“Where are they?!” bellowed Lero. He pressed harder down on Apple Bloom, whose feeble kicks did little to dissuade the mad human. Neither, it seemed, did his friend’s pleas.

“Lero, stop!” cried Rainbow.

“Get away from her!!” screamed Pinkie Pie. The farm mare charged forward but quickly ground to a halt. Princess Luna, in her full combat regalia landed in front of her with enough force to shake the ground. The Diarch of the Night turned to Pinkie Pie, her eyes hard as cold steel.

“Stay back, Pinkamena,” she said in a voice that could have chilled a glacier. Two night guards dropped from the sky and surrounded both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Any attempt the two made to escape were blocked by heavy body checks from the grown stallions.

Both Rarity and Rainbow were torn by the chaos unfolding before them. The white mare was in tears at this point. Her prince had a look in his eyes that she had never seen. She had seen him angry; the memory of the incident with Shimmer and Chuckwagon all those years ago, when the mare pushed Lero into an altercation that resulted in his hand wrapped around the mare’s throat came to mind. He had a look in his eyes that told everypony that he was more than willing to fight to defend his herd.

But now? The look he held was beyond anger, beyond any rage she had thought her prince was capable of. His jaw was set, his sharp teeth were bared, and his eyes were boring into the filly he had pinned to the ground. It all spoke of one thing: hatred. Sheer, unbridled hatred.

“Lero, please,” Rarity half-whimpered, “let Apple Bloom go!”

“Sir Bellerophon,” said Luna, stepping forward, “release it. We shall handle this thing’s capture.”

Rainbow was shocked. ‘It? Thing?’ she thought, looking at Apple Bloom. ‘What the hay’s going on?!’

Lero ignored the dark alicorn. He stood up and lifted Apple Bloom up by the throat until she was dangling off the ground at his eye level. Lero narrowed his eyes.

“Beidh mé ag iarraidh ar an ach aon uair amháin, rud is beag,” he said. His voice was low and harsh, completely alien from the gentle calm they all knew. “Cá bhfuil Apple Bloom?”

The crowd had different reactions. For some, there was confusion and fear; they had never heard Lero speaking another language before, let alone one as strange as this. Luna’s eyes widened and her feathers bristled.

Apple Bloom choked but was able to get out a weak response.

“Tá... tá mé Apple Bloom,” she croaked. “Tá mé an duine is óige de na-” Any further words she was about to say where cut off when Lero’s grip around her throat suddenly tightened like a vice. Rainbow could hear something starting to go “crunch”. Once again, his eyes shifted, turning an icy blue that chilled the soul.

“If you were Apple Bloom, then how could you know that language?” His grip tightened, Apple Bloom’s eyes bulged, that horrible gurgling sound coming from her throat grew more pronounced until-

*SNAP*

Everything stopped. The field outside of town became still and silent. Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie could feel their hearts seize in their chests. Even Scootaloo’s and Sweetie Belle’s struggles stopped. Everypony stared wide eyed in horror.

Apple Bloom simply hung from Lero’s grip, her eyes wide and her head lolling unnaturally to one side. With a callousness unseen by anyone before, Lero tossed the body to the side, where it rolled to a stop and stared at the group.

Lero turned his attention to the two remaining fillies, his blue eyes clearly speaking his intentions. But before he could take his first step, a blinding light enveloped the area with a loud bang that left everypony’s ears ringing. As Rarity did her best to blink away the spots in her vision and tried to ignore the bell foundry someone set up between her ears, she saw that Lero was lying on the ground. His eyes were rolled back into his head and he clearly wasn’t moving.

She shouted, “Lero!” then the scene dissolved into total chaos.

“BLOOMY!!” screamed Pinkie. She tried to rush towards the body but was stopped by a pair of night guards.

Rainbow Dash was torn. A desperate part of her was demanding that she run, run away from this monster that just killed a filly. The cooler, more rational part, told her that Lero wouldn’t do something like that. And what had the princess called Apple Bloom earlier? A thing? What was up with that? The two halves of her mind battled for control, leaving the poor mare rooted in place.

A sudden shriek caught Rainbow’s attention. There, at the edge of the chaos, two more thestral night guards had tackled both Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. The two girls, despite barely coming up to the guards’ knees, seemed to struggle with a strength that was, well given what she had seen that day, unnatural was the only word Rarity could use to describe it.

“Sweetie Belle!” cried out Applejack. The southern belle took a few instinctual steps to help her sister when another thestral stopped her.

“Dame Applejack, you must stay back,” he said. He was a larger example of his tribe, not as large as Big Mac but still a good deal bigger than most of the stallions in the town. The intricate silver designs on his dark armor marked him as an officer of some sort, though Applejack would have been hard pressed to recognize his actual rank.

"That's ma sister!" said Applejack. "Ah have ta help her!" She tried to move forward only to be stopped by an armored hoof.

“Let me go, ya overgrown varmints!” Applejack turned to see that the two other thestrals were doing their best to restrain Pinkie, who was kicking and screaming her head off at the night guards. “Ah’m gonna kill ‘im! Ah’m gonna stomp his skull ‘til there’s nothing left! LET ME GO!!” She thrashed herself against the guards before crashing her head into one guard’s unprotected jaw, then delivered a swift buck to the other, sending that guard flying. Left unimpeded, she charged the downed human.

Pinkie could only see red at this point. The edges of her vision blurred and dissolved into a black inkiness and all the color faded away from her world. Her tunnel vision was focused on one thing and only one thing. It was lying on the ground, just waiting to receive righteous punishment. Her blood pounded in her skull as she got closer to the fallen body. All rational thought had been driven from her mind.

The only thing that mattered to her right then was hitting that sister-killing thing over and over until she was pounding wet chunks of bone into the ground.

A colorful display of sparks blinded her vision and she stumbled to a halt, shaking her head clear of the interference. Sound crept back into her consciousness in the form of a shrill voice.

“...ay away from him!” Pinkie’s vision finally cleared and she saw Rarity standing between her and her prize. The white unicorn’s horn glowed brightly and spitting colorful sparks. “That-That was just a warning shot, Pinkie! If you lay one hoof on his precious head, I’ll swear I’ll-”

“Y’all ‘what’, ya prissy, good-fer-nuttin’ freak?!” shouted Pinkie. “Ah’m gonna do more than jes lay a hoof on that snake-inna-grass! Ah’m gonna pound him ta tiny bits! Y’all have ta bury wha’s lefta him inna soup can!”

