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Discord Inc.

by naturalbornderpy

Chapters

Chapter 1: The Last Bad Show

The silence in the room was unbearable. From the stage, I could hear the streamers and the confetti from my final trick lazily trail towards the floor, accompanied by the soft murmurs of the crowd. The lone spotlight overhead blinded me from most of the room. I was glad. No point in glimpsing the faces of the wholly bored and uninterested.

        

Seven shows in a row. Each more disappointing than the last. If only I could concentrate on the act and not the mare that had started my downward spiral to begin with.

I wish I'd never heard the name Ponyville.

                

I felt my eyes water as I gave the room a smile. The smile felt far faker than any trick I’d performed that night.

                

When a lone figure in the back of the room stood and began loudly knocking their hooves together, the rest of the slumbering audience joined suit and I strolled off stage with my chin held high. More than anything I hoped no one was seated close enough to see my tearstained cheeks.

                

“Trixie the Great and Powerful, everyone!” the host of ceremonies bellowed out behind me.

                

Damn, I thought bitterly. And there goes the one chance of making a name for myself.

                

***
 

“Fucking Twilight Sparkle and her purple punchable face and her stupid smile and her idiotic mane and her….”

                

Like a steam pipe ready to burst, I unloaded all the vile thoughts trapped deep inside my head the moment I was sure I was alone. As I fled the castle, Celestia had cornered me, told me how much she’d enjoyed the show. Of course she would. She was the one that started the applause to begin with. She spoke and I nodded along, barely a word catching my attention until….

                

“I’m sure Twilight Sparkle would’ve made it if she could. I knew she was planning on attending….”

                

Twilight. Twilight Sparkle.

                

The air outside Canterlot castle never tasted so good. I sucked it back and strolled in any direction that was away. As it happened, away was down the hill and towards a large wall of hedge. Once well out of sight, I threw my hat and cape to the ground, stomping on them for good measure. I muttered under my breath as I pounded on them. “Fuck fuck fuck stupid Twilight and her fuck face magic friendship bitch—”

                

“Don’t you have quite the potty mouth,” a rather clear voice told me.

                

I jerked my head up, blood rushing to my cheeks. My first thought—the worst thought—was that Twilight or one of her friends had found me in the garden and had actually borne witness to my show. But the voice hadn’t sounded like a mare’s at all. More….

                

Humorous? Bubbly? Sinister?

“I wonder. Would it help if I washed your mouth out with soap?”

                

I lifted my chin and straightened my back. “Who dares interrupt Trixie’s time of… careful ponderings? Trixie wishes for you to show yourself! Right this instant!”

                

To my left sat the short path that fed back to the castle. To my right was the labyrinthine Canterlot maze, with its eight foot tall walls made of hedge, winding tunnels and spiraling passageways. Beyond that, the only other items around me were three statues and a water fountain.

                

“Oh, Celestia! Please say it isn’t so! Is that always how you talk? Trixie this and Trixie that? Blargh. Shudder. And here I thought I was full of myself.”

                

The voice seemed to come from all directions at once. I shook out my jitters. “Trixie does not have time for this! You’ve had your fun, but now Trixie has had enough!”

                

“She sounds confident, but is she confident? Is she really?” The voice giggled richly. “Correct me if I’m mistaken, but aren’t you that same magician that was crying on stage just a few minutes ago? Or was that someone else I’m remembering? I have a terrible time recalling things. Was that Tootles the Dancing Clown I was thinking of?”

A shadow splayed along the water fountain near the hedge and I crept towards it, my hooves silent on the grass. I illuminated my horn and got ready to pounce when the shadow slithered into the grass and vanished.

                

“Looking for little ol’ me?” the voice asked confidently. “I’m not that hard to miss, mind you. I’ve been standing here the whole time.”

                

My eyes left the fountain and traveled to the three statues opposite it. Alicorn. Alicorn. Dragon? I had to do a double take on the final statue. Or was that a snake? Goat? I went to the third statue to read its plaque: “Discord the Draconequus.” The name fit, as far as I could tell.

                

“What a mess….” I murmured.

                

“You’re one to talk.”

                

I spun around to the sound, only to find an empty bench and nothing more, but when I turned back to the statue, I found it gone—only a flat slab of concrete to mark that there’d been anything there at all.

                

“You can turn around now if you’d like. I promise I don’t bite.”

                

I quivered out a breath and did as the voice suggested. Instantly I regretted that decision. On the corner of the bench sat the same statue from before, colored-in and brought to horrible reality. One of his legs was crossed over the other and both of his “hands” rested on his lap. When he caught my eyes, he gave me a toothy sneer that seemed to run contrary to the promise that he didn’t bite.

                

I gulped. “Discord.” Not exactly a question.

                

He nodded. “Trixie the Great and Powerful. But if you don’t mind, I think I’ll skip the extra long version from here on out. I only have all the time in the world, so I really don’t want to use it all up on titles if I can.”

                

“Trixie remembers learning about you in school.”

                

Discord pressed a sharp fang against his lip. “No.”

                

No? I thought. No as in I didn’t learn about him in school, or no as in—

                

He raised his eagle’s claw to hold by the side of his face, his thumb and forefinger pressed together. “If you don’t want to have your snout snapped directly into your butt, you’ll stop all this third-person dialogue immediately.”

                

I held up a hoof. “But Trixie has always talked like this. She—”

                

Discord gingerly rubbed his pressed fingers together. “Are you truly the type that believes their butt doesn’t smell? Is that why you’re so driven to get your snout sent there posthaste?”

                

My throat went dry. I wondered if the best answer was no answer at all. I shook my head.

                

He grinned. “Good! Then let’s get down to business. You have a problem and I just happen to be in the mood to solve one! So come and take a seat and tell your good ol’ chum Discord all about it.” He happily patted his leg with a paw.

                

I stared at the tall oddity and shook my head again.

                

Discord rolled his eyes. “Fine. Be weird, then.”

                

“Aren’t you supposed to be trapped in stone?” I blurted out, my mind desperately trying to remember all I’d learned about Discord while in school. Wasn’t he a villain, too? It really wasn’t that much of a venture, considering his bizarre appearance and the fact he’d threatened to stick my nose up my ass less than a minute after meeting him.

                

Almost angrily, Discord waved his claw in the air. “Don’t believe everything you hear, Ms. Lulamoon. I let them believe what they want.” He nodded towards the base of his statue. “Can’t a draconequus just get away from it all for a while? Take a little vacation? Catch some me time? I let them think the Elements of Harmony have that effect on me. In reality, I just step to the side every time and erect a statue where it hits.” He snickered. “Can’t have them spending all their time figuring out what really hurts me, can I?”

                

Since I didn’t have anything to add to that, I took a step to the side and remained focused on the ground. “Trixie is… .” I winced as Discord growled. “I’m… going to go back now. I really should be going, okay? Bye now.”

                

I made it two steps before a slimy tail coiled its way around my leg.

                

“Not so fast, my sweet,” he cooed. “We still have business to attend to.”

                

Could I blast him in the face? I thought hopefully. Hit him with a spark and find Celestia before he finds me again? It was times like these I wished I was better versed in the art of magic. Even a simple teleportation spell sounded nice right around now.

                

“Blast me in the face?” Discord spat, somehow having just read my thoughts. “Is that how you treat all the noble creatures trying to help you? I’ll have you know my face is a national treasure! Hell, they even made a statue out of me due to its beauty! No, wait. I did that.”

                

He chuckled again—not as giddy as before. “But enough frivolity. Let’s get down to brass tacks, shall we?” Lifting his tail into the air, he set me upside-down next to him on the bench. “You seemed to be holding a grudge against a mare named Twilight Sparkle—a deep-seated grudge, by the sounds of it.”

                

I sat up straight again and crossed my hooves over my chest. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

                

“Oh?” Clicking his fingers together, Discord materialized a tiny speaker to sit inside his palm. My voice poured out of it. “Fucking Twilight Sparkle and her purple punchable face and her stupid smile and her idiotic mane and her….”

                

I grimaced, then sighed. “I don’t like Twilight Sparkle very much.”

                

“No shit.” He crushed the tiny speaker in his fist. “She made you feel worthless long ago, correct? And that feeling never left, so now the Great and Powerful Trixie doesn’t feel so great or powerful anymore. Did you really think this show was going to turn out any better than the last one?”

                

Yes, I thought. “No,” I spoke, as I bit my lip as my eyes started watering again. “But I don’t want your pity.”

                

“Good. Because that’s not what I’m offering you.” He wrapped a thin arm around my shoulder. “Before you came to Ponyville, you felt on top of the world. Then that mare had to kick the legs out from under you, shove you into mud, and since then all you’ve done is crawl around in that mud—searching for a way out, looking to clean yourself of the reek of failure once and for all.”

                

I wasn’t about to put it quite so dramatically, but….

                

I nodded faintly. “Trixie hates what she’s become. She used to love magic, but now… .”

                

Discord sighed, then smiled thinly. What must’ve been on his mind must’ve been good. He didn’t even mention my previous third-person slip. “Then it sure is a good thing I’m here. You know what we should do? We should go into business together.”

                

I glanced up at the lithe figure. “Like a shop? Like selling hats or ice cream cones?”

                

“Save that thought for later. What I want to do is make you a client.”

                

“Like a manager?”

                

“No!” he trumpeted, leaving her on the bench to stand. “Now hold that tongue of yours for a moment and let me explain.” With the snap of his fingers, a small desk erupted out of the dirt, stacks of papers, quills, and hourglasses jittering along its top as it rose. Discord slid a pair of half-moon spectacles onto his nose. “Welcome to Discord Inc.! Where we make our clients’ dreams a reality, and our enemies’ lives a living nightmare! Care to begin?”

                

I tentatively glanced at the creature. It was the first time I’d noticed how neither of his pupils matched. Wasn’t that a sign of brain trauma? “You really don’t seem like someone I should trust.”

                

His good-natured smile faltered. “Oh, pish posh! I’m as friendly as a teddy bear. Now, tell me what it is you want.”

                

“I want to go back inside,” I said hopefully.

                

“Sorry, all out of escape routes. Perhaps something to do with Twilight Sparkle?” He shoved himself across his desk, knocking countless knickknacks to the ground. “From what I understand, she does have quite the effect on you.”

                

“Well… she….” I didn’t really know how to finish that sentence. It’d been exactly three months and three days since I stepped hoof inside of Ponyville, displaying my show for all eager eyes to see only to have it all come crashing down around me. Since then, my mind had obsessed over a lone figure—Twilight Sparkle. Some nights I wanted her dead. Some nights I wanted her to live forever so she could fully grasp the extent of my talents and skills, come to terms with how wrong she’d been when she’d tried to tango with the likes of me. Other nights—rarer nights—I wanted her to do nothing at all. Live and forget I ever existed. But maybe that was only what I wanted myself to do all along. Move past the mare that had bested me. Become the best Trixie I could be and be damn happy about it anyway I could.

                

But as I said, those nights were rare.

                

“What can you do to her?” I finally asked.

                

“Anything.”

                

“Can you ruin her life for me?”

                

A smile wider than any before it spread on Discord’s face. “Let me make one thing clear before we continue. You used the term ‘ruin.’ Are you sure of that? To ruin someone—to properly ruin someone—takes time; it takes dedication. They must be destroyed from the inside out. Slowly. Properly. They must be left to rot.”

                

My chest felt tight. “I don’t want you to kill her, if that’s what you mean.”

                

“Kill?” He tilted his head at me. “I don’t kill. Never have; don’t believe all the rumors you hear. No. I’ll simply ruin her life. Bring her down to your level for a change.”

                

“Trixie’s life isn’t ruined!” I exclaimed, so suddenly and openly I forgot about his hatred of the way I spoke.

                

“Is that why you’re making deals with the Spirit of Chaos right now?”

                

Spirit of Chaos? I really should’ve paid more attention in school. “You never mentioned that title.”

                

“That’s because I don’t like titles. But we’re getting sidetracked.” He leaned back in his seat and pulled a drawer out from his desk. From it, he unloaded a thick stack of dusty papers hammered together by a trio of bent nails. He slid it towards me on the desk. “Sign the contract at the bottom and initial in the corner. If you dare write ‘Great and Powerful’ anywhere on there, I’ll kick you straight to the moon. Once you sign, we can get started on things.”

                

I hesitated grabbing the contract. I blew off a thick layer of dust and skimmed as many lines as I could. Some were so small I doubted even a magnifying glass would help. I looked back up. “How can I trust you?”

                

“You can’t. But if it helps, the contract relies on a ‘Client Satisfaction’ clause. The job isn’t complete until the client says so… or until I deem the client completely satisfied.” He folded his arms as if this helped reassure her of his completely solid business practices.

                

I closed the contract again. “If I say no?”

                

Discord narrowed his eyes at me. “Then you will return home having not changed a single thing in your life. You will continue to be miserable, you will continue to blame others for your failures, and you will either give up on your dreams of being better than anyone could ever imagine or sink so low, even a gig at the scummiest of bars will feel like a gift from Celestia herself.”

                

The words felt like a punch to the gut. The bitter truth in them only helped spread the pain.

                

“And if you sign?” he continued on cheerfully. “Then Twilight becomes the one destined to fail, and you take her place as the best magic wielder around.”

