Hello again, everypony, and welcome to another chapter.

I'm very pleased with how the next chapter went, I'm glad everyone liked it and was shocked by the fight scene, that kind of reaction was what I was aiming for.

Anyway, not much to say other than enjoy the chapter, because this is where it begins, the arc that will lead to the awaited showdown between me and Zelga. And how do we start such an arc, you ask? By finally revealing the identity of the pony stealing the Elements…yeah, that's happening now.

I changed the lyrics in the song I used in this chapter to match with the story.

I don't know whether or not this chapter will be long or not, we'll just have to see what I have to tell. So sit back, relax and enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 64: Snake in the Grass

Six days ago, a mysterious pony who had been stealing the Elements of Harmony one by one had returned to our town to claim another one, Applejack's Element. He got what he wanted, but not without taking a bonus prize.

Not only did he steal another Element, he kidnapped Applebloom. What kind of sick twisted pony kidnaps an innocent little filly? Answer, the worse kind. After that day, I made it my top goal to find this pony, get Applebloom back and make him pay for what he did.

Four days later, I was desperate to find out where this pony was, so I decided to get some answers from a reliable source, the Jersey Devil. He wasn't willing at first, but I wasn't in a good place to be messed with, so I had to loosen his tongue. The fight was brutal, but eventually, I overpowered him and he sang. He told me the pony was gonna take Applebloom to the Castle of the two Sisters, however, he didn't know why.

That's all I could get from Jersey, so I had to make do with that. Now it was two days later and the pony was gonna take Applebloom there tonight.

Ponyville Library

I was outside the Library, doing push up to build myself up for anything that could happen. This guy took Applebloom for a reason, I doubt he'd give her up without a fight. I didn't care how hard it was or how much my body still ached from the recent battle with Jersey, I wasn't gonna let a little pain stop me from getting Applebloom back.

Twilight watched through one of the windows, she watched as I pushed myself more and more. At times, she was nearly pushed the point of coming out to me because she thought I hurt myself, but that feeling would go away once she saw me keep going.

Spike walked over to her, placing his hand on her side. "It's alright, Twilight…Matt's tough, he'll be fine when he goes to get Applebloom back." he said with a small smile, trying to make her feel better.

Twilight turned her head to face him. "I appreciate what you're trying to do, Spike, but that's not what I'm worried about." she said before she returned her attention to me out the window. "You saw the sate he was in when he fought Jersey, what if he does something worse this time? What he gets out of control and something goes wrong? He could get himself or Applebloom hurt if he's not careful." She said with concern.

"Don't think like that, Twilight, Matt's not some kind of monster." Spike said, trying to build her confidence a bit more.

Twilight was silent for a moment before she looked down at Spike again. "I love Matt, Spike…I love him with all my heart, but since Applebloom went missing…it's like he's a completely different pony, he's always so angry and only thinks about finding the one who took her." She said as she looked down at the floor with slight sadness.

"Well…it's probably normal, Twilight…I mean, how would you feel if some brute pony kidnapped your foal?" Spike said as he pointed at Twilight's pregnant belly.

Twilight looked under herself to see her belly before she placed her hoof on it. "…I suppose you have a point." She said before she looked at Spike again. "But can you at least talk to him? I need to make a letter to someone." she said before she walked away towards the next room.

"Who?" Spike asked curiously.

Twilight kept going as she looked back at Spike. "An old friend of ours." She answered before she disappeared into the other room.

After that, Spike looked out the window and saw how hard I was training. He sighed heavily before he walked away to head towards the front door. Once outside, Spike went around the Library until he reached me, I had now switched from doing arm push-ups to wing push-ups.

I grunted and groaned as I lifted my body up and down with my wings, Spike walked up to me slowly. "Umm…Matt?..." he asked.

"Yeah?" I asked as I continued to do push ups.

"Twilight's a little worried about you, do you think you can stop for a moment and talk to her?" Spike asked.

I continued to do my push-ups as I turned my head to look at him. "I can't stop now, Spike, I need to get myself prepared for when I go to get Applebloom back. Just tell Twilight not to worry, I'm fine, really." I said before I stopped doing push-ups and went over to a punching bag.

But Spike didn't leave, instead, he followed me to try and talk to me again. "That's not really what she's worried about, she's scared that you're gonna get hurt if you don't stop for a second and think." He said, trying to put some sense into me.

I sat down before I started punching the bag with my front hooves. "There's nothing to think about, I'm going there and I'm getting her back, I promise Applejack…" I said as my punches got harder. "He took her because I wasn't here to stop him, if I had only stayed in Ponyville when it happened! I might've been able to….Ahh!" I yelled before I gave the bag one hard punch.

Spike took a step back, a little frightened by my sudden temper I saw this before I tried to calm down. "Spike…I'm sorry…really I'm so sorry…but I need to do this, Applebloom trusted me and she got kidnapped…I need to make up for that." I said, trying to make him feel better.

I didn't like getting so angry, but when I'm in a state like this, I need my space. The thought of that pony kidnapping Applebloom the way he did, it just boiled me so badly, can any of you blame me?

Spike thought about it for a moment before he responded. "I suppose I understand, just try and be careful, Twilight's really scared for your safety." He said before he turned and walked away to go back inside.

Left alone, I grabbed the punching-bag with my hooves make it stop moving. Once it did, I released it so I could punch it again, but I couldn't bring myself to do it for some reason. What Spike said about Twilight made me feel bad, I didn't want to scare her so much, I loved her more than life itself…but this pony stealing the Elements and abducting fillies was too much to forget about…why does everything have to be so complicated.

"Dammit!" I yelled as I gave the bag one hard punch and stormed away from it.

I then sat down hard on the grass, trying to do what Spike said and think about this. I didn't know if it was gonna be dangerous, I didn't even know if I could handle it if it was. True, I was tough and won some brutal fights, but the last time I thought that way was before my first fight with Jersey, we all saw how that turned out.

I was on the edge of giving up and deciding to wait until the pony struck again before I could catch him, but another thought soon overpowered that one.

Maybe I was rushing right into a trap, maybe Jersey was lying and he wasn't gonna be there at all. But one thing was certain, I sure as hell wasn't gonna find out by giving up. I then got up and marched over to the punching-bag before I started beating on it.

I wasn't giving up! A dead end lead or not, I was going to the castle tonight, only then will I find out for sure if the pony and Applebloom were gonna be there or not.

Meanwhile: Canterlot

Princess Celestia sat in her throne room alone, in her magic she held Grimerd's journal. After being tempted, she finally started to read some of the pages of it. Most of what she read was pretty harmless, sometimes flattering when she read paragraphs written about her. But despite this, she could never forget the beast the lurked behind these words.

"Words of an Alicorn – page 54

My dearest Celestia, I never thought anyone would show me such kindness like you have, I see now that you are my everything, my sun, my moon, my stars, my oxygen. We have been together years and I cannot imagine my life without you.