“Don’t you dare, you backwater hick!” Rarity’s horn glowed again and a dark storm cloud formed over her, thunder booming from within, ready to unleash a deadly strike on any who dared to harm the unconscious human. “I don’t care what you think we just saw! NOPONY is going to harm my-”

A pair of shrieks drowned out whatever she was going to say next. Both mares turned and felt their jaws drop. The four thestrals wrestling with the other Crusaders had clamped on a pair of metal manacles around the fillies’ necks. The reaction was violent and immediate.

“IT BURNS!!” screamed Sweetie Belle, falling on the ground and writhing in agony. “IT BURNS!!” Sure enough, a hissing sound could be heard and a faint plume of smoke was rising from around both of their collars. Rarity saw red and blistered skin around the edges.

“What’re ya doing?!” screamed Applejack. “Stop it!”

“Stay back!” barked the officer.

“Let me at ‘im!” yelled Pinkie Pie, one hoof scraping the ground.

“Don’t you dare!” screamed Rarity.

“Be still.” The command was final. All activity halted, save for the subdued whimpering of the two fillies. “Captain, see that your comrades fully secure the creatures. Take no chances. Do not listen to any of their words, and no matter how much they plead or beg, do not remove those irons.”

The officer, apparently a Captain, snapped a salute. “Yes, Your Highness,” he said.

The dark alicorn turned to the other mares. “Where is Twilight Sparkle?”

“She-she,” Rarity stammered. “Lyra will have taken Twilight back home. To Golden Oaks Library.”

Luna flared her wings and took off, hovering over the field. “See to your stallion, Dame Rarity. Pinkamena, you shall not lay a hoof upon the human.” Any kind of protest the farm mare might’ve had died in her throat. The alicorn’s teal eyes bored into her and she felt herself lower to the ground in submission. “As for the rest of you, meet Us at the library. Speak of this to no one.”

There was another great flash. Luna, her guards, the two remaining fillies, and the body were gone, leaving the small group alone in the darkening field.

Golden Oaks Library was a very different place tonight. The cheerful home, usually filled with the sounds of lighthearted conversation, the smells of warm meals, and the general air of love, was replaced with something else, something entirely unknown and unwelcome. Confusion and sorrow were the watchwords this evening. A miasma of pain and doubt choked the air surrounding the small group of friends and family. Worry for loved ones injured and loved ones gone clung to everypony like a wet blanket.

Lyra did her best to put on a brave face as she sat next to Twilight at the table. The Still Way had any number of proverbs for a situation like this, but none brought any comfort to the unicorn more than just being near her herd sister. The scholarly unicorn was wrapped in her favorite blanket and held a trembling cup of jasmine tea in her hooves.

When Lyra had brought Twilight home earlier, the other mare was a stammering wreck; whatever she had encountered through the detection spell had nearly cost her her wits.

Lyra, who had little experience with the arcane arts despite her heritage, did what she could, and had held onto her, speaking in soft whispers and stroking Twilight's silky hair. The simple contact had been enough to bring Twilight back down to earth, long enough for her to start weeping. "I'm scared, Lyra," she had kept saying. "I'm so scared." Lyra could only rub her back and mummer that "everything would be okay" into her ear.

She wished she could believe it herself at this point.

Just as Spike had poured a second cup of tea for Lyra, there had come a flash outside, the door had burst open, and in had walked Princess Luna herself, flanked by a pair of thestral night guards dragging Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo in chains. The Night Princess had immediately commanded her guards to bring the small young captives to the basement and keep them securely detained and under watch.

"Be silent," she had told the stammering Lyra and Twilight, "and do not question. Thine answers shalt come with the others."

The fillies were surprisingly quiet and complacent as the guards led them downstairs.

‘The others’ then returned soon after: Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Lero, all joining Lyra and Twilight at their table. But Princess Luna kept her silence and the questions remained unanswered. And as the Grandmaster looked around from face to face, only more seemed to spawn in her mind.

The first and foremost was why was Lero unconscious? The human had been one of the last inside; carried into the library on one of Rarity's cloud platforms. He had been immediately floated upstairs to the master bedroom. Both Twilight and Lyra burst out with questions and demands for explanations from everypony around them.

The grim tale their guests shared with them seemed like the ravings of mad mares.

Blue eyes? Strange languages? Apple Bloom dead? By Lero's hands?!

Had the whole world been suddenly turned on its head again? Lyra glanced around the room. Somehow, that last theory didn't seem so far from the truth.

Rarity had secluded herself in the master bedroom with her beloved human stallion, going so far as to ignore a royal "suggestion" from the princess to leave Lero to his bed rest and join them at the table. Lyra had smiled at that, despite the chaos of the situation; she knew that nothing short of the end of the world would get the alabaster mare to leave Lero's side and Lyra had her doubts that even that would make her budge.

Pinkie Pie had remained downstairs with a distant and dead look in her eyes, not touching the tea Twilight had poured for her. Rainbow Dash — 'Bless her sweet heart,' — was doing her best to offer comfort to the poor farm mare.

“It’s… it’s gonna be okay, Pinkie,” the rainbow-maned caretaker insisted, nuzzling her unresponsive farmer friend. “We’re gonna get through this together, you’re not alone…”

Lyra could tell her newest herdmate was just as shaken but admired her for putting others before herself.

Applejack seemed to be torn, from where she sat on the table. She kept shifting her glances between the basement door and the library's front door. The words she murmured to herself kept switching between sisterly concerns and nonsense about different fabrics.

“Ah… ah can’t believe… mah sister... Sweetie Belle’s gonna git locked up in a dungeon, AND we’ll have ta have a funeral fer poor li’l Apple Bloom! This is a nightmare… they ain’t even got their cutie marks and… and jest what’ll Ah wear to the funeral? Mebbe somethin’ made outta vinyl-coated polyester… or buckram! And who says it has ta be black…?”

Every so often, Lyra caught sight of the diamonds on her flanks twitching. She knew that the farmer-turned-fashionista was being pulled apart from the inside. Spike was right at AJ's side, doing his very best to keep the poor mare focused on the here and now.

“There, there,” the young dragon said, standing on his chair and hugging the orange pony around the neck. “This… things will get straightened out, we’ll get to the bottom of this, and Sweetie will be okay. Focus on that, AJ, focus on Sweetie, and how she’ll be okay... you love your sister, and she loves you, don’t think of buckram… buckram’s used for bookbinding anyway…”

“Oh, Sweetie Belle!” the orange mare bawled, sobbing as she hugged Spike back.

'He really is such a little trooper,' thought Lyra.

"Ah don' understand!" said Applejack. "Wha-what's got inta them girls?" She looked again to Princess Luna, who sat at the head of the table. "Please, Princess. Please tell me what's going on!"

