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.”