Author's Notes:

Apologies for the very short backstory that is shown here Magic Step. I was trying to keep it short, and straight to the point.

Back in the collapsed cave, Adagio was pulling her stunned sibling over to the throne room with the help of Aria, plus with some help from Chrysalis who was using her magic to help move them over.

"I can't believe this, one shot, and they get stunned." Adagio complained.

"Their weaponry counteracted against our magic... More powerful that I had imagined it to be." Chrysalis replied.

At that very moment Sonata finally woke up from their stunned slumber and got off from the dirt and pavement and stretched her limbs.

"Agh, how long have was I out?" Sonata asked.

"About half an hour." Chrysalis replied.

"Did we get any of them?" Sonata asked.

"Oh we did my dear Sonata...." Chrysalis chuckled.

Adagio stared at Chrysalis looking very unamused. "What exactly did that spell you taught us, do to them?"

Chrysalis stomped her now mantis legs over to a side of a cavern wall, and fired a beam from her horn which opened up a portal. Once the three still humanized sirens looked inside, they could barely see a thing. It was incredibly dark, but eventually they found something. Two bodies floating out in an emptiness, one was unconscious, and the other was awake and incredibly angry. One was Lemon Zest and the other was Sour Sweet.

Lemon Zest was knocked out, all the while Sour held onto her and stared with great anger towards the three sirens who stared at her.

"I will strangle you once I escape!" Sour grunted.

Sonata just stuck her tongue out at her and poked her head out of the hole with her siblings. "What is that?"

Chrysalis chucked slightly. "That is the Realm of Darkness. A void of emptiness, darkness, and death... and if those two don't get out of there in less than 24 hours, their bodies will decay... and they will die...."

"Hold on there. We captured three of them, and yet, only two of them were in there. Where's the third?" Adagio asked.

Chrysalis stomped over to another dark area, and from the darkness they could see her mantis claw pick up something, and then entered back into the light, plopping it down. She had Human Twilight held captive, as she was sitting on the ground while her feet and hands were wrapped tight from the sticky green blob, and some of the green blob was applied onto her mouth to silence her.

"I still beg to ask my dear Queen, why didn't you banish her into the same realm with the others?" Adagio asked.

"Because Ms Dazzle, those two girls have no use for me, this, human...Twilight, on the other hand has some much more use than I ever imagined. Using magic that I have absorbed from that Amulet, I took a look into her mind and have found the most interesting piece of information.." Chrysalis then started circling Twilight as she spoke, and kept making clicking sounds with her mouth, "Our little Twilight turned into the most horrifying being I could ever imagine, she had transformed into a she-demon properly named... Midnight Sparkle..."

Twilight's eyes expressed great fear of the thought that could be forming inside the Queen's head.

"What's the point here, your highness?" Aria grumbled.

"The point being is that we're going to have her, help us... by transforming her into the very nightmare that continues to haunt her to this very day."

Twilight tried getting out of her restraints and screams muffled from her blob gag, but no luck.

"And just how are we going to do that? In case you haven't noticed our powers do not work in that manner." Adagio asked with some concern.

"I am well aware of that Adagio... Which is why I absorbed the magic from the Alicorn Amulet in the first place...Now. Lets begin, the transformation..." Chrysalis chuckled.

Chrysalis's horn began to glow green, her eyes turned into white voids, and fire began emanating from her breath. Her mantis legs dug into the ground to keep her in place, her claws clicked and snapped, her chest began glowing green and arched back getting ready for a blast...

After she glowed, she shot her chest back up, and a laser emitted from her horn, her eyes, and her breath began blasting dark purple magic towards a scared Twilight on the ground, creating a bunch of smoke, clouding their vision.

Once the smoke had cleared, there now floating, was a reawakened, nightmare. She was no longer the sweet Twilight her friends knew. Her eyes opened, and stared down the shocked humanized Sirens. They didn't know whether to be scared, shocked, or happy in an evil sense.

Twilight now was in the form, of a raging she demon. Her hair was all sticking up in the air waving, a flaming cyan mask was worn on her face, a cyan horn formed on the top of her head, huge dark black wings with a cyan glowing stream on each one of them were keeping her hovering in the air, and her outfit was embezzled in dark purple.

