After being secure in some of the basic calculations I began drawing a detailed model of my alchemy circle on the chalkboard and dubbed it “The Tower of Hope.” However, about twenty minutes later the basement door opened. A rough aggravated grumble and the sound of a shaking tray soon followed. And given the apparent ever increasing ire of said individual it seemed they were having difficulty navigating in the dark.

I merely smiled and said, “Over here please, Spike.” In turn he angrily slammed the tea tray on a small table next to me before turning around and stomping away without a single word. In response to this I raised an eyebrow and added, “Thank you for the tea.”

However in reply he just grumbled more and spat out, “yeah yeah,” before he started stomping back up the stairs. As such I let out a small sigh. For I knew this would have to be dealt with eventually and I suppose sooner would be far better than later. So without a second thought I focused my magic and held the basement door shut. Then not long after he started jiggling the handle and growling some more before he stopped when he saw my magical influence on the outline of the door.

I then put my chalk down and stated, “May we talk?”

He just crossed his arms and blew a small amount of green flame out of his nose in reply before snarling out, “Do I have a choice?”

Another sigh soon left my lips before I responded with, “Please, it will only take a few moments of your time.”

In turn he threw his arms in the air, spat “Fine!” before stomping down the stairs again. He then stopped close to me, sat down with his arms crossed again, and leered balefully at me. I however just turned and sat in front of him without so much fuss.

Then after finding a comfortable position I stated, “I know that you have grown...displeased...with my presence. However please understand, I am not here to replace you.”

“Sure," he replied while sarcastically rolling his eyes.

Afterwards I took a deep breath and continued, “I know full well you view yourself as her protector. Please do not think of me as a threat. I am merely here to be a fellow ally.”

He just looked at the ground and bit his lip in reply. The look on his face brought back old memories of me and my colthood flame Pure Blood. For in our early years I was quite protective of her and she of me. As such I truly understood how he felt.

However quickly I brushed much of those memories from my mind to concentrate on the matter at hoof. So after getting up and walking over to my pack I said, “Additionally I know that I have been commanding you around a lot. I apologize for this…it is wrong of me to do so as you are a friend, not a subordinate of mine. In turn let me offer you something as a sign of good will. Please hold out your claw,” My horned then glowed as I picked up a blue hexagonal dual pointed crystal out of my pack. Afterwards I levitated the blue crystal with my magic and placed it in his opened claw.

In response he looked at the crystal and then at me with a smirk on his face before stating, “It’s going to take a lot more than a small nighttime snack to win me over."

I laughed at this and said, “Well it is good that is not its intended purpose. Also I would advise against consuming that if you wish to keep all your teeth in your head.” I then sat down in front of him again, tipped my head up, and scratched my neck with my left forehoof before adding with a small grin, “Rumor has it that a particular dragon has his heart set on a certain white furred, dark purple-maned unicorn.”

His face then immediately turned red in response as he quickly exclaimed, “Yeah so, almost everypony knows that ever since Twilight blurted it out.”

As such I lowered my head, tilted it to the side, and looked into his eyes. “Well that is good because what you hold in your claw is an expertly cut and enchanted focusing crystal. For reference I originally used a few of them for this very circle I am working on. They are considered to be extremely valuable to unicorns for their ability to help focus and amplify magic,” I said as the grin on my face grew before continuing, “In short, it makes working with magic significantly easier. So easy that I have seen unicorns sleep next to theirs to prevent loss of them. And I would be willing to bet that a certain white furred, dark purple-maned unicorn would be quite overjoyed with a particular dragon from such a gift.”

And before he could say anything further my horn began to glow as I focused my magic. I then channeled it through the focusing crystal. The crystal in response lifted out of his claw and re-positioned itself with the tips pointing straight up and down. It then started to rotate clockwise as I projected my magic out to the objects in the room.