Luna kept silent and looked Applejack in the eye with a stony gaze. The Moon Princess had said nothing since her proclamation earlier that evening, choosing instead to remain as quiet as a statue. 'The ones they keep in graveyards,' Lyra mused. 'The silent guardians of the dead.'

A knock at the door was what finally brought Luna out of whatever contemplative state she had been in. “We bid thee enter,” she said.

The door opened and two new ponies entered. The first was the same thestral captain that had been present at the scene of the day’s earlier, horrific events. He strode in, head held high, shoulders squared, looking every bit the part of a military stallion. He half-bowed to Luna, who returned the gesture with the slightest of nods.

The other stallion was… “Doctor Monitor?” said Twilight. Dr. Heart Monitor, a cousin to the Heart siblings who worked at Ponyville General Hospital, gave Twilight a nod. Twilight noted the black bag he carried on his back. A tiny thought poked its head up, then scampered away before she could get a look at it.

The ochre unicorn stallion walked forward and bowed before Princess Luna. “Your Highness,” he greeted.

Luna raised an eyebrow. “An apothecary?” Then she lifted a hoof upward. “Rise, good healer.” Monitor did so. “Tell Us, why hast thou come to this humble abode in the company of mine captain? Hast some new crisis occurred that dost require our attention? And what is this parcel that thou brings?”

Monitor then laid the filly-sized black bag at his hooves. His eyes were sunken and heavy lidded and he spoke with words laiden with an unwelcome load. “My Lady,” he said, “I… I do not know where to begin. This has been a very strange night for me.”

“Then We would have thee start at the beginning.”

The Captain stepped forward. “My Lady,” he said, “as per your instructions, Corporal Shadow Strider and I ferried the body of the filly to the Ponyville Hospital where we made contact with Dr. Monitor. He was the only medical professional on duty at the time and was ordered to carry out the…” The Captain stole a glance at Pinkie Pie. “...examination.” Though it was spoken gently, the poor pink mare cringed and teared up at the word. Rainbow nuzzled her.

Monitor spoke up again. “I have the… well unfortunate duty of coroner here in Ponyville, my Lady. In a town this small and peaceful, despite the strangeness it seems to attract, there are still very few deaths. But this was the first time I have been asked to,” he swallowed the lump in his throat, “perform an autopsy on a child.”

The table was silent and everypony, save the Princess, could feel tears well up in their eyes.

“And what were thine findings, apothecary?”

Heart Monitor took in a deep breath and look the Night Princess directly in the eye. “That I have yet to perform an autopsy for any child, Your Highness.”

A moment passed as the group stared in disbelief and confusion at the doctor’s words.

“...Wha?” said Pinkie dumbly.

“I mean, Miss Pie,” said Monitor, pointing to the black bag, “that whatever they brought to me this evening was not your sister. It was-”

He was interrupted as Pinkie lept out of her seat and ran for the bag, body checking the poor stallion out of the way.

“Pinkie, wait!” cried Rainbow Dash. She was promptly ignored as the farm mare ripped the zipper open, tore open the bag and-

Stood stock still. She reached in and withdrew a hoofful of moss, twigs, and twine.

“...Is,” she stammered, “is this some kinda sick joke?” She violently turned out the bag. Sure enough, it was filled with nothing more that a collection of plant matter and twine. Pinkie spread out the contents over the tabletop, her breathing harsh and rapid, as if she could somehow find her sister buried within the small pile. Pinkie suddenly recoiled when she uncovered a small, reddish-colored object nestled amongst the refuse.

Twilight felt her breath catch. “Is… is that a…?”

“It isn’t equine,” said Heart Monitor. “I can tell you that much. It is far too small and the shape is wrong. It might’ve belonged to a rabbit or some other animal.”

Luna regarded the tiny heart with narrowed eyes. “Tell Us exactly what happened,” she commanded. Her voice had once again taken on that steely quality, so unlike her elder sister’s motherly tone.

The young doctor nearly jumped out of his skin. “Y-yes, my lady- er, Your Highness!” He coughed into his fetlock and took a moment to compose himself. “I began my examination nearly an hour ago, shortly after the Captain and the corporal brought the… er, ‘body’, so to speak. At first, everything seemed routine; I found evidence of asphyxiation by a crushed trachea and a severance of the spinal column in the broken vertebra- ”

“If thou would please,” interrupted Luna, holding a hoof up. Heart Monitor stopped and stared at the gathered mares. At their shared mixed looks of horror and revulsion at his description, the doctor felt a sense of shame come over him.

“Forgive me, ladies,” he said. “I…” He sighed a moment, then put on a more professional demeanor. “Right. I was halfway through the procedure when I turned my back on the body for a moment to write something in my notes. Everything had appeared to be normal at that point; there were no abnormalities in the body and the… ‘she’ seemed to be a normal young filly. That is when I heard a clatter and when I turned back, the body was gone!”

“Gone?” Pinkie Pie repeated in disbelief.

“Or changed, I should say,” continued the doctor. “The clatter came from one of the scales; the weight suddenly snapped upwards and knocked against a tray of tools. The body had just suddenly turned into… well, that!”

Pinkie stared down at the refuse in front of her then back up to the Doctor. She took a few steps forward until she was almost pressed muzzle-to-muzzle with him. After a brief silence, she said, “He ain’t lyin’. Honesty is tellin’ me he ain’t.”

‘Honesty?’ Lyra thought to herself. 'Does she mean… the Element of Honesty told Pinkie that Dr. Monitor wasn't lying?'

The pink mare sat back down in her chair. “So then… whatever it was Lero killed tonight… wasn’t really mah sister, was it…?”

Heart Monitor turned to Twilight. “Ms. Twilight, I do not say this with an undue sense of pride that I hold two doctorates in medicine and medical thaumaturgy. But I am at a complete loss here. This is no mere illusion we are dealing here; nothing could have been that complete nor convincing.” He turned again to Luna. “Your Highness, it may not be my place to ask but-”

“You are right, good healer,” said Luna sternly. “Tis not your place to ask. Nor shall it be your place to question. This evening’s revelations shall remain a secret with thee. I bid thee to return to thine workplace and destroy all documents that mention thy morbid procedures and any record that my Guard did come to your hospice. And should I catch wind that thou hast broken thine silence, I shalt be very cross.” She leaned in close to the trembling physician. “And thou would not like to see me cross.”

Heart Monitor bowed low and closed his eyes. “O-of course, Your Highness,” he said.

“Good. Then be about thy tasks and return to thy patients on the morn.” Heart Monitor bowed again and scrambled to the doorway, slamming it shut behind him.

The library was absolutely silent. Twilight was wracking her massive brain in an attempt to comprehend everything but the more she tried, the deeper the rabbit hole went. She had never seen Luna act like this before. Not once. Even during the Blank Plague, a veritable lifetime ago, she had never seemed so cold and… well she couldn’t find a word to fully describe it.

