Chapter One

Time is something you don’t pay all that much attention to until you are forced to, Spliced Genome thought to herself for the nth time as she laid about on the upper deck of the observation hub.

This was her second hundredth year up on the moon and she had begun to suspect this was one of the reasons they made her immortal. To try and make her reflect on her actions.

As far as she was concerned, Spliced Genome had done nothing wrong. She had been hired to create cures for the chemical weaponry the Pures were using and then create similar weapons for the Thirds. If anything, her only crime was being overly enthusiastic about her work with Spliced missing only two points of matter: to provide the cures to her employers and continuing her work after the war was over.

But really, a much simplified version of it was her working overtime without realizing it and this was her punishment? The Thirds had been executed for their crimes, why was she special, because she was a Pure pony or the fact she happened to kill more than the Thirds?

“Completely ridiculous,” she muttered to herself, splaying her wings out around her before tilting her head at the camera pointed at her. “Am I right?” she asked it, with the camera remaining silent as always.

Spliced snorted as she rolled onto her stomach, flicking her eyes at the poisoned fields of Agbogbloshie and smiled to herself. That that little bout of genius was still functioning after all this time warmed her heart.

She then started to chuckle as she recalled how badly they’d panicked when she’d first told them she remembered everything. They had killed her rapidly back then in a vain hope it would take away her memories again, but all of their efforts had failed. Whatever the other mare had done, it had ensured that Spliced would never forget her true self again.

Then she began to laugh louder, remembering how she had messed with them; pressing her face against the camera after a flare, spending an entire day moving backwards, and even staying completely still for five days straight after taking a step before she finally broke down. She couldn’t help but wonder what they thought of that little prank.

Tilting her head as she let out a sigh, Spliced knew she had to find something to do.

It had been two hundred fifty years since Spliced had recalled her true self and she had spent half her time working out scientific formulas to prevent herself from suffering cutie mark failure insanity syndrome again and testing out the full extent of her immortality.

Spliced also learned that her body, despite being restored to full health before her first death, did actually adapt to whatever killed her. She could, after so many times being outside the space station, function in incredibly low oxygen and they needed to use almost enough electricity to short out the electronics to kill her now.

She had been working on her theoretical astronautic engineering work, double checking her calculations with her feather dipping into the small pot of her blood when she paused.

Putting her feather turned quill into the inkpot she made from a moon rock, she looked at the cameras that had been watching her and realized something important.

“You guys haven’t killed me in a long time,” she said aloud, tilting her head at the camera. “I wonder why…” she mused, tapping her chin. There had to be some logical reasoning for it; they had been killing her due to her… eccentric behaviour as well as singing what she was planning to do on her return. Spliced understood her singing voice was bad as she had admitted she not going to use those plans as she didn’t want to be predictable.

Perhaps they were thinking that she was reforming and rewarding her for good behaviour by not killing her?

It was an interesting idea…

“Almost done,” Spliced said aloud, rubbing her forehead with the back of her hoof. It had been almost thirty years since her work on theoretical astronautic engineering began, almost four hundred years since she had been placed on the moon. During her time up here, she had ventured into a wide number of different fields of science, almost all theoretical due to the lack of access to the material. Spliced had used logical reasoning to get as far as she had for each of them before abandoning them when she had hit her limitations.

She had been very surprised to find herself to enjoy botany of all things and that if she had applied herself, she was somewhat decent despite killing all of the previous plants she had ever owned. It was a struggle to actually make progress using the moon’s soil in a way that could grow produce as well as provide a viable habitat for her little farm but as always, time was on her side.

She flashed a smile at the cameras who had been watching her all this time and took a step backwards to show them her produces. It wasn’t much, but these crops of potatoes and carrots was hers.

Maybe, she thought to herself as she peered down at her work with a happy sigh, after all this time, I have been wro-

Her ears perked up as she heard the doors to the air hatch open up. Before she could react, everything in the main hub had been thrown outside the station, with her neck hitting the wall and killing her.

Spliced Genome threw herself out of her bed and raced to the major hub where her farm was and let out a furious scream. All of her hard work was destroyed!

Those bastards! She had been good for all these years and now that she was about to harvest the fruits of her labour, they decided to kill her again‽

No, she was done. It was time to leave the moon.

Chapter Two

Spliced flicked her ear as she put on her space suit; she was beyond lucky that this was a flare day and she would have enough time to go to the cave.

Come to me Spli-

“Oh shut your face!” Spliced snapped, her wings twitching furiously as she stormed her way out of her station. She knew that she was throwing all of her possible backup plans in the air but she didn’t care. “You’ve been quiet all this time and now you are opening your non-moving lips?”

As she made her way to the cave, she saw the cameras were following her and preparing to shock her when the flare hit, rendering them inoperative. Without giving them a second look, she made her way directly to the cave despite not being there for almost three hundred years.

I can offer you such po-

“I told you last time, no,” Spliced barked as she sprinted down the tunnel, almost falling over herself. “I am no idiot; even if you were to exist, I am not going to shackle myself to another when I am capable of taking care of myself.”

She reached the bottom of the cave where the other mare and the shaft of light were waiting for her.

The mare was looking at her with a smirk on her face. “You will need my aid if you plan on leaving,” she purred, tilting her head as she appeared directly in front of Spliced.

“A vague threat is not much of a deterrent,” Spliced shot back as she walked through her, with Spliced’s coat bristling. “All I need to do is walk through and I will be in another reality?”

“You are making a big mistake, Spliced,” the mare cooed at her, with Spliced rolling her eyes as she stood in front of the shaft of light, a supposedly broken and improper gateway to the multiverse. “You don’t know what you are getting into. You will need my help.”

“I highly doubt that,” Spliced said as she stepped through the shaft of light and found herself in the exact same room as before, minus the other mare. Turning around, she saw the shaft of light behind her as well as the exit. “Maybe I am going insane,” Spliced muttered as she walked back up the pathway. “And I have a feeling that the luxuries I have been enjoying are going to come to an end.”

With a sigh as Spliced made her way onto the surface of the moon, she tilted her head upwards to get her last open look the coreworld she would have before they confined her to the stat-

Her mouth went slack and her eyes widened as the planet was now vastly different from what she was familiar with; the surface was highly undeveloped and so lush with plant life!

“That mare creature was telling the truth,” Spliced said with awe in her voice, stunned at the fact she was in a new reality, and one so primitive to boot. No orbital plates, no space stations, no satellites.

It was as if they didn’t even have a space prog-

“Oh no,” Spliced’s eyes went wider with horror as she realized what exactly the other mare had been going on about. She had put herself in horrible danger if her suit was damaged. If she were to die up here, she would be trapped in a near-infinite loop cycle. She had to get back-

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

She began to panic now, turning around and trying to sprint back to the shaft, but tripped over her hooves and her damn helmet was loose!

She could already feel the escape of air rushing around her. This was really bad; she would be forced to slither her way forwards for all time until she could get back to the shaft of light.

With her hoof pushing herself forwards, Spiced prepared herself for her next death when there was a flash of blue light in her face and there was a Pure mare in front of her that look almost identical to the other mare.

But before Spliced could react to this, she died.

It had been a rather quiet night in Canterlot with Luna’s Court finishing up their last hearing a half hour ago and all those servicing Luna were dismissed save for her guards who stayed by her side no matter what she said. The thestrals were very adamant about defending her in all of their abilities when they had failed a thousand years ago, which was always a low blow which always worked when Luna tried to send them away.

It had been some time since Luna had returned and slowly and surely, she had found her place back in Equestria and in life. Ponies had trusted her again and there were more that came to her because they wanted her advice and wisdom instead of trying to play her against Celestia.

Even better, her relationship with her sister had been improving by leaps and bounds and it was truly as if they were equals. There were, of course, a few duties that Celestia saw to that Luna did not have say in as well as the reverse but they both sought the other’s counsel before making a decision.

Life was good for her and she was happ-

Her head snapped upwards towards her moon as a bit of magic blipped on the surface. It was almost unnoticeable, so small that she could have dismissed it for a simply natural flare of background magic except she knew that kind of magic was very rare and very specific.

It was dimensional teleportation magic; something that should not exist anymore. It was an extremely dangerous procedure if one tried to use it to create a gateway; Starswirl had only managed to do two before failing to maintain the spell for the third one and burned himself out completely. Natural ones were all but either destroyed or hidden so deep that no pony had seen them in centuries yet had garrisons of guardians unknowingly standing to prevent anything dangerous from seeking their reality for their own.

“Alert my sister; we are experiencing an unknown mirror,” Luna told her guards, speaking half of the code phrase for a potential dimensional invasion. “We are going to our moon to investigate. Repeat the message back.”

Her guards did so albeit with confusion on their faces. “Princess, what do you mean you are going to the moon to investigate an unknown mirror?”

“We will explain upon our return if we deem it necessary enough,” Luna replied. “Pray that it is not.”

Before they could voice any words of protest, Luna teleported herself to her moon and several klicks away from the source of the magic blip as to prepare herself from a possible attack from a dimensional traveler or travelers.

As she built up a wide range of powerful spells, she teleported closer to the source when she noticed an orange blur on her moon. Teleporting again, she saw that it was an equine shape with a mare looking up at her before she fainted. Luna quickly ran a diagnosis spell over the mare and found an extremely faint heartbeat.

Without a second thought, Luna teleported the mare from the moon to the world below.

Chapter Three

In the Royal Hospital Wing of Canterlot Castle, there was a sudden surge of urgency as Princess Luna teleported in with a pony in a strange outfit, barely alive.

Doctor Second Opinion and his team were already preparing to stabilize her with Luna ordering her racing guards to alert Celestia of the situation, with another code phrase uttered, before teleporting back to her moon to conduct another search.

The helmet the mare was wearing came off easily enough, causing more than one eyebrow to be raised as she had just come from outer space and nearly all ponies needed air to breathe. The suit was also surprisingly easy to remove; it came apart as Nurse Crystal’s quick diagnosis spell caused it to split in half, negating the need to cut it off.

Pulling the top part of the suit off the unicorn, they were further surprised to see the green coated mare was an alicorn. There were a few ponies looking very uncertain but Second Opinion did not become the presiding doctor to the princesses by being thrown by something like his patient turning out to be an alicorn.

Snapping off orders to get their mysterious mare onto a gurney and check her vital signs, Second Opinion quickly saw she had no heartbeat and began to pull the magic in for a defibrillation spell to shock it back into action.

Adjusting for what he knew about alicorn biology, he shouted Clear before shocking the unidentified mare, only for the heart to stay silent.

“Again,” he barked, building up the spell before shocking the mare again. Her heart stubbornly was staying unresponsive and he frown as he built up the power of his spell. “Clear!” he shouted, shocking the mare once more.

Snarling in anger at himself, he did not want to explain to Princess Luna why he had lost his patient. Preparing for one more try, he tilted his head down to her chest when there was a sudden spike on the heart monitor. Turning his head in confusion, he let out a gasp of surprise as the mare grabbed his arm and pulled him in close to her face.

“Stop shocking me, it’s starting to annoy me,” the mare barked at him, glaring at him with sharp blue eyes. Her head then fell backwards on the gurney and she started to make sounds that sounded like she was snoring.

By Celestia’s hoof, the mare was sleeping!

“What should we do doctor?” Nurse Crystal asked, tilting her head at the mare who was still snoring away.

Second Opinion looked at his patient and then at her vitals to see everything was normal. “Let us monitor her for now until either Princess Celestia arrives or she wakes up. Until then, keep quiet about her being an alicorn, I do not want a circus outside my doors.” His nurses nodded their heads with Second Opinion letting out a small sigh. I have a feeling it is going to be a long night, he thought to himself.

Spliced Genome let out an annoyed groan as she went through the standard ten deaths per dream cycle and finally started to wake up.

It had been very unusual as she dreamt of another pony, and she supposed she could spend some years on theorizing the exact reasoning for it.

Rubbing her eye with her wing, she could tell from the way some unknown object was poking at the back of her head that something was off but she couldn’t put her hoof on what it was.

“Hello there, it is good to see you are awake,” a soothing voice caused her to freeze and direct her head upwards to see a Pure, an actual pony, staring at her! “How are you feeling?”

“Go-good,” she said, looking around the room before glancing at the pony in front of her. Spliced was in some sort of very basic medical room with simplistic monitors watching her vitals. The pony in front of her was a larger white mare with pink eyes and what had to be some sort of holographic mane with a sun as a cutie mark. The mare was wearing what appeared to be golden shoes and a necklace and a crown on her head. Flicking her eyes around again, she saw a Third in the garb of a doctor, although if this was a Pure’s medical station, he had to be a nurse. “Who are you?” Spliced asked while trying to form som sort of plan.

“I am Princess Celestia,” she introduced herself. “This is doctor Second Opinion, head of the Royal Hospital Wing who has been treating you.”

“Oh you are a doctor,” Spliced said in pleasant surprise. “Wow, you are a real credit to your kind to reach this kind of station.” Spliced blinked and winced at her words, realizing that her words might not be considered polite and get her into trouble. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. Just that I am surprised to learn that a Third is the head practicing physician of a facility, let alone of a royal facility… I’m not doing a good job here,” Spliced traied off, rubbing the back of her neck as she saw the looks she was getting. She looked at the mare again and said, “You said you’re a princess?” Spliced was surprised to be in a place that used a monarchy as they were almost always an outdated style of governing.

“Yes,” the mare said without missing a beat. “I-”

“May I speak to your father or mother,” Spliced asked with all of the tact she could.

“Excuse me?” the princess looked very surprised at this as did the Third.

“Yes, either the King or Queen or whomever is in charge, your highness,” Spliced said, pushing herself upright.

“I-” the mare blinked in confusion before she settled back into those blank faces politicians were known for. “I am one of the diarchs of this land Equestria with my sister being the other, miss…”

“If you two are leaders, why do you call yourself princesses instead of queens?” Spliced asked, tilting her head.

“Our ponies tend to view princesses as something more pure and trustworthy while queens have a slightly negative view,” the princess said with complete dignity. “Also, princesses are younger than queens,” she said with a giggle and giving Spliced a wink.

“I see,” Spliced said scratching the back of her head. Vanity was always a thing, Spliced thought to herself.

“I suppose things are different from where you are, miss?” the princess said, reminding Spliced the mare asked her name.

“Ah yes,” Spliced said, blinking her eyes. “My name is Spliced Genome, your highness, and I wanted to ask for-wait, when you said land of Equestria, did you mean we’re planetside?” This caused the princess to blink in confusion again before she nodded her head. “Excuse me then, I need to do something.” Spliced replied before trying to push herself out of the bed.

“I’m sorry, but doctor Second Opinion here and I insist you stay in bed until everything is cleared up,” she said, looming over Spliced which told her the princess might be suffering some form of gigantism.

Still, she should be biologically the same…

“Sorry ma’am, but I need this,” Spliced whispered as she grabbed the mare’s shoulders and brought her head into the white mare’s nose, breaking it.

As Spliced predicted, the doctor was more concerned about the mare with the bleeding nose than her. Spliced didn’t care that her future endeavours here might be in jeopardy as she had more important personal matters at the moment.

Luna had teleported herself from a fruitless search on her moon to find herself in the midst of her ponies panicking.

“Guards, what is going on?” she called out to her guards running around, issuing orders before stopping before her.

“Your highness, the mare you brought here has assaulted your sister and escaped the hospital wing,” a guard snapped a wing to his face while his fellow Lunar, and Solar counterparts, continued to move down the hallway. “We are securing the castle to find and recapture her, ma’am!”

“How is my sister?” Luna demanded, forcing herself to keep calm as it would only worry her ponies if she were visibly worried herself.

“She is okay, Princess Luna,” the guard said, suddenly looking very nervous. “The doctor says he'll be able to fix her nose once it stops bleeding.”

Luna pulled back in surprise, tilting her head in surprise. “Excuse Us, did thou thus proclaim thine sister’s snout was injured?” Luna asked, slipping back in the old manner of speech.

“Ye-yes. She broke Princess Celestia’s nose by headbutting her,” the guard gulped, twitching his leather wings. “We are still searching for the mare, Princess Luna. We would be grateful for your aid.’

Luna nodded her head and closed her eyes and began to search out for the mare. It was easier than normal due to the fact that mare’s magical background signature differed from every other pony of Equuis, another sign this mare was from another dimension.

Locating the mare moving deeper inside the castle, Luna teleported herself ahead of the mare to put an end to this chase. Appearing in front of the mare who was an alicorn, unsurprisingly due to the fact she had traveled through dimensions somehow, the green mare let out a yelp before trying to halt her movement.

“Stay where you are, and explain why you assaulted my sister,” Luna ordered as she prepared several powerful containing spells as well as a few more lethal spells in case the mare proved difficult.

“You look just like her,” the mare muttered under her breath before shaking her head and getting to her hooves. “I’m sorry for breaking your sister’s nose but…” the mare bit her lip before shaking her head. “This will sound crazy but I have been trapped on the moon, my world’s moon, for four hundred years. I haven’t felt the wind on my back for so long, I haven’t breathed fresh air so long, I’m sorry but I just needed to get outside and she was in the way and-”

She let out a squeak of surprise as Celestia teleported herself and a detachment of guards next her. Luna stole a look at her sister and her nose was stuffed with tissue paper. Doing her best not to fall the floor in laughter at her big sister, Luna looked at the stranger and gave her a gentle smile.

“I believe you,” Luna said, recognizing the same desperation and painful need to be outside after being sealed away for a thousand years on her moon. “If you promise to answer our questions and not assault any us or any of our ponies, I will lead you outside.”

“Yes, I promise,” the mare promised with desperation in her voice. “Please, I never felt this badly about anything else in my entire life.”

Luna walked over to the mare, placing a wing on her back. With a gentle smile, she directed the mare to a door and led her out onto a balcony.

Spliced Genome took tentative steps onto the balcony and felt a wave of sheer pleasure roll over her. She could feel the wind rush through her coat, she could smell a world alive around her, she could hear the bustle of a city below her. Spreading her wings out, she took a deep breath of fresh air, and felt a smile settle on her face.

“Are you good, miss…” the other princess asked her gently, with her sister keeping her gaze a bit more cautious, although it was hard to do with her nose stuffed up with tissues.

“My name is Spliced Genome,” she told the mare as she turned around to join the Pure princesses. “And yes I am.”

For I am free.

Chapter Four

Spliced was about to walk with the blue coated mare when she hesitated and looked at the other Pure pony, the one whose nose she broke. It was very foolish of her to do something like that and it would be only proper decorum to fix it.

“Excuse me,” Spliced said as she walked up the white mare with their guards pointing spears at her. It was so quaint she had to stop herself from laughing; even she might be able to take over and she didn’t know how to fight. “I broke your nose before. If you will let me,” she continued as she put a hoof on her mouth to steady it and the other hoof on the nose. “On three, I push it back into place.”

“Wait, I-” the mare began and Spliced found herself getting annoyed. The last thing she wanted to deal with was a spoiled rich mare that felt she knew better. Still Spliced kept a smile on her face.

“Ready?” she asked. “One-”

CRACK

“Gah!” the princess shouted in front of her, jumping backwards and prancing on the spot.

Everypony reacted immediately; the Third guards pointed their antique weapons directly at her, the other princess was attending to her sister and Spliced was trying to figure out what exactly she had done wrong.

With the guards shouting angrily at her, Spliced took a few steps backwards even though she knew that she was in no danger as if they killed her, she would just come back to life. Spliced was wondering if this Princess Celestia was one of those precious fragile aristocratic types and she had seriously bungled her future here.

“Please everypony,” the mare said, tilting her head upright and pushed past her sister and their guards. “I believe miss Spliced Genome here was merely trying to help me.” She flashed Spliced a smile that actually made her feel relieved before she gestured towards the other princess. “May I introduce my sister, Princess Luna.”

Spliced looked at the mare who was a dead ringer for the other mare she knew on the moon and saw a number of differences, namely Luna was actually in colour opposed to being completely transparent. Like her sister, Luna had a holographic mane with stars instead of a multi-coloured eyesore. Instead of gold, her sister was wearing shoes of what looked like crystal and her crown and chest piece were made of dark material.

“Nice to meet you properly, Princess Luna,” Spliced said, dipping her head as she thought it was what one was supposed to do with aristocrats.

“Likewise, Spliced Genome,” the princess said in the same cautious tone as her sister.

“Now that we know each other’s names,” Princess Celestia said while rubbing her snout. “How about we get to know each other over some food? I am sure you must be hungry, after all you’ve been through.”

Spliced wasn’t hungry at the moment but at the prospect at eating real food made her mouth water and her stomach rumble.

This cause the white mare to chuckle, and gesture with a wing. “Please follow us, we can ask the cooks to throw something together for you.”

Sitting at their table in Luna and her private kitchen, Celestia watched and noticed how the new alicorn ate with gusto. It wasn’t as if she was eating to refill her magic pools but as if she had not been able to eat for a long time.

“How are you doing with your zucchini pie?” Luna asked as the mare continued to fill her face, taking bites of everything as quick as she could. Celestia was surprised that she hadn’t choked yet in how fast she was putting food in her mouth but then again, every alicorn had their tricks.

“So good,” she muttered, thumping her chest and swallowing. “I haven’t eaten that good in so long.”

“Yes, I suppose four hundred years is a long time,” Luna said, causing the mare to freeze for a moment before nodding her head.

“Yes, four hundred years is a lon-” her eyes went wide as a pony named Batty brought in a steaming hot plate of spaghetti and placed it down in front of her. Spliced’s eye twitched before she picked up the plate with her turquoise magic, walked over to the window and then threw it like a discus clear out into the night sky.

Spliced let out a happy sigh before turning around and gave the Diarchs a mixture of a surprised and sheepish look. “No offense intended… but with all due respect, I’ve been living on mostly freeze-dried spaghetti and one or two other things for as long as I’ve been up there, and I honestly can’t stand even the thought of it anymore. I used to hate cheese sandwiches and coleslaw but I managed to bounce the other way for them.”

“That’s understandable,” Celestia told her. “As alicorns, we need variety for our lives less we get a bit squirrely at times.”

“Ali what now?” Spliced asked, tilting her head.

“Alicorns,” Luna told her as she took a slice of pumpkin pie for herself. “It is what we call our tribe in this dimension of reality.”

“Ah, I see,” Spliced nodded her head. “Where I am from, we,” she gestured towards her and her sister. “We are called Pure ponies and they,” she tilted her head towards the few servants milling around. “Are called Thirds…” she trailed off, no doubt aware of what she was about say would be viewed poorly.

“Due to the fact they only posses a third of what a pure pony has?” Celestia asked, cutting into the matter directly.

“Yes, and there is, or was, debate on the exact difference between the two,” Spliced said, sitting up straighter and more focused. “While some focus heavily on the sociological aspects of hippology, I tend to focus on the more biological aspects. And to be honest, there are major differences.”

“Really?” Celestia asked sharply, raising an eyebrow.

“Well of course,” Spliced said with a roll of her eyes. “Thirds with wings are generally born without a carbuncle and the part of the brain that controls the muscles for wing control is completely dormant.” She paused, taking a sip of her tea before breaking out in a smile. “As well as the fact Thirds are generally born without the particular keratin that makes up a horn or the bones that form with a wing or both,” Spliced added with a giggle.

Celestia turned to share a look with Luna who nodded her head.

“Now onto a bit more personal matters, miss Genome,” Luna said, moving the conversation forwards. “You said you were trapped on your moon for four hundred years. Care to explain the reason why?”

“Ah yes,” the mare paused again, look nervous before trying to hide it. “Well, I was placed there due to my actions in the war.”

“War?” Celestia asked, narrowing her eyes.

“Yes,” Spliced nodded her head. “The Thirds of Equuis, the coreworld, began to rebel against the Pures, demanding equality, fair treatment and all that. I was approached by them to aid them, which I did. Eventually, the rebels were defeated and tried for war crimes. For my actions, they made me immortal and sentenced me to the moon for a thousand years.”

“Made you immortal?” Celestia asked while digesting the rest of Spliced’s admission.

“Yes and as crazy as it sounds, they made me incapable of dying,” the mare said while holding a knife and before Celestia or Luna could react, she stabbed herself in the back of her neck and fell forwards into her plate. Celestia and Luna moved to check on the mare when she shot up and shook her face clear of all the food on it. “I have been coming back quicker over the years, but yes, they turned me immortal, somehow, to ensure that I would be able to serve my full sentence.”

“Perhaps a powerful spell?” Luna ventured, tilting her head.

“Spell? As in magic?” Spliced said with derision in her voice. “I can see your world is not to the same technological level as mine but surely you have moved past the trend to call things magic.”

“Your horn lit up before and you moved stuff around, what do you call that?” Luna pressed.

“Thaumatology, of course,” Spliced rolling her eyes. “And it is all based in very complex quantum physics that is still being debated and discovered.” She paused, frowning at her plate. “Or was or still is, I don’t know the current situation since I’ve been away for so long.”

“Well then, may I ask you a question," Luna asked as she walked over to the balcony and Celestia saw what her sister was planning. Smirking to herself, Celestia followed her sister to the balcony. “You see the moon out there, correct?”

“Yes...” Spliced said in the middle of them while tilting her upwards.

“How does it move?” Luna inquired with a hint of amusement in her tone.

“Well as anypony knows, it moves due its gravitational orbit around the planet,” Spliced replied before snorting, rolling her eyes. “Although I suppose in less enlightened times, I suppose it could be viewed as all sorts of things, including ma-” Spliced fell silent as Luna flew forwards and began to lower her moon with Celestia flying next to her sister to raise her sun. As they landed on the balcony, Spliced’s jaw was still hanging low with a look of complete stupefaction on her face. It took Spliced a few tries before she could manage to speak, with the mare shaking her head. “Oh-kay, I am going to do my best to repress that… that just happened. I-I… No.” She whimpered, shaking her head. “I think I need to sit down or something.”

“We have a room prepared for you,” Celestia said as she guided the mare back into the room. “Raven Inkwell, can you lead our guest to her chambers?”

“Of course,” the mare said, nodding her head as she led the other mare away so Luna and Celestia could talk in private.

Once the door was closed, both sisters traded careful looks between each other.

“So sister, what do you think of our ‘guest’?” Celestia asked, lifting an apple in the air.

“Unique,” Luna said diplomatically. “I doubt she is a tribalist but rather uncaring about the differences between tribes.”

“Which brings us to her status of being a war criminal in a race war,” Celestia said. “I do not doubt anypony would lie about such crimes but I find her indifference to be an indicator she did not join out of morality but for another reason.”

“She clearly has no proper experience with magic but she somehow managed to travel to our dimension, our reality,” Luna paused as she looked to the ground, no doubt tracking her moon. “I have searched the area I found her but I have yet to find anything. Either she has a powerful ally or something else is in play.”

“So on top of being a war criminal that was deemed dangerous enough to banish away for a thousand years and whatever she did was heinous enough to warrant her pony’s government to grant her immortality so she would serve each year of her sentence, she has some other source wishing to ensure her tenure here,” Celestia said. “So what should we do with her?”

Luna gave her a long look before replying. “I have a feeling what you would say, sister.” Luna waited for Celestia to nod her head before continuing. “While this mare is a clear danger to our ponies, we should also remember what our nation is built on; friendship, harmony and second chances. You would point out in the past that we had three would be world conquerors and threats that have managed to reform due to being given second chances. There was the other mare from the moon whom you entrusted to your former student and she managed to help her find her way again. There was the mad avatar of chaos whom you saw good in and entrusted to the mare who embodies kindness and managed to create the bonds of friendship with him, seeding his eventual turn to the side of good. Then there was the mare who had misguided ideas of equality and threatened the stability of the foundation of how we defined our world. Instead of slaying the fiend, your former student, now our equal, instead chose to use her words and explain matters. Said mare is now her student and has grown by leaps and bounds. With three would-be destroyers our world, how can we not try to do the same for this mare.” Luna paused and looked at Celestia. “Did I miss anything?”

“Beyond my closing statements, no,” Celestia said. “And what you would say is how dangerous it would be to have a completely unknown mare with an ally that can block your magic loose in the world, near Twilight and the Crystal Mirror. You would add in the fact that this mare comes from a more advanced world than ours and could very well and try to conquer our world with her knowledge. That letting a mare who admitted to being a war criminal freely outside our walls is a greater mistake than letting Discord out on purpose on the chance he could be redeemed. That we should hold her as long as possible until we can find the means that brought her and send her back to her own people so we can defend ours.”

“Indeed sister, those are my thoughts on the matter,” Luna said, tipping her head forwards. “I propose that we investigate further; I will enter her dreams to see what else I can learn and we will convene in the afternoon to decide on what exactly we should do about Spliced Genome.”

“Agreed sister,” Celestia said as she stood up and began to walk towards the doors before pausing and turned back to give her sister a hug goodnight with Luna returning the gesture. “Be safe and sleep well, Luna.”

“And to you as well, Celestia,” Luna replied, giving her sister a nuzzle before the mares left the room.

Chpater Five

As Luna prepared herself to enter the realm of dreams to continue her duties, she settled into her bed and thought of the mare sleeping off in the guest chambers.

Spliced Genome was a mostly unknown mare in their castle and while she and her sister had talked briefly about her, there was something that Luna kept quiet on and she wasn’t sure if Celestia had noticed it or not or if she did notice it and kept quiet on the matter too.

What Spliced Genome told them about herself was eerily similar to her own story. Spliced admitted to being sentenced to her world’s moon for a thousand years for war crimes before making her escape. How different was that from her time as Nightmare Moon?

Luna focused on the key details that separated the two tales; Spliced had not served her full sentence, Spliced was at heart an ordinary mare while Luna was something much more than that and Luna had been redeemed. There was no indication or reason to believe that Spliced had changed.

The implications were very unsettling; if Luna couldn’t learn anything of Spliced’s past, she would need to find the entrance the mare had used to reach their world and find a way to send her back, so she wouldn’t be able to threaten Equestria, its population and the world at large.

Closing her eyes, Luna entered the dream land and began to search for Spliced’s unconscious mind while attending to the minds sleeping now. Luna was proud that she was able to tend to everyone’s mind once again, not just their ponies and those who lived in Equestria.

It was not hard to find the mare’s mind; it being an unusual bubble in what Luna was accustomed to. Swimming through the realm of dreams, Luna made her way towards the mind. The dream world appeared to be akin to constant chaos but it was a lie. The realm of dreams was in flux because that was the nature of dreams. It was a constant flow of change that followed patterns and it took a very specially trained eye to learn what was normal and what was something else.

As such, tonight the dream world was taking on the appearance of an ocean with each dreamer being a pearl within a bivalve. As she looked towards Spliced’s clam, which was by itself, she could tell it felt slightly off, no doubt due to the fact she did not belong here.

Reaching out with a hoof, she touched Spliced’s mind and entered her dreams.

Luna opened her eyes to see herself in a strange white room with Spliced watching herself choke to death, while the actual Spliced let out an annoyed sigh.

“Seriously,” she muttered to herself. “That will be the last time I will ever eat spaghetti.”

“What the…” Luna said, causing the mare below her to snap her head up in surprise.

“What the?” Spliced repeated, staring at her in obvious shock. “How did you get here - wait, I must be dreaming right now,” she said slowly before a massive smile grew on her face. “Which means I can do this!”

The room changed from the odd white room to a much larger room filled with all kinds of scientific equipment and machines.

“Now,” Spliced said, her eyes gleaming. “Let’s do some SCIENCE!”

And in a whirl of activity, Luna found herself strapped to an exam table, while Spliced was bustling about in another corner of the room. When she returned to Luna’s side, she was carrying a scalpel in her aura. Instead of admonishing the mare as was her first instinct, Luna decided to see how Spliced would react without anypony really watching her.

“I can’t wait to see how another Pure’s brain works in this world!” she said excitedly. “Even if you are just some dream version I’ve conjured up, I will be the first one to do an in-depth study of a living brain and analyze the differences between your world’s and mine… I’ll make history!” Laughing in glee, she lowered the scalpel towards Luna’s head, only to pause. “Wait a minute…”

“Yes?” Luna gave her a look, noting how this mare was reacting to the slimmest of opportunities to do some highly unethical scientific research.

“Excuse me.” Setting the scalpel down on a nearby tray, Spliced headed for one of the odd-looking devices, examining it for a moment, then returned to Luna’s side. “I almost forgot I had an MRI in here. That will be much more effective than just cutting out the organ right away. And not physically invasive which could cause some trauma to the organ.”

“What’s an MRI?” Luna asked curiously as Spliced began wheeling the table over to the device while tensing her limbs to flee. “And would it even have an effect on somepony you believe you’ve conjured up out of a dream?”

Spliced froze. “You’re right,” she said, and Luna was certain that if she’d had fingers like a minotaur or talons like a griffon, she’d have snapped them. “Damn. And here I was so hoping to get a scan of your brain so I could have some solid data!”

Luna breathed a sigh of relief that she was able to redirect the mare’s focus into something less vicious. “If you want data, I can always show you to the castle library when we’re both awake,” she suggested.

Spliced’s eyes widened again. “You have a library‽”

“Of course,” Luna replied. “Why wouldn’t we?”

Spliced smiled. “I like how you think.”

“Good. Then, if you don’t mind,” Luna gave her a look. “Would you please let me loose?”

“Oh. Right.” Spliced began releasing the straps. “You know, you’re pretty unusual for a dream of mine, especially as you are not me dying over and over again,” she remarked with a chuckle. “I’d almost swear you were the real Princess.”

“I am the real Princess,” Luna said as she gave her a look as she was freed. “Dream-walking is one of my special talents - I use it to help our subjects, and others, to cope with their nightmares. Like the one you were having before.”

Spliced froze. “You’re serious.”

“I am,” Luna replied.

“You’re serious,” Spliced repeated, shaking nervously. “Oh sweet hell, I am so so sorry! If I had any idea, I would not have done any of this! I-I, I honestly-” Now frantically pacing back and forth as Luna finished getting off the table, she began babbling. “All I wanted, was to be free… to not be stuck in that prison and not have to worry about waiting for the right moment to get out of their sight, to have a place where I could do my studies without having to worry about somepony trying to kill me for them again, ‘cause even if it’s not permanent, dying isn’t fun and I’ve done it so many times and-erk!” She began clutching her throat, as if she’d run out of air.

“Spliced Genome,” Luna said as calmly as she could. “You cannot die in your dreams, not even temporarily. Believe me, I know. And you can especially not die of asphyxiation, when there isn’t any air to begin with.”

Spliced froze, then began to breath normally. “Th-thank you,” Spliced let out a sigh, rubbing her face. “It is just since I’ve escaped, there has been a lingering fear that I would be forced back there and you cannot understand what it is like to be all by yourself for year after year, century after century.”

Luna couldn’t help but scoff, shaking her head. “I believe I can, Spliced,” she said, seeing that the mare wasn't lying to her.

“Excuse me, missy, but I am four hundred years old and I think I might know a bit more than you,” Spliced said, throwing her head back.

“And my sister and I are over a thousand years young,” Luna said as she booped Spliced’s nose, with the mare going crosseyed before gulping as she realized Luna wasn’t lying.

“I rescind my comment…” Spliced said as they appeared back on the moon’s surface and let out a melancholy sigh. “While I still am very hesitant to call this magic, I cannot fully explain all of this. Me talking to you in my dream, me being in an entirely different world from the one I grew up in and you somehow moving me from the moon to this planet… it defies all logic I’ve ever known!”

“How did you get here, by the way?” Luna asked, tilting her head in a casual manner.

“Through this odd… thing,” Spliced said as she directed Luna towards a cliff wall. Luna could tell the mare was now being evasive, but exactly how much she was leaving out, that was the question. “It is through here,”Spliced said as she lead them through a hole among countless others and down a slope that got darker and darker until they reached the bottom. Luna could not see a thing and she knew it was undoubtedly due to Spliced’s past experiences shaping her psyche. This, she could tell, was also the reason why the trip was taking far longer than it should have. Since her own return, she had visited the moon a few times, just to explore it under her own power, and between that and her own magical connection to it, she had been able to determine exactly how large it was. But if this trip was anything to go by, either Spliced’s moon was far larger than theirs, which she doubted, or she wasn’t remembering the distance quite right.

“There, that’s how I managed to travel between the worlds,” Spliced pointed a now existing shaft of light and Luna could not hold back a hiss escaping her lips.

“That should not be,” Luna said, studying the mental replication of the shaft of light. “That is a fracture between dimensions; it’s an improper portal. Not dangerous but it should not be.” Luna turned to look at Spliced. “How did you find this?”

Spliced shrugged. “There was an incident, a few hundred years ago… I needed to get out, really stretch my legs and go exploring, and when that flare happened and gave me the chance to get out of sight, I took it. And when I was out, I kind of tripped over something and fell a ways, ended up at the entrance to this cave. It looked interesting, so I went in and started looking around… and finally I found that.” She gestured to the shaft. “I have no idea how it got there, or even how long it’s been there. I just know that not long ago, I’d had enough and came back here, to see what it was really capable of. And when I stepped into it, I wound up on your moon to an exact match of mine.”

Luna frowned internally. She could tell there were bits of truth in what Spliced had said, and the last part had been absolutely true. But some of it was not and that was very troubling.

“It is amazing you found this all on your own, Spliced,” Luna prompted with the mare darting her eyes around.

“Yes I know,” Spliced lied to her while glancing away. “But even if I did have help, I wouldn’t take it. I don’t care to be beholden to anypony at the cost of myself.”

The full truth, at long last, and an odd manner to admit it, she thought to herself.

“That, I can understand,” she said aloud, eying the smaller mare. “Still it was luck that I found you on the moon. Otherwise, I believe you would have been in a grave amount of peril.”

“Yeah,” Spliced said as she rubbed the back of her head as they viewed the green alicorn on the moon in her orange suit. “I didn’t think things through and without you, I would have been stuck for ages dragging myself back.”

“You do not seem all that concerned about being put through a continuous loop of dying and just dragging yourself back,” Luna remarked.

“Princess… there was an incident a few hundred years ago where I was put through more deaths in one day than I had the entire hundred years plus that I was in that place.” Spliced coughed nervously. “It wasn’t a fun experience… but I learned from it. I just view it as stubbing my hoof now, rather painfully but nothing major.” Spliced then grinned and elbowed Luna. “I mean, I did stab myself at the dinner table to prove my resurrection abilities after all.” She looked at the mare on the moon’s surface. “If I had to drag myself forwards inch by inch every time I came back, so be it.”

Luna nodded at this, taking in the fact how little would be able to deter her and how they would need to alter any plan to deal with Spliced if she proved hostile towards them as death was not an option.

With a sigh, Spliced turned to Luna and rubbed the back of her neck. “Look, I am still very sorry about the whole trying to cut you open thing - I really did think you were just a fragment of my dream, not a real pony I’d actually hurt. I was just very curious about how your carbuncle would be compared to those I know.”

Luna smiled to herself and looked at the other mare. “As I said before, we do have the most extensive library in the castle, Spliced. And I do know that Celestia has submitted herself to medical exams in case of an absolute worst-case scenario as well as to further the medical field, and those notes are very detailed.”

“Really?” Spliced asked, her eyes widening and tail wagging, becoming an almost a mirror of a certain princess of friendship when presented with a new book.

“Once you awaken, I can take you there.”

With barely repressed squee, Spliced nodded her head with Luna smiling and dispelling the dream. Along with the location of this possible broken gateway, which she would investigate as soon as she could, she would further watch over this strange mare in her land and determine how dangerous she truly was.

Chapter Six

It had been a mostly normal morning for Celestia; dealing with court and with the rumour mill only having the barest of hints that there was another pony in the castle that should not be there. The biggest sign that they’d had a small crisis was a thrown plate of spaghetti early in the morning before she had risen her sun. It was odd for her ponies and there was some worry about entire spaghetti industry coming to a crashing halt due to the mistaken belief the princesses no longer cared for the food until they learned Batty was involved and everypony went Ah and Why wasn’t it a taco? and moved on.

Celestia tilted her head, thinking about Spliced Genome. Even her name was worrisome; if how a pony’s name was nine out of ten times related to their special talent a constant through the other dimension then Celestia had a very good idea what the mare’s special talent was and what her crimes were.

But, Celestia caught herself, I do not have concrete evidence, not until we find out more about her.

And then it would be up to her and Luna to decide what they were to do with it and her. If Spliced proved to be an actual danger, they would send her back to where she came from.

If they could.

If they couldn’t….

“Tia?” Luna’s voice caused her ears to snap up and turn her head to face her sister. “Do you have a moment?”

Of course her sister wasn’t asking if she could talk to her but if she was free from any prying ears that were not in either of their pocket’s.

“Of course Lulu,” Tia said, sweeping a wing to let her sister into their throne room with the enchantments bringing out Luna’s throne and throwing half the room into Luna’s colours, creating the proper blend the room should have permanently. “So what did you learn about our guest?”

“A fair deal,” Luna replied after she sat down, looking her sister in the eye. Another thing that they made sure of; Luna’s throne was slightly elevated so they could be seen eye to eye with each other and further establish that they were equals. “She told me more about where she was kept, spoke of desire to be free from the isolation and the means by which she got here.”

“Oh?” Celestia’s eyebrow rose.

“A broken gateway,” Luna’s word caused Celestia to flinch.

“That is very bad,” Celestia said. “Especially as it is on your moon which means only we can investigate it once we locate it and assess what can be done.”

“She did tell me the location,” Luna said, “but it was likely that there were some differences between what I saw and where it actually is.” She frowned. “What worries me more is that she claimed to have found it on her own by sheer chance… but you know my abilities in dreams. She wasn’t telling the full truth about that, I’m certain.”

Celestia frowned herself. “That is worrisome. But if she didn’t find it, who or what could have helped her find it?”

“I don’t know.” Luna sounded grim. “But…” she broke off for a moment to shake her head and gather her thoughts. “It seems to me that if she was helped, she didn’t much appreciate it - she said she doesn’t care to ‘be beholden to anypony at the cost of herself’.”

Celestia furrowed her brow. “That is an odd way of putting it,” she said quietly.

“My thoughts exactly,” Luna replied. “But I did confirm something else.”

“Oh?”

“She is obsessed with gathering knowledge,” Luna said with a coy smile. “I mentioned our library and she was very excited by the thought.” She raised an eyebrow. “Also, I was able to confirm that there was more to her dislike of spaghetti than what she said before - apparently she choked to death on it at least once before.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Well. That is certainly a good reason to dislike it.” She looked more serious. “I am worried about her… dying and coming back so easily though…”

“As am I.” Luna sighed. “Her captors apparently put her through many, many deaths during her time up there… a great deal of them in just one day, after some event that she didn’t explain, and in many different ways - at least, that is the impression I got. She is very used to it; from what she said, I got the sense that if she’d started dying once every minute or so when she came here and I hadn’t shown up when I did, it would have only slowed her from making her way back to where she came from.”

Celestia looked very disturbed by that. “Goodness.”

Luna nodded. “What’s more… apparently she dreams of these deaths over and over, and is so used to it that when I appeared inside her dream, she thought I was something new that her mind had conjured up just to be different for once. Eventually, I was able to convince her I was the real Princess, but it took some doing.”

Celestia’s disturbed expression had grown. “If she dreams of her own deaths so much…” She looked at Luna. “Are you certain she is entirely sane, sister?”

Luna sighed. “To be honest, I’m not sure. She can be reasoned with, that much is certain. But I am also certain that four hundred years of being alone, coupled with her dying repeatedly and not being allowed to stay that way, has affected her.”

Celestia took the subtle message in her sister’s voice and nodded. “Is there anything else you were able to observe?”

“Well…” Luna considered. “She absolutely dreads the thought of being forced back into her old prison, and of being killed just because somepony didn’t like her researching. While I disagree with some of her methods, I feel that at least some of her research could be of possible use, though we would need somepony to keep a close eye on it to make sure she doesn’t go too far in some of her… more extreme means of study.” She considered. “And from what I have seen, she had amazing control over her dream once I drew her attention away from her past deaths. Even for one who doesn’t believe in magic… I know she is astounded by what we’re both capable of, and I believe she is thoroughly convinced there is a more scientific explanation for such abilities and would like nothing more than to prove it. Again though, I would recommend strict supervision.”

Celestia considered. “Do you think Twilight and her friends would be suitable for this? Given their rate of success in the past…”

“It’s a possibility, though I’d suggest you warn Twilight about her in advance - judging by Spliced’s reaction to myself, I think being around another alicorn, one who wasn’t born into that tribe, would be… hmm.” Luna considered. “Well, you know how obsessive Twilight gets when she finds something she wants to study. Spliced may be like that, but even more so. And I would advise telling all of them that she can be, shall we say...”

“Blunt?” Celestia suggested.

“Exactly.” Luna nodded. “Her comments about ‘Thirds’ at dinner last night being just one example. We should probably warn them about her remarks in that regard as well.” She sighed. “I still don’t think she meant to be offensive about that, a simple matter of fact for her, but some may not take it as well as others.”

Celestia took in the final words of wisdom her sister had for about the mare and asked Luna, “Where is she now?”

Luna’s eyes lit up and a mischievous smile spread across the other princess’s face which told Celestia that the alicorn of the moon had been waiting for this.

“Well now, dearest sister o’ mine,” Luna said, as she stood up, not even bothering to hide her smile at this point. “After we absconded to thine depositary of knowledge, dearheart Spliced made haste for her quarters and has begun to enact in activities that have made all who have toiled here feel the weight of the ages.”

“Okay Luna, are you going to tell me what she is doing or are you going to force me to go see for myself and feel old in the process?”

“Older, oh beloved sister,” Luna said as she squished Celestia’s face with her hooves. “Now we must depart for our chambers so we might rest at long last. Until the ‘morrow, oh elder sister.” Luna chuckled as she departed in her smoky form.

“Luna, one more thing; do you think we could trust her?”

That caused her sister to pause at the doorway and turn her head back with the most serious of faces. “Absolutely not,” she said solemnly. “I fear that may be the reason to why she was labeled as a war criminal, because those in her world trusted her and paid the price. Until we know what her crimes were exactly, we cannot give her amnesty and protection from her world’s government. I feel if the crimes are that heinous, we should bring her over there as a sign of goodwill. Speaking of, once I have rested and finished my court tonight, I will investigate the location she gave me.”

Celestia rose to her hooves and walked to her sister, saying, “You have given me a lot to think of, Luna, a lot of which I do agree with.” Leaning downwards to hug her sister goodnight. “I will go see this mare of ours before making up my mind.”

Luna nuzzled her sister before nodding her head. “Very well, Celestia… and Tia, prepare to feel old.” Luna laughed as she vanished in her smoky form with Celestia rolling her eyes and beginning to make her way to the guest quarters. She saw a few of her guards nodding their heads at her, with hidden smiles on those who had been with the castle for a long time.

Pausing in front of Spliced’s room, Celestia braced herself for the worst and opened the door.

The room was in what Celestia would either call controlled chaos or a light Twilight study session. The bed, table and dressers were all covered in open books and pages of written notes tossed around in a manner only the owner would understand. On the nightstand was pot of steaming coffee and a number of empty carton cups littering the floor.

And on the bed was the mare of the hour, practically bouncing on the spot, eyes wide as she flipped the pages of the book she was reading while jotting down notes on a piece of paper next to her just like Twilight did when she was young and Celestia now felt old. With a thought to play a prank on her sister for this little stunt, she made her presence known with a cough as like Twilight, Spliced had yet to acknowledge her and Celestia felt really old now.

Dye in Luna’s shampoo, Celestia told herself.

“Oh hello princess Celestia I am sorry I did not hear you come in how are you tonight no wait it is morning or is it afternoon I have yet to open the blinds and check the the place of the sun as I have been very busy reading all your medical and scientific books and logs and reports and I have also had my first second third fourth fifth and I think sixth cup of coffee and this coffee is really good although it has wound me up and I am now curious to see the effects of my death would have on my caffeinated body so I do this for scientific knowledge” Spliced rambled off before she grabbed her head and twisted her neck with a sharp crack and fell down onto her book.

It took Celestia a moment to process everything that just happened, with her eyes blinking in honest confusion before the mare began to twitch, something atypical from how the mare normally came back from death.

“Oww,” the mare groaned, holding a hoof to her head. “Owwww,” the mare whimpered again, holding both hooves to her head.

“What is wrong?” Celestia asked, stepping closer to the mare on the bed.

“I just took myself from a highly artificial functioning state to the base standards of my body without any time to prepare my body for the transition,” the mare grumbled.

“How do you feel?” Celestia asked, a smile tugging her lips.

“Imagine if you have eaten cold food far too quickly and experience cranial pain-”

"An ice cream headache?”

“...You have ice cream here?” the green’s mare ears ears lifted upwards before she groaned. “Well imagine if you had one but it was spread across your entire body.” Nuzzling the book briefly, the mare lifted her head upright while muttering, never again.

Doing her utmost not to laugh at the scene, Celestia cleared a space for herself on the bed with Spliced giving her a restrained frown of annoyance before backing up to give her more space.

“I have spoken with my sister about you and before we reach a final decision about the amnesty you desire, I believe a bit more is needed to determine that if you are going to be a threat to our little ponies.”

“Princess, with all due respect to your decision making, let me state that I will not be an issue,” Spliced said, looking her straight in the eyes. “I have just left my prison behind and I have no desire to return to it or another one of your making by harming one of your citizens.”

Celestia took this in with mild concern. She was not certain if the younger mare was lying to her, but the reasoning behind it was set in pure logic and no morality was factored in. Celestia was sensing a pattern for what was normal for her and it worried her as it was a very easy path to fall into dark places that affected a great deal of ponies and this mare was an admitted war criminal…

“Regardless of the fact, I believe that my former personal student, Princess Twilight Sparkle, will able to finalize the information we need to make our decision,” Celestia told her.

“Another sister of yours or some distant family member?” Spliced asked, tilting her head.

“No, Twilight is not related to the royal family by a direct bloodline,” Celestia informed her. “Our tribe, alicorn, is small an-”

“How small?”

“There are only five of us; my sister and I, Twilight Sparkle, Mi Amore Cadenza and her daughter,” Celestia said with Spliced’s eyes bulging at this. “Due to our nature here, we are viewed as leaders of nations, my sister and myself for Equestria and Cadance for the Crystal Empire, and all of us are referred to as Princesses.”

“Wh-what happened to the rest of our kind?” Spliced looked utterly horrified.

“That’s on a need to know basis only and you do not even appear on that list’s clearance,” Celestia said sharply, projecting more coldness than she had intended but that was a very sensitive topic, one she had not even discussed with Twilight or Cadance since their respective ascensions, even though they did have the right to the information as alicorns. “At any rate, I will be arranging a meeting between you and Princess Twilight very soon, with you being moved to her castle in Ponyville, as we feel it would be better for you in a small community than the high pressure of the capital where I can see only issues arising.”

“Such as?”

“We have a number of unicorn nobles whom I can see you clashing with, notably my honourary nephew Prince Blueblood. He is… well-intentioned, but he is not the easiest of ponies to get along with, unfortunately.” Celestia grimaced, remembering Blueblood’s actions at the Grand Galloping Gala a few years before. “And there are some others who would have their own opinions of a new alicorn showing up all of a sudden, many viewing you as a new princess… and I suspect at least a few would be less than pleased with the idea.”

“Wait,” Spliced raised a hoof as her voice’s entire tone and pitched changed, her body beginning to shake. “Ponies would view me as a princess because I am a Pure pony?” She began to shake more and Celestia was aware that Spliced Genome was actually shaking in laughter. Giggling and snorting, the mare wrapped her arms around her barrel, laughing her head off, her hindhooves kicking pillows off the bed. “Oh by the stars, that’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard! I am hardly princess material; hell I would go days without showering or cleaning up after I ate if I was lost in my research and I have almost no soc-” she began to laugh again but Celestia caught what she was about to admit.

“Yes, well.” Celestia cleared her throat as Spliced got her laughter under control. “Millennia ago, before Equestria was founded, the three tribes - unicorns, pegasi and Earth ponies - were, shall we say, not cooperative with one another. They were divided by hatred and cared only for the welfare of their own kind, each tribe demanding things from the others but not wanting to give up any concessions of their own, and their constant fights with one another over this eventually attracted the attention of creatures called windigos.”

“Wait a minute, you have windigos here?”

“You know of them?” Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Of course, they are a predator species akin to the mimics, feeding on negative emotions instead of positive emotions,” Spliced said. “Are they, the windigos, sapient here as well?”

“No, they are not and you mentioned something called mimics? Are they insect-like beings capable of disguising themselves as other?”

“Yes, that's mimics,” Spliced said. “I take it you have them here too?”

Celestia nodded. “Except we call them Changelings. They were our enemies for a time, but a recent change in leadership, and their methods of feeding, have made them into our allies now.” She frowned. “Except for their former Queen, who has rejected their new ways and gone into seclusion, or at least into hiding - we’re trying to find her, but Chrysalis is very good at not being found.” She sighed.

“It shouldn’t be that hard to find her, you would just need to use a thaumatic blanketing array set to the hive’s biological and thaumatic markers and it would reveal her true form and a thaumatic dampener for the same effect to neutralize her,” Spliced said before sighing into her hoof. “Providing you have the capability to create such devices, of course.”

Celestia blinked. “That is… a very interesting idea,” she said thoughtfully. “I’ll have to consult with King Thorax to see about arranging for that. And of course, Twilight would be very interested as well due to the trouble we have had in locating Chrysalis.”

“Just KISS already,” Spliced said as she lifted a cup of coffee to her lips.

“Excuse me?” Celestia asked, causing the mare to sputter her drink and clear her throat before answering.

“It’s a saying where I come from,” she explained. “Means ‘Keep it simple, stupid.’ So many ponies have tried to come up with something good, yet they wound up over complicating it and making things so much harder on themselves. When really, sometimes the simplest or most obvious solution is the best.”

“I see,” Celestia said, her ear flicking. “As I was saying about the foundation of Equestria, the tribes were unaware of what had caused the sudden blizzard, and they all chose to move from their ancestral homeland to a new one, which would eventually become Equestria. Unfortunately, all three arrived in the same place and their leaders began arguing over who had the most right to this new land, which drew the windigos to follow them. Fortunately, one of the settlers, a unicorn mare named Clover the Clever who was an advisor to the unicorns’ royal family, was able to look past their differences and figure out what was actually causing the blizzard, and she and two others, an Earth Pony named Smart Cookie and a Pegasus named Private Pansy, were able to overcome their hatred for one another and become friends. Their friendship fueled a powerful magic that drove the windigos away from Equestria, and every year since then, we have celebrated that event, our friendship and the spreading of positive emotions helping to keep the windigos from ever returning to this land.”

“While I would suggest mounting an expedition to deal with the problem permanently, I am assuming that with the positive relationship with the mim- I mean changelings being recent, you do not have access to emotional blocking equipment?” Spliced asked.

“No, we don’t,” Celestia replied. “Though we probably should look into finding out where the Windigos even are… they haven’t been seen since the founding. Of course,” and here she grimaced. “Given certain events, I can agree that they should be checked on. After all, I thought I had imprisoned Chrysalis and her Changelings for good a few hundred years ago, but somehow, she escaped in time to create a great deal of trouble at Cadance’s wedding just a few years ago. And until she dropped her disguise, we had no idea they’d gotten loose.”

“And you didn’t think to check on her before?” Spliced raised an eyebrow.

“She was trapped in a volcano, I wasn’t expecting anyone other than a dragon to possibly be able to escape from that,” Celestia said with a sigh. “Among my biggest mistakes, I will admit. Also, once we have the means to block our emotions from being fed upon by the windigos, we will locate them and determine the situation. As you said, they are sapient ponies in your world and-”

“And after being deprived of their natural substance for however long it has been, I doubt that their tribe has managed to keep their possible society stable enough and more than likely they have devolved into feral animals.”

“We will see,” Celestia said sharply back at the mare before blinking and realizing that she was talking to somepony that treated her as an average pony who able to hold her own in such serious debates. She will either drive Twilight up the wall or help her usher in a golden age for us all.

Or become the biggest danger we have ever known.

“In any case, going back to our history,” Celestia looked at the other mare, who looked very interested. “While the three tribes had worked past their differences and driven off the windigos, there was still the matter of who would lead their shared land.” Celestia closed her eyes for a moment as she remembered. “After some time, Luna and I were found and asked to fill that position, since we were alicorns. In this world at least, our kind naturally possesses the magic of each of the other three tribes, and they felt this would make us fair and impartial rulers. And ever since then, any new alicorn who appeared has been coronated as a princess, to rule Equestria or, in Cadance’s case, the Crystal Empire - as a descendent of its previous rightful ruler, Princess Amore, its throne would be hers by birthright, even if she weren’t an alicorn.” She sighed, then looked at Spliced again.

“Of course, Twilight has less to do with ruling Equestria than my sister and I, but she has her own responsibilities that keep her busy… we are helping prepare her to take on a larger role in time, of course, but after certain events in the past few years, I believe she is content as she is for now.” Her eyes drifted for a moment. “And of course, Flurry Heart is just an infant and as such far too young for such duties, though I expect that when she comes of age, she will either inherit her mother’s throne or find a destiny that is uniquely hers.”

“Well, if anypony wants me to lead them, I will have to tell them I have killed every plant I have ever owned by sheer negligence, even the ones that do not need water,” Spliced said with a smile before frowning. “I’m still not sure how that cactus died…” She shook her head before flashing Celestia a smile. “In other words, I am not looking for any positions of power, just someplace I can settle down and continue my research in peace.”

“And after Twilight has given us her view on the matter, we will see what can be done,” Celestia said as she reached over to grab the younger immortal’s hooves, activating a link to Luna’s dreamspace so her sister could watch. “And if you harm my student, you will discover what happens to a body when it is exposed directly to the sun.”

“I can already tell what would happen; massive radiation poisoning, the body would more than likely combust the closer you get, decompression from a lack of air would happ- oh you are threatening me,” Spliced squeaked in fear, struggling to move backwards but Celestia held her in place.

“No, I am not. I am simply stating a fact about your more than likely prison if you attack one of my nation’s most beloved heroes for at least six hundred years, give or take our busy schedule to keep track of such things,” Celestia said in a calm voice while listening and sighing internally at Luna’s approval of her actions. She then applied a bit more pressure with Spliced squirming more. “That is only if you prove to be a threat and as an immortal myself, I have a very long memory.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Spliced squeaked. “And I won’t harm her, I promise.” She blinked. “Um, she wouldn’t mind an magnetic resonance imaging though, would she, if I asked her nicely?”

“That all depends.” Celestia leaned in closely, and her tone told Spliced to be very careful in what she said next while trying to place the term as it sounded very familiar. “What is a magnetic resonance imaging?”

