory mare smiled slightly even as the chimerical creature added in a loud whisper: “Clearly that stands for the Celestia Intelligence Agency. Alas, betrayal. Always a great way to jump-start a bloody revenge story.”

Pinkamena grunted in agreement as Cowlick limped in and Antares followed behind her, and the Baroness leaned forwards with concern, saying quietly: “Cowlick, it looks like you should rest...”

“Screw it, I'm fine. Besides, better to be out of that damn clinic and away from your niece. She bugs me. She's way too nice for someone who can kill people by touching them. If I could kill people like she could I'd be a royal pain in the ass all the time because no one could say boo to me about it.” Cowlick grumbled, then she pulled her cigarette out of her mouth, holding it up and asking mildly: “Anyone got a light?”

“Smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette.” Discombobulation remarked dryly, and then he flicked his wrist, a lighter appearing in his metallic hand. He began to lean forwards as he clicked it open... then he cleared his throat at the flat look Celestia gave him before she turned her moody eyes on Cowlick, who winced and sat back as the Draconequus mumbled: “Well, they are bad for one's health and all, yes. And without libraries what have we? We have no past and no future.”

Cowlick mumbled a little in response to this, before Pinkamena pulled her own cigarette out of her muzzle and said dryly: “You, Bob, are officially now a bigger suck-up than sissy. Not that I can really blame you. You ever beat him, Princess Sunshine? Your brother seems to like it.”

Celestia only sighed as Antares winced and looked awkwardly at Pinkamena, before the ivory mare replied dryly: “I wish you would really keep the details about your so-called 'games' with my brother to yourself. It's bad enough when Sleipnir decides to tell me about them.”

“At least I'm not like your sister. She used to beat Scrivy in front of everyone all the time.” Pinkamena replied mildly, and Antares visibly winced again before the demon grinned widely, winking over at the young stallion. “Oh don't worry, Antares, your Dad seemed to like it. Then again, there were a lot of twisted things he liked, which is why me and him got along so well.”

“Okay, okay, okay, you've made your point, please... stop trying to scar me for life.” Antares mumbled, but Pinkamena only snorted in amusement in response to this.

“Kid, if I wanted to scar you for life, I'd light up this cigarette or use my teeth.” Pinkamena replied derisively, and then she strode towards the table, adding moodily: “Anyway, Princess Sunshine. We're clear that I'm part of the first strike, right?”

“I take it that you have some good news of your own, then, Antares?” Celestia seemed surprised all the same as she glanced towards the young stallion, who smiled and nodded hesitantly. The ivory winged unicorn tilted her head curiously, studying him in the awkward silence that followed before she prompted gently: “You were able to...”

Antares hesitated a moment longer, biting his lower lip before he said finally: “I think I... know the way to Clockwork World. I can't explain it completely but... I saw images in my mind, and felt like something... inside me responded to something... on the other side. Do... do you think that maybe... Mom or Dad...”

He fell quiet, and Celestia softened, studying the young stallion before she leaned forwards and asked quietly: “What did you see, Antares?”

“Darkness and mire, and... a big castle. I think it was Canterlot once, but now it was just ruins... metallic, ancient ruins.” Antares said softly, looking down and nodding slowly before he closed his eyes. “A broken bridge, and... a deep, dark pit. My instincts tell me that the last is really important... that it's where we have to go. The end of that path on the map...”

Celestia nodded back, studying him, and the young stallion murmured: “And I feel like... there's this thin, frail connection right now, between me and Clockwork World... like something inside me is stretching out towards it, and something else is reaching back to me. It feels so weird, and it's so hard to describe... it's like... a wire.”

“Or a string. Specifically, puppet-string.” Pinkamena muttered darkly, and Antares frowned at this before the demon said distastefully, glancing towards Celestia with eyes that betrayed a strange, sudden nervousness: “We never figured out whether or not it was Valthrudnir behind all this, did we?”

“Scrivener and Luna both believed it wasn't Valthrudnir behind everything. I believe they were right... and either way, if he had survived, we likely wouldn't be here right now.” Celestia replied calmly, shaking her head as Antares shifted uncomfortably and Cowlick looked up with a grimace.

“Okay then, Princess Sunshine. Here's another thought. What about Gymbr?” Pinkamena tilted her head, moodily leaning forwards over the table as her gaze locked with the Baroness' own. “Whatever the hell that thing was I still don't know, but we do know that he liked to play games, and he didn't like playing fair. What if Gymbr has been sitting pretty these ten years, building some new nasty empire, waiting for us to come to him? Waiting, maybe specifically, for Antares, with the way he seemed to haunt him for all those years.”

But Antares shook his head slowly, murmuring: “It isn't Gymbr. At his core, Gymbr was... lost, and alone, and... sad. He didn't want to be what he had become, how with all his power, he was still only a destroyer... he was the opposite of Cancer.”

Antares grimaced a bit, then he rubbed slowly at his face as he felt a shiver run down his spine, heard Cancer's chuckling in his mind, remembered the broken body of the monster sprawled over the ground... and worst of all, remembering that feeling of standing over him, grinning and burning him and making the monster scream and cry for mercy and relishing it...

Pinkamena struck the back of Antares' head lightly, and the glossy-black stallion winced and shook his head hurriedly. Celestia only tilted her head a bit, and the young male said quietly: “I'm sorry. I just got... caught up in bad memories for a minute there. But I think if we work together to open the Bifrost, Aunt Tia, I can give you the coordinates. I think I remember how to... combine my magic with other unicorns. I just don't know how well I'll handle such a big spell. I'm scared your magic could just overpower mine completely, since I'm no good at stuff like that.”

“You just need to believe more in yourself, Antares. Your mother would be proud to see you using her magic... and prouder still to see you learning to do without it.” Celestia replied quietly, smiling a little and shaking her head slowly. “But no, our magic works well together because... its distinct, yet similar. Like...” She smiled, glancing over her shoulder at Discombobulation. “Bob and I.”

“It's weird is what it is.” Pinkamena muttered, glancing moodily over at the two as Cowlick grunted in agreement. “Both the fact that little prince's magic apparently contains so much positive energy and the fact that you and him are all...”

“She's Big Barda and I'm Mister Miracle.” Discombobulation said informatively, and then he paused and added thoughtfully, as Celestia looked back at him with amusement while the Draconequus squeezed lightly into her shoulders: “I like that name a lot because I really don't have to go ahead and explain to you that she's this Amazonian giantess who likes to beat on things.”

“Yes, that describes me well.” Celestia said mildly, and Antares smiled a little as he shook his head slowly before the ivory mare hesitated, then studied the young stallion before she asked quietly: “Do you feel the connection strengthening or weakening?”

Antares hesitated, and then he shook his head slowly, reaching up and touching his own chest thoughtfully as he murmured: “No. It feels like... like something woke up in my mind. It's weird... it's like there was something there all along that knew the way, but... it just needed the right boost. And I guess I got that from being so close to the meteor.”

The winged unicorn studied him silently, and then she nodded slowly before asking finally: “How are you doing physically?”

“I... I'm okay.” Antares nodded hesitantly, stretching out his leathery wings with a wince and flapping them once before furling them back at his sides. “Backaches as usual, but nothing new. I just feel... you know. Not exactly happy.”

Antares laughed a little despite himself, shaking his head slowly before he began to close his eyes, but they snapped back open in surprise when Celestia said quietly: “Then we leave tomorrow. Take the rest of today to rest and get ready, Antares. I'll get everyone together and have our supplies and equipment put together.”

“You can't do that! I can't run the goddamn Bifrost like this!” Cowlick flailed her wounded limb, looking outraged even as she winced. “And goddammit, I deserve to be part of that team and-”

Celestia glanced over at her, horn glowing brightly, and Cowlick hissed in pain as a golden aura surrounded her limb. Steam hissed up from the bandages as Antares and Pinkamena stared, and Discombobulation winced back, before the engineer wheezed loudly and grabbed at her foreleg as the glow died down, the winged unicorn saying calmly: “I've fused the worst of the damage back together. It won't be pretty and the stitches should remain in, but the graft should all the same hold.”

Cowlick reached up and winced a bit as she peeled away a bit of smoldering bandage, muttering under her breath before saying dryly: “Not that I'm ungrateful or anything, Baroness, but... oh holy hell what did you do to me?”

The engineer stared as she drew back some of the bandaging, looking at the marred, faintly-pulsing scar tissue and burnt skin around a large, deep cut that had sealed almost completely closed. She winced away from the sight instinctively, then poked at her leg a little as Celestia said quietly: “Cauterization mixed with a simple healing spell. It stings and it doesn't look pleasant, but you'll be able to make the run.”

“Well, Tia, that may have been just a touch unnecessary.” Discombobulation said pointedly, and Celestia shifted awkwardly before the chimerical creature added moodily: “But then again, it's not like you have any X-Potions available, either. I've always wondered how those work, really. I mean, do you drink them, or do you splash them all over yourself?”

“No, no, it's fine. Damn, though, feels stiff.” Cowlick muttered, flexing her foreleg with a wince before she half-tucked the bandages back closed. Then the engineer grinned awkwardly over at Celestia, rubbing slowly at the slightly-seared cloth as she added: “You... might want a bit more tact there, but... yeah, I appreciate it.”

The ivory winged unicorn smiled after a moment, but Antares was only continuing to almost nervously study his aunt: he could see the almost glow that had lit up in her eyes, the trembles in her body, the smallest of fidgets in the way she moved one hoof back and forth unconsciously along the tabletop. Her ephemeral mane gave short, faint pulses, and she was breathing unevenly... but most telling of all, Antares thought, was the way that Discombobulation was leaning back from her, with one hand gripping into her shoulder as he gazed at her with apprehension and concern.

Antares hesitated, then he asked quietly: “Are... are you sure, Aunt Tia? I'm... I want to do this too, but... it looked like late afternoon outside, and-”

“Tomorrow would be best.” Celestia said quietly, her eyes shifting quickly towards Antares, focusing in on him: and when she next spoke, he heard both her words, and the words beneath her words. “I don't want to wait any longer: the best course of action is to head as soon as possible towards Clockwork World. I would want to leave immediately, Antares, if it was possible, but I understand that we'll require the aid of others and... they have a right to take part in this mission, too.”

Celestia stopped, then shook her head and said quietly: “But you should go and speak to your mother, Antares. Let her know what's going on.”

Antares shifted apprehensively, and then he slipped out of his seat as Pinkamena moodily stepped forwards and said quietly: “Better be careful. It's a slippery slope you're on.”

The young stallion smiled faintly, not entirely sure who Pinkamena was talking to, and yet he knew it was true for them both. Inside him, after all, warred a thousand emotions: and what truly had him scared, as he headed for the back steps of the library, was the fact that he suddenly was so afraid of the idea of going to Clockwork World that he almost wished he could just hide away, and leave some other pony to do all the hard work of bringing his parents back to him.

Antares headed up to the guest room, where even now, Twilight was cloistered... but he smiled softly when he stepped through the door and saw that at least she was sitting up in bed, with Burning Desire resting in an armchair he'd dragged up into here at some point. The fiery stallion glanced up with a quiet laugh as the Lich put down the book she had been reading, gazing quietly across at Antares with a violet eye and a socket filled with unnatural blue fire, murmuring: “It's good to see you. Did I hear what I think I did?”

The glossy-black unicorn smiled faintly as he strode forwards, nodding a little as he studied her silently: even as Twilight Sparkle had gotten stronger over the last month, her damaged phylactery meant her body didn't have the same cohesion it once did. She was emaciated where purple coat still clung to her frame, and one foreleg was nothing but bleached bones; likewise, half of her features were nothing but bare skull, with those strange, shimmering flames burning in one socket. And yet looking at her, Antares saw only his mother: saw only a loving, wonderful, kindhearted mare as he sat quietly down on the edge of the bed, then reached out to gently take one of the Lich's hooves in both his own, making her smile. “Yeah. I'm... I'm really worried, though, Mom. I... I mean, I'm anxious, and I'm excited, but at the same time I'm so scared that... what if I do find them, and they...”

“Antares, they're going to be so proud of you. So truly, incredibly proud.” Twilight soothed, putting her book aside before she glanced over at Burning Desire, adding softly as the demon smiled faintly: “And you and I still have the week together, Burning... I'm not going to ask you to go to Clockwork World on my behalf, when... we both know what it means.”

“Yes, we do.” Burning said softly, and then he shook his head before adding in a quiet, firm voice, pride and tenderness overwhelming the sorrow in his eyes: “But my sweet violet... I would gladly, gladly go if you requested it. To protect your son, and to help... bring you back the happiness that I know I can't give you myself. And besides, it's only right that I meet these ponies and make sure they're everything you say they are. I'm very protective of you, even if you protect me more often than I succeed in protecting you.”

“I know. I know, and I appreciate it, and... I care about you, deeply. And we're going to make the most of this week... I have enough strength for that, even with my phylactery still bleeding energy.” Twilight smiled, then she glanced towards Antares and softened at the look of concern on his features. “No, it's okay. I'm still anchored, it's just... why I'm healing so slowly, and why I haven't really been able to properly recover from... what happened. My essence regenerates faster than it bleeds into the air, so... you honestly don't have to worry.”

“I'm always going to worry.” Antares said softly, squeezing her hoof gently before he looked at the side table where the pieces of her phylactery laid. For a moment, he felt a tremor of pain... and then he closed his eyes before saying quietly: “When I bring Mom and Dad back... are they going to be able to help fix you, too?”

“I think so. I hope so... Celestia made me into a Lich with Gymbr's guidance and assistance, but it was Luna's realm of magic that I used to bind myself to the music box. Once I'm stronger, and if I have Luna helping me... I can create a new phylactery.” Twilight hesitated, opened her mouth... then simply smiled and shook her head, casting off whatever she had been about to say as she suggested quietly: “Why don't you go out to the cottage, get your things together, and then come back here? We'll go out for dinner tonight.”

She looked over at Burning Desire softly, and the fiery stallion smiled a little before Antares laughed and shook his head. “Apple Bloom and Scarlet Sage already invited me over for dinner with them... I know, Mom, let's ask them too, or maybe have you two can come with me. And probably Apps, I'm going to look for her, too.”

“I'll go and find out!” Burning Desire said cheerfully, before Twilight could reply, and then the demon burst into flames that whirled into his firebird shape, flying quickly out of the room as Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes, but smiled in amusement all the same.

Antares smiled lamely as well, and then the Lich softened as she reached a hoof up, stroking slowly through his mane before she said quietly: “I love you, Antares. You're my son. And I hope that I can still be Twilight-Mommy to you even after Luna and Scrivy are back.”

“Well I'm not going to call you 'Twilight-Mommy' but you are my mom still. You always have been. You always will be a mother to me, and I'll always be your son... and I love you too. Without you, I'd... I'd be a lot dumber.” Antares replied with a faint smile, and the violet mare smiled softly back before Antares quietly leaned forwards and gently kissed her forehead, the Lich closing her eye with a touched look on her face. “Take care, okay? I'll be back soon, but I know that I should go and get my things from the cottage, you're right. I gotta be ready for tomorrow.”

“Good, Antares. You go ahead, and I'll meet up with you tonight, one way or the other.” Twilight replied softly, and then she gazed silently after the young stallion as he turned and left with a last smile over his shoulder, the Lich quieting as she reached up and rubbed at her face slowly before murmuring: “You'll bring them back, Antares. I know you will.”

The night that followed was soft and quiet, almost solemn: despite how much everyone wanted to be happy and excited, the gravity of what they were getting into weighed down on each and every pony. But it wasn't sorrowful, or unhappy: it was merely the understanding that they were getting ready to enter what had once been one of the most dangerous places across the layers of reality... and more than that, they were finally going to discover what had happened to Luna and Scrivener, after nearly a decade of not knowing if they were dead or alive.

Antares spent the night at Scarlet Sage's townhouse with his family: Twilight Sparkle and Burning Desire left in the early evening, however, so that Twilight could get her rest. The fiery stallion had been clear in saying that if he was wanted, he would be willing to come with Antares... but Antares had told him quietly to enjoy his time with Twilight instead. He also reminded the demon gently that he wouldn't be forgotten or cast aside... Antares made sure to make it clear that if anything, Luna and Scrivener would want to thank and befriend Burning Desire for everything he had done.

The demon looked quiet at this, and then he had smiled a little, saying softly: “And in the future, I'm sure we will be friends, Antares. But I'm not made of the same stuff as Sleipnir: while I'll always love and eagerly be at your mother's side, I fear I might be bitter for a while with your parents. Still, though... if they treat my sweet violet well... if they are good to her, and I see they make her happy, and they show her proudly to the world... then perhaps one day we'll all be friends together. And I am eager to meet them, I am. It's only... difficult to temper my longing sometimes.”

And Antares could understand, in a way: he thought of other happy couples he had seen, now that he had lost Prestige, and how sometimes bitterness rose up in him. He thought of the anger he felt, and the desire to lash out that he knew made no sense, and yet was always there anyway: he thought of how sometimes he would wonder quietly why he had to lose Prestige, while other ponies got to live happy lives forever in peace and harmony, in little lucky pockets safe from mayhem and violence, and he wondered silently why he had been born into the opposite life: why he had to give so much, and was paid in return with blood and heartache. And he couldn't imagine the kind of strength that Burning Desire must have to willingly give up the love of his life like he was.

The young stallion had managed to keep his thoughts peaceful for the most part: dinner and talking with everyone helped, as had the long, hot bath he'd relaxed in afterwards, soothing his body and helping clear his mind. That was, until the point when he'd opened his eyes and stared at Aphrodisia, who had apparently decided to join him in the tub that was far too small for two ponies to comfortably fit into, and he'd scrambled hurriedly out while she'd whined loudly at him about not being any fun.

But Aphrodisia was good for him, in spite of her eccentricities, lack of understanding about boundaries or personal space, and her bubbly sadomasochism. After Apple Bloom and Scarlet Sage had gone to bed and Antares and Aphrodisia had retreated to the guest room, the demon insisted on building a fortress out of pillows and blankets, then on hiding in it together as she rambled away about all sorts of gossip and things until finally, the cousins ended up sprawled out over each other.

In the morning, Antares felt... ready. He didn't know how else to describe it: it was like while he slept, everything that had worried him had fallen away, and now all he could think about was forging forwards and finding his parents. He hesitated, then glanced over his shoulder at Aphrodisia, who was snoozing on his back... and then he carefully leaned up and kissed her cheek, whispering: “Thanks, little sister, for always... knowing what to do.”

“Big brother...” Aphrodisia murmured sleepily, and she smiled in her dreams, shifting forwards and half-hugging him with a foreleg, burying her face against him as she murmured drowsily. And Antares simply looked up at her, soft and quiet: he reflected on how fortunate he was in spite of everything, to have people like this in his life. She was a demon, and yet she was family and his very best friend, probably even closer to him than Meadowlark... even if Meadowlark was someone he could turn to for things he couldn't even talk to Aphrodisia about.

Antares smiled at this thought, mulling over what it meant, thinking about friendship and family and values. After only a few minutes, though, Aphrodisia's eyes opened, and the demon yawned before smiling and crawling forwards, making the stallion wheeze as she crawled on top of him, hugged him tightly around the neck, and mashed her face down against him, mumbling: “You're comfy.”

“Get off me, Apps, we gotta get up. Also, this is creepy.” Antares paused, then looked down at her moodily as Aphrodisia only grumbled, continuing to cling stubbornly against him as she yawned tiredly and curled herself up into a little ball. “Demons don't need to sleep.”

“That's why it makes it... so... so hard to get up... afterwards...” Aphrodisia mumbled tiredly, then she grumbled a little. “Besides. I'm half-Lust. I like physical touch, and... you're comforting. So don't be poo-brain.”

“That's Avalon's word.” All the same, Antares only rolled his eyes, resting back for a few moments, letting Aphrodisia relax. It was nice, admittedly, and it brought a strange, almost gentle sadness to him as he thought of Prestige... how much she liked to curl up with him, how warm she had always been...

He closed his eyes, reaching up to stroke slowly through the demon's mane, and Aphrodisia mumbled: “Don't start anything, Nova. I'll call your bluff and Mommy and Aunt Tia will get really mad at us both.”

“Don't be gross, Apps.” Antares pushed at her a bit, and Aphrodisia finally grumbled and sat up, yawning loudly before she looked blearily around. Antares sat up... and then he winced when she turned and belched out a burst of orange fog over his face, the young stallion hurriedly waving this away as he complained: “Dammit, I just said don't be gross!”

“I'm not being gross, I'm making sure you don't be a butt today.” Aphrodisia argued grumpily, as Antares felt a strange mix of numbness and pleasure lighting up his nerves, blurring his thoughts a little before Aphrodisia poked his chest quietly with a cloven hoof. “Look, Nova. We're gonna find Aunt Brynhild and Uncle Scrivy, okay? But you can't get self-loathing and self-upset and stuff, that won't help. So just... let me know if you need me to calm you down and I'll do it. I can do that. I can look after you a little for how often you look after me.”

Antares softened a bit at this, and then he gave a small smile, reaching up and squeezing her shoulder gently as he said quietly: “I appreciate it, but... honestly, I do feel good, and I am ready, I think. We... we are going to find my Mom and Dad, yeah. Maybe not today, but we're going to Clockwork World, and I know that once we're there, we won't let anything stop us.”

“Good.” Aphrodisia nodded approvingly, and the two smiled at each other before she reached up and touched his face quietly. “You better be telling the truth, Antares. You still look.. twitchy.”

“Do I?” Antares reached up and rubbed slowly at his face, and then he shook his head as he let his thoughts trail out: it was easier than usual with the numbness and the soft pleasure tickling through his nerves here and there, and after a few moments, the young unicorn finally smiled a little, saying quietly: “Well, let's go downstairs, and I'll let you know if I need... any more help. But no more ambushes.”

“Fine, fine.” Aphrodisia grumbled and nodded back, and then she glanced around at the blankets, sheets, and pillows set up in a tent around them, adding moodily: “I wish I could do this with Daddy more, but he's big and clumsy and always knocks everything over. He was real grumpy about not getting to go with us, too... but I'm glad Mommy is coming, at least. That makes me feel safer.”

“Me too.” The young stallion laughed and nodded, carefully wiggling out of an opening in the sheets as he reflected mildly: “Although sometimes I think only you and I are the ones who ever feel safer around your Mom.”

Aphrodisia simply plowed through the pillow fort, knocking sheets and other thankfully-soft things in all directions, and Antares grumbled as he turned around to clean up the guest room... only for the demon to bull into him and force him out into the corridor even as she remarked cheerfully: “I like how she's your aunt and I'm your cousin but it's like she's your big sister and I'm your little sister. That makes our family even weirder than it already is. Sometimes I wish we really were all siblings, though, but I guess that would probably be bad.”

“Probably.” Antares rubbed slowly at his face with a sigh, but he was smiling all the same before he turned and added wryly: “I wish you didn't think like that, Apps.”

Aphrodisia only huffed, adding mildly as they made their way to the stairs: “Again, demon. But I just really want... us all to be close. That's all I care about. That we're family, and we can share things and we all have each other, always...”

“And we always will be.” came Scarlet Sage's voice, and Antares smiled warmly, looking as he and the demon strode down the hall and into the kitchen. The Pegasus was waiting for them there, already pouring them each a mug of tea on the small table as she said softly: “I thought I heard you two up. I'm gonna let Red sleep a little longer, then I'll get her, too, and we'll head over to meet Celestia.”

The young stallion nodded slowly as they approached and each sat down. For a few moments, he studied the Pegasus, and she gazed quietly back at him before reaching out and touching his hoof, saying softly: “It's gonna go well, Antares. I know it is. We're going to find Mom and Dad... and we're going to save them.”

She stopped, then smiled faintly and closed her eyes. “Well, you are, I should say. I wish now that I had done more, little brother... but you never gave up, never stopped fighting, and... I know that's all going to pay off now.”

Antares closed his eyes, smiling a little as he dropped his head and nodded hesitantly, and for a little while there was quiet between the three. They spoke in the silence all the same, however, as they traded looks, hoofs brushed against one-another's, and Scarlet Sage quietly passed food to both younger ponies, silently nudging them into eating a little to keep up their strength.

Apple Bloom came down on her own after a little while, smiling as she entered the kitchen, walking over to Scarlet Sage and trading a short kiss with her before turning to put on coffee. Antares admired the way the couple didn't need words, and he thought quietly of how things had been with Prestige... but as he closed his eyes he reflected that they had possessed their own silent language, too, that by the end, she was able to see into him as deep as he could see into her...

Scarlet Sage left while Apple Bloom sipped at her coffee slowly, and the Pegasus returned in her silvery scale mail. She was wearing crosshatch blades instead of a simple edged bracelet, however, and this above everything else made Antares understand how serious his big sister was taking things... and in return, how serious he himself had to be. She was confident, but also prepared, as she said quietly: “You two should go get dressed as well.”

Antares nodded slowly, finishing the last of a roll of bread as Aphrodisia grunted and hurried off. The young stallion paused as he glanced over Scarlet Sage again, from the silver helm protecting her head to the blades gleaming on her forelegs, and then he smiled over his shoulder at Apple Bloom, saying quietly: “I'm really, really glad you're both coming with me. It means a lot to me.”

“It means more to us to get to, kiddo.” Apple Bloom replied quietly, and Antares lowered his head respectfully before the earth pony winked. “Don't worry though. The way I hear it, you can give Celestia a run for her money.”

“Now that's a huge exaggeration.” All the same, Antares laughed before he turned and quickly headed upstairs, to find Aphrodisia already quickly pulling on a ridged, dark-metal breastplate. The young stallion smiled amusedly at the sight of her grumbling as she tried to wiggle into it, then he turned his attention to where he'd left his own armor, knowing better than to try and help Aphrodisia with her gear. He hesitated as he drew his eyes over his equipment, then reached down and made sure the small, black notebook he was bringing along was safely secured in a hidden pocket beneath his breastplate before hurriedly pulling his gear on.

When Antares donned his equipment, everything he was doing sank in, but at the same time he began to feel truly confident, and truly ready for whatever challenges laid ahead. He rubbed a hoof over his polished breastplate, feeling the comfort of the onyx star beneath his armor before he adjusted the rose-etched vambraces, coronet gleaming around his head as he murmured quietly: “I'm ready.”

“Me too.” Aphrodisia added, and Antares glanced up at her with a smile: she had wiggled into her dangerous-looking armor, locked heavy, spiked pauldrons over her shoulder, and secured a skirt of steel plates around her waist with a belt of chain. Her mane was neatly knotted back behind one shoulder, and the two studied each other before they both stepped forwards at the same time and shared a tight, fierce embrace, Aphrodisia murmuring: “We're gonna do it, Nova. We're gonna bring 'em back.”

“Yeah.” Antares agreed in a soft voice, and then the two turned to head downstairs: they were unsurprised to find in the time it had taken them to put on their gear, Apple Bloom had gone upstairs, fitted on her own, and was now back down in the kitchen, drinking another cup of coffee. She smiled from beneath the golden helm that covered her head, solid bracers locked around her limbs and form-fitting light plate covering her body. A rifle was holstered over her back, and she had a rawhide belt with several pouches over it secured tight around her waist.

Scarlet Sage had been trained by Luna, in addition to her Blood Seer powers; Apple Bloom, on the other hoof, had been trained in combat by Sleipnir, even if she was an engineer before she was a warrior. But she knew her way well around the battlefield, and could handle herself with her hooves or with a rifle, on top of her engineering ability. Antares admired her: after all, he was a fighter, but had scarce few other physical skills apart from hitting things with his hooves and horn. Apple Bloom could build or repair anything on top of being skilled at both ranged and melee combat.

They looked over each other, double-checked each other's armor and their own, and then left once Apple Bloom finished her third cup of coffee. On the way, they were joined by Pinkamena in her own banded mail, axe gleaming on her back and a grin on her face as she nodded to Antares and her daughter, and Sleipnir grumbled as he brought up the rear behind them, but looked with soft concern after his family as well as a bit of jealousy over the fact he wouldn't be going.

The others were already waiting for them outside the library: Rainbow Dash, Avalon, Meadowlark, Cowlick, Discombobulation, Big Mac, Soarin' and Celestia. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Nirvana and Fluttershy, Spike and Rarity, Twilight Sparkle and Burning Desire, Greece and many of the Nibelung all stood a little bit apart, gazing quietly at the others who were all dressed and ready for battle, and Antares looked quietly towards the wagons nearby around which were clustered Celestia's Yamato, and the demons Atrus and Hevatica.

And others were lingering, too, watching with respectful interest, like they wanted to watch but didn't want to interfere, or take away from the solemnity and seriousness of what was going on. Celestia slowly looked over those gathered in front of her, and then she looked at Antares with a faint smile as the young stallion strode forwards and said simply: “I'm ready.”

They simply looked at each other, as Celestia straightened slowly, heavy armor clanking quietly and Tyrfing gleaming on her back, almost as if reflecting her eagerness. The morning sun shone down through the skies, almost making the armored ponies glow before Applejack called clearly from the crowd: “You guys better all take care of yourselves, you hear? Already frustrating enough that my whole damn family gets to go but I gotta stay behind.”

“Aye, Celestia, 'tis the same for me!” Sleipnir said in an outraged voice, and then he paused before leaning over and grinning at Applejack, winking at her. “Perhaps we should take this time and chance to make our own adventure and our own family, does thou not agree with my wisdom?”

Pinkamena grumbled as Aphrodisia only giggled at her father's behavior, and Avalon looked almost jealous: something that clearly made Rainbow's frustration all the more evident as the Pegasus stallion said in a surly voice: “Can you not hit on my wife in front of me? Actually, stop. Flirting with my entire family.”

“I haven't yet flirted with thy pretty daughter! Although 'tis mostly because I have been told it is very rude to flirt with a mare so much my younger, but she is truly prettier by far than many I have laid mine eyes upon. And truly, her talents only bolster the shieldmaiden's beauty!” Sleipnir declared, and then he winced when Applejack punched him in the shoulder and glared at him and Rainbow gave a horrible look to the enormous earth pony, as Avalon covered her mouth and giggled, then hurriedly cleared her throat and tried to look serious when Pinkamena and Aphrodisia both glared at her.

“Sleipnir, focus.” Celestia said gently, and the enormous, vine-maned stallion grunted and nodded after a moment, looking up as the ivory mare smiled a little and drew her eyes over those around her. “Everypony staying here... I'm counting on you to protect Ponyville in my absence. Everypony who will be coming with us... we have a long, harsh journey ahead, into unknown territory, with the possibility of facing unknown foes. We must be careful but steadfast.”

“We'll push until we can't push no more, don't you worry about that, Princess Sunshine.” Pinkamena said moodily, stomping a hoof... but when Antares looked over his shoulder at her, he saw excitement, anxiety, eagerness in her eyes, like she was actually nervous about what was ahead... but all the same, felt that the risk was worth it. “Let's just get moving. No time for long goodbyes.”

“Antares, Celestia... good luck to you both. And bring Scrivener and Luna back.” Twilight said quietly, and Burning Desire nodded even as he wrapped a foreleg tightly around the violet mare's shoulders, smiling faintly.

Antares nodded slowly to his mother, then glanced up at Celestia, barely hearing the others as they spoke goodbyes and wished them luck, as they cheered them on and reassured them that everything would be fine. For a few moments, Celestia and Antares only looked at each other, the young stallion reading deep into Celestia's soul... and then he closed his eyes as the strangest vision of a cardinal perched inside a shining golden cage flooded through his mind, but there were two shapes in the darkness outside that were reaching up as if to force the bars open...

Before Antares could say anything, however, Celestia looked up and said calmly: “Then if we're all packed and ready, it's time to leave. Antares, concentrate on what you described yesterday. I'll open the Bifrost...”

