The Days of The Eclispe

Chapter Nine: City in the Clouds

By Star Origin

Rainbow Blitz looked at Dusk Shine, an interrogative look on his face. “So, we’re all ready to go?”

The unicorn nodded and levitated a few documents in his saddle bags. He then strapped them with care because of what they were supposed to do in a few hours. They had talked over it in their room and they had come to the conclusion that they would head for Cloudsdale to check if Blitz’s family was okay. It was later explained that it had been lurking in the Pegasus’ mind for a while.

Dusk had spent half a week working on a spell that would allow for him and Spike to safely walk on clouds just like a Pegasus would. Unknown to the unicorn was the fact that Origin had helped him find a solution to his headache. But since Dusk disliked Origin and that the changeling wasn’t interesting in glory or simple thanks, he had asked that no one tell the unicorn that he was directly involved in his success but knowing his mind, Origin was sure he had figured out that his intervention in the ponies’ room was not fake. Nothing really passed through that unicorn anyway.

“Should be,” Dusk answered, double-checking his saddle bags to verify he had indeed brought everything he needed. “I brought everything I need and I checked four times already. I’m sure I’m ready to depart.

“What about you two?”

“Geez, talk about being obsessive-compulsive!” Spike let out, a big grin on his face. “You’re as worse as Twilight, Dusk!”

“Well, that’s because we were old friends. After all, we attended the academy at around the same age. Funny how everypony around me calls me a genius when I used to look up to her back then. She was the perfect student all the students wanted to best, myself included. That never happened sadly. She was always one step ahead, having a cutie mark that represented the whole of magic. According to my cutie mark, I am a strategist,” Dusk told the group as he contemplated his cutie mark, which was a chess board with some pieces on it. All the while Blitz acted as if he had been bored to death by the unicorn’s tale. “Oh and by the way, don’t think I haven’t seen you. Besides, you have nothing to complain about since you used to bore me like that when you got out of the guards.”

That led to a small wave of laughter from the group while Dusk and Blitz bumped their hooves and laughed some more. After things settled down a bit in the group, they all agreed on the fact that they would need to get a press on if they wanted to reach Cloudsdale within three days. That was the shortest time they’d reach the city according to Dusk Shine’s estimations.

After the aquamarine unicorn had finished making sure he had everything he needed, much to his three companions’ delight, they finally set out to make their way to Cloudsdale, the famous city responsible for the weather control. It wasn’t so famous for Rainbow Blitz because he had spent his entire foalhood there.

Raine was quite curious about Cloudsdale. Since she basically knew nothing about the outside world, she was thrilled to see other cities and things in Equestria. Plus, her roaming had allowed her to meet with her love interest again, although they had to part ways again. Nevertheless, visiting the city of Cloudsdale was certainly something Raine Moon was looking forward to.

Conscious that there would probably be no trains to bring them to towns or villages near Cloudsdale other than Canterlot, they decided to make most of their travels on foot. It would take a little bit longer but it was the only other way they had of reaching the city since Dusk Shine was not a Pegasus.

They were about to leave the town of Las Pegasus when they heard a suspicious sound coming from behind them. Rainbow Blitz was the first one to turn around and saw somepony he didn’t think he’d see again.

“What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to return to your hive, Origin,” said the white Pegasus with a harsh and venomous tone.

“Calm down, Blitz. I have not come to stir up trouble and besides, is that a way to talk to Chrysalis’ ambassador?” the changeling replied, a wry smile on his face as he looked at Rainbow Blitz in the eyes.

“Ugh! Why you little…!”

“Hold on, Blitz,” Dusk Shine intervened, stepping in front of his Pegasus friend. “You said you were Chrysalis’ ambassador, correct?” Origin nodded at the question. “And what does that role imply? I suppose you didn’t come here just so you could boast about your new title.”

“You’re good, Dusk Shine, you’re good. It is true I did not come here for nothing, however I can’t say I’m here of my own free will, not completely at least. I was tasked by Queen Chrysalis to come in contact with Princesses Celestia and Luna to open discussions about a possible sanctuary for our hive in Equestria,” Origin explained.

“So, Chrysalis decided to listen to my idea?” Dusk Shine asked in surprise. “Darn, that must have hurt her pride a lot to do that!”

“It wasn’t a question of pride this time, actually. She may be a prideful leader but she is also able to listen to reason and common sense. We had to hide in the White Tail Woods after the griffons kicked us out of Gryffonia and now we’re back to our starting point. The only thing Chrysalis refuses to agree on, and that is something I actually propose, is for changelings of our hive to be annexed in Equestria; be citizens of Equestria.”

“But… wouldn’t that be an opportunity for Chrysalis to order the changelings to feed as much as they can before disappearing again to Celestia knows where?” Rainbow Blitz asked.

“That would be the case, yes. The only solution to this would be the abolition of the hive mind. In truth, is it more of a plague than anything else.”

“Are you saying Chrysalis is like a tyrant?” Raine Moon asked the changeling, puzzled by what he was trying to explain through veiled hints.

“A tyrant? Maybe but she is more of a dictator. She’s the one that orders everything. She is the law. She is the leader and she has all the power that can be held in the hive. Being cut from the hive mind has allowed me to see that free will is incredible and that with it, you answer to yourself only. The hive needs to be shown this. They need to be free to choose what they want to do with their lives.”

“But you’re all alone and a single changeling can’t change an entire population.” Dusk Shine was starting to see where the changeling was heading with that.

“Yes, that’s pretty much it. But I think I will back stab Chrysalis. If Celestia and Luna agree to let changelings become citizens of Equestria, it will be at the condition that Chrysalis relinquishes her hold over the hive mind and let changelings decide what they want to do. Equestria is a constitutional diarchy after all.”

“And are you sure there aren’t going to be any repercussions if you do that to your queen?” the unicorn asked.

“Maybe, maybe not. After all, if our changeling hive is annexed into Equestria, the death penalty will disappear along with Chrysalis’ rule over the hive. Even if she is really mad and furious about what I did, there won’t be anything she’ll be able to do against me. The laws will protect me.” Origin seemed rather confident in that, if not a bit too sure of himself, with his tone and overly confident attitude.

They left that subject at that, not wanting to talk about it anymore and even Dusk decided to stay out of it at that point. They only looked at each other, not saying anything. They just stared at each other for a few minutes without saying anything. It was finally Rainbow Blitz that broke the silence when he asked, “So, is there a specific reason why you’re here today, Origin? I’m sure you didn’t come all the way out here just to say goodbye.”

“Right you are, Blitz!” The changeling nodded, green flames engulfing him for a few seconds. They quickly dissipated, leaving behind a white unicorn with a mane and tail that had colors resembling a flame. “I am here on orders to accompany you as you will probably go back to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna at some point. You could say Queen Chrysalis is using you to get what she wants but I’m seeing this as a new way to spend more time with the mare I love.”

“Blegh, talk about being cheesy.” Spike let out, sticking his tongue out in disgust at the scene happening right in front of him.

That triggered another moment of laughter within the group but it was one that died quite quickly. It was Blitz that told the changeling about their intentions to go to Cloudsdale. Origin didn’t seem against the idea although he did ask if it was really necessary. Dusk Shine replied by saying that it may be a bit selfish but if it eased the Pegasus’ mind, it would be for the best.

After having agreed on the fact the Rainbow Blitz would be more at ease if he knew his family was safe, the now reunited group set out in the direction of Cloudsdale on hooves. Like it had been discussed before, they had opted to travel on hooves because it would be more than obvious that no other means of transport would be available at the time.

Right before departing, Origin looked behind him and admired Las Pegasus once more before saying, “Well, this is good bye again. This is going to be a long journey…” With that, he turned his back to the city and went to join the group that was already leaving with a short distance ahead of him.

The five travellers stopped on their second night of travelling, setting a campfire in their campsite. It had been another long and harsh day for them. Rainbow Blitz and Raine Moon had to land and travel on foot because the wind was so strong it simply threw them around. They had to force their wings close and brave the winds like Origin and Dusk Shine did. To a certain extent, the aquamarine unicorn had to use his magic to prevent Spike from being blown away by the wind.

They were glad that the wind died down when they stopped because then Dusk or Origin would have had to create a barrier to stop the wind. However, barrier magic was not one of Dusk Shine’s forte and Origin was more interested in war magic and anything related to the banned magical arts.

“Is Cloudsdale that far way now?” Spike asked the others, his boredom showing on his face.

“We still have a few hours to walk if the weather is on our side. If not, we may just have to add another day. Let’s hope nothing happens, though,” Dusk Shine replied, explaining the possible things that could happen.

“I dunno what’s going on but it looks like the weather is out of control.” Rainbow Blitz looked kind of concerned about that. “There is no way the weather ponies would allow such a storm to roam free throughout Equestria.”

“I don’t wanna worry you, Blitz, but I think there may be something wrong in Cloudsdale after all. Like you said, that storm was too much of an anomaly to go unnoticed by the various weather teams.” It was Origin that had just entered the conversation even though it did not help Blitz’s worry die down. If anything, it stressed him even more.

“Thanks, you’re really helping, Origin,” Rainbow Blitz said sarcastically.

“Anytime, Blitz.” His broad smile betrayed his serious tone. Eventually, Blitz just let it drop after realizing that Origin was just messing around with him, even though it showed that he did not disregard the Pegasus’ worries.

“Well, she sure hit the hay quickly,” Spike commented after he heard Raine Moon snore.

“She’s tired, Spike. We all are so why don’t we just do like her and get to sleep already,” Dusk Shine told the dragon and then looked at everypony else in the group.

They all got his message when their eyes met and soon enough, they all went to sleep. The only ones still awake after that were Origin and Dusk Shine. They looked at each other for a while, not uttering a single word. In Dusk’s mind, he kept thinking that he should still be wary of Origin. Something deep inside his mind told him that there was more to the changeling the he let on.

As for Origin, he was rather feeling uncomfortable with the way Dusk Shine kept looking at him and the only reason he looked back at the unicorn was because he thought that the aquamarine unicorn would tell him something but it never came. He just kept looking his way without any pause. Ultimately, Origin stopped looking at Dusk and then went to sleep right after. He didn’t want to spark any kind of conflict at that point. Still, even after he had closed his eyes, he continued to feel it; unrest, distrust, anger, doubt. Oh how the changeling wished he could just shut his sensors off and on just like that to avoid that.

When the unicorn saw that Origin had gone to sleep, he made a little book, a quill and a bottle of ink appear out of nowhere. He opened the book and flipped the pages to an empty one and once there, he dipped his quill into the bottle of ink. After that, he was ready to write!

Journal Entry #427

Over the two last days, Origin rejoined our group on orders from Queen Chrysalis to meet with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. I do not trust him fully… Not after he betrayed us the way he did in Las Pegasus. Ergo, I’m still very cautious around him. I know he claimed he’s being wary of Queen Chrysalis himself and that our trip would allow him to hang out with Raine even more and I noticed that since then, her mood has been much better than before. She’s less aggressive than she was last week.

I shall keep this under close watch because I do not trust Origin. I’ll discuss of my findings in my next entry.

Lighting his horn again, he made his journal disappear in a sudden burst of magic and also went to sleep. That night… he had the same nightmare he had before. He saw that Twilight rose from the dead and decimated everything in her path, including Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. His dream even went as far as to see Twilight stand over the princesses’ dead bodies.

His eyes opened suddenly and he felt like he was about to have a heart attack. His breath was fast-paced and he was sweating from everywhere. He looked around and saw that all the others were sleeping soundly, except for one spot that was empty: Origin’s. Worried and even nearly in a state of panic, he considered waking everypony but before long, he realized he was acting on assumptions only.

“I wouldn’t start such a ruckus, friend,” Origin whispered in Dusk Shine’s ear, making the unicorn slightly jump in surprise.

He took a few steps back as he glared at the changeling in front of him. He didn’t know how he had managed to get behind him like that but it still creeped him out a lot. Well, it creeped him a bit less since he was sort of used to Origin sneaking behind him all the time but he couldn’t really say he was very comfortable with it at that point.

“Can’t sleep, eh?” the changeling asked.

Dusk Shine nodded. “Yeah, I’ve had one of those other nightmares in which I’d see Twilight, I suppose you don’t know who Twilight Sparkle is though, destroy Canterlot and even kill the princesses. I just can’t picture her doing those kinds of things willingly.”

“I do know of her by name because she was Princess Celestia’s private student before I became a changeling but I have never actually met her. In any case, I can’t sleep either, mostly because I felt your unrest, your fear and your anxiety. Don’t ask how,” Origin grinned, glancing at the camp for a brief moment, “I’m a changeling, remember?”

“I’ve known her since I was a colt. We had both been taken in by Princess Celestia, although she was older than I was when my parents sent me to pass my exam to get in Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns,” the unicorn said, smiling as nostalgia hit him with full force. “She was always better than me. She was the one I tried to surpass. It was one of my drives, along with learning all I could from Celestia.”

“Something else happened later on, right? I’m feeling guilt coming from you. Whatever happened you’re sti-”

“Five years ago…” Dusk Shine replied, interrupting the changeling.

“What happened five years ago?”

“Five years ago, I got in a large conflict within the school. Some noble pompous foals were picking on one of my friends there and I was just unable to stand by and let it happen. I stood up for my friend and those nobles attacked me because I ruined their fun. I fought back as much as I could without harming them until…” The unicorn realized he was a hard time saying the end of that sentence, as if something was stopping him from doing so. He tried to say it in another fashion but he was still unable to say it.

