Starburst skidded to a halt as he came sliding through the doorway of the commandeered home where Full Spectrum had been taken. Catalyst was right behind him. The home was one of the empty ones in the Bloodmage safe house, and had been repurposed as an impromptu medical facility. Princesses Celestia and Luna were already there, scanning the woman and trying to determine what had happened to her when Starburst and Catalyst arrived.

The Pegasus and Unicorn trotted up to the stone bed where Full Spectrum had been laid. Starburst reached his right forehoof up and lovingly stroked her dreadlocks. She looked peaceful. "What happened?" Catalyst asked.

Celestia shook her head, "We are uncertain. We know that something significant happened to her. We both felt the surge of magic from her and a letter from Princess Twilight informed us that she felt it all the way in Ponyville. The type of magic though... it was unlike anything we have ever felt any being wield before. The surge changed her..."

Starburst lowered his forehoof and looked back and forth between Celestia and Luna, "What aren't you telling us?"

Luna cleared her throat, "We are not withholding anything from you. We have not made our observations certain yet. We wanted to be sure..."

A disembodied voice spoke from the surrounding stone, "Oh I can ASSURE you alright." A wisp of sparkling smoke wafted in from the door, circling the room, "She's somehow done the impossible, something that you and even I have always failed at," Discord coalesced out of the smoke, appearing with his arms crossed, "And there is no chance I'm giving it away." He wiggled his talon and paw at the two Alicorns, "You already have your suspicions, but you're afraid to speak them out loud." He suddenly snaked his way around Celestia, "Perhaps by staying quiet your fears will never be realized..." he gazed into Celestia's eyes, "Or perhaps you're just fooling yourselves."

Luna snorted, "This is no joking matter, Discord."

Discord nodded, "Oh I disagree. EVERYTHING is a joking matter. You simply refuse to see the comedic value, Lulu." He gestured to Full Spectrum, "What she's managed to attain is truly impressive. I can't WAIT to see what she does with her new power. Hopefully something interesting..."

"This is an unprecedented development," Celestia said seriously, "We have no way of knowing what is going to happen. She may not even wake up..."

Discord interrupted her, "Oh come now, Celestia, you don't really believe that. You should know better than anybody," he pointed to Full Spectrum, "This kind of magic always has a purpose. All we can do now is just wait and see." He shuddered, "Ooh the suspense is just killing me!" He slid the lion's claw across his neck and his head rolled off his shoulders. His head rolled under Celestia and he flashed a lewd grin, "Quite the sight from down here, Tia, but I do believe it's time for another waxing. Looks to me like you'll be smuggling Sasquatch soon enough. Those curly little hairs extend all the way to your..."

His head popped back into existence on his shoulders in a poof of smoke as Celestia firmly stomped on his head with her left rear hoof. Her face was bright red, "Enough distractions, please!" She said in a plaintive tone, "This is beyond serious!"

Discord snaked himself around her shoulders, "Easy there, Tia. No need to get yourself all worked up. The woman will be fine, or she won't be, and there is nothing you or I can do about it. If you and Luna are right, then the world just became a much more interesting place. If you're wrong then nothing's changed and everything will be back to normal... well, as normal as anything in this world can be. I say we leave this woman alone for now and focus on something that should prove to be FAR more interesting. Your Balzac guest is not going to be alone for long and THAT is exactly the kind of interesting I like. So much confusion and intrigue." He paused briefly, "Oh, here comes the second... and third and fourth... oohoohoo! This is just too much. Tell King Myrmidon I truly appreciate his dedication to causing chaos." He hopped off Celestia's back and wiggled his lion's claws, "Until next time, tootaloo." With a small flash of white light, he was gone.

The four Ponies all shared confused looks until Discord's words sank in. Half a second later, Full Spectrum's unconscious form was all alone in the room.

* * *

Scrax patted the back of the Balzac woman who had just crawled out of the pool of blood as the Gryphons continued throwing skulls into the crimson liquid. Myrmidon had stormed into the room with a skull already in his claws and chucked it into the blood as soon as he cleared the door. The Balzac woman had crawled out of the blood only a few seconds later. That was when the Gryphon King and all the others who had come with him had opened their heavy shoulder bags and began dumping the skulls into the blood. As the Balzac began climbing from the pool, the Gryphons took great care to help haul each one out and wait for the next to emerge. The last of the sixty-plus skulls was in the pool when Celestia, Luna, Catalyst, and Starburst came rushing into the chamber.

Celestia groaned at the impetuous King, but she, Luna, and Catalyst all lit up their horns to help lift the Balzac out of the pool. Once they stopped emerging, Celestia turned to Myrmidon, "What could have possibly possessed you to do this!?" She said hotly, "We had no idea if something like this would work, we don't know how much magic is stored in this pool, we don't even know how it works and you just charge on in here and..."

Myrmidon turned his head from the Balzac child he was wiping off and spat, "Shut it! We can talk later! For now, either help us, or stand there and do nothing!" He turned back to the child he was wiping off with his own purple cloak. He spoke softly to the child as he wiped the blood off the little Balzac boy, "Come on, warm up a little. You're safe now." The child blinked and looked up at the King with terrified eyes. Myrmidon wrapped the boy in his cloak and pulled him into his chest plumage, stroking the back of his head. The King's beak clacked as he shuddered, squeezing his eyes closed and holding the boy tightly.

