"Hello!? Hello!? Somepony please be there!" Fluttershy cried, banging on the door of a two-story building. A chipping sign hung over the door ‘Wayfarer's Eden’. The blows of her iron hooves dented the metal supports and woodwork of the entrance.

Whooves caught up to her, pushing aside the iron black pegasus. "Stop that! You're breaking the door down."

The sound of spilling bits of metal rang inside, followed by a deep, angry voice. "Dammit! Elf, get the door. I have to start over."

"Elf? Oh dear." Whooves muttered. "Everypony uh... go around the side of the building. Hide there."

"Why? What's an elf gonna do? It sounds prissy." Rainbow Dash scoffed.

"Just trust me, you do not want elves to see anything affected by Chaos. They’ve been fighting against it for seven thousand years."

"I'm not going anywhere." She stubbornly disappeared in a flurry of feathers. "I wanna see it."

Whooves put a hoof to his face and sighed, "Fine. Everypony else hide."

They crept around the side as latches and locks were undone on the other side of the door. As it creaked open it revealed a tall, thin figure wearing a silver armored skirt, gold trimmed chestplate, and a tall helmet with a blue tuft streaming from the top. Further inside was an extraordinarily short man with a large beard picking up gold coins from the floor.

"Not another one of you filthy things." The elf sneered.

Whooves studied the Elf, taking a moment to decipher his familiar face. "Ghaldri?"

The elf squinted, immediately suspicious. "How do you know my name?"

"What, you don't remember- oh yeah, pony. hmm..."

"I'll say you sound familiar."

"Ah! Tiranoc field, 2076? Bloodletter had you on the ground and..." He rolled his hoof, trying to get the elf to remember.

"The Doctor threw a rock in its face, barely distracting it long enough to kill it. But how do you know? There have never been your kind on Ulthuan." He looked down into Whooves’ eyes pensively, stroking his chin.

"In his hand the sword of Khaine did promise power untold..." he said.

"While god of war and god of murder battled for his soul." Whooves replied confidently.

The elf stood upright, looking frustrated. "One by one the daemons fell and elf lord he stood tall..."

"For should he fail upon his task then mortal world would fall."

A small smirk broke Ghaldri’s frown."Upon the Isle beneath the fight, wise mages cast their spell..."

"And daemon minions howled in anguish, cursed to an eternal hell. I can do this all night, you taught me these."

"Great Asuryan, what happened to you?" the elf gawked at him.

"It would take more time to explain than there is sunlight, which looks like an hour left. Four hundred years has not been good to you."

"Ow... ow... owowowow!" Fluttershy slurred. There was a thud around the side of the building.

Ghaldri reflexively drew a gleaming two-handed sword, inscribed with an unknown language and stepped out. Rainbow Dash stepped back to avoid him.

"Who is there?" he called, "Show yourself!"

"Right, about that," Whooves said nervously, "I'm travelling somewhere with some friends and they're not in the best condition. They've had a really bad run in with Chaos and need help to control their mutations."

Ghaldri lowered his sword slightly, taking a moment to consider. "Resisting Chaos in body and mind is what a graduate of the Tower of Hoeth knows well."

"It's... a little more severe than that."

"It is nothing I cannot handle. It would be good to show the superiority of elven skills." He covered his nose. "One of them is infected by Nurgle, it seems."

"Yes. I don't want to tell her this is only the beginning, but--"

“What!?” Applejack staggered out from around the corner, desolated. "Ya mean there's more ta this!?"

Ghaldri tied a blue cloth over his nose and mouth.

"Havi'n mah guts spilli'n out on the ground, skin falli'n of in patches, flies replaci'n mah muscles and there's more!?"

"Unfortunately."

Ghaldri held his sword to her face to stop her. "You've almost got the worst kind. By the end you may be just one step from Chaos Spawn. Now please step back, your stench is ghastly. And the invisible one, is she possessed by a Horror or the Changeling of the Conspirator?"

Rainbow Dash reappeared. "How did you know I was there?"

"Moving patches of disturbed grass.” Ghaldri smirked, “Only men and these stunty dwarfs are so dull not to see."