“Dusk, what happened? I’m feeling a lot of anger and hate coming from you and those don’t usually radiate from you unless it’s important and frustrating, like what happened in Las Pegasus, or any situations related with Nightmare Moon,” explained Origin, now concerned for Dusk Shine. The unicorn did not usually act like that.

“I… I… lost control!” He was on the verge of tears, his voice was shaking and his body trembled a lot. “While trying to defend my friend,” he spoke weakly as he snivelled, “I lost control of my magic… and… and-”

“There, there, Dusk,” Origin said softly, hugging the unicorn. “Let it out, just let it out.”

At that point, no words were spoken anymore. There was just Dusk crying silently on Origin’s shoulder while the changeling tried to comfort the unicorn. It lasted for a good part of the night and at the end, Dusk Shine finally dried off the tears in his eyes and thanked Origin for what he did for him, even if it felt somehow awkward to say that.

“Now, “Origin began, “do you think you’re able to tell me what exactly happened five years ago when you lost control or are you still too shaken to do so?”

“I… think I’ll be able to. Just let me… recollect myself a bit,” Dusk Shine answered, still sniffing a bit.

A few moments passed by in silence as Dusk Shine calmed himself. He took a deep breath, opened his eyes and said, “After I lost control of my magic, I unleashed a powerful spell that gravely harmed my friend and those pompous nobles. Ultimately, I was thrown out of the school and sent back home in Ponyville to my parents. However, Princess Celestia asked me to meet her in Canterlot to discuss a way to control my magic. It hadn’t been the first time something like that happened and the princess wanted to help me control it and that’s where this comes in.”

He lit his horn and grabbed his amulet in his magic, lifting it so Origin could look at it thoroughly. The changeling looked at it and once he was done, he told Dusk he was impressed by the amulet he had. It was by no means the work of an amateur.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Your amulet has several runes crafted onto it and various sealing spells made to hold and normalize unstable magic. Whoever the princess hired to do the job, that pony knew what to do,” Origin replied.

“Actually, it was the princess that enchanted it.”

“Oh, well that makes sense. Even I don’t know some of the spells applied to this.”

“In any case, I think we should try to get a shuteye before the sun rises. We still have a rough day ahead of us tomorrow,” Dusk Shine proposed.

“Agreed. I really need my sleep, else I’m gonna have to stay awake by borrowing Raine’s love more than I already do.” He laughed as he saw the unicorn’s expression upon hearing what he said. “Oh, don’t worry. The amount I take from her is minimal. It’s not enough to really affect her physically and mentally.”

The group woke up the next morning and a night of rest had done nothing but good on them, except for Dusk Shine and Origin. Both of them looked like the walking dead. Of course, their short night was also to blame for their state. That hadn’t stopped them from following the group, though.

The day wasn’t too rough as the winds were not strong and they weren’t blowing in their faces directly. However, Celestia’s sun had done a good job at blinding them for most of the day. Rainbow Blitz and Raine Moon were scouting ahead for anything while Dusk Shine, Spike and Origin walked on ground and tried to stay awake while doing so.

They eventually stopped around noon to rest a bit and eat. The food issue wasn’t hard to fix. They just did what they did the previous days, Dusk was the one that summoned what they would eat and it was no different than the other days; daisy sandwiches. It was one of Dusk Shine’s favorite meals and he was kind of trying to force it on them, which failed. As for Origin, he was just content with having something material to eat.

As he had said when they were on their way to Las Pegasus, he didn’t mind eating normal food and he could actually digest it too contrary to what books on changelings found in Canterlot indicated. Anyway, Origin just nibbled on the sandwich while the others just ate normally.

“So, what happened between you two last night?” Raine Moon asked both Dusk Shine and Origin, provoking a certain awkward feeling.

“Whatever are you talking about, Raine?” Dusk Shine asked, shocked by the Pegasus’ question.

“I couldn’t sleep last night and I heard you and Origin talk to each other. I heard what happened.” She was neither accusing nor patronizing. Her eyes indicated that she just wanted to understand.

“I guess… I just wanted that off my chest when I talked with Origin. I had that terrible nightmare about Twilight Sparkle and I just don’t know what I would do if Nightmare Moon brought her back like she did with Rarity and Applejack,” Dusk Shine admitted.

“Okay, this is enough. Let’s stay away from anything concerning Twilight Sparkle. It usually makes Dusk emotional or nostalgic and right now, we need him in a rather good psychological state,” Rainbow Blitz intervened, stopping any further conversation from spawning. “Besides, we’re not far away from Cloudsdale now.”

When asked by Spike how he knew, Blitz just lifted a hoof and pointed ahead of him where there was a large city made out of clouds. There was a moment of silence but it was shortly replaced by a witty reply from Spike that caused some laughter. Once they were done eating, they began to head for the city of clouds.

“Blitz, where’s all this wind coming from?” Raine Moon asked, trying to stay stable even if she was trying to gain altitude while carrying Dusk Shine. The extra weight she had to carry around made it even harder for her to move around.

“I don’t know! It’s really strange that the winds started to rise the moment we start to fly towards Cloudsdale!”

“Any ideas on what to do?” Origin asked in a shout. He was trying his best to stay balanced through the gusts but it was hard at that point especially since he had never been a very strong flier, preferring the ground over the sky.

“For now, let’s try to stay as close to each other as possible!” Blitz proposed; an idea that quickly received everypony’s agreement. “It’s going to be harder for us to get thrown around by the wind if we’re in a formation.”

“I would have never thought your experiences as a guard would come in handy in situations like this, Blitz. Usually, they only come in handy the moment they touch the laws or battles whatsoever but this? Well, that’s a first,” Dusk Shine commented on his friend’s leadership.

“Thanks! I don’t know what’s best; your twisted sense of humor or your complete lack of faith in my abilities.” Rainbow Blitz used a tone filled with sarcasm to counter Dusk’s slightly arrogant remark, even if it had been done as a joke.

“Come now; learn to take a joke, Blitz.”

“Umm… Dusk… I think Blitz is busy enough trying to stay balanced and making sure we’re all okay,” Raine Moon stated, killing Dusk’s fun at the same time.

“Seriously, you guys are way too serious.”

“And that’s coming from the unicorn that spends almost all of his time testing spells, reading books or conducting an experiment for the Princesses. I swear, one day we’re gonna need you to get you tipsy so you can learn what it means to relax.”

“No thanks, Blitz. I like myself better when I’m not drunk, not that I’ve ever gotten drunk before anyway,” Dusk replied.

“Oh come on! One mug’s not gonna do any harm. Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure my parents always kept a barrel of hard cider in the house. What do you say we open it and enjoy ourselves tonight?” the Pegasus asked, amusement overly noticeable in his speech pattern.

“I’m not sure. I mean, I’ve never drank to the point of getting intoxicated before.” She looked down and noticed that Dusk Shine was looking at her with a certain frown on his face as if he was surprised to hear Raine say that. “What?! Don’t look at me like that! You’d be surprised how far you’d go to keep yourself alive.”

“So, basically, you’ve stolen alcohol before under the excuse that you needed to keep yourself alive?” Dusk Shine inquired. He was now very interested in the dark blue Pegasus’ story.

“Ugh, can we have this conversation elsewhere? Because if you keep pestering me like that, I may or may not drop you accidentally!” Raine Moon snapped, causing silence to fall down on the unicorn. “Thank you. Now, I guess we still have to reach Cloudsdale so let’s just do this right now.”

Origin lowered himself to Dusk Shine’s ear level and whispered, “Damn, you just got schooled hard, mate. Y’know, books aren’t goin’ to tell you how to deal with mares. That’s something you learn with time and experience.”

Dusk glared at the changeling that was flying next to him. “And I suppose you are any better at this than I am?”

“Fair point.”

“Hey, the winds died down,” Raine stated, her voice was a mix of surprise and happiness.

“That’s because we’re at the same altitude as Cloudsdale, Raine,” Rainbow Blitz told her matter-of-factly.

“What does that have to do with the winds dying down?” The dark blue Pegasus asked, even more confused than before.

“Well, since Cloudsdale usually creates the weather for all of Equestria and acts as the headquarters of the various weather teams throughout the kingdom, the founders of the town judged that it would be safer if Cloudsdale was located at a certain height to avoid being caught up in the storms it creates. On top of that, there is a magical generator that protects the town against storms should something go amiss so that’s why the winds died down; we’re above the storm now,” explained the white Pegasus.

Raine Moon stared at Rainbow Blitz, deadpanned. Since when was the Pegasus such a scholar? Then she remembered that Cloudsdale was where he was born and raised so of course he had to know the history behind it. She let out a short “ooooh” and then snapped back to reality when Dusk told her that the rest of the group had started to move towards the city of clouds. “Right! Sorry,” she said sheepishly.

It didn’t take her long to catch up to the others as they had intentionally slowed down. Raine easily spotted Spike enveloped in a green glow. She knew that Origin had taken him from Blitz when the poor dragon lost consciousness from all the fear he had experienced all at once. She didn’t know what kind of spell the changeling used, though. She would have to ask him what the spell was.

“Strange! There aren’t any ponies in the streets,” Rainbow Blitz said, somehow disappointed of the statement.

“Maybe they’ve hidden inside,” Dusk Shine said, not wanting to bring up the possibility of Nightmare Moon having her way with the town.

Rainbow Blitz nodded and then prompted the group to land on the clouds. Dusk asked Raine to wait a bit longer while he cast his spell to walk on clouds. The mare felt the unicorn’s magic swarm around as Dusk collected the magic he needed. Raine did not possess magic anymore but she still knew how to recognize and feel it.

When he was done, Dusk Shine told Raine that he was ready. The dark blue Pegasus began to lower Dusk down on the clouds so he wouldn’t fall down through the clouds and plummet to the ground. She was overly relieved when she saw that he was standing on the cloud just like any other Pegasus would. She congratulated him on his excellent manipulation of magic but he just shrugged and moved on, catching up to Rainbow Blitz.

A snarl came from Raine but there was nopony around to hear it. Letting go of some of her anger at the unicorn’s indifference, she moved on ahead to try to catch up with the rest of the group. She followed them through several streets and finally saw them enter a house, which was quite really a regular house. It wasn’t fancy or anything; just a regular old house.

“Mom? Dad? Are you there,” Rainbow Blitz asked the moment he opened the door.

No response…

Panic immediately filled the Pegasus’ mind and soon enough, he began to search the house thoroughly. The other ponies heard his hooves step as he ran from room to room, trying to find his parents. Well, that was if they were in there to begin with. Finally, after fifteen minutes, Blitz came down to the first floor with an empty stare, repeating the same thing over and over again.

“No… This isn’t happening. This isn’t… happening.” He repeated that over and over again.

“Don’t worry, Blitz. I’m sure they just moved elsewhere. Heck, maybe they’re in Ponyville right now, trying to find you.”

“But… what if they aren’t there? What if Nightmare Moon got to them like she did with Dashie?” he asked, eyes filled with panic. “I don’t want to be alone!”

“Rainbow Blitz!” Raine Moon exclaimed suddenly!

“What do you want? Still want to see me in more pain? Do you enjoy it; to see me mourn my family? I’ll probably never see them again and you’re just st-” Blitz never finished that sentence. Instead, he received a hoof on his right cheek as Raine slapped him as hard as she could.

“Don’t you dare!” she hissed. “Don’t you dare say those things about me! You know nothing about me! I would never take pleasure in seeing another suffer—I’m not my mother—and I would never do that to a friend.

“Besides, you know nothing about being alone and you’ll never be alone. You still have me, Dusk, Origin—even if you two aren’t on the best possible terms—and all your friends in Ponyville. You know yourself you will never be alone as long as you have those. I know it hurts but you mustn’t let this pain cloud your vision. You’re my friend and I’m loyal to my friends, even if you’re the only friends I’ve had in a thousand years.”

Raine Moon had expected Blitz to retaliate to the hit she had given him, she found herself in a tight embrace. The white stallion was sobbing a bit and he didn’t seem to want to let go of the mare. At first, she was kind of happy to accept his hug but as time passed, she began to feel uncomfortable. As much as her social skills had begun to improve, she was still uncomfortable with other ponies, especially stallions, being in her private space and all. After a few minutes, she really wanted to break away but Rainbow Blitz was hanging onto her like a scared foal.

“Dusk?” She looked at the unicorn and her voice sounded worried, and slightly annoyed. “Can you perhaps get him off me? I think he just had a nervous breakdown.”

“Aww, I think he likes you now. So, what are you two waiting for to kiss each other,” Dusk said teasingly before Raine shot him a glare that would have made a manticore tame,” and I’m going to use my magic to get him off of you.” He let out a nervous laugh while he lit his horn.

With his magic, Dusk Shine forced the white Pegasus’ legs open to allow Raine to get away from his embrace while he took the Pegasus upstairs and placed him on a bed for him to rest on, despite him being very against it. Raine Moon, Origin and the now-awakened Spike heard Rainbow Blitz protest, with incomprehensible words.

The aquamarine unicorn came back down a few minutes later and he seemed drained. Raine asked him what had happened but he didn’t answer. He just headed to the main room of the house, the living room. Spike, Origin and Raine Moon followed him there.

“He’s sound asleep right now. I had to use a sleep spell on him and let’s just say it took a toll on me. Makes me miss all the loose energy in the battle of Las Pegasus where I could just absorb all that energy over and over again.”

