The group of changelings walking through the Hedge with Twilight did so with considerably more deference following the events at the tree-monster's grove. Trotter was no longer wounded, after the cloaked pink changeling had produced some sort of healing fruit from the shadowy depths of her garment. The fruits had looked like oddly-shaped squash but had the consistency of apples and smelled like the most exquisitely horrible smell Twilight had ever encountered, far beyond Spike's most sulfurous morning breath even.

Still, one fruit was sufficient to bring Trotter back up to full health and faculties, his wounds knitting visibly and the strength returning to his limbs. He nodded in thanks to the pink, cowled pony who nodded back professionally. They both turned their attention to Twilight, who was standing and staring off into the Hedge, frowning as she waited for Trixie to come back from contacting the other scouts.

Twilight wasn't sure what to make of the changelings with her, she didn't know them, didn't know anything about them. They seemed to take her at her word, unquestioningly, and it made her extremely uncomfortable. She heard four of the changelings whispering softly to one another, while the cowled one lay down and just watched the Hedge, seemingly content. Twilight approached the group of changelings, who all stopped whispering and tried to rise, “It's alright,” Twilight said, waving a hoof, “I just wanted to... Uh... Talk with all of you, we haven't really been formally introduced, and well...” Twilight broke off, sat down and smiled, “My name is Twilight Sparkle, and... Well I was a student of magic and a librarian, until...” Twilight gestured to the Hedge, “So, what did you all do?”

A long silence followed this simple question until Trotter, the tall skeletal earth pony shifted uncomfortably, “Uh... I was a farmer, out by Hoofington. Grew beets.”

“Swimmer, don't remember where” Aqua put in after Twilight's gaze fell on him, “Well, lifeguard really, I think, on-the-water rescues were definitely my thing.”

Sharp Claw avoided Twilight's gaze, his ears folding back slowly until she moved on to Gestalt, whose patchwork expression was slightly pained, “Tailor, I think, I don't really remember, something to do with needle and thread.”

The rest of the group turned to the wolfish pegasus, who squirmed under the combined gazes. Sharp Claw finally sighed in defeat, “Gardener.” He glared around at the suddenly surprised looks, “What? It's a viable profession, even if I'm a pegasus!”

Twilight nodded, “It is indeed, heh, hey at least you can grow plants, I have trouble remembering to feed myself sometimes, with all I have to do.” She chuckled, “Unless you can write a book about it, then I might be able to manage.”

Sharp Claw grimaced a little for some reason, but before Twilight could ask, Trixie returned, gasping for breath, “T-... Twilight, I mean... I mean Dame Sparkle...”

“It's alright Trixie,” Twilight said, rising, “You didn't have to run back,”

“There's... There's a problem. With the next fragment.” Trixie gasped a few more times then shook her head, “It's guarded, and the guards, they're holding two of the scouts you sent out hostage. They want to talk to you, they said, or they'll kill them both and destroy the fragment!”

The clearing in which the second fragment lay was unlike anything Twilight had seen outside of Pinkie Pie's imagination. It was like a giant garden party, with a long table down the middle and floating balloons of impossible shapes and brilliant colors. Streamers flitted through the air like birds, and cheery music played from an elaborately designed and engraved phonograph.

Still, no amount of decoration could make Twilight not gag a little when she walked alone into the clearing. The table was laden with every kind of meat imaginable, and along the benches sat dozens of strange shadows, biped and quadruped alike, with claw-like hands and feet, and mouths full of white, pointed teeth. Twilight stood a good head taller than even the tallest of them, but she was intimidated by the feral hunger that radiated off of them, though she tried her best to hide it. On the table, as a sort of centerpiece, two changeling ponies, a blue pegasus with metal eyes and constantly twitching metal wings, and a deep purple unicorn with horns running from her head down her neck in place of a mane, between which sparks of magic jumped erratically. They huddled in the middle of a golden cage, the inside of which was studded with moving, sharpened spines and thorns, making even the slightest movement on their part draw blood. They looked grim and tired, but between them the two changelings sheltered the glowing soul shard.

“Don't do this,” Trixie whispered urgently from behind Twilight, “Let me call in a few others, Twi- Dame Sparkle, we can just-”

“Kill them?” Twilight interrupted softly, making the azure unicorn wince, “No, Trixie, there's enough blood on my horn. If they want to deal, I'll deal. I want all of you,” Twilight addressed the cluster of changelings behind Trixie, “To get back, I'll meet you where we were after the first shard, alright?” Twilight waited until all of the changelings had reluctantly nodded, then nodded herself and turned her attention back to Trixie, “I want you to wait here, Trixie, in case things get dicey. If they do, run and find the others, then come back for me. Don't go in alone.” Trixie nodded slowly, obviously not liking the idea, but acquiescing to Twilight all the same.

