Twilight stood before the collapsed Beast, who heaved and spat a great mouthful of blood at her hooves, “Slay me, mortal, you've won,” he rasped, his voice no longer powerful but weak and bitter, “Slay me now or send me back in disgrace, but know that either way I shall have my revenge.”

Twilight stared down at him, his eyes full of fury and hate, but also pain. She nodded and sent her magic around the great faerie's neck, lifting his head aside. A blade of iron formed from the blood Twilight had spilt, forged red-hot from the fires of Twilight's soul. He snarled once, then Twilight removed his head entirely, neatly severing the neck and spine with a single stroke, cauterizing and cutting all at once, the blade hissing as it parted flesh. The body hit the ground with a great thud that shook the floor of the Beast's cavern, and sagged as the last struggling of life twitched from the once-powerful muscles. Twilight respectfully laid the head on top of the body with care, then drove the blade through the head and body to nail it to the floor of the cavern.

She turned to leave, when she heard a slithering sound. Twilight turned, and from the Beast's severed neck poured a powerful darkness, lit with crackles of orange flame. It poured out like smoke: slowly and steadily, until finally Twilight approached cautiously, her magical barrier ready.

The smoke struck, leaping for her eyes like a hunting cat. A flash of orange and black, then pain, indescribably agonizing pain.

Twilight awoke in the night, with Trixie still reassuringly asleep against her. The blue unicorn changeling's markings were swirling less dramatically, and Twilight could make out what were very probably crude drawings of her dreams. Trixie cuddled up closer against Twilight, almost like a foal to her mother, and the purple unicorn found herself moved by the sight, simultaneously missing Spike dearly and very grateful for the reassuring warmth and weight of the unicorn. She looked around and saw a familiar pink shape sitting by the fire, poking the flame with every sign of enjoyment. The entire camp was ensconced a reading room by this point, surrounded by bookshelves, leaning towers of tomes full of nonsense and ancient architecture. It hadn't been when they'd gone to sleep, and Twilight was beginning to suspect that her very presence was starting to warp the fabric of the local Hedge. It would explain how everything knew she was coming, for one.

Still, she had questions, so Twilight gently eased out from under Trixie, careful not to disturb the azure unicorn from her slumber. Twilight walked over to the fire and lay down next to Pinkie, who nodded to the flames, “Trouble sleeping, Twilight? I wasn't able to sleep either, so I took the late watch from Aqua. Did you know he saved a ship full of ponies once, by plugging the hole in their boat, even though they kept throwing stuff at him to make him leave? They thought he was a monster, Twilight, but he said he couldn't jus-” She broke off at Twilight's look and sighed, her hair straightening as the mood darkened somewhat, “I guess I owe you a few answers then. Ask, Twilight, but don't blame me if you don't like it.”

Twilight stared into the fire for a moment, “Alright,” she said softly, “How come you can go through here without hurting yourself? Your cloak's not even ripped, and you don't have so much as a thorn scratch on you. And where did you learn to fight?”

Pinkie grinned, “Oh that's an easy one. I'm unique!” Pinkie giggled, though her hair stayed flat, “I don't belong here, there, or in the real world, so I don't exaaaaactly have to follow the rules. I don't know why, but I know nothing here can hurt me, it's just... Because! Oh and fighting's not hard, you just put your hoof where the bad pony's face is going to be. I don't know why some ponies work so hard at it, it's easy, especially here.” Pinkie giggled again, her blue eyes still a bit sad, “Still, I'm sorry I had to, they didn't want to fight, but they were scared, scared of you Twilight.”

Twilight frowned, “But why, Pinkie? Why does everything here know me? The Beast's been spreading my name to the changelings, I know, but what about the other creatures in here?”

Pinkie chuckled once and prodded the fire again, “Because you scare the Beast, Twilight, and he rules here in this part of the Hedge. He knows that one day, relatively soon, you're going to kill him.” In the yawning silence following that, Pinkie added nonchalantly, “Or you might, rather, such things are never certain here. But there is at least one future, and quite a likely one, that you will kill the Beast.”

Twilight just stared for a long moment before saying very softly, “This... Isn't a Pinkie Sense thing is it?”

Pinkie giggled, her hair puffing up, “Oh no Twilight, nothing like that, it's just that the Hedge is between places AND between times! So sometimes you can see the past, and sometimes you can see the future, especially in dreams,” Twilight's mind flashed back to the Beast, bleeding and beaten before her, “In dreams, here in the Hedge, you touch all times, but the future is never fixed, ever, there are only probabilities.”