I do believe I'm falling in love with you, I think nothing but you, I see nothing but you. it won't be long now, my love, sooner we'll be together for the rest of our-….."

Celestia stopped reading when the paragraph ended with a long ink streak trailing off the paper, like whoever wrote it fell over and dragged the quill across the page. She turned to the next page, but it was blank, as was the rest of the pages ater it. That's when she realised that these were the last words Grimerd wrote in this journal.

Celestia sighed, going back to the pages that actually had written words. But suddenly, the pages started turning by themselves, they went faster and faster until they were like a blur. Within the flipping pages, a pair of large red eyes shot out in front of Celestia with a loud screeching cry.

Startled, Celestia yelped before she threw the journal down to the floor below her throne and the journal closed with a slam. Breathing deeply, Celestia was trying to understand what just happened. Was it some sort of defence spell to scare unwanted readers?...Or was it something else?

Celestia then heard the doors swing open before two guard come rushing in. "Your highness, is everything alright? We heard you yell." One of them said.

Celestia took a breath before she spoke. "I'm alright." She said before she looked down at the journal. "Take that journal to the artefacts lock-up, I don't want anyone getting their hooves on it again." she ordered.

"Of course." One of the guards said before he leaned down and grabbed the journal with his mouth, they then turned away and proceeded to leave the throne room with the journal.

As the guards walked through the doorway out of the room, Discord walked past them to enter and saw the troubled look on Celestia's face. "Celestia? Are you alright?" he asked in concern.

Celestia looked over to him before she got up off her throne. "Yes, I'm fine, Discord…I was just reading a scary book." She said, troubled by the memory of what she just saw.

In a bright flash, Discord appeared beside her. "Must've been some book if it could scary you." he said before he snapped his fingers and in another flash, Discord was wearing a red dressing-gown and had grown large enough to have Celestia sit on her knee. "Would you like me to read you a nicer one?" he asked while holding a book.

Celestia shook her head. "No, I just want some space, please." She said calmly, but firmly.

With a frown, Discord snapped his fingers again before he shrank back down to his normal size and Celestia was back on her hooves. "As you wish." He said before his ears dropped. "Listen…I need to tell you something…I know I'm not usually the touchy feely type, but I just need to tell you so you don't find out some other way." he said, thinking of the many ways this could go wrong.

Celestia gave him an interested look before she took a step closer to him. "Yes?" she asked, wondering what he had to say.

Discord took a breath before he spoke. "Alright, do you remember when I told you that I had lost most of my power and I wasn't the Spirit of Chaos anymore?" he asked.

Celestia nodded. "Yes, but that was many months ago, why do you want to bring it back up?" she asked curiously.

Discord hesitated to tell her the truth, if she found out he had been lying to her and everyone else for so long, she would probably never forgive him and more, she might even have him turned back to stone. But Discord had to tell her, something was telling him it had to be done. "Because…this is gonna be hard to tell you, but-"

Discord was then interrupted by the doors opening. They both looked over to them to see Blaze Horn enter the room. "Princess? You asked me to report on Shining Armor's progress in the case?" he asked with a small smile.

Celestia was silent for a moment before she nodded. "Indeed, I'll be with you in a moment, Blaze Horn." She said before she looked at Discord. "Can we continue this later, Discord?" she asked.

Discord's ears dropped again before he nodded. "Sure…anytime you're ready to continue, just let me know." He said before he hovered towards the doors and left the room with his head hanging.

Once he was gone, Blaze Horn walked up to Celestia. "Well…if you're ready to begin?" he said.

Celestia gave him a single nod. "Very well, proceed with the report." She said before she turned and walked over to one of the stained windows.

"Well, due to the lack of leads, suspects and witnesses, we haven't been able to make any progress on finding the one who's been stealing the Elements." Blaze Horn confirmed.

Celestia sighed and responded. "I don't understand this at all, it's like this pony is a ghost. He appears, and then disappears, leaving no tracks, no hoof-prints, nothing. At this point, it seems impossible that we're going to find him." she said, starting to lose confidence.

Blaze Horn took a step closer. "Don't worry, Princess, we'll find him and bring the Elements back, it's our top priority." He said strongly.

Suddenly, a poof of smoke shooting through the window and stopped behind Celestia, Blaze Horn noticed it and watched as it turned into a scroll before it fell to the floor. Blaze's horn glowed and he managed to catch it with his magic before it could hit the floor, he brought it over to himself before he read the little piece of writing at the side.

I said a name, obviously the name was who the letter was addressed to, but it wasn't Celestia.

Blaze was surprised by this, but as Celestia was starting to turn around, Blaze quickly hid it behind his back to keep her from seeing it.

"Are you sure you've checked everything?" Celestia asked curiously with a raised eye-brow.

Blaze nodded. "Yeah, but now that you've mentioned it, I'll double check the things we have so far, I'll report if I find anything." he said before he turned and made his way towards the exit, being sure to hide the letter from her.

Once he left the throne room and closed the doors behind him with his magic, he pulled the scroll out and unravelled it to read it. As he read through it, a charming smirk appeared on his face. "I'll be right there." he said before he rolled the scroll back up and started walking down the halls of the castle.

That night: Ponyville Library

I spent hours preparing for the task ahead, I hadn't eaten, I hadn't slept, I only trained and trained until I knew I was ready.

Spike and I stood right outside the Library while I waited for my supposed backup partner. Twilight insisted that I shouldn't do this alone, so she called someone who we could trust to help me take down this mysterious pony.

It wasn't long before Applejack came over to the Library and decided to wait with me. Twilight was busy having a bubble bath, trying to at least feel more relaxed while this was happening. We sat in front of the library together, talking about what I planned to do and how I was gonna do it, it seemed like the only thing we could talk about at the time.

"So you're gonna go to the castle, sneak up on this pony, jump 'im, catch 'im and then bring Applebloom back safely?" Applejack asked, going through the plan I had.

I nodded. "That's what I'm gonna do, I need to take this guy out first if I have any chance of getting Applebloom out without any trouble." I said, explaining it to her.

"I dunno Matt, sounds like a long shot. Don't you think you should get Applebloom out safely before you jump him? I mean, what if you screw up and he gets away with Applebloom?" Spike asked curiously.

I thought about it for a moment before I sighed. "You've got a point, I'll need to get Applebloom out first before anything else." I said before I thought of something. "Maybe my partner can get Applebloom out while I distract the pony, at least then he'll be too busy focusing on me to stop him." I said, thinking that was a better idea than my last.

Applejack rubbed her chin with her hoof. "That could work, I suppose." She said, sounding a bit more pleased it.

I smiled a little at this. "Maybe this partner thing will be more helpful than I thought." I said quietly before I started looking around for any sign of anyone. "That is, of course, this partner of mine decides to actually show up." I said as I stood up onto my hooves.