Twilight smiled reassuringly at the changelings, took a deep breath and stepped forward into the festivities. The party stopped abruptly as the purple unicorn approached the table, the music halting as suddenly as the macabre revelings of the listeners, and Twilight found herself staring into the shadowy grins of the dozens of sightless specters. Twilight shook out her mane and straightened, looking around at the creatures with what she hoped was hauteur, “I am Dame Twilight Sparkle, Defender of the Realm of Equestria, here in good faith to parlay with the beings of this clearing.”

One shape, a relatively huge, hulking pony-shadow with a mouth that seemed to bisect its head spoke in a sibilant voice like whispering knives parting the air, “Twilight Ssparkle, the Ssavior and Knight Protector of losst ssoulss, sslayer of murdererss and nemesiss of the Beasst, we have heard of thee. We are Shadow Reveler, Whyfore hasst thou come?”

Twilight nodded to the cage in the center of the table, “To bargain for the release of the two changelings you captured and the return of the fragment they sought to its rightful owner.” The two changelings in the cage looked at her with desperate hope, and Twilight noticed with a shock that they were both barely more than colts.

The creature grinned, an expression its wide mouth performed frighteningly well, “The return of thievess and demandss for what they tried to ssteal? Hardly noble actionss, Lady.”

Twilight frowned, “They weren't stealing, they were recovering the object for the well-being of a filly, to whom that object belongs, and to whom I owe a debt. Without it, she will surely perish, so I ask you to excuse their zealous methods of acquirement.”

The creature seemed to grin wider, if that was at all possible, and Twilight wondered if the top of its head was going to fall off, “There iss no excusse for sstealing, Dame Twilight Ssparkle, didsst not thy mother teach thee that?” The seated shadows laughed cruelly, and Twilight had to keep herself from shivering. “We ssee no reasson to give thee anything, and thy envoyss hath disspleased uss. For their attempted theft, on thy behalf, we imprissoned them. There iss nothing you could-”

“Challenge!” Rang a voice from behind Twilight suddenly. It took every iota of Twilight's self control to keep from jumping at the sudden noise. She merely turned her head to look who had spoken, and saw the cloaked and hooded pink pony step forward to her side, standing proud. “I invoke the right of challenge on Dame Sparkle's behalf!” Twilight's eyes narrowed, she recognized that voice from somewhere, but the shadows' response grabbed her attention.

“Challenge? Thou wouldsst pay blood in place of thy Lady for the releasse of thesse intruders?”

“And what they sought,” the pink pony added quickly.
The shadow leader laughed, “Why shouldsst we allow thiss? It cosstss uss nothing to ignore thee and ssend thee off.”

The pink pony snorted, “That's what you think, meanie pants!” She threw back the hood and Twilight goggled at Pinkie Pie, hair fluffy as a cloud, and her blue eyes dancing with laughter as she stood, defiant before the shadows, “I, Pinkamena Diane Pie challenge you! Accept or I shall take what Dame Sparkle seeks by force!”

Twilight just stared, her mind completely knotted into a tangle of shock by the sudden revelation. Pinkie Pie stood in front of her now, legs planted firmly as only an earth pony can, her vibrant mane and coloration contrasting starkly with the dark brown of her cloak. She seemed utterly unafraid, even as the shadows all rose, “Thou art a fool, child of Celesstia,” the Shadow Reveler hissed, its voice suddenly devoid of amusement, “And we shall rip thee assunder, with thy misstress!” They leapt as one for Pinkie and Twilight, razor-toothed maws agape, hungry for pony flesh.

Twilight was about to cast the thing aside when Pinkie looked over her shoulder and winked, seemingly oblivious to the horrors descending towards her. At the last second she held up her hoof, and one of the shadows that was leaping towards her found the back of its throat introduced to a pink, candy-smelling intruder. Pinkie whipped the impaled shadow around, knocking the other leaping terrors aside before jumping gleefully into the fray, giggling.