Finally, after a small eternity, she dared to break the silence. “Princess? What’s going on?”

Luna glared at Twilight Sparkle… then sighed. All the the sternness she had built up that evening melted off her like ice during Winter Wrap Up. “Captain?” she said. The thestral nodded once, then exited the treehouse, leaving Luna alone with the small group. Her horn glowed briefly and a blue shimmer appeared around the front door and the covered windows. Twilight recognized it: a silencing spell.

“What We…” Luna sighed again, “What I have to tell you all must not leave this room. I want you all to swear to me that you will keep this secret. I will not threaten you should you break this vow, for doing so would place all of Equestria in danger. But so would you, should you speak openly of this enemy.”

Everyone gathered at the table shared a look. “Enemy?” Lyra repeated.

“For some weeks, I have sensed that something was amiss in the aether. It began as an uneasiness, as if I was chasing a nightmare in the realm of dreams but could not find the source. Then, on the night of my new moon, I caught wind of a magic that had no right to be here, a scent I had thought long extinct from our realm. It was faint but very powerful and only grew more so over the next few days. And as it became more pronounced, I followed it into the waking world. To here, near the Everfree.

“My Night Guard and I camped in the ruins of my old palace while we hunted our foe. But every time we drew near, it vanished, like mist in my sister’s sunlight. And that is when I felt you, dear Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight felt her eyes widen. “When I felt your magic spike tonight, we came, my guards and I. And when we found those… things... I knew.”

“Knew what?” asked Spike.

“I knew a most ancient and vile enemy had returned.”

The table was silent. The mares and little Spike listened in rapt attention as the lunar princess told them the story.

“But, Princess,” said Twilight, once again breaking the silence. “Who… What are they?”

Luna looked at Twilight and the stern mask fell back into place. “That is for your stallion to tell us, Dame Sparkle.”

Lero slowly came back to reality. It was neither a pleasant journey nor a swift one. He had no warm feelings of half-forgotten dreams, nor the miniature adrenaline spike of a nightmare to greet him. Instead, the first thing he became aware of was that he was in pain. He hurt everywhere. It was not a harsh stabbing pain as though he’d been kicked or had fallen, this was a dull and throbbing ache, starting from the soles of his feet and stretching all the way up his body, before finally culminating in massive headache.

‘I feel like I’ve run a marathon,’ he thought miserably. ‘After a drinking contest.’

Once his nervous system had finally rebooted, his senses decided that now was a good time to come back online. Smell was the first. He allowed himself a brief inhale, despite the rude, but not wholly unjustified, protests of an aching ribcage. Wood, lavender, jasmine, mint, and the faint scent of musk. The warm weight of something soft covered him.

‘Our bed?’ Risking aggravating his already hostile headache, Lero cracked open an eye and was greeted with a wash of muted colors. Blue, some white, and gentle browns. Yep. This was his shared bed.

Touch decided to fully join the party and was swiftly followed by hearing. To his right he could feel the firmness of a body and a slight dampness on his shoulder. Gentle breathing, joined by the occasional sniffle accompanied them.

Rarity had been laying at his side with her hooves draped across his chest. Her head was buried in his shoulder. While he could not see her face, he knew that she had been crying.

Still half-asleep, Lero reached around with right arm and gently stroked her long mane. “Hey you,” he quietly croaked. Lero soundly became aware of how dry his throat was.

Rarity gasped and snapped her head to attention. Her blue eyes were slightly bloodshot, confirming his earlier suspicions. “Lero,” she said. Her bright smile gave him a little grin. Even the littlest things like seeing her smile always made him happy. She moved quickly to lock lips with him. “You’re okay!” She kissed him again before straddling his chest. “Oh my sweet prince, you have.” Another kiss. “No idea.” And another. “How scared.” Once more. “We were.”

Aside from aching pain, so far this was turning out to be a good morning.

“Ow,” he grunted. “Rarity? Princess?”

“What is it, love? Tell me! Do you need water? Oh, of course you do, after such a horrific day!”

“Rarity?”

“Do you need food? Oh, I know I am not much of a cook but I shall try my very best for my stallion-”

“Why do I hurt?”

That was enough to ground the white mare back to reality. Rarity looked down at him and Lero could see fear and confusion creep into her eyes. Finally, she climbed off the him and sat down next to the bed.

“Everything hurts,” he whispered. Straining against the pain, he lifted up the blanket stared bewildered down at himself. “Why am I dressed?” As he gazed down at his body, he caught sight of his hands. They were smudged with dirt and grime, all of his fingernails were filthy and several were broken and bloody. Lero tried to sit up but stopped when a sharp pain pierced his chest.

“Oh darling!” said Rarity as she laid a gentle hoof on him and slowly eased him back down.

“Rarity,” he insisted. “What’s going on?”

Rarity hesitated a moment and stared into his wide, hazel eyes. “Lero,” she said, chewing her lip for a second. “Um… Do you know what happened today?”

Lero just looked all the more confused. “Today?” he said. “Rarity it’s only morning, what are you-” He stopped when he saw the darkened window. The sun had long set and the warm glow of the street lamps drifted into the room. Following his eye, Rarity took a moment to close the curtains with her magic.

‘This isn’t right,’ he thought. ‘This CAN’T be right! I was asleep, here in the bed with-’

Something flashed before Lero’s eyes. It was a vision of him running through the trees, thorns reaching out to grab him, his hands gripping his head as an agonizing pain tore through his skull. Lero mirrored the memory, his own hand coming to his head as the throbbing in his head built up.

“Lero, my sweet prince,” she said gently, sensing her stallion’s growing fear, “I need you to to stay calm-”

“Stay calm?” he said, panic quickly entering his voice. “How can I-”

“Please, Lero!” Rarity took one of his hands in her hooves, not caring about any of the dirt smudging her pristine white coat. Lero felt his heart calm as he looked into her pleading eyes. “I know… I know you’re scared, love. So am I. This day… it’s been so horrible for everypony.” Tears fell down her cheeks. He reached up with his other hand and cupped her cheek, brushing away the tears with a calloused thumb. “But no matter what happens, no matter what comes next, we will face it together. You, me, our sweet songbird, and our Sparkle-Kitten. We’ll face it like we always have. Together.”

Lero suddenly pulled her into a crushing hug, like a drowning man would hold a piece of wreckage. In many ways, she really was saving him; he could feel something pulling at the edges of his sanity, something alien but familiar, but holding her close to him, breathing in her scent, feeling the warm and smoothness of her coat against his face… He felt safe. She had become his harbour in the sea of madness that surrounded his life.