“We'll help.” Twilight said quietly, and then she smiled a little when Celestia looked at her with concern, the Lich shaking her head slowly as she murmured: “I can spare a little strength for Luna and Scrivy, Celestia, and Burning Desire can add his own...”

“And I, too. I may not know how such magic works, but all the same I can give a little more power to the spell.” Rarity added quietly, and Celestia nodded slowly.

She began to turn forwards, then frowned as a voice called out to them, and Antares looked over his shoulder in surprise to see Scutum approaching with Rosewood. The pink unicorn was wheezing for breath, but Scutum looked implacable as ever in his heavy armor and with his sword sheathed over his back, striding towards Celestia before he bowed his head politely to her, saying quietly: “With all respect, your highness, it wouldn't be proper for me to sit back while you go placing yourself in danger. I request permission to join this operation.”

“Antares!” Rosewood snapped, once she'd gotten her breath back, and the young stallion winced before the pink unicorn stormed towards him and glared down at him. “No goodbye? No warning? No letter?”

The young stallion turned beet-red, train of thought derailing completely as he looked wildly back and forth before Rosewood grabbed his shoulders and looked down into his eyes, saying firmly: “Don't do it again, Scutum and I barely managed to get here in time, I see... and I'll help with whatever spell you're doing, too. I know this has something to do with your parents, Prestige... wrote often about that. Told me many stories about what you got up to with that, but... please. Remember that I'm here to help, too. Let me honor my daughter's memory that way.”

Antares softened at this, and when Celestia glanced at him, the young stallion nodded without hesitation. Celestia nodded back, then she said quietly: “Very well then. Just focus your magic towards me, Rosewood, as the others do. I'll open the Bifrost, and Scutum... you are welcome to join us.”

“It's for my daughter. And for the stallion my daughter loved.” Scutum replied quietly with a shake of his head, and Antares smiled faintly before the one-eyed unicorn turned around, head raised high as he said quietly: “Loyalty, above all.”

Celestia nodded slowly, looking down at the soldier for a moment before she raised her head and closed her eyes, horn beginning to glow with golden light as she said quietly: “Honor is everything. And now, let us show our loyalty, our honor, our compassion for the friends who rescued us... by rescuing them.”

Other unicorns rose their heads, horns glowing, adding to the rumble of power that was building in the air, as Antares breathed slowly, feeling that twist inside him, dredging up all the strength he could before he gritted his teeth and rose his head as his own horn grew brighter and brighter... and then his eyes widened, taking on their own luminescence as he saw another flurry of visions, heard clanking, heard the howls of machinery and ponies before he cried out as his head snapped back and his blood boiled in his veins.

Celestia looked down at him sharply, but kept her concentration on the spell before she gritted her teeth, feeling the mix of energies in the air before she snapped her horn upwards with a curse of effort: and a moment later, a golden swirl of flames erupted from the ground, startling those present as it became a cyclone that shot high up into the air before twisting around and smashing into the sky itself like a living, flaming serpent. Reality shattered into puzzle pieces of sky that hailed down like they had become physical, and the fiery cyclone burrowed through this hole in the universe, becoming a glowing tunnel as the flames swirled and transformed into an arcing bridge of rainbow light.

And without hesitation, Celestia dashed for this, running though the crowd of ponies with Antares following close behind on instinct, Scutum and others falling in behind. Her hooves hit the slope of the bridge and charged up along it as if magnetized, gritting her teeth as she felt arcs of energy shocking along her armor before she charged headlong into the hole in reality itself.

The winged unicorn found herself surrounded by sound and swirling light, energy filling up her body as arcs of raw power burst over her frame, adrenaline pumping through her muscles as she shot down the passage in seconds that felt like minutes. It was impossible to know how long she ran for, as she heard the yells and shouts of the other ponies who had followed her up onto the Bifrost, as she sensed Antares behind her, sprinting as fast as he could.

Aunt and nephew tore out the other side of the tunnel almost side-by-side to run down the other side of the bridge... and it was only instinct that kept the two running down the arch as they both looked up in shock at the red sky above. It was the color of wet blood, cloudless and corrupt, with no sun or moon or stars twinkling in the crimson hell above... but the sky was only the beginning.

They ran off the bridge, and the feeling of energy was immediately replaced by feelings of disgust and repulsion, Antares' stomach twisting into knots as he staggered through the dark mess beneath his hooves and stared down in horror: the ground itself was nothing but oily, black mire and ashes and chunks of broken, burnt stone, and as he looked up, he shivered in disbelief at the sight of the only landmarks he could clearly make out: immense, steel pipes, some feeding into strange, long-shut-down structures of some sort, the nearest broken open and scabbed over with dark sludge: with the corruption of Clockwork World, weapon and shield of the Tyrant Wyrms, lifeblood of Valthrudnir's treacherous plans and projects.

Antares staggered weakly, shaking his head as other ponies ran down the Bifrost, the group steadily growing larger until the Yamato Guard finally dragged the armored, golden wagon through last. The Bifrost shattered like glass just as the armored Nightmares cleared the ramp, and the heavy wheels stuck in the sludge as Rainbow Dash looked back and forth, he and the other Pegasi keeping to the safety of the air as he whispered: “This... this can't be Equestria...”

“Oh Horses of Heaven...” Cowlick groaned, and then she yanked a cigarette and lighter hurriedly free from beneath the gemstone vest she was wearing, shoving it into her mouth and lighting up, taking a long, steadying drag before she exhaled and whispered: “Luna and Scrivener... fought through here? This... this was that lunatic's idea of paradise?”

“Perfect, working order...” Celestia murmured, following the pipeline with her eyes towards the mountains in the distance... and the single landmark she could see, a broken and ruptured steel castle that had once been... “Canterlot...”

Antares shook his head weakly, disbelievingly, as ponies shifted uneasily, even Scutum seeming unnerved. The young stallion felt his head swimming, and the corruption along his hooves seemed almost to be trying to drag itself up his body, stirring awful memories in his mind as he swallowed heavily again before looking towards Celestia.

The ivory mare had walked a little bit ahead, was staring blankly towards Canterlot still, as the oppressive, heavy air bore down against them, and Antares quickly began to stride towards her. He opened his mouth... and then everything went blurry as something twisted painfully inside of him, grabbing his stomach and groaning loudly as visions tore through his mind, as he felt the corruption... calling to him...

But then he felt a hoof on his shoulder, looking up to see Celestia there, leaning over him worriedly, and the young stallion forced himself to swallow before whispering: “We need to... get moving.”

For a few moments, Celestia was silent, looking both anxious and almost regretful... but finally, she nodded slowly, and Antares closed his eyes with a shiver. It was going to be a long journey.

The Ghost In The Machine

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Chapter Thirty Six: The Ghost In The Machine
~BlackRoseRaven

It took both ponies and demons a long time to adjust to the corruption, and its effects: while the demons grew stronger in this atmosphere, their primal drives were also visibly strengthened, and Pinkamena kept licking her teeth as Aphrodisia shivered and panted now and then, drawing her eyes hungrily through the ponies they were walking with. Only Atrus seemed unaffected by the dark mire, the hulking demon drawing himself along with the same calm stoicism as always.

The ponies, on the other hoof, were sickened by it, heads aching as the corruption filled their mind with bad memories and made old sorrows and pains rise to the surface. It made muscles feel like rubber, and even Rainbow Dash seemed to have trouble keeping to the air, like the entire atmosphere had been made toxic. But thanks to willpower and Cowlick's amphetamines, the ponies were forcing themselves forwards.

Celestia and Scarlet Sage both seemed relatively unaffected, but Antares was having the worst time of all of them: he kept stumbling, and his mind was reeling, and his insides felt like they were tearing themselves apart. Horrible visions kept flooding his mind, but what bothered him worst of all was that there was this creeping, unholy feeling that it only hurt so much because he was striving so hard to not give in to the visions, to not let himself simply drop into the hungry, waiting darkness... it felt like the corruption was actually making him stronger, responding to him like an old friend. And that scared him, worse than he wanted to admit, and only made everything that much harder.

He refused to complain or give in, however, not when he felt something inside him twist or claw at his guts, dragging himself onwards... but every now and then, he took a short break by flying up on top of the wagon to land beside where Discombobulation was hiding, the Draconequus roughly the size of a ferret at the moment and shivering in distaste at the atmosphere, refusing to touch the corruption whatsoever. He was kind enough to create a thick brush that Antares was able to use to wipe the poison off his hooves whenever he needed to rest, though, and the small gesture helped keep Antares going in this nightmare they had stepped into. It reminded him that no matter where they were, he could always rely on his friends and family.

It took them several hours to reach what had once been Canterlot, and thankfully, their travel took them onto a dusty, cracked path that led up through rocky and ruined mountains, and out of the mire-soaked wasteland. They moved slowly but surely, and Antares felt a little better here, able to keep pace at the front of the line beside Celestia despite the cramps still ripping through his body, his wings shivering and fluttering weakly now and then.

They took their time on the march, holding quiet conversation here and there to try and break the eerie silence that hung over this dark and decrepit world. They had seen no signs of life yet, only signs of life that had once been: bodies that seemed to be rusting more than they were rotting, shaped like gray, soulless pony-puppets, tumbled and broken as if they had been trying to continue their endless duties even while their world collapsed into nothing but ruin.

They reached the base of Canterlot and found what had likely once been some kind of tunnel entrance, but the archway had been torn apart, and piping and what looked like immense pistons and an oversized engine had fallen from the side of the crumbling cliffs that the metallic and monstrous castle above stood upon. Wreckage lay here and there, but Celestia, Big Mac, Rainbow Dash and Pinkamena were able to shove a large, broken section of piping at the side of the road out of the way, and revealed a half-hidden pass. It looked like it had once been flooded out by a spill of corruption, but that same corruption had now long-hardened into a bridge they carefully made their way over.

Even without checking the map in the transport wagon, Antares instinctively knew where to go, leading them onwards... and even though they had been walking for hours and hours now, none of them wanted to stop. Instead, they continued the march, slowly circling around the enormous mountain that Canterlot rested upon, carefully making their way over and around piles of wreckage and debris that had fallen from the ruins of the castle above, Antares trying not to wonder what had done so much damage to this world... why it was that here and there, they came across what looked like wild, rampant signs of destruction that had been done simply for the sake of destruction.

As they made their way onto a dusty road carved through the mountains, Antares glanced up, and then he silently gestured with his head to the side when Celestia looked at him. And slowly, the ivory mare looked up herself to see an immense train bridge in the distance through the mountain peaks, apparently extending from the back of Canterlot and heading far into the distance. Both ponies also noted the fact that the pipeline continued beneath this, and Antares shook his head slowly as they continued onwards, murmuring: “At least we know we're headed in the right direction. But we should stop and make camp soon, Aunt Tia...”

“Once we're out of the mountains, Antares, we'll check. But none of our soldiers want to stop and... sometimes it's best to let the army moves as it wants.” Celestia replied quietly, then she grimaced as they passed a rocky, gentle slope over which were sprawled the dead, unmoving bodies of both griffins with plates of armor melded into their form, and more of the rusting, hollow-looking gray ponies. “This is both better and worse than I imagined... I would have preferred walking into an ambush than walking into this wretched place, Antares. This... awfulness is far more effective a weapon than an enemy's claws and blades.”

Antares shivered a little, nodding silently as they strode onwards through the barren, bleak world. The young stallion felt pains and aches radiating through his form still, but now he was glad for them: pain gave him something to focus on apart from the abysmal atmosphere, the horrible feeling like they had arrived far too late, with far too little... like they couldn't imagine the enormity of everything that had truly taken place in this macabre nightmare...

After two more hours of travel, they reached what looked like endless, dark wastes. There were strange buildings here and there, and metal pipelines, and silent machinery amidst ruins and wreckage... but the only real landmark was the bridge. Parts of it had collapsed here and there as if torn apart by some tremendous blast, just as some of the other ruins they passed by looked like they had suffered the same fate... but just like at Canterlot, Antares somehow knew his parents weren't responsible for this. Somehow, just by looking at the bridge, he knew that they had taken the train, as half-forgotten memories rose up through his mind...

Celestia nudged Antares gently, and the young stallion looked at her blearily, trembling a little and not knowing why as he heard quiet crying rippling through his thoughts, before the ivory winged unicorn said gently: “We'd like to stop here, Antares, and make camp. Is that alright with you?”

Antares nodded weakly, and then he looked out into the distance, Celestia hesitating before she leaned forwards and reached up to touch his shoulder, saying quietly: “I need more of a response than that, Antares. For all intents and purposes, you're in charge right now, and I'm your second in command. This is your mission, and we'll listen to your orders.”

Antares slowly looked over his shoulder at the caravan, seeing his friends in front, and the Yamato in back around the wagon, but all eyes looking silently to him, encouraging, reassuring, trusting in him... and the young stallion looked ahead before he whispered: “Five more minutes. I... just five, maybe seven more minutes, due north.”

“Alright.” Celestia nodded calmly, and Antares looked up in surprise at this response before the ivory winged unicorn looked over her shoulder and called: “Continue forwards, we stop up ahead!”

Antares looked stupefied, even as he fell in pace beside Celestia, staring at her... and the Baroness smiled faintly as she drew her eyes back to him, saying quietly: “I believe in you, Antares Mīrus, and this is your task, your mission. This is something you both deserve to lead us in, and you have to be responsible for leading each and every one of us through. It's an enormous burden... but you've brought us this far. I believe you'll find your parents, and I believe you'll finish this the way it should be finished.”

The young stallion smiled faintly, and Celestia smiled back at him before the young stallion looked ahead, closing his eyes as he felt the hidden notebook and the onyx star shift a little against his breast, murmuring softly: “I know, Celestia. I finally feel... confident about it. And no matter what, I think this time I'm... I'm going to do the right thing. I can be sure I'm going to do the right thing...”

Celestia tilted her head, but when the young stallion remained quiet, she didn't press the subject. Instead, she looked ahead herself, deciding to gauge Antares by what he had said before... and she smiled as, just a few minutes later, they came across the ruins of a building. The walls had been burnt out and destroyed almost completely, the doorway was just a gaping hole in the wall, but the cement flooring was cracked but intact, and the young stallion stepped with obvious relief out of the mire and up onto this before he called over his shoulder: “Let's set up in here!”

The ponies were more than happy to: the space was just enough for them to get the sleeping tents raised, and to build a fire at one far corner of the platform. Antares followed the smoke trail nervously with his eyes, but then he only shivered a bit at the sight of the dead world around them: somehow he thought their chances of attracting unwanted attention were rather slim.

While the demons patrolled the perimeter, the mortal ponies ate: Antares forewent his meal, however, giving it to Pinkamena instead, who seemed strangely-touched by the gesture. The young stallion felt too nauseated, and his body was telling him that much more than food, he needed to lay down and rest. He tried to take the advice, curling up in front of the fire, but not even Aphrodisia's toxin could help settle his rampaging mind, even as the other ponies shortly retreated into their tents to curl up and sleep.

Antares spent most of the 'night' awake: there seemed to be no passage of night or day, and time was measured only by the thudding of the young stallion's heart, and his uneven, heavy breathing. He slept fitfully for maybe an hour for the six or so they took to rest, and as Celestia began to wake the others up with the help of the demons, Antares stumbled his way out of camp and around one of the walls to vomit, spitting out bile and blood as he shivered and rasped weakly in and out, darkness swimming in front of his eyes.

When he turned around, Celestia was there... and Antares simply shook his head before whispering: “I can do this. I can make it. It's just... the corruption, it's getting in my head... I can't stop thinking of all the bad memories and it makes me...”

“Alright, Antares. Ride on top of the wagon for today.” Celestia soothed quietly, and the young stallion had hung his head before the ivory mare shook her own firmly. “No, it's not weakness. I... I should have thought about the effects that the corruption would have on you, even if we didn't know that Valthrudnir's world would be so... formed from it. I'm sorry.”

“No, it's... it's not your fault.” Antares shook his head slowly, then he looked up and smiled faintly. “I'm okay now. I'm better when I move... let's just get moving.”

Celestia sighed softly, then she nodded slowly before saying quietly: “Just remember to take care of yourself. You need to take care of yourself, Antares, if you want to be able to take care of others. Understood?”

“Yeah.” Antares closed his eyes, bowing his head forwards before he shook his head and took a slow breath, then he squared his shoulders and steadied himself. “Let's get moving, Aunt Tia. We still have a long way to go.”

The ivory mare nodded slowly in response, and in five minutes, the group was moving again. After so much exposure to the poison, the ponies seemed paler, weaker... but at the same time, it seemed like their minds were at least handling the toxins better. Antares could still feel it playing tricks on him, though, just like he could see how it was keeping the animal sides of the demons and Nightmares bubbling just below the surface, and even Celestia had a certain darkness about her, an almost unnatural glow in her eyes as her rainbow mane and tail sparked quietly now and then.

After an hour or so, however, Antares frowned in surprise as his attention was drawn towards something in the distance... and he shivered in horror as Celestia looked up and murmured: “The corpse of a Tyrant Wyrm... the corruption all around us must be stopping it from decaying. But... believe it or not, Antares... that's a good sign.”

“That's a good sign?” Antares laughed a little, almost sounding hysterical as they drew closer to the monstrosity, the young stallion shivering in horror at the sight of the creature: the fallen beast had once been covered in golden scales, but many of these had peeled off its draconic form, and others had rotted into ugly blacks and melted into sloppy, dark sludge. It was shot through with scars of white, like a ceramic statue that had been smashed and hurriedly glued back together by incompetent hands, every break put on display instead of hidden away.

Large, conical spikes stuck up out of its back like pistons, and its teeth were bared in a wide grin, its hollow sockets making the death mask of the draconic parasite all the more intimidating and terrifying... like at any moment, it could crawl back to its claws, as if death held no sway, no meaning for the body that was just waiting for a reason to once more pervert the world of the living with its presence...

Antares looked ahead... and then he groaned in pain, grabbing at his stomach as he felt a massive, agonizing cramp tear through him. He shivered violently, then cried out in agony, dropping forwards before he coughed blood... then howled in misery, more blood bursting from his jaws, hearing screams and yells around him but not feeling Celestia's hooves as something twisted and ripped and tore through him...

He looked up as Celestia leaned down over him, coughing blood onto her face... and then his head reared back before he felt his throat distort, agony tearing through his body before he vomited out a thick, sludgy substance of red and white that splattered over Celestia's features and armor. She cried out... and then Antares gave a raw, broken scream of denial as he flopped down on his side, gazing up in shock as the mass of slime writhed eagerly against Celestia, as tendrils formed in it that snapped into her mane, tore wounds over her features, left scratches over her armor.

The ivory mare stumbled backwards, then she snapped her horn upwards on instinct, her body releasing a shockwave of golden force that knocked both demons and ponies stumbling but thankfully dislodged the goo from her face, sending it flying away. In midair, the shapeless gunk transformed, flipping once and smashing down on four hooves, red eyes forming in mottled white features as broken-toothed jaws greedily licked the blood off its face, before Cancer screamed: “Did you miss me, pathetic little ponies?”

“No!” Antares howled miserably, trying to claw his way up to his hooves, but he only spasmed in the mire before he vomited blood again, gargling weakly: but for now, raw horror overwhelmed the agony in his body as he stared at the monstrosity, shaking his head as tears leaked down his face to mix with sweat and mud and blood.

Cancer, however, only grinned, straightening slowly as he looked back and forth as ponies and demons both stared at him, and Celestia snarled... then shivered and stumbled a little as blood and pus spilled from infected wounds over her features. “Oh, what's wrong, little pony? Ain't you glad to see me? Shouldn't you be smilin' about the fact I didn't kill you right away, boy?” Cancer threw his head back and laughed, then he grinned and rose his front legs as they transformed into claws, eyes blazing with red light. “But oh, honey! That long, hard wait was worth it! Now, now, look where we are! Look at me! God, the power, the power, the power!”

Cancer threw his head back and roared to the skies in delight... and then a golden fireball slammed into his chest and knocked him staggering backwards, the monster howling as he burst into flames as Celestia shouted: “Burn every inch of him to ash!”

Demons roared and ponies charged fearlessly forwards, but Cancer only snarled as he snapped his claws upwards... and mottled white flesh mixed with black mire as it spread over his body, extinguishing the flames as he rasped: “Oh, you that eager to die, meatsacks?”

As the others fought, Meadowlark ran to Antares, cursing as she looked hurriedly over him... and as the young stallion coughed blood again, the Pegasus leaned down and touched his stomach, just under the breastplate's edge, and Antares screamed in agony as the mare winced and drew her hoof back, seeing how beneath black coat there was hideous, worsening bruising... “Oh god, you've been torn apart inside, I... Antares, hold on, this is going to hurt!”

Meadowlark reached back to her medical satchel, ignoring the sounds of battle, forcing herself not to look up even as something crashed down beside her and Cancer shouted, voice filled with dark glee: “Kid fell for the oldest trick in the book! I spread my infection into him, my blood and that sweet, sweet corruption I stole right out from under your noses!”

The Pegasus cursed as she yanked her bracer out of her pack, slipping it hurriedly on and locking it into place around her foreleg before digging through the satchel, yanking vials free one after the other as her eyes roved frantically back and forth until she snagged a jar labeled with a white cork. She quickly maneuvered this around to stab the needle through the top, trying to ignore the monster as it howled over the sounds of combat: “And then I just stayed nice and quiet and built myself back up, reconstituted inside the kid, and oh, none of you suspected a goddamn thing, with you all whining and crying and sissy-moaning about 'ooh poor baby so sad about his girlywhirlyfriend!'”

Meadowlark yanked the needle back, then she gritted her teeth before grabbing Antares by the back as he began to whimper weakly, settling slowly on his side to the ground... and then he arched his back and screamed in agony when Meadowlark shoved the needle up through his stomach, sending up a splurt of blood as more drained out from around the needle, the young stallion howling in misery as Meadowlark flexed her hoof and the bracer injected the potion directly into his flayed-apart insides. But as the potion spread, the area was numbed and flesh began to regenerate and heal, even as Antares burned with a pain like nothing he had ever before experienced.

The Pegasus mare was almost crying as she tore the needle back, tears in her eyes as she stared down at Antares as he convulsed and howled, then snarled and grit his teeth, his eyes clenching shut as blood and foam bubbled through them. And then he fell almost still, trembling and breathing hard as Meadowlark leaned over him, trembling and whispering: “I'm sorry.”

Antares tried to shake his head, closing his eyes as he felt darkness closing in around him, the sounds of battle growing dim... before he heard Cancer snarl, like the monster was right beside him, leaning over him, mocking him: “I used you all. All you stupid pieces of trash who thought you could destroy destruction incarnate. I stayed inside him because oh, that poison I absorbed... I knew there was more of it, and you were gonna lead me right to it because Momma's Boy over there cries into his pillow every night about his parents... but don't worry, if I find 'em... I'll say 'hi' for you.”

Antares threw himself to his hooves, howling in fury and desperation as he staggered forwards into the fray, snarling as Meadowlark fell backwards in shock: he ran past Celestia, who was bleeding heavily from wounds that reeked of poison, and he ran past Discombobulation as the chaos entity was smashed backwards by a thrown Yamato Guard. He ran past Cowlick and Big Mac as they blasted rifle rounds towards the monster, and he tore past Scutum and the demons as they tried to cage Cancer in.

He ran towards the destruction entity as it grinned savagely, black mire swirling through its mottled white body, giving it more power, more strength, seemingly limitless energy as its red eyes glowed and it slapped Pinkamena away like a toy before thrusting a claw towards Avalon as she shot down from the skies, the tiny Pegasus gargling as an intense, poisonous red glow surrounded her before she was hurled to the side by telekinesis as Cancer declared gleefully: “I can do anything! I've eaten at every table, I've drank every cup dry! What can you do, boy, what can you use against me?”

“Everything I've got!” Antares shouted furiously, as his horn sparked violently before beginning to glow brightly, and Cancer grinned savagely even as he turned slowly towards the young stallion, spreading his claws mockingly wide, his eyes lighting up with apparent glee at the fact that Antares had somehow survived. The monster made no attempts to move even as Soarin' and Rainbow Dash began to shoot down from either side, as Aphrodisia charged in with a roar and Scutum, Atrus, Hevatica and the Yamato all closed in like a wave led by Antares...

And then Cancer swung his claws upwards with a laugh, and the corruption around the monstrous entity exploded upwards in all directions like an awful, rippling tidal wave. It thundered outwards, and the airborne Pegasi hurled themselves backwards to avoid being dragged down by the dark matter as the typhoon of black goo smashed into the others, sending them hurtling backwards-

But Antares tore through the barrier of corruption with a slash of his glowing horn, leaping forwards as the area he had sliced through collapsed into brittle gray shale. The young stallion landed on his hooves before he snapped his head upwards, releasing the energy from around his horn in a crescent-shaped blast that Cancer stared at with dumb surprise before it smashed into him and knocked him sprawling with a scream of shock.

The mire inside Cancer's body became nothing but ash and dust that burst out from his form in a smog as the shockwave of corruption collapsed out of existence, and Antares' eyes burned as he yelled furiously: “Now! Burn him now!”

Scutum was the first on his hooves, snapping his horn out as Cancer began to get up, and the ground beneath the destruction entity crackled before it froze solid, ice rapidly spreading up three of Cancer's limbs and part of his mottled body, locking him in place. He howled in derision, then snarled when Pinkamena charged forwards with a grin and one hoof grasping the handle of the axe on her back, the monster's red eyes glowing as he rasped: “Kill, kill, kill!”

Pinkamena's eyes bulged as her axe was hefted out of her grip and spun violently as a red aura surrounded it... but immediately, Scutum flicked his horn again, sending a blast of white light into the axe, and it vibrated violently in the air before it simply dropped as Cancer twitched as if hit by magical recoil. The monster screamed in fury, trying to rip his other claw free of the ice as he snapped his free front limb out, the foreleg shattering apart into thorny, biting tentacles... but Pinkamena caught her axe as it fell, and the demon fearlessly swung into the cluster of tentacles that lashed at her, ripping them apart.

Cancer howled in frustration... and then a mortar of fire launched over the heads of those in front as the Yamato Guard rushed forwards, and Cancer looked up too late before the blast of flame hammered into him. He screamed in agony, and Antares gritted his teeth, watching as the Yamato all dropped forwards in a battle line in front of the others. They not only formed a barricade of bodies between the others and themselves, they poured their own dark magic into the flames, the fires burning with a hellish mix of red and blue as Cancer was consumed both physically and spiritually with screams of misery.

But a moment later, there was a crackle... and then Antares snarled as something ejected itself from the flames. He began to launch forwards, but then whatever was left in the fires exploded in a thunderous bang, the Yamato knocked crashing in all directions from the blast and Pinkamena sent flying as well. Antares yelled in pain as one of the armored bodyguards of Celestia crashed into him, knocked off his hooves and sent rolling before he managed to skid to a stop and catch himself, yanking himself up and charging straight after what he knew had to be Cancer.

Avalon and Aphrodisia were already in pursuit, as a mottled white shape slithered and raced over the ground, transforming as it absorbed power and mire before Cancer reformed in a burst as he fled in the direction of the enormous corpse that reeked of the Void, snarling in desperation as he dove into it and twisted quickly in through one empty socket, transforming back into mottled slime as he spilled himself through the monster's hollow skull. Cancer rasped hard in and out, panicking for a moment, body wounded and weakened... before the creature squealed in horror as he felt something rumble, something horrible and powerful and terribly-sentient as a a voice whispered through his mind in a vile, potent language that spilled straight from the Void: Harbinger of Destruction, homeless child of death and madness... come into our embrace, and let us renew our work...

“N-No, no, that's fine, thanks, t-t-that's fine!” Cancer squealed, but then something inside the Tyrant Wyrm pulsed, something horribly alive, made of pain and hatred and countless sorrows fused into one dark and grinning shape, and he felt himself seized, dragged down towards a great and awful eye that was making him part of it and it part of him...

Antares ran forwards, breathing hard, as Avalon shouted angrily at the corpse: “Get the hell out of there, you goddamn piece of garbage! Yeah, not as tough as you thought, are you? Come on, come and fight me, let's see what you got!”

Aphrodisia was growling as well... before the demon's eyes widened, and her entire body stiffened before she suddenly backed up a few paces, hissing as her features tightened into a skull-like mask. And Antares felt it too as a tremble rolled through the air, before the mire rippled beneath his hooves as if in eager reaction to the evil presence the young stallion felt. Avalon looked over her shoulder with a frown as the demon and young stallion stumbled, her eyes widening at the shockwave that passed through the rotten earth... before she winced as red light shone over her, and the tiny Pegasus trembled as she slowly looked back ahead to see baleful, hellish crimson light was now shining out of both of the monster's eye sockets.

Mire flowed up over the Tyrant Wyrm's corpse in thick rivers, pouring into the damaged areas and transforming into hideous black and ugly white scales, dark electricity sparking over the piston-bones as a rumble emanated from the terrible beast. The broken crown of six gnarled and cracked horns around the hideous monster's skull gleamed dangerously as they trembled and shifted slowly, the monstrosity's features rippling as it rasped: “All things... serve... the Void... all things... must be destroyed... power... oh, the power, filling me up, taking me over...”

The Tyrant Wyrm's claws tore into the mire beneath it as a long tail snapped upwards, then crashed down against the muck behind it, sending up another burst of sludge as a rumble spilled through the beast. The intense red light in its eyes glowed all the brighter as the ivory cracks over its form seemed to spread and thicken, and its twisted grin somehow grew all the wider as drool leaked from its jaws and black smoke steamed up out between its teeth. “Ultimate power... the... the Void... hurt... kill... destroy... revenge...”

“Back off, everyone!” Antares shouted, and Avalon was all too glad to comply with a wince, the young Pegasus shooting backwards as Aphrodisia leapt quickly away and Antares backstepped slowly. The Tyrant Wyrm convulsed as the bone pistons over its back pumped, and the draconic monster threw its head back with a fearsome roar as the unholy light grew all the brighter in its sockets.

And then, slowly, it looked down as Antares swallowed his fear and horror and snarled up at what was clearly the face of Cancer, grinning at him through the Tyrant Wyrm's hideous features as sludgy mire pulsated in ever-twisting rivers and veins over the the monstrosity's body. The young stallion breathed hard, looking up at the features of a mindless destroyer encased inside a vile devourer, of destruction augmenting and enhancing destruction in blackly-beautiful symbiosis before the monster growled darkly: “Hello, honey. Looks like we got some unfinished business, you and I.”

“Yeah. We do.” Antares replied quietly, surprised at how steady his voice was... but he could feel them behind him, his friends, his family, his allies: ponies, demons, others, and all of them people he knew he could count on. That he could entrust his life to, as he looked up bravely through his fear. “This... this is your only chance, Cancer. Surrender now, or be destroyed.”

“You? You threaten me?” Cancer laughed sharply, the sound jarring, making the mire beneath the hooves of the platoon gathered in front of him tremble before the monster grinned savagely, leaning forwards as his red, glowing sockets glared furiously down at the young stallion, then he lowered his head and exhaled a blast of foul-smelling black smoke that washed out over the crowd, making ponies cough even as Antares forced himself to continue to look calmly, coldly up, not trembling, not even letting himself blink. “You're nothing to me, boy. You're worthless, and useless, and downright stupid. Oh, I can feel such power thrumming in my veins now... I'm drawing energy from the ground beneath my feet and the sweet, sweet veins of poison beneath the rotten earth, and I've become part of something so destructive, so powerful, so deliciously decadently doomsday that by not killing yourself right now, you look like naïve, mindless retards. So go on. Die, die in front of me, my darlings! Gimme a peepshow with good ol' Mr. Death headlinin'. I hear he looks real sweet in stockings.”