                

I looked from him to the contract on my lap. “And you won’t kill her?”

                

“No.”

                

“Or hurt her?”

                

“No. The pain will be emotional, at best. The same type of pain as she caused you.”

                

“And what do you get out of it?”

                

The last question seemed to catch him off guard. He chewed playfully on his tongue. “Twilight and I have business to attend to in a short amount of time. I’d rather we skip all that, honestly. This seems like the best way to go about it.”

                

When I glanced at the contract again, a quill had been shoved into my hoof. I waited… and waited for something to come and put a stop to all this—for Celestia to come and find me in the garden or for the part of me that sensed that something was wrong to overwhelm the part of me that simply wanted revenge. But of course, neither of those happened.

                

I signed and initialed as quickly as I could, like taking a shot of bad medicine. The moment I was done, the contract rolled up tight and vanished in a puff of dust. Discord’s desk had vanished, too. Now he stood with a thin black device in his palm.

                

“What’s that?” I asked, uneasy now that I was locked into whatever might come next.

                

“A remote,” he answered calmly.

                

“What does—”

                

“To the future!” he yelled, clicking the lone button on the device.

                

On the side of the nearest hedge, a square box of static sprung to life, lines of swishing black and grey sliding across it noisily. Discord hit another button and the image inside the box changed. Now it was off an interior view of a café Trixie remembered from her short time in Ponyville; the sun illuminating through the café’s windows as early risers trotted inside. A barista hoofed over a coffee to her latest customer.

                

I didn’t take my eyes off the image. “What’s this?”

                

“The Coffee Corner located in Ponyville. Three shops down from Chestnut Drive and a stone’s throw away from the marketplace. It’s a well-known fact Twilight visits the joint nearly every morning.”

                

“Okay.” I waited for him to continue. I quickly became anxious. “So is something going to happen, then?”

                

“Yes. Yes, yes, yes.” Discord eyed the image with a tight grin. “Any moment now… and there she is!”

                

Through the view into the café, I watched as Twilight Sparkle entered and stood at the counter. Before placing her order, she yawned and gave her head a shake. With a nod, the barista began making her order.

                

Discord could hardly keep his giggles at bay by the sight.

                

I kept my eyes peeled for something important—something that just didn’t belong. But then Twilight Sparkle scooped up her coffee, paid, and left the café no worse for wear. One of my eyelids twitched and I used my horn to throw Discord’s remote to the ground.

                

“What is this!?” I could hardly keep my voice from trembling. “All this build up for that? What did you do? Spit in her coffee and call it a day!?”

                

He shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Such a limited imagination on you. How horrible that must be. No. No! You need to look at the bigger picture, my lackadaisical little mare. This sight I’m allowing us to glimpse is from precisely 8:35 tomorrow morning. It’s much easier to travel ahead in time than reverse; less complicated than you would think.” He pointed a claw at the bustling barista. “Twilight Sparkle asked for a large black house brew—her usual. She was just given a decaf by mistake.”

                

He stared at me as if that was meant to be impressive. It wasn’t.

                

“So you didn’t spit in her coffee?”

                

Running a paw along his narrow face, Discord exhaled tiredly. “Chaos is an art form. It takes time and it takes patience. It also takes skill. You wanted me to ruin the life of Twilight Sparkle?  Well, I’ve just done so.”

                

I cocked a brow and felt it twitch. “By screwing up her coffee order.”

                

“Precisely.” He bent to pick up his remote. “Think of it like dominoes. She’s tired. She doesn’t get her caffeine fix that day. Yadda yadda yadda. And now her life is left in shambles!”

                

“How? When?”

                

“When what?”

                

“When is she left in shambles? When does it stop being stupid coffee tricks and become something better? You said you would make her suffer—that you would ruin her!”

                

He stuck a finger to his cheek. “But I did. Or were you not paying attention? Oh, all right. I’ll cut you some slack, but don’t say I don’t do anything for you. You want to know when Twilight’s ruining really gets good?”

                

I nodded.

                

“Fine. But remember, you asked for it.”

                

Instead of snapping his fingers together, he clapped both of his hands above his head. At first I’d thought he’d blinded me, but soon realized the sky overhead had gone from a cloudless light blue to an overcast dirty grey. By the time my eyes adjusted to the gloom, Discord was nowhere to be seen.

                

My guts twisted into a knot from all the changes surrounding me.

Large sections of the Canterlot maze had been uprooted or broken off, some devoured by what must’ve been fire. The statues by its entrance had all been destroyed; brought down by ropes and then smashed to bits. Discord’s statue had received the worst treatment of them all—his face nothing more than a fine powder now.

                

Canterlot Castle stood ominous up the hill, its windows boarded up and its stone walls cracked, chipped or outright missing bricks in spots. It was as if someone had laid siege to the place in the couple of minutes I hadn’t been focused on it.

                

Surrounding the castle was a clear dome made of magic that started a dozen steps onto the lawn. I strained my eyes to glimpse a faint color deep within the gray shield… and what else was I seeing there?

                

“Looks like you done goofed!”

                

I yelped and spun around, crouching to the ground. Discord casually came towards me, his arms folded behind his back. “Explain! Explain now!” I spoke.

                

“You really are a dumb little mare, Ms. Trixie Lulamoon,” he told me curtly. “And you really didn’t think about the larger picture even after I mentioned it.”

                

“What?” I suddenly found my breath harder to control. My senses telling me both to run and yet to stay. “Did you have something to do with this? Why is Canterlot in ruins? Why is everything changed?”

                

“I had nothing to do with this, Trixie. You did. Welcome to the one year anniversary of your Canterlot debut. You’d asked me to ruin the life of Twilight Sparkle that evening, and I did. That night, things got kicked into motion, and this was the result.”

                

“All this from a decaf coffee!?” I screamed, my voice echoing far into the distance.

                

Discord closed his eyes as if my screams soothed him somehow. “Yes, but a decaf coffee given to one of the greatest mares that will ever live. Twilight Sparkle was destined for greatness, you idiot. She was going to stop evil and tyranny in its tracks and bring about a new period of peace. Or she was until you came along.”

                

No, my mind thought stubbornly. No, no, no, no, no….

                

“Yes,” he replied, after he must’ve read my thoughts again. “You thought Twilight was just some ordinary mare, did you? The personal student of Princess Celestia and redeemer of Nightmare Moon? Bah! To even have begun to compare yourself to her was asinine.”

                

“Twilight… Twilight was the one that reformed Princess Luna?”

                

“Yep.” He nodded smugly. “And she goes on to do so much more! But, alas, you just had to put a stop to it, didn’t you? Oh, what a time to be alive it is. The bug Queen Chrysalis was never stopped; the tyrannical King Sombra reclaimed his Crystal Empire, and anyone that could’ve put a stop to them is in no position now to do so. So, congrats, kiddo, on ending all life as we know it in Equestria! I just knew you had it in you!”

                

I crumpled into a tight ball on the lawn. My whole body shook uncontrollably.

                

Discord stood over me. “Feel important now?”

                

“Please tell me this is a joke. You said you’re the Spirit of Chaos, right? So maybe this is all a—”

                

He snorted. “Not today, I’m afraid. But look on the bright side. With no Twilight in the way, maybe you could be the hero for once!”

                

I said in the warm confines of my ball. “All I wanted was to be a good magician….”

                

“And look how well that turned out for you. But it looks like you’ve got company. Good luck!”

                

Someone’s hoofsteps halted behind me. “Just what do you think you’re doing on my lawn?”

                

The voice was female and echoed eerily, not like a pony’s voice at—

                

Splack!

Something green flashed behind me for a split-second and careened ahead, slamming into my back with the force of an iron-hot sledgehammer and pushed through. Onto the ground below me shot out bits of organs, blood and bone, and I soon collapsed overtop of them.

                

I tried to breath, but noticed what might’ve been parts of lung near my head. I felt pain, a lot of it, only far removed, as if it were happening to someone else. Shock, I thought oddly. Or something like that. It wasn’t every night you ended the world only to die a few seconds later.

                

The pony behind me kicked my shoulder so I faced the sky. Instead of skin, she had black chitin, and wispy turquoise hair. Below her long and jagged horn, her slit eyes glared at me. “Is this one of those resistance ponies?” she asked the similar looking creature behind her.

                

The smaller changeling shook its head. “Not that I can tell. I’ll take a run-through on the sketches, though.”

                

“Let me know if there’s a match.” Queen Chrysalis thought for a moment, her lips widening into a grin. “And have someone fetch Funny Face and bring them up to my chambers. Give them a bath while you’re at it. This mare’s splayed guts put me in a rather good mood tonight.”

                

The smaller changeling nodded. “Yes, my Queen.”

                

“And make sure someone hoses off the lawn.”

                

The pair of them strolled back to the castle as Discord stood overtop of me. He grimaced as he took note of my chest… or the fact that it had been removed recently.

                

He shook his head at me sadly. “Oh, dear. And here I thought you’d do so well. Ready to try again?”

                

The world went dark as I heard a snap.

Chapter 2: The Encore

I swam out of darkness to find I was still stuck in the same hell as before. Grey skies, crushed statues, and a castle sealed shut from the outside world. I didn’t even get that tiny reprieve I’d always liked reading about in novels, where the protagonist thinks they’re somewhere nice only to be shown it was all a dream and forced back into whatever nightmare they’d briefly escaped from.

                

Or is that still what had happened to me, but to a lesser degree?

                

I had died. In my dream I had died. Horrifically. My chest had been ripped open and I’d had just enough blood left in me to glimpse the one that had murdered me. Queen Chrysalis. Along with Discord, she was a figure I could recall learning about in history class.

                

But that was only a dream, right?

I giggled nervously.

                

“Afraid not.”

                

Discord strolled up the lawn towards me, arms folded behind his back. There’s something familiar about this.

                

“I’ll spare you the details because we really don’t have time for them.” He pondered how best to say his next thought. “You died, Trixie. Fantastically, I might add. But, yes, you died.”

                

“That was a dream,” I told him meekly. “A nightmare?”

                

“Nope. That was reality. This reality, if you want to get technical about it.”

                

My lower lip quivered. “Does that mean I’m in hell? Are you the keeper of hell? I’m not surprised to see you here, but… a little sad, is all.”

                

Discord moaned. “Oh, grow a pair, Trixie! You’re not dead, so be happy about that. And no I’m not the keeper of hell. They said I needed more experience or some gunk like that….” He stopped himself. “What were we talking about again? Oh, yes. You were dead and now you’re not.”

                

I used a hoof to feel along my chest. It was almost hard to believe it hadn’t been there a minute ago. “Does that mean you brought me back to life?”

                

He waved a single claw back and forth. “No. Rather, I reversed time—brought you to a point before you were blasted across the lawn so spectacularly.”

                

“Why?”

                

“Because of the contract, of course.”

                

“The contract won’t let me die?”

                

“Something along those lines.”

                

An icy chill crept up my spine. “If you reversed time, then how far did you go? Canterlot’s still in ruins and we were only here for a few min—”

                

“I gave you a sixty second restart,” Discord finished for me.

                

I yelped. Someone was already approaching.

                

“Just what do you think you’re doing on my lawn?”

                

Instinctively, I rolled to my side as a blast of green energy shot at me, leaving a torched crater six inches wide in the dirt. I turned, my heart preparing to leap out of my chest.

                

“You seem… energetic,” Queen Chrysalis spoke flatly, as if speaking to a dog. “Tell me, anyone else here with you? I promise if you name them now, I can reward you a quiet slumber in a pod instead of a slow execution.”

                

I glimpsed Discord standing to the side of us. Why wasn’t he helping? Why wasn’t he jumping in to stop all this?

                

The changeling drone behind Chrysalis whispered into her ear. With a grimace, she nodded. “Oh, sorry, pet. I’ve just been told all our pods are currently full. What else can I offer you, hmm? A death bereft of pain? If you tell me where the rest of your group is, I promise you a needle-thin beam through your heart. You’ll hardly feel a thing, I—”

                

I couldn’t hold my tongue any longer—it’d simply become too much to bear. I faced Discord. “Do something, Discord! Do anything, you fool! Trixie is going to die all over again!” I tried to think of something more pertinent to the draconequus and what he valued most. “Your client demands help! So help her already!”

                

Blankly, he stared at me—eyes glancing from Chrysalis to her drone then back to me.

                

Then I remembered how much he hated the way I spoke. “Help me?” I tried.

                

Chrysalis gave a snort. “Who is she talking to? Could that be a code of some kind? ‘Discord’ something?”

                

The drone put a hoof up to his ear. “All guards say their areas are secure. No movement around the castle.” He shrugged. “There is a chance she’s not part of any group, my Queen. Resistance or otherwise. Perhaps… crazy? I’ve heard of that happening to wandering ponies before.”

                

Chrysalis knelt down until our eyes were level. She smiled, as if that would make her less intimidating. “Just a moment ago, who was it you were talking to?”

                

“Discord,” I squeaked. “He’s the reason I’m here.”

                

She snorted again and gave my head a hard pat. “I’m sure he is, pet, and correct me if I’m wrong… but hasn’t Discord been trapped in stone for the last few hundred years? Isn’t that his statue behind you smashed to dust? I would know about that. I was the one that gave the order for it. Right, One-Five-One?” She glanced at her drone.