“I love you, Rarity,” he breathed. “I love you so much, my princess.”

Rarity smiled despite her tears. “And I love you, my prince. Now and forever.”

They stayed like that for several minutes or maybe it was hours. Nothing else mattered at that moment.

Eventually, cruel reality began to assert in their little haven. Lero climbed out of bed and went into the bathroom while Rarity excused herself to tell the others that he had awoken. In the bathroom, Lero stared down at his dirty and blood hands before plunging them under the sink’s hot water. He discarded his ripped shirt and examined his bare torso.

Lero’s body was a collection of small scars accumulated from his years of living in Ponyville. From the earliest days when Fluttershy found him, wounded and alone at the edge of the Everfree, to more recent events, every part of him told a story. The healing magic of unicorn doctors used left nothing very disfiguring, but they could not fully hide everything due to Lero’s resistance to magic in general. If somepony looked closely, they would see only the faintest collection of white lines across his body.

Now Lero would have a new set for his growing collection. Lero’s right arm was covered in scratches and dried blood while his left shoulder had been discolored by a large bruise. He took a moment to clip away his damaged fingernails and then removed his shoes. He found several large blisters forming on his feet.

‘How did I get all these?’ he asked himself and as he picked up a warm washcloth, he somehow doubted he wanted to know the answer.

Rarity returned a short while later holding a first aid kit in her telekinetic grip. Lyra, Twilight, and even Rainbow Dash were close behind her. They said nothing as they all shared a few moments together, pressed up against one another and trading gentle, comforting nuzzles. The feeling of soft coats, silky manes, and gentle feathers calmed his mind. Lero allowed himself to be nudged on to a short stool while his mares tended to him.

Rainbow took the wet cloth in her mouth and very gently began to wash the scrapes and scratches along his arm. She was reminded of the day she first found him, scared, hurt and alone, covered in torn rags that could have once been clothes. Dash resisted the urge to cry on the spot. ‘Not now,’ she thought. ‘I need to be strong now. My stallion needs me now.’ She looked up at him with her wide eyes and gave him a reassuring smile. Lero returned the smile and cupped her cheek in his palm. The sheer amount of love she saw shining in his eyes for her made her heart soar.

Lyra took a separate cloth and began to tend to his feet before wrapping his blisters in soft moleskin. Rarity helped Dash tend his arm, using her magic to place little butterfly bandages on each of the cuts. Twilight leaned on his back, wrapping her forelegs around him. Lero could tell that she was shaken up by something. They all were. He leaned his own head back and gave Twilight a gentle nuzzle, placing a soft kiss behind her ear. Lero felt her grip on him tighten slightly.

No words were exchanged but the conversation was still had with simple gestures of affection and quiet glances.

‘We love you,’ the mares said. ‘We’re here for you.’

‘I know,’ the stallion replied. ‘I love you all too.’

Dressed in fresh clothes and surrounded by his mares, Lero exited the master bedroom and descended the stairs.

Gathered around the table were most of the other Element Bearers, Spike, and Princess Luna. The Lunar Princess followed his movements with her eyes, like some predator would watch a deer, as she sat quietly at the head of the table. Lero took an uneasy seat at the opposite end of the table. A nagging voice in the back of his mind was telling him to keep his distance from her.

“Sir Michealides,” said Luna, “it heartens us all to see thee woken.” Lero could only nod his head. “I trust that you have many questions for Us.” Again, Lero nodded. “But first We would have Our own answers. Where did you travel to today?”

“I went for a hike,” he replied monotonously. “Needed to clear my head.” Lero suddenly blinked. “Wait. Wha-”

“Where did you travel to today?” Luna repeated.

“I went for a hike,” he repeated monotonously. “Needed to clear my head.” Lero stopped and stared. His eyes grew wide with fear. “No. No, I… I was… what-” His hands began to shake.

“Lero?” said Rarity.

“Princess,” said Twilight, “What are you-”

“Where did you travel to today?” Luna’s voice took on a steel edge that cut through all objections.

“I-I went for a hike,” sputtered Lero. “I-I-I… oh God. What’s g-going…?”

Rainbow couldn’t take any more of it. She flew up onto the table, placing herself between Lero and Luna, between her stallion and the danger. Dash grabbed Lero’s head and pressed it against her chest. “Ssshh…” she whispered, “It’s okay, big guy. It’s okay.” Lero wrapped his trembling arms around her and Dash felt her heart ache. “I’m here, we’re all here. Ssshh. Everything’s okay. You’re safe.”

“Do not lie to him, Rainbow Dash,” said Luna. “You should know that none of us are safe right now.” She stood from her position and stalked around the table. Her gaze was met with three hostile sets of eyes. Twilight moved around and pressed herself against Lero’s side, while Rarity faced Luna directly. Lyra slowly slid around the other side, her practiced movements flowing like water, eye golden eyes focused solely on Luna. The diarch recognized a combat stance when she saw one.

“If my actions seem cruel, my friends,” said Luna, “it is only because they are out of necessity. Know that I hold you all in the highest regards.” Her voice softened. “Especially you, Sir Bellerophon.” Lero risked a glance at Luna. “You kept my sister and I safe and well-tended, years ago in our time of need. You have proven to be one of the few friends that I can count on in a crisis. And you have offered me an open ear to pour my doubts into when there was nopony else.”

The other mares relaxed a bit, but did not move from their instinctive defensive positions. Luna sat and cast her eyes downward. “So please, my friends,” she said quietly. “Please understand that I do not press you, Lero, out of spite or enmity. I take no pleasure in seeing you afraid. Especially of me. But know that I will do what I must to protect my kingdom and its ponies. Three have already been taken. And I shall not allow another to be abducted.”

Lero stiffened. “Taken?” he whispered. He glanced around and saw the truth reflected in the eyes of those around him. “Then why am I-”

“Because that same creatures that took you from the world of Earth,” said Luna solemnly, “have taken Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo.”

Lero stood straight up, his chair falling to the floor with a clatter. His eyes were wide as he backpedaled to the wall.

“No,” he whimpered. “No. No no no, not them. Please not them.” He pressed his palms to his head and dug his nails into his scalp. “They’ve found me. They’ll take me again. Please not them.”

Lero began to stagger as he hyperventilated. He could feel the blood pounding in his head as the world began spinning around him. His vision swam when something blue flew in front of his eyes.

“Lero!” yelled Rainbow Dash. Lero looked up and stared at her for a moment. In that moment Dash could see sheer, unadulterated terror grip him before his eyes rolled back into his sockets and Lero fainted. “Woah!” she moved forward and hooked her forelegs around his shoulders. Lero’s body became dead weight and was enough to drag her down with him, albeit at a slower pace. Rarity, Twilight, and Lyra quickly gathered around him, helping Rainbow Dash set him on the ground. Twilight grabbed a pillow and shoved it under his head.