Applejack watched as I started pacing. "It's ok Matt, he or she will be her soon, I'm sure of it." she said with a small confident smile.

I stopped pacing and turned to look at her. "Well they're taking they're sweet time." I said before I started pacing again. "We don't have time to mess around like this, the pony is probably at the castle right now and we'll miss our possibly only chance to catch him." I said as I started to panic, stressing about time.

"Sounds like you'll need someone who knows how to do things fast." A familiar voice said near us, the three of us looked in the direction it came from to see Blaze Horn walking up towards us.

I was surprised to see it was Blaze who was going to be my backup partner. "Blaze Horn…haven't see you in the while." I said as I walked up to him and shook his hoof.

Blaze smiled as he shook it back. "Feelings mutual, Mr Matthew. I got your wife's letter and I came as soon as I could, she mentioned that this was a secret mission, so I had to go while it was dark, didn't want to rouse suspicion." He explained.

I gave him a single nod. "Smart." I said before I gave him a serious look. "So I take it you know the situation?" I asked.

Blaze nodded. "Yep, the pony stealing the Elements is gonna be a the Castle of the Two Sisters and will have the small filly he kidnapped with him, good thing a guard like myself knows every inch of that castle, it should be easy to get the drop on him." he said.

"Good, but remember, our top priority is to get Applebloom back and then deal with this pony." I said strongly.

Blaze raised his hoof. "Don't worry, we'll make sure she out of harm's way and make the psycho pay for his crimes, I'll make sure of that." He said firmly.

"Good to hear." I said before I turned around to face Applejack. "We're going to head off now, when Twilight comes out of the bath, can you tell her that we've already left?...and…tell her I love her and will try to be back soon." I asked.

Applejack nodded. "Sure…just be careful, Matt…and bring Applebloom back safely, please." She said with concern in her eyes.

I nodded before I looked down at Spike. "I'll be back soon, little bro." I said before I rubbed his head with my hoof for a moment, I then stopped and placed it back down on the floor.

Spike smiled up at me. "I know you will, you're the toughest guy I know. If anyone can handle this, it's you." he said with a confident tone.

I smiled back at him. "Thanks Spike." I said before I turned away to face Blaze. "Alright, let's go, we don't have much time." I said with a firm voice.

With a nod, Blaze and I set off galloping down the road to head for the Ever Free Forest. Applejack and Spike watched as we kept going until we were out of sight.

A moment later, Twilight came rushing out with a towel wrapped over her head. "Matt?" she called as she looked around for me, but was disappointed to see I wasn't there. She then noticed Applejack and Spike and went over to them "Did Matt's back-up arrive already?" she asked curiously.

Applejack and Spike looked at her and nodded. "Yeah, they've already left for the castle." She said before she saw the troubled look on Twilight's face. "But if it makes ya feel better, he says he loves ya and will try to be back soon." She said with a small smile, trying to help her feel better.

Twilight was silent for a moment before she managed to form a smile. "I suppose that makes me feel a little better, I just wish I had waited until after they left to have my bubble bath." She said as her smile turned into a small frown.

Feeling bad for her, Applejack walked up to her and placed her hoof on her shoulder. "You wanna go to the spa and take some stress off ya? It's a twenty-four hour service, remember?" she asked with another small smile.

Twilight looked at her with a slightly unsure look. "I…suppose it could help a little." She said.

Spike walked up to them and patted Twilight's chest with his hand. "That's the spirit, Twilight, we'll get you a nice hooficure, sometime in the hot-tub, maybe even a good massage." He said as they started to walk away from the Library to go to the spa.

Along the way, Twilight tried to keep her mind on what she'd do to keep herself from worrying, but the troubling thought of what might happen on my mission stayed with her.

A few minutes later: Ever Free Forest

After entering the forest, Blaze and I walked down the dark path, watching out for any of the creatures lurking and watching us through the shadows. At time to time, we'd hear twigs snap and bushes rustle, putting us both on edge until we got over it. So with our guard never going down, we continued on the path to the castle.

"So…you've been in this forest before, huh?" Blaze asked as he caught up and was now walking beside me.

I didn't look at him as I nodded. "Yeah, a few times, never stayed long enough to find out what other creatures live out here though." I said, looking out through the trees to see if I could see any wildlife.

Blaze then heard a bush rustle and looked in the direction the noise came from. "What do you think lives out here?" Blaze asked, sounding a little worried by what could be out there.

"As far as I know, there's at least a Manticore somewhere, plus a Cockatrice. Other than those, I'm not sure what's out here." I said as we kept moving.

As we kept moving down the path, we noticed the ground getting…stickier…our hooves were peeling off the floor lightly. We eventually got curious about this and looked down to see something shocking.

The path was completely cover with thin webs, like a pack of spiders followed it while dragging their webbing behind them. Blaze and I looked at each other before we kept going, being careful as to what might be up ahead.

As we kept going, the webs under our hooves got thicker and stickier, we'd start pulling up some of the webbing every time we lifted our hooves up, they soon becoming so sticky that it made it hard to walk. "Jesus…the spiders have been busy." I said out loud as we kept trying to move.

Eventually, we reached a point in the road that was blocked by a giant spider webs between two large trees, we the many dead flies and moths stuck to its sticky surface. "The spider that made this must be massive." Blaze said as he stared up at the web with awe.

"That's doesn't make me feel better, Blaze." I said as I stared up at it as well.

As I looked away, I noticed a few small spiders with blue stars on their packs, I had never seen spiders like this before. They were crawling in a line like in the second Harry Potter, going somewhere. My gaze followed where they were heading and it led to a tree, they were crawling up it to the very told.

I slowly looked up to the top of the tree and saw it covered in a giant webby nest, it was both impressive and disgusting, which those thoughts went away once I noticed something in the nest move.

I continued to watch as one of the web layers slowly slit apart by a large pair of pointy legs, Once far enough apart, I saw a slight that sent a chill down my spine, the face of a giant spider. It looked down at me with its eight eyes as it's pincers spread open and let out a light hiss.

"…Shit…" I said under my breath before I tried to get Blaze's attention by tapping him with my hoof, keeping my eyes on the giant arachnid.

But at that moment, the Spider Queen came out of the nest more and leaped towards us. Surprised, I quickly turned to Blaze and tackled him out of the way just before the Spider Queen landed.

After we feel to the ground, Blaze lifted his head up and saw the Spider Queen. "What in Equestria is that?!" he asked loudly.

I got back up and kept my eyes on the Spider Queen. "You're asking me?" I asked as Blaze got up beside me.

The Spider Queen took a few steps towards us before it let out a loud screech, mixed with a hiss.

"Well whatever it is, it looks like it's not gonna let us pass easily." Blaze said as he prepared himself to fight.

"Then we're just gonna have to push through it." I said before, in a flash of the light, my Element armour appeared on my body.