Cancer leaned forwards with a mocking grin, a long, black tongue slithering up to lick along his teeth, and Antares only shook his head slowly before he straightened, as Aphrodisia stepped up on one side of him with Avalon hovering beside her, and Meadowlark stepped up to his other side with Scarlet Sage. Their presence gave him strength, and Antares gritted his teeth as he anchored himself, raising his head proudly as he shouted: “What are you but a lonely little parasite, Cancer? You want to destroy, you want to hurt people, you want to see the world burn, but what you don't get is that unlike you, none of us here are cowards, and none of us here are alone! You can scare me and you can hurt me and you can threaten and intimidate and fight me all you want, Cancer, but I'm always going to fight back, I'm always going to stand up against you, and I'm not letting you escape again!”

“Fine, kid. You wanna play that way? Let's play that way.” Cancer snarled, the amusement fading from his features before he gargled, head twisting to the side before a horrific, primal voice rasped in a terrible, dark language that Antares somehow understood, even as the others only flinched in pain: “All must be destroyed. Return all to the Void. Feast upon these broken souls, wretched and worthless as they are...”

“We are not weak! We are not worthless!” Antares shouted in response, glaring back up at the destroyer as its head reared back, looking both furious and almost surprised at the reply. “And we aren't going to simply lay down and die, either... everyone, get ready!”

The Tyrant Wyrm twitched again, and then Cancer gave a loud hiss as his head reared back slightly, crimson sockets glowing brighter as he growled: “Nothing can save you now, punk. There's nothing you and your little friends can do. Talk all you want, but I see how scared you are, I smell your fear and your pain, and I don't know which is a better flavoring right now.”

“That's funny, Cancer. You're the one who seems to be doing all the talking right now.” Antares replied quietly, looking up at the mottled monster with contempt in his eyes, and the destruction entity snarled furiously before the young stallion simply shook his head as he looked up to fearlessly meet the crimson gaze of the beast, stepping forwards and away from the group, making himself a clear target as Cancer snarled at him.

The Tyrant Wyrm roared violently, toxic breath washing over the young stallion, and he didn't flinch before Cancer leaned forwards and bit at him savagely: but with ease, Antares leapt upwards, and Cancer's jaws bit only into the wasteland as his features smashed into the ground before the glossy-black unicorn landed smoothly on the draconic monster's muzzle, charging up the Tyrant Wyrm's enormous skull before leaping through the wall of horns to land on its back.

The monster roared again in frustration, black smoke venting out of its jaws as it reared back and turned to glare after Antares, all its attention focused on him. Celestia's eyes widened at this sight, and the ivory mare immediately shouted to the others: “The chest, aim for the chest!”

The winged unicorn's horn lit up with a golden aura, even as disease visibly rampaged through her body, tried to steal her strength, and then she flicked her horn hard to the side in a sharp cutting gesture, sending a brilliantly-colored fireball blasting into the Tyrant Wyrm's exposed breast. It exploded in a tremendous flash and bang, and Cancer was knocked staggering with a roar of pain as cracks spread through his scales and his head whiplashed around in surprise.

Then Pinkamena ran forwards, leaping up and slamming her axe home into the monster's chest with a vicious grin on her features, the blade ripping deep through armor-like scales before she swung both rear hooves up and kicked savagely off as Yamato Guard threw their own dark magic into the fray, peppering the damaged chest of the beast with sapphire fireballs. Cancer howled in frustration and fury, then he stepped forwards, belching out a wave of black, noxious smog towards the group.

Avalon, Rainbow Dash, Scarlet Sage and Soarin' all leapt to the air, flapping their wings hard as Scutum snapped his horn forwards to create a sharp, cold wind, and the cloud of poison was forcefully dissipated before Cancer's jaws snapped forwards with a snarl towards the front of the group... only for Atrus to seem to appear out of midair, one of the enormous demon's claws smashing down into the end of Cancer's muzzle and knocking him off target, the Tyrant Wyrm's muzzle burying into the ground with a roar of frustration before the Wrath demon slammed both huge sets of claws down into the end of the monster's face, holding it down against the ground. A moment later, he was joined by Big Mac and Apple Bloom, both earth ponies seizing the sides of the huge muzzle of the beast to hold the draconic monster's head in place.

Rainbow Dash and Avalon both shot high into the air as Cowlick threw something to Hevatica, who caught the rounded object and then ran forwards, gracefully leaping up and using Atrus' broad back as a ramp as Cancer snarled in frustration, trying to yank his head back with a hiss of fury as his claws tore against the ground. Then the Kelpie landed on his muzzle, grinning widely around the beeping explosive in her jaws before she ran forwards and skidded up to one of the Tyrant Wyrm's sockets, spitting the grenade out into one cloven hoof and shoving it home into the glowing red light before she simply vanished.

The explosive went off a moment later with a bang, Cancer howling in frustration as he tore his head back, knocking the demons and earth pony that had been holding him in place sprawling. Corruption and fire burst of the shattered socket as the red light only increased, the Tyrant Wyrm stumbling as he screamed: “Worthless little ponies, I'll kill you-”

He was cut off as Rainbow smashed across his face in short, brief arc, unleashing a tremendous bang and a ripple of multicolored light as the Tyrant Wyrm howled... before a second, smaller but fiercer golden meteor smashed directly into his skull, sending up a blaze of golden glory before Avalon flew backwards in an arc, stunned by the impact. But Meadowlark dove forwards and caught the tiny Pegasus before she could hit the mire as Cancer staggered backwards with a scream of pain and fury and perhaps even fear, a large portion of the Tyrant Wyrm's forehead crushed in as a baleful crimson glow shone out of every wound.

And then Antares leapt back overtop Cancer's skull, his eyes closed, his horn glowing brightly before he flapped his wings hard, spinning around in midair to send a blast of white fire smashing into Cancer's features. Ivory flames burst over the monster's face, sending up gray smoke as scales and mire became brittle shale and slate and stone.

Cancer howled in misery, shaking his head wildly back and forth before the Tyrant Wyrm gargled as the red light in its sockets intensified. It convulsed, and all eyes could only stare, Antares hovering high in the air before his eyes widened as the monster threw its head back with a roar that echoed through the wastes. The mire around it rippled in response, the ground trembling before geysers of dark ooze burst up around the creature, Rainbow Dash yelling in shock as he was buffeted out of the air by a burst of mire before a second shockwave ripped through the ground, knocking many of the ponies and demons off their hooves before it was followed by an enormous wave of dark mire that flooded over the ground towards the gathered group.

Meadowlark stared in horror before she leapt upwards, flapping her wings desperately while still holding Avalon's stunned body. The red Pegasus almost made it, but the bottom of the passing wave nipped her rear hooves, dragged her down as she shrieked and dropped Avalon as the small mare's eyes flicked open in surprise... but a moment later, strong hooves caught her foreleg and yanked her upwards, keeping her airborne as she looked up in relief to see the tiny Pegasus holding onto her, shouting: “Hold on, I got you!”

Aphrodisia and Pinkamena had also managed to avoid the wave, and Celestia flicked her horn, creating a golden barrier of light in front of her and a shocked Scarlet Sage before she cursed weakly as her magic stuttered out, coughing blood as she looked tiredly up at the incoming wave: but a moment later, the Yamato Guard were in front of the two, the Nightmares protecting them with their armored bodies before the tidal wave smashed over the group.

Discombobulation had manged to summon up a shield made from what looked like an oversized disc half-buried through the mire, physically holding this up on an angle so other ponies could cluster beneath it as the wave blasted over them. He was shivering violently just from standing in the poison, however, his breathing rough but his eyes filled with worry not for himself, but instead staring into the black flood washing over them in the direction he had last seen Celestia.

As the mire and toxin surged and blasted over his enemies, the Tyrant Wyrm stumbled backwards, hissing through its teeth at the sight of the ponies that had avoided the poison regrouping. The punk kid was glaring at him, shouting orders to the others, who were all pulling themselves quickly together... and then Cancer howled as Pinkamena's axe smashed into his already heavily-damaged chest again, ripping another deep crack through his breast before the monster stumbled backwards, then stomped savagely down on her, crushing her into the dark, corrupt earth as the axe flew from her grip.

Aphrodisia started forwards with a shriek, her eyes glowing with fury, but Antares shouted to her to wait as the Tyrant Wyrm staggered backwards. Pinkamena winced as she pried herself out of the soft mire before the Gluttony demon snarled, seizing her fallen axe and beginning to yank herself to her hooves to renew the attack, eyes glowing dangerously, but Antares leaned forwards and ordered: “Get over here, now!”

Pinkamena looked up at the surprisingly-sharp command... then grinned despite herself and shook her head slowly even as she retreated, as behind her, Cancer screamed and grabbed at his head, twitching and convulsing, pistons pumping violently and sparking on his back. And Antares gritted his teeth, watching as the beast twisted in what seemed like pain and frustration, praying silently for time as behind him, he heard the mire settling and ponies beginning to dig themselves out of the dark flood of poison that had washed over them.

Cancer was fighting a battle with himself: the raw destruction part that had merged almost perfectly with the hate-filled and voracious personality of the Tyrant Wyrm wanted to attack and destroy, wanted to keep fighting until they were destroyed or it was. But the rest of Cancer, the chaos, the excuse for sentience, the needy ego, it wanted to flee, regenerate, better integrate with this new, powerful, but heavy and unwieldy body that was filled up with so much hunger and pain...

The monster's head snapped back and forth, and then it slumped slightly, staring outwards through its crimson vision, sight locking on the enormous pipeline running beneath the bridge in the distance and a large, octagonal-shaped hub. Other pipes extended out of this, connected to dormant engines and machinery, and drool dripped from the beast's jaws as both sides of the Tyrant Wyrm settled on a fair negotiation as a grin spread over its mottled features, before the beast turned and bolted greedily for the pipeline.

Antares winced, looking over his shoulder quickly before he gazed back ahead, knowing he had to make a choice, and that he had to make the right one. And then the young stallion cursed before leaping forwards, shouting over his shoulder: “Come on, there's no more time! We need to take that thing down and just trust that the others will catch up, we can't let him escape again!”

And without question, his friends were there at his side, racing along with him: Meadowlark on one side, Aphrodisia on the other, Avalon racing above. A moment later, they were joined by Hevatica and Pinkamena, before the dull-pink demon asked sharply: “So what the hell's your plan? If it's just us, we don't stand much of a chance...”

“We gotta try, right?” added another voice, as Soarin' shot down from above to join them, and Avalon grinned as she nodded to the fellow Pegasus quickly, the stallion looking up as he added hurriedly: “I flew up high to get away from that poison and see the others, but... it didn't look good, Antares, even if the others can dig themselves up out of that mud, I-”

“We don't have a choice in the matter, if that monster gets away I don't want to imagine how powerful he'll become, what he plans to do.” Antares replied sharply, shaking his head quickly as he looked up and gritted his teeth, eyes blazing as they locked on the surprisingly-fast Tyrant Wyrm that was clawing through the wastes ahead. The mire rippled around it, seemed to cut a perfect path for the beast while churning beneath the hooves of the ponies and demons, keeping them from closing in quickly as the world around them seemed to tremble in eager anticipation.

And then Cancer grinned over his shoulder at them, the Tyrant Wyrm's crimson sockets blazing before he asked mockingly: “Hey, why don't we sing a song to pass the time? Would you little fleshsacks like that, one last serenade before I rip your intestines out and feed 'em to you?”

Antares snarled, but the monstrosity only grinned, before laughing as he looked forwards, eyes blazing with baleful light as he threw his head back and sang:

“I'm gonna infect this entire world,
I'm gonna give it my disease,
I'm gonna infect this entire world,
I'm gonna bring it down to its knees!”

As the Tyrant Wyrm sang, reality around it seemed to ripple, buffeting those around Antares with waves of psychic pain and nausea as the young stallion narrowed his eyes, blood boiling in his veins. Avalon cursed in pain, but her eyes glowed with fury as she began to shoot forwards... then screamed a warning as a geyser of black mire tore up out of the ground in front of them, and Meadowlark and Antares barely dodged around the narrow but concentrated stream of poison, other bursts of mire venting into the air around them, coupled with blasts of smoke and trembles that tore through the ground.

“Oh! Sweet poisons... crawlin' through my veins,
Fillin' me up and up and up and up again!
Pistons pumpin' all that lovely putrescence,
Baby, me and this place is a match made in Heaven!”

The monster laughed again, its eyes twin pits of crimson hell as behind him, ponies and demons weaved around the vents and blasts of poison. Then Soarin' yelled in pain as a blast of mire exploded upwards and hammered into his wing, almost dislocating it and covering him with dark, sticky bog as he rolled awkwardly into the air, then fell and crashed face-first into the ground, skidding painfully forwards with a grunt.

Antares winced over his shoulder, but there was no time to stop, no time to slow, only time to keep moving forwards as Cancer continued eagerly, the monster's eyes locked on the pipeline ahead:

“With the blackest of hearts and the hollowest of minds,
This place to me feels both damned and divine,
There's no turnin' back now, no undoin' the past,
And that's just too bad, kids, 'cause the future is comin' fast.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah!
Sha-da-di-do-da-da!
Oh yeah, honey, baby, sweetie:
This is the place where we're all meant to die!

Oh, da-di-do-da, ha ha ha! Sha-lalala, whoa-oh!
Ho, do-dop, yeah yeah yeah!
Don't you want it, need it, scream for it? Don't you wanna,
Oh whoa whoa whoa... don't you wanna die with me today?”

Cancer's red eyes glowed, his grin spreading wider as he locked on the sight of the hub ahead, which was still slick and dripping with black corruption in concentrated form, the monster feeling its call to him before the massive Wyrm put on a burst of speed before laughing as he simply plowed into the hub. Metal parts flew in all direction as titanium tore like paper, dark poison bursting upwards as pipes snapped, sharp edges ripping against the Wyrm's scales, but Cancer not even noticing in delirious pleasure as the concentrated corruption splashed over his body. “Yes, yes! That's it, that's it!

Everything in this world was made for me and not for you,
This world is death and poison, its the perfect brew!
I'm spillin' my own infection into its heart and into its mind,
And together me and it have become destruction most divine!”

The monster threw its head back with a roar as the poisons fed into it, scales cracking as the red light intensified, body becoming gaunter even as bones bulged upwards and its form warped. The monster snarled as it grew larger, upper limbs lengthening and claws cracking loudly as they elongated, dark mire twisting eagerly over its body like living slime.

Cancer's eyes glowed like spotlight as the world rumbled around it and the creature settled back in the pit of destruction, the beast gritting its teeth in a pained grin before it threw its head back with a roar... and enormous, awful veins and roots of flesh and mire ripped out of the ground around it, snaring into the pipes and machinery, pistons bursting into life and gears grinding loudly before they began to clank slowly as rusting pumps were forced to reactivate. Electricity pulsed over the webbing and dark cables that had formed and fed back into Cancer's body as the beast lower form seemed to melt, tail dropping and merging into the rotten earth alongside the beast's lower legs as Cancer gargled and then laughed insanely beneath the bridge, front limbs reaching up to seize tightly on the supports above as it held itself in place, awful and half-dissolved and yet now mining a seemingly-infinite amount of poison from the world around it.

Antares skidded to a halt through the mire, snarling up at the beast as the others dropped into ready positions around him. And Cancer grinned back at them, living disease and destruction, hide stretched and broken, chest a spiderweb of red cracks as black sweat and poison spilled down its mutant form. Glowing scarlet eyes locked with Antares' determined, midnight-green irises, before Cancer hissed:

“And now the game is over, the apocalypse is here,
I am the Cancer of this world and all shall bow to me.
Kid, it's time to give up and lay down in this grave,
I ain't got time to waste my time with a worthless pony slave.”

Antares breathed slowly, drawing his eyes over the monstrosity, then back and forth along what Cancer had done, the webbing and fleshy cables and living veins that pulsated and led back to the monstrosity's base, locked into where the pipeline hub had once been. Bonds of hideous matter had formed over the broken pipes and yanked them into new positions, into Cancer's body itself: the beast was no longer able to move, but dragging whatever corruption remained inside those pipes into himself, seeking to evolve himself, empower himself. And around him, the two pumps and what looked like some kind of mining drill were all clanking and creakily working, pulling out more from whatever poison-filled arteries still ran with this world's black blood.

His mind worked rapidly, time seeming to stop as Antares looked at the grinning abomination; he looked at each and every detail that made up this freakish entity, the red glow, the mottled hide and the pulsating mire-flesh and... I think I understand. I think I see the only way to kill it... “No, Cancer. This is it, one way or the other. We're going to stop you.”

Cancer shook his head almost pityingly, lowering his head forwards... before Antares shouted a warning almost too late, shoving Meadowlark hurriedly to the side as the monster suddenly leaned forwards and vomited out a stream of black poison, the young stallion barely leaping out of the way before he snapped his horn upwards and fired a concentrated blast of white energy up into Cancer's face.

The monster flinched backwards with a curse of surprise more than pain, grabbing at its features with one skinny claw as mottled flesh and pulsating, semi-liquid poison became stone, and Antares shouted quickly: “Aphrodisia, Avalon! Smash that pump! Pinkamena, veins and pipes! Hevatica, break the machine behind him!”

“Insolent little brat!” Cancer snarled, and then he flicked a claw out as Aphrodisia began to dash towards the pump, a blast of concentrated corruption erupting from the ground and splashing over her as Avalon narrowly dodged, while Hevatica vanished and Pinkamena leapt forwards with a snarl. Cancer swiped a claw towards her, but Antares threw himself into the air as Meadowlark watched with shock, the leather-winged unicorn smashing bodily into the monster's wrist and ripping a narrow cut with his horn over it.

The monster shrieked, attention drawn to Antares as Meadowlark looked back and forth before her eyes widened as she looked towards her medical satchel, turning to dig in it, ignoring the sounds of battle around her, ignoring even the shifting of the mire beneath her hooves with every roar and movement of the gigantic destruction entity.

Avalon crashed headlong into a turning gear, and the pump machinery stalled for a moment before the tiny Pegasus snarled and began to smash away at the square device with her crosshatch blades: it seemed like little more than an ugly block of steel, but this side was covered in enormous, clanking gears, and pistons were whirring over the top, keeping the pump-arm and rods extending down into the ground from another side of the square boiling and moving. She manged to knock several gears loose, and the machine stuttered... but it seemed to do little else, the small Pegasus cursing...

A roar sounded from behind her, and Aphrodisia tore free of the corruption that had washed over her, her features skull like, her cloven hooves split into claws, raw muscle pulsing through her coat and armor cracked from her body expanding violently. Her eyes glowed with unnatural light as she charged immediately forwards, and Avalon stared in shock before the Dominia demon seized the pump arm, fanged jaws opening with a roar of exertion before she slowly yanked backwards, and pistons squealed as machine screamed before the heavy arm ripped completely free of the machinery.

Boiling corruption burst out over her, and Aphrodisia shrieked as she staggered backwards, scalded by the poison; worse than the burns, the concentrated corruption worked its way into her system, making it even harder to think as Avalon flew down... only to be seized by the throat and slammed to the mire, gargling in shock before Aphrodisia breathed a cloud of orange gases over the tiny Pegasus' face. Avalon's body went limp and numb, and Aphrodisia bared her fangs as the young Pegasus mare stared up at her blankly, drooling a little before the demon seized her by the head, eyes flickering as she rasped: “Help... big brother... help big brother... kill Cancer... go help big brother!”

Avalon was yanked into the air by one claw before the tiny Pegasus was simply flung like a dart by the enraged demon, mind still dazed... but then Avalon smashed bodily into Cancer's skull, and the sense was knocked back into her as Cancer howled in frustration, distracted by the bullet of the Pegasus bouncing off him before the tiny female hurriedly opened her wings and shot upwards when the destruction entity clawed at her, screaming: “Stupid bitch!”

Avalon cursed as she flew high into the air, and Cancer took a deep breath... but then Pinkamena's axe slashed down through a mess of fleshy, root-like cables that were feeding up into the monster from a pipeline, and the monster howled in fury, head snapping down as it released a cloud of black poison everywhere but in the direction of the Pegasus above. Pinkamena only grinned, however... then winced as she saw Aphrodisia plowing forwards in full demon form, mindlessly charging straight at Cancer before the pink-mare snarled as her eyes glowed, gritting her fangs as banded armor snapped and popped over her frame as her body expanded, giving in to both primal drives and maternal instinct to accelerate her transformation as she rasped: “Bad as your father...”

Aphrodisia leapt upwards, ripping her hooked claws into Cancer's body, yanking herself upwards as she grinned viciously, and the destruction entity snarled down at the demon climbing quickly up his chest before he roared, blasting her with both sound and poisonous bile. The demon winced and hissed in fury, but clung gamely on... before one of Cancer's claws smashed into her, making her scream before he hefted her into the air as he swatted at Antares with his other claw and hissed: “Stupid little toy!”

He squeezed her ferociously, crushing her armor, her ribs, her body, and Aphrodisia vomited blood as the glow faded from her eyes, the demon howling in misery. Cancer grinned, but then cursed when a blast of white flames smashed into his cheek, turning his eyes back towards Antares, distracted by the leather-winged unicorn: a mistake, as a moment later, Pinkamena leapt upwards in full demonic glory with her armor torn off and large, ashen-white wings propelling her high into the air with weapon at the ready before she dropped and chopped her axe down as hard as she could into the monster's wrist.

Cancer howled as dark mire and blood burst from the wound, fingers spasming, and Avalon seized Aphrodisia, tiny Pegasus grunting as she hauled the much-heavier body of the demon free, then let both it and herself drop backwards. She spun at the last moment, flapping her wings hard to slow their descent as Cancer glared after them, his eyes filled with rage and fury as the wound regenerated rapidly, snapping: “Cheating crowbait, I'll-”

And then Cancer cut himself off with a howl as the mining drill exploded, Hevatica hissing in pain from the blast she'd caused by superheating the liquid inside the drill. The monster twisted back and forth in agony as several large, dark-mire cables turned gray and brittle, before the monster roared in fury... then stared in horror as another explosion went up from the last remaining pump, the pistons squealing as Meadowlark winced away from sparks flying from grinding gears, the needle of her bracer buried through the metal and into the sensitive workings of the pump.

She yanked it back, then yelped and fell over when something blew up inside the machine and knocked several gears loose in a hail of metal fragments, and Cancer screamed in denial before he swung his claw towards the Pegasus, meaning to crush her... but both Antares and Avalon shot forwards and smashed into the side of his limb, shoving it out of the way. Instead, the monster almost overbalanced, bending as ashes and smoke burst up off his form, chunks of shale falling from the beast as he raved furiously: “It doesn't matter! This whole world is full of death and poison and I'll kill you all, I'll rip you all apart, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!”

Cancer roared, shoving himself backwards and arching his back, and the world around them quaked, vents of black poison blasting into the air as the wasteland shifted violently. Short, clawing waves of poison tore up from the ground, grasping at and battering them, and then Cancer seized his own head between his claws, leaning forwards and shrieking: “It hurts, it hurts, why you hurting me, chief? Why?”

A gargle, and then he rasped in an unholy, unnatural voice that sent psychic agony through the minds of all present, that turned the mire around the base of the monster into a nest of thorns and spikes and vicious claws: “All must bow to us. All must become one with the Void. Destruction is meaningless. Death is meaningless. Life is meaningless. Down, down, bring all down into darkness... kill them all...”

Antares cursed, staggering as some of his worst memories played through his mind and his eyes flicked back and forth: he saw Meadowlark, grasping at her head before she turned to the side and vomited. He watched as Avalon screamed in midair, seizing her skull, while Pinkamena clung to Aphrodisia, the demon looking almost gentle in her pain as Aphrodisia convulsed weakly in her mother's grip.

The young stallion gasped and looked up as Cancer rose his head, reaching out and seizing into the supports of the bridge around him, snapping one and cracking the other. The bridge trembled violently, as other supports gave way and became unsteady as the ground and reality itself continued to ripple, and Antares' sharp eyes flicked up over the structure before they locked on a high bar up above. And the young stallion forced himself to lunge upwards and forwards even as Cancer roared and vomited out a thick stream of poison, Antares howling as acidic black mist surrounded him, blinding him, burning him, worsening the echoing memories and sorrows in his mind...

But as he reached blindly up, as he flapped his wings desperately, he felt like something grabbed his hooves, yanked him back onto the right path as his eyes snapped open, and the young stallion burst out of the other side of the smoke before he shot forwards, horn glowing and forelegs extended, not daring to look back as something warmed his spirit and gave him a single crystal-clear moment of lucidity. He shot towards the bent, damaged crossbar, the keystone of the structure, and it was like for a moment he saw into the future: saw everything that was going to happen, knew precisely what to do, and felt the faith of his friends, his family... Prestige... guiding him onwards.

Antares slashed his horn outwards, ripping through the support bar as he covered his face with his forelegs, forcing himself to tear completely through it as he shot onwards. A groan went through the rail bridge above, tremors ripping through the structure before the young stallion arched his back and clenched his eyes shut, flying upwards as Cancer roared in frustration.

The monster's own voice shook the bridge as his claws dug against the support pillars, half-yanking one out of place as he snarled in fury... and the excess damage finally pushed the decaying bridge over the edge, the few remaining supports above snapping and sending several tons of steel and concrete collapsing through metal piping and rusted girders, Cancer staring for a moment before he screamed and tried to duck away.

Stone and metal smashed down over the Tyrant Wyrm, the avalanche crunching and tearing apart scales and flesh, shattering bones, knocking the monster back and forth faster than it could regenerate as it was battered violently by the hail. It half-fell backwards, leaning back on one shattered arm before a particularly large chunk of rock tore free from above, the boulder crashing into the creature's already cracked-apart breast and shattering it like glass as it bounced off, and Cancer screamed in agony before he stared down as a glowing, staring red eye was revealed inside of the cavern of the monster's body. It looked wildly back and forth, crimson light shining up out of the awful orb as mottled tendrils of flesh wildly twisted around it... before it stared upwards as Cancer half-rose his head in horror a moment before Antares plummeted from the sky and dove straight into the core.

There was a flash, and then Cancer threw his head back with a howl, the Tyrant Wyrm's body convulsing as all eyes stared up in shock at the beast; but Antares wasn't aware of that, or anything else. All he knew was that he'd followed his instincts... and now he was in some awful, endless darkness, a deep, immeasurable void, in which pulses of red light spread through every now and then from a source that was always out of sight...

Claws seized him, yanked him backwards and threw him to the invisible ground, and a moment later, Cancer was on top of him, snarling furiously: Antares shouted in surprise, staring in horror up at the goblinoid, mottled-white beast: in whatever hell they were trapped inside, the monstrosity was solid and physical, covered in ugly, slimy scales and with glowing, bulging red bug eyes, an emaciated body, gangly claws that grabbed wildly at Antares' throat. “I'll rip you apart, punk! I'll kill you!”

Antares swung a hoof up, and was rewarded with a scream from Cancer and a burst of green blood before the young stallion snarled and tore free of the monster's grasping claws, grabbing one of the beast's upper limbs and yanking it hard down on its side. Cancer cursed, then screamed again when Antares leapt on top of him, smashing his hooves back and forth into the destroyer's face as he shouted: “No, I'm going to stop you, I'm not going to let you lay another hoof on anyone, ever again!”

“You can't stop me, kid...” Cancer grinned viciously through his bloody muzzle as a claw reached up and caught Antares' hoof before it could hit him again, then he swung his other claw up and ripped a swathe down the young stallion's face, knocking him staggering backwards with a cry of pain. Antares hurriedly backed off as Cancer clawed his way up to a standing position, back hunched up, growling like an animal before he giggled insanely, then whispered: “No. There's no way you can stop me. Because you don't know me, you don't understand me, all you are is a weak little piece of trash with all your sniveling little emotions. You think you know what killing is, boy? You don't kill. You don't even euthanize. You gently lay those undeserving sons of bitches down to a nice little rest, that's the only killing you've ever done, ever grasped. You don't got what it takes to be a real killer.”

“No, no... you're wrong.” Antares shivered, shaking his head slowly before a snarl spread over his face, baring his fangs as he looked up and shouted, trembling: “No, you're the one who has no goddamn idea what it's like! Do you know what I want to do to you, Cancer? I want to rip you apart with my bare hooves, I want to savor the sound of your screams, I want to cut you, and hurt you, until I've made you feel every inch of pain you've made me feel... I want to put all the suffering you've done to others on your head, and then I want to double, treble, quadruple it! I want to cut you open and see what's inside you and rip it out! I want to torture you in ways that would make even a monster like you hide and cry in the goddamn corner...

“And I can't.” Antares trembled hard, fighting back tears, tremors racing through his body as he shook his head slowly. “Not because I don't want to... because I'm not like you. Because so much is expected of me. Because I can't disappoint my Mom and Dad, something else you'll never goddamn understand. But oh, Cancer... oh... I want to. I've thought about it. I've wished for it. And I hate the fact with all my goddamn heart that the only thing I can do, now that we're here, finally, at the end of this long road... is kill you.”

Antares reached up, rubbing slowly at his face with a hoof before he looked steadily across at Cancer, saying quietly: “I'm going to kill you to stop you, and it's a mercy you don't deserve. What you deserve is to be left alive in a place where every day you could be boiled, cut apart, and broken down until there was nothing left of you.”

“Tough little badass, aren't you?” Cancer mocked, and then the destruction entity grinned as he strode forwards, but Antares didn't flinch, not even when the monster reached up and seized him by the shoulders, leaning down tauntingly before he asked teasingly: “What's your name again, punk? Antares, right? I think I'll call you Ant. Because that's all you are... a little tiny insect who can't do nothing but follow the orders of Mommy Dearest, living out his days as nothing more but an expendable little drone. It fits you perfectly, Ant, 'cause that's what you are. A drone. A toy. A whelp who thinks way too highly of himself, but makes a great, crunchy little snack.”

Cancer leaned down, opening his jaws before he snarled when Antares shoved him firmly backwards, the destruction entity glaring at him before the monster's expression slowly faded at the calm, unaffected look on Antares' face. And then the monster's crimson eyes widened as the young stallion's horn began to glow with white energy, Cancer hesitantly taking a step backwards as Antares said quietly: “Actually, I've always kind of liked Aphrodisia's nickname for me.”

He leaned forwards, anchoring himself, drawing on memory and magic, power and faith, arcs of energy building in the air around the unicorn as he poured all his strength forwards into the spell as Cancer leaned backwards and began to shake his head wildly before the young stallion murmured: “She calls me 'Nova.'”

With that, Antares snapped his head backwards, clenching his eyes shut as he unleashed all his energy into one powerful blast of purification, and Cancer screamed in the darkness... as in reality, the monster roared miserably, arching its back as the red glow shining out of its core was swallowed up by a fierce white aura, rays of light shining into the sky before the Tyrant Wyrm's core exploded in a tremendous blast of sound and force.

Antares was sent hurtling free, his body badly charred and flopping wetly to the mire with a groan of agony, skidding along on his side as his eyes blinked blearily... and a moment later, a second shape smacked loudly to the rotten earth nearby, Cancer crashing down with a gargle, the beast deformed and mangled. He was almost as solid as he'd been in the vision, whimpering weakly as slime slowly spilled down from his body, his red eyes glowing as his jaw worked, the two laying almost side-by-side as they stared at each other for a few long moments as the monstrosity behind them collapsed.