“Is-Is he…?” stammered Rainbow Dash. Before anypony could rely, the human began to choke and convulse violently, throwing the pegasus caretaker off of him. His back arched and his limbs smacked the floor with harsh cracks.

“Oh goddesses!” yelled Twilight. “He’s having a seizure!”

“Hold him down!” yelled Rarity. She threw herself on top of Lero’s chest, using her own weight to try and stop the human’s thrashing. Lyra grabbed his head, twisting it to one side. As foam began to leak out of Lero’s mouth, she used psychokinesis to keep his jaws forced open so he wouldn’t choke on his own tongue or bite it off.

Twilight was panicking, her mind racing through half-remembered medical texts and first aid guides on what to do when a pony was having a seizure, hoping it could still be applied to a human. After a moment she just went with her instincts and telekinetically grabbed his limbs, forcing his arms to his sides and his legs apart. Twilight felt her breaths come out in quick and ragged pants.

Rainbow Dash found herself dancing in place. There was nothing she could do. No way she could help. She was just so weak and helpless, just a doormat laid out to be walked over by everypony. Doing nothing while the one who’d saved her, the stallion she loved was right in front of her, writhing in agony!

“LERO!!!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.

And just like that, he stilled. The convulsions, the foaming, all of it stopped. Lero was completely still.

He wasn’t even breathing.

“No,” whispered Rarity. “Oh Sisters, please no.” She clambered off the human and put an ear to his chest. “Please, Lero. Please.”

The Library was dead silent. One second. Two. Three. Four. Then...

*thump-thump*

Rarity let out the breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding. She leaned into Lero’s face.

“Lero?”

Lero’s eyes snapped open. But it wasn’t Lero that was looking back at her. Icy blue eyes set in black orbs stared at Rarity, stared right through her. The white unicorn screamed and scrambled off the creature. Like a marionette being pulled by its strings, the body heaved its torso off the floor, taking in a slow, gasping breath.

The other ponies backpedaled immediately, giving this new entity a wide berth. The thing wearing Lero’s skin turned his head to one side and popped his vertebrae, letting out a satisfied grumble.

Twilight was aghast. She and Lyra had heard the events of the field described to them but this… this was just...

Luna lowered her horn and glared at the human. “Who are you?”

The alien presence now piloting Lero’s body turned toward Luna and raised an eyebrow. “I am Bellerophon Michealides,” he introduced in a calm voice. Lero’s voice.

“Liar!” hissed Luna as she widened her stance. “Speak the truth, foul creature! Who are you?”

The presence laughed. Twilight felt a chill crawl down her spine. It was so unlike Lero’s typical good-natured laugh; a strange sound that almost had no natural right coming out of his mouth.

Rarity grit her teeth. “Now you listen here, you… you brute! You give my sweet prince back to us this instant or-or I’ll…!”

“Easy, princess,” The presence’s voice was genuinely soft and… affectionate-sounding? “It really is me.”

Rarity couldn’t help but still feel wary. The thing looking at her with those blue eyes was not the Lero she knew.

“This is just… well, a different part of me, I suppose.”

“Explain,” ordered Twilight. “Explain right now, Mr. Blue-Eyed...Lero guy!”

“Mr. Blue-Eyed Lero Guy?” The presence chuckled and shook his head. “Oh, that won’t do at all. You can all refer to me as ‘The Lost,’ if it helps to differentiate this side of my psyche from the rest of me.”

“The Lost?” said Rarity, head tilting at the sheer oddity of that moniker. “But… But what are you?! What have you done to my prince?!”

The presence — or “The Lost,” now — tapped a finger to the side of his head. “Still here,” he said. “Just ‘sleeping’, you could call it. As to what I am? Well, that’s a good deal more complicated.”

“Then you will explain,” said Luna. She telekinetically shoved a chair under the Lost, causing him to fall down into it with a “thud” before bringing him forward to the table. “We have the time.”

The Lost grinned and shrugged his shoulders. “Fair enough,” he said. “I owe my girls that much.” He turned to Spike, who was still clinging to Applejack’s side. “Spike, would you please put the kettle on?” Spike seemed a little taken aback by the request. Out of every possible thing that It could have said, “put the kettle on” didn’t rank very high on that unreasonably long list. He risked a look at Twilight, who gave a single nod of her head.

“Um, sure thing, uh… Lost,” said the young dragon. “How, uh, do you take your-”

“Just the usual, Spike,” said the Lost. “You know how I like it.”

Spike was dumbfounded. In all the comic books he’d ever read, whenever there was a case of split personality or supernatural possession, there’d inevitably be enormously different quirks between the ‘regular’ personality and the ‘trespasser.’ If one was a neat freak, the outsider was pretty much guaranteed to be more slobby. If one was a vegetarian, the other would be a carnivore.

So the fact that this Lost guy liked his tea the exact same way as the real Lero… mind-blowing! In fact, the more this… thing talked, the more he seemed like Lero. Aside from the shift in his eye color, he could have been easily fooled.

“Coming right up,” Spike said quietly and went into the kitchen.

The Lost put both of his hands on the table and laced his fingers together. He took a deep breath through the nose and exhaled through his mouth. “Right,” he said. “Where to begin?” He glanced around at the mixture of hostility and confusion staring back at him. “Well, let me start by saying this: I wasn’t lying when I said I am Bellerophon Michaelides. That much is true. If you want to get technical about it, I’m actually more Lero than the one you see everyday.”

The Lost noted several narrowed eyes glaring in his direction and quickly decided to move on. “I am the part of me — or ‘him’, if you absolutely insist on it —”

“We do,” camed a chorused reply.

The Lost raised an eyebrow before continuing. “Fine. I’m the part of him that repressed itself when he crawled out of that hell, all those years ago.”

Twilight licked her lips. “By ‘that hell,’ you mean…?”

“The world I was abducted to. The world I was stuck in before escaping here, to Equestria.”

Twilight furrowed her eyebrows. “But you’re saying you repressed… yourself?” she asked. “Like a bad memory...”

“More like a nightmare, Twi,” he said, pausing as Spike returned with his tea, prepared just the way he liked it. He drank the whole cup in a single steaming gulp. “I did it to save myself. Or he did it to save himself. Or… no wait.” The Lost put a hand to his chin. “You know, I’m not entirely sure about the syntax for all this.”

