> Legends Never Die: Friendship is Magic
>  by bookhorse125
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue: Awake
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The only problem with being trapped in prison for thousands of years, unable to move, and then being released again, other than the fact that all of your primary enemies are dead, is that you’re really sore afterward.

Grogar snarled as he stretched his legs and shook his horns, breathing in air for the first time in… why, it must have been centuries! Who knew how long it had been, really? After the first decade or so, one gets bored of watching the earth down below, and he must have been asleep for at least half the time, if not more, while the other was spent, not paying attention to what was going on below, but what he would do to that upstart unicorn and her friends if he ever got his hooves on her… not that he would be able to now.

But his anger at the so-called ‘Gusty the Great’ was too great to just let it go because the mare herself wasn’t present. He had been paying attention enough to know that she had descendants in this land - and there was nothing he loved more than overdue revenge.

Shaking his head one more time to try and clear it of fatigue, Grogar looked around, trying to decide where he was - and where he should go first.

He was standing at the edge of a massive crack in the earth - it must have been several hundred meters long, and so deep that he couldn’t see the bottom - just darkness. The land around the crack had been pushed upwards and out, old stone ruins poking out beneath the shifted earth. Turning to the right, he could see the massive mountain jutting into the sky, and to the left, he could just barely see a glimmer between two mountains - like a massive gemstone.

Or a city made of gemstones.

He had a vague recollection of a crystal city appearing, and then disappearing, and then appearing again, but really, he hadn’t paid much attention. That King Sombra fellow - pah! Show him a real villain. That shadow pony could barely deal with a pink pony and her fancy crystal, let alone any real struggles. He didn’t deserve to win. What had he conquered?

Grogar, on the other hoof, had conquered plenty. He had taken a rag-tag group of pony farms and turned it into a massive empire, built upon darkness. And where had the darkness come from? He’d had to fight for that power - and he had won. After so many eons of coaxing the darkness, pleasing it, working with it, then slowly, bit by bit, taking control, waging war upon it, and finally gaining complete power, he could manipulate the shadows, create monsters, and, most importantly of all, suck up a pony’s very essence, using it to grow his own power.

But the darkness was not made to be controlled - it was made to control. Grogar knew this, and he couldn’t risk the shadows breaking free and exacting their revenge on him - he knew that he would never return from it. He had felt it growing stronger, and decided that it was time to put the darkness’ power in certain artifacts, so as not to endanger himself.

So he made his bell, giving it the power to suck away ponies and creatures’ essence and release it back to him. The darkness did not like being trapped in the bell, and every time it was used, the shadows screamed in rage and fury.

But they were trapped. And they quieted down after that.

So Grogar was safe… until that idiot unicorn Gusty had shown up and ruined everything.

He could still remember her face, her expression as she shot him up into the stars, trapped in oblivion. It was so proud, so smug, but she even had the audacity to look like she pitied him.

Aargh. Grogar growled and smashed a rock underneath his hoof until it was a bunch of smithereens, imagining it was that upstart’s face. He took a deep breath and collected himself. Gusty may be gone - she may have escaped his vengeance - but he would find what she had left behind and destroy it. And he would make sure to tell them, before he trapped them in the stars for five thousand years, that it was their ancestor’s fault. She left them in this mess.

Ah, yes. Lies and trickery to get the ones she loved most to hate her with their final dying breaths. It was one of his favorite ways of getting revenge. If she were here, he would make her watch as he destroyed this entire world, watch as her friends turned their backs on her, glared at her, made her know their hate. She would scream and cry until she was exhausted, and when she was, and everything was done, he would give her to the darkness to satisfy it, and that stupid mare would never bother him again.

Shame she was gone. If he didn’t know better, he would say that he almost missed her.

Grogar really wished he could go back in time and find her and do that to her… and her idiot boyfriend, and that other unicorn she was always hanging out with, and that pegasus that brought reinforcements so that he lost… He ground his hoof into the dirt.

Go back in time… that was the answer! He didn’t need the past, but he did need to get all of those so-called heroes out of the way so that he could take over Equestria without them trying to defeat him like they always do. He could trap them, trap the ones who might pose any sort of threat, in a place that they would never return from. Leaving the rest of the way to victory wide open. He would take this land’s leaders - all of them - leaving their citizens scattered, weak, and vulnerable - just the kind of thing he liked. He would destroy everything… turn it all over to the darkness…

And before it all vanished… he would find her. He would find Gusty and her descendants and torture them, one by one, and possibly keep them alive longer just so he could torture them even more, and make them see what he had done to the world…

Revenge was tasting oh-so-sweet on his tongue. This world wouldn’t stand a chance.

But the first thing to do was get his bell back. He needed the shadows if he was going to destroy everything, and he didn’t have any of his magic left to create his monstrous army. Of course, some of his old ones might have survived…

And the battlefield needed to be assessed. He had no idea who was supposedly protecting this realm at this time, where the monsters were, what kind of magic was left. And so he set off. To collect his bell, to find what little remained of his former glory days.

After all… how much could a land change in all that time?





Chrysalis was freezing, and she hated it.

It reminded her of when she was in the Crystal Empire, fighting Sunny Starscout’s friends, when the mare of the hour herself dropped in with a dozen other creatures - including a changeling - to heroically save the day.

Being reminded of her humiliation was not what she needed right then.

The former changeling queen was in the northeastern part of Equestria, not quite in the mountains, deep within the forest at the base of Foal Mountain. There might have been some battle between Twilight Sparkle and her friends and the forces of evil here - something that Cozy Glow had mentioned once. Chrysalis never paid attention whenever that filly started spouting all the things she’d learned in school.

She didn’t know much about this region, but she assumed that these kinds of freezing temperatures were not customary for the region.

Sure, the Crystal Mountains were in view whenever she got above the treetops, and it was much further north than she was used to, but when she had briefly passed through here when she and Tirek and Cozy Glow were heading to the Crystal Empire to intersect Sunny Starscout and her friends, she specifically remembered complaining that it was too warm and muggy, and certainly not freezing.

She scowled outside as she stood just inside one of the abandoned buildings that littered the landscape. According to a broken old sign outside the town limits, this place used to be called Hollow Shades. Chrysalis didn’t care. She had no fondness for Ancient Equestria or what the land used to be like - she only wanted the Equestria that she saw, the one where all the changelings reverted back to their old ways and followed her as they hunted for love they could feed on, and there were no stupid friendship ponies to get in her way.

The only thing about Hollow Shades that even remotely intrigued her was the massive opening in the center of the town, a giant hole that led down into darkness. She had never gone down there - every time she had stood on the edge, her rage boiling, she would feel something, a kind of chill that made her wings shiver down to the tips, that told her that something very, very wrong was down there.

“Get yourself together,” she snapped to herself. She turned around and glared at the old wooden chairs, where she had drawn pictures of her old subjects with her horn. “You are the most dangerous creature in this world - the only evil one left in this world. You cower from no one, never!”

She whirled around and stomped out of the house, all the way to the center of town, where the massive hole yawned open. She paused on the rim as that feeling of wrongness washed over her again. She vaguely considered turning around and going back to continue to plan her revenge, and the strange feeling encouraged that. She wasn’t sure how long she stood there, the freezing wind blowing her mane, before she mentally slapped herself.

“You will rule this world one day,” she reminded herself. “You will control everything. Not friendship. Not love. Don’t feel. Don’t feel.”

Taking a deep breath, she took a step back… then ran forward and leaped into the darkness.

The hole was actually much shallower than she had previously thought, and she landed roughly on a large pile of shattered stone. Stumbling, she landed on her face, sending chunks of stone skittering into the darkness.

Growling, Chrysalis stood up and lit her horn, pushing the darkness back and bathing everything in a sickly green light. She took a step forward and hissed - she’d stepped on a particularly sharp stone. Shaking her head, she continued into the darkness. The surroundings slowly revealed themselves to her: stone pillars and arches creating a hallway that ended at a bronze image of a massive shadowy pony.

“Huh.” She rapped the image smartly with her hoof, and the stone temple around her suddenly began to rumble. As Chrysalis hurriedly backed away from the picture, small chunks of stone rained down and cracks appeared in the columns and arches.

A dark, low, sinister laughter began to fill the chamber, slowly growing louder and louder as dark tendrils of shadow began to gather around the bronze image, slowly taking the form of a shadowy wolf as dark as midnight, with piercing white eyes that seem to stare into Chrysalis’ very soul.

A wave of fear washed over her, but she firmly batted it down. This strange being was nothing to be afraid of!

…Right?

“What do you want?” she snapped at the creature. The wolf tilted its head at her. And when it spoke, it did not open its mouth - its words were sent directly to her mind. The feeling of leeching hopelessness and darkness that it brought just made Chrysalis feel worse, and she shook herself, as if she could rid herself of its presence.

We seek our master, who is awake.

“Who?” Chrysalis demanded, making her horn glow brighter and spreading her wings, trying to look threatening to force this creature into submission. “Speak, or I shall blast you to bits.”

We seek our master, the master of all shadows. We seek the one who created us, who nourished us, who gave us purpose. We seek the Master of Darkness.

“Who is this ‘Master of Darkness’?” Chrysalis stepped forward, snarling. She grabbed the wolf and yanked it towards her, expecting it to yelp and cower in fear. The shadow wolf disappointed. Nevertheless, she glared into its sinisterly glowing white eyes. “I want,” she growled, “a name. Who is your master?”

The one who created the shadows.

“AARGH!” Chrysalis spun and whirled the wolf at a pillar, but before it even made contact with the stone, it disappeared into shadow and reformed in front of her.

You cannot destroy us, shapeshifter. You are not our master. Our master controls the darkness, and when he returns, he will destroy everything good in this world until there is nothing left but shadow and stone, the wolf said.

Chrysalis paled. All that was good… Love was good. She and her subjects needed to feed on it to survive - this ‘Master of Darkness’ was going to destroy her kingdom!

The wolf suddenly tilted its head up at the sky. My brethren! it called. Our master is awake! He calls us now! Finally, we shall have our revenge!

Chrysalis leaped back with a yelp, because dozens - no, hundreds - no, thousands of shadow wolves were pouring out of the wall, leaping up and out of the hole, howling as they went. Soon, Chrysalis was alone…

She stepped under the circle of moonlight that fell into the hole and looked up at the sky. She didn’t want to destroy this world, only to rule it. This new threat wasn’t just a threat to those stupid friendship ponies - it was a threat to her as well. She wasn’t quite sure how she felt about that… But there was one thing she knew for certain.

For the first time, Chrysalis felt a wave of fear - not for herself, but for the ponies she hated, because of what they were going to face.





Termite scowled at the sky. He glared up at the glowing rainbow splitting the sky in two, showering the land below it with glorious colors, wishing with all his might that it would go away, or that he could find some way to destroy it.

He knew what the rainbow was - after days of it not fading or disappearing, he had followed it to its end, where, instead of a pot of gold, like he had been slightly hoping, he found a massive crystal lighthouse that also just so happened to be the home of Sunny Starscout and her stupid pony friends.

It had taken every ounce of self-control that he possessed to leave it intact.

He had then retreated as far north as he could possibly go, trying to leave the rainbow - and the reminder of his failure - behind, but it had most annoyingly followed. Then he discovered that he couldn’t go any further, because of the massive crystal city blocking the only route he could find into the mountains, which just so happened to be the home of one of Sunny Starscout’s other friends. Two of them, in fact - the alicorn and that earth pony with the weird moon necklace.

So then he tried going back to the changeling kingdom - perhaps announcing that he had bravely fought off the ponies and returned home to help the changelings fight them, and he would be welcomed as a hero and given emergency power and he could still get everything he ever wanted - only to find that Imara - that annoying creature - had somehow bewitched Queen Monarch into believing that the ponies wanted to be friends with the changelings - as if! - and that none of the changelings even wanted to fight the ponies anymore. Friendship seemed like a much better option to them.

Which led Termite to where he was now - wandering around Equestria, lost, confused, angry, and waiting for a chance to get his long-awaited revenge.

He wouldn’t mind going to jail for it forever - all of his dreams of power and glory and leading the changelings to a successful future by taking over everywhere else could be put on hold permanently if it meant that he could give Sunny Starscout and Imara and all of their friends what they deserved.

Now, if only he could find a way to do that…

Perhaps he could. One of his secret skills that he never told anyone was being able to detect magic - dark magic. He never told anyone about this, because they would probably all expect him to be all selfless and kind and wonderful and find the dark magic to vanquish it forever, but Termite had learned that it was better to work with the dark magic than to destroy it. Dark magic had certain powers that light magic didn’t.

And right now, he was sensing a lot of dark magic to the north. Past the Crystal Empire, even. It appeared to be mostly coming from the tallest mountain in the distance - Mount Everhoof. He had picked up a little Equestrian geography during his time cosplaying as Helios back in Zephyr Heights.

Perhaps it had to do with the sudden disappearance of the swirling clouds that used to revolve around the tip of the mountain, along with the shrieking figures within it. Perhaps it had to do with the shuddering roar of pure rage that he thought he had heard coming from the mountain, or the massive rockslide that came after that.

Or all of them.

Nevertheless, he was getting very bad feels about this - this wasn’t the kind of magic he could partner with. Quite on the contrary, this magic was already partnered with someone - or was independent - he wasn’t sure. He was getting lots of feedback. Perhaps there were multiple magics - yes, that would clear up a few things! But he did know that his time to deliver revenge was limited - his days may as well be numbered. He had to act quick.

Or else everything would be lost. Not just his dreams, but this world, his kingdom, his species would be changed far beyond any recognition.

Sunny Starscout and her friends wouldn’t know what had hit them… not until it was far too late.
> Letter to a Friend
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunny Starscout was not a princess.

She was an earth pony who could sometimes turn into an alicorn. She was considered to be the leader of her group of friends who had saved Equestria countless times. She was even the last living direct descendant of the greatest princess in Equestria’s history.

But she herself was definitely not a princess.

She thought of the words that Spike the Dragon Lord had called to her: “Don’t worry about me, Princess Sunny. This isn’t my first rodeo. Protect your ponies!”

“I’m not a princess!” Sunny had called back.

Spike had laughed. “If you say so!”

Sunny had been meaning to talk to Spike about what he had called her, but up to that point she hadn’t been able to get the Dragon Lord alone to talk to him since their victory over Opaline. She and her friends hadn’t been to visit the Isle of Scaley in a while.

And speaking of dragons…

Sunny frowned down at the letter she was writing to her dragon friend, Ash. When Sunny had visited the dragonlands after freeing herself from Cozy Glow’s mind control, it had been a fiery wasteland that was dry and scorching hot, with hardly any life. But recently, she and her friends had been visiting the Isle of Scaley, another dragonlands where Hitch’s baby dragon Sparky came from. It couldn’t have been more different than the dragonlands that Sunny had visited, and Ash was nowhere to be found. So Sunny was writing to Ash, hoping for answers.

Granted, all of her other letters that she had sent to her friends had gone unanswered, but Sunny really hoped that this one could go through, and that Ash would feel it was of the utmost importance that she respond.

Sunny glanced out the window at Misty, who was helping Izzy with her newest unicycling project on the front lawn. Above them, the Marestream glided smoothly through the air and set down on the landing pad in front of the Crystal Brighthouse, Zipp at the wheel and Pipp flying out as soon as they landed. Hitch was sitting off to the side, playing with Sparky, and the little baby dragon was laughing with delight as Hitch tossed him in the air, his little wings flapping as he came back down into Hitch’s hooves. It warmed Sunny’s heart to see them all in one place, together, and she smiled.

Sunny and the others hadn’t yet told Misty about their adventures before Opaline: how Sunny was actually the last descendent of Twilight Sparkle, the pony who had first banished Opaline from Equestria, or how the dragons were only a few of the magical creatures that were out there in their own kingdoms. It wasn’t that they didn’t trust Misty; she had more than proven her worth in defeating Opaline. But perhaps Sunny’s friends were all feeling what Sunny was - that something was about to happen, and if they pretended everything was fine… maybe it would be.

Sunny turned back to her letter. She had written to her friends every week, and had yet to hear a response. Of course, she was using magic to teleport the letters to her friends, so perhaps she was messing up the spell, and some poor creature who knew nothing of who Sunny was was getting bombarded with magically appearing letters. That would be easier to accept than her friends moving on without her - or worse, not caring anymore. Sunny sighed and finished up her letter.

“Please write back if you know of anything. I really hope to hear from you soon. I miss you all.” She sat back with a satisfied nod and folded the letter twice, setting it on her windowsill. She would send it later.

“Hey there, Sunny!” Hitch said brightly, opening the doors to the bedroom and trotting in with Sparky riding on his back. “Zipp and Pipp just got back from Zephyr Heights, and Pipp has something she wants to ask you about the Unity Festival in a few days-”

“I’ll be there!” Sunny said cheerfully, bouncing off her bed and grinning at her foalhood friend. “It’s crazy to think, isn’t it, that we’re celebrating the return of magic with a giant party in Zephyr Heights? Pipp says that everypony who’s anypony is gonna be there!”

“It’s gonna be the party to end all parties,” Hitch agreed with a grin. Sparky leaped off his back and scampered over to Sunny’s bed, pulling himself up on the covers.

“How’s the preparations coming along?” Sunny asked, watching Sparky as the baby dragon bounced up and down on her mattress before crashing into her pillows. “I hope everything’s coming along okay - you know how Pipp can get when things aren’t perfect for something that’s really important to her.”

“I haven’t been up there much since they started planning, but Zephyr Heights knows how to do parties! I mean, if it’s anything like Manesqurade Ball, or the Moon Festival, or the Cutie Blossom Bash, then it’ll be great, and-”

Sparky sneezed, and a small fireball shot out of his nose and incinerated the first thing it landed on - which just so happened to be Sunny’s letter that she set on the windowsill.

“Sparky, NO!” Hitch cried as Sunny leapt forward to try and save it. But as the flames died down, Sunny stumbled back in shock.

“I-it’s gone,” she stammered, staring at the spot where her letter had been just a few moments ago. There were no ashes, no scorch marks, nothing. It was as if the letter had simply… vanished. Both Hitch and Sunny turned to stare at Sparky, who rolled on his back and was happily playing with a corner of Sunny’s blanket.





“...and there’s this huge stage that’s being put up in the throne room for the opening ceremonies for the Unity Festival, and it’s gonna be broadcasted to all the screens in the city, and you should see the decorations, there’s streamers and lights and the earth ponies are gonna grow flowers all around the edge of the stage and around the pillars and stuff, and we’ve got these adorable little stickers representing each of the different tribes that are going to go everywhere-”

“Pipp!” Zipp glared at her sister as she passed by. “Stop talking about it! They’ll see it all when we leave tomorrow!” Zipp flew past Sunny and Hitch and up the ramp into the bedroom, where she disappeared from sight.

Pipp pouted from where she was hovering in the entrance hall, telling Izzy and Misty all about the Unity Fest preparations in Zephyr Heights. Izzy looked very interested, but the look on Misty’s face told Sunny that Pipp had kept them pinned there for a very long time while she detailed every single bit of decoration that was being put up.

“I’m so excited for the festival!” Izzy squealed, jumping up and down. Turning to Misty and grabbing the other unicorn’s shoulders, she said, “Just think, Misty! A whole three days of parties and games and fun and parties!”

“Yay,” Misty said softly, looking far less enthusiastic.

Pipp picked up on the worry in Misty’s mind. “Don’t worry, Misty, you won’t have to go up in front of all of Equestria for this,” she said reassuringly. “Almost nopony will - unless you’re singing in the music part of the festival on day two. Or if you’re part of the re-enactment of our quest for the Unity Crystals. Or if you’re going up on the stage on day one to welcome everyone to the festival and wish them the best as the symbol of unity between all ponykind like Sunny-”

“I’m what?” Sunny asked, stopping in her tracks.

“Oh, that’s what I wanted to tell you, Sunny - Mom would love it if you could give, like, a big welcoming speech or something, or maybe not something big but just welcoming everypony in, as, like, an alicorn, because this whole thing is about unity between ponykind, and it would just totally fit. So, like, can you?”

Sunny gave a smile that she hoped was convincing. “Yeah, sure! I just hope I’ll be able to keep my alicorn form for the whole time-”

“Oh, you’ll be fine,” Pipp assured her, waving her hoof dismissively before she pulled out her phone. “Now, I’ve got to go start composing my perfect post for the first day of Unity Fest. It’s going to be so moving and get everypony so excited for the awesome stuff that’s going to happen!” She flew off to the bedroom, tapping at her phone and muttering.

“I’d better get going,” Hitch said, glancing at the clock on the wall. “I need to get back to the station before it gets any later to close up for the night, and get Sparky to bed.” He cast another glance at Sunny before he trotted outside and closed the door behind him.

Izzy squealed and danced on the tips of her hooves. “I can’t wait! I’m going to go get packing right now! Misty, come on!” Izzy raced up the ramp and soon disappeared as well. Misty and Sunny exchanged a glance and laughed.

“Are you alright, Sunny? You look… troubled,” Misty said, tilting her head as she studied Sunny’s face.

Sunny sighed. Sometimes, Misty was a little too good at this whole empathy thing. “Actually, yes,” she admitted. “See, I was upstairs writing a letter to a friend, and when Hitch and Sparky came up, and Sparky sneezed and set the letter on fire, but then it… disappeared. Like, there was nothing left.”

“Wow,” Misty said in an awed voice. “I don’t think Opaline ever knew what dragon fire could actually do. She would go on and on about how powerful it was, but she never told me what it could do specifically until we got to the Isle of Scaley. Do you think it could be something like Spike can do?”

Sunny hesitated, but she knew it would be no use lying; Misty would know. “Maybe,” she said slowly. “But I thought Tumble said that each dragon had their own unique magic - no more, no less. And Sparky has transformation fire magic. So did he just transform my letter into thin air? I don’t think that he would be able to send messages to other… ponies.” She almost slipped up and said “creatures”.

Misty studied Sunny as if she knew she was hiding something, but Izzy called her name from upstairs, and the blue unicorn trotted away, leaving Sunny on her own.

Ever since they had defeated Opaline, Sunny had been hoping that the feeling of unease she had been feeling would go away. Sure, Chrysalis was still out there, angry, but powerless and weak. Termite might be plotting revenge, but he was exiled by both the ponies and the other creatures, so he was no threat. King Sombra was still banished to the ether as far as Sunny knew. And the ponies who had tried to erase everypony’s memories were still locked safely away in jail. She didn’t think there was anypony else who could pose a threat.

So why did she still feel so uneasy? Like this was the calm before the storm… like something terrible was about to happen that could tear Equestria apart like never before.
> A Frosty Night
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flurry Heart stood on the balcony of her palace, staring out into the night. Through small breaks in the thin layer of clouds covering the sky, she caught glimpses of glimmering stars against the dark backdrop of the night sky. A gentle flurry of snow drifted down and dusted the crystal city with its gentle flakes. Although she was out in the snow, Flurry wasn’t cold - she had grown accustomed to the cold temperatures that came with living in the north and wasn’t bothered by the savage temperature drops as much as most ponies.

“No sign of them,” she whispered, searching the skies above her. “Where did they go? And how were they defeated?” She once again looked towards Mount Everhoof, the tallest mountain in the region, but the tip of the mountain was clearly visible - there was no sign of the creatures that had been plaguing it only a while earlier. The Windigos had inevitably returned with all of the chaos and lies and deception going around with the other tribes and very nearly froze all of them in an apocalyptic wasteland for yet another time in Equestria’s history, just as they had done earlier when ponykind had begun to separate. But not long ago, Flurry had realized that the dangerous winter creatures had simply disappeared, as if they had never existed in the first place. And no matter where she looked, she couldn’t find any answers - except that, perhaps, as tensions between the tribes went down, the Windigos, having nothing to feed off of, simply went away.

Flurry had been communicating with her friends in the other tribes regularly, and most of them were happy to report that the creatures in their kingdoms were happy to not get involved in any conflicts with the ponies, and that some of them were even wanting to open up the borders of their kingdoms and form alliances and good relations with the ponies, to keep incidents like impending wars from ever happening again.

Queen Monarch really wants to talk to Sunny, Imara wrote. I’ve been trying to reach her, but I don’t think she’s been getting my letters. Could you please pass a message along to her?

Flurry sighed. She wasn’t sure Sunny was getting her letters, either. She had written to the last living descendant of her Aunt Twilight Sparkle every single day, and had yet to receive any kind of answer, and apparently all of her friends were getting the same silent treatment.

Don’t think about it like that, she commanded herself. Sunny probably just isn’t getting your letters for some reason. Don’t jump to conclusions. Sunny wouldn’t do this to you. She wouldn’t leave you and your friends all alone in the outside world while she’s back in Maretime Bay with her friends.

…Right?

“Flurry Heart?”

Well, not completely alone. Flurry turned to see a Crystal pony - likely the last one left - emerging from the dark doorway that led to the palace. His dark blue coat matched the night sky above the clouds, and his deep purple mane had been growing longer in the past few months. Hanging around his neck was a thin chain with a large charm on the end - a crescent moon made of pure white stone that glimmered and seemed to glow even though the moon wasn’t out. It bounced against his chest with each step he took.

“Hey, Midnight,” she greeted the pony. He, like her, had been immersed in some kind of limbo state back just before magic vanished and ponykind split into the three tribes, though his was definitely voluntary, whereas Flurry’s could only be described as some kind of trap. Her mother had cast a spell on the Crystal Heart to shrink its protective spell to only protect Flurry, and caused Flurry to fall asleep for at least a century while her kingdom froze around her. Midnight, on the other hoof, had answered a summons sent to him in a dream by Princess Luna to be the guardian of a tower in the west that activated a magical artifact that controlled the movements of the sun and moon, where he would remain for all time until he left, and occasionally receive visions about the future that he would be tasked with distributing, through the dreams of ponies, all across Equestria, to where they were needed.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing much,” he admitted, shifting his hooves nervously. Even though they had been living up in the Crystal Empire for at least half a year, just the two of them, Flurry could tell that he was still awkward around his princess. “I just… I was wondering what you were… doing.”

“Just thinking,” Flurry said after a brief pause. She didn’t really want to talk about what she was thinking about, because she was afraid that if she said things out loud, they would come true. All she really wanted was to have Sunny back, to have all of her friends back. She missed them all so much…

“Me, too,” Midnight admitted, looking down at his hooves. “But that’s not what I wanted to tell you. I… I found something that I think you should see.”

Flurry tilted her head at him, and he gestured to her to follow him as he ran back into the palace and down the crystal staircases until they had arrived underneath the castle, where the Crystal Heart spun in its place - the spot where Flurry had been frozen in time for one hundred years while the world fell apart around her, and the place where her mother had given up all of her magic - and her life - to keep Flurry safe and secure the future of Equestria. Even after so many months, after everything she had been through, whenever Flurry had a moment to think about it, she felt a wave of sadness. Equestria really hadn’t been as far gone as everypony had thought. There were still ponies who had believed in friendship and unity throughout everything that the other ponies told them, like Sunny’s father, Argyle Starshine. But even though Flurry missed her mother and her Aunt Twilight and all of her friends, she wouldn’t go back for anything.

She had friends here. Friends who cared about her just as much as Twilight Sparkle cared for her friends. She had to believe in that.

“What did you want to show me, Midnight?” she asked, shoving all thoughts of Princesses Cadance and Twilight from her mind, as well as Sunny and her other friends.

The Crystal pony pawed nervously at the ground. “Remember that big storm a while back? I remember seeing these glowing green vine-looking-things stretching across the land before they vanished. I didn’t think about it too much then, but earlier I was just walking the gardens, and I was thinking back to when I was a filly. My mother told me that Mistmane herself tended to the flowers here after she returned from limbo, and I was just thinking how cool it would be to grow plants like that. And… well, then this happened.”

Midnight carefully stretched out a hoof and planted it on the ground. He shut his eyes and concentrated. His hoof began to glow green, and a glowing green vine stretched out across the ground. A small stem curled up from the ground before blossoming into a beautiful flower, made entirely out of crystal.

Flurry felt all the air leave her lungs. “Woah,” she whispered. “What… how?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted, picking up his no-longer-glowing hoof and inspecting it. “I think it’s some kind of new power that earth ponies have? And I can’t shake the feeling that this has something to do with… Sunny.”

The two ponies unintentionally met gazes and then both looked away. “How do you know?” Flurry asked lightly. “Did you have a vision?”

Midnight looked down at the moon-shaped crystal pendant that hung around his neck. “No,” he said, sounding troubled. “I tried to see what was happening with Sunny and the others a few times, but I can’t see inside Equestria. I can see our other friends perfectly fine, but for some reason, the rest of Equestria is completely off-limits to me.” He looked up at her. “But… while I was trying, I did have another vision that I think explains why the Windigos are gone, and where this new power came from. I think… I think I can show you.”

Flurry nodded carefully. Midnight closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment before his pendant beacon to glow. A faint light surrounded the pony, illuminating every hair on his head with a silvery sheen. The crescent moon lifted off his chest and hovered between them before it projected an image into the air - an image of two achingly familiar ponies.

One was as pink as the most perfect roses, her large purple eyes full of concern as she landed behind the second, purple as the twilight sky, the mark on her flank that of a six-pointed star. Above the two ponies, around the icy mountain peaks, swirled stormy gray clouds from inside which came ear-piercing shrieks.

Flurry swallowed back her tears as she watched their exchange. She heard every word that they were saying without actually hearing it. She watched as Twilight gave up everything she had left to preserve a world that would eventually forget her. Flurry knew that this was before all of ponykind’s memories got wiped, but it was still heart-wrenching to know that it had already come to such a sacrifice.

But even though she could barely keep it together with her aunt and mother within sight - and being tortured by the thought that, although they were right there, they might as well have been on the moon - Flurry found herself watching carefully as Twilight sacrificed all her magic to create a gem that then separated and spread to the rest of the land. As she did, the magical blast generated vaporized the Windigos, and caused… something else to happen. When the Windigos were blasted into oblivion, it looked for a moment as if the magical blast spread across the land, settling over it almost like a shield. But it was only visible for a moment before it disappeared - if it even existed at all.

Once the vision was over, the glowing image winked out, and Midnight returned to normal. He blinked as if coming out of a deep sleep. “That was how magic disappeared, wasn’t it?”

“Yes,” Flurry said softly. “By condensing all of her magic into the crystals, my aunt Twilight created a strong enough force of unity to defeat the Windigos…”

“But then why did magic disappear if everything was alright?” Midnight asked, looking like he had already figured it out but was waiting for Flurry to. “Wouldn’t ponykind just carry on as usual? Just because Twilight lost her powers didn’t mean that everypony had to.”

“You’re right,” Flurry said slowly. “But we think it was because ponies were dividing. I remember that, in the weeks leading up to the Windigos’ defeat, my magic seemed almost far away, as if I couldn’t reach it. It was already fading because the magic of friendship was fading-”

“But remember the Hearth’s Warming Eve story? Ponykind was divided then, but they all still had magic. At least, the unicorns and pegasi did.”

“What are you saying?” Flurry asked, tearing her eyes away from the empty space that had shown her the last glorious moments of her aunt.

Midnight looked down at the crystal charm around his neck before he continued. “The Windigos feed off of hatred and mistrust, right? But the magic of friendship is strong enough to counter it because it’s whole. A sum of its parts, stronger together. Which means that Windigo magic has to be something different. Something fractured. We don’t know where the Windigos came from or where they go to - only that they only return when there is hatred and paranoia. They did come back just a few weeks ago, didn’t they? When all the tribes were angry with each other.” Flurry nodded. “So,” Midnight went on, getting more and more worked up, “why didn’t they come back when ponykind was divided before? That much hatred over a hundred years - not even Twilight Sparkle on her own would be strong enough to hold them back for that long. So why didn’t they come back?”

“I think I saw my aunt Twilight cast a protective spell when she sacrificed her powers,” Flurry said slowly. “Maybe that’s why?”

“One hundred years, Flurry. The magic from a single pony wouldn’t be enough to keep out such powerful magic like the Windigos for that long, no matter how powerful that pony was. The shield must have been for something else, but it wasn’t meant for the Windigos.”

“Then how did they get defeated?” Flurry asked.

“Because the magic was incomplete. Something was missing, the scale wasn’t balanced, and that fracture led to the creation of the Windigos. Think about it, only unicorns and pegasi had physical magic, but whenever someone tries to take over Equestria and steal all the magic, they go after earth ponies, too - meaning that earth ponies must have some kind of dormant magic that is worth more than just a special connection with the ground. When Twilight Sparkle sacrificed her powers, she enchanted the crystals to collect all of ponykind’s magic and store it in the crystals so that there would be no magic - and thus stabilizing it, which meant that the Windigos would be defeated. When ponykind would reunite, they could have their magic back because there was no threat of the Windigos anymore.”

“But… what about now?” Flurry looked up at the sky. “The Windigos did come back, but then they suddenly disappeared again, yet we still have our magic. What happened then? Did tensions between the tribes just die down enough so that the Windigos didn’t have anything to feed off of?”

Midnight shook his head. “I think magic was stabilized again… but in a different way.” He looked down at his hooves again. “I think it’s this new magic I have. I think that it happened to earth ponies all across Equestria - they finally awakened their powers and stabilized the magic permanently again. All ponies have magic, so it’s finally equal.”

“They… you mean Sunny?”

Midnight nodded. “She and her friends. They’re still alright, still changing the world, but it seems like they’ve forgotten about us.”

“Don’t say that,” Flurry snapped, a desire to defend her friend flaring up inside her. “We just haven’t heard from her, that’s all. Sunny wouldn’t do this to us on purpose.”

He sighed. “I hope she’s okay.” He looked over at the Crystal Heart, slowly spinning in place, then back at the crystal flower he created. “There is one thing I’m not sure about,” he said. “What was the shield that Twilight cast for?”

Flurry shrugged. “I don’t know.”

She was happy to leave it at that, but what Midnight said next unleashed a torrent of tortured memories that she tried long and hard to forget.

“Maybe it was a pony that Twilight and her friends never managed to defeat.”

She tried to keep her tone light as she said, “Maybe.” But inside, she had a sinking feeling that she knew exactly what the extra hidden spell was for, exactly who it had been meant to protect Equestria from - and exactly what pony had managed to be the one to defy Twilight Sparkle and her friends when no one else had managed to do so.

A pony she had been forbidden to speak of ever since she had accidentally learned her name: Opaline Arcana.
> A Party Gone Wrong
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day dawned bright and sunny without a shred of clouds in the achingly blue sky as Sunny walked out to the Marestream with her friends filing out behind her. Excitement hung intoxicatingly in the air, and it was almost enough for Sunny to shrug off the uneasy feeling she was carrying around.

“Everypony, grab your things! We’re going to Zephyr Heights!” Zipp cried from where she hovered by the Marestream, her sunglasses on and her wings spread wide to catch the breeze whisking off of the ocean just beyond the Crystal Brighthouse.

Sparky scampered around underhoof until Misty finally scooped him up and carried him into the Marestream where she started playing with him while everypony else loaded up their bags. The Unity Festival was scheduled to last for three days, but Queen Haven had invited all six of them to come a day early to walk them through the entire festival, schedule, and events, because Sunny was featured in a few of them, being the alicorn defender of pony unity that she was. The festival officially started tomorrow, apparently opening with Sunny giving a speech in front of everypony as an alicorn. But she wasn’t too worried about it. She just hoped she could have her friends up on the stage with her. She could do anything with them by her side.

The Marestream soared through the sky as the six ponies flew to Zephyr Heights, the countryside passing below them in streams of color. The ponies stood in the cockpit on their individual spots, singing along to Pipp’s newest single as they approached the tall mountain peak jutting into the air in the distance. The gleaming golden and white palace that wrapped around the top of the mountain and the city that spread out at the base were all shining in the rising sunlight, but even from a distance Sunny could tell that Zephyr Heights was decked out for the largest party ponykind will ever know. As the Marestream descended over Zephyr Heights, Sunny could make out the streams of glowing lights and earth-pony-grown strings of flowers framing windows and doors and wrapping around railings. Posters advertising the Unity Festival were posted all over the city, and homes and shops were flying improvised flags with a picture of the Unity Crystals on them.

Up at the castle, there were ponies bustling to and fro with strings of decorations in their mouths, or jotting down notes on clipboards and checklists, or rushing about shouting orders to other ponies. Hardly anypony noticed as Sunny and her friends gently landed outside one of the palace doors and slipped inside the castle.

“Oh, my darlings, thank hoofness you’re here!” Queen Haven called across the throne room from where she stood in front of her throne with two other ponies: Phyllis Cloverleaf and Alphabittle, who were helping Haven with the festival. The three leaders had been talking before Sunny and her friends entered the room. Alphabittle and Misty embraced as Haven spread a wing over each of her daughters.

“We were discussing the schedule and all the events we have planned,” Haven explained, leading the group onto the stage erected in front of the three thrones. “Pipp, dear, I know you wanted to start off the music festival, and Izzy, we were wondering if you could lead some of the craft sessions for the foals? And Zipp, there is one dinner - one - that I want you to accompany me to. It’s a formal banquet with some of the most influential ponies in Equestria, but I’ll leave you alone for the rest of the festival, deal? Oh, and of course Sunny will be coming to that, so you won’t be alone-”

“I am?” Sunny blinked at the queen.

“Well of course, you just saved us all by defeating that evil alicorn and returning all of our cutie marks! Not to mention all the other feats you’ve accomplished. And you are-”

“An alicorn, I know.” Sunny rolled her eyes. Her being an alicorn seemed to be a major theme of this festival. She understood how much it meant for a Unity Festival, being the physical symbol of all of ponykind living in harmony, but she wished she didn’t have to be the only alicorn in Equestria.

I didn’t used to be, she thought, her mind wandering back to her friend Flurry Heart.

“So what time is the feast?” she asked, trying to be lighthearted.

“Oh, it’s tomorrow evening after the opening ceremonies and the festival is in full swing,” Haven said, waving her hoof airily. “Afterwards there will be the parade-”

“There’s a parade?” Izzy gasped. “Why did nopony tell me? I think I still have enough time to fashion a parade float…”

“Oh, you don’t have to, Izzy,” Alphabittle assured her, “we’ve already got one set up for the six of you.”

Of course they do, Sunny thought. She was starting to understand what it must have been like for the Guardians of Harmony back in Ancient Equestria after they had successfully saved the world a few times. Everypony wanted to honor them in some way, but at the same time, they were always expecting something from them. Sunny was worried how much further it would go before she cracked under the pressure.

“Now, come on,” Haven said brightly, leading the way out the throne room. “We have so much to show you!”

The three leaders of ponykind lead Sunny and her friends through the castle and outside the grounds, showing them all of the amazing features they had built for the Unity Festival, including the street vendors lining the palace green out front that reminded Sunny of the Maretime Bay craft fair, the wooden stage under the together tree that Misty grew for her Cutie Blossom Bash, and walking them through the scheduled route for the parade through the city below. The dining hall of the palace was filled with tables and benches for ponies who would be hungry during the festival. A maze had been set up below the palace that resembled the journey Sunny and her friends had to take to collect the Unity Crystals - starting in Maretime Bay, then journeying to Zephyr Heights, the mystical forest of Bridlewood, and finally back to the little seaside town of Maretime Bay to bring all of ponykind together.

There was so much to see that Sunny was turning her head constantly, trying to see it all, and she still felt that she was missing most of it. Before she knew it, they were being led back to the palace as Haven was telling them, “Now, you six get a good night’s sleep, you hear? We’ve got a big day tomorrow.”

“Of course, Your Majesty,” Sunny said before stifling a massive yawn. She hadn’t realized how tired she was.

The queen smiled and left to find her own chambers with Alphabittle and Phyllis in tow, Zoom the guard trailing them. Thunder led Sunny and her friends to their rooms.

“Wow,” Misty said as they passed by a window and were allowed one last glimpse of the city as the sun set behind it, silhouetting it in golden light. “It’s all so beautiful!”

“Just wait until you see it tomorrow,” Pipp promised with a squeal. “Oh, it’s going to be magnificent!”

“I can’t wait for Electric Blue to play,” Hitch said excitedly. “Oh, and the Dreamlands!”

“And that craft fair looks so amazing!” Izzy chimed in.

“Come on, ponies!” Pipp said cheerfully. “Let’s all get some sleep so we can kick off the most amazing festival Equestria has ever seen!” She gracefully rose into the air and soared off to her own bedroom, back from when she was a princess in Zephyr Heights. Zipp flew off to her own room, and Sunny, Izzy, Hitch, and Misty were all given the spare bedrooms that they had used before, when visiting Zephyr Heights on previous occasions. Sparky, who had been riding on Hitch’s back all day, shocked into obedience by all the excitement going on, gave a large yawn and blew a small flame of dragon fire that curled into the air before fizzling out.

Watching the flame made Sunny think of her letter, set aflame accidentally by Sparky. She wondered if, among all the other powers Sparky’s dragon fire had, delivering messages was one of them, and if so, where her letter was now.

“See you tomorrow, ponies,” Sunny told her friends before she ducked into her own room and shut the door behind her. Before turning on the lights, she walked over to the window and looked up at the night sky, studying the constellations in the night sky. Most of them were barely visible because of the light pollution of the city below, but she could still make out one bright one: a bright star surrounded by five other ones, all shining with a light that felt almost… magical. Sunny sighed and rested her chin on her hooves.

When she and her friends had managed to defeat the Legion of Doom, King Sombra, and stop the other tribes from going to war with ponies, Sunny had foolishly allowed herself to think that things might be alright now. She tried so hard to convince herself that they had vanquished most of the evil that posed a threat to them that when danger was staring herself in the muzzle, she still didn’t fully acknowledge it. And even then, she was afraid that things would revert back to her days on the run with her friends with every creature at each other’s throats.

But everything was peaceful now. Right?

“It’s going to be okay,” she told herself. “Everything is going to be okay.”





The next day, everything was most certainly not okay.

It started when Sunny, Izzy, Zipp, Pipp, Hitch, and Misty gathered in the throne room after breakfast. Queen Haven, Alphabittle, and Phyllis had not been present, so Pipp suspected that they might be in the throne room. They were obviously not.

“It’s the first day of the Unity Festival,” Pipp said nervously, trying to come up with alternative explanations. “I’m sure she’s just busy overseeing some final preparations or something! And I’m definitely sure that there’s no reason to panic-”

The door burst open, and Zoom and Thunder burst into the room. Thunder was screaming, “Everypony panic!”

“Shut up, Thunder!” Zoom snapped, slapping him with her wing. She skidded to a halt in front of the six ponies while Thunder, who was so panicked that he couldn’t see straight, plowed right into her and knocked them both down. Zoom was the first to recover, snapping back to a rigid posture like it was her natural default and giving her fellow guard a distasteful glance before she turned back to Sunny and her friends.

“What’s going on? What’s happening?” Pipp asked anxiously, her panic spilling into her voice.

“It’s terrible!” Thunder wailed from his place on the floor. He attempted to scramble to his hooves but couldn’t in his tangled-up position. Misty bent down to assist him.

“Thunder! Keep it together!” Zoom hissed out of the corner of her mouth.

Thunder took several big breaths, but Sunny could tell he was still hyperventilating. “We were stationed outside the queen’s room for the night, doing our guard duty,” he said breathlessly. “And we saw nothing suspicious. Nothing! And then when morning came, she never came out! We thought she might be sleeping in, so we thought nothing of it, and then we thought that maybe she left through the window or something, but it’s not that! It’s something much, much worse!”

Zoom rolled her eyes and moaned softly to herself.

“And then we were asking around and looking for her, and we thought maybe she might be with Alphabittle or Phyllis or checking on the festival, but we checked all those places and she wasn’t there, and none of the other guards have seen her this morning, and we didn’t tell anypony because we didn’t want them to raise a panic-”

“And you definitely haven’t done that,” Zoom muttered.

“-and then we came here to tell you because we felt that you should be the first to know-”

“Know what?” Zipp demanded, her blue eyes flashing. She was hovering in the air just in front of her mother’s throne, and both of the guards flinched as if she was in charge now.

“Apologies, Highness,” Zoom whispered, bending into a bow; Thunder copied her. Zipp seemed to realize what she had done, and she flushed, avoiding looking at the guards as she landed on the ramp, pawing at the carpet with her hoof.

“It’s just a lot to process,” Thunder said in a voice that was strangely high-pitched.

“I don’t suppose you’re going to tell us what it is?” Hitch asked.

Zoom stood up once again and straightened, looking each of the six ponies in the eye before she opened her mouth and spoke:

“The queen of Zephyr Heights is missing.”
> Everything Goes Wrong
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What?!?” Pipp and Zipp exclaimed in unison with all of their friends a heartbeat behind them.

Zoom spread her wings helplessly. “We don’t know anything. All we know is that she’s gone.”

“What should we do?” Thunder whispered desperately, looking at Sunny like he expected her to have all the answers.

Sunny’s mind felt blank and empty. The entire world seemed to have faded away, and there was a strange ringing sound in her ears. Queen Haven missing… this made no sense! They had defeated Opaline, Allura, Chrysalis, Termite, Sombra, Permafrost, everyone who had ever posed a threat to Equestria. Unless this was something new…

Why does it have to be something new? Sunny wondered brokenly. Why is there always something else that comes up that we have to fight and defeat?

“Oh my hoofness,” Pipp suddenly gasped, her hooves flying to her mouth. “The festival! Mom’s supposed to be starting it - everypony in Equestria’s going to know that she’s missing!”

“Don’t worry,” Zipp said, putting her hoof on her sister’s shoulder. She looked like she was wracking her mind for any possible solution that might help them. “We - we’ll get Alphabittle or Phyllis to cover for her, and that will give us enough time to find her-”

“That’s the other part of it,” Zoom continued, flinching a bit as all six ponies turned their gazes on her once again. “They’re missing, too.”

“What?” Sunny felt her voice failing her. “Alphabittle, Phyllis, and the queen are missing?”

Both guards nodded regretfully in unison.

Misty gasped, and tears filled her eyes. Izzy quickly put a hoof around her shoulder, and Misty buried her face in Izzy’s mane as she quietly sobbed.

“How could you let this happen?” Zipp demanded, her eyes flashing with anger again.

“Zipp,” Sunny said gently, putting her hoof on her friend, “it’s not their fault. I’m sure that there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of this-”

Zipp suddenly lifted her head, a new, fierce look entering her eyes. “You’re right,” she said quietly. “And I’m going to find it.” She spun around to face her friends. “Sunny, you and Pipp get this festival started to distract everypony. Izzy, Misty, you help them keep things moving until we find them. Hitch, you’re with me. We’re gonna find out what happened to them.” All of them nodded. Hitch picked Sparky off of his back and passed him to Misty. Zipp spun around to face Zoom and Thunder. “Get a few more of you and begin scouring every inch of this city for them, you understand? Don’t act suspicious. Don’t let anypony figure out what you’re up to.”

Zoom and Thunder nodded. Zoom whispered something to Thunder, who nodded curtly, seeming to pull himself together. He turned and dashed out of the room, leaving Zoom to stand at full attention before Zipp.

“Why aren’t you going?” Zipp asked.

“My job has always been to protect the queen, Your Highness,” Zoom replied in the official voice that she used when she was on duty.

“But I’m not the-”

“Don’t you get it, Zipp?” Pipp said from behind her. Zipp turned to face her sister. “If Mom’s gone, then that means that you…”

Zipp’s eyes widened, and she took a few steps back, shaking her head. “Oh, no. No, no, no, not-”

“What?” Misty asked, looking back and forth between Pipp and Zipp, the guard standing at full attention, and all of her friends, whose eyes had all widened with recognition. “What does it mean?”

Zoom turned to glance at Misty, her expression unreadable. “It means that Zipp Storm is now the acting queen of Zephyr Heights,” she said before she sank into a bow.





Ponies had started to gather outside, and Sunny ducked behind the curtain once more. Pipp was anxiously pacing back and forth, fretting. The two guards standing at the back of the room probably wouldn’t have been there yesterday, but it seemed that security had been tightened around the few royals that they had left - and their heroes of Equestria.

“Oh, this is bad, this is bad, this is very, very bad!”