“Did you really do that when you fought in Las Pegasus?” Origin asked the unicorn, a tiny bit of accusation in his voice.

“Yes... What are you getting at?”

“That’s not your greatest idea ever, Dusk Shine, and even you should know it. There is a line a unicorn has to respect when it comes down to absorbing magic otherwise your mind will start to shatter until one day, you lose your sanity. You should know better than to do this...”

“Can we not get into another fight? I think we’ve had enough for today,” Raine Moon said before things could get worse.

“I have nothing against that idea but first get Origin to stop accusing me and taking me for a fool. I knew the risks and I chose to take them because I had to fight for my life as well,” Dusk Shine said, glaring at Origin. “Oh wait, that’s right. You’re saying that because you’re not a unicorn anymore and you can just feed off emotions endlessly without risking your sanity!”

“Dusk!” Raine let out, completely appalled by what the unicorn had just said.

“Oh excuse me, mister I-know-everything-about-changelings-and-their-magical-limitations. I thought Celestia had tasked you with studying changelings and yet you know so little about us. We can’t go around consuming everything to get majorly overpowered. For example, consuming too much love at once may make a changeling love-drunk or if you consume too many negative emotions at once, a changeling may become berserk. Guess that shows how ignorant you really are!” Origin hissed back, his eyes glowing with an green so intense it made Raine think back at what he did to Blitz when they met with Queen Chrysalis.

“Origin!”

“I’m sorry I’m not perfect like you, mister I-was-too-pathetic-to-even-defeat-a-chimera. You died because of a chimera and your last trump card was to merge your soul with a changeling and turn traitor on Equestria to go dilly-dally with your hive. Real ingenious, smartass!”

“Dusk!?”

“What about you? Your magic’s so impotent that you can’t even control it through your own means. You needed your precious little princess to invent a way for you to control your magic. You wanna talk about being pathetic? Begin by controlling what magic you have because right now, if you don’t have that amulet, you can’t protect anything anything. You’re a hazard to yourself and to others around you!”

“Both of you shut up!” Raine was now standing between the two ponies and she glared daggers at the two of them in turn. “I’ve put up with your silly arguments long enough for now! If you two won’t grow up, then don’t talk to each other or to me for that matter!”

And with that, Raine Moon left the house and stormed off to one of the edges of the town and she ended up staring at the ground. Back in the house, discomfort reigned in the atmosphere. Dusk Shine was feeling a bit guilty but he was still attributing the fault to Origin because it was the changeling that started the whole argument.

The two ponies refused to look at each other and instead directed their gaze to the ground. As for Origin, he was remaining silent and preferred to look at the ground instead. He knew he was responsible but his pride just stepped in and he continued to argue needlessly. No, he was not without guilt and to top it all, he was the one that had begun the whole conflict t begin with.

“Look, I’m so-”

“You’re what? Sorry? Gee, that’s new coming from you!” Dusk barked again, a snarl on his face still.

“Okay, blame me if you want but I think Raine made it pretty clear that we should stop arguing and cease calling each other names and whatnot. I know I started the conflict but you’re no better because you fueled it.” Origin was now glaring straight into the unicorn’s eyes. “I’m going to use the same words Raine said! If you can’t grow up, then don’t bother trying to speak to me. You know, I thought you were different than this after last night but it seems I was mistaken. You’re stuck-up and nothing but a spoiled brat!”

Much like Raine Moon did a few minutes before, Origin stormed out of Blitz’s house and left Dusk Shine all alone as the only conscious pony in the house. Spike was caught between the two. He was near unconsciousness but his nausea kept him awake. The only thing he kept doing was moan with his clawed hands resting on his stomach.

Stupid! Stupid Origin! Always trying to sound smarter than me!

Just then, he looked over to his right and saw a few bottles of cider in a glass cupboard.

Heh, I guess I could try just a little bit. That way, Blitz won’t have to bug me about it anymore...

As soon as Origin left the house, he looked to his right and left, then took off and began looking around him until he finally spotted Raine Moon flying towards the edge of Cloudsdale to the east. “Raine, wait!”

She didn’t even look back and just continued to fly to wherever it was she wanted to go. Seeing this, Origin just continued to follow her. He was aware that she would probably try to shake him off so he didn’t try to chase her down, he just gave her the impression that he had given up trying to catch up to her.

In truth, he had only done that so he could pinpoint her more easily. It took a good deal of time but she finally stopped and landed in what seemed to be an isolated area in the east of Cloudsdale. He slowly began to make his way there and hoped he wouldn’t scare her away by going near Raine.

Once he was above the last place he saw Raine Moon before she landed, he noticed that she was nowhere to be found. Puzzled, he decided to land to have a closer look at the area but even then, he saw nothing still. He wasn’t panicking but he was wondering if Raine had flown away while he wasn’t looking.

The next seconds happened so fast for Origin that he hardly had time to realize what had happened. One moment, he was looking for Raine Moon and he was beginning to wonder if she hadn’t abandoned the group because she was sick of the arguing that happened continuously and the next, he was pinned to the ground with a hoof covering his mouth.

“What do you want?” Raine Moon asked bitterly, glaring daggers at the changeling.

“Peace!” He cried out in a muffled voice. The Pegasus removed her hoof from over Origin’s mouth and just continued to glare at him. “I just came here to apologize. I know I acted like an idiot earlier but I’m prideful when it comes down to what I am and who I am.”

“Mhmm... However, knowing you, I’m pretty sure this could very well be an attempt at sugarcoating me so I won’t stay mad at you.” The Pegasus’ voice was accusing, and still bitter.

“What?! No!” Origin protested. “My goal is to reconcile with you right now but I know better than anypony that I can’t force it on you. Well, actually, I could but I would need to use magic I don’t like using and besides, it just feels wrong to use that magic to begin with so yeah, I’m just here to apologize and hope you’ll forgive me in due times since I’m probably going to star—”

“Get to the point already, Origin! You’re just rambling on now!” Raine Moon snapped right after putting her hoof on Origin’s mouth.

The changeling move away and shot a short glare at the Pegasus in front of him and replied in an annoyed voice, “Could you stop doing that?! I don’t like it when you do that to me!”

“What I meant is that you gave yourself away at first when you said you were very prideful of who you are and what you are. Dusk said something else to you after I left, didn’t he?” The Pegasus inquired, her gaze demanded clear answers.

“He just shifted the blame on me entirely. I know I started the conflict but I also told him that he was no better since he just basically added fuel to the fire. But even then, he just continued to shift the blame on me so I just left the place and tried to find you and apologize for causing such drama."

The blue Pegasus looked at him with a skeptical look. Origin returned the gaze and they stared at each other in silence before Raine Moon broke the eye contact. Turning her head to look at the setting sun, she let out a sigh, something Origin failed to really identify because there were so many emotions emanating from the Pegasus.

After a few minutes of silence, Raine finally spoke and softly said, “Why do we have to do this, Origin?”

“Do what?” the changeling inquired, trying to find the hidden message behind the mare’s words.

“This! Everything... Why do we have to do this, to help in this conflict between my mother and the princesses? More importantly, what did I do to deserve being here right now? Even now, I’m sure she’s lurking somewhere near us, waiting for the perfect moment to strike and torment us even more,” Raine Moon cried out, her voice trembling.

“Dear, I’m pretty sure you never asked for this but let’s face the facts, you’re pretty much the only one outside of Princess Luna and Princess Celestia to really know what Nightmare Moon is capable of. You may have your differences with Spike but both of you are often the voice of reason in the group and you often solve or stop issues from growing out of control,” Origin explained in an attempt at cheering up the mare.

“Thanks, Origin, but I’m feeling tired of all of this. I feel like Nightmare Moon is plotting something to break our group apart so she can get rid of us afterwards with more ease.”

“Don’t worry too much. Ponies of all kind, even changelings, are bound to disagree. We all have our differences and everypony has a limit. You just reached yours today and it’s normal,” the changeling replied softly.

“Why are you so good at making sense, Origin?” She asked with a grin as she shifted her gaze towards him again. “In any case, it’s a beautiful sunset isn’t it?”

“Indeed it is,” Origin said as he moved closer to Raine. “Indeed it is.”

He nuzzled the mare and she returned the affection; however, it was done in a slightly different manner. Instead of a simple nuzzle, Raine Moon ended up kissing the changeling, closing her eyes. Origin was caught off guard at first but after a few seconds, he grew more relaxed and started to enjoy the kiss.

Unknown to the mare, Origin was cautiously feeding of the love she had for him at that moment. The reason he did so was because true love was intoxicating and the love that was emanating Raine Moon was indeed pure. If he had taken all of it without any restraint, it wouldn’t have taken a long time for the changeling to become love-drunk.

Raine Moon was the one that broke away from the kiss and just looked at the changeling in the eyes, and then whispered, “You may be an idiot, Origin, but you’re my idiot. I love you.”

Origin returned the kiss after she spoke those words and broke away shortly after before uttering, “I love you too, Raine Moon. Since the first day I met you.”

And with that, they both cuddled up to each other and enjoyed the sunset until it was replaced by the moon’s pale moonlight.

“I think we should head back now. The air’s getting cold and I don’t want to catch a cold because of carelessness, especially at the altitude we’re at,” Raine Moon stated.

“I don’t really feel it as I don’t really have skin like yours but I do think we ought to get back if we want a comfy place to stay for the night.”

“Great! Come on, I’ll race you!” Raine exclaimed as she shoved the changeling out of the way.

“Oh, it is on!” Origin mumbled to himself before taking off, quickly catching up to the Pegasus.

When Raine and Origin arrived in front of Blitz’s front door with Raine Moon as the winner of the race, they were surprised to hear some unusual sounds coming from inside the house. In a moment of fear, they both entered and saw that Dusk was wobbling from one side to another and that there were a few bottles of hard cider scattered all around the floor.

“Dusk?!” Raine Moon exclaimed, shocked to find the unicorn in such a state. “What happened in here?”

“I’m gonna tell you... what happened here,” replied the unicorn, hiccupping all the while. “Or rather... I’m just gonna tell... you about who is responsible for making me like this! And that somepony is standing next to you!”

“What’s gotten into you, Dusk?”

“He’s obviously drunk, Raine. Look at all those bottles of hard cider. If I had to guess, he drank them all,” Origin answered as he placed himself between Raine Moon and Dusk Shine. Oh dear... the hangover he’s going to have tomorrow morning.

“So what... if I’m drunk?!” Dusk Shine spat out as he tried to land a jab on the changeling. “I’m just ti-tired of you... Origin! You’re... always so... perfect, you’re always the smart... one!”

“So, now it gets down to jealousy?” inquired the changeling, dodging yet another jab while telling Raine to get upstairs until this would be sorted out. “I never thought you were that petty, Dusk Shine! Are those small details so important to you?!”

“Yes! Yes they are! I... am, or rather... was, Celestia’s student! I’m supposed to be... smarter than you, I’m supposed to be... the smart one in the group!”

“Yes, you were Celestia’s personal student alongside Twilight Sparkle but I was chosen as a court wizard because of my abilities, my knowledge and my judgement and advice. I was always reserved and that was why I usually answered objectively. Right now, you have none of them. You’re just mad because you fell from grace!”

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! I hate you! You’re just like... all those nobles in Canterlot; pampered and snobbish!” Dusk Shine hissed, throwing another jab at the changeling but this time he really hit his target. “Ha! How do you like that now, Origin?!”

Origin backed away and rubbed a hoof on his left cheek and checked if his fangs or jaw hadn’t been damaged in any ways. Once he was sure nothing was wrong, he glared at Dusk Shine and he was really resisting using more advanced magic but he very well knew that this wasn’t the right time to use it.

“Cease and desist, Dusk Shine! I don’t want to hurt you.” The changeling looked like he would have no problems upholding his warning.

“You? Hurt me? Y-you don’t have t-the guts to do it!” barked the unicorn.

“You’re drunk, yes, but you’re not so drunk you’re near an ethylic coma. However, your reflexes are slower so let’s see how you will respond to this!”

His eyes began to glow green and his horn lit up with his usual teal magical aura. He shot his magic towards the unicorn in front of him and immediately tried to break into Dusk Shine’s mind. Even if the unicorn was drunk, his mind barriers were still up and he defended himself well against the changeling’s attempt at invading his mind.

Eventually, Dusk Shine managed to push Origin out of his mind with his current mind barriers and extended his magic towards Origin as well in an attempt to incapacitate him so he would stop harassing him and to show him that he was below the unicorn. Origin could only grin! Come on, Dusk! Come get some!

Origin took it all in. He knew that, after having spent more than ten years serving as one of Celestia’s court wizards, Princess Celestia never used or encouraged the use of mind magic so Dusk Shine was only trying to imitate what Origin had just performed.

Ignoring the unicorn’s mental attack, Origin sent another one of his own even with Dusk still trying to invade his mind. The reason he did that was because mind magic, an art that was mastered by changeling, required a pony to drop his mental defenses to attack another pony. Of course, with enough training, one can keep his guard up and launch an attack at the same time but it’s not something rookies can do just like that. Even Origin had to lower his guard a bit so he could perform both at the same time and that left him more than vulnerable if another pony joined the fight, especially if that pony is experienced in mind magic.

In any case, Origin quickly broke into Dusk Shine’s mind and from there he just overflowed the unicorn’s mind. The result was a bit odd at first since Dusk seemed to feel nothing of it. In fact, it even gave him more magical energy. No, no, no! That was enough to incapacitate a royal guard and Celestia knows they have incredible resistance. Something then hit him like a wall. Of course! It’s the amulet. It allows him to process and harness overflowing magical energy in his body but even that has its limit... Let’s just hope I get him down quickly.