Despite herself, Twilight snorted, earning a grin from the human and an irate glare from Rarity. She coughed and quickly composed herself. “Alright then,” the purple unicorn said. “Let’s assume for a moment you’re telling the truth, Mr. Lost. My question is ‘why’? Why do it?”

The Lost’s grin faded. His blue eyes suddenly became very sad and his shoulders slumped as if under some huge weight. “When I was… back there,” he began, “being kept by those creatures, I did things, Twilight. I did things you couldn’t even imagine just to survive. And I was ordered to carry out such atrocities that I-” He stopped, closed his eyes, and took a ragged breath. “I knew that, at the time, I could focus on other things. Like how to escape. But once I did, I couldn’t- I couldn’t-”

A single tear ran down his face and all the members of Lero’s family suddenly felt bad for the poor being.

“How could I call myself a man, a human being even, after doing such unspeakable things?” The Lost clenched his fingers together, trying to find words to explain himself.

“It’s like… you know how there are always soldiers whose minds are scarred by the horrors of war, right? Suffering from shell shock and post-traumatic stress. Physically, they’ve been brought back home, safe and sound. But emotionally… mentally, even... they’ll never actually leave the battlefield. You know what I’m talking about?”

Everyone at the table nodded at him. Though there had been no wars in Celestia’s kingdom in any of their lifetimes, they had heard stories about the conflicts in foreign lands. Sometimes Equestria’s allies called upon them for help and so Guard regiments were sent overseas to aid in the fighting. Sometimes not everypony came back.

“I didn’t want that to be me,” The Lost said. “Even on the deepest levels of my subconscious, I was determined not to be that shell-shocked survivor. If I was going to escape to this new world, I wanted to escape completely: body and soul. To dwell upon memories of that hellhole, even for a minute, would be to sink into a quagmire of guilt, terror, rage, bitterness and despair… those memories would have driven me mad.”

He suddenly gave a joyless scoff. “Maybe they have? I mean, you’re all talking to essentially a split personality right now! Maybe I really did go mad!”

Before she realized it, Rainbow put a hoof on his hand. The Lost stiffened at the unexpected contact, but relaxed when he looked into the pegasus’ eyes. There was pity there and remorse. “Thank you,” he mouthed and gave her a small smile. Rainbow smiled back.

“So,” the Lost continued, “Lero put all it away. Out of sight and out of mind. Literally. For the longest while, Lero had no memory of being kept by Her. As far as he was concerned, one day he woke up on planet Earth, went out for a walk, and somehow ended up here, in Equestria.”

“...Her?” said Rarity.

“The one that kept me,” said the Lost. “She took me and… forgive me, but I’d rather not say, princess. Regardless, that is what I am: the part of Lero that remembers living in Her world.”

“So, y’all are… wait what?” said Applejack. “Are ya like one a them ‘skipso friends’?”

“Schizophrenics, AJ,” corrected Twilight.

The Lost shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe,” he admitted. “Maybe I’m something else entirely.”

“But Lero doesn’t know,” said Lyra, finally speaking. “He has no clue you’re there. At least not entirely.”

“What are you talking about, songbird?” asked Rarity.

“He may not know about you, Lost,” said Lyra, “or remember anything that happened to him in that other world, but he knows enough to be afraid.”

The Lost nodded his head. “In spite of my best efforts, some things are just too powerful to stay buried,” he said. “Every now and then, something will remind Lero of his time back there and that fear will come and rear its ugly head.”

Something clicked in Twilight’s head. “Celestia…” she whispered. “Her mane! Whenever you — I mean, Lero — sees Celestia’s mane, he always becomes so afraid…”

Rarity became very still and her eyes glazed over. A scene played out before her from many years ago.

The tall, regal form of Princess Celestia stepped into the room, her pastel-hued mane wafting on a ghostly, ethereal breeze. The winged unicorn was just as tall as Rarity remembered, looming even over Lero's considerable standing height. The human, tall though he was, came up perhaps to the Princess’s chin, though Rarity had never felt that Celestia's presence was particularly overwhelming. She gave the three occupants of the room a kind smile, her light purple eyes gentle. “Ah, good evening, all of you. I understand that the three of you have been put to considerable inconvenience, and I wanted to apologize personally for it.” She gave Lero a sad smile. “Especially to you, Lero. Twilight Sparkle told me that I'd frightened you far more than I intended to, and I am deeply sorry for that.”

“It's quite all right, Lady. I completely understand.” The human's tone was calm, even, and his gaze at the Princess was level and unflinching. Outwardly, he appeared utterly unruffled.

Rarity knew it was a lie. She'd felt his skin chill, actually chill, when Celestia had entered the room. His back, under her sensitive hooves, had actually dropped in temperature, something she'd never known the human to do before. She could also feel tiny, tiny tremors in his body, both against her side, and his leg under her forehoof was so tense that it shivered. He was terrified, and she regarded him with a certain horrified admiration while a chill coiled in her gut. She'd had no idea he could be this brave; the only time she'd been even close to that scared she'd been curled up in a ball on the ground. Lero, by contrast, was speaking so normally that there was almost no indication as to the degree of fear he was feeling, so intense that Rarity doubted he could move. She felt fear begin to grip her; the human's terror was so intense that it was communicating itself to his lover. Rarity was utterly baffled; she had trouble imagining him acting this way, and the example was right there next to her! It was like she was in some strange, horrible dream, where the rules of reality no longer applied.

She shared an unsettled look with Twilight, and saw the same realization on the other unicorn's face.

“The Lady,” she whispered. The Lost’s eyes suddenly went wide and he stared at her. “That is who Celestia reminds you of. The Lady.”

The Lost narrowed his eyes. The look that came over Lero’s face grew especially alien, especially un-Leroish, and Rarity felt herself become very afraid.

“Never. Speak. That. Name.” he warned. “It only attracts her attention.”

Rarity squeaked and nodded her head. The Lost suddenly blinked his eyes, concern quickly etching itself on his face. “Rarity, I-” he tried to reach out but the white unicorn only scooted away. The human cast his eyes downward. “Forgive me. That was uncalled for, Rarity. I-”

“What can you tell us about the copies? The impostor fillies?” said Luna. The change in subject was a welcome one and tension in the room eased somewhat.

“Yeah!” Pinkie Pie spoke up. “Tell us about them phonies that were passin’ themselves off as our sisters!”

The Lost spared one last apologetic glance back at Rarity, then turned to address the table as a whole. “‘Doppelgänger’ is the name that a certain culture back on Earth had for those two,” he said, “some others would’ve called them ‘changelings’.”

“Changelings?!” Twilight gasped. “Are you saying Queen Chrysalis has a hoof in this?!” The very mention of the insectoid parasites brought up many poor memories for the group, and they shifted anxiously in their seats.