“Pipp, calm down, we can’t let those ponies know what’s going on!” Sunny reminded her. She stood in front of Pipp and firmly grasped her friend’s shoulders and gently shook her. “It’s going to be okay, Pipp. Zipp and Hitch are going to figure out what happened, and we’re going to get your mom back before anypony can realize she was gone. But in the meantime, we have to keep ponies occupied!” Sunny took a deep breath and let it out. “I know that you’re scared. I know what it’s like to lose your only parent that you have left, but…” Sunny glanced away, thinking of her father. She thought about how, only a few floors below their hooves, the ponies responsible for his death were locked away.

Sunny looked back at Pipp, a new fire in her eyes. “But we have to be strong,” Sunny said. A golden glow began to surround her that gradually took the form of a golden horn and a pair of wings. “For the rest of Equestria’s sake, we have to be strong. And we can’t give up hope just yet.”

Pipp wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. “I know, Sunny, it’s just… this is a lot,” she said, looking away. Fresh tears gathered in her eyes as she turned back to her friend. “What if this is someone new? Some new evil villain that we have to fight? What will we do?”

Sunny glanced at the curtain, behind which were hundreds of ponies who needed to be protected. “Then we’ll defeat them like we always have,” she said quietly.

She took a deep breath, forced a smile onto her face, pushed the curtain aside, and stepped out onto the stage.





“So,” Hitch said lightly as he and Zipp trotted down the hallway to Queen Haven’s private chambers, “how’s your first day as queen?”

Zipp was carrying her detective gear. Her sash was wrapped around her torso, and her visor was pushed up onto her forehead, exposing her eyes, which were boiling with turmoil so that they almost seemed to burn like blue flames. She was trotting stiffly and didn’t answer at first.

“I guess I always knew that it would have to happen someday,” she eventually replied. “I just thought it would be under… different circumstances.”

Hitch nodded.

The two ponies arrived at the door, which of course only opened when a pony scanned their hoof on the scanner next to the frame. Zipp immediately leaned close to the scanner and flipped her visor down. She scanned the surface and frowned for a moment before she groaned and pushed it up again.

“The last pony to use this thing was Zoom this morning, and my mom last night,” she said. “I can only find their hoofprints here. So nopony came in this way…”

“So what does that mean?” Hitch asked.

“I’m not sure yet,” she grumbled, slamming her hoof on to the scanner and waiting impatiently while it read her hoofprint and the doors opened.

The room looked like nothing out of the ordinary had happened there. Zipp immediately took to the air, flipping her visor back down and scanning the room in every way that she could for hoofprints, signs of a struggle, or anything unusual that could tell her where her mother might have mysteriously disappeared to. When she found nothing out of the ordinary, she nearly threw her visor across the room and landed next to Hitch.

“It’s so weird,” she said frustratedly. “It’s like Mom just… disappeared.”

“Do the windows open on their own?” Hitch asked, gesturing to the tall panes of glass that let in the morning sunlight. Through them, he could see the large crowds of ponies milling about through the streets, most of them gathering at the stage where the Cutie Blossom Bash had been held, where Sunny and Pipp were doubtlessly distracting them.

“They do,” Zipp said ruefully, “but only from inside. There’s no way to get inside from outside unless you leave the windows open or break the glass. And if that had happened, then whoever took her would have been caught by the guards outside-”

“Well, there’s nothing in here,” Hitch interrupted her. “Let’s go talk to those guards and see if they saw anything strange-” He frowned. “Do you hear someone calling for help?”

“Help?” Zipp immediately quieted, tilting her head this way and that, but she didn’t hear anything. She shook her head. “Where is it coming from?”

“Um…” Hitch turned to the adjacent door to the bedroom, and stepped forward to investigate. He knocked on the door before he pushed it open and stepped inside, looking around the large and spacious bathroom curiously. “It’s louder now…”

Zipp still didn’t hear a cry for help, but she did hear something else - a high-pitched whimpering sound coming from the towel closet. She dashed over there and opened the door, only to be attacked by a flurry of white-

“Cloudpuff?” she gasped, taking a step back as the flying Pomeranian spotted Hitch and started licking his face. “How - how are you here?”

Cloudpuff started barking, and Hitch leaned forward to listen. Zipp was just starting to think how ridiculous it was that their only lead was coming from a dog, and that she was wishing that Izzy had installed language transmitters in her spy gear, when Hitch nodded grimly and looked at Zipp with a look that made her blood freeze.

“What is it?” she demanded.

“Well, it’s… nothing good.”





Izzy knew that she was supposed to be helping Sunny and Pipp keep the Unity Festival moving so that ponies would be too busy to realize that their leaders were missing, but at the moment she was a bit busy consoling Misty, who had run to the Zephyr Heights gardens, made a beeline for her tree that she had grown on the day of the Cutie Blossom Bash, and broken down crying at its roots.

“Oh, Misty, don’t be sad,” Izzy said, putting her arm around Misty and cradling the other unicorn in her arms. “It’s going to be okay! Trust me, we’re going to find him-”

“It’s not that,” Misty said, her voice choking with tears. She sat up and wiped her eyes. “I mean, it is that - I’m really worried for my dad. I just found him, and now he’s gone-” She shuddered and choked back a sob. “It’s just, I can feel something wrong, can’t you? Like there’s something dark in the air-” She placed her hoof on her tree as if to steady herself, but she flinched and drew it back. “And now it’s in the together trees…”

“What are you talking about, Misty?” Izzy said softly.

When she turned to look at her, Misty’s eyes were rimmed with red and overflowing with tears, but there was a kind of deeper sorrow there, the kind of sorrow that was mourning something that was broken but could not be fixed. “Sunny told us that Opaline got trapped in her own together tree as it grew,” she said, “right? But I can still feel her-” She placed her hoof on her tree again “-in here. Like her magic is still doing evil. It’s grown stronger. But I feel like… it’s not exactly Opaline. It’s… darkness. Evil. Something terrible is coming, and… and I’m scared, Izzy. I’m worried that… we might not be enough.”

“You can’t think like that, Misty,” Izzy started to say, but the other unicorn stood up, her expression fierce.

“No. I can - I can feel it, Izzy. Whatever this is, it’s something ancient. Something powerful. Something greater than Opaline ever was. And it’s coming for us next.”

Izzy was reminded of something that happened a long time ago - when she and her friends were on board a flyin zeppelin in the clouds, with other creatures, on the run from the world while they tried to defeat a trio of the worst villains any of them had ever faced. Even Opaline stealing their cutie marks hadn’t quite gotten to the same level of paralyzing terror that Izzy had remembered feeling.

“There’s got to be something we can do,” Izzy tried to tell Misty with a reassurance that she didn’t feel. “We can’t give up hope, Misty. It might be hard, but I guess we can just get creative-”

Misty looked over at Sparky. The baby dragon was running in circles around the tree, occasionally pausing to spurt bursts of dragon fire.

What was strange was the fact that every spurt of flame curled into a scroll - a rolled up piece of paper that appeared out of nowhere and fell to the ground. There were at least a dozen of them, and Misty lit up her horn, levitating the closest one into her hoof.

“What are these?” she asked, frowning at the wax seal stamped onto the scroll. It was vaguely familiar to her, but it wasn’t of any crests that she recognized, either from modern Equestria or the ones that Opaline had taught her. Izzy made a strangled sound like she was choking on her own breath, but Misty ignored her and started to unroll the scroll. “I didn’t think that Sparky could send letters-” She halted. “Oh. It’s a letter for Sunny. Maybe Spike sent it?” That would make sense, if a dragon could send messages through other dragons. But before her eyes could move to the bottom of the page to see the signature, Izzy snatched it from her hooves.

“Oh, well, in that case, we’d better get it to Sunny then,” Izzy said, avoiding Misty’s gaze and hastily rolling up the scroll and sliding it under her crystal headband. “As a matter of fact, I’ll do that, and you can keep watching Sparky-”

“Sure.” Misty shrugged. “I’ll give any more letters that he may spew out to Sunny then-”

“On second thought,” Izzy said in a loud voice, scooping up the baby dragon in one swift move, “I’ll take Sparky with me - I’m sure you want a break-” Her horn sang, and all the strange scrolls levitated off the ground and followed Izzy as she hurriedly trotted back inside the palace.
> Making Promises
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Izzy never found Sunny until late that evening, because Sunny was busy filling in for Queen Haven, Phyllis Cloverleaf, and Alphabittle as best she could - with Pipp’s help, of course. Pipp announced an unscheduled concert that afternoon that she would launch a new song at, though, so she had taken most of the morning off to hastily finish something that she had been working on. There were a lot of questions about where Haven was, but Sunny was able to brush most of them off by saying that the queen was likely just busy, and assuring the askers that they would see her sometime during the festival.

Sunny just hoped that would be true.

But, all in all, the day went smoothly. Sunny didn’t have time to appreciate most of the festival because of her stressing over… well, everything, but everypony else seemed to be having a good time. Sunny was relieved that she could have dinner, maybe watch the light show projected on the side of the Zephyr Heights palace, and then go to bed and finally relax. Perhaps she would wake up and realize that this had all been a bad dream.

As the sun went down, however, Pipp flew up to Sunny and asked her if she was planning on filling in for Haven during the large banquet that evening as well. A feeling of dread settled over Sunny as she remembered how she was supposed to attend a dinner with some of the most influential ponies in Equestria - a dinner that all three missing ponies would be most certainly noticed at. Furthermore, Zipp was supposed to be there, too - and Sunny hadn’t seen her friends all day.

“Yes, of course!” she said cheerfully in response to Pipp’s question. “Can you handle all the stuff with the light show, and-”

Pipp nodded, her eyes stressed. It had been quite a day for all of them. Sunny leaned over and whispered into Pipp’s ear, “Meeting in my room tonight. We’ll find out what’s going on.” Pipp took a deep breath and nodded again, this time stronger, before she flew away to where the crowds were gathering on the dark side of the palace as the sun continued to sink.

Sunny sighed and pulled out her cell phone and dialed Zipp’s phone number. She didn’t pick up, but that wasn’t out of character for her. Sunny bet that Zipp was getting really close to cracking the case of where Haven and the other missing ponies were, and wasn’t paying attention to who was calling her. So Sunny dialed Hitch instead, and the sheriff immediately picked up.

“Sunny? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, it’s fine,” Sunny lied. “Hey, is Zipp with you?”

There was muffled dialogue in the background, and Hitch said, “Yeah. Why?”

“Can you tell her to please go to that dinner tonight? It starts in fifteen minutes, and we need to keep up the everything-is-normal facade. It’s in the Great Hall-”

“Yeah, she’ll be there,” Hitch said. “We’re working on something right now, but…”

“Meeting in my room later,” Sunny told him. “Tell us then. We’ll figure everything out.”

“Yeah… see you then.”

Sunny hung up and put her phone away just as Izzy came running up to her, holding Sparky and, for some reason, a whole bunch of scrolls, suspended by her magic. “Sunny!” Izzy gasped and panted. “I… need… to-”

“Not now, Izzy,” Sunny said, closing her eyes and concentrating. Her alicorn form shimmered to life around her, and she spread her wings, taking to the skies. “I’ve got to go to this fancy dinner tonight - I’ll meet you in my room in an hour and a half, okay? We’ll figure everything else out then, okay?”

“But this is-” Izzy watched as her friend flew away, glowing wings and horn seeming brighter in the coming night. She sighed. “-important.”





Sunny met Zipp in the hallway outside the doors that led to the Great Hall. The pegasus princess was disheveled and looked exhausted, but she was frantically trying to make herself look presentable before they entered the room.

“Who’s all in there?” she asked, jerking her head at the closed doors.

“Um, Elderflower from Bridlewood, a few earth ponies, but mostly pegasi,” Sunny said, opening the door a peek and looking inside. She took a deep breath. “Well. You ready?”

“Yeah,” Zipp said, her voice miserable.

Sunny pushed open the doors, and the two ponies walked inside.

There was a long table with six chairs on each side and two at each end. Five seats were empty and nine were full. All chatter stopped when Zipp and Sunny entered. The two of them trotted down the length of the table and took their seats next to each other near the end. Zipp glanced sideways at the larger, more ornate chair at the end of the table next to her and quickly looked away again. She took a deep breath and stood up. All eyes, some of them judging, some curious, were on her.

“Everypony, I would just like to thank you for coming tonight,” she said awkwardly. “I, um, I’d just like to say that… well, my mom - the queen,” she added with a touch of ferocity, as if she was still fighting against her own unexpected ascension to the throne, “has unexpectedly fallen ill. She has a, uh, a cold, and we thought it best for her to get some rest today.” She nodded as if to confirm this, and some of the muttering ceased. “So… I offered to fill in for her for… tonight. And however long this lasts.”

There was no more confusion after that; Sunny caught a few ponies looking around like they were looking for some ponies that were absent, but there was quiet and polite discussion and no mention of how Queen Haven, Alphabittle, and Phyllis were not present. Nopony talked much to Zipp or Sunny; they seemed to be thrown a little bit at Haven’s absence. An hour after they walked in, Sunny and Zipp both excused themselves for the night and left the room.

“Oh, thank the stars,” Zipp moaned once they were out. She tipped her head back and shut her eyes in bliss. “I have decided that I hate being queen, and that was just one dinner.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” Sunny tried to say, but Zipp huffed, and she decided to drop the subject. “Okay, let’s go to my room and see if we can crack this case-”

She paused as she heard hooves behind her. Sunny stopped and turned around to see Zoom and Thunder marching in-time as they followed the two of them. Sunny glanced at Zipp’s expression; the pegasus had her eyes shut and her mouth pressed in a tight line. She shook her head and continued walking.

Hitch, Pipp, and Izzy were all waiting in Sunny’s room when she and Zipp pushed open the door and shut it behind them. Sunny could hear Zoom and Thunder taking positions outside the door, and she tried not to worry too much about it. They likely didn’t think that she and her friends were in danger, not really. It was just because of protocol, right?

“Where’s Misty?” Sunny asked, looking around and noticing that the unicorn was gone.

Izzy shrugged. She was still holding all those scrolls with her magic, but Sparky was scampering around on Sunny’s bed, messing with her pillows. “I haven’t seen her since this morning,” she said, frowning. “Haven’t any of you?”

“No,” Pipp said quietly, “but I doubt I would have noticed her if I was looking.” She was hanging her head listlessly and looked so tired and broken that Sunny felt a pang of guilt for some reason.

“It’s alright, sis,” Zipp tried to tell her. “We’re going to figure this out.”

“We did find something interesting,” Hitch said. “We found Cloudpuff locked away in a closet, and he told us - well, he told me - what happened.”

“It wasn’t anything very useful,” Zipp grumbled. “Hitch says that Cloudpuff said that he woke up at midnight and saw something dark slinking in the window. It passed right through the smallest slit between the window and the frame, and then he blacked out. When he woke up again, he was in the closet.”

There was silence as the other ponies digested this information. “So you think that was what happened to all three of them? What was that thing?” Pipp asked.

“We don’t know,” Zipp snapped frustratedly, beginning to pace. “We went to the restricted section of the library to see if we could find anything, but there’s nothing in there about mysterious shadow creatures that could kidnap ponies.”

“Mysterious shadow creatures,” Sunny whispered to herself, something clicking in her mind.

“And why would they kidnap them, anyway? What do they want with Mom and Alphabittle and Phyllis? What do they have in common?”

“They’re all parents?” Hitch suggested.

“Then why not every other parent in Equestria?”

“Maybe it’s a gradual thing,” Izzy supplied. “Maybe more ponies will be taken tonight.”

The thought was terrifying, and Sunny felt a wave of panic wash over her. If Haven, Phyllis, and Alphabittle were first, then who was next? They didn’t have any way of knowing. She looked around her, at all of her friends, and she thought, If my friends are here, then I don’t need to be afraid of anything.

“We should stay together,” she decided. “We shouldn’t leave each other alone. Everypony needs to pair up. I can’t help but feel that we’re stronger when we’re together.”

There were nods all around. Sunny took a deep breath and felt some of the tension ease out of her shoulders.

“Uh, Sunny?” Izzy shuffled her hooves nervously. “I really don’t want to ruin this… moment, but you’ve been getting letters all day.”

“Letters?” Sunny turned to her, certain that she had heard her wrong. Then Sparky caught all of their attention as he made a strangled sound before he coughed a curl of flame that transformed into a scroll before their eyes.

“I don’t know how!” Izzy wailed, levitating her scrolls over and dropping them on the floor in the center of the room. “Sparky was just coughing them up one after the other, and they’re - they’re from-” She rummaged in her mane and pulled one out that was already partially opened, its wax seal broken. Izzy passed it to Sunny, and she unrolled it all the way and looked at the signature at the bottom, and almost choked.

“It’s… it’s from…” Her voice seemed to fail her, and she looked more closely at the seal on the broken wax. The design was familiar to her, she recognized it, but she hadn’t seen it in so long - she had thought that… maybe… they weren’t sending them…

“Are they all…” Sunny gestured to the massive pile - there had to be at least two dozen, maybe more, not counting the one that Sparky just coughed up.

Izzy nodded.

“How…”

“I don’t know,” she repeated quietly.

“Okay, okay, who is it from?” Zipp demanded, taking the letter from Sunny and scanning it quickly. Her eyes widened and her hoof slackened, allowing Pipp to take it from her, read the signature at the bottom, and gasp, dropping it; Hitch retrieved it and made a strange sound like he was trying to scream without opening his mouth.

Sunny reached for the letter again, hope flooding her; after so many months of silence, so many night spent wondering, so many letters she thought went unanswered - here they were, here was proof that they were still her friends, and she wanted nothing more than to get the answers she had been asking about, but before she could read that first letter through, the door suddenly burst open.

Misty stood in the hallway, her green eyes fierce, her horn aglow as she held an unrolled scroll next to her. From the look on her face, Sunny could easily guess that she had read what the letter said, and she felt all the hope that had flooded her just moments ago drain away.

“Hey, ponies,” Misty said, narrowing her eyes at them as she moved the letter so that she could read it. “I don’t suppose any of you were going to tell me who Kailani is?”
> More Mysteries
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunny felt her throat go dry, and she looked at her other friends, all of whom were at a loss for words. Zipp still had a fire in her eyes and didn’t meet Misty’s gaze. Pipp was opening and closing her mouth, trying to find the right words. Izzy was looking down at her hooves, her expression ashamed. Hitch’s face was red, and he looked embarrassed. Even worse, all of them kept stealing glances at Sunny, like she was supposed to be the one who knew what to do.

“Dear Sunny,” Misty read from the scroll, “I don’t know if you’ve been getting my letters, but this one is extra important. Last night, the queen of the hippogriffs was taken, along with my father. They were swimming out to the farthest reef because Her Majesty wanted some space, but they vanished the next morning. We’ve been searching the entire sea for them, but so far, no sign. And I’ve been having that feeling again - the one that says that something’s off. I don’t know what it could be this time, but I really need your help. Please come to Mount Aris so that we can figure this out. I’ve talked to our other friends, and they all report similar things happening in their kingdoms, and we’re going to try and join forces to solve this mystery. You haven’t responded to any of the letters I’ve sent you, but I hope that you please see this one and decide to come help us. Your friend, Kailani.” Misty rolled the scroll up again and looked around at all of her friends. “I thought we were done keeping secrets,” she said, her voice breaking with emotion. “After Opaline, I thought…”

“It isn’t you, Misty,” Sunny said, stepping toward her friend and reaching out. “It’s just… well… I’m not really sure. We just… after everything that happened, I guess it never… came up,” she finished lamely.

Misty turned her gaze to the rest of the letters in the center of the room. “I guess those are all more letters from your secret friend?”

“Some of them,” Sunny said with a sigh. “Others are from… other old friends.”

Misty shook her head and took a step back. Her horn blinked out, and the scroll she had been carrying dropped to the floor. “I can’t believe you,” she said, her voice hurt. “All along I thought you could actually trust me because we were friends…”

“No, Misty, you’re right,” Sunny said miserably. “We should have told you about this as soon as we got the chance. We should have known that it would catch up to us.” Sunny picked up the letter Misty had dropped and dropped it on to the top of the pile. “You deserve to know the whole story,” she said.

The blue unicorn nodded cautiously and closed the door behind her. She looked around the room and saw that all of her friends were wearing matching expressions of shame, and she knew that her friends hadn’t meant to exclude her at all. But it still hurt.

Sunny gave a consigned sigh. “I guess it all started when I found a letter from my dad…”





By the time the story had finished, the lights outside had dimmed as most of Zephyr Heights went to bed and the moon rose above the mountaintop, a thin sliver in the night sky. Misty had quite forgotten her anger with her friends at their keeping secrets from her as the whole tale came out, and her eyes had been frozen, permanently wide, as she stared at Sunny once she had stopped talking.

“We’re really sorry, Misty,” Izzy said sorrowfully. “We really didn’t mean to…” Her voice trailed off.

Misty blinked and shook her head as if to clear her mind. “So, let me get this straight,” she said. “You ponies went on a cross-country journey to lands beyond Equestria to stop an impending war, three supervillains that make Opaline almost look tame, and stop all of ponykind - well, every kind, actually - from making history repeat itself like when Twilight Sparkle fell?”

“Well… yeah. I guess-”

“And there are more dragons and other creatures like hippogriffs and griffons and changelings and… and… and Crystal ponies?”

“Also kirin, yaks, buffalo, and probably some others-”

“And then Sunny beat their mind control and turned it against them and used her awesome powers to defeat them and save Equestria?” Misty’s eyes were shining, and she looked like she  she had just been given a lifetime supply of ponycorn.

“It didn’t sound that great at the moment,” Sunny said, thinking back to the hopelessness that she had lived with every day as a captive in the Legion of Doom’s lair.

“Wow,” Misty said, her voice faint with awe. “That is so incredible! How could that be bad? Why would you want to run from it?”

“Well…” Sunny looked at her other friends before she turned back to Misty. No more secrets, she told herself. No more lies. She was going to come clean and tell Misty everything that had happened and everything they were worried about. She took a deep breath and said, “Well, you see, one of the villains - Chrysalis - wasn’t defeated for good. She’s still out there, as is Termite, and he hates us. We didn’t exactly make a lot of friends on that trip. And…” She glanced at the pile of letters. “And my friends weren’t answering my letters. I thought - well, I guess I worried - it might be because they had moved on. I never found out what happened to them after they left to go back to their kingdoms and try to convince the creatures there of the truth.”

“Oh.” Misty followed Sunny’s gaze to the pile of letters, and soon everypony was staring at them. “Well, I guess we might find some answers in there.”

“No,” Zipp said, rubbing at her eyes furiously, as if she was angry at herself for getting tired when Queen Haven was still missing. “We already have one mystery here, and we need to solve that before we get involved in any more crazy world-saving quests.”

“But didn’t Kailani’s letter say that the hippogriff queen had disappeared, too?” Hitch said, pointing to the letter on the top of the pile that was already opened. “Maybe we’ll find some clues in these letters that could help us here.”

Sunny was already itching to get her hooves on those letters. She had wondered if her letters were getting through, but theirs weren’t to her - but apparently neither side had been getting any word. She was going to go through those letters whether her friends wanted to help or not - she had to find out what had been happening to her friends while they were apart.

Zipp sighed and gave a consigned nod, all the fight seeming to go out of her. Her wings drooped almost to the ground, and her exhaustion finally won out as she slumped on the couch in the corner. Pipp flew over to curl up next to her sister, and Zipp rested her head on Pipp’s shoulder as Sunny eagerly grabbed an armful of letters, sat on the floor, and instantly started unrolling them. But before she could read them all, Hitch held up a hoof to stop her.

“Hold it,” he said, cautiously taking the letters back. “We should do this properly - and in order. These letters have dates on them - we should read them in the order that they were sent.”

And so, though Sunny grumbled and was impatient, the ponies stacked all the letters in the order by the date they were sent before Sunny could finally start reading what her friends had sent her.

Dear Sunny, said Hugo’s neat, yet hasty, scribble, I just got back to Griffonstone last night with the zeppelin after bringing everyone back home. Things haven’t changed much here - it’s the same old, same old. But at least they don’t seem like they’re going to war anytime soon. I’m not entirely sure yet, but I think that they realized that there wouldn’t be much point in a war. I think they’re too lazy to try. Whatever the cause, Equestria should be safe. Of course, the changelings aren’t going to fight anymore, and Kailani was sure that she could convince the hippogriffs. Ash and Little Braveheart managed to set the buffalo straight, and Imara fixed the dragon situation (by transforming into a larger, scarier dragon). The kirin weren’t involved much, and Brooks could easily calm them down. Lukas found similar results with the buffalo. So everyone has calmed down, and Flurry Heart was writing to me to tell me about the mysterious disappearance of the Windigos up north. I suspect that this is why.

Please write back to tell me about how things are going in Equestria! I know it’s only been a week, but I already miss you all so much. -Hugo.

Sunny swallowed a lump in her throat, set the letter down, and picked up the next one. This one was from Flurry Heart…

Dear Sunny, it said, it’s really lonely up here. Of course, I have Midnight here with me, but I miss being with all of you. It reminded me of how my aunt must have felt, with all of her friends.

Hugo said that he sent you a letter a couple of weeks ago and that he hadn’t heard anything back from you. He’s really worried, and I have to admit that I am, too. I can’t help but wonder if something might be messing with magic right about now. The Windigos are gone, so there could be some shockwaves that are affecting certain magical aspects. I hope that is all, and that you get this letter alright. Maybe you’re just really busy and haven’t had a chance to reply yet. I’m sure you are…

Not much has happened. The Crystal Empire is so empty, it makes me sad… I can’t help but wonder if I should let it go. It used to be so big and busy and beautiful, but now it’s not. I thought I could bring it back, but I guess I was wrong. I wish I could see you all again. I hope you get this letter and write back. Love from Flurry Heart.

The next letter was written by Imara:

Sunny, Hugo told us that he sent you a letter three weeks ago and hasn’t heard back from you at all. He’s kind of freaking out. I knew that we should have written to you as soon as we got back, but Hugo was all like, “No, I’ll write a letter for all of you, it’ll be easier, blah blah blah.” Blergh. Anyway, I totally would have delivered this letter to you myself, because then I can make sure you get it, but Queen Monarch is making me stay by her side every minute of the day to get the kingdom back on track and repair all the damage that Termite did. Auntie Cercus won’t leave me alone. She thinks this is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I, personally, disagree.

Either way, we’re investigating what might be going wrong with magic that would make it so that letters aren’t getting through - if that’s what’s happening. We’ve tried a bunch of different magic spells, and Ash even suggested using dragon fire - apparently some dragons can send messages through each other, if you can believe it. But I don’t think anything has worked. I hope we hear back from you soon, but don’t worry - we’re going to figure this out. Please write back. Imara.

Sunny read each of the letters through once, and then she went back and read them through again, trying to form a clear picture of what had been happening to her friends while she was battling Opaline.

From what she could tell, her friends had managed to deal with the crisis of other creatures going to war with Equestria. They had exposed the Legion of Doom’s lies and convinced them of the truth. Midnight had unlocked a kind of earth pony magic, same as all the earth ponies in Equestria. The Windigos were really gone, and no one had seen any sign of Chrysalis or Termite. Other than the letters going unanswered, things had been pretty calm in the other kingdoms until a week ago, when the first creatures started going missing. At first, it was just leaders - the prince of the yaks, the buffalo chief, the changeling queen, the hippogriff queen and her general, the Dragon Lord, the chief of the kirin village, and any other creatures that assumed their roles. Creatures were in a bit of a panic, especially since other, ordinary citizens of their kingdoms started disappearing as well.

The most recent letter, which had only been sent earlier that day, was from Midnight, and it said only:

Sunny, we finally got all your letters, and we figured something out. We’re coming to you now. We’re going to solve this together.

When Sunny finally looked up, her eyes wet with tears, after reading all of the letters, she saw that her friends had all fallen asleep in various positions around the room. Sparky was snoozing on a pillow, and Misty and Hitch had both collapsed on the floor close to him. Izzy was snoring away in Sunny’s bed, and Pipp was curled up on the bench. Sunny blinked and rubbed at her tired eyes before she realized that one pony wasn’t there-

“Zipp?” she whispered, but received no response. Sunny quietly got to her hooves, careful to not make too much noise and disturb her friends as she pushed open the door and poked her head out into the hallway.

Thunder was still standing sentry duty outside the door, but he had fallen asleep on his hooves, his head drooping as he snored lightly. Zoom was nowhere to be seen; maybe she had followed Zipp to wherever she was.

Or maybe Zipp had disappeared as well, and Zoom was searching for her. Maybe it was already too late.
> Witness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunny glanced back at her friends, asleep in the moonlight that poured through the window, and she sighed, hanging her head. She stepped out into the hall and shut the door behind her, careful to not wake Thunder. She wanted to do this herself.

The halls and corridors of the Zephyr Heights palace were strangely empty, the moonlight casting sharp shadows onto the walls, making everything feel like a different universe, one where Sunny was alone, walking in circles in an abandoned palace for all eternity. But all the guards must be at their positions in the city to oversee the festival, and they didn’t know that there was a need for extra security in the castle right then.

Sunny paused, her ears twitching, trying to catch the sound of hoofprints that might be Zipp’s. Or maybe that sound that she heard behind her, like hoofprints, but muffled to near silence, but whenever she stopped walking, the sound ceased. And whenever she turned around, she could see no one there. She shook her head and tried to focus on her missing friend.

Think, she commanded herself. Where would Zipp be right now?

And then it came to her: the restricted section of the palace library. Hadn’t she said that she had looked there earlier for anything that could cause her mother to disappear like this? Perhaps she was doing more research on her own.

Sunny ran as fast - and quietly; there was something about the silence that unnerved her, and she didn’t want to disturb it - as she could to the restricted section and placed her hoof on the scanner by the door. The screen buzzed and flashed red, denying her access.

“Zipp?” Sunny said, knocking on the door and hoping that her friend could hear her from inside. “Zipp, are you there? It’s me, Sunny - please let me in!” She was pounding on the door now, every knock that went unanswered sending new pulses of panic through her body, until she was imagining the worst things. Maybe Zipp was already gone, and maybe the world was doomed, and it was all her fault because she left her friends to go looking for Zipp-

A new idea suddenly ignited in Sunny’s head, making her gasp and stand up straight. She turned and ran down the hallway, completely forgetting to be quiet, but she doubted there would be many ponies awake then to hear her. She flew into another hallway, this one shorter than others and ending in a dead end.

But on the floor was a metal grate. Sunny managed to heave it to one side, opening it up enough that she could hop through the opening and into the basket elevator beneath the opening. She pulled the grate shut above her and pushed down the lever so that the basket would lower her to the floor of the abandoned air station from the reign of Twilight Sparkle that her friends had fixed up for her so long ago as a surprise. Sunny hadn’t been down there very often anymore, but she remembered all the times she spent with her friends there: hiding from angry mobs, assembling broken stained glass windows, standing in the middle of the room with the reflection of Twilight Sparkle’s cutie mark on her face as she was reminded of who she was and where she came from.

Sunny didn’t see Zipp at first, but when she arrived at the ground, she hopped out and looked toward the bookshelves that had been pushed up against the wall, where Zipp was sitting, angrily flipping through the pages of a book. When she didn’t find what she was looking for, she tossed the book frustratedly to the side and grabbed another one.

“Zipp!” Sunny cried out, running toward her friend. Zipp jumped, not expecting to hear somepony shout her name. She stood up and turned around. “Sunny?”

Relief washed through Sunny, but once she saw that her friend was perfectly fine, the relief drained away and was replaced with anger. She skidded to a halt in front of the pegasus and glared at her.

“What were you thinking? We literally just decided that we wouldn’t go anywhere on our own! Because in case you forgot, something is out there that might want to kidnap us, and we don’t want to make it easy for them! Unless you want to go missing? How could you disappear and cause me to panic at a time like this?”

Zipp winced with each remark. “Sunny, I’m sorry,” she protested. “I just… I thought that I could find answers. And you were so busy reading your letters, and everypony else was so tired that I didn’t want to wake you.”

Sunny’s anger was fading away, and she was starting to understand. “But… what about Zoom? And the guards?”

She shrugged. “I told Zoom that I was going back to my room to sleep, and that she could stand guard outside the door. But… I’ve been developing secret ways of sneaking out since I was a filly, and I easily got past her. And I’m really good at avoiding the guards. So I came down here, and… Sorry, Sunny. You’re right, I should have told somepony.”

“So you haven’t noticed?”

“Noticed what?” Zipp looked up and met her friend’s eyes, and she got the feeling that Sunny thought that something else was wrong - something much, much worse than just her mother disappearing.

“Zipp… there are no guards in the palace. Except for Thunder, and he was asleep. And I’ve been… I’ve been hearing this sound behind me, like somepony’s following me, but I can’t see anything. I’m worried that… I’m worried that something magical is happening here-”

Before she could finish, Zipp gasped and pointed wordlessly over Sunny’s shoulder. Sunny turned, and her eyes widened as something slipped into the airstation. It leached through the grate like liquid oil, except when it pooled on the floor, it took physical form: two wolves, identical and dark, with glowing white eyes. Their tails faded into shadowy wisps, and they didn’t have clearly defined edges, as if they weren’t really there, but were something more. They stared unblinkingly at Sunny and Zipp.

In an instant, both ponies knew: this was what was taking ponies.

“But this doesn’t make sense!” Sunny stuttered as she took hurried steps back, away from the wolves. “I thought this only happened to ponies who-”

But Zipp had already figured it out. She gasped and looked over at Sunny, who met her gaze.

“There aren’t supposed to be any witnesses,” Sunny said weakly.

“We’re not witnesses, Sunny,” Zipp said.

Sunny’s eyes widened as she figured it out, too. “We’re targets.”

The two wolves howled and charged at them.





Zipp snapped her wings open and launched herself into the air, so that the wolf pursuing her passed right over the area she had just been standing. It spun around and stared at her, its white glowing eyes unnerving her. The edges of her vision began to fade, and Zipp shut her eyes, shaking her head before flying off in the opposite direction.

Whatever these wolves were, they were trying to get inside her head. Well, she wasn’t going to let them do that to her.

Zipp weaved through pillars and spun in aerial maneuvers that should have won her an instant place on the Aerobats. But the wolf stayed on her tail. It seemed like it could pass instantly from one shadow to another, teleporting directly in front of her and lunging out from unsuspecting places. Zipp dodged and swerved, but she was tiring quickly.

Below her, Sunny was in alicorn form, her golden light illuminating the airstation in the night and making it so that there were fewer shadowy places for the wolves to hide. She was facing off against her own wolf, who would shoot tendrils of darkness at Sunny, trying to snatch her. Sunny was just barely managing to hold them off, casting golden shields wherever the wolf would try to get under her guard. The wolf seemed to be having a harder time getting Sunny than Zipp’s was with her.

But then Sunny’s wolf howled and dissolved into liquid shadow, pooling around Sunny’s hooves and slowly climbing up her legs, trapping her in one place. Sunny strained and tried to pull free, but she was trapped. One tendril of darkness latched itself onto her horn, yanking her forward and forcing Sunny into a bow of submission.

“Sunny!” Zipp cried, pausing in her own flight. She felt her mind go numb as she watched her friend before something slammed into her. The wolf.

Zipp was pinned against one of the arches in the airstation, the shadows keeping her there like sticky spider webs. She screamed and tried to free herself, but it did no good. The shadows were earth-shatteringly cold, and already her hooves and wings were going numb. Zipp felt her mind grow slow and hazy, her vision cloud over, and then everything went white…

Zipp gasped, her eyes snapping open. She was standing in the throne room of her palace. Bright sunlight streamed through the tall arches and windows, and there was no sign of anypony else.

“What’s going on?” she said to herself, spinning in a circle, looking around for an answer. “Hello? Anypony there?”

Then she stopped and stared at the thrones on the dias, certain that she must be seeing things now. She must have hit her head in the airstation, and now she was hallucinating.

That was the only way to explain why there were four thrones on the dias instead of three, like there had been for her whole life.

“Zipp?”

She spun around and saw three pegasi approaching her. One was Pipp, who wasn’t looking at her phone for once; another was Queen Haven, who was beaming as though she had never gone missing, and that everything was alright. And the third was a stallion who looked vaguely familiar…

A lump lodged itself in Zipp’s throat, and she felt tears in her eyes.

“Dad?”

The stallion nodded and smiled at her.

But this isn’t right… she thought sluggishly. Dad’s been gone for years… He can’t be here now…

“Zipp!” called a voice in Zipp’s ear. It was so faint that she couldn’t tell if she was imagining it or not. She could barely recognize who was talking… Surely that didn’t mean that it was important…

She felt a hoof on her shoulder, and she looked up at her mother. “Dear, it’s alright,” she said softly, spreading her wing over Zipp’s back. “Everything’s okay. We’re together now, and everything’s going to be okay.”

Haven wrapped Zipp in a hug, and then she felt Pipp and her father join in. They felt so solid, so real, that Zipp wanted to believe that it was real with her whole heart. But there was some nagging feeling at the back of her mind, something that told her that something was wrong…

But then she felt her father stroke her mane, and an overpowering urge to stay there, in that happy place with her family, where she could finally be happy, blocked out all other thoughts in her head.

She relaxed into her mother’s embrace and let everything else fade away.





“Zipp! ZIPP!” Sunny screamed until her throat was hoarse. But her friend didn’t move from where she was pinned underneath the shadows. Sunny felt her vision grow fuzzy, felt some kind of force enter her mind and try to rewrite what she was seeing, but after being put under the control of Cozy Glow and the Legion of Doom, she knew a thing or two about mind control, and, more importantly, how to beat it. She clamped iron bands around her mind and forced the darkness out.

I am Sunny Starscout. And my friends need my help. I can’t… fail them… again…

“ZIPP!”

The shadows around Zipp were moving. They were creeping along her limp form until she was covered in darkness, and then the shadows took the form of a wolf again, only this time, it was more powerful - the cold waves of fear radiating off of it stronger and more paralyzing than before. The wolf that used to be Zipp leaped to the floor and landed in front of Sunny, who was still trapped in a sticky, shadowy web.

Hot tears pricked at Sunny’s eyes, and she felt her anger burn white hot in her chest. The power suddenly raced through her veins exhilaratingly, and whatever shadowy force was trying to get inside her was abruptly pushed out. Sunny felt the shadows lose their grip on her, and her horn blazed. Every shadowy rope snapped, and she spread her wings, taking to the air, free.

The golden light from her wings and horn were brighter now, and Sunny realized that her whole self was glowing, that her wing and horn were shimmering with a rainbow sheen, that her mane was rippling above her shoulder without any kind of wind. She hovered in front of the stained glass window of her ancestor’s cutie mark, the magic singing in her blood, while the two shadow wolves stared at her with their unnerving white eyes.

“GET OUT!!!” Sunny roared at them, her horn glowing white with power. She screamed, and a deafening white blast erupted from her horn and spread throughout the whole area, causing her vision to go white, a strange humming sound in her ears, while she felt magic tingling around her, wiping everything else away.
> Failure
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunny blinked her eyes open.

She was alone in the airstation. Her alicorn form was gone. Instead of feeling powerful like she had a moment ago, she felt drained and exhausted, ready to collapse. She rubbed her tired eyes and staggered to her hooves, looking around, trying to figure out what had happened.

It was day. The airstation was full of light - more light than there should be…

Sunny looked up at the stained glass window and felt her heart skip a beat.

The top part of the window, the part displaying the six-pointed star that was the mark of her ancestor, was shattered. Little bits of magenta glass littered the ground around Sunny. She felt a sob build up in her throat. It felt ridiculous, but that star had helped her so much - it had been a reminder to her of everything…

“Zipp?” Sunny called out, her voice hoarse and thick. “Zipp? Where are you?”

No answer.

Sunny felt her heart start to race with panic. She ran over to the lift and rose through the grate, launching into a gallop as she tore through the palace. It was every bit as empty as it was last night, and while the moonlight had been befitting of the creepy feeling that tingled over her skin, the bright golden sunshine felt like a mockery of it. Sunny skidded to a halt in front of her bedroom door. Thunder no longer stood outside it; there were no guards at all. Sunny tried not to think about that too much as she flung the door open and ran inside-

Her friends weren’t there. All the letters Imara, Kailani, Ash, Lukas, Brooks, Little Braveheart, Hugo, Midnight, and Flurry Heart had sent her were torn into shreds, the scraps of paper shifting with the slightest movement. Dozens of Dear Sunnys floated around Sunny as she stepped into the room, her expression frozen with shock.

“No…”

Sunny fled the room, letting the door slam behind her as she tried to put as much distance between her and that place as she could. She ran blindly through the palace, not paying much attention, not even caring that she didn’t meet a single soul as she ran, her mind frantically grasping at any possible explanation other than the one she was dreading. She shouldered a pair of doors open and dashed out into the palace gardens, where Misty’s blue together tree was standing, proud and erect, in the sunshine. Sunny skidded to a halt and tried to calm her racing heart.

“It’s okay, Sunny,” she tried to console herself. “It’s going to be alright… I’m sure they’re around here somewhere…”

She paced in circles around the tree, her mind blank as she tried and tried but couldn’t get past the fact that her friends were gone, might never come back, but she couldn’t imagine that they would be gone - they had to be here somewhere. They couldn’t be gone. They had been through too much together for them to be gone. Sunny had to find them - she couldn’t abandon them like this again…

The together tree hummed with power, and Sunny stopped, looking up, hope flooding through her as a doorway opened up in the tree’s trunk, and a pony stepped out-

“Sunny?”

“Misty?” Sunny thought that she might just collapse with relief. “Oh, thank the stars!” She ran up to the unicorn and wrapped her in a hug. Misty gripped Sunny so tightly that Sunny should have picked up on something being wrong, but she was just so joyous that her friends might be alright that she didn’t think clearly.

“Misty, where’s everypony else? Where’s Zipp? And Hitch and Izzy and Pipp?”

Misty’s green eyes dropped to the ground, and Sunny felt her heart plummet again.

“Misty… what happened?”

“I don’t know,” she responded hoarsely. “Pipp’s cell phone went off, and we all woke up, but then these… these creatures came through the window-”

“Wolves,” Sunny said, her voice thick with dread and sorrow.

“They might have been. I couldn’t see them clearly. But they had these eyes - and they, they made you lose sight of what was in front of you, Sunny. They showed you something else. And one of them managed to grab Hitch and they became… they became the same thing. It was like Hitch disappeared, and then the wolf became stronger, like it was using him-” Misty caught the look in Sunny’s eyes and broke off. “Anyway, they got Pipp and Izzy, too. They didn’t seem that interested in me at first, and I - I was scared, Sunny. I ran away. I ran here, and there was one of the wolves right behind me, and I activated the tree to escape-” She swallowed. “And then I came back here. Sunny, where’s Zipp? You two weren’t there last night, and I got scared…”

“Zipp wanted to do more investigating on her own,” Sunny said sullenly. All the hope and joy and happiness that she normally radiated drained away, leaving Sunny so stoney and depressed that Misty didn’t recognize her. “She went to an abandoned airstation below the palace, and I found her there. We were attacked by these wolves. I managed to escape, but Zipp-” A sob suddenly wracked her body, and Misty reached toward her, but Sunny stepped out of reach. “I failed. I couldn’t-”

“It wasn’t your fault, Sunny,” Misty said, her voice full of so much compassion and understanding that it made Sunny hurt. She didn’t deserve to be comforted, not with everything she had done. “You wouldn’t have been able to-”

“You would say that,” Sunny snapped, her voice suddenly as sharp as broken glass and dripping with venom and heartbreak, “because you don’t know, Misty. You don’t know everything that I’ve done, everything that’s happened, all because I failed. You weren’t there, but my other friends were. They saw what happened, and if they were here, they would understand. But they aren’t here, so you can’t pretend to know what it’s like, because you don’t know. And you never will!”

Misty took a step back, her expression beyond normal hurt - it was a pain so intense that she couldn’t even begin to describe it. But Sunny didn’t see. All she saw was a blinding anger and guilt at herself, and she turned and ran back through the palace, again going blindly. Somehow, she found herself going through the grate and riding the lift down into the airstation, where the shattered glass was still littering the floor.

And that’s where Misty found her: curled up in the center of a sea of magenta glass, sobbing, each jagged piece reminding her of who she was: a failure.





Misty put her hoof on Sunny’s shoulder, and the earth pony flinched. But Misty pulled Sunny up into a sitting position, and Sunny looked up, her eyes glimmering with unshed tears. Misty felt like crying, too, but her friend was so broken that she couldn’t leave her like this.

“Sunny… I’m sorry.”

Tears streamed down Sunny’s cheeks and splashed into puddles at her hooves. “No, Misty,” Sunny sobbed, “I’m sorry. I should never have-” She broke off, and Misty pulled Sunny into a hug. She stroked Sunny’s mane while the earth pony wailed into her shoulder, held her while she shuddered and shivered. “It’s not your fault,” Sunny finally whispered between cries.

Mist didn’t say anything; she just held her. Sunny felt her sobs gradually cease, and she finally found the strength to pull away, wiping her eyes and sniffling.

“It’s just…” Sunny took a deep breath, closing her eyes and tilting her head back. “I remember what it was like, back when… when I wasn’t me. I remember all those feelings, all those lies, and how awful it was… and then I lost myself, and I abandoned my friends, and because of me, they got in so much trouble… They went through so much just to find me, and I failed them, and after it was all over… I swore I would never do that again. I wouldn’t abandon my friends like that again. Even when new threats would emerge, I was afraid that what I would do would make something like that happen again…” She opened her eyes and looked at Misty. “But it was wrong of me to talk to you like that. I’m sorry. I’m just so…” She shook her head listlessly, looking down at her hooves.

“I know, Sunny,” Misty said softly, her hoof on Sunny’s. “I know. When I accidentally led you ponies into Opaline’s trap… I wasn’t sure what to think. I had finally pleased her, which I was always trying to do, but it didn’t feel like I thought it would. I realized that I didn’t care about what Opaline thought anymore. It was you ponies being angry at me that hurt more than anything she had done to me. I was so afraid to face her because I was worried that she would take you ponies away, and then I would lose the only thing that I really cared about.” She put her hoof under Sunny’s chin and lifted the other pony’s head so that their eyes met. “If you ponies can forgive me after everything I did to you, I know that we can forgive you for anything. We care about you, Sunny. All of us.”

They were kind, beautiful words, but they didn’t make Sunny feel any better. She had rescued herself, but she couldn’t save her friends - what kind of a princess did that make her?

This is why I’m not a princess, she thought to herself bitterly. Because I’m not capable of it. I can’t do anything right.

I have to fix this.

“Misty,” Sunny said softly, “I need you to do something for me.”

“Of course!” Misty looked at Sunny with such earnesty that she felt another wave of guilt. “I’ll do anything, Sunny! Anything to help you.”

“Misty, there are these magical stones - they’re called the Elements of-”

“Elements of Harmony?”

Sunny nodded. “After they were stolen, we never found them again. I think that we’re going to need them to get our friends back. I need you to go find them. I don’t know where they are, but there’s a cave in the swamps where the Legion of Doom made their headquarters, and they might still be there…”

Misty nodded uncertainly. “Find the Elements of Harmony, got it. But… why don’t you come with me? We can find them faster together.”

Sunny continued as if she didn’t hear Misty’s question. “And then I need you to find my other friends - they’re going to be coming here, to Equestria, and I have a feeling that they’ll be coming to Maretime Bay. I need you to go with them and help them - tell them everything that’s happened. And tell them…” Sunny looked down at her hooves. “Tell them I’m sorry.”

“Sorry… Sorry for what, Sunny?”

Sunny didn’t answer. She stood up and walked over to the basket elevator and stepped onto it, still not meeting Misty’s gaze.

“Sunny… what are you going to do?”

She took a deep breath. “I’m going to find out who has our friends and how to get them back.”

“You’re going after them, aren’t you?”

Sunny refused to look up. She refused to meet MIsty’s eyes, refused to let her figure out everything that Sunny was thinking.

“I want to help.”