                

He gave her an awkward nod. “Yes, my Queen. We… uh… smashed it good for you.”

                

“I’ll be the one who does the talking, thank you very much. All you need to do is nod and stand there, remember?”

                

The drone nodded and stood there.

                

Chrysalis turned to me again. “What can you do, pray tell? Sing? Dance? Besides spout crazy gibberish, I mean.”

                

I turned to Discord again, saw him watching us patiently. Could they really not see him there? He used his claw to stroke his beard. It was odd. Even if he wasn’t helping, I felt a tad more relaxed just by the fact he was there. Maybe that had something to do with how calm he seemed about everything. Would he react if something went wrong, though? I wondered anxiously.

                

“I can do tricks,” I finally told her. “Like magic. I used to have a cape, but it’s probably gone by now.”

                

Chrysalis nodded with a grin. “Well, that sounds just wonderful. It’s been so long since we’ve had a show inside the castle. I like magic. Don’t you, One-Five-One?”

                

The drone opened his mouth to speak, but Chrysalis overrode him.

                

“Of course you do. Entertainment is rather hard to come by these days—especially pony entertainment. I hope your act is good…?”

                

Her sentence hung in the air until I understood. “Trixie. Trixie the Great and Powerful.”

                

Out of the corner of my vision, I could see Discord smack his face with a hand.

                

Chrysalis’ grin widened. “I hope for your sake that’s true, Trixie the Great and Powerful. If your act doesn’t live up to our previous pony’s entertainment… .” She looked away as if lost in thought.

                

“Are you sure that’s wise, my Queen?” the drone behind her spoke. “There’s still a chance she might be part of the resistance, perhaps sent to confuse us into letting her in. The last time we let a conscious pony inside the castle… well, we lost Two-Four-Seven and Zero-Nine-Three.”

                

Chrysalis rolled her eyes for only me to see. “And it was still a great evening, all things considered.” She gave me one last pat on the head before returning to her drone, giving him orders on retrieving shackles and chains for me alongside a containment orb, whatever that was. The drone made the necessary notes on a piece of parchment—including the time of Trixie’s show tomorrow night. Those not on guard or busy sweeping the city were required to attend.

                

Discord crouched down next to me. “You need to move, Trixie.”

                

“Why didn’t you do anything?” I hissed at him. “I asked for help and you did nothing! I looked like a fool!”

                

“That’s why I’m doing something now. I’m giving you advice and that advice is to move.”

                

“Why couldn’t they see you? Can they even hear you?”

                

He stuck a finger to his temple as if it pained him. “No, they can’t, and they won’t. As per contract rules, I’m technically not supposed to help you along. I’m as good as a ghost to you.”

                

“A useless ghost!” I shot back at him like an ill-tempered filly.

                

“I did reverse time for you—gave you a second chance.”

                

“What? Sixty whole seconds?”

                

“You’re still breathing aren’t you?”

                

I didn’t add to that. Discord noticed and flashed a fang.

                

“See? And you’re doing much better than last time! Like three whole minutes better! But, if you want to continue doing better, I’d suggest getting your ass away from here right this instant.”

                

I nodded to Chrysalis. “But I don’t think she wants to kill me anymore.”

                

Discord growled out between his teeth, “Yes, that seems to be true. Now she wants to show you off to her hive. A little magical act, just for them!”

                

“That doesn’t sound so bad.”

                

“And yet you still fail to grasp the bigger picture! There was a pony before you that did a show. If you fail to top that last show, then you become useless to Chrysalis. Same as what would happen to the pony before you if you happened to outdo them. And considering in the previous reality Chrysalis tore you in two because you stepped on her lawn, boring her might find you an even worse fate than that.”

                

I gulped. Again, I hadn’t thought that far ahead. Then I wondered if my act would’ve beaten the previous pony’s show. Maybe if they didn’t sing. Singers were always hard to—

                

Discord gave my shoulders a shake. “Stop daydreaming and focus! As much as it might not seem like it, I actually want you to succeed here. But that means you need to run away from this insect queen right this moment.”

                

I glanced at the hand on my shoulder. “I thought you said you were like a ghost? How are you touching me?”

                

“Questions later. Running now.”

                

One hard shove backward and I ran as fast as I could.

 

***
 

Once beyond the entrance to the Canterlot maze, I found myself inside a place far darker than before. The tall hedges surrounding me cut off what little light the overcast sky allowed and every corner of the maze was wholly consumed by deep pockets of shadow.

                

At the time, I was happy to have my horn—a small dot of light on the tip to help guide me along. I was also thankful of the overall damaged and decrepit state of the maze. Most dead-ends I found myself in had at least one broken section large enough to squeeze through, although some just barely. With that strategy in mind, I pressed further into the maze, uncertain if the direction I was heading in was the correct one at all.

                

This bitter thought reminded me I actually had no idea of what my overall goal was at this point, other than the urge not to die again. Could I die? A needle thin branch raked my side as I stumbled along. Was Discord telling the truth when he said he gave me a… what did he call it? A restart?

                

The moment I ran away from the castle area, Chrysalis shouted after me, “Trixie? Pet? You don’t want to go in there! That’s the maze and you might hurt yourself!” Then, far quieter to her drone, she said, “She’s running away, isn’t she? I hate it when they do that. Gather a swarm. Not too many, though; we still have a perimeter to uphold.”

                

“You want someone to wake up Four?” One-Five-One asked.

                

“I still want her alive. No. Just get someone in there to scoop her up so we can call it a night.”

                

Since then, I hadn’t heard much of anything. I’d entered the maze by Discord’s suggestion and hadn’t looked behind me a single time. If Discord was still close to me, I had no idea. Although I didn’t think losing him was still an option at this point.

                

“Damn it!”

Halfway through the burnt part of a hedge, I got stuck—twigs and broken bits of branches painfully jabbed at my belly. “Discord?” I spoke nervously. I really couldn’t see anything behind me to see if he was there or not. “A little help, please? A push maybe?”

                

Ten seconds passed before I figured he wasn’t here. I shoved myself forward another two inches, receiving shallow cuts on my thighs. A haunting green glow in the sky pulled me away from my pain; a tiny green dot that exploded and bloomed out like a firework. I doubted it was any real firework, though.

                

Dozens of blackened silhouettes sprouted up in the distance, somewhere I assumed the edge of the maze was and some even further than that. I could tell by their shape they were changelings. Reinforcements? All to find me? It might’ve had something to do with the maze. One changeling and a lone unicorn in a maze versus thirty changelings and a unicorn. Clearly they wanted to stack the odds as high as they could in their favor.

Or they had that many extra drones to deploy.

                

The sight of the green spark in the sky pushed me along. I bit my lip and crawled to the other side of the hedge. I glanced down and found my body bloody. As I tried to recall a simple healing spell that may or may not have worked when I’d tried it last, I noted my next avenue of escape was completely blocked. Three solid walls of hedge stood before me—a section of the maze that was never supposed to be explored. The thought of crawling through the hole behind me again made me wince. That was when a changeling drone landed in front of me.

                

“Stand back!” I exclaimed. “Trixie is warning you! One more step and Trixie will use her bottomless magical gifts to vaporize you into dust!”

                

To think, I used to love boasting. But that was only when I’d believed what I was boasting about.

                

The changeling took another step towards me. Could it tell I was lying? I’d kept my face as rigid as I could. Can they sense fear? Or emotions in general? I wouldn’t have been surprised. From what I understood, their systems survived on love and little else.

                

I changed tactics. “One-Five-One, isn’t it?”

A terrible shot in the dark. Most changelings looked the same, so I’d almost have a better chance picking a completely random number out of a thousand. “You don’t want to hurt me, right? You’re supposed to bring me back to the castle! Chrysalis’ orders, remember?”

                

I was gob-smacked when the changeling actually halted his approach. “You think I look like One-Five-One?” It almost sounded hurt. “Everyone hates that guy!”

                

Something clearly wasn’t right about this.

                

I took a blink and the changeling was replaced with Discord, who twisted his head with his hands until it cracked. He sighed contently. “It’s been a while since I’ve been quadruped. My knees are gonna kill me come tomorrow.”

                

“Why would you do that?” I jabbed a hoof into his stomach. “I thought you were a—”

                

“Changeling?” he chuckled. “Oh, deary me, aren’t you ever fortunate that I was not. Were you trying to talk me to death? Or was the plan to get captured as easily as could be only to die at a later time?”

                

I raised my chin. “I could’ve escaped again. There could’ve been a mistake on the way back to the castle, or… or say if he’d attacked me, I could’ve fought back. Trixie has been known to fight upon occasion.” A lie. A rather useless one, too. Then I thought of something more pertinent. “You said earlier that I couldn’t die. So why are you even worried about me dying?”

                

He raised a curious brow. “Actually, if we want to get technical—and I do because it’s fun—you won’t die, because if you do the contract ends and neither of us gets what they want. Remember now, I’m not bringing you back to life if you die, Trixie; rather, I’m reversing time exactly sixty seconds from the point you’d ceased to be. In effect, allowing you a second chance to think things through. Or a third… or a fourth… or a fifth….”

                

He was still counting when I said, “So that means if I died a hundred times while finding my way out of this maze, I’d still make it out of here in the end?”

                

Discord thought on that. “More or less, yes, but what I think you’re failing to take into account is how short sixty seconds really is. Sure, Chrysalis might knock your skull in with a brick and you might restart at some point in time far enough away to avoid such a conclusion, but say someone cuts you open and lets you bleed. Say they leave you like that. You know how long it takes to die from blood loss?”

                

I didn’t, but I still had a feeling of where this was leading to.

                

“It can take a long time,” he informed me gravely. “Longer than sixty seconds, easily. Say you die from something like that? Where would you even restart? In the midst of bleeding out? Too far gone to heal yourself or to even be saved by others? If I reversed time, then where would that leave you besides trapped in a continuous loop of miserable pain and suffering? That’s not what I want to do to you, Trixie. As hard as it may be to fathom right now, I actually do care about you. Sort of. I guess. Like a roommate that pays the rent on time.”

                

I ignored his last sentence and focused on what I thought mattered. “So if I get stuck in a spot where it takes longer than sixty seconds to find my way out, you’ll what? Not give me a restart?”

                

“Yes. I think it’s kinder that way.”

                

I took a step towards him. “A kinder thing to do would be to help me, you ass! Or better yet, end all of this! Take me back to the Canterlot before any of this happened!”

                

“But you signed the contract.”

                

“So?”

                

“Once a contract’s been signed, I cannot break it. You wanted Twilight’s life ruined and this is the result. Now you have to live with it. Honestly, you should be thanking me. Giving you the restart; giving you advice along the way… I’m already breaking enough contract rules as it is.”

                

I growled deep inside my throat. “Fine! Be a dick! Just tell me how I get out of the contract? When does it end?”

                

Discord smiled as if he’d been waiting for this question. “The contract only ends when the client is deemed satisfied. Only then will our business deal come to an end.”

                

That revelation struck me like a bolt of lightning. “Awesome! Great! End the contract, then! I’m as satisfied as I’ll ever be! Oh, yes, yes, yes!”

                

He stared at me skeptically. “I dunno. You don’t look all that satisfied.”

                

The same smile I’d displayed to the audience in Canterlot was the one I gave to him now. “Looks can be deceiving, right? This… this….” I motioned to the dilapidated maze and untold changelings zooming overhead. “This sure is nice! And I really can’t think of a single reason to complain. Looks like the client is satisfied, then!”

                

Discord scratched at his chin. “Hmm.” Then he gave my head a turn with a paw, as if studying an ancient artifact. “Very interesting. Very interesting indeed.”

                

“What is?” I asked breathlessly.

                

“How dumb you must think I am. Or how poor a liar you really are.”

                

My shoulders slumped and I sighed. In only the last few moments, my list of “Things Trixie Hates” had grown by leaps and bounds. New entries included “Discord, Chrysalis, Changeling Drone One-Five-One, Everyone That Didn’t Clapped For Me At The End Of My Show,” and probably a whole lot more individuals I was forgetting.

                

“You ready to continue?” Discord asked.

                

“No,” I pouted childishly.

                

“Too bad, because it looks like company’s on the way.”

                

Discord peered behind me, to the hole in the hedge I’d scratched myself crawling through. On the other side, a half-dozen changelings zoomed down a path in the opposite direction. One of them was ordered to go a different way. Directly towards me.

                

“You might want to think about escape,” Discord suggested.

                

I shot him a look. “Oh, really? You think? Then zap us out of here!”

                

“Not allowed to interfere. Contract rules.”

                

“Can’t interfere unless you feel like it, more like.”

                

He rolled his eyes. “You wound me so. Want advice? Teleport. Problem solved.”

                

I felt my cheeks redden. “I don’t know how to do that,” I admitted quietly.

                

“Then what do you know how to do?”

                

I thought on that for a moment. Most of my magical act relied on distraction and misdirection more than anything altogether complicated. The tricks themselves were simple—the hard part came with making them seem tricky. Loud noises. Bright lights. Misdirection and sleight of hoof.

                

I looked up at Discord. “I can do sparks.”

