The world trembled as her entourage moved through the sky. Her Pyramid, where her throne resided, blotted out the sky as it made its way across the world unopposed. To the lowly mortals below, it looked as if a the sky itself became eclipsed by the sheer splendor of her flying fortress. Each massive segment of the magically bound structure rotated at a different speed in alternating directions, and swarming around it were entire flocks of soldiers flying in formation.

Griffons, Purrsians, and Sun Cats mounted on Chimera flew through the sky with a purpose, maintaining an eye on the world below them for any sign of retaliation for their presence in these foreign lands. She liked surrounding herself with feline races like herself. While she had other species under her rule, it was the catlike races that held the highest positions in her Absolute Monarchy. They had all the political positions, the highest ranks in military, access to the most luxurious amenities, all because they shared similarities to their ruling goddess. Normally she would not be personally going out to a battle, nor would she have so many felines in her invading force when she could used the lesser races for this. However the Goddess felt like this particular Skirmish required her to put her best foot forward. She was going up against the being who had defeated Lord Tirek after all. That had to account for something.

For the longest time, the dragons had been under the rule of the Minotaurs and Gargoyles, the head of which was Lord Tirek. Their kingdom was allied with Catrina's own, and they had a very lucrative trade agreement. Slaves, food, armaments, precious metals, all of it traded hands regularly between the two nations that seemed to hold sway over much of the world. When the news of the Dragons rebellion had reached her throne, she had been astounded to hear of the effectiveness their attack on Lord Tirek's capital had been. In one night they had utterly ransacked the powerful Centaur's capital city, and the Dragon Lord himself had taken on his former master, defeating him utterly in one on one combat. Such a powerful creature was worthy of being her opponent.

The Goddess Catrina reclined in her throne as they continued towards the mountains. They had flown across the ocean for this confrontation. Her Pyramid was flanked by hundreds of Sphinx warships, and the sky itself darkened by the myriad numbers of her forces once they had reached the shore. They flew in massive skeins, forming a v in the sky that comprised of thousands of her minions. Those that did not have wings of their own straddled onto Chimera, guiding their mounts with expert paws as they soared through the air. Each and every soldier was heavily armored, both physically and magically. The forces that were not out soaring in the sky were inside the Sphinx warships and her Pyramid, getting into formation to discuss battle strategy and to do checkups on their weaponry. She could feel them all moving about intuitively, noting the practiced ease they went about their jobs while she sipped from her massive chalice.

The Goddess Catrina herself sat upon her throne, her legs draped casually over the other as she quietly prepared her spells for combat. Her ornate garbs of gold and gemstones of all sizes were not just for show, but stored massive amounts of magical energy to draw from on a moments notice. Even her silken cape had been woven with so much defensive magic that it would be a miracle for an attack to even get near her much less do any damage. This wasn't even taking into account her absolute immortality, which had served to make her one of the most formidable beings on the planet. Even warlike lords like Tirek did not want her as an enemy. The only creature to ever give her pause was that disturbing necromancer, that tiny blue Ram whom seemed to bring death and despair wherever he went, the one whom plunged his own kingdom into darkness before spreading his gospel of nihilism throughout the world. He was not her target this day however. No, her target was this Dragon Lord that sought to rise up from servitude and wished to rank among the gods of this world.

She almost jumped from her throne at the feeling of a sudden surge of power. Her minions parted and circled around to the back of her floating Pyramid as a massive blade of metal seemed to cut through the very air itself and tear upwards. In the wake of this slash of this blackened blade stood a jagged rift right in front of her Pyramids trajectory. With a tap of her finger on her throne, the Pyramid halted in the air, as did her Sphinx Warships. Her flying battalions and herself watched as a massive claw covered in royal purple scales gripped the side of the rift. From behind the opening in the sky Catrina could see rivers of Lava and a gargantuan anvil, no doubt used to forge his armor with.