“That...” Twilight said dazedly, “Was surprisingly philosophical, Pinkie.”

Pinkie rolled her eyes, “Well duh, I've been going through here since I was a filly, of course I know all this stuff, I'm not all cupcakes and rainbows. Which reminds me, I need to get some rainbows for some new spicy cupcakes I'm making...” Pinkie continued to ramble about baking until Twilight, lost in her own thoughts and dreadfully exhausted, fell asleep again, this time without dreams.

Well, except for some about flaming rainbow cupcakes.

“So... The last piece is in there?” Twilight asked dubiously of the scout, Marmalade, in regards to the large stone fortress before the group. He had been the one to find the last piece and so was inducted into the party shortly after his report was finished. Sharp Claw had been more grievously wounded than had been first thought, and Pinkie had apparently run out of fruits. He had been sent back, with the two colts they'd rescued from the Shadow Reveler: Run the pegasus with metal wings and Gun the unicorn with entirely too many horns. Marmalade had come to them shortly after to deliver his intelligence report and had volunteered to help with the mission very aggressively.

The orange pegasus stallion with a mane of blue fire nodded eagerly, dancing on his hooves, utterly unable to stay still, “Oh yes, Dame Sparkle, it's in there alright, I saw it on a flythrough, all bright and shiny in the middle of the treasury!”

“You mean a flyover?”

Marmalade looked puzzled, “What use would that be, Dame Sparkle? No, I flew in through one of the windows, made a complete tour of the place and went back out before they could shoot me.”

“Shoot you? Why?” Twilight asked, alarmed.

“Well...” Marmalade looked a little embarrassed, “I might've broken through the window, and smashed every door on my way through to look and see, then broke into the treasury so I could find the shard in the firs-”

“Wait wait wait,” Trixie interrupted, “You were in the vault, in it, and you didn't grab the shard? You just alerted all the guards, and angered every single thing in the fortress?”

Marmalade gaped for a moment, his mouth opening and closing as his train of logic derailed, “I... Hadn't thought of that, uh... Wait, I... I have a map!” The orange pegasus produced a map from his tattered saddlebags. Trixie took it from him irritably, looked it over and her expression became one of mild shock. She passed it to Twilight, who found that the map was surprisingly well-drawn for a single frantic flythrough, drawn in neat, economic lines. “I used to be a draftspony,” Marmalade said proudly, shifting from hoof to hoof restlessly, “Neat and quick, that's how I roll, like I wa-” Twilight silenced him with a look and turned her attention to the map.

The layout of the fortress was formidable. Every tower was visible from all the others, every section of twenty meter high wall was covered. The walls were thick, there was only one entrance, no moat and a big square keep squatted in the middle like a stubborn wart. Twilight sighed, “It'd be hellish to assault this place, and I'd really prefer to do this without bloodshed," Twilight muttered to herself. "Trixie,” Twilight turned to the blue unicorn, who bowed almost reflexively, “Come with me, we're going to try to parlay with them for the piece. If it goes sour, we'll think of a new plan, alright everypony? If shots start going off, take cover and re-group here in camp, is that clear?” Everypony nodded, and Twilight set out for the fortress with Trixie in tow, hoping she could somehow salvage the situation without leveling the castle.

The fortress itself loomed ahead of Twilight in an incredibly wide clearing like a great beast crouching in the middle of a field, waiting for prey. She felt terribly exposed, even with Trixie beside her, keeping watch. She approached the solid oaken drawbridge and magically looped the strange amplification power of her armor. The sheer volume distorted the air somewhat as she addressed the fortress, “RESIDENTS OF THE CASTLE, I AM DAME TWILIGHT SPARKLE OF THE COURT OF EQUESTRIA!” Trixie fell to the ground beside Twilight with her hooves over her ears, and a couple of boards in the drawbridge cracked from the sheer volume, “I HAVE COME TO NEGOTIATE TERMS FOR THE RETURN OF AN OBJECT STOLEN FROM WITHIN OUR BORDERS! IT IS OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE, AND AS SUCH I SEEK ENTRANCE TO TREAT WITH YOUR LEADER!” A few bits of masonry cracked off after Twilight stopped talking, and she winced as part of the parapet gave up as well, landing on the soft turf with a muffled thump.

Trixie uncovered her ears and shook her head, “Well, that was... Loud, Dame Sparkle. What now?”

