Dear Celestia,

It's been a month since I accepted your offer of exploring the Everfree, and three since the incident. At first I wasn't sure about accepting, but now, I'm glad I did. There's so much life in here, some of it trying to kill me, but I can look past that. Ever since after the incident, which was three months ago, I've learned much about you and your sister, as well as the Element Bearers. I'm still trying to understand Pinkie Pie. Twilight, along with the others, just tell me 'It's Pinkie Pie'. I guess I'll accept that answer in time. But still, Pinkie can give Discord a run for his money, whereas randomness is concerned. I remember how I first met Pinkie. I was just moving into Ponyville. As soon as I opened the door, which I was surprised to see wasn't locked, I heard a chorus of 'surprise'. The first pony I saw was Pinkie, and when I met her, I thought that her appearance fit her personality. I'm probably not the only one. She's the most energetic pony, no, being, I know. Not once, in all of the worlds that I've been to, have I met anyone as hyper as her. The amount of questions she asked me was almost frightening. But, I managed to answer each one. Whenever I see her, it brings a smile to my face. Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, is a somewhat different story. When we first met, I could already tell she didn't trust me that much. Or, I should say, at all. In fact, I remember that she asked more questions than Pinkie. Good thing you were there to calm her down. Applejack was much more trusting. In fact, she was very welcoming of me. She can give one hell of a handshake. Not like Rarity, not in the least. Rarity was a little more... Classy, I think is the word I would use to describe her. When I first walked into her boutique, I could tell that the dirt from my shoes was annoying her on the inside. Even after I offered to clean the dirt, she said that it wouldn't be a problem for her. She even let me stay in her guest room for a night. Well, anyway, I'm starting to run out of parchment, so tell everyone I said hi. And tell Luna to stop worrying about me. Seriously, she sends about ten letters a minute.

From, your friend, Red

Red looked over the letter, and nodded. He then snapped his fingers, and the letter turned into black smoke, and began to trail off to it's chosen destination. Red rubbed his eyes, it was getting late, and he would need to sleep soon. But he wanted to check the cave he had found earlier that day. Sighing, Red got up from the temporary camp he had made, and began walking. As he walked to the cave, he saw warnings that definitely weren't there when he passed earlier.

Soon, Red was at the entrance to the cave. It was almost pitch black in the cave. No, that's not ominous at all. Red took a deep breath and walked into the cave. Then, suddenly, a wooden gate seemed to crash down behind him, blocking the way out. Red snapped his fingers, and the area around him began to glow dimly. Walking through the cave, which turned out to be like a maze, Red began to sense something nearby. No, not something, someone. Red navigated the maze in a short amount of time, now that he had a goal. Once he was out o the maze, Red felt multiple beings begin to surround him. Red had only sensed this many beings three times before, not counting whenever he was in the mansion.

The first time was when he rebelled against his brother. He spilled more blood than he thought was possible. The second time was when he had to quite literally go against an army. The third time... Red shuddered at the memory. It had been a gruesome sight. Red shook his head to focus. He needed to do something, and fast, otherwise he would be overwhelmed by the number of whatever it was that was surrounding him.

Red held up his hand, opened his palm, and closed his eyes. A small orb of black energy began to form in his hand. When it was roughly twice the size of his fist, Red slammed the orb into the ground. The force of the blow sent the things flying away. Letting out a deep breath, Red began walking to an opening in front of him. This better be worth it. Red walked into another section of the cave, and looked around, although he couldn't see much with the limited visibility.

Soon, Red found a door. He tried to open it, only to find it locked. Just by looking at the door, Red could tell that whoever made it wasn't very handy with tools. Red simply kicked the door down. As the light emanating from Red flooded into the room, Red saw what looked like an alicorn. Red started to walk over to it, but stopped short once he realized what it truly was. Red's first thought was that it resembled an insect.

Red slowly began walking toward it again. It turned to face Red. Red stopped again, and asked, "What, and who, are you?"

"Chrysalis, former queen of the Changelings."

"Former queen? What happened?"

"We tried to invade Canterlot, and failed."

"What? You tried to invade Canterlot?" Chrysalis nodded. Red sighed, then walked closer to her. When he was next to her, he knelt down, and asked, "Why?"

"Changelings feed off of love. We were desperate."

"You could have asked peacefully, I'm sure of it."

"Heh, we can't simply ask. They would expect something in return."

"No, they wouldn't. Trust me, I've known them for a while, they're one of the more peaceful races I've met. And I've met quite a lot. Now, why are you here?"

"I'm being punished."

"How?"

"I haven't fed in months, and I can barely stand." Red sighed, then picked Chrysalis up, and hefted her over his shoulder. "Hey! What are you doing!?" Red smiled.

"Looks like I'm on a rescue mission." Red walked out of the 'cell', and back into the maze. He could feel the changelings begin to follow him. Then, suddenly, one appeared in front of him. Red stopped, and said, "Outta the way. I don't have time to chat."

The changeling hissed, then said, in a voice that was scratchy and slightly high-pitched, "You are interfering with changeling law, leave her, and we will consider letting you live."

Red looked at the changeling for five seconds, then said, "Ha! What makes you think you can even come near me?"

Chrysalis looked back to Red, and told him, "Just leave me, you don't need to get involved."

"Actually, I do. I was given a mission to explore, and map out the Everfree. This cave is part of the forest, therefore, they are interfering with official Equestrian business. And I was given authorization to use deadly force if such a thing occurred." Red smiled, knowing that they wouldn't listen.

"Your business is meaningless here. Prepare to die!" The changeling's horn began to glow green, and unleashed a magical blast at Red. Red simply jumped out of the way.

Red raised a brow and asked, "Is that it?" Then, Red drew his sword, and began walking toward the changeling. The changeling fired another blast at Red, but he easily blocked it. The changeling started to back away, and Red snapped his fingers, creating a wall of smoke behind the changeling. When the changeling got close to the wall, the smoke began to move around the changeling, surprising it. Red rushed up to the changeling while it was distracted, and stabbed it in the throat.

Red snapped his fingers, and the smoke dissipated. Red continued walking through the maze, when he began to hear laughter. It sounded somewhat familiar. Shrugging, Red ignored it. When Red was through the maze, he realized that he couldn't sense any of the changelings that were following him. Walking toward the gate, Red cut through it in a single slash.

After about five minutes, Red was back at his camp, along with Chrysalis. After getting a fire going, Red set Chrysalis down, and sat down next to her. After a few minutes of looking into the fire, Red asked, "So, what happened at the invasion?"

Chrysalis glanced at Red, then sighed, "Well, I was disguised as a princess, Cadance, who was going to get married. It was going smoothly, until she came along."

"By 'she', your referring to..."

"A unicorn. She was the groom's sister."

"And the groom?"

"Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor."

"Hm. What happened when she came along?"

"She started noticing things that no other pony would."

"Then what happened?"

"She confronted me, but nopony believed her. Then, when we were alone, I sent her to the catacombs of the castle, with the princess I was impersonating."

"I'm guessing that they escaped."

Chrysalis nodded, and said, "I was forced to reveal my true self. Then, I overpowered Celestia, and for a while, everything seemed like it was flawless. But, we were thrown out by some kind of barrier."

"And you landed in the forest?" Chrysalis nodded. "Hm, and it's been months since your punishment was enforced?" Chrysalis nodded again.

"Aww, how cute. Red actually has some emotion. Wait till the others get a load of this." Red and Chrysalis turned back to see who had just said that. Red's eyes widened.

"What the? How the hell are you here?" Next Chapter: Catching Up Estimated time remaining: 54 Minutes