The Dragon whom stepped out of the rift was at a scale that even dwarfed her Pyramid. He had significantly grown since the reports about him it seemed. His scaled body, covered in ebony armor, glowing with green runes made of flame. Dragon scales were already a formidable defense unto itself, but the thick plates of armor that heavily padded his shoulders, chest, and forearms in particular was quite imposing as well. He was a wingless dragon, and was said to draw his power from greed itself. At her present scale, she was barely a kitten in comparison to his height that rivaled the mountains themselves. His helm was intricate, yet also deeply black in appearance, almost to the point where it lacked definition in the light. From within it his smoldering green eyes could be seen, as well as his teeth that were at the scale of particularly tall buildings. The parts of his body that were visible were a brilliant shade of purple that glistened in the sunlight, including his partially armored tail which kicked up powerful winds as it swayed through the air his arm lifted up a massive sword about the same length as himself, a blade that could cleave an island in two in a single strike, and rested it on his shoulder casually as he looked down at the Pyramid before him. Catrina could see how Lord Tirek was defeated by this creature.

"My my my! How you have grown! Last time I had visited Tirek's Capital city you were barely taller than a Minotaur and serving drinks for your betters." Her tone was more jovial than she felt. She had the beginnings of sweat forming on her brow from looking up at this being before her. She had not quite anticipated him gaining this massive power boost in a few months.

"Why are you here Goddess? Do you seek war with The Dragon Nation?"

Catrina languidly put down her chalice and floated up from her throne. Her body swelled and grew in size, gradually matching the Dragon Lord's stature. To the two caped behemoths, the mortals that flew around them were nothing but gnats in their gaze. Their massive forms stood in striking contrast to one another; Catrina, adorned with wealth and splendor befitting a goddess, shimmering under the light of the sun. Her armor looked more for show than anything else, though it was laced with more than enough magic to be effective at their job. The Dragon Lord by contrast was utilitarian and militaristic in his armors design. It told of efficiency in its well honed plating, and the densely forged in runes told that it also made for excellent conduits of his particular brand of magic. Even his crowned helm was more out of necessity to show his rank than a show of splendor and wealth.

They leveled a stare at each other, Catrina's reflective eyes meeting the glowing emerald gaze of her opponent. She had to admit he carried the air of royalty about him. It suited him quite nicely.

"It doesn't have to be a War, Dragon Lord." She spoke his title with open condescension, giving him a wry grin as she looked down her muzzle at him. "You could simply swear fealty to me and I could claim these new fertile lands for my own. It would be a quite lucrative agreement for your dragons if I do say so myself, though you'd have to offer penance for what you did to Tireks kingdom. He is my ally after all."

"I do not have time for your games Cat." The Dragon Lord snarled at her, "I have far more pressing matters to concern myself with."

"I come to you with an army and my power and you tell me I am not a concern? What pray tell would be more pressing than a Goddess on the warpath?"

The Dragon lord responded to this by hoisting his massive sword off of his shoulders effortlessly and leveling it towards a forest far into the distance. His eyes never left her own as they smoldered with power. His face was calm, but deadly serious as he spoke his next words.

"Within that forest, lies a being more powerful than anything else that is wandering this planet, ourselves included. The only reason I can surmise why it hasn't completely taken over the world, is because it is immobile, and has not acquired subjects to enact its will yet. I have tried to make preemptive treaties with it, however, it refuses all forms of communication. Dragons are not what this being desires for it's plans it seems, and every day I wonder, if this would be the day it strikes me down where I stand."

Catrina looked both puzzled and bemused at his statement. What could intimidate this creature? Even she had her doubts that a fight with this Dragon Lord would be a landslide on her part, now that she was standing before him. Whatever "It" was was truly a worthy adversary if it gave this Dragon pause. Reaching for her power she looked for the weaves of magic in the air around the forest to see what she was dealing with.

The Goddess covered her eyes at what she saw. The sheer density of the harmonious magic packed into one tree like being was enough to shine brighter than a thousand suns. Using her power to try to read it was painful and blinding. It infuriated her that something that strong existed, and she felt compelled to face it.

"It is powerful, but I do not believe it could stop me. I am absolutely immortal. A Goddess. What is that thing to me?"

The Dragon Lord shook his head lightly before turning on his heel back towards the rift his sword had made, sheathing his massive blade as he did so.

"If you truly believe you are capable of besting it, then go to the Tree and do so. I am in no mood to play with your army."

Catrina seethed at that, how dare he brush her off like this? How dare he treat her like something not to be concerned about. She called out as he stepped into his rift.

"Once I topple that Tree, I will come for your supposed kingdom as well, and I will bring the dragons to heel, like they are supposed to be."

The Dragon Lord let out a snort of derision as he stepped inside his rift, to the volcanic chambers on the other side.