Twilight flushed and un-looped the amplification spell, “I... Hadn't expected it to be quite that loud,” her voice sounded fuzzy and indistinct after the ringing power from earlier, and just the reflected sound of her voice had been enough to set her ears to ringing. Twilight shook her head to clear it a little, “Now we wait, Trixie, because it's polite.”

Minutes passed, then a voice hailed from the battlements above, “Dame Sparkle,” a guttural voice proclaimed, “I am Baron Toad, lord of this castle and the surrounding demesne. The residents of this castle do not engage in thievery, and find your demand as insulting as it is confusing. We have no stolen objects here, and must ask you to leave!”

Twilight responded respectfully, “Baron Toad, the object I seek is a small glittering shard, a piece of a soul ripped from a little filly who now is suffering from its loss. It belongs to her, and is thus stolen.” Twilight glared up at the battlements and straightened regally, “I do not willingly impugn your honor in this, but if you tell me again that you have no stolen items, then I needs must name you a liar.”

“Take care with your words, little pony!” The baron snapped back, “The shard was salvaged lawfully, and it has already been the goal of one thief, we are ill-disposed to suffer the demands of another. Leave, Dame Sparkle, and maybe your little filly will learn to keep what's left of her soul in one piece!”

Twilight didn't think, and before she knew it she was alight with power. Her mane burned with a thousand shades of violet, while fiery prismatic words and letters snaked through the flames. Shadows leapt up the walls from her hooves, in the form of silhouettes that gibbered with inarticulate fury. Twilight's voice was not so much loud as intense as she addressed the castle one final time, but the effect was as terrifying as any speech from Nightmare Moon, and as stunning as the Royal Canterlot Voice's volume had been, “You will have the time from when I leave to when I return to reflect upon the depth of your mistake, Baron. If you will selfishly keep the shard for yourself as a bauble, then I will take it from you and return it to its rightful owner, where it will save a filly's life.” She turned angrily towards the path out and looked over her shoulder for one parting shot, “See you later, Baron.”

Sweet Apple Acres was quiet at night, even with the changelings prowling around, guarding the orchard and accompanying household. They had already repelled three attacks by the Beast's pack, and had lost one changeling to an unlucky swipe of a wolf-creature's paw. The overwhelming force with which the changelings fought off the wolf-things after that was nothing short of lethal, and burning the bodies at the edge of the orchard was an almost constant task. Still, they were confident that nothing would get through their guard, for the Apple family house was surrounded and protected at all times and from all directions. Something would have to be extremely clever to get into the house now, and even then there were guards posted inside, waiting for such a chance.

Luminous woke with a start from a soft noise. She looked over at Applebloom beside her, who was still sleeping, and made sure she was still breathing, and not suffering from mana buildup. She had decided that the best way to make sure nothing harmed the other filly was to sleep in the same room as her, and Applebloom had offered her bed rather graciously, which Luminous had tried to refuse. They had argued for an hour until they'd practically fallen asleep on each other, exhausted. Now, however, Luminous felt entirely awake as her body scented a danger her mis-matched eyes couldn't quite see yet.

Luminous heard a soft thump from outside the door and readied the shield spell Princess Luna had taught her, her eyes narrowing at the doorway. A flutter of terror rippled through her, but she quashed it with an overwhelming sense of duty. She had a job to do, ponies were depending on her, she didn't have time to be afraid. So the little white unicorn filly stood firmly over Applebloom and waited.

Time stretched out, the tension mounting until at last the door started to slowly push open. A clawed hand gripped the wooden door and lifted it as it pushed the portal open, to keep the hinges from creaking. Luminous felt herself start to sweat, but she held absolutely still, her body tense with the prepared spell and the suppressed fear. The creature loomed in the doorway as it pushed the door fully open, and was about to step through when it ran face-first into Luminous' shield spell. Luminous screamed as loud as she could and held the shield, which sparked as the bipedal wolf-thing clawed at the magical surface. It was agony holding the shield. Every single strike was like a blow to the head and sapped Luminous' strength, but the little filly's sense of duty refused to let her yield. Applebloom woke up and was screaming too, but Luminous couldn't hear her over the impacts against her spell.