Slowly, Cancer rose his head and forced his front limbs under him... and then he gave a pained grin even as Meadowlark ran to Antares' side, followed quickly by Avalon. Even Aphrodisia managed to drag herself forwards, joining the young stallion, protecting him despite their wounds, and Cancer stared at them, not understanding. And in that moment, Antares felt pity for the destruction entity... pity, and with it, mercy, as he slowly forced himself to sit up, his friends' presence giving him strength, reminding him of why he fought so hard... telling him that he had made the right choice. Helping remind him, again, of why he fought with honor, and trusted in the world even when it betrayed him, and put faith in his friends even more than he put faith in himself.

“Let go, Cancer. It's over. You've lost... go back to the same Void that you came from.” Antares said quietly, looking silently at the destruction entity, and Cancer grinned brokenly, weakly up at the stallion. He began to open his mouth, but before he could speak, the young stallion smiled faintly, murmuring quietly: “Or sure, go ahead. Sing a song. We'll all sing together, Cancer, one last chorus, one last lullaby, to put you to sleep. Maybe we can't destroy destruction, but you're not destruction. You're just a coward, a crappy flu virus, and a lousy musician.”

Cancer snarled weakly at this, then he shivered violently, gasping as gray began to spread upwards through his limbs, turning to soft-looking stone as he whimpered and looked down, before Antares closed his eyes and lowered his head, whispering: “It's over. And you should let go, because I'm letting go. Of you, and all the hate you filled me with, and all the disease... all the pain you caused me. You're already gone in my mind, so there's no more need... to hurt over what you did. You took so much away from me, away from all of us, but... it's over now. I can take pride in stopping you. I defeated you, and I want to finish it in a way that... is honorable. Honor above everything. Especially what I selfishly still want... but you didn't break me, and I won't give in.”

Antares looked away, and there was silence for a few moments before Cancer looked up and rasped weakly, as the red light in his eyes flickered and veins of gray spread upwards through his body: “I should have... blown you up instead of ripping you apart inside... should... should have melted your brain, but... you were immune to my disease, couldn't... couldn't kill you that way... and now I see why. Oh, honey... you're salvation, I'm destruction. You bring the good, I bring the bad, and together we should have danced, danced, danced the night away forever... so why... how the hell did you win, when I'm the poison to your antidote...”

“Because I had to win. Because I had reasons to win. Because I'm not like you... and I'm no savior.” Antares replied quietly, as Cancer snarled up at him, before the young stallion closed his eyes and smiled with faint bitterness before he murmured in soft melody:

“And at night's end, after stars have showered us with light,
We lay our enemies to sleep with honor, not with spite,
And here I ask unto all of thee to speak for them a prayer,
Whether or not their deeds in life were foul or fair,
Death is mercy, death is kind, but death is also absolute,
It brings a sleep even firmer than the hold of Yggdrasil's roots,
So wish upon the enemy good dreams, and Baldur's gentle sign,
For they are no longer enemy, but friends of both thee and mine.”

Cancer looked up at this... and then he grinned slowly, shaking his head in disgust before he whispered in a trembling voice, even as the light started to fade from his terrified eyes, the gray spread up through his goblinoid features: “Stupid goddamn punk... I'll... I'll be back...”

“No, you won't be, Cancer.” Antares replied almost gently, and then he smiled faintly as he closed his eyes. “And the most powerful revenge I can have on you, the most cruel and freeing thing I can do is to tell you here and now... I forgive you. Goodbye, Cancer.”

“You little... piece of...” Cancer snarled, raising his head before the monster whimpered, its jaws falling open... but it exhaled only ashes as it fell still and silent. Antares looked down as the red light faded slowly from the monster's glassy eyes, and then he closed his own, bowing his head forwards, as silence filled the air and the destruction entity finally returned to the emptiness that had spawned it forth.

The Confession Of Sins

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Chapter Thirty Seven: The Confession Of Sins
~BlackRoseRaven

They took a few hours to rest and recover, during which Antares spent a long time sitting quietly by himself up on top of the rail bridge, just staring out into the distance, thinking about things. They had lost three of Celestia's Yamato Guard, everyone had sustained moderate to serious injuries, but Antares understood that they were fortunate overall... even Celestia. She had almost died, but when Cancer had finally been destroyed, his disease had gone with him, and the illness had slowly faded from the ivory equine.

Antares lowered his head a bit, thinking quietly to himself... and then he smiled faintly, closing his eyes as he murmured: “You weren't there.”

“I know. It took me longer to catch up to you than I expected... I didn't know Cancer was lurking around until too late.” Allonym said quietly, as he dropped to sit down on the edge of the rail bridge before smiling a little, pointing down at the gathering of ponies. “But I did stop in to heal your friends and Celestia. Although I think she was working hard not to set me on fire and Discombobulation threw some mud at me.”

The Draconequus brushed at himself absently, and the young stallion laughed a little as he nodded slowly. Then there was silence for a few moments, before he looked up and asked finally: “So you really... didn't know?”

Allonym shook his head slowly, murmuring quietly: “In retrospect I should have, and I understand you being upset with me... but you're not for some reason, are you?” Allonym tilted his head with interest, absently fiddling with his cane. “Well, you seem a little peeved, but at the same time...”

“It was a chance to do things over, and do things right this time. And I did.” Antares laughed a little, glancing to the side and shaking his head slowly before he slowly looked up at the red sky above. “It hurt, and it was hard, and... I had to fight down instincts I didn't even know I had. But I did it, and we beat him... we stopped him, and we did it the right way.”

Allonym nodded slowly, and then the Draconequus looked up as well, saying softly: “I'll be accompanying you until the end of this journey now, Antares. I don't know what awaits us, but I do know that we have a long road ahead... but a boring one, too, I think. I hope, anyway... the last thing I want is to run into more Tyrant Wyrms. I have a feeling I wouldn't be all that much help against them.”

Antares only shrugged a little, and then he hesitated before glancing over at the Draconequus. Most of his bandaging had been removed and the worst damages had all healed, and the young stallion smiled a little before he hesitantly said: “Allonym, I'm... I'm glad you're here. I know we don't exactly always see eye-to-eye on things but your presence... does reassure me.”

“Yeah, well, it shouldn't. I'm usually a prelude to things getting bad, after all.” Allonym replied mildly, rubbing slowly at the underside of his muzzle before he drew his eyes down to the young stallion, laughing quietly: “Thanks, though, kid. Considering how selfish and all this is, that means a lot to me to hear.”

The young stallion nodded, and then he hesitated before he asked quietly: “Allonym... am I going to find my parents? Do you know if... if they're alive? If they're okay?”

“You'll find them, Antares, you've got everything you need. The biggest problem is the chasm ahead...” Allonym hesitated, then he shook his head slowly and murmured quietly: “Except no, I don't think that will prove a great difficulty after all. We have to go down, after all, if you're really intent on finding your parents... into the darkness, the depths of Clockwork World.”

Antares nodded slowly, and then he gazed silently down the bridge. They were both quiet as Allonym looked meditatively down, before both Allonym and Antares flinched as a voice asked quietly: “Can I join you?”

The Draconequus flailed a bit as he half-turned, only to slip off the edge with a yelp and plummet from the bridge as Antares stared down in shock. And then he winced as Allonym crashed loudly into the mire below, sending up a burst of sludge and goo as Meadowlark ran forwards to the edge of the structure, breathing hard. “I... I didn't mean to scare him off the bridge, I... oh god, do you think he's okay?”

Antares opened his mouth to respond... and then Allonym twitched a little far, far below, the young stallion's sharp eyes barely able to pick up on it before the Draconequus flopped around and yelled in a half-frustrated, half-miserable voice: “I think my everything's broken! Oh hell, why does it hurt so damn much?”

Antares sighed in relief as he sat back a bit, then he smiled lamely over at Meadowlark as she leaned forwards worriedly before the young stallion finally reached up and touched her shoulder, saying quietly: “He'll be okay. He's coming with us too, actually... and... Meadow, what are you doing up here? You're not usually... you know. Aerial.”

“I know, but... I wanted to see you.” Meadowlark sat back, looking nervously down at where Allonym was slowly picking himself up before she shook her head and sighed softly, fidgeting a little and offering an awkward smile over to the pony. “I just... I thought you should have someone around. I didn't know you were talking to Allonym...”

“It's okay. I... do need someone around, yeah. And Allonym is... it's always kind of weird with him, you know?” Antares glanced down at the chimerical creature, smiling a little before he shook his head slowly. “I guess he's kind of like my guide.”

Meadowlark nodded a bit, and then the two traded looks before she lowered her head a little, saying softly: “Antares, I'm... I wanna say that I'm sorry, again. For hurting you, and for... you know, not being more help against Cancer...”

“Meadow, you saved my life.” Antares said softly, looking over at her with a faint smile before he shook his head slowly. “And you destroyed one of those pumps by yourself, too... how did you do that?”

“Hornet Needles are made to pierce through armor if necessary to do an injection, that's all... Zecora said I should always carry an acid with me, just in case.” The Pegasus smiled a bit, glancing down and rubbing at her side slowly. “Acids, explosives, reagents and medical elixirs... there's so much that I have to balance carrying as part of my kit, you know?”

The Pegasus glanced down, then she shook her head slowly as she laughed a little. “Still, though, I... I am sorry, and I wish that I had done more. I wish that I was better, Antares, and I feel like I screwed up in not figuring out sooner that Cancer was actually there, inside you.” Meadowlark glanced down quietly. “I was the one who treated you, after all, and who was trying to help you. I know that not even Scarlet Sage found him in your bloodstream but... all the same. I... I should have known.”

Antares only shook his head slowly, smiling faintly as he murmured quietly: “It's okay, Meadow. It really is, there... not even I knew. If anyone should have known, I should have, but I didn't, and Allonym didn't and... you know.”

He quieted, looking down before shaking his head slowly and closing his eyes. “But Cancer's gone now, destroyed and defeated. And we can move on. We can push forwards, and find my parents, and soon it's all going to be over. We'll bring them back home, and everything will be okay again, and we'll finally have the time to pick up all the pieces and figure things out. Figure everything out.”

Meadowlark nodded slowly, hesitantly reaching over to take one of his hooves, and Antares squeezed it firmly as he smiled a little and closed his eyes. “I hope you're right, Antares. I really do. But I mean... don't take this the wrong way... will finding your parents really fix everything?”

“No, it won't. I know it won't.” Antares murmured after a moment, and then he smiled a little over at the Pegasus, shaking his head a little as he said quietly: “But it's a start, you know? And it's something I've been waiting ten years for, Meadow... they... they mean so much to me. Mom and Dad were... they were parents, and they were my friends, and I could always, always count on them. And when they're back, I... I know it's selfish, but I know a lot of the focus will go from people depending on me to... people will look up to them again. And I'll have them to guide me, in ways even Twilight hasn't been able to... I know how lucky I've been, but... I'm greedy, I guess.”

“That's not greedy, Antares, I understand. And... I'm happy for you, I am. I still hope, some days, that... my parents will...” Meadowlark quieted, and then she closed her eyes and shook her head slowly. Antares looked over at her silently, and then she slipped a little closer to him, squeezing his hoof between her own before she said softly: “I believe you, though. And I guess I know what you meant by... how things are going to be okay. I just... want to make sure that you aren't going to obsess or anything.”

“I know, Meadow. I... I remember how I was in the past, yeah, but I know that... we all have to come first. Before the mission, before even my parents. And honestly, I think that... if we'd come into Clockwork World and it had been awful... I would have ordered everyone to turn back if it was at all possible.” Antares smiled faintly after a moment, shaking his head slowly, and then he laughed a little before confessing: “Although... I might have wanted to go on alone.”

“That would be the obsessing I was worrying about, you idiot.” Meadowlark chided quietly, and Antares smiled a little as she looked across at him, before closing her eyes and silently dropping her head on his shoulder, asking hesitantly: “So... is... is he really dead?”

“No, I'm fine and well, thank you so much for your concern.” muttered a grumpy voice, and Antares and Meadowlark both winced before looking back at the sight of Allonym standing behind them, leaning heavily on his cane and splattered with mire and mud. He glowered at them, and Antares stared... then the young stallion began to giggle a bit despite himself, hurriedly trying to cover his muzzle as Meadowlark looked incredulously at the young stallion, then returned her own eyes to the muddy, glowering Draconequus... and couldn't help but start giggling herself.

“Oh yeah, laugh it up fuzzball, and you too, princess. I'd shove you both off the bridge but the point is moot due to your stupid wings.” Allonym grumbled, and then he limped forwards and poked Antares lightly in the back a few times with his cane, muttering: “Your wings are stupid. They're cheating. They shouldn't exist. They're retarded. Boo, I'm assuming this alicorn-styled character is clearly a Gary Stu of some kind, especially since he's such a nice guy.”

“What's wrong with my horn?” Antares Mīrus glanced up with surprise at this, and the Draconequus looked meditative for a few moments before he nodded wisely in understanding, carefully stepping past the young stallion to sit down with a grunt again at the edge of the rail bridge. “And usually Discombobulation is the one who does all the... references, I guess they are, right?”

Allonym nodded, grunting as he put the cane aside. “Yeah, but I'm a Draconequus, I can do that too. Besides, I use specific references from specific things. And you'll forgive me, I forgot the word 'alicorn' has a different meaning here than a lot of the other layers. You guys are all so... weird, you know that? You're really hard to work with.”

He paused, then glanced up and shrugged after a moment, murmuring: “But then again, I suppose I probably am myself, so I really shouldn't talk. Besides, like I remind myself now and then... I'm not the potter, only the potter's clay. Or maybe I'm just the tool through which the potter shapes his clay... that... you know, that thing that spins around.”

“A potter's wheel?” Meadowlark said curiously, and the Draconequus snapped his fingers and pointed at her, making a face as he rubbed at his head with his other hand.

“Precisely. I forget the simplest, stupidest words sometimes... the thesaurus is probably my best friend. You know, if I had friends.” Allonym said dryly, and then he glanced meditatively over at Antares as the young stallion smiled and opened his mouth, before the Draconequus rose a finger quickly. “Don't say it. For one thing, you wouldn't want me as a friend. For another thing, I think it would look really bad if I said 'oh, these ponies in this story are my best friends.'”

Allonym put a big, vapid grin on his face, eyes sparkling unnaturally, and Antares couldn't help but laugh and shake his head before the Draconequus returned to his usual dry expression. “It's funny that you get that, even if you don't entirely get what I'm talking about, or how being an Avatar works. Also, it's really not fun. I'm just glad that the ground is soft down there and I don't seem to break too easy. Although I have no doubt I'm going to hurt for a while.”

The Draconequus mumbled to himself, rolling his shoulders slowly before Meadowlark glanced up and said with a small smile: “Maybe you worry too much. Maybe you're thinking about what everyone else thinks too much. Maybe you need to just sit back, relax with us... your friends... and know that... you know, we're always here for you.”

Allonym looked over at her thoughtfully, and then he glanced down, fumbling in his jacket before producing his notebook and fountain pen. Both ponies looked curiously at the Draconequus as he jotted something quickly down, then smiled a little, glancing over whatever line he had just written before slamming the book closed when Antares tried to lean over to read it, saying curtly: “Mine. Not yours.”

Antares only shook his head slowly as Meadowlark laughed a little, and then the three quietly looked up towards the crimson sky above: three strange friends, but sharing a friendship that was all the better for it.

It took them a day and a half to cross the wasteland, moving at a slow and easy pace. In spite of the corruption still gnawing at them, Antares felt himself not nearly as bothered any longer by the corruption... although Celestia had pointed out at some point while they'd been talking about things, that maybe Cancer had been the entire reason they had reached Clockwork World in the first place. The monster had clearly absorbed the same corruption that made up Decretum... it wasn't so hard to imagine that he'd been what had locked onto the other end of the pulse that had been sent out, forming that tether Antares had described.

The young stallion had shivered at this thought, but then Celestia had awkwardly apologized for her comment and blamed her injuries and the atmosphere of where they were, saying she was letting things get to her. But as they stood at the edge of the wasteland, gazing down into a deep, seemingly-endless trench that led down into the darkness side-by-side, Antares couldn't help but marvel at how together she seemed, at how calm she was as she said quietly: “It's at least three kilometers deep, I can say that for certain... even with the weak light, with how wide it is, we'd be able to see the bottom if it was any shallower. Allonym, do you have specific estimates?”

Allonym glanced up moodily from where he was standing a few feet away, rubbing slowly at his side as Discombobulation leaned grumpily forwards beside the Avatar, only to be grouchily pushed back. “Personal space. But I'd say... ten kilometers, at least. This goes down into the Corruption Sea that runs all throughout the underbelly of Decretum. It stopped flowing a long time ago, and that corruption has basically hardened into one cystic mass, but... that just means that going down there will be... intense.”

Antares nodded nervously, swallowing a little before Celestia smiled faintly, shaking her head slowly as she looked moodily down into the darkness and murmured: “Cystic. A strange word to use, but I get the feeling that it's an apt word, too. This whole place... it feels...”

She shook her head slowly, then glanced hesitantly over her shoulder: the ponies and demons were in various states of health, both physically and mentally, and the march had taken a rough toll on the mortals, while the demons were visibly fighting to resist their primal drives thanks to the corruption in the air. Discombobulation and Allonym were the least affected now, although both of them complained a lot about the environment and everything else... except Antares thought that was fairly normal behavior from a Draconequus by now, from the way they acted.

The young stallion knew what Celestia was thinking, and he hesitated before looking over at her, not needing for her to ask, nor for him to phrase what he was answering as he said quietly: “Meadowlark, Avalon, Aphrodisia, Scarlet Sage, you, Scutum, Cowlick, and Allonym. And Pinkamena, I guess... I want the others to come too, but...”

“Yes, I agree.” Celestia glanced towards Discombobulation, who sighed grumpily and slumped, but he actually seemed relieved. All the same, Celestia smiled a little, saying quietly: “I'll make it up to you, Bob. We can have some quiet time once we get back home, and do anything you like.”

“Anything I like is nothing you'd like. Better we do something I'll be moderately okay with and you'll enjoy. That's the closest to winning any couple can get.” Discombobulation muttered, and then he glowered over at Allonym. “I just wish that we didn't have to put up with this tag-along over here. He's a third wheel. Which is much less useful than a fifth wheel, although I don't entirely fathom the reasoning behind that.”

“Some spares are better than others. Think of bowling, or... you know, that other sport. Or keys. And some spares are just useless, like... you.” Allonym replied kindly, and Discombobulation glowered at him, the two Draconequus huffing at each other before the Avatar added in a more serious voice: “You got the flares, right?”

“If something goes wrong, I'll send up a signal. But don't worry, I recognize that if captured by the enemy, the CIA will deny all knowledge of my existence and involvement in the events.” Discombobulation replied mildly, and then he swung up his metal fist and Allonym tapped it with the handle of his cane, the two smiling at each other for a brief moment. “Take care of Tia.”

Celestia blushed a little at this, but she smiled warmly as Allonym snorted in amusement, turning to look back into the trench as he muttered: “Oh yeah, because she really needs so much protecting. Still, very cute, Bob. I'm sure the readers will just eat that up.”

“Oh, yes, we do have an audience, don't we?” Discombobulation remarked mildly, glancing up towards the crimson sky, and then he added pleasantly: “And just to make sure no one gets the wrong idea and thinks that I actually like you...”

With that, the Draconequus rose his giraffe leg and firmly booted Allonym in the rear, kicking the Avatar off the edge of the pit and sending him plummeting into the darkness with a yell of frustration as the others leaned forwards to stare in shock. Then Antares glared up at Discombobulation, but the Draconequus only polished his metal fingers against his chest, saying mildly: “Oh, don't get your panties in a twist. He'll be perfectly fine, I checked his skill sets. He's ninety-five percent resistant to falling damage. Plus there's that cheat you can do, like in that game with the fighting anime chick with the purple hair, where you hit the flip button just before you hit the ground and you don't die.”

Celestia only sighed softly, shaking her head slowly before she looked back and forth, then finally gestured hesitantly towards what looked like a natural step leading down to several large rifts in the mountainside, forming a half-tunnel, half-ramp that stretched down towards the darkness. “We might be able to get down through there. Avalon will have to scout ahead for us as we move. Go get your group together, Antares, I'll take a look ahead and see what I can see.”

Antares nodded slowly as Celestia spread her wings, leaping forwards to glide smoothly into the chasm, and then the young stallion turned and made his way quietly back towards the group. As expected, there was some complaining, some grumbling... but surprisingly, Pinkamena shook her head and said moodily: “No, I'll wait here. You guys go ahead without me.”

The young stallion – and several others – stared at her for a few moments, and then Pinkamena snorted, shrugging and looking awkwardly away as she mumbled: “Oh what the hell does it matter, I have no reputation left anyway. I... just want to avoid... stupid emotional reunions, that's all.”

For a few moments, Antares only studied her: the way her eyes turned away, the faint tinge of red in her grayish cheeks, the language of her body. And finally, he had simply walked over and hugged her, and Pinkamena threw her head back and groaned, muttering: “Oh, this is great. Get off me, tumor, or I'll throw you over that cliff.”

Not wanting to test her patience, Antares decided it was best to leave the demon alone, but he did trade a quick smile with her, meeting her eyes as he pulled away before assembling the others. Aphrodisia instead walked over to talk with her mother, and Pinkamena pointedly turned her back on the group as she spoke gently and tenderly to her daughter, stroking her mane soothingly: they were almost the same size, both looked like adult mares and demons... but it was clearer than ever how young Apps really was, just as easy as it was to see how truly deeply Pinkamena cared for her daughter.

They were ready in only twenty minutes: Antares had expected to take much longer to get everyone settled and figure out who should be in charge and all the other business to attend to, but with Pinkamena staying behind, everyone naturally looked at her as the leader of the little group. Scarlet Sage and Apple Bloom didn't like being separated, but it was also practical: thanks to the blood link between the wives, they would be able to share information with each other in case something bad happened.

They wasted little time: once everyone was ready, Celestia had returned from scouting, and the supplies had been divided between the groups, Antares conferred with the winged unicorn and the demon for a few moments to get a hopeful schedule into place. If they weren't back within three days, Pinkamena would come looking for them, and they would try and keep in contact through Apple Bloom and Scarlet Sage's link... although it wasn't known how great a distance they could sustain that over, and how Clockwork World's hostile environment would affect their mental connection.

And then they parted ways, and it was harder than Antares had expected, to leave this group of ponies behind. With his own small team, he knew that they would move faster, and it would be safer... but at the same time, he still felt responsible for the others, and knew that if anything happened it would be his fault. He kept looking back over his shoulder, and Celestia and Meadowlark could only do so much to reassure him as Scarlet Sage, Cowlick, Scutum and Aphrodisia trailed behind, and Avalon sailed slowly through the air above their heads.

But the young stallion was forced to put all his attention forwards as they made their way down the crumbled stone steps, and then onto the ramping pass leading down, Antares shivering a bit at how uneven and damaged everything seemed. Celestia, Avalon, Scarlet Sage and Meadowlark were all keeping to the air as much as they could, to avoid putting too much weight on the cracked rock floor, and Scutum, Aphrodisia and Cowlick moved in single file at a good distance from each other, with Antares far ahead, looking back and forth and pointing out anything that looked particularly-unsteady to his sharp eyes.

Thankfully, the pass became a little more solid after an hour or so of travel downwards... but Antares was starting to get nervous about how deep they had descended. It was dark down here, and yet as they went lower and lower into the monumental abyss, he was aware that the blackness at the bottom of the pit seemed... almost glowing. Like it had its own dark radiance, and that thought made him shiver. He, Celestia, and Scutum lit the way with their horns, while Avalon did short dives every now and then, but so far she had failed to reach the bottom.

It took them almost five hours of travel before Avalon dove down... and didn't come back up. Antares halted the group nervously, looking over the edge of the pit, breathing hard as seconds passed into almost a minute before he whispered in a voice that seemed horribly loud in the still, dark silence around them: “Aviator?”

The quiet continued to roll outwards... and then there was a sound from ahead, and Antares looked up in surprise as steps approached calmly up the ramp. For a wild moment, he felt paranoia, he imagined that some grisly, horrific thing was approaching, but a moment later Avalon and Allonym emerged from the thick shadows, the young Pegasus calling: “Hey, I found bottom, and this guy! Sound is... weird down here, though. Everything feels muffled...”

Antares winced: for him, every word she spoke smashed through his mind and made him terrified that she was going to trigger an avalanche from the unstable cliff walls above, but then Allonym shook his head and said quietly: “You'll be glad to know we're not very far. But the walk through the Corruption Sea is going to be... unpleasant.”

“Yeah, you touch it and it's... it's so much more powerful down here than up there.” Avalon murmured after a moment, dropping her head forwards and giving a bit of a shiver before she cleared her throat and looked up quietly. “But it's different, too. It's not better or worse, it's... different, and heavier and... I guess you'll see.”

Allonym nodded slowly, rubbing moodily at his mire-splattered clothing as the others assembled behind Antares, before the Draconequus said quietly: “What I find helps when the madness comes is to recite a little something in my mind. A mantra, a prayer, a meditation. Just keep it running through your head: it's hard to start at first, but once you get the momentum going, it'll help.”

The others nodded, and then Allonym turned and spun his cane at his side before catching it by the neck and resting it across his shoulders. He led them down the ramp as Antares started forwards, and Avalon hopped into the air, flying just above the heads of her friends as the Draconequus murmured softly: “Due north. We'll be passing into deep darkness, beneath the skin of Clockwork World, but only for a little while. For now we stand in an open wound, but soon enough... you'll be missing that red sky above.”

Antares shivered a little at this, then he looked down in surprise as he stepped off stone and onto the strange texture of dark murk, shivering a little before he took another step forwards as Allonym turned, putting the stone wall to his back as the group made their way off the bottom of the ramp and onto the Corruption Sea. And while at first Antares felt only a gradual build of pressure, after a few steps he began to feel what Avalon had said: how it was different, and it was heavier.

He heard voices whispering in his head, and felt memories flooding through his mind that he didn't entirely recognize... he felt alien in his own body, and something pulsing through his blood that he had never excepted to be there. He felt like he belonged here, but he was unwanted as well; the exile and outcast who had returned to his dark homeland.

Aphrodisia was shivering, and Celestia had her own eyes closed as she walked just behind them: and as Antares looked back and forth, he realized that again, he and his friends were in the lead. Allonym had dropped back beside Celestia, and the young stallion was flanked by his cousin and Meadowlark, while Avalon sailed slowly above them, cringing and hugging herself. And in the back, Scutum and Cowlick were bringing up the rear, while Scarlet Sage had her head bowed low and was unevenly pacing beside Celestia.

He looked over his shoulder at his big sister, and she opened her red eyes to gaze back at him silently before whispering: “I've always felt I could never be good enough for them. No matter how smart I am, or how strong, Antares... I'm so different from Mom and Dad. But you can be everything they wanted to be... it scared me. I never feared being replaced... I was scared I was a waste of their time...”

“Mommy and Daddy are so strong... I want to be just like them, but... I'm weaker. I'm more demon than Mommy is... more animal... nothing but sick primal drives...” Aphrodisia murmured, trembling weakly as she shook her head slowly. “And I want that. I want power and pleasure and nothing else, even if I'm so scared of what that means I'm going to become...”

“I miss Prestige, and I wish you had her back, Antares... but part of me was happy when she died. A sad, selfish part of me that would do anything for the love I've always been cheated out of...” Meadowlark murmured, and Antares clenched his eyes shut... yet at the same time, he understood. He could hear the agony in Meadow's words, as she gave a hitching sob. “What kind of person am I, though, to think like that? To be that way...”

Scutum's voice came next, saying quietly: “When Prestige died... when I heard what happened, part of me thought it was for the best. Evidence... erased. No marred honor. But then I realized... to think like that, even in the darkest part of me, the coldest, cruelest part of me... that means I must have no honor at all...”

Cowlick laughed dryly, whispering: “That ain't nothin' bad. I've always been jealous of my own goddamn son... and the sick thing is I still am. He died in a way that I never will... sure, I'll go down fighting, but it'll be screaming, probably half-drunk or high. I'm a coward. I'm unwell. And I lash out all the goddamn time at the people who don't deserve it... I don't know why Ross sticks with me, he could do better. He could find someone who loves him more... he deserves that.”

“I wish sometimes... my family was more normal. I look at my Dad and I... get scared sometimes, does that mean me, I'm... going to want.... am I supposed to be, because...” Avalon shivered and looked up at the crescent of red sky in the distance high above, shaking her head slowly. “No. I know it doesn't work like that, but all the same some part of me just gets so upset but I know I'm not supposed to bring it up. And everypony is always judging me... I don't want to be judged, I just want to be me...”

“Freedom...” Celestia murmured, closing her eyes before she dropped her head forwards, saying quietly: “I dream of freedom all the time... and I want to reclaim all my old habits, even if I know... none of them were particularly healthy. I want to drown myself in the battlefield and... other things. And I want to stop smiling and speaking gently: I want to raise my weapons high and simply bring my wrath down on those who continue to insult my siblings... my sister and my brother, who I will do anything to have back... anything at all, anything...”

“We're going to get Mom and Dad back... we're going to save them, no matter what. We... we just need to keep pushing forwards.” Antares whispered, nodding slowly, breathing a little harder as he looked ahead and trembled: “I'm not worthy of being your leader. I'm not who any of you think I am, I... I'll never live up to what my parents accomplished. But that's why I'm so determined to save them and why I need you guys to listen to me right now and just keep marching ahead... please, please, we can get there... we can do this... and when we find them, they can make us safe... they'll make me safe...”

Tremors ran through the group as Allonym closed his eyes and shook his head slowly, before he murmured: “Chin up, ponies... we all have that dark space inside ourselves, but each and every one of you is capable of pushing through this. Tear down your mental barriers, breathe in and out, keep moving forwards... we're close to the end. One way or another, we're almost at the very end of everything.”

Allonym breathed slowly in and out, and then he shifted his cane up to cradle in one arm, digging in his jacket with trembling hands before he pulled out one of his large, black cans. He popped it open, then stared down into the fizz as trembles ran through the ponies present, before the Draconequus whispered: “God grant me serenity... to accept the things I cannot change... the courage to change the things I can... and the wisdom to know the difference...”

“God isn't here.” Celestia murmured, her head lowered, and Allonym laughed faintly beside her with a slow nod in agreement.

“Yes... thankfully, the god of this world is long gone. But I prefer to think of 'god' as just a metaphor... this isn't the time or place for a theological discussion though, Celestia.” Allonym murmured, and he took a deep swig of his energy drink before holding it out to the winged unicorn, who glanced up in surprise. “Pass it around.”

One-by-one, ponies drank, pace slowing so they could share it out before Allonym tossed the empty can away when it came back to him, leaving it sitting like a lonely landmark in the strange, thrumming mire. The act of passing around the can had helped more than the actual cherry-flavored liquid, and as the group strode onwards, Antares finally asked quietly: “What does that prayer mean?”

“It means some things you can't fix, but you can deal with it being broken and not make it any worse than it already is.” Allonym murmured, lowering his head forwards as he rubbed slowly at his face. “It's a reminder and a meditation. It's... a lot of things.”

There was silence as they continued onwards, and then Antares shivered and looked up as the darkness became heavier around them... and yet all the same, no one had any trouble seeing what was around them. It was like there was some kind of black luminescence in the air, irradiating this dark underworld even as the sky was blocked out by a ceiling of jutting stone above, held in place by both natural columns of rock extending up around them, and enormous, synthetic pillars of steel.

They walked onwards, all of them shivering a little, feeling the corruption flowing through them, trying to bring out their darkest selves, their deepest urges. And Antares could only breathe hard and try to focus on remembering the meditation that Allonym had spoken, and on the fact that up ahead, he knew his parents were waiting.