But Sunny hit the lever and rose out of the airstation without another word.
> On the Wind and Beneath the Waves
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Above the skies of Mount Aris, hovering between the clouds as the sea breeze gently made the hull rock this way and that, was a zeppelin. It was truly a marvel, with sails to catch the winds and large contraptions that resembled wings on the sides to steer the zeppelin in whichever direction, as well as a large balloon to keep the ship-like structure attached underneath in the air. The zeppelin was making its final stop before it journeyed to its destination: Equestria.

“Do you see her?” Hugo called to Flurry Heart as the alicorn soared back to the ship.

Flurry shook her head. “She’s not on Mount Aris, that’s for sure. We’ll have to wait until Imara comes back from Seaquestria.” She caught the way that Hugo was fidgeting with his glasses, his claws tapping the helm of his vessel nervously, and she gently landed next to him, putting a hoof reassuringly on his shoulder. “Hugo, I’m sure Kailani’s okay. We’re going to find her.”

The flightless griffon took a deep breath and let it back out slowly. “Okay.” He cleared his throat. “I’m, uh, going to make sure that everything’s tied down.”

He scampered around the deck, checking the crates full of supplies that were strapped to the wood and checking the knots to see if they were secure.

Flurry watched him for a moment before she used her magic to open the trapdoor in the deck and descend the steps until she arrived below deck.

Along with the addition of sails and wings to the zeppelin to more effectively control the direction and speed of the ship, Hugo had designed a larger hull for his ship, making it just large enough to have two floors. Belowdecks was a large, low-ceilinged area filled with enough hammocks for all of the zeppelin’s occupants, with more hoisted up against the ceiling. There were also more crates down here, pushed against the walls. Lamps swung from the roof, their light coming from crystals that Flurry had brought from the Crystal Empire. The crystals would emmitt light magically and were more reliable than the fireflies that Flurry had seen ponies back in her aunt’s time use, and weren’t so likely to set the ship on fire like candles or oil lamps.

Ash was outside, stretching her wings by flying over Mount Aris, scanning for any signs of Kailani like Flurry had just been doing. But their other friends were down here, unable to be very useful, and Flurry could tell that it was hard on them.

Lukas was sitting in front of his hammock, next to one of the crystal lamps as he reread the letters that they had received from Sunny just a few days ago. Flurry had no idea why the letters had suddenly started popping up randomly, but Lukas was trying to formulate some theories, and create a clear picture of what Sunny had been doing this entire time.

Midnight was swinging in his hammock, staring absently at the floor as his hoof dragged along it as he swung. His crescent moon pendant was also swinging hypnotizingly, and Flurry stared at it, remembering the vision he had shown her, about when magic had disappeared. She shook her head to try and clear it of any thoughts of her aunt. Not now. Later, maybe.

Brooks was lying on his back in his hammock, holding a ball of fire in one hoof. He was absentmindedly tossing it back and forth between his hooves. The fire didn’t harm him, as a kirin who could also turn into a nirik, but that did not mean that the zeppelin, or the creatures on it, were fireproof.

“Brooks, be careful with the fire,” Flurry reminded him, and the kirin glared at her before smashing his hooves together, dissolving the fire into thin air.

Midnight looked up from where he was. “Did they find her yet?”

“Not yet,” Flurry said, shaking her head. “But we haven’t heard back from Imara yet, so we can’t be sure until we do.”

The Crystal pony sighed and went back to rocking listlessly with the movement of the ship. Brooks snorted and stared at the ceiling.

Flurry understood his frustration. She wanted to cast an air bubble around herself and delve into the depths of the sea herself, find Kailani, and drag her back by her fins if she had to. The creatures had all agreed that they had to solve this together, and they had to get all of them together before they found Sunny. Flurry had a feeling that, once they got inside Equestria, it would be a while before they ever left, and she wasn’t leaving anyone behind.

“Guys!” Little Braveheart called from above deck, where she was keeping watch for their friends. She poked her head through the trapdoor. “Imara’s back!”

Ash was standing on the deck with Hugo when Flurry, Midnight, Brooks, and Lukas all made it up the stairs and were assembled. Imara the changeling was landing on the deck, in her normal form, but Flurry knew that her friend had been a hippogriff not a moment ago. Imara shook her head like a dog, and sprayed the rest of the creatures with salt water.

“Hey!” Brooks complained.

Imara shrugged. “I found Kailani,” she said, looking at Flurry. “But, uh… we’re too late. One of those shadow wolves got to her first.”

“What?” Hugo burst out, startling Brooks so that flames suddenly raced along his pronged horn.

“We have to do something!” Ash cried out, but Flurry was already in the air. She dived toward the open expanse of water, her horn glowing as yellow as the sun in the sky as a magical bubble appeared around her just before she hit the waves, and her vision exploded into a frenzy of bubbles. When it cleared, she was underwater, not far from Seaquestria, which glowed in the distance.

And she wasn’t alone. Imara was swimming next to her, in seapony form.

“This way,” she called to Flurry before leading the way into the underwater city.

Under any other circumstances, Flurry would have been amazed at Seaquestria. The whole magical city was sparkling with a purple glow that seemed to come from the stone that the palace was made of. Seaponies swam around them, along with all kinds of marine life. Flurry spotted dolphins and whales pulling seaponies behind them on seaweed ropes, and schools of fish swarming the coral reefs. The weightless feeling of being underwater made Flurry feel as if she were flying, but without the work of pumping her wings. But she couldn’t focus on that.

Imara led the way into the intricate structure that served as the hippogriff palace. There were no guards that Flurry could see, which unnerved her, but she didn’t have time to focus on that.

Inside one of the adjoining rooms to the throne room, a seapony was struggling on the floor. She was pinned to the abalone surface by a dark net made of darkness so complete that it seemed to suck the light out of the air. The seapony had soft lavender scales and an aquamarine mane that curled at the end of a ponytail, matching her tail fins. A necklace with two beads and a charm that came from the magical pearl that granted the hippogriffs the ability to change form hung around her neck.

Kailani looked over at Flurry and Imara as they entered, and her struggling renewed with increased vigor. Imara swam over and offered Kailani one of her claws. She tugged on her friend with all her might, but the dark net held fast. Already, Flurry could see Kailani’s eyes clouding over, just like Imara’s Aunt Cercus in the Changeling Kingdom. She could sense that, although she had hung on for this long, the hippogriff didn’t have long left before she was overpowered.

Flurry thought furiously. She sucked in a lungful of air before she deactivated the bubble around her. She then lunged forward and grabbed Kailani’s pearl charm, willing its magic to work. She immediately felt magic surge through her, felt her hind legs merging into a tail, felt the water work its way through her new gills, leaving fresh oxygen in its wake. She gasped and shook her head, now able to help more.

“What can we do?” Imara asked, looking at Flurry desperately.

Flurry didn’t know. She hadn’t exactly dealt with evil shadow wolves very much in her aunt’s day. She lit up her horn, sunshine yellow light dancing up and down and illuminating the room.

The shadows seemed to soften, and Kailani’s eyes cleared. She grasped Imara’s claw tighter, and the changeling tugged harder.

Flurry shut her eyes and willed her horn to glow brighter. Scorching light filled the room, refracting in the water they were submerged in and growing brighter by the second. The shadows holding Kailani down slackened enough that Imara and Flurry together were able to pull her free.

The shadows pooled together and began to take the form of a wolf again.

“Run!” Imara shouted, grabbing Kailani’s and Flurry’s hoof/claw and dragging them after her as she swam hurriedly out of the palace and toward the surface.

Flurry could see the wolf chasing them, but she wasn’t strong enough to repel it again. Whatever magic she had used left her completely drained, like she hadn’t slept in a week.

Imara burst through the surface of the ocean and, without missing a beat, transformed into a massive dragon, gripping Flurry and Kailani in her claws as she beat her wings hard, leaving the ocean behind her. Flurry dimly felt the pearl’s magic transform her back into a pony, and when she looked over at Kailani, her friend was a hippogriff, looking down at the shadow wolf that was standing on the surface of the water, oblivious of the waves crashing around it. Imara crashed onto the deck of the zeppelin and turned back into her normal form.

“Get out of here!” she practically yelled at Hugo. “Go!”

Hugo looked like he wanted to make sure that Kailani and Flurry were alright, but at the sharpness in Imara’s tone, he scrambled to the helm and opened the sails as wide as they would go. The wind pushed them along, away from Mount Aris and the shadow wolf that had almost claimed one of their own.

Kailani staggered to her feet once they were far enough away. She looked down at Flurry and offered her a claw to help her up.

“Thank you,” she said. Turning to Imara, she said, “Both of you. If you hadn’t saved me-” She shivered.

“How did you hold out for so long?” Imara asked. “Those wolves show you what you most want to see - what you most want to be reality - and they convince you that it’s real.” She fell silent and looked out into the distance, watching the clouds pass on either side of the zeppelin, and Flurry knew that her mind was back in the Changeling Kingdom.

Kailani shrugged. “I just… I knew that it wasn’t real. I could sense the evil behind it, and that told me that it wasn’t true. But if you two didn’t show up when you did, then I think I might have lost.”

“It’s alright now,” Ash told her comfortingly. “You’re safe.”

Kailani nodded and looked around at all of her friends assembled on the deck of the ship.

Little Braveheart ran to the front of the ship and shouted to the wind, “Equestria, here we come!”

It was as if her words had triggered something. Midnight suddenly gasped, and the sunlight seemed to dim as he was surrounded in an ethereal glow. The pendant on his chest suddenly levitated, sparkling brightly, hovering in front of him as his eyes glowed solid white. The wind shifted his purple mane like glittering waves on a violet sea, and then it ended. Midnight’s eyes returned to normal, he stopped glowing, and his pendant fell down, bumping on his chest again. He staggered, taking a step back, and shaking his head.

“What?” Brooks demanded. “What is it?”

“I… I saw some of the wolves,” Midnight said slowly, looking up and facing all of them. “They… they had Zipp and Pipp and Hitch and Izzy…”

“Sunny?” Ash said softly.

Midnight shook his head. “I only saw those four. But… if they fell, then-”

“Don’t,” Imara said harshly. “Don’t say it. Sunny wouldn’t let us down. She would fight.”

Flurry looked around her, and she saw that everyone was nodding. They needed to believe that Sunny was okay, because if she wasn’t - if the great Sunny Starscout had fallen - then there was no hope for the rest of Equestria.

“Either way,” Midnight continued awkwardly, “I also saw who sent those wolves - and who controls them.”

“Who is it?” Kailani asked.

Midnight opened his mouth, then closed it again. He said, “I… I don’t know.”
> Stranger in the Shadows
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunny didn’t have a plan. She also didn’t care that she didn’t have a plan. She popped out of the secret tunnel underneath the Tree of Harmony with dust and dirt in her mane and down her throat so that every breath felt like it was sending hot needles into her chest.

But she barely felt it. She was so distraught that all she could focus on was putting one hoof in front of the other, not even sure where she was going. All she knew was that she had to get her friends back, one way or another.

The sun was scorching hot on the back of Sunny’s neck, and sweat trickled down her face and into her eyes, making them sting. Sunny blinked the pain away and shook her head, setting her eyes on the goal in front of her, which, at this moment, was the sloping hills that led away from Zephyr Heights toward Maretime Bay. Sunny wasn’t going back to Maretime Bay, though; she had no reason to. There was nothing there that could help her friends, anyway, so she changed her course once the dense trees of the edge of Bridlewood faded away, heading in a direction that she had only ever traveled in the air aboard the Marestream.

But before she could get too far off course from the way to Maretime Bay, she spotted a pony trotting down the road toward the outskirts of Bridlewood, where, unbeknownst to most ponies, were the remains of Ponyville in what used to be called the Everfree Forest.

Huh, Sunny thought, fully prepared to continue on her way and not let anything distract her from her quest. Wait. I recognize that pony…

“Sprout?” she called out. The stranger didn’t answer, probably because they were too far away to hear, but Sunny was sure she knew who it was. She stole one last glance in the direction she had been traveling before she turned and dashed toward the stallion, who was staring at his hooves as he walked, muttering to himself.

“...so stupid, I mean, why can’t he just go back, why do I have to pretend like this? How long is this going to-”

“Sprout?” Sunny said again, coming up behind him.

Sprout yelped and jumped, whirling around to face Sunny, and she caught a strange shimmer in his eyes before they reverted to their original green, full of panic.

“Oh! Uh, hi, Sunny, I, uh, wasn’t expecting to see… you… out here… at this particular time…” Sprout cleared his throat. “Ahem. Anyway, aren’t you supposed to be at that Unity Festival thing in Zephyr Heights?”

“Follow up to that,” Sunny said, tilting her head suspiciously at him as Sprout’s hooves nervously twitched, “why aren’t you at the Unity Festival? Everypony went.”

“Uh, no reason,” Sprout said quickly - too quickly. “I was actually just heading there right now-”

“And why are you going this way?” Sunny asked. “This way is almost impossible to travel through the mountains - unless you know of some way around them?” Sunny took a step toward Sprout, watching him sweat nervously and back away from her. “Like some kind of secret passage, or…”

Sprout’s eyes flicked to the side, where the Tree of Harmony was standing tall in the distance. It was quick, so quick that Sunny almost missed it.

Almost.

“Um… no,” he stuttered. “Actually, now that you’ve told me about how bad this path is, I think I’ll just turn around and pick a different one, and I’ll see you later, Sunny!” he called over his shoulder as he started to walk away.

Sunny turned, the pieces in her mind falling into place. “Sprout.”

He flinched, then turned around to face her with an undeniably guilty look on his face. “Yeah?”

She sighed. “Hi, Midge.”

There was a brief moment where a look of denial flashed across his face, but one look at Sunny’s expression was enough. He sighed and hung his head in defeat, and was suddenly surrounded by a column of light, and when it cleared, Sprout was gone. In his place was a creature that looked like a crossover between a pony and a bug. The creature had orange gossamer wings folded on its back and a short horn protruding from its forehead, curved unlike a unicorn’s. Its golden-yellow skin shimmered in the sunlight, and its eyes were a solid, almost unnerving gold color.

Sunny hadn’t seen creatures like this in months. In fact, it had been months since she had seen this particular creature. The last she had seen of him, Midge had left for the Everfree Forest after their fight with the Legion of Doom.

“How’d you know it was me?” the changeling said.

“Sprout doesn’t know about the secret passage under the Tree of Harmony,” Sunny explained, gesturing to the oversized tree over the crests of the next few hills. “And no way is he brave enough to try walking to Zephyr Heights by himself.” Even as she said it, something felt wrong about her description, but she knew Sprout, and knew what a terrified coward he was. “Besides, you’re a really bad liar, Midge.”

Midge gave her a strange look, like she had said something that surprised him, and he was waiting for her to realize it and correct herself. When she didn’t, he said abruptly, “Uh, yes. Absolutely. But…”

“But what?”

There was this look in his eyes - like he really, really wanted to tell her something - but eventually decided against it. “But nothing.”

Sunny tilted her head at him. Misty could probably figure out what he had been about to say - or at least why he had stopped himself - but Misty wasn’t here right now. And that’s a good thing, Sunny told herself. She shouldn’t be here. She should be helping my friends - because they’re the ones who’ll save Equestria.

“So… is the whole Sprout disguise thing just to get you to the Everfree Forest or Zephyr Heights without arousing suspicion, or…”

Sunny had glanced up at the mountain in the distance as she mentioned the pegasus city, but when she turned back to Midge, he was gone. She trailed off, spinning in a circle, looking around for the changeling, calling, “Midge? Midge?” even though she knew it was pointless. He had probably changed form into a bug or something else equally tiny, and she had no hope of finding him.

She shook her head and put thoughts of changelings and Sprout and spies out of her mind as she turned back to her original course and continued in the direction of Opaline’s lair.





“You don’t know?” Imara demanded hotly. “How can you not know?”

“I mean I don’t know who it was,” Midnight explained, “I only saw what they looked like. It wasn’t anyone I recognized-”

“Then,” Brooks said, flames flickering around his horn, his voice layering like it did whenever he got close to being a nirik, “tell us what they looked like.”

Midnight glanced at Flurry and said, “It wasn’t a pony.”

They waited in silence for a bit, but Midnight didn’t say anything more.

“Well, that doesn’t narrow it down at all!” Imara snapped. “In case you haven’t noticed, you and Flurry are the only ones aboard this ship who are ponies! It could be any creature from any of our kingdoms-”

“Whoever it is isn’t from one of our kingdoms,” Midnight said. He was sweating a bit now, with so many gazes on him, especially when one of those gazes was Imara’s fierce glare.

“Just tell us what they looked like!” Brooks roared, flames rising around him, but Ash put her talon on his shoulder and tried to calm him down.

“I’m trying!” Midnight protested. “I just… I don’t know how!”

“Was it a monster?” Little Braveheart asked, her eyes shimmering with excitement. “A terrifying creature of some kind? How many legs did it have? How many eyes? Was it oozing venom or did it have wings or claws or-”

“It looked,” Midnight said carefully, “like a goat.”

Silence.

“A goat?” Kailani asked, unsure if she had heard correctly.

“Or maybe a sheep?” Midnight shrugged helplessly. “Whatever it was - he had cloven hooves, and these big blue horns that curled around his face, and they glowed-”

“Yellow?” Flurry finished for him. “With black lightning?”

All eyes turned to her.

“Yes,” Midnight said, sounding surprised. “How did you-”

“And did he have blue fur and a red harness around his neck and red eyes and maybe a rusty old bell?”

The Crystal pony nodded. “The bell looked familiar, though. Was it-”

“Grogar’s bell.” Flurry felt fear begin to creep through her, making her lose the feeling in her hooves and the tips of her wings. “The one that Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow used to drain our powers back at the swamp. Which means that the creature responsible for this whole attack, and these shadow wolves kidnapping our friends and leaders - it’s Grogar the ram, the oldest and most powerful ancient being in Equestria. Except perhaps Discord,” she added as an afterthought. “Come to think of it, the last time Grogar was thought to have returned was just Discord pretending - maybe that’s the case this time?”

“No.” Midnight shook his head. “It’s him. Grogar. I just… I know. When I have these visions, they burn away disguises and let me see things as they really are. That’s how I could tell that the wolves had our friends.” He turned to Flurry. “I’m no expert on ancient magical beings, but I thought Grogar was defeated thousands of years ago by Gusty the Great. He must have broken out of his prison somehow.”

Flurry nodded in agreement. “Hugo, get this ship to Equestria as fast as possible. We have to find Sunny and warn her - before it’s too late.”

Hugo nodded. “Sure, but, uh… where in Equestria are we going?”

“Maretime Bay? That’s where Sunny will probably be,” Kailani suggested.

“Maybe we should just follow that rainbow,” Little Braveheart suggested. The buffalo was standing at the front of the zeppelin again, her favorite spot, the wind blowing through her mane and ruffling the feathers on her headband. She pointed a tiny hoof into the distance, where a bright glimmer could just barely be seen.

“Huh.” Hugo looked down at his map, then his compass and other charts, then up at the rainbow. “According to my notes, that rainbow is coming directly from Maretime Bay…”

“Then follow it,” Flurry instructed him. “We need to warn Sunny - Grogar’s coming. And we have to help her stop him and save our friends.”

Hugo nodded and adjusted the wheel slightly, aiming for the rainbow glowing in the sky.

After they were well on their way, Flurry found Midnight alone in the hold of the ship, sitting in his hammock and staring at his moon pendant.

“What’s wrong?” the alicorn asked him, standing next to him and staring at her own reflection in the sparkling white surface of the crystal. She remembered that the stone had been taken from the Tree of Harmony itself.

Midnight sighed, letting his necklace fall again. “It’s just… in my vision, Grogar… he spoke. He was talking to some of the other shadow wolves, and he said, ‘Now we just need the strongest one to lead my army out of the shadows. The one who will provide more power than all the rest. And then… nothing will be able to stop us.’ Then he threw back his head, and he… he laughed.”

He looked at her, and Flurry felt the meaning of the words sink in. “You don’t think…”

“Yes.” The look in Midnight’s eyes was hundreds of years old, and Flurry remembered that this pony, though he looked and acted no older than a teenager, had been trapped in a space between time for the past century, given only visions of things he could never see happen in real life as his only evidence that the outside world existed. It was a burden that Flurry didn’t think even she would be able to carry, but Midnight held so much on his young shoulders. “I think he’s after Sunny. I think… I think he wants her to lead his army, and then… he’ll be invincible.”
> Missing and Unexplained
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cozy Glow technically lived in Maretime Bay, but she had been spending less and less time there as the months passed since she had first come there. She actually spent a lot of time traveling to the Everfree Forest, where some of the last remnants of her old life were, and tried to pick up the pieces that she had smashed so long ago.

The creatures there were mostly welcoming, but she didn’t spend a lot of time with them. The only one who really knew how much she came and went was Sprout, and he obviously didn’t tell anyone else.

Just like Cozy, Sprout spent a lot of time in the ruins just outside the edges of Old Ponyville - the castle and school where Twilight’s lasting legacy should have lived on forever in gleaming altars in the magnificent monuments to the power of friendship. However, both had fallen into disrepair when the Everfree Forest consumed all of Ponyville so long ago. The castle was mostly fine, with a lot of dust in the curtains, but otherwise just empty, dirty, and neglected. The School of Friendship was faring almost as bad as the rest of Ponyville, but was made out of much more sturdy material than the rest of the town, and was therefore mostly intact. A few collapsed towers, and most of the windows broken, and the mosaics and carvings on the outside of the school beyond recognition, and ivy had grown up the sides of the walls, practically hiding the school entirely, but the waterfalls and lake were still there.

That was where Sprout always found her: standing at the edge of the lake, staring up at the last place she could have claimed that she had been happy.

Twilight’s castle had been rediscovered by Sunny and her friends before Cozy Gow had even been released from her stone prison, and the magic that had grown it in the first place was obviously still active. The magical map in the center of the room had updated itself to fit modern Equestria and the surrounding lands, and the chairs around the edge of the room, which used to be for Twilight and each of her friends, including Spike, had also magically shifted to just five seats, one for Sunny Starscout and each of her friends.

That was where Cozy always found Sprout: standing at the edge of the circle of thrones, looking at the only thing he had left of his friends, knowing that he would never be able to step inside that circle and be with them again.

They usually talked - Cozy would tell Sprout all about Sunny and her friends, and what was happening in Maretime Bay. She helped him master his earth pony magic when it came in, based on what she had heard Sunny and Hitch teach the other earth ponies. And Sprout had helped her figure out everything that had happened since Cozy had been turned to stone - everything that they knew of, anyway. And he helped her with her more personal project.

Cozy Glow loved her new friends - Jinx Evergreen, Rose Blossom, and Lofty Skies, who called themselves the Crusaders of Harmony. But even as happy as she had first felt when she had joined them in Maretime Bay, a new sadness had eventually overshadowed that happiness. Her past was still undealt with, and she had to deal with this new weight that had settled on her shoulders, that told her that something else was still coming, something she would have to fix. So she began journeying to the Everfree Forest, to find the remnants of her old life and try to figure out how she could atone for them.

One of her last conversations with Sprout had been about the very subject, actually.

“I tried to make up for what I did,” Sprout had said. He’d looked across the lake as if he could see something else than dark, pressing trees. “I actually thought that maybe I’d done it - that they would forgive me. That they had forgiven me. Maybe I had even done more than just make up for it. But then…” He had shivered, even though it was quite warm. “In the end, none of it mattered. I gave up everything I had done to get them to forgive me so that they would be free. And now I think that I’ve done enough, but… they don’t know any of it. If I went back to them, I would have to do it all over again.”

Cozy had looked down at her hooves. “None of the ponies - or creatures,” she’d amended, looking back up at the ruins of the School of Friendship, “that I wronged are still here. Except for you and… and Sunny and her friends. I want to think I’ve made it up to you guys - I think most of you have forgiven me. But I really wish…” She’d trailed off, unable to find the right words to say.

“That you could go back and fix it with everyone else?” Sprout had finished for her.

Cozy’d nodded. “It seems so childish,” she had said, standing up. “I mean, you never mess with time travel - we heard all about how that went wrong. You either accomplish nothing, or you mess things up so bad the future is even worse than it was. But I just… I want to say I’m sorry. I want them to know that. I don’t even really care if they forgive me, I just want them to know that I’m sorry.”

That had been yesterday.

Cozy Glow was preparing to head down the tunnel under the Tree of Harmony to Zephyr Heights to join her friends for a day at the Unity Festival. She hadn’t attended the first day, because she was trying to work up the courage to actually go inside the School of Friendship for the first time in nearly a century and a half. Every time she got close to the door, she came down with cold hooves and chickened out. She couldn’t go in there yet - too many memories, too much guilt. One time, she actually touched the doorknob - only to be yanked back to one of her last days at the school, when the mail pony had crashed into the school, and she had collected the letters and given them to Twilight Sparkle - the day she had started her spell to suck all of the magic out of Equestria.

Somehow, she knew that there had to be something in there - not just for her, but something that could help all of Equestria. She knew that the giant magical surge from Sunny Starscout that defeated Chrysalis wouldn’t go without its consequences. Besides, the school could hold more answers for how Equestria first fell.

But she just couldn’t do it.

Cozy was at the edge of the forest, about to venture out into the daisy fields to the large tree in the center, when a grasshopper suddenly appeared in front of her. It landed on a daisy in front of Cozy and started chirping insistently. Cozy stared at it for a moment before the grasshopper stopped then transformed into Midge.

“Right. I forgot that ponies don’t understand Grasshopper,” Midge said sheepishly.

Cozy raised an eyebrow. “Maybe grasshoppers don’t know how to speak Pony.”

Midge shrugged. “Maybe. Hey, have you seen Sprout anywhere?”

“Not since yesterday. He was over at the castle… Why?”

“Because we need to be done with this whole charade,” the changeling moaned, rubbing his forehead. “He hasn’t been back to Maretime Bay in months, and he won’t face his friends, so instead I got to do it for him, but it’s over now, Sunny knows what’s up - she just caught me, actually-”

“Sunny’s here?” Cozy looked around, trying to spot the earth pony. “Wait. Shouldn’t she be in Zephyr Heights?”

“That’s what I was wondering, but I had to get out of there,” Midge told her. “I think something must be wrong, but first, I need to talk to Sprout.”

“Why?” Cozy Glow asked, following Midge as he trotted briskly further into the forest.

“Because he needs to face his friends and tell them the truth! I’m sure that if he just told them that he traded their memories for their freedom, they’ll understand, and who knows, maybe there’s a way to get them back! He can’t keep hiding in the forest for the rest of his life.”

Cozy Glow had to bite her lip to keep from saying anything. She and Sprout had an unspoken rule: whatever they said to each other stayed with each other. Sprout didn’t tell the other creatures of the Everfree Forest about Cozy’s dilemma, and Cozy didn’t tell anypony about Sprout’s feelings toward his friends. “Maybe there’s a different way you could go about doing this? I mean, if we think that something’s wrong, then this might not be the best time to try and reason with Sprout-”

Midge halted, so suddenly that Cozy nearly ran into him. He stood still for a moment, his head bowed, and Cozy trotted up to face him, wondering what was going on. When she caught the look on his face, though, the question died in her throat.

“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of,” he said quietly. “If there really is something wrong - something that could destroy our world as we know it - Sunny and her friends, they’re going to need Sprout. I think that they won’t be able to solve this problem without him.” He looked up, a new fire in his eyes. “We have to find him and get him to go back to his friends and tell them everything.”

Cozy was still a bit unsure, but she agreed that something did feel off, and the way that Sprout looked when he talked about his friends always broke her heart a little bit. He cared about them all so much, but he believed that he would never be able to be with them again. So when Midge continued into the forest, she followed him.

She led Midge to Twilight’s castle, where she normally found Sprout. Midge pushed open one of the oaken doors and peered inside the dark entrance chamber. “Hello?” he called out tentatively. “Sprout? Are you in here?”

They didn’t hear anything, so Cozy trotted inside the castle and found her way to the throne room.

The chandelier above, which Cozy knew was made from the roots of the old Golden Oak Library, was still strung with all the crystalized memories that Twilight and her friends shared. The map table was still in the center of the room, surrounded by five thrones, each one marked with the cutie mark of one of the new Guardians of Harmony. Just looking at the room made waves of guilt wash over Cozy, but she forced those feelings away. She couldn’t focus on them right then. She had to find Sprout.

She scanned the room, looking for the red stallion, and she gasped.

“Sprout! There you are,” she said, running up to him. She should have suspected that something was wrong. He wasn’t facing the center of the room, and he was standing in one of the darkest corners of the room, one where the pulsing light from the map table didn’t quite reach. He stood completely still, his head bowed and his eyes closed.

Cozy came to a halt beside him and touched his shoulder. “Sprout?”

He opened his eyes and turned to face her, and Cozy Glow felt her heart climb into her throat.

Because Sprout’s eyes weren’t their usual green anymore. Now, they were completely black, all of the normal light that seemed to glow from within absolutely obscured in a churning sea of an empty void. He turned toward her.

“Wh-what…” Cozy’s voice trailed away. She started taking steps back, but in her haste, tripped over her own hooves. She caught a glimpse of Midge out of the corner of her eye. The changeling was standing, stock-still, watching Sprout in shock as he advanced slowly. Shadows began to pool out of Sprout’s empty eyes and wrap themselves around him, until they created something even more terrifying.

Standing in his place was a massive wolf, twice as tall as a normal pony, and made from pure, solid shadow. It seemed to absorb the light as it touched it, and it radiated waves of fear and panic that made Cozy’s heart beat twenty times faster.

But the worst part about the shadow wolf was its eyes.

They were white, and glowing, but cold and empty at the same time. As Cozy stared into them, she felt something dark begin to creep at the edges of her mind, wanting to drag her to the same place that it had surely imprisoned Sprout. She could feel her eyes growing heavy, knew that if she closed them, then the monster would attack.

You… the wolf hissed, its voice more in her head than anything else. So perfect… So much shame, so much guilt, so much sorrow…

It continued to take menacing steps toward her, its large paws making no sound as they padded across the floor.

“You stay away from her!” Midge suddenly yelled. With a roar, he changed into a massive black-and-white bear with six legs and bug-like wings. The bugbear charged at the wolf, but the wolf merely snarled in its direction, and shadows leapt out from the crevices of the room and wrapped around the bugbear before tossing it across the room. Midge transformed into his normal form as he hit the wall with a sickening thud, and then slid to the floor, unconscious.

Cozy Glow scrambled to her hooves and hastily tried to move away from the wolf, trying to put as much distance between her and it as possible, but the wolf kept coming.

Nowhere left to run, little pony, the shadow wolf said in her mind. We are stronger now… stronger than you will ever know…

It suddenly came to a halt, looking down its muzzle almost reproachfully at Cozy.

I see, it said. Using old magic. It won’t be enough to stop us soon, little pony. Soon, we will be the strongest forces in this world, and the pitiful powers of friendship will be nothing to stand in our way. So cower within your magic circles while you can.

Magic circles? Cozy wondered. Then she looked around. She was standing just inside the circle of thrones in the center of the chamber. All of the thrones were now glowing, and a glowing line connected each of them, forming a circle around the map table - a circle that Cozy was inside of, and apparently the wolf could not penetrate.

The wolf cast one last look at her before it dissolved into shadows and shot out of the room in a dark blur.

Cozy wanted to run after it, but she was scared to leave the magic protection. But more than that, she was scared of those wolves - and what they might be doing to her friends.
> Meeting at the Tree
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ruins of Opaline’s ancient castle had collapsed when the together tree that the alicorn had been trying to use for her own, dark, twisted purposes had grown into a massive, beautiful thing that stretched into the sky, its blossoming flowers and jade green leaves spreading across the branches and casting calming shadows down onto the stone bridge that jutted out from the side of the cliff. The tree, Sunny knew, could also create portals, because it was there that her friends had gotten sucked into one and transported to Starlight Ridge.

But that portal had been a calm, swirling vortex only a little bigger than a pony. It wasn’t threatening, it wasn’t terrifying, and above all, even though it was strange, it looked natural. Like it was supposed to be there - made by magic for a purpose.

Whatever was there now was most certainly magical - but it was definitely not natural.

Sunny stood on the stone bridge at the edge of what could only be described as a jagged tear in the fabric of the world.

The edges were sharp and dark, hissing as they met the natural world. The rip was as long as the together tree was tall, stretching across into open air. The world was wrinkled and warped around the edges of the rip, as if it had been pushed aside to make room for this. Within it sparkled a menacing magenta light that rose from a bottomless fall. There was a feeling around the tear, the same kind of heavy, ancient magic that was familiar to Sunny, although she couldn’t remember where she had felt it before.

Whatever this was, it was something bad - very bad.

Sunny took a deep, steadying breath and took a step back. The aura around the rip was so strong, so powerful, that she felt drawn to it. She knew that, if she wasn’t careful, she might just topple inside and never come out. She wondered where it went, if it did go anywhere. Maybe whatever fell inside disintegrated into the dark, malevolent magic that powered the tear in the first place.

“Okay, Sunny,” she muttered to herself. “You’ve got this. This must be where the wolves are coming from. Now you just need to find them and get your friends back. Easy as pie. Or cake. Or smoothies.” She took a few more steps back. “You’ve got this. Your friends need you.”

Suddenly, she heard a howl from the horizon, and Sunny gasped, turning around to see dark shapes galloping toward her at lightning speed. She ran to one of the last remaining turrets from Opaline’s lair and ducked behind it, her heart hammering in her chest.

The together tree hummed, and lightning flashed overhead. Sunny’s eyes widened as a portal opened in the tree, and a ram stepped out.

He was as tall as the sky, or so it seemed to Sunny, with shockingly blue fur and piercing red eyes that gleamed with evil intent. His two massive horns curled around the sides of his head and were crackling with yellow light and black lightning. Around his neck was a red halter with a rusty old bell attached - a bell that Sunny recognized. The bell and the ram both seemed to reek of the same ancient power that Sunny felt around the portal-rip. The creature leaped over the massive tear in reality and landed with a shaking thud on the other side.

Between terrified heartbeats, Sunny knew exactly who this was: Grogar, the ancient ram who created his bell, which the Legion of Doom had tricked Sunny into bringing to them when she was under their control. Somehow, he must have gotten ahold of it after the Legion of Doom was defeated.

And now he’s here? Sunny’s mind screamed in panic. How? And why? And how?

But her ponderings were interrupted again by the arrival of the wolves.

Dozens - no, hundreds - of them came pouring over the hills and assembled in front of the bridge, their dark paws prancing anxiously and their unnerving eyes unblinking. In the blood red light of the setting sun, they seemed all the more terrifying.

One wolf, larger than all the rest, stepped through the ranks, and the others parted to let it pass. It stopped on the bridge, at the edge of the rip, before Grogar, where it promptly sank into a bow with all of the other wolves following suit.

Master of shadows and darkness, the largest wolf said, although Sunny couldn’t see its mouth moving. It spoke inside her head, in twisting words that wormed their way into her mind, simply reeking of wrongness and evil. She shuddered and put her hooves over her ears as if she could block the sounds altogether. We have strengthened our army as you have commanded, and every day we are sending more wolves through the portal. The ship is moving ever closer, and we have not yet found Sunny Starscout, but everything else is all according to plan. We await your next commands.

Sunny’s heart was beating so fast she could barely hear what Grogar was saying.

The massive ram nodded. “Good,” he said, his voice thrumming with ancient and deadly power. “I want you to increase the number that you send through, but in the meantime, the ponies of this land will have noticed by now that their rulers and protectors have gone missing. Before too much panic sets in, you may have free reign of the land. Gather as many as you can. We must make our army stronger.”

The wolf nodded and turned back toward the other wolves, but Grogar stopped it.

“Oh, and track down Sunny Starscout. As long as she’s out there, she’s dangerous. She may not have any of her friends, but she is powerful enough to fight back - and that makes her too powerful to be allowed to exist.”

Another nod. The wolf howled, a piercing note that seemed to split the sky and summon the dark night from the depths of the infinite void. The other wolves echoed the cry, and the night seemed to echo with the ringing of their sounds long after they turned and ran away.

Sunny took deep, yet hasty, breaths, trying to calm herself down. She listened for a moment, to make sure that no more wolves or rams were hanging around, then stood up and walked to the edge of the rip. Its pulsing magenta light illuminated her face in the darkening evening. She could sense the evil behind it, but something stronger seemed to call from within its depths… something that was heart-wrenchingly familiar to her.

She felt a tingling sensation on the back of her neck, like she was being watched. Sunny tore her gaze away from the tear and looked around her, straining to see in the twilight.

“Hello?” she called nervously. “Is anypony there?”

Silence. And then, “You shouldn’t be here, little pony.” And Grogar stepped into the light.

He seemed even more menacing in the dark than he had earlier. The purple light cast shadows on his ancient face, causing his eyes to glimmer with maleovance as he stepped carefully down the stones of the bridge toward Sunny. Behind him, three wolves appeared; one was the largest of them all, the one who seemed to be in charge. Beneath their piercing gazes, Sunny could feel her mind start to slip away, but she held firm, glaring at Grogar, trying to find the courage to not run away screaming.

“Where are my friends?” she demanded.

Grogar laughed, the kind of laugh that made Sunny’s blood run cold. “They’re gone, Sunny Starscout. They aren’t coming back.”

“Yes they are!” Sunny screamed, a breeze blowing around her. “I have to get them back!”

“You won’t ever be getting them back, pony. They’re mine now. You’ve failed them again, haven’t you?”

Sunny took a step back, and her hoof slipped into the portal-rip. She regained her balance, but the words had stung true, and it must have shown in her pained expression. Grogar tipped his head to one side as he studied her, tsking disapprovingly.

“Yes, so much shame, so much guilt. You would make a wonderful pet, Sunny Starscout. Serve me, and you won’t have to worry about anything else. Your friends will forgive you. You can see your father again. Just give up hope and surrender.”

Just give up. Sunny wanted to laugh. As if there was anything she wanted to do more! But she couldn’t give up. She had no idea what the wolves would do to her, but she could guarantee that it would be worse for Equestria if she did give up. Just look at all of the damage the Legion of Doom had caused when Sunny surrendered to them - damage that her friends had only recently managed to clean up.

She couldn’t give up. She had to keep going.

And so Sunny planted her hooves firmly and stared down the ancient ram as Grogar came closer. “I don’t give up. Not anymore.”

“Really? Well, then, see how long you last.” Grogar took a step back, and the wolves came rushing forward.

Sunny almost leaped back, but with the portal right behind her, she had nowhere to go. She felt her alicorn form appear around her, the magic coming stronger, but even though this had always filled her with confidence and hope, now it made pure dread course through her veins. Her magic hadn’t been enough to save her friends - why should she use it now? Why did she think it could save her now, when it couldn’t even save the most important thing in the world to her?

Her wings and horn flickered in and out of existence as Sunny wrestled with herself. She ducked the swipe of one wolf’s paw and leaped over another one’s tail, escaping from the dead-end. Grogar stood at one end of the bridge, his horns lit, the black lightning crackling menacingly, and Sunny knew that she couldn’t go that way. But she couldn’t go back, either. There was nowhere to go except for the tear in reality… except…

Sunny clenched her eyes shut and allowed her alicorn form to solidify for just a moment. She spread her wings and flew over the tops of the wolves, lit up her horn, and blasted the together tree at the end of the bridge. “Maretime Bay!” she shouted, waiting for a portal to open up in the tree’s trunk to bring her home.

But the tree did nothing. Sunny could feel some dark force in her mind, could hear the sinister laugh of an old nemesis she thought she had defeated…

Opaline, she thought with dread.

At that moment, her wings and horn flickered and died, and Sunny plummeted out of the sky… toward the portal-rip.

“NO!” Grogar roared, leaping forward.

Sunny’s hoof managed to snag on the edge of the torn seam, and she clung to it desperately as the power of the portal tugged at her, trying to drag her down into its bottomless depths. Bits of rock and debris fell into the void and disappeared from sight.

The shadow wolves gathered at the edge, hesitating, uncertain.

“GRAB HER, YOU FOOLS!” Grogar bellowed, but he was still too far away to help.

One of the wolves lunged forward, its black existence expanding to become all Sunny could see, and she could feel it tugging at her mind, trying to find a way in-

Sunny did the only logical thing. She let go.

Grogar’s roars of fury and the wolves’ chilling howls echoed above her as she plummeted into the infinite darkness.
> Rip in the Sky
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

First surprise: the portal had an end. As Sunny fell, she became aware that she was falling toward a glimmering point of light in the distance that grew larger and larger as she fell.

Second surprise: it was daylight. When Sunny finally burst out of the darkness of the portal and into the glorious sunshine of her final destination, the first thing she did was squint her eyes to adjust to the bright light.

Third surprise: there was ground.

Sunny looked down and saw a massive structure of old, toppled stone below her, and she seemed to be heading straight toward it. She would flatten upon impact, turning into a Sunny smoothie.

“Come on,” she muttered to herself as the wind whistled in her ears and whipped at her mane. “Alicorn powers, come on!”

Golden light shimmered in her peripheral vision, and her wings snapped open, catching the air and jerking her to a painful halt a couple feet above the cracked stone floor before her wings flickered out of existence again, and Sunny landed in a heap on the cold stone.

“Ouch,” she moaned, pushing herself to get on her hooves, stand up, and have a look around to see where she was.

Sunny was standing in the middle of the old stone ruins of what might have been a castle, or a temple of some kind. Collapsed stone masonry was everywhere, with old tapestries and dusty decorative rugs still hanging on the walls. There were jewels embedded in some of the stone, making Sunny think that this place must have looked very impressive in its golden days. Bushes and other plants had begun to grow between the stones, making them uneven. At the end of the room she was standing in, which was open to the sky, the roof having collapsed long ago, was a dias with two thrones on it. But the most breathtaking thing was the massive crystal tree in the center of the room, with crystalized pink leaves and what looked like windows and balconies and stairways. Sunny sensed something familiar about it, but before she could pinpoint what exactly it was, she glanced up - and gasped.

Stretched across the achingly blue sky was another dagged scar, just like the one back at Opaline’s lair, only this one was in the sky. It was just as dark and twisted and ancient, and, as Sunny watched, something came falling out of it as she had surely done.

The thing landed between the two thrones at the end of the room: a black goopy blob that, upon impact with the ground, took the form of a wolf. From the looks of it, this was the largest wolf, the one who gave orders to all the others.

Sunny felt a flash of annoyance. She jumped through a portal to escape those guys, and even that didn’t work. But soon all she felt was fear as the wolf growled at her, angrier than she had ever seen it, and stepped menacingly toward her. Sunny hurriedly stepped back, tripping and stumbling on the uneven stones as she went, her mind wildly searching for a way to defend herself and get her friends back, but coming up with nothing.

The wolf snapped and snarled, its white eyes flashing.

Suddenly, a blast of magic came from just behind Sunny. It hit the wolf in the shoulder, causing it to stumble.

Sunny gasped and looked up.

A pony was galloping into the castle, a hood pulled low over their face and a scarf covering their muzzle. The pony also wore a kind of short cloak that obscured their cutie mark and boots that made their hooves on the stone make almost no sound. The only thing that Sunny could see was the stranger’s horn, blazing with bright pink magic as it approached her. Sunny hurriedly tried to get out of the way in case this strange pony was going to hurt her, but the stranger sped right past Sunny and blasted the wolf again. And again. With each blast, the wolf took a few steps back, growling and shaking its head, trying to shake off the newcomer’s magic.

“Quickly!” the strange pony shouted to Sunny. Her voice was muffled by her scarf, but Sunny could have sworn she had heard it before. “That’ll only daze it - we have to get out of here!”

Normally, Sunny wasn’t one to go running off with a stealth pony who had just fought off an evil shadow wolf without a little bit of knowledge about their intentions, but she didn’t have much of a choice right then. She followed the stranger out of the castle just as the wolf’s howl split the air.

“This way!” she shouted as they dashed through the forest surrounding the ruins of the castle. “We have to get to the lake - it’s the only safe way in now!”

“What lake?” Sunny asked, turning to look at the other pony as she spoke, and paying for it by nearly toppling into a wide expanse of water at the edge of the woods.

“That lake,” the stranger clarified. “Come on, it’s not too far now!”

Sunny glanced behind her and saw the wolf running toward them from the forest, and she eagerly followed the stranger around the edge of the lake and up a dirt path. Sunny kept glancing back to see if the shadow wolf was gaining on them, so she didn’t see that they had arrived until the stranger held out a hoof to stop her, said, “In here. Quickly!” and shoved Sunny through a door before she followed suit.

Wherever they were, it was dark. The strange pony lit her horn, magenta light illuminating the small space they were in. It looked like a storage closet for cleaning supplies, and Sunny looked at her rescuer questioningly, but before she could say anything, the stranger opened another door with her magic and trotted outside. Sunny, not seeing another option, followed.

The closet opened up into a hallway that was, thankfully, bright and lit. There was a carpet along the floor, and the walls were lined with framed certificates and pictures as well as trophy cases, vases of flowers, and the occasional artifact displaying a crest: a six-point magenta star on a purple background, with different colored gems between the branches of the star.

It was so familiar, but Sunny couldn’t quite recall where she had seen it. She frowned, trying to remember, but the other pony was moving along, and Sunny didn’t want to get lost.

“What is this place?” Sunny asked, looking around in wonder. It was so bright and airy, and there were so many other doors leading off of the main hallway. She glanced out one of the windows and saw a small lake spreading out just outside.

“It’s the only place where we can be safe anymore,” her rescuer explained. “We aren’t sure why yet, but I have my theories, of course.”

“You say ‘we’... but we haven’t seen anypony else.”

“You’re right. Most of them stay where they’re sure to be safe. That’s where I’m taking you now.” The stranger turned into a large room that was filled with bookshelves. Sunny felt her eyes grow wide, and she felt her hooves itching to grab one or two volumes to see what secrets they held, but this wasn’t their final stop. The strange pony walked around to the back of the room, where there was a vent in the floor. Using her magic, she levitated the vent up, revealing a crystal ramp hidden beneath it, and gestured to Sunny. “After you.”

Sunny stepped down the crystal ramp, her hooves slipping and sliding. She finally managed to reach the ground without falling flat on her face. The stranger came in after her, leaping down much more gracefully than Sunny had done, and levitating the grate back into place. The whole thing kind of reminded Sunny of the abandoned airstation back in Zephyr Heights, and she was overcome with sadness when she thought about her friends.

“This way.” The strange pony led Sunny through twisting stone tunnels punctured by so much crystal that it reminded Sunny of the secret treehouse on the inside of the Tree of Harmony. Or maybe Princess Twilight Sparkle’s castle in Ponyville. The tunnel finally came out on a balcony overlooking a large circular room emitting a strange kind of glow. Six crystal tree branches had climbed their way up the wall and met at a mural on the ceiling of the sun. Down below were dozens of tents and sleeping bags, and hundreds of ponies and creatures.

It made Sunny do a double-take to see all manner of dragons, changelings, griffons, kirins, hippogriffs, yaks, and buffalo mingling among the ponies there. Most of the other creatures seemed to be younger than a lot of the ponies, but seeing them still reminded her of her friends. She wondered where they were right then…

“Wait,” she said, looking out over all the creatures and ponies there. “Why are you all down here? Is this… is this where you all live?”

Her rescuer snorted a laugh. “For now, yes. A few days ago, those shadow wolves, like the one you saw back there, fell out of that rip in the sky and began attacking. They can capture ponies and trap them. All of the survivors gathered here, at the School of Friendship, in the one place it seems that the wolves can’t touch us. We are safe here, so this is where we stay.”

It was all so much information that Sunny couldn’t process it all at once. The strange pony turned and led Sunny to a set of stairs that brought them down to the same level as the tent city.

“Twilight!” called a voice, and a blue pegasus flew up. She had a rainbow mane that she blew impatiently out of her face and was dressed the same as Sunny’s rescuer, only her hood was pulled back to reveal her rose pink eyes and fierce expression. When Sunny saw her, she gasped, and her mind started working double-time to try and process what she was seeing.

“What were you thinking?” the pegasus demanded, landing in front of the strange pony and glaring at her. “You just disappeared! We were so worried, and you can’t go out there, you know those wolves are looking for ponies by themselves. You could have been captured, or - or worse! You’re the ruler of Equestria - you have a role to play, and you can’t just go gallivanting about like that!”