Finally, spent, Luminous fell over on the bed, shuddering weakly as the creature pulled itself into the room and descended on the two fillies, snarling. As a last act of defiance, Luminous grabbed the sharpest thing nearby with the last fragments of her magic, and threw the charged mana crystal into the creature's gaping maw. The wolf-thing snapped it out of the air and smashed Luminous aside with a snarl. It advanced on Applebloom then fell back, clutching at its belly, which was beginning to glow ominously. Two changelings burst through the window and another through the doorway right as the thing exploded with a howl in a flash of purple fire, spraying the room with blood, bones and viscera. Luminous stared, Applebloom stared, the changelings stared. Luminous grinned a little dazedly, her eyes unfocused as she slurred, “None shall pass...” Then she passed out, and Applebloom started screaming again.

Twilight laid out the plan for the third time, giving Marmalade a frustrated look, “Alright, so Marmalade, we need you to open the door, remember? Marmalade!”

Marmalade jumped, he'd been distracted by something flitting through the bookshelves of the nearby Hedge, “Er, yes? What is it Dame Sparkle?”

“The plan!” Twilight all but shouted, struggling to keep a leash on her temper. Marmalade was the most aggravating pegasus to work with. He had the attention span of a gnat, hated planning and never, ever stopped moving. He was like Rainbow Dash on caffeine without any of the sense of loyalty: utterly capricious, incapable of paying attention and almost impossible to work with. Still, she needed the doors opened. “Marmalade, for the third time, we need you to fly up to the gatehouse, and find a way to open the doors. Okay? Did you get that?”

Marmalade nodded, grinned and took off like a shot straight for the castle before Twilight could tell him anything else. Twilight swore and quickly gathered the others, “Alright, plan's been accelerated, let's go everypony!”

Trixie looked out at the castle as the others quickly fastened on their gear, “You think he can do it? He's kind of... Flighty, Dame Sparkle.”

Twilight grunted, “He will, he-” She broke off as the doors banged open and an alarm bell started ringing. “See? No problem.”

Trixie and Twilight led the way towards the castle, holding a shield above the whole group as they ran. Aqua and Trotter ran beside her while Pinkie brought up the rear, bounding along effortlessly and grinning. They dashed to the door, which was wide open, and pounded their way inside. The group had just enough time to notice Marmalade's arrow-filled body on the flagstones before flaming oil poured from on high to splash on the rippling violet and blue shield, causing Trixie to flinch, though Twilight just looked grim. Barrels and barrels of flaming oil poured in, filling the whole flagged courtyard with ankle-deep burning liquid.

“To the keep!” Twilight shouted, maintaining the shield against the flood of flaming oil around the courtyard. She and Trixie maintained the shield so effectively that it acted like a bubble, pushing the burning oil away ahead of the group as well as stopping any fresh splashes from hitting the group of ponies. The whole group pushed to the door of the keep, which was locked and barred. Fortunately, they had planned for this eventuality, “Trotter, you're up!”

Trotter ran forward and focused for a moment before he kicked the doors so hard they cracked inwards and open. The shield stopped a crossbow bolt just before it perforated his face, causing it to bounce harmlessly away. Now they could see their attackers, who crouched in the main hall beyond the shattered doorway.

They were frogs. Huge upright-walking frogs dressed in leather armor and bronze helmets, bearing crossbows that they manipulated with their long, sticky fingers. Dozens of them crowded the hall, and they all opened fire as soon as the ponies cleared the door.

Soon Trixie was grunting under the sheer number of impacts hitting the shield, her horn starting to spark a little from countering the force behind each hit. Twilight remained stoic, but the sheer amount of magic she was pumping out was starting to take its toll. She nodded to Aqua, who stomped his hooves on the ground and whispered softly. Fog started to coalesce in the room, and Pinkie took advantage of the cover to disappear from the group. A few muffled thuds sounded from the shrouded darkness and the flying bolts stopped entirely. She returned, grinning, and bowed to Twilight, “All sleeping, don't you worry Twilight! None of them are gonna wake up unless somepony throws a really big party, which reminds me, we should throw a really big-”

Twilight interrupted, letting the shield drop, “When we're out of this Pinkie, sure, but right now we have a job to do and Applebloom's counting on us.” Pinkie nodded, looking a little abashed, and Twilight turned to Trixie, who was rubbing her head, “You alright Trixie?”

“Yeah just... Crossbow bolts hurt to block. Give me a moment, please?” Twilight nodded and moved on to Trotter and Aqua, who were still full of adrenaline and ready to go.

“We shouldn't linger, Dame Sparkle, it's dangerous here, and who knows how much they'll have fortified if we stay,” Trotter said seriously, pacing and looking around.

“I know Trotter, but Trixie's exhausted and we need to rest a minute. Go around and scout what you can of the room, maybe tie up all the soldiers while you're at it.” Twilight watched him go off, and sighed, preparing herself for the next fight.

