"Temporal lock?"

Applejack continued to scratch her head as she and the others looked back to Princess Luna with confusion and disbelief. I was mullion on the thought of him going through such a circumstance. I was also angry beyond reason at Chrysalis, who would go so far.

"Ah'm not so certain what's goin on with this... temple lock." Applejack reinforced.

"Temporal lock" Princess Luna corrected. "The temporal lobe is the portion of the brain that processes sensory input, obtaining a variety of signals that pertains to visual memory, language comprehension, as well as emotional association. When using spells that alternate one's brain pattern, they usually target this area in particular. And in the case of many changeling victims who continue to be manipulated, they become aggressive in their reasoning and may even resort to ultimatums. For those of the higher ranks, they can alter the memories and sever certain connections that would retain the memories of certain individuals. This is used as a long-term solution to permanently replace someone from their memory."

"That's terrifying to hear in detail." Fluttershy said quietly. "I can't imagine someone going through my head and removing the memories I have of one of my friends."

"To think that she'd go so far as to keep her intentions secret. What's she planning?" Shining questioned.

"Whatever it is, she must be doing everything she can to keep us out of it." Called out a voice that resembled Pinkie's. By the time I turned around, Rarity had already confronted her.

"Pinkie, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be resting?"

Rarity's not wrong. Just by appearance, she doesn't look like much of herself. Her mane was partially deflated, her hair wilder than usual. The bags under her eyes indicated a lack of sleep, and the way she walked indicated that she was still suffering from her abdominal cramps. Yet she was here speaking with the rest of us, even appearing angrier than the rest of us. "Resting? Not when my special somepony's been bumping funnies with a changeling and Non-non getting picked on by that ugly bug-queen. I don't think rest is what I'll be doing any time soon."

"Are you sure you feel okay?" Rainbow asked.

Pinkie tried to smile as she answered her. "What's a little ache and pain compared to hearing somepony you know screaming bloody martini throughout the halls? I say we find Zecora, to make sure that she's safe, and then show Chrysalis the way out."

"Now that Ah can agree to." Applejack said with an emphatic hoof slam.

"Hear-hear!" Rarity cosigned.

"I would feel awfully bad if we were to let something happen to her." Fluttershy added. "We need to make sure she's okay."

"If Zecora is with them, we'll take her back!" Rainbow announced passionately.

I guess that settles it. We're all in this together, united by the desire to protect our friends. We've known Zecora for years and have grown close to her as not just a mentor and doctor, but as one of our closest friends. She's helped us in times of need when we needed her guidance and have shown us the way when our time grew dark. We already have Nondis under our protection, we must do the same for Zecora.

A strong surge of magic flowed from the bottom of my hooves to the tip of my horn. Even the hairs on my head seemed to grow sensitive to the powerful wave washing over me. But it wasn't just me who felt it, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity all felt it, and we all felt it within one another. Our powers were amplified as we stood in place. The six of us knew what this meant.

"Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, I would like for the two of you to remain here while we search for Zecora. The two of you will be the last line of defense between Nondis and Chrysalis. We need to keep them apart for the entire day, up until sometime tonight so that this lock-out spell wears off." I requested of the two elder princesses.

Celestia nodded with compliance. "We will keep an eye on him and notify you should his condition become worse or improves."

"Yeah! I wanna wring my hooves around that ugly bitch's neck once I see her!" Rainbow said rowdily, taking to the air. Unfortunately, her vulgarity was met with harsh criticism by Applejack.

"Rainbow, we're going after Zecora first. Remember what we're setting out for." Fluttershy corrected.

"Fine, whatever." Knowing her, she was just ready to go out there and fight until she dropped. There are times she can be overeager, but I wasn't seeing anything that would put us at risk. In fact, this level of aggression could be useful to have in many situations. "I'm fired up, and I wanna know if these stupid changelings have her. If they so much as lay a hoof on her, they are going to wish they were dead."

"I don't like what she did either, but I'm not going to express myself until I know that Zecora is fine." Fluttershy said, also taking to the air to join with the rainbow-maned pegasus.

"Is everypony ready?" Cadance questioned to the six of us.

The majority of us nodded with approval, while Rainbow was quick to stop herself and ask. "Hey, don't Nondis and his friends usually take longer to prepare for stuff like this?"

"Their preparation is vastly different from ours. We'll be taking only ourselves." I answered, knowing that we weren't going through any bins and boxes for any reason.

"Twilight, I'm counting on you." Celestia said, wishing us well.

Before we all started to set out, I walked over to my brother and spoke with him. "Shining, I need you to stay here. You're going to be the first thing Chrysalis sees when she decides to make an entrance."

"Twily─"

I know what he wanted to ask. I could already see the disappointment growing on his face as I spoke. "I know, you've been working really hard at mastering their weaponry. But I don't think the girls are quite prepared to see that just yet."

"Then let me─"

"Stay here. Please?" I begged quietly, not wanting him to leave Nondis alone.

"I don't like you going alone."

"I've got five others to tag along." I argued, looking back to the others who waited for me to join them.

It took him a moment before he finally took a deep breath, rolled his eyes, and accepted defeat. "Be careful out there, kiddo." He said, giving me a hug, followed by a quick noogie.

"Hey, you just make sure I don't come back having to save your rump for a fourth time." I said as I tapped my hoof against his nose.

"Tirek doesn't count." He answered with a scrunch.

No matter how many times he'll never admit it, it still counts. But I was always willing to let that one slide. "Fine, a third."

Cadance walked beside him and magically held him by his ear. "Don't worry Twilight, I've got him on a short leash."

I gave Cadance one final hug before I too my leave, the two of us exchanging words as we embraced. "You stay safe."

"I should be saying that to you, miss Element of Magic. Now go on, leave the boring things to us."

Our embrace was severed as I joined with my friends. The six of us looked to each other and confirmed that we were all set to go. While we were walking away, I could hear Cadance and Shining going back and forth behind me.

"When Chrysalis shows, I'll be sure to show her a surprise worth her time."

"You're keeping your grubby hooves off that stuff, mister. No human weaponry practice for you."

"Aww... Cadie─"

"NO!"

"...Dammit."

A few moments later, we managed to traverse into the hollow shading of the Everfree Forest boarder. The six of us, who were lively and loud on the way here, were silent as we took into consideration that we were essentially stepping into enemy territory. Even though we weren't even fifty yards in, we still had to keep our voices low to accommodate our stealthy approach. Our conversation was significantly softer, our eyes and ears all the more attentive. Rainbow continued to fly, though she lowered her elevation to about a mere six feet above us. As she gazed ahead, she looked back to Pinkie, who was still wincing as she walked.

"I don't suppose we should be cautious of any lingering spore clouds, should we?" The rainbow-maned pony questioned.

"No, I'm sure that the stuff Pinkie came across has settled down by now." Rarity answered back, though cautiously placing her hoof over her muzzle for good measure.

"But shouldn't we be on the lookout should they use it as some sort of weapon?" Fluttershy suggested, causing us to pause for a quick moment.

"You know, you have a point." I said as I began to mull over the possibilities of them using it as a weapon. Even though it would take them a long time to accumulate the volume of Drakeseed plants to produce the spores at such a level, I figured that it would be best to be prepared in the event of there being such an outburst. I lit my horn with my magic, closing my eyes as I started to cast myself a spell that would protect me and all of my friends. A bright light flashed from just above my eyes as a magenta dome covered the area surrounding me and my friends. The magic continued to glow from within my horn, giving live to the orb we were shielded within.

"A bubble of silence?" Rainbow questioned.

"Also reinforced with a clear-air spell. That means as long as we stay in this bubble, we should be safe from any sudden spore attacks." I stated, proudly holding my head up high as a means to channel the spell directly above my position. As long as I moved, it would move with me, until there was any interruption that would cause me to release my spell.

Applejack lightly tapped the outer edge of the barrier with her hoof, trying to be careful as to not burst the bubble. "With this, we can creep up on those varmints possibly holdin' onto Zecora."

"Bingo." I confirmed.

"But where would they hide her? Don't tell me we gotta go all the way to the ruins to find her." Rarity said with worry.

"I think our best bet is to check back at her hut. If she's there, we should be able to quietly get her out of here." I suggested, allowing for Rarity to take the lead as I held the center of the formation.

"Can't hurt to look in the most sensible of places, after all." The fashionista said with a upbeat tone.

"I just hope that she's safe." Fluttershy reaffirmed.

Pinkie proceeded to voice her optimism. "Zecora's tough. She was just about to put away a changeling when I showed up just two days ago. No way she'd let them do anything to her."

"I sure hope you're right, Miss Pie." Rarity said as she marched forward.

I hope she's right as well. I don't see Zecora letting herself become a victim to something like a few changelings. "Very well then, to Zecora's hut we go."

As we marched on, Rainbow looked back to see if anything had moved behind us. As she double-checked to see if we were being followed, she turned her attention back to the group and traveled along with us. Meanwhile, a sleeping manticore sitting in a tree opened one of it's eyes to see the group of six ponies disappear into the verdant shadows beyond the path. It chuckled as it transformed into a female changeling with a short-cut mane. "So he sent them to find her? Figures that the creature would pull something like this to gain a preemptive advantage. Guess the queen was right about her having a use for us."

Pupa leapt from the branch and onto the ground. She turned around and made her way in the opposing direction, making her way into the town as she mumbled to herself.

"Too bad they're in for a surprise. Guess they'll have to take whatever we give them. On to the next phase, I guess."

Meanwhile, At the Castle...

Shining Armor paced back and forth from one side of the foyer to the other as he started to grow impatient. For the past hour, he was placed to guard the main entrance should Chrysalis make an appearance. As of the moment, he was only amused by just how many tiles he could count on the floor before getting bored. And his restriction on toying with the human weaponry was eating away at him on the inside. And he wasn't too much in a hurry to wear out the little battery he had left on the phone he was given. If anything, the red bar and blinking icon made him panic every time he'd turn it on. So he'd keep it off to make sure that it didn't die on him.

Fortunately for him, there was the welcome sight of one of his guards bursting through the front door, seeming as if he had some urgent news. "Your highness!"

Shining perked up and stood tall as the armor-clad stallion saluted him. "Yes, what is it?"

"Sir prince, a changeling has been sighted at the center of the town. It keeps preaching about how Equestria will fall to the changeling queen. He even foretold an invasion that would take place sometime noon tomorrow."

Though he was happy that his mundane shift was interrupted by some excitement, he wasn't too fond of the reason. The alabaster prince rubbed his chin as he thought aloud. "Warning us over a threat to Ponyville? That is a bit confusing."

"Your orders?" The guard questioned with a bow.

"Have them detained and sent to Canterlot for interrogation. We're not letting them get the better of us."

"You wish not to interrogate them personally?" The guard inquired.

Shining didn't want to simply tell his exact reason for being here. If this was to be an informant, then telling them so much information would prove to be a complete compromise of their security. He elected to remain silent on the matter. "No. If they are attacking tomorrow, then it's best that we'd shore our defenses now should they catch us by surprise at midnight. My post shall remain here at the castle."

"Your highness!" The guard cried with a final salute before taking off into town once more, leaving the prince back to his boredom. Fortunately for him, the encounter grabbed more than just his attention.

"Interesting choice." Cadance said from atop of the stairwell.

"He's not one of them. If that was Chrysalis, she'd be pressuring me for questions." Shining stated with confidence,

"About why you wouldn't personally investigate their reason for being here?" Cadance concluded.

"If they know why we're here, they'd try to pull something to allow them a chance to strike." Shining surmised. "You know how Chrysalis is a fiend for the spectacular. I'm not going to give her that chance."

Cadance giggled as she hopped over the railing and glided down to her husband, giving him a quick nuzzle for a job well done. "And you're not giving them that opening."

"Exactly."

The pink princess planted her lips against the stallion's briefly as she praised him. "Hmph! And these annoying senators say our military is completely inept from top to bottom."

"I gotta do whatever it takes to make our boys look good."

Cadance rolled her eyes at her husband as she realized that he was getting cocky again. "Including getting saved by your younger sister?"

"Who also happens to be a legacy-class magic user?" He argued.

"Still, your younger sister?" She answered, goading him on to simply admit his defeat. Shining realized that Cadance wouldn't ever let him live it down. Eventually the debate would go into how many times he was saved by her, and it would end just as quickly as it did earlier. He immediately conceded defeat.

"...Yeah, that's still pretty bad."

Back in the Everfree Forest...

After a few more minutes of trekking through the forest, we only managed to run into a few changelings. But for some odd reason, the ones we were running into were all plotting some sort of escape from somewhere. Upon capturing a few, we found out that they were being detained for some odd reason. As to the reason why, they didn't say. But they did manage to tell us something about how they wanted to escape the queen. Upon further investigation, we surmised that they were genuine in their desire to defect from the hive.

Just what in Equestria is going on with these changelings?

They tried to get me to grant them asylum, but I knew that Celestia would probably have them questioned on their loyalties first. And being that there were far too many ponies who didn't take too kindly to a changeling presence, I couldn't do much but point them in a different direction. I did, however, question them on Zecora's whereabouts.

Unfortunately, they were just as clueless as we were. But they did mention a small holding camp being located further down the road. Something about a feeding hut that their captors used to strengthen their forces. Much to the irony, Zecora's hut was further on down the road as well. I took it as mere coincidence, but Pinkie took it as a suggestion that we should hurry to the hut if we wanted to check on Zecora's whereabouts.

Eventually, we approached the hut that our friend called home. As we looked around the place, there were signs of broken vials, bottles, spilled liquids and fallen masks. A few crudely-made spears were lying next to the entrance, all of which seemed to be unused or not properly assembled. Now it's definitely obvious that this place was ransacked. I walked up to the door and whispered softly. "Zecora?"

At first, I pressed against the door to see if it was open, as many situations like this would normally leave doors unlocked or ajar. But as I peeked inside of one of the cracks in the rickety door, there was nothing but darkness filling the room. Not even the cauldron glowed from the otherworldly concoctions brewing in the center of the room, which mostly ended up being brighter than the flames that boiled it. I pressed my ear against the door, hoping to listen in and see if there was anyone inside. Silence. Finally, I knocked on the door, knowing that this would probably be the highest risk to our objective. Still, nothing showed.