“It’s a thing that lets us take pictures of your insides without having to do any surgery first,” Spliced winced at the other mare’s proximity. “I think there’s one of you in here, actually.” She waved nervously at one stack of paper off to the side.

Eyeing her carefully, Celestia summoned the stack and shuffled through it, until she came to one item. “This?”

“Yes! That’s it exactly!” Spliced said excitedly. “And I know it’s a lot like scans of myself, but it’s still so fascinating to see them of another Pure, especially one from another world with all the differences in the carbuncle…” She froze. “You’re not… upset at me for looking at those, are you?” she asked in a small voice. “It’s not like they were restricted, and I’m only interested out of pure scientific curiosity because we’re so biologically similar but at the same time so different…”

Celestia raised a hoof. “Peace, young one,” she said. “I suppose magical scans like this - we have a different name for them, but I am familiar with the concept - which do no harm, would be all right… but only if Twilight, and any other pony or non pony, consents to them of their own free will.”

Spliced heaved a sigh of relief. “All right.” She still looked nervous. “I’m sorry if I seem rude, but… well, I’ve always been obsessed with learning as much as I can, and experimenting with what I learn… chemistry may be my talent, but I enjoy studying all fields just about as much, and I know I can get carried away with it sometimes.”

“So I gathered,” Celestia said with a gentle smile. “But listen, and listen well.” She looked the younger mare in the eye. “There is a saying among my people: An' it harm none, do what ye will. While it was normally applied to magic, it can also be used elsewhere - the medical profession, for instance, has their own version: First, do no harm. While knowledge in and of itself is not harmful… if others are harmed in the act of another being gaining knowledge, then the one who did so has gone too far.” She narrowed her eyes. “There is a fine line there. I would strongly advise that you not cross it. Do I make myself clear?”

Spliced nodded. “I promise I will not hurt anypony, or any non-ponies, outside of self-defense if they attack me first.”

“Good.” Celestia rose from the bed and straightened herself out, then headed for the door. “I’ll let you know when it’s time for you to meet Twilight.”

When she had gone, Spliced let out a relieved breath. “Stars, that mare is scary,” she said to herself.

In her private study, Celestia contemplated before she scrunched up the latest attempt to write a letter to Twilight.

She had been uncharacteristically uncertain of how much she should tell Twilight in order to protect her and her friends while at the same time give Spliced Genome a fair chance.

One attempt had laid out every detail of what she and Luna thought of the mare and their hopes that Twilight could do but she saw it immediately colouring Twilight’s opinion and have her former student view this new alicorn as a threat.

She had also discarded a letter saying absolutely nothing about Spliced’s past, only that Twilight’s job was to help her acclimate to the new world with reports sent back to her.

Tapping her quill against the parchment, she closed her eyes and began to write what she felt without her mind being truly active. After a period of time, she felt herself stop writing and opened her eyes.

Peering down at her latest attempt, she saw it would be acceptable, especially how she ended it.

To my former student and fellow princess Twilight Sparkle,

Recently, my sister has located and retrieved a mare, Spliced Genome, who came from another dimension via a portal that is located on the moon. Due to her sordid history, we need your input on her future in our world and we are sending her to Ponyville for you and your friends to help make a decision in what we should do with her. She will be arriving in Ponyville later today on the train; she will have an amulet to hide her wings as she is an alicorn biologically but appears to possess none of the magical power that is normal to our tribe. Due to being from another dimension, a few of her values and views are against our norm but I have no doubt you and your friends will be able to overcome this. If you have any concerns, do not hesitate to contact either me or my sister.

Be careful,

Celestia.

Twilight finished reading the letter and looked at her student and number one assistant, with a number of notions running through her head but one thing kept rising to the surface.

Celestia had not signed it normally but gave her a warning to be careful.

“Is everything okay, Twilight?” Spike asked her, with Starlight giving her a worried look.

“I’m not sure,” she said.

Chapter Seven

It was late in the afternoon when Twilight Sparkle, Spike the dragon and Starlight Glimmer stood waiting at the train station for their latest charge to arrive and were chatting nervously with each other.

“Twilight, are you sure that this mare will be okay?” Spike asked. “That letter from Princess Celestia has still got me worried.”

“Spike, I’m fairly certain that Princess Celestia would not send anypony overtly dangerous that we couldn’t handle to us, right Starlight?” Twilight turned to her student.

“I... am not convinced,” Starlight replied. “I mean, she has sent Discord over here to be reformed. And of course she let me stay, after what I did… I still don’t know why she didn’t send the guards after me when she found out I almost destroyed Equestria seven times with that time travel spell… even if you did vouch for me.”

“She trusts my judgement,” Twilight said. “And I promised her that you’d changed.” She smiled at the other mare. “Besides, in the end, you were the one who recognized that what you were doing was wrong, and that’s what counts. Even if you have had a few relapses since then, I know you’ve always meant well and weren’t being deliberately malicious.”

Starlight smiled back. “Thanks, Twilight.” She then straightened her face. “But this is the first time she actually warned you to be careful. I mean, I read the the journals; she gave you notice that Tirek was loose but not to be careful. Same with Discord, I mean, no warning until he escaped. Hay, she didn’t even tell you either of them existed before they got loose. How dangerous could this one mare that doesn’t have any magic be?”

“I don’t know but I am not going to let that deter me from trying to help her,” Twilight said confidently. “And we are going to find out now, that’s her train pulling up.”

She tilted her head towards the train that was slowing down along the rails from Canterlot, and smiled. “Ah, the good old Friendship Express…”

“Seriously?” Starlight blinked at her. “That’s really its name?”

“Yep.” Spike nodded. “It’s been called that since before I was hatched.”

“Learn something new everyday, I guess,” Starlight said as she turned back to the train with the ponies aboard disembarking from it, with some gaping at her but keeping their distance. There was one unicorn mare that stood out as she was clearly in awe of her surroundings, tilting her head as she walked over to the trio. As in Celestia’s subsequent letter, this mare matched Spliced Genome’s description although not her behaviour exactly.

She was still talking to herself as she approached them, saying, “-imply amazing how a rustic and primitive means of acceleration can change the experience of a train ride.” She then chuckled to herself in a manner similar to how a rich pony would after trying what Prince Blueblood had so derisively referred to as ‘commoner fair’. Shaking her head, she lit her horn up and removed the necklace around her neck and let out a sigh as she flapped her wings. “So much better,” she muttered under her breath before holding out a hoof towards to the princess. “Hello, I am Spliced Genome; you must be Twilight Sparkle.”

“Yes I am,” Twilight said, shaking the hoof. “This is my student, Starlight Glimmer,” she gestured towards the unicorn who also shook the alicorn’s hoof. “And my number one assistant, Spike the dragon.”

“Nice to meet you,” Spike said with the mare hesitating and eying the young drake.

“An actual dragon,” she said, lowering herself down to meet Spike in the eye. “You know, I did my thesis paper on the biology of dragons where I come from. Scored top of my class, in fact.” She looked briefly upset about something but she flashed a smile and rubbed his head. “In any case, it is nice to meet you, Spike.” Her horn lit up and grabbed a pebble from the ground. “Now let’s see if I remember this trick I learn from Dirt Digger,” her horn began to glow turquoise around the stone with smoke flowing out of it and mare beginning to sweat profusely. Twilight was about to step in to stop her when her horn began to dim and the stone stopped smoking. Shaking her head, Spliced placed a hoof on her head. “That was something else,” she said to herself before holding up a small diamond. “Here, something to add to your horde.” She then placed it into Spike’s claw.

“Wow, thank you, but I don’t really got one,” Spike said as he eyed the diamond. “Can I go put this in my room Twilight?”

“Sure thing Spike,” she said, waving him back to the castle with Spliced giving her a concerned look before forcing a smile on her face. “Is everything okay Spliced?”

“Yes,” she nodded her head before gesturing with a hoof. “Please, lead on.”

“Good, I can’t wait to show you Ponyville,” Twilight said.

“I wonder if it is like the one I knew of...?” Spliced said, tilting her head. “Though I highly doubt it.”

“Why do you say that?” Starlight asked, keeping an eye on their new guest with a frown on her student’s face.

“Well for starters, Ponyville was the name of a ghetto district of a mega city called Neighbraska,” Spliced said. “And for another thing, this Ponyville is highly viewed by the government.”

Twilight and Starlight both stopped in their tracks. “A… ghetto district?” Twilight said faintly. “As in, a messy, overcrowded area where only poor ponies really live?” She shook her head. “That’s… I can’t really picture anyplace named Ponyville being like that.”

Spliced shrugged. “Different world, different ways,” she said nonchalantly as they made their ways into the town. “Besides, I didn’t name the place - it’d been around for a few hundred years before I was ever born. And to add onto my compliments to this Ponyville, it is a stark improvement from a general point of view. The land here is wide open, lush with actual grass and trees, everything here seems well maintained and I can spot flares of personal touches, and there doesn’t seem to be any violent or crazy pon-”

“GAAAASP!” Pinkie Pie was briefly visible hanging in the air before dashing off, leaving Spliced utterly confused.

“Wha-what was that?” she asked them, turning her head back and forth as if she could spot Pinkie Pie by such simple means.

“Pinkie Pie, one of my best friends,” Twilight said with a small smile on her face. “She is the premier party pony in Equestria, and… well, she’s more than a little excitable most of the time. Especially when new ponies arrive in town.”

“She is probably planning your welcome party as we speak, so prepare yourself to be shot with confetti by a cannon,” Starlight said. “Assuming, of course, she didn’t accidentally put the cake batter in it instead. Again.”

“I, er, wa, what?” Spliced asked, doing her best to keep up while at the same time trying to comprehend Pinkie Pie. “This is some sort of metaphor, right?”

“Nope.” Starlight shook her head. “She really does have a cannon that shoots out confetti, streamers, balloons and sometimes cake batter if she put it in by accident, via compressed air. I don’t know where she got the idea, and I’m not sure I want to know.”

“It’s Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said. “She does that sort of thing.” She leaned in close. “Confidentially, I wouldn’t try to think too much about how she pulls it off - I nearly drove myself crazy trying to figure her out a few years ago.”

“I am a scientist, I believe I can understand one Thi-Earth pony,” Spliced said, throwing her head back.

“And I know Pinkie. She’s my friend, and I love her dearly, but she defies the laws of logic, physics and common sense on a regular basis,” Twilight replied with a sigh. “Even Discord doesn’t try to understand her, and he’s the same way.”

“Discord?” Spliced asked, blinking in confusion. “The only Discord I know of is some sort of creature mentioned in old religious texts as the devil’s agent, like Nyarlathotep to Azathoth.”

“That’s pretty accurate, if the Nyarlathotep you are talking about is a chaotic monster serving creatures that don’t view equinity as more than a speck on cosmic scale,” Twilight said before turning to face Spliced. “Wait, are you saying that our literature is the same?”

“That appears to be true but given how different time is, that there must either some kind of parallel development, or maybe some kind of cosmic force affecting both our universes,” Spliced said. She shuddered. “Of course, if something like Azathoth came here, there must have been something pretty powerful that drove it off like we did in my world. From what I’ve read in the history books, its ability to manipulate thaumatics was so far beyond anything anypony from my generation could handle, and I’m still not sure how they managed to counter it and drive it away from the galaxy in the end. Though I’m pretty sure some extremely powerful explosives were involved… either way, it finally decided we weren’t worth the effort to put up with and moved on.”

“Wait, isn’t that the famous game story of Old Mare Henderson?” Twilight asked, causing the mare to spin her head in surprise. “My brother told me about that infamous game of Call of Cthulhu; how this one player lied and cheated his way to winning an unwinnable game by having such a massive backstory that the game master couldn’t read it all.”

“Oh please, it’s not cheating if your opponent doesn’t bother to read all the information provided; it is on them for losing. Besides it sounds like a fair way to win that stupid game,” Spliced laughed with Starlight shaking her head and muttering nerds under her breath.

“Either way, it does sound familiar…” Twilight pondered. “Though from what you said, Azathoth survived and Hastur didn’t-”

Her train of thought was interrupted as there was a sudden whoosh overhead, and a moment later a bright blue pegasus mare with a prismatic mane and tail landed in front of them. “Hey, Twilight, Starlight. Who’s the newbie?”

“Spliced Genome, a pleasure to me-”

“How fast can you go with those wings Splicey?”

“Splicey?” she muttered to herself before looking at the Wonderbolt. “I can travel at an average speed for a mare my age but I have not had much time to actually fly anyplace. And you are?”

“Rainbow Dash,” the other mare said as she puffed out her chest. “Only the most awesome pegasus in all of Equestria.”

“Rrright…” Spliced gave her a flat look. “Any way you can prove that claim?”

Twilight and Starlight winced at the grin Rainbow Dash gave Spliced and how she said, “Just you watch, Splicey.”

“Please don’t call me th-” the mare began before Dash shot off into the sky, beginning to pick up speed. Everypony in town were watching the free Wonderbolt show happening in the sky with Spliced watching with a closed face.

After around thirty seconds of hard flying, Dash fell into a dive and managed land directly in front of Spliced.

“What did you think of that Splicey?”

“That you are on par with the most basic of flight vehicles,” Spliced said with Dash’s mouth hanging low.

“WHAT‽” Dash shouted at her. “I’m fast as a bucking balloon to you‽” With a snort, Dash was about to take off when Spliced’s turquoise magic aura grabbed the mare.

“Where I am from, the most basic aircrafts can go near sonic,” she said sharply, forcing Dash to look her in the eyes. “It was meant to be a compliment.” Spliced flashed a smile as she let Dash go. “I have to admit, I wouldn’t be surprised if you could go the speed of sound one day with enough training.”

“Could?” Dash gave her a look. “Lady, I’ve broken the speed of sound before. Every time I do a sonic rainboom.”

“It’s true,” Starlight put in. “I’ve seen her do it.”

“Really?” Spliced blinked in honest surprise. “No pony I knew of could do that,” she said with a look that was similar to when Twilight received a new book.

“Well, I guess I’ll you see later?” Dash said as she backed off. “Gotta go take care of some stuff back home now. Bye!” With that, she flew off, Spliced blinking in surprise as she watched the other mare go.

“Another one of your friends?” Spliced asked Twilight, raising an eyebrow.

“One of my first friends here in Ponyville,” Twilight said proudly. “I’ll admit we had our differences at first, but there’s nopony more loyal than her.” She smiled. “Actually, when I first came to Ponyville with Spike, I… wasn’t exactly thrilled by the idea of being friends with anypony. But I wound up making five of the best friends any mare could have.”

“So whom are the other three?” Spliced asked, tilting her head to the side.

“How do you know I’m not one of her best friends?” Starlight asked, glaring at the other mare.

“Starlight,” Twilight started to interject when Spliced tilted her head downwards.

“Simple logic dictates she would have introduced you as such,” Spliced replied. “I don’t doubt that you’re one of her best friends now, just that you were not one of the first five.”

“Oh.” Starlight blinked. “Okay, you’ve got a point there… and you’re right, I didn’t even meet Twilight until she’d been living here for a few years.” She gestured in one direction. “Actually, I didn’t meet Twilight until after she’d moved into there.”

Spliced followed her hoof to see something ahead of them, and blinked.

Then she blinked again.

“Am I seeing what I think I’m seeing?” she asked in a hushed tone.

“If you think you’re seeing a castle that looks like a tree made out of crystal, then yep.” Starlight gave a little smirk at the dumbfounded look on Spliced’s face. “That’s where Twilight lives. And me too for the past year or so.”

“How did you even craft such a thing? I didn’t think you had access to such complex mechanical geological manipulations considering how archaic everything is.”

“Archaic?” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “I know Ponyville can look a little old-fashioned, but that’s part of the charm of it. Besides, I didn’t actually make the castle. It just grew itself to look like that.”

Spliced stared at her, dumbfounded. “It… grew?”

“Long story,” Twilight shrugged. “I’ll explain the whole thing later. Suffice to say it was quite an adventure, and… well, it took me a while to get used to living there opposed to my old tree library.” She sighed. “But it’s my home now, and if you come on, I’ll show you around.”

“Though you might want a map,” Starlight threw in. “I still get lost in there, and I’ve been living with Twilight and Spike for over a year.”

“In a moment, I’d like to see more of this town of yours,” Spliced said, flexing her wings in a way Twilight had learned to tell was an unconscious act of nervousness. Twilight filed that away for later examination.

“Sure thing.” Twilight smiled. “We’ve got a lot of sites around here… there’s Sugarcube Corner, Carousel Boutique, the Town Hall… oh, and Sweet Apple Acres, the first residential site in Ponyville ever, and one of the first places I ever visited when I first came here. It’s on the other end of town though, so we might want to save it for later.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Spliced said. “Lead on,” the mare did a light bow, gesturing for them to move on.

“How about we meet one of my friends Rarity Belle,” Twilight said, as she led the way through the town and was surprised to realize that they hadn’t fallen to pieces at the sight of a second alicorn. She wasn’t sure what it said about her town that this was a normal day for them. “Remember how I mentioned Carousel Boutique?”

Spliced nodded.

“Well, that’s the dress shop she runs here in town, and her designs are so well-regarded that she’s been able to open two other branches in Canterlot and Manehatten.”

“Really, a… fashionista.” Spliced didn’t exactly look enthused. “And she’s one of your best friends?”

“Absolutely.” Twilight caught the expression on her face. “I know, the town bookworm and the town fashionista don’t exactly seem like they’d be close… but there’s more to Rarity than just clothes, even if she does come up with the best and most creative designs I’ve ever seen. She’s happiest when she’s helping others, and you should see her when she’s having fun with her little sister.”

“Sister?” Spliced perked up at that.

Twilight nodded. “All six of us have brothers or sisters, except Rainbow Dash, and even then Scootaloo’s as close to her as one.”

“Must be nice,” Spliced mused. “I was an only child, myself, and never had anypony close enough to be like a sibling.”

“Well the ponies here are certainly friendly enough,” Twilight said, giving her a smile. “We believe in treating friends like family and family like friends, and we're always glad to add yet one more to the family.”

“Which says a lot about this place,” Starlight said quietly, a faint smile on her face. “Especially given how they welcomed me...”

Spliced gave her a curious look, but turned back to Twilight. “So, where exactly is your friend’s shop?”

“Just over there.”

“Past the place with the gaudy carousel?” Spliced gestured towards the building.

Twilight gave her a stern look. “That is the Carousel Boutique.”

“Oh… er, sorry.” Spliced said, rubbing the back of her head. “I wasn’t expecting it be a literal name.”

“It’s okay, just don’t ever say that in front of Rarity,” Twilight told her. “She can get a little… touchy.” Her eyes drifted for a moment, as if she was remembering some past incident. “Anyway, here we are.”

“Right.” Spliced let out a deep breath. “Just, fair warning? I’m not too big on ‘fancy’ - I’m more of a ‘function over form’ type, if you know what I mean.”

“Of course.” Twilight nodded. “I know other ponies who are the same way.”

With a nod of her head, the trio made their way towards the building, drawing a few looks now that people were aware that there was indeed another alicorn in town. There was some murmuring but if Spliced Genome noticed it, she made no sign of it.

There was some sort of strength to the mare, some sort of confidence that Twilight couldn’t place her hoof on. Like she was certain she could take anything on and be the victor and was slightly worrying. Twilight shared a look with Starlight, who had a more serious frown on her face. She would have to talk with her student afterwards, to hear her thoughts on Spliced.

After turning around the corner, they finally made their way in front of the Carousel Boutique with Spliced walking inside first.

“Good afternoon!” a voice called out in an almost sing-song manner. “Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique, and magnifique. I’ll be with you in just a moment!”

Spliced raised an eyebrow, then looked back at Twilight as if to say ”Is she for real?”

Before Twilight could say anything, Rarity swept into the room. “Welcome, welcome darlings, how may I help you-oh dear Celestia we have another alicorn!”

“Yes and no,” Spliced said. “I am what you call an alicorn but I am from another dimension where there are very notable differences between me and her.” She gestured towards Twilight and then herself. “I am staying with Twilight until… certain things are finalized with Celes-Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.”

“Oh?” Rarity leaned in. “Do tell.”

For the first time, Spliced seemed really nervous. “It’s complicated,” she said uncertainly, shifting on her hooves.

Rarity exchanged glances with Twilight. “It’s all right,” she said reassuringly. “I won’t judge…”

Spliced heaved a sigh. “Well, I got on the wrong side of my world’s government during a war and wound up being imprisoned on the moon… I managed to escape recently and came through a portal to this world’s moon, and then your Princess Luna found me and brought me down here.”

“You were in a war?” Twilight asked, surprised at this piece of information.

“You’re a war criminal‽” Starlight shouted, causing Twilight to do a double take.

“I was a scientist,” Spliced sputtered. “One side, the Thirds, asked me to help them after their enemies attacked them with biological weapons; I just analyzed those weapons and came up with a cure so they wouldn’t die from them. My continued involvement with the Thirds and their using my expertise in the war afterward was enough for the government to condemn me afterward to immortality so I could serve out the full life sentence they put on me.”

Twilight was at a loss for words at this, trying to process all of this and what she should address first. On the one hoof, Spliced had just admitted to being a war criminal; on the other, it was apparently because she’d been trying to save lives. And on the third hoof… “They made you immortal?” she asked, wide-eyed.

Spliced nodded. “Oh, I can die,” she said disgustedly. “I just don’t stay dead, as Princess Celestia will confirm - she’s seen me die and get better at least twice since I got here.” She sighed. “And it’s not a fun experience, I can assure you. Especially since I can never forget all those times I’ve died.”

“I am not convinced,” Starlight said, eyes narrowed as she focused on the other mare. “How do we know you’re telling the truth about any of this?”

Spliced narrowed her eyes right back. “You want proof? I’ll give you proof. Miss Belle, you might not want to watch this.”

Then she reached up, placed both hooves against her head, and turned it with a sharp crack.

As the green mare fell to the floor, her neck broken, the other three mares stared in shock and horror.

A moment later, Spliced shuddered as her neck bones moved back into place, and she stood up with a groan, then gave Starlight a glare. “Happy now?”

“I’ve seen my friends trapped in Changeling goo, Discord in a bad mood, and a wasteland that used to be Equestria,” Starlight said in a stunned tone. “But that, right there, was scarier and more disturbing than all of those put together.”

“H-how are you able to do that to yourself‽” Rarity asked, aghast.

“I’m used to it,” Spliced shrugged. “I’ve also started to come back a lot faster; used to be a few hours before I came back to life.” Then she looked around. “Princess, Miss Belle… I’m sorry, but I’m not in a good mood now, and I need to go and get some air. I’ll meet you back at the castle later.” With that, she turned and headed for the door.

When she was gone, Starlight sighed. “I’m hardly one to talk, but I still don’t think she’s giving us the full story. And there’s just something about her that’s rubbing me the wrong way.”

Twilight looked to the door with concern. “I don’t know what to think,” she said quietly.

As she walked down the streets of Ponyville, Spliced Genome looked around her, studying the sights and sounds. All in all, it was a pleasant-looking town, and the residents were certainly content - she could see three little fillies with surprisingly similar Cutie Marks running down one street, laughing happily, while off on the side of the main area, a mint-green unicorn sat on a bench in an… odd posture as a cream Earth pony stretched out next to her. Further along, she saw a little unicorn filly sitting on the ground and happily wagging her tail as she was nuzzled by a gray pegasus mare. The sight brought a faint smile to Spliced’s face.

Continuing on her way, she eventually reached the edge of town, and found herself wandering along a tree-lined path. Curious as to where it led, she kept to the path until it came to a small cottage, looking somewhat like a tree with windows and a thatched-grass roof.

Moving closer, she could hear voices ahead, and blinked at the flash of light that came from the other side of the cottage. Before she could go look, another flash appeared in front of her, and she raised her hoof to block out the sudden light.

“Oh my. Oh my, oh my, what’s this?” an odd voice said in front of her. “Do I see a little silhouetto of a sixth alicorn in Equestria?”

Rubbing her eyes as her vision cleared, Spliced looked up to see one of the strangest-looking creatures she’d ever encountered. At its core, it resembled a serpentine dragon, but its body was covered in eagle feathers and it had the head of a goat, one goat horn, one stag horn, one fang, the tongue of a snake, the mane of a pony, one eagle talon, one lion paw, one bat wing, one bird wing, one green dragon leg, one pony leg, and a red dragon tail.

“Now, I know I’ve seen you somewhere…” The creature tapped its chin. “Ah, yes… the Princess’s new guest, the one dear Celly and Lulu mentioned.”

Spliced looked at him in surprise. “You know the Princesses?”

“But of course! After all…” The creature leaned in close. “They’re the ones who imprisoned me in stone for over a thousand years just for having a little fun…”

Spliced gulped, remembering Celestia’s warning. “I see…”

“But of course, I haven’t introduced myself.” Snapping a claw, the thing produced a copy of himself in a red jacket, puffy white shirt and a fancy-looking red hat with a feather sticking out of it. Blowing a trumpet, the duplicate gestured to the original. “Announcing the spirit of chaos, Discord!” He blew his trumpet again before popping out of existence.

“Am I supposed to be impressed?” Spliced asked, taking a step backwards.

“I don’t know,” he leaned in, hovering off the ground. “Are you Doa?”

Spliced froze, her blood became ice and it felt like her heart stopped.

“Wh-what did you say?”

“You heard me.” Discord’s face was even closer to her. “Doa.”

“H-how do you know that name?”

“Oh, I know a lot,” Discord waved it off. “I know the kings of Griffonstone and I quote the fights historical… from Trottingham to Canterlot in order categorical. And I also know what you did to wind up like dear Lulu.”

“But that was in a different dimension!” Spliced protested. “Nopony could know that!”

“Do I look like a pony?” Discord extended his body, wrapping himself around her. “I, my dear lady, am a draconequus. I am not bound to any one shape or world, though I tend to prefer this one. Chaos is my very nature, change is what I do. And I am capable of anything I feel like… of course, I haven’t felt like causing trouble for anypony in a long time. Except for Chrysalis of course.” His face turned nasty for a moment. “Nopony hurts Fluttershy and gets away with it.”

Spliced was beginning to feel a bit lost. “Um, right.”

“So as long as you behave yourself, and don’t go working on plagues like the ones you made before, you should have nothing to fear. But if you do…” Discord’s head suddenly burst into flame. “Even Daybreaker’s wrath won’t compare to mine.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Spliced said faintly as she wondered to herself who Daybreaker was, besides somepony she was fairly certain she didn’t want to meet.

“Good.” Discord snapped back to normal. “Now, would you care to join Fluttershy and I for some tea?” He snapped his claws, and a large red marking appeared on his face. “It’s one of her special varieties.”

“Um, sure,” Spliced said, somewhat unsure. “Tea sounds great.”

“Gooo-oood!” Discord smiled widely, snapping into a maitre d's uniform. “Right this way, please.”

As he led her to the cottage, Spliced could only wonder one thing.

What have I gotten myself into?

Chapter Eight

Spliced was truly uncertain about meeting this Fluttershy as she stepped through the cottage door with Discord talking to somepony inside, no doubt the mare herself. She was aware that the locals were not particularly pleased with her presence, and she could not deny herself feeling different from them on an instinctual level that she had been fighting since she’d come here. It could literally be anything causing her to feel this way as she was happy to be out and free but she was willing to wager that this irrational and odd feeling had something to do with her being in a different dimension. It could be anything causing it - her personality, her behaviour, possibly even their background thaumatic radiation signatures being different, but whatever it was, it was bothering her. She would need to do some research on it, providing if these ponies had such technology for such experiments.

Still, she had to deal with this tea time meeting while keeping her past a secret until the ponies here trusted her enough so she could continue her research. Or, as the case was due to the stance of the local authorities (and whatever Discord was) on her work being a possible danger to the inhabitant, until she could find a new direction.

Stepping through the doorway, she was assaulted by a wave of different odours and sounds of animals emitting from the cottage. It was almost overwhelming, with the mare needing to rest against the door to steady herself.

“Oh my, are you okay?” a mare asked her, with hooves helping her stand.

“Yes, yes,” Spliced said uncertainly, looking at the mare next to her. She was a yellow Thi-pegasus, with a long pink mane and tail, and big light blue eyes. “Just a slight dizzy spell, nothing to worry about…”

“Oh dear.” The mare looked quite worried. “Here, let me help you.”

Spliced couldn’t bring herself to protest as the mare - Fluttershy? - guided her over to a seat by a table with a tea set on it. “I’ll be right back,” she promised. “I just need to get a few things from the kitchen.”

Watching her hustle off, Spliced blinked in surprise. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of this mare, who seemed almost overwhelmingly… nice. Perhaps things would be oka-

“Oh hello there, Splicy,” a voice cooed and almost caused her to leap out of her coat. “So glad you decided to join us.”

“Yo-you,” she stammered at the thing sitting directly across of her, drinking from a tea cup.

“Yes, me, the one and only Dis-wait, I did this joke already,” Discord said as he apparently tossed the tea away and drank the teacup down-

“Discord!” the mare shouted, causing both Spliced and the creature to leap in their chairs. “What have we talked about? Scaring other ponies?”

“It’s… it’s okay,” Spliced managed as she tried to calm her pounding heart. “I knew he was here already, but I wasn’t expecting him to be right there all of a sudden... how are you that fast?” she asked the draconequus.

“Oh, I have my own little form of teleportation,” Discord replied smugly. “You might have seen it once before.”

“Tele-that’s a theoretical technology at best!” Spliced sputtered. “And-” She sank into her seat. “And these people have been doing the impossible since I got here,” she muttered to herself. “I really shouldn’t be surprised anymore.”

“Impossible? Why, my dear, I do six impossible things before breakfast every day!” Discord preened. “But I do apologize, dear Fluttershy… I wasn’t trying to scare her, not on purpose anyway.” Spliced could clearly see the unspoken this time in his eyes. “Besides, the me of your realm should have made some sort of impact. But then again, if I could go through this realm’s Door to the Realms in Between to get to yours, that means something happened the handsome and/or beautiful draconequus over there.”

“I am almost certain there was never mention of your kind in my world’s history books,” Spliced said. “Only in some old, discarded, discredited false religious mythos.” This caused him to huff although he kept a twinkle in his eye. Rolling her eyes, Spliced looked to her side and saw the host looking at her with her big eyes. “Oh, right, I have yet to introduce myself,” Spliced leaned over and held her hoof out. “My name is Spliced Genome miss...”

“Oh, I’m Fluttershy,” she stammered, looking off to the side for a moment. The mare did shake her hoof though, and flashed her a smile. “It is nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Spliced said as she looked around the room. “It has a very unique aroma here; do you deal with a lot of animals?”

“Oh yes, I am the caretaker of the animals that live in the Everfree forest,” Fluttershy said, perking up. “I have mice, birds, bats, sloths, Mr. Bear, beavers-”

“Wait, did you just say a bear?” Spliced asked as she leaned across the the table, her eyes widening.

“Oh yes,” she said happily. “He is just a dear, so kind and sweet.”

“A bear,” Spliced repeated as she lifted the teacup with her thaumatics to her lips. “As a pet of some kind?”

“Oh no, not at all,” Fluttershy was aghast at this notion and gave a look that made Spliced feel weird. “He is still a wild animal but as with the rest of animals, I do take care of them.”

“I see?” Spliced trailed off uncertainly, seeing Discord off to the side and enjoying himself at her discomfort. “I’m sorry, I’m not that good with interacting with others; I was forcibly isolated by myself for a long time and-”

“Oh my!” Fluttershy raced over and and wrapped her up in a hug. “I’m so sorry to hear that.”

Spliced tried to figure out how to respond to this, her body acting without her being aware and hugging Fluttershy back.

“It’s alright; even before that happened, I was terrible at working with others. Main reason why I worked alone to be honest.”

Discord started to laugh at that, causing her to wince. That creature knew about her and could easily ensure she was to be trapped back on the moon or far worse if he spoke out.

“Oh, okay,” Fluttershy hummed. “How do you like the tea?”

“It’s very good, best I’ve had in a long time,” Spliced said with a laugh, amused by her own joke.

“Thank you,” Fluttershy said innocently enough that it made Spliced feel slightly uncomfortable at trying to make light of her own misfortune. “I’m glad to hear you like it.”

“Fluttershy makes just the best tea,” Discord said with a smile on his face and Spliced had to wonder if there was some sort of relationship between them. It would explain his protectiveness over the mare. “If you stay here long, you can have some more.”

“Right,” Spliced said nervously, hearing the underlying threat in his message. Flicking her tail uneasily, Spliced put down the teacup and looked at Fluttershy. “This has been very nice and all, but I think I will take my leave. I do want to see more of this town and before it gets dark…” Spliced trailed off, knowing she was just spewing lies and by the look on Discord’s face, he knew it too.

“Oh, alright,” Fluttershy said in a bit of dejected tone that caused Spliced a stab of fear, wondering if this qualified as hurting one of Twilight’s friends.

“I do mean it, Fluttershy, this has been very nice and you’ve been a wonderful host.” Spliced said, shaking the mare’s hoof. “I’d love to do this again, I really would.”

“Then you can come by next week,” Discord said, appearing by her side. “It would be just wonderful to have you again; you can even tell Fluttershy some stories of yourself next time.”

“Oh that would be so nice,” Fluttershy said with a smile on her face. “I cannot wait to see you again. I mean, if that’s okay,”

Wincing internally at this new obligation she was stuck in, Spliced said it would be fine and that she hoped the two would have a nice day.

Stepping outside of the cottage, Spliced tilted her head upwards and began to limber up her wings. It had been a long time since she’d had a chance to fly properly and it might help her relax to a degree after that whole ordeal. Taking off into the air with some trouble due to her long hiatus from the action, she began to fly around in an aimless manner around Ponyville.

Already she felt herself calming down after the encounter with Discord. She didn’t know what she would do about him, but she would need something if she were-

Spliced paused on the spot, almost tumbling over in the air. She managed to correct and prevent herself from crashing into the ground but the thought remained in her head. She had no real plans in what she would do with her life now that she was free. It wasn’t safe for her to pick up where she had left off on her research, what with the princesses and that draconequus creature watching her and threatening her with serious harm. That and she didn’t have any of her original equipment to continue her work, and the local technology level was so far behind what she’d known that she didn’t think she could recreate what she had lost out of what was readily available in this world. Spliced could spend years helping advance the local technology to reach what she knew but that held no appeal for her as it would require her to work with others far below her intelligence, something she had no patience for.

Letting out a tired sigh, Spliced knew she had to find something to occupy her time while she was living here or she would go crazy. Looking around herself, she could see that she was over some orchard with apples growing. Banking to decelerate her speed, she landed among the trees and saw the freshest, healthiest looking apples she had ever seen. While she was tempted to just take one, if she recalled correctly one of Twilight’s friends was a farmer and this was her farm and it would be in poor taste to steal one.

Looking at the apples and licking her lips, she knew she would need to find some way to gain some currency so she could buy an ap-

“Howdy there partner, see that you’re admiring mah apples,” a mare said from behind her with a light chuckle in her voice. She turned out to be a Thir- earth pony with a brilliant orange coat, a long blond mane and a hat on her head. “Mah name is Applejack and this here is the Sweet Apple Acres,” she introduced herself as she held out her hoof for Spliced to take which she did.

“I’m Spliced Genome and I must admit that I’ve not seen better apples grown before and I’ve seen several ponies spend years in crossbreeding the quote unquote perfect apple,” she said honestly enough. There was always a balance between high quality verse high quantity that was near impossible to meet. “I would love to try one but I don’t have any means to pay for it.” Spliced tilted her head as she picked up a rock from the ground. “Although I could turn this rock into gold as payment…”

“Shucks, you don’t need to do that. Just try one,” Applejack said shaking her head. “Besides, wouldn’t creating gold and stuff just break the whole economy?”

“Well, yes,” Spliced said, dropping the rock as she looked at the well knowledged mare. “Placing value on a mineral can lead to problems of discrediting the economy of any market, which is why where I am from, they have it on a more non physical existence kind of credit.”

“Makes sense, Ah suppose,” the mare drawled out. “Where ya from, by the way? Ah don’t recall a sixth alicorn anywhere and mah family is everywhere.”

“I’m not from this world, so to speak,” Spliced said as she directed her thaumatic energies to pick an apple for herself. “I’m from another dimension or reality or whatever the exact terminology is.”

“Ah’m going to guess you didn’t come from Twilight’s magic mirror as this is the first Ah’ve heard of you,” Applejack said with a raised eyebrow.

Spliced had to resist the urge to explain there was no such thing as magic and instead filed away the fact that Twilight had something akin to the broken gateway she used to get here. “No, I didn’t; I came through a portal on the moon,” Spliced told the mare as she bit into the apple. She paused and began to eat a bit more vigorously. After finishing it in quick fashion, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hoof. “My, that was delicious! The best I’ve ever had.”

“Well thanks partner,” Applejack said with a smile on her face. “Always glad to hear a pony enjoying one of mah apples.”

“You’re most welcome, Applejack,” Spliced said with a smile and gave a look at the apples in the trees. “I have to find a way to find some way to buy some more in the future.”

“Well, are ya going to be staying here in Ponyville long?”

“For some time until things clear up; after which I do not know,” Spliced replied. “It all depends.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow, but said nothing to this. After a moment, she returned to her friendly expression. “Well, as long as you’re here in town, there’s plenty of apples for you,” she said. “And as Ah said, mah family grows them all around Equestria too.”

“Good to know.” Spliced looked around. “So, how did you and Twilight meet, anyway? I know she said she made five close friends when she first came here, but she never said why she moved to this town in the first place.”

Applejack’s eyes lit up. “Well now, that’s quite the story,” she said. “Y’see, a few years ago, it was time for the annual Summer Sun Celebration - the longest day of the year, when we all stay up to watch Princess Celestia raise the sun.”

Spliced’s eye twitched at that, and if Applejack noticed, she made no comment about it. “Anyway, every year she comes to one town and raises the sun-” Spliced’s eye twitched again - “And all the locals have a big festival to celebrate. That year it was Ponyville, and she sent Twilight down to check on the preparations. Mah family and I were in charge of food, and of course we did our best… anyway, everypony did their part, and the setup went off without a hitch. ‘Course, there was a big incident when it came time for the actual raising of the sun, but Twilight and I and our other friends - Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy - went through quite an adventure, and by the time it was all said and done, the six of us were inseparable. That’s when Twilight and Spike decided to move here, and they’ve lived in Ponyville ever since.”

Spliced looked intrigued. “What kind of adventure?”

Applejack looked hesitant. “Sorry, but that’s kind of… personal,” she said reluctantly. “But it brought us all together, and showed us the magic of friendship.”

Spliced’s eye twitched again. “Well. So, I heard this was also the first residential site in Ponyville when it was founded?”

Applejack nodded happily. “All the way back when mah granny was just a little filly!”

Spliced blinked at that, but listened with interest as Applejack began to describe the story of the town’s founding. She almost facehooved when she heard one of the names involved, but managed to restrain herself.

Seriously, who in their right mind would give their foal the first name Stinking?

Chapter Nine

Later that afternoon, several ponies were gathered in Sugarcube Corner, a Pinkie Party in full swing. The guest of honor was chatting awkwardly with a few ponies, but she seemed to be doing fine, nothing unusual.

Meanwhile, in one part of the room, six mares were gathered, waiting for a seventh.

“So, girls,” Starlight asked as she finally managed to make her way free of the crowd and approached the Bearers. “What do you think of our guest?”

“She was nice,” Fluttershy said. “A little nervous, but nice.” She smiled. “We’re having tea again next week.”

“I think she’s the cat’s pajamas,” Pinkie grinned. “Look, she’s getting along just great with Maud!” And indeed, the alicorn and the older Pie sister did look to be having a good conversation.

“She seems okay,” Applejack said. “Certainly has good taste in apples.”

“She’s kinda weird,” Rainbow Dash put her own two bits in. “Reminds me of Twilight when she gets all sciency. No offence, Twilight.”

“None taken.” Twilight raised an eyebrow at her.

“You girls didn’t see what she did in the Boutique,” Rarity said with a shudder. “That… oh, I haven’t been that traumatized since the Diamond Dogs!” She swooned a bit.

Rainbow Dash quirked an eyebrow at her. “And she did something freakier than Chrysalis and Tirek and-” she paused for a moment, clearly not wanting to mention Discord’s first run-in with them in front of Fluttershy. “Well. You know. All the bad guys we’ve met before. So what did she do Rares?”

Twilight looked nervous, and her horn glowed as she put up a quick sound-scrambling field around them. “Er… well, I know at least some of you know she came from a different version of Equestria,” she said. “Apparently, she was sentenced to a very, very long time in prison there, and to make sure she served out her full sentence, the government made her immortal somehow. And she demonstrated exactly what that meant to us.”

“Meaning?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Meaning that she broke her own bucking neck in front of us!” Starlight hissed. “And then she healed and came back to life!”

Four sets of eyes widened and stared at her.

“She… did what!?” Applejack sounded disbelieving. “How in tarnation is that even possible?”

“I don’t know,” Twilight said with a sigh. “Every immortal I know, like the Princesses and Discord, was born that way - there are some who’ve tried to find some way to make themselves immortal, but they never succeeded.”

“And she said she used to take a lot longer to heal from that kind of injury,” Starlight added. “I’m guessing she’s died and gotten better more than a few times if she’s so inured to it now.”

Fluttershy looked to be trembling nervously. “Oh the poor dear…” she whimpered. “What kind of ponies would do such a thing to somepony else?”

“You didn’t hear why she was in prison,” Starlight said in a disgusted tone. “She was a war criminal. Says it’s just because she was working with the rebellion, creating cures for the biological weapons being used against them. But mark my words, she’s hiding something. Something big.”

The others looked nervously at one another, but before they could respond, Twilight looked up and quickly canceled her spell. Rainbow Dash looked like she was about to ask why, but Twilight held up a hoof for silence.

“Ah Twilight, there you are,” a voice called out a moment later, causing the others to look up in recognition as Spliced walked over to them. “You’re surprisingly hard to find despite being the only other Pur-alicorn here.”

“Uh yes, I guess I don’t stand out that much here,” Twilight said nervously. “What can I do for you?”

“I would like to speak with you for a moment in private,” she blinked, staring at the mares around the table.

“Okay,” Twilight said, steeling her nerves as she stood up and walked to the back room. While she didn’t trust the mare and knew she would just come back, Twilight was positive that she could handle the mare if Spliced tried anything. Creating a smaller version of the sound-scrambling field, she looked at the mare who was examining the shield with fascination on her face. “What do you want to talk about; we won’t be overheard.”

“Thank you,” Spliced said as she brought out something from her saddlebag, and held it out. It was one of Spike’s scales. “I am concerned about your dragon associate, Spike.” She held up the scale. “How much do you know about dragon biology?”

Twilight frowned. “I know they’re extreme omnivores and obligate silicivores, and that when they get greedy, they go through massive growth spurts that can make them act crazy… also, they live an extremely long time and can nap for a thousand years without any trouble, unless their snoring puts out enough smoke to cause trouble for nearby settlements. And of course, they breathe fire and can survive lava with no problems.” She frowned. “Spike’s the only dragon I’ve ever seen, at least that I can remember, who doesn’t have wings though… I’ve been meaning to ask Ember about that.”

Spliced frowned with a hiss, shaking her head. “Not as bad as I feared, but you are still very ill informed,” Twilight was about to object to this when the mare brought the scale onto the counter and waved Twilight close. “Tell me what you see here?”

Twilight leaned in and saw that there were rings on the scale, fifteen to be exact. “What does-”

Spliced then reached into her saddlebag and pulled out more scales, with the same number of rings on it. “It looks to be similar to that of trees.”

“It is that exactly, and that is what has me concerned,” the mare said. “If my knowledge is correct, Spike is about to enter puberty.”

“But he’s a child,” Twilight started but the mare cut her off.

“Dragon biology and equine biology is far different,” Spliced said. “I was greatly alarmed to learn he has no hoard which explains his current infantile physique. I do not know what could lead to such behaviour but-”

“The last time Spike started hoarding, it made him grow huge and go crazy,” Twilight interrupted. “He completely lost his mind, attacked ponies and even kidnapped Rarity and dragged her off to a cave. Fortunately, he came to his senses and turned back to his normal self after he got a reminder of what he used to be like.”

The alicorn across of her facehoof and sighed heavily. “Twilight, as his guardian, you were supposed to monitor his hoard, just like any other dragon’s parent or guardian as to prevent that from happening, as well as make sure it grew at a slow, but steady rate - how long did it take before he went crazy?”

“Well, he did get a whole lot of presents in just one day…” Twilight blushed. “It was his birthday, after all. He’s been careful not to get too much at a time ever since.”

Spliced growled out in frustration, shaking her head. “You are aware of the differences in dragons and equines, correct? Because you cannot expect to raise one the other way and for them to be perfectly healthy if you take none of their species’ special needs into account; you do know that, correct?”

Twilight let out a snort at this, feeling her anger rise at the other mare’s presumption. “Spike is half my age, and I’m in my twenties; I know dragons grow a lot slower than ponies do. I thought he was at least another ten or fifteen years minimum from that point, if not a lot longer!”

“Then next time do your research,” Spliced shouted back. “His breed of dragon is one of the few that grow quickly; they are usually either elite warriors caste or high ranking nobles due to this factor. But the abuse you did in your ignorance is not important at the moment, what-”

“My what‽” Twilight yelled, causing the mare to tumble back in the shield from the sheer weight of her voice. “How dare you accuse me of abusing my son!”

Spliced winced as she got to her hooves. “Your… son?”

Twilight nodded. “I hatched him the day I got my Cutie Mark, I’ve raised him practically since birth. He’s… he’s my son, and the only child I’ve ever had.”

“I did not know that,” Spliced said calmly. “And to continue what I was trying to say, what we need to do is figure out how to instill the proper mindset into Spike as he is currently headed to enter puberty with an adolescent mindset and a infant’s body.”

Twilight blanched at that and shook her head. “You think we can, if you are correct, get his body to be the correct… state you claim he should be now?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “It takes time for the body to grow once introduced to correct mental stimulus with the body requiring time, in the span of years.” The pony sighed, shaking her head. “It is the best we can achieve, with him having a preadolescent body for when he begins puberty.”

“I suppose you are right,” Twilight said reluctantly. “I just wish we had more information on dragons so I could be su-” Twilight froze in horror, then facehoofed. “I knew I should have asked Ember about this a lot sooner,” she moaned. “She could have told me I was doing something wrong, if only I’d thought about it!”

Spliced looked confused. “That’s the second time you’ve mentioned that name,” she noted. “Who’s Ember, and why would she know about dragons?”

Twilight looked confused back, then sighed as she realized something. “Right, from a different universe. Ember is the newest Dragon Lord - her father’s term in the position ended a while back, and technically Spike won the Gauntlet of Fire to be the next Dragon Lord, but he decided to abdicate in Ember’s favor since she’d done just as much to help him win, and he didn’t want to take the job anyway. He only participated in the challenge for it to keep some of the nastier dragons, like Garble, from winning.”

Spliced raised an eyebrow. “And by nastier, you mean by equine standards or dragon standards…”

“He wanted Spike to smash a defenseless phoenix’s egg, just for fun, the first time they met,” Twilight snarled with a flash of annoyance that she’d brought up the issue again. “Somedragon like that shouldn’t be anywhere near any throne.”

“I’ll concede that point.” Spliced sighed, appearing very tired and old. “Look, I can tell you meant well, but the fact is, you made mistakes as far as Spike’s biological welfare is concerned. But it’s not too late to fix them. We can begin coming up with plans in how help him.”

“Before we start, I want to know why,” Twilight would normally believe that it would be second nature for anypony to want to help another but Spliced was unlike any mare she knew and Twilight highly doubted she was being altruistic.

“If I were honest, I was originally going to stay silent on the matter and observe Spike’s development for future data but I realized that my silence could be viewed as means of harm against you and your friends by witholding my knowledge, and given the beings I’ve met since I got here… I really don’t want to risk that. I’m immortal, not unkillable, and besides…” she shuddered. “You’d be surprised what you can live through, even without my kind of immortality.”

Twilight’s ear twitched. “I’m sensing there’s a story there.”

Spliced nodded. “Short version? Discord can be scary when he wants to be, even if he didn’t lay a claw on me.”

Twilight shuddered. “Scarier than the time he managed to manipulate us in ways that completely inverted our personalities so we’d be out of the way and he could turn Equestria into his own personal playground?”

Spliced’s face went white. “He can do that? And you don’t have him locked up?”

“He did it before, the first time we met him,” Twilight confirmed. “Back when he still thought it was funny to play games with ponies’ minds for his amusement, before he realized the value of friendship…” She shook her head. “Look, we may not have been through a direct war like you did, but my friends and I have been through a lot of horrible stuff here too, thanks to monsters like Chrysalis, Tirek, Sombra and others. But we do everything we can to make sure nopony gets hurt. And…” Her ears flattened. “And I can’t believe I’ve been accidentally hurting Spike all this time.”

Spliced felt her heart skip a beat, and she knew it was out of character for her, but she couldn’t help it. “You did what you did out of ignorance, not malice,” she said softly. “It’s not too late to fix your mistakes.”

Twilight looked at her gratefully. “Thank you,” she said. “I really appreciate that.”

Spliced nodded. “It’s the least I can do.”

Chapter Ten

Twilight let out a tiny sigh as she prepared to do this… plan from Spliced Genome.

If the mare was right, then she would have so much to do to make things right for Spike. If not, then Spliced and Twilight would have words.

“Twilight, are you okay?” Spike asked her, causing the mare to blink in confusion. “You’re grinding your teeth.”

“Oh yes, I’m fine,” she said, forcing herself to sound distant and uninterested to Spike as part of her plan. “Spliced needs some help with improving the lab.” That was genuine; it irked Twilight to hear another pony dismiss her laboratory as foalish at best and a haphazard dangerous accident waiting to happen.

“Oh, neat, I guess we’ll learn some stuff from her-”

“There is no we, Spike, I have some duties to attend to,” Twilight said sharply, walking away from her son, hopefully fast enough so he would not see her tears at her harsh actions.

You’d better not be lying or I will make you regret it, Twilight thought angrily to herself, her blood still hot in her veins.

Spike stood there for a moment, hugging his tail as he was dumbfounded at how cold Twilight was acting.

Turning around, he made his way down the stairs to where Twilight kept her, and now Spliced, lab. As he reached the landing, he saw a frowning Starlight next to a growing pile of what had to be Twilight’s equipment.

Starlight gave him a look and rubbed her hooves together, “I don’t think you should go in there-” She suddenly threw herself to the ground as a beaker crashed above her head.

“Either help or stay out of my way, but do not send away those who actually want to be useful!” Spliced snapped as she strode out of the room, glaring at Starlight before looking at Spike. “She has been here for hours, lecturing me as if I don’t know what I am doing and offering no help!” Spike blinked at this and was about to ask Starlight why when Spliced shot him a look and tossed him several diamonds..”Here, down payment and there will be more afterwards.”

“I-”

“Whatever, I’m done here,” Starlight snorted moving to leave but not before taking two of his diamonds away. “I’m taking this as payment for having to deal with you, Spliced.”

Before Spike could say anything to this, she had stalked off, while Spliced Genome dropped several heavy pieces of scrap into his arms and waved him off to his journey. They were so heavy that he had to make more than one trip for them and she seemed to always have more for him to take as well as things to complain about.

“Seriously, what is her issue against putting wires together?” Spliced growled as she used her magic to hold the different wires Twilight had for her machines, the ones she hadn’t thrown out, as she started to adjust them, making them nestle next to each other and placed off to the side where somepony couldn't step on them. Despite her whining, it did make sense and she had made it so that they did not spark anymore.

“I don’t know, I just work here,” Spike said.

Spliced snorted, shaking her head as she looked around the room that had a few machines left in it. “A good start today Spike,” she told him bluntly. “Go get some rest; we will be working early in the morning.” She then placed another set of diamonds into his claws.

“Thanks,” he said, letting out a yawn, not realizing he had been working for so long. “I will see you the morning?”

“Yes; we have a lot of work to do,” Spliced spat as she strode past him, heading up the stairs. “Go get some sleep. We’ll be working early in the morning.”

Spike blinked at this, wondering why everypony was being so short with him today. He hadn’t done anything wrong!

Walking up the stairs, Spike made his way to his room, when Twilight appeared in front of him and looked at the diamonds in his claw.. “Good, I need them,” she said taking almost all of his diamonds with her telekinesis before walking away, leaving Spike even more confused.

Seriously, what was going on here?

Taking his remaining diamonds and crawling into his basket, he placed them under his pillow before curling up and falling asleep.

Twilight peered through the door, hating how worried, confused and hurt Spike looked but this was all supposed to be helping but...

“And what is that‽” Spliced hissed at her, the mare’s eyes fixed on thing Spike was sleeping in.

“It’s his bed!” Twilight snapped back quietly, not wanting to wake Spike.

“That’s no bed, it’s a basket!”

“Yes, but it’s not like it was my idea! It grew with the castle!”

“Grew?” Spliced sounded doubtful. “Grew‽”

“Yes! This entire castle grew from a magical box we got from a very special tree; most of the furniture and other things came with it.”

Spliced snorted. “It may have come with the castle, but that’s no excuse for not getting him a proper bed.”

“Believe me, we’ve looked, but we haven’t found one he liked yet.” Twilight looked almost chagrined. “He’s been happy with this one since we got it, the only time he ever showed any interest in a full bed was that time he was keeping me busy outside the castle for a day so our other friends could redecorate it for me.”

Spliced raised an eyebrow.

“Long story.” Twilight looked embarrassed. “It happened not long after I got this castle… and I was still missing my old home.”

“And the reason you don’t go back and visit is…”

“For a very good reason.” Twilight turned and headed for the stairs. “Follow me.”

Curious, Spliced did as she was told, and was led into a room with six large crystal thrones emblazoned with the Cutie Marks of Twilight and some of her friends, and a smaller unmarked one next to Twilight’s throne, all around a large round table. Hanging above it was what looked to be the oddest chandelier Spliced had ever seen, made of wood instead of crystal like the rest of the castle, though it had several strings of crystal hanging from it. She could see images embedded in the crystals, with Twilight and her friends recognizable in them.

“Interesting decoration,” she commented.

Twilight nodded. “It is… and that chandelier? It’s all that’s left of my old home,” she said.

Spliced looked at her in astonishment. “Wait, what?”

“After the Golden Oak Library was destroyed, and my castle grew here… I missed my old tree so much.” Twilight’s eyes went misty. “But my friends… they knew how to keep the memories alive. So they dug up what was left of the tree and turned it into this chandelier, adding all those photos of our special times together. All so I’ll never forget where I came from, and be inspired to make new memories.”

“Right,” Spliced dragged the words out of her mouth before shaking her head. “Look, this is actually helpful, him sleeping in a picnic basket.”

“It’s not a bucking picnic basket!” Twilight swore, grinding her teeth. “It’s his-”

“I’ll call what it is and you can call what you think it is but look, if you do what I say this will be a good way to keep him on track,” Spliced said as she told her what she thought they should do as they changed her lab.

“Are you nuts‽” Twilight growled at her. “Spike would be overjoyed to realize this, I thought that this was the entire bucking point!”

“It is and we need to make sure he has the right mindset before he realizes,” Spliced rolled her eyes, letting out a sigh of annoyance. “If he catches on right away, then it will more than likely not stick and we’ll be back where we started, only worse as he will know why we are doing this to him and this won’t work anymore!”

Twilight glare at the mare hard before snorting and shaking her head. “One week and then this whole experiment is over. If Spike does start to mature, then I will apologize. If he doesn’t-”

“I’ll apologi-”

“You will explain your actions to Spike, my friends and Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,” Twilight watched with satisfaction at the fright in the mare's eyes at this thought. “And you will have to explain it to Dragon Lord Ember and her father Torch… and while Ember is my size, Torch happens to be almost as big as this castle and both are very close friends of Spike.”

Spliced looked less than enthused by that. “Right.”

Twilight nodded. “Good night then.” Heading for the stairs, she paused for a moment and looked back at Spliced. “Oh, and the being who destroyed my old home, and attacked so many ponies and others, including Spike, before we stopped him? We locked him up in the prison realm of Tartarus for what he did.”

And then she trotted off to her room, leaving Spliced to look contemplative.

Chapter Eleven

A few days later, Spike let out a grunt as he helped Spliced install the latest piece of equipment in her and Twilight’s lab. It was something that she had gone to have specially made and crafted, with all the parts made under her critical eye.

While he didn’t quite understand how everything she asked for worked, he could tell it was far more complex than the device that Twilight had made and hooked up to the Crystal Mirror so she and Spike could go help Sunset and the other Canterlot High girls with the Sirens, and he couldn’t help but wonder how Spliced would react if she found out the full story about that. Of course, he’d been sworn to secrecy on the matter, something he didn’t mind in this case. Spliced seemed like an okay pony at times, especially with the diamonds she’d been giving him before Twilight or Starlight had confiscated most of them over the past few days, leaving him with just one or two for a day’s work, but other times… well, he couldn’t put his claw on it, but there was just something that didn’t feel quite right about her. And not just her ability to recover from snapping her own neck, although he doubted she’d planned for him to learn that.

It also gave the lab a less mad scientist feel and more… respectable look? Everything was sleek and shiny, and had been put in a more orderly fashion instead of having things being all over the place, like Twilight tended to leave them. For a pony who was normally so obsessed with keeping things in order, she was surprisingly lax about it when it came to her lab. Or at least, she had been before Spliced Genome had come to stay with them.

Spike shook his head to try and clear his thoughts, but he couldn’t help but wonder why Twilight had been acting so strangely lately. It had started the day after Spliced’s Welcome-to-Ponyville party, and he had the sneaking suspicion that the two alicorns’ private talk in the back room was somehow connected to it. But whenever he’d tried to speak to either of them about their talk, Twilight had brushed it off, either saying it wasn’t important or asking him if he didn’t have something else to do. Spliced, on the other claw, would only say “That’s private” and change the subject.

Turning away from Spliced to grab another object, Spike frowned to himself. He couldn’t help but wonder if the older alicorn was somehow causing Twilight to backslide… she was acting disturbingly familiar, like she had before they’d moved to Ponyville… or worse, like Moondancer had when she was brushing them off before Twilight had finally gotten through to her.

Hay, he was half-tempted to send a letter to Princess Celestia to see if she could find out what was going on!

But first, he needed to help Spliced finish installing these parts.