The clack of claws on stone caused the four Ponies to turn around. The hallway behind them was filled with Gryphons, all holding skulls. Celestia stepped back, "How-how many did you bring?" She asked, not specifying whom she was asking.

Myrmidon spoke clearly, his attention never leaving the child, "The whole nation is coming here. Let us revive them and take them home. This is our responsibility, Celestia. You will not trouble yourself with it any longer."

Celestia blinked is confusion, "Your whole nation cannot have flown here in so short a time."

Luna put the pieces together easily, "Christopher..."

* * *

Chris was more busy than he ever remembered being. The Gryphons just. Kept. Coming. He teleported more and more in by the minute. As soon as one group entered the mountain, he transported in another group. It was like and endless stream of Gryphons. Fortunately for him, he had more than enough magic to keep going.

Luna appeared at his side in a flash of light, "Of all the foolhardy things you could ever do, this has to be in the top five! What are you thinking!?" She blinked as Chris teleported in yet another group of fifty Gryphons, "Stop bringing them here!"

Chris shrugged, "I will, once they're all here. Part of the agreement I have with the Gryphons, that allowed me to open up a shipping hub in Gryphonvale, was that I owe them a favor. The King contacted me as soon as he got the message and called that favor in. I always keep a few of the communication crystals on me so that my employees can get a hold of me in case of an emergency. Myrmadon used the one I left at the hub and asked me to bring them here and eventually send them back. I bring them in at night, then at dawn their time, they send a messenger here to let me know and I start sending them back. It's going to take a couple of days before they are all through."

Luna's jaw dropped open, "DAYS!?" She asked aghast, "When are you supposed to sleep!?"

Chris shrugged, "How long can you go without sleep?"

Luna caught the unspoken insinuation. Chris had injected himself with Alicorn blood, Luna's own blood. It mixed with his own and had changed him even more than it had with Artex. Alicorn biology had altered Chris in a powerful way. His magic stayed the same, but his body had changed on the inside. He was the first Human Alicorn and he had magical reserves to match it. Luna did not need sleep the same way normal Ponies did. For Alicorns it was a convenience more than a necessity. They could go without sleep for obscenely long periods of time, they would just need to make up for it later with one long sleep. Luna knew Chris could go for weeks without needing to sleep.

Chris smirked, "I keep my promises, Luna. I have no control over what Myrmidon or his Gryphons do once they're here. He runs his country and I have no say in it. He called, I made a promise, so I kept my promise."

Luna ground her teeth, "Nevertheless, this is irresponsible of you. We don't know what might happen if the pool gets overloaded."

"IF it even can be overloaded." Chris sighed as he teleported in another group of Gryphons, "Like you said, we don't know much about it. My brain is still Human, remember? This is how we experiment."

Luna frowned, "You know full well that Human scientists tend to be much more careful than this. You told me yourself."

Chris chuckled as he teleported in another group of Gryphons holding skulls, "Yeah, but I'm not at risk." He turned his head and gave the lunar Alicorn a kiss on her muzzle tip, "This is their choice, Luna. You know how I am about keeping to my word."

Luna grumbled, "Christopher please! This is dangerous! We don't know what could happen!"

Chris lowered his arms for a moment and looked at his fiancé, "I can't blame them for wanting to do this. They've suffered for thousands of years. Thousands, plural. What would you do if you had done something terrible beyond reason and you saw a chance to make it right? What lengths would you go to, to fix your mistake? Then ask yourself how much farther a mortal would go, to achieve the same thing." He raised his hands and teleported in another group of Gryphons, "Their entire society developed around a singular event. All their history is about to change. Who am I to keep them from trying to fix their mistake?"

Luna hanged her head, "But this could have been done in a much more organized manner. We could have developed a system to help the Balzac acclimate to the modern world..."

Chris shook his head and let out an exasperated sigh, "Luna," he moaned, "The original event which started all of this was far from organized. Let the Gryphons deal with it in their own way. Besides, I know you and Celestia are going to have somebody destroy that pool here soon." He teleported in another group of Gryphons as he spoke, "The possibility of somebody abusing the pool is super high. I mean, sure we could use it to bring war casualties back to life, but what if somebody managed to find the skull of King Sombra? Or somebody worse?" He shook his head, "I know you, and I know Celestia. You won't risk letting something like this being used for evil. You're going to destroy it. It's what I would do."

Luna narrowed her eyes, "I could stop you."

Her statement caught Chris' attention, "How? Fight me?" He laughed lightly, "It would be a lovers' spat for the ages."

"I could mingle with your magic and have the Gryphons teleported into the vacuum of space..."

Chris scoffed, "That's a bluff if I ever heard one. You would sooner cut off your own horn than intentionally murder innocents. You already know you can't stop me, love. This is happening and it's out of your control. I'm sorry to be so blunt, but you're just going to have to deal with it. The same way the Gryphons are going to have to deal with the Balzac back in Gryphonvale."

Author's Notes:

New update! Let me know if you spot any typos.