They walked onwards, until ahead, Antares saw a gleam... and his eyes widened slowly at the sight of a circle of silent radiance ahead, like a spotlight shining down from an invisible lamp above. There was nothing to cast that glow, and yet all the same it was there, making the pieces of stone and metal buried in an almost perfect circle in the mire gleam and twinkle silently. Here, the mire had turned almost to black crystal, frozen in mid-ripple as if some massive force had passed through it, and Antares felt his breath catch in his throat as he knew that here, this was where his parents were. He had found where they were kept secret, kept safe... and now he only had to free them. Free them from beneath the rubble, free them from...

Antares strode slowly forwards as the others stayed back, even Allonym... and then the young stallion looked slowly down into the crystal, and trembled as he realized the radiance wasn't coming from above, from the stony shaft above their heads that was clogged with metal and debris and other garbage... but below. Below, inside the crystal, where two shapes were frozen forever in time together, forming a strange S-shape that looked as if some incredible force had tried to tear it apart in the center... but he could see that all the same, Scrivener Blooms and Luna Brynhild still reached for each other, still clung tenaciously, if by but a single hoof...

The young stallion breathed hard, staring down into the mire. The light was shimmering up from below from pieces of glowing gemstone that had been trapped in the crystalline corruption around them, and the young stallion trembled before he began to hammer furiously at the ground with his hooves. But he wasn't able to do anything, wasn't able to leave more than a crack in the surface of the crystallized corruption before he leaned down and howled: “Mom! Dad! I'm here, I'm here to save you!”

“Stop, Antares. Stop.” Allonym said gently, and the young stallion looked over his shoulder, trembling, as the Draconequus and Celestia approached with Scarlet Sage. The Pegasus was staring down with despair into the crystal, and tears slid down Celestia's face as Allonym closed his eyes and bowed his head forwards. “I'm sorry.”

“Sorry? Why? We... we found them! They're okay, they're gonna be okay, we just have to get them out of there and I know they'll be okay!” Antares replied sharply, sounding almost hysterical as he breathed hard in and out, his eyes glowing fervently up at the Draconequus. “I know, use... use your powers! Just make the crystal weaker, or... help them wake up, or...”

“Antares... Luna and Scrivener... my sister, my brother...” Celestia trembled, tears spilling down her face as she stared down into the crystal, at the sight of the two frozen forever, image marred only by the faintest spiderweb of cracks. “I'm so sorry. But they are not... going to wake up.”

“Little brother, you... you did everything you could. Mom and Dad...” Scarlet Sage clenched her eyes shut, biting back a sob as she turned her head away, whispering: “I love you, Mommy, Daddy. I love you so much...”

“You're... no! No, they're okay!” Antares shouted, and he looked desperately past them, at the line of friends, Scutum, and Cowlick for reassurance. “They're okay! We can get them out of there, I know we can, please... please... oh, oh please...”

Allonym shook his head silently as Celestia stepped forwards and touched Antares' shoulder, then looked silently down into the dark crystal, her tears pattering down over the corruption as she said quietly: “Let's spend a while with them here, Antares... and we can talk, and I'll... take care of you. We... know what happened now, at least. It will hurt, but... we'll keep them alive in our hearts and-”

“I won't come this far to lose them! To turn back, not when they have to be alive, they have to be alive, I have to save them!” Antares almost screamed, and Celestia looked miserably at the young stallion as Allonym only sighed softly, turning away. The Draconequus gently stroked through Scarlet Sage's mane as he passed, and the Pegasus lowered her head, trembling before she began to cry quietly, even as Antares shook his head wildly and cried out: “I have to save them!”

“Stop, Antares... please... please stop...” Celestia whispered, and it was how her voice was almost meek, how she was pleading with him, not ordering, not at all her usual self, that made Antares look weakly up as the ivory mare trembled. “I don't want this either. I don't want to accept the truth but Antares, they are... we can't do anything for them...”

“Yes we can! I'll prove it!” Antares reached up, yanking off his coronet before he fumbled wildly at his armor, and Celestia only watched mutely as Scarlet Sage continued to cry. Antares wrestled with his breastplate, tears in his own eyes before he tore it off, and a book flopped free... and halfway back towards the waiting, miserable-looking line of ponies, Allonym's eyes widened before he spun around as Antares ripped this open.

A single, strangely-glowing card fluttered out, and Celestia stared down at this in surprise as Antares yanked it up, even as Allonym whirled around and rose a hand, shouting: “Stop, Antares! Don't do it, you have no idea what-”

“I'm going to save them! I have to save them, and no one is going to stop me!” Antares snapped furiously back, his eyes burning with madness and devotion and crazed love. But all the same, for a moment, he hesitated as he stared down at the card: a card that contained the powers of a defeated Jötnar, a miracle and a wish disguised as nothing more than a playing card. Its powers were unfathomable, and two of these had been enough to restore all the souls that Luna and Scrivener had managed to save once upon a time... Antares thought it was only fitting that they deserved to be saved by this last card. Thought that his parents deserved this miracle, this wish... as much as he deserved to not have to suffer losing yet more loved ones to Fate's cruel twists and games.

“Stop him! Don't let him do it!” Allonym said frantically, but Scarlet Sage only looked up disbelievingly, not processing what was going on, as Celestia looked up hollowly for a moment, gazing across at Allonym... and when the Draconequus started forwards, the ivory mare stepped into his path. She looked up at him silently, almost imploringly, and he stared back in surprise before whispering: “No. You don't understand.”

And then Antares closed his eyes and pulled the card close, shouting in a raw, broken voice: “Free my parents! Free Luna Brynhild and Scrivener Blooms! Save them, free them, bring them back to me, please, please, oh please!”

The card glowed in his embrace, becoming a point of white light in his forelegs before he was knocked sprawling by a shockwave of force, staring up in shock as the radiance made the world rumble, blinded him and everyone else as Allonym staggered and Celestia looked over her shoulder desperately, staring into the white light. The others, too, could only watch as the light faded slowly, gradually... leaving Antares panting weakly, his mind sizzling and vulnerable, whimpering like a child as he stared at the crystalline floor.

There was silence... and then cracks tore through the ground, trembles rumbling through the world as Allonym cursed before the Draconequus grabbed at his face and simply vanished from the spot. But Antares didn't care: he didn't care about anything except what was happening right in front of him, as chunks of crystal were knocked into the air and steam and smoke vented up out of the ground, the young stallion laughing almost hysterically, a wide smile spreading over his face as he half-fell forwards and cried out: “Mom! Dad! Mommy, Daddy, I'm here, come on, come on!”

A hoof smashed out of the ground as black corruption exploded upwards, Antares wincing back in shock before a body armored in blue leather and cobalt plating yanked itself out of the crystallized corruption, a mane that rippled and twisted like blue fire snapping backwards as her fanged jaw grinned. Her sapphire coat seemed to ripple as her eyes glowed like ivory spotlights, and Antares' breath caught in his throat as the winged unicorn pulled herself up out of the hole. Her beautiful, woven vine collar was tight around her neck, and a black pearl rested in a silver hollow attached to the front of this, the black stone engraved with the gorgeous image of a rose blossom.

A moment later, a second bulky form pulled itself upwards: a charcoal-coated earth pony wearing cracked and damaged armor, a broken piece of piping sticking up out of his back as the large, imposing figure stood slowly up. His sockets blazed like pits of sapphire flame, ragged white mane hanging over a face marred by a hoof-shaped scar before he closed his eyes and simply rolled his shoulders, and the broken length of pipe tore free in a splatter of not blood, but dark, liquid corruption. Around his neck was a collar of silver and platinum, and inset into the front of this was a crescent moon formed from slices of white pearl and black onyx: the match to the collar that the winged unicorn wore.

Luna Brynhild and Scrivener Blooms both bowed their heads forwards, then arched their backs at the same time as the tall, proud horn standing from Luna's skull lit up with dark radiance when her own eyes closed... and then a shockwave pulsed through the area, almost knocking Antares off his hooves as he stared up at his parents with respect and love and adoration... and a deep twist of fear that ran through his stomach, the young stallion trembling weakly before he whispered: “Mom, Dad...”

Finally, the two ponies opened their eyes again, before frowning and trembling once... and they both slumped as the strange glows faded, as Luna's mane and tail became ephemeral, trapped starlight instead of ravaging blue fire, and she cursed weakly as she slumped, midnight-cyan eyes that were the same beautiful blue-green as her son's blinking rapidly. Scrivener groaned as well, dropping his head forwards as his chestnut irises opened and looked stupidly around... but then he laughed weakly as Luna slowly looked up and stared at Antares, then at Celestia, and Scarlet Sage...

“Oh... my family!” Luna whispered, and then a radiant smile spread over her face the sapphire winged unicorn leapt forwards and almost tackled Antares, the young stallion laughing brightly as they embraced, while Scarlet Sage leapt to her hooves and towards her father, Scrivener catching her and hugging her fiercely as he gave his own warm, surprised smile. “Scrivy, oh, Scrivy, look at how they have grown! All that time in darkness, and now here we are, saved by our beloved family... and Celestia, oh, Celestia!”

Celestia was smiling widely, her amethyst eyes glowing, and Luna and Scrivener both gazed towards the ivory winged unicorn before Scrivener said quietly, bowing his head forwards as he stroked lovingly through his daughter's mane as she clung to him: “We... we're sorry we let you down. But we always had faith that one day... we'd be together again.”

“We are, we are... I...” Celestia laughed, staring back and forth in awe and adoration, still looking both amazed and ecstatic before Scrivy and Luna both gently pulled away from their children to stride quickly over to her, and the three traded a tight, firm embrace. Antares could only stare, smiling widely, his eyes almost glowing with happiness before he laughed and ran forwards as Scarlet Sage leapt up and sailed across the hole, rejoining their parents in a tight group hug as Luna and Scrivener both laughed.

The others came forwards, and the two revived ponies gazed with awe at how the foals had grown, surprise at Scutum, and softened when Cowlick said softly that she was here in Rusty's place, understanding. Then the two gazed back at their son, as Antares looked up at them, feeling like a small child again, and here he was: he was with his parents, who were heroes, who could do anything in the world – no, anything in the universe! – and who were going to take care of him now as Luna kissed his forehead gently, and Scrivener hugged him tightly. He had succeeded, and everything was safe.

And yet even as Antares and Celestia and Scarlet Sage welcomed and lavished attention on the returned Luna and Scrivener and seemed to forget about everypony else, the other five ponies couldn't deny the feeling of apprehension they all got as Scrivener and Luna preened like king and queen, smiling lovingly and benevolently over their family. It was beautiful, and heartwarming... and yet all the same, something felt terribly, terribly wrong.

Eternal Freedom

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Chapter Thirty Eight: Eternal Freedom
~BlackRoseRaven

Clockwork World had offered no further danger, and Scrivener and Luna had both been exhausted, but recovered quickly. The corruption didn't bother them... in fact, with them present, the dark world seemed to take on a different kind of atmosphere, like it was responding to the two ponies, and obeyed them on instinct.

They rested and talked for a while, checking over each other, but Luna and Scrivener had returned in full health... only tired from what they had experienced, and a little... distant. But they treated their family with adoration and love, and Antares basked in their presence as Celestia recounted some of the events that had led up to this: she wanted to wait until they were all safely back in Equestria to tell the whole story.

They made their way back through the Corruption Sea once everyone felt ready, and Antares had eyes only for his parents still, almost ignoring his friends, constantly running up to his mother or father or slipping between them as they strode calmly behind Celestia, and smiled indulgently at their son as he acted like a silly foal. Every now and them, he'd impulsively hug one of his parents... and they'd always hug him back, and nuzzle him, kiss his forehead, rub his back, compliment him or reassure him. It was everything Antares had craved to have... and the joy he felt over it was indescribable.

It took them longer to make their way back up to the surface than it had to descend into the trench, Luna and Scrivener complaining every now and then, but it always made Celestia smile, and relaxed the others. They seemed the same they had always been... or at least, close enough. There was still... something... that felt off, felt a little strange, but the ponies were trying to disregard it... and when they eventually did manage to reach the campsite above and found everyone waiting for them, it became far easier to push past any worried feelings when Pinkamena stormed up to Scrivener and punched him in the face, knocking him flat as she shouted furiously: “You stupid jackass crowbait!”

Scrivener looked dumbly up at her from the mire, laying on his back in his damaged, black and silver armor as Luna giggled stupidly despite the fact that with the soul-link that existed between her and her husband, she felt everything he did... before she wheezed in pain even as she continued to take obvious amusement in Scrivener's plight when Pinkamena tackled the earth pony into the ground and rolled violently several times with him, beginning to pummel him viciously as Scrivener howled apologies and excuses.

Aphrodisia giggled a little herself, tilting her head with a bright smile as Meadowlark and Avalon only stared, before the young demon chirped: “They really must be best friends! Mommy only ever beats on Daddy like that.”

“Oh aye, they are the very best! And friends, 'tis so wonderful to see so many of thee here, that so many ponies felt-” And then Luna's head snapped to the side even as she turned, stumbling with a wheeze when Pinkamena smashed a particularly-vicious hook across Scrivy's face, the earth pony gargling as black mire burst from his wounded jaw.

Pinkamena seized him by the throat, then frowned at this before she leaned down... and slowly, she licked up along the earth pony's torn lip, Scrivener and others staring at her before the demon licked her own lips slowly as she closed her eyes and gave a soft sigh of pleasure. “I'd almost forgotten. You're still full of that delicious dark chocolate sauce, huh? That just makes me want to beat on you even more.”

“Please don't. This is not precisely the welcome back party I'd hoped for. Although... it is what I expected from you, yes.” Scrivener said sourly, and then he smiled suddenly before reaching up and touching Pinkamena's face, saying quietly: “I'm glad to see you.”

Pinkamena blushed a bit, then grumbled and punched Scrivener in the nose, Luna's own head twitching before she wrinkled up her muzzle and blinked several times as Scrivener groaned and grabbed at his face. Then the Devourer demon shoved herself off the earth pony, glowering over her shoulder and shouting: “They're back! Say hi! Get over it! When the hell is that stupid Bifrost going to be recharged so we can go home...”

“Soon, Pinkamena, we'll be able to open it soon.” Celestia said gently, and then she smiled warmly as Scrivy slowly picked himself up, rubbing absently at his face as the others crowded in. “But yes. It was very close, but my sister and brother... they've returned. All thanks to their son, Antares Mīrus.”

Antares smiled and blushed, shrugging as Luna gazed lovingly over at her child, and ponies crowded in to welcome then and talk with them. The young stallion always lingered nearby, though, gazing warmly over at his parents, listening to every word they spoke and simply staring at them, watching them, admiring them.

Celestia was almost the same, and while the ponies celebrated and forced away the doomsday atmosphere of Clockwork World, as the initial bright flares of joy faded slightly into warm acceptance, many of them couldn't help but note things here and there that didn't add up, or that felt... strange. How even as Antares acted almost childlike, Luna especially seemed to encourage it, snuggling her son like he was a colt instead of a growing stallion, stroking through his mane, cooing compliments. Celestia, too, seemed nearly submissive to their desires, and Luna and Scrivener both almost acted like they were glad to take advantage of this, having her do little things for them, patronizing her a little, even pulling her close not just for a hug or affection, but almost like a beloved pet.

But maybe it was just paranoia, and the way reality was harsher here: maybe it was because almost ten years had passed, and Luna and Scrivener had been frozen beneath a sea of corruption for all that time, deaf to the universe. There were a thousand possibilities, and no one wanted to speak out against them, especially right now.

The Bifrost was opened as soon as possible after several days of simply camping at the edge of the trench, and Luna and Scrivener headed the charge up the rainbow bridge, and back home, with Antares running between his parents and Celestia following just behind. The feeling was more than triumph, more than victory; it was like every action, every breath, had meaning behind it, and added to the overwhelming feeling of accomplishment that filled the air.

They had done it: and when they ripped out the other side of the tunnel and charged down the bridge into the fields outside of Ponyville, Luna and Scrivener both cried out in joy at the sight of their beloved village, at the blue sky above, at the green grasses beneath their hooves. And they didn't stop, didn't slow, Antares laughing in delight and following eagerly as his parents bolted over the ground and the Nibelung gaped in amazement from their posts at the gates ahead.

Scrivener and Luna ran into Ponyville, and ponies stopped, stared, cheered at the sight of the two, yells and calls rising through the air as the two sprinted through the village. They headed straight to the library, and the door was flung open just as they began to cross the square, Twilight stumbling out with her collar around her neck and studs in her ears as she looked up with untold, unmatched joy before both ponies all-but-plowed into her, Scrivener and Luna almost crushing the Lich in their embrace as she clung tightly back to them, whispering: “I knew you'd be back. I always knew that if you didn't come back, Antares would bring you back... I'm so glad, I'm so glad, I... I... I'm so happy...”

“Yes, Twilight, we've returned...” Luna said softly, and then she smiled warmly over the Lich, who blushed deeply: she was still in a rough, almost half-dead state, and yet neither Luna nor Scrivener flinched away, looked at her with anything except compassion and love as Antares beamed happily at the three.

Then both ponies looked up curiously as Burning Desire strode out of the library, smiling faintly as Twilight blushed deeply and turned to gesture at the fiery stallion, saying awkwardly: “This is... this is Burning Desire. He... he helped me a lot, and... I owe him a lot and... we're...”

“Antares and Celestia told us all about you.” Scrivener said softly, and then he smiled as he pulled away from Twilight, even as Luna continued to rest with a foreleg around the Lich's shoulders, holding her close, smiling... and yet her eyes gleamed strangely, she seemed almost possessive as the earth pony approached the demon and said quietly: “We want to thank you. You've done a lot for us by taking care of Twilight, by watching out for our son... and we want you to know we're not going to forget that, and we'll find a way to return the favor.”

“I... thank you. Glad to have kept the seat warm.” Burning Desire said after a moment, unable to keep all the bitterness out of his voice as he looked silently towards Twilight, who blushed and lowered her head before the fiery stallion cleared his throat and lowered his head. “I apologize. I should go...”

“Antares, why don't you go with Burning Desire? Luna and I will catch up later, we're... eager to talk more with you. We just have something we have to do first... you know, apart from getting out of our armor.” Scrivener said softly, and Burning Desire looked up awkwardly before the stallions' eyes met, and the charcoal earth pony insisted gently: “Please. It would be good for you both, I think.”

“I... I suppose, yes.” Burning Desire said finally, even as Antares frowned a little and stepped up beside Luna, and even Twilight looked uncertain at the childish way he pawed quietly at his mother.

But Luna only smiled down at her son, shaking her head and leaning down to kiss his forehead, murmuring soothingly: “Nay, 'tis okay, Antares. Go with Burning Desire, thy mother and father shall catch up to both of thee soon as we can. But for now we need... but a few moments with Twilight Sparkle, is that understood, darling?”

“Okay Mom.” Antares said after a moment, smiling up at his mother before he turned his eyes to Burning Desire, saying quickly: “We can go out to help the others... I think Aphrodisia had some questions for you, Burning, she... had some problems with her... you know.”

“Duty calls.” But all the same, Burning Desire looked almost relieved to have something to do attend to, nodding slowly before he hesitated, then slipped past Scrivener and strode up to Twilight. He gazed down into her eyes, then reached up and gently took one hoof in both his own, leaning forwards to kiss the Lich's forehead tenderly before he smiled faintly as he drew back; and while it was sad, it was also honest, as he whispered: “We had a wonderful time together. Take care, my sweet violet. I'll always be there for you.”

Twilight smiled faintly up at him, nodding slowly before she blinked in surprise as Luna reached up and grasped Burning Desire's shoulder before she leaned up and whispered something to him. The demon flinched back a bit at this, then he looked silently, consideringly down at Luna before nodding hesitantly, and Luna smiled kindly. “Good. Think upon it. We shall speak soon.”

Burning Desire hesitated, then he nodded again before turning and hurrying off, and Antares glanced after him before he apprehensively looked towards his parents as they headed towards the library, but Scrivener only called gently over his shoulder: “Go on, Antares. We've got all the time left in the universe now, remember. And we'll spend it together.”

Antares smiled after a moment, then he slowly began to turn as Scrivener gently closed the door... before the earth pony slowly drew his eyes towards Twilight as Luna smiled warmly at the Lich. She looked back and forth between them, joy shining in her eyes even as she said softly: “You know, he is an adult... and Burning Desire, I mean...”

“Oh shush, Twilight Sparkle, I am gone less than a decade and thou thinks thou art suddenly some master of demons. I have been dealing with demons for countless years.” Luna huffed, waving a hoof, and Twilight couldn't help but laugh before the sapphire mare grinned over at Scrivener and winked. “Furthermore, I believe that I also have more experience than thou with stallions...”

“Oh, shut up, Luna.” Scrivener retorted, and Twilight laughed again, earning a curious look from the two, and she blushed deeply before the male smiled softly as he reached up to begin pulling off his fractured armor. “We're going to need to get this repaired...”

“Aye, but it is only another reason to visit my brother as soon as possible. I look forwards to seeing all their faces again, Scrivy...” Luna murmured, smiling warmly as her horn glowed before she simply flicked it, and Scrivener watched with affection and entertainment as the armor of the winged unicorn glowed faintly before clasps opened and belts unhooked themselves, the armor rapidly pulling itself apart and making it easier for Luna to wiggle free of her gear as Twilight simply looked back and forth between the two, eyes radiant.

Scrivener was the first to pull completely free, revealing the cutie mark on his haunch of a black rose blossom, with a raven feather quill overtop this... and then, without hesitation, the male strode forwards and reached up to grasp the back of Twilight's scalp, pulling her forwards into a firm kiss. The Lich all but melted against him, kissing him eagerly back as she grasped at his shoulders with a soft sigh, even as she was surprised by Scrivener's forcefulness... but then he drew back, and even as her eyes remained closed, she smiled in delight as she felt Luna's lips meet hers next, pushing into the second kiss, feeling Scrivener's hoof play gently down through her mane.

Then Luna drew slowly back, and Twilight's eyes fluttered open as she breathed slowly, blushing deeply, looking from one to the other. She studied them, Luna lithe and gorgeous, with the splotch of black night sky and the moon as her emblem adorning her flank, and Scrivener strong and wearing the signs of years of battle over his body, marked with scars that had always carried a strange fascination for her... and all the more now that she was what she was.

Then Scrivener smiled softly, leaning forwards as his eyes locked with hers, and he asked gently: “Do you trust us, Twilight Sparkle?”

“With my life. With my absolute life, and... I never want to be apart from you two again, ever.” Twilight whispered, shaking her head and smiling faintly. “Antares... he and Celestia, they were the only things that kept me going. Burning Desire too, yeah, but... that was after... only years and years, and only because he was okay with... you know.”

“Yes, we do.” Luna smiled softly back, reaching up and gently stroking Twilight's face. “Look at thou, though, such a mess, and because of the treacheries of a monster we have heard little about... but we have a way to make it better, Twilight. And one that should make thou stronger as well, we hope... reduce the need for thou to change between bodies, because thy phylactery is only so strong. Come, Twilight, show us what remains.”

Twilight nodded, turning and leading them towards the stairs before she blushed and added hesitantly over her shoulder: “This can wait though, you know... I mean... I saw how eager Antares is to spend time with you, even if... well... you know he's a stallion, right?”

Luna only smiled kindly, however, shaking her head as she and Scrivener followed Twilight up towards the guest room, the winged unicorn murmuring in response: “Twilight, 'tis... surprisingly hard to remember, if thou wishes to know the full truth. We were in darkness... there was no passage of time, only... frozen emptiness... and now... we are free.”

Luna looked up with tenderness as they stepped into the guest room, sighing softly in relief as Twilight nodded slowly, then blushed and gestured quietly to the side of the bed. As Scrivener stepped into the room as well, he smiled a little bit and shook his head a little, murmuring: “You've been staying here a lot, huh? I see your little personal touches all over the room, Twilight... makes me nostalgic.”

“Yeah. It.. it's been easier.” Twilight replied softly, sitting back on the bed as Luna slipped past and studied the broken music box, softening as her eyes drew along it. The Lich hesitated, then she continued quietly: “It was easier for Antares, too, after... everything that happened. Has... has he told you about Prestige?”

“We did not press him. He... hurt at the mere mention of her name, so it seemed better not to push the subject for now. He will tell us when he is ready.” Luna replied quietly, and then she nodded once before smiling over her shoulder and striding back past Twilight, before her eyes roved to Scrivener Blooms.

Their gazes locked, and Twilight gazed affectionately, admiringly at them, watching the way they traded entire conversations back and forth. Seeing it for the first time in so long filled her with a strange sense of relief, before she tilted her head curiously as the two nodded firmly before Luna gazed affectionately at Twilight Sparkle, asking softly: “Does thou truly desire to be with us forever?”

“I'm still wearing this, aren't I?” Twilight smiled faintly, reaching up to touch the lily-shaped clasp of her collar, and then she nodded slowly, gazing from one to the other silently. “I'm never, ever going to let you two run off without me again. No matter what that means, no matter what I have to drag with me. It... losing you, even if I always clung to the hope that you'd return... it hurt. And I'm surprised to feel that it still hurts... but at the same time, I know why. Because I think of all those years and experiences that passed, of all the things I never got to share with you...”

The Lich closed her eyes, shaking her head slowly as she whispered: “And it's been so hard. Celestia, Antares, and precious few others... look at me the same way they used to. When you were here, I knew it didn't matter... but when you were gone, I've felt... every stare, the bite of every word, all the insults and... how hard it's been, I can't... I just can't imagine the strength you have to have gone through worse than the treatment I still get these days outside of Ponyville.”

“We shall have to remedy that.” Luna murmured thoughtfully, and Twilight felt a strange flutter of not just apprehension, but almost... gladness, at her tone. But before she could question either her own feelings or the sapphire mare, Luna glanced up and nodded firmly, saying calmly: “But much more importantly, Twilight Sparkle, is the matter of what should hold thy soul... and I can think of nothing more suiting than bonding the essence of thy phylactery into ourselves.”

Twilight looked up in surprise at this, blinking before she said in a stupefied voice: “Like... like in that story? But Luna, Scrivy, isn't that supposed to be incredibly dangerous? And... and I would be like... if I let you do that, you'd be able to treat me like a puppet, and...”

“Does thou not trust us, sweet Twilight? Did thou not just say thou wants to be with us... forever?” Luna chided gently, and Twilight blushed and lowered her head, even as she looked nervously up as Scrivener strode slowly forwards to sit beside the ruins of the phylactery, as Luna continued in a cajoling voice: “Aye. We could strip thee of thy will if we wanted to... but will thou not trust us, Twilight? We would never wish to harm thou that way, for we are free... instead, the three of us shall be bonded like one. All our strengths, amplifying each others, but thou shall still be able to travel far and wide, not encumbered by distance like Scrivy and I are with our single soul. Thy soul shall be... separate and yet fused to us. 'Twill be in our flesh and blood... we shall be thy living, breathing phylactery.”

“Together forever...” Twilight closed her eyes, swallowing thickly, bowing her head forwards as she thought for a moment: Scrivener and Luna never would have asked her something like this in the past, and yet at the same time... as she thought of all the pain she had gone through without them, as she thought of how much she loved and trusted them, she couldn't help but shiver a little before finally glancing up, whispering: “Will it hurt? Not just me... will it hurt you? I don't want to hurt you... and this magic... this is dark magic, isn't it? Is this... Nightmare Moon's idea?”

“Thou art worth a world of pain, Twilight... but no. I suspect that Scrivener and I may... enjoy it, even, and as long as thou believes in us, trusts in us, and aids us with the process... it should not hurt thou, either.” Luna said reassuringly, and then she smiled softly and shook her head, saying soothingly: “Nay, fear not, Twilight Sparkle. This is no machination of Nightmare Moon's... she sleeps still, deep in the darkness, and I suspect she may sleep for a long, long time yet.”

“But Luna and I... want to protect what's important to us, all the more now that we're home. And we want to indulge ourselves, and live our lives the way we always should have... free.” Scrivener replied quietly, stepping forwards and smiling calmly down at Twilight, before he leaned in and kissed her... and there was no way Twilight could resist kissing him back, trembling a little before the male drew back and closed his eyes, murmuring softly: “Good. Luna?”

Luna smiled slightly, her eyes half-lidded before she said gently: “'Tis not so different than the magic thou would use to place thy energies in a different container... I suspect thou must have learned the spell by now, Twilight. Come, follow along. 'Twill be easy once we begin. Scrivy?”

Scrivener nodded, then he closed his eyes and lowered his head, and Twilight trembled for only a moment before she looked back and forth between the two ponies, feeling her worries fading into absolute trust and adoration, into naïve, almost childish belief and love, before she whispered as her own horn lit up: “Okay. Together forever... I love you both.”

“And we love you, Twilight.” Scrivener said softly, and Twilight smiled radiantly at him before she closed her eyes, pushing power into the magic, the pieces of her phylactery trembling violently as they were surrounded by a strange sapphire aura and melancholy music poured up from their remains...

Twenty minutes later, Scrivener and Luna calmly strode out of the library, quietly closing the door behind themselves before they traded grins and a loving look that all the same was somehow predatory, hungry. Scrivener's body was covered in a faint sheen of sweat, and Luna was trembling a little, breathing hard as she whispered: “Oh, we should have done this long ago, Scrivener Blooms... what fools we were. Oh, glorious Ponyville, our humble sanctuary that we were always too shy to share our desires with in full...”

“But not any longer.” Scrivener murmured, smiling slightly as he licked his lips slowly, gazing affectionately over his shoulder at the door. “But maybe it's a good thing we waited, Luna. This way, we didn't have to run the risk of losing her in Clockwork World... and now that we're back, she can be ours for forever.”

“Yes, and we shall no longer hesitate to indulge others as well.” Luna replied with a wink, and the charcoal stallion laughed quietly and nodded, rolling his shoulders as the sapphire mare murmured softly: “Aye. We shall speak to Celestia soon... but I suppose we should hold to our promise, and go to meet Burning Desire and Antares.”

“We don't have to if you don't want to, Luna, we can just say we forgot and wander around Ponyville.” Scrivener said easily, and the winged unicorn smiled up at him as their eyes locked, the charcoal stallion saying softly: “We're free, after all. Of... almost everything.”

Luna half-lidded her eyes at this, leaning forwards and trading a brief, firm kiss with the stallion before she murmured: “Free to do anything we please, free to seek power, free to experiment... but do not be silly, Scrivener. If we do not go, Antares will worry and Burning Desire may judge us before knowing us, and I have become... interested in him. 'Tis in our best interests to go.”

Scrivener nodded thoughtfully in agreement, then he reached up and stroked slowly through Luna's mane, murmuring softly: “Yes, you're right. I suppose it's just this feeling, of... no longer having to care about anything, except for ourselves and the things we cherish... it's intoxicating. And without having to worry about any anxieties, or any voices in my head telling me how wrong it is for us to search out all the things we've always wanted to in our darkest dreams, but never quite dared...”

“Mayhaps one day we'll even return to Clockwork World... make it our own beautiful kingdom, like thou and I both know that it could easily be.” Luna whispered enticingly into his ear, and Scrivener rumbled as he nodded slowly again, grinning at this thought before the mare turned with a wink, flicking the male gently with her starry tail. “Come, Scrivener Blooms. Onwards. We have much work to do... we have many pleasures to chase.”

Scrivener smiled as he followed after the female, nodding slowly as his eyes almost glowed. They smiled at ponies that cheered and greeted them, and they waved happily back to those around them, but at the same time, the only reason they responded was because they enjoyed the attention and enjoyed the reactions of the other ponies. They were free now, after all: free to live however they wanted, and all they cared about was what made them happy, and what made them strong. They were free... and they would both do whatever it took to pursue that freedom, and never let anyone take it away from them.