Then in short order I levitated a chair, my lit candle, my tome, the tea kettle and its tea cup and tea tray. After this I pushed more magic through the crystal and the items I levitated started to orbit us. Finally my smile grew more when I looked at Spike’s amazed expression as I pushed it even further. For my horn and the crystal glowed ever brighter as I lifted up me, Spike, and several of the heavier objects in the room off of the ground while still keeping the smaller objects orbiting us.

But after a few seconds I began to grow tired so I slowly set all the objects back to their original places and lowered us back to the ground. The blue crystal then stopped rotating before it plopped back into Spike’s claw. And to say he was excited over all this would have been a grand understatement. For his eyes twinkled like small stars while he gripped the crystal as it were his only worldly possession.

In turn I merely winked at him before whispering, “This will be our little secret. Just tell her that you saved up and purchased it when we went to Canterlot."

Afterward I started to pour myself a nice cup of tea before Spike yelped and stopped me. “DON’T! Some nasty hot sauce may have accidentally found its way into that kettle…heh heh ehhhh. I’ll get you a fresh pot,” he said nervously before gripping his crystal, grabbing the kettle, and racing up the basement stairs.

Then when the dark and quiet returned to the basement I too returned to my work and finished drawing on the chalkboard. But such drawings were the easy part. It was the calculations for them that was the more difficult task.

Eventually Spike returned after about ten minutes and placed a fresh kettle of hot water next to me on the tea tray. But before I could say anything he bolted back up the stairs. He amusingly possessed the largest ear to ear smile I have ever witnessed all while continuing to grip his new small blue crystal. ‘I did not even get the chance to thank him for the hot water,’ I thought in continued amusement as I poured a cup of tea.

But soon as one could expect the hours flew like the wind if you will as I worked on my calculations. The noise upstairs disappeared sometime later when I heard the front door open and close. I then heard the basement door open behind me. Twilight appeared and began to walk down the stairs while yawning. “Already hard at work I see. Also you wouldn't happen to know where Spike got some strange blue crystal would you? He keeps talking in his sleep about some sort of gift,” she stated.

I grinned while still looking at the chalkboard and said, “I do not know of what you speak. He must have gotten it when we visited Canterlot.” I could feel her inquisitive glare on my back as she walked towards me. She then cleared her throat and sounded as if she was about to ask me more questions when I heard her stomach growl.

“Hungry I see. Yes, I guess it has been a while since we fed,” I stated. I then stood up and levitated the three blood cylinders I had brought with me out of my pack. After that I proceeded to unseal one of them and pass it to Twilight. She however frowned when I placed it in front of her. “I am sorry Twilight, but I need my blood for working my calculations,” I stated in reply to her shift in mood. But this only caused her frown to deepen further.

In turn I just sighed and said, “Perhaps this will help you,” before I bit my right foreleg just above the hoof. I then took my left forehoof, dipped it in the welling blood and gently rubbed it on her lips and the opening of the blood cylinder. My eyes and horn then flashed light blue healing my wound. After that I lifted the cylinder to her lips before she started to drink. And this soon lead to her drinking it down at a rapid rate until the container was empty.

However right when I put the container down, I saw her eyes look at another one of the other cylinders and back at me again. I merely smiled and mused, “Well, it seems you wish to have more hmm?” before I passed her a second blood container. And just like the first, she drank it down as fast as her body would let her. Luckily though this appeared to sate her hunger for as soon as she finished, she thanked me, yawned, and went back upstairs to get some rest. And so with that out of the way I just sighed before turning around and continued my work as I drank out of the last cylinder.

Hours soon ticked away as my circle’s calculations became more complicated. I in turn lost all track of time as I worked harder and harder to get the numbers just right. But try as I might my equations were not adding up correctly resulting in a truly flaring temper. This bubbling seethe also included a sort of pace back and forth at an ever increasing rate. And not long after that my eyes had soon matched my irritation when they became fixed on the chalkboard as I erased and wrote the numbers over and over again. But after some unknown amount of time of my feverish writings I eventually jerked to a halt when I heard a voice upstairs shout out, “That’s it! I’m going to go check on him!”