Outside the lab, Twilight watched her son silently, and cursed to herself, something she’d been doing a lot lately. She really, really wished she could just tell him what was going on… how Spliced had said that he needed to be in the right mindset to slowly, but steadily build up a hoard of treasure, to control his Greed Growth in a manner that wouldn’t drive him insane like it had during his one birthday.

Unfortunately, as much as she hated to admit it, Spliced Genome did have a point. In the days since she’d moved in, Spike had shown less signs of childishness and more of maturity, and he was being more careful with the gems he’d gotten. As far as she could tell, he hadn’t eaten a single one.

On the other hoof, Starlight’s bad mood had been getting increasingly worse at the same time, and Twilight wasn’t sure if it was just personality clashes between her and the castle’s newest resident - given Spliced’s general attitude of “I’m right and everypony else is wrong”, she couldn’t blame Starlight if that was the case - or if something else was bothering her. Either way, it worried Twilight.

Stepping away, Twilight sighed and wondered, not for the first time, if she should suggest that her student take some time away from the castle to try and relax, either visiting Sunburst in the Crystal Empire or tracking down wherever Trixie had gotten off to at the moment (the other mare having been away on another tour for the past few months and not being due back for almost another three weeks). The other option she’d thought of was sending Starlight to the Dragon Lands to ask Ember for information on dragon biology, something Twilight was desperate to get her hooves on, to confirm if Spliced’s knowledge really was right… though she was still very hesitant to go with the last option for a variety of reasons, including worries for Starlight’s safety. Garble still lived out there, after all, and even with as capable as Starlight was, Twilight couldn’t get the image of the teenage dragon going after her, either for revenge on Spike and Twilight via proxy, or just for spite because of her being a pony, out of her head.

Of course, there was also Starlight’s own reaction to the idea, since Twilight had the feeling that even trying to suggest any of these things would only make her student’s mood worse. Starlight was adamant that Spliced Genome was up to no good, and even though she was going along with Spliced’s plan to help Spike, she’d made sure Twilight knew exactly what she thought of it, and how it was taking all her restraint to keep from resorting to her old impulses and using mind control on the newcomer to make her tell them exactly what she knew.

Shaking her head, Twilight tried to concentrate. She had a lot of important work to do… and that included finding a safe way to contact Ember without using Spike’s message breath or putting anypony else at risk.

Just a few more days and this whole experiment would be over. She’d promised Spliced a week to prove herself and she would keep that promise.

“So,” Spike said as he watched the mare across from him hold a small metal object, one that was giving off a lot of heat at its tip, to the cannibalized game consoles she had him fetch. “You think that this can work?”

Spliced had told him that while their technology was severely backwards, again, the fact that they had quote unquote rudimentary computers was good in her own words.

“Perhaps,” she said after placing the tool down in a special box that absorbed the heat and unplugged it from the power source, with her magic moving it to its clearly labeled box among the rest of the tools and equipment. “This is not my area of expertise and I am just going off what I remember from days in school and from what I see here.” She led out a sigh, shaking her head and pushing her mane out of her face. “And even then, I doubt what I produce here by myself will function properly as a computer as I am just using simplistic programming chips.”

Spike nodded his head, knowing that she didn't really want pity or comforting right now. She was a straightforward pony in that regard, although still very unusual. He was starting to get used to her screaming in her sleep, after all. And he’d learned not to go digging into her life after Twilight had failed horribly to get Spliced to open up about her dreams.

“Maybe you can contact the companies that made those games to get some help creating your computer?” he suggested, shuffling on his feet.

“Maybe,” Spliced said, rubbing her chin. “It would certainly help with the parts…” She then let out a yawn, rubbing her face. “Maybe if I sn-” she flicked her eyes at him and quickly stopped speaking as if he hadn’t figured out she could come back from being dead. How she was capable of that, he didn’t know… and if how she’d gotten the ability was anything like what he’d read in some of the horror comics he’d snuck a look at when Twilight was away, he was pretty sure he didn’t want to know the specifics. “I think we should call it a day Spike.” She then reached into a drawer and hoofed over a couple of diamonds, which he gratefully accepted.

Thanking her, Spike headed for his room, hoping to get this pair put away before Twilight caught him!

Watching him go, and seeing the expression on her face, Spliced nodded in satisfaction. It’s working, she thought to herself. He’s focused on building up his hoard, and protecting it from others. Exactly the right mindset for a dragon his age.

Idly, she wondered how Twilight had originally come in contact with a dragon’s egg to hatch it, something the other mare had yet to reveal to her. From what little she knew, Twilight had been quite young at the time, and had almost never left the capital city before that point, while dragons rarely left their homeland except on the occasional migration or in order to find a place to nap for a thousand years, and dragon eggs almost never left their homeland at all. Yet somehow, the younger Pur-alicorn, she reminded herself, had crossed paths with an egg and hatched it. Something wasn’t adding up.

Of course, a lot of things about this version of Equestria weren’t adding up… such as why Discord, with his unusual and highly dangerous abilities, and who had manipulated ponies’ minds for fun, was still allowed to wander around free and had apparently become very close friends with one of the very ponies he’d gone after, yet a being who had only caused physical damage, whose name she had yet to learn, had been locked up in a prison realm.

She still hadn’t found out much about where this castle had come from either - Twilight had claimed it had grown from a box that had come from another special tree, but she still had her doubts about that. The very concept defied all logic as she knew it.

Of course, if said tree had actually been genetically engineered by members of an ancient species that had, like her, originated from another dimension and visited this world either before ponies arose as a species or when they were still in their early days, maybe she could believe that. But it was still just wild speculation on her part. Besides, who in their right minds would purposely make a tree that would drop seeds that grew into large and, if she was to be honest, gaudy castles like this one?

Shaking away the thought, Spliced headed for her room. Tomorrow was going to be another long day.

As she headed up the stairs, she pricked up her ears, and sighed. It sounded like Starlight was lurking in the corridors again, watching her suspiciously. Seriously, what was up with that mare?

Pretending not to notice, she entered her room and sealed the door behind her before collapsing onto her bed. It was far superior to her old one, back in her prison on the moon, but despite how comfortable it was, she still had the nightmares about all the times she had died. She was also well aware that simply killing herself until morning was not an option as she still needed to rest. With a groan, she climbed under her covers and prepared herself for another unpleasant night.

Twilight was sitting at the breakfast table with her student when their guest came down the stairs, with bags under her eyes.

“Pleasant night?” Starlight said in a snippy tone.

“Shut up and give me some coffee,” Spliced shot back as she dropped her head onto the table.

“Twilight, wouldn’t it be proper to ask polit-” Starlight moved her head to the side, her magic catching the tossed salt shaker. “You really don’t work well with others, do you?”

Spliced grumbled something incoherently before lifting her head up to glare at the unicorn as Twilight went to make the decaf coffee for the green mare, rolling her eyes at the two. “No,” she said as she rubbed her eyes. “I don’t; something my professors were always riding my ass about.” Twilight watched her reach over and pull Starlight’s plate over to herself, ignoring Starlight’s squawk of protest as she started to eat from it. “As I knew the stuff, I didn’t see the point in wasting my time or their time by pooling our resources together.” She flicked her eyes at Twilight who placed both the cup of coffee and a second plate down for Starlight, who was still stewing at Spliced, before she continued to speak. “And several hundred years by myself more than likely didn’t help my teamwork skills.”

“And yet you are working well with Spike?” Twilight asked as she sat down, keeping an eye on both of the mares lest they started something again. They were like foals in that respect, both of them finding ways to annoy the other.

“That’s different,” Spliced said, raising an eyebrow. “He is working for me and competent for the most part. If he doesn’t know something, he admits it and asks for assistance, and only one time, instead of pretending he knows more than I do.” She rolled her eyes. “Unlike one of my classmates back in the day… a gasbag of ego who, during one of our history exams, mistook a war from long before either of us were born as being named after one of the generals involved instead of the piece of territory where most of the fighting took place. And even after he failed the exam, when he was shown the answer in the textbook, he was still convinced he was right and the teacher was wrong.”

Starlight facehoofed. “Good grief.”

“Better than what I’ve seen from others; I know that one student tried to change their grades by hacking into school’s private system. Then there was student who tried to change the history records so they would be correct.”

“They didn’t!” Twilight gasped.

“They tried; got caught almost immediately,” Spliced chuckled. “It was a nice attempt but he was a complete idiot for trying something so moronic.”

“Going back to what I was asking before, how is Spike doing?” Twilight asked, causing both mares to straighten up.

“Well,” she started to speak when all three of them tilted their heads upwards as they heard Spike begin come down the stairs.

“Morning, Twilight, Starlight, Spliced,” he said as he headed over to grab a plate of food. “How’s it going?”

Twilight smiled. “We’re fine, Spike.”

“Good.” Pulling out his seat, Spike fixed her with a look. “Because you haven’t been for the past few days, and I want to know why.”

“Spike-”

“Seriously!” Spike gave her a hard look. “You haven’t been yourself in a while, and I’m worried about you. So don’t just tell me it’s nothing.” His voice softened. “I don’t like seeing you like this, Twilight. You’re not supposed to be cold like that...”

“Spike, you will just need to trust me-”

“No, Twilight,” he snapped, pushing himself out from his chair. “I honestly do not know why you are acting so different but I am not going to stand by anymore. I’m going to write a letter to Princess Celestia, and tell her what’s going on here! Because the way you’ve been acting these last few days, I’m starting to get flashbacks to the Smarty Pants incident when you started going weird on me, even if it’s a different type of weird this time, and I do not want to see you regressing like that!”

“Before you start writing a letter, Spike,” Spliced said as she pushed herself upwards, eyes darting to Twilight. “Do one thing for us, then you may do whatever you want. Twilight, go get it.”

“What’s the magic word, Splicey?” Starlight snarked, catching the thrown plate with her magic easily.

“For the love of Celestia, you two behave yourselves!” Twilight shouted as she teleported off to get what Spliced was talking about. Teleporting back into the room, she placed Spike’s basket down in front of him.

“Please get in, Spike,” Spliced said to the dragon blinking in confusion.

“Oookay?” Spike said, tilting his head to the side as he tried to climb inside of it but his legs barely fit in. “What the?”

“Spike, for the last week, we have been working to help your body make the transition from infancy to adolescence by giving it the psychological influences it needed to make the biological changes,” Spliced said as she help Spike stand upright and placed a hoof on his spine ridges. “Along with your growth spurt, your body has begun to show the start of maturity with these hardening, your tail spade becoming more pronounced, your scales are starting to darken and your claws and muzzle are growing out a little too.”

“I-wah-me-” Spike sputtered before looking at Spliced with narrowed eyes. “Why didn’t you guys say anything?”

“Believe me, I wanted to tell you so much,” Twilight said, doing her best not to run over and hug her son. “But Spliced was worried that if you were aware of what was going on it might not have the same impact if you were experiencing the necessary feelings or not at all.”

“As such, it was necessary to install the concept and importance of greed and hoarding into you, Spike,” Spiced placed a hoof on his lips, preventing him speaking. “I understand your past experience with improper hoarding and unmonitored greed and it was a main reason why we had to resort to these methods. As I told Twilight here, you are not a pony, you are a dragon, thus you have different needs that have to be met or you will get into situations like you are in now.”

“What are you talking about?”

Spliced blinked rapidly before turning her head to Twilight as if for support, the blunt mare falling silent now.

“According to Spliced here,” Starlight said, wrapping an arm around Spliced, with the green mare glaring at her. “You are supposed to reach puberty soon but your body will only be preadolescent when that lovely slice of hell happens.”

“That doesn’t sound go-” Spike began when Spliced pushed her way out of Starlight’s hold.

“If we had done nothing, you would have been a baby going into it,” Spliced said with Spike reacting as negatively and grossed out as they had all done.

“It is not good, but it is still better than it was before,” Twilight said before looking at her son. “I cannot begin to express how sorry I am for all of this Spike but-”

“Twilight, relax,” Spike said as he tilted his head slightly upwards to look at her - now that Twilight was aware of it, she could see the changes in him as clear as Celestia’s day. “You didn’t do any of this on purpose and you care enough about me to go these lengths to help.”

“Oh Spike,” she cried, hugging her son tightly despite his protests. “When did you get so mature?”

“I have had the best teachers in all of Equestria,” Spike said as he gave in and started hugging her back. He then turned his head to Spliced. “Um, do you still need-”

“No, I am fine,” Spliced said, shaking her head. “Go ahead and enjoy yourself.”

With that, Twilight watched Spike walk towards the door when there was a loud bang and several loud voices calling out SURPRISE!

Chapter Twelve

“SURPRISE!”

All four of them pulled back to see the main hallways of the castle decorated with Twilight’s five friends smiling widely at them and the pink mare firing off a cannon that launched glitter everywhere.

“What is going on here?” Spliced asked as she tried to shake her eyes clear, her hooves patting her face.

“We’re here to throw a party for Spike, silly,” Pinkie Pie giggled at them before darting over to hug the dragon. “We’re so happy that you’re better Spike.”

“How did you prepare this so quickly?” Spliced said, still rubbing her eyes. “And how did you know to throw a party in the first place?”

“She’s Pinkie Pie,” Spike said with a shrug. “She does that.”

“And we did tell you about her Party Cannon,” Twilight added.

“First off, that’s her name, not a reason,” Spliced said as she continued to rub her eyes, half tempted to just kill herself to get around the glitter in her eyes. “Secondly, I thought you said it fired cakes, not glitter!”

“Here sweetie,” Rarity said as she gave the mare a handkerchief. “It’s designed to help remove the glitter.”

“Thank you,” Spliced said as she began to wipe her eyes. “But seriously, how did she know to do this?”

“Pinkie sense,” everypony said with Spliced twitching at that response.

“It’s some kind of sixth sense that I tried to understand a long time ago, and like I told you before, I nearly drove myself crazy in the process,” Twilight said. “And apparently it, or something like it, runs in her family. And at least one other pony that I know of.”

“Really?” Spliced asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yuppers but before you ask if you can arrange meetings with my family let’s have a party!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Yeah squirt,” Rainbow Dash said as she elbowed the dragon. “You definitely got taller. Wonder when you’ll get your wings.”

“Spliced will probably know when,” Spike said, shrugging his shoulders as he looked behind himself, examining one spot as if he thought he might see vestigial wing buds growing. “Or… hey!” He gave Twilight a look. “What about Ember?”

“I’ve actually been trying to figure out a way to get in contact with her without alerting you what was going on, or risking anypony’s life by sending them to the Dragon Lands with a message,” Twilight said, blushing. “I believe both she and her father would know more about this and it would be good for you to be in more contact with more dragons of your own age.”

“As long as Garble isn’t one of them, that’s fine with me,” Spike said.

“Agreed,” Twilight and Rarity chorused.

“Y’all can talk shop later,” Applejack put in. “What say we focus on this party Pinkie put together?”

“Sure thing,” Spike said, his face brightening. “Come everypony, let’s have fun.”

As he led the others into the next room over, Twilight looked at Spliced. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s just relax and enjoy ourselves today, okay?”

“I’m more relaxed when I’m working, not too good at parties,” Spliced said hesitantly. “But… I’ll try. For Spike, since it is his special day.”

“That’s all I can ask,” Twilight said, before she went to join her son and friends.

Watching her go, Spliced shook her head. I have got to get some more answers about this place and these ponies, she thought to herself. Such as how can she be so… scary one day, and so nice the next? And how can a family of ponies have the kind of intuition they’re describing? It makes no sense!

“Hey Splicey! Come on!” a voice suddenly shouted, practically right in her ear. Consequently, Spliced was too startled to resist as Rainbow Dash pushed her into the next room with the others.

Before long, she found herself in the midst of the celebration, accepting a drink and a plate of cake from Pinkie (and how had she managed to store a cake taker that big in her mane‽) before settling into a seat by the wall, watching the others as they chatted and congratulated Spike on his growth spurt. Somewhere along the line, she even got roped into joining them for one or two of the party games, before buggering off and going back to her corner.

Finally, as she helped herself to her fifth plate of cake for the day, which was surprisingly good, she heard a small cough behind her and looked to see Spike. “Yes?”

“Hey, Spliced. Just wanted to say… well, thanks. For everything.”

Spliced nodded. “You needed it, Spike.”

“Yeah, I know you did it for practical reasons, but still… thanks. I really appreciate this.” Spike gave her a faint smile, before walking off again.

Settling into her seat and sighing, Spliced stabbed a fork into her cake.

When she had finished it, she looked up to see Twilight, a concerned look on her face. “Hey.”

“Hey yourself.” Spliced set her plate aside. “So, what’s up?”

“Not much. Just… wondering.”

“Wondering what?” Spliced asked.

“Well, now that you’ve helped Spike like you did… what are you going to research next?”

Spliced blinked, tilting her head to the side. “Good question, actually… I haven’t actually thought that much about it.”

“Well, if you want, you could always join me in one of my research projects!” Twilight’s face brightened. “There’s all kinds of magic in Equestria you could look into…”

Spliced rolled her eyes at the word ‘magic’, but she forced a look of interest onto her face. “What kinds of… magic?”

Twilight’s face lit up. “Oh, there’s all kinds! Once we’re done here, I’ll show you into my library. I have so many books you’ll enjoy!”

Spliced’s smile grew a bit. “I’m sure I will.”

And maybe a few of them will have some of the answers I’m looking for.

“Say Spliced, I have a question; do you know when my cloud walking abilities will come in?” Spike asked causing Spliced to blink in confusion, as she hadn’t noticed him approaching.

“I’m sorry, when your what will come in?” Spliced asked as she tried to comprehend what he was talking about.

“My cloud-walking abilities,” Spike said. “All winged species can do it - alicorns, pegasi, griffons, dragons… even all our birds and bats. I figure I’ll get it soon enough, but do you know when exactly?”

For a moment, Spliced just stared at him before she slowly shook her head.

“That is impossible on so many levels that I cannot even begin to describe how impossible that is,” she said through clenched teeth.

“No, it’s very possible,” Twilight said. Spliced looked up in surprise; she hadn’t realized the other mare was still there. “There’s even a cloud-walking spell I figured out how to use for my friends a few years ago; it’s a little tricky, but it works just fine.”

Spliced shook her head. “That’s just not possible,” she said firmly. “I have wings, but I certainly can’t walk on clouds…”

“Then you don’t know what you’re missing!” Rainbow Dash said with a grin as she popped over. “Give me ten seconds, I’ll show you.” Flying off and leaving a rainbow contrail in her wake, she was back moments later, pushing a cloud in front of her.

Spliced stared in abject shock as the rainbow-maned pony proceeded to sit on the cloud, and waved a hoof at her. “See?”

Spliced looked at Twilight and Spike, then at Rainbow Dash again, blinking to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating.

“How is that possible,” she asked, staring intently at the cloud. “How did you manage to move that cloud and how are you resting on it?”

“Like Twi said, it’s magic,” the mare said with a cocky grin on her face. “Are you going to come up here?”

“What?”

“Come up here, Splicey,” Rainbow Dash said, gesturing. “There’s plenty of room for both of us.”

“No I cannot because that is impossible,” Spliced snapped, shaking her head and turning away from the scene. She then let out a surprised yelp as she found herself levitating in the air, with Starlight’s turquoise aura wrapped around her.

“Come on,” the other mare grumbled. “If I can do this with a spell, you should be able to do it normally.” Moving the squirming mare just over the cloud, she let go, and Spliced felt herself drop for literally a split second.

Then she looked down to see her hooves planted on the cloud. She made a small circuit, looking very intently at the cloud, pawing at it before finally sitting down.

“Huh,” she said, blinking before letting out a sigh. Then her eyes rolled up in her head and she fell backwards onto the cloud.

“Wow,” Starlight said as everypony saw Spliced faint. “I was not expecting that reaction out of her.”

Twilight’s ear twitched as she examined the other alicorn. “She’ll be okay,” she reported. “I think finding out she was so wrong about something like this was too much for her. I’ll get her upstairs, she should be fine after some rest.”

“Assuming whatever nightmares she’s having don’t wake her up too soon,” Starlight said, rolling her eyes.

Nearly, Fluttershy’s own eyes widened. “She’s having nightmares?”

“If the screams she lets out every night are anything to go by,” Starlight replied.

Fluttershy’s ears flattened. “Oh the poor dear…”

Twilight sighed, then turned to Rainbow Dash. “Mind if I borrow this?” she asked, gesturing to the cloud.

“No problem,” Rainbow Dash replied. “Just let me get down first.”

Nearby, Pinkie scratched her head. “Where are you going to get it from?” she asked. “I don’t see any ducks around here!”

There was a chorus of groans, then Rainbow Dash chuckled. “Good one, Pinkie.” Hopping off the cloud, she went off to another part of the room.

Sighing again, Twilight began pushing the cloud out of the room and toward the stairs.

Spliced’s eyes shot open, and she sat bolt upright in bed. “Huh-where-” Then, as she tried to slow her racing heartbeat, she looked around, finding herself back in her room.

“That was a weird dream,” she muttered to herself. “Seriously, where does my subconscious come up with these things? Sitting on clouds… that’s the most ridiculous thing I ever heard.”

“That wasn’t a dream, Spliced Genome,” a familiar voice said in a firm tone.

Spliced froze momentarily, then looked over to see the Princess of the Sun sitting on one side of the room and looking at her.

“Meep,” she whimpered.

“Relax,” Celestia said. “You had quite the surprise earlier, I understand.”

“I… yeah, I did,” Spliced admitted. “But seriously, how is that even possible? Nopony in my world could do that sort of thing!”

“Magic is a strange and wonderful thing,” Celestia replied. “It enables us to do many things that might not seem possible.”

Spliced shook her head. “And that’s another thing,” she said with a sigh. “You keep referring to your thaumatics as magic, but it seems so… so different from anything I know.”

“Perhaps in your world, your powers are more limited,” Celestia said. “But here, magic is a part of everything in our world, from our bodies to the air around us. Without magic as we know it, our lives in Equestria would be so very different than they are.” Her ear flicked. “It is clear to me this difference is one of the reasons your world’s civilization turned out so very… darker than our own.”

“It’s certainly a possibility,” Spliced agreed. Then her head drooped. “I’m surprised to see you, Princess. I wouldn’t think one fainting spell would be important enough to get you all the way out here from Canterlot.”

“Well, Twilight did call me because of your fainting, but also because of what you did for Spike,” Celestia said. “I am very grateful for what you did for him.”

Spliced ducked her head, and Celestia continued. “I’ve known Spike since the day Twilight hatched him, and while I entrusted him into her care soon after that day, I’ve honestly been worried about what would happen to him as he grew, especially after what Twilight told me about the day he succumbed to his Greed Growth, and later about his first meeting with teenage dragons. But it would seem that your knowledge has been more than sufficient to help him prepare for these growing pains while keeping his mind about him.”

“Well, I did do my thesis paper on dragons and their biology,” Spliced said. “I just applied what I’d learned here, and-”

“And you helped my student’s son in a way I could not,” Celestia said firmly. “For that, I am very grateful.” She leaned in closer to Spliced. “But you are lucky that your methods proved to be right,” she said. “If you had inadvertently harmed him, either through incorrect information or by withholding it on purpose, I would have been very cross.”

Spliced shuddered. “I know,” she said. “Believe me, I remember what you said before, and Discord… and how the hay is he not locked up with what Twilight said he did to she and the others‽”

Celestia sat back. “That,” she said quietly, “Is a very complicated matter. Suffice to say that I have my reasons, and since he learned the value of friendship and swore to use his powers to act for the betterment of Equestria, he has proven a very valuable ally… even with his assorted eccentricities.”

“Right.” Spliced sighed. “Still, what about that other guy? The one Twilight said blew up her house? I mean, sure it must have been inconvenient for her, but why did he get locked up in a prison realm for something so minor?”

“Tirek’s crimes are anything but minor,” Celestia said sharply. “His dark powers allowed him to rob all types of ponies and, in time, other beings, of all their inherent magic in order to make himself stronger, all to fulfil his own selfish desires for power. Had he not been defeated by my faithful student and her friends, and all of the stolen magic restored to its original owners, they would very likely have all died before too long... and endangering my little ponies’ lives in such a way is a crime I can never forgive him for.”

Spliced’s eyes widened. “I see. In that case, I don’t blame you for wanting him in prison.”

Celestia’s face softened. “It is unfortunate that he could not learn from our ways, like his brother did,” she said. “Tirek may have viewed him as weak, but in my view, Scorpan was by far the wiser of the two, and he made for an excellent king when he returned to his homeland and assumed the throne.”

“Right.” Spliced’s horn lit up, and she levitated the sheet off herself. “Um, I hate to say this, but I need to use the little filly’s room, if you don’t mind.”

“Understandable.” Celestia stepped out of her way, and Spliced hurried out into the hall before turning towards the appropriate room.

When she had taken care of her business and splashed some water on her face, she stood there, staring at her reflection in the mirror. “Okay,” she muttered to herself. “That’s one question answered… a dozen or more still to go.”

Exiting the restroom, she found Princess Celestia waiting in the hall for her. “Shall we rejoin the party downstairs?” the elder alicorn asked.

“I think I can handle that,” Spliced said. Then she blinked. “Wait, that’s still going on?”

Celestia let out a loud chuckle. “Spliced Genome, I once saw a Pinkie Party that lasted nearly an entire week. A few hours is nothing.”

“And… just when did you get here?” Spliced asked.

“About half an hour after you fainted,” Celestia replied. “Twilight wrote me right away, but even then it took me some time to clear my schedule.”

“And were you waiting for me to wake up the entire time?”

“Not too long,” Celestia told her. “I got lucky, in fact.”

“Right,” Spliced said in a drawl. “Anything else?”

“No, as I doubt you feel comfortable sharing more about your past?” Celestia asked with a raised eyebrow.

“That’s correct,” Spliced said, rubbing her hooves together. “I think I will go back downstairs right now, your majesty. If you need anything else...”

“If we have another situation like Spike, I will be sure to suggest you.” Celestia said with a smile on her face. “Now come, there is still cake to be had and you have a research party with Twilight.”

“Right; we’re going to study magic,” Spliced grumbled only to let out a squeak as the other alicorn pushed on her flanks with her thaumatic aura. “What?”

“There is cake to be had, and I am not inclined to miss them, young lady.” Celestia said sternly.

“Are you serious right no-” Spliced yipped again as the other mare pushed her again.

“I’m always serious when it comes to cakes,” Celestia told her. “Now, if you would please…”

Rolling her eyes, Spliced made her way down the stairs with the princess hot on her hooves.

Chapter Thirteen

It was later in the afternoon when Celestia had teleported herself back home; the party had gone a bit later than what she had allocated for.

Wandering the halls of her castle, Celestia decided to take the long way around and take in the simpler sights of the palace she had lived in for over a thousand years. As she traversed the various paths, she looked around at the windows and other decorations, remembering the ponies and events they symbolized, and taking a whiff of the lavender her sister had set out in the wall sconces.

Finally, she made her way into her personal suite, looking around and wishing she could just stay here for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, she knew she still had business to tend to, and it would undoubtedly require her attention for at least another hour or so.

Hearing a noise at the door behind her, she turned to see who might be trying to get her attention; there were very few ponies who would ever consider entering her rooms without her permission. When she saw who was there though, she smiled. “Come in, sister.”

“Hello Celestia,” Luna said as she came into the room. “How was the party?”

“It was a party from Pinkie Pie,” Celestia laughed, shaking her head as she remembered the fun she’d had. “They’re always a blast.”

“So I take it that Spike is well and on the way to properly maturing into a young drake?”

“With Twilight and her friends acting as his role models, I am sure that he will be one of the very best dragons out there.”

“I have no doubt that they will guide him strong and true,” Luna smiled sagey before frowning. “And of Spliced?”

“Still very tight lipped of her past; I believe Twilight is going to try and ease into the magic of friendship by teaching her magic lessons,” Celestia replied.

“Is that wise?” Luna asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Hard to say at the moment; Twilight will no doubt start small and with how set in her ways Spliced is, it will take a very long time before Spliced could move onto anything somewhat dangerous,” Celestia said. “However, knowing Twilight, she will send us reports on Spliced so we can keep our eye on her. It also goes without saying that we will go to Ponyville in person to check on her from time to time.” Then she quirked her head. “Speaking of; how goes your investigation into her dimension?”

“Poorly; I have located the gateway; it is indeed broken but they are preventing me access in some manner,” Luna frowned. “While I could easily force myself through, the consequences could be very dangerous for myself and our world.”

“Agreed,” Celestia tipped her head. “Beyond them being superior in technology, we are still technically harbouring an escaped war criminal of theirs. Added to the fact how Spliced has acted, I would not put her mindset out of the norm for her kind and thus would put our ponies in great risk if they chose to attack.”

“And while I could slip myself over there, the risk that my magic would not be functional or even exist in that dimension, thus either stranding myself there and giving them a powerful leverage against you or killing myself, is too great.” Luna shook her head. “I have already set our guards to have their training increased; I doubt it will make that much of a difference if things fall apart but I will be honoured to know that our guards will be able to not only defend themselves properly but others if those from Spliced’s dimension do invade and force a mass retreat into the countryside and drive them into hiding to protect our ponies.”

“Excellent work Luna,” Celestia, weary now that this was put on them. “If only we knew what exactly Spliced had done, we could decide if reformation is possible for her.”

Luna winced, clearly unhappy with those words but she nodded her head. “There is some evil that we cannot forgive or be forgiven for.”

“If our fears are confirmed, I shall banish her away,” Celestia said sharply.

“I must ask; is banishing her near the sun wise or even just?” Luna looked at her sister accusingly.

“It is; Tartarus is far too dangerous on both sides; she is still mostly mortal mentally and it would be putting her into the absolute worst prison with terrifying monsters and I would be very troubled to do that to somepony,” Celestia said. “Further, while we do not know much about Spliced, I can also see her trying to research the creatures and nature of Tartarus to her own benefits. And again we have to think of the prisoners there using her for their own benefit. Can you not imagine the damage Tirek would do if he got his hands on Spliced and became immortal like she is?”

“I understand your concerns, Celestia,” Luna said, conceding the point. “But as well the morality of banishing someone with immortality to a near continuous eternal torment of the sun, I must remind you that she herself said she adapts through her deaths over time. Do you wish for her to become immune to being immolated as well as your magic?”

Celestia’s lips pursed as she frowned. “No, I do not wish for that for both reasons; we will have to find some other place we could send her or come up with some other punishment if it becomes necessary.”

“Agreed,” Luna yawned, shaking her head. “If you will excuse me, I will retire to my chambers so I can tend to our neighboring nations’ citizens’ dreams.”

“Of course Luna,” Celestia said, moving to hug her sister who reciprocated the action, nuzzling drowsily on her white coat. Whispering down to her sister’s ear, Celestia whispered “And there is a piece of Pinkie’s cake waiting for you in your bedroom.”

Luna immediately perked up at that, teleporting off with a bang. Chuckling to herself, Celestia made her way to her office so she could get on to her paperwork.

Chapter Fourteen

Later that afternoon, Spliced Genome fidgeted as she stood in Twilight’s library. “So, what exactly are we doing here?” she asked as her eyes roamed the titles of the books, some being reasonable in their nature and others appearing to be completely fantasy based nonsense. A book about the rules of physics was next to a book that was labeled Principles of Magic. It was grating on her teeth to see such things, but Spliced did her best to not voice her opinion now; she was trying to avoid getting on Twilight’s bad side.

“We’re here for your magic lessons Spliced,” Twilight said as she began to pull several books down. “These will start us on the basics but before we do that, I would like to see what you can do. Besides the basic telekinesis, of course.”

“Well, I’ve worked on a few anti-thaumatic arrays in the past,” Spliced said. “But in terms of personal usage, the applied quantum physics that allow me to use my thaumatics to move things around, either pushing it out through my hooves to grasp things or by manipulating them with the raw energies, are it.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “I’ve seen you make diamonds before…”

“Basic geology - diamonds are formed through heavy compression of other minerals,” Spliced replied with a shrug of her shoulders. “All I did was apply a lot of pressure in a very short period of time.”

“Right,” Twilight said tilting her head to the side before turning to face some heavy looking books. “I would like to see how strong your magic is as a baseline.”

Spliced did her best to not react negatively to Twilight’s continued usage of the word magic but by how Twilight looked at her she failed. “I’m sorry but where I am from, such words and terminology are reserved for foals and idiotic stories.”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed for a moment, looking almost furious until her eyes went wide and gained a smirk on her ace. “Spliced, I’m surprised in you for missing this.”

Spliced blinked rapidly before frowning. “Missing what?”

“It’s really simple, if you think about it,” Twilight continued to smile, causing Spliced to frown more as the younger mare managed to get under her coat.

“What is so simple, Twilight?”

“Two different dimensions, two different words for the same thing,” Twilight said.

Spliced’s eyes went wide at this before facehoofing. “How could I be so stupid to not think of that‽”

Twilight’s face fell at this, feeling somewhat ashamed of her smug attitude. “It’s perfectly okay Spliced,” she told her, placing a hoof on her shoulder. “When you deal with something under one name for so long, sometimes it’s hard to recognize it when it’s called something else.”

“Yes, but still, I am so much more-” Spliced cut herself short but Twilight’s guilt vanished.

“So much more what, exactly?” Twilight asked sharply.

Spliced let out a sigh, rubbing her face. “Educated,” she said. “I was enrolled in the best academy in the galaxy and was among the best in my field and I missed this.”

“Well, something I’ve heard is that just because you had the best education, it doesn’t make you the smartest,” Twilight said with Spliced shooting her a pointed glare before the green mare let out a sigh. “Trust me; I was the personal student of Celestia for the most of my life and while I was the best in her school, I never knew how little I actually knew about the world itself. I’ve learned so much since coming to Ponyville.”

“In my world-”

“Dimension,” Twilight corrected her.

“Dimension,” Spliced repeated the words. “There is an ancient but wise saying; "I am the wisest pony alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.".”

“We have the same saying here, Spliced,” Twilight smiled. “Now shall we continue with our lesson?”

“Yes; let’s.” Spliced said, looking back at the book. “How is this suppose to be a test?”

“I want to see how much you can lift with your magic,” Twilight said. “From there, we will move onto how many things you can move at one time. Once we have that information, I can begin to formulate a plan for how to further your education as well as see what else I can teach you, be it something as simple as creating as a watch light or as complex as teleportation.”

Spliced let out a short whine, eyes straining. “Tele-teleportation; as in moving from one location to another teleportation?”

“Yes,” Twilight said as she teleported across the room. “Teleportation.”

Spliced’s eyes went even wider. “That’s…”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”

Spliced sank backward into a sitting position. “Where I come from, nopony has ever been able to do that,” she said. “There have been attempts to perform it via technology, but it was still theoretical when I was imprisoned. When Discord showed he could do it, I chalked it up to his being… well, something beyond normal. But if you can do it…”

“I’m far from the only one,” Twilight replied. “Princess Celestia and Princess Luna can both do it, Starlight can do it, though I had to teach her… and I know unicorn fillies who’ve done it when they were infants and having magical surges that they couldn’t control. And my little niece Flurry Heart too, for a while - Princess Celestia said she’d mentioned her to you?”

“That’s right,” Spliced said. “But… how?”

“Well, I learned it after I was teleported once,” Twilight said. “But that’s because I have a natural talent for magic; even then, it took me a while to get a handle on it, but I managed. I expect it’ll be more difficult for you - even Starlight took some time to master it when I was first teaching her.”

“She can teleport?” Spliced perked up at that with Twilight rolling her eyes at their feud.

“Before we even think about that, we start with the basics,” Twilight said as she tapped the book. “Now try and lift.”

“Right,” Spliced focused her attention onto the book and tried to lift it upwards. She began to paw at the ground, trying to focus all her strength to make it rise before she had to stop with no actual progress made. Panting, Spliced looked at Twilight's surprised face and quickly smiled. “It was one of those trick tests; correct? That book is secretly welded to the table and the table to the floor, right?”

“No, it’s not,” Twilight said as she picked the book up with her hooves with some straining before levitating it with her thaumatics to show it was not a trick. Twilight put the book down before glancing at Spliced. “Let’s see how many things you can lift, Spliced.”

“Right.” Spliced took a deep breath, then stared at the pile of books. Focusing her thaumatics, she concentrated on wrapping the energies around first one, then a second, and began to slowly lift them.

When the first two books were an inch off the table, she sent more energy out, trying to lift a third, but had barely gotten it surrounded when she gasped and dropped all three.

Twilight looked at her, obviously concerned. “Are you okay?”

Spliced shook her head. “I’m not used to splitting my focus on more than one or two things like that - I’m better at high-precision work that requires my complete focus on a single task.”

“Is this difficulty normal for you?”

“For the most part, yes,” Spliced said. “Both types of my thaumatics have been sluggish ever since I have been placed on my moon.”

“Both types?”

“There’s tactile thaumatics, the kind all ponies can use through our hooves, and the raw energies I’m trying to use here,” Spliced replied. “They come from the same source, but using one is different enough from using the other that ponies in my dimension tend to differentiate the two.”

“Ah.” Twilight nodded in understanding.

“Even after four hundred years, it has barely emerged more than the trickle it is right now,” Spliced leaned against a bookcase. “I have no idea when I could even attempt to continue my own research safely.”

Twilight frowned. “Do you have any idea what could have caused this? I mean, is it a side-effect of your immortality, or just from being away from the planet so long, or…?”

Spliced shook her head. “I honestly don’t know. I remember it being better when I was a normal pur-alicorn, but I haven’t been able to figure out why it’s gotten so much weaker. My best theory is that those who made me immortal also made sure that I wouldn’t be able to use it as effectively as I once did as a further punishment, and to reduce my ability to escape if I ever figured out what was going on.”

“What do you mean by that; figure out what was going on?” Twilight asked her.

Spliced closed her eyes for a moment, remembering the time she spent as Doa. “I mean that they not only locked me up, made me immortal and weakened my powers, they bound my memories. It used to be that every time I died, I’d only have faint dreams of dying, but nothing else - I didn’t even know my own name, or what I’d done. Eventually, something happened and I remembered everything. And from then on, whatever they’d done to try and keep my mind locked like they did before, it stopped working.” She frowned. “And then, like I told Princess Luna, they killed me more times in a single day than they had in the entire hundred years I’d been up there before in the hopes of killing my memory again, but it didn’t work. That, ironically, is part of how I figured out I was coming back so much faster than I used to.”

“That’s horrible,” Twilight said, moving to hug the green mare who seemed very surprised at this gesture. “I cannot fathom what one would have to do endure that for so long; and it doesn’t make sense to punish somepony for crimes that they cannot remember. It’s just… cruel!”

Spliced wormed her way out of the hug, looking guiltily off to the side. “I…” Spliced shook her head, unsure why she was feeling all these emotions. “Can we get back to the lesson, Twilight?”

Twilight nodded, but she was looking thoughtful. “I wonder if there’s a way to find whatever they used to restrain your magic and remove it…”

“Believe me, if there is, I would be very grateful to anypony who found it,” Spliced replied. “I know it’s not anything physically within me; I’ve checked.”

“You’ve checked? How did you che-Oh,” Twilight blanched, wrinkling her nose.

“I’m functionally immortal with the ability to revive from death,” Spliced replied. “It wasn’t a fun experience, but it served my purposes at the time; still, I’ll admit I’d have much preferred to do a full-body MRI if I had the proper equipment opposed to my own hooves.” She then chuckled. “Also helped me vastly improve my knowledge of my own body’s working.”

Twilight shuddered. “Still…” Then she looked at Spliced curiously. “What’s an MRI?”

“Magnetic resonance imaging; it’s a thing that lets us take pictures of your insides without having to do any surgery first, but you can’t use it on anypony with metal in their body - it reacts as you would think,” Spliced blinked. “You know, I explained this to Princess Celestia when I was up in Canterlot, and she already had one done of herself long before I came along, actually. Maybe you could ask her for a copy, if you’re interested.”

“Oh!” Twilight’s eyes lit up. “I know exactly what you mean now. It is a very big machine that has the pony lie inside of it, right?”

“I suppose that was how it was done in the past for my dimension; we have much simpler methods now that are less claustrophobic in nature,” Spliced brushed her mane out of her face. “I do not mean to be constantly insulting your level of technological progress but I cannot help make comparisons between the two; it is like cave drawings to complex computer equations for me.”

Twilight gave her a look, but nodded. “Different cultures have different ways, I suppose,” she said. “I’ve- er, read about another place where their technology levels are… considerably higher than our own, but it’s not easily accessible.”

Spliced looked curiously at her; was Twilight actually trying to fib for a change? She shrugged it off; she’d probably find out the truth sooner or later.

“At any rate, if you can figure out some kind of… magical scan, determine if there’s anything in my thaumatic flows themselves, that would be wonderful. But for now, we’ll have to stick with what I can do as I am.”

Twilight nodded, then looked contemplative. “I know a few other ponies who are really good at researching and magic… I can always ask them for help.”

“Sounds reasonable,” Spliced said before looking at the books again. “What other lessons do you have in mind for me to learn?”

“Well we can always try some pegasi magic if you think you are comfortable with it?”

Spliced’s eye twitched as she recalled the cloud but did not fight the illogical impossibility and decided to embrace the madness. “What do you mean by that; more nephology?”

Twilight blinked at her in surprise. “How do you know the correct term for that? I’ve met countless pegasi who don’t know that term.”

“I had very good education and a lot of time of my hooves to reason out the proper words,” Spliced replied.

“In any case, yes. The pegasi of my dimension are responsible for creating and controlling the weather, and as you witnessed before, can walk on clouds.”

Spliced gave her a look. “And how, dare I ask, did that come about?”

Twilight spread her hooves. “I really don’t know,” she said. “It’s been that way since before Equestria was founded, possibly even before the ancient kingdoms came into being - even Princess Celestia may not know; if she does, she hasn’t said anything about it. Only a few places, like the Everfree Forest, have their own weather systems that pegasi don’t control, and we don’t know what caused that either.”

“Perhaps that is just nature in effect without your influences over the local ecosystem?”

Twilight shook her head. “There was an experiment a few hundred years ago to try and figure it out, where a small area was left to its own devices for a few years. Without pegasi to bring in new clouds and create rain, it resulted in the worst drought anypony had ever seen in that area in living memory - and mind, it had been a perfectly normal valley before ponies moved in - and took a very long time to get things back on track once they brought the clouds in again.” She sighed. “I’ll admit, the system isn’t perfect… there was an incident in Ponyville a few years ago where the scheduled rain was forgotten about for a few weeks, and they gave us a storm that was practically a monsoon to make up for it, but without our pegasi handling the weather, Equestria would suffer drastically.”

“Well, what was the surrounding area like? Was it a completely closed environment? Was the fact that there was a wall of controlled weather prevented anything from coming in?” Spliced asked.

“It was a massive box canyon with rocky cliffs to the north and mountains to the east and west, and only one land route in or out,” Twilight informed her. “And the nearest town was thirty miles away. They didn’t have any pegasi actively keeping the clouds in or out, they just didn’t deliberately send any that direction.”

Spliced tapped one hoof against her chin. “Hmm,” she said to herself as she began to bring a piece of paper and pen in front of her and began to trace out her thoughts. “Well, from what you said, it sounds like a one time experiment that was done semi scientifically; of course weather isn’t a stable, consistent creature. As you said, it was left alone for a long time and only after ponies began to study the effects of not managing the weather did things begin to deteriorate. That might imply some inherent effect that the scientists were bringing into their experiment but then again, it might have just been a poor season for that location. One would need to take in the location, the history of the area, the composition of the soil along with a host of other factors into their results. For example, we would expect that places near the equator to receive more sunlight opposed to some place near the ice caps. And places like that, a box canyon might not have much access to natural water as I doubt that water runs uphill in this dimension so it might be more arid than other places.” Spliced stopped for a moment, to catch her breath. “I would like to review the experiment to see what was done, if you do not mind.”

Twilight had picked up the paper she had scribbled on, taking in the notes she had said as well as the ones she had thought in her head; a brief list of typical weather in different environments with a small chart of the type of soil in each environment before looking at her. “While this,” indicating the paper held in her hoof. “Is fascinating in its depth, I am more surprised that you are not reacting negatively to the fact we control the weather. I thought it would annoy you or something, to be honest.”

“Well, back in my home dimension, we have done experiments with seeding the clouds and creating rain, or even putting chemical crystals in the air to draw vapor together to make new clouds, and I know that several other galactic governments have highly sophisticated weather systems that make their planets habitable,” Spliced said with a careless shrug. “Once you get down to it, everything is a science that has its own rules that, once fully understood, can be used to replicate the result you wish.”

“Remind me to show you our weather factory up in Cloudsdale then,” Twilight replied. “You’ll probably find it quite fascinating… but, word of advice? Don’t try to drink the rainbow juice, because it’ll burn your mouth. Pinkie found that out the hard way.”

Spliced’s eyebrows rose. “Rainbow juice? As in, you literally make rainbows?”

“Well… it’s what’s left over after they get done mixing raw magic, sunlight and water to make clouds for their buildings," Twilight said. “I’m still not sure how they gather the sunlight for the process. We do get mundane rainbows whenever there's a rainfall, but there are also pre-made ones that get put out just to make things prettier. The PR ponies have a thing about ‘beautification’ and the like.”

“The magic issue aside,” Spliced said with a wave of her hoof. “The fact that your ponies have managed to create an entire factory for making your clouds and rainbows implies that there is a science behind it. Also, did you say they used clouds for their buildings?”

Twilight nodded. “Cloudsdale is an entire city made of clouds - they’re a lot more durable than the kind we get rain from, but they’re still clouds. There’s also Las Pegasus, which was made from clouds, and there are single cloud houses, like the one Rainbow Dash lives in. Of course, anypony who doesn’t naturally have wings will need a cloud-walking spell to visit - I had to cast one on some of my friends the first time we went up there, but it’s not permanent, though there are ponies associated with the tourist industry who are working on a permanent version. You and I wouldn’t have any problem, of course.”

“Do you think we could go visit your friend’s house?” Spliced asked. “I am still hesitant to just call all of this magic as the sole answer, so I would like the chance to study the nature of it to better understand.”

“Rainbow Dash would love to have us visit,” Twilight told her. “And I know some very old and dry scholarly theses that referred to magic as morphic resonance field control, if that helps,” she offered as she got up and walked over to the door.

“It does as it implies there is some science and logic behind all of this,” Spliced said. “It’s a lot more in line with how things were back where I grew up…” She blinked. “Of course, a lot of what we could do with our thaumatics was just basics, moving things around, though some were more skilled with precision control while others just did brute force. And I always preferred the more physical sciences anyway. Still, I am finding this new knowledge fascinating.”

Twilight beamed. “That’s what I like to hear!” She reached out and gave Spliced a gentle tug. “So, come on! I don’t know how long we’ll be able to stay, but I do want you to see what it looks like while the sun’s still out!”

Nodding, Spliced followed her out of the room.

Chapter Fifteen

Stepping out of the crystal castle, Spliced looked up at the sky and flared out her wings. Looking at Twilight, the green mare waited for the purple one to take to the sky before she started to join her in the air.

Annoyingly, Twilight was obviously pulling back in her speed but Spliced kept silent on the matter was it would do her no good to complain about it. Instead, she kept her eyes focused forwards and spotted an odd looking cloud formation quickly approaching.

Blinking in surprise, she saw that it was a large cloud, with curling wave-like forms coming out of parts of it and a very tall house on it, made entirely out of cloud; as she got closer she saw the pillars, also made of cloud, around the building’s outsides and what looked like a pair of rainbow-colored waterfalls that, as she looked around even more, she could see were each at the end of an entire river of rainbow that had spouted out from the very top and somehow branched off into two smaller rivers.

“This is amazing,” she breathed. “But how…”

“Like I said before, clouds used in construction are a lot more durable than normal ones,” Twilight said as she hovered next to Spliced. “Personally, I’m not entirely sure if Rainbow Dash just bought this from somepony else, or if she had anything to do with the design - she’s lived in it since long before I moved to Ponyville. But either way, it’s quite the sight.”

Spliced nodded, and the two flew up to the front walk, heading for the door. Before Twilight could knock though, it flew open to reveal Rainbow Dash.

“Hey, guys,” she said as she beckoned them in. “What’s up?”

“Twilight was telling me about weather and clouds her, and about cloud buildings like yours, so I kind of wanted to see what it was like up close,” Spliced said. Beside her, Twilight nodded and smiled.

“Cool! Come on, I’ll give you the grand tour.”

As she led them through the main foyer, Spliced peered closely at things, and noted how… oddly normal some of the interior looked like. “Um, is all of this actual cloud?” she asked.

“Only some of it,” Rainbow Dash told her. “The foundation, the outer walls and the basic structure are all cloudstone, but the inside is a mix of that and normal Earth pony materials. We’ve got to be careful with some of these things; don’t want to accidentally make something that’ll start precipitating because we used too much of one thing or another in it.”

“I see…” Spliced looked around again. “And that statue…”

“Only one of my heroes,” Rainbow Dash said with pride. “It represents the Wonderbolts, only the most awesome flight acrobatics team in Equestria. They mostly do air shows nowadays, but they help inspire pegasi like me to improve our flight skills to become the best of the best. I’m actually one of their newest full members,” she added with a grin.

“I see…” Spliced had a few other things she was considering asking, but Rainbow Dash was already hurrying them upstairs to the main floor.

“This, of course, is my living room,” she pointed out. “And over here…”

Twilight and Spliced continued to follow her, as she pointed out the different rooms. Her eyes only widened a few times, such as when she saw an actual functioning stove in the kitchen, but she managed to restrain herself from freaking out over the thought of something that used heat being in a building made of cloud; the way things were going, she figured they had to have some kind of safety measure in it.

Finally, Rainbow Dash led them upstairs. “And here’s my room,” she said as she showed them in. “Oh, and duck.”

“Wha-” Suddenly, Spliced’s instincts triggered, and she dropped to the floor instantly, just before something buzzed over her head. As she looked up, she saw Rainbow Dash cuddling a…”

“What.” She pointed. “Is that.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “This is my pet tortoise, Tank!” She cuddled the animal, her hooves carefully not touching the propeller on his back. “He’s been one of my best friends since I got him. Loyal, always willing to listen… and even before I got him this harness, he was willing to do what it took to keep up with me.”

“You have a harness to let him fly‽” Spliced’s eyes grew. “How…”

“It was Twilight’s design, actually,” Rainbow Dash told her. “She figured out all the details, but it works, and that’s what matters.”

Twilight looked somewhat amused. “It wasn’t too hard to design… coming up with a storage unit for the energy that would both be small enough and could store enough without having to be recharged every few hours was the tricky part.”

“I see.” Spliced looked at Rainbow Dash, still cuddling her pet. “He seems friendly though.”

“Yeah.” Rainbow Dash smiled. “He’s the best.”

Spliced found herself actually smiling back, watching the pair together while at the same time flicking her eyes around. She spotted a large terrarium, obviously Tank’s personal spot in the room, and nodded in satisfaction at the quality of it; even with his strange flight ability, the tortoise was obviously being well-cared for. She also spied a stack of books on one side of the room, and made a mental note to ask Twilight about them later.

“So, just what’s the difference between the cloudstone you use here and regular clouds?” she asked cautiously, half curious and half-dreading the answer.

“Pyrobloin,” Rainbow Dash replied. “It’s a special compound that gets mixed in with the water vapor and makes the clouds denser and more durable. Normal weather clouds don’t get it, but the cloudstone does, and then we shape it into whatever form we need. It’s not infallible, but it’s a lot better than nothing.”

“But… how does it work?”

“Beats me,” Rainbow Dash said with a shrug. “I may work in weather management, but even I don’t know all the details. Plus I’ve heard that the whole procedure for making it is top secret, way beyond my pay grade. Now, if you want to see how we make rain and snow clouds, or even thunderstorms, they’re on display at the weather factory in Cloudsdale.”

“I see.” Spliced looked disappointed. “Well, thank you for telling me this.”

“No problem.” Rainbow Dash smiled. “Nice to see another weather enthusiast around here.”

A few minutes later, the trio were back at the doorway, saying their goodbyes before Twilight and Spliced flew off.

“Well, that was certainly educational,” Spliced remarked. “Wish I could have learned a little more, but still…”

Twilight nodded. “I’ll have to see what the requirements for learning about this pyrobloin are. I’ve never even heard of it until now - I mean, I knew there was something that differentiated the cloudstone and normal clouds, but I never knew the name they had for it.”

Spliced nodded back. “Still, it’s a relief to know that there’s some actual logical reasoning for it and not just manipulation of strange energy fields.”

“Hey…” Twilight gave her a look. “Manipulation of those ‘strange energy fields’ happens to be my special talent.”

“Really?”

Twilight nodded. “I was just a filly the first time Rainbow Dash ever broke the sound barrier. It was a long ways away from Canterlot… but it was still loud and bright enough that it startled me into losing control and having a magical surge that blew the roof off the building, levitated some of the ponies around me, turned my parents into potted plants - they got better after Princess Celestia calmed me down - and did what everypony else thought was normally impossible.”

Spliced sighed. “I’m already hearing things that should be impossible. But what was it?”

“There was a dragon’s egg in the room.” Twilight looked at her, a serious expression on her face. “I was in the middle of a test to enter Princess Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns… the entrance exam is to try and hatch a dragon’s egg. Except they’re so magically resistant, using magic to hatch one is almost impossible. My surge not only bypassed that resistance, it made the dragon inside grow big enough that he went through the roof… it took Princess Celestia’s magic to help revert him back to being a baby.” She smiled fondly. “And that’s how I got Spike.”

Spliced did a double-take. “So that’s how you came across a dragon’s egg… I’ve been wondering about that.” Then she did another double-take. “And… why would you be at a school for gifted unicorns, if you’re a Pu-alicorn?”

Twilight smiled. “I wasn’t born an alicorn, Spliced. I became one when I pushed my talent beyond its limits and invented a completely new type of magic.”

Spliced almost fell out of the sky when she heard that.

When she’d gotten her wings back under control, she was still staring at Twilight in disbelief. “You… became an alicorn‽”

Twilight nodded in satisfaction. “I never would have thought it was possible, but it happened,” she said. “I’m pretty sure there were a few other factors involved, but only Princess Celestia knows for sure.” She looked thoughtful for a moment, then shook her head. “Anyway, once it happened, I was almost immediately crowned the fourth Princess of Equestria, and though it took me a while, I found my niche as a princess - spreading the magic of friendship to those who need to learn more about it. Like Starlight and the ponies in her old village, or the griffons of Griffonstone. Fluttershy and I even helped figure out the cause of an old feud that had been going on for… well, ages, and resolved it.”

“That is…” Spliced pondered and gave a light laugh. “If you’re that effective, I almost wish you’d been in my world back in the day. Maybe you could have resolved that war I got caught up in before it got as bad as it did.”

Twilight nodded. “It would be nice, but time travel spells are too dangerous.”

“That’s a good joke, Twilight,” Spliced laughed openly only to see that Twilight was not laughing as well. With a gulp, she asked, “Those actually exist?”

“I went back in time a week to try and warn myself not to worry about the future, but my younger self was so busy asking questions about the future, I never got the chance to tell her what I wanted, so she wound up working herself into a frazzle over the disaster she thought was coming,” Twilight said dryly. “And it turns out it was a stable time loop, since I only went back because I’d worked myself into a frazzle; I tried to give my younger self the advice that I hadn’t gotten since I was too busy interrupting my future self, but I just wound up causing the events that ultimately led me to go back.” She shook her head. “Not one of my better moments… and keep in mind, I could only go back a week, and it only works once per individual. Even as an alicorn, I can’t send myself back again.”

“Incredible,” Spliced said, shaking her head as she took all this in before she let out a sigh. “On second thought, it is best that you were not there during the war. You’re far too innocent for it and would have been taken advantage of immediately by the Pures.”

Twilight sighed. “I know I’m not perfect, but… are you sure they wouldn’t have listened? I mean, I can be intimidating if need be.”

“Really?” Spliced looked at her doubtfully. “Are you…” Then she noticed Twilight had her eyes closed, and was clearly concentrating on something.

Then her eyes opened, and they were glowing.

Spliced flapped her wings a bit, moving back as she saw the glow spread to the rest of Twilight’s body, and then stared in utter shock as the younger mare literally burst into flame.

“Is this intimidating enough for you?” she growled.

“Y-yes!” Spliced stammered.

“Good.” Then Twilight sighed as she slowly reverted to normal.

“How did you do that?” Spliced asked as the glow finally faded.

“It’s a long story, and it involves memories and a lot of practice,” Twilight replied. “Memories of things like Tirek. I almost wish I’d practiced it before he got loose; it might have given me an extra edge against him during our fight. Of course, it may or may not have helped in the long run, given what we ended up needing to do to really beat him, take away the magic he stole, give it back to its original owners and send him back to Tartarus… still, I’m working on being able to call on it more easily. Right now, anger is the fastest and easiest trigger, but I need something safer, more positive. Something that won’t burden my spirit like a negative emotion would.”

“You’ve put a lot of thought into this, haven’t you?” Spliced asked.

“It’s a habit,” Twilight admitted. “I’ll admit it, I’m a bookworm who’s obsessed with studying all kinds of things, especially magic in all its forms and figuring out new ways to do things. I can’t understand everything - like I told you a while back, I still haven’t figured out Pinkie’s sixth sense. But I figure I’ll get back to it one of these days. This, on the other hoof, I just know there has to be an answer…” She sighed. “I’m not looking forward to having to use it, but knowing some of the beings we’ve run across, I’m aware that I’ll have to take that next step at some point. I don’t want to, but I’m not naive enough to believe that I can avoid it forever.”

Spliced let out a breath. “That’s… something.”

Twilight nodded. “Anyway, it’s getting dark… we should probably get back to the castle.” Then her ears flicked. “And reassure everypony that the sudden burst of flame they might have seen wasn’t something to worry about, just me practicing a spell.”

“Good point.” As Twilight started to descend, Spliced followed her and wondered to herself.

The more I learn, the more I find how little I know, she thought. Such as… just how many layers does that mare have?

As they landed in front of the castle, Twilight had called out for Pinkie Pie for a bit of help to reassure everypony that everything was okay with the mare appearing from under a rock and happily agreeing to do so before bouncing away.

“H-how?” Spliced asked, her mind trying to comprehend what she just saw.

“She’s Pinkie Pie and trust me, it is best not to question such things,” Twilight replied. “That’s another one of her abilities that I went nuts trying to figure out, right around the same time I was trying to figure out her sixth sense… actually, it drove me so mad, it triggered that change I did, the one you saw a little while ago, for the first time.”