Antares smiled happily as he sat in the cottage with his parents, but all the same, something gnawed at him. Something was bothering him, although he couldn't quite place a hoof on what it was, as he laid comfortably between his parents. He felt like a foal, and they were letting him bask in their love, indulging his childish regression. It simply felt so good to... to no longer have to worry about anything. To feel like, now that his parents were here, everything was okay. He didn't have to be a leader, or responsible, or anything except what he wanted to be.

It was late evening, and the day had been incredible. Mostly a blur for Antares, but he had seen how many ponies had welcomed Luna and Scrivener back, had celebrated alongside them, and they had started planning a big party of sorts to be held tomorrow for their triumphant return. It was a wonderful start to what felt like a brand new life, as Antares shifted... then gazed radiantly over his shoulder at the sight of Twilight Sparkle, who was humming quietly as she worked gladly away in the kitchens.

The violet mare had regenerated incredibly over the day, from whatever his parents had done for her: she still had a lot more stitching on than usual, but that didn't matter. Her body was most of the way back, and she seemed vibrant, bouncing around, talking excitedly with his parents, and thanking Antares again and again for bringing them back like Antares had done it out of generosity, not selfishness, making him laugh.

Then he smiled warmly when Luna gently pushed the young stallion onto his back, rubbing his stomach with one hoof as she gazed down at him and Scrivener rolled his eyes, saying mildly: “That's our son, Luna, not a dog.”

“Oh shut up, Scrivy.” Luna said mildly, then she blew a raspberry at him before smiling down at Antares, leaning down and studying him curiously as she rubbed a hoof along his chest. “So... thou art almost a stallion, art thou not? The time we have missed, Antares... and here I am, treating thee like a young foal again! But even though I see thee... 'tis so hard for me to remember that thou art an adult. It still feels like 'twas only yesterday that we were saving thee...”

Luna closed her eyes, and then she shook her head slowly before massaging gently upwards along Antares' breast, then she cupped his cheek with one hoof, gazing down at him lovingly. “But look at thee. Handsome, strong, and an adult. A strong stallion of his own merit.”

“It's okay, Mom, I've... I've enjoyed this. It's been like catching up on all the time I never had with you guys before.” Antares said softly, reaching out and touching Scrivener's foreleg, and the stallion gazed down at his son softly. “I'm only lucky I had Twilight and Scarlet Sage to help look after me...”

“And aye, Scarlet Sage!” Luna shared a warm look with Scrivener. “She is married now, is she not? Damnation, of all the things to miss, Celestia performing the marriage of my beloved daughter to Apple Bloom... I suppose now we shall have to marry thou off to a handsome stallion, Antares, if I desire to see such a ruckus.”

Antares laughed despite himself, shaking his head slowly before Twilight entered the room with a plate of dumplings. She put it down in front of the fireplace as the three ponies shifted on the bedding, before Luna leaned down and kissed Antares' forehead. “Make room for Twilight, Antares, thou hast hogged us all to thyself for the last few days. Besides, there is room enough to spare.”

The young stallion nodded with a bit of a blush, slipping sideways a bit as the Lich laughed softly and shook her head, carefully sliding onto the cushions. Scrivener wrapped a foreleg around her as she slipped between the stallions, as Luna wrapped her own foreleg around Antares, pulling him against her, and the young male closed his eyes, resting his head on his mother's shoulder as she said softly: “See? 'Tis no trouble at all.”

“Yeah, Mom. You're right. You and Dad are always right...” Antares murmured softly, smiling complacently before he opened his eyes... and then blushed a bit at the sight of Twilight and Scrivener kissing slowly, hurriedly turning his eyes away as he cleared his throat. “I... uh...”

“What, does thou desire a kiss too?” Luna asked teasingly, grinning slightly as she squeezed him playfully close... and something about her tone made Antares feel uneasy and nervous, a chill running down his spine before the sapphire winged unicorn smiled slightly as her horn glowed, lifting a dumpling from the plate. “'Tis what loving ponies do, Antares. But eat, eat! I do not desire to see my son going hungry.”

Antares winced a bit, and then he awkwardly took the dumpling... but when he felt Twilight's side gently push against his, his ears still picking up sounds he really didn't want to recognize but did anyway, and he cleared his throat as he tossed the dumpling into his mouth, chewing nervously.

Luna was studying him with strange intensity, but then her eyes flicked up, and Scrivener Blooms and Twilight parted as the violet mare blushed, murmuring quietly: “I'm sorry... I... I should know better, Antares. But... we're all back, and... well, we haven't had... much time together. And I'm so elated over being...”

She reached up silently to touch her features as Antares looked back towards her, and he softened a little, shifting embarrassedly before saying quietly: “I'm sorry, I... didn't think of that, I guess. I know, I keep clinging to you guys and acting like... well, I am an adult, yeah. Not a child...”

“'Tis fine, Antares, thou art always welcome with us... so long as thou remembers, my son, that if thou stays with us at all times thou may see thy parents do things not usually witnessed by children.” Luna winked, and Antares winced a bit: her tone was joking, yet the look in her eyes... “And I do not care how thou acts, Antares, or what thou does, as long as thou enjoys it. Thou hast already proven thou art our son... the blessed child of myself and Scrivener Blooms... and aye, Twilight Sparkle, thou art the second mother, for only thou could help such purity blossom even with us as the parents of this young stallion.”

Twilight laughed and blushed, and Antares smiled warmly as he looked up happily. Luna nodded firmly a few times, and then the sapphire mare studied Antares thoughtfully before asking Twilight curiously: “Tell me, does Fluttershy still have those cute clothes she used to? The foal's pajamas she liked to wear.”

The Lich smiled a bit, and Antares shifted nervously as the violet mare answered softly: “I bought her a new set of those things just last year for her birthday, actually, Luna. Nirvana doesn't mind her eccentricities, but... we all deserve our quirks.”

“Uh...” Antares looked lamely back and forth, an awkward feeling swirling through him: he half-wanted to ask what they were talking about, and half-wanted to hide, since something told him this was likely something he shouldn't know about.

But Luna only smiled at him, reassuring him for a moment, but then his eyes widened as she said kindly: “I am only thinking of ways to indulge thee, my handsome little colt. We can get thee some new clothing, and perhaps some toys... aye, and 'twould be nice for us, too, would it not, Scrivener? To have a colt who never grows up and at the same time, an adult son who can be trusted with the hardest of tasks...”

“No, no, no! I... no, that's okay, no, no!” Antares babbled hurriedly, sitting up and shaking his head with a wince. His parents were only looking at him curiously, Scrivener chewing a dumpling as if nothing was out of the ordinary before the young stallion said lamely: “I... really don't... am not into that, I just... I guess I got carried away enjoying having you back in my life. To help... take care of me, and help me... not be so responsible.”

Luna nodded after a moment at this, eyes tender as she studied her son quietly. “Of course, Antares Mīrus, whatever thou desires. Just know that thy father and I are here for thee, to help thou indulge thyself and free thyself of all worries, as we have tried to aid Twilight.” The winged unicorn gazed affectionately over at the violet mare, then looked flatly at Scrivener, who looked dumbly back as he shoved another dumpling into his mouth. “Well, as long as thy father can stop stuffing his face, that is.”

Scrivener grumbled around the food in his jaws, and Twilight laughed and shook her head before Luna picked up a dumpling herself and bit into it, chewing thoughtfully before she smiled and nodded in approval. The violet mare blushed at this, meeting Luna's eyes, seeming to speak to her without speaking, and Antares smiled at first... then felt a strange chill as he thought he saw a flicker of deeper communication, a hint that there was more than just the silent speech of eyes and emotions trading between them...

But then Scrivener looked up, his eyes lingering on the torn painting on the mantel before he shook his head slowly, and the others all followed the stallion's gaze as he murmured softly: “To come back here, though, and see that... Luna, I'm still surprised you haven't torn the whole house apart.”

“Aye, but what good would that accomplish?” Luna grumbled, shaking her head slowly as Antares looked at the sapphire mare softly, watching as she grouchily pawed her hooves at the bedding and her starry locks swirled backwards. “I cannot even go out and pummel the enemy that has done this, as the enemy is already dead and gone... but I can at least take solace in that small comfort.”

She sighed a little, lowering her head as Scrivener added moodily, eyes lingering on the painting: “Yeah. But I almost wish he wasn't, just so we could properly teach him why not to hurt our family... why they shouldn't play with the things that belong to us.”

Antares shivered a little despite himself at his father's tone, even as Twilight nodded slowly and Luna grunted in agreement, and then the charcoal stallion shook his head before he turned his eyes to his son, studying him. After a few moments, he smiled a little, then asked gently: “Tell us, Antares, about... what happened. You'll feel better.”

For a few moments, the young stallion was quiet... and then he nodded slowly, lowering his head as he murmured: “Okay. I... I'll try to tell as much as I can, then. But I don't know if I can tell you the whole story in one sitting.”

Luna and Scrivener both nodded, and the young stallion took a slow breath before he began quietly: “I... it feels like so long ago now, when me and Prestige Luster were in Canterlot, and Aphrodisia and Pinkamena came to warn us about a sickness that had spread like wildfire through Ponyville...”

Antares talked for hours, as the three listened: Luna and Scrivener gazed at their son with tender affection and sympathy, as Twilight smiled faintly now and then, nodding and adding a rare word here and there: complimenting Prestige, reminding Antares that he had done his best, or simply sharing her own quiet thoughts when it was appropriate. And Luna and Scrivener remained quiet and respectful, and his mother hugged him close when emotions started to overwhelm him and his father massaged a hoof along his back, and Antares cried a little but felt... like he was letting everything finally drain out of him, all the same.

He ended it with finding them in Clockwork World before falling quiet, and Luna and Scrivener had gazed at their son before the sapphire mare said gently: “'Twill all be fine, my sweet Antares. Do not fear, 'twill all be fine. We shall help thee to be free of this burden... to be free of all pains, and all burdens, as a matter of fact. Mother and father are here for thou, as is Twilight Sparkle, as are countless others...”

“There's no need to be afraid anymore.” Scrivener slipped his forelimbs around his son, hugging him gently close to his own body for a moment, and the young, glossy-black unicorn gladly buried his face against his father's chest, curling up a little as Luna reached up and stroked tenderly through her son's mane. “We're going to fix everything we can that's wrong.”

The young stallion smiled faintly, curling up childishly, breathing slowly, feeling... safe. Safe and loved and warm, and believing naively every word his parents said. And he simply let himself be cuddled and coddled by his strange family, enjoying it more than he knew was healthy, but... they were back. Everything was going to be fixed, his mother and father had returned, Twilight was happy, everypony was happy...

Except now he thought of Burning Desire, who had looked so... uneasy, not just sad. He thought of Discombobulation, how the Draconequus had looked uncertain the entire time he'd spent around his parents, the distance he'd put between himself and Celestia. And Twilight was smiling and bouncing, but it was like she had thrown all her own cares away, like nothing mattered... and he shivered a bit from where he was still curled up on the bedding with his parents as he heard the soft sound of lips meeting lips again, not wanting to once more witness another kiss that no child should be privy to seeing their parents share. And that was before even considering the awkwardness of having three parents, and...

The young stallion carefully climbed to his hooves, and heard his parents shift before Luna asked curiously: “Art thou alright, my son?”

“Just... tired, Mom. I haven't slept for like, three days.” Antares replied with a small smile, opening his eyes and gazing at Luna, and he realized it was true. Maybe that was why he had a knot inside his stomach, maybe that was why his mind was twisting itself ragged... “I think I just need to go sleep for the rest of the night.”

“Alright, Antares. Go ahead, then, my son.” Luna said softly, smiling across at him, and the young stallion nodded a little before the winged unicorn asked gently: “Would thou like me to tuck thee in, like old times?”

“I...” Antares blushed a bit, glancing over his shoulder... but then the three older ponies all smiled at him as they stood, and the young stallion dropped his head with a bit of a blush, feeling both pleased and embarrassed at the same time.

He turned to stride quietly down the hall to his room, heading inside and looking silently at the bed as he slipped his necklace off to put it up on the hook. He could still faintly feel Prestige's presence here... and he closed his eyes when he felt his mother's hoof rub along his back gently, before Luna said soothingly: “All is fine, my little colt. Slip into bed now...”

Antares nodded awkwardly, carefully stepping forwards and sliding himself beneath the covers, before he smiled lamely as Luna grasped the edge of the blankets and pulled them up. She paused for a moment, though, then leaned down, asking kindly: “Would thou like one of us to stay with thee? Myself, thy handsome father, thy gorgeous Twilight-Mommy? Any of us would be glad to hold thee, and comfort thee...”

“No, no, I... thanks Mom, but no.” Antares said hurriedly, trying not to wince, but Luna only smiled before leaning down... and the young stallion turned his head slightly as her lips almost brushed his, kissing the side of his muzzle before she leaned back with a calm, benevolent look on her face.

He was silent, and so were his parents as all three looked down at him almost like predators observing prey, before Scrivener said softly, as he slipped a foreleg around Twilight: “Don't worry, son. One day, you'll have Prestige back... you'll have everything you've ever desired, we'll help you see to that. First we all just have to recover our strength, though... reestablish ourselves in our little kingdom.”

These words sent a chill down Antares' spine, but then Luna gently tucked the covers in, saying lovingly: “We love thou, Antares, with all our hearts. We want only the best for thee and all other things we care for in this world... and we shall ensure that thou has it.”

Antares only swallowed a little, nodding awkwardly before the trio turned and left, and the young stallion simply laid in bed, almost afraid to move. The door was left ajar, and he could hear soft conversation... and then voices rising in excitement... and then...

The young stallion shivered, horn glowing as he closed his door with a quiet snick, and it muffled things at least as he seized his pillow and yanked it over his head, deafening himself to the sounds rising through the house now. Worms twisted through his guts as he wondered if his parents had always been like this, but... he couldn't think of one time when he'd been foal when he'd heard... no, they had always been careful, especially about exposing him to anything like that. Respectful, and compassionate, and mature in their very immature way.

He shook his head slowly, trembling beneath the blankets, fighting back tears as he thought of the way Luna had looked at him. As he thought about how his father sat back with the mares, as if he possessed them, owned them. But no, they were his parents! He just wasn't a child anymore, and maybe he was just trying to see all the flaws... maybe he was just so convinced everything would be perfect that now he was picking up on every tiny little thing, making mountains out of molehills. That had to be it...

Yet he heard Allonym's yell of warning in his mind all over again, and memories flashed through his head again and again of what had happened as he tossed and turned in bed. And even as he fell into uneasy, broken sleep, the memories merged with nightmares, and he saw himself, screaming and crying and hysterical, acting like a child as everypony tried to stop him, but no, he made the wish, he called them back...

And claws ripped out of the black earth in front of him before some vicious, fanged monster emerged, alongside an awful Tyrant Wyrm with clanking pistons on its back. They roared and laughed and grinned, and yet Antares ran to them anyway, tried to make them his parents, and he was crying... but even when they embraced him, he felt their claws cutting him: the Wyrm's breath scalded him, the monster's fangs bit him with every kiss. And they were not his parents, and he was not their son: he was their prized possession, and they were masters, slavers, owners. He was a much-loved pet that they preened over and played with. And it wasn't that they didn't care about him in their sick and twisted way, but all the same he had no rights but what they gave and took away as they pleased.

Antares woke up in a cold sweat, sitting up in bed, breathing hard... and then he trembled, staring, as he saw Twilight sitting beside his bed. The Lich was smiling softly, but her eyes had a faint glow to them, and her stitches pulsed faintly over her body before she slowly reached out and took his face in her hooves, whispering: “Enough, Antares. Don't fight it. Just give in... trust and love your parents. I did... and now I'll always be with them, forever. I'm powerful, and I feel true freedom, for the first time in my entire life...”

She closed her eyes, then leaned in slowly, and for a horrified moment Antares thought she was going to kiss him. But instead, she only stopped an inch or so away, hovering over him before murmuring: “It's morning now, and your mother and father and I are going to go out. I have to visit a good friend... but around noon, there's going to be a celebration at Sugar Cube Corners, so you don't forget. You don't need to bring anything, just come and celebrate with the others... be good to your parents, Antares. They deserve it. They deserve to have anything they desire, and I'm going to help them get that.” Twilight's eyes opened, her smile genuine, the look of love in her eyes terribly dangerous. “Even you.”

With that, the Lich turned as Antares trembled violently, breathing hard in and out, and Twilight Sparkle let herself calmly out of her son's room and closed the door behind herself quietly. She shook her head out after a moment, feeling a few wisps of conscience roll through her, but they were easily pushed aside as she returned to the bedding, where Luna was sprawled against Scrivener as the male massaged her shoulders slowly and easily, the two glancing up as the Lich said quietly: “I think he'll adjust. It'll just take time... they'll all need time.”

“We'll give them as much as we can afford but... Scrivener and I already grow bored. We hunger to pursue our urges and dreams...” Luna paused meditatively, and then she smiled slightly as she sat up, nodding firmly once. “But aye, at least we can pursue one Desire for now, so to speak...”

“That was an awful pun.” Scrivener remarked, and Luna huffed and glowered over her shoulder at him before the stallion licked his lips slowly, looking meditatively down. “You are right, though, and I'm eager myself... he's earned what we can offer.”

Twilight smiled softly at this, then she turned and gestured for them to follow, saying quietly: “Then come with me. Burning Desire has a little hideaway I'm sure he's at... I'll lead you to him.”

“Thou art eager, but I am glad to see it. I can celebrate that joy...” Luna smiled slightly as she climbed to her hooves, Scrivener following last as the Lich led them towards the door, before the sapphire mare paused as she glanced at Antares' room. “Perhaps I should speak to our son, though...”

“No, Luna. Let him come around. He's been happy, and he'll understand soon enough why things are the way they are.” Scrivener said gently, and the sapphire mare nodded thoughtfully in agreement before the charcoal earth pony murmured softly, glancing up at Twilight Sparkle: “But what Luna said is true. You're bound to us, you're ours now and forever... it makes it easier to be... more lenient. We're greedy, after all.”

“I like you two being greedy. You deserve it. You deserve the entire world.” Twilight replied softly, her eyes glowing faintly for a moment before she licked her lips slowly and turned, pushing the door open as she smiled radiantly. “And this isn't for me... this is to help you both, and for Burning Desire to understand what wonders you two work. Your power, your generosity, and the freedom you plan to share with the entire world... I want him to receive that gift.”

Luna and Scrivener both smiled as the Lich pushed open the door, and they strode calmly out after her, striding easily towards the forest path, sharing affections with one another as the trees whispered and rumbled around them, as the forest seemed to half-recognize them and half-fear the trio that strode again through its misty, early morning grayness. But the sapphire winged unicorn only sighed in delight, drinking in the atmosphere as Scrivener smiled warmly, and Twilight had eyes not for the path ahead, but almost solely for her lovers, glancing again and again over her shoulder at them until she tripped on a root and fell in a sprawl.

The others laughed, and Twilight blushed even as she smiled lamely, picking herself up and mumbling: “Sorry. I just... there's so much I want to do with you both...”

Scrivener smiled at this, then he reached up and grasped tightly into Twilight's mane, leaning in and making her shiver in delight as he replied quietly: “And there's so much we want to do with you, Twilight... Luna, shall we take a break?”

Luna grinned at this, and Twilight's breathing quickened, heart thudding before she closed her eyes and nodded eagerly... and an hour later, as true dawn's first rays shone down through the canopy, the Lich smiled dazedly as she led them onwards, shivering in bliss and delight. It felt wonderful to be free, to act free, to be able to do anything she wanted now that Luna and Scrivener were beside her... to understand nothing else mattered as long as they had each other, and freedom. And better yet, she could taste their plans in her mind, and they delighted her: they would start in Ponyville, sharing their gifts with each and every pony they could... but even more important than that, Celestia...

“Now do not peek.” Luna chided, and Twilight smiled embarrassedly over her shoulder at the grinning sapphire mare. “Wicked, naughty Twilight. Scrivener will be placing thee upon the racks later, to properly... punish thee.”

Twilight shivered, delighted at this thought in a way she never thought she'd be as the charcoal stallion rumbled slowly. His eyes glowed faintly, and the Lich gazed longingly at him before Luna looked thoughtfully between the two, then murmured softly: “Perhaps Antares could use a younger sibling... but many glorious ideas spin through my mind now that I no longer have to worry about restraint or fickle limitation. 'Tis wonderful. I understand now that 'twas only silliness to have anything out of bounds or off-limits... we do not need rules. We do not need limitations. We are...”

Luna grinned slowly, licking her lips as Scrivener mirrored her expression, and Twilight let out a shiver and a soft whisper at the pleasure that rollicked through her entire body at just the thought, at just the look on Scrivener and Luna's faces. All the same, there was the faintest twist inside the deepest part of her, that shifted uneasily... but a moment later, whatever it was went back into its deep sleep, and instead Twilight looked forwards, gesturing down the side path they were taking through the forest towards a little hut in the distance. “There.”

The others nodded, and Twilight smiled as she approached the awkwardly-constructed log shack: it was halfway between cabin and shed, with a thatched straw roof and badly-constructed walls, a single door on creaky hinges the only way in and out of the small structure. Without slowing, Twilight simply flicked her horn and threw this open, and Burning Desire glanced up in surprise from where he was sitting on a soft bed of blankets next to a boiling cauldron.

The fiery stallion started to open his mouth, and then his eyes widened in shock when Twilight grasped his shoulders, leaned down, and kissed him firmly. The demon's eyes fluttered, and he kissed her back eagerly on instinct... but then trembled and mastered himself, carefully pushing her away and pulling his head back as he looked up and saw Luna and Scrivener step into the doorway, whispering: “What is this? I... I mean... violet, darling, look at you, but... you...”

“I'm here to offer you a position, Burning Desire, as a bodyguard to Luna and Scrivener... as part of the world we plan to build together. To be beside me, each and every day... to share things with me, freely. Because we are all free...” Twilight said softly, reaching up and stroking the demon's face as she gazed into his eyes adoringly, and the fiery stallion trembled a little as he gazed up at her silently. “I want you to be free, too. And if you accept, I'll gladly share my time with you... we can't have what we did before, but we can still share something special. We can be close friends, and more. And all your longing... Luna and Scrivy will take that away...”

“How? I... T-Twilight... violet, you don't sound like yourself...” Burning Desire whispered, and the Lich only smiled, her eyes glowing faintly as Scrivener and Luna both loomed in the background, their expressions coy and eager.

“Luna and Scrivy... they want the whole world to become free, and I understand why. To bring happiness to everyone... because now that they are free, they are truly happy. I... am truly happy. The only rules and laws will be simple common sense... even if I believe that Luna and Scrivener should be thanked properly. Should be... obeyed.” Twilight looked lovingly over her shoulder at the two, smiling softly. “I love them, Burning Desire. Now close your eyes, and tell me that you'll help us. And we'll take away all your pain... you'll be beside me, and I'll be beside you, forever and ever... you can have everything you've always longed for...”

“No, I... I won't. I won't really be with you. Twilight Sparkle, I love you.” Burning Desire whispered, silently taking one of her hooves and looking into her eyes as the demon smiled faintly, the Lich frowning a little. “And I know that we can't be, all the same... and oh, you entice me. Honestly, you do. How could I not want that, how could I not when... when I am longing? But I'm not a child either, Twilight, and I know I've earned my pain and punishment, and while I appreciate what you all offer... I cannot accept. I want to, but I can't accept. It wouldn't be right.”

Twilight frowned at this, stepping slowly back and drawing away as she whispered in surprise: “I... I thought you loved me, Burning Desire... I was so sure that...”

“I do love you. Twilight Sparkle, I love you with all my heart and soul.” The demon continued to smile at her weakly, reaching up and touching his chest with both hooves as he whispered: “But I'm a Passion that's lived for so many years now... and hard as it is, that has taught me all the differences between love and lust, looking out for someone and controlling someone, submission and servility, and dominance and rulership. I love you, Twilight Sparkle. But I can't let myself become a toy for you and your lovers. I'm so sorry, but... please look at yourself. Please, Scrivener and Luna, I have heard so much about you, and if you had offered me something like this in earnest, I would have gladly accepted it, any and all terms, but... look at yourselves. This is not love. This is...”

He broke off as Twilight trembled, the Lich lowering her head as both Luna and Scrivener stepped forwards, touching the violet mare's shoulders... and then Twilight looked up with a snarl, tears running down her cheeks as her stitches pulsed and several popped loudly, whispering: “You should have said 'yes.'”

Burning Desire's eyes widened as Twilight's horn lit up brightly, and then he screamed in agony as the walls of the shack shook violently. Electricity crackled through the ramshackle structure before part of the roof was blown out from the blast of concentrated energy that followed, and in the white flash that tore free from the building, a howling red bird shot wildly into the air, smoking as it fled with all the speed it could muster, holy energy sizzling violently over the firebird's body as it flailed its way wildly towards the skies.

Twilight snarled up through the hole in the ceiling, eyes glowing, but then Luna grasped her shoulder tightly as Scrivener looked coldly up as well, saying quietly: “It's alright, Twilight. Not everyone will be open-minded to our gift of peace, and we'll deal with them as we see fit. Come. Let's make you feel better, and then we have the party to prepare for...” He paused, then smiled softly, as he and Luna leaned in at the same time, both slowly licking a trail of red-tinged tears from Twilight's cheeks as the Lich flushed. “Besides, it doesn't matter... you have us, and Antares... and very soon, Celestia...”

And at this, Twilight smiled faintly, nodding slowly before she turned and buried her face against Scrivener as Luna embraced her tightly from behind, the two terribly-free ponies gazing lovingly down at the once-innocent soul locked eternally in their dark embrace.

Keeping His Promise

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Chapter Thirty Nine: Keeping His Promise
~BlackRoseRaven

The welcome back party was technically being held inside Sugar Cube Corners, but there were so many people present that the celebration had long stretched into the area outside the building as well. Luna and Scrivener were basking in the attention as Pinkie gleefully bounced around, making sure the food tables here and there were all well-stocked and that everypony was having a good time, as music played through a large stereo system Cowlick had rigged up and that was still working despite the large knife buried through one speaker, much to Pinkamena's chagrin.

Twilight Sparkle was spending a lot of her time beside Celestia, the ivory mare pacing around, talking warmly with everypony... but every now and then tossing an almost-nervous look at the Lich who was all-but stalking her, studying the ivory mare eagerly. Celestia seemed to understand what had happened, and yet she didn't speak out against it: if anything, she almost seemed envious.

Sleipnir was trying to help Pinkie Pie and Pinkamena as well, but both of the Pink Twins worked much faster than he did and with far fewer accidents. The only thing that he was actually allowed to do was carry the kegs up from the basement and set them up, while otherwise Pinkamena continually pushed him out of the kitchen and grumbled at him to go and mingle.

But delighted as Sleipnir was that Scrivener and Luna were back, at the same time, he seemed to pace around them almost warily. Likewise, he watched Celestia strangely, much of his usual good cheer seeming muted by worries and concerns. He wasn't the only one, either: Discombobulation was sitting in a corner quietly, sipping slowly at a fizzy drink and moodily eying the party as if expecting something horrible to happen, and while Rainbow Dash and Spike were talking easily with Scrivener, Big Mac was a little quieter than usual, studying the way the charcoal stallion was reacting to things, as if he felt something was a little off as well.

Luna, meanwhile, was not just soaking up the attention, but seemed almost as if she was hunting for specific ponies. She spoke to Cowlick at length, while Ross looked almost afraid the entire time, setting off the engineer's own instincts before Luna had moved on to Scarlet Sage and Apple Bloom, congratulating them before beginning to slowly probe in awkward, uncomfortable directions that made Apple Bloom's own senses tingle with worry. And others, too, Luna all-but-preyed upon, like she was testing the waters...

It was something many ponies noticed, among them Meadowlark, who turned her eyes nervously back to Antares after a few moments. The young stallion was talking warmly with Avalon and Aphrodisia, who both seemed thrilled for him... but in spite of all the happiness the glossy-black unicorn was projecting, he seemed to be trembling faintly, and his short glances towards Luna, Scrivener, and Twilight seemed not just loving, but like veiled concern. She thought he knew that something was wrong... but when she so much as opened her mouth, Antares always hurriedly cut her off, likely knowing what she was going to say and clearly not wanting to give her a chance to start that discussion, leaving the red Pegasus to eventually shake her head in what seemed like disappointment. Antares was hiding from the truth... but she knew from her own experiences that was only going to make things harder. Except she also realized that unlike her own experiences... Antares' parents might hurt more than just their child with what was going on.

Scrivener, at least, seemed to be acting normal for the most part... until, after an hour or so, Pinkamena approached and rudely shoved Spike and Rainbow Dash to either side, then reached up and seized Scrivener by his collar, yanking him forwards and making him wince. “You and me still aren't done yet, by the way. I'm going to kick your flank for all the stupid stuff you pulled.”

“You know, Pinkamena, one day I'll hit you back instead of just letting you beat on me.” Scrivener said dryly, raising his cup of punch, and the demon snorted in amusement as her red-rimmed eyes appraised the stallion. “What are you going to do then?”

“Hit you back harder, you giant pansy.” Pinkamena retorted, and when Scrivener smiled slightly, the demon growled at him and leaned forwards, seizing him by the collar with both hooves and yanking him half-off the ground, one front hoof dangling and the other still calmly holding his punch. “What, you don't believe me?”

Scrivener replied by smiling again, taking a sip of his punch, and then looking down at the cup before reaching out and pouring the rest of his drink over Pinkamena's face. Rainbow Dash and Spike both stared in shock as Big Mac's head reared back as he saw something more in that gesture... and Pinkamena slowly bared her teeth in a snarl as liquid dripped down her face before she shoved Scrivener backwards and stepped forwards into a vicious hook across the stallion's features.

Scrivy's head snapped to the side with a wince as Luna twitched, before her eyes gleamed brightly as silence fell. Everyone inside Sugar Cube Corners stared, even the cheerful music sounding muted before Scrivener slowly looked up... then grinned as he slung a hoof hard back into Pinkamena's nose, knocking the demon staggering with a curse of shock as blood burst from one of her nostrils.

She looked up in disbelief, reaching up to slowly wipe the crimson liquid from her face before she gritted her teeth, then leapt forwards with a roar, crashing into Scrivener as the earth pony met her with an eager growl of his own. Ponies yelled and all-but-panicked in response, but as the hooves of demon and charcoal stallion smashed into each other and they rolled violently, no one was stupid enough to try and get between the two as Luna's delighted laughter cut through the air, drawing shocked looks from Antares and Celestia... but Twilight was grinning widely too, and that was getting even more stares than Luna's obvious delight despite the way the sapphire mare's body was shuddering from every blow Scrivener took.

The demon managed to shove him down, slamming a hoof once, twice, thrice into the stallion's face before one of his hooves crashed into her stomach like a hammer, and Pinkamena gurgled before a second hoof struck under her chin, knocking her head back and sending her senselessly onto her back. And then Scrivener pounced on her, pinning her down by the shoulders before he smashed his head into her face when she began to look up, stunning her before he mocked: “Come on, you can do better than this!”

“You're really pissing me off, Scrivener!” Pinkamena slammed both rear hooves up into the earth pony's stomach, knocking him sprawling backwards before she snarled as she leapt up to her hooves and dove forwards, tackling him. He skidded over the floor with a wince, then narrowly dodged a hoof, the demon cracking the floorboards with the force of her blow before he seized her other front leg and threw her off to the side.

The crowd around them moved hurriedly out of the way of the two as they leapt to their hooves, and the demon ran forwards, but Scrivener was ready for her, grinning savagely as he smashed a hoof across her face before rearing back and slamming hooks back and forth into her features, her eyes bulging with shock before the earth pony seized her by the mane and scalp and slammed her face-first into the floor once, twice, then one final time, crushing her skull beneath his hooves as his muscles flexed, his eyes almost glowing, fangs gleaming as he snarled down at her like an animal and there was such obvious pleasure in his eyes, such intense enjoyment...

