~Summer~

Well, it’s been one hell of a week. The crazy storm happened, and I got shut in with Shin, who treated me to another mind blowing mind control “training” and then I found out through AJ, Twi, and Rarity’s emotions the next day that more went on that night with them than just an awkward slumber party. Apparently that storm helped Ponyville get the Kink on…

Now, about two days later, we’ve got yet another incident. Trixie’s come to town, and her posters are all over the place. I got one hung on my face when I spaced out at one point, which is how I found out. So naturally, I started questioning the timeline’s order. And then I gave up and made plans for dealing with Trixie.

I came up with a few different plans of action. One was discouraging her, by showing up on the stage and directly challenging her, followed by a total thrashing in her own form, another was simply doing the changeling thing and replacing her to put on a real show, and a third, more cooperative option would be to put on a real show with her, after somehow managing to convince her she’d bring ruin to this town if she went on acting as she did. Though something told me that last one had already happened, and just doing the same old thing would be pretty boring.

So, for the sake of not putting too much stress on my shoulders, I picked option A.Though the first thing I had to do was Analyze her spells, which meant I had to let my friends get picked on first… This was gonna suck.

To pass the time until the show, I went to the library and looked around for a good book. As I looked around, passing over the Daring Do books, I spotted one book in particular that really caught my attention. “The hell? “Five Nights, by Dark Crow...” They have the Five Nights series here?” I muttered, taking it off the shelf and inspecting it. On the cover was a half-n-half picture of what I was pretty quick to recognise as a Freddy Fazbear. One half was his regular, friendly animatronic self, but the other half looked more like Nightmare. The Animatronic of that name, not my cohabiting spirit.

Holy shit, that’s some badass nightmare fuel right there. Nightmare muttered in awe and fear.

Yeah, well you don’t want to play the Games. I warned her, bringing up a memory of watching Markiplier play the third one. One of the jumpscares, specifically. Nightmare winced at the brief image, not quite as scared of this one as the last jumpscare I showed her.

I take it it’s not an enjoyable read then? Nightmare asked.

Could be. The games were good, in the fact that they leave a lot to interpretation, like who the Animatronics really are or why the Animatronics kill the night guards. I replied. Putting the book back, since I didn’t want to ruin the mystery I’d already come to enjoy, I moved on to other books. Another one I found interesting was near the back of one of the Daring Do shelfs, coated in a light covering of dust. Pulling it out, I checked the title.

“Daring Beginnings: Chronicles of Daring Do’s first adventures. For Mature readers only...” Huh… so a prequel of sorts? Maybe she did something along the lines of what the Tomb Raider series did, and started releasing things from back in the beginning. Interested, I headed up front and checked the book out with Spike registering it. I didn’t have time to read it thoug. My time spent browsing was well spent, and the show was only about 20-30 minutes from starting, so I rushed home to put the book up, saying hi to Shin as I stopped by, before switching out my unicorn parts in my disguise for pegasus parts and headed for the door. But then Shin stopped me.

“Just what do you have planned this time?” Shin asked, causing me to freeze up.

“Uh… well, there’s this stage magician coming into town that I know is kind of a dick. I was just gonna… kinda… jump in and challenge her after she humiliates my friends. No better challenge than fighting oneself, right?” I said nervously.

“I honestly don't know what to say, a changeling that doesn't understand the concept of subtlety?” she said with a clear deadpan.

“Yeah… I never was very good at it. Then again, I wasn’t born a changeling. I was just a casual gamer and roleplayer wasting his life on the internet.” I replied.

“Is roleplaying really much different from taking on a disguise?” she asked, waving the difference off like it was nothing. I glared at her for such ignorance.

“Yes, it is. The Roleplaying I did was never live action, and always in writing. So really, the big difference is personal experience, and REAL reaction time. To tell the truth, I can only come up with ideas as fast as I can write a sentence, and in the heat of the moment, that is dramatically slower.” I argued. I was about to argue my case further, but then I caught sight of the clock and was reminded I still had a show to get to. So, I excused myself, and went to leave once again.

When I got there, Trixie was still behind the curtain, biding time for a crowd to gather, by the looks of it. Around ten minutes later, Trixie opened the curtains, just in time for Twilight to show up too. I winced a bit as I got a taste of Trixie’s pride. It tasted disgusting, like spoiled spinach. Must be because it’s selfish pride, and not the stuff someone feels for something they worked on for others.