“Riiight,” Spliced tried to push what she saw out of her mind as they walked inside of Twilight’s castle. As they made their way to the kitchen, Spliced thought of what Twilight had said and felt a stab of concern building in her and she knew that she had to speak. “Twilight, regarding what I said about before you not being mature enough, I really do mean it. I-”

“What do you mean Twilight not being mature enough?” Starlight said she looked up from the meal she was making. Spike had gone over to Rarity’s, so it was just the three of them tonight.

“We were talking about how Twilight would have done in the war I was in and while previously I said she could have managed herself, I recanted that opinion. I stand by that decision despite your impressive display.”

“And whyis that, Spliced?” Starlight asked with Spliced snorting, about to snipe back at her when Twilight coughed loudly.

“Do I need to separate you two?” Twilight asked rather sharply.

“I didn’t even do anything,” Spliced protested.

“You were about to,” Twilight countered with Spliced nodding her head sheepishly. “Now can you please sit down and explain what you mean while Starlight finishes making supper?”

“Well…” Spliced moved back, finding a spot to settle down in. “The fact is, my world is an ugly place. And I’ve seen some of what you’re capable of. The question is, are you readily willing to use that kind of force to prove yourself to others, without hesitating or holding back? The answer, from what I’ve seen, is ‘not really’ - you’re still more reliant on talking, rather than making others behave. And without that kind of willingness… I doubt you would be able to really handle the ponies in my home dimension. Sometimes, sheer brute force, and the willingness to use it, is all they’ll really listen to.”

“Spliced.” Before Twilight could say anything, Starlight walked over to the green alicorn, and stared the other mare right in the face. “You may see that as a weakness. But here, Twilight’s methods have saved more lives than I can imagine.”

“Starlight-” Twilight began, but Starlight held up a hoof.

“She needs to hear this,” she said quietly, and Twilight shut her mouth. “Now. Things may be uglier in your world… but here?” She looked down. “Twilight’s methods… with what I did, I wouldn’t have blamed her for having me thrown in the deepest, darkest pit she could find. But instead, she showed me what kind of pit I’d thrown myself into. My own hatred and anger, my sheer obsession with the path I’d set myself on… I very nearly destroyed Equestria all out of a misguided attempt at revenge on Twilight, all because she’d done her best to show me how wrong I was. Then I saw the consequences of what I was doing. And she not only brought me back to my senses... I literally owe her my soul for what she did to help me.” She looked at Twilight meaningfully. “And there’s another pony I’m pretty sure feels the same way, from what you’ve told me about her.”

“You are lucky then,” Spliced said, tapping the table. “Because if you were in my dimension, you would have been killed for your actions. No trial as you would have been viewed as a Third, and thus less than a normal citizen for these serious crimes. If you were a Pure, you would have a semblance of a trial, but the end result would still the same - death.”

“Good thing we live here then, where that sort of thing is the absolute last resort,” Starlight said before she turned and walked away.

“Indeed,” Spliced said. “But that is just normal stuff in times of peace where things can be civilized; during war ponies can use… question, what do you consider your most lethal weapon currently in usage?”

Twilight blinked. “We… don’t, really,” she admitted. “We’ve never had to, not in ages - swords and spears used to be common, but in the past several centuries, the most we’ve ever used are armor and battle spells. Maybe shields or big rocks.” She winced. “Of course, that’s just Equestria itself; there are… other places with weapons that are destructive in ways that I don’t really like to think about.” She winced again for a moment, and Spliced wondered what she was remembering.

“So… no real projectile weapons?”

“Does that fight you mentioned having with the buffalo a few years ago count?” Starlight asked from the other room. “You used pies there.”

“Right.” Twilight shook her head. “That’s the worst we’ve had in Equestria itself, in terms of weaponry. Even the fight with the Changelings was almost all hooves and magic, and my fight with Tirek too.”

Spliced looked disgusted. “In my dimension, the standard choice of weaponry is something called a blast pistol; it projects a solid wave of kinetic energy that can render a pony stunned on the lowest setting and on the highest tear a fair chunk of flesh out of an armoured pony that cops are not allowed to use unless they are fighting for their lives but…” Spliced shrugged her shoulders. “There is also the shock staff which does about the same but instead of shooting, it just sends the energy through the road into the pony in question with the same results. There is the lower tech option that uses physical ammunation instead of energy that can do just about the same damage if not worse and there are a wide range of variations of firearms, that increase the lethality and rate of fire as well as the ease and effectivity of the usage of said firearm.” Spliced then lifted the glass of water to her mouth to wet her throat before continuing. “There are a number of other types of archaic weapons that have been modified for deadly use; swords, knives, axes, - hell, there are, or were as I do not know anymore, a gang that used bladed tip whips for their signature weapon that could tear down to the bone. And this is just personal usage, not looking at what a proper military organization could have access to or what a starship would have; those are much more dangerous and destructive than what anypony could have on hoof alone. They have explosive weapons that can wipe out an entire city with the force of… well, just one of the weakest ones put out sixty-three terajoules of energy.” Then she noticed that Twilight’s face had gone white. “Um…”

Twilight was suddenly right in front of her. “Are you telling me,” she said quietly. “That you have atomic bombs?”

Spliced blinked in surprise. “You know of them?”

“I’ve been through a portal to a land very, very different from this world a few times,” Twilight said. “I read up on their history. One of their worst wars ended when a bomb of that size was dropped on a city. A second, dropped a few days later, was eighty-eight terajoules. The sheer destruction caused was so horrific that…” She closed her eyes for a moment.

“In all the years since then, they’ve continued making and testing more and more powerful bombs. The tests are always in isolated areas, which is a good thing - there was one that almost vaporized an entire island and spread toxic debris for miles around. And that one was approximately sixty-three petajoules, far more destructive than any other bomb detonated by that country in their history.” She opened her eyes again.

“Ever since those two bombs that were dropped at the end of the war, nobody in that world has dared actually use one outside of testing - there’ve been threats, but nobody ever got to the point where they went through with it. Between all the governments with those weapons, they’ve got an arsenal that could literally crack the planet in two if they used it in the right way. But just knowing what it’s capable of, they don’t want to.”

She withdrew from Spliced’s face, and Spliced could tell she was doing her best to calm herself.

“They must be smarter and better restrained than those in my dimension,” Spliced said. “There were one or two wars in the past where galactic governments used multiples of what they call planet busters to force the other side to give in.”

“Sweet Celestia and Luna,” Starlight said weakly. “That is terrifying.”

“Of course, there are other variants that don’t destroy the planet or the resources but we are about to eat and I don't want to make either of you queasy. The only advantages you would have over them would be Discord and Celestia, the former for his claimed unlimitless power and Celestia for having access to the nuclear energies of a star at her hooves.” She seemed thoughtful. “I wonder how powerful she could get if she tapped multiple stars at once…”

“Don’t.” Starlight shook her head before she focused on the stove again. “I actually saw what she was capable of when she was… unrestrained, without anything holding her back. It was terrifying, and the only reason I’m not having as many nightmares about Daybreaker as I used to is because Princess Luna’s been helping me.”

Spliced’s eyes widened. “Wait… your Princess is the Daybreaker that Discord mentioned to me?”

Starlight looked surprised. “Um… I guess. He mentioned her to you?”

“The first time we met, before I went into Fluttershy’s house,” Spliced replied. “He… well, he said he could be even scarier than her if I didn’t behave myself, but he didn’t say who she was beyond her name and that she could be very angry. But… he meant Princess Celestia?”

“Princess Celestia when she’s not holding back,” Twilight said. “I… asked her about that, after Starlight told me about the whole thing. She compared it to something from one of Spike’s comics, actually. That most of the time, she feels like she lives in a world of cardboard, and that she always has to hold back to keep from breaking everything around her. Daybreaker is what happens when she doesn’t care enough to hold back anymore, to let loose with everything she has without worrying about the consequences. And that’s something that she’d only use as an absolute last resort.”

“How…”

“Powerful?” Twilight sighed. “You saw my other form, and that was just me showing off what it looked like. At minimum, Daybreaker is like that… but millions of times more.”

“I get your point.” Spliced winced. “And now I have yet another reason to not-” She caught herself, but the other two mares were staring sharply at her.

“Not what?” Starlight asked dangerously, with Twilight’s expression matching hers.

“Not to incur her wrath,” Spliced said, aware of how close she’d come to revealing the full extent of what her dimension, and her in particular, were capable of. “I am here solely because of her good grace and I’ve no inclination to do anything that will result in me being incarcerated again.”

Starlight simply looked at her, shaking her head. She seemed that she was about to speak when Twilight coughed loudly. “Before you two start arguing again, let us have a nice dinner for once, okay?”

Both Starlight and Spliced shared a sheepish look between each other and nodded their head. “Okay,” they said as Starlight placed down the spaghetti she had been making with Spliced just barely managing to stop her eye from visibly twitching.

After the three of them had finished with dinner, Spliced had said she wanted to take an early night and was going to her bedroom now. Starlight, for a change, didn’t try and remind Spliced it was her turn to do the dishes and helped keep the peace in the castle.

While her student was cleaning up and her guest going to sleep, Twilight had time to write a letter to Celestia about Spliced’s actions today, although she had to create a proper frame of thought first.

She had learned a fair deal about the mare today; she was highly interested in learning although extremely stubborn in what she thought was true and convincing her otherwise was like talking to a brick wall. The main problem was that Spliced had the intelligence to back up her claims that made it hard to dislodge her from a state of mind when she was wrong.

Despite her arrogance, once she saw that she was wrong, Spliced was all ears to learn about the truth of the matter at hoof and took in knowledge like an eager student in front of a teacher. While she continued to insist that there was no such thing as magic, Spliced was not dismissing it out of hoof and was clearly doing her best to find some sort of order in it, as if she could create a universal standard of magic through scientific methods alone.

Twilight took a sharp breath of air as something uncomfortable began to form in her mind.

Spliced, from what she had heard from the mare herself, was used to working alone and preferred it that way; she very obviously did not place much or any confidence in others in being able to keep up with her with how openly she criticized Twilight’s old lab, calling it a foal’s attempt to make one, and refused to let Twilight inside the new one without Spliced being there to make sure nothing went wrong to which Twilight reluctantly understood was the best thing for everypony.

Twilight reviewed her thoughts and let out a sigh as she could not deny it any longer; the parallels between Spliced Genome and herself were striking and alarming.

She could see much of her old self, the pony that she was before she had come to Ponyville, in Spliced. The towering intellectual loner that believed she didn’t need anypony, that all she needed was her knowledge and that she was correct in any matter. How others could just hold her back from her own greatness and that other ponies, that friends, were pointless. Though… Twilight reconsidered for a moment. She at least had had a few others she’d looked up to or cared about; Princess Celestia and Spike, for starters. Spliced, on the other hoof, had been completely alone.

And then there was the whole matter of Spliced’s backstory or at least the parts she knew of. The mare was a war criminal in a race war and yet did not care about either tribe at all. That she was so indifferent to something like that was just disturbing, in Twilight’s mind. She spoke of dangerous, horrific weapons and while she did not want to imagine them being used on ponies, she was able to see it being done by ordinary ponies and yet Spliced was made immortal, sent to a lunar prison to be killed again and again in complete ignorance. What crime had Spliced committed that was so heinous that it warranted such retaliation?

Twilight didn’t have all the answers yet but she was aware that while Spliced could have ended up like Twilight herself if she’d had somepony to look out for her when she was young, the inverse could easily be true and that scared her.

Shaking herself out of her frightened mindset, Twilight began to pen a letter to her former mentor about the mare from the moon.

As Spliced prepared herself for bed, she was a bit curious to which death she would be visited with this time.

Slipping into her bed and pulling the blankets over herself, Spliced willed herself off to sleep.

Spliced was in her cottage, making herself some breakfast after she had left her lab. She was still angry with herself that none of tests were giving the result that she needed for the company she was working to make these damn viagras. It didn’t help that they wouldn’t let her use proper test subjects but then again her opinion that using ponies as test subjects opposed to animals was considered morally reprehensible according to that blasted ethics test.

Spitting out her decaf coffee, she was about to return to her lab when there was a sudden chim of her doorbell. Frowning at this intrusion, she made her way to her front door made out of actual wood and pulled it open to see two Thirds holding one Third up between them with one Third leaning against the left side of her house. The one that rang her bell looked up at her and said, “Miss, we need help.”

“With what?” Spliced asked, wrinkling her nose as she smelt a wave of different chemical components from the ponies in front of her.

“We’ve been attacked by the government,” the stallion that was being held told her, drawing Spliced’s attention to his injurious that looked like severe chemical poisoning

“Why?” Spliced asked in complete honesty.

“The... the war,” the mare on his left said, looking completely surprised. “The whole civil war that’s happening right now between the Thirds and the Pures.”

“Oh; I didn’t know,” Spliced with the Thirds looking shocked at her words. “What’s wrong with him?”

“He’s been poisoned with mustard gas,” the stallion holding the other side with desperation. “He’s going to die-”

“No he won’t, mustard gas is easy enough to cure,” Spliced said as she was a bit insulted to hear that they thought mustard gas was a death sentence; sure, it was carcinogenic, but that could be treated. “Come inside.”

The four ponies gave her a confused look but did as they were told, stepping into her house and closing the door behind them. With her horn lighting up, she quickly made her way to her lab and began to pull out the needed components to heal the stallion. “Do not touch anything,” she told them sharply, using her thaumatics to close any cabinet doors she left open.

“Are you sure you can do this, ma’am?” the other stallion asked her, his eyes roaming her lab with awe. “No offense, but you have no replicators here and-”

“I was one of the smartest of my biochemistry class in the Alexandria university,” she snapped, angered at the notion she would need to rely on such means to do her work. “I know how to do this.” Without waiting for any more of their inputs, she used what she’d learned and crafted the cure, put it in a syringe and plunged it into the stallion.

The other Thirds jumped at this but the stallion in question, after coughing and stumbling away from her for some reason she was not sure of, told them he felt better. “Thank you,” he said, bowing his head slightly. “I didn’t think anypony could do create a cure that quickly.”

“I did say I was one of the smartest of my class,” she told him pointedly.

“But if that’s the case, then why are you here?” one the mares asked her who was walking around her lab.

Spliced’s coat bristled as she was forced to readdress this issue. “Due to some issues with my personal views in how to conduct tests clashing with the normal standard quo, I was restricted to being a biochemist researcher consultant until such time I can apply for another test.”

They shared a look between each other and began to talk to each other before they turned to her with the stallion that she cured stepping up to her. “Ma’am, we would like to ask you something; you know a lot about biochemistry and with the Pures beginning to use such weaponry on us...” He trailed off, waving his hoof as if she knew what he meant.

“And?” Spliced asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Well, we are hoping that you would consider joining us.”

“Why?” she asked, completely mystified to why they would want her or think that she would care about their war.

“You could help save more lives,” he said, looking a bit taken back at her answer but was recovering quickly. “I mean, you saved my life easily and you could do the same for so many more.”

“I’m a scientist, not a doctor,” she responded immediately, moving to fix up the few things she had left out on her counters. The Thirds began to follow her around, although they kept their distance.

“But you’re so intelligent;” the other stallion said, somehow appearing in front of her. “I mean, you can do so much to help us stay alive from those damn Pures trying to kill us!”

“If you are afraid of dying, then you shouldn’t have got involved in this war you keep talking about,” Spliced said shrugging her shoulders. “Now if you are quite done, you can take your leave; I’ve got work to do and-”

“If you join us Spliced, you would be working to counter the government's top of the line chemical weapons,” one of the mares said, causing the Pure to pause and tilt her head as she thought of that.

“That is true,” Spliced mused to herself, thinking of all of the restricted stuff she would have first hoof access to if she joined them. She would also be properly challenged and doing something that was worth her time and training for the first time since she became a consultant. “Okay, I am convinced.”

Spliced jolted up from her bed, rubbing her head as the last parts of the dream played out in her head.

She hadn’t thought of that day in a very long time and was beginning to wonder if she might have made the right choice or not all those years ago.

But the past was the past and there was nothing she could do to change it. In all honesty, she was glad to dream of that day instead of her just dying over and over again.

Out in the vast wilderness of the Crystal Empire, two guards were doing a patrol in the further reaches. They were natural citizens so the cold wasn’t bothering them all that much but it was still a noticeable influence to the point that when the storm began to pick up, they sought shelter inside of a cave.

Huddling, Stalwart Guardian looked at Rough Patch and said, “Haven’t heard one this bad in years. You?”

"Mmmm… maybe.” Rough Patch looked contemplative. “That huge storm before Princess Flurry Heart’s Crystalling was close.”

“Oh yeah,” Stalwart Guardian recalled. “That was a bad one.”

There was a moment of awkward silence before Stalwart Guardian cleared his throat. “So, how long do you think we’ll be in here?”

“Good question.” Rough Patch looked around. “Hopefully not all that long, but… I’m getting the strangest feeling about this storm.”

“That some pegasus is doing this?”

“Not exactly,” Rough Patch said as he panned his watch light across the back of the cave. “Just… there’s something off about it, and I can’t quite put my hoof on it. It’s one of those gut feelings, you know?”

“Wait, go back with your light!” Stalwart Guardian suddenly said, his eyes spotting something.

Doing as he was told, Rough Patch moved the light back slowly and his eyes widen as he saw what Stalwart Guardian had. There was a blue coated pony half out of the cracking ice, eyes fluttering. Only their necklace had caught Stalwart Guardian’s eyes; otherwise the pony would have been completely invisible against the snow and ice. “How in Cadance’s name is there a pony out here?”

The question was irrelevant and there was somepony in need of help. They both raced towards the pony when Stalwart Guardian placed a hoof across Rough Patch’s chest, stopping as his eye went even wider. “Wait a moment, that’s not a pony.”

“By the Empress,” Rough Patch breathed sharply. “You’re right.”

They shared an uneasy look between each other as they tried to decide what to do. They could easily let nature take its course; if the weather didn’t kill it, then the cave that they were in would; it wasn’t stable and wouldn’t last long by the looks of it.
They also knew that they had a duty to all life, including it. Using their magic to lift the predator up away from the back of the cave, they began to make their way to the capital.

Chapter Sixteen

“So there is a herbalist near this town and you didn’t tell me?” Spliced asked as she lifted the spoon of cereal to her mouth the next morning.

“Well I didn’t think you would be interested in such things, Spliced,” Twilight replied from her own breakfast. “With how backwards you claim everything to be, it is surprising to me that you’d like to meet with Zecora.”

“Why wouldn’t I; herbology is a fascinating field of chemistry, which is my special talent.” Spliced responded before a smile crept onto her face. “Besides, I know of my history that said zebras were excellent in herbology in the past.”

“They still are,” Twilight replied. “At least, Zecora is. I… haven’t met any others, actually. I know Princess Celestia and Princess Luna met some that were living here in Equestria once, but that was over a thousand years ago, so their descendents may or may not still be there.”

“Regardless of the fact, I would love to learn from her if she is willing to share some of her knowledge,” Spliced said as she raised the spoon midway before pausing. “After I visit Fluttershy; I had promised to meet with her to have some tea yesterday and I completely forgot about it. I hope she will not be upset by it.”

“I’m sure she’ll understand,” Twilight replied. “After all, she was here for Spike’s party yesterday morning, so she knows what you were involved in.” She tilted her head. “Though speaking of…”

“If you’re about to bring up my fainting like I did, please don’t,” Spliced said with a sigh. “I’m still not sure what brought that on. I mean, I was surprised, sure, but one big surprise alone shouldn’t have triggered me passing out.”

“Right.” Twilight smiled at her. “So, I’ll meet you by Fluttershy’s later, since it’s actually on the way to Zecora’s home, and there are some things in the forest that you won’t be familiar with. And I’m not talking about how the plants grow on their own, animals take care of themselves, and clouds move without pony intervention, since that’s apparently normal where you come from.”

“It is.” Spliced rolled her eyes. “Seriously, how did things get to the point where you have to do things like manually change the seasons here?”

“I really don’t know,” Twilight said with a sigh. “I wish I did but we have no real historical records before the time of Discord’s rule besides a few stories. But besides that, the Everfree has things that really are dangerous - timberwolves, manticores, Ursa Majors and Minors, cockatrices-” and here she shuddered - “And a few other things. There’s also at least one sea serpent who moved into the river there, but he’s friendly.”

“Thank you for the warnings; despite death more or less a matter of fact with me; I still feel the pain of dying and I’m not looking to be accustomed to being mauled apart.” Then Spliced looked curious. “What’s an Ursa Major, by the way? I’ve heard stories about the other things, I think at least, but that one doesn’t ring any bells with me.”

“They’re bear-like creatures with fur that makes them look like the night sky come to life,” Twilight replied. “And they’re big, really big - a cub, or Ursa Minor, could swallow both you and me in one bite, and the parents are more than ten times that size. I actually handled an Ursa Minor once.”

Spliced blinked. “Dare I ask?”

Twilight nodded. “A while after I first moved here, there was an incident with a certain traveling unicorn showmare claiming she’d beaten an Ursa Major once, and two of the local colts decided they wanted to see her do it again. So they went into the forest to find one and lure it back into town.” She sighed. “Luckily, they only found an Ursa Minor, and it didn’t do too much damage to the town before I figured out how to lull it to sleep and take it back to its mother.”

“Seriously?” Spliced looked at her incredulously. “A dangerous wild animal, and they wanted to see somepony fight it off just for fun?”

“Yes they did,” Twilight replied.

“From a pony that was a showmare, a pony that tells tall tales for a living?” Spliced sighed. “Kids…”

“I know,” Twilight replied. “Their parents and the local authorities gave them a good talking-to about it, plus they had to clean up the mess that the Ursa left and I gave them my own little punishment… but I’m not sure if they learned anything, because these are the same two colts who later managed to glue themselves together with chewing gum. And since somepony wrote about that little incident in the school newspaper, they did the whole gum thing again just to try and get more attention.”

Spliced blinked again. “Oh-kay… has anypony taken these two in for testing to see if they’re mentally deficient in some way?”

“They’ve been tested,” Twilight told her. “And they’re not ‘mentally deficient’, as you put it. They’re just…” Twilight’s face heated up as she tried to find some way to finish her sentence.

“Stupid?” Spliced ventured.

“Bright in their own, unique way,” Twilight replied. “I think they just never quite got a hold of the whole concept of ‘look before you leap’, if you know what I mean.”

“So, eager to do things that they don’t stop and think before they act. Gotcha.” Spliced nodded as she finished her breakfast off and moved her bowl to the sink with her thaumatics.

“That sounds about right,” Twilight agreed. “Also, in that first case, they were more than a little starstruck and fell for the whole ‘great and powerful’ persona.”

Spliced shook her head. “I said it before, and I’ll say it again: kids…”

“Well, one of them at least is surprisingly talented in some things when he’s not concentrating on them,” Twilight replied. “Also, I know some fillies who are a little over-eager, but are really good at heart. They were my students for a while, actually. Not in friendship, but in learning general things to help them broaden their prospects.”

“I will take your word on them, Twilight,” Spliced said with a smile. “Despite your lack of aggressiveness in dealing with possible threats, you seem to be doing a very good job in helping and aiding others.”

“Thank you, I think,” Twilight said blinking in confusion before smiling again. “You should get going; I believe Fluttershy will be doing her run of taking care of her animals soon.”

Spliced nodded, and headed for the door.

Some time later, Spliced made her way out of Fluttershy’s house after an enjoyable and, to her immense relief (though she hadn’t voiced this opinion aloud), Discord-free time; according to Fluttershy, he’d been off visiting another friend. “I think he said he was going to ‘schmooze with the Smooze’,” she’d said, something that still confused Spliced. However, she’d decided she probably didn’t want to know what a ‘Smooze’ was, since the answer would probably make even less sense than the name.

Pausing for a moment, she took a deep breath of fresh morning air before she turned her head to the path where the zebra lived and made her way down into the forest. It reminded her of her home back in her own dimension; the rich smell of life and animals although this time she wasn’t annoyed by it. After spending four hundred years on the moon, being this close to nature was actually refreshing.

Flicking her ears, she took in the Everfree forest and found herself fascinated by everything she saw. Everything was so vibrant and full of life and green; outside her old house in the forest, she had never seen so much greenery that wasn’t used for farming or gardens of important Pures. It reminded Spliced of her own attempts to create a farm on the moon and made her interested in restarting that field of study; now that she had the proper materials she could conduct a proper botany experiment and she was sure that Applejack and the other farmers here would not object if she made it clear she was doing it purely for her own benefit and was not seeking to enter any kind of competition.

Spliced then paused and tilted her head to the side, wondering why she was being considerate about those beyond Twilight’s friends and she did her best to place it as her being overly cautious but something told her that it wasn’t true.

Shaking her head of the odd emotions in her head, she continued down the path when she head some voices off to the side. Moving towards the voices, she saw that the bushes were rustling.

With her horn glowing as she lifted up a large rock, she was about to drop it when three fillies emerged out of the bush, one of each type of Third. For some reason they looked familiar to her, but she couldn’t remember where she might have seen them before.

“I still don’t see anything,” the unicorn of the trio spoke up. “Are you sure this is the right way?”

“Ah’m sure it’s this way,” the Earth pony in front said. “Ah’ve been here several times, remember?”

The pegasus filly snorted. “Yeah, but how many of those trips involved getting stuck in a tree along the way?”

“Girls…” The unicorn filly looked at them. “Please don’t fight…”

The pegasus turned and smiled at her. “Sorry, Sweetie Belle. I’m just a little stressed.”

As Spliced carefully set aside the rock she’d been holding, she caught a glimpse of the pegasus’s flank and blinked as she saw the familiar Cutie Mark there. A moment later, it hit her, and she shook her head. “Of course… that first day,” she muttered to herself. They were the trio she’d seen laughing and running down the street in Ponyville.

At her sudden words, the trio jumped back to look up in surprise. “Uh…” the little Earth pony began nervously. “Who’re you?”

“And why are you out here?” the pegasus added.

“I’m Spliced Genome and I am looking to visit the zebra that lives out here,” Spliced said. “Why are you out here?”

The Earth pony’s eyes lit up. “You’re goin’ to see Zecora? So are we!”

Spliced smiled. “That’s good. Maybe you can show me the way.” The fillies gave her an odd look before they started to talk to each other before nodding their heads.

“Uh, aren’t you going to tell us to go back or something?” the pegasus said, tilting her head.

“Why? Your friend has obviously been to see Zecora before, so the path to her place can’t be that dangerous.” Spliced said to the fillies.

“Well, there are some things to watch out for on the way there,” the yellow filly mentioned, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. “Such as a patch of poison joke between here and there…”

“You mean poison ivy,” Spliced corrected the filly.

“Nope. Ah mean poison joke. Poison ivy is way different. They don’t even look the same. And it’s a good thing you met us if ya don’t know what it looks like, or ya might’ve stumbled right into it without realizing the danger.”

“And what does this poison jokedo?” Spliced asked, actually interested in learning about the local flora and something else she could put away in the neat folder in her head.

“It plays mean jokes on you. Usually some type of transformation effect that takes place during the next time you sleep. Lahk, mah sister prides herself on bein’ mah big sister, so the poison joke made her shrink ‘til she was small enough to ride on mah head,” the yellow filly replied.

Spliced took a moment to breathe and calm herself before forcing herself to be polite when she spoke. “How… peculiar,” she said through clenched teeth.

“I know that face,” the pegasus filly grumbled. “She doesn’t believe us.”

“It’s true,” the yellow one insisted. “If you don’t believe us, just ask Zecora or Twilight. You can even tell them that we were the ones that told you so they know who to punish if we’re havin’ ya on.”

“That sounds fair to me,” Spliced said, staring at them again before frowning. “Just to clarify, you three are allowed to be out here, right?”

“Well, Apple Bloom is,” the white one admitted. “She studies under Zecora sometimes, and knows what to watch for between her place and Ponyville.”

“Sweetie Belle!” the pegasus protested.

“My friends wanted to visit Zecora, an’ Ah didn’t see any harm in takin’ them there since Ah was allowed to go.”

“I suppose that is appropriate,” Spliced said slowly, trying to piece together if it was truly okay for these three fillies to be out in this forest.

“And since you’re with us, it will be even better!” the pegasus shouted happily, causing Spliced to raise an eyebrow.

“So who are you three?” Spliced asked them.

“Well, I’m Sweetie Belle,” the unicorn said.

“Ah’m Apple Bloom,” the earth pony with the massive bow on her head added in.

“I’m Scootaloo,” the last of the three introduced herself with a grin before the trio leaned in close with each other and took a deep breath in as if they were about to shout which told Spliced to brace herself.

“And we’re the CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!” the three of them yelled, with Spliced acting just in the nick of time to protect her ears.

“How delightful,” Spliced said with her ears ringing just a tiny bit. Blinking, Spliced saw that all of them had their cutie marks, and ones that were near identical to each other; a shield of faded orange, white and purple with differences being that of a lighting bolt imposed on a wing, a heart on an apple and a musical note on a star. “Yet I see you already haveyour cutie marks,” she said with a frown.

“Well, yeah,” Sweetie Belle said. “It’s our talent. We help other ponies discover their talents, and if they’re having problems with it, we help them solve that problem.”

Spliced blinked. “And you all… have the same talent?”

“Well, we did earn them all together,” Apple Bloom said. “When we helped somepony remember what her Mark meant and how to live up to it.”

“I see.” Spliced considered. “And… there’s a lot of call for this sort of thing?”

“More often than you’d think,” Scootaloo replied. “You’d be surprised how many ponies have times when they can’t figure out what they really want in life and haven’t earned a Mark yet, or think they aren’t living up to their special talents after they’ve had theirs for a while.”

“And sometimes they start to freak out about it pretty bad,” Apple Bloom added. “So that’s where we come in.”

“A noble cause; suffering cutie mark failure is not a pleasant fate for anypony,” Spliced said while remembering the times that she suffered it during her imprisonment.

“Yeah,” Sweetie Belle said. “My sister’s talent is working with gems to make things beautiful, like the dresses she designs. There was a thing a few years ago where she wound up having to make ones that were exactly what her clients wanted, but what they wanted turned out to be so ugly, she had a major freak-out over it until they realized how badly their requests had affected her.”

“And mah sister had kind of a breakdown when she thought she’d failed us ‘cause she wasn’t able to do all the farm work without any kind of help at all,” Apple Bloom added.

“Ooh! And there was this pony who completely misinterpreted his mark so he thought his special talent was being unlucky, until we pointed out he could take his klutziness and make it work for him!” Scootaloo spoke up. “Now he works entertaining ponies as a rodeo clown.”

“That’s… quite something.” Spliced looked down at the three fillies. “So, I guess you’ve gotten a lot of experience with this sort of thing.”

“Yup!” the trio chorused happily before Sweetie looked at her flank and said. “So your talent is science?”

“Science related,but my real speciality is chemistry,” Spliced said while being conscious enough not to say the complete truth.

“How did ya get your cutie mark?” Apple Bloom asked eagerly, with Spliced blinking in surprise.

“I have not thought of that day in a very long time,” Spliced said to the fillies as they led her down into the forest.

The three of them frowned and Scootaloo asked, “Why? I thought it would be one of the most important parts of a pony’s life.”

“Well that is due to the fact that when I was your age, I was a part of a large class of ponies that were being tested in all kinds of subjects to see if any of us triggered. I was doing a fairly simple science experiment when it happened for me,” Spliced said as she began to recall the past and looked at her own cutie mark. “After which, I was put on a more structured learning path that aligned with my talents and I more or less threw myself into my education and my work.”

“What about your friends?” Sweetie Belle asked her next.

“I really didn’t have friends,” Spliced said, as she recalled those days. “I scored highly and that meant I had to really focus my time and efforts into being the best I could so I could do the best with my life.” She blinked, frowning for some reason. “And that’s not to say I didn’t try or anything… but when I did try, something always came up or they were not interested in being with me.”

“That’s a right shame.” Apple Bloom declared. “No one should be without friends.”

“I appreciate your concern girls, but I am okay; I mean I did reach this point of my life and I’m okay…” she trailed off, the words dying in her mouth as she briefly wondered how different things would have been if she’d had friends during her youth. But it didn’t matter; the past was the past and there was nothing she could do to change that.

The three fillies exchanged glances. “Well, if you want, we could be your friends,” Sweetie Belle offered. “We’re always open to making new ones.”

“And you and ah could talk about chemistry!” Apple Bloom said excitedly. “Potions are one of mah passions, and they’re basically the same thing - seein’ how the different ingredients interact to come up with new effects, and studyin’ why they act the way they do.”

Spliced found herself smiling and said, “That is true. That is what drives me when I do my research; to learn new things and how everything can work together. Since I’ve come here, this thing you call magic has frustrated me so much but I know there is logic and science behind it. My own studies back home turned out interesting results, but what I was working with then was still relatively basic in terms of what it was made of, compared to some of the things I’ve witnessed here. These energy manipulations I’ve witnessed...”

Sweetie Belle looked a little dismayed. “Yeah… I wish I could understand those fancier spells better too. I can’t do much yet beyond moving things or lighting up my horn so I can see when it’s dark - I did manage a shield once, but that’s still relatively low-level magic.”

“Hmm,” Spliced tilted her head as she thought of some of the methods that they used to test foals back in her old foalhood home. “I think I know of something that could help you but I am not sure how effective it would be for you.”

“Really?”

Spliced nodded. “I’ll see if I can write up a primer for you as soon as possible.”

Sweetie Belle’s eyes lit up in delight, while Scootaloo just groaned and muttered something about “eggheads” under her breath. Spliced, however, chose to ignore her remark, and turned back to Apple Bloom. “So, can you show me the way to Zecora’s home now?”

Apple Bloom nodded eagerly, and started trotting along the path, her friends and Spliced following her.

As they continued on their way, Spliced couldn’t help but notice that Scootaloo was occasionally shooting her looks as if she wanted to say something, but was hesitant. Finally, the little pegasus managed to speak up. “Um…”

“Yes?” Spliced asked.

“Well… your wings. How good are you at flying?”

“I am a fair flyer, to be honest,” Spliced replied. “Average speed for a mare my biological age.”

Scootaloo blinked in confusion. “Uh…”

“Short version, I’m a lot older than I look, but my aging was stopped a long time ago,” Spliced told her. “For reasons I really don’t want to get into. Anyway, I’m not the best at it, but I make do. What makes you ask?”

Scootaloo looked down. “Well… a lot of the colts and fillies my age are already at least able to get off the ground. And I know my wings work, you should see me when I’m buzzing along on my scooter.” She twitched them for a moment. “But I can’t get off the ground, and I don’t know why! It can’t be the size, ‘cause I know a full-grown pegasus who’s got wings that are as small as mine, but he can fly - hay, he was able to qualify for the Aerial Relay team in the last Equestria Games.”

“Show me,” Spliced said, turning to focus on the filly.

Scootaloo nodded, cocked her wings, and started buzzing them, fast enough that a small cloud of dust was blowing up off the ground behind her. Spliced winced, seeing the issue immediately.

“Stop,” Spliced said, leaning down with her thaumatics reaching out to the filly but caught herself before she actually touched Scootaloo as she recalled that doing so was almost always frowned upon. “I see one of two things. Either you’re trying to move the wrong direction when you’re trying to take off, or… there’s something wrong with the thaumatic flow in your wings, and I’d have to do in-depth scans to be sure about the latter. You’re certainly generating enough thrust, that’s for sure.”

Scootaloo tilted her head at that, and then asked her, “So if you’re right, if I go like this,” Scootaloo adjusted the angle of her wings and started to buzz them, but looked disappointed when nothing happened.

“Actually, it’s more your entire position when you’re trying to take off,” Spliced told her. “Here, let me re-angle you.”

With that, she reached out with her hooves, pressing one end of Scootaloo’s body down and the other up. “Now, go for it.”

Scootaloo nodded, and started buzzing her wings even harder.

Nothing happened.

As she finally stopped, Spliced sighed. “Well, there goes that idea… must be the thaumatic flow,” she mused.

“You mean… I’m never going to fly?” Scootaloo looked dismayed.

“No,” Spliced shook her head. “It could still be something else. I’ll have to take some scans and check to be sure, but even if it is your thaumatic flow that’s not working right, it is a correctable problem.”
“Really‽” Scootaloo asked excitedly.

“Yes but the procedure would be highly invasive, and there still could be problems due to the technical limits of this world. At least we have an angle to work at now.” She looked up. “And I think your friends are starting to get far enough ahead of us… we need to catch up.”

Scootaloo looked in their direction and gasped, then hurried off after them. Following after her, Spliced shook her head. “I just hope I’m right about this,” she muttered to herself as even she knew that operating that deeply on a filly would not be accepted unless it actually worked. And she would need the permission of a parent or guardian, and a lot of evidence to back up her methodology.

Mentally adding it to her list of things to do, she trotted a little faster, until she’d caught up with the trio, who’d stopped.

“Er, miss Spliced? You see those flowers ahead of us?” Apple Bloom piped up as Spliced caught up to her.

“The blue ones?” Spliced looked at the plants.

Apple Bloom nodded. “We’ve got to be careful goin’ through this section. That’s the Poison Joke Ah warned you about, an’ we don’t want to touch it.”

Spliced nodded, and carefully moved to avoid the plants. When they were past the patch of them, they were able to move more quickly.

Finally, turning around the corner, she saw the hut… or was that a tree? She blinked for a moment, and then was certain: it was indeed a comparatively short but wide tree, with a set of stairs leading to the door in front. There was also what looked like a mask hanging over the door, another one sitting off to the side, and a number of bottles hanging from the branches. She supposed they were some of the various herbs and concoctions that Zecora worked with, although she supposed there were more inside of the dwelling.

She was wondering what kind of proper greeting she would have to use to get a chance to talk to the zebra when the fillies moved past her and knocked loudly on the door. After a few seconds had passed, it opened to reveal an individual who could only be Zecora.

“Hiya Zecora!” Apple Bloom waved excitedly.

The zebra mare smiled down at her. “Welcome, welcome, little Apple Bloom. And your friends as well, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo,” she then flicked an ear as she turned to Spliced. “And I see you brought a new friend too.”

Spliced bowed. “Spliced Genome, ma’am. Princess Twilight told me about you, and when I heard there was an herbalist nearby, I just had to come meet her.”

“Come in then, and look around,” Zecora said as she stepped back. “For within my home is much knowledge to be found.”

Spliced and the fillies entered, and while Apple Bloom obviously knew where everything was, judging by the way she immediately went to one of the cabinets, Spliced looked around to see the various bottles and masks that decorated the inside of Zecora’s tree.

“I am curious, I must admit,” Zecora spoke as she went to tend the cauldron in the middle of her floor. “It is clear that this world, you do not quite fit. So how, miss Genome, have you come to this place? Did you, perchance, take a tunnel through space?”

Spliced’s heart skipped a beat. “I… I’m not sure what you’re asking about,” she said nervously.

Zecora smiled. “Rest assured, you’ve no need to fear,” she said. “My kind have met many who did not come from here. We are well aware of the paths through the void, and have kept watch on them for a long time. Most will stay quiet, but now and then, one will open without reason or rhyme. Such visitors, my people know, can help or harm; others just wish to find a home. And most we have met are just passing through, as the various worlds they roam.”

Spliced heaved a sigh of relief. “Well, that’s unexpected,” she said. “The few zebras I ever crossed paths with back home never said anything about this.”

Zecora nodded. “We do keep it quiet, that is true,” she said. “But not to those travelers, who are like you.”

Spliced smiled. “That’s good to know.”

Zecora smiled back. “And now, miss Genome, you wish to learn? To see what my potions can do, I sense you yearn.”

“That’s exactly right,” Spliced told her. “Actually, while we were on our way here, Apple Bloom mentioned one with some… odd effects. I’ll admit, I have a hard time believing it - this ‘poison joke’?”

“Ah, that one.” Zecora nodded. “It’s very true. The plant is well known for its leaves of blue.” She headed for a cupboard and withdrew a glass jar with a blue flower in it. “This plant, you see, does not breed wrath. Instead this plant just wants a laugh. Luckily, I know a cure, and a way to use it in a way that’s secure.” She held it out. “With its leaves I can make a brew to replicate its effect, on one such as you.” She gestured to Sweetie Belle, whose eyes widened.

“Are you sure?” she asked nervously.

Apple Bloom nodded. “You should’ve heard Fluttershy when she was on it. It’s safe, ah promise.”

Spliced glanced between the two. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked Sweetie Belle. “If you don’t want to use it, you don’t have to.”

Sweetie Belle shook her head. “If Zecora says it’s safe, it’s safe,” she said. “She knows what she’s talking about.”

Zecora, meanwhile, had begun mixing up the brew, as Spliced watched. Carefully, she listened and memorized as the other mare explained each step, and finally took up a vial.

“Drink carefully, little filly,” she said as she hoofed it over to Sweetie Belle. “And please don’t worry if it makes you sound silly.”

Sweetie Belle nodded, and, taking a deep breath, gulped it down.

After a moment, Apple Bloom looked at her. “Sweetie Belle? You feel alright?”

“I feel-” Sweetie Belle cut herself off and clapped her hooves over her mouth.

“Come on, keep talking!” Scootaloo said with a big grin on her face. “I want to hear it again!”

Sweetie Belle gave her a look. “Really, Scootaloo?”

Except instead of her normal voice, it was a deep, bass one, which reminded Spliced of the tall stallion who’d been one of her old professors from school.

Scootaloo looked like she wanted to roll over and start laughing at the contrast between filly and voice, but she managed to restrain herself. “Yeah! You sound just like Mac, or Fluttershy when she had that same potion!”

Spliced’s ears twitched as she tried to imagine such a deep voice coming out of the gentle mare she’d been having tea with earlier and had to suppress a snort of laughter. “That’s… quite the effect,” she managed.

“Yeah!” Apple Bloom nodded. “Of course, most of the effects we’ve seen aren’t as useful, but that one that shrank mah sister could come in handy sometimes.”

Spliced gave it some thought, and conceded that the little Earth pony had a point. If she’d been able to shrink and make her way into the walls of her former prison, maybe she could have figured out how to shut off the cameras or disconnect all the death traps that had been in there.

She didn’t say this aloud, of course. Instead, she turned to Apple Bloom. “Well, you’ve convinced me,” she said. “I’m sorry I doubted you.”

“It’s okay.” Apple Bloom ducked her head and smiled. “But now that you’ve seen it… or heard it, in this case, Ah think Sweetie Belle wants her normal voice back.”

Sweetie Belle nodded, and ducked into the other room, Zecora following to give her the antidote. After a few minutes, both had returned.

“You are lucky, little one, that I’ve improved my mix,” she said. “No longer is a bath needed to cure, just another potion for a fix.”

Sweetie Belle nodded. “I remember what happened the last time Rarity had some of this,” she said in her normal voice. “Though I don’t think she minded the spa treatment too much…”

Zecora smiled. “And thanks to that day, I made quite a good deal, selling brews to the spa ponies that met their appeal.”

Spliced looked between them. “The thing I want to know now is, just where did this stuff come from? I can’t imagine something like it evolving naturally…”

“Well, we don’t know for sure,” Apple Bloom replied. “But we’ve got a hunch that Discord made it during his reign, either on purpose or just through spreadin’ his chaos magic around Equestria. There’s still traces of his magic around, and we know he did make some weird plants once that made all kinds of trouble, so…” she shrugged. “It’s the best guess we’ve got.”

Spliced looked contemplative. “Hmm… that is a logical explanation for it,” she said. “Thank you, Apple Bloom.”

Apple Bloom beamed at the praise.

“So what else is here?” Spliced asked, examining some black looking plants in some vials on another shelf.

“Ah, that one, you should be wary. Plunder-vines running loose can be quite scary.” Zecora gestured to the vials. “Such plants went rampant many moons ago, and brought with them much fear. Luckily, after their behavior’s cause was found, these ones are now safe in here.”

“And… what caused that wild behavior?” Spliced asked.

“Discord,” three fillies chorused.

“Oh.” Spliced blinked and turned to look around the other collected flora. “Is there anything else here that is a product from him?”

“Eenope.” Apple Bloom shook her head. “Oh, here’s something that’s not!” She snagged a jar. “Ah remember this stuff! It’s what you helped Fluttershy get for her animal sanctuary!”

“Ah yes, the Crisscross Moss,” Zecora replied. “A useful plant, in many ways. Both as food and for medicine, to ease your days. Though there was another kind that grew quite close to it, and that may have also been from his spree. I am just very glad Fluttershy found the cure for its pollen in time; I would not have enjoyed being trapped as a tree.”

Spliced’s eyebrows rose very high. “A plant that pollinates you and turns you into a tree…” she said faintly. Although it was a fascinating concept, the notion that it could be used against her outweighed the research potential it had. “Okay. That is downright scary.”

Zecora nodded somberly. “‘Tis true, I fear, but Fluttershy found the cure. And thanks to it, I safely endure.”

Apple Bloom gave one of her legs a gentle hug, and Zecora smiled down at her.

“So, my friend, what else is here of which you wish to learn?” Zecora nodded at Spliced. “Come now, don’t hold back. There is much knowledge, I sense, for which you yearn.”

Spliced nodded back, and began pointing at something else.

In the Crystal Empire Royal Palace, Cadance made her way through the medical wing once again to visit their latest guest. On one hoof, she was very pleased that her citizens had brought him into be treated and not outright killed him due to the danger he posed to everypony in the Empire. On the other hoof; however, due to what he was, they needed to keep him secluded within a shield as not to expose him to everypony in the city, and the doctors that were treating him were being very careful in what they were doing to help him get better.

Coming up to Dr. Hale, the head doctor of the palace, Cadance was about to ask him how their patient was doing when Dr. Hale shook his head. “He’s stable for the moment, Empress,” they said, with Cadance doing her best not to wrinkle her nose at the usage of her title. She was getting more used to being called by it but at times, it still bothered her. “But we simply do not know enough how to treat the patient properly.”

“I see,” Cadance frowned as she peered into the room, their guest still in a medically induced sleep. Shaking her head as time was running out, she knew that she had to contact Celestia for help. Quickly departing from the room and making her way to her study, she summoned a scroll and inkwell so she could write the letter.

As she contemplated what exactly to say, she couldn’t help but wonder what had led this… being to where they’d been found, and if, perhaps, a certain piece of recent history was about to repeat itself and if she was strong enough to do what it was needed to protect her ponies.

A short while later she had a reply that Celestia was sending an expert of sorts on this matter and then a much more detailed letter on this expert, with her eyes widening.

Shaking her head, she went to find her husband to prepare for another possibly dangerous creature entering her realm.

“Oh there you are Spliced,” Twilight said as the four of them finally got out of the forest a few hours later, having had a rather productive time. “And… you girls are here, why are you here? Spliced, why are they here with you?”

“They said they could be out there,” Spliced said, looking at the now sheepish looking fillies.

“And you let them be out in the Everfree Forest‽”

“They told me that they could be there!” Spliced turned to look at them. “Why did you tell me you could be there?”

“Well, Applejack did say Ah could go visit Zecora and Ah thought the girls would like to visit her too.”

“Then why didn’t you stick to the path,” Spliced asked with the fillies facehoofing for some reason - Oh, she was supposed to be quiet about that.

Twilight glared at all of them before snorting and shaking her head. “Your sisters and aunts will talk to you later about this,” she said sharply with them whining and moving off to the village. She then turn her attention to Spliced, holding up a piece of paper. “As I was saying, you got a letter from Celestia this afternoon labeled urgent.”

“Oh?” Spliced tilted her to the side as she picked up the letter with her thaumatics and opened it up, reading the message inside. “Huh, it seems that I am being called to a place called the Crystal Empire to aid them with a subject they found.”

“Really?” Twilight said as she took the letter from her; the other alicorn’s eyes widening as she read it. “This is serious, Spliced.”

“Yes it is,” Spliced hissed as she took her letter back from her and went to finish reading it before frowning and hoofing it back. “I am supposed to give this to you.”

“Sorry about that, Spliced; it is just that my sister in-law,” Twilight began before Spliced cut her off.

“The other alicorn, correct?” Spliced asked with a raised eyebrow. “The one that isn’t an infant, right?”

“Yes,” Twilight said, aware that she shouldn’t jump at this baiting as it was clear Spliced wanted a chance to fight back. “Well, according to this letter, we should get moving as soon as possible; although I think it would be best to have Spike and Starlight with us.”

“And why is that?”

“Spike is an excellent note taker, which can be a boon if you get too busy to write things down,” Twilight said with Spliced nodding her head in agreement. “And I believe Starlight would like to visit her friend Sunburst.”

Spliced rolled her eyes at this but shook her head. “It’s fine, I suppose, as long as she does not get in the way of my work,” she said as she made her way back to the castle.

Twilight nodded let out a sigh; it was better than what was normal for those two but it was still a long way away from those two actually being friends.

Shaking her head, she went into the castle herself; a trip like this meant it was time to pack.

Then Spliced popped her head back out of the hall. “Oh, and I will need to ask Princess Celestia if she can have a changeling that can endure harsher emotions sent out to the Empire with us.”

Twilight blinked and realized why Spliced would make such a request. “I can send a letter to Thorax to see what can be done.”

“Thank you.” With that, Spliced headed off to her room.

Chapter Seventeen

It had taken little time for all four of them to get packed and ready, but soon they were all standing at the train station, with both Spliced and Starlight behaving themselves. However, Twilight could see that Starlight was still looking wary of the other mare and Spliced was doing her best to look anywhere but at her.

Finally, once the train had arrived and they’d all settled into a pair of coaches, Starlight taking one with some other ponies she claimed to want to catch up with, Twilight was able to finally relax for a few minutes before she looked at Spliced.

“So,” she asked, “How did your visit with Zecora go?”

“Very informative and productive,” Spliced replied. “I think she was pleasantly surprised by all of us showing up when we did and my being genuinely curious to learn from her. Also, since I reacted much better than your townsfolk apparently did before...” Spliced shook her head. "Did you know that ponies used to think she was evil and misidentified her natural behavior as threatening? I mean, I do recognize that a pony might see another’s pawing at the ground as a threat or a challenge, but zebras paw at the ground all the time without wanting to fight - it’s just their normal method for trying to find water.”

Twilight nodded. "Yes… you know that, and I know that. But not everypony knows that kind of thing, Spliced. Hay, that first day I found out she even existed? Nopony in town even knew she was a zebra until I saw her and recognized her species! Everypony else thought she was just an oddly-colored pony."

Spliced raised an eyebrow. "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope," Spike said from where he was reading one of his comics. "And would you believe they thought that she'd cursed them because of how they were acting?"

Spliced gave him a look. "Okay, seriously? Curses? Now I know you're kidding. Curses don't exist..." She blinked. "At least, I hope that's the case."

"You hope correctly," Twilight replied. "Curses don't exist. But ponies who step in Poison Joke, despite being warned away from it by the zebra they were already scared of, and then wake up to find themselves under the Poison Joke’s effects the next morning and jump to conclusions about why these odd things have happened to them, do."

Spliced nodded. "That makes much more sense."

“Also, they were kind of creeped out because she lived in the Everfree Forest and thought she was as dangerous as the various creatures they knew were there.” Twilight sighed. “Even I let myself get caught up in it for a bit… but thanks to Apple Bloom, we all learned better, and now she’s a good friend and valued member of the community. And I did apologize for my behavior after I realized my mistake.”

“Every day you learn something new is a productive day,” Spliced said with an echo, turning her head to see that Starlight had said the same thing as she walked into the coach. The two mares shared a look, frowning at each other as Starlight sat down.

“So!” Twilight looked at them. “What did you think of the Crusaders, by the way?”

“They’re nice kids,” Spliced replied. “A little exuberant… oh, and that reminds me, I need to do some deeper scans on Scootaloo. I promised I’d try and find out why she’s having trouble flying, and while I did some basic scans as we were out there, enough to figure out a few things, I’d need to do a deeper check to be absolutely sure of the cause. And I need to get parental permission for those first, since she is underage.”

Twilight looked at her. “I certainly hope you can,” she said. She then stop and took in what Spliced had said and tilted her head. “What kind of tests did you do already, exactly?”

“Well, I observed her as she tried to take off, and suggested a slightly different way of doing it, but she couldn’t get off the ground either way,” Spliced replied. “I’ll wait for parental permission before I scan her thaumatic flow, but with what I saw before, that’s looking more like it might be the cause.”

“And how would you go about discovering if that is the cause?” Starlight asked, raising an eyebrow.

“By performing a test on the marrow of the bones themselves, but something that intrusive can be very painful,” Spliced said. “Especially since anesthesia could interfere with the results. But like I said, I’m not about to do it without her parents or guardians giving permission first.”

Twilight looked disturbed, and Starlight looked horrified at the thought of cutting all the way into somepony’s bones for a medical test, but Spike looked up, a thoughtful look on his face. “Isn’t there something you can do that’s less intrusive, like an X-ray for her thaumatic flow?”

Spliced turned to him for a moment. “Actually, that would be a good idea,” she said as she tapped a hoof against her chin. “Our MRIs, and the scans that are like them, only really work on physical material rather than the energies flowing through them. That means I’d have to invent a better one to do that kind of scan first or modify the ones you have here as best as I can, but if I could… that would be a much safer option.” She then blinked and frowned. “Although if I am correct, then I would have to open up the bone anyway, to fix the thaumatic core in her wings. But in that case, it would be safe to use anesthesia - it only interferes in the initial examination.”

“I’ll get in touch with her…” Twilight blinked as she realized she didn’t know Scootaloo’s parents or guardians’ names. “Well, I’ll get in touch with Rainbow Dash, I’m sure she can help us get in touch with Scootaloo’s family, since she does know them.”

“Or, you could ask me,” Spike pointed out as he flipped another page in his comic. “She lives with her aunt Holiday and Holiday’s marefriend Lofty, since her parents are out of town on business most of the time.” He looked up. “At least her aunts actually care enough about her to worry… her parents barely know she exists half the time.”

Twilight nodded. “Thank you, Spike. I’ll contact them about this as soon as possible then.” She facehoofed. “I should have known about them, I was her extracurricular teacher for long enough…”

Spliced looked at her curiously. “If you were her teacher at one point, and I do want to know more about that, why would Rainbow Dash know more about her family than you do? Are she and Rainbow Dash related or something?”

“Rainbow Dash is… well, they’ve been as close as sisters since not long before I ascended, and Scootaloo looked up to her for a long time before that,” Twilight replied. “They’re family in every way that counts.”

“Ah.” Spliced nodded. “That makes sense.” Then she considered. “And Scootaloo’s friends, are they related to anypony I know?”

“Apple Bloom is Applejack’s little sister, and Sweetie Belle is Rarity’s little sister,” Twilight told her. “Oh, and Apple Bloom and Applejack have an older brother too, Big McIntosh - I don’t know if you’ve met him yet.”

“Unless he was at that party my first night in town, I don’t think I have,” Spliced said. “I never met anypony besides Applejack when I dropped by the farm earlier that day, and I haven’t been out in town that much since that first night.”

“You didn’t try and take one of her apples, did you?” Starlight said, eying her suspiciously.

“No, I didn’t,” Starlight gave her a dirty look. “Sure, I was hungry when I saw those apple trees out there, but I remembered what Twilight told me about one of her friends having an apple farm. And besides that, I may be a former war criminal but I am certainly no thief.” She gave Starlight an indignant look. “Anyway, I was looking at one of the trees and trying to figure out how I was going to pay for one of the apples when Applejack found me and offered me one for free.”

Twilight smiled. “That’s Applejack for you… never one to let a pony go hungry.”

Spliced smiled back, then looked thoughtful. “So… while we’re on the subject of families, I know the other alicorns that we’re going to see are your sister-in-law and niece. I presume you have a brother who’s part of that family too?”

Twilight nodded. “Shining Armor. He used to be the Captain of the Royal Guard, until he and Cadance got married and moved out to the Crystal Empire once it returned - long story,” she added at Spliced’s curious look.

Shaking it off, Spliced continued. “And I met Pinkie’s sister Maud that first night in town… good pony to talk to if you’re really into geology.” She looked thoughtful. “Do any of you have any other brothers or sisters?”

“Well, Pinkie’s actually got another older sister and a younger twin who live back at the family rock farm,” Twilight said. “And Fluttershy has…”

“The most obnoxious little brother I’ve ever met,” Spike said pointedly as he looked up from his comic again. “He’s changed, supposedly. But the last time I saw him, the guy was a shameless moocher who’d do anything to avoid any work he could, so I’m reserving judgment until I get proof otherwise.”

“Oh-kay.” Spliced decided not to pry; it sounded like Spike wasn’t in any mood to elaborate.

“On that note…” Starlight spoke up. “So Twilight, where are we picking up Pharynx?”

“Thorax said he’d meet us at the Crystal Empire,” Twilight replied. “Actually, it’ll be interesting to meet him, since I haven’t had the chance yet.”

“And Pharynx is?” Spliced asked.

“Thorax’s older brother,” Starlight told her. “He’s in charge of the Changeling hive’s guard. He’s also pretty cranky most of the time, but he is just looking out for the hive.” Then she looked surprised at herself for a moment, before settling back into a grumpy expression.

“Ah, that’s good,” Spliced said with a smile. “With what I was told they told found, someone of his nature that can handle the more negative emotions is just what we need.”

“Who they found,” Twilight corrected the other mare. “They told us that they found a male-”

“No, Celestia told me they found something and that they need my expertise in determining how it can be treated,” Spliced said stiffly.

“How can you be so cold to somepony?” Starlight looked at her in disgust. “I know you’re not tribalist; you have to care about others first to hate others. So how can you even begin to justify this.”

“Because based on the species I was told I’d be dealing with, I’m pretty sure this one isn’t sapient,” Spliced snapped, suddenly sounding like she had when they’d first met. “At least, its kind probably isn’t anymore. But the necklace it had on it means something else is going on.”

“But, and by your own logic, wouldn’t it be sapient and thus a person like me or Twilight?” Starlight jabbed a hoof at the mare.

“I believe the phrase is me or you,” Spliced said acidly, slapping off the hoof pressed into her chest.

“I wouldn’t call you a normal pony or like anyone I know, Genome,” Starlight growled and both their horns started to glow when a barrier suddenly appeared between them.

“That. Is. Enough,” Twilight growled. “Honestly, can’t you two go one day without sniping at one another?”

Spliced just sighed and turned away, while Starlight did the same, looking the other direction. After a moment, Twilight dropped the barrier, and sat back in her own seat.

“If I acted like that, I’d be grounded for a month or something,” Spike commented from his spot.

“That’s a very good idea, Spike,” Twilight said as she gave the two mares a look. “Spliced, you are banned for going into the lab for two weeks and Starlight, while we’re away from Ponyville, you are prohibited from casting anything other than basic telekinesis, unless it’s to save a life, and will have to write a friendship report on what you did wrong before we get home again.”