"Oy!" the dwarf yelled from within the house.

The others came out, whereas Fluttershy ran inside scared out of her wits and Ghaldri scanned over them. "The Arch-Enemy has only begun his work. Come. Your internal war against Chaos begins soon. You should be grateful to be hardened by a Swordmaster of Hoeth!"

"Elves, still as arrogant as ever." Whooves said, shaking his said.

"Not arrogance, honesty."

"They can't stay unless they pay up." scolded the dwarf.

Ghaldri threw a small bag of coins onto the counter. "I was going to kill and hang those beasts along the road for free, but you paid me up front. I suspect that's what scared her."

He pointed at Fluttershy, quivering on a sofa. It's legs bent under her weight. The dwarf emptied the bag on the counter and let the coins run between his fingers.

"Well, heh, make your putrid hides at home."

Twilight nudged Whooves as the others went inside. "Doctor. Before we go in there's something you should see."

She led him to where they hid. A crude mace lay on the ground.

"This came out of Fluttershy's leg."

"Did you notice this earlier?"

"Well, she went crazy this morning and her hoof was all spiky, just like this. It's like she absorbed it somehow, but from where?"

"The goblins must have hit her with it and it got stuck."

"What!? Don't they know they could have-"

"Killed her, yes. I told you it's what they do best, just killing for fun. We should keep a close eye on what else happens to her."

"Hey Pinkie, where'd your stitches come from?" Applejack asked.

Pinkie stroked her stitches sadly, "I have no idea..." her pupils ballooned in size. "Actually I think it's starting to come back. Oh, yeah!"

She rolled out a tongue wrapped around a threaded needle, leading down her throat. "Why do you ask? You want some, too!?"

She moved very close and Applejack stepped back.

"Kinda." Her intestines held up her stomach, where it ruptured with a large hole. "Think you could patch this up and uh, me up ta here?" She pointed to just below her lungs.

"Talk about heartburn! Step into my office."

"Is there somepony else here?" Rainbow Dash groaned, covering her ears. "I hear like a thousand people whispering."

"Nope, just the elf." the dwarf said.

Rainbow grunted with a building migraine, flying upstairs and massaging her temples.

Whooves saw Twilight staring at Fluttershy’s bleeding mane, slowly, unconsciously licking her lips. He nudged her out of her shallow trance. “Be careful, she might notice you looking.”

"Oh, please don't remind me." Twilight mumbled, "I woke up with that in my mouth."

Fluttershy definitely heard that. "Well Doctor, I tried wringing it out but it just came back,” she said softly. “At least it's not dripping and nothing had to get hurt."

Twilight winced at the words and felt a tingling sensation in her abnormal teeth. She couldn’t help but picture the sight of flowing blood, sweet, thirst quenching... ‘No’. "So uh, we've had a long day, I'm kind of thirsty so I’m gonna go get a drink." She hastily darted into another room.

Whooves followed her, seeing her operate a well pump into a bucket and tried to drink it but immediately spat it out like it was medicine, feverishly wiping her tongue.

"Ugh! why does the water everywhere taste horrible!?" she spat.

"Maybe it's not water you need now." Whooves said knowingly.

"Ohh, no. I can already see where this is going and I'm not going to drink what falls off another pony! I don't care if nothing got killed making it, it's not right!"

"Just connect the dots. The wings, teeth. It all points to some kind of Chaotic—”

"Don't say it! I'm not becoming some bloodsucker!"

"I was actually going to say the Furies, but that's probably more accurate."

A fit of violent coughing seized Twilight. Black blood trickled from her mouth and she sat faintly as her fur started to fade to a sickly pale purple.

"Listen, very bad things will happen if you don't try." Whooves cautiously said, pulling her mane out of her eyes.

"No! I'm not going to—"

Her mane suddenly blew upward and the mark on her forehead burned like cinders. It started to grow, the arrows extended to her nose and cheeks. She held her head, pounding in pain.

"Fine, I'll do it!" she cried. The mark cooled but still spanned her face. She cleaned around her mouth with the water. "But what if she goes off again?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Maybe if you ask really nicely?"