“Hey Summer… why are you a pegasus?” Rainbow Dash asked in confusion when she noticed me hovering nearby.

“To get here quickly. I wanted to see the show, figured I’d come to see if this one has any talent.” I replied. It was kind of a lie, but hey. No harm done, really.

“‘This one?’ You mean you’ve seen others?” Dash asked, intrigued.

“Yeah, back home we had something called Youtube. Let us post videos on a worldwide database, and look them up as we pleased. Plenty videos about stage magicians there. Though I mainly looked at the fails for some good laughs.” I replied.

“Huh. Sounds cool.” She said, though I could tell she didn’t quite grasp just how big Youtube was. Either way, with Trix setting off some small light shows for attention, I could tell the show had started.

“Welcome, welcome! Prepare yourselves, for you are about to lay witness to the amazing magical prowess of the Great and Powerful Trixie!” Trixie stated flamboyantly.

“Great and Powerful, huh? Never heard of you.” Some pony in the crowd griped. I noticed Rarity in the crowd nodding at the comment, making a mostly quiet complaint herself.

“Oh come on. She said Great and Powerful, not Famous. Give ‘er some room.” I shouted at that pony. He just frowned and flopped down on his rump with a pout. I noticed he had a weird looking grin for a cutie mark that looked vaguely trollish, but I wasn’t about to jump to conclusions.

“Hmph… Now, if there won’t be any further interruptions, let’s begin. Today, the Great and Powerful Trixie brings you magic the likes of which you have never seen!” Trixie boasted. “Today, you bear witness to the most magical unicorn… in all of Equestria.” This of course brought about some rather vocal complaints from the crowd, most notably from Rarity, AJ, and Rainbow. Trixie narrowed her eyes at them.

“Well now, it appears we have some neighsayers in the audience...Who is so ignorant as to challenge the magical ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie? Do they not know my claims are not a joke?” Trixie taunted. Of course, I did nothing to defend that this time. I wanted to keep up a facade of just checking things out still.

“Well then, miss “Great and Powerful,” what the hay makes you think you’re so great in the first place?” Dash challenged.

“Why, only the Great and Powerful Trixie has the magic capable of vanquishing an Ursa Major.” Trixie boasted, casting a few fireworks with a bit of illusion magic I analyzed.

“That’s an Ursa Minor.” I interrupted. Trixie promptly went bug-eyed in shock.

“W-what?! No, this is a Major, it has to be! The dreaded beast was the size of a mansion!” Trixie protested.

“Nope. That’s just the baby. Pretty sure any you faced off with got the attention of Mama bear and pissed it off. Ursa Major’s red, and about three times as big, maybe bigger.” I explained. “Though… I have to admit, even tangoing with a Minor is impressive in itself.”

“Wait, are you serious?!” Dash asked in shock, her jaw dropped. “So you’re saying she just pretty much doomed whatever town she defended from a Minor?”

“Pretty much.” I replied.

“NOT cool.” Dash said, glowering at Trixie. Trixie gulped as the facts settled in within her head.

“O-okay… I made that up… but I still have a talent I would like to demonstrate! I can still do anything you can do better!” Trixie nervously said, slipping into first person speaking, but remaining defiant and proud.

“Uh-huh… Prove it, ya two faced, lyin’ snake.” AJ challenged, stepping up onto the stage. Pulling out her rope, she started twirling it. “Let’s see yer fancy magic do this!” AJ started skillfully jumping through the hoop she created with her rope, pulling tricks and stunts left and right. When she smugly finished, Trixie’s nervousness had washed away into nothing but defiance.

“A simple task for one as talented as myself!” Trixie spat, using her magic to control the rope. In no time, AJ was tied up and tossed into the crowd with an apple gagging her like a certain sex toy.

“Hey! Cut it out with that showing off crap!” Rainbow objected, flying up to the stage. “That’s my job!” she said, getting in trixie’s face. She then proceeded to take off into the sky, making use of her speed and rainbow trail to create a spectacular and colorful display of awesomeness. Trixie however, was quick to dismiss the act and turn it against Rainbow. I couldn't help but growl in anger as I watched Rainbow get knocked off the stage.

“Okay, someone seriously needs to give her a real challenge. Someone with just as great a horn.” I called out, mainly aiming my comment at Twi, like the others were encouraging, but then Rarity took the cue herself since Twilight was too scared of “showing off.”