I then heard a stomp towards the basement door before it was quickly yanked open. “What in Tartarus is going on down there?!” I heard Twilight’s voice holler.

“What is wrong?” I responded with a puzzled expression on my face.

“‘What’s wrong’ he says,” I heard her reply with a tone of sarcastic anger before she started to stomp down the basement stairs. “You’ve been at it for almost two daaaays. Me and Spike haven’t been able to get a wink of sleep. To top it off you’ve been scaring away any and all potential volunteers,” she stated trying to stifle a yawn.

Still puzzled I rubbed my eyes with my fore hooves and stated, “What in Equestria are you talking about?”

“Haven’t you been listening to yourself?! You have been down here snarling like a manticore every five to ten minutes! Everypony’s been avoiding my library like it was under quarantine from the pony pox!” She growled, clearly angry as she walked up to me.

“I…snarl?” I replied while maintaining a confused look on my face. ‘Hmm, well that explains why other ponies rarely visited me when I was working in my alchemy lab back at the palace…’ I thought to myself.

“Do you snarl…” Twilight said as her eyes narrowed on me. Her statement was all the more frightening when I realized she was shaking with fury and grinding her teeth together.

I gulped in response and quickly said, “I have been trying to work on some calculations for my circle. The numbers are not adding up correctly. I have done them over and over again countless times, but they are not right. The small circles in the rings of the main circle need to be a certain size. If they are too big, I will burn up too much energy. If they are too small, nopony will fit and the circle will quickly become unstable.”

“I have not had access to an alchemy lab for research or a better lit area. I keep making so many mistakes…” I was stating when she interrupted me.

“You mean this alchemy lab or this lighting?!” she said as several enchanted lights flickered on revealing the basement to be a fully lit and generously stocked alchemy lab. My left eye soon twitched upon seeing this for a few seconds before she growled “Gimme that blasted chalk!” and yanked the chalk I was holding in the air with her magic. She then erased and began rewriting my equations on the chalkboard.

I quickly wore a smug look when she started to work. ‘If I truly had been working at this for days what does she…hope…to do…’ I spoke in my mind, but it began to trail off when I looked at what she was doing. My mouth then started to hang open when she had picked up several pieces of chalk and worked multiple equations at once. It was as if I was watching a masterpiece being created from scratch before my very eyes.

After about fifteen minutes she stopped and put the chalk down. She then turned around and made a self-satisfied smile when she saw my facial expression. After that she tilted her head to the side and stated, “Are those the numbers you were looking for?” This of course only caused the twitch in my left eye to become worse as I walked up to get a closer view of the chalkboard.

“How…how did you…WHAT!? You finished that in fifteen minutes and made it look like it was a grade school math problem!” I stated while shaking in extreme irritation. Then out of nowhere I lost it and began to laugh hysterically at the pure absurdity of it all. It was completely unbelievable. I could not remember the last time I was humbled so badly before. Mere words could not express my gratitude. So after I calmed myself down I walked up to her and sat down. I then proceeded to wrap my forelegs around her and passionately kiss her on the lips.

And so with the calculations completed the next step was to find volunteers for the other roles in the circle. Days passed by and with the aid of me not snarling like an untamed beast we managed to gather our help. Applejack along with her brother and sister agreed to be the earth ponies in the equation. Rarity, who was in a surprisingly good mood from a certain dragon’s gift, agreed to help as well. Then Rarity’s sister “Sweetie Belle”, also a unicorn and who was currently taking some time off from her budding singing career, decided she would help too. Lastly Twilight called in a favor and got her brother "Shining Armor" to be the last unicorn.