Sunny’s rescuer sighed and pulled back her hood and scarf so that they hung around her neck. “Rainbow Dash, I’m sorry, but as ruler of Equestria, it’s my job to make sure that ponies are safe. I had to go out there and search for anyone who might have gotten left behind-”

“You can’t protect anypony if you’re trapped in some shadow wolf!”

“I’m sorry, Rainbow.” She tossed her mane, which was an indigo color with stripes of violet and pink. Her lavender coat matched her horn, which poked up through her bangs. Her purple eyes were bright and powerful and a little bit scary. She glared at the pegasus, and the pegasus glared right back.

Sunny was gaping now; she looked back and forth between the two ponies, unable to find words. She forgot how to speak, she forgot her friends, she forgot her own name… All she could think of was the old story her father used to tell her. Once upon a time, many many moons ago in ancient Equestria, there lived a very special unicorn…

The purple unicorn finally noticed and shook her head. “Oh, I’m so sorry. Rainbow, this is, uh… what’s your name?”

That’s a good question, Sunny thought. What is my name?

“I, uh, um, I, ah… S-Sunny,” she finally managed to stutter.

Her rescuer nodded. “Rainbow Dash, this is Sunny. Sunny, this is Rainbow Dash.” The pegasus nodded to Sunny, a serious look in her eyes. “Oh, and I’m Twilight. Twilight Sparkle.”

The last thing Sunny saw was the floor getting very close before she blacked out.
> The Ones They Left Behind
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ever since they left Mount Aris, the zeppelin had been fighting stinging rain, crazy wind, and dangerously-close flashes of lightning all the way to Equestria. Flurry Heart stood on the deck, her horn alight, the rain plastering her mane to her head as the wind whipped it about. If she could concentrate, she could easily cast a spell that would allow her to stay dry, but right then she was too busy trying to keep the ship from being ripped apart into shreds.

She conjured up stronger winds to beat back the storm and to fill the zeppelin’s sails and push it forward. She blasted back every bolt of lightning that threatened to hit the hull. She fought the sheets of freezing rain to try and keep the ship level though the storm buffeted it from side to side without any rhyme or reason.

Flurry felt exhausted, wet, and numb. She blinked the water out of her eyes and shook her limp bangs out of her face, planting her hooves firmly on the deck and glaring at the storm.

“I can’t see where we’re going!” Hugo shouted to her over the wind. “I think we might be lost!”

Flurry lashed out with her magic, whipping a bolt of lightning away from the mast. “Just keep following the rainbow!” she screamed back to him, unable to turn away to look at him.

The rainbow that they had been following for the last few days was still glimmering faintly in the distance, sometimes shimmering out of view for a moment, but it was always there, and somehow it was still visible through all of the roiling storm clouds and lightning. Flurry felt a kind of comfort when she could see it, because she was sure that it was somehow linked to Sunny and her friends.

“Do we seem to be getting closer?” Hugo called.

Flurry wiped her hoof over her eyes and squinted at the rainbow. “I think so?”

“Maybe we should turn back? Or try to find some kind of shelter? At least until the storm blows over?”

Flurry shook her head.

“No! We have to get to Equestria to help Sunny. This storm was probably sent to try and keep us from her! We have to keep going!”

Hugo bit his lip and nodded. He looked down at the helm, where he had installed all manner of directional devices and maps. A compass told him that they were heading northwest, but he could hardly see any of the landmarks he’d marked on his map. There was no way to tell if they were going in the right direction, but the rainbow hadn’t moved its position since they had started following it, and he had to trust that Flurry knew what she was doing.

There wasn’t much more he could do except steer the zeppelin through the storm as Flurry tried to protect it.

One of the renovations Hugo had made to the ship was the construction of a proper bridge, so that whoever was navigating didn’t have to be subject to the elements. He shut the door and shook raindrops off his glasses, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly.

The door opened again, and Hugo looked up to see Kailani squeezing inside the bridge, her mane soaked with rain and hanging in her eyes.

“Are we almost there?” she asked loudly over the boom of thunder overhead.

Hugo shrugged helplessly. “Maybe?”

Kailani looked out at Flurry Heart as she cast a shield in the air to protect the ship from three simultaneous bolts of lightning. The force shattered her shield and caused the zeppelin to rock and sway, but they were still intact.

“I wish there was more I could be doing,” Kailani said miserably. “I feel so helpless.”

“There’s not much we can do,” Hugo said. “Unless your necklace’s magical powers extend to controlling the weather, too.”

Kailani shook her head. “No, sorry.” Thunder rolled, and the hippogriff winced. She looked so frail, her shoulders thinner than Hugo remembered and shivering. Her wings were pressed tight to her body, and her eyes would occasionally glaze over as she stared into the distance at something that only she could see. Hugo put a claw on her shoulder.

“Hey… are you okay?”

“I’m… fine.”

“No, you’re not. Does it have something to do with what happened back at Mount Aris?”

Kailani hesitated, then nodded. “Ever since that… thing attacked me, I’ve been having nightmares. You already know that the wolves show you the thing you want most to be real. I… I saw us. All of us. You and Flurry and Midnight and Ash and Imara and Lukas and Brooks and Little Braveheart… and Sunny, and Zipp and Pipp and Izzy and Hitch. We were all together in Maretime Bay, and there were no more problems, and everyone was happy, and everything was alright. I… I wanted to give in so badly.”

Hugo nodded. “Yeah. I would have, too.”

She shrugged, blinking back the tears. “Anyway. I fought it best I could, but I couldn’t have held out for much longer if you guys hadn’t come to rescue me.”

“I didn’t do anything.” Hugo’s voice was bitter. “You say that you feel helpless, but you don’t know what it’s like for me. At least, in other situations, you have something to offer. You can fly and swim and you can sense magic-”

“Woah, woah, wait.” Kailani put up a claw to stop him. “What do you mean, I can sense magic?”

“You haven’t figured it out?” She shook her head. “Kailani, when you talk about this feeling that you get when something’s not right in the world, and when you said that you could feel the evil behind those visions the wolves were showing you, and last year, when you found the Tower of Day and Night… you weren’t just having random feelings and intuitions. You can sense powerful magic. I haven’t heard of anything like that, but I’m sure of it. Meanwhile, I can’t do anything. I can’t do any kind of magic, I can’t fly…” He looked back at his wings, remembering all of the words that griffons had thrown at him over the years. Even now, they still hurt.

“Hugo… you built this ship. You did that. You’re incredibly talented, and you’re so smart. You don’t need magic or wings to be special. You aren’t helpless. You can do so many amazing things if you put your mind to it. Once this is all over… well, I think you’re going to change the world. You’re going to make life better for so many ponies and creatures, I know it.”

Hugo met her eyes. “You really think that?”

Kailani nodded with so much conviction that he could almost believe it. “You aren’t helpless, and you aren’t useless, and if anyone says that about you, I will personally throw them into next week. Or make them walk the plank.” Her eyes lit up with an idea. “Wait. Does this ship have a plank?”

Hugo laughed, and he felt a huge weight lift off his chest. “No, and for all of our sakes, I hope we don’t need one.”

He stopped. The storm outside was suddenly quieter. He looked out the window and saw that the clouds were lightening, the lightning strikes were faint flashes in the distance, and the thunder was nothing more than quiet rumblings. The rainbow in the sky was so close that it almost didn’t seem possible to be that big, and Hugo could see the tall shape of a lighthouse beneath the clouds. The rain was a light sprinkle, and Flurry Heart, drained and exhausted from protecting the ship, promptly collapsed.

“Flurry!” Hugo ran to the door, but Kailani stopped him.

“I’ll help her, you bring this ship down to Maretime Bay. I’ll tell the others that we’re almost there.” He nodded, and she was out the door.

Hugo hadn’t seen Sunny’s new Crystal Brighthouse that she had built to replace her lighthouse, but Flurry had told him all about it in a letter. And, as Hugo carefully piloted the zeppelin down there, he couldn’t help but marvel at the architecture. The Brighthouse was beautiful in every way, from the way that the gleaming walls caught even the slightest bit of light and multiplied it, to the way that the rainbow poured out of the roof and split the sky in two.

But something else was wrong.

Little Braveheart was the first to point it out. “There aren’t any ponies,” she said, standing at the rail and looking out over Maretime Bay. “Did they leave?”

Flurry Heart frowned. She seemed to have regained some of her strength, but still looked very tired. Nevertheless, she said, “Hugo, park the zeppelin right here. I’ll be right back.”

She spread her wings and flew down to the balcony at the top of the Brighthouse. There was a hoof scanner by the door, and Flurry, feeling a pang of sadness, placed her hoof on the scanner. It paused for a moment, then blinked green, and the door opened, letting Flurry Heart inside. She stood on the elevator as it lowered her down to the bedroom.

When Sunny had constructed the Brighthouse with a portion of the Crystal Empire’s treasury that Flurry had given her, she had insisted on including Flurry in the security system. “That way, if you ever want to visit me, you can,” she had said, before explaining that all Flurry had to do to gain access was scan her hoof. Flurry had wondered if she would still keep her in the system, after so much time went by without hearing from her. It made her both happy and sad to know that she hadn’t taken her out.

The circular room was divided into sections, one for each of the mares, and it was easy for Flurry to guess which one belonged to which. But as she looked around for her friends, she noticed something strange.

There was a fifth bed.

Flurry frowned and approached it.

It can’t be Hitch’s, she thought to herself. He has his own house in town. So who…

“Sunny?” she called to the empty room. “Sunny, are you here?”

No answer.

Flurry inspected the bed. It had a canopy with a curtain that could be pulled around the bed, a stained glass window of a butterfly, and a bookshelf with a picture of a unicorn foal with a curly blue mane in pigtails, hugging a bunnycorn. Next to the picture was a small figure of a unicorn made from a tennis ball, a chipped tea cup, and some assorted materials. Flurry frowned and studied the picture and the toy unicorn, and then she realized that the unicorn was sitting on top of something.





The creatures were anxiously pacing the deck as they waited for Flurry Heart to come back. When she finally did emerge from the Crystal Brighthouse and fly back up to the zeppelin, they all crowded around her for an answer.

“We have to get to Zephyr Heights,” Flurry said, holding up a piece of rainbow paper. Printed on it was information for a Unity Festival in Zephyr Heights for three days. “Even if Sunny’s not there right now, that’ll be where she was most recently, and we can ask around to try and find where she is now.”

Hugo nodded firmly. “To Zephyr Heights, then,” he said, running to the bridge and steering the zeppelin toward a tall mountain peak in the distance. He could sense the palbable tension on board. His friends just wanted to find Sunny, and now they were so close…

“Oh, no,” Kailani muttered to herself, stumbling suddenly.

Hugo almost slammed the zeppelin to a stop to go check on her. “What?” he cried. “What is it?”

“It’s… something evil. Coming from…” Kailani looked toward the pegasus city that they could now see. “It’s coming from there…”

“Now, when you say evil, what kind of evil are we talking about?” Imara asked.

“A familiar kind of evil. It’s… it’s the same kind of feeling I got when I was… that I had back in Seaquestria.”

“Is there a way to make this boat go any faster?” Brooks asked Hugo hotly, prancing his hooves nervously, stray flames rolling off of his horn.

“Firstly,” Hugo snapped back defensively, “don’t call this beauty a ‘boat’. Secondly, no, there isn’t - I’m already pushing it as far as it can go-”

“Of course there’s a way,” Imara quipped, turning into a massive bugbear. She flew around to the back of the zeppelin and started pushing it through the air, adding her own propulsion to the speed the sails were generating.

“Oh, that’s not good,” Little Braveheart said nervously from the prow, where she was scanning the city.

“What?” Lukas asked, frustratedly blowing his bangs out of the way. “What’s not good?”

Imara came back to the deck and transformed into her normal form. Hugo halted the zeppelin and ran out to join his friends.

The streets of Zephyr Heights below them were teeming with panicked ponies, screaming and running for their lives, and the dark forms of shadow wolves slinking through the city and swallowing innocent ponies into their dark essences. There were so many wolves that Hugo felt his wings go slack. There was no way they could do anything against that many-

“We have to help those ponies!” Ash cried, echoing all of their thoughts.

Yes, Hugo thought miserably, but how?
> An Abundance of Paradoxes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Is she alright?”

“Calm down, Fluttershy, she just fainted, I’m sure she’ll be alright in a moment-”

“Do you think it was something I said?”

“Twilight, it was nothing you said, we’ve already been over this-”

“Yes, but I introduced myself, and then she collapsed. How is that not my fault?”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll figure this out.”

Sunny moaned and blinked her eyes open. Her head hurt. Her mouth tasted like rocks, and she could barely see anything except for colorful fuzzy blobs in her line of vision.

“Oh, look, she’s waking up-”

Sunny pushed herself into a sitting position, which made a splitting pain cut through her head so powerfully that she almost collapsed again, but somepony caught her.

“Woah, there,” said a kind, soft voice, “you’re alright. Just take it easy…”

“What…” Sunny swallowed and shook her head, trying to clear away her fatigue. “What happened?”

She blinked again, and the pony helping her came into focus: a butter yellow pegasus with a long pink mane that fell partially in her face, and large, caring, blue-green eyes that told Sunny that she was safe, that everything was alright. The pony helped Sunny stand up, and Sunny looked around, trying to figure out where she was.

She was standing in a large circular stone room that was filled with tents and ponies. Most of them were going about their business, but three of them were staring at her. One of them was the yellow pegasus who had helped her. Another was an orange earth pony with a blonde mane that was tucked under a brown cowboy hat. The third was a lavender pony with a deep purple mane with stripes of purple and pink, and a horn pushing its way up through her bangs. But she also had a pair of wings folded over her back…

Sunny’s sluggish mind struggled to comprehend this. Was this pony an… an alicorn? But she was the only alicorn… except for Flurry Heart… or maybe this was Opaline? Maybe they hadn’t defeated her after all?

“Sorry about that,” the alicorn said gently, looking at Sunny with relief written all over her face. “I didn’t mean to scare you like that.”

“You didn’t scare me,” Sunny muttered, still trying to get her mind working right. There was something familiar about all of these ponies… what was it?

“We sure are glad to see that you’re alright,” said the earth pony with a heavy country accent. “It’s Sunny, right, sugarcube?”

“Yeah…”

“This is Applejack,” the alicorn said, gesturing to the earth pony, who tipped her hat in greeting. “And that’s Fluttershy. And I’m Twilight.”

Twilight.

Twilight.

“Twilight Sparkle?” Sunny blurted.

“Yes.” Twilight looked at her strangely. “Are you okay?”

“As in, the Twilight? The Twilight from - from all those stories?”

“I’m just going to assume so-”

“And they’re your friends?” Sunny went on, gesturing to Applejack and Fluttershy, who were also watching her with interest.

“Last I checked-”

And then Sunny’s mind broke.

She might have screamed. She might have danced. She might have wrapped the nearest pony in a massive hug while screaming and dancing. She might have jumped right through the ceiling and up to the moon and screamed and danced on the moon.

All she knew for sure was that Twilight carefully guided her through the exit and up the stairs until they were back in the crystal tunnels under the vent again. They stood there for an awkward moment, Sunny still hyperventilating, Twilight standing there patiently until she was sure that Sunny wasn’t insane.

“Are you really Twilight Sparkle?” Sunny finally burst out.

Twilight tilted her head at her. “Why do you keep asking me that?”

“Oh, uh, no reason,” Sunny stammered, suddenly very interested in looking everywhere except for Twilight’s face. “I just - wow, I - wow - I’ve wanted to meet you my whole life,” she finally managed to say. “I’ve always looked up to you, and you’re - well - you’re just - wow - a-and I-” She stopped, holding her hoof in front of her face as if to make sure that it was, indeed, her own. Sunny took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Sorry,” she peeped.

Twilight looked like she found Sunny’s reaction mildly amusing. “Well, that’s alright, then,” she said. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay - you know, before you strangled any more ponies.”

Sunny looked up at the vent, then down the tunnel toward the chamber. “What are all of you guys doing down here, anyway?”

The alicorn sighed. “You mean you don’t know?”

There was something in her eyes that made this pony seem less of a legend and more - real. Sunny thought for a moment. “The wolves,” she finally said in a quiet voice.

Twilight nodded sadly. “A few days ago, I was in town to meet with my friends for our usual meeting. Then, this strange rip appeared in the sky. And all these wolves came pouring out of it. They began to attack Ponyville, grabbing ponies and pulling them inside themselves. And they just kept coming. There must be hundreds in Ponyville alone. I haven’t been able to contact any of the other cities, but I can only imagine that things are the same there. My friends and I gathered up all the survivors and brought them here. The Tree of Harmony is strong down here, and I think its magic is keeping the wolves at bay. Every day I go out in search of more ponies, but you were the first one I found. How did you survive?”

Sunny thought about telling her the truth. Oh, I’m a future descendant of yours who fell out of a magical portal in the sky! But for some reason, she just couldn’t bring herself to tell Twilight the truth. She wasn’t sure why, but she didn’t want to bring up her problems right then. And… a small part of her was telling her that she wasn’t worthy of other ponies’ help, especially not legendary ponies like Twilight Sparkle. It was all her fault that she was in this mess, anyway, and she needed to take care of it herself.

She realized that Twilight was still waiting for an answer.

“Um, I was actually… traveling. From Mareti… I mean, Manehattan. Yeah. And then the wolves started chasing me as I was going through the… Everfree Forest. I made it to that old castle ruin and hid in the crystal treehouse, and the wolves couldn’t follow me there. After a couple days, I thought the coast was clear, but it wasn’t, and that was… when you found me.”

Twilight nodded. “That was very lucky. Without any magic to defend yourself, you were lucky to be able to outrun those wolves at all.”

“Ha ha, yeah… no magic whatsoever.” Not that my alicorn magic did me any good, Sunny thought bitterly. And ancient Equestrians didn’t have earth pony magic, so there was no way she would be able to explain that one away.

Twilight smiled at her. “Come on. I’ll introduce you to the rest of my friends.”





No one paid much attention to Sunny as she made her way back through the tent city behind Twilight. This was probably because most of them were paying attention to Twilight, although there was one pony who, upon seeing Sunny, blanched and scurried away as fast as he could. Sunny could only assume that this was the pony she had accidentally almost strangled.

In the center of the circular room was the largest tent of the bunch, large enough to accommodate a dozen ponies easily. Something occurred to Sunny as they approached it. Most of the tents and other structures were made from blankets and sheets, with a few actual tents. It was like a massive fort gallery. Then Sunny remembered where they were: the School of Friendship, where creatures of all kinds could come to learn about friendship. With so many unexpected guests, Twilight and her friends probably raided all the dorm rooms upstairs to get enough supplies for every creature to be comfortable.

The inside of the tent was darker than the outside, with the only light coming from a few lamps hung around the edge of the room. Inside each lamp was a small chunk of crystal that was providing the glowing light. In the center of the room was a round table, and six ponies were standing around it.

Sunny instantly recognized most of them. Applejack and Fluttershy were there, as well as Rainbow Dash, the pegasus that Sunny had met earlier. A unicorn with a white coat and curly purple mane was there, too, as well as an excited-looking pink earth pony with an equally bouncy mane. She knew that these must be Rarity and Pinkie PIe, respectively, but the final unicorn - one with a light purple coat and a purple mane with a streak of teal - was one that Sunny had never seen before. And - she paused and did a double take - there was a small dragon with purple and green scales hovering between the strange unicorn and Rarity.

“Sunny, I’d like you to meet my friends,” Twilight said, gesturing to each pony as she named them. “You already know Applejack and Fluttershy, but that’s Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Starlight Glimmer, and Pinkie Pie. Oh, and that’s Spike over there.”

Of course, Sunny had met Spike before - he was the Dragon Lord of the Isle of Scaley - but that was future Spike - way, way future Spike. Still, she had a hard time picturing this small creature, who stood barely as tall as her shoulder, as the massive Dragon Lord who had helped her defeat Opaline.

“Hi, everypony,” Sunny said, waving and mentally commanding herself to keep her cool. She was not going to fanpony out in front of these legendary heroes… at least, not any more than she already had.

“Everypony, this is Sunny.” There were scattered greetings all around, and Sunny got shivers down her back. Twilight turned to her. “Sunny, I have to do some princess stuff, but feel free to explore all you’d like, okay? I’ll come find you after we’re done and get you settled in.”

Sunny nodded, and, feeling everypony’s eyes on her, walked out of the tent. She shut her eyes and shook her head.

“Calm down, Sunny, this is all perfectly normal,” she muttered to herself. “You just traveled back in time to meet your legendary ancestor while the world is falling apart around you. And your world back home is also probably in grave danger. But it’s fine, because this is all perfectly normal, right?”

She looked around and trotted off toward the crystal tunnel she had come in from. Twilight had said that the Tree of Harmony was powerful here - maybe she could try and talk to it.

The tunnel was dark yet brightly lit at the same time. The crystal branches that twisted their way through the stone were so plentiful that Sunny had to be careful not to trip. There was powerful magic in this place, she could feel it. It danced across her skin and made it tingle.

“Hello?” she called, feeling rather silly. “Tree of Harmony? Are you there?”

She waited. “No answer. Of course. Why did I think this would work? That was from my time, not this one-”

“Sunny.”

Sunny spun around, gasping. There was the sparkling ethereal version of Twilight Sparkle that she had spoken to in the past - the one that called itself the Spirit of Harmony. It was the Spirit of Harmony that told Sunny the truth about her ancestors, but she hadn’t seen or heard from it in months. “Tree of Harmony?”

The Twilight-not-Twilight inclined her head in greeting. “You must warn them.”

Suddenly, Sunny remembered why she hadn’t exactly tried to go looking for the Spirit of Harmony recently - it was beyond annoying sometimes. “Warn who? About what? Also, what is happening here? Could you maybe give me an explanation?”

The Spirit of the Tree shrugged. “I think you already know.”

Sunny blew a frustrated breath and decided to take a stab in the dark and give it her best guess. “Warn… Twilight and her friends about… the shadow wolves? Are they coming?”

The Spirit nodded and said, “I have done my best to hold them at bay, but they have grown stronger. There is only so much I can do.”

“So… we’re supposed to, what, fight them? How are we supposed to do that?”

There was something about the way the Spirit of Harmony looked at her that made Sunny nervous.

“Oh, no. No, no, no. I can’t fight them. My powers aren’t good for helping other ponies - they aren’t good for anything. Besides, those ponies back there - they’ve faced way worse stuff than this! Why can’t they use their whole magic-of-friendship thing to get rid of these wolves? I’m not even sure what to do, but surely they can-”

The Spirit of Harmony held up a hoof to stop Sunny’s rambling. “Once,” she said, her gaze getting distant, “those Guardians were faced with a similar choice. The Pony of Shadows, a creature very similar to these shadow wolves, was threatening to destroy Equestria - the usual. The Guardians tried to force him into a portal to limbo, but before they could successfully defeat him, they had to rescue the pony trapped inside - a young stallion named Stygian. It is the same with these wolves. They use a host from which to gain power and strength. If you want to defeat them, you need to free their hosts. Unfortunately, the only pony who can do that is you-”

Panic was rising in Sunny’s chest, as well as bitter guilt. “I couldn’t even protect one of my friends! How am I supposed to free hundreds of ponies when I can’t even save one?”

The Spirit of the Tree opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, there was a rumble above them. “You are out of time,” she said. “You must warn them.”

And then she disappeared.

Sunny desperately wanted to do anything but face those wolves, but as another thundering sound came from above, making dust rain from the ceiling, she realized that she had no choice. She turned and ran back toward the tent city to find Twilight and her friends.
> A Final Wish
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Misty firmly believed that the worst moment of her life would always be when she had accidentally betrayed her friends to Opaline. She hadn’t meant to, but it had happened all the same. And the looks on their faces, as they realized that she was a traitor… the way they had all turned their backs on her, had decided that it was best if they left her alone in that horrible place… Every time she thought about it, her heart still seized up, and she felt like she couldn’t breathe. Because she thought that she was about to lose the only thing that really mattered to her in the whole world.

But a close second would be watching Sunny break into pieces back in the airstation, the shattered window in jagged shards scattered all around her as she sobbed and her heart broke.

Misty sighed and pushed open the door to the Crystal Brighthouse. She was back in Maretime Bay, leaving behind the chaos that was Zephyr Heights. She would have helped there if she could… except that she had no idea how to help. Misty wasn’t good with large crowds of ponies, even when they weren't panicking. So she had decided to honor Sunny’s final instructions by going to search for the lost Elements of Harmony.

Except she had no idea how to do that. But she had an idea of who might.

“Come on,” Misty muttered to herself as she wandered through the dark halls (she was too focused on her quest to remember to turn on the lights). “Magic door, where are you?”

A while back, a magical book had led Misty through a crazy chase through the Crystal Brighthouse, through a magical door into a mystical hall filled with all kinds of magic. The book was an ancient spellbook, and the magic chamber had spoken to Misty, telling her that this was a place where she could learn magic, and that she could always return.

Well, she needed to find it now.

“Hellooo?” Misty poked her head into the bedroom and swung her head from one side to the other. “Magic door? I really, really need your help…”

She gasped; the elevator in the center of the room was moving, coming down, and there was a pony on it. Misty hurriedly ducked out of the room, but not before she caught a glimpse of a pale pink pony with a curly purple and pink mane streaked with bright blue.

And, unless she was seeing things, this pony had wings and a horn.

Something flashed through her memory; a pony standing over her, wings spread, horn alight, pure evil in her eyes, as Misty cowered away in terror.

Misty’s heart began to beat faster. Her breath came in short gasps and pants, and she shut her eyes, shaking her head to try and get rid of the memories, stumbling backwards as she muttered, “No, no, no…”

She took another step back, and suddenly she was falling.

Misty’s eyes snapped open just before she hit the ground, rolling head over hooves until she came to a complete stop.

“Oof!”

She stood up, shaking her head and looking around. She was standing in a short corridor with stained glass windows hanging on the walls on both sides. The corridor ended in a circular room with all kinds of designs carved into the floor and two shelves pushed against the wall, with a tapestry in the center of them. Glowing magical shapes fluttered above her head, vaguely resembling the butterfly that was Misty’s cutie mark.

She glanced behind her; there was the door, golden and glowing, with the rainbow portal filling the arch. It promptly slammed shut and vanished from sight.

Misty took a deep breath and let it out.

“It’s okay, Misty. Opaline’s not here. You’re safe.”

She looked up with a determined look in her eyes and walked toward the circular room, her eyes sweeping over the shelves of books and assorted jars with strange things inside. In the center of the room was a pedestal, above which floated a leatherbound book, glowing with a pulsing light that brightened as Misty approached. Behind the book was a tapestry hanging on the wall, which depicted two ponies with wings and horns encircling six multi-colored gemstones.

“Um… hello,” Misty said softly, coming to a halt. “Um… I was just wondering if… uh… what are the Elements of Harmony?” she stuttered out. She was still new to this whole magic thing.

One of the books on the shelf began glowing and floated over to Misty, opening up and flipping through the pages until it stopped on one. Misty leaned over to have a look.

“‘The Elements of Harmony’,” she read aloud. “‘Long thought to be ancient myths, the Elements of Harmony are a group of powerful magic that embodies itself in six aspects of six special ponies in each generation. They were originally tied to the Pillars of Old Equestria, but when the Pillars planted the Tree of Harmony and trapped themselves in limbo, the Elements of Harmony were transferred to the Tree of Harmony. They stayed there for over a thousand years in the form of six gemstones. The Elements of Harmony were used to freeze Discord in stone and to banish Nightmare Moon. However, they lay dormant for a thousand years until they were found by a pony named Twilight Sparkle, who realized that the five known elements could be found in each of her newfound friends. She and her friends used the six elements to defeat Nightmare Moon, who had returned. Twilight and her friends then went on many adventures together, using the Elements of Harmony to defeat many foes. Finally, King Sombra destroyed the Tree of Harmony, and the Elements with it. But Twilight Sparkle and her friends realized that the power of the Elements lived inside of them, and they continued to possess their power. After the Fall of Equestria, the Elements of Harmony have lain dormant and have not been seen since. The last known Elements of Harmony were Laughter, Kindness, Generosity, Honesty, Loyalty, and Magic.’” Misty’s eyes suddenly widened with realization. “Wait…”

She ran out into the hallway, where several stained glass windows were standing. One of them showcased six ponies, each with a necklace with a different colored jewel in each one, except for the last pony, who had a crown with a magenta star. That star looked very familiar…

“These must be the Elements of Harmony,” Misty whispered, reaching up and placing a hoof on the image of the star. “Sunny said that she and Zipp and Pipp and Izzy and Hitch had awakened the Elements again when they brought back magic the second time. But they were stolen, and they haven’t seen them since. So where are they now?”

The spellbook started glowing again, and Misty stepped back from the window and walked over to it. The book flipped open and started turning rapidly through its pages, so fast that Misty could barely see anything other than a multicolored blur, until it stopped on an instructional page for how to do a spell - a finding-things spell. Misty’s eyes lit up with the realization.

“Of course! I’ll just cast this spell, and then it’ll take me to wherever the Elements of Harmony are! Huh, this might not be so hard after all. And then I can use this spell to find Sunny and my friends!”

Misty’s horn lit up, and she studied the page, frowning with concentration. She then shut her eyes and thought of the six jewels that she had seen on the stained glass window, each a different color and shape. She muttered the magic words to herself until she felt a kind of tugging sensation, an almost buzzing sound in her head, and she knew that the spell had worked.

Misty’s eyes snapped open, and she spun around in a circle, trying to see what was different. When she faced a certain direction, the buzzing sound in her head and the tugging feeling on her horn grew stronger, and she knew that she just had to follow the feeling until it led her to the Elements of Harmony.

Her heart hammering with excitement, Misty stepped on the correct carvings on the floor and opened the door back to the Crystal Brighthouse. She ran down the ramp and out the door, where she nearly plowed into somepony.

“Ack!” Misty backpedaled ferociously to avoid a collision, and the other pony skidded to a halt, nearly pitching forward on his hooves. It was a young stallion, who couldn’t have been much older than a teenager, with a teal coat that seemed to glimmer and shine in the sunlight, a long purple mane, and a pair of glasses perched on his muzzle. The pony had a horn, but it looked more like a crystal than a traditional unicorn horn. There was something about his whole self that seemed magical and mysterious, even if he was a bit clumsy. But that was because he wasn’t even a real unicorn at all, but part of a mysterious race of ponies called Auroracorns who lived in Starlight Ridge, an alternate dimension filled with snow, stars, and fun, until an evil snow leopard tried to conquer it. Misty had helped Sunny save Starlight Ridge, but Comet had wanted to return to Equestria with them. But Misty thought he was in Zephyr Heights for the festival…

“Misty!” Comet’s eyes lit up. “Oh, thank hoofness! I’ve been looking for you ponies everywhere! It’s mayhem up there!” He jerked his head in the direction of the mountain upon which perched the city of Zephyr Heights. “The queen’s gone, nopony’s sure what’s happening, and I hadn’t seen any of you ponies for days! I thought you must have come back here, so I came to come find you! But it’s all okay! Where’s everypony else?”

“I… um… I…” Misty stammered. She could barely think around the persistent humming sound in her head, and this was the last conversation she wanted to have with anypony, anyway. “Comet, I’ll explain it all on the way, but first, do you think you can fly the Marestream?”

“Of course I can,” he said, a slightly wounded expression on his face. “I flew it here from Zephyr Heights.” He gestured to the massive vehicle parked on the landing pad outside the Brighthouse. “I hope you ponies don’t mind, but I needed to get out of there fast…”

“Nope, that’s perfect,” Misty assured him, grabbing his arm and dragging him over to the Marestream. “Get this thing in the air and take us…” She frowned, turning her head from side to side for a moment. “That way!” She pointed towards Bridlewood. “Just keep going until I tell you to stop, and I’ll tell you everything I know, I promise.”

Comet nodded and stepped up to the wheel, adjusting Sunny’s lantern that sat on the dashboard, which was essentially the power source of the whole vehicle. He turned the Marestream on and pulled back on the wheel, turning them around so that they zoomed off in the direction that Misty had pointed them.

“So… what’s going on?”

Misty took a deep breath and let it out. “Strange wolves made of shadows are kidnapping ponies and they took all of my friends except Sunny and the queen and Phyllis and Alphabittle and then Sunny went after them on her own but she told me to go find some old friends of hers and to give them these objects called the Elements of Harmony to protect Equestria, and I was just never very good with crowds so I left Zephyr Heights and found a magic spell that will lead me to their location so that I can find them.”

The Auroracorn’s mouth dropped open. “The Elements of Harmony?” he whispered. “Surely you don’t mean the same ones from ancient legend?”

“Um… I’m going to assume so,” Misty muttered. The buzzing noise in her head was getting nearly unbearable. She was barely able to register what Comet was saying.

Comet gasped. “No. Way! Sunny and her friends actually found the Elements of Harmony?”

“Well, they did get stolen pretty soon after that-”

“Still! Do you have any idea what this could mean?”

Misty looked at him with a heavy expression, as if she didn’t really know, but she had an idea, and that idea was enough.

Comet was still low-key freaking out. “I mean, it was cool enough when they saved Starlight Ridge - but your friends are connected to the Elements of Harmony. They’re the heroes of the whole world! That’s incredible!”

That’s right, Misty thought miserably. And they did it all without me.
> The Secrets They Kept Long
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cozy Glow stood in front of the School of Friendship, her eyes shut, her lips pressed tight together in a thin line, trying not to listen to the voices screaming in her head.

Traitor! Liar! Coward!

“Stop,” she whispered to herself in a broken voice.

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. The massive building was in such disrepair that it was almost unrecognizable, but Cozy could easily trace out the shape of the school from memory - hard, painful memory. She took a deep breath and reached out a shaking hoof and placed it on the door.

Immediately, a wave of memories swamped her, and Cozy stumbled backwards as the images flashed behind her eyes, the emotions raged through her in a rushing torrent, ten times more painful than she ever remembered them being. She saw her friends, she saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders; she saw Smolder, Gallus, Sandbar, Yonna, Silverstream, Ocellus; she saw Starlight Glimmer trapped in a magical orb; she saw the enraged, and then heartbroken look on Twilight’s face as she returned from Tartarus after discovering everything Cozy had done; she remembered the furious looks on all of the students’ faces as they realized she had betrayed them; she saw the stone-cold faces of the guards who carried her off to Tartarus and left her there with all the nightmares and the screams and the endless endless terror-

Coward! Traitor! Liar!

“No,” Cozy muttered, shaking her head, trying to clear her mind. “No no no no no….”

No one loves you! No one cares for you! No one will ever forgive you! Your parents abandoned you. Your friends left you. Your mentors turned on you. Who will ever give you a second chance?

No one.

“Please,” Cozy cried, tears sliding down her cheeks now, “please, please stop!”

The voices didn’t stop. They screamed louder. The memories came back sharper. Cozy could feel her hooves betraying her as they took step after step back, away from the door. But she couldn’t waste any more time; she had to get inside. There was something she needed in there, something that Sunny needed in there, and there was no one else in all of Equestria who knew what or where it was.

I have to do this. For Sunny.

Cozy Glow gritted her teeth. She stopped in her tracks, and she forced one of her hooves to take a step forward.

Go back! Traitor! Liar!

“I am not,” Cozy muttered under her breath. “Not anymore.”

She took another step forward.

Her hooves were more sure now, not shaking as much.

She took another one.

The door was right in front of her. Cozy took a deep breath, and, her eyes burning with determination, she placed her hoof on the door. She fought through the pain and the memories and the screaming voices.

And she pushed the door open.





The door creaked as it swung on its hinges, letting daylight into the hall for the first time in a century. It was silent and dark, but as soon as Cozy saw the inside of the hall a splitting pain pierced her mind, and she collapsed with a cry of pain.

Liar! Coward! Traitor!

Please! she cried. Please stop!

“I can’t,” she sobbed, her head in her hooves. “I can’t…”

I can’t give up.

Cozy swallowed another sob and tried to push herself to her hooves through the blinding pain in her head. She felt dizzy, like she might pass out, but she took another step forward. And another. And another. With every step, the voices screamed louder and louder, until Cozy felt like she was floating outside of herself, and the only thought she could consciously make was Just one more step. Just one more step.

Just one… more… step…

Traitor! Coward! Liar!

“I am NOT!” Cozy Glow screamed, and she felt like she was screaming the words that she had needed to say for months - for years - the words she had shouted from the very depths of her heart even as her limbs had solidified into stone, that she had wanted to say ever since her very first lie. “I am NOT that ANYMORE!”

A strong wind tore through the room, and Cozy Glow felt it tugging at her, pulling her forward, and suddenly the voices went silent, the splitting pain in her head vanished, and she was free.

Cozy nearly collapsed, but caught herself, breathing heavily from the struggle. She shut her eyes and carefully took deep breaths, bringing her pounding heartbeat back down to normal.

A gentle breeze ruffled her mane, blowing in gently through the open door. Cozy lay there for a while, against the dusty carpet, surrounded by the ruins of her former school, until she found the strength to stand up again. She took a deep breath, preparing herself, and she opened her eyes, letting it back out again.

It was just as she had remembered, only darker, dustier, more ancient. But the busts of all of the Pillars of Equestria were still in their places. A wooden podium was set up on the raised dais at the end of the room. The darkened hallways stretched out to the dorms and classrooms, just as they always had. If Cozy shut her eyes and concentrated, she could still hear the bustle of when the school had been busy and full of life, as it should be. She felt a wave of sadness as she remembered how much this place had meant to Twilight, and she wondered if it could ever reclaim its former glory.

Cozy Glow trotted through the building, finding her way without trying much, until she reached the library. The shelves were emptier than she remembered them, and the books were far from good condition. But there were still so many memories packed into this single room, and Cozy could feel herself slipping away again. Her hooves subconsciously found their way to a golden grate at the back of the room, underneath which pulsed a faint light.

“Focus, Cozy,” she whispered to herself, shaking her head to clear away the fog. She turned and found the bookshelf she was looking for. Along the bottom was a loose board, but it had been nailed back into place since Cozy had been at school. Even so, one hundred years had not been kind to the library, and the nails were rusted and easily gave way when Cozy tugged on it.

Hidden in the shadows and the cobwebs and the dust was an old book, which had been spared most of the trials of time. Cozy reached back for it and pulled it out, feeling a conflicting torrent of emotions. This book had been her downfall, but maybe it could be of some use now.

Ancient Magic Artifacts and Their Uses. The title was embossed on the leather cover in gold, and the letters sparkled as Cozy brushed away the dust.

The book had belonged to Twilight Sparkle. She had used it for one of her lessons, and then asked Cozy Glow to take it back to the library for her. Cozy had readily agreed, but upon entering the room in which she now sat, Cozy had hidden it beneath this bookshelf, knowing that she would need the knowledge it contained in order to drain all the magic from Equestria. She had wondered, those long nights trapped in Tartarus, if it had ever been found. Apparently it hadn’t.

Cozy sat back on her hind legs and opened the book, flipping through the pages until she found what she was looking for.

“Magic circles,” she muttered to herself, quickly scanning the page. “Maybe this could help Sunny…”

She read on, not knowing that, over one hundred years ago, Sunny Starscout was running beneath the very same room.





“Twilight!”

Sunny winced as another rumble came from above, causing dust to shake from the ceiling. She burst out of the tunnel and galloped down the stairs and through the tent city that had been set up beneath the School of Friendship. Ponies and creatures alike turned to stare at her as she ran between tents, not even taking the time to slow down and apologize to anyone she nearly trampled.

Twilight Sparkle poked her head out of the largest tent in the center and locked gazes with the earth pony galloping madly toward her. “Sunny?”

Sunny skidded to a halt, breathing heavily. “The… wolves… they’re… coming,” she gasped, gesturing vaguely to the ceiling.

Another shake. More dust rained from above, and all the creatures gathered around them started screaming and running back to their tents. Twilight’s friends joined the only two ponies who weren’t panicking outside the tent.

“What’s going on?” Fluttershy asked, looking nervous.

“Sunny says the wolves are coming,” Twilight said in a serious voice. She studied Sunny for a moment as she nodded frantically.

“We have to find a way to protect everypony-”

“How? We can’t fight those things!” Rainbow Dash cried over the tumultuous sound of the surrounding pandamonium. “We’ve tried! Only the Tree of Harmony’s magic down here protects us!”

“Well we have to do something!” Sunny shot back, her temper suddenly flaring. “You ponies have faced hard things like this before, and you’ve always succeeded! You can’t back down now. These ponies and creatures need your help!” She waved a hoof at the chaos surrounding them. “If you won’t at least try and fight, then you might as well just hand yourselves over already! But as long as you have each other, there is nothing you guys can’t handle. I know you can do it!”

She decided not include the fact that the Spirit of Harmony had told her that only Sunny would be able to defeat the wolves in her inspiring speech.

Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Spike, and Starlight Glimmer all adopted identical determined expressions, and they all split off to try and quell the chaos and calm everycreature down. Twilight was staring at Sunny with a strange expression, as if she was looking at something familiar.

More dust trickled down from the ceiling, and both mares looked up.

“Come on,” Twilight said to Sunny before she led her through the maze of tents, her friends joining them as they went. Starlight and Spike stayed behind to try and organize the mass of survivors and keep them from panicking anymore.

“Come on, everycreature,” Starlight was saying calmly to a group of young creatures, “it’s going to be okay. Don’t be afraid, everything’s going to be alright. Just stick together, and we’ll all be fine.”

“So how did you find out that the wolves were coming?” Applejack asked as they ran. Her country accent sounded strangely familiar to Sunny, but she couldn’t figure out where she had heard it before.

“Uh… no time! I’ll tell you later!” Sunny stammered as Twilight spread her wings and flew up to the grate and used her magic to levitate it open. One by one, the ponies pulled their way out and shut the grate behind them, Sunny avoiding Applejack’s suspicious looks as they did so. She was glad when Twilight nodded seriously, turned, and led the group out of the room.

Twilight dashed into the entrance hall, her friends right behind her, then turned and pushed the doors open as she ran through them and flew over the lake at the front of the school, not stopping until she stood in front of her gleaming castle, facing the main street of Ponyville. Her friends organized behind her, all except for Sunny, who was a little slow in joining them, because she kept stopping to gape.

Sunny had only ever seen Ponyville and Twilight’s castle in her time, which meant that they were decrepit and ruined, with the forest slowly reclaiming them as their own. Twilight’s castle had been alright on the inside, and it was in the throne room that Sunny, Hitch, Zipp, Pipp, and Izzy had all been given magical thrones of their own, signifying their role as the new Guardians of Harmony.

But she still felt her jaw drop at the massive crystal structure soaring into the sky before her, gleaming in the sunlight and positively radiating powerful magic. Sunny could feel her mind start to break down, and she had to tear her eyes away before she went insane.

What she saw instead made her heart stop.

Hundreds upon hundreds of shadow wolves were arrayed on the streets of Ponyville, their unnatural shadows blurring as they made contact with the bright sunlight. Their piercing white eyes sent shivers down Sunny’s back, and if she focused on one for too long, she could feel the edges of her mind grow fuzzy. The wolves radiated fear in the same way that the castle behind Sunny and the secret chamber under the school radiated harmony and good magic. There were so many of them that Sunny immediately regretted her decision to bring Twilight and her friends here. She should never have listened to the Tree of Harmony, she should have told them that they needed to hole up and hunker down and hold out as long as they could - not throw themselves at their enemies’ feet!

The largest of the wolves stepped forward, and Sunny no longer felt the sunlight on her skin. All she felt was a cold, numbing terror. Her legs felt weak, as if she might collapse, but she gritted her teeth and stood her ground. These wolves had taken her friends from her - she would not rest until they were defeated.

Then the wolf spoke.

Give us Sunny Starscout, and we will leave in peace.
> The Light That Glows
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Six pairs of pony eyes swung around to face Sunny, but Sunny couldn’t move. Her hooves were rooted to the spot, her eyes forever trapped in the paralyzing light of the wolf’s gaze.

“No way!” she faintly heard Rainbow Dash shout.

You have no way to fight us, the wolf said in the same voice, speaking directly into their minds, and all the ponies flinched as its voice slipped into their heads, and at the feeling of wrongness that came with it. We could easily crush you. Give us Sunny Starscout, and we will let you be. We have no need of you. We only want her.

“Not happening,” Twilight muttered through gritted teeth, spreading her wings and lighting her horn threateningly.

You should not protect her. She is an outsider. She doesn’t belong here. Give her to us and we will let you go-

“Okay,” Sunny said.

Once again, six shocked gazes rounded on her. “Sunny, no!” Fluttershy cried, but Sunny wouldn’t meet their eyes and took a few steps forward.

Twilight grabbed her shoulder and spun her around.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she hissed. “You can’t just give yourself over to them, you said that yourself!”

“They’ll let you all go,” Sunny said softly in a resigned voice. “They’re only here for me. If I don’t do this, they’ll tear you all apart. If I stay with you, I’ll put you all in danger. I can’t do that to you.” She turned around to face the wolf, who had no expression, but Sunny swore that it looked undeniably smug. “I’m going to do this.”

“Sunny, please! We’ll figure something out-” Twilight stopped short. She was staring at Sunny’s flank - the one side that didn’t have a cutie mark. Sunny saw the confusion mount in Twilight’s eyes, and she felt her heart crumble.

“What…” Twilight started to say, but suddenly Sunny felt something icy cold wrap around her and yank her backwards through the air. She screamed as Twilight and her friends leapt forward, crying out and reaching toward her, but the shadowy ropes that bound her were pulling her too fast for anyone to react, and soon Sunny disappeared inside the wolf.





Darkness. Swirling darkness that was so complete that Sunny could barely see anything - not that there was anything to see. A strong wind blew, tossing her mane into disarray, but she had no idea where it came from or where it was going. There was something like sand beneath her hooves, and it was blowing through the air, mashing itself in her coat and getting under her hooves in a most uncomfortable way. Sunny spun in a circle, trying to find her bearings.

And she saw something.

In the distance, so faint that she was hardly sure that it was real, was the shape of a pony, their back turned to her, their shoulders hunched as they sat with their head hung, all the fight stolen out of them by the wolf’s horrid magic, which Sunny could feel pressing against her even then.

The pony had a brilliant red coat and a golden mane, and Sunny was sure that she had seen them before…

“Sprout?”

The pony’s head lifted, and he turned to face her.

“Sunny?”

Sunny nodded and took a step forward.

Sprout scrambled to his hooves and ran toward her, but before he reached her, black tendrils of shadow leaped out of the oppressive darkness and wrapped around him, tripping him and bringing him down.

Sunny gasped. “Oh my stars…” She ran to his side, but every time she got close, the ropes would contract, Sprout would cry out in pain, and Sunny would hurriedly retreat so that they would stop. She felt hot tears pricking at her eyes, and standing there, completely helpless, while her friend suffered, was the worst thing in the world, harder than anything she had ever done before.

Sprout shut his eyes and pushed himself to his hooves, his expression saying that even the slightest movement hurt more than words could say. He took a few steps back, and the ropes finally retracted back into the darkness.

He opened his eyes, and Sunny saw that, somehow, however much pain she was feeling, his was ten times as worse.

“Sunny… how are you here?”

“I…” Sunny swallowed. “They said… they said that… if they took me, then… they would leave in peace,” she stammered out. For some reason, she felt like crying. “I couldn’t… I had to… I couldn’t let them do that.”

Sprout nodded once to show that he understood, but he wouldn’t meet Sunny’s eyes.

“How… how did you get here?”

He shut his eyes, as if the memory were painful. “It just found me,” he whispered in a voice so broken and full of pain that it made Sunny’s heart throb. “It found me and took me and now I belong to it. That’s all.”

“That can’t be-”

“That’s it, okay?” he snapped, his voice suddenly sharp and angry.

“Sprout… I found a… creature a couple days ago. A creature called a changeling - his name is Midge - they can shapeshift - anyway, I found Midge, and he was… he was disguised as you. And I got the feeling that… well, I’d just like to know what’s going on.”

Sprout shrugged. “I left Maretime Bay. Midge was covering for me. That’s it.”

“But for how long-”

“Since you came back after you fought Chrysalis in the swamp.”