"It doesn't appear that anypony's home, I'm afraid." I murmured with uncertainty.

"Yikes! This place looks like a mess." Rarity whispered as she kicked over a broken bottle.

Meanwhile, Pinkie walked around to a back portion of the hut and climbed to one of the windows that peered into the back area, covered by mostly shadow. "Pinkie, get down from there!" Applejack called out quietly, still trying to vouch for a bit of modesty. "It's rude to look inside of one's personal spaces!"

"Well she's feeling better." Rainbow joked as Pinkie jumped back down. She looked to Rainbow Dash with a wide-eyed stare, seemingly out of place for her.

"Girls, I think we might wanna break the door down." She said in a hurry, trotting to the best of her abilities.

"Why?" Fluttershy questioned.

"There's a changeling doing some really naughty things to Zecora." She plainly explained as she kicked her hoof into the ground, readying herself to charge in.

I was just short of breath as she said that, my magic spurring to life without me even thinking about it. I pointed my horn to the door as I let my newfound anger direct my magic into the wooden door. I'm sure that we have enough money in the Equestrian National Budget to cover the cost of one measly door. "Well this will only take a second..."

In a single blast, I bashed the door off it's hinges and charged inside, tackling who or whatever stood in my way. "Who goes ther-AUGH!"

After I shoved off the body that halted my progress, I let my magic illuminate the entire room, revealing a sizable gathering of changelings. Many of them hissed at me as I screamed to my friends behind me. "Three more to our left!"

Rainbow came swooping in from behind me to dive-kick one, she quickly spun around and punched the other two unconscious as she called out to the door. "Two on right!"

Rarity and Applejack came charging in, hopping on the two that barreled for me. Applejack gave one of the changelings a punch before she grabbed it's head with her hooves and slammed it into the ground. By that point, the changeling just jolted a bit from the shock, but remained disabled. Rarity was far less personal on her approach, she tripped the changeling as it tried to run past her. It ended up turning back to her with anger before bearing it's fangs. Her response was a well-timed magic blast to the face that immediately knocked it unconscious.

The one that crouched over Zecora continued to hiss at us until Pinkie ran in from outside, grabbing one of the spears from outside. Immediately, she threatened to run him through, causing the changeling to back away. But as the tip fell off, the changeling grew confident in his chances and charged for her. Pinkie simply responded by giving him a simple whack to the side of the head, sending him to the ground as he wiggled in immense pain.

Fluttershy walked into the door and turned to her right, quickly ducking cover as a final changeling simply flew over her and running into a nearby wall, causing a shelf filled with huge books to fall onto it's head. For a brief moment, it shook from the impact, but seemingly grew stiff as a board when it's body fell over. That seemed to be all of them.

Pinkie walked over to the one she hit in the head and raised herself onto her hind legs, stomping on his head. He stopped all movement as she called out to the rest of us. "Clear!"

I ran right past her, calling out to the accosted zebra. "Zecora, are you alright?"

I pulled on her, causing her to roll over and finally face me. She seemed shaken for the most part, but she was responsive. Her voice sounded immensely weakened as she spoke. "Ngh...sorry...that I've been...so weak. But...it is Nondis...now whom I seek. The queen...she seeks...to take him away. She aims...to complete her task...by the end of the day."

"Well that seems like a good idea." Rainbow said sarcastically.

I was simply relieved to see that she was alive, but I felt shame in knowing that they had done something to her. Even looking at her I could tell that they did whatever they wanted to her. And it showed in her face, she wasn't very open on anyone touching her, but she wasn't rejecting us either. There was a bit of confusion, hesitation, uncertainty that she had about her. Each time she looked at one of us, she'd promptly glance away while instinctively trying to cover herself. That much could be understood, given her condition.

Still... her response had me thinking of something else at the same time. She confirmed that Chrysalis was going for Nondis, and that she would try to have it done by sunset. But a changeling called us out to stop her, and there are more changelings somewhere in the forest trying to escape from her. For what purpose, I'm not certain, but I do know that they're against being detained by Chrysalis as opposed to being detained by us Equestrians. Even then, there's a bit of chaos going on with the changeling chain of command. Something's going down, something huge that we're not fully aware of. And right now, it's starting to show.

I just wish I had the time to crack it. But right now, our focus is on the zebra before me.

"Twilight... I know this is going to sound absolutely preposterous, but I couldn't help but to look at her mane."

Applejack stared back at the fashionista with a deadpan glance. "Rarity, we know, it's messy. Don'cha think we should be worried about her well-being over her mane?"

"No, she's onto something." Fluttershy said as she flew over to carefully investigate the mare's appearance. "The second black strip of her mane, it should have two slits as opposed to three."

I continued to look at the zebra's mane, realizing that their words rang true. Yet I didn't exactly see how it would prove to be something that would indicate a botched attempt of recreating Zecora's image. There had to be more evidence to support it. I looked at the rings on her neck and counted them... two too many. Still a trivial thing to look at, but Zecora was always one to explain that she was comfortable with the rings she wore, not too many where it would restrict movement of the neck or too few where she'd become so loose.

Pinkie was the one to point out the defining feature that indicated the realization of my worst fear. "And the spiral on her flank, it should be running clockwise. Also there should be eleven triangles surrounding it, not twelve."

They still got her. They got Zecora.

"No! This cannot be! I can assure you that I am me! Whatever─"

And the sudden change in her voice, where it seemed so fatigued had become far too lively for it to naturally fluctuate between tiresome stress and panic. I proceeded to piece it all together. "First, you appear to be abused by some random changeling, then you make it look convincing as you're hidden in a dark corner, concealing your flaws. Then to top it all off, you mimic her speaking patterns to sound as convincing as possible."

"But I─"

There were times in my life where I found myself losing control of my emotions, when my magic acted long before I had a chance to think about what I was doing, where it reacted out of instinct instead of rational thought. This was one of those times.

"ENOUGH!" I gritted my teeth as I flicked my head upwards, levitating the the faux zebra into the air. Somewhere inside of me, I wanted to see this creature suffer, and my body acted on that instinctive rage. I dropped my head, slamming the impostor's body side-first into the ground with all the force I could muster. The stripes that once covered it's body had disappeared, revealing the true form of the changeling. He squirmed painfully as I approached him. "Now you're going to tell me where Zecora is. I don't want any lies, no false leads, nothing. Now spill."

The changeling drone squirmed as he was in pain, but tried to laugh with his response. "I will not be intimidated by the likes of a fool. Though, our hive shall continue to give you our thanks for our release."

I raised his body and slammed it into the ground once more as my rage started to take over. "I'm not playing games with you."

Again, he responded with the usual snark. "Twenty-one questions seems appropriate. Maybe if you ask nicely, I could tell you where she is."

My magic whirred as I was just about to thoroughly have him acquainted with the floor, possibly intimate with it. But I found myself interrupted by a hoof politely tapping me in the horn. "Twilight, we're not getting anywhere with this one." Applejack said quietly, calmly nudging me out of the way as she looked down to the changeling. One side of his face was beginning to stain red from the small pool of blood he accumulated from his blow. He looked at me and spat at my hoof, a tooth flying into my foreleg.

I turned to the farm mare and politely dropped my aggression. "Applejack, do you mind?" Because I am about a second away from killing him myself. And taking any form of life was something that weighed heavily on my conscience. I'm more afraid that this would probably be the first instance of my taking a life without a second thought. At least with her, he'd still have a chance at living... not that it's something that he'd want.

"No, princess. Ah don't, not when one of our friends' life is on the line." She responded, causing the others to walk outside. Rainbow tsked as she shook her head. Fluttershy's ears fell as she walked out. Rarity cringed as she followed. Pinkie and I were the last to walk out as Applejack continued to stand over the changeling.

I looked to the ground and levitated the damaged door back into place, at least providing us with a barrier of sorts so that we wouldn't hear too much of what would happen in the next few minutes. "We'll be waiting outside, try not to be too harsh." I requested, knowing that the next few minutes would be filled with screams that would be most jarring.

"Given our precarious situation, Ah'd say that we're offered little choice. After all, what would poor little Apple Bloom think of me if Ah let Zecora go?" I understand that interrogation was a last-resort when it came to getting information from an unwilling captive, but Applejack wasn't as hesitant as I was. She was... unique. If there was something that interfered with her personal connections or her values, she wouldn't think on it as much as I would. She's very true to herself, and if she's angry about something... she was going to express it. If she didn't like what you were doing, then she'd be very adamant in her efforts to coerce you to do otherwise.

Much like Pinkamena, it was very rare for Jacqueline to show herself. "Don't waste too much time."

"Ah'll be quick." She said, her voice getting deeper as she waited for the door to close behind her. As the broken door was set into place, the farmpony continued to look down at the changeling with a lifeless expression. "Now, what am I to do with you?"

The changeling's eyes dilated as the mare spoke her sentence. He quickly stumbled to his hooves and tried to make for a nearby window, only for him to feel a pair of hooves pull at his wing. He turned back to see an orange hoof surge into his cheek. His head jerked back as he scampered up from his blow and try to get away from her. His effort would be futile as he felt a leg sweep him off of his hooves. He made an attempt to roll towards the door, only to be leapt over and bucked into a nearby wall. Panicking, he limped towards a nearby bed to hide under. His attempt of avoiding her ended with him being tripped from his left hind leg, pulled into the center of the floor and kicked in his chest. He screamed in pain as he tried to find some way to leave her.

"Come now, I don't like being too forceful. But since you've pushed me this far, and being that there's several vines I could use in place of my old rope, I'd think you might wanna come clean."

He squirmed a bit, trying to get back on his hooves. He was promptly denied that privilege when she gave him a swift kick to the face. He felt himself become numb for a second before he phased back to the present, finding that he was being petted like he was her dog. She looked down on him as he shook with fear. "No more... please." He begged.

"I'm sorry, Jackie doesn't do plea-bargaining. Would you still like to try a confession?" She asked as she flipped him over and planted her hoof on his chest, pressing down on his rib cage.

"Didn't...you...have an accent?" He strained as she proceeded to place all of her weight on her hoof.

"Sugarcube... violence is a language of the primitive and indignant mind. There is no such thing as a language barrier, as it is a universal concept understood by all creatures, sentient or otherwise. Therefore, it doesn't require an accent. So I don't need to translate anything to you as long as I speak a language that we can all agree on. Now you can play deaf however long you'd like, but I don't tend to be ignored for very long. Perhaps I need to increase my vocabulary, speak a little more eloquently, whatever it takes to get you to understand."

He tapped his hoof against the ground as she started to shift herself, planting her other hoof on his chest. He squirmed as he closed his eyes and whispered to himself. "Forgive me...my queen. I wish...to...live."

Applejack tilted her head as she continued to apply her weight on him. "Okay...Guess there's a B-side to this conversation after all."

Meanwhile, at the castle...

"And... sent."

Shining nervously stared at the screen of the phone as he watched his message go through to the intended recipient. His eyes roamed back and forth from the blinking battery icon to the main display. He perpetually looked between the both of them, hoping that the message was sent before the phone died.

As he watched the screen reflect the message's status, he felt himself become a bit uneasy of what was to come next.

"What are you doing?" His wife called out to him from the balcony above him.

"Nothing!" He answered, jumbling the phone before stabilizing his magic to where he could put the phone away. Cadance flew down to him and grabbed it before he could dismiss the device.

"I thought you were supposed to be looking out for intruders." Cadance chided, looking on the screen to find out what her husband was doing in his spare time.

"Well it's easy to look out for something that hasn't showed up yet." Shining rebutted as he took back the phone and placed it back into his saddle bag. She looked at the stallion with distrust, appearing stern as he smiled nervously.

His fortune would turn sweet as he became distracted by the sounds of hooves clopping from the staircase. He looked up to see Celestia making her way down from her post. Shining found relief from his wife's glare as he questioned her.

"Princess Celestia, has his condition improved?"

"It appears so. He's regained the full functionality and strength of his arms, though he complains that it still feels a bit uncomfortable in his legs. In his own words: 'It feels like a million ants crawling in my skin as I move. A bit annoying but I'll get through this... vulgarity.' Of course he said another word at the end, though I find myself sounding ridiculous when I say it."

Shining and Cadance looked to one another with bemusement as they tried to identify what it was that made Celestia act so awkwardly."Shit?" Cadance concluded.

"That one." The solar princesses confirmed, pointing back to the pink princess. Cadance chuckled as she teased the elder royal.

"Wow, Auntie Luna was right, you are shy of doing and saying bad things."

Celestia giggled as she accepted the younger royal's banter. "I remember a time where my frequent usage was often criticized..." Her laughter grew silent, and in place of her smile was a seemingly depressed frown. "...And my bring-it-on attitude ended up sealing the fate of many." She turned to the pink princess and spoke with a regal demeanor. "In due time, you too will see that such things are of significant consequence."

The younger princess shook her head, rejecting her words. "Auntie, c'mon. This is completely different from way back when. Auntie Luna even embraced the modern world and is just as carefree when she's outside of the public view."

Celestia looked to the top of the stairs, her eyes locked on the hall where Luna was stationed within. "And I'm proud of her for being just that. I want my sister to be free of the things that held me down throughout most of my life. And if I have to be the one to live the stressful existence to give her that, I will."

Cadance walked up to the elder princess, placing a hoof on her back. "I'm beginning to worry about you. Don't you feel that you deserve the same opportunities?"

"I do, but I have been acting for so long that the character I play has inevitably become the real me..." She paused for a moment to correct herself. "Forgive me for my misquote. Not the real me, but the me that others wish to see. I cannot allow myself to be seen as indulgent or careless in the face of our subjects." Celestia closed her eyes as she stood motionless. Thoughts of the past and her experiences made her stomach turn as she imagined everything that transpired in the wake of her failures. "They would perceive me to be weak."