“Twilight!” Starlight protested with Spliced sputtering in disbelief.

“It’s either that or you two apologize and promise to stop fighting all the time.” Both mares glared at each other and snorted, looking away from each other with Twilight sighing. “I had hoped you two were mature enough that I wouldn’t need to treat you like foals, you know.”

“She has been suspicious of me ever since I got here,” Spliced snapped. “I’ve been doing my best to be nice and not hurt anyone, pony or otherwise, but it’s never good enough for miss ‘I nearly destroyed an entire country while trying to prove I was right’.”

“Because you’re still hiding something, I can tell,” Starlight snarled back. “And I already told you, I made a huge mistake, I admit it, and I’m still paying for it.”

Twilight quickly raised a barrier between the two of them again. “Do I need to add even more weeks?” She looked at them and shook her head. “I meantit; behave yourselves. Starlight, I taught you to be better than this. Spliced, you’re old enough to know better.”

Both mares looked sheepishly at her and turned away to the corners of the carriage for a moment, leaving them in silence. Then they muttered out apologies to each other. They weren’t looking at each other and were more than likely going to fight again but Twilight was happy that they were making some progress.

With a smile on her face, Twilight opened her new book and started to read while keeping an eye on the two mares. Still, she knew that this was going to be a long ride.

At least she had one traveling companion she could trust to behave and not antagonize anypony else, she thought to herself as she glanced over at Spike, who was himself still contentedly reading. He was definitely maturing and she was really proud of her son.

Vroo-vrooooooooooo!

“Crystal Empire, next stop!” the conductor bellowed as he passed by the coach, all three mares and Spike looking up and getting ready to disembark, gathering their luggage. Moving behind the crowd of passengers, they patiently waited until the platform was almost empty before moving out to meet the lone Changeling still there waiting for them, no doubt Pharynx. Twilight took a closer look at him as they approached, noting his appearance; like Thorax but unlike most of his kind after their metamorphosis, he’d grown a pair of antler-like mandibles on his head, albeit smaller and redder than his brother’s, and with a set of wings that matched them in color. His overall body was a dark cyan, and his carapace was purple, while his eyes were a slightly lighter shade that almost matched Thorax’s wings.

“So you finally got here,” he said, rolling his eyes as they approached him. “And this must be the newbie,” he added with a gesture towards Spliced.

Spliced nodded her head and held out her hoof. “My name is Spliced Genome and-”

“I read my brother’s report that Princess Celestia sent us,” he said, looking her over with a frown. “Frankly, I don’t know what you did to get locked up, but as long as you leave my hive alone, I don’t care.”

Spliced nodded. “In which case, we need to get going. You and I have a subject to deal with.”

Pharynx nodded, then turned and headed off, Spliced trailing after him and Spike hurrying after both of them. Watching them go, Twilight sighed. “Well, at least he’s not reacting as poorly to her as he did to you and Trixie when you first met him,” she remarked.

Starlight nodded. “That’s Pharynx for you, he’s cranky and kind of paranoid sometimes, but he means well.” She cleared her throat. “Well, I’d better be off…” Levitating her bags, she headed off down the street. After a moment, Twilight turned and headed after her other companions who seemed to be left alone by the crystal ponies, surprisingly as Pharynx was a changeling, Spliced was an alicorn and Spike was their personal hero. As she caught up to them, she could hear that Spliced and Pharynx were talking.

“-take them fairly well,” Pharynx said with a snort. “Mostly due to my winningpersonality, our former Queen had me siphon out the negative ones for the rest of the hive, so I’ve built up a tolerance. Not much call for it these days, but I still can if I have to.”

“Still a useful talent to have in case of emergencies, though,” Spliced said, giving him an understanding look.

“Yeah, but it still tastes terrible,” Pharynx grumbled as they got closer to the crystal palace. “Of course, I do know the importance of living is far more important than the taste.”

Spliced nodded, looking pleased with his answers before looking at the crystal palace properly for a moment before letting out a sigh and shaking her head. “Do all rulers live in places like this?”

“Hey, don’t look at me,” Pharynx remarked with a snort. “I didn’t design the place, or any other places. But my little brother says that over a thousand years ago, some unicorn lady found a big piece of Cosmic Spectrum stone, took it out to a frozen wasteland and poured all her magic and emotions into it to turn that place into this place.”

Spliced rolled her eyes. “So now I know two palaces that were grown to look all fancy and shiny. Great. At least Princess Celestia’s place doesn’t have a crazy origin story.” She looked at him. “It doesn’t, right?”

“Hey!” Twilight couldn’t help but speak up. “It’s not like it was my idea to grow a new palace in Ponyville!” Then she looked somewhat indignantly. “And no, as far as I know, both their old palace and the one in Canterlot were built normally.”

“Still doesn’t excuse how much of an eyesore yours and this one are,” Spliced said with Pharynx actually smiling in response and Spike snickering at the back and forth.

Twilight just groaned, but resisted the urge to snark back.

A few minutes later, they’d reached the crystal palace, and were escorted into the throne room by a set of guards who gave them curious looks as several maids took their bags.

Princess Cadance was sitting in her throne when they arrived, and her eyes brightened as she saw them. “Twilight! It’s so good to see you and - Spike?” She blinked. “Is that really you?”

“Yep!” Spike flexed a bit. “Had myself something of a growth spurt recently.”

Cadance smiled. “Well, I’m glad to see you’re doing so well. And it is good to see you as well, Pharynx.” Then she turned to Spliced. “And you must be Spliced Genome, the mare my aunt said could help with our… guest.”

Spliced nodded. “May I see them now?”

“Of course, of course.” Cadance rose from her throne. “This way, please.”

Guiding them to the medical ward, she waved aside a set of guards, who bowed and moved to let them in, before the quintet entered the room that had a pink shield over every possible entrance.

There were three ponies in the room standing before the bed; the first a male crystal unicorn with a light green coat and the second a female crystal pegasus with a faded pink coat. The third was a male normal unicorn, who was clearly maintaining the shields around the room, and looked up to see them entering. “Twily! Just in time.”

Twilight smiled. “Good to see you too, B.B.B.F.F.. I think you know Pharynx, and this is Spliced Genome,” she said as she gestured to her companions, the latter of whom was giving her an odd look and mouthing something. Shining frowned for a moment before nodding his head at her.

“Nice to meet you,” he said politely, holding out his hoof to her.

“Nice to meet you too,” Spliced said, shaking the hoof before looking at the two other ponies in the room. “You are?”

The stallion moved towards her and gave her an even look. “I am Doctor Hale; I am the chief medical doctor of the Crystal Empire. This is my associate, Doctor Hearty, our general practitioner,” after shaking her hoof, Hale then moved to the bed that had the icy blue figure on it. “Here is our patient, Genome. We were told that you had some expertise in dealing with his kind?”

“Yes,” Spliced said as she approached the bed. “Although I am not as knowledgeable in windigo anatomy as I am with dragons’.”

“So he is a windigo,” Doctor Hearty said as she peered at the stallion on the bed. “How do we treat him?”

“First off; Pharynx can you feel any excessive love in the air?” Spliced asked, her tone becoming sharp and pointed; just like when she had redesigned the laboratory.

“Not really,” the changeling said with a frown. “The shield around this room is blocking the effects of the Crystal Heart.”

“Crystal Heart - never mind; you’ll explain that nonsense afterwards,” Spliced said in such a tone that caused every Crystal Empire pony to frown. “I want you to monitor the levels; the subject could eat them but in its current state it would kill them. “

“It is a good thing that we made sure that he was isolated from the Heart,” Doctor Hale said with his mane bristling and eyes narrowed.

“Is there anything else that can cause an unusual imbalance of emotions,” Spliced asked as she leaned closer to the windigo, lifting the limbs with her thaumatics. “It appears that its right foreleg is broken, it also appears to have a mild concussion although it should have recovered by now and I need a scan to see if any of its organs are damaged and assistance if I need to operate on it.”

“Excuse me, Genome,” Doctor Hale used his magic to lift the windigo’s limb out of her grip. “What exactly are your credentials?”

Spliced looked angered for a moment and said through clenched teeth, “I am a biochemical research consultant, with a smattering of other lesser degrees.”

“Well then, we will take your consulting with due credit. Also, as a fully credited doctor, I must advise you that your bedside manner is horrendous. Furthermore, we do not refer to our patients as it; they are he or she,” he lectured her, with Spliced’s horn starting to glow and the mare lowering herself in an aggressive stance.

Everypony took a step backwards before Shining Armor and Pharynx lowered their horns. Just as Twilight was worried that a fight was about to explode, Cadance set off a loud bang with her own horn, and everypony (and one dragon) looked at her in surprise.

“Everypony, calm down,” Cadance said before turning her focus towards Spliced. “Either restrain your more aggressive behaviour or leave,” she said leaning down towards Spliced who scoffed, rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“As you seemingly are unaware of, windigos feed off negativity,” she said bluntly. “This behavior here is generating exactly the kinds of emotions that it needs to absorb so it can recover.” As she gestured with her hoof, a smirk on her face, Twilight looked directly at the windigo and saw they were starting to stir.

“Mitt huvud,” the windigo groaned, the voice definitely male, with his good hoof rubbing his head. Light blue eyes flicked open, and looked around in surprise. “Vem är du? Var är jag?” he snapped at them, trying to push himself upright only to wince sharply as he placed weight on his broken hoof. “Evinnerliga snöstorm! Vad ända in i Fimbulwinter är det för fel på mitt ben‽”

“Do you have any idea what he is saying?” Twilight asked Spliced who simply shrugged.

“I don’t have my universal translator anymore,” Spliced said under her breath. “And I have no idea what language it’s even speaking.”

“He is speaking,” Doctor Hale snapped with Spliced grunting and rolling her eyes.

“Pharynx do you have any idea what it’s saying?” Spliced asked, raising an eyebrow as the windigo continued to talk, looking at them in confusion.

“I think?” the changeling said with a tilt of his head. “It sounds like ancient changeling but I don’t know it.”

“Well thatwas useful,” Spliced snarked. “I can’t treat it if I don’t know about any issues it has.”

“Här är jag, bara så du vet,” the windigo said in a snappish tone. “Jag förstår inte vad du säger men jag är rätt säker på att det handlar om mig och det uppskattar jag inte!”

“De försöker bara hjälpa dig,” Spike said, causing everyone to pull back in surprise.

“Vänta, så du kan faktiskt prata normalt?” the windigo said with wide eyes. “Kan du tala om för mig vad det faktiskt är som händer?”

“Shush,” Spliced said causing the windigo to pull back in indignation. “Spike, you speak its language?”

“Yeah, it’s same thing some of the characters use in my comic book,” Spike said, holding out a comic with an image of two ponies, one with a brilliant red mane and beard and the other with a green outfit, a gold crown and a strange-looking staff. “See? I thought it was cool, so I decided to find out more about it.”

“How in Equestria is this even possible?” Twilight said as she looked at the comic book, noticing at the same time that the windigo was peering down his body and seemed angry at the sight of something.

“Hallå! Var är mitt halsband?” he shouted, turning his head to glare at the others in turn. “Jag hoppas verkligen att det är här någonstans!”

“Hur såg det ut?” Spike asked him.

“En kedja av hård granit som omger en kristall,” the windigo replied.

“What is he asking for Spike?” Twilight asked.

“Some kind of necklace, Twilight,” Spiked said, with Cadance’s magic opening a drawer and pulling out the object in question.

“Det är mitt! Ge tillbaka det genast!” the windigo snapped, Cadance about to give it to him when Spliced overtook it with her own aura.

“This back and forth won’t work,” Spliced said, holding the necklace with the windigo glaring at her. “Twilight, can you somehow make things so we can understand its language?”

“Yes, but shouldn’t you give him his necklace back?” Twilight asked, shifting on her hooves. She had an inkling of what Spliced was going to say and it made her feel uncomfortable to be a part of it.

“We need a leverage to make it behave itself and I thought withholding this instead of treatment was the better option of the two,” Spliced said in her usual detached manner with her cold logic in full view.

“As much as I do not wish to say this,” Doctor Hale said, his hoof scraping the floor, “She has a point.”

Spike muttered something in the windigo’s language, which made the other male snicker. Then he glared at Spliced again. “Jag vill fortfarande ha tillbaka mitt halsband.”

“Twilight, do what you need to do,” Spliced ordered her with Twilight reluctantly lighting up her horn to perform the spell.

“Hallå där! Vad håller hon på med?” the windigo demanded, trying to shift away from Twilight.

“Hon gör så att alla ponnyer kan förstå vad du säger och du kan förstå dem,” Spike told him. “Det kommer vara säkert, det lovar jag.”

“Det är bäst för dig, or else I will-” the windigo growled with Spliced leaning down to glare at him in the eyes.

“You will do what,” she said, placing a hoof into his chest. “Currently, I am the only one present with enough medical knowledge to treat you and if you think you can threaten me, then I can easily turn around and wash my hooves of this whole matter.”

“You’re a healer, you have to help!” he said, holding his good hoof at her.

“No I am not and no I don’t,” Spliced said with a smirk on her face. “What I am is a researcher and you pose a lot of interesting questions, namely this necklace.” His eyes immediately were drawn to the necklace she was tossing up and down in her hoof, just barely out of his reach. “I can take this back to my lab, pull it apart to get my answers or you can do what we tell you and tell us what what we want to know.”

“You arrogant little pony bitch, I’ll,” he snarled as he tried to leap at her, only to realize there were restraints holding him back. “What the-”

“That’s enough!” Doctor Hale snapped, grabbing the necklace from Spliced with his magic and turning to face Cadance, hoofing the necklace over to her. “I cannot tolerate this abusive treatment anymore; either she relents or gets out of my medical wing or I will lodge so many complaints that Celestia will be late to raising the sun!”

“Agreed,” Cadance said, staring down the other alicorn as she used her magic to place the necklace on the windigo. “I understand what your methods are for but I cannot allow you to threaten, harass, or abuse someone under my protection as you have been doing so anymore. You were brought here to give us advice and support in how to treat him, not how to make threats. Do so again without my approval and I will have you removed from my lands. Do you understand me?”

“Yes,” Spliced said with a growl before moving away form the bed and towards a corner to breathe.

“Why am I tied down, anyway?” the windigo asked.

“It’s for your own safety,” Cadance told him. “We needed to make sure you wouldn’t accidentally roll off the bed while you were unconscious and hurt yourself further.”

“Right,” The windigo looked around. “So where am I?”

“You are currently in the Crystal Empire, the royal-”

“Please don’t lie to me; my head still hurts, along with the rest of my body and I still want my necklace back but I know the ‘Crystal Empire’,” he said the name with such sarcasm that even the non-emotivores could taste it. “Is nothing more than a southern depot town with a few sparkly baubles that you ponies seem to like.”

Twilight and Cadance exchanged glances, then Cadance turned back to him. “The Crystal Empire was founded well over three thousand years ago,” she said. “It was… inaccessible for a little over a thousand years due to the actions of an usurper, but it’s back now, and I’m its ruler.”

He stared at her before shaking his head in disbelief. “No, that’s not possible, I don’t believe you,” he then flicked his eyes towards Spliced. “Hey you; is she telling the truth? You may be a really mean bitch but experience has taught me that the nasty ones don’t often lie.”

Spliced rolled her eyes and shook her head. “I wouldn’t know; I come from another dimension myself and just recently got here… and from what I’ve been able to learn, the history between our two worlds is vastly different.”

The windigo shook his head in disgust. “Great. The most reliable-sounding one doesn’t know a thing.”

“I know enough to treat your kind,” Spliced shot back angrly. “I also know that according to her-” and here she gestured to Cadance - “aunt, windigos haven’t been seen anywhere around since around the time Equestria was founded by a bunch of ponies moving out of their old land, and that was apparently a few thousand years before the Crystal Empire was founded.”

The windigo blinked in surprise. “Seriously?”

“Just repeating what I’ve heard,” Spliced replied.

“That can’t be right; I mean we have long established migration lines we follow,” the windigo said as he tried to push himself upright. “You have to be wrong, you-arrg,” he groaned in sudden pain, clutching his side.

“What’s wrong, what hurts,” Doctor Hale asked with Spliced walking over to assist him.

“My gut right here,” he said, rubbing the area and wincing in more pain.

“Can one of you do something that would let me see inside of him?” Spliced asked as Doctor Hale brought in some equipment over to the windigo that Spliced seemed to recognize immediately as she took control of it. Accepting a small tube of gel from Doctor Hale, she squirted the contents out onto the windigo’s stomach, carefully spreading it a bit, and then let Doctor Hale hook the medical wand up to the crystalline screen he’d been setting up. Carefully, she pressed the wand against the windigo’s stomach, and began running it over him slowly, letting it pick up the information she needed. He winced at the contact, but said nothing.

After a minute or so of this, she set the wand aside again, and then both looked at the images on the screen with a frown on her face.

“So, what’s the prognosis, healer?” the windigo asked as he tilted his head to try and see the screen too.

“Some internal damaging all over; you will heal over time but that could kill you,” Spliced highlighted a part on the image that Twilight couldn’t understand but both doctors hissed for some reason. “That organ looks especially battered and ready to split open at any moment. How good is your surgeon?”

“Doctor Glorious Death is one the very best doctors in her field,” Doctor Hale said. He paused for a moment. “Despite her unfortunate name. I think she may have chosen her field specifically because of the irony involved.”

“If she can patch me up, I don’t care what she’s called,” the windigo said with a hissing laugh.

“I would also like to suggest we test his thaumatic core in his right foreleg,” Spliced said, eyeing the limb again. “If it has become damaged then his cryokinesis could be weakened or out of his control and thus pose a danger for everyone present.”

Doctor Hale looked pleased for a second before he spoke. “We are already suppressing his magical abilities via medication; while Doctor Death and her team are patching him up, we can do a further scan to see if we need to repair his magical core. If so, we will set up a date to have that operation performed for our guest.”

“Hold on, why would I need to wait?” the windigo asked with a frown on his face, leaning upwards with Spliced glaring at him until he laid back down.

“The surgery is quite intensive, and one would need to be more than reasonably healthy before we would operate on you,” Doctor Hale said.

“Where I am from,” Spliced said with an eye glancing over the equipment again. “We would need to remove the bone in question and open it up to reach the core for the most accurate of results. That’s if you don’t have excessive wealth or connections to grant access to the more advanced nanobots that could repair the core. How advanced are your techniques?”

“It seems that we are on par, Genome,” Doctor Hale said, keeping his eyes on her as Doctor Hearty went to the intercom system to call for Doctor Death to report to the operating room. “We do the procedure almost the same way, although I am sure you have a few more advanced tools from where you are from?”

“Without a doubt,” Spliced said with a nod of her head as several nurses began to enter the room. “There are those who made it their life’s work so the bone healing is as painless and seamless as possible.”

“Would that we had the same abilities here,” Doctor Hale replied. “While some bone injuries can be healed in a matter of days, it still takes time, and even then they’re still fragile for a while longer.”

“I’ll vouch for that,” Twilight volunteered. “Rainbow Dash had to keep off her wing for a week after she was in the Ponyville hospital for a few days, and when she didn’t pay attention to what the doctor said… just one or two flaps was enough to break it again.”

Spike then tilted his head, and looked at Spliced. “Didn’t you say you would need to do something like that for Scootaloo?”

“I would like to have her tested first to see if she needs it,” Spliced said with Doctor Hale giving Cadance a look to which the alicorn nodded her head.

“Give me her information and we’ll set up a date for an examination with Doctor Snuggles,” Doctor Hale told her. “Now…”

“We need to have that shield and Pharynx with us; I doubt he is well enough to endure positive emotions without seizing up-”

“Hey, I do have a name!” the windigo snapped at them.

“And I was going to ask you for your name when you woke up,” Cadance replied softly. “Please, tell us so we can stop using him or the windigo.”

“It’s Snöflinga,” he said, holding his head up with a smirk only for Spike to start laughing.

“Your name is Snowflake?” he held a claw over his mouth to hold back his laughter.

“Spike,” Twilight lectured him, shaking her head. “I taught you better than that!”

“Sorry Twilight,” Spike said, looking at the crowd admonished before turning back to Snowflake. “Sorry for that.”

“Eh,” Snowflake said as he rolled his eyes. “You’re not the first to laugh and you won’t be last. My friends had a good laugh too when they heard it.”

“These friends, who are they?” Twilight asked as they were about to transport him down the hall. “While they are more than likely… no longer with us, I might be able to find their descendents for you.”

He stared at her for a bit, blinking before a smile broke out on his face. “I doubt you can do anything, but thank you.” Just before he and everyone left the room, he managed to say, “Their names are Privateer Pansy, Tough Cookie and Clover the Cobbler.”

Chapter Eighteen

Almost every jaw in the room dropped at what the windigo had just said before the medical team left the room with Spliced trotting after them.

“Did he-” Twilight started to say, before she turned to stare at Cadance. “Did he really say Pansy, Cookie and Clover? As in the founders of Equestria‽”

“I believe so,” she said, licking her lips. “You can ask him after he gets out of surgery, Twilight.”

Twilight’s eye twitched at this and she looked at her sister in law. “But he could know so much about that time period, and I have so many questions to ask!”

“You can interview him once he recovers,” Spliced called off from her shoulder. “And I’m sure I’ll have a few things of my own to add while you’re at it.”

Spike waited until everypony left before he turned to Twilight and asked her, “Does that make any other pony worried?”

“That depends on her questions,” Twilight replied. “Personally, I’d also like to know just how much she knows about the founding, since she did say Princess Celestia told her some about it.”

“Twilight, are you coming?” Cadance asked, poking her head back into the room. “While we cannot be in the operating room, we can watch from the observation deck to see how your latest house guest… performs.”

Twilight wrinkled her nose at the subtle message her former foalsitter was giving but nodded her head and followed her out of the room.

Spliced followed the medical team down the hall with Hale telling Snöflinga, or Snowflake, what his operation would entail, Spliced tuning out his words as he’d started to remind her of her more critical teachers that always harped on her for not following the ethics codes to the letter. It was always a waste of her time to make sure everything was perfectly okay withtheir standards.

Still, she was looking forward to this operation as it should be very interesting and an actual test of her skills.

“You mean I will be unconscious again,” Snowflake said crankily. “From what that crazy bitch said-”

“I do have a name, you idiotic teenager,” Spliced snapped, glaring at the windigo.

“I don’t what that is, but galna hynda passar dig,” he said and while Spliced couldn’t tell what he said, she had an idea that she’d just been insulted again.

“It seems that Twily’s spell wore off,” Shining Armor said as he walked beside the table, his shield creation remarkable as the unicorn managed to maintain it without showing any sign of strain. “Or she is out of range, I think.”

“Do you think she could embed the spell in something he could wear, so it wearing off wouldn’t be a problem?” Hale asked.

“I’d think it better if he learnedour language,” Pharynx said, his horns barely alight. It was a clear sign that these mimics were in far better health than those in her own dimension; she hadn’t even seen a live one in their full-fed state before meeting Pharynx, only preserved bodies that had been held onto for medical research; whereas from what she gathered, all of these mimics were in their full-fed form. “When we used to infiltrate towns and other places, we always made sure we could speak the language. Easier to blend in that way.” He shrugged. “‘Course, thanks to my brother and those others, now we don’t have to change our looks to blend in.”

“I’d like to meet this brother of yours; he sounds like a real effective and strong ruler to have your hive thriving like this,” Spliced said, causing Pharynx to snort loudly. “What, what did I say wrong?”

“Thorax, strong?” Pharynx snorted again. “He used to be the wimpiest Changeling I knew! I went through a lot of trouble to try and get him to toughen up when we were grubs, but he still didn’t want to fight. And after that whole invasion of Canterlot thing, he just up and hid out who knows where until they let him stay in this place.”

Spliced looked at him in confusion. “Then how did he end being your leader?”

Pharynx chuckled. “Turns out our old queen had been keeping us weak on purpose, hoarding all the love and magic she could get for herself. Then Thorax met that dragon kid Spike and got to be his friend, and they wound up convincing miss pink pony princess back there to let him stay. And then, after he’d been there a while, Chrysalis managed to kidnap the entire royal family and those others who’d helped stop her invasion. So Thorax, my baby bro, teamed up with these other two ponies and some crazy chaos creature to break into the hive and free them.”

“Chaos creature - Discord?” Spliced asked.

“That’s the one,” Pharynx said. “Apparently, one of the ponies we’d taken was his best friend or something.” He tapped a hoof on his chin. “Anyway, one of those other ponies who’d come into the hive with my brother, she’d figured out that since Thorax had been feeding off love that was freely given, it was making him stronger and healthier. And then, when Chrysalis got hold of him and tried to drain him dry, she told him to give Chrysalis all he had.”

Spliced blinked in confusion, but kept silent. She had a feeling Pharynx was going somewhere with this.

Pharynx spread his forelegs. “I don’t mind saying, I thought the whole thing was nuts then. But it worked: when he shared his love energy like that, he went through a metamorphosis that made him whole, turned him into the first Changeling king. And then most of us started sharing love and turned into new forms too.” He grimaced. “I was… kind of a hold-out for a while after that, thought the old ways were better and that being nice like everyling was doing was just making us weak, leaving us open to attack - didn’t help that this wild maulwurf started causing all kinds of trouble for us after that.”

“Maulwurf?” Spliced repeated.

“Big, dangerous burrowing animal. With a really thick hide.”

“Ah.”

“So,” Pharynx continued. “Once he came back from hanging out with this new Dragon Lord for a while, he showed he could be more assertive… but I was still a big jerk to him. It took them all sticking up for me and fighting the maulwurf to make me realize my bro and the rest of the hive really did still have a spine, and I finally figured out that he’d been right all along and that he was a lot stronger than I’d thought.” He chuckled a bit. “Anyway, that’s when I changed like the rest of ‘em - well, like Thorax, anyway. He and I are the only ones with these.” He gestured to the antler-like mandibles on his head. “Now, the only one of us who isn’t whole like this is our ex-Queen.”

“Fascinating…” Spliced looked up at him. “You know, I think I might have some ideas for helping track her down, so she can’t cause any trouble for your hive anymore.”

“Great! I’ll tell Thorax once we’re done here.” Pharynx gave her a smirk. “The sooner she’s dealt with, the better.”

“Ahem,” Doctor Hale cleared his throat loudly, drawing Spliced’s attention back to him. “I am not sure what exactly are the procedures in your place are like but here, we wash up before we enter an operating room as to have it remain a clean room.”

“I know what a clean room is, you-” Spliced bit her cheek, pawing the ground angrily. “Look, I’m not good at working with others; it’s one of the reasons why I wasn’t made a full biochemist.”

He gave her a long stare before he scoffed and shook his head. “I can understand that; not everypony is suited for group environments. It takes a big pony to admit something like that.”

Spliced nodded her head as she entered the scrub room and began to clean her hooves with Pharynx and Shining Armor doing the same alongside Doctor Hale, Doctor Hearty and two very notable non-equines.

The first one was a diamond dog with a tan coat and a black nose, and almost no tail. The other one was tall female griffon with a near entirely black coat and plumage save for her face, which bore a white pattern that resembled a skull of all things. Her entire presence might have been intimidating if not for the grin on her face.

“Hey there,” she said, looking at them, tipping her head towards them. “You must be Spliced Genome.”

Spliced nodded. “And you are…”

“Doctor Glorious Death, and yes, I’ve heard so many jokes about it.” She smirked, holding out her talon to have the nurse pull on a glove. “On the upside, at least I’ve got a sense of humour about it.” The diamond dog behind her gave a soft growl which caused Death to snort. “Easy there, Horrible,” she said calmly. “I’m sure that she wouldn’t make some lame joke or imply that I lose anyone on purpose.”

“With a name like that, it sounds like it’s your final fate,” Pharynx remarked as he scrubbed up. “Going out with a blaze of glory against some supreme enemy… a warrior’s dream.” Then he caught the look Shining Armor was giving him. “What?”

“When my predecessor as Captain of the Royal Guard was preparing us for the possibility of a major battle,” Shining Armor told him, “He said the goal wasn’t to die for our country… it was to make the other guy die for his.”

Pharynx grinned. “Sounds like my kind of guy then.” His grin fell as he was given a yellow rubber duckies print scrub suit to wear, giving a wide eyed look to the griffon who simply smirked at him and nodded at him to say yes, he had to wear it.

“It is the most practical outcome to subscribe to,” Spliced said, causing everyone to face her. “Unless you already have a condition that makes death certain for you no matter what, why wouldn’t you do your best to survive whatever fight you’re in?”

“I forgot that you were involved with a war,” Pharynx said with concern on his face with the doctors sharing confused looks.

“Well, I wasn’t on the front lines,” Spliced replied. “I’m a scientist, not a soldier. But I did learn from observing their experiences and reading the after-reports.”

This caused Shining to frown for a second but he quickly schooled his face. “You must have been very important to your operation to have access to those reports,” he said.

“The other side was using biochemical weapons; I was making the cures for our soldiers,” Spliced said automatically. “I kind of needed that information to do my work.”

“In any case,” Death said, clearing her throat before gesturing towards the diamond dog. “I would like to introduce my assistant, Dies Horribly.”

“What are your qualifications?” Spliced asked him.

“Me trained in best school and learned lot from Doctor Death,” the diamond dog said, giving Spliced an annoyed look. “Am actually trained, not some taught animal like most think me am.”

“I never said anything of the sort,” Spliced said with a frown. “As long as you know what you are doing, I do not care what species you are. I care for capability over anything else.”

“Then you are in luck,” Doctor Death said as one of the nurses put a cap on her head. “He put himself through countlessmedical schools just to impress me and he is going for his final test to become an anesthesiologist next week.” The griffon chuckled. “He has almost as many degrees as I do.”

The diamond dog whined and blushed at this with Pharynx tilting his head as he said through his mask, “Really?”

Doctor Horribly nodded his head and held his paw towards to Doctor Death, as a nurse placed a glove on it. “Me was saved by Doctor Death and me had to return favour somehow. Me decided to become doctor of me pack and me found me good at making others healthy.”

“Ah,” Spliced said.

“You can discuss that more later,” Doctor Hale remarked. “We have a patient waiting for us.”

“Agreed,” Doctor Death said as she made her way to the operation room to where Snowflake was being prepped for his surgery. “So Genome, let us go over what our dear friend Snöflinga has inside of him, hm?”

“Vad sa hon?” Snowflake said, tilting his head towards them before the nurse began to make soothing sounds, moving his head back to a more neutral state.

“Horribly, if you will please,” Doctor Death said as the diamond dog began to go for his machinery. “Now while I know you can’t understand me, but trust me, we will come up with a game plan and then make sure you’re right as rain. Or as snow in your case.”

Snowflake gave her a confused look and nearly jumped when Horribly came into view with the mask in paw. “Relax snow pony, when you wake, you feel good.”

“Vad säger han och vad gör han med mig?” Snowflake said as Horribly placed the mask over his face.

“In count three, you will be sleep,” Horribly said, holding up his paw with Snowflake squirming and beginning to fade away. “One, two, three.” Right on the count of three, Snowflake was under the effects of the anesthesia with Spliced nodding her head in approval as he managed to tell exactly the proper amount needed. “Okay strange pony, tell us what we need know.”

Spliced felt her ear twitch at that the title, but she was aware that it was a characteristic of the diamond dog and not an insult. Clearing her throat, she brought up the images she taken before and began to use her thaumatics to best expand on them as she gave a rundown on the biology of windigos and what was was wrong with this one.

Cadance placed a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder as she took her eyes off the operation room for a moment and said, “Twilight, I am sure you can ask for notes afterwards.”

Twilight lifted her head, the scroll she was scratching notes on pausing at the sound of her sister-in-law’s voice. They had been watching Spliced explain, at length, about all of the organs, both the normal ones and those unique to windigos, and which one they were operating on today. Despite her self-admitted limitations when it came to knowledge about windigo biology, she was going over everything she did know with ease, and Twilight found herself very impressed.

She was about to respond when she saw the look on Cadance’s face and saw the older alicorn tilt her head to Spike as well as tap a hoof on a sealed scroll bearing the wax symbol of the sun. Twilight understood the message immediately and turned to face her son.

“Spike,” she said, causing the dragon to turn to face her. “I think it would be best if you left the room for the moment; the surgery is about to begin and I am not sure if you are ready to see what it entails; there’s likely to be a lot of blood and viscera showing. Also, I believe that Cadance wishes to speak to me in private about something; while what I just said may sound like an excuse, it is and is not one. I will explain what I can to you afterwards. Do you understand Spike?”

Spike gave her a surprised look and stood there for a moment before nodding his head and making his way to the door, while the look on his face made Twilight positive that she had handled that perfectly.

“I’m impressed,” Cadance said as soon as Spike left the room. “A month ago, you would have made some poor excuse to get him out of the room and wouldn’t have thought to involve him until he pressured you to share.”

“Spliced kind of helped me realized that I needed to treat Spike more maturely as part of helping him get ready for… well. Growing up,” Twilight replied. “He’s getting close to that age, after all. I can’t treat him like a child forever.” She looked up at Cadance. “Speaking of children, where’s Flurry Heart?”

“I asked Sunburst to take her back to his home and watch over her for today, and possibly longer if we him need to,” Cadance replied. “But speaking of Spliced Genome, she is an... interesting character,” she said in a way that implied ‘interesting’ was not meant to be a compliment. “I felt her emotions, and it seems to me that she was only really happy when she was being more… aggressive, or showing off her knowledge. I will need to speak to Pharynx afterwards to have a full gauge of her emotions to be sure.”

“She’s from a rough world, and was all by herself for a few hundred years,” Twilight said with a sigh. “I’m not trying to excuse her behavior, mind. Just putting it in perspective.”

“I’m fully aware of that and from Celestia told me of your observations, I am not sure how much of that is a product of her upbringing and what she dealt with and how much is that is the mare’s true nature.” Cadance flicked an ear.

“What concerns me,” she said quietly, “Is the times she questioned if an action would be considered to be correct; in my eyes, she is uncertain of what should be basic ethical concepts to grasp. It is good to lend help, and to offer to pay for something she wants and so on. But still, her shaky grasp on ethics paints a very troubling picture of that mare down there and I am not sure how much of it is an act to appease us. I can trust her to make sure that Snöflinga will be healthy as it would serve to prove she is correct to us; but I would neverleave Flurry Heart alone with her for even a second.”

Twilight was taken aback by the sheer venom spat by Cadance and to her greater surprise, she could not find herself disagreeing.

“For what it’s worth, she did say she would wait for parental permission before doing more… in-depth tests on an underage filly, even if it’s to help her,” Twilight said cautiously. “The same tests she mentioned to Doctor Hale?”

“That implies that she’s already done some tests,” Cadance replied stiffly. “Do you know what kind of test?”

“Just watching Scootaloo buzz her wings to try and take off,” Twilight said. “And she was just fine when I saw her afterward.”

“That was not what I meant,” Cadance said. “Do you know what the test she wants to perform on Scootaloo actually involves?” She didn’t wait for Twilight to respond before she continued to speak. “It involves having the pony in question have part of their bone marrow harvested for testing and it is extremely painful. She will have to be awake for it and under no medication or drugs as it will foul the test. This is something that she wants to perform on a child and had to remind herself that she needed permission to do so before she acted.”

“I know what it involves,” Twilight replied sharply. “She wants to see if there’s a problem with the flow of magic in her wings to confirm if that’s why she can’t fly yet, and she told Starlight, Spike and I what that kind of test would involve on the train ride up here. When, by the way, she was also asking how she could get in touch with Scootaloo’s family to ask them for permission… and as you heard when she was talking with Doctor Hale, she didn’t seem to object to bringing another doctor in to be involved with the exam.”

Cadance let out a tired sounding sigh and shook her head. “Twilight, this mare is dangerous and it would be beyond terrible to learn that she took advantage of you.”

“I’m aware that she’s dangerous and she’s a war criminal,” Twilight retorted. “I have my theories of what exactly she did just as no doubt you do and Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have their own. I’m fullyaware that she was placed in my care so I could try and see past her defences and learn the truth, I’m not thatnaive to believe she was given to me solely to see if I could make her our friend.”

Cadance blinked at her and a soft smile appeared on her face. “You’ve grown much too, Twilight,” she said with praise in her voice. “It suits you well.”

Twilight took this in well, not speaking on it as it would lessen the moment. They let the moment stretch before Twilight’s eyes drifted to the sealed letter again, away from the ongoing surgery below them where Spliced was watching like a hawk from the side.

“This came from Celestia for us Twilight,” Cadance said as she levitated the letter over to her midway, pulling out a table so they could both read the letter at the same time. “From what I was told preceding this, she is finally ready to tell us of important secrets, including what happened to the alicorns before she and Luna.”

Twilight’s eyes widened at this news and quickly leaned close to her former foalsitter and scanned the letter, and her mouth hung low at the secrets inside, a gasp escaping Cadance’s lips as the greater roles that they possessed were now made clear.

They also saw that they were going to go see the alicorns that had come before Celestia and Luna, in a place called the Valley of Alicorns.

Chapter Nineteen

“What do you mean you’re going away, Twilight?” Spike said in surprise, speaking for all the others in the room several hours later. Snöflinga’s operation had gone well, but he was still asleep for now, and Starlight had come back from visiting Sunburst with the stallion and Flurry Heart joining her.

“Just what I said,” Twilight told him. “Princess Celestia wants to meet Cadance and I and take us somewhere for a while.” She stretched one foreleg out, placing her hoof against his shoulder. “It shouldn’t take more than a day or so, though I expect Princess Celestia will want us to stay a bit longer. We’ll be back soon, I promise.”

“But where, you can tell me that at least, right?” Spike asked.

Twilight’s eyes fluttered and she thought of what she could say and what was appropriate for her to say. “I am going to someplace called the Valley of Alicorns; it is considered hallowed grounds for alicorns and that is one of the main reasons why you cannot come.”

“So when am I to-” Spliced began only for Twilight to turn on her.

“You’re not coming either,” Twilight said sharply.

“But I am one-”

“Not in the sense that counts right now,” Twilight kept her tone firm, unwilling to bend even a fraction. Knowing what she did about her destination, it would be a mistake of catastrophic proportions to bring Spliced along.

Spliced frowned at this and raised her hoof as if to make some complaint only for Starlight to snicker. She whipped her head to glare at Starlight, and seemed about to start arguing with her again only to look back at Twilight and wisely keep her mouth shut. Looking at her former student who looked mollified by Spliced’s display of self-control, Twilight cleared her throat.

“As such, we will be leaving shortly; Spike, Starlight, please come here,” she waved them over and then whispered two different strings of nonsense words directly into their ears, one for each of them. “Remember them; when we come back and if I do not immediately repeat those words to the both of you correctly, send off a letter to Discord immediately telling him a false sun has risen. He will be authorized full control of Equestria at that point and he will be your best chance of…” Twilight paused, a frown on her face as she was getting close to saying something she couldn’t tell them. “If it is not me, then Discord is everypony’s best chance.”

“So when are you going, Twilight?” Pharynx asked in a grumbling tone; Twilight remembered that he was still in a cranky mood after one of their nurses had snapped his picture after he’d left the operating room and then run off with the camera, transforming back into her true changeling shape before flying out of the castle and, if Twilight was correct, heading straight back to the hive. She had a feeling that Pharynx would be having words with his brother after he got back himself.

“Soon; Celestia and Luna are coming here to hear Snöflinga’s story and then we’ll be leaving,” Twilight said as she tilted her head towards the room where the sleeping windigo lay. After they got back and if he was well enough, Cadance was going to assign an expedition to explore the cave where they’d found him, another to hopefully find where the Fires of Friendship were supposedly first ignited because if his friends really were the founders of Equestria he might know, and one to the migration grounds of his tribe.

Snöflinga definitely was of that time and of their dimension; a quick test of his necklace had placed it at being the right age and a test of his background magical signature matched their own. Only Spliced’s was different as she was from another dimension.

Speaking of the other alicorn… Twilight saw her gazing curiously at Flurry Heart, who was currently peacefully resting on Cadance’s back. Cadance’s eyes flashed as she saw Spliced looking at her daughter, but she made no move to caution Spliced away just yet, since she was only looking. And even though she was not Flurry Heart’s mother, Twilight felt an urge to scare the mare away from her niece. The idea of Spliced with Flurry Heart just did not seem right to her, especially with what Cadance had said earlier. However, Flurry Heart herself hadn’t seemed bothered by the other mare’s presence; when Sunburst and Starlight had brought her into the room with all of them, the little filly had merely burbled in Spliced’s direction and waved her wings out before cuddling up to her mother; she hadn’t seemed scared or upset at all.

Thinking back for a moment, Twilight also considered her niece’s reaction to their other visitor, and how she had seemed very happy when Pharynx passed by her, but he’d just glanced at her and kept going. Though Twilight swore she’d seen the faintest traces of a smile at the edge of his mouth as he’d done so. She wondered if Thorax had mentioned to his brother of how Flurry had been accepting of him right from the beginning, before any of them besides Spike, and if that might have had something to do with it. Come to think of it, she was pretty sure the only one Flurry Heart had ever reacted to with any outright negativity was Chrysalis.

“Hi Cady,” Shining Armor said as he came into the room. Then his eyes drifted to her back. “Hey there,” he greeted Flurry Heart. “How’s my little foal?”

Flurry Heart giggled and waved her hooves up at him as he levitated her up, her wings again spreading out. Twilight smiled as she saw her niece being hugged, then glanced over at Spliced, whose eyes were wide as they went from Flurry Heart to Shining Armor, then to Cadance, and back. She kept silent, but Twilight could practically smell the smoke coming from her ears as thoughts whirled in her head.

Apparently Cadance had noticed too, because she gave Spliced a look. Nervously, Spliced turned away, but her ears were still flicking as she did so, and Twilight couldn’t help but wonder just what she was thinking about.

“So!” Shining Armor moved Flurry Heart around to his own back. “Since our guest is still asleep and the doctors are keeping an eye on him for now, what say we find somewhere else to sit down and enjoy ourselves while we wait for him to wake up?”

Cadance nodded. “I’ll lead the way,” she said, marching out of the room with the others trotting after her. As Twilight brought up the rear, she couldn’t help but watch Spliced, who seemed nervous about something, but she wasn’t sure what.

A little while later, the nine of them had gathered in the royal suite, and Shining Armor was happily holding Flurry Heart while they chatted.

“So,” he was saying. “Aside from finding Snöflinga, things have been relatively quiet around here. No ancient tyrants returning, no incursions by Chrysalis - and believe me, after the last time, we’re keeping an eye out for her,” he said in a low tone. “We are getting ready for another Crystal Faire, but that’s still a ways off. And given your involvement in the last one, we’d love to have you two and all of your friends up for it,” he told Twilight and Spike.

“We’d be honored,” Twilight told him with a smile.

“Question,” Spliced suddenly spoke up. “What’s a Crystal Faire?”

“Oh, that?” Spike puffed out a bit. “It’s this festival where we all celebrate to lift the spirits of the Crystal Ponies. The positive emotions they emanate help strengthen the Crystal Heart so it can protect the Empire, like it did when Sombra tried to take over again.”

“I see.” Twilight could tell she was barely refraining from rolling her eyes, and she decided to speak up.

“It’s true,” she said. “The Crystal Heart is the very same piece of Cosmic Spectrum stone that Princess Amore used to create the Crystal Empire in the first place thousands of years ago. It absorbs and re-emanates both positive and negative emotions, and if it’s powered by positive emotions, it can be a powerful defense against evil forces like King Sombra.”

Spliced looked intrigued. “So it’s an amplifier that works best with a positive charge?” she asked. “That makes a lot more sense than I was expecting.” Then she looked around. “And who’s this… Sombra?”

“He was a unicorn who became corrupted by dark magic and overthrew Princess Amore, trying to turn the Empire’s power against the rest of the world until my aunts defeated him,” Cadance spoke up. “At least, that’s what we know. There are rumors about his origins, but nothing confirmed yet. What we do know is that he was somehow able to make the entire Empire vanish into thin air for over a thousand years, and it only returned when he’d gained enough power to feel ready to take control of it again and prepare for a second attack on Equestria. This time, once Twilight and Spike found where he’d hidden the Crystal Heart during his takeover and Spike got it back to me in time, we managed to fully empower it and made him dissipate for good… at least, I hope it’s for good.” She looked at Shining Armor, who laid a hoof around her.

“Ouch.” Spliced shook her head. “I hope you’re right; he sounds like a nasty character.”

“He was,” Twilight said. Then she thought of something. “Speaking of nasty characters, didn’t you say you had a possible way of tracking down Chrysalis?”

“Right!” Spliced’s eyes brightened. “Like I told your aunt back in Canterlot, we’d need to use a thaumatic blanketing array set to the hive’s biological and thaumatic markers. It would not only allow us to track her, it would reveal her true form, and then you could use a thaumatic dampener to neutralize her thaumatics.”

“Thau-whatsits?” Pharynx asked.

“A fancier name for magic, if I’m not mistaken,” Sunburst suddenly spoke up. “I was told it’s the one her people use, apparently.”

“Right. As long as it works.” Pharynx sat back, satisfied.

The room settled into silence for a moment, until finally Spliced, her eyes fixed on Flurry Heart again, looked at the others. “I’m sorry, but… could I have a word with you three in private for a few minutes? This is kind of personal, and it involves your daughter…”

Cadance and Shining Armor exchanged glances, and then Cadance nodded. “Twilight comes with us,” she said.

“I have no objection to that.” Spliced rose, and as Cadance accepted Flurry Heart from her husband the little filly looked at Spliced and burbled again.

Spliced said nothing, but followed Shining Armor out of the room, Twilight and Cadance right after her.

Once the five had settled into a room, and Twilight had erected a sound-scrambling field around them all, Spliced gazed at Flurry Heart. “I’m sorry if this seems insensitive, but I have to ask if I can perform a quick identification scan on her thaumatics,” she said. “A very basic one, just to confirm something I’ve suspected since I first laid eyes on her.”

Cadance gave her a wary look. “Can you tell Twilight how to do it instead?” she asked frostily.

Spliced closed her eyes for a moment. “I can,” she said quietly. Then she turned to Twilight and began carefully explaining what she had in mind.

After a moment, Twilight nodded. “I know that spell,” she said. “It’s one that doctors used in the old days if a patient had been so badly injured that they weren’t sure what their tribe was anymore. But their magic was still the same, despite outer injuries.” She looked confused. “I’m not sure why you’d want to cast it on Flurry Heart though.”

“I promise, I’ll explain everything,” Spliced said in a strained tone. “And it will make sense in the end.”

Cadance still looked worried, but she nodded to Twilight, whose horn lit up. For a moment, Flurry Heart glowed, but it soon faded, and Twilight nodded at Cadance.

“Perfectly healthy for an alicorn,” she reported. “All four kinds in relatively even amounts; a little higher on pegasus magic, but certainly not harmful.” Then she looked at Spliced. “Okay, why did you want to know?”

Spliced looked down. “Well, it’s her wings,” she said. “They’re far larger than I’d expect for a foal of her age, even one of our kind. And she has higher amounts of pegasus thaumatics. That implies an increased thaumatical precedence, and… well, since one of her parents is an - alicorn, it says to me that the father-”

“Had to be a pegasus and not a unicorn like I am, is that what you’re saying?” Shining Armor asked in a dangerous tone.

Spliced gulped and nodded. “Genetically, it just makes sense, and I am sorry if bringing this up offends you, but I felt you needed to know the truth.”

Cadance and Shining Armor exchanged glances.

Then their lips twitched.

A moment later, Twilight was glad for the sound-scrambling spell she’d put up, and wished she’d had time to put one up around herself too, because her brother and sister-in-law were laughing hysterically.

When the two had calmed down, Cadance had something of a smile on her face. “Oh, that… I needed that,” she said as she tried to catch her breath.

Spliced cocked her head. “What’s so funny?”

“Miss Genome, do you really think you’re the first pony to imply that Cadance was with a stallion besides me?” Shining Armor asked as he wiped a last few tears of laughter away. “Hay, Cadance’s sort of cousin Blueblood took me aside and tried to convince me that I couldn’t possibly be Flurry Heart’s father after the first time he met her! Of course, he was also trying to tell me, in his own snide way, that I must be less of a stallion if my wife was stepping out on me like that, and that it’s not surprising for a non-unicorn to act that way. Didn’t matter though, we both knew better.”

Spliced looked at them. “But… it’s the only logical explanation…” she said faintly.

“Spliced Genome.” Cadance shook her head. “I won’t deny it, Flurry Heart does come from pegasus blood.

“But she gets it from me.”

Spliced’s eyes widened, then she felt a hoof on her shoulder and turned to see Twilight looking at her, a faint smile on her face. “Spliced, you remember how I said I used to be a unicorn, but ascended and became an alicorn?”

Spliced nodded curiously. “I still don’t know how that’s possible…”

“Oh, it’s very possible,” Cadance said. “And I couldn’t have been prouder of her when she did it.”

“Me neither,” Shining Armor added.

Twilight blushed, then turned back to Spliced. “At any rate, I wasn’t the first to become an alicorn like that,” she said. “When I ascended, I got my wings… Cadance got her horn.”

Spliced’s eyes darted back to Cadance. “So you were born a pegasus…” she said faintly. “Oh my goodness, I am so sorry, I just...” She shook her head. “This world just keeps astounding me.”

Cadance smiled. “It’s okay,” she said softly. “You genuinely thought you were doing the right thing, and you asked for privacy when you did it instead of blurting it out in front of a crowd like some ponies might…” Her face darkened for a moment.

“Oh yeah,” Shining Armor said. “Remember that one guy who thought he could make a name for himself about a month after she was born, by bursting into the palace ballroom during this whole big gathering we were having and yelling about you being a ‘scarlet mare’? You left him hanging upside down from one of the chandeliers, covered in banana creme and with a dunce cap glued to his head.”

Twilight shook her head. “I still don’t know how he thought he could get away with that,” she said. “Seriously, breaking into the Crystal Palace, which was full of Guards and two of the most powerful ponies in the entire Empire? And once you finally let him down, he admitted he wasn’t expecting somepony to try and stop him!”

Spliced shook her head. “Okay, I’ve heard some dumb things in my life, but that… that’s just absurd.”

Cadance nodded, then eyed her. “Well,” she said carefully. “Is that really all you wanted to tell us?”

Spliced nodded. “And I am so, so sorry for it,” she said. “I just… let my scientific side get the better of me again.”

“Promise not to mention it to anyone, pony or otherwise, and we’ll let bygones be bygones,” Shining Armor told her.

Spliced promised, and once she’d gone through the words and motions of a Pinkie Promise (with dire warnings about what would happen if she broke it), Twilight canceled her sound-scrambling spell, and the five returned to the living room.

“So,” Starlight said when they returned. “What was all that about?”

“We can’t say,” Spliced told her. “I Pinkie Promised.”

Starlight seemed disappointed, but nodded. “Right.”

With that settled, the conversation turned to other things.

It was much later in the day when Celestia and Luna arrived, the two princesses arriving without pomp or flair although there was still a small noise raised by the servant to attend them. It would be known tomorrow that four of the five princesses would be leaving for reason known solely to them and that this would be a test of sorts for the regents to see if they could actually handle ruling the nations.

It seemed that their arrival had also coincided perfectly with Snöflinga’s waking up from his medically induced slumber, giving even more credence to the rumors about their innate sense of timing. The windigo was a bit confused when he had woken up but Snöflinga quickly settled down once Twilight was able to do her spell again and he could talk to them, although he was annoyed that he was told that he had to learn their language with Sunburst being his instructor. He had claimed that as an adult, he didn’t need to sit in front of somepony who wasn’t even an elder to learn from him.

Of course, this just got Celestia laughing and she patted his head, saying that one could never be too old to learn, which just got a scowl from him.

They had decided against eating in the formal dining room and had more of a camped in meal with Snöflinga so he could tell his story and have his first food in over several thousand years. He had pulled a smattering of different foods onto his plate; both vegetables and meats, all of which he had devoured with a ravenous appetite that had seemingly went to immature levels of eating before Twilight had realized that utensils had not existed back then and thus using his hooves was what was proper for him.

After he had filled himself, Snöflinga had looked at them all and tapped his left hoof on the tray, eyes to the floor.

He suddenly whipped his eyes towards Celestia, as he no doubt was aware that Celestia was in charge. “You wish to hear about my friends; why?”

There was a hesitant pause before Twilight timidly said, “They were the founders of our nation; along with -”

“So they did it,” Snöflinga grinned to himself before he frowned and looked at her. “Along with who?”

“Whom,” Twilight corrected him, with everyone giving her a dirty look.

“Who are you talking about, mare,” Snöflinga glared at Twilight. “Because if it’s who I think you’re talking about, I-”

“Watch your tone, Snöflinga,” Shining Armor glared at the windigo, who glared back with his fur standing up. “That’s my sister you’re talking to.”

“Shining, I can handle myself,” Twilight said sharply before looking at Snöflinga. “I am referring to the leaders of the tribes back then, Princess Platinum, General Hurricane and Chancellor Puddinghead; I’m not sure if you know them but-”

“I know who those monsters were,” Snöflinga spat angrily onto the floor, a thin sheet of ice coating the tray on his lap. “They do not deserve such titles, those Ymir-spawned bastards!”

“Snöflinga,” Celestia’s voice cut in, with warmth literally emanating from her words that melted the ice. “Please explain what you mean by that. Those three are widely known in Equestria to this day, and while I will admit that Platinum and Hurricane were not the nicest of ponies, and Puddinghead was overly eccentric, they are still an important part of our history… albeit as leaders who made a number of mistakes before and after Pansy, Smart Cookie and Clover came together to ignite the Fires of Friendship.” Luna’s quiet grumbling at the first two names could be heard in the background.

“Well you got half of your information right, at the very least,” he snorted, crossing his legs as best he could. “I was actually there, I know what happened.”

“Then tell us,” Luna said. “I’m particularly interested in hearing your opinion of her.”

Snöflinga glanced at her. “You have something against Platinum; I can taste the annoyance and aggression you have for her.” Snöflinga then licked his lips.

“From the moment we met, I could tell she was a spoiled rich brat and still harbored tribalist tendencies, and that’s just for starters,” Luna replied. “And even after that little… incident not long after we got our castle set up, when she apologized for her rudeness, I never quite felt like she was being honest with me.”

Snöflinga snorted and shook his head. “Oh trust me, you will hate her even more when I am done.”

“I never said I hated-” Luna began only for Snöflinga to tap the tray.

“I’m a windigo, remember?” Snöflinga said as he leaned in towards her. “I feed on negativity and right now you’re really giving off that overwhelming sensation of… bitterness, right changeling?”

Pharynx gave him a frown at being called ‘changeling’, but nodded. “I can feel the animosity you’re giving off, Princess. She must have really cheesed you off at some point.”

“That is putting it mildly,” Luna grumbled. Then she looked at Snöflinga. “Very well, continue with your story.”

“Well it began all this ago, in your old homelands up north,” Snöflinga began to say.

“And that’s the last thing I remember before I woke up in your medical wing,” Snöflinga concluded.

Everypony blanched at the story, looking very uneasy at what Snöflinga had to say.

“If what you say is true,” Celestia said delicately. “Then-”

“It is, true,” Snöflinga snapped.

“We will need to be absolutely positive before we act on this information,” Luna said. “Once you are healthy, we will mount expeditions to see the verity of your claims.”

“I can go now,” Snöflinga said as he tried to push himself upright, only for Cadance to push him back down.

“No, you still need to recover,” Cadance said, giving him a stern look. “You’re still not well enough to get up and you still need to learn our language as Twilight will not be there constantly to translate for you.”

Snöflinga snorted at this, looking off to the corner for a long while before sighing and nodding his head. “You’re right and besides, they would be so angry with me if I got myself killed by doing something stupid like that.”

“It sounds like something they would do,” Spike said with a chuckle.

“Agreed,” Celestia said with a smile before looking at everypony again sternly. “Again, you cannot breathe a word of this until we can confirm it without a doubt; I can only imagine how Cloudsdale would react to the news that Hurricane was truly like that or most of the earth ponies for Puddinghead.”

“What about Platinum?” Spliced asked.

“She already had a reputation of being snooty, and unicorns are normally the first ones we’d think of when it came to being triblist, so this wouldn’t be a stretch.” Spike said with a wave of his claw. “Er, no offense intended to the unicorns or former unicorns in this room, of course.”

“Trust me, we know what you mean, and I agree,” Twilight told him. “Even I’ve picked up on recognizing that kind of thing over the years, and you know how oblivious I used to be.”

Across from her, Sunburst nodded in agreement. “Same here.”

“Of course, some of them are more tribalist than others,” Shining Armor spoke up. “Especially when it comes to their own families…”

Cadance laid a hoof on his shoulder. “Let’s… not bring my semi-cousin and his attitude into this, shall we?”

Shining Armor nodded. “Yes, dear.”

“Speaking of Blueblood, Shining, while you will be busy with the Crystal Empire, do note that you will be acting as co-regent in Equestria both to ensure the diarchy is not forgotten and to stem any possible action he tries,” Celestia interjected.

“Is that really a concern?” Spliced asked curiously. “I mean, I know this guy’s a jerk from what I’ve heard from all of you, but an outright coup? Is he really that much of an idiot?”

“No, but as with everything, appearances must be kept and we must pretend we’re concerned lest he think we're giving him too much room to act so he will act,” Celestia told her.

“This is why I stayed away from political science, too much double-talk and overly complicated relations,” Spliced said with a sigh. “Give me a good laboratory and a bunch of chemicals to mix together any day, there at least things tend to react predictably!”

“I quite agree,” Celestia replied. “Why do you think I founded my school for gifted unicorns? I found teaching the young ones to be so very relaxing and rewarding, and in many ways they are far more mature than the politicians I have to deal with most of the time.” She furrowed her brow. “Although there are some occasional oddities there… even with all my years of knowledge and practice, I still am wondering about how one of the students managed to get her head stuck in a flask. Even Miss Hackney wasn’t sure how, and she was the one teaching the class that day.”

Twilight nodded. “I was there too, but I didn’t see it actually happen - I had my nose in a book right then. And Lemon Hearts really doesn’t like being reminded of it, so I haven’t asked her since we all reconnected.” Glancing in Starlight’s direction, she saw that her former student was looking thoughtful for a moment, but keeping quiet.

Celestia smiled. “Still, it’s one of those things that comes to mind.” She looked more serious for a moment. “At any rate, I am trusting you with this, Shining Armor.”

Shining Armor bowed. “I’ll do my best,” he said. “And if all else fails, I know a few nobleponies who are actually trustworthy when it comes to advice.”