The Spider Queen lowered itself down before it leaped towards us, Blaze and I leaped apart before it landed between us.

It then turned to Blaze and hissed, turning its back to me. But when I prepared to attack it from behind, a shot of large webbing shot out from its behind and struck me. The strength it used to shoot out the web was so strong that it made me fly back into a tree, causing me to get stuck there by the webbing.

I struggled to get free while the Spider Queen started to approach Blaze slowly, snapping its pincers at Blaze as it got closer to him. But before it could attack, Blaze used his magic to create a metal collar around its neck attacked to a long chain. While holding the other end of the chain with his magic, Blaze leaped forward and rolled under the Spider Queen until he was behind it.

Blaze then pulled hard on the chain and it pulled the Queen's head under its body until it was forced to flip forward onto its back.

The chain and collar disappeared as the Spider Queen struggled to get back up onto its legs. While it was busy with that, Blaze rushed over to me and tried to get me out of the webbing. "How did you do that?" I asked after watching his performance.

Blaze continued to pull on the webbing as he smirked. "The academy where all the trainees get sent to isn't all fun and games, Mr Matthew, they can turn a normal pony into a real fighter." He said.

I waited for him to get me free, but he ran out of time when I saw the Spider Queen roll back onto its legs and crawl quickly towards us. "Blaze! Watch out!" I yelled, trying to get his attention.

Blaze spun around to see the Spider Queen right behind him, one of its front-legs was lifted up high before it shot it towards Blaze. Blaze ducked down and I shifted my head to the right as its leg shot right into the tree I was stuck to, stabbing through the bark. "Hey! Watch it!" I yelled at the Spider.

The Spider Queen then pulled its leg out of the tree before it noticed Blaze standing a few feet away from it, his horn glowing brightly with power. As the Spider Queen went over to him, I used my Element power to create a small blade hovering in front of me, I then proceeded to start cutting myself free from the webbing.

As the Spider Queen got close to him, Blaze's horn glowed brightly before I roar of flames shot out of the tip like a flamethrower.

The Spider Queen took a few steps away from the fire, once it stopped, it stuck its head and opened its mouth, suddenly spitting out some sort of dark green liquid.

Blaze moved away as the liquid shot past him and landed on a rock, there was a loud sizzling noise and the rock started melting under the liquid. "Digestive acid…that cannot be healthy." Blaze joked before he returned his attention to the Spider Queen.

I soon managed to get myself free from the webbing and I fell down onto my hooves, I then looked over to the Spider Queen and Blaze before I rushed over there to help. As the Spider Queen tried to charge towards Blaze, I flew on top of the Spider Queen and tried to cover its eyes with my hooves.

The Spider Queen screeched as it tried to throw me off, its front legs swung up over its head to try and whack me off, but I managed to avoid them.

Blaze saw this as a chance to attack, he looked around to see if there was anything he could use, that's when he saw a vine next to a tree. He grabbed it with his magic before he started running around the Spider Queen, wrapping the vine around its legs.

Blaze then stopped before he pulled hard on the vine, tightening the vine around the Spider Queen's legs, making it fall over onto its side.

I fell down with it, but I got up quick and ran around to join up with Blaze. "This thing doesn't like fire very much." He said, keeping his eyes on the Queen.

"Then let's use that." I said before I used my Elemental powers to summon my Horned Helmet.

As the Spider Queen started getting its legs loose from the vine, Blaze and I pointed our horns at it and a blast of flames shot out at the Queen. The Spider Queen screeched and hissed as it got loose and backed away from the flames.

Blaze and I started moving towards the Queen, still shooting fire at it. This made the Spider Queen back way more, hissing and prancing as it moved backwards towards the trees. We kept it up until the Spider Queen had its fill and took off into the forest, disappearing into the forest.

Blaze and I then stopped using the fire spell and looked at each other. "Well…that could've been easier." Blaze said, taking a breath to settle himself down.

"I can imagine, you basally fought that thing by yourself for most of the time." I said with a small smirk.

Blaze chuckled. "Yeah…just try and not get yourself stuck next time, 'kay?" He said as he walked past me and patted my shoulder with his hoof.

Rubbing the shoulder he patted, I watched as Blaze walked up to the giant web and used his fire spell one last time to burn through it, creating a path for us. Blaze turned his head around to look back at me. "Let's keep moving, shall we?" he said before he started walking down the path.

Without a second thought, I caught up to Blaze and walked with him down the path, continuing our journey to the Castle, hopefully without any more surprises.

A few minutes later: Castle of the Two Sisters

After a not-so-long walk, Blaze and I finally reached the Castle of the Two Sisters. It didn't look at all different from before, it was ratty, falling apart on itself and looked like the most haunted place in Equestria.

Blaze and I stared at it with awe before we made our way over to the rickety bridge. "This is where the Princesses used to live?" Blaze asked as we stopped in front of the bridge.

I nodded without taking my eyes away from the Castle. "Yeah…I think it was abandoned after Luna became Nightmare Moon, I suppose Celestia couldn't cope with the painful memories." I said, thinking of how much things like that must hurt.

Blaze turned his head to look at me. "It was such a shame, Princess Luna seems like such a kind pony. I can't imagine her being someone like Nightmare Moon." he asked before we started making our way across the bridge.

"Same here, but it's all water under the bridge now, she's not Nightmare Moon anymore. I don't hold anything against her and neither should anyone else." I said firmly.

Blaze was silent for a moment. "…If you say so." he said as he kept walking across the bridge.

As we did, I looked down from the bridge and saw the empty canyon, I wondered if there was ever any water running down there back in the day. Just then, I noticed a strange cave and could've sworn I saw a strange glow shine from within it. I watched the cave entrance closely and saw the glow again. "What the hay?..." I asked myself, wondering what it was.

"Matthew!" Blaze called, snapping me out of what I was doing. I looked over to see Blaze had already made it across. "You coming or what?" He asked.

I then returned my attention back down to the cave and saw the glow was gone, if it was ever really there. "…Y-Yeah…I'm going." I said before I continued to walk across the bridge, keeping my eyes on the cave for a moment before I looked away.

Once I got across with Blaze, we both looked over to the large doors to the castle and knew something dark was behind it. "Right…here we are…" Blaze said.

"Yeah…to think, the one causing us so much trouble is right behind those doors." I said before I turned my head to face Blaze. "You good to go?" I asked.

Blaze looked at me and nodded. "Let's do this." He said with a brave tone.

With that, Blaze and I started sneaking up to the doors before we each stood behind both, we placed our hooves on the doors before we slowly pushed them open, being sure not to make any sound.

Blaze and I peeked through the small opening and saw the lobby was mostly empty, but we soon noticed Applebloom up the stairs, hovering above the throne alter, she was in a dark purple bubbled and looked to be in some sort of sleep.