As for the pegasi it was no surprise that Rainbow Dash did not take much convincing to join. Fluttershy on the other hoof, was reluctant, but had agreed with a whimper. But still that left one pegasus short. So in turn Rainbow Dash, who wanted to repay my favor from before, had called in one of her own. As such she managed to get a well-known speedster and thrill seeker named “Scootaloo” for the last pegasus position. And while it took a while we finally managed to gather all the help we needed. All that was required now was the supplies, some training, and the two other princesses.

However being time was not on our side I had started the training immediately. And with a careful hoof I had monitored everypony’s progress to make sure they could do their specific tasks. In the end Fluttershy was the only one to give us slight trouble but luckily even she managed to pull through. That however did not change the fact that Twilight and myself continued to drill them over and over again. We ultimately had to make a game out of it due to the understandable unrest. But after two dreadful weeks of intense training everypony was finally ready.

Then at my request Applejack and her siblings cleared out a large flat area in the middle of the apple orchard. This in turn ended up being the very core of the orchard itself as the circle would have an easier time spreading its power here. And while I was pleased with the location I could not get my mind to calm down as I was inspecting the area. For soon I had worn a nervous smile before thinking, ‘It appears the pieces of the puzzle are clicking into place. This has to work, it has to. We have worked so very hard up to this point.”

Eventually fatigue set in before I rubbed my eyes with my left forehoof and yawned. For you see the only restful night I had in weeks was merely that night in the train car a while ago. And to make matters worse my mind's uneasiness kept plaguing me for I had to constantly push flashbacks from my first attempt of this circle from my thoughts and dreams.

But regardless of my uneasiness or lack of sleep I soon finished all that I could alone in the apple orchard before I located Spike in Rarity’s boutique and told him to send a letter to Luna. After that, while waiting for a response, I walked around Ponyville and purchased some small knives, some bandages, and disinfectant. Admittedly I would have rather used my ‘Martyr Circle’ for any necessary minor wounds we would need the others to commit to for the sake of the circle, but I needed all my strength for later. So in turn, I was forced to use these cruder methods of mending such things.

And so with some basic supplies in hoof I started to make my way back to the apple orchard when Luna and Celestia decided to make their appearance. However, to my dismay, they had also decided to amuse themselves in doing so as well. Because instead of giving me some warning of their arrival, they found it more humorous to just teleport out of thin air a meter next to me. This of course caused me to yelp in surprise and toss all my supplies into the air. But after a few seconds, to give my heart a chance to slow down, I stated, “First, I would like to thank both of you for responding so quickly. Secondary, I would…again…like to respectfully request for you two to please stop appearing right next to me like that. I am already jumpy as it is,” and grumbled as I gathered my abruptly discarded supplies.

Luna and Celestia just laughed at me and Luna stated, “We apologize, but it is just so amusing. We just could not resist doing that to somepony again.”

I rolled my eyes in response and lifted the magic chalk the princesses had brought with them. And while I was doing that, Twilight ran up to us at a gallop and stated, “What happened?! I heard you shout, Blood Moon!”

“They happened,” I replied and pointed an accusing right forehoof at Luna and Celestia which caused them to start laughing again.

Twilight shook her head and smiled. “I should’ve known. I’m guessing they enjoy scaring the daylights out of you? Yeah, they still do that to me too…” She said and chuckled.

After that I used my magic, and with little delay, I separated out four sticks of magic chalk. I then placed one in front of myself and one for each of the princesses. “If you three would not mind. It would be easier and faster if all four of us drew the circle,” I said in a hopeful tone. I then let out a sigh of relief when they agreed.

But before we started Luna must have been reading my mood. She smiled and revealed that she brought a supply of fresh blood for us. It was a small, but very welcome kindness. However after our meal we started on our grueling task.

We worked for a few days and rested only when necessary even with a parchment copy of my circle to read from. Twilight and I even forced ourselves to work through the burdening sunlight of the day when Celestia raised it. But regardless we had completed the circle none the less before we admired our work.