“Enough. Enough, all of you. I take your hint, but Rarity is above such nonsense. Rainbow Dash and Applejack may behave like ruffians, but Rarity conducts herself with beauty and grace.” Rarity stated. And the Trixie insulted her hair.

“Oh… It. Is. ON!!!” Rarity glared hatefully at Trixie. She stalked about the stage as she gave a short speech about grace and beauty, before tearing down one of the curtains and in less time than I remember her ever making in she show, she created a dress from it. Hell, since it wasn’t animated like a cartoon and actually there in front of me, I was actually stunned by it… right up intil Trixie rolled her eyes and turned Rarity’s hair into a mess of rotten greens. When Spike made his typically blunt comment about it being green, and Rarity ran off crying, I stepped up to the plate.

“Alright, looks like I’m the last one, since Twilight’s apparently scared for the wrong reasons.” I said as I landed on the stage with a short, disappointed glance at Twilight. Turning to Trixie, I glared her down. “You’ve proven you can beat us all… but I have one last thing for you. One true challenge. Can you defeat yourself?”

With that question, I kicked my magic into gear and turned into an exact copy of her. Trixie was left shocked and gaped at me as I glared challengingly and pridefully at her. “Let’s see just how Great and Powerful you really are!”

“Heh… looks like things are about to get REAL good…” someone in the audience murmured. I also noticed Bonbon in the crowd staring at me in horror for pretty much exposing myself like that. Not that it mattered, apparently, since no one here reacted badly to it.

“Y-you… But… I thought changelings…” she sputtered, apparently shocked that a changeling would so shamelessly challenge her. I was kinda surprised that she knew that changelings even existed, let alone what they were… but I just rolled with it, barely blinking at the idea. She’s a traveler. More often than not, she’s probably run into changelings in a bad moment.

“Surprised? Well, I’m quite different from the standard changeling… mainly that my soul belongs to a highly advanced race. One that relies on intellect and adaptability to thrive. Hehe… you’re in for a true showdown, Trix.”

“Hmph. No changeling has stood up to Trixie in the past, and you should be no stronger.” Trixie defiantly stated, starting up her magic. I just smirked.

“Oh yeah? Big difference between me and them: I’ve got nothing to lose, facing you.” I taunted back, kicking my own into gear. Trixie’s eye twitched slightly, and she set to work. With a fierce look of defiance, she stomped her hoof for theatrics as she aimed her horn skyward. A firework shot straight up, hitting a cloud, where upon it exploded, separating the cloud into different bits. As lightning arced between those parts, I noticed it took the shape of a flower… As it all happened, I did my best to match her move for move, making the timing scary accurate. Heh… perk of changeling mimicry, you could pretty much copy like Kakashi using the Sharingan eye.

Needless to say, Trixie was surprised. “H-how…? Trixie is impressed… Trixie has heard changelings were good at mimicry, but has not imagined it was this accurate…” Trix muttered. I sensed the slight feeling of nostalgia I have learned to associate with remembering something, and seeing it differently. Looking back in the crowd, I saw even Bonbon was impressed. Guess mimicking was never this accurate… maybe it’s my talent or something.

“Your turn, Trix.” I informed her. She glared back, before casting her next spell in a snap. It was so quick I almost didn’t catch that it even was cast… but next thing I know, both of us had coated the stage in almost choking amounts of illusionary smoke. Seeing her gathering up some in her magic, I smirked smugly as I cut out of Mimic mode and went to create a smoke construct of my own. Somehow my quick mind managed to first come up with Lunala, the majestic bat legendary in the latest generation of Pokemon. Trixie’s eyes widened slightly when she saw I was finished before her, but deciding not to give up she grit her teeth and narrowed her eyes, gathering more smoke than what she had originally planned. For a few moments, it just continued growing, reaching a massive size and eating up almost all of the smoke.

And then a familiar face popped out of it. Nightmare Foxy. Of course, having played the Five Nights series myself, I only flinched. I had sort of a bad habit of not showing my fear. It doesn’t work well on camera.

“...Is that really the best you can-” I was cut off as an ear destroying scream shot out from the crowd. Looking, I saw the crowd backing away from Sweetie Belle, who looked like she was trying to rip something out of her mind, or something. Almost immediately after, I was slammed by an overwhelming amount of fear, and I was instantly overshadowed by it. I could even feel as my disguise was torn off. It was crippling… and either it hit me with NEP so hard, it tore a hole through my throat, or I was just so afraid my breath failed me. After a moment, Nightmare got to work dealing with it, and I could manage a bit on my own, but what I saw after filled me with dread. Sweetie Belle was surrounded by some kind of dark aura that seemed to be radiating raw hatred, and it was swallowing Sweetie Belle up, consuming her in her fear-ridden state. Rarity was there, holding Sweetie, but it looked like fear was starting to replace her concern.