 

***
 

Having found my first attempt attacking the hedge from a distance close to useless, I forewent a more logical solution and decided to just ram my horn into the nearest hedge instead. I closed my eyes and concentrated on my trick—an expanding pink spark I could conjure up in a variety of sizes; the same sparks I’d used countless times before in my show, sometimes to make big reveals flashier than usual or sometimes only to focus the audience’s attention away from me.

                

Only those show sparks were harmless. The ones I set off inside the hedge were both stronger and brighter than anything from my act. I grunted as I worked, and pulled my horn back. I could see a small flame in the middle of the hedge, already devouring the dry and brittle leaves and twigs inside.

                

While I waited for the fire to spread, I spared a glance at the hole behind me. The lone changeling that’d been heading my way was less than two meters away now. Still with a few seconds to use, I set off a second pink spark at the end of the path behind him. It let off a loud cracking sound as it popped. He went to investigate as another two changelings met him where the paths connected.

                

Damn. That wasn’t part of the plan.

                

I went and started a second fire in the opposite wall; by the time I got there, my first had eaten a good-sized hole in the hedge. At least if the trio of changelings came through here and tried to trail me, there’d be two avenues to explore… unless my second fire only led onto another dead end.

                

When the first fire had spread wide enough, I extinguished the worst of it with a hoof and dove through, landing in a heap on the other side. I stood and brushed myself off. Then I swore.

“Shit.”

                

Another three changelings faced me on the path. One brought a hoof up to their ear and muttered something out of earshot. All three charged at me, wings beating by their sides.

                

I ran, and as I did I flipped my head back and shot out another batch of pink sparks that billowed out and filled the space between the hedge walls. There was no chance it was going to hurt them; creating a spark that large for me meant that each part had less magic to it, less power. Thankfully that wasn’t the point of the spark. Before I faced forward again, all three changelings had halted with their legs covering their eyes. The one in front swatted at the remaining sparks hovering in the air. That meant they weren’t focused on me.

I took a right at the next intersection in the path, galloping as fast as I could to escape their sight.

                

I rounded countless corners, desperate to find a hedge with enough damage on it to crawl through. Sadly, the path I’d chosen had the fullest hedges of them all. Once I came to another dead-end after a string of them, I found myself face to face with another changeling. Although it was nearly impossible to tell, I believed he’d been one of the three that’d chased after me before. Maybe they’d divided my possible routes between themselves.

                

He stuck a hoof to his ear. “She’s been found.”

                

Who is he talking to? I wondered aimlessly. Do the changelings actually work through a hive mind? Or is it something different than that?

                 

It was odd the thoughts that found you when you realized just how fucked your situation had become.

                

The changeling held a hoof out to me. “Stop running and I won’t hurt you.”

                

Where does he think I plan to go? Over the hedge with my shiny new wings?

                

“No more of those lights, either.”

                

Lights? Did he mean my sparks? Those actually annoyed him enough to mention them?

                

When I started thinking of my odds at besting the lone drone in a one-on-one fight, a second changeling touched down behind him. By his size alone, I thought I’d just become double-fucked somehow.

                

This new changeling stood head and shoulders above his counterpart. He must’ve been close to Chrysalis’ height and several times thicker. Around his torso and legs he wore deep blue armor, heavily scratched and dented. On his head, he had on an open-faced helmet that gave me a perfect view of his cold black eyes. An ugly, jagged scar ran vertically across his face, giving off a haunting purple glow.

                

And here I’d expected them to bleed green.

                

The smaller changeling turned to the larger one with a sigh. “Everything’s under control, Four. I’ll bring her back to the castle. There’s no point in you being here. You weren’t even summoned.”

                

“There’s no point in bringing her back to the castle. Chrysalis’ shows do nothing more than waste time,” the larger one spoke, his voice a low and somber one. He jerked his head in my direction. “Have you asked her where her leaders are?”

                

The other changeling choked at that. “I haven’t… Chrysalis must’ve—”

                

“Who are you here with?” Four boomed directly at me, causing me to jolt.

                

“No one.”

                

“Bullshit! No one could make it this close to the castle without being a part of them. Don’t test my patience, mare.”

                

“She’s coming back to the castle and that’s that!” The other changeling took a step towards me as I took a step back. I needn’t have bothered. The hulking changeling known as Four shot out a leg that wrapped around the other changeling’s head before giving it a twist. I heard more than a few things snap before he crumpled to the ground.

                

Four shook his head dramatically. “Look what you did.”

                

It took me a moment to realize he’d meant me. “What? No, I didn’t! Look at these hooves!” I raised them up to him feebly. “These hooves couldn’t snap anything!”

                

He angled his horn to the dead changeling and blasted a chunk of its neck and shoulder away. A puddle of green fluids stained the grass.

                

Green blood. I guess I was right.

                

Four spat next to the body. “Dirty unicorn magic. How could you do such a thing? Two-One-One was being so nice to you.”

                

“You can’t just blame that on me!”

                

Four furrowed his brows. “I don’t think you have your priorities straight, mare. The fate of my fallen comrade is the least of your worries. I want the names of everyone in your group, I want to know where your leader is, and I want to know what they’re planning.”

                

“But I’m not a part of any group!”

                

He made a noncommittal grunt. “That’s too bad, then. I still need to know if you’re telling the truth beyond reasonable doubt. No offense. The last pony I questioned made it eleven snapped bones before she’d finally opened up to me. Care to beat that?”

                

Not really, I thought.

Chapter 3: Fly By Night

Options. I needed options. More than one would be great.

                

To start, I removed the impossible. Namely, dealing with Four in a one-on-one fight. Both physically and magically I thought he had the advantage, having blasted away a third of one of his clan with little to no effort. But were there brains behind that thuggish face of his? Four seemed more brutish than smart. He could’ve sent Two-One-One away from the scene with any variety of excuses or by simply pulling rank.

                

Didn’t Four sound stronger than Two-One-One? I thought, curious just how their numbering system worked. Another thought came to mind:

                

Were changelings actually distracted by bright lights?

                

“Look! Over there!”

I pointed to an area above his head and shot out another burst of sparks an inch away from his face. After a single step though, I stopped my escape before it began.

As my sparks faded from the air, Four grunted again. He’d lifted a leg to shield his eyes from the worst of my magic. “You done?” he growled, blinking excessively.

My options were becoming scarce. Flying? Nope. Teleporting? Not unless Four wanted to give me a lesson out of the kindness of his heart. Climbing over the hedge before he could grab me? I’d never heard of a single pony telling me how great hooves were for climbing things.

So where did that leave me, exactly? Dying again?

Wait a second.

If I died right this second, at what point in time would that place me? Where had I been sixty seconds ago? I hadn’t been in the company of Four for what felt all that long, so there was still a chance I’d be conversing with Two-One-One. I could even warn the smaller changeling that Four was on his way and that he might die because of it. Would he believe me, though? Probably not. But even if he didn’t, I could try the sparks trick on him this time and have a better chance of slipping away.

Sixty seconds, I thought gloomily. Sixty seconds isn’t all that much time. If I didn’t restart soon, I’d be stuck in a never-ending loop cornered by Four. Or worse, trapped in a loop where half my bones had been broken before I was mercilessly finished off.

What a bleak future I’d found myself in.

“Hit me! Do it right now! I won’t tell you shit, so just get it over with and kill me!”

I bounced in front of him like an excited child. I probably looked ridiculous, shouting at him like I was tough while at the same time wincing away from him, expecting the finishing blow at any time.

“You’re a strange mare,” he told me earnestly, his brow furrowed slightly. “Maybe you really have lost your mind. That doesn’t matter to me, though; I have business with ponies you may be friends with.”

I shook my head adamantly. “Nope! Completely out of my mind! They don’t call me the Insane and Kooky Trixie for nothing! Who are ‘they,’ you ask? They’re in my head, of course! So why waste anymore time? One strike to the temple and I’ll be out of your mane for good!”

Four curled a hoof under my chin and lifted me off the ground. As he did, he beat his wings and propelled us forward until my back collided with the prickly hedge behind me. By this point, I was willing to admit my window of sixty seconds had probably expired by now.

Now what do I do? Hope he doesn’t kill me?

Pinned tightly against the hedge, Four used his horn to stretch out one of my forelegs away from me. I could feel his powerful aura wrapping around the lower part of my leg before moving to an area near the hoof. The magic painfully constricted and released around me.

“Pegasi are my favorite to break,” he told me bluntly, as if I’d be interested. “Beautiful wings—delicate wings. So many bones to break. Small, but sensitive.” He sighed, his breath warm on my skin. “I won’t touch your horn until last, so perhaps will we start with the legs.”

Sweat trickled down my face. My chin quivered. Even if I died right this second and restarted in the middle of our conversation, I’d still welcome it. If given a second chance I could try to lie. Make up some facts about resistance groups or the like—something he might be interested in to buy myself some time. Until he knows you’re full of shit, I reflected coldly.

Only Four had no interest in killing me fast.

The aura wrapped around my leg intensified until I could see my leg start to bend. I turned my head away and shut my eyes, waited for the snap. The sound never came.

“What in Tartarus do you think you’re doing, Four?” someone asked behind him.

Four’s all-black eyes went from my leg then to me, as if deliberating. Only when a second and third voice spoke behind him did he release me and let me drop. As slick as one of my own show tricks, he wheeled around and made himself sound breathless. “She killed… Two-One-One; blasted him when… when he wasn’t looking. I got here only a second ago—had to pin her so she wouldn’t try it again.”

I angled my head to the side to read the three changelings Four was speaking to. The closest one raised a brow. “She did this?” He motioned to the blasted changeling on the grass. “We got word she was just a magician.”

“And I got word she was a liar,” Four barked back. “She’s a lot worse than you think. Bringing her to the castle would be a mistake.”

The lead changeling thought on that, then shook his head. “That’s Chrysalis’ call, not yours. We’ll bring her back. There’re enough of us that she shouldn’t pose a threat.”

There was a moment when Four didn’t speak or move a muscle. What was he considering? If he could take out all three of them and actually get away with it? All so he could continue to interrogate me? If that was honestly on his mind, then how bad was this resistance group they kept mentioning?

“Four?” the lead one said sternly. “There’s no point in you being here anymore. If you want to talk to Chrysalis, she’ll be in her Garden. That’s where we’ll be taking the magician, too.”

Four turned to me and in an instant I knew he wasn’t done with me yet. Without a word, he flew up into the air and out of sight; I almost felt elated as he did. Then I was quickly reminded of the three changelings that still blocked my path.

Out of one fire and straight into another, I thought bitterly.

 

***
 

Following a brief discussion I was kept out of, it was decided that the frailest of the three changelings surrounding me would carry me. It wasn’t until she spoke that I realized she was a female. Her wings were longer and narrower than the other two and her muzzle was more curved; her legs and torso thin and almost brittle looking. Being a female didn’t mean she was any less unpleasant than her counterparts, though.

                

Before she roughly wrapped her forelegs around my middle, she hissed at me that if I tried anything with my horn, she’d squeeze my chest until I popped. Given her thin limbs, I sort of doubted it, but didn’t feel like testing it. I was in enough trouble as it was.

                

Alongside the other two we rose into the air and sailed over dozens of converging paths and badly destroyed walls of hedge. I thought I could make out a few darkened shapes scurrying along the paths, but couldn’t make out anything for sure. The shadows in the maze were too large and consuming. Maybe that was why they had such trouble finding me while they searched for me in the air.

                

“Any weak spots?” I anxiously asked the female changeling carrying me.

                

She ignored my question and redid her grip on me.

                

In every direction, changelings vacated the maze and lazily made their way back to where they’d come from. Only a couple stuck around, all heading for the same location—a rectangular length of maze that had been completely stripped of all crisscrossing walls. Even from a distance, I could glimpse Chrysalis strolling inside of it. Her “Garden,” I presumed.

Sounded nice, but I’d still rather skip the tour.

I lifted my hoof as gently as I could until it made contact with the changeling carrying me. Once I touched her hardened shell, I slid my hoof first up and down and then felt by her sides for any change in texture. Hopefully her task at hoof would occupy her until—

                

“What do you think you’re doing?” she growled down at me.

                

“Looking for a weak spot,” I said again, adding some lightness to my voice. “I couldn’t request you set me down somewhere else, could I?”

                

She exhaled noisily and painfully dug her hooves into my stomach. “You are so not worth all this trouble.”

                

“I would agree. But, remember, I did ask you to set me down nicely.”

                

I jabbed at her throat with a hoof—the only area on the changeling that didn’t feel solid to the touch. One of her legs let me go and went to her throat. She tried to counter the shift in weight, but I thrashed against her until she lost hold of me.

                

If we’d been flying at any respectful height, I wouldn’t have tried something so stupid. Thankfully, we were cruising pretty low.

                

I landed on the top of a hedge wall and slid down, scrapping up my back and upper thighs even worse than they’d been before. On the grass, I landed in a thud and dove for the shadows. Above me, the female changeling flew by, still clutching at her throat.

                

I surprised myself with a giggle. I’m not doing half-bad, I thought brightly. Would Twilight have even made it this far?

                

Yes. Most likely. Still no reason not to celebrate another victory, as small as it was.

                

One right turn and one trot down a narrow path and my tiny smirk dropped right off my face.