Watching Pinkie fight was astonishing, like watching an avalanche fail to hit the ground. The shadows were unequinely fast, and their arms and legs seemed to go in any and all directions like some horrific automaton.Yet everywhere the shadows struck, Pinkie wasn't there. She dodged absently, kicked incidentally and seemed to be completely destroying the shadows entirely by accident. Twilight watched as she bounded through the air and planted all four hooves on the face of the lead shadow, knocking it down the table to crash into the cage, which rang impressively. She kicked one shadow in the gut, and pulled the kick back right in time for another shadow to miss her entirely and tumble into its fellow. She made absolute fools of them without meaning to, and she giggled the entire time. Teeth flew everywhere, stained with foul black ichor, and none of it ever landed on Pinkie.

Twilight realized that she was wasting Pinkie's distraction, ran over to the cage and smiled briefly at the terrified changeling colts, who clung to the shard of soul-stuff like a lifeline. Their eyes widened as they recognized her and struggled to bow, wincing as the cage punished the action with fresh cuts upon their pelts. Twilight smiled at them and started casting on the cage, causing the unicorn to protest, “I tried that m'lady, but they only get tighter,” he pushed the soul shard towards Twilight, wincing as the thorns bit into his body for shifting his weight. “Leave us Lady, take the shard and go, more will come!” Actually more had come, Pinkie was now almost completely obscured by the mass of leaping, snarling shadows, but she showed no signs of tiring, and was still laughing as if it were a pillow-fight.

Twilight scowled at the young changeling as she started casting, “I will not leave you behind, at all, so put that out of your mind and let me concentrate,” The unicorn nodded uncomfortably, and Twilight focused fully on removing the bars. She was so intent on her work that she only noticed the shadow leaping for her when one of the changelings in the cage gasped. Twilight looked up into a gaping, sharklike maw of razor-sharp teeth, attached to a body like a pony's shadow given a cruelly clawed form. Twilight braced herself for the impact, getting a second spell ready to repel the shadow when it was suddenly smashed out of the air by a snarling brown blur. Sharp Claw latched onto the shadow's throat with his own pointed teeth and, to Twilight's horror, tore the creature's throat off its neck with one jerk of his head.

He spat out the chunk of shadow flesh and glared back at Twilight, “Together, with a plan you said! You call this a plan?!” He growled as the dying shadow tried to slash at him and stomped hard on its face, crushing the skull and causing the shadow to fall limp. The sight of the dead shadow seemed to calm him somewhat. He nodded to Twilight sharply, “We'll watch your back, Lady Sparkle, do what you need to do,” Twilight turned at the word 'we' and saw that the others had positioned themselves nearby as well, even Trixie, who had already raised barriers in a defensive circle around the table. Aqua nodded and walked up to her, taking position on either side of Twilight.

Twilight shook herself, “Alright, sorry I didn't bring you all in sooner, but I'm going to need all of you to pull this off. Sharp Claw, help Pinkie Pie, she could use the help,” Sharp Claw nodded and took off, arrowing towards the mass of fighting shadows, in which a pink shape could be distantly seen. Twilight turned to the remaining changelings, “Trixie, stand on the table and use barriers to repel any stragglers that may try to attack us. Aqua and Trotter, guard her. I need to focus on opening this cage.” Trixie and the two stallions nodded stepping up onto the table, Trixie's horn glowing with a brilliant cyan radiance. Twilight straightened fully, glared at the cruel golden cage and descended into a trance, focusing entirely on the task at hoof.

Sharp Claw snarled as he ripped another shadow apart with his rear claws before taking off again, relishing in the simple joy of combat. He was finishing off the shadows that the pink pony was incapacitating, and they were slowly making headway into the massive mob of shadowy assailants. Still, the wolfish pegasus could feel himself slowing, he'd finished off more than thirty foes and there were still dozens and dozens to go. He looked over to the table briefly, and saw that the blue unicorn and the two earth ponies had constructed a defensive perimeter, while Dame Sparkle's magic worked on the golden cage.

Sharp Claw's moment of inattention allowed a shadow to leap up and snatch him out of the air, dragging him down to the blood-stained earth. He hit the ground like a rock, and screamed as he felt his wing break, and again as he was thrust down by the weight of a large, anthropomorphic shadow, whose gaping mouth was a nightmarish pit of broken shark-like teeth and black blood. The feral pegasus bucked the claw that reached for his belly, snapping the whole arm into the ugly thing's toothy maw. Another claw slashed across his face, so the furious pegasus bit it, latched on and kicked as hard as he could with his clawed back legs, disemboweling the creature so viciously that the claw in his mouth popped off, hand and all. He spat it out and rolled upright with a snarled curse in time for another shadow to leap for his back.