Chrysalis was very proud of her evil achievement and laughed maniacally, followed by the now returned, Midnight Sparkle.

"MUAHAHAHAHAA!!! I am back once again!" Midnight boomed.

"Excellent... Now with the sound of a siren's call, a she-demon, and a changeling queen, nothing can stop us now!"

Chrysalis, the Sirens, and Midnight all shared a maniacal laughter. Nothing would stop them now...

Back on the CHS Wondercolt, everyone was slowly recovering from the battle that had just occurred. Everyone was down in the medical ward and a few of them were getting patched up from their wounds. Sugarcoat sat on a bed while bandages were being wrapped around the bottom of her left leg, just above her foot. Rarity had a full on bandage to set her right foot back into position after she twisted it, and Sunny was getting a bandage wrapped around the top of her head after hitting it against some of the walls of the cavern during their escape. As they were getting patched up, Indigo was checking the computer for their vitals which all read to be okay and healthy. But she checked a screen for Twilight's vitals which were all high on normal.

"Hey, guys check it out. Twilight's still alive. Her vitals are all alive, she's healthy and okay!" Indigo said with still a state of panic. She was still shaken up from the fight in the hive.

Toxigo shook with a little bit of fear, and then spoke up "T-Then.... we.. we got to go back for her." Tox stammered.

"What!?" Indigo sputtered.

"I'm not leaving anyone behind!"

"Forget that, I'm not going back in that hive with those monsters!" Indigo yelled.

"Its not right to leave them behind!"

"Toxigo!" Indigo then got right up in Tox's face and unleashed a major amount of anger and distress. "Will you think about what just happened for one goddamn second!? Maybe you haven't been keeping up on current events but we just got our asses kicked, we lost Lemon and Sour, and that... thing, has an entire army on her side! You are trying to win a war that you have no chance of winning!"

"This isn't the Friendship Games, Indy!" Tox yelled.

Silence filled the room, and both Indigo and Tox stood glaring angry faces with each other with clenched fists. Nostrils were flared, expressions were angered, and everyone was wondering if they were going to fight each other.

"This... is... not... a game. The fate of our entire world depends on us" Toxigo replied with full seriousness.

"Oh my god, you sound just like Cinch saying the Friendship Games are all depending on Twilight unleashing magic! Do you not see that you have no way to win this!?"

"I never took you for a coward, Zappy." Toxigo snared with his arms crossed.

"Oh, I'm the coward here!? I'm the coward!? Have you not seen yourself lately!? Your eye has become scary, you've been panicking and shaking ever since you found out who the kidnapper was, and you're still shaking! You say we're the monsters, well I'm starting to believe maybe you're actually the monster here!" Indigo snarled.

Everyone gasped. Insults weren't something Toxigo took well, and it only made it worse that he was still powered up from before.

Toxigo's fists were clenching with anger and his one eye illuminated blood red, staring down Indigo's soul.

"Do you not think I am aware of this? I am fully aware of the situation at hand, I know we've lost some people, but we just gained more as well! And Sour sacrificed herself to save me, to keep me alive and going. I'm not letting her go down in vain. I'm not letting...them... go down in vain. Right now, the fate of our entire world depends on me, its my fault for getting our friends into that position to begin with, and I am going to fix it by finishing off that Queen, once and for all. And if you don't believe we have a chance of survival.... Then I suggest you get the hell out of here. If you want to avenge them, then I suggest you shut.... the hell... up. If you want to leave, then get... out."

Toxigo began stomping towards the door, but before leaving, he stopped and turned to face his ex one last time. "You know, I dated you because you were strong. You wouldn't give up even at your lowest point, and you kept on moving. But I can see now that's not who you are."

Toxigo stomped out of the medical ward and slammed the door, making the room so silent, the only sound to be heard were the beeps of the heart rate monitors on the computers. Almost everyone exchanged faces with each other, and all had their own thoughts and concerns on their argument. Indigo during all of this, with her face expressed with anger, had enough of it.

"Well I'm going. I'm not gonna stay around while she kills more of us. Come on Sugar, Sunny, we're getting out of here."