Sunny gave a start. “How… how did you know about that? Nopony knew about that. Only Hitch and Izzy and Zipp and Pipp and Flurry and…” She trailed off. Sprout had shut his eyes again, but he looked as if he was trying very hard not to cry. “Sprout… what’s wrong? What’s the matter?”

She took a step toward him, but he held up a hoof to stop her, saying, “Don’t.”

Sunny stopped, but she felt like her heart was splitting in two without fully knowing why. “But… I don’t understand. How do you know about all that, and why has Midge been covering for you for months? How do you even know Midge, I mean, he never came by Maretime Bay-”

“You promised,” Sprout muttered.

That made her pause. “W-what?”

“You promised me,” he said, his voice angry and near tears. “You promised me that you would never give up on me!”

And then he finally met her eyes, and Sunny could see so much pain, so much hurt, that she didn’t even know it was possible to hurt so much. She heard it in his voice, saw it in his face, and she knew without a doubt that nothing about this was fake, every bit of jagged, twisted hurt was real, and it was tormenting him in ways she couldn’t even begin to imagine.

Then the sobs came, making his shoulders shake as tears rolled down his cheeks. “You promised you wouldn’t give up on me,” Sprout said in a broken voice. “And you did.”

There was silence except for the blowing wind and Sprout’s quiet cries.

“I ran away from Maretime Bay because… because I was with you, on all of our adventures, Sunny. I was there when we met Flurry Heart, I was there when the Legion of Doom put that spell on you, I was there when we tore apart Equestria to find you, I was there, in the Crystal Empire, when you saved us from Chrysalis and Tirek and Cozy Glow. I remember all the other creatures, I remember Candy Floss and Permafrost and Sour Lavender and the memory stone, I remember King Sombra, and I remember getting caught by the Legion of Doom in that swamp and having all of our magic stolen, and then Permafrost gave me a choice. He told me that he would set all of you free if you forgot about me, and I said yes, because it was worth it if you were free. I didn’t care about anything more in the whole world! And then… I couldn’t go back… I couldn’t face you all again. So I ran away, and I asked Midge to pretend to be me until… until I figured out a way to fix it.” The tears were coming more heavily now, and Sprout angrily wiped his hoof across his face. “So there’s the whole story. I hope you’re happy.”

He turned away and took a few steps before he sat down, his shoulders still shaking with silent sobs.

“Sprout… I’m so-”

“Don’t.”

“What?”

“Don’t say you’re sorry. It doesn’t matter.”

Sunny took a deep breath. When Sprout had first started talking, she had thought the whole idea was crazy. But as he kept on going, she started to get a headache, as if her memories were being ripped apart and restitched back together again. She got random flashes of things she didn’t remember, but she knew that what he was saying was true.

“I believe you.”

He didn’t turn around to face her, but his sobbing gradually ceased, and Sunny took that as a good sign.

“Look. I don’t know how we might fix this, but I know that there has to be a way, and as soon as we get out of here, we’re going to find it-”

“Don’t you get it, Sunny?” He did turn to face her now, and the look on his face was one of complete defeat. “There is no way out of here, this is it.” He turned away again, his voice catching.

“Just give up.”

Sunny felt her heart slowly breaking, but something in her hardened into a kind of resolve that filled her with strength and courage. She would not allow this to happen. She would not stand by while her friends are destroyed when she could do something to help them. She would not lose the ponies she cared about more than anything in the world. So help her, she would keep fighting until her dying breath, because she could not think of anything worth fighting for more.

“No. Not yet.” Sunny took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Her heart began to beat faster as something new yet familiar raced through her blood. “Not today.”

Sunny spread her wings as a golden light shone around her, feeling the magic tingle on her skin as she finally accepted it. The wind and shadows seemed to shrink away from her, hiding from the brilliant light, but it wasn’t good enough for her.

Sprout felt something change; he felt a kind of warmth enter himself that he hadn’t felt since he got captured, he saw the golden glow that began to fill up his vision, and he knew instantly where it came from.

“Sunny?” His eyes widened.

Sunny was standing almost peacefully, her eyes shut and her expression calm, her wings spread and horn alight, her mane rippling and waving and glowing with ethereal light, little swirls of magic dancing around her and pushing the darkness away.

The shadows seemed to hiss and back off, like they were afraid.

Sunny took one last deep breath, lit up her horn with a blinding golden light, and launched herself upwards.
> Rise
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle felt the world grow still around her. Her mind could barely process what had just happened. She could hear her friends around her, could hear their shouts of disbelief and panic and denial, but she couldn’t say anything herself.

Not a moment before, Sunny Starscoud had been standing in front of her, the look in her eyes determined as she gave herself up to protect everyone else. There was something so familiar about her that it unnerved Twilight, but some instinct made her want to protect Sunny, to keep her safe.

And letting her get dragged, suddenly and without warning, into a shadow wolf that was bent on destroying Equestria was not keeping her safe.

The shadow wolf lifted its slender snout and unleashed a chilling high-pitched howl that sent shivers down Twilight’s spine and through her wings. The howl brought her back to reality. Twilight shook her head, clearing away the fog, and angrily lit her horn, erratic pink light dancing up and down her horn as she took a step forward and glared at the wolf.

“Let her go,” she snarled at the wolf, “or else!”

The wolf said nothing. It turned and began to walk away.

Twilight unleashed an unearthly roar and lashed out at it, channeling so much power into her magic that she was pushed backwards from the force of the blast.

The wolf barely stumbled. It turned its head to look at her, its expression unreadable, but Twilight could detect a hint of annoyance in its voice when it said, Do not test us, Twilight Sparkle. We know how to defeat you. Do not press us.

“Give her BACK!” Rainbow Dash launched herself at the wolf, trying to punch its snout in, but whenever she made contact with it, her hoof only passed right through as if it were made of air.

One of the wolf’s ears twitched. Another, smaller shadow wolf leaped off of one of the roofs of one of the houses in Ponyville and pounced on top of Rainbow Dash, pinning her to the ground.

“Rainbow!” Applejack pulled her lasso out and raced toward her friend. She threw it around the neck of the wolf on top of Rainbow Dash. She tightened the rope and tugged with all her might, but the wolf didn’t budge. Another wolf suddenly came up behind Applejack and easily swatted her to the side with its paw. Her lasso snapped, and she was left holding a useless piece of rope in her mouth.

Fluttershy leaped into the air and soared over to help Applejack to her hooves, while Rarity used her magic to levitate Pinkie Pie into the air. Pinkie Pie, who was suddenly holding a bazooka, flew toward the wolf holding down Rainbow Dash and unleashed a blast of confetti, streamers, and cupcakes at it, but Rarity carried her safely out of harm’s way when another wolf tried to grab her. But there were hundreds of wolves, and two of them forged a shadowy rope between them and tripped Rarity so that she lost concentration. Her magic winked out, and Pinkie Pie suddenly plummeted to the ground, crying out in surprise.

“No!” Twilight screamed, running forward, but three wolves stood in her path, blocking her way. Twilight took a few steps back and turned to look at the largest wolf, the leader, who was standing a little ways off to the side, watching everything with an air of mild amusement.

“You said that you would let us go,” she said, her voice close to tears. All of her friends were at the mercy of the shadow wolves, and she knew that they could easily disappear just as suddenly as Sunny had. Twilight didn’t know what to do, but she knew that she had to protect her friends, if nothing else. “You said that if you got Sunny, you would let us go!”

True, the wolf admitted. But you and your friends have been… very annoying. Probably best to deal with you now.

Twilight’s eyes widened.

The wolf flicked its tail ever so slightly. Get them.

“NO!” Twilight screamed.

Suddenly, the wolf stopped. One of its ears twitched. It took a few steps back, shaking its head as if a bug had flown into its ear. Its back arched, and it made a face like it was about to sneeze.

And then a glowing golden light burst out of the wolf and soared up towards the sun.





Sunny Starscout felt the wind on her face, ripping through her mane, as she shot up into the sky, and she let a small smile spread across her face. She hadn’t flown like this in so long, and it felt like pure freedom - exhilarating, intoxicating freedom.

She felt the warm sun on her face, and her eyes opened.

The wide-open sky greeted her like an old friend - a friend she had long missed. The sun was glowing brilliantly amongst fluffy white clouds, and Sunny could have stayed in that moment forever.

But instead she gently tipped back and free-fell back towards the ground.

As she fell, her golden horn blazed to life with rainbow light, and a wave of magic flickered into existence before her as she neared the shadow wolf that had imprisoned Sprout. The wolf was looking up at her with its white eyes as it tried one last time to enslave her as it had to all of her friends.

But she was stronger than it was. It fed on anger, on hatred, on guilt and shame. It was a shadow, born from the depths of the darkest night, and all it would ever know was darkness. But Sunny was born from the last beams of light that fought their way over the horizon as the sun set, of the first rays of light that shone into the sky at dawn. She was born into a world of darkness, but she was the light that shone even in the darkest of times. She knew friendship, and hope, and faith. And she knew things that were worth fighting for.

Sunny screamed and unleashed a blast of magic at the wolf, sending up a cloud of dust and a shockwave that knocked all of the wolves down.

When the dust cleared, Sunny and the wolf were facing each other off, palpable tension between them as they stared each other down. The wolf had lost some of its stoicness, its ears pushed back, its lips pulled back to reveal its sharp, gleaming teeth, which were bared in a snarl. Sunny, on the other hoof, was standing with a kind of regal tranquility and strength, radiating a kind of authority and power that made all the other wolves nervous.

You cannot win, the wolf said, glaring at Sunny.

She raised an eyebrow. “Funny,” she said lightly. “Because I noticed that is what every single villain says right before they’re about to be defeated.”

A low, threatening growl rumbled in the wolf’s throat. You cannot fight us, it said. You may be strong enough to overpower one of us, but you cannot overpower all of us. We are the shadows that lurk in the places where the sunlight cannot reach. We have existed for time immemorial. We will always return, and you will never be able to stop us.

Sunny’s horn blazed with light. “Let’s test that theory,” she said before unleashing a magical beam so intense and so bright that it scorched the sun and made the brightest crystal on Twilight’s castle look duller than sand. The wolf was completely enveloped in blistering golden light that was tearing away at its very being - it could feel itself slipping away, could feel its power draining, and, worst of all, knew that it was powerless to stop it.

Then, just as suddenly as it had started, the magic fizzled out. The wolf stumbled and nearly fell, but caught itself. It glared at Sunny with such ferocity that it could have been shooting laser beams from its eyes.

Pathetic pony, it hissed. You cannot destroy the shadows!

The other wolves were gathering closely around them, forming a complete circle of shifting darkness and shadows. They were yipping and howling and crying out to their leader, and for the first time the wolves knew what fear felt like. But Sunny was not deterred. Breathing heavily, she stared right into the wolf’s eyes to show that she was not afraid, that she was strong. But really, she was looking past the wolf, to where she knew a pony was trapped.

Give me my friend back.

The wolf bared its teeth and growled at her, waves of fear rippling through the air, and Sunny fought to maintain control. She would not be afraid, would not be afraid. Her friends were counting on her. She would not let them down.

Sunny’s horn glowed, and she let loose a heart-wrenching cry, shooting a concentrated beam of light at the shadow wolf, straight into its chest, and she pulled.

The wolf howled and thrashed, its body decomposing and losing its form. Random tendrils of shadows launched out in every direction, landing on anything they could find in a desperate attempt to find another host, to maintain its powerful form, to not fall to this little pony and her magic tricks. The other wolves were growling and barking at Sunny, but they didn’t dare to step close to her. Golden magic swirled around her, and whenever one of the wolves got close, it would leap back, whimpering, as if it were burned. Sunny felt beads of sweat trickling down her forehead, could feel her magic waning, but she wouldn’t give up. She gritted her teeth and dug her hooves into the ground and tugged harder, not willing to let go.

And then, finally, the largest shadow wolf of all was pulled away in formless shadows, which scattered into the air and disappeared from sight. All that was left was a single pony, standing where the wolf once had been, his eyes shut tight.

Sprout gasped and opened his eyes, looking around wildly, trying to figure out where he was, when his eyes landed on Sunny. The two of them stood there in silence, simply looking at each other, and suddenly they were right in front of each other, even though neither of them could ever remember moving.

“Sunny…”

And then she was hugging him, and he was hugging her, and at that moment all of the feelings he had hidden and suppressed within himself for so long came pouring out in a torrential tidal wave, and tears were pouring down his face, and he was shaking, but he felt so light in that moment, like the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders, and he could finally breathe again after so many months of being suffocated.

The wolves, who were unable to be in the presence of something so good and pure as love and friendship, and who were angry beyond words at Sunny for disposing of their indestructible leader, unleashed a cacophony of howls and barks and furious snarls as they began to move closer, their eyes narrowed, pulsing with evil power, intent on destruction.

Sunny stepped in front of Sprout and spread her wings protectively, brilliant rainbow light dancing up and down her horn, but the wolves were beyond the point of caution or fear. They were wrapped up in the kind of anger that makes one feel invincible - or, at the very least, that the one thing they are about to do is worth the cost of their own lives. Dozens upon hundreds of wolves snarled at Sunny, and she knew that she couldn’t fight all of them. Not when she knew that there were ponies trapped inside - ponies that she had to help.

Ponies that could be her friends.

“Sprout?”

“Yeah?”

“I want you to get out of here. Stay back, no matter what happens.” Sunny planted her hooves firmly in the ground, her eyes narrowing. “This is gonna be dangerous.”

She leaped into the air, pushing off from the ground just as the first wolves began to charge.
> All That Is Good
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Wait! Stop!”

Comet suddenly slammed on the breaks, the Marestream shuddering to a halt, and Misty nearly flew into the windshield. She stumbled and nearly fell.

“What? What?”

“Down…” Misty winced, rubbing her head, the buzzing noise now a blinding humming pain. “Down there. I think. I think it’s down there…”

Comet brought the Marestream down so suddenly that both ponies went weightless for a moment before he corrected himself, once again bringing them to a screeching halt.

“Sorry!”

Misty wobbled on unsteady hooves. “It’s… it’s okay,” she muttered. “It’s okay, Comet, no harm done.” She gently massaged her forehead with her hoof. Well. No major harm, anyway. She was beginning to have second thoughts about this while finding-things spell. She decided that she would never use it again unless she really, really needed to find something.

And, unfortunately, this constituted as something she really, really needed to find.

Comet brought the Marestream down more slowly, and he found a place to park it amongst the dense trees that completely obscured anything hidden below. They were farther to the south than Misty had ever been in her life, south and a little to the east of Bridlewood. She had no idea what was lurking in this part of Equestria, but apparently the Elements of Harmony were there somewhere. And she needed to find them.

“Stay here and guard the Marestream,” Misty told Comet as the door slid to one side and opened.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?” Comet asked, stepping out of the cockpit and taking a few steps toward Misty as she trotted out of the Marestream. He stumbled a little and nearly tripped again, but managed to catch himself.

“Very,” Misty said seriously. “I don’t know what I’m going to find, Comet, but I’m afraid it’s going to be dangerous. If I don’t come back, then get out of here as fast as you can. I don’t want to put you in any danger.”

Comet swallowed. “Yep, got it,” he said nervously.

Misty nodded and stepped off into the trees.

Her horn continued to pull her in the direction it wanted her to go, and Misty found her hooves quickening as she went. She could feel excitement and fear mixing together to create adrenaline in her blood. Her head pounded as the spell kept directing her through the twisted trees to her final destination.

Which turned out to be very underwhelming.

There was a small clearing ahead, with the smoldering remains of a campfire in the center and a small patch of flattened, dead grass off to one side. A few of the trees had scorch marks on them, and if Misty looked at them closely enough, they vaguely resembled a pony face, but they were like no ponies she had ever seen. They looked like a cross between a pony and some evil, ancient, fossilized bug.

The ringing in her ears was getting unbearable, and Misty started scanning her surroundings for anywhere that might house the Elements of Harmony.

“What are you doing here?”

Misty gasped and spun around to see a tall, thin figure stepping out from the trees, her tall, crooked horn alight with a sickly green light that looked unnatural and evil. Her eyes were narrowed into thin, menacing slits that positively glowed with malice. Everything about her was wrong, incomplete, messy. And yet, while her appearance could have almost been comical, there was nothing funny about the way she stared Misty down, as if she was contemplating the most messy way to dispose of her.

“I…. uh, I… um…”

“I said,” the creature hissed menacingly, “what are you doing here?”

“I was - I w-was…”

The creature suddenly leaped forward until she was right in front of Misty, towering over her. The glowing green light of her horn reflected in Misty’s wide, terrified eyes. “What do you want?” she snapped. “Speak quickly before I obliterate you.”

For the first time, Misty saw that the creature was wearing a saddlebag with the faintest corner of something golden poking out. The buzzing in her head increased into a high-pitched whine, and Misty pointed desperately at what she hoped were the Elements of Harmony and said, “That! I’m looking for that!”

She threw herself on the ground and covered her head with her hooves. “Please don’t hurt me,” she whimpered.

Nothing happened.

Misty opened one eye to see that the massive creature was no longer towering over her with evil intent in her eyes. Instead, there was a strange look on her face - one that looked like regret, almost, or even concern.

The creature lowered her head and looked Misty in the eye. “Who are you,” she said in a soft voice that still carried a bit of menace, “and how did you get here?”

“I… I…” Misty stammered, close to tears. She shut her eyes and blurted out, “My name is Misty Brightdawn and I’m looking for the Elements of Harmony because my best friend Sunny Starscout told me to find them because these shadow wolves came in the night and kidnapped our friends and this might be the only chance we have to stop them, so I hurried back home as quickly as possible and found a magic spell that would lead me to where they were and then my friend Comet and I have been flying around in the Marestream trying to find them and I just want to help my friends before all of Equestria is consumed in darkness and it’s all my fault!” She clamped her hooves over her mouth and waited for something - anything - to happen.

“Sunny Starscout…” the creature whispered. She took a step back, a look entering her eyes that Misty couldn’t interpret. It looked like regret and anger and confusion all at once. Her gaze snapped back to Misty’s with a kind of new intensity. “You know Sunny Starscout.”

It was less of a question than a statement, but Misty dragged herself back onto her hooves and nodded. “She’s my friend. One of my best friends. She… she believed in me, even when I… I did… awful things…” She swallowed. “Sunny gave me everything. I need to find some way to help her like she helped me. And all of my friends.”

The creature shook her head, an almost incredulous look on her face. “Why would you do that?” she asked. “What if… what if they’re wrong?”

The question was like a slap to the face, and Misty was stunned into silence for a moment. She had been wondering the exact same thing, she had been thinking about that even when she still lived with Opaline. What if Opaline was right, and Sunny and her friends really were wrong? Or what if they were lying? What if she would never find a place with them, and the only thing she could do was go back to Opaline and bow her head when she yelled and do what she was told, because that was the truth, that was reality, and she needed to accept it?

When they had stopped Opaline, Misty had allowed herself to believe that Opaline was wrong, and that her friends were right, and that she had a place with them. That they cared about her and maybe even loved her. Zipp and Pipp especially… she had started to feel like they were family.

But then came the letter. Misty had followed Izzy around all morning as Sparky coughed up scroll after scroll after scroll, waiting for one that would be missed, and finally she managed to get her hooves on one and opened it and read it, and as soon as she had her heart plummeted. All of the names and meanings of certain words were alien to her, but one thing was clear: her friends were still keeping secrets from her, really big secrets that they surely would have told anypony trustworthy. And the thoughts had begun to creep back into her mind, the doubts had come back stronger, and she didn’t know if all of the feelings she had felt had been real, or not.

She had to make a choice. A choice for what to believe. She couldn’t keep just stumbling around in a daze, unsure, her own mind at war with herself.

“I’d rather have them be right.” Misty looked the creature right in the eyes. Strangely, she didn’t feel scared anymore. “I’d rather believe that they’re right and live that way than spend my whole life running away from ponies who really care about me. If they’re wrong, and friendship doesn’t last, or if they’re not really my friends, then fine, but I’ll deal with it then. Right now, they are my friends. They’re my family. They’re my whole world, all the good that is left in the world. And right now, they need me. And I’m not going to let them down.”

There was a brief pause, and then the creature spoke.

“You cannot choose what is true and what is not, little pony.”

“Maybe,” Misty said softly. “But I can choose what I’m going to do about it. And if something should be true and it’s not, then I can choose to make it true.” Feeling emboldened, she stepped forward and lifted her chin slightly. “Evil isn’t the only power at work in the world.”

The look in the creature’s eyes intensified, and she suddenly backed away, turning towards the trees that pressed in on all sides before she began to walk into the forest’s embrace. The whining sound in Misty’s head grew stronger as her prize disappeared into the trees, and she felt her legs go weak as the splitting pain erupted in her mind. She collapsed, her knees giving out, and she felt tears pricking at the corners of her eyes-

Something was thrown to the ground at Misty’s hooves. Her eyes snapped open, and she gasped; the obnoxious humming and buzzing sound had evaporated. Finally able to think clearly, almost relishing in the peace that stole over her and carried her worries away, Misty looked down, barely able to comprehend what she was seeing.

A brown sack was sitting on the ground, and inside was the faint glimmer of shimmering gold.

Misty stood up and eagerly dug inside, pulling out a golden crown with a lavender five-pointed star in the center, surrounded by golden loops and arches. She held it in her hooves reverently, and as she did so, as she gazed into the depths of that purple gem, memories of Sunny flashed before her eyes, and a warmth kindled in her heart and spread from her hooves to the tip of her horn.

She looked up, and the creature was standing just inside the shadows of the trees, and for the first time, she looked as if she belonged there. The green in her eyes and in her wings and her mane looked natural, like it fit, instead of standing out in that awful way like they used to. The look on her face was sad now, the kind of sadness that Misty had glimpsed only once before: with Opaline. It was the kind of sadness that had existed, weighing down as a burden, for centuries longer than it should have. But there was also a glimmer there of something new.

Hope.

“Take them, little pony,” the creature said. “Go help your friends. Rid the world of this evil.”

She turned to leave again.

“Wait!” Misty cried, reaching out. “What’s your name?”

The creature stopped. Then, without turning her head, she said quietly, “They called me Chrysalis. I was a queen once. Now… I don’t know who I am.”

There was a shimmer that briefly rippled across her wings, and a column of light abruptly appeared, surrounding the creature. When it disappeared, she had vanished.





Comet was sitting at the wheel of the Marestream, his head propped up against his hoof, bored out of his mind. He wanted, more than anything, to chase after Misty, to see if she was okay, to help if he could. He wanted to be helpful. But he was so clumsy… Sometimes he was the opposite of helping.

That was one of the reasons he had wanted to leave Starlight Ridge. Without ever saying it, he knew that the other Auroracorns were growing tired of his constant slipping and sliding and dropping everything. He couldn’t even walk, for stars’ sake, without falling head over hooves! He didn’t belong there. He never had.

And so he had spent his Starshine Time reading, which none of the Auroracorns understood, either. He read all the books and scrolls and ancient texts that they had. There weren’t many of them, so he had memorized all the ones that they had. They told of a far away place, a city made of crystals, and a big palace in the center, and a magical heart that kept them safe. They told of a Crystal Princess who would ride out with a shining crystal sword to defeat the shadows and keep light in the world.

Until one day a storm came that even the Crystal Princess couldn’t fight back. The city began to freeze, and the Princess ordered everypony to leave. She stayed behind, but sent her subjects onward. They boarded a train and were fleeing the icy wind and snow when the train derailed, and then crashed. The ponies were at the mercy of the elements. But somehow, they found a place where the snow and wind had stopped. The stars shone bright in the sky. There were crystals everywhere, and whenever the ponies touched them, they were safe. The cold wouldn’t bother them. The storm would never enter that place. So the ponies settled down and built a town there.

That was the legend of how Starlight Ridge was formed. Comet had always wondered what it would be like to go back to the old crystal city, to see what it was like. To see if the Crystal Princess was still there. But he had never been brave enough.

Until six ponies had stumbled into Starlight Ridge, from another world, and Comet had wasted no time in joining them when they returned.

One of those ponies was now walking towards him out of the forest.

Comet gasped, sitting up so fast he almost knocked his glasses off his face. “Misty!”

He dashed out the door and skidded to a halt in front of her, overwhelmed with joy to see her back safely, but he instantly noticed that there was something wrong. Her expression was too heavy. “Misty? Is… is everything okay?”

Misty nodded. She was holding a brown leather sack, and she held it out to him now.

“We got what we came here for,” she said. “Come on. Our friends need our help.”
> What Lies in the Shadows
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Several shadow wolves crashed into each other, their forms melting where they made contact, but they quickly reformed and glared up at Sunny, who hovered over them like a golden star.

Sunny screamed, lit up her horn with a blaze of rainbow radiance, and launched another beam of light at another wolf. She flapped her wings desperately, pulling as hard as she could, until finally the wolf was forced to give up and release the pony it held captive inside.

Another pony floated to the ground, finally free, amongst golden light. It was a pony that Sunny had never seen before, but that didn’t matter.

The only thing that mattered was getting them all free.

Adrenaline coursed through her veins, elation giving her strength, and Sunny dove past two wolves as they tried to pounce on her and swung around behind one of the many houses in Ponyville. The second pony had been much easier to pull out. Maybe the wolf wasn’t holding on as tightly as Sprout’s had.

Or maybe Sunny was just getting more powerful.

As she swooped back around to free more ponies, Sprout watched her from below, his wide eyes following Sunny’s progress, and all he felt was awe and wonder at this amazing pony and all she stood for. But out of the corner of his eye, he caught more than a few wolves sneaking away from the fight, to where a group of ponies was helping each other up, trying to figure out what to do.

And all of them looked familiar somehow…

But Sprout had no time to think about it, because at least eight wolves were creeping towards them, and they had no idea.

“Look out!” he shouted, running towards them, and one of them, an orange earth pony wearing a hat, looked up at him, and then she saw the wolves, and she was pointing, and her friends saw them, and the purple one leaped forward and spread her wings and lit her horn with a dazzling magenta pink, casting a shield over them just as the first wolf pounced. It struck the shield with such force that it began to crack, and all six ponies inside flinched with terror and crowded together at the center.

Sprout knew that they weren’t going to last, and that he had to do something. So skidding to a halt, he slammed his front hoof into the ground, pouring all of his desperation and fear and panic and happiness and joy into it, sending it flying through the earth to directly where the wolves were standing. And as he dug into the ground with all of his magic, he felt something else there, something powerful, something that was joining with him, something that was helping him.

When the vines burst out of the ground, they twisted into the sky, and half of them were made of crystal.

All of the shadow wolves were immediately caught in the coils and branches and whisked high into the sky, where they squirmed and fought but couldn’t get free.

Sunny stopped and looked over, sensing that something had happened, and saw eight wolves suspended in midair by magical vines and branches, and she didn’t have to think long to guess what had happened. She zoomed over there as fast as she could, her horn alight like fire, blasting all of the wolves in their turn.

They immediately collapsed into shadow with howls of despair, and the ponies they had enslaved were brought back down to earth by the same vines that had held their captors tight before the vines disappeared back into the earth as if they had never been there.

There was a lot of gaping. A lot. Sprout could feel the eyes of all six of the ponies he thought looked familiar on him, and gradually all the other ponies they’d rescued, after looking around in a daze, realized that he was a stranger, and were staring at him as well. In fact, it wasn’t just ponies; there were other creatures as well. Sprout could feel his cheeks growing hot, and he wished that his magic could teleport him out of there instead of just growing plants.

A shadow suddenly towered over him, and he spun around to see two shadow wolves rearing over him, their eyes locked onto his, and the edges of his vision began to grow fuzzy as his mind slowed and their dark magic began to do its work again, and he could feel his legs growing weak, and all he wanted to do was give up-

A flash of gold out of the corner of his eye: Sunny, glowing brighter than the sun, flying faster than he would have thought possible around the massive group of wolves that had gathered in the center of Ponyville. She ducked and swerved under talons and tails, occasionally finding an opening to free another pony or creature and scatter the wolf’s presence.

One of the wolves snarled at Sprout, rearing back as if to pounce, and he yelped, coming back to his senses long enough to dive out of the way-

Brilliant pink flashed through the air, and the wolf howled in pain and scampered back a few steps. The purple alicorn was hovering in front of both wolves, her horn alight with a ferocious glow as she lashed a long whip of light around one wolf’s leg and dragged it behind her, knocking it off balance.

Sprout scrambled to his hooves and hurried around the back of a house, gasping for breath, and trying to calm his racing, panicking heart. A few moments later, the purple alicorn joined him, her mane in complete disarray, her horn still sparking sporadically with her mounted emotions.

“I can’t fight them off for very long!” she told Sprout between gasps, just as exhausted as he was. “I don’t know how Sunny’s doing it-” Her eyes widened, and she conjured up a brilliant pink bubble of magic around them as a wolf suddenly pounced on them. It hit the shield with a thud that shook the ground, and bright white cracks appeared on the surface. The alicorn stumbled but didn’t falter; if anything, a new determination entered her eyes, and she planted her hooves in the ground.

Turning to Sprout, she asked, “Did you make those vines grow? All by yourself?”

“I… don’t know?” He looked down at his hooves. “I mean, I did, but I think there was something else helping me - I’ve never made anything crystal-y before-”

Another pounce; another earth-shattering shake. The alicorn really was straining now, and Sprout wished that there was something he could do to help her.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” she murmured, deep in thought despite the chaos that surrounded them. “How long-”

The wolf lifted its paw and swiped at the shield, jagged claws sprouting out as it did so, and their protection exploded around them in a burst of magenta-colored shards. The wolf’s paw slammed into the ground between the two ponies, and they both ran in opposite directions.





Twilight spread her wings and took off into the air, soaring high over the houses of Ponyville, looking for her friends, looking for Sunny, looking to see how the fight was going. Amazingly, incredibly, impossibly, Sunny was still airborne, her golden wings and horn flashing in the brilliant light that seemed to come from the pony herself. She was positively glowing, glowing with power and radiance and determination.

Twilight had never seen anything like it before, certainly not like this, coming from an earth pony who, on the surface, seemed completely ordinary upon first glance. But Twilight had always suspected that there was something special about Sunny, from the moment she first saw her, and this was probably why.

But she had no time to wonder about how Sunny could turn into an alicorn, or how the red stallion she had first freed could make plants grow at will, or where the two of them had come from - instead, she needed to focus on the battle. And she could see that, already, Sunny was tiring, and she would need help.

Twilight finally located her friends; they were helping all of the ponies and creatures that had been freed from the shadow wolves into her castle. Rainbow Dash was hovering over the door, assessing the fight just like Twilight was. Their gazes met, and Twilight jerked her head, indicating that she needed Rainbow Dash to come there. She glanced down and saw the red earth pony running away from the shadow wolves, aiming for another house to hide behind. She swooped down to follow him, and the three ponies met in an alley between two houses.

“Who is that?” Rainbow Dash hissed under her breath, and Twilight shrugged and shook her head.

“Not important right now. Look,” she said, addressing the mystery pony, “can you make more of those vines appear?”

The pony looked down at his hooves almost doubtfully but nodded. “Yeah. I think so.”

“Great.” Twilight turned to the pegasus who hovered at her side. “Just follow me and do what I do,” she said before soaring out of the alley. Most of the wolves were consumed with fighting Sunny (and losing drastically), but a few were still slinking around, looking for other victims. Twilight soared over their heads, just out of reach, and yelled, “Hey! Over here!”

Five wolves simultaneously looked up and locked gazes on her. Twilight tried to fight down the panic that rose within her when she looked into their unnerving eyes and darted a little closer.

“Come and get me!” she called behind her before swooping around in a loop and flying in the other direction.

Rainbow Dash was on the opposite side of the street, taunting more wolves. She and Twilight met in the center of the street, a dozen wolves surrounding them. They prowled closer, their eyes vicious and unblinking, snarls rising in their throats. Twilight couldn’t remember a time that she felt so afraid. The wolves seemed to be all of her worst fears combined into one. She shook her head and tried to focus on her task.

The red mystery pony was peeking out from behind a house, and Twilight locked eyes with him. He looked scared, but altogether, she could tell that fighting evil creatures wasn’t something new for him. Interesting.

“Now!” she yelled, and the wolves suddenly leaped at her and Rainbow Dash, their sharp teeth just barely missing them.

The pony slammed his hoof into the ground, and a green vine curled up out of the soil, stretching higher and higher into the air. Twilight seized the end of it with her magic and dragged it after her as she flew around the wolves, wrapping the vine tightly around them so that they couldn’t move.

“Give me one!” Rainbow shouted to him, and he complied, slamming his other hoof into the ground and growing a second vine. Rainbow snatched it in her mouth and wrapped it around the wolves as well. Within moments, a dozen wolves were securely tied up with the vines, and Twilight and Rainbow landed on the ground, exhausted, and stepped back.

“Do you think that’ll hold them?” the red pony asked, trotting out to stand by them. As if in response, all the wolves started snarling and howling and snapping at the air viciously.

“Good point,” Twilight said. “Can you do anything?”

He dug his hooves into the grass, his eyes shutting and his brow furrowing with concentration. His hooves glowed green as the magic began to work, and glowing green light spread out across the ground, racing towards the wolves. More vines launched from the ground and wound themselves around the wolves, holding them even tighter. The wolves, if possible, moaned and howled louder, and now there was a note of despair in their voices.

“Neat trick,” Rainbow Dash admitted grudgingly. “Where’d you learn to do that?”

Before he could answer, Applejack ran up, calling out to them. “There’s only a few wolves left,” she gasped, sweaty and out of breath. “I reckon only twenty or so, but they’re mad - like, really, really mad!”

She gestured to the center of Ponyville, where Sunny was hovering just out of reach of two dozen wolves, leaping up at her and snapping at her. They were working themselves into a frenzy, and now Sunny was doing everything she could just to stay in the air.

“Right!” Twilight turned to Applejack. “AJ, take this fellow here to the castle where he’ll be safe, and grab the rest of our friends. We’re going to help Sunny.”

“What? No!” the mystery pony cried out. “I want to help!”

“I’m sorry,” Twilight said, spreading her wings and taking to the skies. “But this could go very badly, and I want to make sure that everypony’s safe.” Rainbow Dash started flying after her, towards the swirling storm of wolves, and the bright golden star in the center that was Sunny.

Applejack turned to the mystery pony. There was something familiar about him, something she couldn’t place her hoof on.

“Come on, sugarcube,” she said gently, putting a hoof on his shoulder and trying to lead him toward the castle.

But he shook his head furiously and stepped back. “My name is Sprout,” he said, an angry edge entering his voice. “And I’m not going to leave my friend.”

“Look, sugarcube, Sprout, whatever, that’s very brave of you, but you can’t just-”

“Watch me,” he growled, and his hooves started glowing green. Applejack’s eyes widened, and she stepped back in shock and surprise as vines grew underneath him, lifting him up into the air. Sprout leaped from his tower of plants to the roof of a nearby house, and the vines disappeared into the ground as if they’d never been there.

“Sweet Celestia,” Applejack muttered to herself. She hesitated for a moment, then turned and ran off to find her friends.
> Come Out Into the Light
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sprout’s hooves slipped and slid on the straw roof beneath him as he scrambled over the peak and carefully made his way down the other side. His heart was still racing, and a single thought replayed over and over in his mind.

I have to get to Sunny. I have to help her!

He couldn’t believe that those ponies had told him to run away and hide inside some fancy castle while Sunny was out there facing an entire army of shadow wolves all on her own. After living for so long in the Everfree Forest while Sunny forgot about everything he had ever done, and living with the torturous turmoil of emotions that battled constantly, he had found some kind of peace (if it could even be called that) by accepting that he would probably never see her again.

Then the wolf had found him, cornered him. And what it had offered… what it had offered…

Sprout lost his concentration and slipped, falling from the roof and landing on the ground with a thud. He groaned and scrambled to his hooves, shaking his head to get rid of the ringing sound in his ears, and continued running after Sunny.

When Sunny had somehow, impossibly, appeared in the shadow wolf, it had hurt so much because she was so close… agonizingly close… but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t reach her. He was trapped.

But Sunny had freed him.

She never gave up on him. Not really.

And that was why he had to help her.

Sprout slid around a corner and skidded to a halt, his eyes growing wide. Sunny was on the ground now, her wings spread, her horn still blazing, defiance in her eyes, but there were still twenty wolves that were closing in around her. She launched another beam of light into another wolf and tugged, but the other wolves took the opportunity to close in on her, and she had to let go. Sunny cast a golden shield over herself that blocked the wolves’ swipes, but her magic was slowly growing tired, and Sprout knew that she didn’t have long. His heart beat faster as he looked around for some way he could help.

Sunny looked up, and for a brief moment their eyes met. Then Sunny spotted something behind him, and her eyes widened.

Sprout! Behind you!

The words suddenly appeared in his mind, and for a moment, he wondered if she remembered the mind link, and that they could communicate telepathically, or if she merely thought it, and accidentally shot the message to him. Then he realized what she had said, and his heart plummeted as he spun around just in time to see a wolf snatch him up in its paw.

Icy cold shot through his body, and he lost all feeling in his hooves instantly. Even so, he struggled as hard as he could, but the wolf had a grip as tight as steel. It lifted him up so that they were eye-level, and Sprout could feel the same power that had ensured him before chipping away at his resolve… But he gritted his teeth and shut his eyes and looked away, refusing to let himself fall into that trap once more.

The wolf snarled at him, So weak. So pathetic. You were better off with us, little pony. You could have had so… much… power…

At the word ‘power’, Sprout’s eyes snapped open, and he glared at the wolf with such ferocity that it looked nervous. He stared right into the wolf’s bright, glowing, unfeeling eyes, and he didn’t lose himself.

Sunny.

The alicorn stumbled and was just barely able to duck beneath a wolf’s paw and cast a shield over herself. Her eyes were wide, and she forced herself to take deep breaths.

Because she just heard another voice in her head.

“Sprout?” she whispered to herself. Then, she thought, Sprout, is that you?

Yeah, was his sheepish reply. His voice was crystal-clear, like he was standing right next to her. Sunny felt something familiar at the feeling of his presence in her mind. Look, I know you’re super busy right now, but I could maybe use some help…

Sunny scanned the battlefield until she found him, and he felt her shock and panic in his head. Oh, stars…

She looked around frantically for a way out, but the wolves were closing in on all sides, their snarling faces filling her vision. She did away with her shield and spread her wings launching into the sky again, but the wolves were waiting for that, and they were ready.

A massive black paw came out of nowhere and slammed into her, sending her flying through the air until she crashed into the ground - far, far away from where her friend needed her help.

“Sunny!” Sprout cried out, and anger filled his veins, giving him new strength, and he fought against the wolf that held him with all his might.

Do not waste your energy, the wolf told him, its voice dripping with malice. You will be nothing more than a puppet as we destroy Equestria - just like your friend. There is nothing you can do to stop us. We will always be victorious over you-

“I… don’t… think so!” Sprout screamed, pushing away with all that he had.

Suddenly an apple came flying through the air and hit the wolf square in the face. It stumbled back a step and shook its head, trying to figure out what had happened, and its grip on Sprout loosened just enough for him to drop to the ground. He scrambled out of the way as the wolf growled in anger and tried to pounce on him again. Sprout dashed between the wolf’s legs and ran toward Applejack, who was standing next to a bucket of apples with another one in her hoof.

“I told ya to get out of danger,” she barked at Sprout before tossing the apple into the air and aiming a kick at it that sent it sailing towards its target.

“Sorry,” he gasped. “But… thanks for saving me.”

She flashed him a brief smirk. “What are friends for?”

“Yeah… Oh my stars, Sunny!” He whirled around, looking for her, an icy feeling in his chest telling him that he was already too late. “Sunny!”





Sunny lay on the ground, the wind knocked out of her, her mind still reeling at the fact that Sprout spoke to her in her head, and that she heard him perfectly clear, and that she had spoken back. She wished she could remember when that had started. Little pieces of memories were floating around in her mind, but they refused to come together to form anything at all.

Gasping for air, Sunny pushed herself up halfway and looked over her shoulder to see all twenty wolves she had been fighting prowling towards her. She tried to get to her hooves to fight them off, but all her energy seemed to have drained out of her. She couldn’t even stand.

Sunny’s head thumped against the ground, and she sighed, letting her eyes shut as the weariness took over-

A blazing pink light appeared, and Sunny’s eyes snapped open again to see Twilight Sparkle standing over her with her horn lit. And arrayed behind her were Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy, all glaring at the wolves. Twilight stepped forward as if daring the wolves to come any closer.

It was a wonderful sight, which lifted Sunny’s spirits, but she didn’t see how that was going to change anything. There were still way too many wolves to fight.

Three of them charged suddenly, and with a yell, Twilight’s horn shone brighter, and a glowing pink shield appeared between them. The wolves slammed into it, sending cracks throughout, but the fire in Twilight’s eyes was making it stand strong.

“Are you okay, Sunny?” Fluttershy asked, offering Sunny a hoof and pulling her up.

“I’m-” Sunny took a wobbling step and almost lost her balance, but managed to find it again. “-fine.”

“I could - ah - use some help - here!” Twilight called through gritted teeth. Rarity immediately ran up to her and lit up her own horn, bright blue joining the pink. The shield restrengthened, but more wolves were throwing themselves against it, and Sunny knew that it wouldn’t last long. The other three ponies were all looking at Sunny, as if expecting her to be able to help. But she doubted she had enough magic to lift a feather, and, sure enough, her wings and horn were slowly fading away.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice close to tears. “I… I failed. All of you… and everypony else…”

“Bring the shield down!” yelled a voice, and Applejack ran into their midst, a bucket full of apples on her back, and she set it down and picked one up just as Twilight and Rarity’s combined magic failed and the shield burst into a thousand pieces. Applejack launched the apple at the nearest wolf, sending it stumbling back, shaking its head.

“Everypony, help Applejack!” Twilight commanded them. But she ran right past her friends as they grabbed as many apples as they could hold and started chucking them at all the wolves they could hit. It wasn’t much, but it kept them back.

For now.

“Take THAT! And THAT!” Rainbow Dash yelled, apples flying left and right. Fluttershy hovered beside her, throwing as hard as she could.

Pinkie Pie dropped a load of apples into her party cannon (which appeared out of nowhere) and set it off, letting loose a burst of apples, confetti, and streamers. “Whoo!” she cried, elated. “AJ, give me some more!”

“Sunny,” Twilight said in an urgent voice, putting her hooves on Sunny’s shoulders and forcing her to look into her eyes. “Sunny, look at me.”

Sunny did finally look up, with tears in her eyes that were beginning to roll down her cheeks and a look of hurt so powerful and strong that it made Twilight’s heart ache. Again, she wondered about this pony - what she had seen, what she had done - before she miraculously turned up in Ponyville. But there would be time to worry about that later.

“Sunny, listen to me. Are you listening?” Sunny gave a quick nod, and Twilight plowed on ahead. “Okay. You have not failed anyone. Understand? You have failed absolutely no one.”

“But I-”

“Did something that none of us could ever do! Sunny, do you know what you’ve done? We’ve spent a whole week hiding underneath a school in a magical chamber because there was nothing we could do to defeat these guys. And then you come along and defeat almost all of them by yourself! You did that! You freed over a hundred ponies and creatures from a prison so terrible that it defies explanation. You got pulled into one of those shadow wolves, and you were the first one to ever get out. You are strong, you are powerful, and you are capable of so many amazing things that ‘failure’ is never what you will be. Ever.”

Sunny swallowed and nodded. Tears were rolling freely down her face, and her lip was quivering. Her shoulders were trembling beneath Twilight’s hooves, and so the alicorn pulled the earth pony into a hug, and then Sunny really started crying, her sobs pouring out.

“This is all very sweet,” came a voice, and both Twilight and Sunny looked up to see Rarity staring at them, “and I really don’t want to ruin the moment, but we do have a bit of an actual crisis here.” She pointed over her shoulder to where Applejack was tossing the last apple - and the wolves were advancing. They stepped over the apples slowly, as if enjoying the looks of growing fear on the ponies’ faces.

Except for Applejack, who looked to her left and nodded.

Ribbons of green light shot across the ground, and suddenly the ground exploded as dozens of apple trees burst out of it and shot towards the sky, taking the wolves with them. They clinged desperately to the tops of the trees, fear suddenly written on their faces instead, and their howls split the air.

Sprout ran out from where he had been hiding behind a house and shouted, “Now, Sunny!”

Taking a deep breath, Sunny nodded at Twilight as her wings and horn flickered back into existence. Magic was running through her once again, the exhilarating feeling singing in her blood as Sunny spread her wings and took off into the sky, the sun shining brilliantly around her. She lit up her horn and summoned a blinding magic rope made of light and sent it whipping through the air, crackling like lightning, where it blasted all the shadow wolves into smithereens and vaporized their darkness, sending it scattering far and wide on the breeze.

The ponies and creatures that had been imprisoned were trapped at the top of the apple trees, but Sprout simply planted his hoof in the ground again, and all of the trees shrunk until they disappeared into the earth, leaving behind a whole lot of smashed apples and some very confused creatures.

Sunny flew jerkingly back to the ground, her exhaustion catching up with her. The moment her hooves hit the ground, her legs crumpled, and she collapsed, her wings and horn disappearing, and all that was left was a very weary earth pony.

“Sunny!” Sprout was the first one to reach her, Twilight and her friends a step behind him. “Sunny?”

Her eyes fluttered open. She looked up at the ponies surrounding her and smiled.

“Hi.”

A massive grin spread across Sprout’s face, and as soon as she stood up, he hugged her, then quickly let go, blush spreading across his face. I’m really glad you’re okay, he told her in his mind.

Sunny gave him a tired, but sincere, smile. Me, too.

“So,” Twilight said casually, looking around before locking her gaze on Sunny and Sprout, “that was fun. Now that it’s over, I think it’s time we get some questions answered.”
> Answers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The citizens of Ponyville were proving to be very resilient. In under an hour after the shadow wolves had been defeated, they were already roaming the streets, returning to their homes and resuming life as usual. Twilight had gathered them all and given them a brief explanation that left out most of the finer details. She told them that all of the shadow wolves had been defeated, and that there was nothing more to worry about. She didn’t mention the rip in the sky, only that she would talk to Celestia and Luna and Starswirl the bearded, and that they would find a way to close it. She left the rest in Starlight’s hooves as she joined her friends in the map room.

All of her friends were sitting in their respective thrones, staring at Sunny and Sprout, who both looked equally uncomfortable and nervous.

I’m not sure what we should tell them, Sunny told Sprout in her head.

Fair point. We could completely destroy the timeline of the universe, Sprout said back.

Especially with these ponies, Sunny added ruefully. Half of it we probably shouldn’t tell them, and the other half we definitely shouldn’t tell them because it’ll influence their decisions and change the future, and then we might not even exist.

But if we don’t exist, then how will we go back in time to tell them about the future so that they change their choices so that we don’t exist?

Please, stop, Sunny moaned, you’re making my head hurt just thinking about it.

The doors opened, and Twilight trotted in with Spike fluttering along behind her. Once she had settled on her throne, she took a deep breath and put her hooves on the table.

“Alright,” she said in a trying-to-be-calm voice. “If we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna do it neatly and in an orderly fashion. We’ll go around the table one at a time, ask one question, and then we’ll listen to the answer. Everypony understand?” There were nods all around the table. “Okay then. Who wants to go first?”

Five hooves shot into the air, each expression looking more desperate than the last.

Twilight sighed and rubbed her forehead with her hoof. “That really doesn’t help, guys.”

“Um, actually,” Fluttershy piped up, “I was going to say that you should go first, Twilight. You were the one who found Sunny, right?” She looked around the table; most everypony else was nodding in agreement.

“Fine.” Twilight sat up straight and rolled her shoulders back. “I’ll go first.”

She looked across the table at Sunny, and Sunny gulped nervously.

Please don’t say it, please don’t say it, please don’t say it-

“How can you turn into an alicorn?”

Sunny’s heart sank. Of course that was her first question, and it was one of the many that Sunny didn’t think she would be able to answer.

“I mean, that was what happened, right? With the glowing wings and horn and everything?”