Oh, fuck… Uh, yeah, this isn’t good. Nightmare said, just before chunks of some kind of metal and wires ripped out of Sweetie Belle’s flesh, covered in her blood. Rarity recoiled, screaming in horror as mechanical parts tore out of Sweetie Belle, connecting in different parts and ways. After a moment, it started looking like the vague form of a pony exosuit or something… and then a plastic eye ripped out of Sweetie’s eyes. That was an animatronic ripping its way out of her… I felt like throwing up, the sight was so sickening. But I couldn’t look away. And yet… I couldn’t find the will to even take any action.

Come on… move! Do something! I begged myself, but I was just too… scared. Too many doubts filled my thoughts, too many fears caught my attention, and not to mention Nightmare was starting to writhe in pain from my fear, and would probably be throwing up if she could.

“Fucking hell, she’s turning into one of… one of Dark Crow’s abominations…” Trixie muttered in absolute fear, backing up. I however, just fell back on my ass as I stared, dread, and more importantly, grief filling me. Tears blurred my vision as yet another thought filled my mind.

This… is all my fault…

~Catt~

Something felt wrong as Celly, Red, Razor and I approached Ponyville on the train. It was pretty early in the day still, flowers were blooming and birds were singing, but… something just felt empty in the air. Like there was a void, sucking out all the happiness.

“Something doesn’t feel right…” Celly muttered.

“Watch out… I’m reading some really high level Dark Magic in the area. Something huge is going on in the middle of that town.” Catrina warned. Getting off my chair on all fours since Celly advised that I act like an actual cat to avoid bad attention, I went over to Celestia to whisper to her.

“Catrina says there’s a huge surge of Dark Magic…” I whispered. Celly narrowed her eyes. Then, with me suddenly on her back, she flew out of the train doors before the train was even fully stopped at the station. I had to hang on pretty tight to keep from flying off, but soon enough we arrived at a horrifying scene. A small filly was being torn apart by something metal crawling out of her skin, and she was screaming bloody murder while another white pony was scrambling away from her. It almost looked like some kind of pony version of the FNAF animatronics, but it was just so horribly mangled, I couldn’t tell for sure. Celly looked pretty pissed off when she saw it, but the thing was VERY quick to react.

“Oh, I am going to Fuck. You. U- AGH!” Celly screamed as one of its wires whipped out and surged electricity into her. She tumbled back to get it to let her go, and I fell off as a result. Simply dropping my act, I stood straight up and used the Dimensional Storage spell Luna taught me to get out my gloves.

“O-okay… can’t get close then… Let’s see if long range works.” Celly said, readying a spell. The animatronic demon thingy just stood there smiling madly.

“Bad feeling about that…” I muttered. It was too late though, as Celly had already shot off the spell, the strongest she could make apparently. It was a really powerful laser, and I saw her huffing from just channeling it alone. I was shocked beyond shocked when the animatronic just absorbed the spell and reflected it back.

“Oh, fu-” And then Celestia was sent flying into a building behind us.

“Princess!” I heard seven voices cry out in shock. Then an almost feral growl caught my ears, sounding even worse due to the double tone it had.

“That bucket of bolts is SO going down…” said voice spoke angrily. Turning, I spotted a fiery orange maned changeling on the stage, glaring at the animatronic with slitted amber eyes. There were just a few really small holes in her legs, but it didn’t look too bad. The gathered crowd was quick to disperse, screaming in fear as they ran for their lives. Only seven remained, including the changeling.

“Whoa, hey! That changeling’s got some of the same energy this robot’s giving off…” Catrina noted. I was curious about that, but I was soon given an answer.

“Girls, form up! We gotta get that Nightmare into me, like the first fragment! Kineptic, we’ll need your help, if you can protect us!” the changeling shouted. “Just don’t hurt it, there’s a filly in there!” I just nodded, getting a wooden spear out of my storage spell and holding it with my magic.

“I’ll hold it at bay. You just do whatever it is you’re doing.” I promised.