Determined, Origin began to muster all the emotions he had consumed and slowly began to turn them into magical energy. Turning emotions into magic was a long process. It didn’t take days or several hours but it was a process that required him to channel it through a special gland that would do the processing for the changeling. The time it took was the main downfall to that process so Origin would have to buy himself some time.

Slightly backing away from his attack, the changeling prodded his mind against Dusk Shine’s to trigger a reaction to get him on the defensive once more. He wanted it that way because then he would have enough magical energy to launch a full attack and take the unicorn out before he could harm himself or anypony else for that matter.

However, unlike he had planned, Dusk Shine took the opportunity he got with the excess magical energy he received from Origin’s first attack on his mind and attacked the changeling’s mind, hurling his mind against the changeling’s. Origin could feel it; he could feel the last of his barriers shattering under the unicorn’s mental assault. That did not stop the changeling from unleashing half the amount of magical energy he had planned to use on Dusk to completely shatter the unicorn’s mind barriers and overflow his body with magic.

Dusk was doing the same thing. He had just broken through the changeling’s mental barriers as well and he began to apply all of his magic inside Origin’s mind. The two of them overflowed the other’s mind at the same time, both muttering, “Gotcha!”

Then, everything went black for the two spell casters.

Worried when she stopped hearing the voices of Dusk Shine and Origin, Raine Moon went downstairs to check on those two. She saw that both of them on the ground, motionless. Raine rushed to Origin’s side to check if he still had vital signs and then she did the same with Dusk Shine.

After making sure both of them were still alive, she let out a sigh of relief and once she had made her mind, she began flapping her wings. Then, she grabbed Dusk Shine with her legs and brought the unicorn upstairs. Dusk wasn’t all that heavy for her and she easily flew him upstairs and put him on one of the guest’s beds, if that bed was one to begin with that is.

Origin, however, was another story. As the Pegasus tried to carry the changeling, she felt as if he weighed a ton. Oof, I never thought emotions could make you weigh so much! Raine thought while she tried to fly the changeling up the stairs. She almost dropped him but she strengthened her hold before she could.

Finally, she managed to lay the changeling on one of the beds without any kind of problems. Following that, she also dropped on a bed and quickly fell asleep.

I opened my eyes and I took notice of my surroundings. I noticed that I was in Cloudsdale and that, unlike what I had seen when we first arrived in the city, it was filled with various ponies. The city was brimming with life and it stroke me as strange as the city had been completely empty before.

Nevertheless, I began to explore the city, watching the various Pegasi walk and fly freely through the city. It was then that I realized why Cloudsdale was such a prosperous city. Everypony looked so kind and so helpful. The atmosphere alone made me feel a little better.

While I was walking through the city’s streets I saw a young cyan Pegasus fly through the sky at an incredible speed followed by a white Pegasus that seemed to be following her. It wasn’t long for me to realize that the white Pegasus was Rainbow Blitz so logically, the cyan Pegasus had to be Rainbow Dash but that was impossible... Rainbow Dash was older than that and I had seen her die right in front of my eyes. There was no possible way that this could have been Rainbow Dash.

I was deep in thought and I failed to notice Rainbow Dash coming straight at me and before I had any time to react, she had crashed into me. It knocked the wind out of me and we both crashed in a nearby wall. Soon after, Rainbow Blitz flew down and started to ground Rainbow Dash and then looked at me, asking me if I was alright.

I nodded and told him that it would take more than that to knock me out. Still, he began insisting that I follow him back to his home and I finally agreed even though I still felt like I was kind of imposing myself on the kindness he was showing me. In any case, I followed him and once in front of his home, I couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous of the luxury he lived in compared to the little cave I lived in for a thousand years.

Again, he asked me if I was alright, if my wings or any other limb whatsoever had been injured when Rainbow Dash crashed into me earlier. I told him that everything was fine. A few minutes, I heard voices coming from what seemed to be either the kitchen or the living room and I was met with two older ponies. Those were most probably Blitz and Dash’s parents, seeing as the mother was a white Pegasus with a rainbow colored mane and tail while the father was just a cyan Pegasus with a simple red mane and tail.

They asked who I was and Blitz was about to answer that before he realized that he had never asked for my name. I told his parents that my name was Raine Moon and that I was new in town. They asked their son why he had brought me into their home and he told them that it was when he and Rainbow Dash were chasing each other and at some point, Dash had crashed right into me.

“Goodness, are you alright dear?” Blitz’s mother asked, her face mortified.

“Yes, yes. Of course. I’m a tough mare, ma’am!”

“That’s nice and all but are you sure you’re not hurt in any way?” the father asked me.

“I’m fine, thank you sir. Your son already asked me all those questions,” I answered.

It was then that I saw the mother give Rainbow Dash a glare and she gave a sheepish in return. She grounded her for the rest of the day and to be completely honest, I kind of felt bad for her. I mean, she didn’t crash into me on purpose. Judging by the speed she was flying at, there weren’t any maneuvers she could have tried without inflicting more harm on herself. Even if it hurt, her crashing into me saved her a lot of trouble.

Afterwards, Blitz’s parents asked me if I had a place to stay for the night. I instantly told them that I had just arrived in town to visit because I had been told of Cloudsdale’s grandeur and that since then I had that growing desire to visit the town so they invited me to stay the night in their house. Of course, I wasn’t all that comfortable with this.

“I wouldn’t want to impose myself on you, Mr and Mrs Rainbow,” I told them, looking at my hooves all the while.

“Oh come now! We’re inviting you, for heaven’s sake. You shouldn’t feel that way to begin with.” Mrs Rainbow seemed quite solid.

I thought about my choices and since I probably had no places to go to for the night, and also considering Mrs Rainbow would probably never let me out of her house without spending the night there, so I accepted her offer even if I did feel quite uncomfortable with that choice.

The rest of the day went rather well. I visited the rest of Cloudsdale and eventually stumbled upon the stadium the Wonderbolts used for their shows and practices. I decided to go have a closer look around it and I realized how big it was then. I couldn’t really count the numbers that could be kept in there for shows and events but it was a lot.

“Whatcha doin’?” asked the iconic voice of Rainbow from behind me.

I swear I almost had a heart attack. My wings almost went yeep but I managed to get a hold of myself before my wings completely locked. I looked behind me and saw Rainbow Dash grinning madly and I could see she resisted the urge to burst into laughter. I gave her a quick glare but it only added to her amusement.

“You know, you’re kinda cute when you’re angry.”

“Haha, I’m so amused,” I sarcastically replied. “In any case, aren't you grounded, Rainbow Dash?”

“Yeah, but I know more than one way to escape my mom’s punishments. Besides, that’s not why I wanted to come here, Raine. I need to talk to you about something,” Rainbow Dash began but stopped midway. I looked at her and she just stared back at me.

“Go on, I’m listening, Rainbow Dash,” I told the filly.

“First, we should take this conversation elsewhere. Hey, what about that cloud over there?” She pointed at a cloud floating right above the stadium and quickly began to drag me there. I was curious as to why she wanted that conversation to remain a secret. “Okay, this should be fine right here.”

“You know, the more you drag this on, the more I get curious about what it is you want to tell me,” I teased her a bit, shoving her a bit with my right shoulder.

“It’s about my brother. Raine, I remember what you did for us back there. Even with all odds against you, you remained loyal to yourself and to those you cared about; those who truly cared for you for the first time. I know this may be a bit too much for a single mare to bear but please... look over my brother for me. He’s usually cool-headed but he can also be very reckless. Make sure he lives through this. Maybe defeating Nightmare Moon will make him stop grieving for me.”

“Rainbow... who or what are you?” I asked, scared a bit of what she had told me.

“I’m Rainbow Dash’s last strand of will. When I died at Nightmare Moon’s hooves, my soul shattered in several pieces that each went to some ponies. Those ponies were my family but Blitz... he’s still refusing to accept I’ve truly passed on. Deep down, he still wants to believe he can bring me back if he kills Nightmare Moon,” Rainbow Dash explained thoroughly.

I just stared silently at Rainbow Dash. The filly standing in front of me right now was just a representation of the real Rainbow Dash’s soul. I didn’t know how it had happened to begin with. Why was she in Blitz’s mind to begin with? Why did she ask me, of all ponies, to look over her brother? How did she enter my mind? Oh no...

I knew it! I was in another shared dream and soon, everything would just go wrong!

“So, do you think you can do it? Promise me you’ll look after my brother for me, Raine Moon!” This proud mare turned filly, Rainbow Dash, almost had a pleading voice. How could one resist to that and those eyes she had?

“I will. I’ll do my best, Rainbow Dash,” I answered, uncertain of what I was getting myself into.

“Aw yeah! That just officially made you twenty percent cooler!”

Just then, we both heard a laugh. Somepony was laughing at something and I recognized that laugh. It was imprinted in my brain. That laughter belonged to my mother and there was no mistaking it; she had found her way into my dreams or maybe this was Rainbow Blitz’s dream instead but that wasn’t important. I knew what she was after and that something was Rainbow Dash!

“Oh no! She found me!” Dash exclaimed suddenly before she looked at me with the biggest eyes I had ever seen in my life. “You’ll keep your promise, right?”

I nodded and she smiled. Then, an ominous force grabbed hold of her and she was dragged towards the ground. Even while she was being dragged away, she still stared at me and in her eyes was hope!

I knew that at that instant, there was no turning back from this promise I had just made.

Three words were heard in my dream and they resonated deep inside my own soul. I knew what it meant and it scared me because those were the same words that I heard when I had that shared dream with Sweetie Belle.

“Go to sleep!”

Finally, everything went black.

Raine Moon’s eyes shot open in an instant. Morning; she looked outside the window and noticed that it was morning. She was just about to submit to slumber but all of a sudden, she dragged herself out of it when she remembered the last part of her dream. Only one thing resonated deep in her mind: Nightmare Moon had found them yet again.

Her first idea was to wake everypony up but the thought of Dusk having a hangover and Origin still being out cold made her decision harder to make. Still, she decided to go wake Blitz and Origin up, even if she had to throw cold water at their faces. She began with Rainbow Blitz but he didn’t show any signs of waking up so she decided to take drastic measures.

She went downstairs and looked for a bucket or any sort of large recipient of water she could use to douse cold water on his head. She didn’t find a bucket unfortunately. She did find a jug in one of the shelves in the kitchen, though. She quickly filled it up with water using the kitchen sink; carefully making sure it wasn’t too heavy. The last thing she wanted was to drop it on the floor before she could use it on Blitz.

Raine Moon resisted the use of her wings so much when she made her way upstairs, partly because she knew that she would inevitably drop large amounts of water while flying upstairs. Finally, Raine went upstairs by foot and while it was a bit harder, and messier, it saved her a lot of unnecessary trouble.

The dark-blue Pegasus hurried to Rainbow Blitz’s room and once there, she raised the mug of water above the white Pegasus sleeping soundly in his bed and, without a moment’s hesitation, poured the entire content of the mug on Blitz’s head as she suppressed a grin. She, however, could not resist letting out a muffled snicker when the Pegasus stirred from his sleep in stupor.

Rainbow Blitz awoke in complete shock when something cold completely soaked his head. He looked right and left to see who the culprit was and once he saw Raine Moon standing in front of him with an empty mug that had once contained water, the pieces of the puzzle aligned themselves in his mind. What kind of mischief was she planning with Origin? That question roamed his mind but he figured he wouldn’t ask it anyway.

“Let me guess: Origin told you this would have been a funny idea?” asked the white Pegasus, a look on indifference and disapproval on his face.

“Actually, Origin’s knocked out and let’s just say I have some news that might... displease you...” Raine Moon replied. For some reasons unknown to Rainbow Blitz, Raine Moon was avoiding eye contact with his and every time he tried to initiate it, she would find a new way to counter him. That only served to pique Blitz’s curiosity and interest.

“What kind of news?” Blitz hesitantly asked, not exactly sure he wanted to know.

“Nightmare Moon’s found us.” Raine Moon’s answer had been flat and without emotions and that troubled Blitz a bit. Normally, the only notice of her mother’s name made her tremble in fear but now, she didn’t look all that afraid.

Still puzzled by how she knew that, Rainbow Blitz inquired, “But... how do you know that? How can you be sure that Nightmare Moon has indeed found us?”

“To be completely honest, ever since the incident with Rarity in Ponyville, I have certain dreams that I share with other ponies but in which I don’t exist. I’m just an intruder but I can still interact with it and last night, I was in your dreams, Blitz.

“I know that face, Rainbow Blitz,” Raine continued. “You doubt my words because it sounds unbelievable. I know I would if somepony else had told me that same thing but the fact remains that Nightmare Moon was present on the two times I had those dreams so that’s why I know she’s found us. Also, I’m so sorry, Blitz.”

“What do you mean when you say you’re sorry?” Rainbow Blitz as dread filled his whole being.

“There will be a battle today, “Raine Moon paused, collecting some courage to say the rest of what she had to say, “and it will be against your sister, Rainbow Dash.”

Raine Moon saw it clearly. She saw in Rainbow Blitz’s eyes that his resolve, his courage, his pride, everything that made the Pegasus who he was, crumble down when he heard that his sister would battle against them and that he would inevitably be forced to kill her. He wasn’t ready for that. He could not bring himself to even think of hurting Rainbow Dash. He shook his head and Raine saw tears starting to form just as they had the day before when he realized his parents weren’t there.