He began to raise his hooves... and Pinkamena threw herself upwards with a roar of fury, smashing into him and knocking him staggering before he tried to punch her, but the demon deflected the blow before she lunged forwards like an animal and bit savagely into his foreleg. Scrivener howled in pain, his back arching as his bones loudly creaked, black blood flowing down his limb... but slowly, a vicious grin spread over his face as Pinkamena's eyes glowed and she grinned almost eagerly in return despite her bloodied, bruised features.

For a moment, they were frozen like that, Pinkamena's fangs deep in Scrivener's foreleg, the black corruption pouring into her mouth, both of them staring at each other... and then they both yanked suddenly backwards before they leapt forwards, snarling and growling at each other, tackling one another. And Luna was grinning widely despite the wound that had formed on her own limb thanks to her connection with Scrivener, a perfect parallel for the stallion's... except unlike him, she bled red blood, and not black poison.

Ponies were shouting now, trying to convince the two to stop, but no one dared step forwards: others were even yelling at Celestia, but she was only watching blankly, looking numb, not responding to anything as Luna urged her husband on and Twilight was now all-but-drooling, her eyes glowing as Scrivener and Pinkamena rolled backwards before the demon flung Scrivener away.

He crashed through a table, knocking food and drink everywhere, and the stallion hurriedly leapt to his hooves before he seized one of the platters and flung it at the demon. Pinkamena ducked with a grin, but then glanced over her shoulder when the heavy metal plate smacked into another pony, her attention drawn by the cry of pain. It was an opportunity Scrivener seized on as he grabbed a cutting knife from beside a squashed cake, leaping forwards as Pinkamena turned her eyes back towards him too late before she screamed when he stabbed the knife down through her shoulder without hesitation.

Ponies cried out in shock as Scrivener bore down on the handle, twisting the knife slowly, grinning viciously... before Pinkamena slammed her head into him, stunning him before she seized him by the shoulders and lashed her head forwards, biting deep into the junction of his shoulder and neck. And Scrivener gargled as his black blood burst up, spilling down her muzzle, the demon eagerly guzzling down the corruption as her red-rimmed eyes glowed brighter...

But Luna was watching with hard, heavy pants, fascination, not anger or anything else in her eyes, even as she bled from her own wound, her mane swirling and sparking violently around her. Celestia took a single look at her sister, tried to mouth something before Pinkamena snarled as her body rippled, her size growing, her demonic characteristics tearing out as her teeth dug deeper... and yet when Celestia looked up, her knees went weak.

To the others, Scrivener probably looked like he was in agony... to her, it was something else. His hoof wasn't trying to pull her head away, but cradling her, almost stroking through her mane, encouraging her. His body was limp, but it wasn't from pain... he was still flexing, and his other front hoof was only pawing the ground when he could easily reach up and hit her, stop her. And his expression; head thrown back, eyes closed, teeth bared... it was pleasure, not pain.

The knife popped free from Pinkamena's body in a burst of blood as the wound healed itself, and the demon's eyes snapped open at the sound before she turned with a roar, yanking Scrivener into the air and flinging him into the door. He smashed through the wood and rolled limply several times over the ground, ponies yelling and crying out in shock before Pinkamena charged into the doorway and roared furiously, the Devourer demon's eyes glowing viciously, black mire dripping from her jaws as she panted eagerly, in full grip of her most primal drive: to crush, destroy, and feast.

She strode towards Scrivener's limp body as ponies watched in horror, others hurrying to the front of the shop to stare out the doorway and through the windows as Pinkamena licked her lips slowly, and then she opened her jaws wide as she began to lean down... and Scrivener's hooves reached up, seizing her by the face and yanking her head down as he half-rolled, smashing the demon face-first into the ground before he leaned down and bit savagely into the demon's shoulder. Pinkamena roared in surprise, then shoved him away... and hissed when Scrivener ripped a large swathe through her skin with his sharp teeth, licking his lips as his own eyes glowed and the wound in his neck filled with dark ooze, then visibly healed. “Only fair... a taste of me, a taste of you.”

Pinkamena's hellish grin seemed to stretch wider, and then she and Scrivener charged at each other again, smashing into one another as Scrivener's muscles seemed to bulge larger, his eyes glowing as he laughed, fearless of the elite demon he was battling. Even as Pinkamena slammed him down beneath her cloven hooves, he managed to slip free, then smash her stumbling with a blow of his own, both seeming more and more excited by the moment as Luna's eyes glowed with glee.

“This... this has to stop...” Celestia whispered finally, trembling, before she stared desperately at Luna. “This has to stop... stop it, Luna...”

“No. This is what I've always desired to see... they're playing, Celestia, let them play... oh, let them play for as long as they desire...” Luna grinned again, turning her eyes back towards the fight, watching as Pinkamena lunged, Scrivener smashed her down, and then was knocked flying himself from an uppercut. “Every twitch of pain I feel... it brings with it pleasure unbound! Oh Celestia, this is wonderful! Look at them, a demon battling my handsome Clockwork Scrivener...”

Celestia's breath caught in her throat, staring down at Luna with horror before the sapphire mare grinned slowly over at the ivory equine, murmuring: “Why should we have to hide or deny who we are? I am sure thou figured it out already... Scrivener himself is a weapon of Clockwork World. He would perhaps have become a powerful asset of Valthrudnir's, a true Clockwork Pony, had things been just a little different... but instead... he is mine. He is all mine, Celestia... he is my weapon, my monster, my husband, my lover... truly, he is my soulmate...”

“Don't hide, Celestia... I know the real reason you want the fight to stop...” Twilight whispered, and Celestia trembled at the look on the violet mare's face as the Lich slowly smiled at her. “You're getting excited.”

Celestia gritted her teeth... and then looked sharply up at a loud howl, watching as Scrivener smashed his face into a charging Pinkamena and knocked them both stumbling backwards. But the stallion recovered first, leaping forwards and viciously beginning to slam his hooves back and forth into the Devourer's features, hammering her with his hooves and every ounce of strength he had, knocking her staggering under the hail of blows before she finally managed to throw her head back and roar furiously, the sheer waves of force and rage enough to interrupt Scrivener's attacks and make him wince away.

Then, surprisingly, Pinkamena spun around and bolted straight for the doorway, and ponies screamed and ran out of the way. The demon plowed through the room, and Scrivener laughed and sat back, his eyes glowing with sapphire light as he grinned widely, his body language eager as he breathed roughly in and out before his eyes flicked up, and he whispered: “Oh yeah. Now we're talking.”

Pinkamena smashed through one of the windows above, Nibelung battle axe in her front hooves raised high and a vicious grin on the demon's face as she dropped down, swinging the weapon in a savage arc: and immediately, Scrivener leapt back with a laugh, narrowly dodging the blade as it bit deep into the ground in front of him before he seized the middle of the weapon with his front hooves, using it like an axle as he twisted his body to kick both rear hooves viciously into Pinkamena's face, knocking her sprawling.

She grunted, then Scrivener yanked the battle axe out of the ground and spun around with it, bringing it high, but Pinkamena simply kicked him in the stomach with one hoof and knocked him stumbling with a curse, fumbling the weapon. Immediately, the demon leapt forwards, tackling him over and pinning him, the axe flying loose, and she snarled down into his eyes before jumping past the charcoal stallion. She swept her weapon up and skidded around in a half-circle, but Scrivener was already up on his own hooves, running at her and seizing her by the horns jutting from the sides of the demon's head, jackknifing her body before she could raise the axe and landing neatly on her back.

Pinkamena roared, beginning to buck back and forth, snarling as she leapt around and the crowd screamed and drew away as her axe whickered dangerously out in all directions. Then the demon tried to buck forwards as she swung her axe up over her head, but Scrivener leaned backwards and swung both rear hooves up hard as the blade lashed towards him, hammering into the underside of the flat to send the weapon flying into the air.

The demon stumbled with surprise, and Scrivener reached up to catch the axe in both front hooves by the handle, grinning viciously before he slammed the butt of the weapon down into Pinkamena's skull. It knocked the demon flat with a groan, and Scrivener laughed even as he tumbled off her back and cut himself against the blade, but then he slowly turned around, grinning viciously, axe held loosely in one hoof as his eyes glowed...

“Enough, damnation!” roared a furious voice, and Celestia was almost slapped aside as Sleipnir stormed out through the doorway, shoving his way through the terrified crowd as Pinkamena and Scrivener both dumbly looked up. Then the enormous, vine maned stallion seized them both by the head before either could react., and he briskly slammed their skulls together. Luna gargled as her own eyes bulged and she saw stars, and Scrivener and Pinkamena were both nearly knocked unconscious. “What idiocy, what... what madness hast thou both been up to? And what disappointment assails me so! I shan't abide it any longer, not even from my wife, not even from my brother!”

He lifted them both easily into the air by the nape of the neck, glaring angrily back and forth between them as the axe fell from Scrivener's hooves and Pinkamena groaned, then blinked blearily. She and Scrivener looked across at each other, both covered in different hues of blood before Sleipnir rattled the two violently, and they both flinched before the vine-maned stallion snapped: “This is not how friends, family, treat one another! Oh, aye, there is nothing wrong with a decent spar, or a contest of honor, but this is neither! This is two fools, biting and growling like animals, and at what was to be a happy and peaceful party. Thou not only endangered thyselves, thou endangered others, thou hast hurt and scared and upset many ponies, and that includes thine own sister and myself, Pinkamena! Oh, fools, where is thy honor? What malady plagues both of thee, whom I love so dearly, into such acts of violence?”

Both ponies shifted uncomfortably, and then Pinkamena opened her mouth... before slowly licking her lips and closing it at the glare Sleipnir favored her with. But a moment later, the enormous, vine maned stallion sighed quietly and gently set them both down, shaking his head and saying in a quieter voice: “Nay, phoenix, fear me not. My anger is misplaced. 'Tis concern... concern and love and fear for both of thee that drives me. Now look around, at this wonderful celebration, all ruined.”

He shook his head slowly, and then without looking around, added quietly: “And Celestia, my big sister. How could thou simply allow this continue, without stepping in, putting a stop to this mayhem? 'Tis unlike thee, who could stop a quarrel of dragons with but thy glare and a few calmly-spoken words. Why did thou not step in?”

Celestia was silent, lowering her head quietly as she almost meekly half-hid behind the frame of the shattered doorway, and then Luna shook her own head and stepped quickly forwards and out into the square, frowning. “Brother, please, thou art overreacting. 'Twas no great conflict, 'twas... simply like foals at play. And 'tis not Celestia's fault she recognized that and thou did not.”

“Foals should be allowed to play, aye, sister, but even the most wonderful of foals must be taught the difference between right and wrong, and gently guided back to the path of honor when they may stumble off it.” Sleipnir replied quietly, looking over his shoulder and studying her with a faint smile, before he slowly turned around. He hesitated, looking back and forth at the crowd, before meeting Luna's eyes and saying gently but firmly: “We shall speak more upon this later, little sister. Thou art... I believe we should... chat.”

There was silence, and then Luna frowned slowly before she rose her head, her eyes becoming colder as Sleipnir leaned back in surprise. “Chat? I think not, Sleipnir. Thou art acting like old Celestia... art thou not my fun-loving brother, who helped me enjoy the world, even with all its blights and pains? Have Scrivener and I not returned from darkness and damnation to our beloved Ponyville? Is this not our sanctuary? Nay, Sleipnir, I bring with me the gift of freedom, and I shan't let anypony deny me that. I am free. Scrivener is free. And not even thou shall be allowed to chain me down.”

“Sister, listen to thyself.” Sleipnir pleaded, shaking his head desperately and striding forwards, gazing down worriedly into her icy cyan eyes. “Look at thee, at what just happened here! Think of thy honor-”

“Honor means nothing to me, if it means I am to be chained down by it! I would rather be without honor and free, than imprisoned once more to stupid, useless rules!” Luna retorted sharply. Sleipnir trembled at this, looking hurt, seeming to simply crumple up as he stepped hesitantly away from his little sister. “Only freedom matters. And I am free.”

There was silence, the only sound Sleipnir swallowing thickly as tears filled the enormous stallion's eyes. He trembled violently, and all eyes stared towards Luna and Scrivener as the charcoal male joined his wife with the same cold expression on his face, mirroring her as they looked slowly back and forth at the ponies gathered around them. After only a few moments, they were joined by Twilight as well, and Luna grinned coldly, licking her lips as she said quietly: “Thou can stay in thy shackles of 'honor' and 'laws' and 'rules,' but we are going to be free. We are going to pursue all that we have always wanted... and one day, we will build our own paradise, our own sanctuary, where all are free and none are slaves to foolish rules. But all those who do not wish to be blind may come with us.”

Luna sniffed and flicked her mane to the side as it sparked, and Scrivener licked a bit of dried blood off his muzzle before the sapphire mare calmly glanced over her shoulder. She saw Antares, pale and staring through one window with wide eyes, looking disbelieving... but she only smiled at him kindly before her eyes flicked towards Celestia.

The ivory winged unicorn was breathing hard, still almost childishly trying to half-hide, trembles running through her body before Luna said gently: “Big sister. Come with us. Come, 'tis time to give thou the freedom thou hast always desired. This party may be joyless, but our baptism of thee into our world shall be wrought with pleasure and festivity. So come, Celestia. 'Tis time to go now.”

Sleipnir looked up pleadingly, and Celestia trembled, staring back and forth blankly. Slowly, she looked over her shoulder as Discombobulation stepped quietly towards her, holding out his hands silently... and the ivory equine shivered before she closed her eyes, shook her head once, and then turned away with a whispered apology.

Discombobulation let his arms drop limp, and pain spread over his features as he swallowed slowly, only staring weakly after Celestia as she walked slowly out of the building. Sleipnir clenched his own eyes shut as as the ivory mare strode obediently to Scrivener, Luna, and Twilight, who all smiled at her before the rainbow-maned winged unicorn bowed her head silently... and Luna reached up and patted her patronizingly, saying kindly: “Good. Come then, 'tis time to go.”

And with that, Luna turned, Twilight and Scrivener on either side of her, and Celestia trembling as she followed her head bowed, shame and humiliation burning in her cheeks, but knowing no other choice... knowing nothing else she could do, nothing else she could say. She refused to lose her little sister again, she refused to lose Scrivener, and Twilight Sparkle... and if she could keep them and gain true freedom, she only hoped that she could bear up the cost of losing almost everything else.

That night, Antares silently made his way home, trembling a little and hating how he was actually... afraid. Again and again, he'd weakly defended his parents all day long, until Meadowlark had eventually shouted at him and slapped him and stormed off. And the worst part was that he knew she was right... but there was nothing he could do. And he wanted his parents to love him... he wanted to love his parents, too. And he wanted to believe, most of all, that he wasn't responsible for this.

He trembled and shook his head weakly, breathing harshly in and out. After everything he had gone through, everything he had done... to end up feeling these things, forced to question his parents, trying to balance blind love and admiration with fear and terror and the simple knowledge of right and wrong that had been ingrained into him, and yet the very people who had taught him all this had apparently simply cast aside... it was killing him inside. And there was nothing he could do, except try and be a good son and have faith that... that somehow, everything would be okay.

Antares stepped into the front yard, and glanced up quietly at the patio, tilting his head as he saw Celestia sitting calmly by herself and polishing Tyrfing. He stepped closer beneath the night sky, and his eyes widened as he reared back in shock, seeing bruises and wounds here and there over her body, and a golden collar locked around her neck... but the winged unicorn smiled strangely at him as he approached, saying softly: “Hello, Antares. It's good to see you.”

“Aunt Tia...” Antares whispered, staring over her disbelievingly, before he trembled and asked, hoping against hope, feeling confused and scared and broken: “What happened to you?”

“Nothing. I... I'm free now.” Celestia closed her eyes, reaching up to silently touch the clasp of her collar before a strange, warm smile spread over her face... an expression that made Antares flinch and shiver. “I'm free, Antares, and it's the most wonderful feeling in the universe. My only duties are to my little sister and my brother... no more worrying about the Royal Council, or Equestria, or other ponies. I'm free to just concentrate on the ponies I've always cared about... and to indulge. To become what I've always been, at the core: the right hoof of a powerful ruler. Even as Queen of the Valkyries, I served under Odin, after all. I was a large and important gear, but not irreplaceable. And somehow, I find that comforting... being a second in command, a lieutenant, but not the head. It has the perfect mix of the power I crave with the control I desire.”

Antares shivered slowly, and then the door swung open and Luna stepped out, smiling softly as she glanced down at her sister. “I heard thee speaking, and I must correct thee, Celestia... thou are irreplaceable. Thou art my big sister, no matter what other functions thou may serve.”

Luna leaned forwards and kissed Celestia's temple, and the ivory mare smiled warmly before sapphire winged unicorn gazed affectionately at her son, even as Antares almost shrank down into the grasses, trembling. “Come inside, my handsome colt. Scrivener and I have found a gift for thee. Celestia, thou should come in too, stop playing with thy silly sword all alone here. Thou art truly part of our family now... soon to be bound to us forever.”

Celestia laughed, and Antares' eyes widened as he leaned up, unable to stop himself from asking in a trembling voice: “Bound forever? What do you mean?”

“Aye, tomorrow, Celestia and Twilight will be constructing a special altar.” Luna licked her lips slowly, laughing quietly as she murmured: “'Twill be glorious... it will be a mix of my own night magic and Valthrudnir's machinations, culled from all the knowledge Scrivener absorbed from Clockwork World. We shall use it to transfer blood from us to Celestia, and vice-versa.”

“And more.” Celestia whispered, smiling widely up at Luna, before she laughed when the sapphire mare nudged her older sibling firmly.

“Shush, Celestia! Do not ruin the surprise!” Luna scolded teasingly, and the ivory mare gazed up at her happily... and for all the warmth and affection in the air, Antares could only stare in horror, feeling sick to his stomach as he shook his head weakly, disbelievingly. Trembles ran through his system as he sat back, breathing hard in and out before the sapphire mare returned her eyes to her son, inviting gently: “Come inside.”

Antares could only whimper for a moment, and Luna frowned slightly before the young stallion finally managed to nod weakly, and he dragged himself forwards, step-by-step. The mare smiled at this, her eyes lingering over her son before she gestured kindly to the open door as Antares halted beside her, and he breathed hard for a few times before Luna said gently: “'Tis all alright, my beloved little colt. 'Tis all alright, fear not. We all love thee, and shall always protect thee.”

The young unicorn looked ahead, leathery wings flapping nervously once. Then he shifted a bit before looking over his shoulders at these, studying his own strange appendages before asking impulsively: “Even Nightmare Moon?”

“Nightmare Moon is... dormant, still. But aye, I am sure she does, too. Thou art... her son almost as much as mine in some ways.” Luna said finally, looking curious, and Antares nodded slowly before he turned his eyes forwards and stepped inside... then yelped when Luna huffed and firmly bulled him down the hall, rushing him onwards as she exclaimed happily: “Come, thou art taking far too long to see thy surprise!”

“Luna!” Scrivener shouted in exasperation, from where he had half-wrapped some kind of box, and Luna only huffed before flicking her horn firmly, throwing an empty cardboard box into the stallion's head. It bounced off, and Twilight giggled... but Antares could only stare with abject horror at the foal's clothing they had bought, and the variety of children's toys... and yet all of it was clearly made to be worn by adult ponies, and played with by adult hooves. No. No way, no... oh no... “Great way to ruin everything.”

Antares almost laughed hysterically at how in time his father's comment was with everything he was thinking right now, and Luna smiled radiantly as she leaned forwards and hugged her son firmly from behind, whispering in his ear: “Now thou can be an adult when thou desires to be, and a little colt when the urge so takes thee... anything thou wants, I shall give thee, my son. I shall make thee as free as I have made us, as I shall make others... but oh, please, please, please do try on at least the clothing! There, this onesie, 'tis just like the one thou wore when thou wert but a newborn!”

Luna all but glowed as she reached out and patted a white, adult-sized onesie with a blue pattern of stars over it, and Antares' humiliation only grew worse as Twilight smiled and said: “Well, of course. I had Rarity make this special-order, and she was the one who made those for you first, remember?”

The sapphire mare smiled warmly as Scrivener nodded thoughtfully, and Antares moaned low in his throat as he stared weakly over the pile of baby objects in front of him. He breathed weakly in and out, shaking his head slowly before he looked over his shoulder at Celestia... but the ivory mare only smiled benevolently, not seeming to think anything was wrong, as blinded as Twilight had become...

“Oh, I understand...” Luna said slowly, and Antares looked up, feeling a faint sliver of hope before he flushed deeply when his mother grabbed him. Her grip was firm but gentle, and her strength surprised him as she easily dragged him forwards, almost cradling him as she gazed down lovingly and whispered tenderly: “How silly of me. A little foal cannot dress himself... Scrivener Blooms, help me put the clothing upon our handsome baby boy...”

Antares whimpered and tried to shove weakly at his mother, but Luna only laughed, apparently taking this as him playing along as she caught one of his hooves and smiled radiantly down at him, eyes almost glowing as she whispered: “What a delightful game this is! Oh, handsome, wonderful Antares, thou wert such a gorgeous baby... let us live out the fantasy, then, but only know I shan't change thy diapers if thou soils thyself. I only desire to go so far with this entire skit.”

“I... no, no, I...” But then Scrivener forced a pacifier into Antares' mouth, and the unicorn's eyes rolled wildly in his head, only able to whimper around the thing in his jaws. He tried to spit it out, but the four crowded around him, and it was shoved back into his jaws: even as tears formed in his eyes and leaked down his cheeks, Luna just cooed to him and kissed his face. His limbs flailed, and Scrivener chuckled as he grasped his legs, and one-by-one, forced them into the legs of the onesie. And Twilight and Celestia leaned in with warm smiles, and Antares pleaded with them with his eyes, but no one listened...

Eventually, he lost the will to fight, only staring weakly, eyes wet with tears as he curled up, and Luna rocked him slowly in her forelegs as if he really was only a foal, gazing down with love and warmth at him. “What a handsome baby...”

They passed him around, like he really was a foal... and at some point, Antares felt his mind go numb. Felt himself wanting to believe that's all he was, as he stayed curled up, as Scrivener kissed his forehead gently before slipping him to Twilight, who snuggled him close and murmured a soft lullaby into his ear, before passing him on to Celestia. And in Celestia's limbs, he felt smallest of all, he felt like everything had been a lie and a dream and he was just a baby, a tiny little baby... before his eyes widened as the ivory mare murmured softly: “Do you have a bottle?”

And they did. And the humiliation all flooded back, his mental numbness broke as Luna went to the kitchen to fill the bottle with milk and Antares trembled, then he finally spat the pacifier out and whispered as he gathered all the courage he could: “P-Please Aunt Tia... I don't want to play any more...”

“Poor Antares seems cranky... I'm sure he'll be happier once he's fed. May I?” Celestia glanced curiously up at something, and then a bottle floated into Antares' line of sight, and he felt a sob hitch up out of his chest as he tried to kick his limbs weakly, but to no success. It was all simply too much for him... it was all crushing down on him as Celestia tilted the bottle down and sang to him gently, even as he tried to turn his head away: “Hush little pony, don't you cry... Mommy's going to sing you a lullaby...”

Finally, the bottle was forced into his jaws, no matter how Antares tried to turn away, unable to summon up the strength to scream, and he felt simply... broken, in mind, in body. Celestia tilted the bottle up, and Antares looked up at her, into the almost-glowing amethyst irises that were gentle, and loving, but insistent... and he knew that this wouldn't end until the bottle was empty.

So he suckled back on it, drinking down the milk quietly, even as sobs hitched up out of his chest, even as his body shook with humiliation and shame and pain. Even as tears spilled along his cheeks and he curled his limbs up and tried to pretend again, he was a baby, he was a baby, and being an adult was a dream and his parents were loving and oh no, no, no, he hadn't caused this, he hadn't, this wasn't his fault, this wasn't his punishment for being so weak...

When the bottle was empty, Celestia finally drew it away, then easily hefted the young stallion over one shoulder and gently patted his back. Antares forced out a weak burp, then gave a hitching sob... but none of the four seemed to notice as Celestia passed him back towards Luna, who smiled lovingly down at her son, cradling him close. He only hung limply in her forelegs, feeling like a sacrifice, a ridiculous sight in his onesie before he closed his eyes as the pacifier was pushed back into his mouth... and finally, he heard something he'd never expected to be glad to hear: “Let's put him to bed.”

The young stallion kept his eyes closed as he was gently slipped onto his father's broad back, and carried down the hall. Tears leaked along his cheeks as he trembled weakly, his body limp, trying to hold back tears and whimpers as they carried him to his room, put him into bed, and Luna sighed softly, finally making him open his eyes before the mare looked back and forth, then murmured softly: “This is no colt's room, Scrivy. We should... perhaps we should build a nursery for our beloved little boy, what does thou think? And perhaps I shall teach him to polymorph, or do it myself... I could easily change him into a smaller, younger shape...”

“Let's start with the nursery, Luna. Polymorphing sounds a little silly and unnecessary when he's already so happy like this.” Scrivener replied calmly, and Antares shivered as he stared up at his parents. Luna grumbled a bit, and then Scrivener turned and gently pulled the covers up over his son before leaning down and kissing his forehead, saying softly: “I love you, Antares.”

“As do I. Thou hast all the love we can give and more, and we shall attend to thy every need now, thy every fantasy... we shall steal back all that was taken from us, and more. Thou shall be our baby, our colt, and our adult son whenever thou desires...” Luna reached down, tenderly stroking through the young stallion's mane as she gazed down at him affectionately, before licking her lips slowly as she murmured: “We are free, Antares. We are free... there are no rules, no restrictions any of us must follow. We are free.”

Then Luna and Scrivener turned, leaving the door ajar... and for a while, Antares just laid in bed, curled up in his onesie, pacifier in his mouth. He sucked on this slowly until he realized what he was doing, and he spat it out with something like horror... only to wince and look down as he realized it was on a clip on a string.

Then he looked up as he heard something, before a tremble ran through his system as there was a loud thud, followed by a whispering groan. Another sound followed it, and Antares trembled as he heard what sounded horribly like a 'thank you' rise through the air, followed again by a sound of a hoof smashing into soft flesh...

The young stallion's horn glowed, and he flicked it a little too hard, slamming his bedroom door... and yet he somehow doubted anypony noticed. He grabbed his pillow, pulling it over his head with a whimper and clenching his eyes shut as he tried to make himself smaller, tried to hide, tried to down out the sounds that began to rise up... horrible sounds, thankful sounds, sounds no pony wanted to hear and laughter, and... and... knocking, and...

Antares trembled violently under the covers, and then there was that knocking again, firm, insistent. Slowly, he looked through the darkness of his room, and then he whimpered and threw himself backwards, gasping quietly as someone hammered on his door... except a moment later, Scarlet Sage's voice shouted worriedly: “Antares? Antares, are you in there?”

“I.. I, yeah. Just... just a minute.” Antares managed out after a moment of shock, and then he trembled before he slowly slipped out of bed and walked to the door. His hoof was on the handle, pulling it open before he remembered what he was wearing, and he winced as he looked out in surprise at Scarlet Sage and Meadowlark, and the two stared back in at him.

Neither Pegasi seemed to know what to say, before Scarlet Sage shivered and shook her head, leaning forwards and simply pushing forwards in a quiet but firm voice: “Little brother, listen... I... I... I know something's wrong with Mom and Dad. Something... isn't right here, and... and I heard about what they're going to do today and we have to do something before things get any worse than they already are. Sleipnir's already off to convince Celestia to rethink what she's doing, but... Meadow and I came to see you. Because we need you... we need your ability to see into people, and we need you to understand that... something's wrong.”

“Antares, don't you understand? I'm sorry we had to ambush you like this, but... we meant to talk to Luna and Scrivener, but they must have already gone into town. And you need to see, you need to look at things, Antares, and understand that your parents are-”

“Understand what? Understand that something's not right, something's screwed up?” Antares shouted, cutting Meadowlark off as both the Pegasi winced, before the young stallion seized the front of his onesie, yelling in a high-pitched voice: “Have you looked at me? I'm wearing fucking baby clothes, Mom and Dad dressed me up like this, Celestia shoved a bottle in my mouth, they want to build me a fucking nursery, of course something is fucking wrong! And that's not even counting the bruises on Celestia, or, or what Dad and Pinkamena did to each other, or any of this other crazy shit that's going on that I know, I know, I know is all my goddamn fault!”

And with that, Antares dropped forwards and buried his face in his forelimbs, trembling violently, and Meadowlark and Scarlet Sage both winced before trading a look... but Antares took a rattling, broken breath on the ground before he whispered: “Don't worry, I'm... I'm not crying... I... I know. I know, I know... I know... I... I have to fix this somehow, but... what can I do? This is all my fault... I thought Mom and Dad being dead was painful but... this... I brought them back as m-m-monsters...”

“It's okay, little brother. It's okay. Just calm down now.” Scarlet Sage soothed quietly, and Antares looked up miserably before the silver-coated Pegasus reached down, carefully hauled him up to his hooves, and simply hugged him fiercely. Antares hugged her tightly back, trembling and closing his eyes, resting against her for a few moments before they drew apart.

Silently, he looked at Meadowlark, apologetic and feeling ashamed of himself, and she nodded silently once before holding up a hoof. Antares smiled faintly as he reached up to take this... and she seized his foreleg and yanked him forwards, surprising him as she hugged him fiercely-tight around the neck and buried her face against him, whispering: “You stupid idiot.”

“I know. I know...” Antares murmured, holding tightly onto her, trembling a little... and he closed his eyes as he thought he felt something, a second presence, stroking down his spine. Telling him it was going to be okay, pushing him gently onwards, and he shivered a bit before nodding slowly as he whispered: “Okay. I... I know what I have to do. I have to... I have to set things right.”

Slowly, Antares pulled back from Meadowlark as both she and Scarlet Sage frowned, and the unicorn reached up and grimaced as he began to unzip the onesie, carefully yanking this off as Scarlet Sage asked worriedly: “Antares, stop, wait. Tell us what's going through your mind... you don't have to face this alone, and more importantly, you can't hope to... to stop Mom and Dad without a plan. They don't listen to anyone, they're determined to do this... thing with Celestia, and rumor has it they've been making promises about... awful things. Look, we need to figure this out. We need to talk down Celestia, and then we need-”

“No, Scarlet Sage. I started this. I caused all this, because... I wished them to be free.” Antares laughed weakly as he finally stepped out of the onesie and carefully kicked it off, then he shook his head slowly and looked up silently. “And more importantly, I went against the one thing they told me to never wish for in the letter they left for me all those years ago. They're... they're like this, because I betrayed them, don't you get it? I betrayed their memory, and my own honor, and... and every single one of you. So now... I have to make this right. I have to fix this myself.”

He closed his eyes and murmured: “And the only reason I'm not accepting your help is because you guys can't get hurt too. This is my fault... I won't have two more people I love hurt.”

Meadowlark flushed and Scarlet Sage smiled faintly, shaking her head slowly before she murmured: “But you can't do it alone.”

“I'm not alone.” Antares stopped, then he reached up and silently touched the star necklace that was hanging around his neck, closing his eyes. “I have my real parents with me... somewhere inside me. And I have each and every one of you, depending on me and believing in me. And I know that somewhere inside them, Twilight and Celestia... their real selves... they're there, too, waiting for me to finally do something right.”

He laughed a little, then winced when Meadowlark grabbed his muzzle, shaking her head slowly as she turned her head to face him. “You've done a lot of things right, Antares. It's not your fault that everything's turned out like this. And you need to let us help.”