"That's crazy."

"Well, how else are you going to get it without surprising her?"

"I think she'd be willing to oblige." Ghaldri said from the doorway with Fluttershy by him.

"Ar-are you sure there's no other way?" the iron mare asked.

"Unless she wants to go out and kill for it, there's no substitute. Bucket."

Twilight used her magic to empty the bucket of its remaining water and flung it to Ghaldri. He caught it and set it down next to Fluttershy.

She looked at the bucket timidly, then him.

"Go on." he nodded.

Fluttershy wrung out her mane into the bucket, a copious amount Twilight smacked her lips at. She picked it up and just stared at the red fluid, swirling in unnatural ways, and carried it to her weak friend. It sickened Fluttershy, thinking about where this drink came from and where it was going. The purple mare took the bucket and hesitantly glanced into it. She looked to the Doctor once more for any way out of having to do it, but he merely shrugged and said,

"Cheers?"

Twilight slowly put the rim to her mouth, tipped it up, and Ghaldri departed into the main room. It went down easy, feeling so wrong but tasted so good. Each sip made Twilight feel more sick and revitalized at the same time. She almost wished the bucket wouldn’t go dry, but it was quickly emptied.

“Thank goodness that's over."

"Until you have to do it again,” Whooves warned. “How do you feel?"

"Much better. I don't know if that's a good thing, though."

"So, you like my suit?" Ghaldri chuckled as Rarity marveled at his immaculate armor. "Though you're tainted, you have good taste."

He took off his helmet, showing his long blonde hair and pointed ears. Rarity took the helmet and studied its design. The gold trim, ruby at the forehead and metal wings sprouting from the sides.

"So what are you doing away from Ulthuan?" Whooves asked.

"I am on a quest for a loremaster of the White Tower. There's a new expedition coming to the Old World, and I'm going to join them."

"Done!" Pinkie chimed, retracting the needle into her mouth.

Applejack sat up and looked over the expert stitching up her torso.

"Boy, that's mighty fine work! Where'd you learn to sew?"

"I never learned how!” Pinkie exclaimed gleefully, “It still looks really sloppy."

Applejack stared at her confusedly. "Whutchu talki'n about? It's perfect!"

"No it's all wrong."

"Well ah thank ya anyway. Now what's this business with yer eyes? First they were black n' white, then all black, red 'n white, now blue like normal."

Pinkie looked in a mirror hanging on the wall. Her eyes were blue as before she had been taken. Slick eyelashes crested her lids. They turned red.

"Ooh, this is much better. I gotta show Doc tonight."

Her eyes turned blue again and she bounded upstairs, "I feel kinda tingly all over. Like, more than usual."

There was a voice coming from one of the rooms, frustrated and muttering. "Orange, blue, red, green, pink..."

"Rainbow Dash?" Pinkie called out.

She strolled down the short hall and the agitated whispering and sound of ruffling feathers grew louder.

"Grey, black, magenta, bush, guh!"

She peered into the room the noise came from. Rainbow Dash sat before a mirror appearing as a bush with her chin on the counter.

"Pinkie, what did I use to look like?" the shrubbery asked.

"How'd you forget?"

"I don't know. I just lost it in these dang noises I keep hearing." Even without a face, Rainbow looked tired, angry.

"You're light blue, silly!"

Her leaves whipped around and she turned dark grey.

"What the..." She tried again. Bright green. "Come on! Focus!"

She tried many times but never achieving her original sky blue color.

"Try me! Try me!" Pinkie said ecstatically.

Rainbow Dash looked her over and assumed an identical image.

"Meh. I've seen better... Oh my gosh why didn't I see this before? You're just like the changelings that attacked Canterlot!"

"But it's so stupid that I can't change back! What was it the elf guy said about a changeling?"

Downstairs, Rainbow asked Ghaldri just that.

“The Changeling...” he thought. “It is a very cruel daemon trickster created by the dark lord of change. It can assume any appearance, look like anyone, and played lethal practical jokes on anyone it pleases. If you share its powers, learn to use it responsibly.”