Indigo started to make her way towards the door, but she turned to see Sugarcoat and Sunny hadn't moved from their original positions, both of them still sat down on of the beds looking at Indigo incredibly angry, with furled eyebrows and frowns.

"Well?" Indigo asked.

"I'm not going anywhere. We can't just walk away from this. Sour and Lemon wouldn't want this." Sugarcoat bluntly said.

Sunny nodded in agreement.

"I'm afraid I have to agree with Sugar. While I am sad that we had lost poor Sour and Lemon, we cannot just keep focusing on what we lost. We must keep moving forward and help them win this battle. Its what they would want us to do. If you keep focusing on what you left behind, you'll never see what lies ahead." Sunny replied.

Indigo didn't know how to respond to what they had said, but she knew she couldn't force them to go with her. "Fine. Stay here and let them kill you. But don't come to me if some of you perish in the fight." Indigo left the ward, and they never saw her again, making the entire room silent.

"Wow. What a jerk." Rainbow said breaking the silence.

Sugar and Sunny however were less than happy to see Indigo leave them all alone. Sugar however couldn't keep it in, thinking about what had happened to Sour or Lemon. It got the other girls attention to hear her.

"Sugar? Are you okay?" Applejack asked easing a bit, waiting for a blunt response.

"*sniff* No..." Sugarcoat whimpered.

The girls, Sunny included were surprised to hear that tone from Sugarcoat. Never in their lives at CPA did she hear any emotion coming from Sugarcoat other than just saying things with a hint of bluntness in her tone.

"I guess it just hit me thinking... Lemon and Sour are dead... and we're never seeing them again!" Sugar then sobbed at what had happened and Sunny held Sugar in a tight embrace letting her cry on her shoulder.

"Wow, I never took you for having these kind of feelings." Flash said.

"T-that's because I never wanted people...I.. I'm like that. I never wanted to show any weakness."

"But you're not weak. Having feelings doesn't make you weak, it just goes to show you're like all of us" Sunny comforted.

"No... feelings make me weak. Just like how we all thought about Canterlot High..."

"Sugarcube, no." Applejack then faced Sugarcoat in the eye. "Feelings don't make you weak. It shows you have a heart like everyone else. And its not your fault for losing them. I personally can assure we won't let them go out like that."

Sugar then wiped a tear from her eye, and Sunny Flare continued to let her cry on her shoulder. Soon Applejack and Rarity joined in as well to give the two friends comfort. And as they hugged in an attempt to stay calm, Sunset turned her attention to the computer Indigo was facing and could see Twilight's vitals were perfectly healthy and okay.

"Indigo's right. Twilight's still alive."

"Well shouldn't we go in and get her out?" Rainbow asked.

Sunset sighed. As much as she wanted to go in to save her friend, it would be way to dangerous now. Especially with them knowing that they had arrived and they could be awaiting their arrival.

"As much as I hate to say it, she's right. There are too many of them in there, and if we barge in now they'll probably take us all out. But we're not giving up. We just have to keep on going." Sunset ordered.

"I still can't believe that happened to them." Rainbow replied.

"Me neither. I didn't think it had to end like this." Fluttershy cooed. She tried her best to not cry.

Sunny overheard their conversation and helped Sugarcoat walk over to where they stood.

"I'm very sorry for your loss. But I promise we're not going to let them win." Sunset replied.

Sunny and Sugarcoat nodded.

"Are you two still gonna help us finish this fight?" Applejack asked.

"After what we just encountered, there's no way I'm going back. I'm staying to finish what Sour and Lemon started" Sugarcoat replied with seriousness.

"Me too. I'm still in." Sunny replied.

Sunset smiled in relief. "Thanks you two. I really appreciate it."

The evening had came, Luna raised the moon, and everyone finally had head to bed. Toxigo however couldn't sleep just thinking about the events that had happened. He tossed, turned, gritted his teeth, placed the pillows in between his legs, took his sock off, but nothing helped.

An hour or so passed, and he still couldn't sleep. So he got his clothes back up and he went onto the main deck and hung onto the railing. Looking down he could see they were hovering over Ponyville where the only things that could be seen were the houses and the street lamps shining on the cobblestone and rocky paths.