"If you do manage to topple that thing, I will swear my fealty to your Holiness unconditionally. Do not say I did not warn you, when you lose."

Entering that cursed land was the worst mistake of my life. If I had never had gone across the sea and just had remained content with what I had, I would have stayed in power as a Goddess to this day. Now look at where I am. This is what stupid decisions get me.

Catrina had not thought about the day she had lost everything in a long while. However, staring down a forest full of snarling undead trees that moved whenever she wasn't looking at them really drove home how far she had fallen. Her mind was quickly losing its nerve as the trees around her made a move with each instance she wasn't looking at them. The bog was so expansive and filled with the sounds of swarming insects that made her fur stand on end, and everywhere she wasn't looking and every instant she gave into blinking was another chance for these cursed trees to reach its branches forward and get closer towards them. The victim faces that were in the trees were now snarling and silently screaming in fury at them. Their collective faces were all staring at Catrina with vacant eyes, baring sharp teeth made of bark as they waited to move that much closer to them. The incessant sounds of buzzing were not helping either. Even though she knew that there were no flies around her, the phantom sounds of them swarming so close to her made her want to flail about to make it stop. Her tail was swishing in agitation at the constant droning sound, and she could practically feel little insects crawling all over her body.

As she maintained eye-contact with the bog, a fresh new concern was bringing itself to her attention. A little bundle of swaddling in her arms was growing restless, and soft moans of the infant dragon could be heard issuing from beneath the cloth. She had seen Twilight handle the tiny dragon enough to know that these movements meant he was getting hungry. Normally the filly took care of the baby, and she was surprisingly efficient at it as well. She seemed to take notes when she handled Spike, creating an ever revised checklist on the infants feeding schedule as well as his other needs. Twilight was a surprisingly doting caretaker when it came to this infant, and it bore a stark contrast to her usually sadistic self when it came to her enemies.

Catrina felt around the sacks that Twilight had outfitted her with and found a rather thick scroll next too a few bottles. She lifted the scroll out of its pouch and unraveled it, gawking a bit at what she saw.

Care and Feeding of Spike The Dragon

By Twilight Sparkle

In the event that I, Twilight Sparkle, am indisposed and am unable to feed Spike the Dragon, I leave this instruction manual in the care of whomever I have deemed trustworthy of his care. Follow these simple instructions and his health and happiness will undoubtedly be assured until the time of my inevitable arrival. Contents within are subject to change depending on further discoveries made regarding dragon physiology.

Table of Contents

Section 1: Spike's Appearance

-Scale care 3-7

-Limb checkups 8-11

-Head and face 12-15

-Eyes 16-18

Section 2: Basic Care of Spike

-Bathing 19

-Claw care 19

-Changing 20

-Feeding 21-24

-Sleeping 25

-General Interaction 26

"When, in Nightmare Moon's name, did you have time to write all this?" Catrina gawked at just how many sections and chapters there were even beyond section 2. Twilight had boiled her care for Spike down to a science, and she was quite literally writing the scroll on the subject. She had seen the filly working on several scrolls at once, but to think one about taking care of a baby would be this in-depth. It was jarring for her mind to wrap around. She was half-tempted to disregard this expansive guide and just feed Spike one of the bottles, but out of a pure curiousness she decided to unravel it further, keeping an eye on the wooded bog around her as she did so. As she rolled out the parchment she revealed dense paragraphs and little checklists within its myriad of chapters. This was an ever-expanding archive of everything Twilight did to maintain the health of this dragon, even more than she had supposed when she glanced at the pair.

She had to maneuver the scroll to keep it from touching the ground by the time she got to the section about feeding. It was astounding just how much she had found to write about this little creature. So astounding in fact that it distracted her from the Trees, and her inattentiveness had earned her a section of the trees moving far closer than she would have liked. She juggled the Scroll, the infant and keeping an eye on the wood as she read the section.

This is my life now. Dancing about in Grogar's haunted little dimension while I read the instructions of some demon filly about how to care for her wingless dragon. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Section 2:
Chapter 5: Feeding

Within the chapter detailed everything from how to hold Spike to how to properly position the bottle in his mouth. The bottles she had in the bag, filled with formulas designated for different parts of the day, and was magically maintained at perfect temperatures. She was apparently experimenting with the nutrients supposedly found in Gemstones and Crystals, finding ways to brew up synthetic varieties of it to maintain the babies health. It didn't take her long to find the right bottle and get to feeding the dragon just before he had started to wail. His doe-like eyes were staring up at her with a contented happiness sparkling in it as its little claws gripped around the bottle. She had to admire the little thing for not showing any kind of stress or concern for the environment it was in.