"̡̛͟L̴͏̷̛e͝͡t͏'̡̧̧͢s̵͘ ̶̡p̴͜͠͝ĺ̴͢͞a̶̷͢͡y̧͟.̴̕͘.̡̢̧͠͝.̷̢̀͢͠"̢͟͠ The animatronic hissed. I could still hear the kid whimpering in there. How the hell was she still alive? The animatronic lanced another wire at me, leaving me no time to think. I spun my spear up to deflect the wire, but it wrapped around the spear. I just kept spinning it, getting the wire all twisted up.

“No thanks. I think I’d rather enjoy something more tame.” I shot back at it. Then I yanked the spear away, freeing it from the wire and pulling the Animatronic off its feet. Or… I thought I did. The thing actually jumped at the last second, making me launch it at me. Metal claws slid out of its hoof as it flew at me, catching me by surprise. Out of reflex, I teleported away, to a random spot behind it.

Seeing it had missed me, it moved on to another target. I gasped as it turned toward the white one, who seemed to be crying so hard, her makeup was staining her face. “Hey, don’t you know it’s rude to interrupt? The adults are busy, so let’s just keep up the game.” I taunted it as I tugged on the dark parts of their soul.The machine lurched, and a part of it quivered when I tugged.

“Whoa, what the fuck did you do?!” the changeling shouted in shock as it saw the effect.

“Sorry, lady. A magician never reveals their tricks.” I quipped, too busy focusing on keeping the Animatronic busy. It looked like it worked, kinda, but it also pissed it off.

Before it could strike at me again, Red swooped in from above, and tackled it to the ground. Razor came running in soon after, firing his horn ahead of him in a small ring around the animatronic, creating the base for a containment spell, one of the first Red taught him while they were training each other over the past four days. It was a pretty good tactic. Pegasus distracts, Unicorn binds, and I weaken them to keep them from breaking free. Celly came up with it while we were working yesterday. Working my part in, I scrambled the dark parts of the soul, really messing with its connection.

“Alright, that should do it. Let’s take the shot, girls!” the changeling shouted, causing me to notice the seven ponies around glowing different colors of the rainbow. Each were floating about, preparing some kind of uber spell or something.

“Nice. Looks like someone’s about to taste the Rainbow.” I said. I only noticed after the fact that one of the ponies in the circle was a rainbow maned pegasus, who didn’t look all that amused.

However, before it could fire, the animatronic moved out of the circle… by teleporting. “Fuck! I thought it couldn’t use magic!” Razor cursed. Before we could do much about it, a wire wrapped around me, surging with electricity. Now thankfully, my fur soaked up most of the damage and kept my tech safe, but it still hurt. A lot.

“MOTHER FUCK!” I screamed. Red was quick to help, swooping in to cut the wire with her wing blades. The wire was cut, but then we heard the filly yelp in pain. Red shook her wing a bit, probably from getting a light shock from the wire, but she wasn’t too hurt.

“Well, that didn’t go too well…” Razor muttered as we regrouped.

“Yeah, and there goes our element of surprise.” Red agreed.

“Can’t win ‘em all. Let’s go for plan B.” I suggested. They nodded together. With that, I reached out with my magic for it’s soul, but I found my reach blocked. “Uh oh.”

"̡͜͞M̵̡̕y̷̨͘͝ ̴͜͝͝͠t̴̸u̴͜͟r̶̛̕͝n̷̵̵̕͢.̶͞͡͞͏"̕͏̡ The animatronic smirked and quickly advanced on us.

“Red!” Razor called. Red took her cue, jumping forth and holding her wings in front of her to defend. The animatronic struck out, landing a heavy blow with its metal claws against Red’s defense, and she started to buckle a bit from the force.

“I got your back!” I called as I gave him a boost, using my magic on Red’s soul to help strengthen the connection between his soul and Razor’s body. It helped immensely, allowing him the physical strength his own body had, which in turn allowed him to stand strong against the Animatronic’s attack. However, the thing just electrified itself, sending the volts pouring into Red’s blades, causing both her, and the filly in the machine to scream in agony. She held up for another few moments, before she finally collapsed.

However, those few moments were all the seven ponies needed to fix their aim and fire. Before I could even blink, the rainbow beam fell onto the animatronic, causing it to scream in agony instead. Switching to the Soul-Vision Sonya told me about four days ago, I watched as the black soul was torn from the greenish one, and pulled toward the amber one of the changeling.