Ready for this, the pegasus kicked out with both back legs and grunted in satisfaction as he felt the hit connect. He didn't have time to check on the damage his kick had done, for three more shadows were already leaping for him, deciding a grounded pegasus was an easier target than the pink thing that had been making fools of them. Sharp Claw dodged the first swipe flawlessly but the second cut across his side, just under his wing. He punished the impudent attacker ferociously, ripping it open from neck to groin with a forward kick, when another shadow leapt onto his back.

Sharp Claw bucked desperately, suddenly keenly aware of the sheer numbers of enemies pouring forth, and snarled in rage as the creature latched onto the back of his neck with razor-sharp teeth. Things probably would have gone poorly for Sharp Claw then had a flying pink shape not kicked the shadow on the pegasus' back so hard that the creature flew off, its teeth dragging a deep score across Sharp Claw's neck. Then Pinkie bounded in next to the brown wolfish pegasus, and the fight was on.

Fighting next to Pinkie Pie was humbling for Sharp Claw. He'd always considered himself a rather good fighter, but Pinkie was in an entirely different class. She ducked and kicked seemingly at random, her whole body quivering and contorting to maximize her attacks and roll away from those of her shadowy opponents. Sharp Claw joined in, but he felt like a flailing foal next to the flawless flare of the fighting, pink mare. He slashed and fought to the best of his wounded ability, but more often than not, Pinkie was covering for him. He was bleeding, tired and had crippled wings, but he bit, stomped and clawed like a thing possessed, until at last a bright purple flash blinded him.

Sharp Claw shook his head to clear it and blinked in surprise when his vision finally cleared. All the shadows that had been attacking Pinkie and himself were now suspended in mid-air, coated in a corona of violet light. The feral pegasus looked over and saw Dame Sparkle glaring at the creatures, her mane an inferno of light, her horn glowing with flames of power, while words of power and righteous vengeance snaked across the purple unicorn's body and mane. Her purple eyes were furious as they regarded the shadowy attackers, and Sharp Claw felt his tail gently tucking between his legs at the look even though it wasn't directed at him.

“FOOLS,” Dame Sparkle proclaimed in the Royal Canterlot Voice, her voice as heavy as lead and hot with fury, “I GAVE YOU A CHANCE, TO GIVE THE SHARD AND THE PRISONERS QUIETLY. WE WOULD HAVE LEFT WITHOUT ANY OF THIS, AND YOU WOULD ALL HAVE BEEN SPARED.”

Snorting, hissing laughter interrupted the violet unicorn, “Hss... Sspared?” The Shadow Reveler spat, black blood running from his mouth, “Sspared by thee perhapss, but the Beasst... If we help thee, he will hunt uss down, Lady Ssparkle, to the lasst. Sspeak to uss not of foolishnesss then, for it wass for our very ssurvival.” The wretched creature looked at Twilight with its eyeless gaze, somehow grim, proud and yet pleading, “Kill uss, Lady Ssparkle, all of uss, for we are dead no matter what happenss tonight.”

Twilight was silent for a long moment, then slowly the shadowy creatures were lowered to the ground. “NO,” She said softly, well, as softly as one can in the official voice of the court, “I WILL NOT KILL YOU.” Twilight's gaze sharpened as she regarded the Shadow Reveler, “YOU DO NOT DESERVE TO DIE. YOU ATTACKED AND TORTURED MY SCOUTS, STOLE A SHARD OF A FILLY'S SOUL AND TRIED TO KILL ME AND MINE.” Twilight walked slowly towards the shadowy leader, who was trying his very best to stay upright, bleeding as he was from his wounds. The unicorn's voice was as cold as the space between stars and as resonant as a supernova. Even the surrounding changelings flinched as she addressed the Shadow Reveler, “IF YOU WANT DEATH, THEN DIE FIGHTING THE BEAST AND HIS PACK, I WILL NOT ASSIST YOUR COWARDICE.” With that, Dame Twilight Sparkle, Defender of Equestria, teleported herself and all the changelings out of the clearing, leaving the Shadow Reveler and his people to lick their wounds.

In the camp that night, Twilight eased the soul fragment into the second prepared crystal. It very slowly turned the color of Applebloom's mane. She stared at it for a long moment, then very quietly wept. The other changelings kept their distance, setting up sleeping arrangements in an uneasy ring around their leader, except for Pinkie Pie, who was tending to the wounded, and Trixie, who lay down beside Twilight and leaned against her tentatively. The blue unicorn's awkward comfort was reassuring to Twilight, who clung to her until she very gently fell asleep, the purple unicorn's tears gradually abating.