"What the hell have I dragged them into?" Toxigo muttered to himself.

All through the 10 minutes he stood watching Ponyville from an above height, he drank from his cup of marshmallow and hot chocolate, and his synthetic talon kept scrunching up and tapping onto the deck, still thinking about what he had just been a witness to. But he didn't keep his focus on it when suddenly he heard some steps walking right behind him.

"What do you want Princess?" Tox groaned.

"Actually its just me." Sunset replied.

Toxigo turned his head around and looked at Sunset who was standing right behind and in a moment of shock, he quickly turned his head back around blushing.

"Oh, uh, hey, Shimmercakes... uh, what are you doing up?" Toxigo stuttered. He began sweating like crazy and his synthetic finger began tapping against the railings.

"I couldn't sleep. And I heard you walking around so I wanted to check up on you." Sunset then leaned over on the railing next to Toxigo and noticed him looking incredibly nervous.

"Are you okay?" Sunset asked.

"No..." Toxigo moaned.

"How come?

Toxigo looked at Sunset, still keeping his eyes hidden in the shades. "Everything that happened today, I... I don't think I can do this."

"Why?" Sunset was concerned.

"Sunset, I....Going in that hive... and seeing all of those changelings....there, there must thousands of those things... I've never been so scared in my life. I know I may have fears over CPA back on Earth but.... really, Chrysalis is my number thing I'm afraid of. She...I... I still can't believe I'm alive..." Toxigo whimpered.

Sunset's was intrigued. What did he mean by still alive?

"Well, what happened between you two?" Sunset asked.

"*sigh*, well, I have to be honest. There's something else about me that I didn't tell you. And I think its time I told the truth about me and Chrysalis" Tox replied while wiping a tear away.

"What do you mean?"

"My history with her kind of goes way back...."

"Okay." Sunset replied as Toxigo gripped her hand tightly, just thinking about the horrible memories that ensued through his head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1bd9L5Tw7k

"Several years ago, back when I was just a little kid..."

Outside of Canterlot and Ponyville, a village had been under attack. Swarms of changelings had been attacking many civilians in the tiny village. They attacked with pounces, blasting them with their magic, taking on different forms and making the punches on them, they were everywhere.

In one the homes under attack, down in a basement, a little green unicorn colt with a ruffled up green and yellow mane and glowing yellow eyes stayed hidden in the darkness and whimpered in fear. He could only listen to the sounds of yelling, laser blasting, and changeling roars. He had never been this scared in his life. His hooves kept shaking, teeth kept chattering, and sweat ran down his forehead. All he could do was stay hidden in the closet, in the basement of his home, and pray they wouldn't find him....

Outside in the village, Queen Chrysalis stomped her hole filled legs across the dirt looking down towards all of the civilians now finished off, and laughing maniacally.

"Are there any others left, General?" Chrysalis asked.

"Only one my Queen. Mothball has sensed one left. A unicorn colt, he's hiding out. Shall we find him?"

"No... let him stay. We've got what we came for... Lets go!" Chrysalis ordered.

"Yes my Queen. You heard her, lets go!"

The changelings wings fluttered quickly, and they all took off into the sky heading towards their hive, carrying with them giant cocoons filled with some civilians they captured for their own personal desires...

Toxigo finally stepped out of the home after several hours of silence ensued. He tiptoed up the stairs, trying to not make a sound, and peaked his head outside his home, and from what he seen, made him gasp. Houses were destroyed, fires had been set burning more homes in the process, everything and everyone he knew and loved were.... gone.

"No... no.... they can't be gone!" Toxigo cried.

Toxigo trotted over to all parts of the town, flipping the remains of the homes upside down to see if there was anyone left or if anyone was still alive. Unfortunately, no one was, and no one was left. The entire town had been destroyed, with no one left, and all but Toxigo stood, watching it burn.

He then turned his head to see two bodies on the ground and trotted close to them, the sights alone of who they were, were scary enough on their own.

"M-Mommy...? Daddy?"

Alas, no sounds came from their corpses, dead, on the ground, not moving a single muscle. Eyes closed, shanked chests, and no pulse, Toxigo's only family were gone. All he could do, was just lay his head on his dead mother, and cry.