However, admiration aside our efforts had indeed taken their toll and had made us all extremely exhausted. And so after several stifled yawns, Luna and Celestia gave their leave before teleporting back to Canterlot to get some sleep for tonight. Me and Twilight had similar thoughts, but as we were about to endure the sun's onslaught in our arduous march back to Twilight’s Library something had felt off.

To elaborate I kept hearing noises coming from behind the rows of damaged trees not far from the circle. The air also had a slight hint of canine scent to it. I even thought I heard some quiet whispers but I was not certain. Now anypony else would have chalked it up if you will to their own lack of sleep. But those ponies also did not have my level of unhealthy paranoia. And so to ease my mind I had some of our volunteers take shifts watching over the circle just as a precaution.

After that we continued our dreadful slog through the awful sun to Twilight’s library. This was thankfully contrasted after we got inside as it was pitch-black from the window coverings. The only light source we utilized was a simple candle I ultimately had to light as my vision was weak from the over exertion.

In turn my mind had matched such exhaustion as most else had drained out to little more than the happy thought of some well deserved rest. So with a small smile, while continuing to fight fatigue, I said “Sweet dreams” to Twilight and started to walk to the basement.

However, I only made it a few paces before a muffled voice sounded inside my head, “Suppression armor, master override, Princess Twilight Sparkle, armor shutdown.” My eyes snapped wide open in response to this right before my armor was quickly sucked back into the ring on my neck. Twilight then giggled, lowered her armor, grabbed me by the waist, and pulled me off my hooves. She then proceeded to jump and flap her wings before we landed on the second level floor of the library. I was then unceremoniously tossed onto her bed like an oversized ragdoll.

“Twilight pleeease. I am much too exhausted for this. Besides, Spike could come back at any moment,” I groaned as I closed my eyes. I swear she was acting like a filly with a brand new toy. Now any other time I would have been more than willing to oblige, but I was so unbelievably drained. So much so that I was actually amazed she was even in the mood for such things given she should have been in a similar condition.

Twilight just giggled again as she apparently brushed off whatever fatigue she must have felt and said, “Spike’s been spending a lot of time over at Rarity’s boutique. She’s really taken a great liking to him after he gave her that strange blue crystal. So, we’re all alone.”

So it was sleep be damned apparently as I rubbed my eyes with my fore hooves and groaned again in reply. As it seemed she was not going to be denied. “If I give you this, can we please get some rest afterwards?” I inquired in a ragged voice.

She merely laughed in response and stated in a coy tone, “Maaaaybe.” Needless to say I did not get my requested rest until about two hours later when my body’s remaining strength left me and I passed out.

However by some mercy in all this that instead of my usual flashbacks I normally had, my dreams were just bless-ed darkness. It was probably for the best. This state however was not long before my mind awoke. My ears then perked up after I heard some giggling next to me. I then opened my eyes in puzzlement and squinted to see a pair of light blue and a pair of purple eyes staring at me.

The lights soon clicked on and I was forced to cover my eyes with my left foreleg for a moment. “Enjoying yourselves?” I heard Celestia’s voice state as she started to snicker.

I uncovered my eyes to see both Celestia and Luna start to laugh so hard they had tears coming out of their eyes. I then turned my head to the right to find Twilight’s face all red in her front hooves. For we had apparently still been intertwined with each other when they found us much to our embarrassment. However, when Luna and Celestia managed to get themselves under control, Luna said, “Come, the others are waiting at the circle.”

The walk to our destination was uncomfortably awkward to say the least. None of us said anything other than the occasional giggle from Celestia or Luna. However, true to Luna’s word all the volunteers were waiting for us. And with what pride I still had I cleared my throat and spoke, “Alright everypony, we have trained for this and there should not be any mishaps. However before we start, as I stated in our training, I will need a few drops of blood from each member in their respective ring.”

I then grabbed the small knifes I had purchased before and passed them out. Though due to understandable squeamishness it took longer than expected to complete our required task. For I suppose that for normal ponies injuring yourself was a foreign concept unlike for yours truly. In turn we ended up having to go one by one. It did ultimately make bandaging each pony easier however.

