The first thing I noticed when I woke up, was that I was somewhat sweaty, most likely from when I first saw the Nightmare in that dream. Yawning, I got out of bed, trying not to disturb Ribbon. Once I was out, I begun to stretch my legs, working the stiffness out. And then felt something clinging to my leg. “Hi Mama!” Looking down, I saw Mirage hugging my leg with an adorable grin on her face.

“Hi Mirage.” I chuckled as I gave her a noogie. Mirage merely giggled back and released my leg.

The sound of Ribbon yawning caused me to turn my head, before smiling. “Wakey wakey, sleepyhead.”

“Wakey wakey.” She said, still very tired. “I’ll have to get going today, Luna will be needing my help.” She started to lazily get out of bed.

“So I guess that means I’ll be looking after Mirage?” I replied as I glanced down at her, watching her nuzzle against my leg.

“Yea. Though I would like it if you got out some, maybe visit Twilight? After what happened I’m sure she’d like some help repairing the library.”

“Oh joy, menial labour...”

“... I was attacked again just a few days after I got you in those restraints.”

I sighed, frustrated. “And you’re only telling me this now?” I looked over at Ribbon, She seemed to be gauging my reaction.

“I didn’t want to upset you at the time. I hid any injuries I had before you could see them.”

“How bad?”

After a moment of hesitation, she burst into flames as if she was wear a disguise this whole time. When the flames cleared she showed many small scratches and nicks in her chitin, but by far the worst was a large star shaped scar that spread out like a web on her shoulder. “That. A royal guard did that. Celestia was appalled that one of her honored guards would strike me when I was in the castle. And it’s not just me, the others are starting to be harassed by ponies too.”

I felt my eyebrow twitch slightly, before I walked over and hugged her and she hugged me back. “It’s going to be safer now, you’ll either be with luna, or me.”

“We do have some leads now, though. I’ll tell you when I get back.”

“Mommy has to go again?” Mirage said with a rather pathetic looking face, her ears flat against her head.

“I’m afraid so, but I’ll be back home in no time at all, but Cloak will be looking after you. You like her, don’t you?”

“I like her, she’s fun!”

“Cloak… Oh! She was the changeling that was with us when I was practicing with our prototype rifle!”

“Yes, she’s in charge of making the ammunition right now. Once we’re done I guess we’ll be putting everything into a vault for safe keeping.”

“Its for the best.”

“Let's get packed up, and head out.”

Now then, I got a few snacks, and… well, a few snacks. There wasn't really anything else I would need. After seeing Ribbon off, I went and grabbed my bag, and readied a teleportation spell. With the interior of Twilights library in mind, I released the spell.

In the split second before I teleported, I felt something wrench my destination to a different place, as I disappeared in a flash of light.

When the light faded, I found myself inside twilights library allright, but not where I expected. I was in her laboratory, inside of some kind of glass box. I tried to look around to see what gave, but, to my horror, my body refused to move, alongside my magic failing. The sound of hoofsteps coming down stairs become audible, and Twilight walked into view.

“Oh sweet Faust, what the buck is that!” She screamed in fright, jumping back a good two or three feet. After watching her try to calm herself down, I noticed how frazzled her mane was. She was in the middle of one of her ‘episodes’. ”Its okay Twilight, this is why you set up those wards.”

I felt her magic wash over me, as she closed her eyes and focused. At least, until Spike came running down with a scroll in his claws. “Twilight, letter from Princess Luna… Huh!?” He stared, slack jawed at me, as Twilight began to read the scroll. Her cheeks quickly turned red as she looked at me, chuckling nervously.

“Ummm… Sorry. I’ll have you out of there in a second, Chitsuki.” A flash of light as she teleported me out, where I stumbled upon regaining control of my body. Looking back, I saw a single rune on the floor of the ‘chamber’ I was just in, slowly losing its lavender glow and becoming invisible to the naked eye. “I… ummm… may have gotten a bit paranoid after hearing about those attacks on Ribbon.”

“and by a bit, she means she warded the entire library against just about everything imaginable.” Spike chipped in, causing Twilight to blush even further.

“Im sorry! I completely forgot to add your magical signature to the list of expectations in the teleportation wards!”