                

“Hello, again,” Chrysalis greeted me coolly. “You want to stop now? You’ve become more than a nuisance by this point and I really should be getting to bed soon.”

                

I whirled around and felt all four of my legs snap to my sides. A thin band of green aura had been pulled tight around me and it began dragging me across the lawn to her. I might’ve fumed about grass stains in my coat, but I was sure the rest of me looked like hell by that point anyways.

                

“What do you think of this one, Trixie?” Chrysalis asked when I came to a halt beside her. Before us was an eight-foot hedge statue that had been roughly sculpted into the figure of an alicorn, using various bits of hedge and dead plants. Whether it was meant to be Celestia or Luna, I couldn’t tell. This must’ve been the “Garden” I’d heard about.

                

“It’s… nice?” I told her meekly.

                

“I’ll admit, it’s not the best representation of my foes, but it does what it’s supposed to. A reminder of what I’ve done and what I have yet to do. I always welcome these nightly strolls in my garden. I’m sure I don’t need to stress the rigors of overseeing thousands upon thousands of my own children each and every day....”

                

I took a hurried glance at the remaining hedge figures. The Garden had eight in total, but I didn’t think any of them properly captured what they were supposed to. An alicorn. Another alicorn. A couple of stallions—one with a cape and crown. A taller one that might’ve been Discord with sharpened branches for arms.

                

I snapped back to focus the moment in dawned on me. Why was I sitting here and doing nothing? Sixty seconds ago I was free! Sixty seconds ago I had the chance to escape, alone and outside her garden!

                

“Kill me,” I told Chrysalis bluntly. “Just go ahead and do it! I don’t care anymore!”

                

She looked at me as if I was a child begging for ice cream five minutes before dinner time. “I used a good many drones chasing you down, my pet, so don’t think I’m about to turn your eyes into jelly just because you’ve become bothersome. You still have a show to do, remember?”

                

I shook my head. “I’d rather die than show you tricks!” I couldn’t help but wince at my poor choice of words. I was still getting the hang of this begging for death thing. “You can’t make me!”

                

“Yes, I can. And I will.” She glanced up at the statue again. “What makes you think death is the worst thing that can happen to you?”

                

I could sense my precious seconds tumbling away. “Kill me you gross, insect bitch!”

                

A moment later, I was knocked aside by a shot of magic that struck the side of my head. Across the lawn I rolled like a bouncing log, my legs still locked together. When I opened my eyes, I saw dots.

                

I hadn’t even drawn a breath before Chrysalis was overtop of me, her fangs on display.

                

“Don’t ever tell me what to do!” she growled, her breath hot on my nose. “I have been exceedingly polite this evening and if you do not wish to perform your act as only a torso on a stool, I’d keep your little trap shut starting now.” She narrowed her eyes at me. This up close, she reminded me a bit of Discord. Something was missing behind those eyes of hers. “Do you not fear death, pet? The great beyond?”

                

I turned my head so I didn’t need to see her anymore. “Somewhat,” I squeaked. “It’s a little complicated at the moment, though.”

                

She shook her head slowly. “You ponies. I’d don’t think I’ll ever understand your type.”

                

By that point, a half-dozen changelings had entered the garden and Chrysalis ordered one of the others to take control of the spell pinning my legs together. For only a second, I was free. I noted the second aura around me felt much flimsier than the first.

                

Two changelings stood out from the rest. The thinner female changeling I’d punched in the throat from before and the thick simpleton called Four. The two of them stood away from the rest and glared at me as if they both wanted to kill me. Which they probably did.

                

Only dying right this second would be a mistake. Sixty seconds ago I was still trapped in Chrysalis’ spell and inside her garden. This whole restart thing was feeling more and more useless as the night wore on.

                

As Chrysalis spoke with One-Five-One again (I could tell it was him by his crumpled scroll), the remainder of her changelings formed a loose half-circle in front of me. They really needn’t have bothered. I wasn't exactly planning on rolling away with my legs pinned to my sides.

                

“Darn it! I’ll never get the high score now!”

                

I looked to my left and found Discord turned away from me, his hands clamped to the sides of what looked like a colorful pinball machine. I could even hear the zap and ping noises as he hammered the buttons on the sides.

                

When the machine quieted down, Discord pulled out another bit from a pocket on his side. I angrily hissed at him, “You wanna help now? By doing anything, maybe?”

                

Discord fed the machine his bit. “One more round, then I’ll come straight over. Two seconds tops.”

                

“Anyone ever tell you how useless you are?”

                

He waved a hand at me, not bothering to turn. “You’ll be fine. Or you won’t. Either or, you’ll think of something, I’m sure.”

                

One of the changelings surrounding me nudged the one next to them. “Who’s she talking to? Does she always do this?”

                

The other one snickered. “Maybe the Queen scrambled her brains already. Might be better if she doesn’t know what’s going on.”

                

The other one chuckled at that, until he brought a hoof up to his ear. His eyes widened. “Ponies in the maze! There are ponies in the maze!”

                

“She was signaling someone?” gasped one of them. “Which group? Pegasi or—”

                

“I don’t know, only that—”

                

A heavily-dented ball of metal with a cork jammed in its top landed square in the center of everyone around. The changelings that took notice jolted back with a leg raised to shield their eyes. Near the entrance to the Garden, Four had shoved Chrysalis in back of him, shielding her with his body. One-Five-One had also been thrown to the ground when the ball dropped from the sky.

                

Every changeling held their breath. Myself included.

                

The lone female changeling dropped her leg along with a few others, chuckling dryly. “Another dud?”

                

I glanced at the tiny metal ball again. Was something supposed to—

                

With a thud, someone landed behind me and slapped a leg over my eyes.

                

“Nice job, Bolt!” the pony behind me shouted. Already the voice seemed familiar.

                

“Just give it another sec—”

                

That was when the metal ball exploded, blinding everyone.

 

***
 

The leg wrapped around my head had managed to block out the worst of the effect. Still, the small amount that somehow made it through left my sight blurry and white and my eyes dry and sore. With a metal on metal sound, the crumbled ball erupted outward and showered the scene with the brightest sparks I’d ever glimpsed. Through the bottom of the leg around my head, I saw a number of the changelings fall to the dirt with their hooves beating around their heads.

                

“Keep your eyes shut,” the pony behind me said, dragging me backward with their other leg. I didn’t do as I was told and instead blinked away the worst of the bomb’s damages. There had been no shrapnel to the blast—just the blinding, burning light. Four of the changelings sprawled on the ground had black smoke rising from their eye sockets. The eyes themselves were scorched and cracked. Only one of the injured changelings was still alive—the female changeling that had originally laughed at the bomb.

                

She clawed at her face, screaming out in both fury and pain as she writhed around.

                

“Don’t look at them, look at me,” ordered the pony dragging me away from them.

                

Whichever changeling had forced my limbs together must’ve been one of the deceased, because I got to my hooves without a problem. My savoir wheeled me around and I couldn’t stop myself from squealing like an idiot and wrapping my hooves around them without a second’s hesitation.

                

“Rainbow Dash!” I screamed. “Oh, thank Celestia! Oh, you have no idea how bad things are, I mean—”

                

She shoved me away from her, almost causing me to stumble. In just a glance I could see how much she had changed since my short stint in Ponyville weeks back. Her mane was cut short and her cheekbones were more visible on her face. Over her eyes was a pair of welder’s goggles—her legs and chest scraped and scratched. The rest of her torso was covered in a tattered jet-black cloth that hung loosely on her.

                

“Trixie?” She almost sounded disgusted. “You’re the reason they sent up the search light?”

                

I nodded hurriedly, oddly still desperate to touch her again, almost to prove to myself that she was real and not just a figment of my imagination. Or worse… something Discord conjured up just for kicks. Speaking of the snake dragon bastard thing…

                

I glanced over at Discord, still busy hunched over his pinball machine. “I found Rainbow Dash! Look! Look!”

                

“This was never a game of hide-and-seek, Trixie,” he replied absently. “But… congrats all the same, I guess.”

                

Rainbow Dash gripped my shoulders painfully. “I knew it was too weird—Trixie showing up outta nowhere. Why they used Trixie to lure us here I have no idea. You don’t even sound like her. Next time at least do your homework on the mare you’re trying to impersonate.”

                

I gasped, my insides suddenly splashed with ice water. “No. No! I’m not a changeling! Honest, Rainbow Dash! I’d be a terrible changeling! Just let me—”

                

“If you really are Trixie then I’ll apologize for this later.”

                

Before I could react, she wrapped a leg around my head and lowered one of my eyelids with a hoof, shoving her face so close to mine I could feel the warmth off her skin. Her other hoof went straight into my stomach, knocking the wind out of me. I gagged and tried to bend over, but she kept me held tight, never letting my eye close. Only after I dry heaved and a bit of spit fell from my lips did she let me go.

                

“Good enough for me,” she said flatly, as if she’d react close to the same whether I was a changeling or not. As I gasped for breath, she added, “Changelings can stay in character almost effortlessly. One good sucker punch in the gut while looking them straight in the eye tends to drive the weaker ones out. At least in the eyes.”

                

I inhaled noisily, trying to force air back into my lungs. There was still so much I wanted to ask. “Your friends… Twilight… are they… are they here too?”

                

“It’s really not safe to talk here.”

                

Rainbow Dash straightened out her welder’s goggles and pushed me to the side to take in the rest of the scene. In my joy at finding someone in this hell I somewhat knew, I’d entirely forgotten the predicament I had only seconds ago been dragged from.

                

I turned and found close to two dozen pegasi inside the Garden. Twenty or so of them kept to the air, never landing and making me nauseous just by watching them. The few changelings trailing them had next to no chance of keeping up, instead reverting to standing on the lawn and attempting to blast at them with their horns.

                

The sound of crying pulled me away from them, and I looked past the hurried frenzy to glimpse Chrysalis cradling the head of the female changeling that’d had her eyes destroyed. The smaller changeling had trails of blood on her cheeks and was whimpering something I couldn’t hear. Chrysalis murmured back to her and ran a hoof along her mane. It would’ve almost been touching… if Chrysalis didn’t appear as if fighting the urge to bite off her own tongue while she cradled her.

                

“I’ll make you scream for that one, mare.”

                

The sound of Four’s voice caused me to jump—his tone so loud and clear I’d thought he’d been speaking to me directly.

                

Up against a hedge to my left, Four clashed with another pegasus as she ran along the wall, keeping to the air with her wings. She had a red coat and a streaked yellow-and-white mane. Like her coat, one of her wings was red, while the other was a sparkling silver. The pegasus seemed to have trouble controlling her silver wing a lot more than her other one.

                

Keeping low to the grass, Four shot out wave after wave of green energy from his horn towards her, devouring large chunks of the hedge at a time. The moment he stopped, the pegasus whirled around and dove for him, snapping her wings next to her head as she moved. She hit him in the chest and neck as he tried to block the intense flurry of wings. When she kicked off of him a moment later to continue standing atop the hedge, Four was left bleeding from over a dozen shallow cuts on his cheeks, lips, and throat.

                

The pegasus’ silver wing must’ve been metal… and very, very sharp.

                

Four licked his gashed lips and spat out blood. “You’re gonna be needing a new metal throat by the time I’m done with you.”

                

The pegasus dove off the hedge again and sailed to the other side of the Garden. On her way over, her metal wing sliced the head off of one of the hedge statues and sent it tumbling onto Discord’s pinball machine. The glass shattered and the machine’s lights went dark.

                

Discord sighed and slumped over it. “So close. So damn close to a new record. You guys all suck! You know that? You couldn’t have your fight to the death anywhere else?”

                

I ignored the giant crybaby and focused my attention on what I thought was a large rock until it backed into me. It was so dark in the Garden I’d hardly noticed the lone Earth pony in the bunch. Like Rainbow Dash, he wore welding goggles over his eyes and around his torso and legs he had on what looked like several pieces of hardened fabrics, screwed or stapled or stuck together in a myriad of ways. Black, grey, dark green, brown—a collage of differing colors and textures that bounced around his body. It would’ve almost looked threatening to the unaware, if his costume didn’t also include a bright pink bicycle helmet that flattened the ears on his head.

                

“Could you back up, please?” the Earth pony asked me politely.

                

Rainbow Dash gave me a hard pat on the shoulder before she took to the air and joined her fellow pegasi. I wanted to shout something to her before she got too far, but the Earth pony bumped into me again. He was moving away from three changelings that were stalking him.

                

“You still behind me?” he said. “Don’t look at this thing. It’s sort of bright.”

                

Before I could respond, he awkwardly reached a hoof under his costume and brought out a second crumbled ball of metal with a cork in it. Once balanced on a hoof, he jammed the cork all the way inside and threw it towards the changelings. All three of them shrank to the ground, covering as much of themselves as they could with their hooves and legs.

                

Like the first ball of metal, this one took an odd amount of time to go off. Unlike the first one, this one exploded with more of a whimper than a bang. I probably could’ve kept my eyes open for that one, actually.

                

“Darn,” the Earth pony grumbled. “I knew the first one would work—”

                

The rest of his sentence was cut short as one of the changelings that had shied away from the explosion pounced onto his chest and forced him onto his back. The changeling clawed at him, then tried to clamp his sharp teeth at the exposed part of his face.