Before anything else happened, Raine Moon closed in for an embrace and she held him close to her, just like a mother would comfort her frightened foal. She told him that it would be okay and that if he couldn’t bring himself to fight her, she, along with Origin, would fight her and defeat her. That naturally brought up the question regarding Raine’s fighting abilities. From what Rainbow Blitz knew, she didn’t know the first thing about fighting or even killing.

While Raine would have wanted to cheer Blitz up a bit more, she had to go wake Origin as well. She knew it would be easier with the changeling because he wouldn’t be having a hangover but she was also aware that he would be harder to wake up than Rainbow Blitz.

First of all, she collected what she knew about the changeling based on his physical properties. She knew that he had a shell of chitin protecting his body from damages to a certain extent so it would it harder for the Pegasus to poke Origin until she woke him up. Okay, so I know about his shell of chitin and after that, I know that he’s… well, I know that he can… Raine Moon thought, still trying to figure out what she knew about Origin. Come to think of it, I don’t know all that much about Origin.

It was then that she had a sudden flashback that brought her back twenty years in the past when she had just met with Origin.

I sat on the cold ground while I was waiting for that strange creature that had recently stumbled in the cave I had called home for the last nine hundred years. I didn’t know what it was or if it had a set gender but upon examining it a bit, the possibility of it being male became greater and greater. In any case, the creature had stumbled in my cave a little while ago and had yet to awaken.

I’m not really good when it comes down to interacting with others, or whatever that creature was although it did resemble a pony. Another one of my personality issues was that I wasn’t really able to be mean or cruel to other ponies. I had found out later on with my life after I escaped from my mother’s clutches that I didn’t have it in me to hurt others.

I wanted to wake that creature but at the same time, each attempt I made at waking it up ended in me stopping myself because I felt bad about doing that to a creature I didn’t even know. I kept telling myself to muster some courage to wake it up but I was never able to do it. They say that we have to assume who we are in life and I was doing just that: I was assuming that I’m a big coward.

Of course, I had that little moment of clarity where I continuously put myself and told myself I was doing this for the creature and not for me, despite the fact that I wanted answers about the creature itself. In those five minutes, I built up a bit of confidence and took a deep breath and held it in.

“Wake up!” I shouted, completely emptying my lungs in the process. That had really hurt my throat, though.

“Gah!” The creature exclaimed in utter shock. It had nearly jumped to the rocky roof of the cavern we were in so much it was surprised by my sudden attempt at waking it up. On another point, the creature’s voice was clearly male. “What the hay was that for?! My ears are oversensitive, you know!”

I looked into his eyes. They had no irises or pupils. All I was looking at were blue eyes that were nearly glass-like. If they were anymore glass-like, I could see my reflection in those big, blue eyes. Apart from that, he had extremely thin wings on his back and a slightly curved horn on his forehead. Was he a creature my mother created to bring me back to her? If he was, I wouldn’t let myself be caught. I can’t go back to her!

And in turn, he stared at me as well. If he could, I’m certain he would be blushing at this moment. I didn’t mind him analyzing me the way he did because, to be completely frank, I had done the same to him just a few seconds earlier. From what I was seeing, he seemed almost captivated by my form and it showed in his eyes.

“Like what you’re seeing?” I asked tauntingly with a wry smile on my lips.

Oh, this was glorious! If he could blush through that shell of his, his face would be crimson red. The creature had staggered when I asked my question and I could only hold my laughter.  Eventually, I could hold it no longer and a snicker escaped me.

The creature glared at me and snapped, “Who are you to ask me that?!”

“Give me your name and I’ll give you mine,” I replied, much to the creature’s discontent.

I noticed that the creature twitched a bit and began stammering. I didn’t know if he could sweat with that black shell of his but his eyes, even though there wasn’t much to see in them, seemed overly hesitant. It was as if he was looking for a name to give me so I would give him my name.

“Do you have a name?” I asked him in a slightly concerned tone..

“Of course! My name is Number 157.”

“But... a number’s not a name. It’s just a way to identify an individual in a mass.” I had actually no idea where that came from. It just came out of my mouth.

“But it’s my name. I was born and given the number 157 as my name for the rest of my life,” the creature argued.

“Let me ask you something else: what are you?” I inquired as I still didn’t know what he was.

“Oh, I’m a changeling. We’re a race of ponies with bug-like appearances that can change form at will. Watch!”

In an instant, green flames swallowed the changeling, as he called himself, and it worried me a bit. After all, flames don’t just appear out of nowhere around somepony. I tried asking if he was okay but I got no responses whatsoever. That worried me even more. I was about to call out for him again but before I could do it, the flames disappeared as if they had never been there to begin with and before me stood an exact replica of myself.

“Ta-dah!”

Even the voice was the same... This changeling stuff just creeped me out. It felt really disturbing to know another creature could take my form and impersonate me with such ease.

“So... you’re a shapeshifting bug-like pony that can assume any form he lays eyes upon?” I asked, hoping I was somehow wrong in my assumption.

“Yup, you got that one right!” Dang it! Now that’s really disturbing.

“Okay, so since you can take the form of anything you lay eyes upon and since I’ve found you just recently, how about I call you Origin? Since I just met you and since this could be the beginning of some sort of friendship between us.”

“Origin... Hmm, I like that name. Very well, you can call me Origin but in turn, you’ll have to tell me your name now, milady.”

“All right. My name is...

I’m probably going to regret doing this, Raine thought after she had managed to make a way to Origin’s side.

During that flashback, she had remembered how sensitive changeling ears were, despite the fact Origin got yelled at a lot during the last month or so. Even so, Raine told Rainbow Blitz to close the room’s door shut as she would probably make a lot of noise.  The Pegasus collected her breath and held it in for a few seconds.

Then, she shouted, “Wake up, Origin!”

The green walls of the room felt like they were trembling after Raine Moon shouted and Origin’s eyes snapped open. The changeling jumped in the air so fast that he forgot to open his wings so he found himself falling down head first on the bed’s mattress, which was hard to a certain extent. Origin looked up and saw Raine Moon snickering while giving him a wry grinning.

“Enjoying yourself once more at my expense, milady?” Origin told Raine Moon with a humorous expression on his face.

“Who, me? Of course not! You know I’d never do such a thing, especially not the exact same thing in a nearly similar fashion.” Raine’s laughter filled the room and it was soon joined by Origin’s

“Of course you wouldn’t!” Origin said mockingly before his face became more serious once their laughter settled down. “Now, what is it that you need to tell me as I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have done this if there were no problems? So, what is it?”

“Always straight to the point. We have one big problem right now,” Raine said, her face as concerned as when she had told Rainbow Blitz about her dire news. “Nightmare Moon has found us.”

“Oh... that might cause some issues with our quest right now but I wonder who will she use to fight against us this time,” Origin said with a lack of complete emotions whatsoever as he wondered about who Nightmare Moon would use.

“She’s going to use Rainbow Dash this time. I saw it in my dream since it seems my mother likes to follow me even in my dreams,” Raine Moon explained.

“So, now that we know who’s gonna attack us, how do we say we prepare for it?” Origin asked the Pegasus.

“Well, unless we can convince Blitz to raise a hoof against his own sister and come up with a spell to help Dusk recover from all the alcohol he’s consumed, I’d say we’re pretty much alone in this one,” Raine answered the changeling.

“Oh joy!” Origin replied as he rolled his eyes. “And how do you expect, as a Pegasus that knows nothing about war and fighting, to be of help in a battle we have no idea what our odds will be? I am versatile but I’m not invincible and I don’t think I’ll be able to take Rainbow Dash on all by myself, Raine.”

“Well... I mean... I can buy you time or distract Rainbow Dash or any other way I can help you.  I can learn the ways of war, if it means I can help you!”

“You’re sweet and all but you’re too innocent to be tainted by the flames of war. You shouldn’t get yourself involved in something that’s beyond your current abilities,” Origin retorted. He had to deconstruct her arguments because Raine Moon was not meant for battle.

“We’re in a war, Origin. I’ve been involved in this war for the past month it’s lasted so far. I’ve changed, Origin. I’m bitterer than before, I have a shorter temper and I’ve looked at death on several occasions. This war is changing me, Origin, and I like this change! I can stand my ground as opposed to before and you can’t deny me those changes.” Raine’s gaze was fiercer than it had been in the last few weeks and Origin could only look at her, his mouth agape.

“That’s... the stupidest thing I’ve heard in the last few days. Just because you’ve been involved in a war doesn’t make you able to fight in that war. Civilians are involved in wars and yet they don’t fight. You’re not the type to take part in battles, Raine.”

“So, what are you going to do? Face Rainbow Dash alone? Let her kill us first before you get yourself involved; the facts are there, Origin. You can’t do this alone!” Raine told the changeling with anger in her voice.

“Let me get this clear: if you go out there unprepared as you are, you will not last long. Heck, you might even die if you do and I can’t guarantee your safety in that case. You mean the world to me, Raine and I wouldn’t want your death on my conscience,” Origin said calmly.

“You can’t stop me at this point, Origin, “Raine Moon replied, the same amount of anger still present in her voice. “I’m going to help you whether you want it or not!”

“You might die...” Origin muttered loud enough for Raine Moon to hear.

“And I don’t care. I want to help you and make you understand that you’re not alone in this.”

“My mind would be even more at peace if I knew you were in a safe place when Rainbow Dash attacks,” the changeling told the Pegasus.

“But we both know I won’t do that. I want to help you and I will help you.”

“Hey ponies! Guess who’s in town?!” a voice boomed from the outside.

“And here she is. Are you sure you still want to do this?” Origin asked Raine Moon.

The mare simply nodded as her sole answer.

“All right. Let’s do this. Just promise me you won’t do anything stupid.”

“I won’t.” Raine Moon gave him a warm smile and gently shoved him a bit. He knew she was trying to reassure him but it didn’t stop him from worrying anyway.

The duo slowly made their way out of the house, making as little noise as they could since they didn’t want to disturb the other too much even if Raine Moon knew that only Dusk Shine was still asleep, recovering from his hangover.

They slowly went down the stairs, cursing each time the wood creaked.

Finally, they crossed the door leading to the streets of Cloudsdale and almost instantly, Origin had summoned his green flames. In an instant, they had domed over him and they grew a bit in size before they vanished into the wind just as they had appeared.

Standing next to Raine Moon was not a changeling but instead a griffon. The blue mare gave him a glance and he returned it with his disturbing yellow eye. Raine Moon was a bit scared by that so she took a few steps to her left and continued to glance at him with a look that was almost accusing to the changeling’s understanding.

“What?” he asked, shocked by the fact that Raine was still looking at him like that. “Does my new form scare you that much or are you just that uneasy around griffons ever since Las Pegasus?”

“A bit of both, actually,” Raine Moon told him flatly.

“True, griffons did actually try to kill us both two weeks ago so I guess your fears are justified but in any case, we should get rea—” Raine had only seen a blur when something crashed into Origin and pinned him to the ground.

She turned around to see who or what it was and was surprised to see Rainbow Dash on top of Origin’s form. Sure enough, Raine Moon knew that Rainbow Dash was in the area but it was more the outfit that the cyan Pegasus had on her that surprised Raine.

She wore a grey armor that was in contrast with her cyan fur along with a helm that shielded most of her head and there were even blades along the edge of her wings. From Raine Moon’s perspective, those blades were extremely sharp and she was whispering something to Origin.

“Sorry to disappoint you, dear, but I’m already taken. Plus, I don’t really like you right now. You’re a bit too violent for my tastes, Rainbow Dash.” Origin managed to throw her off of him and quickly got back up.

“What?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed astonishingly. “You mean to tell me you’d want to be with that coward rather than me, the fastest Pegasus alive?”

“To be fair, yes. Besides, you and I aren’t really compatible with me being prideful and boastful too so with all due respect, I’ll have to decline your offer.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Origin charged at Rainbow Dash and swung one of his talons at her. She moved out of the way and retreated again when the changeling swung another talon her way. Rainbow Dash grinded her teeth after she evaded Origin’s second attack since he was hindering her movements to a great extent.

She looked to her side and saw Raine Moon standing still in a secluded area and Rainbow Dash pursed her lips in a smirk. She launched herself at the dark blue Pegasus and her smirk grew even more when she saw that Raine Moon froze in place when she saw what was coming her way. Rainbow Dash was going in for the kill and there was nothing to stop her, especially since she had gone in the opposite direction Origin was to begin with.

“Raine! Get out of there!” Origin cried out in an alarmed voice.

His voice managed to get her out of her frightened state and, seeing the impending threat coming her way, she spread her wings and took flight as soon as she could, evading a hit that would have made her head roll on the floor. Her eyes were wide with fear and she looked over at Origin, then again at Rainbow Dash, before going in for a dive.

However, Raine Moon had waited for too long and when she went for that dive of hers, her belly was scraped by one of Rainbow Dash’s wing blades. She yelped in pain and lost her balance in flight, soon losing control and crashing next to Origin. The changeling looked at her with a concerned look but she dismissed her wound in an attempt to be tougher.

“See what I meant when I said you weren’t fit on the battlefield?”

“Shut up! I’m fine!” She snapped.

“Now’s not the time to argue,” Origin said coldly. His eyes never left Rainbow Dash, tracking her every movement. “Is the wound serious?”