The pink alicorn watched as Celestia proceeded to walk back up the stairs to rejoin her sister. She grew to pity the solar princess. "It's okay to indulge a little, even you told me that. You can live a life that's worthwhile for yourself, serving others as well as loving yourself enough to pursue your own brand of happiness. But to reject that and throwing the better number of your years to only serve others and maintaining an alias, it's unhealthy. That line of thinking doesn't allow for you to lead a happy life, you know."

Celestia stopped walking as she placed a hoof over her chest. After another short moment of reflection, she gave her response. "And I've accepted that. I am willing to limit my personal satisfaction for the sake of my citizens, even to a fault."

Just as the alabaster princess disappeared to the upper levels, Cadance scoffed angrily as she snarled to herself. "That fault is what got us royals in the doghouse for a thousand years."

Shining felt himself shrink a little as the phone buzzed back at him from within his bag, indicating that there was a response from one of his recipients. As he pulled out the phone and unlocked the screen, he gulped and closed his eyes.

"I just hope I won't be in the doghouse with Twily."

Later, in the Everfree Forest...

It took Applejack ten minutes to finish her questioning. She seemed rather upset over what she knew, even going so far as to taking it all out on the changeling she captured. And once she told us what they were doing with her, our hearts broke for Zecora. Many of us were on the verge of breaking down as soon as we realized that they were just doing whatever to her, even going so far as to passing her around the entire encampment. She didn't deserve anything like that.

But as far as a location, the changeling only hinted that their camp was located to the south, going towards the ruins.

So as we walked through the forest, we kept our eyes peeled for any changelings who could tell us the immediate location of Zecora. We ran into a few who decided that they wanted to taunt us over the fact. And those few were quickly silenced by Rainbow Dash, who didn't spare any options of killing them while she questioned them. In fact, she'd tell us to go elsewhere while she tried to It wasn't like we were strangers to death and unsightly demises, but we preferred not to bear witness to it unless when necessary.

Knowing Rainbow's line of work in the guard, she wasn't going to opt out any possibility of using intimidation to get what she wants out of a group.

Eventually after so many encounters, one changeling just outright told us that they were stationed at the ruins. As they made their confession, we dragged the changeling worker along for the trip, allowing them to become our ticket inside. Rarity herself volunteered to the idea of being taken captive by the changeling, who then would be trailed by us. And when they allowed for her to go inside, she would cast a flare spell to blind the changelings within, allowing us to slip inside and quickly take down whoever was standing guard. It was a well-formulated plan with the exception of one primary issue...

No changelings were stationed inside of the ruins. There weren't even any signs of activity that could conclude that they were here within the past twenty-four hours. Of course, the changeling worker laughed as she looked to Rainbow Dash, who was just three seconds away from putting her to rest. She spoke quietly. "Over twenty-thousand acres of forest, one hut, and a dilapidated castle. If you think we'd hide in plain sight, you're mistaken."

"She's not here, is she?" Rarity questioned angrily, walking up behind the changeling.

"Of course she is. She's in the highest room of the tallest tower. Or maybe in the darkest room of the deepest dungeon. Or..."

"Or what?" I asked, losing my patience.

She then transformed into the image of our friend, smirking as she mimicked her voice. "Or maybe she's been walking with you all along. No matter the choice you'll make, it will always be wrong."

Rarity let her magic surge to her horn as she channeled her magic in a high concentration. Eventually, a few sparks flew from her aura before she released a relatively thin beam of magic at the changeling. As the fake Zecora laughed, the bright blue beam burrowed into her back and out of her from her chest. The changeling worker finally stopped laughing as she hissed from the pain. She fell over, straining as she grew short of air. Gradually, she faded, but not in silence.

"Prismia s-sssave... the Queen." She whispered in Zecora's voice.

The changeling ceased all movement as Rarity stepped over her. "I've had enough of this. I'm ready to find Zecora, no matter the cost."

Fluttershy looked on quietly as she watched the changeling's corpse slowly revert back to it's original form. I felt even more frustrated as we were left with nothing more than another dead end.

"...We need to form three teams. Rarity, AJ, you take the lower halls. Rainbow, Fluttershy, you take the upper levels. Pinkie and I will be taking this level and the courtyard. Search every trace and every corner, trigger every trap door if you need to. Anything that looks like suspicious activity or that points to changelings being present, report back with your findings."

"Right!" The other five said in unison.

The other two groups quickly departed to their respective areas as Pinkie and I made our run towards the courtyard. Pinkie murmured as she ran. "Why are we taking the courtyard?"

"Because there's a lone-standing tower that looks over the entire area. If we can find anything inside of here, we need to check every nook and cranny. Zecora may not be here, but any evidence that points to changeling activity may lead back to her. Where else would they hide a camp full of changelings aside from the one place where there's room enough to contain them all."

"I'm beginning to thing this is a massive ruse." Pinkie stated.

"Well even then, that tower oversees all of the immediate area, as well as a few other places. I could cast a location spell while inside, causing me to quickly point out any location she could be kept at. If we're lucky, we could possibly find some changeling activity."

Pinkie groaned with uncertainty. "I hope it reveals something."

"Me too."

Nothing.

My efforts and spells have all come up to nothing. I couldn't find anything that could conclude there being a changeling presence within the previous twenty-four hours. And my spell practically covered the entire surrounding area.

Obviously, Pinkie's intuition was spot on when she said this felt like a ruse.

The only thing we found in the tower was a series of magical seals that seem to have lost their enchantment over the years. A few hoofprints, several prints that resembled human feet, an old tattered bed with aged blood splattered on it, and a huge chain depository. Originally, I thought the room was to be used to house some large bells that could be rung during the time of festivals. But once my eyes caught glance at an old wooden rack that had some moldy ropes affixed to a crank, I realized that the room was not a good place to be in.

We didn't find anything on the way back, nor did we get any other signs or clues that could've proven conclusive. So we made our way back into the main hall. As we arrived, the others eventually wandered back empty-hoofed.

"Anything on your end?" I asked.

Everyone dropped their heads as they all responded with various groans of disappointment, a single 'no' being sounded from Fluttershy.

Applejack threw her hat on the ground in a fit of frustration. "Consarn it! Ah just don't get it! We've searched everywhere they could've hid her!"

"I'm beginning to thing that all of this was probably nothing but a big fat joke." Fluttershy responded, sounding disheartened.

"I said the same thing earlier." Pinkie moaned.

"Well we can't give up now!" Rainbow Dash argued passionately. "We just gotta find some way to make sense of everything that happened so far."

"Rainbow Dash is right." I cosigned. "There's much more to this puzzle than what we're seeing. Zecora's not being here means that she's still in Chrysalis' custody."

Rarity sighed as she vocalized her thoughts. "The thing that doesn't seem to make any sense is the overall situation. While they're still planning on taking Nondis, I'm beginning to think that Zecora and Nondis are somehow in play with one another."

"That's a good way of seeing things, but we still don't know much at this point." Applejack argued.

"And that one changeling we bagged back at her hut was the main one that lead us here. And then the other one was pretty much confirming what the other one said." Rarity added as she looked back to the motionless changeling from earlier.

"And they lead us into a dead end. Oh, I can't help but to worry for Zecora." Fluttershy whimpered.

Everyone dipped their heads at her statement. My body shook a little as I realized that there was little we could do outside of being patient. Yet the longer we took, the longer Zecora had to suffer. I took a deep breath and made my feelings known. "Who isn't worried? I'm terrified. But knowing that Zecora's gone missing, and Nondis' memories of her were sealed off, then that means that there must be something that he knows."

"But we can't access that information if he can't remember who we're saving." Rainbow pointed out.

I know this is going to be a risk that I would honestly oppose, but it seems like we can't win this round. If anything, we should renew our focus on the main one who does happen to know of Zecora. Our only chance may end up being when he snaps out of his spell... THAT'S IT! "We should start heading back."

Everyone looked at me dumbfound as Rainbow tried to argue my idea. "What, but Zecora is still─"

"She won't be harmed too horribly if she's plays a part of Chrysalis' master plan. I say we go back to town and regroup our efforts. From there, we can assess where to look next─"

"Um, can we think about this fer as sec?" Applejack tapped her hoof on the ground impatiently, interrupting me before I could finish. "Hasn't it been a while since we've been looking around?"

"Yes, we've been looking all day." Rarity noted as she pointed to the opening in the ceiling, noting that the sky had begun to turn yellow.

Pinkie rubbed her chin as she spoke. "Huh... Shouldn't Nonnie's memories be unlocked anytime soon?"

"By close to the end of the day." I answered as the blueprint my idea began to unveil itself before the others.

Rarity grew a large smile as she ran over to the pink mare and shook her wildly. "Pinkie Pie, you're a genius!"

"I try to be." Pinkie answered with a shrug.

I rolled my eyes with amusement as Pinkie took the credit. Meanwhile I simply finished where I was interrupted. "If we go back and meet up with Nondis, then we should be able to get a better idea of what's going on. Nondis holds the missing piece to this puzzle, and if he gets his memories back, then we can get Zecora back together!"

"That makes plenty of sense, except that Chrysalis is after him, not Zecora." Applejack stated.

"But that's because she already has her." Fluttershy said in response to the farm mare.

Rainbow Dash quietly sat for a minute before she said anything. "...She's offering a trade."

A what now?

"A trade?" Rarity asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Think about it, she'd probably trade Zecora to us for Nondis. And the lock-out spell doesn't wear off until later this evening. So if we offer to meet with her for Zecora, she'd demand Nondis in return." Fluttershy pieced together the final remnants of Rainbow's theory.

"So our best bet is to head back to the castle, wait for her to offer her terms and the place of the exchange, and then we can formulate a plan where we walk away with both." Pinkie summarized.

"And she'll walk away with chains!" Rainbow screamed enthusiastically.

Applejack picked her hat off of the ground as she turned to me with a blush. "Ah trust that's what you were gettin to before Ah cut yer idea short?"

"Maybe. Not gonna lie, the trade part threw me off."

"Oh, well a thousand pardons anyway." She said as she dusted her hat before placing it back on her head.

"Okay girls, let's head back." I suggested one final time, much to the accord of everypony. We all quickly galloped out the front door, into the sunset-coated forest of Everfree. As we were running, I realized just how little light we had left if we were to run back to town and come back around for a negotiation. By then, Celestia would've drowned out the sun's light as Luna raised the moon. Perhaps I could reason with her and barter for another hour of sun.

If Celestia would grant us a little more light, a little more time...

It's been a while since Luna last paid me a visit. Though I was rather annoyed with the frequency in which both Celestia and Luna entered and questioned me, I understood their reason for doing so. And I'm not wanting to face that thing again as long as I'm here. From what I was told by Cadance just earlier during the day, I was safest here. Something about the barrier that protected the castle from a multitude of changeling drones. Yet that leaves the question of why Celestia and Luna questioned me of my visitors so often.

I'm just not too keen on the situation that's evolving in front of me.

But what makes it worse is that there's this random Zicara, Zocera, Zecora, whoever the hell it is, gone missing. And they keep telling me that she's going to be okay for some odd reason, that she'll be rescued pretty soon by Twilight and the others. Meanwhile, I'm stuck here in questionnaire limbo.

You can only imagine just how freaked out Luna was when I told her that Cadance paid me a visit.

As far as any other questions they ask, it's primarily about how I'm feeling. Unfortunately, the migraines haven't lessened as of yet, my legs still feel like ants are crawling in my veins, and I'm still in this room. But on the good side of things, I'm able to walk again, freely moving from the bathroom to the bed with an occasional stumble, but I can manage to cut down on the oopsies if I take my time walking. My arms are just fine, my hips are free of the 'sleep' feeling. And everytime I close my eyes, I don't always see the face of my dead friend.

Progress in small amounts is still progress.

"Hey there!"

I turned around to the window and saw the purple princess flying outside my window. I got up and opened my window to allow for her to enter the room. "Twilight, what were you doing out there?"

"I wanted to check up on you. We just got back from looking for Zecora."

I guess there's some good news to be said if she's back by now. "Oh, that one lady. Did you find her?"

"No." She answered, folding her ears. I suppose by that gesture, she was desperate. "But do you remember anything yet?"

I would if I knew anything about her. Too bad I don't seem to recall, yet I'm beginning to feel like I should. "...Nothing about her. But I can remember everything else okay. I'm still in disbelief that I let myself get carted in like that."

Twilight used her hooves to grab my hand, clasping it closer to her. "It's okay. It was bound to happen sooner or later."

By then, I started to feel a bit odd. 'It was bound to happen sooner or later?' What kind of response was that? "What do you mean by that?" I asked, trying to pull my hand away.

"I mean, don't you want to remember anything about her?" She questioned desperately, not allowing me to pull my hand away.

"I... guess I do?" I responded, trying to pull my hand away from her. Instead, watching my hand being enveloped in a green glow.

"Then you'll have to promise me something." She said, her horn glowing the similar green light.

As soon as she said those words, I felt my entire world spin around for a bit, making me slightly nauseous. Then my head began to pulse vividly, causing me a surging pain that disabled me from doing much of anything. I could only cringe harshly as the pain disabled me from even screaming. I could only wheeze openly as I collapsed to the ground. I wriggled and writhed as if I was a snake exposed to a hot flame, my body contorting into various angles I didn't know were humanly possible. I was left trying to support my upper torso with just the back of my head. My back arching to a significant degree. The feeling of a dull tool being driven into my skull was the only thing I could feel as the purple alicorn stood over me.

"Oh no! Is it another migraine? I think I know a spell for it, hang on!"

I tossed and turned on the ground as the pain continued to dig into my brain. Her horn glowed once more, this time directing a beam of energy into my head as I continued to suffer from the pain. Eventually, the sharpened pain that almost drove me insane was alleviated rather quickly. My body stopped moving on it's own, allowing me to regain control as the beam continued to shine on me. I felt myself becoming closer and closer to being at ease, even to the point where I started to close my eyes.