The Earth pony held the changeling at bay with one fabric-covered leg. He used his other foreleg to reach for something else clipped to his side, only to fumble for it. The changeling continued to drag its sharpened hooves along his thin armor, shredding some of it almost all the way through.

“Could you grab that for me?” the Earth pony asked me. “It’s that silver thing. Just don’t point the open end at yourself.”

How could he sound so calm in the middle of all this? His suit’s being slashed to ribbons right in front of him and he doesn’t care?

“Hello?” he spoke again, a tiny bit more urgent. “If it’s not too much trouble.”

I grimaced from my own idiocy and ran a hoof under his armor. While I did that, I took a few swipes at the changeling attacking him and nearly got my hoof bitten off for my troubles. Underneath the suit, I grabbed what felt like a short metal pipe and pulled it out. Sadly, it looked just how it felt.

“You were going to hit it with a pipe?” I said dourly, hoofing it to him. “I think a hoof would’ve worked fine.”

The Earth pony snapped his hoof around a twistable ring on the pipe, making it click. The next moment, a ray of light-blue magic the size of a coin erupted out of the other end of the pipe, piercing through the changeling’s chest as if there wasn’t anything there at all. The changeling backed away and coughed once, drawing up green blood, before falling to his side and remaining motionless.

I helped the Earth pony to his hooves.

“Thanks,” he told me breathlessly. “Everyone else in our group gets around so easily with wings; I tend to need a little extra protection on the ground. Slow, but safe. For the most part.” He paused when he noticed my horn. His eyes widened behind his welding goggles. “Oh, good, good, good, good!” he excitedly whispered to himself.

“What’s good?” I said, before a heavy arm fell to my shoulder. By instinct, I jerked away, only to realize it was only Discord. I glared up at him.

“Who’s your friend?” Discord asked happily. “Not going to introduce me or anything? That’s kind of rude, you know.”

I shook the hand from my shoulder and opened my mouth before shutting it with a snap. Discord wasn’t there. Or he was, but I was the only one that could see him. Sure, I could try explaining to the Earth pony where he was and why he was following me around, but I didn’t think here or now to be the best place or time to do so. Added to that thought, I idea of ignoring Discord sounded nice. He didn’t seem like the type that enjoyed being ignored all that much.

By that point the armored Earth pony had strolled away from me, focusing his simple pipe weapon at the remaining pair of changelings. They kept their distance from him, scurrying a few feet into the air before finding a new spot to land. The Earth pony twisted the sides of the pipe again and another blue beam shot out of it—a much fainter one than before. It caught one of the changelings in the leg and immediately grounded it. The Earth pony leveled his weapon at the injured changeling’s head and gave the pipe another twist. This time it clicked and did nothing else.

“Double darn,” the Earth pony spoke, as if he’d broken only a quill and not lost his best weapon in the middle of a fight. “Back to the drawing board with you, then.”

He clipped the pipe back under his suit as the remaining changeling carried off the wounded one, hissing at both of us with spit spraying from its lips.

Discord playfully nudged me in the ribs. “Look how well you’re doing, Trixie! So many friends to play with! Ms. Life of the Party over here, am I right?” He cocked my head forward with his hands. “Oh, but she looks kinda pissed, though.”

It was Chrysalis, still seated near the Garden’s entrance with the blinded changeling in her lap. The changeling wasn’t moving anymore. Now Chrysalis’ rage had intensified to such an extreme I thought she might shatter her teeth from clenching her jaw so tight.

I gulped as she pointed directly at me.

“You!” she shrieked. “You did this! You set this up!”

I could only shake my head and bring a hoof to my lips.

“I’ll kill you!” she continued, her voice becoming hoarse. “I’ll rip out your entrails and feed them to you!”

She might’ve said more, but my attention was filled by the sea of black that was quickly seeping in behind her. Dozens upon dozens of changeling drones had begun entering the Garden, flying upwards and dispersing themselves evenly. Through the swarm, I could glimpse a few of them carry off the blinded changeling’s body before helping Chrysalis to her hooves. She visibly shook from raw anger.

“Someone get me Funny Face…” Chrysalis muttered tiredly, before she slinked away, “I don’t care what state… just get them and bring them to me.”

Before the wash of new changelings became too much to bear, Rainbow Dash soared towards me and knocked me right off my hooves, making my ribs ache. As I looked over her shoulder and rippling mane, I saw two other pegasi hook two hooves under the Earth pony’s shoulders and carry him along. The remaining pegasi covered our retreat, forming a tight cyclone that swirled the gathered changelings horribly off-course.

The mare with the metal wing seemed almost hesitant to leave. Panting and bleeding from a multitude of cuts underneath her stood Four, still a long ways away from being beaten. With a huff out of her nostrils, the mare eventually gave her back to him and followed them along. Four watched her go with a blood-stained grin.

A moment later, I reentered the gloom of the maze.

A moment after that, all I could see was dark and all I could smell was dirt.

Chapter 4: Being Useful

I came to and kept my eyes shut. I was pressed against something warm and lying on something soft. The small mound of blankets in the back of my traveling wagon? Or had I brought someone back with me after the show? I stifled a giggle. I usually only felt like bringing someone back with me after well-received shows, and hadn’t last night’s performance been an unmitigated disaster?

                

I nuzzled my head into the warm body of fur. Maybe I’d only done so to make myself feel better, I thought sleepily, before my hoof felt out and touched something not equine-like at all. Something like… a thin slimy tail?

                

Then the previous night’s adventure walloped me like a tidal wave and I shot out of bed. I started shaking like a leaf. I looked over the mound of hay I’d called a bed last night and at my peacefully slumbering bed partner still curled around it in a near perfect circle.

                

One of Discord’s claws loosely patted the area where I’d just been laying. “Why’d you leave? You ponies are so toasty warm, didn’t you know that?”

                

“Get up!” I hissed at him, jabbing a hoof into his chest. “Get up, you disgusting jerk!”

                

He rolled over and stretched, joints popping from the strain. He blinked, his bouncing pupils eventually finding the centers of his eyes again. He chuckled as he looked at me. “We’re still doing this? All right, then.”

                

“Questions—now!” I barked. “Is my contract done yet?”

                

Discord furrowed his brows. “Why ever would it be done? You’ve only just started.”

                

“Haven’t you had enough fun watching me almost die and also literally die?” I asked him, with less harshness than I’d hoped. Perhaps I was still coming to.

                

“You think this all rests on me? Now you’re being silly. All this—” he pointed a finger around the room “—has to do with the contract, plain and simple. If you want out, you’ll have to earn your way out.”

                

I sat on the hard stone floor in a pout. “You’ll just keep changing the rules on me.”

                

“Maybe. Or maybe they’re already part of the contract and my contract just so happens to be a contract of many parts.”

                

I kept my eyes focused on the floor. “Tell me how to end it, then.”

                

“All right.” Discord cracked his knuckles and leaned back on the mound of hay. “You’re not satisfied with what you asked me to do, that’s a given. You asked me to ruin the life of Twilight Sparkle and this was the result. A very nasty future for all, clearly. So what could make you happy? What could make you nearly brimming with joy once more?”

                

“To have never met you,” I told him snidely.

                

“How ‘bout if all the big baddies went away? Hmm?” He cocked a bushy brow. “If all the trouble was undone and the world went more or less back to the way it was. Wouldn’t that make you the least bit cheerful?”

                

I nodded, slowly. “Well… of course, I mean… I didn’t want everyone to suffer… I just…”

                

“Really didn’t like Twilight Sparkle?” he finished for me.

                

“Yes. That.” I looked up at him, the acidy feeling in my gut only getting worse by his sight. “So, what, then? I reverse everything I caused by making that deal with you and the contract ends?”

                

“Well, you probably won’t need to do everything…” he said, scratching his chin, “but, yes, I would say you’re on the right path. Fix the mistakes and see how you feel about it.”

                

I frowned deeply. “Why do you have to be so damn vague about everything?”

                

He grinned, displaying fangs. “It’s a specialty.”

                

From outside the small room’s only door, I heard someone trot by. I tensed, then calmed a bit as I heard the hoofsteps disappearing. The noise reminded me I wasn’t exactly alone anymore. “Rainbow Dash!”

                

Discord pursed his lips. “What about her?”

                

“She’s…” I really didn’t know how best to put this. “She’s Rainbow Dash, all right? And she’s friends with Twilight and the rest of them… so that means she’s going to fix all this, right?”

                

Discord didn’t reply. Instead he snapped a small coffee cup into his paw and drank from it noisily, his pinkie held high.

                

I began pacing around the room as I spoke, crossing the sunspot in the center of the floor shining through the only window on the wall. “It’s so simple, don’t you get it? I don’t have to do anything! Twilight will! If Rainbow Dash is here and if she’s leading some kind of resistance group, then that means her friends must be a part of it, too! So… I just need to wait it all out! Sit tight and wait for everything to blow over.”

                

I fixed Discord a smile he didn’t deserve. I couldn’t help it. After feeling so cold and so miserable and full of terror and anxiety, a modicum of relief felt almost as good as the cool side of a pillow.

                

My smile only seemed to annoy the tall creature.

                

“So what?” he snapped. “You pass the buck on to someone else?”

                

I nodded energetically, despite his tone. “They’re pros! They stopped Nightmare Moon, didn’t they? You said Twilight and them stopped Chrysalis before and… some King, right? So I’ll just stay out of the way and make sure they deal with it all over again. Easy!”

                

“I’ll repeat,” he growled deeply. “In the simplest of terms, you’re choosing to pass the buck.”

                

“Yes.”

                

“From events that you set in motion.”

                

“Yes. You included.”

                

He rolled his eyes. “Sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night.” He paused for a moment. “Do you know you kick in your sleep? And who’s Prince Golden Hoof? You kept on mumbling about him. Isn’t that some character from a book? A romantic one?”

                

Despite my best efforts, I felt my face heat up. I bit my lip. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

                

He waved a hand, finding the embarrassing topic not worth exploring. “Do you not think if Twilight was in any shape to repair the damage you created, she’d have done so by now? The world isn’t like this because it’s waiting for the Elements to come tidy things up a bit. It’s like this because something’s happened that makes stopping all the evil near impossible.”

                

“A decaf coffee? That’s what took down Equestria?”

                

Discord stood again. “Enough talk. We should get a move on. Or… you should and I’ll stay back and point at you and laugh. Worked so far, hasn’t it?”

                

I stopped him with a hoof. “One more question: how much do you know?”

                

He looked down at me curiously. “Like my ABCs? Multiplication tables?”

                

“How much do you know about the Equestria we’re in? You seem to know a lot more than you lead on about.” I eyed the door behind me. “Like, for example, do you know what happens once I leave this room? Who comes and greets me?”

                

Discord frowned and grumbled, “No.”

                

“Then do you know how Chrysalis took over Canterlot castle?”

                

“No.”

                

“Do you know if any of Rainbow Dash’s friends are with her?”

                

“No.” He pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh. “Look, Trixie. I know about as much as you right now, okay? I’m just a little bit better at figuring things out. The old timeline? The one that you don’t screw up and darken? I was able to see far into that one because of how simple it all was. Good defeats evil. Evil is destroyed by good. Wash, rinse and repeat. Only in this timeline, does none of that happen. Or… most of it, hard to say. What luck you managed to stumble into big baddie number one on your first night, eh?”

                

“Chrysalis…” I muttered, still rubbing at the spot on my chest she blasted out when she’d noticed me standing on her lawn. “She looked kinda’ mad when we left…”

                

With a paw, he patted my head roughly. “I’m sure she’ll forgive you in time. A nice fruitcake goes a long way, you know.”

                

My mouth was in the middle of a word when the door behind me nudged open an inch. I turned and found a pair of cobalt eyes staring at me anxiously. They pushed the door the rest of the way open and entered, carrying a small bowl of mushy oats in their mouth.

                

It was the Earth pony from last night, the one covered head to hoof in odd bits of hardened fabrics. I could tell it was him by his eyes, and the fact he had no horn or wings. His coat was a light blue and his mane was a stark white. He set the bowl of oats on the floor in front of me.

                

“Thought you might be hungry,” he said warmly. “It’s gross, but it’s still eatable.”

                

I took a hurried glance at the bowl of mush, then tried to make a face that didn’t look totally disgusted.

                

He laughed dryly. “You’ll get used to it. I hardly even taste it anymore. Or taste anything for that matter.” His eyes traveled up to my horn and remained there. “Unicorn,” he sighed out. “That’s awesome.”

                

“Is it?” I asked sheepishly, before feeling a tad more confident from the look he was giving me. I cocked my head to the side, almost as if showcasing my horn. “It is, isn’t it? I’ve always had a knack for magic.”

                

He brightened. “Really? That’s great. Can’t tell you how happy I am to have another unicorn in the group. We lost our only two just a few days ago.”

                

“Oh? What happened to them?”

                

Awkwardly, he rubbed at a leg. “Don’t know, really. Either Chrysalis took them to that castle of hers or something worse got a hold of them. A lot of times you don’t really know what happens to most ponies, unless someone’s with them.”

                

I nodded, not understanding any of that. “Why do you like unicorns so much, if I may ask?” I tried to say casually, glancing away from him.

                

His eyes suddenly took on a glittering look. “I dabble in creating things—all types of things. Anything I can think of and figure out.”