Somewhere along the way getting him to feed however one of their lovely trees had managed to sneak up behind Catrina. She had an eye on it now, but she didn't like the fact that it was behind her now, hugging into the walls of the city as its monstrous face silently roared at her. It being behind her meant that whenever she kept her eyes on the rest of them it had ample chance to get in close. She did not want to get devoured by one of these things, as she knew she would not die inside of it. It would be far worse, she'd just be inside it at the brink of suffocation, never given the release of death as she lived out the rest of eternity buried in her wooden prison. Such was the downside of total immortality.

Spike had grown fussy as he drank from his bottle, his stomach lightly inflated by what was probably air bubbles.

After consuming three to four ounces of the formula, Spike will most likely require burping. When doing so, make sure to have him facing in a direction where there isn't anything of value. Careless attempts at burping the infant can, and will (according to my regrettable experience), result in heavy property damage, and at the very minimum, third degree burns on your person via magic resistant fire. When performing this action, have Spike face away from your body and preferably into the air. Though this position is not exactly desirable for a babies health, it is a compromise one must make when dealing with infants with firebreath.

Catrina had a devilish idea in that moment, looking over at the tree that had maneuvered behind the two of them.

"So you want to eat us huh?" She draped Spike over her arm and pointed his head towards the tree as she kept an eye on the rest of them. She patted and rubbed his back, coaxing out the air bubbles inside Spikes little stomach, until the desired effect happened. She nearly keeled over from the sudden recoil of the dragon's blast. Green flame shot out into the grayed out world, punching straight through the demented tree's face and into the wall on the other side of its trunk. His head threw back, burning the tree in half with the adhesive flames as they ate away at any bark and wood they touched. Within a few seconds the tree was a smoldering pile of glowing green ash. She could only begin to wonder what was in Spikes fire to allow it to have color while everything else did not, but that was not an immediate concern.

Spike giggled and clapped his claws at the sight of the smoldering pile he had made. Catrina meanwhile was on a rush of adrenaline as she wheeled around to the rest of the wooded bog, wielding the happy infant like one would a crossbow, using his undeveloped spines as a line of sight as she peered at her adversaries.

"You see that! You useless piles of tinder! You come near us and Spike here is going to do the same to you as he did to your friend! Come near us and be made into ash you decrepit looking yule logs!"

Though Spike didn't understand what she said, he understood her tone. He adopted a cute reflection of his mommy's face when she spoke like that, grinning and leering out at the trees and he gave a little attempt at a threatening growl. Catrina grinned at the rumble she felt in her hands, at the power hidden within this tiny dragons body. She didn't feel as nervous being in the bog anymore. In fact, she was rather excited to feel some semblance of power again.

"When Twilight comes back little dragon, we are going to have ourselves one HELL of a bonfire."

Both Catrina and Spike giggled at that, preparing for the next tree that dared get close to them.

Oh Celestia what have I done? What have I been doing? Why am I here? Why did I kill those ponies? Why did I....what did I do to that poor Ram? What in tartarus's name possessed me into thinking this was okay!? Oh Celestia, Oh Celestia I can't take it! Their screams, they are so much worse than the Amulet! I can see their faces! Oh Celestia What did i do to her mind! I took, I took pleasure in it! It made me happy! What kind of freak am I!? Somepony please help me! Somepony stop me from doing this! Shining! Where are you!? I want to go home!

Bile erupted from Twilight's mouth and nostrils as another panic attack took over her body. She had to lean against the cold grimy surface of the crypt's wall to maintain her own balance as she hacked up more and more of the contents of her stomach. Tears pooled from her eyes dilated into pinpricks from what was playing in her head on repeat. Visions of Galia begging for her death juxtaposed to her talking to the filly in a motherly way, trying to talk her away from the path she was on. Now that she did not have the Amulet to filter the guilt and horror she had felt while doing what she did, it all crashed over her like a tsunami. In the last few minutes she had pulled herself together and subsequently fell apart while staggering down the steps of the crypt. Her willpower was the only thing keeping her standing, and even that was eroding fast under the pounding thoughts of unbearable shame for what she had done. She had not fully understood why ponies killed themselves after wearing the Amulet until these agonizing moments.