Once that was done, the metal on the filly started falling apart When I saw just how bad a state she was left in, I had to turn away, or risk throwing up. It was horrible… I can’t even describe it, it was so bad.

“Shit, she’s dying…” The changeling reported when she went to check on the filly.

“No… Sweetie Belle…” the white one weep loudly.

“I’ll get help. We can save her, Rarity, we just need to keep her stable until I get back.” the changeling said.

“I’ll try, Summer. I’ll keep her in stasis for now.” The purple one said. “I need someone to check on the princess though. She took a pretty bad hit…”

“I’ll check.” Razor volunteered, leaving us.

“I’ll stay here, make sure the filly’s soul stays here.” I pitched in, already kicking my magic into gear. Not a moment later I heard a faint sound of hoofbeats getting closer, turning my head to see who is coming I blinked when I recognised it was Spec. She was really pushing herself to run as fast as she could, and she was heading straight here.

“Spec? What are you doing here?” Summer asked. I was personally pretty surprised that this filly was running TOWARD a scene that made adults blow chunks. I guess maybe that filly’s seen some really messy stuff though?

“What…*pant* happened here? *pant* Such darkness...” Spec rasped out, clearly out of breath. When she took notice of the mangled filly she flinched and looked away, but didn’t really look all that ill as one might expect.

“I was having a duel with Trixie, when suddenly Sweetie Belle had some kind of psychotic break and turned into a Five Nights horror. She was possessed and destroyed by a fragment of Luna’s Nightmare.” Summer explained.

“Oh yeah, that reminds me.” I spoke up. I then punched her in the face. “That’s for being an idiot again, brother.”

“Ow… Wait, WHAT?!” Summer stared at me in shock.

I noticed from the corner of my eye that Spec looked from me to Summer few times before pointing at Sweetie Belle and shouting. “Don’t just stand there! Do something!” Twilight was already casting the stasis spell as she said that.

“Right, I’ll question that later.” Summer said before dashing off though the air towards what looked like some kind of restaurant. I just focused on Sweetie Belle’s soul, keeping it held together and stable. Eventually, Summer came back with a thestral wielding some kind of weird looking… wait a freaking second. It’s the Medic from TF2. I can not believe it. And… was that the Engineer too? They were both ponies… Dear god, this has to be the second weirdest day of my life.

“Ooff…. Zat does not look pretty…” the Medic muttered. “Don’t worry though, my Quick-fix should do zhe job… mostly. I can’t regenerate any limbs, sadly.”

“Just do what you can, okay, Mercy?” Summer asked. The Medic nodded as Summer turned to the Engineer. “Tinker, since Mercy can’t fix her limbs, do you think you could work these leftover parts into something she can use?”

“You bet your hat ah can. Ah’ll just need ya to get some of Grey’s bot parts from mah lab.” The Engineer replied. Summer nodded and hurried back to where they came from, while The Medic, Mercy, started using the Quick Fix to heal what he could of Sweetie Belle. Summer came back soon enough, carrying the parts with her.

“Thank ya kindly. Now to get ta work.” Tinker said, before beginning to arrange the parts. Soon enough, he was building a prototype, though by then I could feel my grasp on Sweetie’s soul starting to weaken. And I was getting kinda tired… and VERY hungry. Around the time the prototype was half done, I had to snap myself awake since I’d accidentally let go of Sweetie’s soul. I managed to catch it, but my grip was even weaker.

“Uh… guys? My grips slipping. Might want to hurry up with that, or we’re gonna lose her.” I warned, fighting back a yawn.

“Damnit… Ah’m goin as fast as ah can.” Tinker cursed. Rarity pretty much fell apart at the news.

“NOOOOOO! Please, don’t let her die… she doesn’t deserve to die like this!” Rarity wailed. Summer tried to comfort her, but since she didn’t have anything to say, she just gave Rarity a hug. I faintly noticed that Spec was mumbling something to herself and was shaking her head, but when I almost let go for the second time she nodded to herself and faced me with an expression showing so much determination I had to blink, just to make sure I’m not imagining it.

“Use me.” She said with a tone showing complete confidence in whatever she was planing.

“... What?” I asked, not sure what the heck she meant. Based on the blush covering Summer’s face, she had her own stupid ideas of what she meant, but I doubted that was it at all.

“You can’t hold her soul like this, you won’t last long enough, so don’t do it. Instead use me, switch us and she will be safe.” Spec elaborated. She was right… but could she really guarantee that? I mean, wouldn’t she just be sacrificing herself? As the soul slipped from me again, I saw I didn’t much have any choice, despite the many objections I heard from around me, but there was one last thing I heard that made me make my decision.