That voice... it sounded vaguely familiar. As my eyes remained closed, I could see a dark cloud storming throughout my vision. A lightning bolt flashed brightly, causing me to see several faces of a female zebra. She had blue eyes, wore a mohawk for her mane, she had her tail latched to left side of her flank, gold rings lying all around her as she weakly protested a changeling settling on top of her... violating her. The eyes that once glistened with life had become cold and hazy, a gray film diminishing the quality of sapphire her eyes displayed. She turned and looked to me with horror as a black, hole-infested hoof propped her head up to face me. A voice whispered out to her...

I felt a surge of energy blast throughout my body, filling me with a rage that I never knew... or rather one I already had within. I squinted my eyelids shut, allowing for myself to see the memories of each face that was once blurred out throughout the months of my being here. The same face that greeted me everytime she made a potion. The same voice that would occasionally ride on me to visit her every so often. The big blue eyes that looked up to me, usually accompanied by a great big smile.

Zecora's smile... That smile no longer existed. And in it's place was the expression of one who was ready for it all to end.

I peeled myself off of the floor, turning to the purple alicorn, who's magic dissipated and her eyes flashed green while she looked at me. "There, are you feeling better?" She questioned, coyly with a innocent smile.

Now... I was no longer fooled as to who this was. She had a friend of mine, and I was going to do whatever it took to get her back. And if I have to burn down all of Everfree to find her, then so be it. I was NOT going to let another one die before my eyes, under my watch. I won't fucking take it! I am going to negotiate for her back, that or I will be seeing heads roll. Choice is hers to make now. I cracked my neck and balled my fist until the tendons popped right over the bone.

"...Okay, Chrysalis. What do you want?"

Panting and gasping, the six of us made it back in enough time so that the sun didn't quite set on us. As we broke through the front doors of the castle, Shining and Cadance were the first two to greet us. My older brother being the first to embrace me, he ran for me and gave me a hug.

"Twily, you're back!" He shouted just before he separated, giving Cadance a chance to give me a hug as well.

"Any luck in finding her?" She questioned.

I shook my head in response. "No. But I feel that we should have some soon enough. And we've come to the conclusion that we really wouldn't need to wait until all of his memories come back. In speaking of which, how is he?"

"He's not quite fully recovered, but he is experiencing movement in his body. He does have a bit of trouble controlling his legs, but that's just him rushing things along rather than it being a huge problem. It seems that he's well on his way to a speedy physical recovery." Cadance answered.

"Well that's good to know. We really could use his help in turning the tide of this negotiation to our favor."

The two looked to one another and then back to me as they asked in a synchronized manner. "Negotiation?"

"Zecora might be a trading piece that Chrysalis is using to get us to cough up Nondis." I quickly explained.

Cadance became stunned at what I was hinting towards. "So you want to go along with the trade, giving Chrysalis Nondis for Zecora. But how will you compensate for the loss?"

"We won't have to. We're gonna come up with a way to come out with the both of them." I responded confidently, despite my still formulating a plan as to how that would work.

"Let's not be too hasty." Shining retorted, looking back to his wife. "Remember, this is the queen of the changelings we're talking about. Who's to say that she wouldn't offer a ruse in being able to keep both?"

Cadance agreed with her husband, knowing exactly how the changeling queen would play her game. "That's something to keep in mind. She wouldn't be so quick to give up her only piece if she knew she could get something potentially better while she's at it."

"Well as long as we hold her main prize, we can play that game too." Rarity said as she stood firm.

Applejack started to explain the plan. "We'll demand the real Zecora. And we'll offer─"

Before she could finish, a loud scream echoed throughout the halls from the upper levels. It sounded like it belonged to Princess Luna. "NONDIS!"

"That doesn't sound good." Shining mumbled as every one of us made a dash for the room he was stationed in. Running up the stairs, through the halls and making a left turn, we ran into the two other princesses who stood with mouths agape. The door to his room swung wide open as they stared at the image inside.

"Luna, what's wrong?"

"I was just coming from a conversation I was having with Celestia! And as I arrive here to check on him, he's..."

Pinkie wasted no time in running into the room and pointing out the obvious. "The window!"

All of us ran into the room, taking notice of the window left ajar, swinging slightly in the breeze. I poked my head outside of the window, noticing that there was nothing that indicated any possible escape. There wasn't even any sheets or impromptu ropes guiding down to the ground below. Not that it would matter because of the height would still prove to be harmful. Either way, there wasn't any evidence of his being below. "I don't see him anywhere!"

"Apparently, she's been here." Cadance said in a low voice.

"Are you sure?" Fluttershy inquired, prompting Cadance to point to the rug she was looking at located at the foot of the bed. As soon as she pointed it out, I used my magic to flip the rug. What we found was a ring of scorch marks, a sure sign of Chrysalis using her magic to send Nondis elsewhere. And in the center of the blackened ring was a piece of paper folded into thirds.

"A note?" Celestia asked as she started to read it aloud.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

How was your day? As you are reading this letter, you probably noticed that I have made myself scarce. As for the reason being, I cannot disclose. You know, classified: top-secret. But I have decided to make this letter one of a possible final farewell. I know that you would do anything to keep a hold of your friends, and that would also apply to me. But I won't let you that, not this time. I've got some important business to finish and I would rather you stay out of it. It's not that I don't want your help, but rather that I don't need it.

I hope that we'll meet again somehow. And I'm sorry that I won't get to fulfill my promise to you. But know that I will always have a place in my heart that only you can fill. I wish you the best on your future as well as the others on theirs. I am sorry for making you all sad, but it's time I accept responsibility for everything that has happened. I only ask, as a final request, that my family is to never know the reason why I am to never return here. My friends from my world, they are to be kept in the dark as well. If they are insistent in knowing, inform them that I was deployed to Rainbow Falls for the next four years.

I love every last one of you, and I want you all to be happy with the memories that I left behind. I am sorry that my absence disappoints you. But who knows, this letter might just be a precaution as opposed to a farewell. Gotta keep my bases covered, right? Either way, just know that I love each and every one of you, and that I thank you for everything that you've done for me in my time being here. But I'm not going to let Zecora suffer any more than what she's already been put through. In short, it will be either me or Zecora who will come back to you. And should she be the one who gets the winning ticket, I would expect you all to accept that and await for my return. And in the event of my not returning by later tonight, protocol has been presented and I'd wish it to be put in place.

Thank you all and, again, I love you. Live long and prosper.

Sincerely,

Nondis P. Haines

I couldn't help but to feel my heart push into my stomach as Celestia finished reading the letter. Something within me screamed for me to act, even my instincts pushed me to believe that this was going to end very poorly if we were to not intervene. My hooves, my entire body shivered, my heartbeat filled my ears, pulsing throughout my body as situation presented to me a white noise that drowned out mostly anything that was going on around me. Something felt like it compressed my diaphragm, leaving me to take in shorter and shorter breaths. I think something tried to shake me as all of this was going on, but I was more focused on the irrational fear that started to override my senses. I was going to lose him, for good.

"Twilight?" I heard a faint voice call out to me, pushing me back into the present. "Twilight!" I blinked several times, shaking myself out of the trance I was locked in. My chest became loose again, allowing me to breathe easier. I turned to the one who removed her hooves from my body. "Twilight, I know that you're in a bit of a panic right now. But you have to stay focused. What do you want to do?" Cadance asked me.

I didn't hesitate with my answer. "We have to find him, now." I said as I started to trot to the hall. "If we don't stop him from doing this, then who knows what will happen to him! We can't afford to lose either one of them, Zecora or Nondis! If we could find Nondis and talk some sense into him, maybe we can come up with a way we can walk away with both of them! I'm not losing either one of my friends, or worse... both!"

Shining galloped to stop me head on. "I have a plan." He stated as he blocked my way. "Twily, look... You're not getting anywhere with this taking-the-blame shit. If Chrysalis is going to play dirty, we need to be able to show her that we have a much better set to play. And in order to do that, we need to be willing to show her that we're not losing anything should she appear to have the upper hoof."

"I'm not giving him up! Now get out of my way, please!"

Shining took a moment to breathe before he placed his hooves on my shoulders, looking me in the eyes as he spoke to me in a low voice.

"Twily... do you trust your big brother to help you out this one time? I know that I haven't done much in contrast to what you've done and everything you've achieved, but I can help you. All you have to do is let me, and I'll get you anything you want. Just give me the okay, and it's done. C'mon kiddo, let me in on this one."

...You know, there are way too many times where I seem to get everything wrong. And today has been nothing but a reflection of that. Today was one of the days where I try to do something right, but end up finding myself several steps behind. It's like I try the best alternatives and methods, but I come out with the least-desired result. Every single time this happens, one of my friends seem to cover for me and make things right again.

Perhaps I need to allow for someone else to take the role of thinking. I'm overworking myself. I think it's better that I'd let myself take a following role in this situation. Shining, I trust you. Please help me, I don't know where to go right now. I'm just trying to think on my hooves, but I can't seem to formulate anything substantial. Whatever you have planned, I'll follow.

"Okay... what do you have cooked up?"

I am dreading this whole experience. My day has been totally shit thus far. First I find myself in the midst of a very restless sleep fueled by Princess Luna's dreamscape battle royale, then my mind gets hijacked by Chrysalis. Next I wake up to a shit-ton of questioning, my legs not working, and finding myself unable to remember Zecora worth a damn. And finally after a good twelve hours, I'm get thrown into a burning ring of green fire and dropped off at my hotel room. And to top it all off, they left a letter on my door with a few of Zecora's leg bracelets telling me where to meet should I wish to see her saved.

I'm not very happy about this, nor do I have any desire to walk from my hotel room to the outskirts of town while my legs have yet to fully recover. I wasn't even given a chance to arm myself properly cause stupid-ol-me decided to leave my handguns in the castle back when Rainbow Dash got plastered. I kept telling myself that I should've left the son of a bitch under the mattress, but it's too late now. The best I could do in terms of arming myself was a decent-sized bowie knife.

Guess gutting a trout won't hold a candle to disemboweling a changeling, but I guess I'll have to set my conscious aside for that.

All throughout my travel, I had noticed that the sun remained perfectly still in the sky, despite the fact that it was long overdue to set beyond the horizon. I suppose Celestia had a hand in that. But to be honest, it was a bit jarring to see the sky not move or change from the twilight coloring scheme for over thirty minutes. But at least I was going to have a bit of light before this deal went down.

At last, I reached my destination. Standing just outside of town was a purple and white brick bridge that fed the path into the Everfree Forest. And just at the end of the descent was none other than the changeling queen herself, who sneered evilly. "Ah, so you've arrived?"

"Alone, and nobody knows where I went. Just how we agreed it to be." The only reason I didn't disagree was the fact that she was trying to sell the fact that Zecora wouldn't make it past the night if should she remain in changeling captivity. And judging from all of the visions she fed me today, I wasn't willing to take a wager on that. And bringing anyone else would only void the deal, pretty much sentencing Zecora to death. Not a loss I'd be willing to take after the one I got hit with yesterday.

The changeling queen proceeded to walk on the bridge, slowly approaching me as she spoke. "I never knew you humans could be so reckless."

She initially attempted to hover upward and make a grab for my chin, but I quickly brushed her hoof aside. "Don't flatter yourself, this is just for me to handle a personal matter. This is between you and me, just the two of us."

She bit her lip while quickly zipping behind me, whispering into the nape of my neck. "Well if that's what you want, then I guess I wouldn't mind obligating myself."

I responded by taking a speedy dip to get her away from my neck and turning myself to face her. "Again, I'm not here for you to play with. See I have this thing for digging to the bottom line. And I'm really all about my business. So let's cut the chase, get to the end of the dotted line. Where's Zecora?"

The queen chuckled as she simply imitated the zebra's voice. "Well if so short-timed you must be, then look no further. I am me!"

I started to feel myself become angry again as I reached for my knife. "See in my world, shit like that gets you shot and killed on spot. And that's just in my country, don't even let me get started on what they'll do to you in the Middle East."

The queen proceeded to show her disdain for my lack of humor. "Ugh! There's no having fun with you, is there?"

"Zebra, hand now, please?"

The changeling rolled her eyes as she started to circle around me. "Are you sure this is what you want?"

"You said that you would show me that she was alive if I came for you."

She withheld a response for a few seconds, but honed in on my ear as she spoke to me in a sexual tone. "But who's to say that my context of 'came' was exactly what you had in mind?"

I gritted my teeth as I pursed my lips, growing back at her in a low voice. "If you don't quit playing with me, I will shove my fist into your ugly, yeast infested cunt and rip out your ovaries. Then you can worry about whether or not I 'came' for you."

Seemingly put off by my rebuttal, she backed off and hovered back to her side of the bridge. "Are all you humans so violent?"

"Genocidal. We make executions a public spectacle. And unlike the petty stories ponies have, we had vicious dictators and blood-thirsty tyrants who have killed many in their wake. One such man had even vouched for the extermination of over six million lives, many of which his own citizens. But go on ahead, try me."

She wore an expression indicating that she was far from impressed or intimidated. She remained stoic through most of my rant. "Well you sure talk big."

I smiled back at her, giving her my best impression of innocence as I openly said these words. "You know, there's a bit of a dark secret that I haven't told anyone while I was stationed here, but I think I can tell you. Horse meat tends to be a bit on the sweet side. The older the buck, the darker the meat, the deeper the flavor."

She was far from stoic at that point. "ACK! No, that is utterly disgusting!"

I tapped my fingers on the handle of my knife as I spoke. "And I haven't eaten all day, so hurry up before I decide on what my next meal would be. Savvy?"

As she continued to display her level of disgust, she turned back to the wooded path. "Very well... Then feast your eyes on this. BRING HER IN!" She commanded loudly. "Pupa, show him the offering!"

As her words were sent into the green shades, a party of three changelings, including one with what appeared to be a short kelp-green mane, holding a dark storage pod. The three changelings then placed the pod on the ground, two of them backed away as the kelp-maned changeling used her magic to dissolve the barrier of the pod. As the grimy wall of gunk transformed into a green mush, the changeling then used her magic to lift the zebra from her containment and unceremoniously placed her at the foot of the bridge. The steady motions of her chest rising and falling, albeit rather slowly, gave me comfort.