                

“Like those little exploding things from last night?”

                

He nodded, clearly happy I’d remembered them. “Yeah. Stuff like that. The only problem is simple ingredients or materials will only get you so far. What really adds the power to everything is unicorn magic. Combine some of that with some of my devices and…” He bit the tip of his tongue in thought. “Well, you saw what happened last night.”

                

“You burnt some changelings’ eyes out,” I told him flatly.

                

“It worked pretty well, didn’t it?” he replied. “Everyone knew the changelings had some trouble with bright lights and seeing better at night, but no one knew to what extent exactly. That’s why I created that light bomb. The first time I tried it, it didn’t get much of a result, which is probably why they weren’t so scared of it. Kinda like that last one I threw.”

                

“The one that didn’t work.”

                

“Not enough unicorn magic in that one. I must’ve been rushing to finish them up. But now that you’re here, that changes things.” His good-natured smile faltered a bit. “I mean, you are staying for a bit, right? You’re one of Rainbow Dash’s old friends?”

                

I scratched at the back of my neck. “Yes. We are… very, very good friends.”

                

“Must be an odd sort of friend, then,” he told me earnestly. “She didn’t look all that happy to see you in the maze.”

                

“I owed her some bits and I didn’t have them with me. I’m sure she’ll feel better later.” I held out a hoof. “I’m Trixie. Unicorn magician.” I don’t know why, I just felt the urge to add that part. Maybe because the mentioning of “unicorn” made him smile again.

                

He shook my hoof. “Bolt. Short for Lightning Bolt. It’s more of a pegasus name, I know, but I gave it to myself after joining the group.”

                

“So what does it mean?”

                

“Ideas, I guess. Like a bolt of lightning to the brain type of deal.” He turned to the open door behind him. “Not everyone takes to my devices yet, but they’re coming around. Yesterday was a big win for me. My work has always had a fifty-fifty fail-success ratio.”

                

It was then that I felt Discord’s warm and oddly sweet smelling breath on the side of my face. He practically pleaded to me, “Please, stop talking! You’re both so boring! Can’t we get on with it? Right now, damn it!”

                

I grinned thinly. “Are we in much of a hurry, Bolt?”

                

He shrugged. “Not really.”

                

My grin widened as I saw Discord stomp around the small room like a child.

                

“But I think you should probably talk to Rainbow Dash,” Bolt continued. “And if you don’t want your food, I’ll give it to someone who does. Someone’s always willing to take it.”

                

After he grabbed my bowl of mush off the floor, he walked to the door and I followed. He turned his head around. “Don’t mind the looks when we get out there.”

                

“The looks? Because of the unicorn thing?”

                

“No, because someone didn’t make it back last night.”

 

***
 

My faint elation from Bolt thinking I was somewhat special dropped the moment I entered the open room down the hall. As we walked, Bolt told me I was kept alone for security measures—to make sure that I slept normally and didn’t give off any sights of being a changeling in disguise. Supposedly someone had taken a good look at me while I was unconscious; doing a few tests they thought might help. Honestly, I would’ve felt better not knowing they’d done anything at all.

                 

The soft chatter in the larger room stopped the moment I entered behind Bolt. Close to two-dozen pegasi glared at me for a long while, before putting their heads down and returning back to whatever small conversations they were in. I’d thought the “closet” they’d stuck me in for the night was near empty simply due to its size; turned out the entire building was like that. A handful of chairs shoved against walls, more mounds of hay and rubble on the floor, a single thin desk at the very end, next to the stairs leading to a door outside.

                

We must’ve been in a basement somewhere.

                

Rainbow Dash was seated at the desk on the other side of the room. I made my way to her, nodding awkwardly at all the pegasi that I had to step over to get there. I kept my eyes peeled for any of Rainbow Dash’s friends—perhaps Fluttershy with all the other winged ponies around—but found not a single familiar face in the bunch. Maybe they were somewhere else. With any luck, doing something important to fix this mess.

                

“Hi…” I started meekly. “Umm… nice place you got here.”

                

Behind the desk, Rainbow Dash roughly blew a strand of mane from her eyes. “This isn’t our place; it’s just a place. We have a lot of places and try not to stay in one for long. This one in particular is too close to Canterlot for us to stay in for long, so if you were looking for a better bed than hay, you’re sorely out of luck. We travel light.”

                

I was a little taken aback by that. “That’s not what I meant by that…” I took a breath, tried to start over. I had to keep reminding myself I probably needed Rainbow Dash a lot more than she needed me. “Thanks for last night. That was… that was pretty bad, wasn’t it?”

                

She frowned. “We’ve been through worse, but, in all honesty, I wouldn’t mention it. Last night, l mean. At least not in front of them.” She indicated all the pegasi in the room. “They’ll be a little sore about it for a while, and for good reason.”

                

I asked in a hushed tone, “What happened last night?”

                

Rainbow Dash sighed. “One of our group didn’t make it. Must’ve been grabbed on the way or… doesn’t matter, they’re not here and we have a good idea where they are now.”

                

“Chrysalis?”

                

She nodded. “In a pod or worse. Whenever the changelings send up a distress signal like that one yesterday, we go and investigate; stay out of sight and sees what’s going on. Most time’s it’s a false alarm, other times it’s a deliberate trap by the changelings, pretending to be someone we might know and try to rescue.” She hesitated, as if not welcoming what she was about to say next. “I saw it was you last night and I made the call. It was reckless, I’ll admit, with Chrysalis there and everything, but I did what I thought was right. Was it worth it? Hard to say. But if I were you, I’d thank Bolt as much as me. He was the one whispering in my ear non-stop about how we needed another unicorn in the group.”

                

I glanced behind me and found Bolt standing idly by. He pretended to look somewhere else when I glanced at him. It was clear he wanted to talk to me again.

                

I couldn’t help but feel the cold stares from around the room. Sadly, I couldn’t even hate them for it. They’d gone out as a group yesterday and had basically traded one of their own for a complete stranger. One that couldn’t even fly like the rest of them. I really hoped there was more to their “resistance” that what was in this room.

                

“Is this everyone?” I asked Rainbow Dash gently.

                

“Afraid so,” she answered sourly. “What were you expecting?”

                

“I dunno.”

                

“You don’t seem to know a lot of things, Trixie. Were you inside Chrysalis’ castle at some point and managed to escape?”

                

“No.”

                

“Then why were you even inside Canterlot to begin with? Ponies know not to go in there anymore.”

                

The idea of telling her about Discord came and went about as fast a balloon caught in a breeze. The whole contract thing still sounded insane to me, so how would it sound to her? Or anyone for that matter? And if they wanted proof of some sort, what could I give them besides my word? Discord wouldn’t vouch for me—couldn’t if his contract claims held any validity.

                

“I was exploring,” I finally answered.

                

Rainbow Dash looked like she wanted to sucker punch me again. “A-huh. Well, if anyone else asks, don’t say something so stupid, okay? Tell them you were looking for family inside the castle or something. That’s the reason a lot of ponies are here anyways.”

                

I nodded, still not sure what all that meant. I jerked my head up to the rest of the room. “So why so many pegasi? If I’m the only unicorn and Bolt’s the only Earth pony…”

                

Rainbow Dash smiled bitterly. “Think I have something against other types of ponies?”

                

“No.”

                

“Good.” She pushed out from her chair to give her wings a stretch. “When everything went down, I was at a Wonderbolts training camp with basically everyone here. We came back as a group and have stayed like that ever since. Besides Bolt, of course. Now he just tags along.”

                

“And Twilight? And the rest of your friends?” I asked eagerly, placing two hooves on the table. “Where are they? They’re a part of your group too, right?”

                

With a snap, Rainbow Dash retracted her wings and curled a lip at me. “I don’t know whether you’re that much of an idiot or just trying to piss me off, but my friends haven’t been around here for a while. Or any that I’d still call a friend. Fluttershy’s still around, but she’s not really in a state to fight. Twilight… we’ll, I’m not going to waste my breath trying to guess where she went.”

                

Damn, I thought miserably. Nothing could be simple, could it?

                

“But,” I pointed a hoof around the room, “you’re all still going to do something about all this, right? Save Equestria and put everything back the way it was?”

                

I had to tighten my jaw to keep my smile there. I was pleading so hard it came damn close to begging.

                

Rainbow Dash barked out a single laugh. “Sure, right after breakfast and our morning flight exercises.”

                

I slumped. “You’re being sarcastic, aren’t you?”

                

She shook her head at me. “How can you know so little of what’s happened around here, Trixie? It’s been like this for months! The most we can hope for here is to get inside Chrysalis’ castle and rescue the ponies stuck in pods or worse. Family, friends. It’s a long shot, but we’ll try it anyways.”

                

It was a start, at least. Rainbow Dash and the rest of them could take back Canterlot and then find even more ponies to help them do what they needed to. With luck, they could form an even larger resistance and repair everything that had been screwed around in the first place. I mean, just because it’s not the ‘Twilight Sparkle and friends’ variety hour doesn’t mean it’s impossible, right?

                

I looked around on the floor. Dirt. Rocks. Filth. It gave me an idea.

                

“You want me to clean up the place a bit for you guys?” I asked cheerfully. “If you have a broom somewhere, I could—”

                

Rainbow Dash stopped me with a snort. “You think you’re going to sit on the sidelines so you can clean up a bit? Trixie, what in Tartarus happened to you? Last time I saw you, you thought you were the absolute shit!”

                 

I was, I thought darkly, until you and Twilight had to come ruin it all for me.

                

She shook her head. “No. Na-uh. If you want to stay, you’ll be making yourself useful.”

                

“I could try and make the soggy oats taste better? A dash of cinnamon, maybe?” I suggested.

                

Rainbow Dash looked over my shoulder at the patiently waiting Bolt behind me. She yelled to him, “You wanted a unicorn, Bolt? Here you go! Just keep her out of my mane for me.”

                

“Great!” Bolt sidled over to me and wrapped a leg around my shoulder. He said to Rainbow Dash, “Before we leave, I want to do a quick check of the houses nearby. If I make anymore of those Bright Bombs, it would be good to have more welding goggles or things close to it. Two pairs aren’t even close to enough.”

                

Rainbow Dash gave a nod. “As long as it’s fast and you don’t bring any attention to yourself.”

                

“I’ll also need some time before we move to charge up some of my devices.”

                

Bolt gave my side a squeeze. Charge up something?

                

Rainbow Dash grimaced. “Bring her along and do it while you look around. Get her a saddlebag and try and find some rations while you’re out. And…” Suddenly, she looked downcast. From out of a bag hanging on the seat behind her, she pulled out a thick envelope, sealed with wax. She slid it across the table. “I’m not ordering you to, but… if you happen to be near Fluttershy’s house, could you give this to her? It’s too dangerous to be flying around now, but you should be all right if you take it to her on hoof.”

                

With a smile, Bolt scooped up the letter and set it in the bag over his back. “I’ll do it. She’s always super nice whenever anyone stops by.”

                

Rainbow Dash gave a faint smile. “Nicest mare I know. Just… tell her I’m sorry, all right? I’ll… visit again soon. Promise.”

                

Bolt slapped my shoulder with a hoof. “Ready, Trixie?”

                

I gulped. “To go back outside?” My thoughts floated to Chrysalis and her vivid death threat again. “But isn’t it nicer inside?”

                

In a flash of bright light, Discord popped himself on Rainbow Dash’s desk, lounging around like a cover model. “Come now, Trixie! Isn’t it about due time for a side-mission?”

                

“Side-mission?” I blurted before I could stop myself.

                

Bolt and Rainbow Dash glanced at me, then to each other.

                

Rainbow Dash mouthed the words, “Good luck!” and Bolt grinned in return.

                

It didn’t seem as if anything could ever rain on Bolt’s parade.

 

***
 

We left the basement not by the door that fed out into the street, but by a series of dimly lit tunnels that ran from one building to another, hidden by thin panels pressed into the walls. Bolt told me they were created in cases of emergencies such as fire or foreign attackers. It was these types of shallow tunnels that had gotten them all so close to the maze before resurfacing—a secret they’d love to keep from Chrysalis for as long as they could.

                

“Who figured these tunnels out?” I asked, banging my horn against the hard stone roof again. “You get it out of a history book or something?”

                

As we marched, I tried not to look up Bolt’s backside, even if it was the only thing in view. Before we left, he wondered if he’d bother bringing along his reinforced costume pieces, but thought better of it. As he put it: these gathering missions were more about stealth and speed than solid defense.

                

When the tunnel got too dark, I lit the tip of my horn to help us see.

                

“The Lady of Whispers,” he informed me casually, as if the name should’ve ringed a bell for me. “She coughed up that info pretty easily.”

                

I thought on that. “You beat someone up for information? I thought you were the good guys.”

                

At that, he laughed. “We are. I mean, we gave her some info in return, some secrets. Then she handed over some old building blueprints and that was that. Info for info, sort of thing.”

                

“What kind of information? Stuff about your group?”

                

Bolt shook his head, which was tough to see with a face full of his plot. “Nothing like that. Just personal info, usually involving Rainbow Dash or the like. I don’t really like speaking about that group; always feel like it could be a trap when dealing with them.”

                

“The Lady of Whispers is a mare, I take it?”