Trotter hauled the last unconscious frog back to the others and started tying him up. In all likelihood the strange creatures could break the bonds, but tying them up was something to do and it could possibly buy them a little time should the angry amphibians awaken prematurely. The thin earth pony was tying up the last one when he heard Aqua's splashing steps behind him. Trotter turned and saw the perpetually-soaked earth pony pick up one of the crossbows. “Careful with that,” Trotter cautioned as Aqua picked up one of the still-loaded crossbows, “Might put an eye out if you're not ca-” Trotter broke off as Aqua lifted the crossbow up in his hooves, balancing flawlessly, “Uh... Aqua?” Aqua croaked, and his hooves turned into froglike hands for just long enough to fire a bolt into Trotter's eye.

The imposter shape-shifted his frog-like hands back to hooves and was about to escape before the pony he was impersonating came upon him and spoiled everything, when he bumped into something hard and metallic. Twilight Sparkle stood before the shape-shifting imposter, staring at him with an expression that could only be described as murderous. Cursing the teleporting unicorn inwardly, the creature tried to maintain his disguise and looked shocked and afraid. His act became suddenly very convincing when Twilight abruptly suspended him in a telekinetic grip and began to squeeze, sending flickering sparks that formed fragments of sentences through the telekinetic field. The fake pony thrashed and started to switch between forms, trying to find some way out of its predicament. It became another pony, a bird, a squid, a giant scorpion, until at last it switched back to its usual froggy state, gasping desperately, its bulbous eyes bulging unpleasantly as Twilight squeezed the air from the slimy creature's lungs.

Twilight released the pressure enough to let the creature take a breath, then glared at it furiously, tears of rage running freely down her cheeks. “You,” she said roughly, her voice shaking with emotion, “You are going to tell the rest of your kind to stand down,” every word Twilight spoke rippled through her mane in words of orange fire, like a visual echo, “You will give us free access to the shard, and if you do not, I will purchase that access with the blood of those that stand in our way,” Twilight leaned closer to the amphibian, which was watching her with a curious lack of reaction for a creature being threatened, “Do I make myself clear?”

“Aye,” the creature croaked in its gravely voice, glaring back wearily, “But they shall not yield to a thief, who seeks to steal our treasure that was rightfully claimed.”

Twilight's eyes narrowed, “How was it claimed?”

“Abandoned it was, in the heart of the Hedge, and it was claimed by us, to be a jewel for our leader.” The creature spat at Twilight's hooves disdainfully as Aqua, Trixie and Pinkie came running up, “So kill me, thief, or I shall kill your charges, for we will never stop hunting you and yours for your transgressions here.” Twilight stared at the thing for a long moment, then sent a sleep spell through the telekinetic field, causing the frog to fall deeply asleep. She conjured iron bands around it, and set the frog aside and turned her attention to the fallen Trotter.

Aqua had rushed to his fallen friend's side, “Trotter? Trotter! Come on,” he nudged the stallion's side urgently, sniffing a little, “Come on Trotter, quit it, get up, we have to move. I... Come on!” Aqua shoved Trotter's body roughly, tears mingling with his perpetually dripping coat, “You stupid idiot, you can't die, not before...” He cut off and collapsed over Trotter's thin body, sobbing. Twilight was crying silently herself, regretting bringing anypony else into this. She was about to help Aqua up and teleport the lot of them back to Equestria when Trotter coughed and groaned, making his damp friend jump.

“Ugh... I feel... Like somepony shot me in the head.” Trotter muttered, rubbing his head. He looked around with his one good eye at all the staring ponies, “So... What'd I miss?”

"Some... Something shot you in the head," Aqua said softly, staring in shock at the thin earth pony, who was now looking at Aqua with surprise, "Right... Right in the eye, your left eye. But you... You're not dead?"

"The string was damp," Twilight said. She'd been examining the wicked little device once Trotter had coughed, to see if there had been some further trick involved. She shook her head, "It must not have broken through the skull, just... Just the eye."

"Oh," Trotter said, a little dazedly, "Guess I'll need an eyepatch the-" the thin earth pony broke off as Aqua interrupted him with a deep kiss. Trotter went cross-eyed with his one remaining eye and very gently smiled, blushing. Twilight was about to comment when an ominous rumble shook the room, and water began to pour in from every nook and cranny.

Pinkie giggled, utterly unfazed, "Time for a bath!"