The sight of this nearly made me burst in and take her back right now, but that feeling stopped when I saw a hooded pony walk across the lobby and look up at Applebloom.

Blaze and I then looked at each other. "Ok, he's there. Do you remember the plan?" I asked.

Blaze nodded. "Yeah, you distract him and I'll get Applebloom to safety." He said before he looked back into the lobby and searched for an opening. "One of the windows behind her is broken, I can probably sneak through it." he said before he returned his attention to me. "Once I have her, I'll teleport us both out here, then I'll help you take him down." he said, sussing out a plan.

I thought for a moment before I nodded. "Sounds good to me." I said before I returned my attention to inside the castle, I kept my eyes on the hooded pony as I prepared to enter. "Ok…let's go!" I said in a slightly loud whisper before I opened the door more and snuck inside.

All the while, Blaze started searching for a way around the castle to the broken window.

I sneaked across the lobby, hiding behind some fallen pieces of stone along the way. The hooded pony didn't turn around, he just stayed at the bottom of the stairs looking up at the sleeping filly.

While he was facing the other way, I walked out to the middle of the lobby before I started sneaking up behind the mysterious pony. Sneaking then turned to rushing, rushing turned to galloping and now I was going straight at him.

As the pony began to turn around, I pounced towards him and tackled the pony, making us fall down the stairs. We stumbled down them onto the floor and I was on top of his back, I slammed my arm down above his neck and pinned his head down. "Don't you damn move!" I yelled with aggression.

The pony struggled for a moment before he stopped, knowing he wasn't going anywhere.

Knowing I had him pinned, I grabbed his hood with my hoof. "Suppose we don't need this anymore." I said before I yanked it down hard. I was then shocked to see who it was behind the hood. "…Zelga?" I said in shock and confusion.

Yes, it was Zelga, looking the same way she did the last time I saw her. She looked up at me with a sinister smirk on her face. "Hello Matthew, it's been a while." she said.

Stunned by this, I got off her and took a few steps back as I watched her get up off the floor. "It was you this whole time?" I asked, still in slight shock.

Zelga grinned deviously. "Surprised?" she asked.

At that moment, my feeling of shock turned into that of slight anger and hatred. "I shouldn't be…I should've seen it, the Elements start going missing and then you show up in town! I bet that whole thing with Big Mac was all played just so you could know where Applejack's Element was." I said as we both circled each other.

"Well look who's quite the detective. If you and your friends hadn't called me out to the whole town, I probably would've learned the location of the others…but that's my fault, I should've waited until then before I tried to sabotage your relationship with Twilight." She stated, while keeping her smirk.

Upon hearing that, a thought back to that terrible day, how everyone turned against me, even Twilight. "Why did you do that anyway? What was the motive?" I asked curiously.

"Because Twilight is your strength, your reason to fight. Without her in your life, you'd just give up and become easy to deal with. But I underestimated you and the rest of those ponies, you found me out and turned the whole town against me, forcing me to run and make everything else so much harder." Zelga explained.

"But why are you trying to steal the Elements? So we'll be defenceless?" I asked.

Zelga shrugged. "That's only a bonus, there's another reason why I take them, but that would be telling." She said with a mysterious grin.

I then looked up to the alter and saw that Applebloom was still there. "C'mon Blaze." I said under my breath before I returned my attention to Zelga. "Ok, forget the Elements, why did you take Applebloom? What's she got to do with this?" I asked with a glare in my eyes.

"All will be revealed in good time, Matthew, but as of right now…I recommend you surrender, you're clearly outnumbered two-to-one." Zelga said with a devious smile.

I raised my eye-brow. "Two-to-one?" I asked in confusion.

"Two-to-one." A dark voice said behind me before I felt something hard whack me at the back of my head, making me fall down onto the floor with a loud ringing in my ears.

As I tried to get back up, black chains suddenly burst up from out of the floor and tangling around my body. They wrapped around my limbs, my body, even my neck. Now I was chained up to the floor, unable to move.

I soon recovered from the sudden attack and tried to look behind me to see who hit me.

"Huh…thought you'd be quicker than that." The voice said before the pony started to walk around in front of me. Once I saw who it was, I was completely and utterly shocked to the point of being petrified.

It was Blaze Horn, he was looking down at me with a dark smirk and satisfaction in his eyes, like he finally achieved a long running goal.

"Blaze Horn?" I said in shock and confusion.

Blaze's horn glowed and He suddenly grabbed one of my ears with his magic, he pulled up on it hard and made my face move up right in front of his. "Surprise 'Mr Matthew'!" He said before he released my ear and chuckled.

At first, I was shocked and my heart was shaken, I was just betrayed by a pony I've known for ages. All my shock was replaced by anger before I gave him a sharp glare. "You…torturous little!" I growled before I tried to leap up at him.

However, the chains around my body held me down while a few more burst out the floor and wrapped around me, making sure I'd stay down from now on.

Blaze smirked at this. "Nice try, but those chains aren't easy to break…I should know, I made them." he said before he turned and walked over to Zelga.

I watched as Zelga removed the black cloak she was wearing and gave it to Blaze. "Here you go, sweetie, I made sure not to get it dirty." She said with a small smile while glaring at me.

"Thank you…mother." Blaze said before he used his magic to put the cloak on.

"Mother?!" I said in surprise before I looked at Zelga. "Blaze is your son? Aren't you a little young to have a kid?" I asked.

Zelga smirked as she rubbed Blaze's chin with her hoof. "He's adopted, but I'm the only family he's ever known." She said before she stopped and placed her hoof back down on the floor. "Well, me and my brother, but he's…gone now." she said as her smirk went away.

I raised my eye-brow. "So…what happened to him?" I asked curiously.

Suddenly, Blaze's jaw dropped before he stormed over to me with red hot anger in his eyes. "What happened to him? You killed him! That's what happened!" he said as his horn glowed violently in my face, making me freeze in place due to the fear of what he might do.

But before he could do anything, Zelga walked over to us. "Blaze! Calm down! We're not gonna hurt him…yet." She said, putting a lot of force in that last word.

But I didn't focus on that, my mind was only on what Blaze said. "What do you mean 'I killed him'? I never killed anyone!" I said loudly.

Zelga looked down at me with a raised eye-brow. "Really?...Think back, Matthew, think back to before this whole thing started. Who did you face all those months ago? Who did you have to kill in order to stop him?" she asked, looking me right in the eye.

I thought for a moment, but I couldn't think of killing anyone who they might be related to, I've only caused the death of only person and that person was…. "…Wait…you mean…Thorn? Thorn was your brother?" I asked, remembering my fight with Thorn and how much of a monster he was. "But…he can't have been…you look nothing-"

"Like him?" Zelga said, finishing my sentence before she grinned evilly. "Appearances can be deceiving, Matthew." She said as she took some steps backwards with Blaze moving out the way to give her some room.