I calmly stood in place as my fingers continued to tap against the hilt of my blade. "What all did you do to her?"

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow as she grew confused from my unenthusiastic response. "You know, I thought you would've had a stronger reaction than this."

Oh I'm absolutely livid, I just don't wanna pop off the handle and start carving you up like a Thanksgiving ham before I confirm on whether or not this is the real deal. Just let me confirm on whether or not this is real or false, and I may just simply go for the jugular. But as far as why I don't seem so intimidated...

Experience permits me to put up a calm front. "I've seen some shit, and your boy Guto was the one dishing it out. Though I'd have to apologize to the both of you, being that I'm responsible for the deaths of... um... let's see... twenty-six plus ninety-seven, carry the one... then the Canterlot train thing where I killed another twenty-three, then the forest thing was like another four... plus scouting missions... AH! One-hundred seventy-eight, all killed by my order."

The smaller changeling barred her teeth as she snarled at me. "You're bluffing."

"Oh yeah, we have your boy Guto too. So how about we talk this one over, Guto for Zecora. Sound's good?"

The changeling queen didn't seem to move at my suggestion. Instead, she grew bold as she chuckled in my face. "Guto? That traitor? You would sell me a traitor for something you call a friend?"

Honestly, I didn't expect her to throw the 'no fucks to give' card out there like that. Color me impressed. "Humankind cannot gain something without first giving something to return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. And if you're feeling greedy, we have another seventeen changelings lined up on the chopping block. They're not here right now, but I can arrange for you to pick them up in Canterlot sometime tomorrow."

Once again, she remained unmoved. "Again, traitors for one friend."

"Traitor or friend, a life is a life. I even gave you the sweeter deal by throwing in the ones we haven't executed yet."

The smaller one spoke as she brandished her fangs. "Then I suppose a dead Zecora is what you'll be getting."

Before I become intimidated by that threat, I need to find out exactly who they got sitting in front of me. "How do I know if that's the real Zecora?"

The zebra struggled to speak, causing her to be straight forward with her response as opposed to the usual rhyming I'm so used to hearing. "Ugh... you vomited...when you were...first introduced to the town...nine months ago. Spike and you...were never on good terms."

And that was the spontaneous answer not even a changeling could tell me outright. Before the smaller changeling could bark at her I stepped down and stood between her and Zecora. I balled my fist, ready to strike at whoever dared to get close. "Okay, you're the real deal. Now what do you want?"

The changeling queen gracefully glided towards me, yanking down my left shoulder as she whispered in my ear. "I. Want. You."

Figures. "Me? No 'I want a million dollars' or 'I want the passage to the royal treasure' or anything of the sort?"

Her breath started to tickle my ear as she continued to speak. "I want you to surrender your services to me. It's not like you have much of a choice." Her words slithered into my ear, causing my inner-ears to itch.

"Last I checked, I do. And my choice is that─" I saw something glow green to the side of me, and then... "I agree... wait, what?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite hear you properly. What was it you said?"

...Oh no. No. She's not capable of this. I'm not asleep, and this is MY brain. I am fully capable of maintaining my own individuality. "I said fuck that─I would be more than happy to comply with your demands. NO I WOULDN'T!" O-o-okay, maybe this is happening.

"Well, it seems that you're quite beside yourself on the issue. Maybe you need a little more time to go over it once more."

Okay, now I'm mad. She's not gonna get me this time. "Whatever you're doing, I want you─to accept me and allow me to serve you, my queen. I couldn't be─any more disgusted! STOP IT!"

I tried to shove her away, but my body wouldn't respond quick enough... rather it didn't respond at all. My arms were attached, so I wouldn't understand how they wouldn't be able to receive the signals I'm sending out. Or maybe... she's still in my head. sending out signals for me. Oh God no. "So you're finding out how this goes now?" She asked. She's reading my thoughts! "Well, I'm more than certain that you would be open to trading yourself for Zecora. And this time, your first answer will be the definitive one."

"I don't know what bowel of hell you crawled from, but I know who the fuck I'm not serving." I grasped control of what little I could, clenching my eyes and trying my best to tune her out.

"Is that so? Then say it. Who would you serve?"

"I─" I couldn't even finish as another one of those extremely painful migraines came running through my brain. Once more, I felt the sensation of something blunt shoving my brains around, swirling it like my mind was in a mixing bowl, beaten as if it was a batter made back in the stone age. I was rendered to my knees as I couldn't help but to scream from the pain. Even that wouldn't last long as the pain was so unbearable that I almost blacked out.

"Oh how cute, you're resisting me. I can honestly say it's a valiant feat that you could even see this one coming. If I wasn't any more pressed for time, I'd love to toy with you for a little longer. But for now... I want what's mine. Can you tell me what that is?"

I struggled, I staggered, I bashed at my head, trying to get the pain to stop until eventually... "Egh...agh...rrg...geh..." ...I lost. "...I am yours, my queen."

She smiled at me wickedly as she walked in front of me. "And what do you wish to do?"

"I wish to serve you, then I want to press you down so that I may make love to you." Now that's─rather inciting. Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho... no, not that. Please not that.

"You would give your love to me?"

"Yes, my queen." Oh God, please don't do this.

"And who else would you love?"

"I would love no one else─GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" There we go! Fighting back! I can't even begin to describe this experience. It's like I'm watching myself being taken over by a brain-altering parasite. Let's be honest, that's exactly what's going on right now. I stood to my feet, watching as the changeling queen walked back over to the path leading into the forest, standing beside her underlings.

She gave me a victorious smirk and lightly chuckled. "See, you're starting to realize just how futile your attempts to defy me really are. We were meant to be, you and I. Surely this is obvious to you now."

"I see just how much more powerful you are to─Mmmph phmm phmmph!" I did not command my hand to muffle my mouth, she did. And much like earlier...

"Speak."

My body obeyed her every demand. "I really am in awe of you, your highness."

"Bow."

I knelt before her, prostrating myself before the fetching length of her forelegs. My lips quivered as I slightly raised my head to see her present one before me. Greedily I lunged at it and licked my lips as I─AW HELL NAH! "Stop...fucking with me..." I strained... still straining.

"I am going to enjoy having you around to serve me. It will only be a matter of time before my magic completely encases you, though you will still be conscious enough to watch as you obey my every whim. Now rise." My body only allowed me to remain on my knees, definitely in ground-based reaching distance of the changeling queen.

Though my thoughts struggle to remain consistent, my memories are the one thing that will never change. Whatever I see before me is exactly as it is and not as what she wants it to be. And somewhere deep in my subconscious, I will still remain who I am, even if I was to no longer be myself in a conscious state. At least, I hope this will be the case, unless she's still toying with me.

"S-stop... Stop it..." Suddenly, a voice came from behind me, at first speaking softly, but growing into a scream. "STOP THIS, CHRYSALIS!"

"I have no time for your rhymes, Zecora. I've a new toy to play with." Oh this was so unnervingly disgusting on so many levels. "Present your tongue."

I pressured myself to clench my jaw shut, but she ignited her magic once more. Her grip in my mind caused me to become at war over my facial functions. Gradually, my jaw cracked open, my tongue slowly pressing past my teeth. I couldn't stop myself from obeying her. Zecora continued to show her disapproval. "YOU ARE DISGRACEFUL!"

I tilted my eyes towards her for one brief second before they were forcefully driven to the changeling monarch before me. "Your concern is no longer her. She will be free from her shackles soon enough, while you will experience the bondage of yours."

"Get away from me─my queen."

I've never been in a situation where I've been so terrified. I know what's going on and it's playing out like I'm in some demented dream. And my worst fear is that I can't wake up. I'm stuck like this, taking the disadvantageous pose of a hungry canine begging before their master. My tongue hung freely from my mouth, my body started to feel an unusual flame that caused me to look at her with a lustful desire. My muscles loosened and the resistance within my body melted away like my cares for the zebra behind me. The queen clasped my chin in her hooves, holding me with a tender touch I haven't felt in so long. This moment made it obvious just how starved I was to experience the warmth of the opposite sex. God, I wanted her.

"You will try to disobey me at first, spitting on me and calling me out of my name. I will find myself becoming enraged as your spit rolls down my face, but I will force you to comply. I may retaliate when you have your little outbursts, but I am only looking forward to seeing just how disgusted you would be with me. In due time you will learn to willingly serve me, giving me whatever I ask for. You will answer when I call. You will obey when I order you to. You will abandon all of this and embrace your new reality. I will take from you until you have dried and crumbled, and then I will take from you again. You will remain my property, you are under my total control. And your first objective will be to please me in any way I see fit."

I would willing sacrifice all of my being just to experience one moment of her manifesto. My loins ached for her, I wanted her. I wanted to show her how much a human could send her to heights unparalleled. I owe this to her, and more. "...Yes, your highness."

"Good. Now show me your love, human."

Yes, your majesty─

"NONDIS!"

Ugh... You know, being interrupted in the heat of the moment seems to be a reoccurring theme that happens to me as of late. Turning my head to the direction where the voice came from, I could see a purple pony standing on the other side of the stream. My frustration became manifest as I rose to my feet, turning towards the purple princess who previously kept me captive. Upon seeing me, she and her friends came running to the bridge. My beloved queen leapt high into the air before casting a powerful blast of magic upon the bridge's roadbed, impeding the party's progress. The looked up to her as the queen spoke.

"Oh, I see that you came to wish us a happy honeymoon." She stated proudly.

The purple princess squinted angrily at her majesty above, enticing me to do the same to her. The pink princess who accompanied her tapped her and pointed towards me, causing them to gasp. The purple alicorn violently shouted to the queen. "Let him go!"

I scoffed at the naive princess' request, turning to the immobilized body of the zebra. She looked to me as I picked her up from the ground, toting her towards her fellow compatriots. My queen gave them an adequate response. "I'm afraid that I cannot. He let me take him in place of Zecora. But you may feel free to do with her what you will."

As I placed the zebra on the other side of the bridge, I didn't bother speaking to the ponies who continuously called out my name. As far as I was concerned, each of them were an enemy to me. And of course, I don't intend on conversing with those who oppose my superior. Quickly, I removed myself from their side and walked towards mine. The alabaster pony with indigo curls ran to the disabled Zecora, checking with her. "Zecora! Oh goodness gracious! What did they do to you, you poor thing!?"

Next, I felt a presence grasp at my left leg, preventing me from moving any further. I turned back around to see the purple princess staring at me with sadness in her eyes. She promptly turned away from me and towards the queen above. "You've crossed the line."

"Eighty-seven." My queen mumbled to herself.

"You've gone past the point of my being able to forgive you!"

"Twenty-five."

"How dare you take from me what is mine!"

"One-hundred ninety-six."

"And I─Okay, what are you doing?" The purple princess asked, appearing a bit rustled.

My queen laughed lightly as she answered the pony princess. "Oh no, don't mind me. I'm just counting certain little phrases I've heard barked at me in all my years. But please, do continue."

Next, the pink princess stood by her sister-in-law, calling out to her majesty. "You're in for a rude awakening, Chrysalis."

"Ugh!" Queen Chrysalis wailed with disgust, lowering her altitude to where she was standing next to me. With a simple flicker of her horn, she dispelled the magenta grip that locked me into place. "I swear that's all I hear nowadays! 'You're in for a rude awakening' they say. 'There will be consequences' they say. What's the consequence? What's the supposed rude awakening? It's like there's very little creativity going into the art of calling out insults nowadays."

Apparently, the young princess didn't take to kindly to her spell being broken before her eyes. "I will make you... you..."

"Go on, say it." My queen encouraged.

"YOU WILL SUFFER FOR HURTING MY FRIENDS!" She screamed to the top of her lungs, producing an echo.

Pupa laughed happily as she walked onto the bridge, mocking the princess over her impassioned outburst. "Oh yes! That emotional response, the vocal fluctuations, the heavy breathing, I love it! It's like you have some sort of relationship with this creature."

The purple one folded her ears as the pink princess beside her tried her best to comfort her. The naive royal then responded, denying Pupa's allegations. "...I don't."

But it was far too late for her to correct herself. My queen took notice of her response and was more than interested in teasing her for it. "If you say so." She then turned back to me and politely tapped on my leg. "Dearest pet, would you kneel for your queen?"

Once again, I placed myself upon my knees, allowing for the queen to reach me. "Your highness, is there anything more you require of me?"

She passionately clasped her hooves to my cheeks, cooing as she glanced back to the purple alicorn. "Present tongue."

At once, I opened my mouth to present myself. She followed my gesture with an indecent display of greed, slipping her tongue into my mouth, clenching my lips with hers. The incredible burning sensation I felt just earlier returned in greater force. A stiffness swelled in my crotch as she leaned in against me, nearly taking me down to the ground. Half-lidded, I looked to her with a longing to feed her my desires. Though I couldn't help but to feel dismayed that her attention was very much stuck to the purple alicorn, who charged her horn with powerful magic.

"NO, DON'T!" The pink one shouted as she tapped against the younger one's horn. "You'll hit Nondis too."

Our lips would occasionally separate, but not without experiencing a fierce reunion. Her tongue lashed mine with a dreadful desire to prove her dominance. As I became more engrossed by her ministrations, I too wished to invest my passion into her. With a sudden grab, I pushed back up, balancing myself and pressing against her. Taken aback, she lost her balance and fell on her back, my arms pinned her down on either side. Her eyes widened as I became her primary focus.

Deeply, my tongue pierced past her defenses and brushed against the back of her soft palate. I broke away for air, and crashed into her for a brief lick. The queen, thoroughly surprised by my advances remained grounded for some time before she rose back to her hooves. She seemed impressed by my display, even turning back to the purple alicorn with a shocked expression that screamed with jealousy. Her emerald glow turned my head to her one last time, granting her a few more pecks before I was reduced to a slobbering cur. Her lips glistened with the gifts I left her. I proceeded to show my admiration of her. "Thank you so much my dear queen, your lips are ever the sweeter than any I have ever tasted."