Raine Moon quickly looked at her wound. Fortunately, it wasn’t all that serious. In fact, Rainbow Dash’s wing blade had just drawn a bit of blood but nothing serious apart from that. It should scar pretty quickly, she thought. She then got back on her legs after checking her wound and got next to Origin.

“All right. Now that Rainbow Dash knows you’re an easy prey, we’ll be using that to our advantage. I know this sounds crazy but what I plan on doing is using you as bait so you can lead her to me. I’ll take care of the rest after that. Just be careful; Rainbow Dash has a lot more endurance than you do when it comes down to flying so naturally, she’s faster than you. She’ll try to attack again, aiming for you very soon and when she does, we’ll split up. You’ll act as bait, and I’ll go around the block.

“Keep her occupied until then. If everything goes to plan,” Origin continued, “I’ll catch her by surprise and I’ll be able to crack that armor of hers.”

Raine Moon nodded. As instructed, she waited for Rainbow to attack. The armored mare took longer to attack than Origin had thought and when she did, the duo split up, forcing Rainbow Dash to concentrate on only one of them. Unlike what Origin would have wanted, she went after the changeling after he had split up.

Blast it! Did she figure out my plan or what? Origin thought. He was a bit too busy evading most of Rainbow Dash’s countless attacks to really think about that.

Seeing as Rainbow Dash was faster than he was, Origin opted that wits would be better in this fight. He rolled to his left in order to avoid one of Rainbow Dash’s wing blades and smashed his left side in a wall, breaking through it and crashing on the hard floor of a house in the middle of Cloudsdale.

Rainbow Dash landed in front of him and snickered. Well, Nightmare Moon may have been able to corrupt her essence but she still seems pretty high of herself, although that could still be something that came along the corruption, Origin thought while Rainbow Dash walked towards him with a look of victory on her face. Time to wipe that smile off her face!

Origin, having already devised a tactic of his own, stayed down and waited for the Pegasus in front of him to get even closer. He hoped Rainbow Dash would get right in front of him but even then, he knew well enough that he couldn’t get everything he wanted in life. Either way, he subtly moved his right talon so he could put his plan into motion if all the elements came into place.

“Hey Rainbow Dash! With all that armor on, I don’t think you should call yourself the fastest Pegasus in all of Equestria. I think that you should call yourself the slowest Pegasus in Equestria as of now,” Raine Moon shouted from outside with a certain determination in her voice.

Oh no... Raine, what are you doing? Origin moved his head to his left only to see Raine Moon, who was trying to provoke Rainbow Dash and unfortunately succeeded.

“Raine, get out of here! You don’t stand a chance against her!” Origin yelled aggressively, even surprising Raine.

But it was already too late. Rainbow Dash had already turned around. The armor-clad pony took flight and forced Raine Moon to flee, leaving Origin behind. Raine tried to shake Rainbow Dash off but it was to no avail. The Pegasus that was chasing her possessed more flying skills than she did.

Raine Moon started panicking upon realizing that she wouldn’t be able to escape Rainbow Dash and that her death would come soon. She thought of a maneuver but before she could even perform that maneuver, she felt a pair of hooves hit her back, locking her wings instantly. She screamed in pain as Rainbow Dash’s hooves connected with her spine and slightly moved her vertebrae in a painful manner.

With her wings completely locked, Raine Moon’s panic grew even more when she was pushed through the cloud floor of Cloudsdale by Rainbow Dash. She was sure of it; Raine Moon was sure that she was about to die. She closed her eyes and waited for the impact to come. Sure, she knew it would take more than a few seconds but she still prepared for her death nonetheless.

But... it never came.

Raine Moon opened her eyes and saw that Origin was holding her in his left talon and he was giving her a death glare that made her feel really uncomfortable. At that moment, she wished she had been a turtle so she could hide away in her shell to avoid the glare that Origin was giving her.

“See? That’s what I meant when I said you don’t know the first thing about fighting and that I couldn’t completely guarantee your safety! If I had been incapacitated, what would have had happened? You could’ve died!” Origin bellowed with pure rage.

“I’m sorry,” Raine started to sob as tears began to form in her eyes, her voice weak and trembling. “I just wanted to help you. I really wanted to, I mean it!”

“I know you wanted to but you know nothing about war or even one on one battles. You can’t fight Raine so why don’t you just stay back from now on. I don’t want your death on my conscience!” Origin said coldly while keeping his glare on the Pegasus in his left talon. “Do you think you’ll be alright to fly?”

“Yeah, I think so. My wings locked because of the shock and pain but I think I’m gonna be okay,” she said hesitantly, staring at the ground in pure fear. “Just... um... stay close in case if I’m not able to fly.”

“Ugh, we don’t have the time to do this. We’ve got a Pegasus bent on killing us,” Origin told Raine Moon.

“You think I don’t know that? I saved your life, Origin, and this is how you thank me? By being rude to me?”

“You saved my life? Ha! As if! Back in that house, I had moved my right talon so I could easily extend it and grab Rainbow Dash by the neck if she came too close,” Origin roared at the Pegasus he was holding in his large talons. “If anything, you just got in the way of my plan and you ruined it!”

“What?” She said in shock. Her voice was trembling still. “But... Rainbow Dash had you cornered...”

“Yes, she did,” Origin replied with hostility still present in his voice as he continued to stare at the clouds above, “but it wasn’t anything I hadn’t planned beforehand. I know my way around war; I’ve waged war and I know more than one way to get myself out of a sticky situation. You don’t and that’s why you should stay away from Rainbow Dash!”

“You know... if you guys wanted some alone time, you should have just told me,” Rainbow Dash said, her voice echoing through the city and below Cloudsdale. “Blegh, I can’t believe I just heard you guys argue like an old couple!”

She appeared in their sight when she dove through the clouds of Cloudsdale with her forehooves placed in front of her body. She smashed through a few other clouds with ease, sending waves of rainwater at Origin and Raine. The water soaked Raine’s fur and Origin’s feathers but other than that, it did nothing more to the changeling’s ability to fly.

“Well, you’re not far off, Rainbow Dash. We met each other twenty years ago and we’ve loved each other since then so in a way, we are an old couple,” Origin replied. If he didn’t have that beak of his, his grin would have been visible along with that witty expression in his eyes.

“You guys make me sick! I should just kill you off right now!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“Dashie, stop!” Rainbow Blitz’s voice rang through the sky.

He dove through the cloud floor of Cloudsdale and quickly placed himself between Rainbow Dash and Origin, who was still holding Rain Moon, while giving a look that pleaded Rainbow Dash to stop attacking his two companions.

As for Rainbow Dash, she just glared at her brother. But there was something in his eyes that stopped her from going through with her task. The armor-clad Pegasus hesitated for a moment but she put on a glare once more and aimed it at the three ponies in front of her.

“Get out of the way, Blitz, or I’ll have to kill you first,” she said firmly.

“Dashie... I don’t want to fight you. Correction; I can’t fight you.”

“Well, that’s too bad. I’ll have to kill you today but first, I’m gonna deal with Raine Moon right there since she was the first target I was assigned to. Don’t worry; you’re the third one on the list, right after Dusk Shine.”

“Dashie! What’s gotten into you?! You’ve never been that way before. Sure, you like extreme sensation stuff but you’ve never been a murderer!” Rainbow Blitz cried out, nearly pleading his sister into stopping what she was planning to do.

“It’s no use, Blitz. She may look like Rainbow Dash and she may possess her memories, but that’s just a shell Nightmare Moon uses to toy with you. More specifically, she wants to toy with you and take away your will to fight before killing you. She’s done the same thing with Applejack before, remember?”

“Still, I can’t fight my own sister, Origin. I just can’t,” Blitz argued.

“So be it,” Origin said coldly. “Raine, get back to Blitz’s house.”

“But... what about Rainbow Dash? What’s going to happen to her?” Raine queried, puzzled by the reason as to why the changeling ordered her to go back.

“Go!” He roared, scaring her in the process. “I’ll deal with her. If you stay, you’ll just be a hindrance to me. Now go and stay safe.”

“Aw, isn’t that sweet? An old couple having their first argument. How utterly cheesy and disgusting! Blegh, that’s so uncool!” Rainbow Dash stuck out her tongue and gave Origin a taunting grin as she acted like she was about to puke over the scene she had witnessed.

Origin let go of Raine and she surprisingly flapped her wings successfully and gained in altitude. She made her way to the clouds that served as Cloudsdale and went through the cloud floor and completely disappeared out of sight. Rainbow Dash was about to go after her but she was stopped in her tracks rather harshly when Origin flew right in front of her, forcing her to go into a loop only to break it in half and place herself in front of Origin once more.

“Your fight’s with me, Rainbow Dash. Now, prepare yourself! En garde!” Origin exclaimed, lunging his sharp claws at Rainbow Dash.

The Pegasus evaded his first attack but was caught off guard when Origin kicked her with his rear legs. She was sent hurling on a cloud and glared at the changeling in griffon form, nearly blowing smoke out of her nostrils. She got back up on her hooves and shot right upwards towards Origin, ramming her forehooves in his belly.

The air was knocked right out of the changeling’s lungs and he gasped for air for a split moment. He swung a claw at Rainbow Dash but he missed her and ended up inflicting a wound on his belly, causing him to roar in pain as Rainbow Dash continued to push him upwards. On top of his new wound, the force that Rainbow Dash used to push him made his body weight tons. He tried to move even his forelegs but to no avail; his limbs were simply too heavy for him to even lift them.

Then it came: Rainbow Dash rammed him through the cloud floor of Cloudsdale and through a house. His screams rang through the city before gravity started to do its job; quickly pulling the changeling towards the ground. The impact he had taken after being pushed through an entire house nearly knocked him unconscious; making him extremely dizzy and disoriented all the while.

He fell through the sky at a high speed in a near unconscious state in which he couldn’t really feel anything. He could feel the winds ruffling his feathers but he didn’t hear the shrieks the wind made in his ears.

“—gin!”

Whose voice is this? It sounds... familiar to my ears, Origin wondered.

“—rigin!”

Who’s calling me? I can’t see anything...

“Origin!”

R-Raine...? What is she doing here? I told her to go back and stay out of this! Origin revolted in his mind.

His sense returned to him and he regained his sight a few second afterwards. He quickly turned his head and saw how close he was from the ground. His mind fell back on survival instinct, trying hard to extend a wing. He screamed in pain as he pushed his left wing outwards and once he did, the velocity and the pressure of the wind started to make his body, however heavy it was, turn over. Although it felt like the wind wanted to shred his wing apart, he endured the pain. His body completely turned over, allowing him to regain control of his flight. His wings were inflated with the hot air around him, now brushing against his wings and feather in a gentler manner even if his body was still sore from his recent endeavour.

“Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay, Origin!” Raine Moon exclaimed, letting out a sigh of relief as she joined up with Origin.

“I thought I had told you to stay away from the fight!” Origin bellowed, his eyes glaring into Raine Moon’s eyes and she felt as if he was staring into her soul; she instinctively felt even smaller in comparison to the changeling, whimpering as he continued to glare her way. “What were you thinking?! You know as well as I do that she is after your blood! What if she had killed you while you—GAH!” Origin clutched a claw over his open and bleeding wound, an unusual amount of blood flowing through the gash.

Raine quickly flew over to Origin’s side, a horrified expression upon her visage when she saw the size of the wound Origin bore on his underbelly. She quickly inquired in shock, “Dear Celestia! Are you alright, Origin?”

“Yes, I’ll live but I’m losing blood faster than how I would want it to be. If anything, I would need to leech some energy off of you so I can just heal the wound partly. It would be enough to close it but it would still be fragile; any impact on the area would just reopen the wound itself,” Origin explained while Raine nodded.

“Alright, if I can help you that way, I’m glad to help you...” Raine still looked worried about the changeling though her expression had changed to be replaced by a warmer expression. There were no ways of dispelling her worries for the changeling’s condition.

“Um... Raine?” Origin asked the Pegasus.

“Yes, what is it?”

“Did you leave Dusk all alone in Blitz’s house with that hangover he’s got?”

“Yes... I guess I did...” Raine said hesitantly. “I’m an idiot, aren’t I?”

“Yes. Yes you are. Now, let’s get this over with so we can go try to avert a disaster.”

“R-right...”

Origin receded into his mind and allowed his magic field to roam around his surroundings, engulfing Raine’s presence and aura completely. He could hear her heartbeat and the silent melody it produced. He heard the buzzing of the insects flying around, the small squeaks of the critters roaming on the ground, the melodious breeze of the wind.

He felt his feathers, one by one, being brushed aside by the wind. He inhaled the air, filling up his lungs exponentially, exhaling shortly afterwards. He allowed his magic to find its way to Raine Moon, forcing its way through her mind and heart, making the small Pegasus cringe and yelp in surprise, discomfort and pain.

He saw it all; he saw her dreams, her fears, her deepest secrets, her aspirations and her hopes. They were all flowing around him like shoaling fish, overwhelming his senses, infatuating his mind with emotions he could not process all at once. Even though he was in her soul through his mind, he felt as if he was going to puke from the vast amount of emotions, bad and good, he was ingesting at a rate that was far greater than what he had anticipated.

He quickly pulled out of her mind so he would not starve her of her own emotions. It would be shameful indeed if Raine Moon were to die because of a mistake. Once he was back to reality and in his own body, he already felt better than before, although his underbelly still hurt him as much as before. It had been sealed close but the fur that was there still felt fragile.