Sunny nodded miserably. “That’s… a very long story…” She bit her lip and looked at the ground, but the room remained deathly silent, all eyes focused on her. She glanced sideways at Sprout, mentally pleading, Help me.

He just shrugged. I don’t know what a good answer would be, either.

Well, that is not helpful.

She took a deep breath. “Well, you see… we’re not exactly… from around here, and…”

“Didn’t you say you were from Manehattan?” Twilight asked, tilting her head suspiciously at Sunny.

Sunny took a deep breath. “Kiiinda?”

“Okay, back it up. Where exactly are you from?”

This is not really going well, Sprout said unhelpfully in her head.

Not. Helping!

Sunny glanced out a window. Through it, she could see the very tops of the many houses in Ponyville and the edge of the Everfree Forest, and the clear blue sky above it. And twisting through the sky…

Sunny sighed and pointed out the window. “From there.”

Everyone’s heads swiveled to look at where Sunny was pointing and then back to her, all wearing matching expressions of disbelief.

“I fell out of the rip in the sky,” Sunny said truthfully. She stared at the table, unwilling to look anyone in the eye, even though she could feel all of them staring at her. For some reason, she had the strangest urge to cry. “It’s actually some kind of portal. I swear I had no idea where it went - I didn’t even know it went anywhere. I ended up in the Castle of the Two Sisters, and that’s where you found me.” She looked up and met Twilight’s eyes, which were wide with surprise. “And you all know the rest.”

Silence. Sunny felt so nervous she thought she might throw up.

“...Okay,” Twilight said, slowly and carefully. “And… where does the portal go?”

“It… it goes to… it goes to the future.”

If Sunny thought that the first silence was heavy and oppressive, this one was worse. Each of the six ponies (and the one dragon) all looked like they wanted to shout a thousand things, but they couldn’t remember how to speak. But despite all that, Sunny felt a massive weight lift off her shoulders. Her secret was finally out; the hardest part was over. She could feel herself breathing freely for the first time since she entered this room.

“You’re… from the future?” Pinkie Pie stood up in her chair, her eyes impossibly wide. She suddenly gasped and started speaking so fast that it sent Sunny’s mind reeling. “Is there an evil villain that’s destroying your home with the evil shadow wolf things like here, and you tried to stop him only you got chased into this portal and fell into the past and have to get back through the portal because your friends are all back there and they need your help?”

Well. That was easy, Sprout told Sunny, and she almost snorted with laughter.

“Pinkie, I’m… sure that’s not it,” Twilight said weakly.

“Nope, she’s right.”

“Yeah, actually, that was a lot faster than explaining it ourselves.”

And then the shocked silence finally broke, and a thousand questions burst from everypony’s mouths, and Sunny couldn’t even understand one of them because there were so many, and everyone was talking over everyone else and it was all complete chaos-

Spike suddenly took a huge breath and let loose a torrent of green flame that roared over their heads and shocked everypony back into silence.

“Okay,” Twilight said, standing up and flapping her wings so that she hovered over her chair. “Everypony calm down-”

“Calm down? They just said they’re from the future!” Rainbow Dash burst out. Twilight sent her a glare so severe that the rainbow-maned pegasus actually shrank in her seat and shut her mouth, averting her gaze.

“Yes,” Twilight continued in a strained voice. “And we agreed to do this in an orderly fashion, remember? Now, we’re going to pick up where we left off and continue. Sunny, Sprout - if there’s anything that you… can’t tell us, then don’t tell us, and we won’t badger you for more details. Everypony understand?” Synchronized nods from the entire group. “Right. AJ, it’s your turn.” Twilight returned to her chair and nodded at the orange earth pony.

“My question’s for you.” She pointed at Sprout. “How do you make those plants grow?”

Sprout shrugged. “In the future, earth ponies have a kind of magic. I’m not really sure how it works, or why we didn’t have it before, but…” He shrugged.

Twilight looked to Rarity, who asked her question: “How were you able to defeat those shadow wolves? We’ve been trying for days and never got it to work - we even tried our whole magic-rainbows on them, and it didn’t even faze them.”

Sunny shook her head. “I’ve got no more idea than you do. All I knew was that I needed to do something, and, well, it seemed like the right thing to do.”

“But how did you get your magic?” the unicorn pressed. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“...Right. So. We… might have lost magic for a little bit?” Sunny waited until the initial exclamations died down before she continued. “Don’t worry, we got it back - my friends and I, we figured it out - and when it came back, I… it just kind of happened.” She looked around the table and saw that everyone had matching expressions of longing, but were too afraid to ask the question on their minds. Sunny sighed and closed her eyes, feeling the magic surge up inside of her and take its usual form around her. Golden light shined through her closed eyelids, and she spread her wings, feeling a faint smile come to her face at the gasps of wonder and awe. Sunny opened her eyes.

“I don’t quite understand it,” she said, looking at her golden wings. “I don’t know how it happens, or why it’s me, but… I do know that there has to be a reason for it. I just… wish I knew what it was.” She looked around. “Any more questions?”

Fluttershy timidly raised her hoof. “Can all earth ponies grow plants?”

“Yep.” Sprout nodded.

“Well, Hitch can also talk to animals-”

“Wait, Hitch can talk to animals?”

“Oh, that’s right, you wouldn’t know - yeah, my friend Hitch can grow plants and understand animals, but he’s the only one, I think.”

Pinkie Pie was next: “What’s it like in the future?”

Sunny and Sprout exchanged a look. “Um…”

“Like, are there parties every day? And streets made of chocolate and fences made of candy canes and the snow is ice cream with sprinkles and hot fudge-”

“It’s the future, Pinkie,” Twilight interrupted her, holding up a hoof to stop her, “not another dimension.”

“Aw.” Pinkie slumped in her chair, looking temporarily sad, but within a few moments she had forgotten all about it and was looking as excitable as ever.

“My turn,” Rainbow Dash huffed, in a bit of a bad mood because she had to wait until last. She turned to look at Sunny with a bit of a hard look in her rose pink eyes. “You said that you ‘lost magic’,” she said, making quotation marks around the words with her hooves. “How did that happen, and why? And how did you get it back?”

“Oh…” Sunny took a deep breath and glanced at Sprout. I think we can tell them, she said to him. Just… just as long as we keep it vague.

He gave her a slight nod. Just… maybe don’t talk about me as much?

“A… a long time ago,” Sunny began, telling the story slowly as she worked out what to say, “ponies started fighting. They split up. All three pony kinds divided and separated, so that when I was born, nopony had seen a unicorn or a pegasus in generations, but we were terrified of them. We had been told stories about how dangerous they are, but… I didn’t believe them. My dad would tell me stories every night about you guys, and how, once, all ponies had been friends, and that he hoped that, maybe one day, they could be like that again.

“Then, one day, a unicorn turned up in Maretime Bay - that’s where I’m really from, that’s what it’s called. Anyway, ponies started freaking out, but I helped her escape, and I learned that the unicorns had no magic. So Izzy and I - her name’s Izzy - decided to go to Zephyr Heights, the pegasus city, to try and figure out what happened to magic. But the pegasi had no magic either, but we learned that there were two crystals that had been separated, and we thought that if we put them back together, then magic would come back. But we had to steal the pegasus crystal, and we became friends with the two pegasus princesses, Pipp and Zipp, and then my friend Hitch turned up, and we had to run away, and then we went to Bridlewood, where the unicorns lived, to find the unicorn crystal, but when we put them together, it didn’t work, so I went back home. But then I discovered that there was a third crystal, so my friends and I were trying to put all three of them together, but then all the ponies that we’d run into were fighting, and everything fell apart… but we realized that we had to come together. And then… well, magic came back, and…” She shrugged, gesturing to her own wings. “This happened.”

There was something in Twilight’s expression that made Sunny a bit nervous, like the other alicorn knew that something wasn’t quite right about the story, or that something was missing, and she was determined to find out what it was.

“But what about dragons?” Spike asked, speaking up for the first time. “And every other creature? What happened to them?”

“They withdrew into their kingdoms,” Sprout said quietly, and all the attention was suddenly redirected to him. Sunny felt a sense of relief that no one was looking at her so intensely anymore. “And we hadn’t heard of them in generations.”

“Wow,” Pinkie Pie said softly. “The future suddenly doesn’t sound so great.”

“It’s better now,” Sprout said earnestly. He gently nudged the pony beside him. “Sunny fixed most of it.”

“Well,” Sunny grumbled, “it was great. Until Grogar showed up and started kidnapping all our friends and building a giant shadow army to take over the world-”

“Wait, who?” Rainbow Dash interrupted, standing up.

“Did you say Grogar?” Twilight added. There was a look on each of their faces - the look of recognition and terror, but at the same time, all of them were already racking their brains for any kind of solution. Sprout, on the other hoof, had a look of complete shock on his face, and Sunny remembered that she hadn’t had a chance to fill him in on all of the happenings of late, and how and why she ended up in Ancient Equestria in the first place.

“Did I forget to mention that part?” said Sunny sheepishly. “I mean, I could be totally wrong - it could be another giant blue magic ram who commands an army of shadow wolves who go around kidnapping ponies…”

“How did Grogar get into the future?” Fluttershy wondered aloud. “I thought he was defeated thousands of years ago.”

“I’m not sure,” Twilight said, quickly taking command of the situation. “But he isn’t just focused on the future. He clearly sent wolves here as well, through that rip in the sky, and there must have been a reason for that. I’m going to find out what it is.”

“But what exactly are we going to do?” Rarity asked.

Sunny looked up and found that Twilight was looking at her.

“Sunny,” she said, “you saved all of us. It’s time that we return the favor.”

As if on cue, a voice appeared in Sunny’s head.

Sunny!

It was staticky and faint, as if whoever was speaking was yelling from the other side of a canyon on a windy day, but there was no mistaking the voice. Cozy Glow?

Sunny, where are you?

That’s… kind of a long story…

You have to come back, Sunny. You have to!

Panic rose in her chest. Why? What’s wrong? What happened?

It’s Zephyr Heights. The city’s overrun. There are shadow wolves everywhere!
> Magic Circles, Part One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hugo, stop this ship!” Kailani yelled. “Wait, Imara, no-”

Imara was already diving over the railing, her wings spread and a determined look on her face as she flew as hard as she could towards the city. She snatched up a young unicorn foal who was sitting on the sidewalk, crying, as a shadow wolf stalked closer to him. Imara carried the foal up out of harm’s way and circled back to help more ponies.

“Do we have a plan?” Lukas asked nervously, wringing his hooves. “At all? What are we supposed to do?”

“I don’t know!” Flurry spread her wings and observed the scene below her. “I don’t know if there’s anything we can do-”

She stopped, her attention suddenly brought to the palace perched on the top of the mountain, to the golden towers and spires and banners blowing in the breeze. A memory came to her, and she gasped, an idea forming in her head.

“Bring everypony to the palace!” Flurry told her friends. “We can stake it out there!”

“But how do we get down there?” Lukas called up to her.

Flurry lit up her horn, and in a burst of sunshiney golden light, all of them disappeared and reappeared on the ground just below the zeppelin.

“Just get as many ponies as possible up to the castle, and we’ll figure out the rest from there!” Flurry told them before she flew off after Imara.

Hugo, Kailani, Lukas, Brooks, Ash, Little Braveheart, and Midnight looked at each other, all wearing matching expressions of confusion. Little Braveheart suddenly whooped, turned tail, and ran, chasing after shadow wolves and yelling at them to make them back off. She didn’t seem to be scaring them, but she was scaring the ponies plenty.

“Maybe we should not do that,” Midnight suggested.

“Okay,” Ash said, taking a deep breath and swallowing her fear. “Kailani, you’re with me. We’ll save as many ponies as possible from the city. Brooks, you cover our route to the palace. Maybe your fire will be of some use against the wolves. Midnight, Hugo, Lukas, do you think you can do crowd control?”

Midnight nodded, but his eyes were wide with fear. Lukas and Hugo looked nervous as well, but they all turned and dashed through the streets toward the castle. Brooks chased after him, little tongues of fire curling off his horn as his emotions ran high. A wolf suddenly jumped out in front of them and howled, and Brooks leaped in front of his friends, fire raging around him as he turned into a nirik. His eyes turned pure white with fire flickering around them, and he roared at the wolf, shooting fire at it from his pronged horn. The wolf ducked and backed away, a growl low in its throat.

“Go!” Brooks shouted at the three others behind him. “I’ll catch up to you!”

The yak, griffon, and Crystal pony dashed into the elevator that led up to the castle and hurried inside, Hugo pressing the up button so fast and hard that he worried it might break. When the doors finally shut and they began to ascend above the clouds, Midnight looked out the window and felt his heart stop.

“Woah…”

There were even more shadow wolves than they had thought. More were creeping out of alleys all the time and pouncing on innocent ponies, wrapping them in ropes of shadow and dragging them inside the fathomless depths.

Hugo and Lukas joined him at the window. “Holy stars…” Hugo muttered under his breath. “How did this happen?”

Lukas pushed his bangs out of his eyes so that he could get a better view. “And how are we supposed to help them?”

The elevator suddenly shuddered and came to a screeching halt, the lights flickering off as the floor shuddered beneath their feet. All three creatures screamed and looked around wildly as something heavy thumped on the ceiling, denting it inwards. The creatures screamed again and pressed themselves against the doors of the elevator as something forced its way in.

A hunk of metal was ripped off of the roof of the elevator, and a wolf poked its snout in, snapping and baring its teeth.

If they had screamed loudly before, they screamed even louder now. The wolf suddenly dissolved and slipped into the elevator, pooling around their hooves and trapping them in place. All three of them could feel their consciousness slipping away, could feel the wolf’s power infecting their minds, and knew that they were powerless to stop it-

A shadow suddenly fell over the hole in the ceiling, and a pony poked their head through the gash. The pony had a blue-gray coat like a stormy sky and wore a silver guard’s helmet. Zoom Zephyrwing reached inside and offered her hoof to Midnight.

“Grab on!”

Midnight’s eyes cleared, and he struggled to release one of his hooves. When it finally came free, he grabbed Zoom’s hoof desperately as she strained to pull him free. She finally hoisted him through the hole, the jagged metal scraping at his coat, but he didn’t care. The wind whipped his mane as he scrambled onto the roof of the elevator, and saw just how perilously far away the ground was. Midnight swallowed and pressed himself as far back against the cliff wall as he could.

Zoom was hauling up Lukas, and struggling a bit. Midnight wanted to help her, but he couldn’t seem to get his hooves to work. Another pegasus, this one green, also wearing the uniform of a royal guard, swooped down to help. Together, Zoom and Thunder managed to pull the yak through the hole in the roof, and he collapsed onto the top of the elevator, heaving relieved breaths.

“Hugo!” Midnight shouted, scrambling to the opening and looking down. The flightless griffon was standing still, staring off into the distance as if he could see something that the rest of them couldn’t, not moving. “Hugo, grab on!” Midnight extended his hoof out to his friend, but he didn’t acknowledge him.

Panic rose up in the Crystal pony’s chest, seeming to constrict his lungs and making it impossible to breathe. The darkness that covered the floor of the elevator was moving, rippling, as it slowly began to wrap itself around Hugo. Midnight stretched his hoof out farther, screaming Hugo’s name, but deep down he knew that there wasn’t going to be anything that he could do. The pendant on his necklace, made of crystal and shaped like a crescent moon, slipped into the hole, and the chain caught on the jagged edge, but Midnight barely noticed.

“Hugo!”

Lukas had noticed that their friend was missing and joined Midnight, though he didn’t see any way he could help, either. He turned in desperation to the pegasi. “Do something!”

Thunder flew around to the elevator’s window and began kicking it and throwing himself against it, but the glass wouldn’t give. Zoom was looking around for something to help break it, but she didn’t see anything that she could use.

Midnight shut his eyes tight and wished for his new magic. But that only worked when he made contact with the ground. Here he was, stranded on a cliff wall on top of a broken elevator, and there was nothing he could do to help his friend.

“Please, Hugo,” he called in a broken voice. “Please, I know you’re still in there. You can fight it!”

Still, the griffon didn’t move.

Suddenly, a brilliant glow filled Midnight’s vision, and he looked down to see the crescent moon hanging from his neck shining like a thousand stars against the night sky. The light filled the elevator below, and the shadows seemed to soften and retreat.

Hugo gasped and blinked, his expression clearing, and he looked around frantically, his eyes locking on Midnight hanging from the ceiling. He reached up a free claw and grasped Midnight’s hoof, and the Crystal pony began to pull him up.

“Help me!” Midnight said through clenched teeth, and Lukas quickly grabbed Hugo’s other claw to haul their friend up. The three of them collapsed onto the top of the elevator, the mountain wind blowing in their faces, the ground a thousand feet below them, but they barely noticed. All that mattered to them was that they were together, and that they were safe.

For now.

“We have to get up there!” Zoom yelled at them, pointing above them. The creatures looked up to see that they weren’t that far from the top of the cliff, but they were at a loss for any way to get up there. “Quickly, before that wolf wakes back up!”

“I have an idea,” Midnight said suddenly, looking at his hooves. Turning to Zoom, he called, “Can you get me up there?”

Zoom nodded, and, with a jerk of her head to Thunder, the two pegasi swooped down and picked him up, carrying him joltingly to the top of the cliff. As soon as his hooves hit solid ground, he called upon the new magic inside him to help his friends.

Glowing green light stretched out in front of him, and a crystal vine burst from the ground and twisted down to where Hugo and Lukas were waiting on the top of the broken elevator. Large leaves, each bigger than Lukas, sprouted out of the vine at regular intervals, creating a kind of staircase that led up to the top.

“Hurry!” Midnight called down to them.

The griffon and yak wasted no time scrambling from leaf to leaf, climbing up the vine until they reached the top of the cliff.

“Thanks,” Lukas told Midnight between heavy breaths. Hugo said nothing, his gaze focused on the ground, but he nodded at the Crystal pony to show his gratitude.

The creatures turned to the guards. Midnight vaguely recognized them from the last time he had been in Zephyr Heights, so long ago, and he remembered that they had helped fight the Legion of Doom in the swamps. “What’s going on here?” he asked, gesturing to the city behind them. “Where did all these wolves come from?”

Zoom and Thunder exchanged a look and shrugged. “We don’t know,” Zoom said, her voice unintentionally sharp. “A few days ago, our queen and a few other ponies mysteriously went missing. The following night, all of the guards disappeared, along with Sunny and her friends. We don’t know what happened to them, but Thunder and I somehow managed to evade them. We woke up to the city looking like this: wolves everywhere and ponies getting sucked inside by the minute.”

“How have you managed to last this long?” Lukas asked, his voice tinged with a hint of suspicion.

“Pure luck,” Zoom growled, her voice low and dangerous, but her fury wasn’t directed at them. “We know the palace well and lost the wolves that were chasing us.”

“But we don’t know how to help everypony else-” Thunder started, but he was interrupted by Ash as she flew up over the cliff, gasping for breath.

“Guys!” she called. “We… need… to get… these ponies… up… here! What… happened?”

“A wolf attacked us in the elevator,” Lukas told her. “So that’s busted, and it’d be too slow anyhow. Midnight, any way you can make some more of those vines?”

He nodded and slammed his hoof into the ground once more. Crystal vines burst out from the cliff wall by the dozens and curled down the precarious distance to the highest level of the city below, where crowds of ponies were gathering, defended on all sides by their friends.

“Thunder and I will go help,” Zoom told them tightly, and she and the green pegasus dove over the cliff and spiraled down below.

“I can help you guys up here,” Ash said timidly, landing beside them. “I’m not very fast, anyway.”

“We still need a place to go,” Lukas said, frowning as he studied the palace in front of them. “One or two ponies can easily evade the shadow wolves in there, but a whole city of them? We need a place to set up a fortress so that we can outlast them. Hugo, any ideas?”

“Huh?” The griffon looked up from where he was staring at his claws. “Oh, um… what about that abandoned air station that Flurry Heart told us about? We could hide in there, and it should be big enough…”

The other three creatures all nodded just as the first ponies came scrambling over the top of the cliff, a pack of shadow wolves right behind them.
> Magic Circles, Part Two
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Get back!” Ash opened her mouth and unleashed a torrent of flames that held the wolves back just long enough for the ponies to get free of them. Hugo and Lukas burst into action, running ahead of the ponies and leading them up to the castle. Midnight stayed behind to grow more vines and to keep the refugees calm as he gently herded them down the path. Hugo grabbed the large door and hauled it open, holding it so while a dozen ponies burst past him, following Lukas without hesitation through the halls of the palace.

Down below, Flurry Heart hovered high over the group of ponies at the base of the cliff, her horn a blaze of light as she fought off the wolves that threatened to attack them. Below her, Brooks was taking on all of the wolves on the ground, none of whom seemed to be able to touch him because of his fire. Imara was still flying around the city in a mad frenzy, searching for any and all ponies who had yet to be saved. Kailani was at the base of the vines, calming ponies down before they dashed frantically up the crystal spires. Little Braveheart was next to her, looking scared, which was a rare expression for her, but she was doing everything she could to help as well. Zoom and Thunder, the pegasus guards who had flown down from the top of the cliff, were herding ponies in the right direction and making sure that order was maintained.

It was still a desperate operation, but it was beginning to look like it might just be successful.

Imara suddenly appeared in front of her with a young foal in her arms. She set the crying foal down beside an older pony who immediately began guiding him along. The changeling then took a moment to breathe, coming up beside Flurry Heart to examine the whole mess.

“Who made the vines?”

“Midnight.”

Imara nodded. “Ah.” She turned from the fleeing ponies back to the city. Everything seemed darker now as the shadow wolves prowled the streets, looking for the same thing that Imara was: survivors. A large number of them were surrounding the escapees, penning them in on all sides in a dark semi-circle against the cliff, but thanks to Flurry Heart and Brooks, they weren’t daring to venture any closer. Imara looked up to the top of the cliff and saw a few wolves up there, but the tiny figure of Ash was darting around them, occasionally unleashing bursts of flame to keep them occupied.

“I’m going to do one more perimeter sweep,” Imara told Flurry Heart before dashing away again.

Seamlessly shifting form into a hawk, Imara’s newly sharpened vision began scanning the city below, looking for ponies in hiding, or any shadow wolves who were acting like they had found something. She was so focused on what was going on below her that she didn’t notice the giant airborne machine hurtling toward her until it was almost too late.

The strange flying vehicle swerved around her at the last minute, sending Imara spinning, and she squacked in surprise, reverting to her original form.

“Hey, watch where you’re going!” she yelled after the giant flying metal box.

The giant flying metal box suddenly screeched to a halt and spun around, far more agile than a flying metal box should be, to face her. On the other side of the large front window were two ponies, both unicorns with blue coats, one with a pair of purple glasses and one with a pink and purple frizzy mane. Both of their eyes grew wide at the sight of Imara, who suddenly felt a quick stab of self-consciousness, but she quickly brushed it aside. These ponies needed to get to shelter before the shadow wolves down below developed an appetite for giant flying metal boxes.

Imara flew up in front of the glass and jerked her head in the direction of the palace. “Follow me!”

Frizzy Mane whispered something to Glasses, who seemed to be driving the thing, and they soared along behind Imara. She led them up to the green lawn in front of the castle, and the flying machine touched down on the grass with hardly a bump. A door slid open in the side of the box, and the two ponies hurried out, Frizzy holding a brown leather bag close to her chest, Glasses carrying a lantern with a rainbow inside.

“What’s going on?” Frizzy yelled up at Imara. “Where did all these wolves come from? Who are you?”

“What are you?” Glasses added in an awed sort of voice. Frizzy threw him a look.

“Not important, just - get inside the castle,” Imara told them, waving her hoof airily. “My friends will show you the way-”

“Imara!” shouted a voice. They turned to see Flurry Heart speeding toward them with a young foal beside her, carrying a large, ancient-looking book under one arm. When they arrived, they skidded to a halt, barely acknowledging the two strange unicorns.

“Cozy Glow says she knows a way to protect us from the wolves,” Flurry told Imara in a rush, her mane a windblown frenzy.

“We have to make a magic circle!” the little filly said, holding up her old book and flipping hurriedly through the pages. “A wolf tried to attack me, but I accidentally stumbled into a magic circle of some kind, and it protected me! We might be able to do the same thing to protect these ponies!”

“I have no idea what that means, but let’s try it.” Imara sprang back into the air. “I’ll keep ponies moving while you set up this magic circle thing!”

As the changeling flew away, Cozy Glow turned to Flurry. “But in order for it to work, we need some really powerful magic artifacts - their powers will connect to form a more powerful magic. But I don’t know what we would use-”

“What about these?” one of the unicorns said. She held out the bag she had been hanging on to. Inside, Flurry could see glimmering gold and crystal.

Cozy gasped. “The Elements of Harmony,” she whispered in a hushed, awed voice. Reaching out, she gingerly picked up the largest of them all, a golden crown with a lavender star at the center, and held it reverently in her hooves. A kind of quiet, intense power thrummed in her hooves, and a wave of painful memories washed over her. Looking up at the unicorn, she asked, “Where did you get these?”

The frizzy-haired unicorn flushed and avoided their gazes. “That’s, uh, a long story,” she mumbled softly. “But will they work? Can we use them to protect us from the wolves?”

The pegasus foal nodded, her eyes still wide with wonder as she stared at the crown in her hooves. “We just have to place them in a circle around the place we want to be protected and connect them by using this spell-”

“We’ll figure it out as we go,” Flurry said, gently herding Cozy Glow and the two strange unicorns toward the palace doors. “Cozy, just get this thing set up. You two, just… stay with the others,” she finished, glancing at the two strangers. The frizzy-maned one squirmed under her gaze. “I’ll go help our friends.” She turned and galloped back down the green, spreading her wings and taking to the air as she went.

“Cozy Glow!” Hugo called from where he stood by the door. “Hurry!”

Cozy nodded firmly. She stuffed the crown back into the bag with the other Elements and looked like she wanted to take the whole bag, but thought better of it. She gestured to the two unicorns to follow her.

“Hurry!” Hugo called again, more urgently. “We’re taking everyone to the air station - just follow everypony else.”

“Did you see that?” the unicorn with the glasses whispered to his friend as they ran through the halls of the Zephyr Heights palace. “I didn’t know that Equestria had creatures like those!”

“I didn’t, either,” his friend replied quietly. “Not until… recently.”

“And there was another alicorn!” His voice was steadily growing louder as he got more and more excited. “Did you know that there were other alicorns?”

The other unicorn was quiet for a minute. “Yes. Yes I did.”

Before long, they had arrived at a short, dimly-lit hallway that ended in a crowd of ponies, all staring at an opening in the floor. A large, heavy grate was leaning against the wall.

“What’s going on?” Cozy called over the low murmur of the anxiously waiting ponies. She spread her wings and hovered above the others.

One of the earth ponies pointed at the hole in the floor. “The elevator’s the only way down,” he said, his voice shaking a bit with nerves. “So we just have to wait until it comes back up and load as many ponies as we can fit before we lower it back down again.”

“All the pegasi are already down there,” one of the unicorns said in a sullen voice.

“Everypony calm down,” Cozy said in a commanding voice. “The calmer you are, the faster you all can get down there. And once you do, I promise you’ll be safe. We’re doing everything we can to protect you.”

“Where’s Sunny Starscout?” wailed one pony, echoing all of their thoughts. “She and her friends have always helped us!”

That’s… a good question, Cozy thought with mounting panic. She hadn’t seen Sunny anywhere. It was always possible that she was out somewhere in the city, but…

Tentatively, Cozy Glow reached out to Sunny with her mind. The mind link that she had forged between them was still intact, but she hadn’t used it in so long that she worried that it might have closed off. But she was relieved to discover that the mental linkage was still open.

Sunny!

She felt a start of surprise on the other end, and then a quiet voice appeared in her head, faint and staticy: Cozy Glow?

Cozy was so relieved to hear Sunny’s voice that she almost dropped out of the air. Sunny, where are you?

That’s… kind of a long story…

You have to come back, Sunny. You have to!

Sunny would know what to do. Sunny always knew what to do. Sunny was the last living descendant of Twilight Sparkle, and she was the most powerful pony that Cozy knew. If she couldn’t find a way, then there was no way.

Why? What’s wrong? What happened?

So wherever she was, she wasn’t anywhere near here, or else she would know what was going on. Cozy felt the panic return again, and she wondered desperately where Sunny might be at such a time as this.

It’s Zephyr Heights, she said. The city’s overrun. There’s shadow wolves everywhere!

There was complete silence on the other end, and then Cozy heard Sunny’s voice, firm and courageous. I’m coming back. It, uh, might take a while though… and I’m bringing some friends…

It doesn’t matter, just get back here as fast as you can! Cozy heard her voice turn desperate. Please hurry, Sunny!

I will. Just… just hang on until I get there.

“Sunny’s coming,” Cozy told the ponies, who all cheered with relief. The elevator arrived back at the top of the lift, and a dozen earth ponies and unicorns were packing themselves inside and lowering it again. “But she won’t be here for a while, so we have to hold out until she comes. And we’ll be able to do that. We’ve figured out a way-”

She was interrupted as yet another group of ponies joined them, and behind them, all that stood in between them and a herd of shadow wolves that were closing in, were Flurry, Imara, Hugo, Midnight, Little Braveheart, Kailani, Brooks and Ash. And the distance between them was shrinking rapidly.

The ponies began to panic once more, crowding in around the hole in the floor as the elevator began to rise once more, agonizingly slowly.

“Everypony stay calm!” Kailani called over the noise as they arrived. Flurry Heart stood at the end of the hallway, her horn blazing to life as a bright sunshine-yellow barrier appeared in the way just as the first wolves crashed against it.
> Cavalry
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunny was amazed at how calmly Twilight’s friends took the news that they were going to be heading to the future in a few short minutes. Twilight dismissed them with the instructions to meet at the Castle of the Two Sisters in less than half an hour, and they all dispersed relatively quickly, with nothing but a few quiet murmurs amongst them to give any indication to what they might really be feeling.

“Spike, go tell Starlight what’s going on,” Twilight instructed her dragon assistant. “I want her to stay here and look after everyone in case the wolves come back. And send a message to Canterlot, too.” The dragon saluted and flew out the door.

“Sunny,” Twilight then called to the earth pony. “Could I… talk to you for a moment?”

“Um…” Sunny glanced nervously at Sprout beside her, and he shrugged.

“Go ahead. I’ll wait here,” he said reassuringly, taking a step back.

Sunny nodded and followed Twilight out of the room, but Sprout wasn’t the reason she was worried. She was about to have a conversation with her incredible ancestor, only this time, she knew who she was - or, at least, she did partially. The entire truth was pushing at Sunny’s mind, bursting to come out, and she wanted to tell Twilight more than anything. But at the same time, she wasn’t very familiar with time-travel, and she was terrified of what the consequences could be of that.

Twilight led Sunny through the palace to her library. Sunny found that she wasn’t quite as lost as she might have thought, and remembered exploring the ruins of this same castle so long ago with her friends, though she supposed that was still decades from right then.

As soon as the library’s large doors closed behind them, Twilight started talking.

“Okay, look. Sunny, I’m going to be completely honest with you: this is really risky. I’m not an expert in time-travel by any means, but I have seen what can happen when even one event in the timeline is altered. You say that the rip in the sky is a time portal that leads to the future. So that means that when we go through, there are two possibilities.

“One one hoof, everything could be completely different and not as you remembered at all. You wouldn’t really exist anymore in the sense that you have a place that you come from - you would be outside the timeline. Your friends probably wouldn’t know you, and a whole bunch of other problems that they have to deal with. And the only way to fix it would be to go back in time again and stop Grogar from ever sending the shadow wolves here, and that should set the timeline right.”

Sunny gulped. She remembered a time when her friends really had forgotten her, and it had been the worst thing in the entire world. Nothing that she had gone through had been harder than that - except when the Legion of Doom controlled her with the mind link. She desperately hoped that something like that would never happen again. “And the second one?”

Twilight sighed. “On the other hoof, everything would be the same as you remember it. It would still be the same timeline that you came from, which would mean that all of this-” She gestured around with her hoof “-was supposed to happen. And I think we should hope for that option. But… that raises another big risk.”

“What?”

“If… if one of us… doesn’t make it back,” Twilight said with difficulty, “then… it could destroy the whole timeline, and everything would change. It’s a big risk,, but I guess you should have the last say. Do you want us to come help you?”

Sunny was silent. Inside, she was thinking that, if somehow Twilight Sparkle fell while fighting Grogar, then she, Sunny, wouldn’t exist. That would mean that magic would probably never return, which would mean that the Legion of Doom would never be released from their stone prison, which also meant that whatever caused Grogar to be released wouldn’t happen, either, which meant that it would be impossible for Twilight to fall fighting him in the first place…

It made Sunny’s head hurt just thinking about it.

“If you’re willing to help,” Sunny said, meeting her ancestor’s eyes, “then I will accept. And I promise you, you and your friends are going to come back here. We’re going to defeat Grogar, and when we do, we’re going to celebrate with the most epic party ever.”

The corner of Twilight’s mouth twitched upward in a smile. “Pinkie Pie would like that.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “Sunny, you have to understand, time travel is delicate. One slight misstep could alter the entire timeline. If we’re going to get this right… I need you to tell me everything.”

“Oh…” Sunny felt panic flare in her chest. “I really don’t know if I should-”

“And you probably shouldn’t,” Twilight agreed. “But… this might just be my Twilighting acting up, but I want to make sure I get things right - that I don’t mess things up back here, and…” She took a deep breath. “But also, if we’re going to do this, then I need to know what exactly I’m getting into. I trust you, Sunny - please trust me.”

Sunny studied the pony in front of her. It was the face of a pony she had always known without knowing it. Of course, her cutie mark and her likeness had all been engraved in Sunny’s childhood, but as she looked into Twilight’s eyes, she realized that the legendary alicorn had the same eyes as her father. And there were slight things in her expression that Sunny recognized, too, and she realized that was because she saw the same thing on her face whenever she looked in the mirror.

Sunny took a deep breath and let it out slowly. And she told her everything.





Misty felt like her brain was about to be overwhelmed. All around her were strange creatures that she never could have imagined, but she knew instantly that they were all Sunny’s friends. The story that Sunny had told her right before their friends were taken by the wolves ran through Misty’s head, and she remembered that Sunny had befriended hippogriffs, changelings, yaks, buffalo, griffons, other dragons, and Crystal ponies - and she also remembered hearing about another alicorn, who had been suspended in time for over a century.

Even so, seeing all of them in front of her was enough to send her mind reeling.

“Cozy!” the alicorn called over her shoulder in a strained voice. “Get the circle ready!” A wolf slammed itself against her shield, and she had to turn her focus back to keeping them at bay.

The little pegasus foal, Cozy Glow, nodded and looked questioningly at Misty. Misty knew what she wanted and shifted her hooves uncomfortably. She looked down at the bag in her arms, the one that held the Elements of Harmony that Sunny had wanted so desperately for her to find. She didn’t want to give them up, not to anypony, but from what she understood, they needed the Elements to form a magic circle, whatever that was, to protect them from the shadow wolves.

Misty took a deep breath and held the bag up to Cozy Glow. The foal’s eyes widened, and she took the bag reverently in her hooves. There was a look in her eyes that Misty couldn’t quite interpret, but she reasoned that perhaps this pony wasn’t used to ponies trusting her so much.

Cozy Glow flew down into the air station to set up the magic circle as the wolves tried once again to break past the alicorn’s shield.

“I can’t… hold it… much… longer!” she gasped, sweat pouring down her face as she struggled to even remain upright.

Without stopping to think, Misty pushed through the group of creatures surrounding the alicorn and stood next to her, lighting up her own horn as she did so.

“Here,” she said, “let me help.”

Misty had only recently realized her own magic, but she had grown powerful as she practiced with it. There was always a sense of wonder in the other unicorns’ eyes as Misty had mastered the basics in a relatively short amount of time, and she gathered that it had taken them much longer than she had.

Now, she put all her skills to the test as she poured her magic into the shield at the entrance to the hallway. Bright purple mingled with the sunshine yellow, and the next time the wolves tried to break through, they seemed surprised, even a little worried, when the magic barrier didn’t give.

The alicorn’s breathing began to come easier, and she looked at Misty with eyes that were much older than she appeared. Her expression was so intelligent that Misty could practically see her brain working to figure out the situation. Misty got the feeling that there would be much less to tell her once this whole thing was over, which was both a relief and a bit of a worry for her. She wondered how much the alicorn had already guessed about her.

“Thanks,” she said softly.

Misty nodded. “You’re welcome.”

The number of ponies in the hallway was diminishing quickly, and soon the last group - which was all the other creatures - was shoving themselves into the basket and lowering themselves into the air station.

“Do you think this magic circle thing will work?” Misty asked.

The alicorn shrugged. “Who can say? I’ve never heard of them, so they must be very ancient magic. But it’s our only hope.”

Not our only hope. “Maybe Sunny will come back.”

The other pony flinched and looked down. Something had sparked in her eyes in that moment, but Misty hadn’t caught what it was. “Yeah. Maybe.”

“Flurry!” Cozy Glow flew up out of the hole, out of breath. “It’s ready! I just need someone to connect them-”

“On three,” Flurry muttered under her breath so that only Misty could hear. “One… two…”

The wolves slammed themselves against the shield again.

“Three!”

Flurry’s horn winked out, Misty’s a second behind her. The alicorn spread her wings and yanked Misty along behind her as she dashed down the hallway and down the opening with Cozy Glow right behind them. As soon as they were through, Flurry used her magic to slam the grate over the opening to seal it shut, but, of course, the wolves would be able to get through it.

Misty felt her heart lodge itself in her throat as the alicorn carried her down to the floor, set her down, and then took up a position above the large group of ponies and creatures. She lit up her horn and sent a magic blast to the floor next to a golden crown a few inches from Misty’s hooves. Misty yelped and danced back a step, nearly running into the strange-looking unicorn with a pronged horn.

“Watch it,” he hissed, real flames curling off of his horn.

Flurry’s beam drew a circle around them, connecting the Elements of Harmony that were placed at regular intervals in the air station. As soon as the circle was completed, it glowed bright white between the Elements, and a shimmering dome appeared over the group for a moment before it disappeared.

“It’s done,” Flurry gasped, nearly collapsing to the ground. She looked at Cozy Glow. “I hope this works…”

“It won’t,” boomed a new voice, this one deep and ancient and powerful. Everyone gasped and looked around wildly for the speaker. Finally, they saw the massive grate above them crackle with bright lightning and explode into dust that rained down on them. A huge creature leaped out of the hole and landed with a thud on the floor of the air station. It was a massive ram with shaggy blue fur and massive horns that curled around the sides of his face and pulsed with magic, lightning crackling up and down them. His eyes were menacing, glowing with malice and intense power. He took a step toward them, and everyone stepped back.

“Grogar,” Cozy Glow whispered in a terrified, awed voice.

Shadow wolves began to pour in from above and surround the circle. They stayed outside the line that Flurry had drawn with her magic, but that didn’t make the ponies inside feel any less uneasy.

The ancient ram glowered at one of the Elements of Harmony in front of him and sniffed.

“Magic circles. They always think that will save them. Perfect unity and harmony at all points.” He snorted. “Even if they did have some power once… this one is incomplete.”

Grogar smirked as his wolves snarled and all took a step forward - across the line.

“What?” Cozy’s eyes widened, and she shook her head, muttering, “No, no, no…”

Flurry Heart nodded to her friends, and the creatures all adopted equally grim looks as they took their places between the ponies and the wolves.

“But this doesn’t make any sense!” Cozy was saying. “It worked before… The circle can’t be incomplete…” She trailed off, muttering to herself.

The wolves were slowly advancing. One of them picked up one of the Elements of Harmony in its paw and began to hand it to Grogar, and Misty panicked. She lit up her horn, and all five of the Elements suddenly soared to her, out of harm’s way. The magic circle flickered and died.

“You put up a good fight,” Grogar told them, seeming to enjoy the panic on their faces. “I will admit, you survived longer than I would have thought. But it’s time to give up now.”

The wolves all snarled in unison, their eyes pulsing with power. Misty felt one of them staring at her, and the moment she locked eyes with it, she could feel her consciousness slipping away…

“We will never give up,” she dimly heard Flurry say.

Grogar laughed. “You’ve run out of allies, little pony. You have no more friends left. Anyone who could have helped you is gone.”

“Not completely,” called a different voice, this one perfectly, wonderfully familiar, and every single creature in the station, pony and wolf alike, turned to stare at the speaker.

Where a stained glass window of a pink star once stood, now was an opening filled with glorious sunlight.

And hovering in front of the sun, glowing like she was made from its light, was a pony with golden wings and a brilliant golden horn.

And below her, at the edge of the air station, were seven other ponies.

“Cavalry’s here!” Pinkie Pie yelled.
> A Way Out
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

For a moment, panic flashed on Grogar’s face, but it was quickly overshadowed by anger. He pointed a quivering hoof at Sunny and roared, “GET HER!”

Sunny’s horn lit up in response, and as the first wolf leaped at her, she speared it with a golden rope and pulled as hard as she could. The wolf’s expression shifted to horror as it was scattered to the winds, and the pony inside was freed and gently lowered to the ground.

Hitch gasped and opened his eyes, looking around wildly to try and figure out what was going on. The last thing he remembered was looking out the window at night when he felt something cold at his hooves, and then suddenly he saw things, things that didn’t seem possible, things that seemed too good to be true. Then a golden light yanked him from that bliss, and he felt like he was waking up from a long, horrific nightmare-

“Hitch!”

“Sunny?”

The look on Sunny’s face was so bright and hopeful that it glowed brighter than the sun itself. She turned to face the other shadow wolves with a fierce, angry light that made them hesitate, but it was too late for them.

Sunny conjured up a massive whip of arching, terrifying light, and she lashed out at the wolves with it. Wherever it connected with shadow, the wolf would howl and back away faster than Sunny would have thought possible. She pressed closer, wrapping the whip around one of the wolves. It dissolved immediately, its last howl fading away on the breeze. In its place was a purple unicorn with a thick, curly blue mane and a crystal bracelet on her hoof, but Sunny had no time to greet her friend before she was off searching for her others.

“No! No no NO!” Grogar was screaming himself hoarse with blind, uncontainable rage. He watched helplessly as Sunny began to cut into his invincible army, decimating the most powerful monsters he had ever created, without ever slowing down or showing any signs of resistance.

There was only one thing left to do.

He had to make his monsters even more powerful.

Which meant that there was only one place left to go.

Grogar lit up his horns, the lightning crackling, and every wolf suddenly stopped chasing after Sunny and dashed up out of the hole. Grogar cast one last disdainful look of pure loathing at Sunny before he leaped up and out as well.

He wasn’t fast enough. Before they had a chance to escape, Sunny had freed seven innocent ponies, as well as Hitch, Izzy, Zipp, and Pipp. She watched him go with the strongest urge to chase after him - her head was telling her to go and finish this now - but her heart wouldn’t let her.

So she lighted down by the ponies she had just freed from the shadow wolves, who were all looking very confused and disoriented.

“Sunny?” Zipp blinked several times, as if she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing. “I… are you real? Is this real? What happened?”

“Why is it daytime all of a sudden?” Pipp wondered, holding up her hoof to shade her eyes from the bright sunlight leaking in through the empty panes where there were no more windows. “Wasn’t it, like, just nighttime a little bit ago?”

“What day is it? What year is it? How many birthdays did I miss?” Izzy demanded, looking side to side frantically.

Sunny didn’t say anything; she just stared at them with tears leaking out of her eyes and rolling down the sides of her face, and then she ran forward and wrapped them all in a hug. And then Misty was there, pushing her way out of the crowd of ponies and hugging them all, and then Flurry Heart and Imara and Kailani and Hugo and Midnight and all the other creatures appeared around them, and Sunny was feeling so happy and elated that she felt like she might just faint.

“Sunny, where were you?”

“How did you do that thing with the wolves?”

“I missed you so much, Sunny-”

“Did you get our letters, Sunny? Did you get them?”

“Are the wolves gone forever, Sunny?”

“Sunny! I’m so glad you’re back!”

“What happened, Sunny? What’s going on?”

“Okay, everybody stop!” Imara suddenly shouted over all of them, and every pony and creature fell silent. “Let’s just let Sunny talk!”

The changeling nodded at Sunny, who looked a bit surprised at Imara’s outburst, but she quickly shook her head and took advantage of the abrupt silence.

“Thank you, Imara. So… I was trying to chase Grogar down-”

“By yourself?” Hitch burst out, and several ponies shushed him.

“Yes, thank you, Hitch,” Sunny said dryly. “Anyway, I found this giant portal thing that Grogar had made, and the wolves chased me inside, and I ended up in Ancient Equestria, and there… there I made some friends.”

She turned to where Twilight Sparkle and her friends were standing, off to the side and out of the way, looking kind of awkward to be there.

Eyes widened, mouths dropped open, and the ponies who didn’t know who Twilight Sparkle was were feeling very confused indeed.

“Everypony,” Sunny said loudly, addressing everyone in the air station, “this is Twilight Sparkle, and her friends: Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy. Oh, and Spike,” she added, gesturing to the small dragon hovering above Twilight’s shoulder. “They’re from Ancient Equestria, and they’re here to help us get rid of Grogar - that big blue ram guy,” she added when most ponies looked confused at the ancient name.

“But you just defeated him,” a pony called out from amongst the crowd.

Sunny shook her head. “No. He ran away, but he’s not defeated. We need to track him down and finish this, once and for all.”

“But where is he?” Hitch asked.

“He’s going west,” someone said, and everyone turned to see Sprout standing in front of the empty frame where the stained glass window of an earth pony and the earth pony crystal normally went. He was staring off into the distance, using a hoof to shade his eyes from the bright sun. “I think he’s going back to the portal?”

“That must be his stronghold,” Twilight said to Sunny, and Sunny nodded.

“But we should have a bit to regroup and form a plan,” Sunny said, looking out over the crowd of ponies. “Everypony, listen up. The city is safe for now - all the wolves seem to have retreated. You may return to your homes, and I promise we’ll tell you everything that we know as soon as we figure some things out.” She lit up her horn, and the large, old, rusty doors at the back of the station slowly creaked open, and ponies gratefully poured out, racing back to the city as fast as they could to salvage what they could manage.

As soon as they were gone, Zipp and Pipp pushed the doors closed and rejoined their friends. They and all the creatures who had come aboard the zeppelin all looked like they were very glad to see each other and wanted to have a proper reunion, but they were still anxious to hear what had happened to Sunny and were a bit stunned into silence appearance of such legendary ponies from the past.

Sunny let out a deep breath that she hadn’t known she was holding, and she looked like the weight of the world had just been removed from her shoulders. She folded her golden wings, and slowly they and her horn faded away until she was an ordinary earth pony again. It was nice to feel normal, to pretend that she had normal problems, even if it was only for a little while.

“Everyone… I don’t know what to say. I’m just so, so glad you’re here-”

She was interrupted by a suppressed sob from Flurry Heart. The pale pink alicorn was trembling with silent cries, her eyes wide and her expression unbelieving and heartbroken - not daring to even begin to hope that perhaps this was possible. Tears were slowly working their way down her cheeks and dripping off her chin, and she found that she couldn’t move. Her hooves refused to take a single step, her brain was hardly able to process anything, and she barely heard a word that Sunny said; her vision had tunneled as soon as she had realized who the pony across from her was.

Twilight looked over at her and met her eyes for the first time. There was a look in her eyes that Flurry understood, one that said that she already knew everything, and that there was no secret that Flurry could keep about what was in her future, and at the same time, she was at peace with that. It was also a look of pure, undying love.

“Aunt Twilight?” Flurry’s voice was just barely above a whisper.

Twilight took a step toward her niece and spread her wings slightly. “Flurry Heart.”

Flurry took a lurching step toward her, then another, and soon she was running, and then she met her aunt in a tight embrace, and Twilight wrapped her wings around her, and nothing else mattered in the entire world. Sobs wracked Flurry’s entire body, and she was shuddering as she clung to her aunt and let her tears and cries pour out. She had often dreamed of meeting her aunt again - maybe casting a magic spell to take her back in time for just a moment - but she had always known that those were fantasies, impossibilities that would never come true.