The two of us turned back to the young princess, who stared back at us with a bitter grimace. Her face was torn asunder with tears and blinding rage, yet it was the pink sibling who screamed in her place. "You. Bitch!"

My queen wiped herself as she spoke. "Aww, I was hoping that the naive, little princess would be the one to call me out. Either way, my newest pet should give you a response based upon the most colorful gesture his species could ever conceive."

In a vulgar display of non-verbal communication, I resolved to simply lifting my right hand and leaving all but one finger buried into the palm of my hand. As Chrysalis continued to laugh at the purple pony, the young princess finally started to break. She tried to run up to me, but was quickly blocked off by Pupa, who transformed into a mirror image of the princess herself. She pleaded to my queen loudly. "LET HIM GO! WHATEVER YOU WANT, I'LL GIVE IT TO YOU! JUST LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

I can only express my astonishment of her. With everything in her being, she's crying out to the queen that I'd be spared and that she'd be taken in my place. To know that she would be so careless, so determined... So stupid.

"...Twilight...s-s-stop..." Can't... let... her... make... stupid choice...

"That's not the proper response, pet!" She responded as her horn glowed green once more.

Aw shit, not again... "Forgive me for my outbursts. You may punish me as you see fit, your highness."

When the queen finished her brief verbal chastisement, a white stallion with a blue mane and black saddlebags trotted forward to stand beside his seemingly heartbroken sister. "Thank Faust." He said with a sigh of relief. Stroking his sister's mane, he turned back his wife. "He's still in there somewhere."

Cadance looked behind her, turning around to face yet another alicorn, this one being a dark shade of blue with a starry mane. "Princess Luna, one's body responds to a series of electrical signals sent from the brain, correct?"

"Yes, that is true." The night princess confirmed, prompting a response from Pupa.

"Of course. What of it? It's not like you can cast any traditional zap spell on him. To alter the mind's neurotic responses and render the body immobile, you would have to administer a constant stream of electricity through his entire body. And the only spell you could cast that would come close to doing that would only prove fatal to him. JUST FACE IT, HE'S MINE NOW!" The queen turned back to the young changeling with a fiery glare. Pupa immediately realized her mistake and corrected herself. "I mean... that is what our queen would like to say. I'm just merely projecting."

A cautious stare was given to Pupa, who backed off a few steps. The other two changelings behind us snickered and sneered as the queen turned back to the princess of love. "What she said."

The blue-maned stallion looked to his bag, magically lifting the flap to grab something from inside. He groaned as he looked to me with a unwavering expression. "...Nondis, this is going to hurt a bit."

"What's going to hur─AAAAAAAAAHHH!"

One would expect a serious amount of pain to come from being on the receiving end of what could amount to a total of fifty thousand watts being placed in your body, followed by a few surges of ten-thousand watt pulses. Of course it goes without saying that my body haplessly collapsed to the ground, my limbs locking in place as the electricity overrode any signals being transmitted through my brain. The only thing I could feel was pain.

But the one thing I didn't expect was Chrysalis to grab her head as her horn sparked a little. "GAH! What was that!?"

Shining then pointed behind me, showing the bug queen a black device with a yellow boarder just at the end of the muzzle. "Human Weaponry 101: Taser gun. Sends a current of electricity through the body, and at non-lethal amounts. Great for disabling your adversaries from a distance. Me opening my bag was merely a distraction to teleport the weapon to his back. Though it was a little hard to ensure that I avoided the spine, that would've been ugly."

Well that was a risk I wasn't too fond of... but I got my body back. My body belongs to me again! "Ahhh! Thank you!...Hurts like hell...but thanks!"

Chrysalis shook off the brief surge of pain and snarled at me as I started to recover. "A minor setback in your programming, but I can fix that!"

Just as I was sure about having my body back, I ended up having yet another one of those incredibly painful headaches. Thankfully, Shining knew what was up. "My queen─AAAAGHAAA!!!"

Not-so thankfully, I was still at the mercy of a taser being embedded in my back. Though I suppose the ends justify the means, as Chrysalis once again experienced the pain from earlier. She grabbed at her head with one hoof as she tried to swipe at Shining with the other. "AH! STOP IT! STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!"

Shining backed away from her, smiling as he sent one more jolt through my body, zapping her in turn. Cadance stood by her husband, ready to him from anything else Chrysalis was willing to throw at him. "See the problem with tampering with mind magic, Chrysalis? If you were to use mental spells against your victim, you would have to keep in mind the risks of having said bond impeded upon. Being that it requires a serious amount of telepathy being used and mental concentration involved, there's a toll that comes along with it. If the proxy itself was to become corrupted by a signal interference, then the user would also be affected just as easily."

"A pretty...technical explanation of it!...But yeah!" Shining cosigned before teleporting to my side and using his magic to help me stand up. "Had fun?"

My hands were still shaking as I reached at my back and forcefully pulled the two prongs out of my body. "You tell me."

"Look like you were dancing a bit there." Shining joked. "Jumping for joy, eh?"

"Ecstatic. The thrill of getting my body back was positively electric." I answered, starting to walk on my own.

Of course, the only one who wasn't so thrilled in seeing me walk on my own free will was the changeling queen, who raged to the point where she blasted a large beam of magic into the air. "THAT'S IT! I HAD ENOUGH!"

The queen panted and wheezed as she shook violently. We didn't pay her any mind as we were walking away. But as we approached, Cadance's eyes grew wide as she pointed behind us. When we turned back around to see what caught her attention, we were almost mortifed at the sight of a large changeling army standing just behind their enraged monarch. I estimated them to be around three hundred strong, which was definitely a number that dwarfed ours. "Oh great, she brought the whole crew." Shining groaned.

Pupa flew up to her ruler's side, looking towards me as she questioned her. "Your majesty, shall I go after him!?"

"WHAT ARE YOU ASKING ME FOR!? JUST DO IT!"

With a snap of her wings, the changeling barreled directly for me. I ducked down in enough time to where she couldn't grab me. As she missed her intended target, she banked around to make for a second go. Twilight then charged her magic and sent a blast of energy to cause the changeling to veer off course. Twilight continued to send bolt after bolt to the changeling, who evaded every shot sent her way. Twilight growled as the changeling giggled at her. "Sorry princess, but whatever my queen asks for, I get it! There's no─"

A single shot was heard as we watched the changeling lifelessly drop into the creek bed. Upon landing, Chrysalis watched in horror as her beloved changeling remained motionless, her blood starting to color the water she lied in. For a second, it took the queen to register what happened before her, but as soon as it clicked, she responded within seconds. "PUPA, NOOOOOOO!" She cried with tears welling in her eyes.

She was about to dive for the downed changeling before Twilight turned around and called out loudly to one of the buildings. "Nice aim! Did better than I did!"

...Nice aim?

"I swear, it's always the same with you. What does this make, the twentieth time I've ran in to save your ass?"

My heart rate skyrocketed as the familiar voice of my older brother graced my ears. I turned back to the Ponyville side of the bridge, seeing him walk up with the sniper rifle in tow. Following behind him were none other than Stanton, Cliff, Rickey, Melanie, and Celestia. Each of the humans that showed up were carrying an assortment of weapons and sidearms. My jaw dropped as I felt myself being showered with relief.

"The more things change, the more they stay the same. You stay getting your ass kicked somehow. But we'll give you the 'magic' excuse this time." Stanton said as he quickly waked over towards me.

"That's some fucked up shit they did to you, sir!" Rickey called out as he followed.

"Bruh, I know you feelin' some type of way off of that shit. I'd be pissed off too." Cliff said while he helped me off of the ground.

Melanie wiped a bit of dirt off of my face as she questioned me. "Are you okay?"

Well... I'm currently in my right mind. And despite the slight headache, the massive tasering I took that made me nearly piss myself, and the fact that I had to manually remove two electrical prongs from out of my back, I feel like a million bucks. "Kinda..."

"Good, cause you'll need this." She said as she handed me a Glock. Hell, like I was gonna refuse.

As to be expected, Chrysalis was not too cordial about what she saw before her. "S...si-six? SIX? HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO ACCUMULATE SIX OF THEM!?"

Melanie turned around and looked directly at the queen, who hovered above. "See, there's this little process they had to do. First, you stick your fist out. And then you crank it on back and... Ta-Da!" She sang-sung as she gave the changeling monarch the middle finger.

Stanton turned back to the ponies and shooed them away. "You guys might wanna go for a walk, it's gonna get ugly... really quick."

Alex shouldered the sniper rifle and pulled out a customized M16 rifle. "Not that the ugly hasn't shown it's face already. Seriously, she's got gloryholes for days and can't get anyone to take interest of their own will. She's the very definition of trying too hard. She's like that one whore in the whole university who'd run through the entire athletic department just to try and cuff some poor sap into fucking her raw because she wants some money for personal spending."

Rickey continued to take a dig at the changeling queen's appearance. "Serious question, if there were fifty dicks waiting in line to take a hole each, how many would she go through in any given session?

"I'd say about half, the full fifty if they just outright DP every hole she's got. But then that would present a problem." Melanie rebutted.

"What?" I asked.

She lightly giggled as she glanced back to the queen. "There wouldn't be enough cocks to cram into her mouth."

Chrysalis was growing infuriated at the humans who continued to insult her. "SUCH IMPUDENCE!"

"Case in point." Melanie concluded.

"YOU LOT HAVE TO BE THE MOST DISRESPECTFUL, SELF-ABSORBED, DEMEANING CRETIN I HAVE EVER HAD THE DISPLEASURE OF SEEING!"

Again, Melanie didn't care enough to hold her tongue. "This coming from the bitch who couldn't get some fucker to dick her on any given night. So you have to resort to mind control, fear-mongering, and mental gymnastics to get some guy to please you the way you want it, without giving him any option to disagree or express his opinion. If I hadn't known any better, you'd be one hell of a third-wave feminist."

"That's a bit of a low blow." Alex argued. "Feminazi's don't go out there actually raping people as much as they try to get men to close their legs on an empty subway."

I then responded. "Nah, she'd be more comparable to a Catholic priest, forcing the love of Jesus down one's throat and spreading his word all over their face."

"But she doesn't take young boys like they do... or does she?" Stanton inquired, growing curious of what she would do. He then turned to the changeling queen and asked. "Excuse me, miss bug slut. Uh, just how young do you take your victims? I know that kids are easily impressionable, but still─"

"ENOUGH!" And it looks like she finally snapped. Too bad, we were just about start the banter. "I DON'T CARE HOW YOU DO IT, KILL THEM ALL! MAKE THEM SUFFER!"

Meanwhile, Melanie applied the logic of law enforcement to the situation growing before us. "And just like that, we feared for our lives."

"So... Kill every last one in the name of self-defense?" Cliff answered as he cocked the shotgun he carried.

"Except her, she's last." I said, pointing to the changeling queen.

"Personal with the two of you, huh?" Alex asked before he turned off his safety.

If only he knew just how personal this was to me, he'd know the reason why I felt like every last one of these changelings that charged for us had a huge target on their faces. Slowly, my demeanor began to unravel, my anger proceeded to take charge, and my fingers grew itchy for a squeeze. At last, I snapped. "She has picked at my brain for the last time. I want her to deteriorate in the filth of her dead. I want to squeem at the sight of her drowning in the blood of every single one of her minions! THEIR SCREAMS WILL HELP GIVE ME BACK THE SLEEP I'VE LOST! EVERY. LAST. ONE OF THEM DIES!"

The changeling queen dismissively spoke as we were non-factors. A fatal mistake on her part. "Ha! You think that a mere six of you could possibly─"

I think I felt my voice crack as I screamed to the very top of my lungs, almost blacking out while I did.

A cacophony of gunfire and muzzle flashes became our inaugural fanfare to the changeling queen and her forces. Her eyes shrank to the size of push pins as three of her changelings grabbed hold of her and tried to fly her towards the back of her army. Her head twisted left and right, only to see the steady amount of her changelings being driven towards the ground while covered in blood. One of the changelings that carried her ended up being one of the victims to our emphatic symphony. The changeling squealed loudly as it clung onto it's queen, all before succumbing to it's wounds, loosening it's grip, and plummeting towards the ground.

"Spread out!" She called out to her changelings, who were growing even more confused at how many of their own fell around them.

"CLEAR THE AIR!" Alex hollered, doing all that he could to pick out every last one he saw in the air. Stanton was happily sending his shots into the direction of whatever threatened to close in on us. Many of his shots ended as grazes and non-lethal hits, but proved to be critical due to their inability to recover from their being hit. Those who were hit either bumped into the others and lowered their altitude, or fell to the ground, ultimately gaining more life-threatening injures due to the fall distance. Alex was patiently helping him out as he picked off the ones that tried to regain their balance. He ended up tearing them apart as soon as they became stationary.

"WOOHOHOHO! WE'RE SKEET SHOOTING TODAY!" Stanton shouted out with a victorious laugh, earning an eyeroll from Alex.

Any of the changelings that were left in the air quickly grounded themselves out of fear of being shot down. A lot of them grew tentative of advancing. Yet the ones that were already on the ground were just as hesitant to make a move. A few other changelings tried to swoop in to rescue their wounded, only to become caught in the crossfire.

Meanwhile, Chrysalis did whatever she could to keep her forces calm. She tried to remain stone-faced through the attack, coming up with her own counter-maneuver. "Magical barrage; counter battery formation!" She hollered to her forces. A line of changelings quickly formed up front in spite of the few of their comrades being sent to the ground for a permanent rest. They lowered their heads, ignited their horns with changeling magic and hissed violently when their queen gave the order. "Launch!"

Blast after blast, waves of green energy bolts whizzed past our heads as we stood on the bridge. All six of us ran back to the Ponyville end of the bridge, dropping to the ground as they proceeded to counter our ranged attack with one of their own. One bolt even hit the road deck just in front of Rickey, sending a bunch of dirt and a few pebbles into the air.

"THEY'RE SHOOTING BACK!" Rickey said, pointing out the obvious.

"THOSE ONLY STUN YOU, BUT DON'T GET HIT!" I called out.