After we had completed that step Luna passed me a glowing light blue orb and a small jet black triangular box. I then told everypony to stand back when I placed the orb on the ground. Next I armored up before I summoned my scythe and smashed its blade into the orb.

The overwhelming amount of life force energy released from the orb had flowed through my scythe and into my body. It was invigorating I admit as I have not had this much energy to work with in years. But I had little time to savor such things before I summoned my power and my horn and eyes lit up with light blue flames while lightning crackled all over my armor. And in turn a small smile crept up my face as everypony watched in awe.

But my joy was short lived before Celestia passed Twilight and Luna their prismatic absorption crystals. I then walked into the center of the circle as everypony else went to their assigned spots in their specific rings. Afterwards I took a deep breath and attached the box of sealing to the side of my armor.

Time soon slowed for a second or two as I gathered my thoughts. Then after a few moments I spoke, “When we begin the process, it cannot be stopped for any reason until the end. I will be controlling the operation of this circle from the center. Please concentrate on your own tasks no matter what. Now...let us begin.”

Understandably there were indeed nervous whispers floating around in response but they ceased when I stated, “stage one.” My muscles soon tightened before I channeled power through my scythe into the circle. In reply the outer most ring with the three princesses lifted off the ground about ten meters. They then spread their bodies into a vertical “Y” shape and activated the shield ward surrounding the circle. Afterwards three prismatic absorption crystals floated outside the ward in front of each princess. The princesses then started to rotate with the movement of the ring as it began spinning clockwise. Black vortexes soon appeared in front of each crystal as they rotated with the ring.

“Stage one complete, moving on to stage two,” I stated in slight nervousness as I flowed energy into the second outer ring. Again the circle replied to my will as the ring lifted the pegasi all the way up to the clouds. Then when in position they flapped their wings forward at a steady rate. In response the clouds were pushed away from us. They then moved with their ring as it rotated counter-clockwise.

“Stage two complete, starting stage three,” I said as my nervousness from before hardly abating as I pushed power into the middle ring. And just like the other two times the circle responded to my will before it lifted the middle ring off the ground about one meter with the unicorns on top of it. The unicorns then pointed their horns forward as their ring rotated them clockwise.

“Stage three complete, beginning stage four,” I stated as a knot began to form in my stomach as I flowed energy into the closest ring to mine. In reply the earth ponies were then lifted with their ring only a few centimeters off the ground and they positioned their bodies into the same “Y” shape as the princesses. Next they began to rotate counter-clockwise with their ring.

A hard swallow proceeded that step before I stated, “stage four complete, starting final stage. Good luck everypony.”

Then in a instant, my ring rotated clockwise and my scythe burst into light blue flames. Soon after pure life force energy fired out into my ring. The unleashed power flowed out from my ring into the earth ponies’s ring. And in a fraction of a second they all grunted in response at the effort as their bodies' natural affinity of the earth converted the light blue life force energy into bright green growth energy. This green growth energy then passed on from their ring into the unicorns’ ring to begin the process of condensing it.

Next with the aid of their circle the unicorns’ condensed and focused the energy through their horns before they fired it out into the orchard in thick beams. However as per design these beams did not deplete much of the gathered energy. For their task was mainly to shock the surrounding area into accepting the other purpose of their ring. A purpose that had shown itself after a few seconds of it gathering growth energy. Because soon with little warning the ring began to vibrate shortly before it pulsed.

A wave of growth energy soon flowed out in all directions like an expanding bubble thus blanketing the area in a green glow. However this was when the true trial would begin. Because in quick reply to the injection of growth energy the clouds in the sky above began to darken and swirl. A dark omen that nature's counter balance to our efforts had been activated. For not long after the black energy of decay came flowing toward us like water in a newly created hole.