“Do it. Spec knows exactly what she’s doing. She’ll be fine.” Celly’s considerably weaker voice called out from behind me. Spec smiled at me, and for a second I once again saw the small embers floating in her eyes. Smiling myself, I did the switch, using the last of my strength to switch them out. Once I let go, I fell over, my stomach finally making its complaints known.

“Woo, boy. Why didn’t ya say anything about bein hungry? Ah got a protein bar in mah toolbox here. Here, you can have it.” Tinker said, passing me a bar from his box. I greedily ate it up, discarding the wrapper and just as quickly forgetting it.

“That works… for now. I’ma need a feast of pop tarts later though.” I replied after it vanished. My brother then proceeded to laugh a little, no doubt thinking about Nyan Cat.

“Ahaha… I forgot, Kineptic are basically Starbound’s way of making Nyan cat a playable race.” she muttered to herself. “Not to mention their capacity to make amazingly cute anime faces.”

“Shut up. I still owe you a flatter face.” I silenced her.

“...Dang, when did you get good at comebacks? It’s like you’re a completely new person.” Summer marveled. I was interrupted by Spec’s body groaning and getting up.

“Uuuuggh… Wait… I’m still alive…?” she said, getting up. I noticed her eye color had changed, making them green. I got up, at least able to now without tripping, and stood between her and her body.

“For now, yes. I had to pull you out of your body to save you.” I told her.

“Wait, you… then…” she looked at her new body, and visibly freaked out at seeing they weren’t her hooves. “Wh-what? What happened?” Rarity tackle-hugged her before I had a chance to respond. “Rarity!” she squealed in joy. Wow. Talk about mood whiplash.

“So… is Spec dead now since you aren’t holding onto her?” Summer asked. I was about to answer yes, but when I looked, I was shocked to see Spec was still there, her soul burning bright, neon blue, and unwavering.

“Uh… wow, she’s… as alive as ever.” I muttered, stunned. “She must be made of Determination or something.”

“Could be… I haven’t even used zhe Ubercharge yet.” Mercy replied.

“So uh… what happened?” Sweetie asked as she and Rarity finished snuggling.

“To put it short, to save you, we had to switch you with someone else with a stronger soul, since I couldn’t keep holding yours. Engie here’s building you some replacement parts and stuff so you can have a fully functioning body to go back to. Maybe even a few upgrades to compensate for… well, a lot of things.” I summarized. Sweetie Belle winced as she seemed to be remembering what happened to her.

“Right… that thing in my head… it came out and tore me up. I could feel it… consuming me the whole time…” she lamented. Rarity hugged her tightly in response as she shivered from remembering the experience.

“...I feel the need to apologize.” A new, unknown voice spoke up somewhere outside the group. Looking, I saw another unicorn, this one light blue and wearing some cheesy stage magician getup. Her hat was off though, held sorrowfully in front of her.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“I’m Trixie, and… I’m the one that caused this. I recreated a creature from stage smoke that resembled one of the horrors from the Five Nights book on stage, and… shortly after, she had her horrifying transformation. It doesn’t take much to connect the dots…” Trixie said. Summer stepped up though.

“I have my own share of the blame. I’m the one that lead to the thing that changed her being free as it was.” she admitted. Trixie stared at Summer for a moment in shock, almost like it was suddenly the first time she was seeing her.

“Prosthetics are done.” Tinker announced. “Now step back. Ah need room to apply them.” Everyone did as asked, stepping back to watch. Thankfully, Sweetie’s body wasn’t covered in blood anymore, but the missing limbs and holes in her body were still kinda freaky. When I saw the prosthetics though, I had to blink to see if what I saw was really as confusing as it looked. All I saw was a whole bunch of different parts that vaguely looked like they fit together to create some sort of full body covering.

“That’s… really complex, it looks like.” I commented.

“Yeah, most o’ this is for function and maintenance. Ah put real heavy emphasis on maintenance.” Tinker replied. Based on that, I think I could see why most of it looked pretty crazy. Tinker then started applying it, making liberal use of his wrench to either tighten parts or press in parts better. I turned away, not very interested in watching him pound robotic parts into a filly.

“So Catt… do you know how the heck a Kineptic’s body ended up here? Kineptic shouldn’t exist on this planet.” Summer asked eventually. I just held out a glove so Catrina could respond.