“I know. And you can help.” Antares said quietly, smiling faintly. “I have no idea what I'm going to do in order to stop Mom and Dad, but... you, and everypony else are going to have to hold off Celestia and Twilight for as long as possible, wherever they are. I... I'm just trusting in my instincts here now, okay? In that little voice in my head telling me what to do... I don't know, maybe it's Allonym, trying to help out. I don't know how I'm going to get through to Mom and Dad, but I think I can, but only if... only if Twilight and Celestia aren't there, too.”

Meadowlark and Scarlet Sage both hesitated, then traded a look... and when Scarlet Sage nodded slowly, the red Pegasus trembled before sighing and lowering her head, murmuring quietly: “Fine. Okay. But Antares... come back. Please don't do anything stupid, and don't... get hurt. I'm... I'm scared of what your parents will do if they're challenged, even by you. They don't seem... they're not...”

“They're not well. But I'm gonna try and fix that.” Antares said quietly, closing his eyes and nodding slowly, and for a few moments there was silence before the glossy-black unicorn smiled faintly, glancing from one to the other. “I love you, sis. And... thank you, Meadowlark, for... everything. If... if everything works out... I'll... I'll see you soon.”

“Yeah. Yeah.” Meadowlark murmured, the two studying each other, and then she leaned slowly forwards and placed a quiet, chaste kiss on his lips, smiling faintly at him. “Good luck.”

Antares nodded and swallowed a bit, stepping out into the hall, then looking at the open door that was inviting him outwards and onwards, as his blood burned in his veins, his mind boiled... and the young stallion gritted his teeth before he suddenly leapt forwards and into a sprint, surprising both Pegasi as he bolted past the patio and onto the path leading through the Everfree Forest towards Ponyville.

He ran as fast and hard as he could, eyes focused forwards, letting his body move on autopilot as his mind tried to put together everything he had seen in the last few days, with everything he knew about his parents. He concentrated as hard as he could as his hooves pounded down the dirt path, gritting his teeth: he thought about the way his parents had treated him as he'd grown up, compared to what they'd done to him last night. He thought about why his parents had always taught him to act with honor, and about the meaning of strength; he thought about freedom, and how all things could be corrupted, and that balance had to be maintained with everything.

The young stallion was out of the Everfree Forest even before he realized it, looking up... and staring in shock at the sight of his parents on the path not far ahead. And they were alone, as he'd wished and hoped... but nearby, Fluttershy was trembling, looking nervously back and forth as Nirvana and several other Phooka crowded around her, visibly shivering themselves.

Luna and Scrivener were grinning, advancing on them, and yet all the same Antares stumbled to a halt. No one had seen him yet... he could easily turn, run away, let this play out however it could. He could run away forever, and no one would ever find him... or he could just hide, and tell Scarlet Sage and Meadowlark later he'd been too late, or held up. He could do a thousand things... and then a thought hammered through his mind like an axe shearing a piece of wood in half, as something inside him snarled: And what is the right thing to do?

He closed his eyes tightly, then looked up silently before slowly putting a hoof forwards. He began to hyperventilate, staring at his parents. His parents, who he loved so deeply, who he'd fought so hard to bring back, who he'd given up a miracle for... and the results of that selfish, greedy, stupid wish were right there in front of him. They were bullying Fluttershy and her Phooka, likely trying to get them to join their 'free' ways, doing things his parents would never do...

And there it was: with that thought, Antares steeled himself, trembling. His parents would never do these kinds of things... and it was his job to fix that. To make them understand if he could... to stop them if he couldn't, no matter how impossible a task it seemed. And slowly, Antares forced himself to walk forwards, one hoof after the other, before he tried to shout: “Stop!”

What came out was a raspy whisper, but all the same it got the attention of Scrivener and Luna, who both glanced at him, then smiled. Fluttershy trembled and backed hurriedly up, but Luna was quick to say cordially, without even sparing a glance at the yellow-coated Pegasus: “Now, do not flee, Fluttershy, 'twould be irritating. We are not yet done our chat on freedom, are we? And thou and thy Phooka friends... all of thee can help spread our message far and wide.

“But Antares, what are thou doing here? And I see today thou art a proud and handsome adult...” Luna licked her lips slowly, eyes half-lidding. “Tell me, beloved son. Why hast thou sought us out?”

Antares rose his head quietly, looking across at his parents steadily as he breathed heavily, then he finally said in as steady a voice as he could: “I'm here to stop you.”

“Stop us?” Luna laughed at this like it was a joke, and Scrivener smiled patronizingly, tilting his head before the winged unicorn asked kindly: “Stop us from what?”

“From... doing anything. I... I'm here to fix my mistake.” Antares whispered, and slowly, the smiles faded from both the faces of his parents, as Antares forced himself to step forwards. He had drawn their full attention now, and Fluttershy wasted no time in hurrying away with the Phooka as Antares continued as firmly as he could: “You're... you're not acting like yourselves! I'm here to... to help you see that...”

He broke off, trembling, scared, letting his fear rule him for a moment before Scrivener said softly: “I think you better watch your tone, Antares. I'm not liking what I'm seeing right now...”

That resounded with the young unicorn, and he clenched his eyes shut, concentrating for a moment before opening them, reading into his parents. At first, he thought he couldn't read them at all, from what he saw... but a moment later, he trembled as he realized what it was: it wasn't that he couldn't see into them like he could most ponies... it was that no matter what he said, no matter what he did, they weren't going to change their minds. It was because his choices were grim, or grimmer, and Antares trembled before Luna snapped sharply: “What does thou know? Have we not indulged thee, treated thee well? We are back less than a week and look at this mutiny, Scrivener Blooms! We have given up some of our own valuable time for this insolent foal and yet now he comes and insults us, because, what, we are not acting the way thou precisely wants us to? Or art thou jealous, Antares, that we have given such gifts to Twilight and Celestia, and don't spend all our time with thee?”

“No, that's not it at all!” Antares cried out, shaking his head before he cursed and forced himself to steady again, looking up with his teeth grit before he said sharply: “Acting without honor, and now... doing this thing to Celestia... hurting her, because-”

“Celestia enjoys the pain. Enjoys being put in her proper place. And I like putting her there.” Scrivener said coldly, narrowing his eyes dangerously as they glowed faint blue, and Antares shivered in horror at that look: that wasn't his father. That wasn't the compassionate, protective stallion he had known... “If you don't stop your whining, Antares, maybe I'll show you first-hoof. Maybe that will teach you some proper respect. Your mother and I don't have the time to waste on this kind of garbage anymore... we get what we want, and that's that. What we don't want or need is a worthless little baby like you.”

Antares was cut to the core, trembling violently, swallowing thickly as he fought back tears, and Luna shook her head slowly before glancing moodily over at Scrivener. “Calm thyself a little, Scrivy, 'tis not his fault entirely. He knows not whether he is stallion or colt... show sympathy for his damaged mind.”

“I'm not damaged.” Antares murmured quietly, closing his eyes before he laughed brokenly. “I mean... I am, but... not like that. I... I understand now, though. I understand what I have to do. I understand that I should have left you there, in the crystal, that... I'm not broken, but you are.”

Antares looked slowly up, and Luna and Scrivener both glared at him as the young stallion trembled, then set himself even as tears leaked down his face slowly. “I know you won't hesitate to kill me. You're no longer the people you once were... you're not even people. You're just forces of anarchy and chaos that have filled up my parents' bodies. But I have to try and fix my mistake, and put things right, back... back the way they were before.”

“I think he wants a fight, Luna...” Scrivener grinned slowly, tilting his head as his eyes flashed before he began to step forwards... then he frowned when Luna held up a foreleg, blocking his passage. The winged unicorn looked towards him, and Scrivener gazed back, their eyes locking, thoughts and emotions trading back and forth before the stallion's grin spread back over his features. “Yes. Yes, of course.”

Luna looked calmly towards Antares, as Antares swallowed thickly, staring across at his mother before Luna said contemptibly: “So thou desires to try and fight us, child? I shall reward thy stupidity with the same idiocy thou transparently values. I shall battle thee, in the honor duel.” Luna made a mocking, short bow, smiling coldly, and Antares trembled before his mother rose her head proudly, whispering: “No colt, not even my own son, may speak to me and mine husband that way, and I shall punish thou for it. And as the urge takes me, I shall either kill thee or maim thee. But I think I prefer the latter. Thou should live for a long time yet, Antares. Thou should be made to understand that we are thy parents, and thou shalt not disrespect us.”

Luna snarled for a moment, and then her features smoothed out before she looked over at Scrivener, adding kindly: “Go ahead, my darling. Give me thy good luck kiss.”

“Yes, of course. You called us monsters, Antares? You have yet to see a monster...” Scrivener said softly, as he strode up beside Luna and kissed her cheek gently... then he smiled calmly as he turned towards her and shoved both hooves against her side, closing his eyes as Luna trembled, then gritted her teeth as her wings spread and her horn began to glow, lowering her head as a snarling grin spread over her face, and the young stallion staggered back in shock as his mother's body rippled.

Black tears leaked down Scrivener's face as he grinned slowly, licking his sharp fangs as he pushed harder on her, and Luna gurgled before dropping her head forwards and screaming, the shriek long and loud... and horribly, becoming a broken, wild laugh as her body flexed and distorted, her frame rippling as Scrivener's eyes glowed with sapphire light, whispering: “Because just like I've always borrowed magic from Luna... now I finally have something to give back to her in return.”

Luna threw her head back with a roar, her coat tearing and revealing raw, bulging muscle and flesh, her eyes becoming white lights as her teeth expanded into massive, uneven knives. Horns twisted up out of her skull as her mane and tail snapped back and forth transforming into blue fire as her wings flapped violently, feathers falling away from them in a storm as they became leathery and clawed. Antares could only stare with horror as his mother's head dropped forwards, as her body continued to grow and expand, her hooves snapping apart into enormous, three-toed talons and piston-like spikes of bone shoving up out of her back in a double row, electricity sparking over these as she roared furiously.

And Antares saw that this was no Nightmare Moon, as the monstrosity straightened slowly, now easily double the size of Scrivener as the earth pony laughed, stepping backwards and leaving thick smears of corruption behind in his hoofsteps. This was Luna, supercharged and mutated by Scrivener's corruption, her body monstrous and massive and emaciated, her coat black where it still clung to bulging muscle and rippling flesh. She breathed slowly in and out, rumbling hungrily as the collar clung tightly to her elongated neck, and then she leaned forwards and exhaled a blast of toxic blue mist, whispering in a rumbling, echoing voice: “Thou should not have made thy mother angry, Antares. Now she has to give thee a spanking.”

Antares trembled in terror, tears leaking from his eyes as he breathed hard in and out, staring in terror up at this immense, monstrous entity... and then he shook his head wildly before simply screaming and running forwards, as Scrivener only laughed and the corrupted Luna stepped forwards to meet him. He leapt forwards, and like he was a foal, she slapped him to the ground with one immense claw, laughing loudly, lips drawn back from the oversized, uneven teeth that filled her monstrous maw in a cruel grin. “What? What is this? Oh, Antares, are we just playing a game?”

She stomped viciously down, and Antares barely managed to fling himself backwards and out of the way before she leapt forwards and seized him by the throat with her other claw, hauling him into the air above her head and grinning viciously up at him as her glowing eyes blazed. Her tall, proud horn glowed brightly, and Antares screamed in agony as his body burst into blue flames, Luna laughing again as she held him easily above her head. “Thou dared to challenge us, and 'tis almost a delightful joke! I, who have had countless years of experience, who spawned thee forth from my loins, pathetic whelp, a Valkyrie... and thou art nothing but an insolent child playing at 'hero!'”

With that, Luna flung Antares hard to the ground, and he bounced off the earth with a loud crunch as the blue flames whiffed out. The young stallion rolled a few times with a gargle, body steaming before he forced his hooves beneath him... only to scream as a talon stomped down on his lower back, pinning him in place as Luna leaned over him with a snarl. “Thou art no threat to me. Thou art nothing, colt! And I would have loved and coddled and played with thee forever, but I shall not be insulted, and I shall not have my freedom challenged... thou saved us? So what! I do not care! If the urge so strikes me, I shall murder Celestia tomorrow for the entertainment!”

Luna reached her other talon down, seizing into one of Antares' wings and twisting it violently, and the young stallion screamed in agony as it was jerked back and forth... then snapped near the base with a horrible crack before Luna stomped viciously twice on his spine, before almost lazily batting him away. The stallion was knocked rolling over the earth, crying out, tears spilling down his cheeks as he landed on his side... and just as he began to get up, Luna leapt forwards and slammed both front claws into his stomach, making him vomit blood and bile as the air was knocked out of him, gasping and gargling as he spasmed on the ground and she grinned savagely down at him.

Scrivener shook his head slowly, smiling before sighing as Luna reached down and grasped Antares by the scalp, the monster grinning down savagely as she slowly dragged Antares into the air by his head and mane. The young unicorn was still trying to gasp for breath, wheezing, eyes rolling in his head as he flailed weakly... and then Luna yanked him suddenly upwards before slamming him cruelly down into the earth on his stomach just as he began to recover, once more knocking the wind and fight from him. “Luna, don't play with your food, dear.”

“Oh, shut up, Scrivy. 'Twill only be a little longer.” Luna said irritably over her shoulder, dropping the young stallion and half-turning with a wink of one glowing eye, slowly licking her lips as the blue flames of her mane wreathed upwards in an excited pulse. “A little more fun... before I truly begin hurting him.”

She turned around... and Antares' hoof slammed into her face, making her flinch slightly before she snarled slowly in fury, not in pain. The young stallion, meanwhile, staggered in horror, looking down at his now-aching hoof before he winced and leapt backwards... and only cried out in agony and stumbled when his broken wing didn't flap, narrowly dodging a swipe of Luna's talons as she hissed: “Vile idiot child!”

Antares dodged back and forth, cursing weakly as he tried to stay light on his hooves, then he ducked low under a grab before leaping up and slashing his horn towards his mother's face: but immediately, Luna met Antares' with her own, and the young stallion gasped, cursing weakly as he found himself swinging his horn as hard and fast as he could just to try and defend himself as Luna lashed out with her own cruel flurry of horn strikes, shouting: “Thou dares to challenge me on this field? Wretched, arrogant child!”

Antares winced, hurrying backwards, but Luna was raging, hammering every attack forwards, pursuing him viciously before she finally slipped her horn beneath his and forcefully launched his head back. He staggered with a curse, his eyes widening as Luna reared back before she simply raked both talons down across his chest, and Antares screamed in agony as the front of his body was shredded, knocked sprawling on his back in a splatter of his own blood. He gasped in agony, his eyes bulging in terror as Luna landed over him, snarling down at him as he stared up at her in horror and she whispered: “No. I will not abide this insult. Thou art a worthless, wretched, useless failure of a child, and I have no love in my heart for thou, Antares Mīrus. Goodbye.”

Luna's horn glowed as she reared back, concentrating, grinning cruelly, and Antares stared up at her, hyperventilating, before he remembered both a promise, and a question... and then he clenched his eyes shut, throwing his head back as his own horn glowed, and he screamed: “Nightmare Moon!”

There was a faint pulse... and then Luna's glowing eyes snapped wide, her horn losing its glow as she staggered backwards as something inside her snapped awake in shock. For a moment, there was a terrible feeling of confusion, and then she snarled, pouncing on this thing inside her... but it was fast, wriggling free despite its shock before ripping through the bonds that had chained it down as a mental voice screamed inside her head: Luna, what have you done?

“Get... get thee hence! Thou art not needed... thou art not necessary here! I am busy!” Luna snarled, shaking her head back and forth as she grabbed at her skull with one talon, visibly fighting to concentrate as her body rippled and something inside her wrestled with the rest of her... something shaped like a masochistic, violently-loyal black pony, a winged unicorn of passion and darkness and cruelty... but that was filled with horror as it saw what Luna planned to do... what Luna had already done. “This is everything we desired, that-”

You would risk our most precious treasures? You would put everything at risk? You, and Scrivener both... but that is not Scrivener any more than you are Luna! No, you are not who I remember... Nightmare Moon snarled, and inside her mind, a blood-polished collar of silver roses gleamed, as Luna's body filled with what felt like fire and glass, and Scrivener cursed in shock, his eyes widening as he staggered forwards and then dropped his head as pain blasted through his mental link. No! I will not have lies, I will not have false treasures... I will not have you fools tarnish everything we built, in madness even worse than once ruled me! I will not permit this, Luna!

“S-Stop... cannot... cease!” Luna shrieked, staggering back and forth, then she reared back and howled in agony as the pain in her mind and body worsened, seizing at her face as blood began to run from the sockets of her eyes, as inside her, a terrified Luna wrestled uselessly against a biting, clawing, vicious entity of shadows and darkness and passion and night. “I am... I... I am-”

You are not Luna Brynhild! And I will not let you harm the legacy I have worked so hard to achieve! Blinding agony built higher as the force twisted with her savagely, as her mind threatened to explode, as she staggered wildly back and forth, vulnerable and defenseless and unable to see outside of what was going on in her own head...

And then pain ripped through her body as Antares leapt forwards in that moment of opportunity, and his horn thrust to the hilt into Luna's chest. The monstrosity gargled, freezing up on its hind claws, back arched and forelegs reaching up almost as if in supplication as blood flowed from its glowing eyes and the wound in the beast's chest. Tears flooded down Antares' cheeks as he shoved his front hooves against her body, breathing hard, rear hooves shivering against the ground... and then he clenched his eyes tightly shut, crying out wordlessly as his horn glowed white before unleashing a thunderous blast of purification straight into Luna's warped and corrupted body.

They were both blown backwards in a shockwave of ivory light, Antares landing on his spine and skidding with a howl of agony as his broken wing twisted beneath him, his body convulsing once and causing him to roll awkwardly onto his stomach. He groaned in pain, shivering a little, and then he looked slowly up as Luna's screams faded down to nothing as the terrible white aura faded slowly, and he was able to stare upwards with a tremble at what had happened.

Luna lay on her side, silent and eerily peaceful-looking in spite of the bloody hole in her breast. She was unconscious, and ugly wounds marred her body, as did flecks of gray and ashes. Her wings were naked and broken, and her mane and tail had both become light blue hair instead of ephemeral locks, but she was no longer a monster... she was just a fallen body, laying upon the ground, a winged unicorn who was breathing weakly... but still breathing. Who looked like the very evil had been blasted out of her.... and the sight of it filled the young stallion with a moment of hope

Then a gargle drew Antares' attention, and he trembled as he looked slowly up, seeing Scrivener clutching at his chest and drooling black mire. More dark essence was bleeding out of a hole in his breast that mirrored the one on Luna's body, and he was staring at her with disbelief... before a tremble of fury rolled through the charcoal stallion, and his coat seemed to darken, his muscles to bulge and grow larger as veins stood out over his frame, pumping the black poison faster through his body as he rasped: “You little cheating bastard... you say we have no honor, then do that to your own mother?”

Scrivener snarled in fury, his eyes glowing, and then he roared like an animal as Antares trembled, then gave a raw yell of his own, the young unicorn yanking himself to his hooves: rage, pain, sorrow, determination, everything swirled together in a maelstrom inside of him, and his body responded in the only way it could. It got up, and it fought.

Father and son crashed into each other, and Antares was butted backwards by a shoulder before Scrivener reared back and slammed two hard hooks across his face: but they were sloppy and slow, the charcoal stallion's strength drained and disoriented from all the damage Antares had done to Luna. As a third punch swung forwards, Antares was able to yank himself out of the way before he leapt upwards... and with tears in his eyes and his teeth grit in a snarl, with a yell that boiled up from his lungs and everything he had gone through pushing him over the edge, he slammed a hoof down in a vicious smash that knocked Scrivener staggering and stunned him.

Antares lunged forwards, hooves smashing back and forth, taking advantage of the vulnerability as he smashed hoof after hoof down into his father's face, knocking the stallion's head back and forth as black mire flew from his nose and maw, unable to back out from under the hail of blows. And then Antares seized him by the head, slamming the earth pony's face into the ground before yanking his head up and hitting him with an uppercut hard enough to knock him rearing backwards before Antares lunged and stabbed forwards with his horn.

Scrivener caught his son by the skull, holding him back with a snarl of exertion, muscles trembling before Antares howled in fury and misery, snapping his head back and unleashing a raw telekinetic pulse that sent Scrivener staggering. Then the young stallion flung himself forwards, tackling his father onto his back before son sat up, snarling and straddling the scarred earth pony before he began to swing hoof after hoof down into his face, viciously pounding Scrivener's head back into the earth.

The stallion was only able to howl in pain as he took blow after blow, uselessly trying to bring his forelegs up to block before he finally managed to catch one of Antares' punches, and he twisted his foreleg hard to throw the younger stallion off to the side. Antares hit the ground and rolled, crying out in pain at his broken wing and flinching, curling up for a moment in a crouch, and Scrivener snarled as took the chance to leap to his own hooves and pounce-

Antares' horn lashed up, tearing through Scrivener's breast before the young stallion clenched his eyes shut, and white light blasted out of the wound as Scrivener screamed in agony. His hooves shoved wildly at Antares, but the young stallion reached up and seized into his father, tears and blood and corruption running down his face as ivory radiance tore through the charcoal stallion.

The young stallion pushed upwards, pouring out all the power he could into the spell, and Scrivener howled again in torment as corruption turned to stone over Antares' features and the young stallion yelled wordlessly... then cried out in agony as he was knocked loose by some tremendous force hammering into his side. Scrivener flew backwards while Antares was thrown a good ten feet away, crashing to the ground and skidding a few feet before he stared up with a gasp... and he trembled at the sight of Celestia standing near Scrivener and Luna's bodies, the ivory winged unicorn staring at him before she whispered: “What have you done...”

“I'm... I'm trying to save them, and you, I...” Antares shivered, hauling himself to his hooves... and then he stared in horror at the sight of Scrivener, stumbling backwards as he shook his head violently and whispered: “No... no, that... that's not...”

Celestia trembled hard as she leaned down, touching Scrivener's body as the stallion panted roughly, one eye staring sightlessly... while the other had been petrified, as had more than half of his body. He lay with two legs stuck stiffly out and turned to gleaming marble, and Antares shook his head wildly before he looked desperately at Luna... but his mother, too, had been affected by it, her body looking strangely rubbery on one side now, her flesh not rock but frozen all the same. The young stallion moaned low in his throat as Twilight stumbled forwards a moment later to drop down by Luna, the Lich whimpering... and patches of her own body now heavily discolored, one of her eyes blind and white, not seeming completely aware of everything around her.

In Luna's body, the corruption had been destroyed, and Luna had been saved... but Scrivener's body didn't just flow with the dark mire, it was his blood, it was what gave him strength. And Antares had forgotten that one simple fact, and in trying to neutralize it, to destroy it... he had almost killed his own father. Again, his wild struggles, wild hopes, had turned on him and led him towards destroying everything he'd put his entire life towards saving... but what choice did he have?

Slowly, Antares hauled himself to his hooves, trembling... and Celestia immediately stepped forwards, snarling, tears in her eyes as she rose her head and her golden swords formed in the air around her. The young stallion staggered backwards in shock, staring at her bruised body, at the golden collar, at her maddened amethyst eyes as she whispered: “Stay back, Antares. Stay... stay away. Stay away from them, or I'll kill you.”

Antares shook his head weakly at this, stumbling backwards and dropping on his haunches... before he looked slowly up as a firebird flew quietly down from the skies, transforming in a burst into a wounded, faintly-smiling Burning Desire, as the demon said quietly: “Sometimes, when you truly love someone... you have to let go. It's time to let go.”

Moments later, they were joined by others who had been attracted by the sounds of battle, and the rush of Celestia and Twilight through the town. Rainbow Dash and Avalon dropped down beside Antares, as Pinkamena and Aphrodisia joined Twilight and Celestia. Fluttershy and her Phooka, Applejack and Apple Bloom and Pinkie Pie and Rarity and Spike all joined Antares; Hevatica, Atrus, the Yamato, and other demons joined Celestia and Twilight.

Discombobulation appeared a moment later, surprisingly with Discord alongside him, and on the side of Antares: there was a crackle, and on the other side, Selene appeared, with her strange, masked servants, a soft smile on her face. Then Meadowlark and Scarlet Sage landed on either side of Antares, and the young stallion breathed weakly in and out before a beaten, bruised Sleipnir slowly walked by Celestia and Twilight and the fallen bodies of the others, not looking back as he said quietly: “It seems we have more than thou does upon thy side, Celestia.”

“Yes... but numbers aren't everything, Sleipnir. You know I can stop you all by myself.” Celestia said quietly, but she trembled a little all the same as her brother turned to face her, before she whispered: “How could you do this to your own parents, Antares... I thought you were honorable, I thought you were supposed to be special...”

“He has parents!” shouted a voice, and Antares looked up with shock as a hoof dropped on his shoulder, and Rosewood leaned past him as Scutum stood over Antares' other side, calm and impassive, head proudly raised. And when the young stallion looked slowly over his shoulder, he saw Cowlick and Ross, too, and Greece and Tenochtitlan, and so many other friends and faces that had joined them.

Celestia smiled grimly at this, shaking her head slowly before she looked silently, pleadingly up at Discombobulation, but the Draconequus only shook his head slowly before raising a fist and silently bumping it with Discord's. “Bros before hos, Celestia. And freedom isn't really freedom when you always have to be looking out over your shoulder for your self-proclaimed rulers.”

“We had fun.” Celestia said quietly, giving a faint smile as Twilight lowered her gaze shamefully away from the silent look that Burning Desire was giving her. And meanwhile, Pinkamena and Aphrodisia were both looking across at Sleipnir pleadingly, but he only shook his head slowly, the ivory mare closing her eyes as she whispered: “I don't want to kill you all. I don't want it to come to that. But I won't let any of you hurt Scrivener and Luna any further. We fought so hard to bring them back, to save them...”

Antares trembled, and then he looked up sharply as a quiet clapping filled the air, and Allonym slowly walked through the field between the two groups, cane held under one arm. All eyes stared at the Draconequus Avatar: some were accusing, some were scared, some were pleading, but they all shared surprise before Allonym grasped his cane and tapped it silently against the brim of his hat. “Well, look where we are. The very end... the great rift, like when Heaven split and all the angels had to decide what to do. Lucifer built the first tanks, you know. Says so, right in Paradise Lost.”

“Please!” Antares' voice tore through the field, abrupt and filled with misery, and all eyes turned in surprise to his outburst. “Allonym, please, please! Undo it, I... I want to take it all back! Undo everything, get rid of it, please!”

His voice fell to a whisper, echoing the last word again and again, and Allonym sighed softly as he closed his eyes before shaking his head slowly. “I've told you. My powers don't work like that... and everything you do, everything you say, once done you can't undo it. It echoes through time and space, and all of us, each and every one, from the most minor character in the most unfinished story, to the greatest author of the mightiest universe... we all have to pay the consequences for that.”

Antares shook his head weakly, trembling, and Allonym looked back and forth slowly before he silently reached into his jacket, and opened his notebook. He looked down at the last few pages, gazing over them before murmuring quietly: “And in the end, you all kill each other. But no one survives, my friends: Scrivener and Luna are dying. While you're busy slaughtering each other, Luna bleeds to death... Scrivener dies, Twilight dies, and Celestia, having just killed Sleipnir and Discombobulation, understands that she has now encouraged and aided the murder of everyone she loves. So she kills the thing she hates most in all the universe.” He tapped the page and looked at her silently. “Herself.”

There was silence, and then Allonym looked down at his notebook before reaching up and simply ripping the page out. And static buzzed through the air around them, a strange sense of clarity filling the minds of all present as tingles ran through their bodies, as Allonym muttered: “That's a crappy ending. No, for the first time in my life, I'm compelled to make everything work out perfectly. Enough. Enough death, enough lies, enough reality. Enough of everything!”

Allonym threw his cane down, then reached into his pocket and hesitated before slowly looking towards Antares, saying quietly: “Well... almost enough. Antares... if you want to preserve one life... sometimes you have to sacrifice another, do you understand?”

The young stallion looked up and nodded silently... and without fear, without flinching, he stepped forwards and said quietly: “Save them. Save them, my real parents... bring them back. I'll give up my life for that.”

“No!” Meadowlark cried out, and then she trembled before stepping up beside him, the young stallion looking at her with surprise before she hugged him fiercely around the neck, burying her head against him as she said in a trembling voice: “Please don't...”

“Antares, don't... don't do this...” Aphrodisia whispered, and then she winced when Pinkamena shook her head silently, before the young demon trembled, then tears spilled down her cheeks before she looked up and snapped: “Take me! I'm better than Nova anyway, and... and Mom and Dad don't need me as much as-”

“No, silence Aphrodisia! I offer my life as forfeit!” Sleipnir shouted immediately, and the young demon and Pinkamena both fell silent, staring across at the enormous male as he shook his head slowly and smiled faintly: “Foolish mares and foals. To die... 'tis a job best suited for a silly fool of a warrior like myself, and there is no greater honor than to die to save my little sister... to do it a second time? I imagine the mead-halls of the after-afterlife shall be filled to the brim with mares pining to worship my generosity!”

Sleipnir threw his head back and laughed before Pinkamena shouted: “You stupid idiot, you are needed! Apps needs you, I goddamn need you... you... you don't need me. Scrivener's my best friend, kill me instead. I'd die for him any day of the week, and...” Pinkamena swallowed thickly, looking up silently. “I won't fight my husband. I won't fight my little brother Antares. I won't fight anyone here.”

Pinkie Pie cried out... and other voices rose up, one after the other, offering themselves as Allonym looked back and forth. Antares trembled, staring around, before he saw Twilight beginning to open her mouth... and the young stallion shook Meadowlark off as he looked forwards and shouted clearly: “Everyone, enough!”

Silence fell at the command in his voice, and Antares breathed slowly in and out before he looked directly into Allonym's eyes, saying quietly: “I screwed up. I'm a leader. Leaders have to pay for their mistakes, and I am Antares Mīrus, son of Scrivener Blooms and Luna Brynhild, and I promised I would save my parents.”

Slowly, Antares smiled, even as a tremble ran through his body, but his head was raised proudly, his voice was clear as he said quietly: “I am going to honor that promise, and save my parents.”

Meadowlark trembled, and Scarlet Sage looked pleadingly at her brother as Celestia's swords finally, silently dropped from the air, some semblance of reason returning to the ivory winged unicorn's eyes as she shook her head mutely. Even Twilight looked up in fear and love and shame, but Allonym and Antares were only looking at one-another, their eyes locked before the Draconequus smiled and nodded, raising his pen and writing a quick sentence down.

Antares looked up... then his knees went weak and he trembled as everything went dark and cold, the world whipping away into nothing but blackness. Everyone, everything was gone, except for himself and Allonym, and the two looked at each other for a few long moments before the Draconequus closed his book, tucked it away, and then bowed politely before he swept up his cane. The Avatar turned, humming to himself as he began to walk off, and Antares shook his head weakly before he shouted: “Wait! What did you do?”

Allonym was silent, and then he turned around with a smile and tossed his fountain pen easily through the darkness. It landed in front of Antares, and the unicorn frowned as he reached down and picked this up, breathing slowly and heavily before the Draconequus said quietly: “I made the only sacrifice that makes sense. Go to sleep now, Antares... and... goodbye.”

And with that, Allonym turned and silently strode off, the shadows quickly consuming the Avatar as Antares sat back on his haunches. He trembled a bit, then slumped slowly to the ground, breathing hard as the darkness encroached on all his senses... and yet still, he clutched the fountain pen tightly in one hoof as he silently closed his eyes, and fell into a deep, endless