She leviated over a scroll over to him and gave him a more serious look. “These are the ponies that will be raising and lowering the sun and the moon while we are gone,” Celestia told him. “We shouldn’t be gone for more than three days but if things do not go well, they will be performing that job permanently and it will be your duty to find the next generation to perform the spell as Luna and I have placed certain spells that will prevent them from sharing the knowledge of how to do what we do.”

Shining looked at the scroll solemnly and placed it under his armour. “I will do my utmost to ensure that no pony but me and those I deemed worthy see this.” He then flicked his eyes to his daughter and then to Celestia who simply nodded her head.

“If that is everything, Twilight, please say your goodbyes as we are leaving as soon as everypony is ready,” Celestia said.

Twilight nodded her head and gave Starlight a hug goodbye, then nodded her head at Spliced before leaning in close to Spike and speaking a bit loudly, “Please make sure that they don’t kill each other, okay?”

Spike nodded. “Sure thing, Twilight.”

Meanwhile, Cadance was hugging her husband and daughter, and then walked over to them. “I’m ready.”

“Very well then.” Celestia as she stepped out onto the balcony with her sister, Cadance and Twilight right behind them. “We are off.”

With that, the four of them took off into the air.

Chapter Nineteen. Five

Thorax was eating a sandwich when one of his changelings flew in with a giggle in her throat. Before he could ask what was so funny, a bunch of photographs were pushed into his face. Flicking through them, a frown grew onto his face and he asked out loud while holding the pictures above his head, “Okay, who’s impersonating my brother in these pictures?”

“It is your brother,” the nymph who had brought the pictures in said with a giggle.

Thorax blinked a few times before calmly saying, “Okay I see. Excuse me while I go laugh my head off.”

“... I still love the hive, but I am so going to short-sheet all your beds when you least expect it,” Pharynx said as he suddenly appeared behind Thorax, giving the pictures a dirty look.

Turning around in surprise, Thorax blinked and tapped his hooves nervously, replying, “When did you learn how to do that?”

Pharynx countered with a grin. “That’s for me to know and you to wonder about.”

Thorax leaned into his brother and told him, “Just as it will be for me to make copies of these pictures and you to wonder where they are.”

Pharynx blinked in surprise at what Thorax had just said before replying, “I am both angry and proud of you at the same time.” Then he grinned. “And speaking of people I’m angry with… once they catch her, wanna see me give Chrysalis a wedgie?”

“Um, she doesn’t wear clothes,” Thorax told him.

“I’m still capable of doing it to her,” Pharynx said smugly.

Thorax stared, a variety of expressions racing across his face. “...I don’t know how that’s possible, and I am both intrigued and terrified by the thought that you can pull it off.”

A smug grin on his face, Pharynx leaned in to whisper, “Never underestimate me, little brother. I earned these skills.”

“That, I don’t doubt at all,” Thorax said with a sigh. Then he quirked his head. “Don’t they still need you back at the Crystal Empire?”

“I can always spare a few minutes to visit with you, little brother.” Pharynx gave him another grin, then blinked out of existence.

Shaking his head for a moment to clear it, Thorax looked at the spot where Pharynx had stood for a moment then sighed. “Note to self, learn how to teleport,” he said aloud. “I have a feeling it’s a skill I’m going to need in the future.”

Chapter Twenty

It was an auspicious morning to say the least; mostly as it was a morning not done by the princesses for the first time in a long time. But for the most part, everypony seemed to be fine and not in a state of mass panic, which Spliced was told was what most everyone had expected to happen.

Spliced was half of a mind to think that would have been better as it would have been something interesting happening instead of this mind numbingly nothingness. Starlight, despite how infuriating the mare was, was somewhat entertaining to talk to as she did force Spliced to make it worth her while to think out her responses. Unfortunately, she had other plans since her friend Sunburst was busy teaching Snöflinga the modern language while doing double duty in watching over Flurry Heart, and Spike was lending his assistance to Shining Armor as he did double duty managing the Empire as well as Equestria. While Spliced wasn’t all that confident in having a ruler of a nation that was not in the nation, it did make some sense if the purpose was to halt any progress the co-regent of Equestria tried to make for his own gains.

That left her alone and while she was fine with this as she was more comfortable working by herself, it left her finding her own way of being entertained. As she had no real inclination to try and train the locals in her knowledge, it meant she was exploring the palace and its grounds.

So far, Spliced hadn’t seen anything that truly interested her, except for possibly a few closed up studies, but she hadn’t been able to get into them and wasn’t particularly eager to try; she had a feeling she’d wind up angering somepony by doing so.

Still, as she was aimlessly wandering through the empty throne room, letting her thoughts drift, she couldn’t help but wonder what its former rulers might have hidden around there.

Thunk.

Spliced looked up curiously at the noise. Tilting her head around, she couldn’t see or hear anypony else around, so she moved forward.

Thunk.

That time she was certain. Moving back a few steps, she tapped the floor, but got nothing other than the normal sound of a hoof on crystal. Moving back forward, she tapped it again, and was rewarded with the same hollow-sounding thunk she’d been hearing.

“Wonder what’s down there?” she asked herself. “And how to get to it…”

She began a systematic search of the room, hoping to find some switch or lever that could open the path she’d found. When nothing was immediately obvious, she began considering other possibilities.

“Maybe it’s concealed by some kind of thaumatics,” she mused to herself. “Hmm…”

Thinking back to some of the books she remembered from Twilight’s palace, she called on a general thaumatics-detecting array she’d figured out, and soon found a spot at the top of the throne that seemed odd. It took her a few minutes of analysis, but soon she’d figured out the exact frequency it needed, and her horn lit up, causing the crystal on the throne to dim.

And from there, a massive hole opened in the floor, revealing a spiraling staircase.

“If that isn’t ominous,” she muttered. Still, she had set out to find something interesting, and this fit.

It took her some time to reach the bottom, and when she did, she found a wooden door. However, much to her annoyance, it would not stay put when she approached it, and she let out a groan of frustration for a moment before she forced herself to think logically. Using the same array she’d called on before, she scanned the door, and within a short while had determined that the same thaumatics frequency from before would work. Focusing, she got the door open, and entered into it.

And found herself right back in familiar surroundings.

The white walls. The hard metal floors. The room, a strip of light overhead and a red light in one corner, with its familiar bed and that sensation of being just small enough to be uncomfortable.

“No…” she gasped. “NO!”

Getting the door open, she ran through it, down halls that she’d been through more times than she could count, through a circular room with its familiar tables and computer, and the pantry full of freeze-dried food. Finally, she reached a staircase and ran up it to the observation room, its glass windows showing the desolation that she’d been surrounded by for centuries.

Sinking to the ground, she looked around in sheer panic at the surface of the moon.

“How can I be back here?” she whispered. “How‽”

And then she looked around in confusion. “Wait… what was I talking about again?” she asked herself, feeling a growing sense of terror inside of herself. Something was wrong but she couldn’t place her hoof on it.

Looking at her hoof, a great and terrible realization came to her as she didn’t know w-

“Spliced!” a voice shouted as she was yanked backwards.

And she looked up to see she was back in the room at the bottom of the spiral staircase, a concerned Spike looking at her.

“Spike? What are you-”

“Don’t scare me like that!” Spike said sternly, a look of relief on his face. “It was bad enough having to deal with that thing the first time, I don’t ever want to see anypony put through it again!” Grabbing hold of the door, he slammed it shut, sending it darting off again. “I knew we should have figured out a way to disenchant that stupid door.”

Shaking her head with her heart pounding hard in her chest, Spliced got to her hooves. “What was that thing?”

“One of Sombra’s traps that he set up to keep others away from the Crystal Heart after he stole it and hid it.” Spike looked disgusted. “He set that door up to show you your worst fear if you tried to get through it. The only way to beat it is if you overcome your fear, like Twilight did. And so did I.”

Spliced looked down at him and smiled gratefully. “I don’t know what you faced, but mine was pretty bad,” she said. “Thank you for getting me out of it.”

“No problem,” Spike said. “It’s what we do around here.” Then he eyed her. “What were you doing when you came down here, anyway?”

“I heard a hollow noise in the middle of the throne room and decided to investigate,” Spliced told him. “Who wouldn’t?”

Spike shook his head. “Why am I not surprised. Come on, we’d better get back - Shining Armor’s got the room sealed off just in case, doesn’t want to risk anypony accidentally falling into the big hole in the middle of the room.”

“Right.” Trotting up the stairs after him, she looked back at the door momentarily and shivered at the memory of what it had shown her.

When the two had made it back into the throne room, Shining Armor looked at both of them. “Everything okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Spike told him. “But when Twilight gets back, we have got to have her disenchant that part of the castle. Don’t know why we didn’t do it sooner.”

“Because we had other things that required our attention at the time and we had always postponed it,” Shining Armor replied before looking at Spliced… “Are you okay? Twilight’s my little sister and I know when she’s really spooked by something.”

Spliced nodded. “I’ll get past it… but what kind of sick maniac comes up with that sort of thing? And how, because there has got to be an easily accessible way to counteract it! If Spike hadn’t come along, I would have been down there for… who knows how long. And I don’t want to even think about what would have happened if the effects were permanent.”

“You’d have been down there for however long it took for somepony to notice the gaping hole in the floor,” Shining Armor said dryly. “Which would have been the first time they walked into the room. Still, I am glad Spike knew what was down there and how to handle it right away.”

“So am I,” Spliced told him, and shivered at the memories.

“In the meantime, you think you can seal it up again?” Spike asked.

“Absolutely. The right frequency, and…” Spliced zapped the crystal on the throne, and a moment later, the floor sealed up again. Once it was all clear, Shining Armor dropped his shield.

“So.” Spliced looked around. “How are things going with your co-ruler in Equestria?”

“He’s as big a jerk as ever,” Spike replied. “Fortunately, Shining Armor knows how to handle him.”

“It didn’t hurt that he knows what I can do if he misbehaves,” Shining Armor added. “Twilight told me about that thing at the Grand Galloping Gala a few years ago, so I let him know that if he goes too far, I’d be shutting him up in a room with Rarity for a few hours.”

“He made this noise like a rubber squeaky toy and promised to behave right away,” Spike added with a grin.

“Do I even want to know?” Spliced asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Does your world have an equivalent to the phrase ‘Tartarus hath no fury like a mare scorned’?” Shining Armor asked.

Spliced nodded.

“Blueblood experienced it firsthoof from Rarity that night,” Shining Armor said. “Princess Celestia showed Cadance and I the memories after we got back from Cadance’s diplomatic mission to Saddle Arabia, and we both laughed so hard… so did Princess Celestia, for that matter.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Spliced said. “And the more I hear about this prince, the less I want to ever cross paths with him.”

“You and everypony else,” Spike told her. “Back when Twilight was still a unicorn, I was up in Canterlot helping Princess Celestia with some things for a day. It also happened to be the day that Princess Luna met Blueblood for the first time, and I’ll never forget how she stormed into her sister’s study and started comparing him to Princess Platinum. ‘Stuck up, snooty little plothead’ was the nicest thing she had to say about him. The rest… well, let’s just say I’m not allowed to use that kind of language until I’m at least eighteen. And I swear it nearly set all the paperwork we were doing on fire.”

“If what Snöflinga said is true then the remark might not be far off,” Shining Armor said. “And if his story turns out to be accurate, something tells me the Hearth’s Warming plays are going to be a lot more interesting in the coming years.”

“If the country does not revolt first,” Spliced said dryly. “As somepony with some experience with revolutions, I can attest that having somepony that was well regarded to be in fact… well like they were, will not set easily with even the most unconcerned pony. And from what I heard about your pegasi population…”

“He did make it clear that Clover, Cookie and Pansy really were good ponies,” Spike pointed out. “And they’re the real heroes of the stories. If he’d tried to make them out to be bad, then we’d definitely wind up with something ugly happening. But since they’re not, hopefully that’ll keep things in check.” Spike frowned. “Although I doubt Rainbow Dash will ever be eager to play Hurricane again…”

“Oh yeah,” Shining Armor recalled. “You were all in the annual play that last Hearth’s Warming before Cadance and I got married. Wish I’d been there to see it.”

Spliced blinked. “And what role did they have you in?” she asked Spike. “Since, and no offense, I don’t recall Princess Celestia mentioning any dragons being involved in the event. And neither did Snöflinga.”

“I was the narrator,” Spike said, puffing his chest out. “Twilight was Clover, Applejack was Smart Cookie and Fluttershy was Private Pansy. Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie were the other leaders.”

“Ah.” Spliced said, nodding her head before blinking. “If I recall correctly, Applejack has family all over the world, right?”

“Yes, why-Oh,” Shining Armor winced. “I don’t believe Snöflinga is lying but if all the farmers get fed up with us at once…”

“Are you saying that starvation is a real concern?” Spliced asked.

“No, but it will become a concern if they do halt their production as many ponies rely on them to operate on a predictive schedule, and sudden shortages will cause a lot of problems economically,” Shining Armor told her. “Besides, if they don’t sell what they’re producing, or do any other work for a fee, they can’t bring in money to buy other supplies that they need. And in the long run, that leads into a downward spiral that just makes things worse for everypony.”

Spliced gave him a curious glance, and he blushed. “Well, I did take an economics course in school, back before I joined the Guard. I wasn’t planning to make a career out of it, but I did want to pass, and some of it stuck with me.” He then pawed the ground. “And I’d be a lousy husband if I wasn’t able to help Cadance, so I did brush up on my economic lessons as well as take a few others so I’d be somewhat helpful when I gave her some advice after a long day.”

With a sigh, he shook his head. “I should get back to the other room; we asked Sunburst to take charge for a bit while we came to investigate things here, and he’s been dealing with the petitioners for long enough. And I’m not sure if leaving Snöflinga in there is a good thing, even if the negativity some of them are giving off is making him fill out.”

Spliced blinked in confusion at this and Shining said, “While Sunburst was teaching Snöflinga and looking over Flurry Heart, my little daughter was really intrigued by the windigo.” Shining then scratched the back of his head. “In retrospect, we should have seen it coming but all that unrestricted love being directed at him made Snöflinga queasy, so we had to ask Starlight to take Flurry Heart somewhere else to watch over her.”

“Does she really have much experience with foals?” Spliced asked.

“Not as much as I’d like, but she was the best option we could get on short notice,” Shining Armor said with a sigh. “And she has helped Sunburst watch over Flurry Heart before so she should be fine.” Shining then gave her an odd look. “How good are you with foals, by the way?”

“I got along well with the Crusaders when I met them the day before we came up here,” Spliced said. “And Flurry Heart didn’t seem to mind me being in the same room as her. Other than that, I haven’t really been around any, except in passing. And I mean that literally, I may have passed some on the tubes before I moved to the university and then later to my cottage, but that was it.”

“Worth a shot,” Shining Armor said, tapping his hooves. “Still, if anything, I could look over her if things don’t go well. Having a child is really something else, you know?”

“No I don’t,” Spliced said, looking thoughtful. “I never really thought of foals before; certainly not some of my own.”

“Do you think you ever would want one?” Spike asked her.

“I… I don’t know,” Spliced said, the question really surprising her. “I never put much stock in building relationships; I was never good at it when I was a foal myself and… I never really learned how to make one.” Then she blushed. “A relationship, that is, not foals - I know full well how they’re conceived and born.”

“Well, I’m sure Cadance could help you; while she is the alicorn of love, she’s also fully versed in every step of forming relationships, both romantic and platonic,” Shining Armor told her.

“I’ll be sure to ask her that once she return, although I am not sure if she likes me,” Spliced replied. “She seemed a little…” She thought for a moment, trying to figure out the right word. “Well, apprehensive, after she saw me working in the medical wing.”

“I’m sure you’re imagining it; I don’t think my wife has it in her heart to hate anyone,” Shining Armor replied. “Not even Sombra; sure, she wanted him to go away, but that’s because he was an enemy who’d enslaved the Crystal Ponies. And I know she’s still mad at Chrysalis for what she did at our wedding and later on, but I don’t think she outright hates her.”

“Just what did she do?” Spliced asked. “Princess Celestia mentioned something about not realizing she was there until she dropped her disguise and started causing a lot of trouble, but that’s about it.”

Shining Armor lowered his head. “She imprisoned Cadance somewhere in Canterlot and took her place,” he said gravely. “And she used her powers to keep me from figuring it out until it was almost too late - Twilight was the only one who figured out something was up, and once she found the real Cadance’s prison and brought her back, right before we could say our wedding vows, Chrysalis had no choice but to show herself for what she was. And she had an entire army in waiting too.”

“And let’s not forget the whole ‘capturing the entire royal family’ thing she did before Starlight, Trixie, Thorax and Discord came to our rescue and Thorax wound up taking over leadership of the hive,” Spike added. “It’s kind of dumb, actually, and I don’t think she thought it through all the way. See, she wanted to capture everypony and drain their love energy to feed her hive…”

“But a nation of hostages, all of them angry over being held captive, wouldn’t be producing very much love for her to drain in the first place,” Spliced concluded. “You’re right, she really didn’t think that through. If she’d been a windigo, it would have been the perfect plan. But for a changeling, it was idiotic.”

“Hopefully, you can help us capture her,” Shining said as he directed she and Spike out of the throne room. “Why don’t you come and show us what you have in mind?”

“Certainly,” Spliced said as she followed them, casting a look back at where the staircase had been and shuddering. For as long as she lived, she never wanted to see that place again.

Chapter Twenty One

It was several hours later when there was a knock on the door, causing the individuals inside to pause. One was the captain of the crystal empire guards and the royal consort of the empress with a shield cutie mark, another was the former student of the princess of friendship and ex mayor of a town in a distant corner of Equestria, another was an assistant to the princess of friendship, one was a pink mare cleaning a window with a question mark for a cutie mark, one was a reformed healthy changeling, and the last was the lavender princess’s newest guest, who looked up from the papers she’d been working on, detailing the diagrams and analytic notes on the thaumatic blanketing array she had been transcribing from memory. She was surprised at how much she could remember of it, since such things were not her expertise. But then again, relying on her considerable knowledge from her experiments from the war had proven more than useful in patching in what she was missing along with the thaumatical knowledge that these ponies had. Despite the fantasy-sounding nature of all the books she had read so far, and especially some parts that she just knew wouldn’t have been possible back in her own world, there was a scientific undertone she could appreciate and was finding quite interesting.

“Ah, they’re here,” Shining Armor said, pushing himself away from the desk he was working at with Pharynx letting out a sigh as his horns dimmed before he faceplanted onto the desk.

“Who is here?” Starlight asked. Spliced had to admit that despite their difficulties with one another, Starlight had proven to be an excellent researcher, and despite her being a unicorn and not a Pure, Spliced could have easily seen her receiving a scholarship to the university Spliced herself had once attended.

“Hello there sugarcubes,” Applejack said as she entered, followed by four other familiar mares. “Shining Armor, nice to see you again,” she added as she nodded in his direction.

“What are you all doing here?” Spliced asked, pushing herself up from her seat.

“Well, Scoots got a letter about a doc to help her with her wings,” Rainbow Dash said as she landed next to Spliced. “So she’s here with her aunts to see a Doctor Snuggles and some other doctors he works with about some procedure. And of course I wasn’t going to stay away for something that’s that important to her.”

“Ah, I see,” Spliced, looking off to the side. “I hope that everything goes well for her.”

“All of us do, darling,” Rarity said as she looked around the room. “We also heard that you have an unusual guest here as well, a windigo of all things.”

“I hope they’re not scary,” Fluttershy said quietly.

“Snöflinga is not scary per se but…” Shining said rubbing the back of his neck.

“Vilka är ni fem?” a voice asked suddenly, and Spliced looked up to see Snöflinga at the door, Sunburst right behind him.

Everypony looked at Spike, who translated. “He’s asking who you all are,” he told them, and there was a round of understanding nods. “Hold on, I’ll explain.” Then he turned to Snöflinga and began speaking in the windigo’s native tongue, including a series of gestures towards the others, getting nods in return. When he had finished, Snöflinga nodded back. Then, Sunburst gave Snöflinga a nudge of the shoulder with the windigo sighing and muttering something in his own language before stopping and looking at Spike.

“I’ve heard worse, and no, I’m not translating that,” he replied with Rarity giving Snöflinga a look now, but he pretended not to notice.

“I Snöflinga,” he grumbled. “It nice meet you five pony - gah, det här är så attans dumt!”

“I know it’s hard,” Sunburst said as he placed a hoof on Snöflinga’s shoulder. “But you’re getting it, and you’ve been at it only a few hours.”

“Ja,” Snöflinga said before looking at Rainbow Dash who was staring at his flanks. “Can help you?”

“Can I help you, Snöflinga,” Sunburst said with Snöflinga groaning loudly.

“Can I help you, Rainbow Dash?” the windigo asked with a distinctly snide tone, something that didn’t go unnoticed by the others. Luckily, Rainbow Dash chose to ignore it.

“I thought windigos didn’t have hindlegs, that they just floated,” she said poking his flank, only for him to slap her hoof away. “Hey!”

Spike quickly translated her comment to Snöflinga while Applejack did her best to calm down Rainbow Dash.

“Självklart har vi bakben,” Snöflinga said disgustedly. “Vi är inte som de där Sirenerna – dumma fiskar,” he grumbled. “De försvinner när jag flyger men jag mår inte tillräckligt bra just nu för att flyga.”

“Så du gillar inte de där tre du heller va?” Spike said to him. “Jag klandrar dig inte.”

“Vilka tre pratar du om? Det finns en hel ocean av dem.” Snöflinga replied with a snort.

“Twilight och jag mötte några som förvisats genom en portal för länge sedan och höll på att försöka ta över den andra världen,” Spike told him. “Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk. Och de är maktlösa nu.”

“Jag tänkte säga att det inte låter ett dugg vettigt men jag kommer ju från det förflutna så jag är inte rätt person att uttala mig,” Snöflinga said distractedly. “Dessutom, du borde tala om för dem vad vi pratar om. De ger oss skumma blickar.”

“Visst.” Spike turned to the others. “Yes, he has hind legs; they only go away when he’s flying, but he isn’t recovered enough to do that yet. And apparently he doesn’t much like Sirens like the ones Twilight and I went to help Sunset with. Also, there were a lot more in his time, so we should probably see if they’re still out there.”

“How do we know he is a windigo, anyways,” Rainbow Dash said with a frown. “He could just be a blank flank, after all.”

“Besides the fact that his entire physical structure is completely atypical for ponies?” Spliced said.

“Hey, my family has everything in it, from ponies suffering from gigantism or dwarfism, to some being born as nox ponies or horned pegasi and so on. This,” Rainbow Dash said, waving a hoof at his face. “Doesn’t convince me.”

Spliced sighed. “Trust me, I know windigos - not perfectly, but enough to recognize one, especially considering I was hooves-deep in his innards when we were helping him get better. He’s definitely a windigo.” She noticed Fluttershy blanche at her comment, and Rarity nuzzling the other mare to calm her. Then she turned to Spike. “And what are these Sirens you mentioned, anyway?”

“Think seaponies, but nastier,” Spike told her. “They feed on negative emotions like windigos do, but they also have this hypnotic music ability to control others. I thought there were only the three of ‘em that we’d beaten until Snöflinga said otherwise.”

Starlight looked confused. “When was this?”

“After Twilight got her castle, but before we met you the first time,” Spike told her.

“Ah.”

Snöflinga was looking annoyed again, so Spike turned back to him and started speaking, with the windigo nodding as he was filled in. Then he turned to Rainbow Dash with the temperatures beginning to plummet. “Vill du ha bevis för att jag är en windigo? Här är ditt bevis!” With that, he opened his jaws and blew an icy gust at her forehooves.

“Ack!” Rainbow Dash flapped her wings hurriedly, but found her hooves had already been frozen to her chest “Dude! Not cool! Pun totally intended!”

“That ain’t right sugarcube; why ya go do that?” Applejack asked, giving the windigo a look.

“I’d guess it’s due in part to how Snöflinga is like,” Sunburst said, holding his hoof to his chest. “Also that he literally thrives on conflict means something like that would make him healthier. Although he should know better, right Snöflinga?” he asked the windigo, who sighed loudly at this reprimand.

“Jag borde förmodligen spara på krafterna tills jag är helt återställd,” he grumbled, rubbing his bandaged right foreleg.

“Um, I’m not sure what you just said, but could somepony thaw me out?” Rainbow Dash asked, wiggling her forehooves slightly. “This stuff’s colder than what they make at the weather factory!”

Starlight nodded and got up, pressing her glowing horn to Rainbow Dash’s chest. For a moment, she concentrated. Then her eyes widened. “It’s not working!”

“Well of course nothing will happen,” Sunburst said. “If windigo magic was that easy to dispel, then the founders would have never needed to find the Fires of Friendship.”

Snöflinga gave a sigh, and his body language drooped as his friends were mentioned. He was then nudged by Sunburst with the windigo sighing louder and holding out his left hoof. He then pressed it on Rainbow Dash’s hooves and the ice began to defrost. “Good?” he asked her, his accent bleeding through.

“Yeah,” Dash said, holding her legs away from her chest and glanced at him. “Thanks…”

“You welcome,” he said stiffly before moving to an empty chair and sitting down.

“So you say he is from the past?” Rarity asked as she peered at Snöflinga.

“Yes; apparently he personally knew the founders,” Starlight said, causing them to look at Snöflinga in surprise. “And a lot of what we knew is not actually accurate, according to him.”

“Yeah right, like he knew the-” Rainbow Dash jumped backwards as Snöflinga glared at her and clearly was about lunge at her if not for Starlight reacting quickly to hold back the windigo. “What the hey-gah!” She squirmed as Applejack was using her hat to smack the pegasus.

“Ya mind not annoying the windigo? Ah’d like to leave here without frostbite,” Applejack lectured her friend. “Starlight, he goin’ to stay calm now?”

“Yeah, he’s good,” Starlight said with Snöflinga sitting back down and glaring at Rainbow Dash. “Want to explain why you just did that?”

Spike quickly translated the question with Snöflinga snorting loudly.

“Det har du inte med att göra,” he snapped aggressively. “Så snart jag känner mig bra nog kommer jag ta er ponnyer till grottan för att bevisa att jag har rätt.”

“He says that it’s none of your business and that once he is good, he will help the expedition team reach the cave,” Spike translated again. “He really seems to be annoyed by it; more than normal. Snöflinga, har du något emot–”

There was a sudden flash as Twilight teleported into the room.

“Twilight!” her friends called out only for Starlight to create a shield separating everypony from the alicorn with concern in her eyes.

Standing next to her, Spike held a letter in his claws, with his mouth smoking as he prepared to send it off.

Looking at Spike, Twilight said “The world is quiet here.” before looking at Starlight and saying “The celery stalks at midnight.”

Both of them let out a sigh, with Starlight dropping the shield and Spike putting out the fire in his mouth.

“Um, care to explain all of that?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I would like to know where you went off without so much as a letter,” Rarity said.

“In a moment,” Twilight said before looking at the others in the room. “I’m sorry but this is for their ears only; Shining, Cadance will explain what she learned to you in private. Everypony else will need to leave.”

Spliced snorted as she stood upright and looked at Snöflinga. “Come,” she said briskly with obvious hoof gestures. “I believe it is time for your hourly checkup, anyways,”

Snöflinga rolled his eyes again and muttered the same insulting string of words at her but made his way out with the rest of the stallions close behind and Spliced at the very back, the green mare shutting the door as she left.

With a deep happy sigh, Twilight moved to hug her friends tightly. “It’s good to see you again,” she said, looking at each of them. “We were worried that we wouldn’t be able to come back.”

“Why’s that, Twi?” Applejack asked.

“It’s due in part to what we,” Twilight moved her hoof in a circle to indicate her closest friends. “Are. During my time with the princesses in the Valley of Alicorns, I learned a fair deal about the universe but one thing special I learned is that there can only be one type of us in one dimension at a time unless they are invited.”

“Um, what do you mean ‘we’?” Fluttershy asked hesitantly.

“Right, I haven’t explained that yet,” Twilight said sheepishly. “What I learned is that for every one of these dimensions, there are Powers that act as the source for what they are named after in that dimension. For example, Celestia in our dimension, and what from she told me in almost every other dimension that she is in except for those she is a stallion or another pony, is called the Lady of Day. It is because of her that daytime actually happens, part of her Duty and her Role is to raise the sun. For us, we are the Lady of Honesty, Lady of Loyalty, Lady of Laughter, Lady of Kindness, Lady of Generosity and Lady of Magic-” Twilight paused and looked at Fluttershy. “And no, you do not need to worry about fulfilling any special Role or Duty; just being you is all you need to do. Anything more would be non genuine and actually count against it.”

“Makes sense,” Applejack said. “We did become get them elements for being them - overdoing them never did work for us.”

“In addition, we are also the subset Power of Harmony, with our Opposite being Discord, Lord of Disharmony. Both are extremely powerful and a good reason to why we tend to not get along with him beyond conflicting character traits,” Twilight said.

“Our opposite?” Rarity asked.

“Opposite,” Twilight corrected Rarity, the capital letter obvious in her tone. “Our joint one; we each have one that balances our own Power; they’re Lies, Oathbreaking, Sorrow, Cruelty, Self-centeredness and Technology,” Twilight soured on the last word. “Some of them can work well with each other; as both Luna and Celestia are technically Opposites of each other but they couldn't function without each other. Others… not so much.”

“Like?”

“War and Peace, and no, it’s not War who is the normally aggressive one,” Twilight told them. “War is what you’d expect while Peace on the other hoof would do whatever it can to ensure there is peace by sending minions of its own to ensure that war will not break out. Including killing those who would be prone to starting wars.” Everypony and Spike winced at that.

“Anyway,” Twilight continued, “I also found out that there are certain events that happen in every dimension, just not in the same way whatsoever. Some events that happen no matter what are the banishment of an individual for a thousand years, which is the amount of time that a Power requires to fully heal, incidently, six friends forming the Power of Harmony, and a smattering of other key events. Such as Discord’s escape.” Twilight sounded even more upset at this.

“What’s wrong?” Spike asked.

“Celestia told me why she was never concerned about him and I cannot say I agree with her methods,” she said, causing several eyes to widen at her words as they were all keenly aware of how much she still idolized her former mentor. “She had gone to other dimensions for training in the past and had seen and learned the pattern of the draconequus that was the Lord or Lady of Disharmony in those dimensions. After their first banishment, he or she would escape some time after the individual from the moon did, and go after the Elements of Harmony. He would succeed in flipping all but one of them, and that one would prove the key to taming them later on. After that Lord or Lady of Disharmony was sealed again, Celestia knew that when she released him into the custody of the Elements, the one they couldn’t trick into betraying their element would be able to form a bond of friendship with them and thus they’d go back into their prison willingly, and then prove vital to defeating Tirek or whatever his female name is when they escaped from Tartarus.” Twilight took a moment to pause and catch her breath only for Rarity to gasp.

“You mean there are worlds where he and I are close friends?” she asked.

“They knew the truth of Applejack’s words when she told them that their attempt to betray their friendship, they knew that they were breaking the bounds of loyalty with Rainbow Dash, they knew that their careless cruelty with their jests was upsetting Pinkie, they knew that their self-centeredness was threatening the endless generosity and goodwill of Rarity and they were hurting their first friend with Fluttershy,” Twilight said. “From what she was told this strategy works almost flawlessly all the time and that was why she was never concerned about our Discord at all.”

“What about if it is you, Twilight?” Pinkie asked with Twilight blushing at the question.

“From what I was told, if he managed to flip all of the Elements, he and that dimension’s Magic would end up together… as,” and here Twilight mumbled the words, her face heating up even more.

“As what darling,” Rarity pried.

“As coltfriend and marefriend at first and after Tirek, they get married,” she blushed, holding her hoofs to her face. “I don’t know how that happens as I cannot see myself ever ending up with him.” She then sighed and shook her head. “But while I am glad that Celestia was able to deal with Discord without any real danger, the fact she had manipulated him so thoroughly is unsettling and unpleasant, although those who belong to Order are able to do this kind of long scale manipulation.” She paused again for a moment, before continuing.

“This isn’t an exact science, though,” Twilight warned them. “As there are a lot of multidimensions, some things and sometimes these events will not happen. Princess Celestia didn’t see the wedding invasion happening in the other worlds she went to, so she wasn’t expecting and preparing for it.”

“So what does this mean,” Starlight asked.

‘It means absolutely nothing really for us; just a somewhat more complete picture of everything,” Twilight said with a sigh. “I am still putting it all together honestly, but it did tell us something about Spliced.”

“What do you mean?” Starlight asked, obviously intrigued.

“That she isn’t a Power; she couldn’t have come into our dimension if she is one as all of ours are filled, and Powers can only come in if they’re invited or if that position is open,” Twilight told them. “And since Luna couldn’t go to her world, they have to have a Lord or Lady of Night or Dreams active… And even if they did, it would be risky as it would leave us without one, leaving it open for another one to slip in.”

“That’s why you had us remember a password and prepare a letter to Discord, in case it was an alternate instead of the you that we know,” Spike realized.

“Yes; he would have been given full carte blanche to do whatever he thought was needed to get rid of them,” Twilight said.

“When you say full carte blanche, you mean…” Rarity trailed off.

“Anything he thought would work, no matter whatever horrors he unleashed, would be forgiven.” Twilight looked grim. “It’s a last resort option in case of emergencies, but in this case, we deemed it necessary.” Then she looked at Fluttershy. “But, given his connection to you, we also knew he’d do everything he could to avoid doing any harm to this world and all its residents - he’d be focusing his power on dealing with the intruder, but avoiding causing any random destruction at the same time.”

“Ah’m sorry sugarcube,” Applejack said shaking her head. “Ah understand why Celestia did what she did but Ah can’t accept how she went about it; it’s just-”

“A completely dishonest thing to do that abuses the loyalty of a friend for self-centered reasons that mock the friendship you built up and is also cruel to the individual and risking everything?” Twilight asked, hitting home to every point. “Exactly. And believe me, I’m not happy with her right now.”

There was a chorus of winces, and some worried looks.

“So, what does this mean for the two of you?” Rainbow Dash finally asked. “I mean, being as close as you were.”

“It means that it’s best if I avoid speaking with her until I’m suitably calmed down,” Twilight said. “Which may take a while. Though I’m not the only one who’s irked at her - Luna still thinks Cadance and I should have been told about all this a lot sooner.” She took a deep breath. “Still, this leaves us with a mystery. Namely, as far as we can tell, Spliced is… unique. We haven’t seen or heard anything about her in any of the dimensions we looked in…” She took a deep breath for a moment. “Going by what I’ve observed of her, it’s clear she’s an actual pony and not something else in disguise, but there’s obviously something odd about her situation, and that worries us.”

“So, what are we going to do?” Spike asked. “Just keep on like we have been?”

“Exactly,” Twilight said before shaking her head. “For all we know, we could be wrong and she could just be a random pony that has nothing significant about her in the rest of the multiverse, but I can’t help but feel there’s something more to this whole situation. For now though, we just treat her like any other pony, and try to be her friends.”

“I still don’t trust her,” Starlight said, more to herself than to anypony in the room.

“That’s good,” Twilight said. “She is still a complete unknown to all of us, including the one Celestia that we meet through the Valley of Alicorns, who we were told is the wisest of the Celestias out there. Spliced Genome is still a war criminal and we cannot ignore that. We will try to be her friend but if anypony finds out what she did, you have to tell me immediately, even if she made you swear a Pinkie Promise - and yes, she knows about those and how serious they are,” she told Pinkie.

Everypony stiffened at that, and looked at Pinkie Pie who looked sage at the moment. “For something this important, Twilight, I can allow one break of a Pinkie Promise.”

“Thank you, Pinkie Pie,” Twilight before looking at her friends. “Any more questions?”

“Yeah, what is the Valley of Alicorns?” Rainbow Dash asked with Twilight smiling and beginning to explain everything that it was.

Chapter Twenty Two

Some time later, a pegasus and an alicorn met in the medical wing.

“So how’s Scoots doing?” Rainbow Dash asked Spliced who shrugged her shoulders.

“I was just giving Snöflinga his medical check up; I have no idea how Scootaloo’s interview with Doctor Snuggles is going,” she said as Snöflinga stalked away, rubbing his shoulder and glaring at her. “Besides, even if I did, I couldn't say anything about it without her aunts’ permission. Doctor-patient confidentiality rules, you know, and unfortunately,” she shrugged again, apologetically. “Honorary sisters or not, I’m not legally allowed to tell you anything unless your name is on her file as an official contact, and I can’t be positive that it is until I get a look at it myself.”

“Gotcha.” Rainbow Dash waved it off. “I’ll just ask them afterward.”

“And I’m sure they’ll be glad to tell you,” Twilight said as she came up behind them, the other girls and Spike not far behind. “After all the time you spent trying to help her… and they trusted you to take her on that camping trip to Winsome Falls not that long ago, remember?”

Rainbow Dash nodded happily. “Yeah…”

“And they’ll thank you too, Spliced.”

“Me, why me?” Spliced asked.

“Well, you did bring this to Doctor Hale’s attention so he could set up this meeting,” Spike pointed out. “Not to mention how you figured out the possible source of the problem before we came here. You’re the one who got this whole thing started.”

Spliced looked speechless and blushed, rubbing her hooves shyly. “I was just doing her a favour when she asked for my help,” she said. “It is what anypony would have done.”

“It’s more than my little brother or his wife have ever done,” a voice said from behind them, and the group turned to see two pegasi, an Earth pony and one crystal nox pony in the doorway.

“Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo squealed happily as she rushed in and hugged her. Then she hurried over to Spliced. “Thank you so much, Ms. Genome!”

Spliced looked down at her with a smile. “You’re welcome, Scootaloo,” she said. Then she looked at the two mares in the doorway. “Your aunts, I take it?”

The first one, an Earth pony with her coat a lighter yellow, nodded. “I’m her aunt Holiday,” she introduced herself. “This is my marefriend Lofty. And we do want to thank you for what you did.”

The aqua pegasus at her side smiled. “Scootaloo couldn’t stop talking about this mare who’d actually tried to see why she was having trouble with her wings; it’s more than anypony besides Rainbow Dash has done since we moved to Ponyville to watch over our dear niece, and neither of her parents have said anything about anypony trying to help before then.”

“When we got the letter from Doctor Snuggles here,” Holiday continued, “It was like a dream come true for her.”

“If I may ask, what is the plan to help her fly?” Spliced asked gently.

“Thankfully, nothing invasive,” Holiday replied. “Some blood work and samples told us that young Scootaloo here has a magical imbalance in her wings, but it’s correctable with the right injections.”

“You mean they already got the marrow samples?” Spliced asked. “But… wouldn’t that have been a very long and painful procedure?”

Lofty shook her head. “It may be in your home, wherever that is - overseas somewhere, I think somepony said, but they didn’t give us a name for it. But Doctor Snuggles knew a few other doctors who’ve been working on ways to make such procedures a lot easier, so it was a quick in-and-out thing.”

“I’m impressed then,” Spliced replied, placing a hoof on Scootaloo’s back unconsciously. “And relieved that it was so much easier than I had originally expected.” She gave the filly a small smile. “And I’m glad I was able to get somepony to help you as soon as I did - I was expecting this to take weeks at the very least.”

“There was a time when it would have,” the crystal nox pony spoke up. “Thankfully, we’ve made a lot of medical advances in recent years, and this is one of them. Certainly much better than what we had before the great vanishing.” He held out a hoof. “Doctor Snuggles, Ms. Genome.”

“Pleased to meet you.” Spliced shook his hoof. “Progress is something to always be sought after, no matter the costs.”

“Within limits, of course,” Doctor Snuggles said. “It took a lot of controlled testing before we were ready to try it on ponies, because we didn’t want to cause any harm to our patients.”

“Hmm,” Spliced said, hesitant to say anything about her own views, aware that her direct testing opinions were never well received by traditional researchers. “Well, the results are what matter most, and you’ve certainly achieved what you were aiming for.”

“Yes. Yes, we have.” Doctor Snuggles bowed. “And you, young lady, will finally have the flight you’ve long desired,” he said to Scootaloo. “The treatment will still take some time, but it will work.”

Scootatoo grinned again and gave the elder crystal nox pony a hug, her wings buzzing with excitement.

“Well, it is getting late; her majesty and the royal consort tend to eat early due to Princess Flurry Heart having an early bedtime,” Doctor Snuggles said to her aunts before looking at Spliced and Rainbow Dash. “We’re all invited tonight and we should get ready.”

“Come along Scootaloo,” Holiday said, rubbing the back of her head. “We’ll see you all at dinner,” she added to Twilight and the others in the room.

“See you then, Scoots,” Rainbow Dash told her with a grin before the family and Doctor Snuggles left.

“And I’ll show you all to some rooms,” Starlight added. She headed out, with most of the other mares behind her, leaving only Twilight, Spliced, Spike and Snöflinga, whom Twilight noticed had not moved out of the corner he’d gone to during their earlier conversation. When he looked around and saw the room suddenly much less crowded, he sighed in relief.

“Apologies,” he grunted. “Too much happy energy - not good for me. Not now, at least.”

“I’m still surprised that you can handle good emotions so well,” Twilight said before adding in, “No offense.”

Spike translated her words to Snöflinga, who nodded. “Lots of - practice?” he said uncertainly, until he saw Spike nodding, and spoke more confidently. “Before Fires of Friendship ignited. But too much at one time still a pain. Will - It will take more practice, before I able to handle lots at once again.” He looked grouchy. “Stupid fish not have that problem.”

“No, they didn’t seem to,” Twilight remarked. “At least, Sonata didn’t, as cheerful as she was.”

Snöflinga looked confused, and Spike again translated to him, the windigo nodding. “Någon dag får du förklara det där närmre.”

“Åh, det ska jag,” Spike replied. "Det är en riktigt spännande berättelse."

Spliced looked confused, but Twilight mouthed ‘later’ to her, and she seemed content with that.

After another exchange in the windigo language, Spike turned to Spliced. “Would you mind taking Snöflinga to see Sunburst again, so they can work some more before dinner?”

“Sure thing,” Spliced replied. “This way.”

When she and Snöflinga had left the room, Spike let out a sigh of relief. “Phew.”

“Something wrong?” Twilight asked.

“It’s just been a long day,” Spike replied. “What with dealing with Blueblood and rescuing Spliced from one of Sombra’s old traps this morning, all that research we were doing this afternoon, and then everything you found out about other worlds and such…” Then he noticed her eyes widening. “Twilight?”

“Rescuing Spliced from one of Sombra’s old traps?” Twilight repeated. “Spike, what the hay did you two get up to while I was gone?”

Spike gave her a nervous look. “Erm, she… was exploring on her own, when she heard a hollow sound as she was walking around in Sombra’s old throne room and her curiosity got the better of her,” he said. “Somehow, she figured out how to access the passage under it, and found that door to where he kept the Crystal Heart.”

Twilight looked horrified. “What happened?”

“Shining Armor and I came in and saw the hole in the floor, I recognized what it was, and he put up a barrier to keep anypony else out of the room while I went down to check it out,” Spike replied. “Good thing I did, because I had to pull her out of her worst fear after she got caught like you and I did. And speaking of, that place has been sealed up again for now, but you really need to figure out how to deactivate that door down there so this won’t happen again.”

“Right.” Twilight shook her head. “I’m just glad nopony got hurt - they didn’t, did they?”

“Spliced was shaken up, but Shining Armor and I made sure she was okay afterward,” Spike replied. “She didn’t say what it was that scared her when we all talked afterward, but given what you and I went through that first time, I’m sure it must have been ugly.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Twilight said. Then she cocked her head. “Wait - just getting down there takes dark magic, and I know none of us would have taught her any. How did she figure it out?”

“She said something about using the right frequency when she was closing it back up,” Spike told her. “Didn’t say anything about it being dark magic. I guess she somehow detected the magic in the throne and figured out out to match her magic to it.”

Twilight considered. “That would make sense… I’ll have to ask her about it.” Then she gave him a look. “Still, I might add another week to her time out of the lab…”

“Actually, given what she went through because of it, I think you should go easy on her,” Spike told her. “Dealing with her worst fear like that was probably punishment enough.”

Twilight sighed as she rubbed her forehead with one hoof. “Okay, you’re right…” She smiled down at him, then looked more serious. “But she still has to write that friendship report I assigned her when we were on the train up here, and add a section on this while she’s at it.”

“Um, Twilight, that was Starlight, not Spliced,” Spike said, a bit concerned.

“Right, my bad,” Twilight said as she facehoofed. “It’s been some time since I was back here Spike, so I’m sorry if I am a bit off.”

“You were gone for less than a day, Twilight,” Spike told her, the concern in his voice more apparent.

“Maybe it was less than a day here,” Twilight told him. “But in that place… time was flowing a lot faster, considering there is no Time, Day, or Night operating in the Valley of Alicorns, or any other Power,” she said, tilting her head as she tried to do some mental calculations. “It was perhaps about three or four days for us, I think.”

“Eesh.” Spike shuddered. “Sounds dangerous.”

“Alicorns are a timeless species,” Twilight replied. “We wouldn’t have really aged while we were there. But it does make me nervous, that we lost track of time so easily. I really don’t plan to go back there unless I absolutely have to or until...” she trailed off with Spike fully aware of what she was indicating and went to give her a comforting hug.

“I’m glad you made it back safely,” he told her. “All of you.”

Twilight gave him a smile. “So am I… I don’t know what I would have done if I could never come back to see you… all of you.”

“Even if I’m not a Power, that wouldn’t have stopped me from doing everything I could to get you back from there if you’d been stuck this time,” he told her.

Twilight smiled again. “Thank you, Spike. That means a lot.”

“You do what you have to do for family,” Spike replied. “And… you hatched me, that makes you my family.”

Twilight pulled him in even closer. “Absolutely,” she whispered. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

When the two had finally separated, she looked thoughtful. “You know, I should probably have Spliced write a friendship report about what she’s learned anyway… as a way of checking on her progress.”

“I won’t argue with that,” Spike told her. “But speaking of that, I do wish she and Starlight would get along better.”

“So do I,” Twilight told him. “So do I.”

“Oh, and one other thing,” Spike added. “Where in the world did you come up with that password you gave me?”

Twilight blushed. “It was the name of one of the books I was looking through to possibly read to the foals at the hospital, back when we were watching Flurry Heart for a day,” she said. “It looked too spooky for ponies their age, so I didn’t actually consider it, but the title just stuck with me.”

“Gotcha.” Spike nodded before tilting his head. “Come on Twilight, I think we have a bit of time to clean up before supper is served.”

By the time they’d walked into the official informal dining room, Twilight and Spike saw that everypony had gotten into private conversations with each other. Cadance and Shining were attending to Flurry Heart, and Cadance had a very serious look on her face as she held her daughter. The doctors were talking with Spliced, and by the papers surrounding their section of the table, it was on the medical advances from Spliced’s world. Rainbow Dash was chatting with Scootaloo, with her aunts watching the scene as they fed each other and giving Scootaloo a little prod every now and then about her eating habits. Starlight and Sunburst were having a friendly conversation, Rarity and Fluttershy were discussing something quietly, Applejack and Pinkie were mostly focused on their food, and Pharynx was off by himself.

Turning her head around she tried to spot Snöflinga, but didn’t see him anywhere. “Cadance, where is Snöflinga?”

“He’s eating in his room; we’re giving off enough positive energy that it’s making him uncomfortable,” Cadance replied. “I also think he wants to be alone right now; even though neither Pharynx or I can actually gauge his emotions, I can tell he is missing his friends dearly and I think he needs some time alone right now.”

Twilight nodded. “I understand,” she said as they sat next to her sister-in-law. “Or at least Ithink I can; I can only imagine how it must have been for him to learn that they had been gone for so long.”

“Maybe once he can speak our language a bit better, he would like to help direct a more accurate winter play,” Spike suggested with Rarity beaming at him.

“That’s a wonderful idea, darling,” she praised him, patting his arm with Spike beaming back. “If Snöflinga wants to do, that is. I’m not sure if he even knows what a play is, let alone how to direct one.”

“That is something we can worry about in the future,” Cadance said. “I’d rather have him recover and be able to be around everypony without feeling ill first; the fact he can withstand being in the Crystal Empire alone is remarkable but he still cannot handle directed positive emotions. That is besides the fact that his right foreleg is still broken and he doesn’t have full control over his magic.”

“Right and only Snöflinga can actually counter his magic - Sunburst tried to defrost it when he froze Dash’s hooves to her chest,” Starlight said. “I might be able to do so, but I’m not allo-” she trailed off, aware of how petty she was sounding. “Ahem,” she coughed, blushing.

“Why did he do that?” Twilight asked.

“Rainbow Dash didn’t believe he was really a windigo until he proved it with his ice magic,” Spike told her.

“Like I told you all earlier, I’ve seen a lot of different types of ponies in my time - hay, I’m related to a lot more than just the three tribes - so I wasn’t convinced about him,” Rainbow Dash said sulkily. “Now I am.”

“Really Dashie? I didn’t know that,” Pinkie said, honestly interested. “I mean, you did say you had all kinds of different ponies in your family, but-”

“I’ll get you a copy of my family tree the next time I visit my parents,” Rainbow Dash told her. “But off the top of my head my great uncle Peaceful Meadows is a buffalo, my second aunt High Tide is a seapony, my great great great uncle Torch - no relation to Ember’s dad, I think, I’m not too sure - is a dragon, my dad’s nephew is married to a griffon and they have a hippogriff colt named who is totally awesome,” Dash tilted her head. “My second cousin once removed, Fido, is a diamond dog, and when I visited my parents a while back, they mentioned that some distant cousin of ours, a Wooly Fleece - and I mean so distant that I’m not even sure what term to use for how distant - is apparently dating a zebra with the warning that I might have to attend a wedding soon. I know that my great aunt Sharp Shout adopted a donkey filly named Minda several years ago and she - my great-aunt, that is - is dating a minotaur, Stout Strength. I know I’ve got relatives of Saddle Arabian descent too, but again, I don’t remember what their exact relation to me is. And I think we’ve got an Abyssinian, an Ornithian and an Ahuizotl in there somewhere too, but I’m not positive on just where.” Dash let out a sigh, shaking her head. “Right now, we're just missing a breezie, a yak, a changeling although I wouldn’t be surprised to see one joining the family sooner or later or actually be in there already, and now a windigo. And that’s not counting different types of ponies like ones with gigantism or dwarfism, or nox ponies or horned pegasi. Or crystal ponies, because we’ve got at least one of them too.”

“Um, how could you have any crystal ponies in your family tree?” Scootaloo asked curiously. “The Crystal Empire just got back a few years ago.”

“One of them met and married one of my cousins a year or so after the return,” Rainbow Dash told her.

“Ohhhhh…”

Applejack shook her head. “Sounds like you’ve got a family about the size of mine,” she said. “Ya sure we ain’t related, Dashie?”

“Beats me, though I wouldn’t be surprised,” Rainbow Dash told her. “Guess I’ll have to check on that the next time I visit too.”

“Eeeyup,” Applejack said.

“Ooooh! If you were, that would be so cool...” Pinkie let out an eager noise. “Then we would possibly be distantly related too!”

“You’re related to Applejack?” Spliced asked curiously, looking up from the papers she’d been studying.

“Maybe,” Pinkie told her. “We might be fourth cousins twice removed by a fifth cousin, but we still don’t know for sure. But, it doesn’t matter, ‘cause as far as we’re both concerned, we’re all family anyway.” She reached over and pulled a surprised Rarity into a hug too. “And I bet we’re related to your family too, since your magic works with gems, and my family’s all full of ponies with rock-based talents.”

“It would make some amount of sense,” Rarity admitted. “Though neither of my own parents share my particular talent, and I’m not sure about further back…”

“That must be really nice,” Spliced said. “I hardly remember anything about my own family - I hadn’t seen any of them in years, even before the whole thing with… well. Where I ended up before I came here.”

“Wait, does that mean you hadn’t celebrated your birthday in all that time?” Pinkie’s eyes went wide.

“No,” Spliced admitted. “Didn’t see much point, since I was by myself the entire time.” She looked as if she were about to say something else, but looked around at all the other ponies in the room and thought better of it. “Sure, I marked the day, but I didn’t really do anything about it.”

Pinkie was suddenly up in her face. “We must fix this!” Then she dashed off, and Spliced looked at the others.

“Why am I suddenly afraid?” she asked.

“Because making others happy through parties is Pinkie’s special talent, and when she fixates on somepony she thinks needs one, she can get more than a little obsessive,” Rainbow Dash told her. “Plus she tends to make the parties bigger based on the number of the years missed.”

“Which would have been over four hundred years, counting before I ended up in that place,” Spliced said.

“Four HUNDRED YEARS‽” Pinkie said with an incredibly loud gasp as she leaned out of Spliced’s salad to place both of her hooves on the mare’s face. “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh I’m going to need so many cupcakes for this!” Then she vanished again.

Spliced stared at her salad in confusion. “That… how?” she sputtered.

“She does that sometimes,” Twilight said in a resigned tone. “I’ve been trying to figure it out for years and still don’t know how she does it...” She sighed. “There are times when I’d almost swear there was chaos magic involved, but I just don’t know for sure, and I don’t want to drive myself crazy again trying to figure it out. And the one time I asked Maud - Pinkie’s older sister,” she explained for the benefit of those in the room who didn’t know, “She just gave me one of those cryptic looks of hers and didn’t say anything.”

“After seeing her do it to a rock and now my salad that I had been eating, I’m not sure I want to know,” Spliced said. “It would be convenient for getting around, but the sheer illogic behind it is just something that even I can’t even start to try to comprehend.” She suddenly looked thoughtful. “Unless she’s somehow manipulating the world at a quantum level to pull it off… but how that would be possible, even with the powers I’ve seen demonstrated, I’m not sure.”

Twilight looked amused. “If you figure it out, let me know,” she said. “Teleportation is convenient, but being able to move around like Pinkie does would be good too.” She leaned in. “But remember what I said on the train up here, about once we get back…”

“Understood,” Spliced said, although she sounded annoyed about it. Then her eyes suddenly twitched and a faint smile appeared on her face, as if she’d thought of something.

Shining Armor looked at the two mares. “Um, something we should know about?”

“Not particularly,” Twilight told him. “I’ve got it all firmly in hoof.”

“Right,” he said uncertainly before he turned his attention back to Flurry Heart, who was starting to get a bit fussy. Taking her from Cadance, he began to hold his daugher close to his barrel and rocked her with Lofty and and Holiday sighing happily at the scene, resting their hooves on each other’s. Cadance saw this and asked them, “Thinking of having one of your own one day?”

“Oh yes,” Lofty said with a giggle. “But for now, we’ve got our hooves filled with Scootaloo and we wouldn’t trade her for the world.”

“Except maybe for a filly who doesn't come home every other day covered in tree sap,” Holiday added, giving her niece a look. It was clear from the tone in her voice that she was only teasing though, and Scootaloo gave a playful snort.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I still think it’d be so cool to have a little niece or nephew around the house,” she said.

“We know, sweetheart,” Lofty told her with a quick sad look of longing directed at Holiday. “Maybe one day. In any case, I think it is time for the young ones to turn in.” Tilting her head, it seemed that Flurry Heart had calmed down and was now yawning drowsily on Shining’s back.

“Can’t I stay up for a bit longer?” Scootaloo asked with a yawn escaping her lips, causing everypony in the room to chuckle.

“Sorry squirt,” Rainbow Dash told her. “Take it from the expert: when you gotta sleep, you gotta sleep.”

“And she’d know,” Applejack muttered nearby with her friends chuckling again.

“Awww,” Scootaloo pouted as her aunts led her out of the dining room, Shining Armor and Flurry Heart not far behind them.

“I don’t have to go too, do I Twilight?” Spike asked.

‘Of course not,” Twilight said, shaking her head as she lifted a forkful of salad to her mouth. “You’re getting older and plus, you just got here.”

“Right, thanks Twilight,” he said as he began to eat his gems and fish with such sincerity that Twilight couldn't help beaming with pride and hugged her son to show how proud she was with the dragon squawking in surprise. From her own seat, Cadance gave the pair a knowing smile.

“You’re lucky Twilight,” she said. “I have a few more years to wait until I can hear something like that from my Flurry.”

“What did I even say?” Spike asked as he looked at the two of them.

“It’s a mom thing,” Twilight said with Cadance nodding her head. “Best thing in the world, isn’t it?”

“Absolutely,” Cadance said with a smile. “Exhausting at times, as you well know, but...” She looked over at Twilight. “It’s an experience I’ve been looking forward to for a long time.”

“I know,” Twilight said before flashing her sister-in-law a grin. “Thinking of adding anymore to the family tree?”

“Maybe one day, once Flurry Heart’s a little older,” Cadance told her as she continued to eat her meal for a little bit before standing up and leaving the room to join Shining in putting Flurry to bed.

In her seat, Rainbow Dash let out a yawn of her own. “‘Scuse me,” she said. “I should probably hit the hay too.”

“Ah’m with ya,” Applejack agreed. “It’s gettin’ kinda late…”

The two set out, and Twilight looked at her other friends who were in no hurry to leave. Smiling, Twilight moved herself closer to them and began to catch up with them.

It was much later when every other pony and others began to depart to their beds for the night, Twilight staying behind to watch her friends go while Spike snoozed on her back, sending a shiver of delight through her.

“Ahem,” turning her head she saw that Spliced was looking at her with papers in her hooves. “Here; this is the schematic to the thaumatic blanketing array you’ll need to find Chrysalis.”

“Thank you,” Twilight said before tilting her head. “But this could have waited until morning.”

“I’m aware of that but…” Spliced trailed off, looking to the side. Spliced sighed and shook her head before turning to face her. “Look, I’m fully aware that I am not the easiest of ponies to get along with and I’m here with your good grace. I’m not good at working with others, and I tend to get on ponies’ nerves. I hope that this can be the start of something better, Twilight.” She flashed Twilight an awkward smile and Twilight could tell that she was being honest.

“Thank you, Spliced,” Twilight repeated herself, taking the paper from her before looking at the mare. “I do appreciate this and I do hope we can start over again. And...” She considered her next words. “I heard about what you got up to in the throne room while I was away.”

Spliced winced, and Twilight raised a hoof. “It’s okay, I can understand your curiosity, but… how did you figure out how to open the passage?”

“I used a thaumatics-detecting array I’d found in your library to scan the room and found a spot that seemed odd, then tested it until I figured out the right frequency to activate it,” Spliced replied. “It felt kind of odd though…”

Twilight nodded. “Sombra’s type of magic was tricky for me to figure out too. I don’t like using it outside of emergencies.”