"I could only watch as my entire village and my family, died before my eyes. The one place I called home, burned in pieces. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust... everything, and everyone I knew, was gone. Without much option, I took what I could salvage from the wreckage of some of the homes, and took what I could to survive. Enough cash, books that I could use to teach myself skills and spells, and with them, I wandered off. Not knowing where to go, not having anything left to lose or care for, just... just ran off."

Toxigo, carrying two saddlebags on his back walked far from the village as fast as he could, and began running off to the distance, not looking back, all the while tears ran down his face. Never looking back, never returning, and never setting foot back at the village, he kept on running, and running, and running.

Several days of running went by, and he couldn't keep it in himself anymore. He found himself on top of a hill, above a building site which had a signed labeled 'Coming Soon, Ponyville'. He turned his head towards a giant lake and stared down in the water with depression on his face. Permanent frown, watering eyes, and water splashing down into the lake, he held his head down in sadness.

"I... I can't do this anymore. No one misses me, everyone's dead... Its time I left this world."

Toxigo pulled out a spell book, and flipping through the pages he found one page in particular he was searching for. He found a page with several mathematical formulas and words specifying the spell. Skimming through it and slamming the book shut and dropping it to the ground, he swam out into the open of the lake and looked at the forestry one last time.

"Goodbye mom, dad, sis... wherever you are...."

Toxigo's horn lit up, and in a puff of smoke, he was gone. Only he wasn't gone, he had been sinking down to the bottom of the lake, now trapped inside of a giant ice block. To never be pulled up, salvaged, or opened up, ever again....

"I don't know how long I imprisoned myself in that giant ice cube, but little did I know, that ponies actually found me and actually pulled me out, and freed me from a thing I wanted to stay permanently in."

Toxigo's eyes opened widely, and gasped. He couldn't remember what had happened. But, whats with all of the white and the bright light? Am I in... heaven?

"I was met with a doctor who explained what had happened. He told me that a salvage team found me in the bottom of the lake, and brought me here in case. I explained to him why I was frozen in the lake, and he told me things I didn't even know had happened. The village I once lived in was now nothing but a ghost town, and in that time span that I referred to, 57 years had gone by. I had no idea that much time had gone by, but at that point I didn't care anymore."

"Fifty...seven... years...." young Toxigo stuttered.

"I'm very sorry, but, its true." the doctor replied. "If you like, I can give you time to let all of this sink in--"

"When can I leave?" Toxigo interrupted.

"I'm sorry?" the doctor asked.

"When. Can. I. Leave?"

"Well from the reports I have, you should be allowed to leave now as a matter of fact, your bags are sitting on the chair next to you and I just need--"

"Yeah whatever, I don't care anymore, I'm leaving this world, bye!"

Toxigo grabbed his bags and zoomed out of the room, not looking back leaving the doctor standing and thinking as to why he even came into the room in the first place.

"From there on, after sneaking aboard several train rides, I found myself sneaking into the castle of Princess Celestia, and I discovered... you."

Toxigo peaked out from a closet, and stared towards an orange colored unicorn mare. She was, beautiful... A sun shaped cutie mark, turquoise eyes, and lustrous red and yellow hair....

Princess Celestia walked away with a whining Sunset Shimmer, and closed the doors. Once the coast was clear, Toxigo stepped out of the room and walked towards the mirror. Staring at his own reflection, he pondered whether he should go through it.

"She says this leads to another world.... Well, if it does... Then I want in it. I can't take this world anymore!" Toxigo shouted.

Little did he know that his own voice alerted their attention, and without any other choice, he leaped through the mirror, letting the guards be dumbfounded....

Toxigo stood on the ground of Canterlot High School, crouched down. He arched his back to look right up, and his eyes illuminated menacingly as he looked at his no longer existing hooves.

"So... no hooves. Interesting...."

Sunset was shocked. He had no idea he had been through so much that he lost the only people he called family to those changelings.