In turn this dark energy raged and swirled as it was denied its prize of the dying orchard by our efforts and had thus flung itself at the source of the disturbance, the circle itself. However, before it came within three meters of us it was sucked through the black vortexes that were continuously generated by the princess' ring and into the absorption crystals that were setup. And with that I sighed in relief that the circle had successfully began working fully. The only task I did after that was throw out more life force energy.

But like usual, my prior feeling of slight ease did not last long. For I soon heard something that made my heart sink. Ravenous howls came tearing out of the ruined orchard around us. A pack of twenty rogue lycans started running straight at the circle. They were probably waiting for a moment of weakness to attack and must have thought they found one. However, they had made a terrible miscalculation. Because in secret I planned for any attacks from potential enemies. As such I cackled like a madpony before I bellowed “YOU FOOLS! ”. A cruel malicious smile then crawled up my face as I, for only a split second, turned off the black vortexes from the absorption crystals.

In an instant, as a result of my actions, the ambient energy of decay screamed around the circle's ward in a high pitched howl before it blasted outwards. The poor fools did not even make it within six meters of the circle before their flesh melted right off their bones. What remained of their corpses soon oozed into bubbling dark pools before I laughed at their awful folly. But in my foolish arrogance I had made a terrible mistake. Because while I managed to get the black vortex absorption crystal process working again, I could easily sense something was wrong.

For you see my little stunt had started to destabilize the circle itself. Its clockwork processes soon whined as they strained against the instabilities before I heard Celestia yell over the noise, “Blood Moon, the circle needs more power. Otherwise it’s going to all come apart!”

Panic had then set in as I realized I was already channeling all the energy I could through my scythe, but it was not enough. In turn with gritted teeth I took the only horrid option I had left. I let go of my weapon and flowed the life force energy out through my own body.

My armor lit up with light blue flames and I shrieked as the power permeated my armor and started to char my fur and flesh. The extra energy output however successfully stabilized the circle. It had also increased the power and caused the beams and pulses from the unicorn’s ring to increase as well. Thus resulting in extra energy flowing into the orchard forcing the trees to regenerate faster.

But this positive boon was taking a heavy toll on me and I could only keep the process going for about ten minutes before my body started to fail. And so with what little strength I had left, I shut down the circle’s rings down in reverse order.

When I finished that I quickly realized my armor was blistering hot. I in turn forced it to go back into the ring on my neck but I quickly realized even the ring itself was super-heated. In blinding agony I further burnt my hooves as I yanked the ring off my neck and tossed it next me. The armor ring soon slammed into the ground and sunk into it by a few centimeters due to the extreme heat.

Then with failing consciousness I clinched my teeth through the pain of my burns and located the box of sealing that had fallen next to me before I opened it. And in great amazement and thankfulness it luckily remained cool to the touch. Then with horrid wheezing I stated,“Princesses, please hurry…put the crystals…in…the box."

In exhausted and quiet reply they walked over all the other equally exhausted ponies and did as I asked. However the only thing odd about this was when I closed the box and sealed it I heard a strange multi-toned voice scream “RELEASE ME!” but I merely brushed it off thinking it was my tired mind playing tricks on me.

After that, while trying to fight through my pain, I looked around in hazy vision at the apple orchard. It had been restored to where it looked as if nothing ever happened to it. Residual growth energy flickered around as I wheezed out “It worked…I cannot believe it actually…worked…HAHAHA-” but I was interrupted when blinding agony came from my insides. The smoke cleared around me as I realized just how badly I was hurt.

I quickly placed my fore hooves over my mouth as I started to violently cough. And when I pulled my hooves away they were covered in blood. The last thing I remember was somepony yelling “He’s hurt!” before my vision faded to black and I collapsed. My body’s pain soon started to fade as I slipped into unconsciousness.

This is that last part for Alchemical Insanity. It ended up being quite a bit longer than I was originally intending. I hope everyone enjoys it.