“May I ask why?” Spliced genuinely sounded confused as opposed to being interested, which was better in Twilight’s opinion.

“Dark magic, like Sombra had, is… dangerous,” Twilight explained. “It can have extremely negative and corrupting effects on the user if overused. Remember that showmare I mentioned, before you went to see Zecora?”

Spliced nodded.

“The second time we met, she’d gotten hold of an amulet that was full of dark magic, and the more she used its power, the worse the effects - it made her crueler and crazier, to the point where she didn’t trust wheels, of all things.” Twilight shuddered. “I had to trick her into taking it off before it drove her completely insane - luckily, she got better afterward, even if she is still an egotist. Sombra’s own dark magic apparently had an effect on his mental state too; he could barely speak beyond laughing cruelly by the time I crossed paths with him. And I’ve seen… others, who got corrupted by dark magic too. Or heard about it after the fact from the ones who stopped them. We’re lucky they were able to be purified of the effects before it was too late.” Twilight looked distant for a moment, then shook her head.

“Anyway, that’s why I don’t use dark magic unless it’s the very last resort, like when I had to open that door the first time; the corruption and mental deterioration is something that needs to be avoided at all cost,” she said.

“Good point.” Spliced looked very disturbed. “Maybe that key spot should be changed out for something much safer.”

“That’s something I intend to take care of before we go home, along with dispelling that spell Sombra left under there,” Twilight told her. “It’s been left to just sit there long enough.”

“Good.” Spliced looked relieved. “That thing scared me, with what it did.”

“It scares everypony, Spliced, but having friends helps a lot to recover,” Twilight told her gently.

“I’ll definitely agree with that, on the grounds that Spike and your brother both helped me a lot after I stumbled onto it.” Spliced gave the snoozing dragon a smile. “I don’t know if I can starve to death, but he saved me from possibly being trapped long enough to find out, and then both he and his uncle talked with me afterward. I definitely felt better by the time we were all done.” Then she suddenly tilted her head. “By the way… what’s the difference between dark magic and chaos magic? I mean, if one corrupts, what about the other?”

“Dark magic is corruptive, chaos magic is more… confusing,” Twilight said. “I’m honestly not sure, but it’s more… bizarre, and can warp reality on a scale beyond anything we understand. It doesn’t make Discord evil though; I think he’s just strange all on his own. That, and he has this incessant need to feel entertained and finds normality boring. Of course, what he finds entertaining isn’t necessarily the same as what we do.”

“That’s not comforting," Spliced said uneasily.

Twilight nodded. “He can be a bit… extreme. Luckily, since he got to be friends with Fluttershy, he’s realized that he really does value their bond… and his bonds with the rest of us, even if we don’t spend nearly as much time with him as she does.”

“Trust me, I’m aware that he is a bit excessive,” Spliced said. “He has made it clear that if I ever harm Fluttershy, he’ll make me pay.” She shivered. “As if I needed another reason to behave myself…”

“I will talk to him once we get back,” Twilight told her. “He didn’t need to threaten you like that…”

“He had good reason,” Spliced admitted before she was aware of what she was saying. “He knows about what kind of viruses I worked on and is worried I could somehow replicate them here. I haven’t even touched that kind of stuff since I became immortal, and I don’t plan to ever again unless I’m trying to make a cure for something, and I certainly hope the need never comes up.”

“Oh.” Twilight was quiet for a moment as she searched her memories and thought back to a few days before. “Is that when he mentioned Daybreaker to you, and that he could be worse?”

“Yes.”

“Well, as I said, I will talk to him once we get back to Ponyville,” Twilight said, placing a hoof on the mare’s shoulder. “Now come on, it’s late and we all should get to bed.”

Spliced nodded her head and they all made their way to their bedrooms.

Chapter Twenty Three

Although most wouldn’t know it was Celestia that rose the sun this morning, there were a few that could tell a difference. There were those attuned to the morning and how she crafted it, and deeply appreciated the love and care she had put into it.

Spliced Genome was not one of those ponies. In all of her long life, she had not liked waking up early nor did she like the sun greeting her when she was in her bed. As she made her way to the kitchen for her morning coffee, she was intercepted by the other young alicorn in the castle.

“Go’morning,” Twilight mumbled at her, her eyelids heavy with post sleep, moved directly to the steaming coffee, poured herself a cup, drank it and made herself another one and repeated the action twice more.

Spliced raised an eyebrow at this before darting in to take her own cup, unafraid for her own safety as there was nothing that Twilight could to do to her that she literally could not walk off. So ignoring the low growling coming from the purple pony, Spliced poured herself some much needed caffeine to wake herself properly in a way that did not involve snapping her neck.

Once she was properly alert, she turned to face Twilight who was starting to be more aware of her surroundings beyond the ability to sniff for coffee with the mare now pilling food onto a plate in her raspberry thaumatics before she moved to the table with the notes Spliced gave her last night.

“So Twilight,” Spliced said as she made her own plate before she sat across from the other mare. “Do you think you could produce the materials to make it?”

Twilight, taking a drink from her cup, nodded her head. “This doesseem very advanced but I also recognize some formulas very similar to this… I could ask Celestia if she could help me contac-”

She was cut off as there was a knock on the door and a head poked into the room. “Excuse me, your highnesses,” Spliced flinched at that, “But I have a letter for Princess Twilight.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at this but as soon as she saw that the letter had a gear as its wax seal, her entire demeanor shifted. “Thank you,” she told the pony, taking the letter into her thaumatics and broke the seal only for no letter to fall out. Both of them frowned before Twilight flicked out the envelope and Spliced caught a line of text on the side facing Twilight. Twilight quickly read the letter, her mouthing mirroring the words before she folded the letter up. “Well that was convenient.”

“Oh?” Spliced asked as she took a bite of her bagel.
Twilight nodded. “It’s related to some of the things I found out the other day; and Gear Shaft, who sent me this letter, will have the materials we’ll need for this array.” She looked at Spliced. “I need to take care of this in person, Spliced.”

“You’re not leaving again, are you Twilight?” Spike asked as he entered the room with the rest of Twilight’s friends.

“No, not this time; we’re heading to Manehattan to meet with a miss Gear Shaft, Spike,” Twilight said as everypony joined her at the table and made their plates.

“We, darling?” Rarity asked, raising an eyebrow at this.

“Yes; I am going to need Spike’s help with organizing all the materials I am going to need to acquire for Spliced’s thaumatic blanketing array as well as Spliced to make sure everything is correct. If the rest of you want to come…”

“I could visit my shop there,” Rarity said. “It would be lovely to see Coco again…”

“I’m going to stay here for Scoots,” Rainbow said as she took a messy bite of her food.

“Ah need to head back to mah farm,” Applejack said while she buttered her bread.

“And I need to go make sure that the animals are okay,” Fluttershy said while she had some of her own breakfast.

“Well I need to prepare two parties; one for Splicey and one for Sna- Saflag-Snflag-Snowflake,” Pinkie spat out the name. “Sorry, that one’s hard to pronounce.”

“It’s Snow-flin-ga,” Spike said as he munched on his own food.

“Thanks Spike,” Pinkie said as she pulled him into a strong hug before letting go before turning to face Spliced. “Don’t worry, I have everything planned for your party, Splicey.”

“I’m sure you are,” Spliced said carefully, making sure her words didn’t upset Pinkie Pie. “Thank you.” Those words seemed to have slipped out of her mouth out before she was even aware of the fact.

“It’s no problem, silly; throwing parties is my special talent, after all,” Pinkie Pie said with real warmth in her voice that caused Spliced to smile. “But I’m going to focus on… Snöflinga,” she paused to look at Spike for confirmation before she looked back at Spliced. “Because he seems a bit sad right now and a party is a great way to make a pony happy.”

“How can you tell Pinks; he seems like a jerk to me,” Rainbow Dash grumbled.

“That’s because ya picked a fight with him,” Applejack interjected with the pegasus snorting but in a way that she admitted she was at fault.

“The kid is still annoying,” Rainbow Dash said as she flew over for more breakfast.

“Actually, I’ve thought on the matter and I believe that due to the shift in how a culture would view what a kid is and what an adult is can change over time, he might have been considered an adult back then,” Spliced said.

“She is right,” Starlight added, looking thoughtful as she tapped her fork against her plate. “I believe that the term teenager is a recent creation, maybe a hundred years?” She looked at Twilight for confirmation who shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t know and windigo culture might be vastly different from our own as well,” Twilight said. “I know that in some places in Equestria, as soon as one gets their cutie mark, they’re considered an adult and are expected to act like one in all aspects as in getting a job and providing for themselves.”

Spliced wrinkled her nose at this but before she could comment on it Applejack spoke up. “For real Twilight?” the farmer asked with disbelief. “That’s the most ridiculous thing Ah’ve done heard.”

“Thankfully, it’s very remote and Celestia is working on laws that really crack down on it,” Twilight said. “You know how she is about protecting children. In fact, I think one of the proposals involved would make that sort of thing legally qualify as child abuse if the pony getting their mark is under eighteen.” She glanced around. “Of course, if they want to get some part-time work, there’s nothing keeping them from doing so. But it has to be their choice, not something they’re forced to do. According to the records I was going through a while back, one of my old classmates at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns found part-time work at a used bookstore as soon as he got his mark, and it was his idea to look for work in the first place.” She smiled. “He owns the place now, actually, since the original owner retired a year or so ago, and he’s very happy there.”

“That’s quite an accomplishment,” Rarity said. “I should know; it took me quite a bit of effort to set up my own boutique when I was first starting out.”

“Well, personally, I don’t see that much wrong with it,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’ve been on my own since I was around Snöflinga’s age and I’ve done fine. I’ve managed to hold down a job, maintain my home and all the junk that comes with it, and have enough time training to join the Wonderbolts, which I succeeded in doing. And I’m the one who left Flight School early.”

“And that’s what a lot of the opposition will say; that they did this themselves and they turned out fine,” Twilight said. “But not everypony is good at that sort of thing. You work better from experience, I did better from books and studying.” She blushed. “Um… even if I was more than a little obsessive about it. But forcing somepony who’s completely unprepared into a life like that just isn’t right. A lot of us needed the time to just be kids.” She gave Fluttershy a look. “Although I will admit that certain ponies need more encouragement to focus and improve themselves…”

Fluttershy nodded. “I know, I know…” She gave a wry look. “Like my brother.”

“Exactly,” Twilight told her. “He is doing a lot better now, isn’t he?”

“Well, he doesn’t quite have a place of his own yet, but he’s working steadily and saving towards it,” Fluttershy told her. “And he is getting good reviews from his boss.”

“That’s good.” Twilight turned back to Rainbow Dash. “Still, you were a teenager when you left school and started working. We’re talking about ponies who want foals the same age as or younger than Scootaloo to go out and support themselves.”

Rainbow Dash cringed. “Okay, I see your point, and eesh - I’d never send a kid the squirt’s age out on their own like that. But if the kid is able to work, like I was, they shouldn’t be forced to wait until they’re eighteen if they want to; I mean, AJ, you were taking charge of your farm when you were around ten or something; can you imagine waiting until you were eighteen before you could do anything serious?”

“And they wouldn’t be,” Twilight reassured her. “Like I said the proposed laws would only keep them from being forced to go early; if they choose to go out and find work of their own free will, they still can, but there will still be restrictions to protect them from being overworked by ponies who might try to exploit them.”

“And Ah may have done a lot of the work back then, but that was just chores to me,” Applejack reminded Rainbow Dash. “Granny still ran the actual business end of things, an’ Mac handles most of that now.”

“Right.” Rainbow Dash looked around. “I get your point.”

Starlight shook her head. “Back when I was running my village, I… er, may have had a lot of flaws in my system, but at least that was never one of them. Say what you will about how badly I messed up, but I encouraged the kids to be kids and not be in a hurry to grow up.” She looked down. “Of course, that was partly because I saw a friend get his mark and it got him sent away to another school, and I kind of went… crazy from it...”

Twilight reached over and gave her a reassuring pat. “But you’ve more than made up for that now,” she said gently. “So, are you going to stay here with Sunburst and Flurry Heart, or are you going to come with us?”

“I’d love to come,” Starlight said. “It would be nice to see the big city; well at least one of them. For some reason I’ve never quite made it to that particular one.”

Spliced tilted her head. “I suppose you’ve been to Canterlot, being the capital; what other ones are there?”

“Well, there’s Manehatten, where some of us are going,” Twilight said. “We’ve got the pegasus cities of Cloudsdale and Las Pegasus, and of course there’s Fillydelphia, Baltimare, Applewood, Vanhoover, Whinnyapolis… and that’s just some of them.” She smiled. “Equestria’s mostly wide-open spaces, but there are some areas where things have gotten really built up. Even then though, they take care to keep from completely covering the natural parts.”

“Sounds… nice if anything,” Spliced said. “I had view of my home planet back in my moon prison through a glass ceiling and while I was watching it pass, it was a bit of a pleasure to see the greenery opposed to the bulkiness of the massive cities all over the planet.” She sighed. “And when I looked up and saw how green this world was the first time… well, that was proof positive that I was somewhere else.” Then her face soured. “Of course, I would have been happier had my suit not started to fail right that moment, but it was a wonderful view while I had it.”

“Darling, that sounds… awful,” Rarity said.

Spliced gave her a pained smile. “Different dimension, different ways of life… I’m just glad your Princess Luna found me and brought me down here when she did or I’d be stuck up there, dying over and over again while I dragged myself back through the portal.” She sighed. “And even without that fate, and some of the technological limitations I’ve run across, this Equestria has proven to be a much more pleasant place than the world I came from.”

“We do our best; Celestia has spent years trying to make sure of that,” Twilight said.

“She has definitely succeeded, in my opinion,” Spliced said as Cadance, Shining, Flurry Heart, Snöflinga with Sunburst walking beside the windigo, Scootaloo and her aunts entered the room. “Hello everypony.”

“Good morning,” Cadance said as she found a seat while she used her thuamatics to make her and her daughter’s plate. “How is everypony tonight? I hope that everypony slept well,” she asked as Sunburst got into a quick argument with Snöflinga as the windigo was sniffing the coffee curiously.

“Somewhat,” Spliced said honestly. “It’s related to my condition, I’d get into more details but…” She trailed off as she looked at Flurry Heart who had Shining feeding her and Scootaloo who was moving her seat closer to Rainbow Dash.

Cadance nodded in understanding. “And everypony else?”

There was a quick round of “Yes”es, Spike translating for Snöflinga who merely grumbled as he drank his cup of coffee from a straw as his hoof was clearly not strong enough to hold stuff on its own, and then Twilight cleared her throat. “Actually, most of us have to get ready to leave today,” she said. “I got a letter this morning asking me to come to Manehatten for a meeting, and I need Spike and Spliced with me. Rarity and Starlight have also said they’re coming along, and Fluttershy and Applejack need to go back to Ponyville - Pinkie, are you doing your preparations here or there?” she asked.

“Here Twilight,” Pinkie Pie said as she pulled Snöflinga into a hug, causing the windigo to jolt in surprise. “He has more missed parties to make up for than Splicey does!”

“Right,” Twilight said as Snöflinga broke out of the hug with a huff. “Anyway, Rainbow Dash has said she’s staying here too.”

Scootaloo looked up at her surrogate big sister, and Rainbow Dash reached down and ruffled her mane. “Unless it’s an emergency, I ain’t leavin’ until you’re all good,” she said. “This is the off season for the team, so I don’t have any performances to get ready for right now, and I got Cloud Kicker to handle running the Ponyville weather bureau while I was away, since she is qualified.”

Cadance gave the pair a knowing smile, then turned back to Twilight. “What kind of meeting?” she asked.

“It’s related to making the array that we’ll be using to find Chrysalis,” Twilight said, and Cadance drew in a sharp breath before she nodded.

“Good,” Pharynx grunted from behind her, and Twilight almost jumped out of her seat, not having seen him come in. “And I’m staying here. Someling’s got to keep an eye on this guy.” He gestured towards Snöflinga, who gave him something of a dirty look and said something that made Spike shake his head before speaking to him.

“Right.” Twilight took a deep breath as she tried to calm her racing heart. “I’m not sure how long we’ll be gone though, hopefully not more than a day or two.”

“Just let us know when you’re on your way back here,” Cadance told her.

“I will,” Twilight promised.

About an hour later, four mares and a young dragon were on the train to Manehatten, with Fluttershy and Applejack having stayed behind to take a different one back to Ponyville. Twilight was watching how Spliced and Starlight were interacting and was grateful that they were not fighting this time, instead they were discussing how to properly attune the array. Rarity, on the other hoof, was talking to Spike about Snöflinga and possible outfits she could make for him.

Twilight was patiently taking notes when the train finally pulled up to the city with everypony moving off the train with the five of them staying behind before Rarity turned to face Twilight.

“So Darlings, where are you going to meet with Shaft?” she asked. “I’m sure that she would have some fancy office in the middle of the city with the fanciest of buildings if she knows Celestia.”

“Actually, according to her letter, she is located closer to the waterfront, Rarity,” Twilight said causing the unicorn to blink in surprise.

“Well darling,” she spoke slower, clearly off guard and doing her best to recover. “It takes all sorts to make Equestria what it is, after all.”

After that, they parted ways with Rarity heading for her shop on Saddle Row, while the four of them walked towards the less polished part of the town, keeping eyes out as things became more and more suspect and the people around them more shady looking.

They finally stopped in front of a large factory building with smoke billowing out that had the pegasi attending to it wearing coverings over their mouths as they broke apart the clouds and earmuffs to deal with the loud sound emitting from inside of the building itself.

Sharing the concerned looks between Starlight and Spike - Spliced look very interested at the moment - Twilight made her way forwards and knocked on the door before pushing it open and stepping into a much quieter but sparse reception office.

“Hello there, Gear’s Industry, how may I serv… oh hello your highness, “ a unicorn mare behind a desk said, smiling warmly at them “Miss Shaft is waiting for you, Princess Twilight; your friends….” She drifted off, looking unsure how to deal with the three of them.

“We were hoping to purchase some material for a special project,” Twilight said and directed Spliced to step forwards as she lay out her plans for her thaumatic blanketing array on the desk.

“Well, I don’t know…” the mare began before another voice over spoke her.

“It seems feasible to me, Note Taker,” a refined voice suddenly said, and all attention turned to the new mare in the room. She was a dusty blue unicorn with an equally dusty yellow mane, faded and fresh oil covering her forehooves and a gear and wrench cutie mark on her flanks. “We definitely have the materials to get this working,” she turned her head towards the what had to be the main factory room and then shouted in a very thick Manehatten accent, “‘ey Lughead, Ies wants ya to listens to des mares, ya got it?”

There was a shout from this Lughead making it clear that he did understand, and Starlight, Spliced and Spike all walked into the workshop area of the factory, leaving Gear Shaft facing Twilight. “If you will follow me, your highness, we have much to talk about,” she said in her refined voice once more, going up the spiral staircase. “About our Duties as the Lady of Magic and Lady of Technology and how we are going to proceed in regards to development of our world.”

Chapter Twenty Four

Twilight followed her up the stairs, wondering what she would see from the Lady of Technology although when she got onto the landing, she did not expect what she saw.

Twilight supposed it was formerly a loft that had looked over the factory but it had clearly been converted into a private workplace with a small corner closed off for living quarters, including a bed tucked into the corner with a table and fridge beside it. Everywhere else had drawing tables and benches with numerous designs and blueprints covering them, and several half-built machines littered the floor. The sheer presence of it all was breathtaking and even a bit overwhelming. It was a testament that Gear Shaft could walk without stepping on anything, while Twilight was forced to teleport herself over to the table after a few false attempts at navigating her way through led her to almost walk into some planning table or piece of machinery.

Gear Shaft flashed her a coy smile as she sat down at her table; her face stumbling for a moment as she saw the leftover meal on the table before chuckling at Twilight.

“If you will give me a moment, Twilight?” she asked as her horn glowed a metallic gray and the entire mess was shunted off before an almost completely clean white tablecloth was put on and a tea set levitated over onto it that was heated up by the mare’s magic. Sitting down at the table, Gear Shaft flashed Twilight a smirk and said, “You look surprised.”

“I-,” Twilight stammered, caught off guard by the fact that Gear Shaft was using her magic.

“Something you should be aware of, Twilight, is that while you are the Lady of Magic, that Role does not mean you are barred from using Technology any more than I am barred from using my magic,” she said as she poured both of them a cup of tea before bringing out a plate of biscuits. “Like the Ladies of the Sun and Moon, our two Powers don’t have to be enemies - we’re fully capable of coexisting peacefully depending how we decide to move forwards.”

“What do you mean by that,” Twilight asked, taking a sip of her tea and wincing slightly. It was bland and very weak, but proper manners kept her from speaking up on it.

“You see Twilight, times are changing and a new Age is upon us,” she said, holding a biscuit in her hooves, taking a small bite before spitting it out. “Gah, I ate some damn oil and grease again!” The mare rushed to the sink to wash her mouth out with Twilight lifting the biscuit to her mouth and taking a bite, only to wrinkle her nose as it was stale.

“Let me guess, hard as a rock?” Gear Shift asked as she came back, leaning into her chair. Any pretense of sophistication was gone. “Sorry to say that while I’m great at technology, my cooking and baking skills are considerably lacking.” She snorted, and shook her head. “That’s an understatement, Gear, you could give a dragon indigestion,” she muttered to herself before her horn glowed metallic gray again and the fridge opened up to have several bags of Hayburgers fly over to the table. “Here, something with more substance.” She tore open one bag, popped open the carton, took a big bite of her burger and forced it down her throat. “’might like acting like a noble, but damn don’t I like this grub.”

“Yeah,” Twilight said slowly as took her Hayburger and started to eat it too. “Me too.”

“That shows that you’ve got a good noggin on ya shoulders, Twilight,” Gear smirked at her. “As I was saying, time are changing and we need to discuss how we’re going to move along. There’s three ways we can do it; two of them suck and one of them decent. The first two are that we don’t get along and fight and do our best to hinder each other,” she said as she used her magic to bring out two bottles of hard Apple cider, holding one out to Twilight with a quizzical look as if Gear was asking her if she actually wanted to drink now. Twilight shook her head with Gear nodding and putting them back into the fridge. “Can’t drink now Gear, you’d be working now,” she lectured herself before looking at Twilight again. “As I was saying, we could be at each other’s throat, with either Magic or Technology ultimately winning but the loser doing their best to still hamper the winner which would be nasty and ugly and bad for everyone, and I don’t think either of us wants that.”

“No, I do-”

“Right; that leads us to option three,” Gear said as she pushed herself upright. “We work together; you endorse my work when it comes time for me to push this much needed revolution to the world,” Gear’s smile fell for the first time, a frown on her face as she walked over to the observation window with Twilight following her. “If you’re half as smart as Celestia says you are, then you’ve noticed how incomplete, patchworked, hackedjob, slapdash our technology is; things are all over the place, no reason or rhyme to how things are. We’ve got things as advanced as electronics while still relying on steam trains instead of diesel engines, we’ve got light bulbs yet half the world still uses candles!” Gear spat with such anger that it took Twilight aback. She then looked at Twilight and gestured a hoof to the floor below. “That is right, that is filling in the gasps our world is missing, that is what I see the future should be.”

Twilight looked out the window and saw lines of ponies working on machines and something about it made her flinch inside of herself. It looked harmless enough but the sight of ponies working like golems reminded her of some of the alternate worlds she’d seen, even before her visit to the Valley of Alicorns, and she shuddered at the memory.

“I won’t argue with you,” she said cautiously. “But there has to be a balance. I’ve seen what happens when a world gets completely overtaken by industrialization and pollution and they neglect the more organic side of things. It was horrible.”

“As is a world that has no desire to expand its horizon, seeking only to expand one aspect of themselves, rather than trying to improve in general,” Gear shot back, leaning into her face. “I am fully aware of the dangers of what could happen if I do not seek to curb my Power; the question is are you aware of the dangers of uncontrolled Magic?”

Twilight’s coat bristled at this, but she did her best to keep herself calm. “I can imagine-”

“I don’t want you to imagine, I want you to know,” Gear cut her off, eyes narrowed. “I visited other dimensions in the past with Celestia and I saw firsthoof how both our Powers could get out of control. Worlds where everything is controlled by machines, ponies that have abandoned everything that made them ponies for false bodies and lives. And I’ve seen worlds where magic has run wild, changing and manipulating everything in its path, where life for anypony is impossible.”

“You think I haven’t seen that too?” Twilight snapped back. “Admittedly, it wasn’t a very long look, but even with what little I saw, just imagining what the rest of that world was like was enough to terrify me.” She began taking deep breaths, trying to force her anger down. “As I said, I understand what you mean. But there still has to be balance, both sides working together. I’ve seen plenty of technology that helps and revolutionizes the world, but they need to handle it responsibly.” She waved a hoof. “That world I saw where Flim and Flam were just rampantly destroying and polluting, all so they could build their big factories? That was one example of a world out of balance that I know of. Likewise, that one I saw of Discord’s magic gone completely wild - it was a nightmare too.”

“Hence our need to talk and plan how we will work together for the betterment of our world, Twilight,” Gear smiled at her and led her back to the table. “I’m glad to hear all of that, to be honest; shows me that Celestia did you right and helped you get ready for all this. I couldn’t ask for a better equal for myself.” Twilight frowned at the wording but chose not to say anything. “So are we in agreement to work with each other, Twilight?” she asked her again, holding out her hoof and Twilight could tell that this was something different, that what she did next would have lasting impacts.

But Twilight knew that only she could do this and she would only have this one chance.

So the Lady of Magic took the hoof of the Lady of Technology and shook it.

Nothing happened; no fireworks, no cosmic winds of change, nothing. But there was a change, an important change.

“Good,” Gear broke out into a cocky grin. “Glad that’s done with, Twilight.” Slapping her on the back, she led her back to the table and tapped it. “We can talk shop now,” she said as she leaned back in her seat. “I suppose that Celestia gave you the complete rundown about all the Powers and the whole backstory?”

“Yes she did, she and Princess Luna were adamant about making sure that Cadance and I knew everything,” Twilight said as she took her seat again.

“And I’ll buy a bridge in Baltimare when I believe old Tia told someone everything,” Gear snarked and shook her head. “We’ll go over what you know to see if she actually did it.”

“I should get mad at you for that, but…” Twilight let out a sigh.

“But we both know how she likes to mother hen, the oversized swan,” Gear spat and then winced. “Stupid Gear, you’ll need to clean that up.”

Twilight nodded. “There was a time when I’d have defended her,” she said. “But… after everything I’ve experienced, especially recently, I have to wonder.” Then she cocked her head. “Speaking of things she’s kept from me… just how long have you known her?”

“Ah Twilight, a true lady never reveals her age,” Gear grinned at her before shaking her head. “But long enough that I’ve got my hoof in all of the latest technological growths across the planet thanks to her. Not legal per se, but then again, when you’ve got a lesser Power supporting and covering for you, ya kinda are confident in what you do.”

“Lesser Power?” Twilight repeated. “How-”

“I knew it! I knew she didn’t tell ya everything,” Gear slapped the table before leaning across it to pull Twilight into a hug, knocking everything on the table to the ground. “Old Bit Collector owes me an expensive dinner now, ha ha!”

Twilight squawked at the sudden embrace, and she could feel the grease and oil staining her coat and feathers. “Gear, she did tell me about Lesser Powers, but not how low she is.”

“Oh,” Gear blinked and tightened her grip for a moment before letting go. “Well, I suppose he don’t need to hear none of that and I don’t need no fancy eats.”

“I can see about booking us a table at Taste of Neighpon if you want…” Twilight offered.

“Nah, if I want to do all that I’d need to do is get dolled up and go to one myself,” Gear snorted. “And a burger from the joint a few blocks down the street is just as tasty.” Gear levieted another burger over tot the table with the mare taking a big bite. “But ya should know a lot more, you and your friends, about the rest of us.” Her magic brought a stack of letters over to the table with the mare beginning to fill them out. “I’mma calling up a meeting of Powers for a few weeks from now, after Nightmare Night; hopefully everyone comes. Not sure if Tia will due to how much she’s dropped in influence.”

“What do you mean by that,” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well Twilight, yer the smarty one, you tell me what’s changed for that overgrown duck,” Gear leaned back into her chair, only for her to almost topple over on her back.

Twilight frowned and thought about what crucial aspect had changed for Celestia and it took her a moment to realize what it was.

“Luna,” she said with Gear nodding her head, waving her hoof to tell her to go on. “She came back and took back her Role as Lady of Night?”

“Yup,” Gear said. “Life can exist with either just the Day or the Night; life’s adaptive like that but it does need one and for a thousand years, Celestia had a monopoly over that and we’d kinda had to accept what she said or… well as you know Death and Life are the head honchos but we all need to work together so she and her interests were at the top for a long time. Now that she’s just a regular Power, a lot of the others will want to take shots at her.” Gear tilted her head. “Though now that’s Luna back, she is very high up there being three Powers at once.”

“Three?” Twilight parroted the words. “She’s Lady of Night and Dreams but what’s the third one?”

“Nightmares, temporarily,” Gear said as she gave Twilight another burger to eat. “Until she can find a new soul to take up the role from the last Lord of Nightmares.”

“Wait, it was a stallion?” Twilight asked in surprise.

“Yup, ol’ Nightmare Moon was a stallion that took over Luna,” Gear snorted. “Ain’t no one pleased to learn that little tidbit; not least Celestia though I can’t blame her to learn that some stallion stole her sis’s body to try and claim the Power of Dreams.”

“I would be furious as well,” Twilight said, “If some other Power tried to steal Spike or Shining Armor’s body...”

“Yeah, I have ta give her credit, the old duck is good at what she does; as soon as she learned about ya friend down there, she warned us all.”

“Do you mean Starli-”

“No, Spliced,” Gear said. “Visitors from another dimension - and not just a side realm like the one your friend Sunset’s living in - are something that’s automatically worth checking into. Not that some of us weren’t worried about Starlight at first - Stop Watch, Lord of Time, in particular, with what she was doing, but we saw things were in hoof soon enough.” She cocked her head. “Also, speaking of Sunset, that was some impressive work you did making that gadget to keep the portal open, and if you’ve got a copy of the blueprints somewhere, I’d like to go over them with you at some point, if only out of scientific curiosity.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Twilight said.

“Wonderful,” Gear said, slapping her on the back again. “Come, let’s go see how they’re doing.” Nodding her head, Twilight let herself be led downstairs.

Chapter Twenty Five

As Twilight and Gear headed downstairs, with the mare quickly wiping her face clean and muttering how Gear wasn’t allowed to be dirty, no not when she was working, they saw that Note Taker had left her desk and there was a large gathering near some tables inside the workshop.

“Oi, Lughead, what’s going on here?” Gear bellowed out, causing most of her much larger workers to scatter, leaving the biggest Earth Pony to turn to face her, while Spliced, Starlight and Spike were all huddled around the table.

“Just workin’ on this here mare’s design,” the pony said, tipping his head to her. “Really fancy like; almost as good as one of yous electronic gizmos. Don’t have the same watz level you need for ya high toys, but wes think we got the detection thaumicological array working-”

“Thaumatical,” Spliced and Starlight corrected simultaneously, before looking at each other.

“Yeah yeah,” he scoffed, rolling his eyes at the mares. “Tha doohicky watzit that detects magic.”

“I like him,” Spike commented.

“Wes are start ta do them tests, Gear Shaft, but wes waiting for ya.”

“Wait,” Twilight interrupted. “You two named it that? Why not just call it a thaumometer? It’s shorter and still descriptive.”

“Actually, we haven’t named it yet,” Starlight admitted.

“Ladies, can we please gets back ta tha demo?” Lughead asked them, with everyone falling silent before he pulled some very thick and elboarate safety gear on himself while Gear brought out what looked like a blast shield from the side.

“By the way, what do you produce here?” Twilight asked as she saw the rest of the worker get behind some protective barrier with alarming ease to their movements.

“‘’ridgators,” Gear said as she added in a roof to their protective structure. “Among other little things.”

“And explosions,” Lughead snarked. “Lots of explosions.”

“Oi, be a good expendable dolt and do that there test, alright?” Gear snapped playfully at him, with Lughead snorting but nodding his head as he placed some of his fur on the glass screen so that the device could scan it. There was an audible surge of energy going through the device with a lot of Gear’s employees ducking preemptively and Twilight preparing both a teleport and shield spell.

There was a loud rumble in the room before the machine began to emit a series of loud noises which made Spliced smile as she moved from the safety of the blast shields and made her way to the machine to read what it was displaying.

“It seems to be working; it’s displaying where Lughe-” before Spliced could finish her sentence, there was a loud BANG and a large section of the machine flew outwards towards Lughead only for Spliced to leap in the way.

“Holy Celestia’s flaming tits on a cracker!” Lughead swore as he took a step back from the mare that now had a large piece of metal sticking out of her face, spraying blood all over the table.

“Spliced!” Twilight wasn’t sure who shouted it, herself, Starlight, Spike or some other pony but everypony was racing towards her to see what could be done.

Standing over the mare that was unmoving on the floor, Twilight snapped a shield in front of Spike’s face to block his view of Spliced who now had a large piece of shrapnel sticking out of her left eye.

“Oh by Luna’s sparkly asscrack hair, I-” Lughead began to ramble when Spliced let out a loud groan.

“I’ve got a splitting headache and I can’t see anything,” the mare said as she sat upright, causing everypony not used to the fact that she could shake this sort of thing off or that she could come back to life to let out cries of surprise and terror. “Twilight, you here?”

“Er, yes I am Spliced,” Twilight said delicactly, feeling very unsure of herself at this moment.

“Good, two questions and a request,” she said as she turned her head to Twilight causing even more of the stallions around them to let out high-pitched cries. “Is there something in my eye and is Lughead okay?”

“Er, yes, yes to both,” Twilight said, nodding her head.

“Good,” Spliced said with a smile before tilting her head, causing a line of blood to land directly between Twilight’s eyes, with the mare whimpering. “Can you please remove whatever’s in my eye so I can kill myself?”

“You know, it’s really disturbing how quickly you resort to that solution to all your problems,” Twilight noted as she used her magic to grab the sheet of metal and started to tug on it.

“I blame my captors for the conditioning,” Spliced replied with a pained grunt. “It’d hurt less if you just pulled it out quickly…”

“I’m trying, but it’s really wedged in there,” Twilight stated as she kept tugging. “I think it might have gotten as far back as the bone…”

“Great,” Spliced grumbled and rolled her eyes before letting out a pained groan as it caused the metal shard in her face to dig around her brain.

“Oi, Lughead, stallion up and help her,” Gear said, causing the pony to look at the mare that saved him, then at his boss and back at the still bleeding mare.

“Um, sure thing, miss Shaft,” Lughead said as he walked back to her and grabbed the metal and began to pull. “I ain’t hurting you, am I Miss Genome?”

“Yes, but it’d hurt less if you’d just pull it out quickly.”

With a mighty heave, Lughead suddenly yanked on the shard with all of his strength, pulling it and part of the jellied eyeball out of Spliced’s head with the mare falling backwards to the floor before sitting upright.

“Ow… And thanks,” she said, rubbing her left eye before shaking her head. “Okay, I think I know what went wrong, so I can now fix-”

“Wait, you’re going back ta work?” Lughead asked, placing a hoof on her shoulder. “Shouldn’t ya rest or somethin’?”

“I’ll rest when I’m dead… Oh wait - I won’t.” Spliced said with a frown on her face that had a hint of a grin

“Not funny, Spliced,” Twilight grumbled to the snickering of Starlight, Spike and a few other ponies behind her. “In all honesty, you should take some time to take a step back.”

“I’m perfectly okay to work,” Spliced protested.

“Hey!” Lughead started angrily. “Dis ain’t no laughing matter! Yous is hurt and you should see a doctor!”

“For what, my inability to die?” Spliced shook her head. “There’s nothing I could do to stop it and besides, it’s useful enough, like being in the way when something does blow up.”

“And Is grateful for yous saving mes there but come on, ya just died once-”

“Twice, actually, you scrambled my brains when you pulled that shard out,” Spliced added.

“I don’t even want to know how you know what that feels like,” Twilight said.

“She’s right,” Gear added. “About how you know what that feels like and about taking a break; I need to shut down and get this place cleaned anyways due to all the blood and exploded parts around.”

With a grunt, Spliced stood up and gave them a narrowed look with Gear shaking her head.

“Fine,” she grumbled. “But I can promise, my condition means the worst problem I get left with after dying and reviving is a bit of a headache, and even that doesn’t last too long.”

“Right,” Gear tilted her head at Spliced before waving her hoof to signal everypony out of the room, with the assembly lines shutting down and ponies leaving the workplace with a few ponies in cleaning gear coming out to take of the mess. “I’ll mail you the parts for your device once we’re done fine tuning it, okay?”

“Fair enough,” Spliced said, with Twilight directing her out of the room.

“Come on, we’ll all go visit Rarity,” Twilight said, trying to move the subject to something more controllable. “You’ll get to meet Coco Pommel - she’s head salespony at Rarity’s shop here.”

Spliced nodded. “Hopefully I’ll make a better impression at this boutique than at her one in Ponyville.”

“I don’t think I’ve met her either,” Starlight commented as she and Spike walked up to them. “I was minding the castle when you and the others were up here for the grand opening, after all.”

“She’s a sweetheart,” Twilight told them. “Shy, soft-spoken…”

“And doing much better with her life after she met Rarity for the first time,” Spike remarked. “If anypony deserved to be freaked out by seeing what you’re capable of surviving, it was her old boss.”

“Spike!” Twilight gave him an indignant look as they headed for the door.

“What? Suri was a dirty, rotten thief!”

Spliced watched the two squabble good-naturedly as they headed out, and shook her head in amusement. Starlight, who was standing next to her, made a small noise, catching her attention but before she could ask what the pink mare wanted, there was a hoof placed on her shoulder. Looking to the side, she saw that Lughead was smiling at her. “By the ways, I didn’t thank ya for saving me there,” he said, holding out his hoof to her.“I owe ya my life, thanks ta ya.”

“I-I,” Spliced stuttered, caught off guard by his warm words. “I just did what anypony would do?” Before she knew what was happening there were other factory workers thanking her and Spliced found herself smiling back at them and enjoying this sudden pleasant feeling.

Finally, she was able to extract herself from the workers to find Twilight and Spliced smiling at her. “You done there?” Starlight asked playfully and Spliced found herself snorting and nodding her head in agreement.

“Yes, I think so,” Spliced said as they left the factory before looking at Twilight. “This Coco, from what you said, reminds me of somepony... is she like Fluttershy?”

“Kind of,” Twilight said. “Demeanor-wise, at least. They don’t have the same interest in animals, but they’re both shy, soft-spoken… Coco’s a nice mare.”

“That works for me,” Spliced said. “I wouldn’t want to alarm her or anything considering… you know.”

“Good.” Starlight sighed. “Now, I will admit, I agree with Spike on what he said about Suri - I never met her myself, this was back before I met Twilight and the others - but he and Rarity have mentioned her to me since then.”

Spliced nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind if I ever run into her.”

Some time later, the four had arrived at Rarity For You, and Spliced and Starlight had been formally introduced to Coco. Spliced was glad to see that her instincts had been right; the smaller mare did remind her a lot of Fluttershy in terms of her demeanor, and their first meeting had gone smoothly. Of course, there was the slight issue of both Rarity and her employee trying to get Spliced to agree to trying on a new outfit; while she didn't see the benefit, she was starting to weaken on the reluctance and both of them could see it and continued to work away at her resolve, while Starlight observed the entire event with a smirk on her face.

Luckily, neither of them had forgotten their manners this time and kept civil and the rest of the day passed quietly and smoothly beyond a sudden message arriving from the Crystal Empire asking for Spike to come help with translations for Snöflinga again as Sunburst was apparently hitting a wall as far as he could teach the windigo the modern language. Spike had immediately responded that he would be there on the double and both Rarity and Coco had praised the young dragon for his actions, Spike preening at their words but reacting as Spliced hoped he would: with humbleness befitting his maturing age and Twilight’s own parental influences. While Twilight and Rarity walked with Spike to the train station, the three left behind began to prepare supper which, unfortunately for Spliced, was spaghetti today.

Despite that, Spliced managed to keep her disgust in check and was in the midst of making the sauce when Coco caught her attention by coughing.

“Yes?” she asked, turning her head to look at the earth pony.

"I’m sorry, but I’m curious how Twilight knew Miss Shaft," Coco said softly. "I wasn’t even aware that her highness knew Miss Shaft."

“Well,” Starlight said a bit hesitant, the pasta she was preparing hovering over the sink, giving Spliced a worried look. “She didn’t know her beforehoof, per se, but I’m fairly sure that she was introduced by Princess Celestia and-”

“Starlight, am I correct to believe that this whole meeting between Twilight and Gear Shaft was both a happy coincidence as well as some sort of top secret government business?”

“Er, um…” Starlight’s stammering told Spliced all that she needed to know with the alicorn shaking her head.

“Then that’s all you need to say,” Spliced said as she turned her attention back to the meal.

“You’re not curious?” Starlight asked her.

“Of course I am, but it’s not my business to know Twilight’s princessly duties,” Spliced replied. “If she trusts you enough to tell you what’s really going on, then that’s fine.”

“Oh,” Starlight said with a blush on her face before she started to laugh. “I was kinda on edge, expecting you to poke and prod because the whole situation was a bit fishy.”

“Considering the last time I got involved with governmental business resulted in certain circumstances for me, I’m not too eager to repeat that mistake,” Spliced said.

“Right,” Starlight said with Coco frowning at her word choice but Spliced wasn’t about to go into greater details about her inability to die - she didn’t want to disturb the shorter mare, nice as she was, and from past experience, she was certain that the details would upset Coco badly.

Looking away and tilting her head to the side, Starlight peered out into the shop’s workroom and turned to face the shorter mare. “Is that your Nightmare Night costume in there?”

“Oh yes, it is,” Coco said. “I’m almost done - I’ve had to work on it between handling orders for all the different customers, but it’s going well. I just need to add a few finishing touches.”

“Excuse me, but what’s Nightmare Night?” Spliced asked.

“Oh it’s a nice little festival where the foals dress up in costume and go to their neighbours for candy and other treats, with most towns having small festivals that’s meant to scare them in a playful way,” Starlight said. “While Celestia has the Summer Sun festival - that’s the summer solstice, by the way - Nightmare Night is more or less Luna’s own festival to enjoy being with everypony.” She looked a little thoughtful. “I think I’ve read something about a few other parts of the world having their own equivalent too, but they’re more based on the idea that it’s the night when the barrier between the worlds of the living and dead are weakest, allowing friendly spirits to visit the living and some… creepier ones to come out and cause trouble. But we’re not sure how accurate either part is.”

Coco nodded. “I think I’ve heard some stories about spirits coming back too… mostly foal’s tales, but some ponies I’ve met take them very seriously.”

Starlight had a faint smile on her face. “The only self-proclaimed spirit I’ve ever run into myself was Discord, and he… well, he is what he is. Though one of Twilight’s favorite stories involves this mare who met three spirits in the middle of winter…” She tapped her hoof on her chin. “Actually, given what we just learned recently, I kind of have to wonder how accurate that one was.”

“What do you mean?” Coco asked.

“Well, in the story, one of the spirits predicted the return of the windigos, and we… er… sort of found out about a living one who’d been buried in the ice up North?” Seeing Coco’s eyes widening, Starlight raised a hoof. “He’s okay. Kind of a cranky kid, but okay - he’s not going to go out deliberately spreading trouble like the ones in the legends did. He and Spike certainly get along well enough, and little Flurry Heart seemed to like him.”

“From what Rarity told me, she seems to like everypony,” Coco said with a happy sigh before she looked at Spliced. “Is the festival like the ones where you’re from, Miss Genome?”

“Hmm,” Spliced hummed to herself as she leaned against the counter, idly watching the sauce cook. “It is somewhat similar to what it is,” Spliced whispered or was under her breath. “But back home, those nights of festivities are usually reserved for those mega city blocks that can offered to host such things. Usually happens on either the very high, rich floors or the poor, interconnected families on the bottom.”

Coco blinked owlishly at what she said and Spliced was suddenly aware of the fact that she had just revealed was not something typical in this world. “Sorry,” she apologized. “Very long story. Oh, and Starlight?”

“Yes?” Starlight asked with a raised eyebrow.

“What’s the name of that story you mentioned, because I may want to take a look at it at some point, especially if it mentions windigos.”

“A Hearth's Warming Tale,” Starlight replied. “It’s really more of a foal’s story set around this one Hearth’s Warming Eve, after Equestria’s been around for several centuries, but apparently Twilight loves it.”

“I remember that one!” Coco beamed. “I loved it when I was a little filly too…”

“Will that one need to be revised as well?” Spliced asked.

“Um… probably not,” Starlight said. “It doesn’t involve the founding itself - it’s about these ponies celebrating Hearth’s Warming, but one of them thinks it’s a big waste of time and even wants to abolish it entirely, until they get visited by these three spirits. Two of them show her the positive side of things… and then this last one points out that without Hearth’s Warming celebrations spreading so much positive emotion and good will around Equestria, the windigos will be able to return and freeze the country and everypony in it again. Pretty accurate depiction of Equestria and its beliefs at the time, I’d say.”

Coco frowned and tilted her head towards Spliced. “What do you mean by revised?”

“According to what Snöflinga, the windigo, told us, the actual history of Equestria’s founding and what led up to it is vastly different,” Starlight said before looking at Spliced. “Although there is a gap of time he didn’t speak of, since he was frozen in ice at that point.”

“And even I could tell he wasn’t telling everything about the three founders who actually lit the Fires of Friendship,” Spliced said. “He had very positive things to say about that trio, mind, but I’m sure there was more to it.”

“Excuse me, but how different?” Coco asked.

“Well…” Starlight looked a bit uncomfortable.

“Apparently, Puddinghead, Platinum and Hurricane were, as one of my old classmates would say, ‘big fat jerks’,” Spliced said. “Much worse than the stories portray them.”

“Really?” Coco asked with wide eyes.

“Really; I doubt any foal will want to be them for Nightmare Night anymore, or any parent will let them dress up as them.” Starlight grimaced at the memories of what Snöflinga had revealed about the three leaders. “Cookie, Pansy and Clover, on the other hoof, are likely to get a surge in popularity; especially with fillies that want a stronger role model, colts that admire pirates and foals that have had trouble finding their special talents respectively.” She suddenly looked thoughtful. “Actually, if we’d found out about this a few years ago, I just know a certain trio would all be wanting to dress up as Clover - I wasn’t living in Ponyville then, but after I came to live with Twilight, I heard a lot of stories about the things those girls got up to while trying to earn their marks. And especially about all the tree sap...”

“Really?” Spliced asked, momentarily wondering about the tree sap remark. “I think I know who you mean, and while they did tell me about how they got their marks I don’t remember them mentioning having a lot of trouble with it...”

“Well, it’s true,” Starlight told her. “From what I’ve been told, it was their long experiences trying to get theirs in the first place that helped them learn enough to help others with their marks.”

“That would make a lot of sense,” Spliced said. “At any rate, I’m glad their efforts paid off.”

“So are we all,” Starlight replied. Then she looked at Coco. “For the record, we’re talking about Rarity’s little sister and her friends,” she explained. “I’m not sure how much you’ve heard about them, but…”

Coco nodded. “Rarity’s had a lot to say about them too,” she said. “And a lot of tree sap, apparently. And how if I ever meet Sweetie Belle, don’t let her fix breakfast.”

“Dare I ask?” Spliced asked.

“She burned juice and liquified toast.”

“EEURGH!” Spliced shuddered. “And I thought the food back in my old place was bad… at least there it was mostly just bland and non-varietal. But… how do you liquify toast‽”

“You’re the scientist, Spliced,” Starlight smirked. “You’d know better than either of us. She has improved a bit, by the way, but Rarity still prefers to keep her out of the kitchen. Less chance of setting it on fire that way.”

Spliced shuddered again. “Still… and I thought Discord in a bad mood was scary, but this takes the cake.”

Coco blinked. “Cake? Where?”

Spliced gave her a look and was about to say something, when she heard a hoofstep behind her, and then a voice.

“Yes, her cooking is scary,” the voice said, and the trio looked to see an amused-looking Rarity, Twilight coming up beside her. “I love my little sister dearly, but even at her best, I would rather she not try making anything that’s meant to be edible, especially without adult supervision. Or Spike, since he is quite the gourmet himself.”

“I’ll second that last remark,” Spliced told her. “He’s better than a lot of the professionals I’d gotten food from back home.”

“I’ve always eaten well with Spike taking care of the meals,” Twilight said with a smile on her face before she chuckled and rubbed the back of her head. “I’m still learning the basics myself right now, but it’s kinda embarrassing that my son is so much better than me.”

“Well darling, perfection comes with time and I’m sure you will become a better cook if you do it more often,” Rarity said as she walked over to the stove, and with a levitating spoon, tasted the sauce with a smile. “Mm, this is good Spliced.”

Spliced felt her face flush at this and mumbled her thanks.

There was light chuckling at her blushing before all of them worked to finish supper, finally sitting down to enjoy it with a nice red wine. After that, Spliced finally relented and agreed to model for Coco and Rarity for a possible dress before they prepared to go to bed.

Chapter Twenty Six

After a pleasant night’s sleep with Spliced having no nightmares for a change, Twilight announced that she, Starlight and Spliced were ready to head back to Ponyville, the trio saying goodbye to Coco and Rarity, the latter of whom had told Twilight that she needed a few more days before she was ready to return home herself.

Spliced found herself swaying in the breeze of the wind with a light hum on her lips as they waited for the train to arrive. Flicking her eyes to the side, she could see Starlight was smirking at her but instead of responding to the other mare, she just smiled.

This Equestria was truly wonderful and… she could actually see herself staying here and making a life. She doubted she would ever be fully trusted as she could tell that the princesses, Twilight and her friends would never accept her crimes and thus she had to stay silent on the matter but eventually they would come to accept that she would never say and then it could all be forgotten as time went on.

Shaking her yellowish mane, she found those thoughts to be uncomfortable for some reason. Before she could think further on it, the train pulled up and the three of them boarded, walking to their private car.

Sitting across from Starlight, Spliced felt those emotions come back, with her face heating up as she shifted uncomfortably. She was about say something when Starlight herself began to speak.

Both blinked at this, then waved each other on with the same results as before.

Spliced was unsure how to continue without both of them continuing to be unable to speak when Twilight coughed delicately.

“Excuse me girls, but I believe I know what Starlight is trying to say,” the mare said, placing a bookmark in the Daring Do novel she was reading. “Spliced, I believe that we have failed to give you a proper welcome to our world; while I don’t understand what exactly you had done in your world to receive such a sentence, I have to feel that you did it because you thought it was the best option for you and your world and it was wrong of me and us to judge you on that.”

“Yeah,” Starlight said, nodding her head. “I’m not one to judge after almost destroying my world several times over out of pettiness and I can attest to guilt and the lack of wishing to talk about it.”

“It’s funny as I was about to apologize for my own behaviour,” Spliced said. “Four hundred years of isolation or not, I was a bad houseguest and I’m sorry as well.”

“Let’s start over, okay?” Starlight said with a small on her face, holding out her hoof. “Hi, I’m Starlight Glimmer.”

Spliced held her own hoof out. “I’m Spliced Genome… and it’s nice to meet you.”

Starlight got up, took the hoof and shook, flashing the mare a smile that was received.

“Excuse me, but may I introduce myself?” Twilight asked with a goofy smile on her face.

The two of them shared a look and they nodded their head. “Sure Twilight, go right ahead,” Starlight said with Spliced smile growing at this.

With a small playful pout directed at Starlight, Twilight held out her hoof to Spliced. “Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle and it’s nice to meet you,”

“My name is Spliced Genome and it's nice to meet you, Twilight Sparkle,” she told the mare who started to giggle and soon enough, they were all laughing and talking about nothing at all.

Before long, they had arrived back in Ponyville with the three of them made their way to the castle with Spliced about to head downstairs before recalling what Twilight had said on the train to the Crystal Empire and decided to fly around the small town instead, breathing in the resutic town. This could be home, if she truly worked at it. She could provide countless benefits to the people here; her medical knowledge of not only the equine body, but the draconic, windigo, mimic, and other biological bodies far surpassed what they had and they would greatly appreciate that knowledge. She doubted they had the barest notion of what a true calculating machine could do or one day led to and she could be the one that led them to that golden age.

She let out a sigh, doing her best not to focus on the future while her present was still not settled. Pulling her wings back to lower her speed, she made low spirals down to the castle while giving polite nods to the pegasi as she passed by to see Twilight talking to the mayor of Ponyville for some reason before the princesses spotted her and waved her down.

Frowning in confusion and a bit of concern, Spliced flew down much sharper, almost to point of injuring herself but she corrected herself as she made her landing. No need to kill herself for something as simple as this, after all.

“Ah Spliced, we were just talking about you,” Twilight said as Spliced walked up to them. “We have something to show you, if you will follow us.”

Her frown grew at this oddness but she followed the mares regardless as they led her out of the main housing district and to a slightly isolated hilltop. Both of them stopped at the top of hill, and turned to face Ponyville.

“What do you think of the view, Miss Genome?” the mayor asked her and Spliced stood besides them, taking in the picturesque view of the pleasant village.

“It’s quite lovely,” she replied, surprising herself in using such words.

“Well, you will be very lucky to enjoy this view everyday once your home is built,” the mayor said as she reached into her saddlebag.

“Excuse me, what did you just say?” Spliced asked as she turned her head in surprise.

“This plot of land is yours, Spliced,” Twilight proudly said from her other side as the earth pony gave her a sheet of papers. “I just bought it from Ivory here and helped her get all the necessary paperwork done so you can officially own this land and have the construction crews come in and start building your new home.”

“I-I - don’t know what to say,” Spliced said with her gasp mixed in with a laugh. “Beyond thank you of course, this is too much Twilight, I can’t-”

“You can, and you will,” Twilight said sharply. “Please take it, if not as an act of complete kindness and friendship, then for it being an excuse and a way for me to say sorry for being so terrible to you.”

Spliced stared at her and then chuckled, taking the papers from the earth pony. “I thought we were going to act as it all hadn’t happened.”

“Don’t be clever,” Twilight teased before happily sighing. “Please Spliced, I really do mean it; take this and become a permanent member of our town and life. I think it will do you a tremendous amount of good to have an actual community to be with after being isolated for so long. From what I know -”

“Okay Twilight,” Spliced interrupted her suddenly, unsure of why she did so but put it out of her mind quickly. “You’ve convinced me.” Turning around and lifting her left hoof to mimic where her doorbell used to be on her old cottage, she let out a happy smile. “I’ll stay.”

Ground was broken shortly after that, with ponies coming by help set up the basic foundations of a basement, although with the upcoming festival, things were at a slow pace. Despite this, Spliced was fine with this; she got to know more of Ponyville and the ponies and they were ready to welcome her as one of their own. Pinkie had already promised a big party once her house was finished and Spliced was eagerly looking forwards to it.

True to her word, Rarity had arrived shortly and offered, nay insisted, that she be the one that helped Spliced decorate her new home once it was ready.

She had joined Fluttershy for another tea party with Discord giving her a knowing smile and a nod of his head, which she could only reason was good news for her. After a few days of Rarity returning, Rainbow Dash had arrived with Holiday, Lofty and Scootaloo. Any question to if her surgery had been successful was quickly answered by the orange blur flying around with joyous sounds, with Rainbow Dash wiping away what she called liquid pride every time she looked upwards at the young pegasus.

Scootaloo had tackled her, thanking her over and over again as she squeezed her tight with Spliced patting the filly on the back before her aunts called her off and to remind her that she was still recovering and she shouldn’t be flying that much. Scootaloo quickly accepted this and promised not to fly anymore today under the condition that she show her friends what she could finally do with the mares easily accepting this with loud shouts of joy quickly heard after Scootaloo had left them.

Spliced had been busy mapping out her lab when the other two of the triumvirate Cutie Mark Crusaders had tackled her over, thanking her over and over again for what she had done for their friend. A day or so later, Spike had come home from his own business in the Empire and thank Spliced for helping Scootaloo before he had got drafted into the final preparations of Nightmare Night despite apparently penning the starts of dictionary for Snöflinga to use.

Finally, the big night arrived and everyone were all eager to celebrate this night with the princesses apparently schedule to arrive later on. While everyone seemed to have a costume, as dressing up for this night was almost a requirement of sorts, Spliced had decided earlier on to be on the sideline and just observe the festival. The transformation of Ponyville was amazing; there were cobwebs and streamers connecting the houses together done in a manner that gave a spooky feeling. There were a number of stands set up for the foals to enjoy that Spliced was planning to visit later on herself but for now she was going to join them as Zecora as she went into the Everfree Forest, curious to how this festival actually began and was told that the zebra always gave the best performance.

Chuckling to herself at sheer innocence of this night , Spliced ducked around the branches and made her way around the path as they reached a clearing to a statue of-

Spliced let out a gasp of shock and fear.

It was her, the other mare from the moon that had shown her the broken gateway! Spliced stared at the visage and felt her heart start to race as all the foals sat in front of it with Zecora preparing to tell that the story of it. Zecora waved them closer to the statue and said, “Listen close, and very soon, you'll hear the tale of Nightmare Moon. I'll tell you where you got your fears of Nightmare Night, so dark and scary.” She then gestured to the statue, saying in rhyme, “Of Nightmare Moon, who makes you wary.”

Spliced let out a soft gasp at hearing its name at long last, her ears straining to catch more of the herbalist’s story.

“Every year, we put on a disguise, to save ourselves from her searching eyes,” Zecora said, with most of the foals laughing and only the really younger ones looking uncomfortable. “For Nightmare Moon wants just one thing: to gobble up ponies in one quick swing!”

Spliced frowned, trying to make sense of this foal’s story and why this Nightmare Moon was the same as the one from her world.

Zecora gesture dramatically, calling out, “Hungrily, she soars the sky. If she sees nopony, she passes by. So if she comes and all is clear, Equestria is safe another year!”

Pipsqueak walked up to Zecora with a smile on his face and asked, “Miss Zecora, if we wear costumes to hide from Nightmare Moon so she won't gobble us up, how come we still need to give her some of our candy?”

Zecora placed a hoof on his head and replied, “A perfect question, my little friend. For Nightmare Moon you must not offend. Fill up her belly with a treat or two, so she won't return to come eat you!” This caused the foals to scream in mock fear and fright, leaving some of their candy at the base at the statue. Spliced waited for the foals to move on before she walked up to Zecora, who was standing patiently by the statue for her.