At that moment, a horn appeared on Zelga's head through a small bolt o purple flames. It started glowing violently before she was engulfed by a larger bolt of purple flames.

I watched as I saw her inside the flames, she was growing bigger and her body was changing, like she was evolving. He wings grew bigger, her legs got longer and she started looking the same size as Celestia. When the flames disappeared, I saw Zelga in her true form.

She had the same appearance as Nightmare Moon, but her coat was black and she had dark purple flames for a mane and tail. She had glowing red eyes and large feathered wings. She had the same neck piece and hoof shoes as Nightmare Moon, but they were light purple. And lastly, her Cutie Mark was a dark purple flame with a black tiara in the middle.

"What's the matter, Matthew? Having a bit of Déjà vu?" Zelga asked, her voice now sounding like that of a 22 year old.

I breathed deeply, staring up at the dark Alicorn in front of me. But I realized something, she looked just like the figure in the nightmares I used to have. "It was you, wasn't it? You were the one putting all those nightmares in my head." I said.

Zelga nodded. "Guilty! I was trying to scare you to the point of weakness, but that wasn't working, so I decided to infiltrate your little town and ruin your life. The perfect way to get someone on their knees is to use their fears against them, it's my specialty…what else do you expect from the Alicorn of Fear?" she said as she walked back over to me.

I gave her a sharp glare. "And now you have me right where you want me…is this the point where you kill me and try to take over Equestria?" I asked, sounding like I wouldn't be surprised I they did.

Zelga and Blaze then laughed a little, as if I said a bad joke. "Oh Matthew, that's a bit of a predicable plan, don't you think?" she said as she rubbed my chin with her hoof.

"That's not really what we're aiming for, Matt." Blaze said as he walked over to us.

Zelga removed her hoof and placed it back on the floor. "Thorn may have tried to rule Equestria, but not us…our motive isn't as original as Thorn's, this is just good old fashioned revenge!" she said before she lowered her head down to my face. "You killed my brother! And I'm going to make you regret the day you stood in his way."

"Thorn was a sick FUCK! And I'm sure as hell you're no different!" I spat at Zelga in a loud tone.

But doing this got me a punch in the face from Blaze. "Better watch your tone, Matt!" He said with a small glare.

I turned my head to look at Blaze before I gave him a stronger glare. "…Looks like the apple doesn't fall far from the adoptive tree!" I scolded.

Blaze bared his teeth in anger. "You just don't learn, do you?" he growled as he prepared to punch me again.

But Zelga put her hoof out in front of Blaze and stopped him. "Don't worry, Blaze, he'll be getting more pain than that soon enough." She said as she looked down at me with her eyes glowing red brightly, making me a little frightened.

Meanwhile: Ponyvile Spa

While Applejack was getting a back rub, Spike and Twilight were relaxing in the hot tub. "Mmmm…this is nice." Twilight said, relaxing with her eyes closed.

"I know, right? It can take ya mind of almost anything." Applejack said as she felt the masseuse's hooves rub her back, making it feel a lot better.

Twilight then opened her eyes and looked over to her. "And things were forgotten until then, thanks a lot." She said sarcastically before she looked over to Spike relaxing beside her. "Do you think Matt's alright?" she asked in concern.

Spike opened his eyes and looked at her. "Don't worry, Twilight, Matt's a tough pony and he was ready for anything, I'm sure he's just fine." He said before he went back to relaxing.

"But what if something goes wrong?" Twilight asked, sounding like she was going to panic.

"Twilight, Matt's been in situations like this before, I'm sure he can handle a single pony." Spike said, sounding confident.

Twilight thought about it for a moment before she responded. "I suppose you have a point…Matt is tougher than he used to be…" she said before she started to feel more confident. "Yeah…there's nothing to worry about, Matt can handle it just like he handled everything else." She said before she laid back to relax in the bubbling water.

"Besides, with Blaze Horn by his side, he'll kick that pony's flank." Spike said before he closed his eyes again.

At that moment, Twilight's eyes shot open before she looked at Spike. "Blaze Horn?" she asked.

Spike didn't open his eyes as he responded. "Urr…yeah…he arrived before they left, said he was Matt's backup." He claimed.

Twilight leaned up and looked down at him with a raised eye-brow. "Umm…I didn't ask for Blaze in my letter, I asked for Star Beam." She said.

Spike opened his eyes before he looked at her. "Star Beam?" he asked.

Twilight nodded. "Yeah…when I sent the letter, I made it addressed to Star Beam. Celestia would've received it, but she respects everypony's privacy, she would've given it to Star Beam right away." She said before she grew a concerned look. "Why did Blaze Horn come instead of Star Beam?" she asked, getting a shrug from Spike.

"Because that's the opportunity Blaze Horn wanted." A familiar voice said, Twilight and Spike looked over to where it came from to see Moleyair walking over to them.

"Moleyair? What are you doing here?...And what do you mean?" Twilight asked as she watched Moleyair stop in front of the hot-tub.

Moleyair put his claw up. "There's not much time to explain, we must hurry. At this moment, Matthew is in serious danger!" he said.

Twilight's eyes widened. "What?! Why? What's happening?" she asked in panic.

Moleyair gripped his staff before he gave Twilight a troubled look. "Twilight…I want you to stay calm and listen…this part's going to be hard to hear." He said, getting Twilight's full attention as he explained what was happening.

Meanwhile: Castle of the Two Sisters

"But I don't understand…How can Blaze be the pony stealing the Elements? I chased him, I followed him up the tower of Canterlot and saw him fly away! Blaze is a Unicorn, he doesn't have wings!" I said, still in my chain trap while watching Blaze and Zelga look down at me.

Zelga smirked before she looked over to Blaze. "Care to explain to him?" she asked.

"I would be happy to, mother." Blaze said before he took a few steps closer to me. "You see, Matthew…being the son of a powerful Alicorn helps you learn some tricks, such as a mind-control spell. I've been cleverly using this spell to throw you off my tracks for months. That night, I used Doyle to stage a get-away." He explained.

I thought about whom he meant and I remembered Doyle was one of the two twin Pegasi of the Star Beam's team. "You used another pony to hide yourself?" I asked.

"Yep…and not only him, I've used many different ponies in the past. For instance, you remember Dusk, don't you?" Blaze asked with a smug face.

I thought back and did indeed remember Dusk, he was one of Luna's new guards, he was actually a suspect once. "You used him as well?" I asked.

"Dusk was one of my most influential puppets, I used him for many of my tasks, such as breaking into the vault and stealing the first Element, I even had him leave curtain clues behind to throw you off my trail." Blaze explained before he lowered his head down to come face-to-face with me. "Don't you remember how ponies like Dusk suffered with bad headaches? Well that's just a side-effect from the spell." He said.

Part of me couldn't believe this, the pieces were finally coming together, but I didn't think they'd reveal themselves like this. But there were still a few more questions that needed answering. "But you were there, you were protecting the vault when it was broken into, you were put in the hospital." I said.