“Uh… Chitsuki? why is your bag moving?” Huh? Turning my head, I noticed, that my bag was indeed moving of its own accord. Before Mirage popped out with a strip of raw bacon hanging from her mouth.

“Aww damnit, not my bacon!”

“Is that… meat!?” I sighed.

“Twilight. stop and think for a moment. You have fangs. They aren't just for show. You’re an omnivore now, Twilight.” While Twilight was in the middle of having a fit, I tried to contact RIbbon. -Uh, just so you know, Mirage decided to be a stowaway in my snack bag.-

’So she’s in Ponyville with you? I’ll send Cloak to pick her up.’

-You know, this might actually be one of the safest places for Mirage to be, considering Twilight warded the entire library to hell and back. piece of advice: don't try teleporting inside.-

’You mean ‘Tartarus and back’?’

-Don’t you start that too, I just got rid of Malice!-

‘I’m only joking! I’ll keep that in mind, though.’

-Also, I’m watching Twilight freak out after telling her she can eat meat now… Because Mirage ate my bacon.-

’So? Spike eats meat doesn’t he? He’s a dragon, dragons can eat meat.’

-from the looks of it, he’s grossed out too.-

’So he’s a vegetarian? I had thought he just didn’t eat it around ponies, that’s why I never saw him eat meat before, I never thought about Twilight never even introducing him to what should be a third of his diet. Still you might want to make sure.’

After watching Twilight continued her fit, I eventually walked over and put a hoof on her shoulder. “Twilight, you’re able to eat meat, you don’t need to.”

*Thump!* “Waaah!” Both me and Twilight spun around to see Mirage had pinned down Spike, and was now staring at him like an overly curious puppy. Before, after a few moments, she ‘booped’ him on the snout, before running over to me and hiding behind my leg.

“Twilight?”

“Yeah?”

“Why did my teleport get redirected into that?’ I pointed at the glass ‘chamber’ I had wound up in when I had teleported.

“Um, you might want to sit down for this, as to properly explain it, I need to explain most of the other wards I’ve placed.” Shooing Mirage out from under me, I sat down and motioned for twilight to continue. “So many wards, where to start… aha! The very first thing I did, and this was after the griffon attack, was ward the entire library against forced entry, both physical and magical, adding some simple runes to reinforce and prevent damage to the walls and windows, a few fire suppression wards, a few anti-scrying runes, an array of runes designed to detect if the other runes are tampered with. Then there's the combination of wards and runes that I placed to redirect teleport attempts, combined with quite a few runes and whatnot for containment after the redirect, including anti-magic runes, a paralysis rune, and in the event that i'm unable to come down here and check on whoever tried teleporting within a few minutes, a temporal stasis runic array to solve the problem of air… Oh, and a few runes to add certain magic signatures to a list of excetions that are exempt from the teleportation redirect. those are the important ones, anyways.”

I stared at Twilight, dumbfounded. “And how do you keep all of that powered?”

“Remember those crystal I made with dark magic? I noticed the larger ones seemed to hold a charge longer than they should, so I tried bigger and bigger ones, each one lasting exponentially longer, until, well…”

“Well?”

“The magical charge stopped decreasing, and started increasing. I grew crystal veins all over the library and just sort of kept going and going. I lined every window and door and if you look, I even grew them on the way down here into the basement where there connected to the base of the redirect and all the other runes and… that.” She pointed into another room that had a glow coming from under the door. “I had to actually find a way to control the amount of magic that the crystals started generating and had to find a way to safely syphon away the amount I wasn’t using. I think after finding out that the crystal started generating magic of their own, I had to check on the tree of harmony and I believe what these crystals are is a different version of the tree. And more unstable.” I took a few moments to process what Twilight had said, before deciding to inform Ribbon.

-Ribbon, you’re not going to believe this.-

‘What did she do?’ Ribbon sounded somewhat annoyed.

-Made a self sustaining magical reactor by accident, and is using it to power a fuckload of wards and runes.-

‘Well, that’s better than what I had in mind.’

-Do I even want to- -

‘No.’

-Okay.-

“Twilight? What's in that room, anyways?”