As one blast nearly hit Melanie, she scooted back before her head was completely out of the way. She looked back down to the creek below and shouted to the rest of us. "TAKE COVER IN THE DITCH!"

We kept our heads low as we tried to make a mad dash for the other side of the river again. This time, we leapt from over the railing of the bridge into the creek below, trudging through the bloodied stream and quickly taking cover behind the slanted wall of dirt and grass. Though we were separated by the bridge, we still maintained contact underneath. Rickey, Melanie, and Alex were on one side, poking their heads just above the grass. Stanton, Cliff, and I were on the other, trying to wait for them to make their next move. As we all waited, we took the time to reload our weapons.

"They're backing off, breakout!" Chrysalis screamed to her forces, getting them ready to flank us by whatever means. They advanced their position, however they did so at a snail's pace. They appeared to be uncertain as to what would happen next. And their wounded comrades were still squirming around them with previously unseen holes in their bodies, spilling out blood as they lied there. Those that marched on were greatly intimidated.

As soon as he heard the command, Alex blinked dumbfoundedly as he partially lifted his hand. "These guys are stupid."

That's a given, but what's also true is that they're completely ignorant to the weapons we're using and their effective range. Our edge is exclusively based on weaponry and it's psychological effects on their intended target. All they have to do is run directly towards us and we can just mow them down. And given Chrysalis' most recent order, they'll be doing just that.

"Reloaded." Stanton asked as he finished replenishing his weapon. "Do we commence to a turkey shoot?"

"Nah, I got something better." Rickey whispered as he briefly slid back to underneath the bridge. "Cliff, you still got that bag of goodies I told you to get?"

"Like I'm gon' be stupid and not bring 'em." He answered as he took off his backpack and unzipped it. As I peered over to see what was inside, I felt my jaw drop a few inches as I saw a ton of hand grenades. I could only nod with approval.

"Oh, so we're doing that now?" Stanton questioned as he pulled out a few.

"Wait until I call it out, then y'all can start tossing shit. Hopefully it'll be better than all the interceptions your team threw against Bama." Rickey whispered before he got back to his side and climbed up the slope.

Stanton grumbled as he pulled the pin on the grenade and held the handle down. "Nnngh! If only we had one of these in a football that night..."

I wasn't going to risk anything going wrong, so I made it decisively clear that I didn't want any part of the throwing game. Besides, Stanton has an arm, I'm more than certain that he'll be able to catch quite a few. Cliff grabbed one as well just a second before we heard the words from the other side of the bridge. "FRAG OUT!"

One grenade went flying high into the air just before Stanton strong-armed his towards the front of the changeling line. Within a few seconds, two explosions were heard followed by a bunch of screaming from the changelings. I took a peek over the top to see that they had started to scatter. A few others started to run back to the forest as their queen yelled out in horror.

"MY CHANGELINGS!"

"KEEP TOSSING! PRESS 'EM BACK!" Rickey shouted as he threw another one.

Cliff tossed one of his own as Stanton picked up another and flung it towards the scattered formation. A few changelings grew so intimidated by the explosions deemed it necessary to take to the air to avoid more of them. But as a result, Melanie and Alex proceeded to pick them from the air. The changeling formation began to fall back.

"They took their foot off the gas, what now?" Melanie asked.

Meanwhile, I had an idea of my own. "Quick, who has a grenade launcher mounted on their rifle?"

"Just about all of us." Cliff answered.

"Rickey, Cliff, I want you two to start pounding them from the back, encourage them to stay awhile. Stanton, Alex, and Mel will cover for you." I suggested, still looking at the changelings formation drawing further and further away from us.

"What about you?" Stanton asked.

"What else can I do? All I have is a handgun and a combat knife, let's keep it that way." If anything, I want to be certain that nothing else happens to where I'm suddenly possessed again. I'm actually surprised that she didn't go to that option sooner, but that doesn't mean that it's not on the table.

"Why?" Melanie inquired.

"Just in case. I'll help you guys keep them quiet." I answered as I reloaded my weapon. Shortly after changing the magazine, I hollered out to the others. "SUPPRESSING FIRE!"

Everyone stood at the top of the bank, Cliff and Rickey started to angle themselves to where the could fire their grenade rounds just at the treeline. The changelings who still stuck around at the front tried to marshal whatever forces they could to reassemble their counter-battery formation, but was swiftly convinced otherwise when several of them went down to incoming bullets. The ones who remained alive tried their best to get their shots off, sending bolts of magic high into the air. One such bolt even hit a changeling that was hovering above. Alex pulled out his sniper rifle and began to shoot for rear most changelings.

His eye was on his target as it encountered it's commander. "My queen! We're getting bombarded from the rear!"

"WHAT!?" She asked loudly while the sounds of explosives preached to her ears from behind. She turned back to see a series of explosions all going off just within the outer boarders of the trees.

The changeling shook with terror as it spoke to the queen. "Explosions, they're tearing us apa-ACK!" The changeling was abruptly silenced by the familiar sound of gunfire, one shot being significantly louder than the others. The changeling grasped at it's neck as it felt the blood spilling forth in small spurts. The changeling queen, at last, started to see that her fight was indeed an unwinnable one.

"...Fall back... FALL BACK!" She commanded loudly, trying to command what was left of her forces.

At least one changeling manage to break through the chaos and barreled towards me. I tried to shoot for it, but the speed and the angle in which it approached caused me to abandon that idea and reach for my knife. As it tackled me, I used my pistol to strike it's head before following up with a quick slice at it's back. The changeling screeched in pain while I adjusted my grip on the knife and hammered the blade into the side of it's mantle. As it struggled to free itself from the blade, I placed the glock against it's head and pulled the trigger. The changeling simply slumped as I threw it towards the ground. Using my foot as an anchor, I held the body in place as I retrieved my knife.

After the quick scuffle, I turned back to the others, partially covered in blood. "MEL, STANTON, SWITCH TO YOUR GRENADE LAUNCHERS! ENCOURAGE THEM TO STAY A LITTLE WHILE LONGER!"

While some completely abandoned the formation and sought to retreat to the sides, Melanie and Stanton launched their grenade rounds at them as a means to deter them from going in those directions. Unfortunately, the ones that took to the sky were the ones that spared themselves of a grisly end.

As she watched, Chrysalis grew into a state of shock as she fell onto her haunches. Her body stopped moving for a while as she watched her beloved changelings being slaughtered before her very eyes. The pain of seeing them in such a state caused her to break her character, ultimately pleading for us to cease fire. "STOP IT! STOP IT, YOU MONSTERS! YOU'RE KILLING MY CHANGELINGS!"

One of the wounded changelings tried to grab at my leg, only to receive a bullet to it's head. I turned back to the queen and quoted the words she screamed to us prior to our battle. "I DON'T CARE HOW YOU DO IT! KILL THEM ALL! MAKE. THEM. SUFFER!"

"MURDERERS! YOU MURDERERS!" She shouted, igniting her horn with her magic.

Before I could respond, I felt the familiar pain of my head being toyed with again. The pain was vastly greater than the previous times, causing me to fall to my knees. My arms shook, loosening my grip on the gun until I dropped it.

"Oh no you don't!" Alex cried out as he took one more shot, this time for the changeling queen. My body quickly felt a light zap that left me unable to move for a second before I was able to get back up on my own accord. I looked back to Alex, who seemed disgruntled about something. Then a blood-curdling voice cried out into the air, immediately grabbing my attention.

"MY HORN! MY HORN!" Chrysalis screamed out as she fell to the ground. Upon a closer look I discovered that her horn was displaced to a few feet away from her. Her hoof reached out as she tried to simultaneously stop the blood from streaming from out of her. A weak green glimmer was all I saw on the horn before it inevitably faded away.

"She was gonna do that mind-control shit, I'm not gonna let her fuck with you again!" Alex shouted as he changed weapons again..

Thank goodness he knew what was going on. I don't think it would've ended well if she had gained total control over me again. "Good shot!" I hollered back, turning my attention to the now-enraged remnants of the changeling army, who bravely surrounded their queen. Once again, I grew violent and decided that I was going to get to her no matter the circumstance.

She's been giving me hell for the past two days, and I was going to get mine. "BLITZKRIEG! BLITZKRIEG! PRESS 'EM IN!"

Another changeling tried to make a suicidal dash for us before being taken down. "You bastards! I'll─"

The changeling was rendered silent by Melanie, who screamed at the newly dead body. "AND STAY DOWN!"

Chrysalis started to quietly weep as her horn being removed caused her to experience a great deal of discomfort. Her pain was further amplified by the sights of her beloved changelings being brought down all around her. She even looked up to see one changeling trying to pull away with one of their own, before ultimately being gunned down themselves. The painful moans throughout the field filled her ears with a sound that threatened to drive her to madness. "My queen..." One voice called out for her from beside her. The changeling's chest rose and fell rapidly as it struggled to breathe, it's neck slit open. The changeling reached out with a blood-stained hoof, the light fading from it's eyes as it spoke once more. "Mother─"

It's chest stopped rising, falling for one final time as the hoof fell quietly to the dirt. The changeling queen's heart was broken as yet another one of her own was killed before her. Her body was racked with despair as she finally cried out to the skies above. "HELP US! PLEASE! SOMEONE! HEEEEELP USSSSS!"

The moment we heard that, our advance slowed. "You... son of a..." I mumbled to myself as I became overwhelmed with anger. I shook my head and continued to press, killing more of the changelings that protected her before she screamed again.

"SAVE US, PLEASE! ANYONE!" She cried out, her voice sounding broken and filled with grief.

The others acknowledged her call, causing Melanie to scream to the others. "Cease fire... CEASE FIRE! STOP SHOOTING!"

All the while, I was caught in some sort of trance. I didn't stop moving towards her. But before I was within a yard's reach of the changeling queen, I felt a pair of hands wrap around my abdomen, pulling me back. "Hey bruh, chill out!" Cliff yelled as he held me back.

Honestly, I didn't care for her screams. Not now, not after what little stunts she and her friends pulled. I continued to fight with Cliff, eventually wrestling him off. "No, don't you start asking for sympathy now! You're not gonna get any." I aimed my words directly for Chrysalis.

When I finally stood above her body, she looked up to me with blood-shot eyes. Her face lined with blood, dirt, and tears. "You... monster..." She whispered as she cried.

My hands trembled as I looked down at her, breathing heavily as the muscles in my face tightened. I swallowed whatever spit was in my mouth while she continued to shed her tears. The only thing I felt when I looked at her was the shame of being rendered useless, humiliated before everyone I knew and loved. She tried to take everything that was mine, she killed one of my friends and savagely brutalized another, she did all of it with a confident smile on her face, like she was going to get away with it all and I was going to accept it.

No, not today, not ever. I sure as hell hope you enjoyed watching your kids die, because you have no idea how many signatures I had to sign, how many families I had to inform that their loved ones would never come back, and how many mothers beat on my chest telling me to bring back their kids. All the flak I took in the news, all the politicians who shoved it down my throat, every last security failure, and I had to take it because you didn't keep your entitled little fucker on a goddamn leash, and you couldn't keep your fucking legs closed.

You brought me from one hell to another, and now I'm going see myself out. So here, have these words you threw at me, you crater-infested cunt. "I haven't heard that one before. I'll keep that one down for all the names I've been called in my life. At least you'll die having that honor."

I pulled my gun to her, aimed directly for her head. I had to control myself because my aim was so shaky from my being angry. And I wanted to pull the trigger so badly, but fortune found favor to spare her yet another few seconds. "Nondis!" Melanie called from behind me. I turned around to see what she wanted, just to find that my world was suddenly tilted to the side.

I took a blow to the head, causing me to stumble before regaining my balance. I turned to my left to see a bloodied changeling, riddled with bullet wounds, standing on three of his legs. He cracked a smile as he shouted. "Protect the queen!"

Instead of letting him catch another wind, I let him catch one quick shot. Quickly, he slouched over and died. Looking back down to the gun, I could see the slide locked back, indicating that I was out of ammo. Out of frustration, I threw the gun aside. "Well fuck, your guy took your bullet... and I happen to be out. Guess I'll do this old school."

Without much time to think about it, I pulled back out my bowie knife and grabbed a handful of her seaweed-colored mane, yanking her body off the ground. Just before I placed the blade against her neck, I heard a scream from Melanie.

"Nondis, what are you doing!?" Stanton asked incredulously.

"What does it look like? I'm doing my job!"

Alex tried to walk up to me, placing his hands out to signal me to slow down. "Dude, don't do that."

I then briefly directed my anger at my brother. "Explain to me why I shouldn't. She has dragged me through hell in a kerosene handbasket for the past day and a half! I haven't slept under my own will for two fucking nights! She raped one of my friends, and killed another for the sake of having me become her fucking slave! She violated the inner-sanctum of my own goddamn brain just to do whatever she wanted! SHE ALMOST HAD ME TURN MY GUN AGAINST ALL OF YOU! DO YOU THINK I'M GOING TO LET HER LIVE!?

Melanie stared at me while she was covering her mouth, trembling as she was scared to look at me. Rickey walked up to her and comforted her as he politely instructed me. "Put the knife down. She's done."

"I'm not gonna let her get me, not this time."

Cliff shook his head as he tried to slowly explain. "She's got you, bruh. If you do what you're about to do now, she will stay getting yo ass. Just let her go. You ain't gotta do shit else, you got it already."

I looked back down to see the bundle of hair in my hand and the knife being firmly placed against her throat. As I saw the blood trickling onto the blade, it all started to process exactly what I was threatening to do.

Oh... shit... what the hell.

My conscience kicked in and I finally realized that my intentions were going to be gruesome. I was actually going to go through with cutting off her head. At one point, I was going to saw through her neck for a few seconds before separating her head from her body. I was going to be toting her around by her hair, and it was going to feel like a grocery bag. I nearly vomited at that thought, and I realized that doing something like this was not within my constitution. I couldn't go through with something like that.