                

“Maybe. It’s sort of a company, I guess. You make requests and they make demands in return. From what Rainbow Dash has been hearing, they’ve set up shop all over Equestria. Or as far as we’ve been able to tell.”

                

“Could they also be working for Chrysalis?”

                

“Maybe. But so far no one’s crossed us.”

                

After what felt like ten minutes, we pushed through a cellar door and stepped out into the light again. It must’ve been early afternoon, because I had to shield my eyes from the sun. We stood on a deserted stretch of road alongside a half-dozen houses with shattered windows and broken roofs. Far into the distance, I could see Canterlot castle, still sealed in the grayish bubble from before. Tiny black specks patrolled the sky all around it.

                

“Odd question,” I spoke timidly, “but was there ever a big decaf coffee incident about a year ago? Like, say, a decaf coffee that sort of ruined all of Equestria?”

                

I expected a reaction similar to Rainbow Dash’s when I’d asked about her friends. Instead, Bolt actually cocked his head to the side in thought and even gave his chin a scratch.

                

Eventually, he shook his head. “Can’t say so, no. Why? Got a hankering for coffee? You might have to settle for cold water and coffee grounds for a while.”

                

I looked at him perplexed. “You really don’t act like you belong here.”

                

I watched as his smile faltered. Instantly, I felt bad.

                

“I don’t belong here,” he admitted glumly, “and I shouldn’t be here, and I know I shouldn’t be acting so calm about everything, but what’s the alternative to that? Give up and feel sorry for myself?” He raised his brows. “Nah. I’d much rather try and change the world than let the world change me. My parents always liked my smile, so I think I’ll keep it. What’s wrong with manners? I’m fine acting just like this.”

                

I looked into his cobalt eyes. “You always say this much to near strangers?”

                

Bolt scratched at his mane. “No, but no one’s asked, either. Those pegasi in there… they think I’m useless because I keep them grounded. They also think I’m weird because of my devices and these little runs into town for scraps. Honestly, I only get attacked one out of every three times when I go out.”

                

I couldn’t tell if that was a joke or not. Considering he always had that goofy grin on his face, it was rather hard to tell. “Well, take it from Trixie that sometimes dumb ponies can’t even see talented individuals when they’re right in front of them. Your device thingies killed four changelings all at once. I don’t think that’s anything to laugh about.”

                

Bolt looked at his hooves and kicked at a bit of loose dirt. “Well, that’s actually the first time they’ve worked so good. Other times…”

                

I gave him a friendly shot in the foreleg. “Hey, at least it worked when it counted. The results were a little gross, though.”

                

“The burning eyes?”

                

“Yeah.”

                

“No. I sort of wish it’d done more than that.”

                

I stared at him, curious if it was all a joke. “You didn’t feel bad for them at all?”

                

Now it was his turn to stare into my eyes. “Why would I? You know as well as I what they’re capable of.” Before I could say anything further, Bolt reached into his saddlebag and brought out the same metal pipe he’d had from before. “Sorry to spring this on you, but we really should be moving. Tell me if this fits all right.”

                

Without another word, he set the pipe overtop of my horn until it touched my mane. I stood stock still and unknowingly lowered to the ground. It was a weird sensation, like someone had jammed a skinny sock over my head that happened to weigh about five pounds.

                

I couldn’t hide my revulsion. “Why did you do that?”

                

Bolt’s eyes went from his pipe-thing, back to me. He snickered. “Oh, right. I really should explain. This is my…” He pondered on that. “Guess I don’t have a name for it yet. Magic Blaster? Sure, we’ll go with that for now. I’ll be the only one using it, probably. Anyways, this was one of the devices that ran on unicorn magic before it went dry. Now… I’m hoping you can charge it up for me.” His cheeks reddened. Perhaps the sight of me added to just how odd his request sounded finally became too much for him. “I mean, you don’t have to, but…”

                

I sighed, trying not to glimpse the tube of metal just above my frame of vision. “How do I charge it, exactly? And for how long?”

                

Bolt smiled again, happy I wasn’t whipping it off my head already. If I hadn’t seen what it was capable of the night before, I might’ve reacted a bit differently. He told me, “Depends. If you just leave it on your head for a while, it should naturally suck up some magic over a couple of hours. Or—and I think you’d like this method better—you can try to focus some magic into it by doing some more powerful spells.”

                

I smirked, tilting my head up and to the side. It almost sounded like a dare. “A powerful spell, you say? Why did you not say so from the start?”

                

Bolt playfully raised his brows and took a step away from me. I lowered my head and shut my eyes, pondering what spell I might unleash onto his little device. I mean, I didn’t want to break the damn thing. Maybe something less complex to start…

                

Without much thought, I shot a trio of sparks out of my horn, followed by a glittering display of bits of silver that looked like shattered glass from afar. I could sense the bits of magic suddenly vacuumed out of the inside of the tube. The tube made a quiet boop noise.

                

I exhaled contently. “And there you have it. One fully charged… Magic Blumper or whatever you’d called it.”

                

Bolt was still smiling. Only not as contently as I thought he would. He came over and gingerly tapped the side of the pipe with a hoof. “Sorry. Not quite.”

                

“But it booped.”

                

He chuckled. “One boop. It’ll make ten boop noises before it fills completely. See the lights on the—” He stopped himself. “Of course you don’t, it’s on your head. Anyways, they’re ten lights on the side that indicate how charged it is. We’re only on the first light now.”

                

I glanced away from him then. “Oh, well, I just… I just didn’t want to break your little machine, is all.”

                

“You won’t. It’s made to be solid, hence the fact it’s basically a metal pipe. Try again?”

                

As much as I wanted to say no and rip it off my head and call the whole thing stupid, his visible eagerness made me give it another shot. Again I shut my eyes, then furrowed my brows. I even gritted my teeth together and pushed out what basic magic I could—no spell, no visual accompaniment, only pure magical energy. When I felt the hints of sweat near my mane, I began to panic that nothing was happening at all. Then—

                

Boop-boop-boop!

                

Bolt tapped the pipe again. “Hey! Up to four now! Not bad. You don’t have to continue like that. We can get searching if you want and it should suck up what it can as we go.”

                

“Oh?” I pretended not to appear as winded as I was. “If you insist.”

                

He jerked his head to a dilapidated house across the street. “We’ll start there and—”

                

“Chrysalis!”

                

Bolt sucked back air and his ears shot up.

                

“Chrysalis! My Queen! Please!”

                

It was a scream, coming from the direction of Canterlot castle. It had an odd echo effect to it—the cries of a changeling.

                

“What’s that?” I squeaked. “Who’s yelling? Why are they yelling?”

                

Bolt’s original trepidation fell away as what replaced it was mild interest. One side of his mouth curled into a grin. “Another changeling spy returns,” he answered casually.

                

“Spy? Are spies supposed to shout as loud as they can for their leader?”

                

He turned to me. “Only if their life depends on it.”

 

***
 

We forewent any building exploration and instead followed the noise to the other end of town. Two blocks over, we entered a house Bolt knew connected to the system of underground tunnels and trotted through them until coming to a broken brick wall that fed into a fairly dry sewer system. The end of our journey arrived as we stood side-by-side by a metal grate, staring through the bars of rusted metal to the front of Canterlot castle. A rain gutter out of hundreds.

The castle stood behind a large grey bubble. Two larger changeling drones stood watch outside of the dome, blackened spears clutched in their legs. The one whose screams we’d followed stood in the middle of the street, pacing back and forth and glancing at the castle as if debating on whether or not to charge at it. The two positioned guards ignored the furious changeling entirely.

“Chrysalis!” the circling changeling yelled, his voice quivering as much as he was. “I demand that you speak to me! Please! Just… say something! Anything!”

He seemed to be focused more on the balcony above the castle’s entryway doors than anywhere else. Perhaps that’s where Chrysalis liked to stand on and stare from.

“I know you can hear me!” The smaller changeling hitched in a breath. “I didn’t ask for this! You made me! It’s not my fault! It’s not, damn it! It’s—”

Bolt turned to me in the sewer. “You might not want to watch this.”

“Watch wh—” was all I got out, before a claw and a paw clamped around my head and kept it stuck where it was. I grumbled, but didn’t say anything to Discord directly.

Discord spoke aloud as if Bolt could hear him too. “Oh, I don’t think so, Mr. Explody-Pants. Trixie here needs to toughen up some, and even I’m curious as to what’s about to happen. Aren’t you, Trixie?”

With his hands, he bobbed my head up and down. I thought about biting one of the fingers close to my mouth, but quickly realized I had no idea where’d those fingers had been. Or if I could even bite them if I wanted to. Discord’s physical touching rules were hardly very clear anymore…

“I’ll stay,” I said. “You seem rather keen to.”

Bolt nodded, his eyes focused ahead. “I like to watch. It means one less changeling in the world.”

I didn’t add anything to that. Bolt seemed like a far different pony now than the one I’d just been talking to minutes ago. More cold. More emotionless. I asked, “Why is he yelling for Chrysalis? And where did he come from? And if he’s a spy, why is he being ignored like that? Didn’t he do good?”

                

Bolt didn’t look at me when he answered. “Only spies sent to the Crystal Empire ever come back, but not one of them make it long once home. If they’ve learned anything about Sombra or the Empire, it’s usually not worth it to spill. They only come back because Sombra caught them and now he’s making an example out of them—or an example to Chrysalis, anyways.”

                

The screaming changeling held his breath for a moment before flinging himself at the pair of guards blocking the shield. He was flung back to the street by a single blow by a spear. The two guards then pointed their weapons at the injured drone, keeping a safe distance away. One muttered something to the other one that I couldn’t hear.

                

“Sombra’s a little twisted,” Bolt continued mildly. “He could’ve just killed the spy once he routed him out or killed him and sent his body back or something, but… he tries to make things more interesting than that. As far as we’ve seen, he really doesn’t like Chrysalis, and I doubt she likes him very much. The first time he did something like this, the spy came back just as we happened to be returning through the tunnels. He came back as a pony and we found it odd how he wasn’t getting attacked so close to the castle. Once he dropped the pony suit, he was let inside and not sixty seconds later did some explosion tear a chunk of the castle away. I think even the shield went out for a while that day.”

                

I gulped dryly. “So… if they’re caught, they come back as… what? Living bombs?”

                

Bolt thought on that, sliding his tongue around the front of his teeth. “Not always. Not anything like that after the first time. Sombra probably got wise to it all after it didn’t kill Chrysalis; decided to make it worse.” He nodded to the bellowing changeling on the street. “Sombra always gives them a time limit—probably why they try and get into the castle as fast as they can, although by this point they don’t let anyone in for anything. Sombra uses some of that ‘dark magic’ we’re pretty sure he has and gives them a task to do in a certain amount of time. If the changeling can do it, they’re free to live another day. Or that’s probably what Sombra says. No changeling has ever made it for too long once they get back.”

                

The changeling on the street was loudly sobbing now, still calling out for Chrysalis. The castle behind the guards remained dark, its doors and windows unmoving.

                

I asked, “What sort of tasks?”

                

“All Chrysalis related. Give her a hug. Hear the sound of her voice. See her with your eyes. Have her tell you she loves you. Have her tell you you’ve been a good boy this year.”

                

“That’s a little messed up… but it doesn’t seem that hard, either.”

                

Bolt nodded. “It’s not, but ever since that first spy came back and splattered himself all over the interior of the castle, she’s not taking any chances. Any changelings that return will need to wait a period before being allowed to see her or speak to her. Weeks, probably.”

                

I hesitated before asking, “And if they can’t do what Sombra wants them to do? What happens, then?”

                

“They die,” Bolt replied casually—too casually. “Once it was a fire that started in the changeling’s stomach, another time all of its legs were torn out of their sockets one by one, another time he just melted to the ground like a big pile of steaming black goo.”

                

I held a hoof over my mouth. “All right. I get it.”

                

“And now we’ll see what happens to this one…”

                

Bolt redirected his focus to the scene playing outside. The screaming changeling had settled down and was kneeling in the street, eyes focused on the balcony above the entrance. He was sobbing loudly. “My Queen! Mother! Just talk to me! Just tell me you love me and I’ll go away! I’ll—”

                

His next word was halted as a section of his skull caved inward until it reached his nose. The eyeball on that side of his face shot out onto the street and the changeling swayed where he knelt. He gurgled up something that sounded close to “Mother” again, but then became still and silent when another chunk of his skull was driven towards his neck by some powerful unseen force.

                

Soon his entire head had been smashed against his shoulders as easily as if crumpling a piece of parchment into a ball. His forelegs shot inwards next, followed by his legs, leaving a broken and mangled dead mound of changeling on the ground.

                

I was really glad I hadn’t eaten anything for breakfast that morning.

                

Bolt sighed beside me. “And seeing something like that sure makes me glad Sombra’s stuck in the Frozen North and not here.”

                

I put a hoof in front of my face, blocking out the worst of the deceased changeling. “You don’t think he’ll ever come here?”

                

Bolt barked out a laugh. “Probably not. He likes his castle and little else.”

                

I sighed out a breath of relief. “So we just need to worry about Chrysalis, right?”

                

“Right,” Bolt agreed, before rethinking what he said. “Unless Sombra’s Bastards come to Ponyville, I mean.”

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