“The crystal I’m using to power the entire array, here, I’ll show you.” As I got up to follow her, Mirage hopped up onto my back, before I made my way over, as Twilight opened the door.

Inside was a large crystal bigger than a Chevy, pulsating with magical energy. Branching out from it, like roots, where dozens of veins of crystal, the majority crawling up the walls and into the ceiling, where they no doubt lead to the wards on the main and top floor.

“Jesus… Thats one big crystal.”

“I know, it took me a day to make, but it's now powering the entire array. This library is probably one of the safest places in Equestria now.”

-Ribbon, I have to ask. Is it a bad thing that Twilight turned her entire library in a fortress?-

‘Not when there’s a war happening. The griffins are giving us more trouble than I thought they would so I won’t be able to talk for a while.’

-Give em hell for me.-

“Ohhh, pretty....” I heard Mirage coo from my back, staring at the massive crystal in front of us.

“You can come down here to look at it when ever, just don’t use magic on it.” Twilight warned us. Makes sense, Don’t use magic on a big magic reactor. Otherwise, Bad Things happens.

Mirage hopped off my back, and walked right up to the crystal, staring at her warped reflection. “Wubububububub” And started making the most ridiculous sound and face.

Twilight giggled at Mirage’s silliness. “She's still adorable, just like the last time I saw her. Do you mind if I have Spike keep an eye on her so I can ask you some questions in private?”

“Ummm, sure.”

“Good, then follow me.” After I begun following her, she stopped to get spikes attention. “Spike, I need to have a private chat with Chitsuki, so could you keep an eye on Mirage while I do that?”

“Sure thing Twi.”

Following Twlight, I was lead upstairs to her room/magical bunker, which caused me to giggle as I realized just how crazily protected her library was now. I wouldn't be surprised if she had a way to keep the wards from retroactively being removed due to time travel shenanigans. After we were both inside, and the door shut.

“So tell me, what gives with your coat being white now?”

“Ummm, Its complicated.” I said, rubbing the back of my neck.

“Humor me.”

“I… Ummm was… Kinda… SortapossesedbytheNightmareasecondtime.” I blurted out, before flinching back.

“Can you say that again? I didn’t get that.”

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. “T-the Nightmare wasn't dead… And it… Kinda tried to posses me a second time after messing with my head… I think.”

Twilight just sorta stares at me for a moment. “...No, the Elements of Harmony took take of her like they did for Princess Luna.”

“Twilight, think for a moment, what's another way to say harmony?”

“Umm… Unity, peace, balance...”

“Now, it wouldn't be very well balanced if it killed, would it?”

“Well, no. But it could has done what it did for Princess Luna and banish it.”

“But that's not what you wanted to happen when you used them, wasn't it?”

“wha?”

“Twilight, what were you thinking when you blasted the Nightmare with the Elements?”

“I wanted it gone, I wanted to never posses somepony again…” I noticed her ears droop as she said that.

“Look, I’m not mad with you, and I know you’re thinking it's your fault i'm here, and like this,” I pointed at myself. “But it's not, and the Nightmares been dealt with in a more permanent method. As in: had it extracted, and sealed in some kinda orb like thing by Malice, before Celestia locked it away in the canterlot vaults. Turns out, this is what I really look like.” Again, pointing to myself. “I guess my previous changes where parts of me showing through. The red eyes when I used too much dark magic, my black mane after I died.” Walking in a small circle, I continued. “It was actually pretty freaky, the second time I was possed, as I didnt even know I was until the Nightmare was ripped out of me… Uh, Twi, Why are you staring?”

Twilight almost immediately backpedaled and blushed, before calming herself. “Your cutie mark, it's different now.”

“It is?” I turned around to get a better look, and lo and behold, it was now a deep crimson. “Why didn't anypony tell me this sooner?”

“Maybe because everypony was afraid of you getting mad at them thinking they were staring at your flank?”

“...Good point.” Something in the corner of the room caught my eye, causing me to point at it curiously. Some kind of pulsating rune. “Twilight, what's that for?”