Alex tried to reason with me once more. "Nondis, don't. Don't let your obsession become something that makes you cross a boundary you'll never come back from. We all have our choices in life. She's made some incredibly bad ones, don't you make that same mistake."

For some odd reason, I knew what I was doing and couldn't find the strength to drop the knife. It was like my arm was locked in place. Deep in my head, I was trying to reason with myself on why she needed to die. I wasn't going to be comfortable in knowing she would live. I couldn't let that happen, she did way too much to warrant a death sentence, and that's legally speaking. "I'm justified!"

Alex stepped forward as he continued to reason with me. "And you got yours. Don't fuck that up. Cause if you do, then I don't know what I'll think of you, or any of us... or them, for that matter."

As he tilted his head towards the other side of the bridge, I felt my body nearly collapse under it's own weight. On the other side of the bridge, I could see a multitude of ponies all staring at what's going on before them. There were a few colors and faces I could make out from the crowd. I could see Cheese standing by Pinkie, who covered her mouth with shock and horror, just as Melanie did. I could make out the harrowing expression made by Princess Celestia. Twilight wore a worried look as many others around her whispered to one another. Applejack was holding her hat with concern for the yellow filly standing next to her. Rarity shielded Sweetie Belle's eyes as she chewed on her hoof. Fluttershy was buried in her bangs as she shook. Rainbow Dash hovered in the air, mouth stretched in awe.

Each one of them had their eyes on me. Even as I shifted my arm a little to stop it from cramping, the multitude of ponies all gasped loudly when I moved. Some of them even turned away as they thought I was going to go through with it.

But in all honesty, what choice do I have? She's a threat to our nation and to me personally. Who's to say that if I let her go, she won't come back with even greater numbers and better protection? Who's to say that she won't take away someone's kids and drain them dry, or do what she did to Zecora? How many more will they stuff into wagons and bring them across the country, diseased and dying? I can't let her live knowing that there's a distinct chance of her going through with some ploy for revenge.

I didn't have to cut her head off, but I can't let her live.

You shut up. I have every reason to do this.

I'm not... I'm not gonna listen to either of you.

I've already killed so many.

...God damn you. Damn everything.

My heart won out. My mind and my heart, for once, were in agreement with one another. And my body finally responded to their wishes. I removed the knife from her neck and sheathed the blade. I dropped the changeling queen and walked over to her broken horn, placing my foot on it to make sure that she didn't try to make a grab for it. I didn't quite know how changelings heal themselves, and I wasn't willing to find out. I was just wanting to be sure that whatever magic she had, it would no longer be cast through it.

"...We're even. You left me to die in a forest in some unknown land. But you saved me from certain death... and left me to die after...." I picked up the horn and pointed it towards her. "I don't have it in me to end you like this. Turns out public execution isn't really my thing. For some, yes... but not me."

I could hear everyone breathing a sigh of relief behind me, especially Melanie. "Thank God."

"But I'll warn you, the next time you set foot on my boarders, you so much as take one last soul from me, and I will have you impaled on spot. Do I make myself clear?"

She didn't respond to me directly. Instead, she gently petted the changeling whose lifeless eyes stared right back at her. Quietly, she began to whisper the names of her deceased offspring. "Pupa... Iris... Larvae..."

I couldn't quite gauge my response to her doing that. I didn't know whether or not I was supposed to feel compassion for her, or anger from the fact that she just now showed this side of her when all of this could've been avoided. She didn't have to make the decision to leave me behind or summon me for the sole purpose of decimating the Equestrian forces. All she had to do was tell me that I had a purpose the very moment I opened my eyes and everything would've played out differently. Instead, she treated me as a failure and sentenced me to die alone.

In retrospect, I would've been a whole lot different from who I am now. And I would've been the one leading a charge across that bridge. Maybe I would've been on this field like the others. But none of that happened. I was harassed, violated, and haunted with the most damning of situations. I'm here, defending everyone who's watching just across that creek. And up till now, I was probably hailed as a hero.

Maybe I am a monster, but I have my own morals. And the morals I have on that side of the bridge, I have to maintain them. I will swallow every sacrifice and foul deed I've done, and do right by the ones I know and love.

As she continued to go through the list of names, I quietly whispered to her. "All those names... You have no idea how many I've had to apologize for on my end... or maybe you do. Well over two hundred souls I've been held responsible for, been grilled on flame over. You better remember every last name you failed to save, because I sure as hell remember all of mine."

I wasn't quite sure that she heard me or not, but I think that what happened today spoke volumes. It wasn't quite the direction I would've preferred, but it was a necessary one. I couldn't let this go unchecked, and I had to set a precedent. I know that I will be looked at differently, all of us humans. And if these other five don't agree to it, then I'm more than willing to go at it alone. I didn't want them to be along for the ride, at least not this far into it. I wanted this to be my sin alone.

I suppose I'll be carrying another five while I'm at it. "Muzzle her jaw shut, cauterize her wounds. We'll let her and the other survivors to clean up after themselves." I ordered as I staggered back to the bridge.

Stanton started to wear an incredulous look on his face as he asked me. "Where are you going?"

"No amount of water can wash the blood off my hands, doesn't mean that my entire body has to be an example of that."

As I walked back to the other side of the bridge, I could feel every pair of eyes gaze through me. My legs grew heavier as I marched through the streets of Ponyville. None of the others approached me as I made my unceremonious trudge to the castle. Whispers flew through the town as side-glances were all I was given. In my hands was nothing more than a broken horn and a ton of baggage, much of it emotional and mental. The weight of it all slowed me down as I walked the open streets directly to Twilight's castle.

If I had to look at the bright side of this, I managed to get Zecora back.

Silence. Silence at last.

I don't mean the total absence of sound or the silence that one would get when they ask a room full of people to be quiet. I mean the silence that comes with a moment of self-isolation. The silence that comes without the multiple pairs of eyes watching your every move, the absence of judgement, that silence. I needed that silence after everything that happened for the past three days. I needed one moment to reflect, not to fear, not to prep myself for the next assignment, just a moment to question myself.

It's been an hour since I took my shower and holed myself inside of the portal room. No doubt that the sun was well beyond the western horizon. And of course I was expecting someone to check in on me eventually, but I needed this to ask myself some very important questions. I needed clarity on a variety of things that I knew affected the others.

Was it really within my right to bring them here?

Would it have been better if I just told them what I was doing and not necessarily show them a first-hand example?

If they felt uncomfortable with what happened today, then do I just have their memories wiped for their sanity?

Or should I wipe their memories of everything altogether?

If I don't wipe their memories, what would be the effects on them seeing me the way I was?

How do I even go back from what happened today?

Do I make them accept what happened?

What do they think of me?

...Oh God, did they actually see me dive headlong into first base with Chrysalis? Fuck, my life is over. I mean I can still taste the bitterness of her tongue being shoved in my mouth... and I even remember mine going damn-near into her throat. And I damn-well remember her hooves trying to find the goods on the sly. AND this was all in Twilight's face, like she didn't even matter.

Ugh... I think I'm ready to vomit now.

I didn't respond to whoever knocked at the door. I didn't feel like answering to anyone unless I absolutely needed to. Yet, the door opened anyhow. The first sound I heard was the distinctive clopping of hooves. A pony visitor, I suppose.

"I didn't say come in."

"You forgot whose house you're in." Twilight responded flatly. "Though I can understand your desire to be left alone."

That's good to know. "Okay. Any reason why you're here then?"

"Because being left alone after a day like this is in itself a bad idea. An idle mind breeds mischief and madness."

"So what? I'm mad. Old news."

She walked up to me and sat herself beside me. "You're not crazy."

"Twilight, I am the very definition of crazy. Did you see what I was about to do to Chrysalis today?"

She used her magic to turn my head to face her. "Do you honestly think that what you did was crazy? A bit brutal, yes. But by no definition were you out of your mind."

"And how would you know?" I inquired.

"Look at me. There's a side of me that you have yet to see. And even though you saw flashes of it throughout our relationship, you haven't seen the worst of it. Back when I was a student, I actually hypnotized half the town just to solve a friendship problem, when I was the definite cause of it! I drove myself into madness over something as small as a scheduled letter to Princess Celestia. I actually tried to stop my brother's wedding because I was being overly protective of him."

"But that was justified. What I did today wasn't."

Twilight glanced back at the doorway and then turned her attention back to me. "You know, I don't think you realize just what you did for Ponyville today."

"Provide a body count?"

She placed a hoof on my shoulder as she brought me over for a nuzzle. "No. Whether you realize it or not, you actually stopped an invasion of changelings. Sure, they would've retreated and tried again if you would've let up, but you didn't."

"That sounds a little odd coming from the Princess of Friendship."

"And might I remind you that you took the blows to save Zecora from certain death. Not only that, you fought to defend your friends and everyone you loved."

I tried to pull away from her as I slowly spake. "Twilight, I. Was going. To cut off. Someone's... Heeeaaaad. I was in the process of decapitating someone who begged for mercy, knowing damn well that she couldn't fight back anymore."

"Newsflash: You didn't go through with it."

"Yeah, but I thought about it."

"And when you realized what you were doing, how did you feel then?"

"I was fucking terrified." I confessed, looking back at my hands. "Here I was, holding her like I was gonna start toting her around like a bag of groceries on the way back from market on a lovely spring afternoon. The fuck kind of shit is that!? I don't have that in me, and still I dared to even act like I was going to do it. Everyone was scared shitless when I held that knife against her neck."

Next, I felt Twilight placed her entire weight against me as she jumped on my back. "Okay... Can I tell you a little secret?"

I groaned as she continued to rest on my back. "Yeah, what?"

"I... I hold some pretty serious grudges. I might not say it to anyone or tell someone upfront, but I do. And sometimes, when I get to a certain point, I feel like I could do anything to destroy somepony over things they did to me. And at times, I become inwardly violent, playing out these weird revenge fantasies in my head."

Okay... that's a turn for the unexpected. "I don't see you acting like that."

"You remember what I told you about Tirek, right? Well I know I haven't told you about Discord. Discord caused me and my friends to all turn against one another. And the first thing I said to Celestia when she ordered for Discord to be reformed was 'HOW COULD YOU BRING DISCORD HERE!?' in her face, loudly, thinking that she was being incredulously incompetent. What I'm trying to say is that we all have moments where our anger and grudges alter our immediate judgement."

"Yeah, but you never felt like you wanted to decapitate someone."

"Chrysalis, for trying to marry my older brother and dooming my former foalsitter to an obscure end, also endangering my friends and family, invading my hometown, striking my teacher down, and turning everyone I knew and loved against me for the sake of making me out to be some obsessively compulsive younger sister who didn't want her older brother to marry anyone? Cadance could tell you just how much magic I used in the caves when I was sent down there. She'll even tell you just how close my hooves were from crushing in her windpipe. And mind you, that was just part one!"

Okay... maybe I do see her acting like that. "You nearly killed Cadance, for real?"

"I would've slaughtered to keep my friends and family safe. I destroyed a mountain for less, and that was because of a pet. When you love something, or someone, you don't care for the repercussions because you know that you would kill or be killed to keep that special thing around. And if you died knowing that things would be bittersweet for that special someone, you wouldn't have any regrets. Sure, you'd be scared of dying, but that's it. And I know I'd much rather be scared of knowing that when I close my eyes, it's over for me... as opposed to losing you."

"Twilight─" She lightly petted the side of my face as she kissed me on the cheek.

"So no, you don't get to be the crazy one in this relationship. I'm the crazy one. Got it?"

I have to admit, she makes it hard for me to sulk. I know it's mainly because she's often selfish, but I think I can grow to appreciate that about her. However, I felt a little pain when she said the word 'relationship'. Both she and I know exactly what's gonna happen at the end of everything. But I suppose I'll just take it, and go along for the ride. "Got it."

"Good... Now all of your friends wanted to know if it was okay for them to sleep over for the night."

Wait, what? "Huh?"

"They said they didn't feel like going home and sleeping alone, something about not wanting nightmares."

Ah shit. I guess we'll need Luna to be over for the night, though it will be a while for the nightmares to be siphoned out. "Well, I guess I'll talk to them and see what's up with their schedule for tomorrow."

"Oh yeah, they said don't worry about getting them on schedule for anything in your world tomorrow. They'll be here all day."

Pardon me for asking... *ahem* "...FOR WHAT!?"

Holy shit this was hard to write.

Truth be told, the last chapter was actually the first portion of this chapter. But once I realized that this would be more than twenty thousand alone, I decided to cut my losses and dump it into a chapter to set up this one. Other than that, it was rather difficult to write a chapter that contained hypnosis from the viewpoint of the main character. And ultimately, I didn't know how to pull it off. So I colored the mental takeover sequences, making the protagonist seem changed in not just the dialog, but the narration itself (which I am unsure on whether or not has been done).

Basically, the concept is based on this old Age of Empires tactic.

If you ever played the game, when your pieces or soldiers are converted, they not only change color, but also sides as well. So that house (or that scout you used to light up the map) you had before, not yours anymore. So as a result, it then plays for the opposing player (or CPU), and the light it gave off is now darkened.

Basically, the perspective takes place in the midst of the conversion process, turning Nondis against who he once allied himself with. Though I personally found the "converted" Nondis to be a bit annoying.

And then there's the battle scene that's sure to cause a bit of controversy. Spoilers: The issue will be addressed at the beginning of next chapter. I'll spoil you that much.

And finally, the end piece where Twilight is talking to him, telling him about her darker conflicts and how she wished she outright did in Chrysalis. That being the case, she sympathized with Nondis on how he felt, and went further to explain just how angry she got. I know it's a bit of headcanon thrown in there, but then again, it's fanfiction.

Though I try to stay within reason of how the characters would act in the show. The only real OOC moment had to have been Applejack, but I was actually saving that card since Chapter 34.

Nondis: Aww, Jackie─
Applejack: Please don't call me that.

Again, if there were some issues, I apologize in advance. But I hope that this chapter wasn't too terribly long.

Comments are always appreciated and it helps me write the story better. So get to complaining!

But in the meantime...

I've got an NBA game to watch. PLAYOFFS!