Galia was screaming out in defiance, biting off her own tongue to prevent herself from saying where Grogar's Crypt was. She had tried so hard to get through to Twilight, but that just made her want to hurt the Ram more, to break her under her hooves. She had let the ram bleed just long enough to get hope, taking sadistic satisfaction in the dark hope that filled her subjects eyes, a hope that wanted death to take her from this moment. A hope that she gleefully stripped from her as she healed her wounds and replenished her blood.

No! I don't want to do this! Stop! Let her go! She's innocent! She doesn't deserve this! She only wanted to help me! She only wanted to make me better!

Twilight adopted a gentle expression as she floated over to the Ram's face, stoking her muzzle and gently scratching behind her ear like she was some dog.

"It's okay, let out those nasty feelings bottled up inside you. No one here will judge you for shedding some tears. let it all out now. That's a good girl."

Twilight vomited again, collapsing onto her knees and nearly tumbling down the stairs as she sobbed harder than she ever did in her life. This was horrible! She didn't anticipate her body to react to this so badly. Now that she was in this cycle of traumatic memories it was everything she could do not to slam her head into the wall until she died. She needed to get it together, she needed to focus, to use the calming strategies she had recorded back when she was home to cope with this unbearable agony.

"You see! This is why temporary sociopathy just does not work in the long run. He knew that of course, that's why he crafted his trinket the way he did, but still. When you wear that thing you feel like you have the stones of a giant. That you can commit any atrocity that comes to your little noggin without consequence. However, after you take it off, you end up vomiting all over my stairs, internally begging to die. Quite sad really."

Twilight struggled to get to her hooves as Grogar manifested himself next to her, grinning down at the tormented creature.

"If you ever feel the need to off yourself, my zombies outside this Crypt will be more than happy to oblige you. However, you should know," Grogar leaned into her ear as he spoke his next words, whispering them into her with a patient, rumbling voice, "Whatever way you die in my domain, that is what your soul is going to experience for the rest of eternity. Just keep that in mind."

Twilight shook her head violently, wiping her muzzle with the back of her hoof before she found the strength to keep going down the steps. She had ridden out that wave of guilt, but who knew how strong the next panic attack would be, or how long these attacks were going to last. She would need to rectify this if she ever hoped to achieve her plans. The last thing she needed was to have a panic attack in the middle of one of Grogar's tests.

"Oh you are getting your bearings again are we? Well then why don't we move to our first test!" Grogar tapped a cloven hoof to the wall, opening up to a chamber inside of it. The shaking filly stepped forward into the room, noting how dark it was. It wasn't until a single light turned on that she saw something she had longed for this whole time since she had removed the Amulet.

"Twilight?" His voice sounded so nice in her ears. She ran up and hugged him, crying profusely into his white coat as he hugged her with his familiar foreleg. "Twilight! We've looked everywhere for you. I've been so worried."

"Big brother." She croaked out into his strong body, "I'm scared, I want to go home."

"You are home Twilight. What's the matter? Why did you leave? Please don't cry Twilight. You're safe now"

The door closed behind the two siblings, leaving them alone in this room.

"Your first test Twilight, is you are going to have to let go of the things that are holding you back from achieving your full potential."

Shining Armor didn't react to Grogar's voice. The empty room was turning into her own bedroom now. Everything looked exactly like it was supposed to. All her toys and stuffed animals were in the places they were supposed to be. Her secret compartments in the floorboards remained undisturbed. Even the way she had left her bed was exactly the same as when she had set off on her journey. Everything felt so much like home.

"I want you to do what you did to my great grand-daughter, Twilight. What you had done on my Galia was a masterwork, and is pretty much the only reason I guided you here. I want to see if you have the gall to do that again, but this time to the one you love most in the world. Can you drive your big bro into killing himself Twilight? Do you have it in you?"

She pulled back from Shining and looked around her bedroom, frantically trying to rationalize this situation. "He's not real! He's just your illusion of him!"

Shining looked confused at his sister yelling out at the room. "Who's not real Twilight? Come on, talk to me. You're scaring me sis."

Grogar chuckled at that, making her shiver with panic as he leaned into her ear once again "I know that, and your mind may know that, but your body? Your soul? Your emotions? They cannot tell the difference, little filly, and that is what you are going to be fighting against."