"This entire world is completely mad." Luna said, in too much dread to speak consciously. She gazed over the sea of bodies of men, giant rats, and ponies, fading in the sunset.

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn professional. It's beautiful, isn't it?" said Franz. "The sight, the smell of death and victory."

Luna couldn’t believe him, proud, happy even at the dead. "Beautiful? This is tragic! So much death... destruction."

"Your unicorns were an invaluable asset, princess, loading muskets in seconds instead of a whole minute."

"Most of our soldiers are dead."

"Last time the Skaven were here, in the Skavenblight period, all the people died. This whole city was starved empty and burned to the ground. You've helped save millions."

"At the cost of hundreds of thousands." Luna said bitingly.

A large metal box trundled over the bodies, leaving three lines of crushed corpses behind where its wheels rolled. It was intricately decorated with a massive cannon protruding from the hull. Steam spewed from an exhaust pipe at its rear. A rat's claw shot up from under the bodies and a Skaven crawled out up to its waist. The Divine Right, one of the Empire’s most prized steam tanks, turned to it, dipped the gun down and fired. Bodies and limbs flew sky high and rained over a large area. The body of a pegasus, half its head missing, landed before Luna.

"This is beauty to you!? What does all this achieve? Nothing is gained, only lost."

"No one dies in vain, for all life is merely death postponed,” Franz said firmly. “For every soldier that has fallen, the Empire gains time to survive. Millions die in battle or are simply slaughtered year after year. Battles like this, child's play! Our enemies are legion. The Empire has been at this for twenty-five hundred years; the elves and dwarfs, for over seven thousand, and if what your sister has told me about you both is true, that you both are immortal, you will be at this forever."

Luna took off from the wall, fed up with him. A procession of mourners, human and equine, and cultists of Morr walked out onto the field to interact with the dead.

"They'll warm up to this... eventually."

Soft moonlight poured through the windows of the wayfarer’s station. All were asleep save Ghaldri, maintaining his greatsword in the main room downstairs.

Pinkie Pie crept down the hall to the Doctor's room, being particularly careful when passing the stairs as she heard sliding metal and soft singing below. She nudged his door open and it spitefully creaked. She froze at the gently and the noises below stopped. After what felt like a very long time of silence and stillness, the singing and metal grinding resumed. She slowly closed the door and tip-hooved toward the Doctor's bed.

The stench of strong perfume woke him up. he turned over and was met by a hoof to his mouth and Pinkie lying in the bed with him in a seductive pose.

"Hey there." she whispered, batting her red eyes. She wrapped her tongue around his mouth and took her hoof away. "Notice anything different?"

He certainly did. Her body was more slim and curved, her coat was oddly smooth. She was devilishly attractive. Whooves pulled her tongue down.

"Please, not another night of this. Can't we just be friends and call it a day?"

"We're already friends,” Pinkie said lustfully. “Really close friends." She embraced him tightly, pressing his face to her chest and resting her head on his. He struggled and squirmed as he was cut off from air. "I just wanna enjoy the time we have together again, but it's ok if you just wanna sleep. I won't be a problem." He eventually passed out from being smothered. "I wish we could be alone like this all the time. Oh, well. I have you all to myself all night again, that's all that matters."

"Hheeyy, ccoommee bbaacckk! II jjuusstt wwaanntteedd ttoo aasskk aa qquueessttiioonn!" Sweetiebelle yelled into a house. A man had come to the door but upon seeing her and the area around, slammed it in her face.

"He'snotgonnaansweritagain. Neitherdidanyofthesepeople." Scootaloo said snappishly, pulling another charred body onto a small pile.

Sweetiebelle sneezed and the mouths across her body erupted with flames, igniting the entire hovel.

*sniff* "Aallrriigghtt. Aapplleebblloomm, wwhhaatt aarree yyoouu ddooiinngg?"

The rotting filly’s face was buried in a man’s torn-open torso. She lifted her head out, chewing on globs of meat she bit out of it. "Hm? Just havi'n a midnight snack. Ah got a real hankeri'n fer somethi''n like this."

The meat dissolved quickly in the acid pooling in her mouth. It was tender and delicious, like a favorite food Apple Bloom had just discovered.