“Well, we ran into a bit of pirate trouble out in space, and Sonya’s ship kinda crash landed after we got our engines shot out. The captain’s pretty lucky she… well, mostly survived. Catt’s training herself up to be able to handle some of the Captain’s unresolved problems.”

“Really now? Heh… guess she’s finally useful for something now, good on ya!” Summer jabbed at me with a bit of a grin. I just rolled my eyes. Normally, that’d piss me off, but he’s said in the past, I only get mad because I let him get to me. I guess it’s thanks to Sonya’s soul that my temper’s not quite as bad.

“Well, you honestly haven’t changed much. Still a freak obsessed with being right.” I shot back. She frowned and looked away in guilt.

“Well… you aren’t wrong… Oh Shut up, Nightmare.” she spat at some entity I didn’t quite hear. I raised my eyebrows.

“I’m sorry, what?” I asked.

“Sorry… dark spirit in my head. Kinda stole her from Princess Luna, and I’m still working on getting the fragments I couldn’t absorb.” Summer replied.

“So, you released the crap that pretty much killed that filly?” Catrina asked accusingly. Summer nodded, but I could see clearly that she regretted it. Sweetie Belle was off to the side, listening.

“But… you didn’t mean to, did you?” Sweetie Belle asked, clearly trying to find at least something good here.

“No, I didn’t. I wanted to get all of the Nightmare, to protect everyone else from being hurt by it, and so I can help everyone else with everything else that’s going to come in the future.” Summer replied.

“Well, you can’t do things on your own. Nopony can. I mean, seriously. Do you think I go and do all of Canterlot’s paperwork by myself? Hell no! And besides, now you see the consequences of your actions.” Celly pitched in, gesturing to Sweetie’s body, which looked about finished now.

“Yeah… I can see how stupid I was now. Honestly, I should have seen it coming, too. The harder I try, the harder I fuck up… It’s been the case for the longest time…” Summer lamented.

“Well, you know what they say about the road to hell.” I told her. Tinker called out, saying Sweetie’s body was finished for now, and should remain stable without Mercy’s midibeam keeping her alive. Heading over, I prepared to do the switch again.

“So, Sweetie Belle… it might take a while for you to wake up, and things are going to feel weirder than an average day in Neighpon, but you’ll live.” Tinker spoke to Sweetie.

“Alright. I guess I’ll see you in a few days then?” Sweetie said hesitantly, both to Tinker, and to Rarity.

“Yes… I will be seeing you.” Rarity replied, tearfully. Tinker nodded as well, and turned to me. I nodded back, and cast my spell. Spec’s body went slack in Rarity’s embrace almost immediately, and not a second later Spec awoke with a start, shivering.

“So, cold… it was so cold...” She started to mumble. Rarity hugged her a bit, helping to warm her.

“Don’t worry, darling… it’s over now. And Sweetie Belle will be back in a few days. You did a wonderful job.” Rarity said. Spec was still shivering but managed to nod and whispered something only Rarity could hear, to which a simple nod was the only answer given.

“Hey Rarity, you mind if ah take Sweetie back to mah workshop to work on her? This was only a rushed prototype, and ah’d like to fix something up so she’s got somethin better to walk around in. This model’s a bit shabby, and she could use a few changes, in case it takes any damage, and whatnot.” Tinker asked Rarity. Rarity nodded.

“I would hate to leave her with just this, and have to put her through that mess again if she gets damaged. If you wish to do better for her, feel free to do so.” Rarity agreed.

“Thank ya kindly, miss. Ah promise, nothin bad’ll happen to ‘er under our care.” Tinker swore as he picked Sweetie up in his magic. Rarity went with Sweetie, lovingly staying close, watching over her, and keeping Spec close.

“Alright, well… call me if you need anything!” I called after them. Summer nudged me a bit, getting my attention.

“Hey… you know, their whole team’s here. All nine classes, plus Blu team too. And I’m in their Spy’s body.” she whispered to me. I just stared at her for a bit, before replying.

“Wow. That is simply amazing.” I said with a deadpan. “Things must be pretty crazy for you here.” Noticing some of the looks the other ponies were giving Summer from behind her though, I cleared my throat with pointed looks behind Summer to get her attention there.

“Yeah… I know. I have a lot of making up to do.” Summer said somberly. I almost didn’t catch what she mumbled next. “I’m… not even sure I could forgive me.”