"Twilight please tell me whats wrong. Why did you go away? Everyponies been trying so hard to find you. We thought we had lost you forever." He sounded so much like Shining. Looked like him. Smelled like him. She didn't want to hurt him, even if it was a fabrication.

"You have ten seconds to begin, afterwards zombies will come in and devour you. Good luck little Twilight."

Grogar began to count down in her mind as she shook in place. Shining kept talking to her, trying to ask her what was wrong, gently questioning her about where she had been. Every part of her wanted to believe she was back home, that she could just let go of this stupid plan she had concocted and do something else. Now there was no going back. She would either need to go through with this, or die and be tortured for the rest of eternity. She rested in his hooves for the precious few seconds she had left before pulling away from him.

"Shining! Stop moving!" She had tried to amplify her power with the magic she had learned from the Amulet, but it didn't have nearly the same power as it did before. Shining slowed down and stopped talking, but he could still move his legs. He looked hurt and confused as he reached out for her, making her heart sink into despair as she repeated her command, layering the effect on him.

"Twilight... what are you doing? You are my sister? I love you."

Tears rolled down her face as she looked up at her big brother, smiling through the pain she felt as she slowly summoned glowing red metal in the shape of an amplification rune.

"I love you too BBBFF, but I have to do this. This is the test big brother. Don't you see? I can't fail a test like this again. I couldn't live with myself if I failed twice."

"Twilight please! What are you doing? Mom! Dad! Somethings wrong with Twilight!" He sounded so panicked as he stared at the molten metal. She had never seen her brother scared before. It made it easier to hurt him, now that he had a face she couldn't recognize.

Twilight could hear her parents coming down the hall.

"What? Twilight's home? That's great news!"

Twilight forced the door closed and barred it with magic as best as she could, it took everything she had to amplify her magic enough to do even a sliver what she could do without the Amulet. Everything was slower now, more sluggish, that much more difficult to complete. Her mother and father banged on the door now, asking them to open it for them with growing worry in their voices.

"Twilight? Open the door please. We want to see you! Its been so long since you left."

"Mom, she has hot metal, and she's holding me in place with some kind of magic. Help me out here. I think she's going to hurt me. She saying it's some kind of test!" His voice grew louder and more strained as she hovered the metal glyph closer to her brother, her grin growing as fast as her tears were falling.

"Oh my Celestia, Kids, don't move okay? We're going to open the door and everything's going to be fine!"

Twilight began to laugh. This was absurd. This whole thing was absurd. It wasn't real! She didn't care what happened if it wasn't real right? Her laughter grew more frenzied as she forced the hot metal forward. What a silly test this was! She thought Grogar could do better than this!

"MOM! Help me! Something's wrong with Twilight! Please for the love of Celestia get me out of here!"

Their parents were banging on the door so hard now, trying to use magic to force it open. Twilight unraveled their magic as they tried it though. She giggled as tears streamed down her face, finally forcing herself to scream out in triumph as she shoved the hot metal into the side of her brother's neck. His ragged squeal sounded so real to her. It sounded just like him as he writhed about as much as he could held by her magical suggestions, letting out a blood-curdling cries that only made their parent's redouble their efforts at trying to get inside. Twilight was laughing maniacally now, growing louder and more out of control as she listened to her brother's delightful, serenading voice. She did it! All by herself! She had hurt her brother without needing the Amulet! She shoved it into him again and again, making him redouble his squeals of agony as she continued. She didn't need the Amulet! She could do this! She could pass this test!

This wasn't real after all, right!? She wasn't really doing it to her brother, so it was okay! What an easy first test Grogar had given her!

"I have a request for you BBBFF, I'm going to need you to listen real closely to this one."

His eyes were wide now, gritting his teeth in agony as he was held there in his sister's magic.

"I want you to kill yourself, right here, in this room, with our parents listening." Each word punctuated by a giggle from Twilight. She had to do this while her adrenaline was keeping her going. If she faltered she was going to die. She was hopping about in excitement now, like she was waiting for her Hearths Warming eve presents. It felt so good to hurt her brother. It felt so right.

"Oh Celestia, Night get to a window or something, Call the guard, we need to get in there! Twilight Please stop doing this! Please! Listen to Mommy!"