"It'sbiggerthanyouare. Youactuallygonnaeatthewholething?" Scootaloo asked.

"Long as I'm still hungry, yep." She plunged her face back in, slurping up the body's intestines like pasta. Twenty feet of organs filled her belly to swelling.

"Ok,soweaskedthewholevillageandnoneofthemknowwheretheywent. Forallweknowwecouldbetotallylost! Thatbigspikyguyisn'tgonnabehappy. Shouldwestayhereforawhile?" Scootaloo said. It was getting very annoying to Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom to hear her talk faster than they could hear, but there was nothing they could do.

Applebloom glanced at the pile of bodies and grew ecstatic. "Ah think so, fer sure!" She immediately went back to devouring the corpse.

"Good god, is she purring!?" Whooves thought, staring at Pinkie sleeping on top of him, a thick blue substance dripping from her mouth onto his face.

He tried to get out from under her but she stirred when her head dropped. He froze, hoping she'd fall asleep again. Fate would not be so kind, and her eyes opened.

"Good morning." she whispered, shifting herself to get more comfortable. "You were making a lot of noise while you slept., keeping me up too. I found something to quiet you down.”

She wiped her mouth of the blue sludge. "This went right over your mouth. Ya wanna know how how I put it there?" He frantically shook his head no. "I'll take that as a yes."

She tore the old seal off, stinging like wax, fit her mouth around his muzzle and licked all over his mouth. She closed her eyes and groaned with delight at her free reign over him and his futile struggle to push her off. She sat up and lifted him into her lap when she was satisfied with the new layer. The goo hardened into a sticky gel over the same material that was already there, holding his mouth shut.

"Promise me nopony'll know about us." she said, resting her head on him.

Whooves looked at her, confused.

"They wouldn't understand and might try to separate us, but you don't want that, right?" She shook his head for him. "I knew it. Because I don't even wanna take the chance. If they found out..." She wound her tongue around his head, "I don't know what I'd do."

She sharply twisted his head and his neck cracked. A shock of relief rang through his whole body.

"I noticed you had this crick in your neck so I thought I'd straighten it out. You get what I'm trying to say?"

He nodded himself this time.

"Thanks, Doc."

She rubbed their faces together, peeled off the gunk around his mouth and left him alone on the bed. As she approached the door, she looked back.

"I'm thinking about expanding my scope. Maybe mess around a little with Rainbow Dash, or Twilight. Rarity would make a good back scratcher. But you'll always be my favorite. Don't let them know that. It's gotta be a surprise."

Her eyes turned blue and her demeanor became more upbeat. As soon as she opened the door, Twilight swung down, teeth out, hanging upside down from the ceiling. Bony horns stuck forward from the sides of her head, nearly jabbing Pinkie's face.

"Boo!" she whispered loudly.

Pinkie reeled back on edge. "D-did you hear any of that?" she muttered.

"Hear any of what?"

"Nevermind."

"What are you doing in The Doctor's room?"

"He was just uh, telling me a story. What are you doing hanging from the ceiling?"

Whooves moved closer but kept his distance from Pinkie. Now he wanted to tell Twilight right then and there. She’s crazy! She thinks she loves me! But whatever a pinkie promise was, or its consequences, he couldn’t break it.

"I'm not sure how I got up here, but come on. I want to try something. Stay quiet."

She put her front hooves to the ceiling and led them to the room where Rarity and Applejack were sleeping. Twilight stood over Applejack and hung down by her hind legs.

"Hey, Applejack... yoo hoo." She said, poking her. " Wait a minute, look at that."

She pointed to Applejack's leg. Through a hole they saw bone and some spindles of actual muscle but it was largely hollow. Applejack shifted and opened her eyes.

"BLAAAGH!"

She held a blank expression. "T’aint scary, sugarc- HNNNGG!"

Applejack clutched her chest and pulled her skin aside. The chambers of her heart were beating erratically and abruptly stopped. The rate fluids were leaking from her body slowed dramatically.

"Uh... whut was that?"

Whooves took a look and became distraught. "Don't overreact, but... I think you just had a heart attack."