But as she stood there then, she felt Twilight’s arms and wings around her, and she knew that they were solid and true - that they were real.

She also knew that there was nothing more that the world could give her that would ever measure up to this.

They finally broke away, but then Pinkie Pie was there, and Fluttershy and Applejack and Rarity and Rainbow Dash, and even Spike, and she hugged all of them, and her heart had never felt more full.

Twilight smiled bittersweetly as she stepped back and let Flurry Heart have a moment with her friends. A thought seemed to occur to her, and she started scanning the room, as if she was looking for something.

Or someone.

Cozy Glow hadn’t moved since glimpsing Twilight for the first time, either. She was standing stock-still, much the same as Flurry had, a heartbroken expression on her face. But when Twilight began walking towards her, she finally snapped out of her trance and backed away instead.

Twilight stopped a short distance away. “It’s alright, Cozy Glow,” she said softly, offering her hoof to the young filly.

Cozy was shaking her head, looking down at her hooves. Tears splashed on the floor in front of her. Behind them, Twilight’s friends had realized what was going on and stopped what they were doing to watch.

“Cozy,” Twilight said again, gently. “It’s alright.”

“I’m sorry,” the little pegasus sobbed. More tears came, and she cried harder. “I’m so, so sorry…”

“I know, Cozy.”

She looked up, her red-rimmed eyes bloodshot and wet, and wide with what looked like fear.

“I believe you.”

Cozy Glow started crying again, and she averted her gaze once more. “Why?” she forced out, hardly able to speak around her sobs. “Why would you believe me now… after all the… the lies, and the… the things I’ve done, and… everything?”

She felt someone’s hoof on her face, and she looked up to see Twilight standing right in front of her, the alicorn’s eyes also filled with tears. Cozy’s cries were silent now, and she grabbed Twilight’s hoof with her own, almost as if to make sure that it was real, and that this was real, and that she wasn’t dreaming. Twilight gently spread one wing over Cozy’s back and drew her into a hug, silent tears running down her own face, until Cozy had stopped shaking so much.

“I’m so, so sorry,” Cozy whispered again.

“I know,” Twilight said softly. “I forgive you.”
> And After Several Very Long Explanations...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Well, it seems like there’s only one thing left to do.”

Sunny’s head hurt just trying to process all of the new information that was being thrown at her right then. She was still in the air station, surrounded by her friends, Twilight and her friends, and the creatures aboard the zeppelin, as the respective groups told their stories to the others so that everyone was on the same page. Sunny learned that the leaders of the other creatures had gone missing as well, and that they suspected that the shadow wolves were responsible; she learned of how Misty and Comet had recovered the Elements of Harmony; she learned of how her friends had defended the ponies of Zephyr Heights as best as she could when the wolves had attacked.

Flurry Heart and the other creatures on the zeppelin already knew all of the events that had happened up until a couple days ago because they had finally received Sunny’s letters, which explained all of that, so with the exception of the kidnapping of leaders, they began their tales starting a few days ago.

Everyone’s eyes had grown wide as Twilight had described how Sunny had defeated all the shadow wolves in Ancient Equestria, and Sunny felt her face growing red as she mumbled something about having help, and that she couldn’t have done it without their help.

When Sunny had revealed what Sprout had told her inside the shadow wolf, the creatures had all looked at Sprout with wide-eyed expressions with faint recognition in their eyes, as if they had known that they faintly knew him from somewhere, but they couldn’t place it; but now that they knew, it was easier for them to remember flashes and bits of stolen memories. Misty had looked at him as if she was seeing him in a whole new light; she, of course, hadn’t been there when he had almost started a war, or when he had helped save Equestria on numerous occasions. However, for Hitch, Zipp, Pipp, and Izzy, it was a bit harder, because they saw all the horrible things that Sprout had done and only remembered him from that. Just like with Sunny, they started having faint flashes of the memories that had been traded for their freedom, but they found it harder to fully believe the story and eyed Sprout with distrust. Sprout looked like he had expected it and just stared at his hooves, keeping quiet.

Together, they pieced together that the shadow wolves needed a host to draw power from, and that the more guilt or pain or sorrow a host had, the more powerful the wolf would be. Sunny also suspected that the physical power of a host might be a potential factor as well, which would explain why the wolves wanted her so bad. They tried to guess at Grogar’s plan, which was fairly simple: kidnap the leaders of all the creatures in Equestria to instill some fear and panic in the subjects, which will make them perfect prey for the wolves; build up an army; and take over Equestria, ruling it in a constant state of darkness and evil for all eternity.

“You get pretty good at guessing these after you’ve defeated as many villains as we have,” Rainbow Dash had said, tossing her head and looking a bit smug.

“We have defeated more than our share of evil villains,” Zipp had immediately countered, and the two had started bickering about how much each villain was worth, and whether it counted any more if they were reformed instead of just defeated.

None of them had any idea why Grogar would open up that portal to Ancient Equestria and attack there as well until Sprout suggested that maybe “he was looking for more powerful hosts for his wolves. Here and now, ponies have only just begun to master their magic, and from what I understand, most of us are nowhere near as powerful as some Ancient Equestrians. Maybe he was trying to build up his army.”

None of them were sure, either, why Sunny was able to free the ponies trapped within, while other creatures - even other alicorns - were only able to hold them off for a while. But Sunny had declared gravely that, as long as that responsibility sat on her shoulders alone, she would do whatever she could to use it for good.

So they had assessed the situation. They had tried to gather all the knowledge that they could about their adversary. They had formed an alliance capable of taking him down.

Now all they had to do was figure out a plan.

Which was when Imara said, “Well, it seems like there’s only one thing left to do.”

All eyes turned to her. “What’s that?” Spike asked.

Imara rolled her eyes like the answer was obvious. “Find this Grogar and take him down. We have the power to do that, and we’ve already weakened his forces. If we’re right, he was planning on building a bigger army by invading Ancient Equestria, but that failed, and now Sunny already started to take apart the last of his forces. He’s going to hunker down in his stronghold and wait for an attack. Well, we have the numbers, and we have the power. Let’s go take him down.” She slammed her hoof on the ground for emphasis.

“But how are we all going to get there?” Rarity pointed out. “Not all of us can fly, and won’t it take a while for…” She quickly counted heads. “Twenty-five creatures to walk halfway across Equestria?”

“We have the Marestream,” Misty offered. “But it definitely can’t hold twenty-five of us.”

“I have a zeppelin,” Hugo piped up. “But I’ve got the same problem.”

“Actually,” Izzy said suddenly, “I might be able to fix that.”





Hugo’s zeppelin had drifted a bit in the wind and was now fairly close to the Zephyr Heights palace. Flurry teleported the griffon onto the deck, and he gently piloted the ship until it landed gently on the green next to the Marestream. Izzy took Sunny’s lantern, which was the magical key for the Marestream, and took it onboard, joining Hugo at the bridge.

“What exactly are you going to do?” Hugo asked nervously, his claws fiddling with his glasses.

Izzy shot him a grin. “I’m giving it a magical upgrade.”

She set the lantern on the middle of the helm, just behind the steering wheel, and stepped back.

And nothing happened.

Outside, the other creatures assembled there stared at the zeppelin as more nothing continued to happen.

“Huh.” Izzy pouted. “I guess the lantern only works with the Marestream-”

But as she reached for the lantern again, it suddenly began to glow, and beams of light twisted out of it and spread to the rest of the ship, covering it as it began to grow and expand.

Hugo and Izzy ran to the edge of the deck and dove overboard to avoid the magical transformation, and they watched in awe with everyone else as the magic did its work. The zeppelin grew to twice its length and size, the sails enlarging and the wings spreading wider. Everything glimmered with magic for a moment before the rainbow glow faded away as if nothing had happened. Beside the larger zeppelin, the Marestream also glowed briefly before its shiny exterior faded away, revealing what it really was under all the magic: a broken-down tram car.

“Woah,” everyone said in awed unison.

Izzy leaped back to her hooves and grinned at the wide-eyed creatures. “Yeah, uh, I guess it works,” she said smugly, rapping her hoof against the zeppelin’s new hull.

Hugo took off his glasses, polished them, and put them back on again, as if what he had just seen would turn out to be nothing more than a smudge on the glass. He blinked several times, hard, and shook his head, but nothing changed. He walked slowly around the ship, inspecting it from several angles, before he rejoined the others at the front, still staring.

“I, uh, think it’ll work,” he said faintly. “Everyone aboard?”

As if it heard him, a gangplank slid down to the ground, right at Hugo’s claws. He cautiously boarded his own ship, his eyes still wide, as if he expected it to start talking to him. In the bridge, though, he was relieved to discover, all the controls were still the same with the exception of the rainbow lantern, shining on the dashboard, but the control board had expanded to be three times its original size, containing all manner of new gadgets and gizmos, and Hugo had no idea what any of them did.

“So…” Sunny said awkwardly, turning to face the others, “is every creature coming?”

Everyone stared at her and didn’t answer, but no one said, “No.”

“Comet?” Sunny turned to the Auroracorn, who had been silent the whole time, finding an especial interest in Flurry Heart, but not saying anything. His eyes were so wide that she thought they might pop out of his head. When she said his name, he blinked and looked around wildly for a moment before he realized who was speaking to him. “I know you’re kind of new to… all of this… I wouldn’t ask you to do anything if you didn’t-”

“Are you kidding?” A huge grin split across his face. “And miss the adventure of a lifetime?”

Despite the dire circumstances, and Sunny’s desire to correct him that this wasn’t, in fact, just a fun ‘adventure’, she could feel his infectious optimism, and a hesitant smile played at her lips.

“Okay, then…” Sunny looked around, studying each of their faces. She met Twilight’s eyes and hesitated, wondering if perhaps the purple alicorn should take the lead from here.

As if she sensed her question, Twilight shook her head. “You’re in charge here, Sunny,” she said. “We’re all just following you.”

Sunny nodded, her head feeling dizzy. “Right,” she mumbled. Turning around to face the gangplank, she took a deep breath and began to walk up the ramp and onto the zeppelin’s deck. She heard footsteps behind her and knew that everyone else would be following suit.

Once all of them were onboard, the gangplank retracted into the depths of the ship. The creatures all stood at the railing, feeling the full gravity of the situation for the first time, and perhaps feeling a bit afraid. But as long as they stuck by together, they would have nothing to fear.

“Hugo,” Sunny called, and the griffon poked his head out of the bridge, “let’s get this ship in the air.”

He saluted her with one claw. “Aye aye, Captain Sunny!”

The zeppelin gracefully rose into the air, its sails snapping out and catching the wind. Hugo gently turned the wheel, and the massive ship turned in a large, sweeping arc to head in the direction that Grogar and his shadow wolves had gone.

From the looks on her friends’ faces, Sunny knew that Hitch, Pipp, Zipp, and Izzy really wanted to talk, but Sunny had to make sure that they were well on their way before then. She gave them a look that said, “In a moment,” and went to the bridge to talk to Hugo. Kailani was already there, and the two of them were theorizing what each of the different, new buttons did.

“Sunny, look!” Hugo said excitedly, pointing to a clear plastic switch. “I think this one is dynamic camouflage - it’ll make us completely invisible to anyone looking on the ship from on the ground! Grogar will never see us coming!”

Sunny nodded. “I think it’s a good idea,” she said carefully. “I’ll just let all of our,,, winged friends know to be careful when they go flying too far away.” She glanced at the compass. “How long before we get there?”

“I’d say tomorrow morning at the earliest,” Hugo said, frowning at the map. Sunny had marked Opaline’s lair on it, but the zeppelin moved a great deal slower than the Marestream, and the sun was already setting. Catching the nervous look on Sunny’s face, Hugo said quickly, “But I’m sure that Grogar won’t try anything drastic before we get there. He’s going to be regrouping and assessing the situation.”

“Don’t worry, Sunny,” Kailani said comfortingly, laying a claw on Sunny’s shoulder. “Grogar is in no position to make offensive moves. He’s going to dig in and try to wait it out while he searches for an escape route.”

“What if he goes through the portal to Ancient Equestria, though?” Sunny stressed. “We left it virtually undefended when Twilight and her friends came here - he could easily have free reign of the land. And he could build up his army again with all of those innocent ponies and creatures-”

“Sunny.” Kailani grabbed Sunny’s other shoulder and shook the earth pony slightly. “We can do this. We have right here the greatest group of heroes Equestria has ever seen, in any time. As long as we stay together, Grogar doesn’t stand a chance.”
> Beneath the Starlight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Well. Here we are.”

Zipp snorted. “That’s… one way to put it.”

Sunny cast her a sideways look. “How else would you like me to say it? Is there any other way to say it?”

“Fair point.”

Pipp tore her eyes away from where she was watching Rarity across the deck. “I can’t believe you found them, Sunny,” she said quietly. “And that you brought them here. I mean, that’s just…” She trailed off, shaking her head.

Hitch put his hoof on Sunny’s. “Your dad would be so proud of you,” he told her in a low voice.

Sunny smiled bittersweetly. “Proud? Or insanely jealous?”

“Eh, probably both.”

The five ponies were sitting alone on the deck, the moon bright above them and the stars shining against the black velvet curtain of the sky. Hugo had gone down to join the other creatures belowdecks just a few moments ago; everyone was trying to get some much-needed rest after the chaos of the last few days. Sunny wanted desperately to join them, but she was glad to have this moment with her friends.

“Sunny,” Izzy said slowly, “will you tell us what happened? What really happened?”

“I already told you everything that happened-”

“I know,” the unicorn interrupted. “But… I think there’s more that… that you haven’t told us.”

Sunny took a deep breath and let it out. Izzy was right, as usual. She looked up to the heavens, her eyes wandering until she caught sight of a familiar constellation of five bright stars surrounding a fifth, all faintly pulsing unnatural colors.

“Well,” she said, “I want to start by saying I’m sorry. To you guys. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you when the wolves came. I know you all think that wasn’t my fault, but… still. I should have tried harder, I shouldn’t have left you alone-” She broke off, swallowing and blinking back tears. “My magic ran away from me in the air station, in a way that hasn’t happened for… a long time; in a way that I was afraid of. Ever since we came back from the swamp after we fought with Chrysalis, I’ve been trying to keep my most powerful magic deep inside. I guess I was afraid that using it would bring more of that kind of adventure, and I just… wasn’t ready to go back to that yet.”

“None of us were,” Hitch said, looking down at his hooves.

Sunny shook her head. “That’s still no excuse. But magic doesn’t like to be restrained. It kept on trying to get out. Zipp, remember before earth ponies got their magic, how my alicorn form would keep on appearing at random times? I think that’s why. And then in the air station… it just all came out. I’ve never felt that powerful before… or that scared. It kept me safe from the wolves, but it wasn’t enough to save you. And I got mad, and I was so scared, and so, so…” She paused for a moment, trying to find the right word.

“Heartbroken.”

“Oh, Sunny…” Izzy put her arms around Sunny and hugged her.

“Misty escaped through the together tree,” Sunny continued, “but I could barely think. I thought I had last you guys forever. I told Misty to go after the Elements of Harmony, so that at least the rest of Equestria would be protected, while I went to face Grogar alone.”

“What did you think you were going to do?” Hitch demanded, a protective note creeping into his voice.

Sunny shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t know. It didn’t matter to me. I had to do something, and that was all I could think of.” She took a deep breath. For some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to tell them the real reason she had gone willingly to Grogar: a part of her had wanted to give up. Completely. Forever. Permanently.

“Anyway… I found him at Opaline’s lair, but on my way there, I ran into Midge, and he was disguised as Sprout, but I didn’t realize the whole story. I went to what was left of Opaline’s castle, and I found this… massive, jagged rip in the sky. Then Grogar showed up, and while I was trying to escape, I fell into the portal and turned up in Ancient Equestria. Twilight found me, brought me to the School of Friendship, and there… there I had a… a talk.”

“With who?” Zipp wanted to know.

“The Spirit of the Tree of Harmony. Look, I know it sounds crazy, but sometimes the Tree of Harmony manifests itself in the form of a pony and talks to me. It hasn’t happened for a while - not since we defeated Chrysalis. But there's this chamber under the school that’s connected to the Tree, and I thought… well, I thought it could answer some of my questions. And it… it told me that the shadow wolves were coming, and that I would be the only one who would be able to defeat them.”

There was a brief moment of silence. “And?” Pipp prodded gently.

“And I thought it was crazy,” Sunny burst out. “My magic never worked like it was supposed to, and I was afraid of it, and afraid of me, and the wolves, and afraid that I would fail, and that I wouldn’t lose only my friends but my heroes and ruin everything forever-” She broke off abruptly, shivering even though the breeze was warm.

Izzy put her arm around Sunny’s shoulders. She was soon followed by Hitch, and then Zipp and Pipp, and Sunny felt her friends’ embrace around her and knew that they loved her anyway.

“But the wolves wanted me. They said that if they got me, they would let the rest of them go. And I agreed. I wasn’t going to let any more ponies suffer because of me. So the wolf grabbed me and dragged me in…” She shuddered, remembering. “It was awful in there.”

“You don’t know the worst of it,” Zipp said abruptly, her voice sharp. Sunny quickly turned to look at her, worried, and saw the pegasus staring at her hooves with an angry expression, her eyes rimmed with red. “You don’t know how they get to everyone else.”

“They show you things,” Hitch murmured, his voice almost inaudible. “Things that… that you wish were real. Impossible things. But it makes you think that… if you just give in and let it take you… then maybe they’ll come true.”

“Somehow they know,” Pipp added. “They know exactly what you want to see the most, and it is impossible to refuse. And then right when you submit and let go-”

“Darkness.” Izzy’s voice was so unlike her that for a moment the other ponies wondered who was talking. “Nothing but darkness as far as you can see. And cold. So cold and dark that the sun fades into a distant memory. And you’re alone, but you can sense it there, watching you, waiting… And the more scared you are, the happier it gets. And if you’re not scared, then you’re wracked with guilt that you chose this, that this was because of you.”

“And if you’re not,” Zipp added darkly, “then it makes you scared. It does - it does awful, awful things-” She broke off, her wings twitching. Pipp put her arms around her sister and hugged her tight.

“But then you came, Sunny,” Pipp said, her voice brightening. “There was this golden light, and then a magic rope wrapped around me and pulled me out of the darkness. It… it didn’t want to let go… but the light was stronger.” She smiled at Sunny. “You were stronger.”

“You said that you found Sprout in the lead shadow wolf,” Hitch said after a moment. “Tell us about that.”

“There’s nothing more to tell,” Sunny said, a bit frustratedly. She felt the need to defend Sprout from her friends, though she wasn’t quite sure why. More than anything, though, she wanted them to forgive him as she had, to believe that he had once been their friend and could be again. “Look, I know better than anypony what Sprout did before magic came back, but I also know that he’s changed.”

“What makes you so sure?” Hitch asked, harsher than he intended.

“Because the wolf did everything it could to stop him from believing me,” Sunny said quietly. “And you didn’t see him in Ancient Equestria. If it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t have been able to defeat all those wolves. And I… I trust him.”

“I’ve learned pretty quickly not to trust him,” Hitch said in a dangerous voice.

“He’s a coward,” Zipp added.

Sunny shut her eyes and lowered her head. “I used to think that, too,” she said quietly. “But I was always so unsure about it. Now, I know he’s changed, and I trust him. If you guys still don’t, then that’s fine, but know that I do.” She stood up and took one last breath of the cool night air. “I’m going to get some sleep. We’re going to need it.”

She walked over to one of two sets of stairs on opposite sides of the bridge that led down to the inside of the ship and soon disappeared. One by one, her friends followed suit, until only Hitch was left sitting on the deck. He kept his face carefully passive and looked like he was considering something not entirely pleasant. Finally, he gave a determined nod and joined the rest of the sleeping creatures belowdecks.

But not everyone was sleeping.

Flurry Heart had been flying in slow circles around the zeppelin that whole time, and a little while after Hitch had finally gone to bed, she swooped down and lighted on the deck, the wind tossing her curls about as she walked softly to the front of the ship and and sat there, resting her chin on the railing and closing her eyes as she allowed herself to simply breathe.

She heard quiet hoofsteps behind her but didn’t need to look up to see who it was; she already knew. There was only one pony it could be.

Twilight sat beside Flurry, and for a moment neither of them said anything.

“You should get some sleep,” Twilight finally said after a brief silence.

Flurry shrugged. “I’m not that tired.”

Twilight sighed. “You and I both know that’s not true. You’re exhausted, I’m exhausted, we’re all exhausted. And you’re going to need your rest tomorrow. So tell me what’s going on.”

The pale pink alicorn was silent for a moment before answering. She felt the gravity of her answer in her chest, and a strange, unspeakable fear of saying it outloud.

“I’m just… I’m scared that… if I go to sleep, I’ll wake up, and… it will all be a dream.”

Tears inexplicably welled up in her eyes as a lump lodged itself in her throat, and Flurry ducked her head, feeling a bit embarrassed. Twilight slid closer and put her wing around her niece, pulling her in and wrapping her in a hug. Flurry leaned her head on Twilight’s shoulder, and Twilight rested her head on top of Flurry’s. For a moment, the two alicorns just sat there in the calm of the night.

“You know that I will have to leave after this is all over,” Twilight said quietly.

“I know.” Flurry swallowed. “I’m happy to be here with you now, though.” She took a deep breath, feeling calmer now. “How much do you know?”

“Sunny told me… she told me everything she knows.”

“So you know.” Flurry pressed herself tighter into her aunt’s embrace. “You know how… how I’m here. You know how it ends.”

“It never ended,” Twilight said quietly. “Sunny is proof of that. And… I always knew that there would be some evil that I alone would not be strong enough to defeat. But I was never afraid of that. The light is always greater than the darkness, remember that.”

Flurry nodded, but she knew that there was part of the story that, even then, Twilight didn’t know.
> Well. That Was Unexpected.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the zeppelin drew closer to the remains of Opaline’s lair, the together tree, the portal to Ancient Equestria, and what they assumed was Grogar’s headquarters, Sunny felt a growing sense of unease, like there was one piece of the puzzle that she wasn’t seeing - one very important piece. But, as she kept reminding herself, this was their best chance to stop Grogar once and for all, and they had no other choice.

“Hugo,” she called behind her, and the griffon poked his head out of the bridge to listen, “stop the zeppelin here and assemble everyone on deck.”

He nodded and pulled on a lever so that the sails on the zeppelin would close, allowing the ship to hover in its current location without moving. Then he dashed out the door and down one of the sets of stairs on either side of the bridge to belowdecks.

“Are we there yet?” Brooks asked impatiently from where he was lying dejectedly in his hammock, looking bored.

Hugo nodded so fast that his glasses almost flew off his beak. “Sunny wants everyone to gather on the deck-”

“Has anypony come back?” Misty asked anxiously, standing up so suddenly that her horn hit one of the hanging crystal lanterns and sent it swaying. Beside her, Comet reached up a hoof and steadied it.

Most of the creatures who could fly had been sent out on aerial surveillance missions to try and see if they could find any signs of Grogar or his shadow army.

Hugo shook his head. Misty bit her lip nervously, and he added, “Don’t worry, I’m sure they’re alright.”

If he was being honest, Hugo wasn’t quite sure what to make of Misty, and he knew that his other friends that he had spoken to felt the same way. When he first met her, it was right in the middle of battle, and he had hardly any time to wonder who this stranger was. But when he had learned that she was Sunny’s friend, a whole new friend from a whole new adventure, he felt… the best word he could come up with was betrayed. And angry. It was like Sunny had completely moved on. But, of course, he knew better; anger was just an irrational response.

Misty seemed like a very shy and timid character at first, but apparently she was quite skilled with magic, and there was a look in her eyes that said that she had been in a fair amount of struggles with evil of her own. According to what Hugo had heard from Sunny, Misty was somewhat of a reformed villain herself - yet another one to add to their little group - but unlike Sprout or even Cozy Glow, she didn’t have a desperation to prove herself and her change of intentions. She was clearly comfortable with Sunny and her friends.

And then there was Misty’s friend, the unicorn with the strange looking horn: Comet. He was the kind of character that Hugo felt he could relate to, but more than once, Hugo had caught a glimpse of Comet staring at Flurry Heart with a wide-eyed fascination, which seemed strange. Did Comet know Flurry, and if so, then how?

By the time all the creatures were assembled on the deck, the first of the flying creatures were beginning to return. Kailani and Imara were the first pair to come back - they had decided that it was best to do things in groups so that no one could get taken by surprise while they were alone. Imara landed on the deck and glared at the floor between her hooves with such ferocity that it was a wonder that it didn’t suddenly combust. Kailani met Sunny’s eyes and shook her head.

“No sign of them,” Zipp announced as she and Pipp touched down as well. Ash, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Flurry, and Fluttershy all came back with similar results: there was no sign of Grogar anywhere in the area.

Sunny took a deep breath and let it out before she faced the creatures assembled before her.

“Okay. Everyone, listen up. As you all probably know, Grogar is here… somewhere, and this is our best chance to stop him. Otherwise, if we don’t, he’ll cover all of Equestria in a darkness so complete that the light of friendship might never shine again. Grogar has an army of wolves that make you see your worst fears. They make you despair and lose all hope forever, but whatever they tell you, it’s lies. And you can’t let them get into your head. Always remember, no matter what, that there is hope, and we’re fighting for it.”

“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash called out, and there were other scattered affirmative cries from the group, and Sunny couldn’t stop a small smile from slipping out.

“Right. We haven’t seen Grogar at all, but it’s unlikely that he hasn’t seen us. So we’re going to set this ship down and go out in small groups so that we can hopefully pass undetected-”

“I’ll go first,” Hitch said suddenly, raising his hoof as he volunteered. “And I’ll take Sprout with me.”

All eyes swung toward him, some of them surprised, but none more so than Sprout himself, who blinked several times as if he might be dreaming. He nodded his consent.

“All right, then,” Sunny said. “Everyone, get into small groups. Hugo, land this ship. Let’s give Grogar a lesson in the magic of friendship.”





The dense trees seemed to press in on all sides, their tall, thick trunks twisting into the air, their sprawling branches weaving together above to form an impenetrable canopy that absorbed all the light from the sun. The very air seemed to be still and dead, and there wasn’t a single living creature anywhere that anyone could see. It was all dark, unnervingly calm, and quiet. It seemed to Sprout that, although they were alone, that he was being watched. In the fifteen minutes they had been walking, he hadn’t heard anything except for his and Hitch’s hoofsteps and quiet, measured breathing. Some kind of unnamed panic was pressing in on his chest, making it hard to breathe. The silence was unnerving and evil.

“So, you’ve been down here before?” he asked in a lame attempt to make conversation. There was no response. Sprout stopped and looked around, noticing for the first time that he was alone; Hitch was nowhere to be seen. He spun around in a circle, calling out, “Hitch?”

A glowing green light stretched out across the forest floor from deep within the trees and came to a halt at Sprout’s hooves. Suddenly the ground erupted as thick vines burst from the earth and stretched toward the sky. They wrapped themselves around Sprout and dragged him with them, suspending him in midair, writhing and tightening themselves around him so that he couldn’t move, could barely breathe. He strained with all his might, but with every effort the vines only became tighter.

A pony stepped out from behind a tree and walked slowly towards him, his hooves glowing green just like the vines that curled across the ground, illuminating the stoney expression on his face and the intensity in his eyes.

“You should never have come back,” Hitch said in a low voice.

Sprout felt the faint hope that perhaps Hitch and the others had forgiven him like Sunny had crumble inside his chest, and in that moment he knew that they would never, ever forgive him. He had wondered, if they knew what had really happened, they would give him a chance, even if they couldn’t remember. But he knew now that that would never happen.

“What do you want?” he said in a tired voice.

Hitch narrowed his eyes. “When this is all over, you’re going to leave. You’re going to go back to wherever it is you were hiding in all this time, and you’re going to stay there forever, and you’re never going to come near Sunny ever again.”

A cold, steely anger surged through Sprout’s veins, and he felt his heart harden. His expression didn’t change, but something new entered his eyes that made Hitch’s heart skip a beat. Even though he was tied up in magic vines and had no way of defending himself or doing anything, he seemed more dangerous than Hitch was.

“No.”

The glowing light on the ground intensified, and the vines wrapped themselves tighter around Sprout, squeezing his lungs and making it impossible to breathe. He let out a cry of pain, and then Hitch loosened the vines a bit.

“I never want to see your face again,” Hitch said threateningly. “And if I do, then I guarantee it will be the last thing you ever do. Do I make myself clear?”

Sprout didn’t answer.

Hitch stepped closer, so close that Sprout could see his reflection in his eyes.

“I said, do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal.”

Hitch nodded and took a step back. The vines uncurled and dropped Sprout graciouslessly to the ground and disappeared back inside the earth. Sprout got to his hooves, but the look in his eyes never wavered, and Hitch began to feel scared. Somehow, the pony in front of him radiated a kind of power that he had never seen before, and he wanted to be as far away from it as possible.

He jerked his head in the direction of Opaline’s lair. “Let’s get this over with.”





Imara and Ash were the second creatures to be sent out. They took a different path than Hitch and Sprout did to try and remain undetected. The two walked along in silence, Imara staring heatedly at the ground, barely glancing up now and then when she almost ran into a tree. Ash watched her friend, wringing her claws as she did so. Ever since they had rescued Imara from the mess that the Changeling Kingdom had become, Imara had been… different. She was irritable and angry most of the time, and prone to making rash decisions. She reminded Ash of Brooks, only the changeling thankfully didn’t burst into flame whenever she got upset.

“Imara…”

“What?” the changeling snapped, her voice jagged and harsh. Ash flinched and didn’t say anything, and Imara noticed. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself down. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Ash said quietly. “I know this must be hard for you.”

Imara clenched her jaw and didn’t say anything.

“I just wanted to say… I wanted to say that I’m sorry for what happened. I know that you and Aunt Cercus didn’t always get along, but she was still-”

“Stop,” Imara said suddenly, her voice angry again. She added in a softer voice, “Please. I don’t want to talk about this right now.”

“I know you don’t want to, but you need to. It’ll help you feel better-”

“Well, right now, it’s making me feel worse. So I would appreciate it if you stopped talking until we get there.”

“But-”

“Just stop, okay?” A wall of light suddenly appeared around the changeling, and when it cleared, Imara had transformed into an eagle and soared between the tree branches above and into the sky, disappearing from sight.

“Imara?” Ash called out. She waited for a moment, knowing that, once her friend calmed down, she would be back. “Imara, where are you?”

Ash spread her own wings and took off, doing her best to avoid the branches in the thick canopy overhead and still getting whacked or poked in a variety of places. She finally broke through into the open sky, shaking leaves and twigs from her wings as she looked around, scanning the surrounding forest for any sign of Imara. But the changeling had disappeared.

“Oh, no, oh no, oh nononononono,” Ash moaned. “This is exactly what we weren’t supposed to do!” She felt panic welling up in her chest and forced herself to remain calm. “Imara knows where the ruins are. She’ll go there eventually. The smart thing to do right now is to go there and wait for her.”

Ash spotted the massive together tree poking up above all the others in the distance and made straight for it. All around the tree were stones and ruins, arches and collapsed walls, staircases that lead to nowhere, and a long stone bridge that connected the remnants of what must have been an impressive castle to the cliffside. At the base of the tree, just as Sunny had described, was a massive, jagged tear in the universe, the edges hissing as they came into contact with reality, the glowing purple depths unnatural and evil.

At the end of the bridge, Ash saw Imara standing alone, staring up at the tree, and she felt a huge wave of relief.

“Imara!” Ash spiraled down to land next to the changeling and almost wrapped her arms around her in a hug before she caught a glimpse of her expression. It was pure heartbreak. “Imara, are you okay?”

She followed Imara’s gaze and saw the figure of what looked like a pony, curled up beside the portal, unmoving.

“Who is that?” Ash asked. “What are they doing here?”

Imara didn’t answer. She didn’t move.

Ash spun around in a circle, saying, “And where are Hitch and Sprout? They should be here by now - do you think that something happened to them?”

No response.

Ash turned back to Imara. “Imara, are you… are you okay?”

“It’s Auntie Cercus,” she said softly. “I don’t know how I know… I just… know.”

Neither of them moved. Ash’s mind was spinning so much that she hardly realized it when Hitch and Sprout came running out of the forest and joined them.

“What’s going on?” Hitch demanded. There was something strange in his voice, but Ash didn’t have the time to figure it out; there were more important things going on.

“Who’s that?” Sprout asked, pointing to the figure by the portal.

“Imara thinks it’s her aunt,” Ash said. “Cercus. A changeling who… was captured by the wolves. I don’t know what she’s doing here…”

“What should we do?” Hitch asked quietly.

“We need Sunny,” Sprout said firmly. “She can help, but she’s all the way over at the ship-”

Hitch slammed his hoof into the ground, and it glowed green. A glowing vine stretched out across the ground from where it met his hoof, twisting through the trees behind them and vanishing from sight. Somehow, Ash knew that it would stop at the zeppelin and grow some kind of flower that Sunny would hopefully interpret as a distress signal. She was still amazed every time an earth pony used their new magic.

They didn’t have to wait long. Ten minutes after Hitch sent the signal, Sunny burst out from the forest with the rest of their friends behind her, all of them looking anxious.

“What’s going on?” Sunny said the moment she arrived. “What’s happening?”

Ash simply gestured to the portal, and as she did, she noticed that Imara was running towards the figure curled up beside it.

“Wait, Imara, NO!”

But Imara didn’t stop. She arrived at Cercus’ side and gently shook her shoulders to try and wake her up.

“Aunt. Auntie. Auntie Cercus, please, wake up!”

The elderly, pale-orange changeling suddenly gasped, and her eyes snapped open. She sat bolt upright, and Imara stepped back, not quite daring to hope yet.

Cercus turned towards Imara, and her eyes filled with tears.

“I’m so - so sorry…”

“Auntie, what are you talking about?” Imara stepped forward and offered her hoof to the other creature. “Please, we can help you! Just come back with us, and we’ll keep you safe, and we’ll rescue you-”

“Please,” Cercus said in her weak voice, “I don’t have much time. They’re going to Skyros. They’re going to become unstoppable! They’ve all gone already… Please, you have to stop them-”

Cercus suddenly gasped, and black shadows began to creep over her eyes, obscuring them in a shadowy veil. She shut her eyes and clapped her hooves to her head, muttering nonsense to herself as she fought a battle for control. Imara stepped forward, wanting to help but not knowing how.

“Auntie…”

“You’re too late.”

It wasn’t Cercus’ voice anymore. It was the voice of the shadow wolves, and as Imara watched, she saw the shadows pour out of her aunt’s eyes and wrap around her until Cercus was gone, and in her place was a towering shadow wolf with glowing white eyes. Imara stepped back, slowly backing away, her heart in her throat.

“Imara!” There was a blast of golden light, and the wolf howled as it leaped back. Sunny came flying in and planted herself between Imara and the wolf, her horn blazing with rainbow light. “Stay behind me! I’m going to-”

You’re too late.

The wolf snarled at Sunny before it turned around and took a running leap into the portal and disappeared into its depths.

There was silence. Imara felt hot tears prick at her eyes. It felt hard to breathe. She noticed faintly that all the other creatures had assembled on the bridge behind her.

Pinkie Pie said, “Well, that was unexpected.”
> Beyond the Stars
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Skyros.” Sunny paced back and forth on the deck. “Skyros… The ancient city of alicorns? Are you sure that’s what she said?”

Imara nodded. Her expression was neutral, but her eyes were a raging storm of anger, guilt, and sorrow. “She said that they had gone to Skyros, and that they were going to be unstoppable.”

“How did they get there?” Sunny wondered out loud. “That portal leads to Ancient Equestria.”

“Maybe they changed it,” Twilight suggested. “Now it goes to Skyros instead of Ponyville. Especially if it’s connected to the magic of the… what did you call it? Together trees? If they can go anywhere, and Grogar connected the portal to that magic, then he could make it go wherever and whenever he wants.”

“And Opaline was trapped inside that tree,” Sunny recalled, glancing behind her at the tips of the together tree’s branches. “Some remnant of her magic is still working there, working against us. I felt it when I tried to use the tree to escape. Misty said that she felt something wrong with the trees, some kind of dark magic inside them. I don’t find it very hard to believe that whatever’s left of Opaline would want to work with Grogar.”

“So Grogar’s in Skyros.” Twilight frowned. “I’ve never heard of that before this whole thing.”

“From what I’ve discovered, Skyros is an ancient city of alicorns from a long, long time ago,” Sunny said. “That’s where Opaline grew up. I think that’s where the first alicorns came from, back in the early days of Equestria, during the Second Age. It eventually faded from history at the end of the Second Age, and disappeared for thousands of years.”

“What’s the Second Age?” Imara asked.

“It’s from when Gusty the Great defeated Grogar for the first time to when Celestia banished Nightmare Moon and claimed the throne of Equestria,” Twilight explained. “The Third Age lasted until my friends and I claimed the Elements of Harmony, and the Fourth Age is still going.” She cleared her throat. “Well. Where I’m from, at least.”

“Oh.” Imara nodded, but Sunny could tell from her expression that she really didn’t care that much.

“So we go to Skyros,” Sunny said. She started pacing again. “Grogar wants to use the ancient alicorns to build up his army. So we get to them first and get them to help us defeat him. I can’t be the only pony in the entire existence of Equestria who can fight these guys, right?”

“Right.” Twilight nodded. “Except. Grogar’s already there.”

“So we go now.” Sunny turned and called, “Hugo! We’re going into the portal! Get the zeppelin in the air!” She turned back to Twilight as she said, “And we’ll figure out a plan on the way.”

Twilight nodded, but she still looked a bit uncertain. “I don’t know anything about ancient alicorn civilizations, so I guess we’re going in blind here. It would be nice if we could get a sense of where we’re going and what it’s like before we just…”

“Imara, can you go get Flurry Heart, please?”

The changeling nodded and flew off as the zeppelin’s deck beneath their hooves lurched, and the ship began to rise into the sky.

“When we get there, some of us need to scope things out, I agree,” Sunny said. “And in a city full of alicorns, a couple more alicorns there wouldn’t make much of a difference, right?”

Twilight understood what Sunny was saying. “Right. You and I and Flurry Heart go see how things are. Just be careful not to completely ruin the timeline as we go. Minimize interactions. Unless the shadow wolves are already there, and we have to start fighting them right when we get there.”

“Yup. But we don’t know, so we’ll find out when we get there.”

“Literally every ounce of my being is screaming at me that we need to have a better plan than ‘we’ll see’.”

“Me, too. But we don’t have any other option.”





The zeppelin gently descended into the fathomless depths of the portal. Now that Sunny wasn’t falling through it at a hundred miles an hour, she had more time to appreciate the awesome beauty of the way that the magic swirled around her, dancing on her skin and making it tingle; the way that ribbons of purple light wound around each other and twisted into intricate designs that faded away in the darkness; the way that, despite everything, it felt wrong in a way, because that portal shouldn’t be there. It was unnatural and it felt like it. Sunny felt like a dozen tiny spiders were crawling under her skin, which put her nerves on edge. Apparently everyone else felt the same, because they all kept to themselves, hanging listlessly in their hammocks or pacing restlessly on the deck.

Inside the bridge, Hugo took a deep breath. “Well, here we go,” he said, unable to stop his voice from quaking a little bit. He fiddled with the dials and switches before he set the zeppelin to continue its descent at a constant speed before he left the control room.

Midnight was sitting down below, his eyes shut and his brow furrowed in concentration, both of his hooves grasping the crystal moon-shaped pendant that hung around his neck. Comet looked up from where he was and noticed what the Crystal pony was doing.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

Midnight was silent for a moment before he finally gave up and let the crystal drop to his chest. “I’m trying to see something. Anything that could help us on our quest.”

Comet’s eyes widened. “You can do that?”

He shrugged. “Sometimes. When it works.”

Comet stood up and walked over, sitting down beside Midnight. Holding out his hoof, he asked, “Can I… see that?”

Midnight looked at him questioningly but set the crystal in Comet’s hooves, though the chain remained around his neck. Comet leaned closer, adjusting his glasses as he turned the crescent-moon shaped stone over. He could sense a powerful magic coming from it; he had spent his whole life surrounded by crystals, after all, and he knew that all of them had some kind of magical signature. But this one was especially powerful.

“Where did this come from?” he asked.

“Um… I was given it.” Midnight didn’t really feel like sharing the specifics of its origins. “It has the power to allow me to… see things. Things that may not have happened yet.”

“Wow…” Comet whispered. “Has it shown you anything recently?”

Midnight shook his head. “No… Well, once. It showed me Grogar. That was how we realized who was behind all of this. But it hasn’t shown me anything clear since then.”

“What do you mean?” Lukas had been listening, and now he looked up from the book he was reading that he had brought. Recently, he had trimmed his bangs, and now his bright green eyes could see clearly for the first time. “What do you mean, it hasn’t shown you anything clear?”

“Lately, I’ve been having these… dreams.” Midnight bit his lip. “Just glimpses of stuff. It’s all really blurry and hazy, but… I see stars. So many stars. And I saw Sunny. And then all the stars went out, but Sunny glowed brighter and brighter, and then… then I wake up.” He looked down at his hooves. “There’s bits of other stuff, too. There’s a big city, which I assume is Skyros, and we’re all there, and we’re fighting. And there are a few other ponies there, too, that I don’t know, but the shadow wolves are there, and Grogar, and it’s all just a blur. But I see a cave. There’s a cave and three ponies and lots of magic.” He shook his head. “None of it makes any sense to me, either.”

“So, what do we do?” Comet finally asked after a period of silence.

Midnight shook his head. “I don’t know.”





Zipp Storm was itching to fly, but Sunny had instructed all the winged creatures to not leave the ship for safety reasons. “We don’t know where you might end up,” she had said to Zipp upon seeing the crestfallen expression on her face when she heard the news. “We don’t know if Grogar might have made this whole thing into a trap. Wherever we go, we’re going together.”

Of course, Zipp understood where Sunny was coming from, and she quietly agreed with her that it was best to stick together. But that didn’t stop her from being grumpy about it.

Zipp moaned and dropped her head to the railing.

“It’s like in Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue,” said a voice beside her, and Zipp turned her head to see Rainbow Dash leaning against the railing, staring up at the abyss above them. A tiny glimmer in the distance was the opening that they had come through, and it shrank by the minute, which did not make Zipp feel comfortable.

“What?”

Rainbow Dash looked at her. “Have you never read Daring Do?”

“Nope.” Zipp shook her head. “I’ve never even heard of that.”

Rainbow’s eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open in shock. “Never heard of Daring Do?” she nearly shrieked. “Oh my gosh, she’s just about the most awesome pony ever - besides myself, of course - who goes on all of these adventures in ancient temples recovering lost artifacts before-”

“Wait, I think I remember that now,” Zipp said hurriedly, mostly to get Rainbow Dash to stop talking. “But you were saying?”

“Oh, right.” Rainbow looked up again. “I was just saying, not being able to fly. It’s kind of like in the first Daring Do book, because she injured her wing and-”

“It’s the worst,” Zipp agreed, hoping to stop another rant about how great Daring Do was. “I spent my whole life wishing I could fly, and now that I can, it feels like things just keep happening where I can’t. We lost magic again with the whole memory stone business, then my wing froze in the Crystal Empire, then the Legion of Doom stole our magic with Grogar’s bell, and it started flickering again when ponies were arguing, and now we’re here.”

Rainbow nodded, but even she was impressed. “Wow. That’s a lot of adventures.”

Zipp snorted. “You don’t know half of it,” she said, rolling her eyes. Suddenly, she sat up.

“Uh, Rainbow Dash? Tell me if I’m going crazy, but…”

“What is it?” the blue pegasus asked, joining her at the railing and looking down.

“Is that light getting bigger?”

Rainbow looked where Zipp was pointing. She frowned and tilted her head. “I think so?” She called over her shoulder, “Sunny, get over here!”

“What’s going on?” Sunny asked once she had joined them.

“I think we’re almost there,” Zipp said.

Sunny noticed the gradually-growing light below them and nodded. “Alright. I’ll assemble everyone on deck.” She turned and dashed away.

Rainbow Dash stared after her as she ran down the steps at the other end of the ship. “So, you guys don’t really have princesses and rules of all of Equestria like we do, right?”

Zipp nodded. “Yeah. I mean, I’m technically a princess, but only in Zephyr Heights.”

“Well, you should bring the old system back.” Rainbow nodded in the direction Sunny had gone. “Sunny would make a great princess.”

The zeppelin inched closer and closer to the bright light, until finally they emerged from the portal into a world full of stars.

There was deep blue sky in every direction, and hanging against the brilliant backdrop were bright, glimmering stars that shone with an otherworldly ethereal light. Gentle, thin wisps of clouds drifted to and fro. The air was perfectly cool and seemed to be alive with a kind of tingling sensation that was immediately recognizable as magic. Below the ship, stars were arranged in a kind of twisting pathway that stretched over the empty sky around them into the distance.

Twilight’s eyes widened. “I’ve been here before,” she whispered. “This is where…” Her voice trailed off as she looked around, her wings twitching. “I didn’t know…”

The zeppelin gently landed on the starry path, which should not have been possible, and yet it was. As soon as it had safely come to a stop, Hugo dashed out from the bridge to meet everyone else on the deck.

“So… what now?” Fluttershy asked.

Sunny closed her eyes, and golden light swirled around her, taking the form of wings and a horn. “Now, we scout it out,” she said. “We’ll come back as soon as we can so that we can formulate a plan. Hugo, does this ship have camouflage of some kind?” He nodded, his eyes wide. “I want you guys to hide, in case Grogar is around. No one leave this ship. Got it?”

There were nods of consent all around, though some expressions were less-thrilled when Sunny said that. She took a deep breath and nodded, taking a step back.

“Alright, then. We’re off. We’ll be back soon.”

Sunny, Flurry, and Twilight all spread their wings and flew off the ship, landing on the starry path.

Flurry tested out the path’s sturdiness with her hooves. “This is so weird,” she said. “I can’t shake the feeling that I’m about to fall.”

“Come on,” Sunny said, taking the lead down the path towards wherever it led. As they went, the sky began to gradually get lighter, and the stars dimmer. The path under their hooves faded so much with the growing light that they could barely see it, and more than once one of the mares took a misstep and nearly lost their balance. The clouds became thicker and bigger, until the path rounded a particularly big column of cloud and opened up on a beautiful sight.

“Woah…” Sunny’s breath fell away. “Skyros.”
> The Lost City
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Skyros was a city floating in the sky. A large island hovered in the distance, looking like some unicorn had grabbed a chunk of land and thrown it into the heavens, where it remained ever since. The city had levels, like a tiered cake. Buildings were made from marble and pale white stone that glimmered in the bright light that seemed to come from the city itself, glowing brighter than the sun. Columns and arches lined the cobblestone streets and courtyards decorated with fountains. Trees and bushes grew in clusters, and vines twisted around the columns and up the walls. Almost everything was open to the sky, and the few things that weren’t had huge domed roofs adorned with silver. Waterfalls cascaded off the edges of the city and into the endless abyss below. Huge, puffy clouds floated here and there, some sporting more columns and arches, surrounding the city in a field of white. On the edges of their vision, the stars were faintly visible, but dimmed in the glorious light of the ancient city. Magic seemed to pour from within, swirling around the area and making the air tingle. Tiny, glowing bubbles floated around the city, sparkling with magic, bouncing off of anything they touched.

It was paradise.

And, most importantly, it was swarming with alicorns.

Ponies were flying from one floating platform or cloud to another, or soaring around columns, or racing each other through the streets. Their horns shone like the stars as they practiced new spells in the courtyards or cast magical illusions of light into the sky. Some of them were sitting under the shade of trees as they studied scrolls or ancient books in small groups. There were occasional flashes of alicorns demonstrating their powers, manipulating water into intricate shapes or summoning the wind into small whirls or causing plants to spring from the earth and soar into the air. Every pony could do something different, and every single one of them had it mastered down to a science. They made all of the unicorns and earth ponies in Sunny’s time look like cheap amateurs.

“I can’t believe it,” Twilight said softly. “This is incredible!”