"Well I had to make it look real, didn't I? I couldn't have come out of there without a scratch, that would've raised suspicion." Blaze explained more.

"And how do you explain the robberies in Ponyville? Who did you use for those?" I asked, remembering how Rarity and Applejack's Element were stolen.

"No one, it was all me during those times. My Mother told me where the Element of Honesty was and I was sent to retrieve it, shame she couldn't find the others…but we'll get them soon enough." Blaze said as he cupped my chin with his hoof.

I roughly moved my head away to get his hoof off me. "Then why did you kidnap Applebloom, she has nothing to do with this!" I said, almost afraid to know the answer.

"She took my hood off and saw who I was, I couldn't keep her there, she would've given me away." Blaze explained before he smirked again. "Besides, she makes good bait." He said before snickering.

I glared at him. "Well you have me, now let her go!" I ordered as I tried to get up, but the chains held me down.

"Not so fast, Matty." Zelga said as she came over to me. "We almost forgot to tell you the rest of our master plan." She said before she lowered her head down to my face. "Killing you isn't in our plan…right now anyway…first we're gonna make you suffer. We're gonna leave you half-dead and weak, just so you see me spread my fear throughout Ponyville and watch as everypony you care about tare themselves apart. Once that's done and you're dead, nothing will stop us from taking Canterlot and my Blaze Horn will finally earn his true place as Prince until he's ready to become a king." She said as she looked over to Blaze, who was grinning at the idea.

I forced myself to stand up, even though the tight chains held me down. "I won't…let you do this…I will be there to stop you, both of you…just like how I stopped Thorn." I said in a growl.

Zelga chuckled. "Oh sweetie…how are you gonna stop me if you're not in the right state of mind." She said before, suddenly, her horn glowed brightly.

My eyes widened as a lightening beam shot out of her horn and struck me. I closed my eyes tightly as I felt my eyes sting, when I opened them, I was horrified to see the castle crack and crumble around me while Zelga turned into a monstrous creature, her fangs showed and venom dripped from them. "What's wrong Matthew? Scared?" she said with a growl in her voice.

I tried to back away, but the chains kept me where I was. I breathed rapidly as I saw the floor around me start to fall through a gaping hole under the castle. It stopped around me, but I was scared that the rest would fall if I moved. I looked back up to Zelga and Blaze to see they were just walking on air.

"I believe you're familiar with the Fear Hex, a power and dangerous spell that can make a pony see their worst fears and more. It can be quite deadly, if I'm not mistaken." Zelga said as she spread her wings, which had now become bat wings.

I then felt the chains release me and I stood up, I looked up to see the castle's roof had crumbled away, so I took off up towards the sky. But when I was about to escape, a bunch of stones came together and I crashed into them, making me fall back down to the floor. I grunted before I slowly picked myself back up.

I then watched as giant syringes slowly formed around me, with their large sharp needles pointing directly at me. They slowly moved towards me before they stopped around my body, making me stay perfectly still so I wouldn't touch them.

I become terrified, so terrified that I was actually starting to become light headed due to panicking so much. "It isn't real…it isn't real!" I kept telling myself as I began to sweat.

While I was stuck there, surrounded by needles, I saw 6 colourful orbs start to appear before me, hovering in the air. They then started to take shape into the heads of the Mane 6, all looking down at me with hatred in their eyes.

"Equestria was better off without you! You've brought this carnage onto us!" Rainbow Dash yelled.

"My sister trusted you! She believed in you! And your failed her!" Applejack yelled.

"I'm the type who loved everyone, but I HATE YOU!" Pinkie Pie yelled.

"You've poisoned me with your foal and it'll grow up to be a failure just like you!" Twilight yelled.

Tears started to run down my cheeks as I covered my ears with my hooves. "It's not real! You're not real!" I yelled, trying to block them out.

"You disgust me, Matthew! You're a shame to us all!" Rarity yelled.

"You scare me, Matthew! I'm scared to leave my own hut because of you! Monster!" Fluttershy yelled.

"GET OUT MY HEAD!" I yelled at the top of my voice before I fell to the floor and kept covering my ears.

The 6 heads started rotating around me as they kept yelling the same thing over and over again. "It's all your fault! It's all your fault!" they yelled, getting louder as I felt myself begin to pass out from being so scared.

In reality, Zelga and Blaze watched while I was curled up on the floor, covering my ears and quivering while talking to myself. "Get out of my head! You're not real!" I said to myself as tears dripped from my face to the floor.

Blaze marvelled at the sight of this. "Look how pathetic he is. The brave Matthew, reduced to a cowardly little sack of nothing." He said as she came over to me. "I should just put you out of your misery…but that would be a mercy." He said.

Zelga looked down at me, proud of her work, but it didn't last as she heard voices outside the castle, it sounded like a group. "Come Blaze, we must go before we're spotted." She said as she backed away.

Blaze turned his head around to face her. "But what about Matt and the filly?" he asked.

"Look at him, he's not gonna be a threat to us for a while." Zelga said before she looked back at Applebloom. "As for the filly, we might as well give Matthew what he wants, she no longer use to us anyway." She said as she used her magic to release Applebloom from the bubble and bring her over to them.

Zelga then proceeded to plant Applebloom beside me, right in front of my face. Zelga walked up to me and lowered her head down to my face. "Until next time." She said before she planted a small kiss on my cheek, making me flinch.

Zelga then walked over to Blaze before her horn glowed, a giant bolt of purple fire engulfed them and once the flames died down, they were both gone.

I then slowly opened my eyes to see Applebloom in front of me, but due to the Hex, all I could see was her skeleton and raggedy bow. Seeing this made a chill go down my spine and made my heart break even more. "Applebloom…I'm sorry…I'm so sorry Applebloom." I said before I covered my eyes and started to gently cry in failure.

While in the reality around me, the castle's double doors opened and the Mane 6 came in, they all had worried looks on their faces. "Matt?!" Twilight called as she looked around until she saw me, lying on my side in a half-destroyed state. "Matt!" she yelled before she galloped over to me with the others rushing behind.

Once she reached me, Twilight lowered herself and placed her hoof on my arm. "Matt? Are you ok?" she asked before she pulled on my body to roll me onto my back.

I then opened my eyes and saw a velvet serpent above me, slowly opening its mouth as it hissed, more serpents in different colours started to gather up behind it. I started to panic again as I tried to get away, but before I could, I saw a glimpse of reality. The serpents suddenly turned into the Mane 6 before they went back to being serpents. "T-Tw-Twi?..." I said, frightened as hell in case I was wrong.

In reality, Twilight started stroking my head with her hoof. "What happened to you?" she said before she looked over to Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, can you help me calm him down?" she asked.

"I'll try." Fluttershy said before she came over to us and started to nurse me.