“They’re not like Chrysalis’ brood, no,” said the Lost. “It could be argued that these things are worse.”

Twilight gaped at that. How could these things be possibly worse than those monsters? She had had nightmares of buzzing wings, shape shifting monsters, and foul temptresses stealing her herd for months after Shining Armor’s wedding, and she doubted her friends had fared much better than her. Those creatures had managed to take over all of Canterlot in only an hour, incapacitated the entire royal guard, and their queen had even bested Celestia in one-on-one combat!

But then Twilight remembered the descriptions of what happened to Diamond Tiara and the looks on the faces of the families affected by it. And suddenly the changelings didn’t seem so bad compared to the sheer brutality of that day.

“In… in the hellhole-world I escaped from, they are called ‘fetches’,” continued the Lost. “When the natives of that world intend to kidnap someone, they’ll often leave a fetch to replace whoever it is they take.”

Pinkie raised a hoof, as though she were a student in class. “D’ya think they left a fetch of yew when they stole you from that human-world yew came from?”

The Lost paused. “You know… I never thought about it before. But on reflection, it’s very likely they did.” Then he pressed on before contemplations about his-fetch-self-on-Earth could derail his current train of thought.

“Fetches are really just scraps of junk. They’re made of bits of twine and sticks, or cloth, and a few other things. But then some kinda of dark magic is cast on them: magic that changes them into copies of a real person. Memories, mannerisms, heck even their biology will look the same! I’ve heard of fetches that were so well-crafted, even they didn’t realize that they are fakes and proceeded to live out the original kidnapped victim’s life as if nothing happened. A perfect replacement. But once they’re dead and the magic is broken, fetches turn back into sticks and twine and whatever-else they were cobbled from.”

“That explains why the coroner was so confused,” said Lyra. “Apple Bloom’s body suddenly reverted right in front of him. But these things, these fetches that looked like the girls, they were all wrong. They acted like, like ponies without souls. And their behavior was nothing whatsoever like the girls’.”

The Lost nodded his head. “Poorly-crafted fetches can be like that,” he explained. “They can turn mad or violent, becoming sociopaths. Some badly-made fetches just last a few days then die on their own, and to others, it’ll look like an accident or suicide. They usually revert back to their base forms after a few days, sometimes weeks.”

“Well then, all things considered, Apple Bloom’s fetch must’ve been an especially slipshod job,” Spike piped up. “I mean, it turned back to junk after just a couple hours after its death!”

The Lost shrugged. “Maybe this is the first time one of them tried making pony-fetches and they just messed up. Or maybe…” The Lost stopped. ‘Or maybe the fetches couldn’t handle Discord’s bewitchment. The fake memories were at odds with reality.’

“Or maybe what?” asked Spike.

The Lost shook his head. “Never mind. The point is that if the girls were replaced, then it means that they were taken back to the kidnappers’ home world, just as I was.”

“So, ma sister,” breathed Pinkie Pie, “she… she’s alive?”

The Lost looked at her. Pinkie and Applejack were both sharing that same hopeful expression. He wanted to lie. God, he wanted to lie so badly. Just tell them that their sisters were dead and gone and spare them both the horrible truth of the matter. Just let them remember their sisters as who they were, just a bunch of cheerful fillies trying to get their cutie marks. But…

“Maybe,” he said. “There is a very good chance that all three of them are still alive.”

A moment of silence held sway over the library. Both Pinkie and Applejack looked at each other.

“Alive,” whispered Pinkie Pie. “Ma sister’s still alive.”

“Mine too,” said Applejack with the ghost of a smile.

“Scootaloo,” spoke Rarity, bringing a pale hoof to her mouth. “Hang in there, you brave little filly.”

Twilight spoke up, “So where are they then? How do we find out?”

The Lost looked up to Luna. “Where are the other two fetches?”

“Here,” said Luna. “We had them shackled in irons in the basement.”

“In iron?” Luna nodded. The Lost nodded back at her and stood up. “I will see if I can get some answers from them,” he announced, turning to the rest of the group. “In the meantime, I want you all to go to Sugarcube Corner and wait for me there.”

“Wait?!” said Twilight. She reared up and tried to get the Lost to sit back in his seat. “We can’t just wait! I still have so many questions! Who are these beings? What do they want? Why are they here?! What are they even called?!”

The human simply gripped her forehooves in his large hands, fixing her with his icy blue eyes. “They… they are called…” He turned away for a moment, composing himself. When he looked back at Twilight, the scholar couldn’t see Lero anymore; just an alien presence that bored its gaze into her soul.

“They are called The Fae, Twilight,” he said in a low voice. “They are beyond anything any of you have ever faced or even imagined. Not even in your darkest nightmares. They are beyond all reasoning, all understanding, and all morality. They’re your oldest and greatest fears made flesh. And you all should be very, very afraid.”

Twilight dropped back down to all fours and for a moment, she was afraid. They all were. The grown mares suddenly felt like little fillies again, and Spike felt like a true baby again, listening to their parents and grandparents telling them stories of monsters in the woods. Not of timberwolves or manticores or anything like that. The other kind of monsters. The ones that would come for them if they were bad little fillies. Things with too many teeth that would sneak into their rooms or out from under their beds. Suddenly, every shadow in the room could hold a shape in it again, a glowing pair of eyes that would watch them as they slept, waiting to gobble them up like tasty little treats.

For a brief moment, they all remembered to be afraid of the dark again.

“My guards shall escort you all to Sugarcube Corner,” said Luna, and the spell was suddenly broken. They all traded glances and one by one, left the library, leaving Luna and the Lost alone.

“What do you intend to do, Lost?” asked the dark alicorn.

The Lost looked back at her. “I’m going to ask those two things some questions. Odds are in our favor that they know enough about what they really are that they’ll have some useful information.” He began to walk towards the basement door.

“And if they don’t?”

The Lost paused. “You put up a silencing spell around the library, didn’t you, Princess?”

Luna knew where this was going. “Aye, We did.”

“Put one up on the basement too, if you’d please.” He opened the door. The faint sound of clattering chains came up from the basement. “I may be quite loud when I ask them.” He closed the door behind them. A moment later, Luna’s horn glowed and the door shimmered with a silencing spell.

Luna left the library and did not turn back.

Author's Notes:

Well things are getting into gear for our group, aren't they? There were a few references in this chapter. Can you spot them?

Special thanks go to Anonpony DASHIE for permission to use the quote scene from the original story. And of course to Mike Teavee for editing and helping to set up the TvTropes page. Go find it here.

Be sure to leave a comment! What you liked, didn't like, want to see more of in the future. They help me improve my writing and add fuel to my fire.

Stay tuned for more!