“How did this happen?” Flurry whispered. “How did this city go from a thriving metropolis to something that none of us have ever heard of, much less seen?”

“I don’t know,” Sunny answered, “but Grogar doesn’t seem to be here yet. I think we still have a little time to-”

“To do what?” Flurry turned to her. “Warn them? Do we tell them we’re from the future? How well do you think they’ll take it?”

“I don’t know.” Sunny bit her lip. “If Grogar isn’t here yet, then maybe we still have a chance to stop him. But if we need to, then we have to warn the alicorns. With all of them together, they should be able to create some kind of defense to hold him off long enough for us to stop him.”

“Do we have any idea how we’re going to stop him?” Flurry asked, her voice taking on a bit of a desperate edge.

“They have libraries,” Twilight pointed out, gesturing to the ponies that were reading. “Spells and enchantments that time has forgotten. There must be something.”

Flurry closed her eyes and nodded. “Sorry. I’m just… really nervous.”

Twilight put her arm around her niece and pulled her close.

“Well,” Sunny said, rolling her shoulders back, “we’re not going to get anything done by just standing here. Let’s go.”





The three alicorns wandered the streets of Skyros, which were fairly empty since most ponies were taking advantage of the always-perfect weather to go flying or practice their magic with their friends. On the rare occasion that another alicorn did pass their way, Sunny, Flurry, and Twilight were quick to duck behind a column or into an alcove or behind a waterfall. They were trying to disrupt the timeline as little as possible.

“What are we looking for?” Flurry whispered as they walked along, just in case any ponies were eavesdropping or happened to hear their conversation.

“Anything.” Sunny stuck her head in the open door to a domed building, glanced around real quick, and then pulled out again before any of the alicorns inside could catch a glimpse of her. “Anything that could help us stop Grogar.”

Twilight glanced up at the level just above them, her eyes sliding from one building to the next. Suddenly, her eyes widened, and she gasped.

“Wait, that building up there!” She pointed to a building, sitting at the top of the city, larger than all the rest, its gleaming dome sparkling in the light. “That mark on the doors - I’ve seen it before! That’s Starswirl the Bearded’s cutie mark!”

Sunny squinted and tried to make out the symbol that Twilight was talking about. The tall doors of the building were made of a light gray material, and painted on them in darker gray was a swirl of stars, which, she guessed, was appropriate.

Flurry gasped. “Hide!” she hissed.

The three ponies ducked inside an archway, pressing themselves against the sides and concealing themselves in the shadows. A group of alicorns passed by, laughing with each other. As soon as they had passed, they relaxed.

“But how is Starswirl the Bearded here in Skyros?” Flurry asked. “I thought it was a city of alicorns, and, last time I checked, Starswirl isn’t an alicorn.”

“Celestia and Luna said that Starswirl was their mentor,” Twilight said, thinking out loud. “Maybe they weren’t his only students! Maybe Starswirl trained up more alicorns to help protect Equestria, and Skyros is his school!”

“So that means that all of these alicorns are being trained by him,” Sunny said, peeking out from the alcove.

“But the Second Age lasted for centuries - how old is he?”

“He’s Starswirl,” Twilight said, her voice sounding strange. Both Sunny and Flurry looked at her questioningly and saw that her eyes were shining. “He can do anything!” She finally noticed the strange looks that her friends were giving her and shook her head, setting her expression as a more serious one. “If there’s anywhere we can find a spell or something to protect Skyros from Grogar, it’ll be up there.”

They made their way through the winding streets and up the staircases as they passed through the many levels of Skyros to reach the top. The further up they went, the larger and more elaborate the buildings became, the larger the gardens and more frequent the courtyards with fountains trickling happily in the centers, and the fewer ponies they saw. They sensed that they had passed from one section of the city into another, although what the difference was they weren’t quite sure.

“Here we are.” Twilight stopped outside of the massive building that bore the image of the swirl of stars on the door. She took a deep breath and reached up a hoof to push the doors open, but before she could Sunny let out a cry of warning, and they were forced to duck into a bush as hoofsteps passed them by. Once they were sure that whoever it was had gone on, they forced their way back out, pulling sticks and branches from their manes and wings.

Twilight raised her hoof once more to open the doors, but hesitated, her hoof hovering over the door.

“Wait. What if it’s magically booby-trapped?”

“Can we still get in?” Sunny wanted to know.

“Of course,” Twilight said reassuringly. “I just need to…” She lit up her horn, frowning with concentration as the doors were surrounded with bright pink light. She shut her eyes tight and was silent for a moment before the doors slowly swung open silently.

“Are you okay?” Flurry asked, noticing that Twilight stumbled a bit when she took her first step.

Twilight gave her a tired smile. “I’ll be okay. Starswirl is a genius, and his spells are really hard to undo.”

The inside of the building was dark and cool, without much light, in contrast to the rest of Skyros, which was pretty much all open to the bright skies and the clouds that floated by overhead. The door opened onto a long hallway, lined with two little streams on either side that trickled by, filling the oppressive silence that seemed to be everywhere, broken only by their quiet hoofsteps on the smooth, cold floor. Sunny glanced down and saw intricate designs of stars and constellations drawn on the floor, connected by looping swirls. The walls were a light grayish-blue and seemed to radiate a faint light that was just enough to see by. They were broken up from time to time by archways that led into other rooms, rooms filled with books and tables set with candles and quills sitting in ink pots that held down the corners of half-written scrolls. Some of the rooms had windows that looked out on the city, or they would have, if they hadn’t been closed. In one room there was a telescope, and the ceiling was a detailed mosaic of the night sky. Sunny found her hooves wandering toward that room until Flurry stopped her.

“We can’t just go wherever we want,” she reminded Sunny in a hushed whisper. “We just need to find what we’re looking for and get out.”

As they went, they became more and more aware that it sounded like more than just three sets of hoofsteps were echoing in their ears amidst the silence. The three mares found themselves glancing around every once and a while or stopping occasionally, looking behind them and into the doorways of nearby rooms. Though they didn’t know why, they felt like they were being watched - and they didn’t know if the watcher was friendly or not.

Sunny got the same uncomfortable feeling that she’d had when she was walking through the halls of the Zephyr Heights palace on the night that the shadow wolves took her friends. She wondered if the shadow wolves were in Skyros already, and if they were following them even then. But before she could voice her concern to her friends, they came to the end of the hallway and stepped through the towering archway into the largest room they had yet seen.

The domed roof stretched high above them, so high that Sunny felt like she could fit her entire lighthouse inside with room to spare. The walls were covered in dark purple, velvety curtains, punctured now and then by the appearance of a golden rope and tassel, that made the room feel smaller despite its magnificent size. The two little streams that trickled down the hallway found their source there, with a small stone basin at the other end of the room from the entrance. The rivers overflowed out the sides and into the small grooves that had been carved out for them before making their way around the entire room and through the door. Off to the side was a table, cluttered with ancient-looking spellbooks, half-filled scrolls, ink pots and quills, and candles that had burned down so much that they were struggling just to stay alive.

In the center of the room was a device that was strange to all of them. It was a massive ring, upright so that one could walk through. It was at least five ponies wide, and made out of a strange silver material inlaid with the occasional crystal around its rim. A large heap of purple fabric lay beside it, obviously meant to cover it when it wasn’t in use. A set of stairs led up to the giant ring, and beside it was an open book lying on a pedestal.

“What do you suppose this is?” Twilight asked, stepping forward as if in a trance.

Flurry Heart walked over to the book and looked at it, tilting her head and frowning. “I’m not sure - but I think it’s a portal of some kind? Maybe this is how you get from Skyros to the rest of Equestria?”

“It’s so strange, and so beautiful,” Sunny said softly. Before she knew it, she was at the top of the steps, and the whole ring seemed to hum quietly. The crystals seemed to glow with magic, and both Twilight and Flurry looked up and seemed to realize for the first time where Sunny was.

“Sunny, no-”

“I wouldn’t touch that, if I were you.”

All three of them spun around at the fourth, unfamiliar voice. Standing in the doorway was a young pony, an alicorn. She looked only a few years older than Cozy Glow and had a dark magenta coat and a pale mane that was coiled into braids around her ears and hung in curls on her shoulders, streaked with stripes of bright blue. Her blue eyes were bright and the color of fire.

“Who are you?” Twilight asked. Flurry and Sunny didn’t say anything. They already knew.

The pony stepped forward. “My name’s Opaline. Opaline Arcana. I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.”
> Allies, Part One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“It’s nice to meet you, Opaline,” Twilight said slowly, glancing uncertainly at Sunny and Flurry, but both of them were staring at the fourth alicorn with barely-disguised shock. “I’m Twilight, and this is Sunny and Flurry. We’re, uh, new, and we were just looking around.”

Opaline looked at her skeptically. “It would take a very powerful pony to open those doors,” she said, jerking her head in the direction of the entrance. “You haven’t had any training at all?”

“Um…”

“She’s very bright,” Sunny blurted out, rushing to Twilight’s side, throwing her arm over her shoulders, and grinning nervously at Opaline. “I mean, we only got here, like, two days ago, and she’s already learned so many new spells, you wouldn’t believe the amount of magic she knows already-”

“Woah!” Opaline’s eyes widened as she stared at Sunny. “I’ve never seen anypony with wings like yours before! How do they glow like that?”

“What? Oh, uh,” Sunny stammered, unsure of what to say, “they, uh, it’s the… light?”

Opaline blinked. Then her face split into a grin. “I know what you are.”

“Uh… you do?” Sunny gulped and looked around at her two friends, but they seemed to be at as much of a loss for what to do as she was.

“Of course! Your specialty is light, isn’t it? I’ve seen a couple other alicorns like you around here, too. They like to make their wings glow all the time, and everypony thinks it’s sooo cool, but I can make my wings glow, too! Watch this.” She shut her eyes, her expression one of immense concentration, and her horn began to glow. Bright purple and pink and blue flames wrapped around her horn, and Opaline spread her wings, which also began to become enveloped in flame. When the fires finally fizzled out, her wings glowed fiery pink and blue for just a moment before Opaline’s magic gave out, and the light faded away. Her eyes snapped open with a gasp, and then she straightened, a proud grin spreading across her face. “Ta-da!”

“That was really… awesome!” Sunny managed a smile, though in her mind she was reliving the many, many times that she and her friends had come face-to-face with future Opaline, and the cruel, malicious laughter that echoed in her ears when she thought about it.

Opaline beamed proudly, but before anything more could be said, the sound of echoing hoofsteps reached their ears, and they all looked at the hallway.

“It’s Starswirl!” Opaline hissed frantically. “You really shouldn’t be in here - you’ll get in so much trouble!”

“What do we do?” Flurry whispered desperately.

“Under there!” Opaline pointed to the deep purple cover next to the strange ring device in the center of the room. She lit up her horn, and the cover levitated into the air. “Quickly!”

Twilight, Flurry, and Sunny dashed under the floating fabric and curled up as small as they possibly could on the floor. Opaline remained where she was.

“What about you?” Twilight called out as loudly as she dared with the hoofsteps growing louder and closer.

“I’ll be fine!” Opaline waved it off like it was no big deal. “You ponies stay hidden!”

She dropped the cover on top of them, and everything went dark. Sunny could hear the sound of whoever it was walking down the hallway growing louder. She felt Twilight and Flurry pressed up against her. She could hear her breathing and thought in a panic that it was so loud that anyone would be able to hear it.

The hoofsteps stopped. Whoever it was had just entered the room and saw Opaline standing in the middle of it.

“Opaline,” said a disapproving voice. Sunny didn’t recognize it, but Twilight tensed up beside her. “You’re not supposed to be in here.”

“Sorry, Starswirl,” she heard Opaline say. “I was just looking for you, and I-”

“How did you get inside?”

“I, uh, I slipped in when somepony else left. I tried to open the doors myself, but my magic… isn’t strong enough yet.” There was something in her voice that Sunny recognized - like she was admitting to something that she knew wasn’t true, but everyone else did.

“Hm. That would explain it. I sensed that my magic spells had been… tampered with.”

Finally, Sunny could bear the darkness no longer, and she shifted the fabric around her just enough to create a small opening through which she could see.

Opaline was standing with her back to them, facing an older unicorn. He had a gray coat and a light brown mane and beard streaked with ribbons of silvery gray. His blue eyes were staring at Opaline disapprovingly. He wore a tall, pointed hat and a matching cape, both of which were blue and patterned with images of stars. His gaze would occasionally sweep over the whole room, and Sunny tried her hardest not to move.

“Why were you looking for me?” Starswirl the Bearded said.

“I, uh…” Opaline swallowed nervously. “I just… wanted to ask you something.”

“Yes?” Starswirl raised an eyebrow, looking impatient. “Speak quickly, foal. I’m late for my tutoring session with Celestia and Luna.”

One of Opaline’s ears twitched. “When are you going to send me to Equestria?” she blurted out. “I’ve studied here my whole life and I’m sure that I’m ready-”

“For the last time, Opaline, I’ll send you when you’re ready.” Starswirl’s voice was exhausted and exasperated. “Once you have completed your training and proven yourself to be capable of the responsibility of-”

“But I know that I’m ready!” Opaline cried, her voice sounding far more desperate than she probably meant it to be. “Starswirl, I’ve been training for this my whole life, and I’ve still never been outside of Skyros once! Please, just take me to Equestria and let me try-”

“Not yet, Opaline.” When she started to protest, Starswirl held up a hoof and silenced her. “This conversation is over. Why don’t you go talk to Gusty for a bit.” It wasn’t a question, but an order, one that could not be ignored. Starswirl jerked his head towards the entrance. “Come on. Out you go.”

Grumbling to herself, Opaline followed Starswirl down the hallway and out of sight. Once they were safely around the corner, Sunny, Twilight, and Flurry all crept out from underneath the velvet cover and snuck after them as quietly as they could, ducking into doorways whenever there was one in case Starswirl happened to glance behind him. They were hiding just inside the doorway to the star-gazing room when they heard the door open and then close, and the sound of Starswirl returning to the main room. As soon as they were sure that they could move without being spotted, the three alicorns rushed down the rest of the hallway and flung open the doors, escaping back into the bright radiance of Skyros.

Opaline was pacing back and forth in front of the entrance, looking agitated, muttering to herself. When she saw the other three alicorns, she looked relieved. “He didn’t see you, did he?” she asked.

Twilight shook her head. “I think we’re safe. Only, we didn’t get what we came here for,” she added, casting a forlorn look at the building behind her.

Opaline stopped and tilted her head to one side curiously. “What did you come here for?” she said.

Twilight and Sunny exchanged looks, and a whole mental conversation appeared to happen between them in the space of a few seconds. “Actually, Opaline,” Sunny said slowly, seeming to have made her mind up about something, “there is something that we might need your help with-”

“Ah, Sunny? Can I, uh, talk to you? Just for a second,” Flurry Heart added as she grabbed Sunny’s hoof and dragged her out of earshot. Once they were far enough away, Flurry shoved her into an alcove and hissed, “What are you doing?”

“Look, I don’t like it anymore than you do,” Sunny began, but Flurry interrupted her.

“Don’t you have any idea who she is? What she’s done?”

“She’s Opaline Arcana, a fire alicorn,” Sunny said, seeming to stiffen up. “She stole my cutie mark and the cutie mark of everypony in Equestria, therefore stealing our magic; she kidnapped and brainwashed my friend Misty since she was a foal, feeding her lies and fake promises; she is a ruthless, cold-hearted villain who will steal all the magic in the world just out of spite. Yes, I am very aware of who she is and what she has done, but this is the past, and she’s completely different now! And besides, we need allies-”

“That’s not all of it.” Flurry’s voice seethed with a pent-up anger that had just been able to be released. Her voice dropping even further, she went on: “Do you know how Twilight's friends died?”

Sunny blinked. The question had caught her off-guard. “I… don’t know. I guess I just assumed old age or something like that-”

“Well it wasn’t,” Flurry snapped. “It was something much, much worse. Before all of ponydom began to fight and split apart and magic began to fade away, Opaline was at her most powerful - more powerful than she’s ever been. She’s spent the rest of her life trying to get to the level of power that she was then. She was so powerful that when Twilight and her friends tried to stop her-” Flurry’s voice broke, and suddenly the anger was replaced with immeasurable grief.

“Opaline knew that Twilight’s friendship with her friends was what made her so powerful. So she decided to cut it off right at the source.” Flurry jerked her head in Opaline’s direction. “She killed them,” she said, her voice turning angry for another moment.

“Do you know what that does to somepony like my aunt? Do you know what happens to a pony when she loses the ponies she cares about more than anyone else in the whole world? She breaks. And when she breaks, you wish that you were anywhere other than on the receiving end of her wrath.” Flurry took a deep breath. “Twilight stripped Opaline of all of her powers and banished her from Equestria with every spell that she could think of. But it wasn’t enough. She lost herself that day. She lost herself in the grief. She would get mad at random ponies, and her magic would be set off by the smallest of things. She might have been gone forever.” Flurry had to stop again to regain control of her emotions, so that she could speak with a calm and level voice.

“Luster Dawn said that she would cry all night. She was less than she was. Luster risked her life trying to recover that broken, angry shell of a pony, and even when she did…” Flurry swallowed. “Twilight was never the same after that. She became… reclusive. She didn’t like to talk to anyone. She would see such evil things happening and would look on sadly, knowing that she no longer possessed the power to fight them. Until she faced the Windigos-” Flurry shut her eyes, and it was a while before she was able to talk again.

“I wasn’t supposed to know. No one was supposed to tell me the truth. But Luster Dawn and I were good friends, and she sent me secret letters that Twilight and my mom didn’t know about, and she told me everything. And I told her about the Windigos, and we realized that everything was falling apart.” Flurry’s voice turned soft and wistful as she stared off into the distance. “I wonder what happened to her…”

Sunny was quiet for a moment, processing all of this new information. She wanted to think that a pony would never be that cruel, but then she remembered the Opaline she had fought, and she thought, Yes. She would be that cruel.

Flurry seemed to return to herself, and she locked gazes with Sunny once more. “But you see? We can’t accept help from her. We can’t ally ourselves with a monster.”

“You’re right,” Sunny said quietly. “But Opaline’s not a monster. Not yet.”

Flurry’s eyes widened, and she started to protest, but Sunny held up a hoof to stop her. “Just listen. Please. When you were fighting the shadow wolves in Zephyr Heights, you said that Ash and Brooks were able to hold them off, each of them using their respective fire abilities.” Flurry nodded. “So the wolves must have some kind of a weakness for fire. Maybe it would be a good idea to have a fire alicorn on our side to help fight them. Flurry,” Sunny went on, “we need help here. We have no idea what we’re doing and hardly any idea of what we’re going up against or how to stop it. We need to minimize interactions as much as possible, or at least until - if - the attack starts. So please just… give this Opaline a chance. Please.”

Flurry looked up and met Sunny’s eyes and didn’t say anything for a long time.
> Allies, Part Two
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When they finally returned, Opaline and Twilight were making small talk, which made Flurry’s mind short-circuit. She couldn’t believe that her aunt was casually chatting with the single pony who would bring about her ruin, and furthermore, that Sunny was willing to trust her. Flurry wanted to blurt out everything to her aunt, to tell her what would happen, but everything she had ever been taught or had ever heard screamed at her to be silent. The fate of the world could depend on her keeping quiet.

“Everything okay?” Twilight asked uncertainly, seeing the conflicted expression on Flurry’s face.

“It’s fine,” Sunny said after a brief hesitation. She glanced sideways at Flurry. “Just… clarifying something.”

“Is it true that you’re from the future?” Opaline blurted out, looking like a filly who had just tasted ice cream for the very first time. Her eyes were wide and shining, as if all her dreams had just come true at once.

Sunny and Flurry whipped their heads to stare at Twilight, who shrugged guiltily.

“Sorry. I only told her… enough.”

“How much is enough?” Flurry wanted to know. Her voice came out harsher than she meant it to, but she didn’t care. She still wasn’t willing to accept the help of this future murderer.

“She told me that you’re ponies from the future who came to warn us about an evil villain who is coming here with an army of shadow wolves that will imprison us and use our power to take over the world,” Opaline said, sounding far too gleeful for having said such a serious sentence. She bounced up and down on the tips of her hooves. “And if we don’t stop him, then he’ll take over all of Equestria forever!”

“Right,” Sunny said. “His name is Grogar, and we need a way to stop him-”

Opaline suddenly gasped, her eyes opening, if possible, even wider.

“Grogar?” she whispered, her voice filled with hushed awe.

“Probably should not have said that,” Flurry hissed to Sunny, who flashed her a look of annoyance.

“I’ve heard of him,” Opaline continued, not having heard what Flurry said. She frowned as she thought for a moment. “We studied him. He was the first emperor, ruler of Equestria, father of monsters. He let them roam freely over the land, taking what they wanted and destroying the rest. He created a darkness so complete it seemed like nothing happy would ever shine through again. When he was defeated, it was the first time ponies came together and unified against an enemy.” She looked up again and, for some reason, met Flurry’s eyes. “He’s back?”

Flurry didn’t say anything. She didn’t want to speak a word to her. But even so, she knew in her heart that the pony in front of her wasn’t capable of intentionally hurting anyone. Flurry could sense her heart and knew her true intentions, which were to prove herself and help other ponies in a world where everything was capable of destruction. She couldn’t quite pair this pony with the cold-hearted vile horror that had destroyed so much in her life. Flurry cast her gaze downwards and looked away from Opaline.

“Yes,” Twilight said when no one said anything. “Grogar has returned, and he’s quite possibly only moments away from attacking Skyros. If he takes the city, then all of Equestria is doomed.”

“That’s why we were in there,” Sunny said, jerking her head at Starswirl’s compound next to them. “We were searching for a way to stop him.”

Opaline looked at them all seriously. “I know what you need.”

“What is it?” Twilight asked. “Is it that ring-shaped-thing that Starswirl has in there? What is that for? What does it do?”

“Oh, that?” Opaline waved her hoof airily. “That’s the portal to Equestria. But nevermind that. You don’t need Starswirl; you need somepony else.”





And so that was how Flurry Heart found herself following Opaline Arcana through the streets of Skyros to meet with an unknown-somepony.

“What am I doing,” she muttered under her breath as she trotted along behind Twilight and Sunny. They still ducked out of sight whenever other alicorns came walking along, and Opaline would lean against the wall as casually as she could (which wasn’t very much) and pretend like everything was fine until they had passed. She wasn’t very convincing, though none of the other ponies even gave her a strange look, which led Flurry to believe that Opaline was a misfit even in this ethereal otherworld that was Skyros.

“Here,” Opaline finally said after they had descended down nearly to the first level of the city, to where the buildings were smaller and more cluttered, and there were fewer courtyards and open spaces. She held up a hoof to stop them, then pointed to a two-storied villa on the corner where two streets intersected. It reminded Flurry of some of the architecture in Cloudsdale. The roof was tiled with gray stone, and the walls were pearly white that glistened in the light. There were few windows, but there was a balcony on the second-level and a tiny, empty courtyard behind it with arches leading into it.

Opaline approached the door and raised a hoof to knock, but before she could, Flurry ran forward and stopped her.

“First, you’re going to tell us exactly who lives here, and who you’ve been taking us to see,” she said in a low voice that was hardly above a growl. Opaline’s eyes widened with confusion, and maybe even a little panic.

“Flurry, what are you doing?” Twilight cried out.

Flurry ignored her. She glared at Opaline. “Just tell us what you’re really up to,” she snarled.

“Flurry, that’s enough!” Sunny grabbed Flurry Heart and dragged her off of Opaline, pulling her away in case she managed to break free. “Just leave her alone!”

Flurry felt a blinding rage building up in her chest, giving her a sick, twisted feeling that made it hard to breathe, hard to think. She wanted it gone, and she didn’t know how to get rid of it. And through it all was the incredulousness that she was working with a pony who would do horrible, horrible things to other ponies, and those other ponies were willing to trust her. She wished she could go back and undo their meeting and return to the zeppelin with Twilight and Sunny, and somehow go back to Equestria and not have to worry about anything anymore.

But she knew that was impossible.

“A pony lives here who can help you,” Opaline said, looking at Flurry with a burning question in her eyes, but she didn’t say anything. “She’s my mentor, a unicorn who used to live in Equestria. Starswirl brought her here so that she could help… us.” She cleared her throat. “Her name is Gusty.”

“Gusty the Great?” Twilight’s eyes grew wide, and her jaw dropped practically to the floor. She looked like she was about to faint, but Flurry reached out a hoof to steady her.

“...Who is Gusty the Great?” Sunny asked uncomfortably, looking around.

Twilight had to bite her lip to keep from screaming.

“Sorry, Sunny, I keep forgetting how much of Equestrian history you don’t know,” Flurry apologized. “Gusty the Great was the unicorn who defeated Grogar and banished him to his prison in the stars. She stole his talisman, his bell, which I think you are well-acquainted with, and stole all of his power before she destroyed him.” Flurry looked at Opaline suspiciously. “And she lives here?”

“How?” Twilight spluttered. “Gusty the Great lived thousands of years ago!”

Opaline spread her wings. “Time doesn’t work the same in Skyros,” she said with difficulty. “It kind of… stands still. Starswirl convinced Gusty to come to Skyros to help train us alicorns, even though it meant… leaving behind a lot.” She glanced at the house with a pained expression. “I think it was harder than she let on.”

“So why did she come here?” Sunny wondered. “Why did Starswirl the Bearded ask her to come to Skyros?”

Opaline kicked at the ground and muttered something.

“What?” Flurry said, a bit of harshness creeping back into her voice.

The fire alicorn took a deep breath, looked straight at Flurry Heart, and said, “Because of me.”

Flurry, Sunny, and Twilight all stared at her.

“She came to help me,” Opaline went on. “My magic doesn’t work like anypony else’s. I’m the only fire alicorn in Skyros, and Starswirl really just doesn’t know what to do with me. I can’t master spells like everypony else, and every time I try to manipulate my element like the water alicorns or the light alicorns or the stone alicorns - it doesn’t work right. It goes all over the place and makes a mess. Most of the other alicorns think I’m too dangerous and stay away.” She took a deep breath and forced a smile on her face. “Gusty and I have been working on how to master my magic, but she does more than that. She defeated Grogar once before, and I think she can help us do it again.”

Then, without waiting for any of them to fully digest what they had heard, Opaline turned around and knocked on the door.

Hardly a second later, the door swung open, and a pony poked her head out. She was an elderly unicorn mare with a silvery-gray coat and blue-green eyes that were slightly larger behind a pair of thick-lensed glasses that were perched on her muzzle. She had a green mane streaked with ribbons of bright pink and twice as much gray that hung around her neck in a chaotic mess. Her bangs were constantly getting in her eyes, and she kept having to toss her head to gain a few seconds of clear visibility. Though she looked old and rather frail, there was a kind of life in her eyes that made her seem young. When she saw Opaline, she grinned.

“Opaline! What kind of a surprise is this? I wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow afternoon!”

“Starswirl sent me,” Opaline mumbled, pawing at the ground with her hoof. “Um… I brought some friends.”

Gusty the Great looked behind Opaline and, for the first time, seemed to notice the three other alicorns standing awkwardly behind her. Her face lit up, and she pushed the door open wider and stepped back. “Well, don’t just stand there! Come on in, please do!” She glanced behind her and temporarily panicked before lighting her horn and sending unseen objects flying about, crashing into the walls in a symphony of cacophony. Gusty gave a satisfied smile and stepped to the side.

Flurry was the last one to enter the house. She glanced around rather warily. The inside of the house was cluttered, the walls almost all obscured with bookshelves that housed all sorts of random objects. There were stacks and piles of books all over the place, balancing precariously on windowsills and around a few potted plants that looked like they could use a few good days in the sun. Cobwebs hung in the furthest corners, though a broom was hurrying around, alternatively sweeping the ceiling and knocking piles of things over with the handle. Candles were randomly stashed, enough to supply light, but in such unexpected places that half the time Flurry wasn’t sure where the light was coming from. It was strangely homey in its own way.

On the wall beside the door, a picture was hanging. Flurry glanced at it. It was of a much younger Gusty the Great, standing with two other unicorns: one of them a mare with a strawberry-red coat; a short, neat, sky-blue mane; and bright green eyes; the other was a stallion with a bright red coat and a mane that looked like fire. The picture was worn and creased and wrinkled, but the frame that it was displayed in looked new.

“Please excuse the mess,” Gusty said apologetically. As she backed up, she bumped into a stack of books and nearly sent it toppling. “I, uh, wasn’t expecting anypony.”

She turned around to adjust the books so that it wasn’t quite in as much danger of falling over, and the ponies saw some kind of metal leg brace on her hind leg. Gusty caught them looking and smiled easily, flexing her leg. “Nothing to worry about. Just a little something an old friend of mine made for me.”

Gusty adjusted her glasses and got her first good look at the ponies in her front room. As her eyes swept over Flurry and Twilight, she said, “I don’t think I’ve seen you before-”

Her eyes landed on Sunny; she stopped and gasped.

“It… it’s you.”
> Behind the Veil
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The zeppelin hovered just behind a massive, towering wall of cloud, just within sight of the starry path that wound through the sky to an unknown destination. Sunny, Twilight, and Flurry had been gone for a couple hours, and the creatures aboard the ship were starting to get anxious.

Sprout paced back and forth along the length of the deck, around and around in mindless circles. He could have gone below decks and tried to get some rest like most of the other creatures were doing, but he knew that he wouldn’t be able to sleep until Sunny was back. And the walls of the hold seemed to close in on him when he was down there, squeezing his lungs until he couldn’t breathe. He needed to be out here, in the open air, in order to feel even remotely calm.

Pipp poked her head up from downstairs and glared at him. “Can you please stop that?” she asked.

He rolled his eyes. “What, walking?”

The pegasus princess narrowed her eyes until they were hazel-green slits. “It’s driving me crazy,” she said before ducking back down the stairs again.

Sprout huffed and took exaggerated, tiny, silent hoofsteps until he got to the front of the ship, where he sat down and leaned his head on the railing, watching for any sign of Sunny returning. A gentle breeze blew in his face, and the stars twinkled around him. He closed his eyes for just a moment and took a deep breath, letting a kind of peace fill him that he hadn’t felt in a long, long time.

“Do ya see them yet?”

His eyes snapped open, and he turned to see Applejack joining him. The country mare took off her hat and shook her head, shaking her bangs out of her eyes. She, like Sprout, closed her eyes for a moment and let the strange peace of that realm fill her for the briefest of times before she looked at him, and he could tell from the look in her eyes that this was a conversation that he didn’t want to have, but he didn’t see any way he could avoid it.

He hung his head. “You want to ask about my friends?”

“Yup.” She nodded and gave him a sideways look. “How did ya know?”

He rested his chin on the railing with a quiet sigh and didn’t answer.

“Anyway.” Applejack rolled her shoulders back. “I wanna know why ya did it.”

That caught him by surprise. Sprout looked at her, asking, “Did what?”

“Trade their memories of you so that you could get out of those caves. It probably wasn’t the only way. If you worked together, I bet you could have eventually found some way to get out. So why didn’t you? Why did you give up everything you cared about, and then run away and hide in the forest feeling sorry for yourself while everything else happened?”

Sprout didn’t say anything.

“If you don’t want to say, then that’s fine,” Applejack told him, looking off into the distance now. “I understand. But I would think that, if my friends lost all of their good memories of me and only remembered the bad stuff, I would do whatever I could to get them back. And if I couldn’t, then I would start making new good ones. But I noticed that you and your old friends haven’t really… interacted much.”

“Look, I made my choice, and they made theirs,” Sprout said, his voice heated. “I couldn’t let us all rot in those caves just because I wanted them to still be my friends. And I wasn’t… I wasn’t the greatest pony before magic came back, okay? I did some things… some things I’m not proud of. If I could ever go back in time and undo them, then I would in a heartbeat. But I can’t. And it seems like I hurt some ponies a little too much for them to give me another second chance.”

“But they gave you a chance before,” she pointed out. “Sunny and Hitch and Zipp and Pipp and… Izzy, right? Anyway, they gave you a chance after all of that happened. So why aren’t they giving you a chance now? Sunny is. She tried to convince ‘em to, but it seems like they didn’t listen. So why?”

Sprout looked at her. “What are you saying?” he said slowly.

Applejack shook her head. “I don’t know. But somethin’ doesn’t seem to be adding up here. And, of course, I could be totally mistaken. But I’m just sayin’ that it doesn’t seem to make sense that Hitch and Zipp and Pipp and Izzy are avoiding you like this, when Sunny and all of those other creatures don’t seem to have problem with ya.”

“So… are you saying that there’s something wrong with them?” Sprout glanced back at the stairs at the back of the ship with a worried expression on his face.

“I don’t know. But maybe when this is all over, it’s worth looking into.” Applejack stood up and put her hat back on. She looked out past the columns of clouds around them but didn’t see any sign of their friends coming back. “I’m going to try and get some sleep.”





Kailani missed flying. She wanted to feel the wind under her wings again, blowing her hair back from her face, the sense of complete and utter freedom that made anything seem possible and all the problems seem small and insignificant and unworthy of her attention. She wanted to feel that bliss again, to soar away behind some clouds and into the distant stars and leave everything else behind.

She could tell that the no-flying rule was hard on Zipp, too, and that new pegasus, the blue one with the rainbow mane - Rainbow Dash, she thought her name was. Most of the other creatures were bored in a kind of listless way, finding small things to occupy their time to replace the high-tense action that had filled their lives recently, but for Kailani, it was so hard to be still and patient. The sky was right there; she could already feel her claws lifting off the ground into the open air. Then she would blink, and she was back on the deck, aching for something that was so close but might as well have been a thousand miles away.

“What’s flying like?” Hugo asked her in a quiet, almost scared voice. Kailani glanced at him, surprised, and saw that he was staring up at the endless expanse above them with the same longing expression that she was sure had been on her own face not moments before. The distant stars were reflected on the lenses of his glasses.

“Why do you ask?”

Hugo blinked, seeming to come back to himself, and then he looked slightly ashamed. “I… I was just wondering,” he said lamely.

“Hugo…”

He bit his lip. “The… the wolf said it could make me fly. In the elevator. I was stuck with Lukas and Midnight in an elevator in Zephyr Heights, and got me, and it… it said that it could make me fly.” He closed his eyes, his expression heartbroken. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

Kailani reached out her wing and drew her friend in close. Hugo leaned his head on her shoulder. “I know,” she said softly. “They show you the one thing you want, and it’s the one thing that you can’t have. That’s how they trick you.” She frowned as she thought of something. “How did you get out?”

“Oh… there was this bright light, and the darkness kind of receded a little bit, and I saw Midnight reaching down to pull me out.” Hugo paused. “His necklace was glowing,” he remembered.

“It’s very powerful,” Kailani said softly to herself. “It came from somewhere powerful.”

“Do you think it could help us defeat the wolves?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t think it’s quite that powerful. It could defend against one or maybe two, but it can’t hold off many for very long. These wolves… they’re unlike anything I’ve ever heard of before. And Sunny’s the only one who can stop them.”

“I hope she’s alright.”

“She will be,” Kailani told him firmly. “And she has Flurry and Twilight with her. Together, there’s nothing those three can’t handle.”





“I’m really worried about Imara.”

Brooks rolled his eyes. “So?” he snorted. “I’m really worried about all of us. In case you haven’t been paying attention, Grogar is about to attack an ancient civilization of alicorns so that he can have an all-powerful unstoppable army to conquer Equestria, and if that happens, then we won’t be able to stop him. And all of this will have been for nothing.”

Ash gave him a reproachful look. He hated it when she did that. His rough attitude was able to keep most of the sentimental creatures away, which he liked. He didn’t like to talk about feelings, or anything related to them. When the kirin village had turned him away for being too dangerous because of his uncontrollable transformations into a nirik, he had spent most of his days figuring out how to suppress as many of his emotions as possible so that he wouldn’t hurt anyone. He found that, if he was gruff and a bit rude to everyone else, they would leave him alone, and then he couldn’t accidentally hurt them.

But Ash had, a bit annoyingly, stuck around, always following him wherever he went and asking him how he was feeling and expressing concern for what his thoughts and opinions were. When they had returned to their kingdoms after defeating the Legion of Doom, Ash was the only one who sent him letters regularly. When the zeppelin had descended just outside the Peaks of Peril, Ash had flown from the deck down to find him and wrapped him in a hug that nearly made him start spouting flames, he was so startled. Other creatures hadn’t touched him like that in years. And, though he had tried to deny it, whenever they entered battle, Brooks found himself looking around for her, to make sure she was okay. If he was being honest, the sudden, strange compulsions to care about another creature scared him a bit.

“I meant that I’m worried about her because of what happened to her aunt.”

“Oh.” Brooks looked down at his hooves.

When they had arrived in the Changeling Kingdom, they had found that Grogar had gotten there first. It was under heavy attack from the shadow wolves, and Imara had just barely been holding her own by abruptly changing form. When Ash had called out, Imara, distracted, had turned to see who it was. Meanwhile, a wolf crept up on her and was about to pounce when another changeling had pushed Imara out of the way. Imara had tumbled head-over-hooves and righted herself in time to see her aunt Cercus get pulled inside the wolf.

Flurry had to use her magic to pull Imara away to safety. She hadn’t been the same since, snarling at others when they tried to speak to her, glaring angrily at the floor or off into the distance, and pacing the deck until her exhaustion made her finally cave and sleep.

She was sleeping now, just visible if Brooks looked behind him through the opening in the deck. The changeling was curled up on a hammock, swaying slightly, her expression so peaceful and devoid of any worry or pain.

“Do you think she’s going to be okay?” Ash asked, following Brooks’ line of sight to where Imara was resting. “I mean… she knows that one of those wolves is the pony who raised her. And she knows that she’s still in there.”

Brooks knew that she wouldn’t be - not at first. Not until her aunt was safe. She cared about her, and that compassion would drive her mad. But for Ash’s sake, he said, “Yeah. She will be. Eventually.” He kicked at the deck, suddenly uncomfortable. “I’m going to go get some sleep,” he said lamely, making up any excuse to get away.

As he walked down the steps into the hold, he glanced back and saw Ash leaning against the railing, and he heard her whisper: “Please hurry back, Sunny.”
> Shining Sun
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Um… Gusty, this is Sunny, Twilight, and Flurry,” Opaline said hurriedly into the awkward silence that had filled the house. “They’re… new?”

Gusty blinked. Her eyes were wide behind her glasses, and she looked about twenty years younger as she gaped at Sunny. She shook her head and looked at Opaline, then back at Sunny, then at the other two alicorns next to her, and her eyes grew, if possible, even wider. “No, that’s not right,” she muttered. A look of confusion entered her expression, and she frowned. To Sunny she said, “You shouldn’t be here. None of you should. How did you come to Skyros?”

“What are you talking about?” Twilight said slowly.

“And how do you know Sunny?” Flurry asked, taking a step forward as if to put herself between Sunny and Gusty.

“I saw you,” Gusty murmured, her gaze not wavering from Sunny’s face. There was a kind of ancient wisdom in her eyes that said that she saw more than other ponies, saw more than she ever told. “It was really faint, but I’m sure it was you - I had them make a tapestry of it, so that I could remember - I forget things really easily,” she went on, suddenly rummaging through the many things on her shelves and piles. “I know it’s around here somewhere…”

“What are you looking for?” Opaline asked, timidly pawing through a pile of books, trying to be helpful.

“I know it’s around here somewhere…”

“What is?” Flurry’s voice started to get a bit demanding again. Her wings were twitching, and she glanced up at the balcony that was just barely visible between bookshelves that reached all the way up to the two-story high roof.

Gusty ignored them all and bounced over to a ladder that was leaning against the wall with far more energy than a mare her age should have had. She scrambled up the ladder, muttering to herself, pushing aside books and scrolls and other artifacts as she searched. Some of them tipped off the edge of the shelves they had been placed on and tumbled towards the floor, where they would undoubtedly collide with other precarious piles and create more of a mess. Sunny, Flurry, Twilight, and Opaline all rushed to catch as many of the falling items as they could, dancing through the impassable maze of stuff on the floor. Gusty, completely oblivious, continued her search up above.

“Aha!” She pulled a wooden chest off a shelf, knocking a stack of papers off as she did so, and they fluttered down, where Opaline grabbed them with her magic before they could scatter too far. She stacked them all neatly and frowned at the picture drawn on the top piece of paper. “What’s this?” Opaline asked, holding up a picture of the dragon stone. Sunny felt some of the blood drain from her face and quickly looked away.

“Just random glimpses, I can never make sense of them,” Gusty explained vaguely as she climbed back down, holding the chest with her magic. “I forget everything if I don’t write or draw it, but I’m a rubbish artist - anyway! Here we are!” Gusty slammed the box down in front of them, sending up a cloud of dust that made everypony drop the objects they had caught in order to cover their mouths and cough. Gusty, grinning like a foal, spun the box around to face her, opened it, and pulled out a shimmering piece of fabric which she spread over the floor as best as she could with so much stuff in the way.

Sunny rubbed her eyes to get the dust out and blinked them open, trying to see clearly though tears that blurred her vision. When she finally made out what it was, she gasped, and then immediately regretted it as she inhaled dust that sent her into another coughing fit.

“Sunny…” Twilight pointed to the tapestry in front of them. “Is that… you?”

It was a circular piece of fabric, seeming to shimmer with light, like the cloth itself was glowing. Depicted on it were four ponies in various locations, all circling a fifth pony in the center - a pony with golden wings and a golden horn. It wasn’t just that Sunny knew instantly that the pony in the middle was herself; it was that she had seen this tapestry before. She and her friends had found a section of it in her father’s old things, and that had sent them on a scavenger hunt to Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood to find the other two sections. Together, it made a picture of Sunny and her friends. The blanket had been a cool find, but none of them were really sure what it meant.

And now it was here, in Skyros. Which meant…

“How did you get this again?” Sunny wanted to know.

“Oh, I was walking down the street after watching the sunrise down in Equestria,” Gusty said, waving her hoof airily. “It was a pretty normal day. But then I blinked, and I saw this.” She pointed to the tapestry. “It was really blurry and faint, but I’m sure that’s what I saw. And then I saw you…” Gusty frowned now as she tried to remember. “You were standing on the balcony of this lighthouse-looking-thing with a huge rainbow coming out of the top. The rainbow arched over into the horizon until you couldn’t see it anymore.”

All four alicorns stared at her, their eyes wide and their mouths hanging open with wonder. Gusty didn’t seem to notice and shrugged. “And then I looked up and realized that I had tripped and fallen into a fountain. At least it wasn’t as bad as last time. Anyway, I ran to find some paper and get it down, but I knew that this was important, so I had some friends of mine make a tapestry for me. Why, have you seen it before?”

“I…” Sunny bit her lip and glanced at Twilight and Flurry. “Yes, I have seen this before,” she said slowly, her mind racing with whether or not she should tell Gusty about the truth. They needed her help, but she didn’t know exactly how much to tell her. “I guess I was just surprised that you had it.”

“Well, this is very exciting and all,” Opaline said, “but that’s not why we came.” She turned to look at Gusty. “We need your help. Grogar is coming.”

Gusty blinked. For a moment, they all thought that she was too stunned to speak. Then-

“Oh COME ON!”

Sunny, Twilight, and Flurry all flinched at the outburst, though Opaline looked like it was perfectly normal and happened all the time.

“You can never get rid of them forever, can you?” Gusty went on, agitatedly pacing back and forth in the little open spaces between piles of stuff. “No matter how hard you try or how many magic spells you cast or whatever other pointless junk you do, they always come back! Why can’t they just go back to the shadows and stay there forever? I mean, I thought the whole banishing-him-into-the-stars thing was pretty good, right? How did he manage to get out of that one?” She gasped and suddenly grabbed Opaline’s shoulder. “Don’t tell me he managed to get his bell. Please tell me that it's still hidden away safely!”

“Um,” Opaline said, looking at the other alicorns with an expression that said, “Help me!”

“No,” Sunny blurted out. “We don’t think he has his bell. It was… lost-” She snapped her mouth shut before she could say anything else.

Gusty looked at her for a fraction of a second before she took a deep breath and composed herself. “Let me take a shot in the dark here. You’re from the future, and Grogar comes back in your time, but he needs more power or something, so he opened up a portal back in time to Skyros so that he can steal the power of all the alicorns and take over the world and be unstoppable, yaddah yah, the usual villain dominance story. And you guys came through to warn us but don’t want to completely blow up the entire existence of the world by messing with the timeline. Am I close?”

“Does time travel happen every day and I just don’t realize it?” Sunny said out loud. “So far everywhere we’ve gone, no matter how long ago it was, someone is always able to guess that we’re from the future. I don’t get it.”

“I have visions from the future every now and then,” Gusty said, completely nonchalant, like this wasn’t a big deal at all. “Sometimes they even prove to be useful.” She shook her head. “Other times, they’re completely useless. But beggars can’t be choosers.” She shrugged. “So. Grogar’s coming back. What kind of menacing monsters has he conjured up this time?”

“Wolves,” Flurry Heart said. “Wolves made of shadows. They draw their power from some kind of host - through their pain and regret and shame - so they were kidnapping all of our friends. We don’t know how to stop them. Sunny’s the only one who was able to do anything to them. Do you think you can help us?”

But Gusty’s face was suddenly pale, and her eyes were wide with fear. For the first time, she actually looked like the elderly pony that she was, and it was a very abrupt and unexpected change.

“Wolves?” she whispered in a frail voice. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. She looked down at her hooves. “So. There are more of them.”

“The wolves? Do you mean… you’ve seen them before?” Twilight took a step forward.

“Yes,” Gusty whispered. “I have.” She cleared her throat and looked them all in the eye. “When I fought Grogar for the first time… back in the dark years… Grogar could persuade ponies to side with him. He would bribe them at first, but the moment they showed any signs of wanting to back out, he would enslave them with some kind of shadowy servant of his and bend them completely to his will. I… I saw it happen to a lot of ponies.” She looked at Sunny. “And you’re able to stop them?

Sunny shifted uncomfortably on her hooves. “I… yes,” she said hesitantly. “I don’t know why, and I don’t know how, but for some reason I can free the ponies that the wolves have trapped, and once they don’t have a host anymore, then they don’t have any power and can’t hold a physical form. But… I can’t stop all of them all at once. I was barely able to stop one group of them, and that was only with my friends helping me. I can’t just walk in, blast them all with rainbow lasers, and they’re all defeated and we can go home happy.”

“I wish it worked like that,” Gusty muttered to herself. “Ah, well. So. Do you have a plan?”

“Uh… we were kind of hoping that you would help us make one,” Sunny admitted sheepishly. “We haven’t really had a plan until now, and it’s been working out well enough. How did you defeat Grogar last time?”

“I stole his bell, stole his magic, and banished him into the stars,” Gusty said matter-of-factly, like this was something she did every other Tuesday. “But I doubt that’ll work again twice. And in any case, he doesn’t have his bell anymore, if what you’re telling me is true, and let’s hope that it is, because stealing that thing was hard enough the first time.”

Flurry Heart cleared her throat. “Ahem. Plan?”

“Oh, right.” Gusty grinned sheepishly with an apology. “Sorry. So, as I was saying-”

There was a sudden boom that shook the floor beneath their hooves and made the whole house quake. Books and other artifacts fell off the shelves and crashed to the ground, and all five ponies looked up fearfully as dust rained from the roof.

“What was that?” Opaline squeaked, taking a step closer to Gusty.

Gusty’s expression turned grim, and she scrambled over to another ladder and climbed up it as yet another earth-shaking boom made them all sway on their hooves. Gusty leaped onto the balcony and glanced outside.

“Well,” she said in a voice that was trying way too hard to be cheerful, “whatever plan we make, we’re going to have to make it up as we go. Shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Why?” Sunny asked, approaching the foot of the ladder. “What’s happening?”

Gusty grabbed a small telescope from on top of a stack of books and opened it, holding it up to her eye and peering through it. Her face turned a shade paler, and she pressed her lips together in a fine line. “Are you sure that you want to know?” she said, still peering out over the city. “It’s… pretty bad.”

“What’s going on?” Flurry snapped, at the end of her patience.

Gusty took a deep breath and looked down at them all. “They’re here.”