"Come on Big Bro, you can do it!" She sounded like a rabid animal as she goaded him on, straining to grow his nerves back, forcing her horn to work to make him feel the most pain. "Kill yourself! Kill yourself for your sister! I know you can do it! Kill yourself for me! You'll do it if you love me! Help me pass my test brother!"

Shining didn't last nearly as long as Galia had. Now that he was covered in brand marks and layers of her suggestion magic he couldn't resist her anymore. He rushed to her dresser, screaming and crying like a little foal as he began to bash his face into the corner of it. The first time drove the corner into his eye, causing it to burst with the force of his head bashing into it. He did it again, crying so very hard as he repeated the action once again. Twilight watched as he did it repeated it over and over, laughing louder and louder as he slowly painted the walls and her brightly colored bed with his blood. She waited until his body slumped to the floor before she let the door open.

Her mother screamed such a delightfully horrible way.

"Hi Mommy!" the metal molded into a rod and forced itself into her mother's mouth and down her throat. She watched her writhe as her blood pumped with adrenaline. She felt like she was walking on clouds, eagerly twisting the molten metal in her mothers throat and watching her writhe about in the funniest ways. Her daddy rounded the corner and saw the blank stare on his sons face, and the desperate way his wife crawled towards him, spitting up pools of blood as she did so.

"Why? Why are you doing this?"

"Because Daddy, I am going to be a great magic user one day, and you are standing in the way of my greatness."

Shining Armor woke up screaming. He had a nightmare about Twilight again, but this time it was far different from the others. Sometimes he had dreamed of finding a ransom note detailing how she was going to be chopped into pieces if her parents didn't offer up money. Sometimes he dreamed of the guard informing them that she had been found in some gutter, starved to death. Still other times was when he found her hanging herself, or leaping from a tall building before he could catch her, all over her failing the entrance exam to Celestia's School for gifted Unicorns.

This dream however. Something had changed his sister. Something had twisted her into a crazed homicidal maniac, forcing him to kill himself right there in her room while saying she loved him. That dream had felt so eerily real, like he was actually there feeling every second of agonizing pain she put him through. Wasn't ponies supposed to wake up when they felt pain?

He had known something was wrong with her, but he hadn't said anything to his parents. Now he felt to guilty to share what he had found out. She used to talk to him, to share every little worry and concern she ever had with her brother that she loved so much. He was the only pony she could talk to like that, she cut out everypony else from her personal life. His parents told him that she'd get over that phase, that she'd learn to be friends with other ponies besides him. In a small way it had been a source of happiness for him that she trusted him with everything like she had. It hurt that much more when she had cut herself off from him after she had failed the test.

He would catch her in her room, pouring over strange books with now titles on them, filling scroll after scroll with notes at a feverish pace on her bed. Scrolls he could never find in her room when she was outside of it for those few moments out of the day. He knew she was planning something, and that she'd been keeping it a secret, but she had been so cut off from their parents that they hadn't caught on to what she was doing.

His mother screamed in the other room, making him jump from his bed and gallop to his parents room, throwing open the door. His mother was sobbing into her hoof, shaking violently with each racking intake of breath. His dad was tumbling about on his side of the bed, cringing and writhing in silent agony as he breathed out Twilight's name.

Shining Armor rushed to his mother's side, hugging her tightly as she sobbed into his shoulder.

"Twi, Twilight she...Oh Celestia where is my baby!? Why is this happening?!"

Shining's dad jolted out of bed, and for the first time in his life he saw his father crying.

"Did... did you guys have the same nightmare I had?" Shining tentatively asked his parents. Their faces blanched as they all looked at each other, realization dawning on all of their faces. They had experienced the same dream, and had woken up when each of them were murdered in it by Twilight's magic.

"We need to see the Princess. We need to report this. We need to find my baby! Something horrible is happening to her!"

"Something serious is going on, I'm sure the Princess will know what to do."

"Night, it was so terrible, she looked so...evil... she scared me so much."

"It's okay honey, we'll figure this out together. We all will. We have to be strong for Twilight. I'm certain whatever that was, that wasn't our little filly."

Shining didn't feel so certain of that. None of them did as they huddled together in that hug, trying to comfort each other.

The young unicorn shuddered as he remembered his sisters words, still so vivid in his mind, so real to him, even now as he knew he was awake and safe.

"kill yourself big brother... you'll do it if you love me."