While they were doing that, Applejack soon noticed Applebloom beside me. "Applebloom!" she said loudly before she rushed around to her. Once she reached her, Applejack picked her up in her arms and exhaled. "She's alright, but she needs to get to a hospital!" she said as she looked over to the rest of us.

"So dose Matt." Twilight said before she turned her head around to the others. "I don't know what's happened to him or why he's so scared, but we need to get him out of here." she said before she looked up to the Rainbow Dash, who was hovering in the air above them. "Rainbow, can you carry him?" she asked.

Rainbow Dash nodded. "On it!" she said before she landed beside me and picked me up onto her back. "He's getting cold." She stated.

"I know, I'm really worried about him." Twilight said as she looked at me in concern.

Rarity then came up beside her and placed her hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "It'll be alright Twilight, he'll make it." She said, trying to encourage her.

Twilight looked at Rarity. "I hope so Rarity, I really do." she said before he looked back up to Rainbow Dash. "Lets get out of this place." She said.

With that, Applejack placed Applebloom on her back and they all rushed out of the Castle and back into the forest to get back to Ponyville, all hoping that both I and Applebloom will recover from this.

Meanwhile: Mount Forbidden/Zelga's chamber

In another bolt of purple flames, Zelga and Blaze appeared in the middle of the room. Zelga exhaled before she looked down at Blaze. "I'd say today went very well, didn't it my son?" she said as she walked over to her make-up desk and looked at herself in her smashed mirror.

"Indeed Mother, and soon we will take what is ours. You and Uncle Rage will rule alongside my master and I will become Prince. Then, when the time is right, I will be made king of my own land." Blaze said with a dark grin.

Zelga removed her armour and placed them on the desk. "Yes you will, and you'll be a strong king, I know it." she said before she turned around to face him. "But know that Matthew and that filly know who you are, you can't return to Canterlot, you'll have to stay here until we're ready to strike." She said.

Blaze nodded. "Yes Mother, I'd rather be here than there." he said with a growl in his voice.

Zelga walked past him and went over to a door. "That's my boy, now come, you must be tired." She said as she used her magic to open the door to Blaze's room.

Zelga and Blaze then went into the room where there was only a single bed, Blaze mustn't have been much of a decorative pony. Blaze climbed into his bed and Zelga smiled down at him. "Soon, we will return to power and Equestria will be under a better rule." she said.

"I know…our achievement will finally be gained…and it'll all start when we go to Ponyville." Blaze said as he relaxed on his bed.

Zelga then turned and made her way towards the exit. "Sleep well, my son." She said before she left the room and closed the door behind her with her magic.

Once she did that, Zelga walked over to a wall and used her magic to pull down on one of the lanterns like a lever. Doing this made a secret door open in the wall with stairs leading down lower into the mountain, Zelga then proceeded to walk down the stairs.

Deep below Zelga's chamber was a large area of caves and tunnels, mostly populated by vampire bats. Two large ones flew through the caves and landed on the wall, gripping onto it with their wing claws, which were actually small blades.

One of them was a light brown colour and the other was a dark grey, they both watched as another secret door opened and Zelga walked in.

Both bats then flew down to her and landed in front of her. "Mistress." They both said as they bowed to her.

Zelga smiled down at them. "Dag, Clara, good to see you're both still up." she said before she began to make her way down on of the tunnels.

Dag and Clara flew up to her and landed on her back. "Of course we are, Mistress, we are bats after all. Besides, we're always available to serve you." Clare said.

Zelga smirked before she looked back at Dag. "You're little sister has learn to serve well, Dag, maybe she could teach you to do the same." She said before she chuckled in amusement and turned her head back around.

Zelga then entered a large cave that had a crystal ball in the centre. She walked over to it and rubbed her hoof against it, the image of Blaze sleeping in his bed then appeared in it. "Behold my friends, the face of your future ruler." Zelga said.

Dag scuffed. "Mistress, I know you care for that pony, but he needs more training and skills to become a true king." He said.

Clare then gently smacked him with her wing. "Don't be silly, Blaze has king written all over him." she said strongly.

Zelga looked down at them. "Thank you Clara." She said before she returned her attention to the crystal ball. "Soon, my son, soon we will become the most powerful force in Equestria and the world will be ours. But for now, rest, regain your energy, then we'll start preparing you for the our strike on Ponyville." She said.

Zelga rubbed her hoof against the crystal ball before she gently started to sing to Blaze.

Zelga: "Sleep my little Blaze Horn, let your dreams take wing….

One day when you're big and strong, you will be a king."

Zelga then proceeded to walk around the room with other bats watching as she continued to sing, only with a darker mood.

Zelga: "I've been exiled, persecuted, left alone with no defence

When I think of what that brute did, I get a little tense!

But I dream a dream so pretty, that I don't feel so depressed

'Cause it soothes my inner pony, and it helps me get some rest

The sound of Matthew's dying gasp!

His wife squealing in my grasp!

His dearest friend's mournful cry!

That's my lullaby!

Now the past I've tried forgetting, and my foes I could forgive

Trouble is, I know its petty, but I hate to let them live!"

Dag: "So you found yourself somepony who'd chase Matthew up a tree!"

Zelga: "Oh the battle may be bloody, but that kind of works for me

A melody of angry growls!

A counter point of painful howls!

A symphony of death, oh my!

That's my lullaby!

Thorn is gone, but Zelga's still around. To love this little lad

Till he learns to be a killer! With a lust for being bad!"

Bats then gathered around the crystal ball and watched Blaze sleep.

Dag: "Sleep you little termite! I mean, precious little thing."

Clara: "One day when you're big and strong…"

Zelga: "You will be a king!"

Zelga then shot a powerful beam up to the ceiling and blasted a hole through it, making a ray of moon light shine down on the crystal ball. Zelga started to slowly fly up towards it as she kept singing

Zelga: "The pounding of the drums of war! The thrill of Blaze Horn's mighty roar!"

Dag: "The joy of vengeance!"

Clara: "Testify!"

Zelga: "I can hear the cheering!"

Dag and Clara: "Blaze Horn, what a guy!"

Zelga then burst out through the hole she made until she was outside.

Zelga: "Payback time is nearing, and then our flag will fly!

Against the blood-red sky!

THAT'S! MY! LULLA-…-BYYYY! HAHAHAH!"

Zelga laughed evilly as a large flock of bats flew out the hole and surrounded her, spreading out across the sky around the mountain and signalling her current victory of her enemies.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter.

The song I used in this chapter is called "My Lullaby" from "The Lion King 2", I don't own anything.

So how did you like the reveal of the traitor? Didn't see it coming, did you? Let me know how you liked how Blaze planned everything out, I was planning it for months. Let me know if I missed anything.

As far as I know, I told you all the latest FIM episodes, so there's nothing left to talk about in news terms.

Please remember to review and PM.

Next chapter will be up as soon as possible.