Origin then looked at Raine Moon and they both nodded, reaching in altitude at a decent pace. Compared to Rainbow Dash’s speed, they were slow but it gave them time to think of a plan. Origin initiated the conversation by talking about what they knew so far about Rainbow Dash.

They detailed how she moved, the way she flew when she attacked, the way she flew normally, her endurance even with the armor she was wearing. Of course, they also tried to detail her weaknesses but as they had seen before, she was right in her element whereas Origin was at a disadvantage because he had never flown for so much and for such a reason too.

The air became harder to breathe and Raine Moon’s chest heaved heavily. The sweat rolling on her face and through her fur further demonstrated how exhausted she had become from their ascent. As for Origin, he had also a small issue with breathing the surrounding air but it hardly was anything that was worth worrying for him. He was affected by the change in the atmospherical pressure too but his unique physiology allowed for him to modify his lungs at will.

The pair burst through the cloud floor of Cloudsdale and Origin automatically scouted his surroundings, searching for the cyan Pegasus that served as their foe. When he saw nothing, he puffed up his chest let out in a screech, “Rainbow Dash! Come out. We have unfinished business to take care of.”

“You’re still alive? Talk about being persistent, big guy,” Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes in annoyance as she said it.

“You better get used to it because I’m not going anywhere. Well, unless you know my main weakness, which I’m pretty sure you don’t, you are going to have a hard time killing me.”

A gust of wind carrying leaves blew in the wind and aimed at Rainbow Dash, the leaves ruffling against her fur and feathers, tickling her a bit and making her giggle softly at the treatment she was receiving. However, when she looked over where Origin and Raine had been a few seconds before, she saw neither of them.

In a split second, she began to have trouble breathing and for some strange reasons, she felt a pressure around her neck and also felt something sink in her flesh. It took moments for her to notice that Origin had grabbed her neck. The information, though, registered too late as she was soon sent hurling through a house’s wall, crashing through the floor and shattering part of the house’s structure.

She screamed in pain when she felt the debris and shrapnel prod and penetrate her skin. Her left wing ended up with a beam crushing it. The pain was intense and her eyes rolled a bit on the inside, letting several groans and screams of pain while she tried to remove the beam by herself. Her armor had been broken on several spots, revealing some shards of it plunged deep in her flesh, drawing blood and staining her cyan coat in blood.

If Rarity had been there, no doubt she would have complained about the awful mix the red blood had and the cyan fur covering Rainbow Dash’s body but the fashionista wasn’t there to begin with. Strangely, she felt the pressure the beam applied on her and she let out a small sigh of relief upon feeling the pressure disappearing.

It was when she raised her head to see who had did it that her expression changed from a relieved one to a terrified one. The griffon looming over her looked at Rainbow Dash with a wicked grin. The bloodlust she felt made her blood run cold. Her form trembled, her pupils contracted, shrinking into small orbs that were no bigger than peas.

“Stop! Don’t kill her!” Rainbow Blitz’s voice rang through the house.

Rainbow Dash saw a shadow move over her and it took her a few seconds to realize that her brother was standing between her and Origin.

“What are you doing, Blitz?! Get out of the way!” Origin ordered, eyeing the white Pegasus with a harsh glare but without leaving Rainbow Dash out of his sight.

“No! I won’t let you kill my sister, even if she’s being used by Nightmare Moon,” Blitz replied with the same glare and a renewed determination.

“It’s either that or she will kill us all, Blitz! She tried to kill Raine, she tried to kill me, and she’s going to try to kill you and Dusk Shine. She’s not your sister anymore. It’s just a parasite wearing her skin with the mission of killing us programmed into her head. She won’t change for you because she isn’t Rainbow Dash!”

Origin blinked, his brain not even registering the jab Rainbow Blitz had hit him with. He was thrown against the wall and looked up to the white Pegasus, a death glare on his face. His distorted visage was twisted by anger, lines of steam were running down his nostrils and the sound of his clenching teeth filled the room.

“Shut up!” Blitz roared, approaching the downed changeling bit by bit. “Just shut up! She’s my sister! She’s my damn sister and nopony’s going to change that. Not you, not anypony else!

“And besides, what would you know about having a family? You’re a bloody changeling for all we care. You’re just hatched from eggs your little queen lays. You have no family. You can’t possibly begin to understand how I f—”

A clawed hand grabbed hold of his neck and began to tighten the hold on the Pegasus’ body. Blitz looked down from his current position and noticed that Origin’s eyes had shifted from a light green to a deep blue.

“I don’t know what a family is? You’re telling me, a pony that’s about twice your age right now, that I don’t know anything about having a family? You’re telling me that I can’t understand how you feel? Is that what you’re saying, you rotten pile of crap?” Origin bellowed with a rage that Blitz had yet to encounter from the changeling before.

All that Rainbow Blitz could do was nod his head slowly and hesitantly, while fear filled every fiber of his being.

“Now, you better listen carefully, Rainbow Blitz”—the venom contained in Origin’s voice managed to make both Rainbow Blitz and Rainbow Dash’ blood run cold, giving them both shivers to a new degree—“because I’m not going to repeat myself. I know what it’s like to have a family. Before I became a changeling, I was a pony nearing his twenties. I have a sister! I have parents! And did you ever consider how much it pains me on a daily basis to just think that if I show my form to them, they might call me a monster and run away? Did you ever consider my pain?”

Silence befell the room.

“Hmm, I guess you didn’t. Now stand aside, I’ve got somepony to kill!” said the changeling, releasing the Pegasus from his hold.

However, Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be seen. Damn it! She must have fled while I was giving Blitz a piece of my mind! Origin roared on the inside. He still looked around just to be sure she wasn’t hiding anywhere but even her scent, her fear, could not be found by Origin’s sensors. He stomped the ground with his left claw, sending jolts of pain up his front leg, and it cracked the floor beyond repairs.

Without even looking at Rainbow Blitz, Origin stormed out of the remains of the house they had been in and tried to find Rainbow Dash. He didn’t find her and that frustrated him. He looked down on Cloudsdale with a bird’s-eye view but he still couldn’t find Rainbow Dash.

What she had told him and Raine a while before popped back in his mind, jolting his memory. He remembered what she had told him and Raine: she would murder Raine and then proceed in doing the same with Dusk Shine. Everything started to align in his mind and the pieces of the puzzle placed themselves.

He was about to go into a dive but just as he was about to do so, his form vanished into thin air. His eyesight faltered a bit, nearly giving in. He felt himself fall down from the sky as the wind acted like acid on his belly. The last thing he saw before his vision went pitch black was a stream of blood flowing out of his belly.

The rest... is up to you, Blitz, Origin told himself weakly before he lost consciousness. You’re the only one who can still fight...

His limp body collided with the clouds with a loud thump that resonated throughout a large radius in the town.

“Whaa...? What are you... doing, Raine?” Dusk Shine asked through his hiccups.

“I’m trying to save your life, idiot!” Raine replied harshly.

“Hey! That was uncalled for,” he whined.

“You’re the one that got drunk and got this hangover of yours in the first place. It’s your own fault, Dusk!”

Raine Moon was trying to escape from Rainbow Dash at all costs but with her carrying Dusk Shine around, it slowed her down a lot so she had resigned herself to the fact that she would have to stay in the cyan Pegasus’ blind spot. But it was a hard task as Rainbow Dash was a much more capable flyer than Raine Moon.

She halted her mind from thinking once more when Rainbow Dash came back for another attack and Raine Moon reacted through instincts, slightly diving in order to evade the other Pegasus. The main drawback to Raine carrying Dusk Shine was that when she went down into dives like those, the added weight made it harder for her to regain her balance.

Raine tried to regain her balance and flapped her wings intensely, so much she felt her muscles stretch to their limits, causing her an awful lot of aching. That alone nearly locked her wings but she couldn’t afford to give up! She needed to stay alive and she had to protect Dusk at all costs, especially considering her was in no condition to fight at all.

“Rainbow Dash! Can’t you fight her? Can’t you fight what it is that binds you to Nightmare Moon’s will and orders?”

“What are you talking about? If I kill you, I’ll stop you from turning Cloudsdale into ruins; she told me that you would do that if you were left alive. I will defend Cloudsdale against you two!”

The cyan Pegasus came back in a dive, aiming right for Raine Moon’s right wing with her own wing blade. She smirked as she grew in closer and closer. Raine’s eyes went wide, her pupils reduced to the size of peas, when she realized that there was not enough time for her to evade Rainbow Dash with her carrying Dusk Shine.

She closed her eyes and prepared herself for the end; feeling the movement of the air around her against her fur and feathers. She felt nothing at all but in her shock, she realized she dropped Dusk Shine.

“Dusk!” Rainbow Blitz yelled when he saw Dusk Shine fall into the sky, gravity dragging him towards the ground.

The white Pegasus went into a dive, chasing after a falling Dusk Shine. The wind’s full might lashing at his face and body made it seems as if his fur and skin were going to come off with the amount of pressure that was applied against his body from his atmospheric descent. But no matter how fast he was going down, he never seemed to be able to catch up to Dusk.

Images of him finding Dusk Shine’s body on the ground, in small parts after hitting the ground at full speed. The mere thought of finding Dusk’s bloody remains scattered on the ground made Blitz’s blood boil and his will was renewed. He closed his wings a bit so they wouldn’t get torn apart by the wind that was lashing out against him and tried to do the one thing he had never been able to do before: a sonic rainboom.

And it was all for the sake of saving his friend from plummeting to his death!

Blitz entire body began to tremble and his newfound strength faltered away bit by bit the more he chased after Dusk Shine. The air was already hard to breathe at this point and if that wasn’t enough, the surrounding pressure that was applied on his body made it hard for him to breathe correctly and his vision wavered. Between his actual sight and total void, his vision shifted from one another at any given moment.

That’s when he realized that his lack of oxygen and the atmospheric pressure around were causing this and that if nothing was done, he would lose consciousness. He fought it with all of his being. His eyes began to fill with water and specks of tears flew away from his eyes while he tried to keep a clear view of Dusk Shine.

He felt it! He felt his body touch the boundaries of the wall of sound and it hurt him. It hurt so much that he felt like his body had been stripped of his fur completely and that all that pressure was crushing his bare skin. Needless to say, it brought it a great deal of pain altogether. He was in so much pain; so much he thought he was going to pass out from the pain. However, he stayed strong and fought it, slowly entering the wall of sound.

He entered its narrow path; the pressure around him indicated him as much. At that point, his insides felt like they were all being crushed, his gut twisted in all directions while his stomach was being crushed and released over and over again. He could feel his bile land on his tongue and fill his mouth, bringing about its distasteful and horrible sensation all over his mouth. That alone was about to make him throw over but he had a pride that stopped him from doing that.

He was even closer now. He felt like he was just before the barrier of sound. He knew he was a step away from a sonic rainboom and he was just a few dozens of meters away from Dusk Shine. That fact alone invigorated him once more but reality had other plans for him. A few hundreds of meters away from where they were was the solid ground. If Rainbow Blitz hesitated for more than a second to go into a sonic rainboom, he would be rendered unable to save Dusk Shine.

There’s no going back now! I’ve got to do it! Rainbow Blitz roared in his mind.

He was feeling his forelegs stretch against the wall of sound, searching to breach it at all costs. Come on! Just a little bit more, you can do it Blitz! Rainbow Blitz fought against the resistance the wall of sound offered him as he prodded and stretched its surface. And there it was: the small opening in the wall of sound; the white Pegasus could nearly touch it. He tried to extend his hooves towards the small hole but he then felt it reject him all the while. He was being pushed back and pulled out against his will and he would not have it.

Rainbow Blitz flapped his wings faster and stronger; throwing his weight towards his forehooves and that when it happened: he had broken the wall of sound after so many efforts. At least, all of his efforts were not for naught. With them, he would be able to save Dusk Shine.

“I can’t believe it! I can’t believe I finally did it! I did a sonic rainboom!” Rainbow Blitz exclaimed in both surprise and euphoria.

But... as much as he was glad he had finally performed a sonic rainboom, he turned his attention to Dusk Shine again and with his newfound speed, Rainbow Blitz managed to catch up to the speed at which Dusk Shine was falling. Not even looking at the rainbow trail his tail somehow left behind as he dived through the sky, he attempted extending his forelegs to their limits.

He could nearly feel it; he nearly felt his hooves touch Dusk Shine’s tail but he still wasn’t able to grab him. The clock was ticking and there was not a lot of time left for the unicorn before he would go ‘splat’ on the ground. No matter, Blitz dismissed the thought and flapped his wings harder; exerting them to nigh exhaustion. He knew that they wouldn’t last song at that rate what with all the atmospheric pressure around. There was no telling how long they would last.

Just a little bit more, Rainbow Blitz repeated in his mind. Just a little bit more and...

Rainbow Blitz touched Dusk Shine’s tail with his hooves and clenched both hooves on the strands he had at his disposal. Sure enough, the pain that ensued was enough to jolt Dusk out of his unconsciousness with a loud scream filled with pain. Blitz’s ears flipped back and he winced a bit but he took it.

Got you!

Reality had others plans, he realized, when he saw how close he was from the ground. It was like being slapped by the wind a thousand times. There weren’t a lot of options for him to pick from and hesitation was now his worst enemy but he couldn’t afford to hesitate in this situation. He had to act; reality asked—nay, demanded—him to act with the utmost haste.

A few curses escaped his mind and roamed free through his subconscious, reverberating against the invisible walls of his immaterial cognitive construct. Not long after, he grunted a bit before he looked at Dusk Shine straight in the eyes, his strong gaze somehow reassuring the unicorn, who returned his gaze with a smirk and warm, trusting expression in his eyes, the fires of their bonds as friends burning ever so stronger.