"Wut? That's crazy, Ahm still alive!"

"Yeah, but maybe not in the way you think."

“What?” Twilight suddenly fell from the ceiling. "Applejack, I'm so sorry! I don't know what happened!"

Applejack pressed her heart. "Well I've been falli'n apart for a while, uh, maybe ah had it commi'n?"

"This may actually work to your advantage." Ghaldri said, previously unnoticed in the doorway.

"And how's this a good thing?" Applejack sneered.

"You are all going to Mordheim, yes? You may gain favor among the followers of Nurgle."

"Applebloom! Whereareyou!?" Scootaloo called, looking around at the mutilated bodies. What little flesh they had left riddled with bite marks and partially dissolved.

"Youseeher, SweetieBelle?

"II tthhiinnkk II hheeaarr ssoommeetthhiinngg iinn hheerree."

Sweetiebelle peered into a dilapidated shed where there was the sound of tearing meat. Applebloom was scarfing down chunks of a dead cow, actually struggling to swallow it. Her stomach was distended as she was eating faster than the caustic acid could burn it off. Sweetiebelle got closer and saw Applebloom's eyes were rolled back, completely white and she didn't notice her approaching.

"Aapplleebblloomm, ccoommee oonn. Wwee hhaavvee ttoo kkeepp llookkiinngg."

She kept eating the carcass.

AApplleebblloomm, lleett'ss ggoo!" She thumped the aloof filly on the head and her eyes rolled down.

"Huh, whuh?" Her voice was raspy due to her throat being overstretched and backed up to her mouth in chewed up meat. She was content to at length not be hungry. "Finally, ah thought i'd never get rid a this hungry feeli'n."

Her body let off mold spores and gases after she finally stopped. Sweetiebelle's nose spontaneously caught fire at the smell.

"Wweell iiff yyoouu'rree ddoonnee, wwee hhaavvee ttoo kkeepp sseeaarrcchhiinngg."

"Alright, just uh... help me up."

"Eeww, nnoo!"

"Well, ah can't get up right now without help."

Sweetiebelle stuck her head out the door "Ssccoottaalloo! Sshhee'ss iinn hheerree! Sshhee'ss ttoo ffaatt ttoo ggeett uupp!"

"Why, you..."

Apple Bloom abrupty regurgitated, pushing out much of what she'd eaten and got up herself.

"Let's just go. Now ahm gonna be hungry again in a minute."

"What made you think it was a good idea to sleep in the fireplace, and how did this get here!?" Ghaldri scolded, trying to pull a fire iron out of Fluttershy's neck.

She just remained quiet in embarrassment. The fireplace was warm after all, and her metal body couldn’t get enough heat. She was always cold otherwise. Ghaldri lost his grip and Fluttershy flew back, slamming into the wall. A helmet shook off the wall onto her head. With the visor obscuring her vision, she tried to take off the helmet but her hooves stuck to it. She fumbled about blind until she crashed through the steel door.

"Could somepony help me... please? She said, muffled under the steel dome.

Rarity stepped up, grabbing FLuttershy’s foreleg with her new appendage. She pulled powerfully, but too much for the incipient bodypart. It fractured, producing a sickly crack. As Rarity screeched in pain, the fissure discharged a great amount of electricity and shocked them both. The shock from snapping her arm and the discharge forced Rarity to try to scream, tearing her lips into strips against her unruly teeth, but not free. The door and helmet buckled and folded inward around Fluttershy as she grew furious and struggled against the surge to break Rarity's arm in another place. The shock went on, building in intensity. Eventually more arcs reached out struck the other ponies.

"Let go of me!!" Fluttershy screamed, crushing another segment of Rarity's arm in fury.

Ghaldri covered his eyes against the blinding flash. When all was quiet, he looked again. All that was left was seven smoldering Chaos stars burned onto the ground around him. Everyone was gone.

"Doctor!” he called out, eliciting no response. “Pity. I wonder if they'll end up killing each other."

He took off walking down the road, singing.

"And on this day we bow our heads to he who world did save, Aenarion the Proud Defender, Aenarion the Ever Brave."