"From there on, I blindly wandered my way around Earth, came across some cheap apartments, and got myself transferred to Crystal Prep. From I remembered back in that time, the students were only out for themselves, and not those around them. It was the perfect place for me to call a new home. Only for my eyes to open up to reality at the Friendship Games, and realizing magic had made its way into this world, and that maybe....just maybe there was more to life than winning and upholding reputation. And that's when CPA began committing homicidal acts against me that should result in them going to jail, making me more unwanted and hated than I already was since someone wandering around acting like he didn't know zip would affect their reputation. But...whenever I see them, I keeping seeing those changelings... I never forgot what they did. And while they may have left me to live, I always kept thinking that they would come back to... to..." Toxigo began shaking and trembling just trying to get the last sentence out. "to.. f-finish me... off."

Toxigo's eye began watering and Sunset held onto him as he cried on his shoulder.

"Oh, Toxy... I'm so sorry..." Sunset said as she pat his back.

Toxigo just cried on Sunset shoulders, and Sunset held him for the longest time. No child should have ever suffered through that, and it certainly didn't help that he enrolled at a school now filled with homicidal maniacs.

"I'm so sorry Toxy, and believe me, I know how it feels to be alone and not be wanted by anyone around." Sunset replied.

"Y-you.... you do?" Toxigo stammered.

"Yeah, I do." Sunset stared at Toxigo's now red, scary, permanent menacing eye.

"Back when I came into this world, I pushed everyone away. I hurt everyone, just... just me being here drove everyone away from each other and divided into separate groups. And then, when Princess Twilight came into the picture, I... I didn't think there was another way. I may have been accepted by them, but I was hated by everyone around me. But I can say this, you didn't deserve the hate, I did. What you did didn't warrant everyone at CPA hating you."

Toxigo just looked down still sad.

"Oh come here..." Sunset held him again allowing him to cry on her shoulder once more.

Toxigo's eye opened up to look right behind and noticed Pinkie, Rainbow, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Flash standing there looking concerned.

He then backed off from the hug looking shocked. "How much did of that conversation did you hear?"

"I heard everything and soon the others all got up and I explained everything that happened so far to keep them all in the loop." Pinkie replied.

"I can't believe you went through all of that man..." Flash said.

Toxigo's head hung down looking away from them. "Believe me, I'm surprised I'm not dead when I should be."

"Now don't say that sugarcube!" Applejack exclaimed, making Toxigo's ears twitch up and give his attention onto her. "The fact that you aren't dead is amazing. It goes to show how tough you are. You haven't been taken down by them at this point in time, and I think its amazing you managed to find your way into our world."

"Yes but its my fault that they're after us in the first place. That Alicorn Amulet is what attracted Queen Chrysalis in the first place, and she's the reason you're all in this mess." Toxigo said.

"Its not your fault darling. Neither you or any of us would have expected her coming." Rarity replied.

"But still, I'm the reason we're all in this in the first place. And besides, what have I accomplished since I moved in with you guys? Chrysalis is right... all I am is just a tempermental colt who suffers breakdowns."

"Toxy?" Sunset asked, getting him to look at her.

"Look I know you've been afraid of everything that's happened around you, but that's all in the past. In the past few weeks we've seen you do things you haven't done before. You opened up to us, you defended us, you made friends with us and everyone at CHS. All you've done is help us in our times of need. I know you've changed, and you know it too. But we can't do this without you, we all need you.... and... I need you."

Tox froze in place after hearing what Sunset had spoken. No one had ever said that to him in his entire life. He turned his head to face her and asked, "You... you need me?"

"Of course we do. You've gotten a team over here and you've managed to avoid getting taken down, and you've built cool weapons for us to use against them!" Pinkie grinned a Cheshire cat grin.

"Pinkie's right. Besides, we've handled things greater than this, and now you've become part of it." Rainbow said.

Tox gave a smile to the girls, which lightening their faces to see him still with them.

"Alright, you're right. I came back into this world for you girls, and I'm not going to stop here. We're gonna work together, we're gonna kick some ass, chew bubblegum, and take names!"

The girls all cheered in victory.

"Okay, you guys better get some sleep. Tomorrow, we prepare some new forms of equipment to counteract against the Queen. And I have just the ideas on how to fight them...." Toxigo said as he stared off at the moon, illuminating in the night.