“I’m sorry in advance, Dusk. This is going to hurt me more than it’s going to hurt you.”

“What are you talking ab—Gah!” Dusk Shine roared in pain, his body jerking and jolting when Rainbow Blitz clenched his teeth on his tail. The pain he received right after when his Pegasus friend pulled on his tail was so great that he thought and felt like it was just going to be torn and he would fall down to his death, with no one to save him. “Son of a—”

But Blitz didn’t have time to dwell on apologies. Time was of the essence, slowly eating away his chances of survival. Beads of sweat formed themselves on his face, soaking his fur and his mangled mane, and waited to be blown away in the wind; the cold touch they left on his face as they were grabbed by the wind made Rainbow Blitz groan in discontent. He didn’t like it one bit.

His mind was steaming with all he had to manage at the same time. He felt like a liter of water was boiling in his head and wreaking havoc in his mind. Pain disfigured him; his eyes were half-shut from the physical strain his body was enduring. His muscles ached, his bones trembled, his tendons suffered from various spasms. His body was taken over by pain and Rainbow Blitz’s conscience was flooded by panic and visions of failure.

There was one thing that stopped him from giving in to his pain: willpower. Just as cannonballs would break through solid walls, his willpower, his determination, his will to protect and save his best friend all joined together to break through his pain. Groaning and grunting in pain, he used every ounce of his remaining strength to push his body upwards.

Gusts of wind met him with great opposition, resisting his wanting to avoid plummeting to his death. Not matter, he dismissed it and continued break his fall. The cries of terror and help from Dusk Shine rang empty in Rainbow Blitz’s ears. They reached his auditory receivers but his mind was so set on surviving that nothing passed through it.

Finally, with much effort and a body completely ravaged by pain, Rainbow Blitz had managed to break his fall and stabilize his flight pattern a few meters away from the ground. Granted, that had been the craziest thing he’d done in his life. He lifted his head to look upwards and despite the great distance between them, Rainbow Blitz could see the glare that Rainbow Dash was shooting in his way. His body was a waste; the physical strain he had suffered from with his sonic rainboom had numbed and torn apart some nerves throughout his body.

I can’t give up now. Somepony has to stop her and that’s going to be me! he exclaimed in his mind, his voice echoing through a deep abyss of silence. Deep, silent and complete.

Soon after he landed, he gave Dusk Shine the time to get on his hooves and nearly have a taste of the grass on the ground. While it made Rainbow Blitz eye his friend with a mix of concern and confusion. He dismissed it and told the unicorn that Ponyville was an hour of travel from where they were. He also told him to go wait there for him to return with the others.

“Wait!” Dusk Shine interjected, grabbing the white Pegasus’ tail with his magical aura. “You’re going after her, aren’t you?

“Yeah. Someone’s got to stop her,” Rainbow Blitz answered flatly.

“You’ve got that look in your eyes again... Fine, I won’t object.”

“Thanks, Dusk. I promise I’ll be back and when I do, I’ll have saved my sister from Nightmare Moon!”

“Then go! Go before it’s too late!”

[size=10][/size]

Raine Moon hid behind the ruined remains of a building that once stood tall but met an unfortunate fate when Origin and Rainbow Dash clashed. The blue Pegasus’ chest heaved heavily and she was stressed out, her eyes darting towards any sounds that were near her. A sudden gust of wind nearly made her shriek in surprise. She had shoved her hooves so hard over her mouth that she already felt pain coming over her.

She was sweating abundantly; her eyes had shrunk down to the size of tiny marbles and her ears were splayed, listening to every little sound that surrounded her but not matter how hard she tried, she was not able to hear Rainbow Dash at all.

“Where are you, Raine Moon? Come out so I can finally kill you,” Rainbow Dash said out loud. “Besides, you won’t last very long with those wounds of yours.”

Raine Moon could only sigh a bit before looking down at her body and gazing at her injuries once more. Her coat was drenched with beads of sweat and blood. The smell the two made when mixed rose up to her muzzle and the scent was enough to make her eyes spin and for her stomach to turn upside down, making bile rise up her throat; burning her esophagus as it worked its way to her tongue, bringing on about a rather unpleasant feeling.

“Found you!” Rainbow Dash let out while she looked down at Raine Moon from the top of the shattered wall she was hiding behind. “Now do me a pleasure and just die already!”

“Stop. Right. There! I won’t allow you to continue your rampage!” Rainbow Blitz shouted, bursting from the clouds and surprising Rainbow Dash a bit.

“You’re still alive?!” She asked, taken aback by his sudden appearance. “But how? That fall should have led you to you and your friend’s deaths!”

“It would have indeed done so but I’ve done the impossible; the unpredictable. I’ve done a sonic rainboom!”

“What! That can’t be true!” Rainbow Dash protested, yelling back at her brother and shooting a glare his way. “I’m the only Pegasus that’s ever done a sonic rainboom!”

“Shut up! Don’t act like you’re my sister, you idiot!” Rainbow Blitz snapped. A burning rage was growing in his eyes.

“Come now, Blitz... Y-you wouldn’t hit you little sister. It’s me, Rainbow Dash!” The cyan Pegasus was stammering helplessly, her eyes trembling; her body hesitating. She was experimenting fear and it wasn't something she was welcoming with open arms.

“You’re not my sister, you freak! My sister would never even think of hurting Dusk! Sure, those two didn’t get along pretty well at first but they grew to become good friends between each other! Because of that, I have come to the conclusion that you are not my sister but a shadow using her skin to hurt those I care about!” Rainbow Blitz was brief and straight and wasted no more words on the matter.

A sonic boom was heard throughout the area, resonating against clouds and buildings alike, deafening those around, and Rainbow Blitz was already attacking the creature that was wearing her sister’s skin. The confused and astonished Rainbow Dash hardly had enough power over her body to defend herself against her brother’s assault.

Her limbs were tied to her body and no matter how hard she tried to break free of what was happening to her, nothing worked. She felt like her limbs were sewn on her body. The unknown force that held her down like that was slowly destroying her. Another hit to the face; her already sore face that was filled with bruises on top of having a black eye and a few broken teeth. The taste of iron that her blood filled her mouth and olfactory bulb with disgusted her but in the position she was in, she could hardly spit out all that blood.

You are weak, meek pony! Why are you hesitating so much? The voice ringing in Rainbow Dash’s mind was both unknown and familiar. She was sure she had heard it before though she couldn’t remember where or when.

This is my brother! I can’t just hurt him just like that! Rainbow Dash replied to the voice in her head.

You are too hesitant. I will relinquish your control over this body and assume control of it until that brother of yours is dead.

Rainbow Dash never had time to reply to this unknown voice. Her consciousness was suddenly pulled out of her body. She clung on the last strings that bound her to her mind; her conscious mind. However, the force pulling her was stronger than she had anticipated and despite her struggles and her screams, her voice soon disappeared in an abyss along with her consciousness.

On the outside, there were not a lot of changes that occurred to Rainbow Dash when the other presence took over. The main things that changed were her eyes and her voice. Her eyes had slit pupils, like Spike’s pupils, but as turquoise as Raine Moon’s eyes while her voice was deeper and almost seemed like it had an echo to it in Blitz’s ears.

“Ah, Lieutenant Blue Streak. We meet again,” began the voice that did not belong to Rainbow Dash in a sinister snicker that sent shivers down Rainbow Blitz’s spine. “My, how time flies by so quickly. The last time we’ve seen each other as foes was at Appleloosa. It is still a shame that you had to ruin that little party of ours there by knocking all those villagers unconscious”

“I knew it!” Rainbow Blitz exclaimed in victory. “You never were my sister. You’re just a prideful bitch that used her skin to dispose of your foes with more ease! Aren’t you, Nightmare Moon?!”

“How perceptive of you, Lieutenant Blue Streak! But you are forgetting one small detail... This body I’m using and your sister’s personality weren’t made out of nothing.”

Rainbow Blitz asked that Nightmare Moon explain what she meant by that last sentence of hers and he got a rather disturbing answer. Nightmare Moon told him that the ponies she manipulated were mainly dead ponies but before she could summon them, she needed something to allow her to summon forth the pony she wanted. What she needed were dreams; or more specifically, the essence of those ponies that were left imprinted in the mind of another.

When asked what this had to do with Rainbow Dash, Nightmare Moon told him flatly that she used the essence that had been imprinted into his mind to summon forth the last living memory of the pony she wished to summon.

“Stupid! You are so stupid!” Rainbow Blitz burst out laughing; his laugh was uncontrolled and almost maniacal.

“And how I am stupid? I took down three of your comrades? I hold the advantage here and you’re about to lose your life” Nightmare Moon replied.

“You were stupid enough to explain to me how you do your dream stuff and you were even more stupid to confess that I’m not really fighting against my sister!”

“And? Your point being? How does that make me stupid?” queried a now puzzled Nightmare Moon.

“That means I don’t have to hold back! I’m going to crush you, Nightmare Moon, and I’m going to enjoy doing so!” Rainbow Blitz shouted before launching himself at Rainbow Dash’s now darkened body.

Executing a somersault in his blind charge against Rainbow Dash, even if it was Nightmare Moon now controlling her body, he sank his forehooves deep into his foe’s belly. The impact sent her flying straight into a house and her screams of pain filled Blitz’s ears. He couldn’t resist to his urge to burst out laughing in satisfaction.

Nightmare Moon quickly got back up on her feet and took off instantly, ignoring the pain on her side. She was sure that she had caught him off guard by the look Rainbow Blitz wore on his visage: an expression of utter surprise with eyes wide and pupils contracted. It was all planned in her mind: she was going to aim for his neck and hit him right in his windpipe, crushing it and killing him shortly after.

Her vision went into a blur in a matter of seconds. Where Rainbow Blitz used to be before, he wasn’t standing there anymore and before she could turn her head to her sides to see where the Pegasus had gone to, she felt something hit her spine with great strength. The air was knocked right out of her and she spat out blood before crashing into another house face first.

I don’t understand! How can he best me? I am Nightmare Moon; I am fury unleashed and wrath incarnate! I can overcome anything but why can’t I best this miserable wretch? Nightmare Moon asked herself while panic took over her mind.

“I’m pretty sure you’re wondering how I’m beating you, considering that you’re technically a goddess? That’s pretty simple: you are predictable!”

“But how? How am I predictable?” Nightmare Moon cried out in despair and confusion.

“You’re fighting using my sister’s fighting style. You’re just using what her body knows what to do and you’re trying to kill me with that same style. Did you never wonder who taught Rainbow Dash how to fight? I did. Everything she knows about fighting, she learned it from me.”

Nightmare Moon tried to get up but she was paralyzed by pain when Rainbow Blitz’s rear hooves hit her spine right in the middle of her back. She screamed in pain and cursed his name several times. Her body was numb and the cold gusts of wind hardly reached her. Her body had stopped responding and despite her telling Rainbow Dash’s body to move she was unable to even move a muscle.

All she could do was watch in dread and fear as Rainbow Blitz flexed his legs to get to her eye level and slowly whispered in a cold and ruthless tone, “So, how does it feel to be without magic; to be at the mercy of your enemy? This is how Dashie felt when you killed her; she was helpless and defenseless against your magic but now that you’re trapped inside that little cage of yours, I’m gonna take pleasure in disposing of this twisted image of my sister!”

Rainbow Blitz flew off right after saying that, leaving the wind brush Rainbow Dash’s body. Nightmare Moon sighed in relief for just a second before realizing that the white Pegasus was coming back for more. Again, she felt a sharp pain on her back and yelled in complete agony, tears of pain sliding down her cheeks.

She was pushed through the clouds with Rainbow Blitz following soon after. The determined look in his eyes; the burning desire for revenge that shone bright made Nightmare Moon cower even more than she did before. How could she be bested by a mere Pegasus? Wasn’t she wrath incarnate?

Yes, she was wrath incarnate and fury unleashed but for reasons she couldn’t fathom, a simple Pegasus was beating her senseless. Now she couldn’t fight back and she was falling to her death. She was even more surprised and startled when Rainbow Blitz grabbed her body and went into a spin.

“You’ve caused enough trouble as it is, you monster! I’m going to put a stop to it right here, right now!” Blitz yelled out, his words hardly reaching Nightmare Moon because of all the wind around.

She looked down and saw the ground getting closer and closer. Panic seemed to overtake her; panic was overtaking Nightmare Moon, the strongest alicorn in history. In her mind, it hardly seemed possible. Her plan to take out Raine Moon and her companions had failed because she had spoken too much.

“And now... you... die!” Rainbow Blitz shouted just before the body of Rainbow Dash hit the ground, snapping her neck with disgustingly loud noise that made Blitz, who had previously been a royal guard, cringe a bit. After all, the body he had inflicted all those injuries was the body of his sister.

He looked at her body and for a second, she looked like she had a smile pursed on her lips. Rainbow Blitz was surprised at this and offered a smile in return before his sister’s body did the same as those before her: it just disappeared into ash, vanishing from the world.

I’d better go look on those two and see if how they’re doing. I remember Raine being wounded on several part of her body. But I haven’t seen Origin. Well, it’s not like I care too much about him but I’m pretty sure the princesses will skin me alive if Raine dies on me, Rainbow Blitz thought as he took flight once more, heading for Cloudsdale for one last time...

~~ End of Chapter Nine ~~