“What's what fo- Oh! I was so caught up talking with you I didn't noticed the warning that somepony had tried to teleport into my library!” Twilight bolted down the stairs, with me hot on her heels, as she ran to the basement. In the spot I wound up when I tried teleporting, was a changeling. on the floor, a different, and much larger runic array was glowing. “The stasis array must have kicked in. I’ll get her out.”

With a flash of light, the changeling was teleported out of the glass enclosure,

“What the bloody Tartarus was that?! I thought this was a public building, and you have it set up to keep everypony out? What gives?!” Twilight seemed taken aback.

“Twilight, did you only just remember that?”

“Well, I-i keep the front door unlocked.”

“Uhh,” I muttered, “I don’t recognize you, were you the one Ribbon said was going to look after Mirage before she decided to play stowaway? You’re Cloak, right?”

“Y-yes I am. I can take Mirage back with me so you can enjoy the rest of your day.”

“Or you could just chillax here. You wouldn’t mind, would you Twilight?”

I noticed a sparkle in her eyes as she perked up. “Ohhh! You mean like a slumber party?”

“I suppose I can stay. I’ll have to keep an eye on Mirage though.” Cloak just shrugged.

“Then perhaps we should go upstairs. And Twilight? might I suggest you configure that redirect to only work when the library isn’t open?” I saw Twilight blush a bit and fold her ears down in embarrassment.

On our way up, I heard a loud ‘thump’, followed by Spike shouting “Uncle, uncle! You win!” Rushing up the last few steps, I saw Mirage sitting firmly atop Spike, reading a comic book. He caught sight of us. “I told her she was too young to be reading Power Ponies, but she just pounced me!”

“You know she’s about seven years old. She’s allowed to read that by now.” Cloak stated.

“What? I thought she was only a little over a year old.”

“Not really. By the time she’s three in pony years, she’ll be fourteen in changeling years.” Spike, seemingly more confused than before, looked at Mirage as if she would confirm what he just heard. Only for her to blow a raspberry at him.

“Then why does she act like it?”

“Probably because she knows I find it adorable, and that means more food for her. Not like I could blame her, I’d milk it for all it was worth if I was her.” I picked Mirage up off of Spike, and ‘boop’ed her on the nose, causing her to giggle. “See? It’s friggin adorable, and I love it!”

“Uh, what was going on up her?” Twilight had just made her way up the stairs, having stayed behind to make the necessary adjustments to the runes.

“Mirage was sitting on top of spike and started reading his comics.” Cloak said.

“Yeah, Spike got his butt handed to him for thinking Mirage was less than a year old.” I gave Spike a knowing look. “Not every species matures at the same rate, you silly drake.”

“Ha. Ha. ” He picked up his comic and went back to reading.

“Don’t worry Mirage, he’s just jealous because you whooped his butt.”

A sudden chiming drew my attention to the door, where yet another rune was glowing, this time a bright green.

“Oh, someponys at the door!” Twilight quickly trotted over, opening the door with a smile on her face.

“-Technically, Pinkie was still right that time, as Vinyl did indeed ‘drop’ the bass.” I smiled as well, seeing the CMC together and chatting.

“So you’re telling me, that the Pinkie sense has a sense of humor? ...That make about as much sense as the rest of Pinkie.”

It was then that they noticed the door had been opened. Applebloom was the first to respond. “Hiya Twilight, Pinkie told us there was a sleepover happening here!”

Cloak walked up to me, and began whispering. “How the Tartarus does this Pinkie know about that, when we only decided like five minutes ago?”

I whispered back, wanting to see her reaction. “Think a pony version of Wendy.”

Cloak’s face had a look of horror on her. “That’s not possible, how would a pony have the energy to keep up that kind of personality?”

“A diet composed of ninety percent sugar?”

Author's Notes:

(Co-author’s note
For anyone who may have forgotten. The first 3 years of a changeling's life is as a ‘nymph’ where they grow over 4x faster than that of a pony, but after that, at the age of 3 they stop growing so much and age the same as a pony. And yes, she ages physically and mentally during the first 3 years. So at the age of about 1 year and 8 months, she’s about 7 years old.

It’s also because of this that changeling’s don’t celebrate birthdays until their 4 years old. It’s easier that way.)