“Is there something wrong with my tale?” Zecora asked her with concern. “I saw that you became very pale.”

“It-it’s not the true story, is it?” Spliced asked, unable to to look away from the fangs on the mare.

“No it is not,” Zecora shook her head. “This more than a simple foal’s tale; it is how Luna fell.”

“Luna?” Spliced asked, raising an eyebrow, wondering how she figured into all of this.

“A thousand years ago, Luna and Celestia reigned over all but ponies only praised the day and shunned the night. Her jealousy over the adoration her sister received grew to such levels that Luna gave to in an evil force that took over her body and mind. When it came time for the day to begin, she refused to lower the moon, proclaiming the night to last evermore and became the terror Nightmare Moon. The sisters battled in the old capitol castle of the Two Sisters in the Everfree Forest before Celestia managed to banish her sister away for a thousand years. Thankfully, many lives were spared as Luna’s might was focused on her sister and not the helpless mortals that turned away from her night.

“Thank you for telling me this,” Spliced muttered softly, trying to process this new piece of information.

“Are you sure you will be fine, you seem to be ill at ease,” Zecora asked with Spliced blinking at her.

“I just need some time alone,” Spliced said before adding, “Please.”

With a frown, Zecora nodded her head and left. Spliced watched her go before she stared at the statue once with her mind racing at what he had just learned.

The creature had told her that they were alike; a concept of the banished pony for a thousand years and that she was akin to Luna somehow. Luna had become a crazed goddess with unimaginable powers at her beck and call and she was just a mortal that knew a number of biochemical reactions. Both were horrific dangers to their worlds, done unspeakable damage and-

No, she was worse; Luna had only attacked her sister, keeping those she killed incredibly low if not nonexistent. Spliced had killed over twenty-eight million and infected untold billions more.

Spliced gasped as a new thought entered her mind. The number had always been just a number to her but now, for the first time ever, she began to see the number as actual ponies just like those in Ponyville. “Oh gods,” she whispered to herself in shock and horror, her legs threatening to give way as she began to recall the test subjects she had used and all the horrific ways her plagues ended lives or outright ruined them, their scared terrified faces for those who still had faces after she was done with them. And that was just when she had been on her homeworld; it would have more than definitely spread outwards to the cosmos since her four hundreads years in her moon base prison with the number almost without a doubt in the high trillions by this point, if not more.

“My god, what have I done,” she whispered to herself before she jumped as she heard the sound of wings overhead. Looking up, she saw it was Nightmare Moon above her, but quickly realized it had to be Luna.

“Hello there my little pony,” she said, landing next to Spliced with a gentle grace, a fanged grin on her face. “How do you like… What is wrong, Spliced?” she asked, her pink eyes full of concern.

“I… so many,” she said in a whisper.

“So many what?” the mare pressed, leaning in close.

“I’ve killed so many,” Spliced said with a hoof to her face, still lost in the revelation of what her actions had done. “Almost thirty million by my own diseases and plagues and the untold billions of lives I ruined.”

“Genome-”

“And that was when I first unleashed them,” Spliced said with a shudder, her breathing becoming shorter and quicker. “Oh gods, I can’t even begin to guess how much worse-”

“Genome,” the mare said more firmly and Spliced looked at her.

“Luna, I-” the words died in her mouth when she noticed that the mare’s eyes were the wrong colour. They were pink.

Looking up at the mare, the blackness of her coat vanished to show pure white fur with Celestia glaring hard at her. Spliced was fully aware of how little this mare trusted her and the how painful the punishment she had in store for Spliced. She could have made countless pleads or bargains, or said anything to defend herself but one thing came to her mind that would remain with her until the very end.

I deserve worse than this.

Bowing her head, she closed her eyes. “Do with me what you will,” she said quietly. “Whatever the worst possible punishment you can think of for me is, I… I deserve it.”

Chapter Twenty Seven

Celestia stared at the mare laying flat at the Nightmare Moon statue and felt her frustration at the situation grow.

Genome had just confirmed their suspicions about her being a mass murderer via chemical warfare but not to this extent. The number of lives she had ended were far greater than that of Equestria; at least three times over with plenty of room to spare. Even Discord at his worst had not ended that many lives. The desire to protect her ponies by banishing this… creature to the sun was almost overwhelming.

But she was stopped by a number of things.

Firstly, there were laws, ancient ones about how to deal with criminals from other dimensions, and if she went afoul of them, she’d effectively be giving those from Genome’s dimension free legal reign to take what they believed was their due from her own dimension in return. Her Equestria was nowhere near ready for that sort of conflict, not with how advanced they were from what she had gleaned from Twilight’s reports on Genome.

More importantly, the mare below her seemed genuinely horrified by her own words and their implications. Celestia forced herself to think through the entire conversation she’d just had with Genome and tried to determine if Genome was telling the truth or just using this as a decoy, with things pointing to the former. While Genome had no reason to suddenly share the details of her war criminal actions, she could have easily made up something far less dramatic as to appease her opposed to the obscene amount of lives she had ended which pointed to the mare being honest. Along with that, her entire posture and tone of voice enforced the belief that she was feeling true remorse over her actions but again, the sudden timing of it was very suspicious which cast doubt over her entire confession. Genome was very intelligent so she could have planned all of this but one had to be a masterful actor to show as little empathy as Genome had which she highly doubted was true.

All of this was confusing and contradictory with no clear answer presenting itself so Celestia went back to what she knew about Genome without any doubt.

The mare was a war criminal that had little regard for others unless it benefited herself and she had just admitted to killing almost thirty million people. She was an immortal that made normal death sentences an impossibility and she came from another dimension.

Her choice of action was clear now; contact Luna and then transport this mare to one of the holding cells under Canterlot Castle. Tomorrow the two of them would debate on how exactly they would deal with Genome.

Keeping her eyes focused on the mare, Celestia sent out two focused, specialized pulses of magic into the air. Without having to wait long, her sister appeared with a pop, still under the guise of Nightmare Moon.

“This better be good, Tia, for we were in the midst of a grand battle of bobbing for apples with our dear knight Pip-” Her joyful tone abruptly ended when Luna saw her pointed look and asked in a flat serious voice. “What happened.”

Celestia inclined her head slightly to the side to draw her sister’s attention to the kneeling mare with Luna absorbing the sight and what must have have happened in short measure. “Bad as we thought?”

Celestia tilted her head in agreement and before Luna could ask the next question, Celestia said, “Thirty million, at the very least.”

Luna visibly shuddered at that, becoming weak in the knees before she caught herself. “What are we to do next.” Luna turned her gaze onto the mare who had yet to move.

“I am taking her to the Chambers, and in the morning we will decide what we will do with her,” Celestia stated as her chariot descended on the grass next to them. Luna moved to speak but Celestia cut her off. “I do not need your assistance; stay and enjoy your night.”

Luna gave her a narrow look at the orders given to her but thankfully said nothing to it and instead asked, “What am I to say about her absence; Twilight and her friends will ask.”

“Tell them to forget about me,” the hushed voice of Genome caused Celestia to snap her focus back onto her. “They do not need to taint themselves anymore by being associated with me.”

Celestia frowned at her words making this decision even harder and steeled herself. “Genome,” she said the mare’s name, causing the pony to look up at her then at the carriages. She then rose to her hooves and made her way over to them. Celestia watched her sit down in the lead carriage before joining her, preparing a powerful spell if Spliced actually proved to be a threat. Nothing to kill her as it would be pointless so rendering her immobile would have to suffice.

At Celestia’s command, their chariot began to take off with the other three forming an arrowhead around them with her guards in the other carriages preparing spells of their own in case the situation called for it. They moved in a tight circuit above the clearing with Celestia giving her sister one last look before they began to head off to Canterlot.

Luna let out a sigh, shaking her head at this latest wrinkle. The fact that Celestia was actually using the Chambers for Spliced meant things were that dire and Luna had to reluctantly agree with her on this case as Spliced presented too many uncertainties to be left alone in a regular cell for their normally dangerous individuals.

Luna thought on the Chambers and found it still had the bitter taste in her mouth as it did the first time she heard of her sister’s plans. The Chambers were a secret alternate reality hidden within Canterlot Castle that could only be accessed on a very complex route that had so many switchbacks, twists and turns through normal and private passageways that it was impossible for somepony to wander into the Doorway by mistake.

The Chambers themselves were prisons for criminals too dangerous to be out in public, and even too dangerous to leave alone in Tartarus. Such risks could not be taken lest they threaten the safety of the nation if not the planet itself if they were allowed to be in this dimension. Each one was specialized for their prisoner to the point where escape was impossible as Celestia had had time to perfect the procedures for crafting them by making ones for their fellow Lords and Ladies. Celestia had shown her the Observatory, her own cell if she turned against the nation again and the Elements were not capable of repeating their feat in purifying her when she had returned from the moon. Luna had been quite angry when she saw that room but her anger was stilled when Celestia showed her the Dayroom, her cell if she ever went rogue. It was built with enough spells that Luna could actually see it holding her sister, even with the Lady of Day not holding back her raw magical strength. Only Luna and a select number of other individuals knew how far it actually went beyond simply raising and lowering the sun, and for Celestia to have been able to create such a counter was truly impressive.

Along with the creation of the Chambers, Celestia had also drafted a series of warrior to create many different orders to deal with such threats if Twilight and her friends were not able to handle them or if they themselves were the ones who had turned against Equestria. Luna had met those of the Solar Eclipse order, the people that were trained to handle her sister if she ever went against Equestria. She had stayed with them for a while and observed a bit of their preparations and was confident in their ability to stop her older sister and bring her down permanently if need be.

She didn’t learn all of their plans nor did she know a full list of all their members as both Celestia and Luna could both be a threat at the same time considering their close connection as sisters and Opposing Powers that did work in concert with each other. Celestia, of course, only had the dimmest of ideas of who they were or what they were capable of per the plans Celestia had drafted herself for them to follow.

Luna then thought about the Hidden Moon order, the elite strike force that had been trained to incapacitate, or if the situation called for it, slay her. Her thoughts then drifted to the Library and Silent Knowledge order and wondered how Twilight would react to know that the perfect prison for her existed and there were individuals that were not only capable of completely defeating her, they would not hesitate to kill her if the young Lady of Magic became a threat; all on the orders of her former mentor. She wondered how the other Lords and Ladies would react to know that Celestia had so many plans to deal with them and individuals ready to kill them if they posed a threat but she expected it would be poorly for almost all of them, and that was with the already somewhat frustrated stance they had towards Celestia who could operate so openly with her Duties when they could not.

Celestia had claimed it was for the best to have these plans and never need them than to need them and not having them, though Luna was suspecting that her sister might be falling to Order. It was why Luna allowed Discord such latitudes in his pranks to balance her sister out and why she personally did not follow Chaos or Order as they were both too dangerous in her opinion. Some of the other dimensions she had visited in the past had showed just how dangerous Celestia could be if she were allowed to fall to Order, with Solar Array and her brutal, rigid dictatorship of the world, let alone the others-

“Luna?” a voice snapped the alicorn out of her musings, causing Luna to see that she had wandered back into Ponyville. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes Twilight,” Luna said, bowing her head towards the younger alicorn, noticing that the rest of the Ladies of Harmony, Starlight and Spike were present. “I was just lost in thought.”

“That’s fine, Princess Luna,” Pinkie Pie giggled; the mare was dressed up as a clown as per what she expected from the party pony. “We’re just looking for Spliced right now so we can make her first Nightmare Night really special; have you seen her?”

Luna flinched and was about to lie when Starlight caught her involuntary reaction. “Is everything okay?” the unicorn asked her and Luna felt her heart sink, the lie dead before it could even be born.

“Spliced is currently with my sister,” she said, keeping the truth as vague as possible as telling the whole story right now would only make things very unpleasant.

“Why is Celestia talking to Spliced now, Princess Luna?” Twilight asked her, reminding Luna that Celestia had picked a horrid time to disillusion Twilight’s ability to blindly trust that her sister was always acting in the benefit of others.

“It is concerning the reason why we had sent Spliced to you in the first place,” Luna replied carefully. “We had some questions about her; we just got the answers and now she is being escorted back to Canterlot so we can properly decide her future here.”

“But couldn’t it wait until morning?” Rainbow Dash groaned. “I’ve got so many pranks planned tonight and I need Spliced to help me pull them off.”

Luna was about to answer this when she noticed Pinkie was experiencing one of her prediction fits and by the looks on everypony’s face, it was a completely new on-

Luna and Twilight each let out a gasp of shock and looked upwards; they both felt the massive surge of dimensional teleportation magic energy shifting on the moon and saw a spaceship leave her moon. Luna saw it was almost a kilometre long with four turrets on each end and worked in grooves for laser cannons along each side of the turret. Despite this firepower, which was far more than whatever they currently had in the public’s hand could ever hope to defeat Luna had the distinct feeling that this was only a scout class ship of Spliced’s home dimension which worried her tremendously for if they had somehow managed to bring this over, then they could possibly bring over their proper warships.

Alarmingly, it was already descending quickly and with quick mental calculations, Luna saw it was coming straight for Ponyville.

“Alien invaders!” Daisy shouted, pointing her hoof to the sky and causing the town to panic.

“The horror, the horror!” Lily screamed before fainting, her two friends dragging her away.

“Wait everypony, we don’t nee-” Twilight began before Luna silenced her with a light magical gag.

“No, this is exactly what we need right now,” she snapped as she summoned her guards as well as her princess regalia. “We need to control the situation or we could all end up in serious danger.” Her ear flicked as she got dressed and turned to look at them all. “Listen to me very carefully; I will be doing all the talking and under no circumstances are any of you to do anything; this is beyond serious. So no surprise parties, no comment on their attire, no boasting how awesome you are, no comments on how mean they are acting or anything of the like.” Luna leaned her head down to stare at them in the eyes, catching a brief look at her unicorn guards and saw that they were already helping their fellow guards by summoning their parade armour and aiding them in getting dressed. It was going exactly as she trained to respond; they nowhere capable of fighting them but a proper show of their guards in their best could help present a good mental of them to the outsiders. Luna turned her focus back onto the group in front of her and said, “I will banish you from this place if I suspect you are about to jeopardize this.”

“Luna, you need to cal-” Twilight began only for Luna to snort in her face as she summoned the young princess’s own royal attire and used her magic to hold Twilight’s face still as Luna’s glare bore into her.

“No, I do not; you may think you know what’s best being the princess of friendship but trust me, one wrong action tonight and we could find ourselves at war with ponies that would have no problems destroying everything we hold dear, so if I think you are going to be the reason that countless lives will suffer, I will remove you,” Luna snapped, causing Twilight and her friends to fold back, the reality of the situation finally sinking in. “Now get dressed; you are a leader of this nation, even if you are not ready for the more strenuous parts of it.”

“Yes Luna,” Twilight said with confidence which actually helped calm Luna down a tiny bit. Instead of being cowed and intimidated by her harsh words, Twilight saw the wisdom and necessity of what was going on and what was expected of her. She could thank Celestia for this by bringing Twilight and Cadance to the Valley of the Alicorns and explaining more of the multiverse to them and the dangers out there but she wasn’t about to dwell on that headache again right now.

Steadying her eyes at the descending spaceship, Luna walked towards the landing location with her guards behind her and Twilight by her side, although a few steps backwards as it was proper to show who was senior princess and again, Luna knew that she would have to thank Celestia later for teaching Twilight this although she was curious as to when exactly it had happened. She had read most if not all of her sister’s former pupil’s friendship reports and this never came-.

Luna gave herself a light jolt to focus herself on the spaceship that was landing in front of her. She had to be completely focused for what was to happen and take control of the narrative as soon as possible.

The light grey scout ship hovered over the ground with anti gravity propulsion jets while its landing legs were extending. Already, Luna could tell a fair deal from this action; that those in charge of the ship decided to go this remote town for their first contact meant they either wanted to make a show of force or handled things in small steps. She discarded the former as the ship did not land in the middle of the town but on the outskirts, indicating they did not want to raise alarms with the natives which played well for them.

The scout ship was now resting on the ground with the engines shutting down although Luna could still hear the faint murmur that indicated they were working to present the best non-threatening image to them while giving themselves the ability to pull back immediately if need be. From the front of the ship, a rectangular slab retracted upwards at the same time a walkway extended out with the ponies from Spliced’s dimension walking down it without pausing, showing how confident they were right now that they did not feel they needed to wait.

As she had expected, it was a military detachment with the ponies, all Pures/alicorns as she had suspected, in full body armour and what looked like plasma rifles with standard looking sidearms although she couldn’t completely guess what they used for ammunition for such small firearms. The squad of soldiers appeared to be honour guards for who, judging by their military symbols and position in the group, the captain of this ship and his first officer. Oddly enough, the captain had an unusual modification to his armour with a large backpack section that was connected subtly to the bottom half of his helmet that was out of place from the rest of the other soldiers around them. Filing that away for later, Luna was pleased to see several ponies in more civilian garb that gave the air of bureaucracy which she was glad to see for once as it meant they really were focused on making proper diplomatic overtures towards their government.

What really caught her eye was the fact that some of the diplomats were normal ponies. From what Spliced had told them, this would be completely unprecedented and a sign that something was really out of the ordinary and she would have to examine it later as Luna needed to take control of the situation before they had a chance.
“Greetings,” Luna said to them, dipping her head ever so slightly. “I am Princess Luna, diarch of Equestria. This here,” she gestured with her wing to Twilight who also gave a proper bow to the ponies opposite of them. “Is Princess Twilight Sparkle, countess of this land as part of her training for her royal duties.” Twilight blinked owlishly at this and Luna stifled a curse as she realized that Twilight never knew her official duties and she had let the proverbial cat out of the bag. “To whom am I speaking with?”

Their leader tilted their head before they reached upwards to remove their helmet with the one behind them mimicking the action, although her suspicions about the former’s helmet being specialized was correct as only the top part came off, leaving his mouth covered with what she suspected was a breathing apparatus now. He was young looking stallion, with a white coat and a short cropped mane with the colours of a meteor’s tail and very kind teal eyes. From the way his face moved, she could tell he had a smile on his face. The other officer, in his middle years, had a dark purple coat, with a similar military cut mane of gold and silver with judging gold eyes, from which Luna could tell he was a possible problematic soldier if allowed to talk or left alone for too long. Both of them clipped their helmets to their sides with a magnetic clip and the younger stallion stepped forwards. With a slightly over exaggerated bow with his wing at his barrel, he said, “Hello, your majesty, I am Captain Comet, of Guiding Light of Hesturland .” His voice was almost completely normal although he had a faint mechanical echo to it. He also had to wet his lips to speak again which gave Luna time to take charge.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, sir Comet,” she responded, adopting a smile on her face and gesturing with her wing in a welcoming gesture towards Ponyville. “It is a core aspect of our nation that we believe we can make friends with anyone and I hope that we can have such a relationship with Hesturland.”

“That is our hope, your majesty,” Comet said to her, the corner of his lips turning up in an even clearer sign of a smile hidden by his mask. “That is part of our mission; we had discovered an entrance to your world and we were charged with making first contact.” He paused to catch his breath, no doubt about to add that the second part of their mission was related to Spliced Genome which was something Luna would rather keep on a strict need to know basis.

“We would be happy to escort you back to our capital,” Luna said, walking up to him while directing his attention to Canterlot which, judging by the sharp intake of air did its job to impress him. “My sister, Princess Celestia, my fellow diarch, is currently there and she would be overjoyed to expand our friendship to beyond the stars.”

“There is the second part of our duty, your majesty,” Comet said, looking at her with concern. “We are after a very dangerous criminal that has escaped from our dimension into yours,” he said as he raised his right foreleg and tapped it, causing a hologram of Spliced Genome to appear. “This is the war criminal in question; nearly five hundred years ago we were in the midst of a civil war and she had aided one side with biochemical weapons in the form of diseases, infections and toxic gases.” Luna stiffened at this, as did everyone behind her at hearing Spliced’s past. “She has been sentenced to a thousand years in prison for the death of over twenty eight million and ruining countless other lives.”

There were gasps from everyone and Starlight stepped forward, shaking her head. “I-I, I can’t believe Spliced did that…” she said softly but not soft enough as Comet and his fellow officers clearly heard her by the sudden shift in body language and the hard look in Comet’s eyes, not to mention the near murderous look in the other officer’s face.

“I never said her name,” Comet said in a careful tone, glaring at Starlight before turning towards Luna. “Where is she.”

“With my sister in the capital; we are transferring her to a secure location while we decide what to do with her,” Luna replied without hesitation.

“She is to be turned over immediately,” Comet replied sternly, his hoof resting on his sidearm.

“As I said, we are going to be deciding her place in our world,” Luna said, hoping that this could be dealt with diplomatically. Unfortunately it didn’t seem to be with the other officer stepping forward, pulling out his sidearm.

“That is not acceptable,” he spat, taking another step towards her with her guards behind her stepping forwards with their own weapons pointed at him, remembering not to reveal their magic as per their training for this situation. “You will turn her over to us or-”

“Shooting Star, stand down,” Comet whirled onto the officier, fire in his eyes. “I will not have you start an interdimensional incident.” The older stallion glared at his captain before reluctantly putting away his own sidearm. Comet gave a brief nod at this before he turned to face Luna again. “Ma’am, I apologize for my first officer’s actions but there can be no talks of peaceful relations so long as you give Spliced Genome sanctuary.”

“Is that meant to be a threat, Captain Comet?” Luna asked sharply, feeling the whole situation slip out of her control and stabs of fear ran through her that they might find themselves in a war that they couldn’t win without risking permanently damaging their dimension’s balance and send everything into chaos.

Judging by Comet’s eyes, he clearly didn’t want to do this either but he knew that he had no option but to say, “Again, ma’am, if you harbour Spliced Genome, we will be forced to-”

“You will not need to do anything,” a voice called out from the side, causing everyone’s heads to turn as Spliced Genome walked away from carriages that had Celestia and her guards disembarking. Instantly, all of the soldiers from the other dimension pulled out their guns and aimed them square at her head. “Oh please, use some logic. Using lethal force won’t do a thing to me; if you want to do something that will actually be useful, set it to stun.” None of the soldiers did what she suggested, only squaring down harder with hate clear in Shooting Star’s eyes and furious anger in Comet’s eyes. The diplomats were cowering in fear, all trying to make as much distance as they could from her. “In any case, you will not need to do anything as I am turning myself in on two conditions.”

“What makes you thi-” Shooting Star began only for Spliced to speak louder.

“My first condition is that no one here is to be charged with accessory,” Spliced growled with Luna jolting in surprise; was there an actual chance that they would try to make her own ponies face the same sentence Spliced had? “My second condition is that I am to be moved planetside. I don’t care where you place me, either at the bottom of the sea or deep underground, so long as I am on a planet and not a moon.”

“And what makes you think we would give you anything,” Shooting Star snarled with Comet giving him an angry glare.

“Because if you promise me these things,” Spliced said with a smirk on her face, telling Luna that Spliced was hoping for this. “I will provide you with cures to everything.”

That caused everyone from Spliced’s dimension to freeze. Some of the soldiers lowered their guns and looked at one another in what could only be complete surprise with the diplomats talking in huddled rapid conversations. Shooting Star was clearly having a hard time comprehending this, his face flicking from confusion to anger to hopefulness back to confusion and anger again. Only Comet seemed to be in control right now and it showed as he returned his firearm to its holster and walked straight to her.

“You can do this?” he asked, looking down at her.

“I remember each and every one of my creations and I know how to fix what I have done,” Spliced said tensely, her body language indicating that she was barely holding herself back from some explosive emotional response, perhaps grief or anger or something else. She gave the pack on his back a look and then looked at his face. “Preventive organ development; with your lungs being the organ in question?” She tilted her head with Comet nodding his own in confirmation. “If your ship has the same standard medical stations that we once had back in my time, I can cure you within several hours.”

He narrowed his eyes at this and seemed to be thinking when Shooting Star grabbed him and hissed, “Sir, you cannot be seriously thinking of believing her.”

Comet shook his hoof off of him. “Star, I am placing you in temporary command while I investigate this possibility. I expect you to act with all the dignity that is expected of your position.” He then leaned in close and whispered to the stallion. “If they try anything to spring her, you are authorized to incapacitate them, but only then. Do not try to harm any of the rulers or the locals; if they are here with their leaders, then they are important for some reason. Am I understood?”

“Yes sir,” he said with a strained voice, clearly unhappy to work with those that had aided Spliced. Comet nodded at this before gesturing for Spliced to follow him, with several of his soldiers shadowing them with their guns still pointed at her head.

As they were walking up the ramp, Luna saw that Twilight and her friends were terrified. They were struggling not to race to her, to try and comfort her, but Luna’s warning held them in place. Spliced didn’t even give them a final look before the door closed.

Spliced felt her heart lurch as the door closed behind her, doing her best not to show how much it hurt her to turn her back on everyone but they would be safer if those from her home didn’t know her connection to them. Not only because they could be legally sentenced to the same fate she was, they would also be targets for people like Shooting Star who hated her… which meant everyone else back home.

Her left ear flicked as Comet led her deeper into his ship, her eyes flicking to the mounted gun turrets on the walls that were tracking her movement before letting out a sigh. They would be wasting their time if they shot her as she would just come back as she always did no matter what. Her wings dipped at the thought of being unable to die and she felt incredibly tired right now. But she shoved it down inside of her as she couldn’t let her own troubles distract her now, not when the girls’ safety was on the line.

Walking side by side with the captain, they turned down a series of hallways before reaching a doorway that opened up to show a medical bay with a number of of ponies pausing in their work to stare at her in shock and what had to be horror or hate.

“Sir?” one of them, a mare with a navy blue coat and a black mane, stepped forwards. “What is she doing here?”

“Deep Probe, she has agreed to produce a cure for all of the diseases she created, starting with mine,” Comet said, turning to face Spliced. “Are you prepared to start?”

Spliced nodded her head and moved to the main terminal, shooing out the pony sitting in the chair and for the first time in a long time felt a part of herself wake up. Already she was creating three of the secondary injections Comet would need; easy enough as the formula for adrenaline, biomass and anesthetic were part of the prefabricated chemical formulas within the terminal’s computer. She tried to access Comet’s medical information on the secondary holographic display next to her but was blocked by the low clearance that the pony she had thrown out had access to.

“I need to full access to your medical database to fix you,” Spliced stated as she already began to craft the two cures that she would need to administer, her hooves and magic flying across the interface screens to bring forth everything she needed. “Otherwise it will not work and-” Deep Probe leaned in and let the computer scan her eye with the mare adding in her own code clearance, allowing Spliced deeper inside of their medical files.

Spliced quickly examined the reports of the routine medical check the stallion had luckily done recently, searching for the sole pieces of information she needed and added in the information to her cures with the other vials in the midst of being synthesized. She then wheeled around with a syringe and stalked over to Comet, jabbing him in the neck with it. “I need a sample of your genetic code so I can finish my work,” she told him, only faintly hearing his grunt of pain as she took his blood before she went back to her work.

Running the blood sample through the genetic reader, Spliced saw the biochemical marker that she had developed ages ago on his DNA and was relieved to see that her disease had not mutated in the slightest which would make her current work even easier and faster. She felt the outside world drop away as she worked in the correct chemicals to disarm her old disease, manoeuvring around the traps that she had put in place to prevent anyone from undoing her work, and crafted her own chemical creation that would fix him, trusting her knowledge, talents and skill that this would work and not do any further harm to him.

Finally after a period of time had passed, she saw that she completed her work and began to synthesize both of the cures. Spliced let out a sigh with the knot in her stomach easing a tiny bit, and lifted her head up to see an entire gaggle of scientists staring at her with awe on their faces, a few even examining the prepared secondary supplements she had made early on. Her horn lit up as she used her magic to grab the medical injectors and the cures before rounding onto Comet who was talking in hushed tones with Probe.

“As I said,” Spliced said to the captain. “Everything to fix you.”

He gave her a measured look before tilting his head slightly down as he moved to antigravity medical bed that had apparently been prepared while she was at work. “Explain what they will do.”

“This one will remove the disease from your genetic structure so it will not be passed down your lineage,” she said holding up the first injector to him, placing it down on the try next to her. “This one will cause your body to produce growth on your lung mass to reach the proper state it should be. These,” she gestured to the supplementary injectors, “Will supply you with enough mass that it will not cannibalize your body to do this, this one will make your body go into overdrive so it will happen in a much accelerated time frame and this one will make sure you are not awake for this as I have no idea to how painful this will be.” She took a moment to breathe before looking at him and continuing. “I would normally not advocate going for such a drastic measure of fixing you and instead go for supplementary injections over an extended period of time but I have to prove that I am not lying,” she said a bit too forcefully, her fear for what would happen to everyone in Ponyville flashing through her head if she failed to deliver what she had promised. “Are you ready Comet?”

“I am,” he answered her as several of the ponies began to attach medical detectors to his body. “However, you are not to use the anesthetic; it would do us no good if I am not awake to vouch for you.”

Spliced blinked at this, feeling surprised he would actually think of her well-being before she shook her head. She had work to do.

Taking a deep breath, she began to inject him with her concoctions. With the adrenaline she had prepared, there were already results appearing. According to the blood and tissues taken from him, there was no hints of her former disease inside of him which was good but then suddenly, he began to seize and thrash on the bed with the ponys staring at him in shock and horror as he suffocated. Spliced’s mind began to race at what went wrong with people yelling at her and holding guns at her head before the answer came to her. Before any of them could shoot her, Spliced raced over and and slammed a hoof into his gut, causing him to breathe in sharply, his eyes opening wide in pain before he blinked in surprise. He then breathed in deeper before he started to laugh, removing the rebreather covering his mouth and disconnecting the air tubes from the pack on his back.

“Look at that!” he laughed loudly, pulling Probe into a hug. “I can breathe!” He took another deep breath of air, a grin splitting his face. “Do you hear how deep that is?” Deep Probe blushed heavily at his reaction before she nodded her head, placing a hoof tenderly on his arm and rested her head on his barrel. Comet had a big goofy grin on his face that almost made Spliced smile before the realization hit that if it wasn’t for her, he wouldn’t had even been broken in the first place. She had nothing to feel proud of for he was only one person out of the countless billions or trillions of lives she had ruined and destroyed. The couple smiled at each other before one of the soldiers coughed to bring them out of their happy musings with Comet stepping off the table and standing straight.

“Scarlet Sentry, please take her to the holding cell,” Comet said as he reached for the transmitter inside of his helmet with his magic and began to speak into it. “Shooting Star, stand down. She has proven truthful-” whatever else he said was muffled as Spliced was led out of the room and down the corridors with Spliced doing her best to keep her calm and repeating to herself that she deserved this and much worse over and over again in her head. Finally, she was led to a pitch black room before she was directed to step inside. Standing in front of the door frame, she forced herself not to cry, with waves of guilt slamming into her as the door shut, leaving her in complete darkness with only her thoughts.

Author's Notes:

A special thanks to Wixelt and Leviticus Wilkes for helping beta read this chapter

Chapter Twenty Eight

Spliced waited in the darkness. She sat on the floor, ignoring the bench she had found earlier as her mind screamed at her that she didn’t deserve such comforts for what she had done in the past. She had no idea of how long she had been in the dark room, time slipping away from her quickly as she tried to endure her mind yelling at her at number of all the lives she had taken when there was a sudden change in noises coming from outside of her prison.

Tilting her head to the door, she head a mare’s voice saying, “-t’s about time; I’ve been waiting for far too long at this point and-” at that moment the door opened and a blinding light entered the room, causing Spliced to block her eyes. “...What is the meaning of this‽” the mare snapped to someone. “Why are there no lights on here‽ How long have you left her in the dark?”

“We didn’t leave her in the dark!” a stallion protested before he began to sputter. “I mean, yes we did but she had full control of the lights the entire time!”

Spliced’s eyes were taking a bit longer to adjust to the sudden brightness and if she could convince herself that she deserved to see, she would have killed herself right there to reset her eyes.

“Right,” the mare said clearly disbelieving what she was told. She was dressed in a half suit and had a very steady glare directed to the two soldiers. “I need to speak with her, alone, to make sure.”

“I’m afraid we cannot do that ma’-” the same stallion protested only for the mare to interrupt him.

“I have been waiting long enough to speak to her and if you do not allow me now in the next five seconds, I’ll hold you and everyone here in contempt,” she snapped, stamping a hoof onto the ground.

“You can’t be serious-” he started.

“One.”

“Look we can talk about this-” the stallion was now looking panicked.

“Two.”

“Shut up, Standing Orders, I’m trying to hear Captain Comet!” the other stallion barked out as he tilted his head to the side and was no doubt listening to some orders.

“Three.”

“Sir, please hurry up as I think-”

“Four.”

There was a loud clearing of static as Comet’s voice cut in from the other stallion’s helmet. “Miss Preview, this is Captain Comet. You have authorization to speak with your client as well as escort her off my ship, provided that you allow the monitors to remain activated at all times. Everything said between you two will remain sealed and confidential unless Genome attempts some sort of escape.”

Preview frowned at that before giving a reluctant nod of her head and said as such. “Thank you sir.” She then turned her attention to the soldiers and tilted her head to the door which they reluctantly walked through, casting looks back onto Spliced. Preview let out a sigh of relief when they were finally alone and turned to face Spliced. “Are you okay Miss Genome? Have they left you alone this whole time in the dark… with no food?”

“They did leave me here, but it is not their fault about the darkness or food,” Spliced said as she stood up weakly before shaking her head hard enough to snap her neck. Feeling revived after her restoration, Spiced noticed that Preview didn’t seem that disturbed about her sudden death. “I did not deserve such luxuries miss Preview.” That seemed catch her eye, causing her to frown for some reason but only for a second or two.

“Please, you can call me Legal Preview if you want,” the mare said in a calm voice, placing a hoof on her side and began to walk her to the door. “I’m your legally appointed lawyer, for your upcoming... Hearing,” she frowned at the word, causing Spliced to raise an eyebrow before something hit her. “It’s a real mes-”

“You’re a unicorn!” she said a bit too loudly, causing Preview to pull back in surprise. “I’m sorry, I was just surprised to see that one of your kind is a lawyer because back in my time, none of your kind could have ever gotten that far.” Spliced then cringed at the unintentional speciesism she had just uttered.

Preview just gave her a blank look before her eyes widened. “Oh unicorn; that’s the term the other dimension uses! Sorry, I’m not quite used to it but it is gaining a lot of traction along with pegasus, alicorn and all the others, except for earth pony.” She gave a friendly laugh, shaking her head before looking back at Spliced.

“And it’s okay, it has been almost four hundred years for you; a lot has changed.” Preview let out a sigh as they walked down the ship, with hovering monitors with armaments that should properly have been set to stun following them. “After your imprisonment, the people of Hesturland and, by proxy, the galaxy as a whole was left with a stark realization. Even though the Pures won, if they kept up their old behaviour, there’d be no one left in the galaxy as the population was that low. So they made concessions; so many in fact it was if the Thirds had actually won the war. From there, things really began to change for the better,” Preview let out a happy sigh as they reached the hatch of the ship, getting close examination by the soldiers manning the area. Spliced could see more monitors flying in to keep track of her and she had a feeling that there were hidden people watching her every movement in real time. “Equal rights, full citizenship, the works. Everything got better that day, Genome.”

“So it seems that I was the one holding everyone back,” Genome muttered to herself, but not soft enough as it caused Preview to stop mid step and turn to face her.

“Genome, I’m fully aware of how smart you are and so I’m going to cut the fat and ask you outright; do you feel you’re mentally competent to handle a trial?” Preview stared hard at her, which Genome had to respect.

“Absolutely not,” Spliced answered her. “I’m teetering on a full mental breakdown with severe depression issues and episodes which I’m sure will only get worse as times goes on. That said, I have to do this trial; I need to fix what I broke.” Spliced began to tremble as she spoke. “If I don’t do that, then my oncoming depression will be far worse. I do deserve to suffer, that is true, but I need to fix what I broke Preview and I cannot do that without access to the correct materials.”

Preview looked at her before sighing. “I promise that it will not come up during the trial, Genome,” Preview then shook her head and flashed her a sad smile. “That’s the least of things we need to worry about, anyways.”

“This trial,” Spliced said, guessing the issue before looking around herself for the first time. The world was as she remembered it; Hesturland hadn’t changed at all during her four hundred years in her moon base prison. Towering bland metal buildings were in front of her with zipping shuttles everywhere, with hints of greenery here and there. She could smell the faint chemical exhaust from the shuttles in the sky and the hovering billboards that didn’t have proper antigravity installed. While it was recognizable as her old home, she felt so... detached from it, and for a moment felt a twinge of longing for Ponyville. “How bad is it going to be?”

“It’s going to be tough, Genome,” Preview said as she stepped in a shuttle and gestured for Spliced to step inside. They waited for one of the monitors to zip inside and attach itself to the back of the shuttle before they took off. “Already they had a massive turnout of judges having to recuse themselves due to bias in either direction for your case and being unable to guarantee a fair trial.” Preview gave a snort at that, shaking her head. “That is not counting the fact your trial is very atypical to the point where they are not even sure which way they want to take it. At this point, it is taking the appearance of a parole hearing although you will not be actually be put up for early parole,” she said as she continued to drive them through the city. “We’ll also have to against someone trying to prove you are not being honest with us and you don't deserve to be transferred to a new location.”

“How long do we have to prepare?” Spliced asked, a sense of dread growing in her chest.

“Our opponent had the entire two weeks of your incarceration to prepare, we will only have two days,” Preview said as they pulled up to a hotel that had a large number of armed figures standing with their guns in their hooves and talons aimed at her. “I promise to do my utmost to ensure you receive the best service.”

“Preview, why are you doing this?” Spliced turned to face the other mare. “This can only harm your future career if you defend someone like me.”

“Because you deserve this,” Preview placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Whether or not you think so is regardless of the fact; you turned yourself in after you escaped and you proved that you know what needs to be done to heal everyone and are willing to do so.”

Spliced let out a slow breath she had been holding in before she stared at Preview. “Do we have any character witnesses?” She had been dreading to ask this question but she had to know.

“Sorry, there will be none. I had tried to get in touch from those you were staying with in the other dimension but none of them came over and I don’t have high enough clearance to know exactly why nor do I have enough to go over to ask them myself.” Preview sighed sadly. “This will be very difficult to win with only two days to prepare but I am sure we can do it.”

“Then let’s prepare,” Spliced said with a surge of confidence entering her. Despite her knowing that she deserved to suffer, she also knew she had to do this right and would do everything in her power to make it so.

Chapter Twenty Nine

Spliced stared up at the large imposing building that would prove to be the place where her fate would be decided and did her best not to wince at it. It was busy with countless reporters seeking to catch a glimpse of her, although they were being held back by slew of police officers and anti-riot automatons acting as a barrier between the official court attendees and the crowd.

“How are you doing, Spliced?” Legal asked her, casting an appraising look over her. They had quickly established a first name basis for one another over the past two days, working close to prepare her case. Despite that, Spliced was still nervous of something going wrong and ending up being unable to fix what she had broke or worse, being sent back to the moon.

“Well enough,” Spliced replied, straightening the suit provided to her. It was not as good a fit as one of Rarity’s designs and the thought of the mare brought back the fact that none of them were here. It hurt her deeply but her mind was screaming at her that she deserved this, so she did her best to put it out of her mind and focus on her upcoming trial. It was harder than she would have thought as she could still hear all of the questions shouted by the countless reporters from across the galaxy. Even without her universal translator, she would have been able to understand what they were asking her if she could just focus on one voice.

“Don’t worry, they won’t all be allowed into the courtroom,” Legal said, flashing a comforting smile at her. “Only a select few and they’ve been thoroughly warned not to interfere in any way.”

“Thank you,” Spliced whispered back, the knots in her stomach loosening up ever so slightly. “Well, let’s get this started.”

With that, the two of them pushed open the doors and found even more highly armed officers and automatons creating a funnel for them, leading up to a courtroom surrounded by S.W.A.T. officers, each of them wearing face-obscuring visors and carrying various weapons all aimed at her. She was tempted to remind them that all they needed to do was make her unconscious as killing her was pointless but it was obviously not worth creating a scene this early. Legal and Spliced waited for the one resting against the door, a griffon in full body armour, to open it before stepping inside. The room was already packed with the entire gallery filled with countless ponies and other species, and judging by the various recording equipment they had on or hovering around them, about a third of those present were the approved news reporters. Past the gate were two short tables with a long table directly in front of it with three judges sitting on the other side. All three - a griffon on the right, an alicorn in the center, and a windigo on the left - had very serious expressions on their faces, and she knew that their impartialness was just on a degree compared to the other judges, not a fact of themselves.

Casting her eyes to the prosecutor, she saw that he was an extremely confident looking alicorn stallion shooting such a smug look at Legal that made Spliced think of all the diseases that she could create that could melt it off his face. Shaking her head, she tried to get rid of that thought - I’m here to make things right, not worse, she reminded herself, but it persisted.

The bailiff walked into the room and started to clear his throat. “All rise. The Supreme Court of Hesturland is now in session, the Honorable Judges Balanced Scales, High Tree and Schneehund presiding."

Spliced watched and listened carefully as the court went through its opening procedures before Due Justice, the prosecutor, was called up to give his opening statement.

“Your honours, we stand before you to see that justice is served. In the case of the State Vs. Spliced Genome, known mass murderer and convicted war criminal, we intend to prove that she did willingly violate the terms of her sentence, and is now using this claim of realization of what she had done wrong as a means to lessen her own punishment that she has had not yet served fully. We will prove all of this was a calculated ploy on her behalf to bring forth her undeserved freedom and unleash the same evil that nearly wiped out society in the entire galaxy.”

With that, Due Justice was done and now everyone’s attention was on Legal.

“Miss Preview, your opening statement,” Balanced Scales, the alicorn in the center, said in a tone that made Spliced frown but Legal seemed undeterred…

“Your honours, when a life is created-”

“Miss Preview, we asked for your opening statement, not some rambling,” the judge’s interruption clearly threw Legal for a loop, causing her to mumble and look very panicked. Snorting in anger, Spliced stood up with the sound of every gun being primed and no doubt pointed directly at her.

“Are you three that idiotic?” she snapped at them, ignoring Legal’s widening eyes of horror. “I’m already a known criminal who has no chance ever getting paroled that is hated across the galaxy for my war crimes and yet you three feel the need to attempt to rig this court into a verdict of your own choosing in a very clear manner.” She heard some of the armed figures stepping towards her but with a wing snapping upwards, they all halted in fear of what she might do. “If you keep this up, in several hundred years some stupid kids on a moral crusade could take your joke of a trial and say that I didn’t get a fair trial and may even get me set free because of your actions. For a trial that you don’t even need to put in effort in getting me reconvicted. Just make sure everything is done right and you won’t be remembered as the three judges who were responsible for setting me free but the three who made sure I didn’t get free because of some technicality of a rigged trial.”

The judges paled at this and huddled together, only cementing Spliced’s claims of a rigged trial before Balanced Scales coughed and said, “Miss Preview, please have your client sit down. Miss Genome, please note that another outburst like that will not be tolerated, and should it happen, you will be held in contempt of court.”

I have nothing but contempt for this court, Spliced thought disgustedly, but kept it to herself with her face hardened in anger and more than ready to call them out if they tried it again.

“Thank you, your honours,” Legal said, giving Spliced a grateful look. “As I was saying, when a life is created, it does not stay as an infant. It grows, changes over time. We are all products of both environment and nature, changing us into who we are today. Spliced Genome is no exception to that and is even the best example we have to date that we all can become better people with nearly three hundred years of recorded data showing her reformation from the mass murderer she once was to a mare who every expert agreed showed zero signs of hostility if unprovoked - to which we saw when one of the jailers performed an unauthorized termination of my client after all standing orders were to leave her be - to her current state; an escaped convict who voluntarily turned herself in despite being in a foreign land that would have given her asylum. A mare that is more than willing to right the wrongs of her past. She is not asking for time reduced, she is not asking for her to be outside of her prison. All she has requested is that she be relocated to where there is life around her. My client here has changed for the better, and I intend to prove that she has earned this second chance.”

Balanced Scales then looked at Due Justice and said, “You may present your first witness.”

“Thank you, your honour,” he said with a smile on his face, looking at Spliced. “As only one of us are blessed with longevity, I call Spliced Genome to the stand.” Spliced had been told that this would happen; she was the only witness that either side could get due to everyone she knew either being long dead or staying in their own dimension. She was ready for this, however, as they had gone over nearly everything she could think of and Spliced wasn’t afraid to taunt them with her intelligence. Walking over to the witness stand that was beside the judge’s bench, Spliced saw the bailiff trot over to her with a book in their hooves.

"Do you solemnly swear that you will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, under pains and penalties of perjury?"

Spliced nodded. "By the most powerful oath from the dimension I escaped to, I do so swear," she said, making the gestures. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

"Ms. Genome, you have already been warned once," the head judge said, eyeing her. "No. More. Foolishness."

"Your Honour, that wasn't foolishness," Spliced replied. "That really is the most powerful oath they have. Nopony breaks a Pinkie Promise without severe consequences."

The judge eyed her again. “And do you have positive proof of this?”

“I have the sworn testimony of Princess Twilight Sparkle herself as to what happened the last time somepony broke one,” Spliced replied. “It’s not something I ever want to see happen, let alone be on the receiving end.”

That caused a murmur from the judges and Spliced knew that their information of Twilight already being established as a highly credible source was correct. “In any case,” the judge to the right of Balanced Scales cleared her throat. “Mr. Due Justice, please present your case.”

“Thank you, your honour,” Due Justice dipped his head before he pulled out sheets of laminated paper and a booklet which Spliced recognized instantly and a sense of dread sunk in. “Miss Genome, do you recognize these items?”

Leaning into the mic, she spoke clearly. “I do. Those are the morality test I had to take in order to get my license to become a full biochemist, and a copy of my answers to it.”

“And this?” he asked, holding out another sheet of laminated paper.

Spliced bit back a sigh before responding. “That is a copy of my professor's evaluation of my test,” she answered.

“Can you tell us what it says?” Due Justice asked. “The highlighted parts, please.”

Spliced nodded, and began to read. “Resident Spliced Genome, innate connection to biochemical researches, has displayed very little in regards to basic standard of ethical responses to other people; is deeply entrenched in mindset of expediency of medical procedure and experimentation over safety for patients; extremely focused on the long term gains rather than immediate recovery.” Spliced paused before she looked at the last highlighted part. “Board decision is unanimous: denial of promotion to full doctorship.”

“All of that, and you still got denied?” Due Justice said with a chuckle that just got Spliced to scowl at him. She kept her calm though.

“Yes, I was denied, and given what-”

“Thank you,” he cut her off, causing Spliced’s coat to bristle in anger. “Your honours, as we are all well versed in how exactly intelligent Genome is, and according to these papers that should have stood as a warning, how incredibly crafty she is. She may not have proper social interactions according to the well credited source materials from Doctor Clear Sight’s book Look into madness: the inner workings of war criminal Spliced Genome that everyone in college reads but she is one of the most intelligent people in the galaxy. After all, it has been four hundred years and the very best biochemists have only scratched the surface of what they call her most simplistic diseases in their attempts to counter them.”

“Objection, prosecution is going off on a tangent unrelated to previous questioning,” Legal called out.

“Sustained, please get to the point,” Schneehund said causing Due Justice to stumble on the spot, with him licking his lips in surprise. After a moment, he recovered, clearing his throat and looking over in Spliced’s direction, before turning back to the judges.

“Very well,” Due Justice said. “Spliced Genome is intelligent to the point where we cannot truly say that all of this is not some sort of long laid plan of hers for has us to lower our guard and have her escape into some other place. She has done this once before and it would be foolish of us to let it happen again.” He then turned to Legal Preview and nodded. “Your witness.”

“Thank you,” Legal said as she got up and held a much beefier set of documents. “Your honours, I would like to present you all with recorded documentation from several Princesses of Equuis, along with other sworn accounts of Spliced Genome’s actions.” She placed several copies of the documents in front of each judge before turning to face Spliced. “Upon meeting Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, diarchs of the lead nation, what was your first action?”

Spliced blushed. “I asked Princess Celestia where her parents were, because I assumed that if she was a Princess, there had to be a ruling King and Queen. I didn’t know until she explained it that Princess was the highest rank in that nation.” Spliced then blushed a bit more. “After that, I had learned I was planetside for the first time in nearly four hundred years and was desperate to breathe actual air again. To which I… broke Princess Celestia's nose, because she was between me and the outside. After running into Princess Luna who brought me outside, the matter between me and Princess Celestia was cleared up, I fixed the damage I’d done and apologized for my violent reaction, and a dinner was arranged for the three of us.”

“During this time, did you ever reveal who you were to them?”

“I gave my name right after I fixed Princess Celestia’s nose,” Spliced replied. “And yes, I revealed I’d been a war criminal during our dinner.”

“Now why did you do that? What would you gain from that?” Legal asked her, feeding her exactly what they practiced last night,

“They asked why I’d been on the moon for four hundred years,” Spliced replied. “I told them I’d been sentenced to a thousand years in prison for my involvement in a war, and that was the location of my cell.”

“That is not the full answer to my question, Genome,” Legal pressed.

“It was a simple exchange of information to satisfy our curiosity about one another,” Spliced replied. “They asked about me, I asked about them, and we both learned something.”

“And were you hoping to gain sympathy from them?”

“No, I was not,” Spliced replied. “Nor did I get any. Shortly afterwards, I was sent to Princess Twilight Sparkle for closer examination. According to what information I had gathered, the Princess and her friends had a reputation for reforming previous threats to their world, and they felt she would be best at determining whether I was a danger and in need of reforming.”

“If you could all turn to page twelve, section six, we can see accounts of Spliced’s first day in the town of Ponyville,” Legal said, pacing across the room. “You interacted with one Spike, adoptive son of Princess Twilight Sparkle. What were your thoughts of him?”

“He was a nice kid,” Spliced said. “A little behind in maturing for his species, but a nice kid nonetheless.”

“Let the record show that Spike is not a pony, but a young dragon, hatched by Princess Sparkle when she herself was several years younger,” Legal said. “Also included the record is Spliced Genome’s thesis paper on the biology of dragons, entered as proof that she does in fact know a great deal about them. Now, I understand that you demonstrated concern for his growth rate?”

“I did,” Spliced said. “I could tell he was approaching the age when he would undergo the molt that all dragons do, but he still had the mindset of a much younger member of his species, lacking the hoarding desire of a typical dragon that age. I explained this to Princess Sparkle, and how important it was that he develop the proper mindset before he entered puberty.”

“And how did she react?” Legal asked her.

“She objected to some of how I worded myself, but in the end, she agreed to work with me in helping him. She also made it clear what would happen if what we were doing caused him harm in any way.”

“And did it?”

“No, it did not. The last time I saw him, he was growing properly, and I expect he’ll be hitting the molt in a matter of months.” Spliced sat up straighter as she said it, the voices in her mind softening ever so softly.

Due Justice peered at the papers before he lifted his head up. “If I may interject?”

Legal gave him a narrow glare before she nodded her head. He stood up and walked back in front of Spliced. “Miss Genome, I was wondering if you could tell us what you told Princess Twilight about your reasoning to help her.”

Spliced frowned at this but she knew that this was more than likely going to happen. “I told her that I was doing this for my own benefit as I had felt if they would be angered if I did nothing to help Spike.”

“That’s very self serving of you, Miss Genome,” Due Justice said before reaching out for another section of the documents. “And here is the stated records of your treatment of one Snöflinga was highly inappropriate and aggressive to the point you were nearly escorted out of the city-state. Am I correct?”

“Yes, but he is a windigo, and their species feeds on hatred and aggression,” Spliced pointed out, gesturing to Judge Schneehund. “My negativity was exactly what he needed to help heal.”

“And I am sure that Judge Schneehund can attest that the levels you went to were excessive, is that not correct?” Due Justice asked him with the windigo looking sharply at Due Justice.

“Due Justice, a windigo’s emotional needs differentiate between the sub-tribes; some do better with aggression while others do well with jealousy and others with fear,” Schneehund said, leering at him. “Furthermore, Snöflinga was in a comatose state at the time so even basic levels of negativity were necessary to help bring him out of it and if I am reading this correctly, it worked.”

Due Justice looked ruffled at that but shook his head as Legal Preview stepped forwards. “If I may ask my client a question now?”

“You may,” Balanced Scales said, waving Due Justice back to his seat.

“Thank you, your honour,” Legal Preview said. “Miss Genome, can you please state who this is?” she asked as a holographic image of young orange coated pegasus filly appeared.

“This is Scootaloo, a young filly from the other dimension I was in,” Spliced stated. “She had a magical - what we’d call thaumatical - imbalance in her wings, but it was correctable with the right injections, and she had fully recovered by the time I left.”

“And what part, exactly, did you play in this?”

“I had met she and her friends and informed them that I was a researcher,” Spliced began. “She asked me if I could figure out why she couldn’t fly yet. I observed her attempts at lift-off, and determined that it was most likely a problem with her thaumatic flow. I later spoke to one of the doctors in the Crystal Empire about it, and he agreed to set up a meeting for her with another doctor who specializes in helping young ponies. I did share my observations with them, but the locals handled all the actual work when it came to physical testing and then curing her problem.”

“And why did you do this?” Legal Preview asked. “Is Scootaloo related to any of the Princesses?”

“Not biologically,” Spliced replied. “She’s honorary sisters with Rainbow Dash, a close friend of Princess Twilight Sparkle. However, I was unaware of this at the time I met them.” She took a deep breath. “Scootaloo and her friends met me when I was on my way to visit with another of the locals. Along the way, the three of them offered to be my friends, and I found them surprisingly easy to get along with, what with their innocence and exuberance… it was unlike any ponies I’d really met before. So when Scootaloo asked me to help, I agreed. And I admit, I found her problem fascinating, but I chose to help her. Not for scientific reasons, but because she was… a good kid. And I couldn’t bring myself to disappoint her by turning her down, not after they’d so genuinely offered me friendship.”

“Thank you,” Legal Preview replied. Consulting her notes, she looked up. “There is another case, involving a stallion by the name of Lughead. According to witness accounts, he was working on a machine when it began to malfunction, and you leaped between he and it. Why?”

Spliced blinked in surprise. “I just did,” she said. “I don’t remember even consciously thinking about the consequences, I just moved between he and it.”

“And as a result, he escaped injury,” Legal Preview noted. “Whereas you received a large chunk of metal straight through your eye.”

Spliced shuddered at the memory. “Yes.”

“What brought you to this place at the time?”

Spliced sat back. “We - myself, Princess Twilight Sparkle, her apprentice Starlight Glimmer, and Spike - had been called to talk with somepony about the development of an array that would let them track the thaumatic signature of a known criminal from that world, one who had proven a serious threat in the past and had escaped them more than once. Lughead was in the process of testing the array when it suddenly went haywire.”

“And this array was one of your design, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, actually,” Spliced replied. “Though I’m honestly not sure what went wrong with it.”

“Did you warn them of possible hazards involved in its construction?”

“I’m not sure I did, actually,” Spliced said as she thought back. “I do know that the company specialized in experimental technologies and were aware of the hazards involved in such. Before he turned the array on, Lughead said that explosions were among the things they made regularly.” Spliced blinked before leaned close to the microphone. “Also, they produced refrigerators.”

“I see.” Legal examined her notes. “And this criminal you’d agreed to help find, what was their crime?”

“She was the former Queen of a hive of Mimics, who had purposely kept herself and the rest of her followers in a weakened state,” Spliced replied, ignoring the loud gasps from the gallery at this last part. “According to the head of their guard, she’s the only one of their kind to remain in that form, with the rest of them having gone to full-fed forms since she was overthrown and a new King took over the hive. Prior to that, she had attempted to use a combination of infiltration and military force to seize control of Equestria and other nations on multiple occasions, and despite being offered a chance to change her ways, has refused to do so and instead sworn revenge on those who thwarted her.”

“And the array was for the purpose of tracking her and nullifying her ability to blend in, so that she could be brought to justice and tried for her crimes?”

“Yes.”

“Your honours,” Due Justice suddenly spoke up. “Is there a point to this tangent?”

Judge Balanced Scales gave a slight frown. “I will admit, this seems a bit far from where you started, Miss Preview.”

Legal Preview bowed. “This is relevant, your honours. It is further examples of good acts that my client has performed while in the Equuis dimension.”

“Understood.” Balanced Scales sat back. “However, there is a lack of foundation on the matter of this… Queen.”

“Very well.” Legal Preview straightened herself. “Miss Genome, when did you first learn about the former Mimic Queen?”

“The day after I arrived,” Spliced replied. “Princess Celestia had decided to send me to Ponyville to stay with her former student, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and had decided to share some of Equestria’s history with me. During that talk, she mentioned Equestria’s former animosity with a hostile hive of Mimics - Changelings, they call them there - and especially with the former Queen Chrysalis and her attacks on Equestria. I later met with the head guard of their hive and learned more about how she was overthrown.”

“And when did the subject of an array come up?”

“During that first conversation,” Spliced replied. “She said that Chrysalis was very good at not being found, so I immediately described a means of finding her, something I remembered from this world. It took me a while to write out the blueprints, but I did.”

“Very well.” Legal Preview consulted her notes again. “One more question miss Genome,” she said, holding out a hoof. “How did you convince Princess Celestia to return you to Ponyville when she had begun to take you to Canterlot?”

Spliced winced but she knew that this was the most important part of her defense. “During Nightmare Night, a festival in that dimension, I had confessed the full extent of my crimes to the princesses and I was to be taken to the capital when Captain Comet’s ship appeared in the sky. I then threw myself at her hooves, begging to be taken back to Ponyville as I knew that the ship in the sky would have ability to trace my thaumic residue and that would lead them to Ponyville and I could not let them go after the ponies there.”

“Why not? You were clearly putting yourself in danger of being recaptured and being within Canterlot, the capital of Equestria, would be the most secure location for yourself and being their prisoner, you would have been able to stay there more than likely,” Legal said, pacing in front of her.

Spliced bowed her head. “I couldn’t let them hurt the locals,” she said. “I had had an epiphany earlier that night, on learning the origins of the festival, and it made me realize what kind of monster I truly was. The last thing I wanted was for those I had come to care about to be made to pay for my sins.”

That caused a murmur of voices and Spliced felt herself starting to be able to breathe slightly easier now.

“Okay, Miss Genome,” Due Justice said, walking over to the witness stand holding a terminal in his magic aura. “I’m convinced; Miss Preview has proved to me that you are an empathic mare that truly cares about others.” He paused, ear flicking. “Almost that is. All that you need to do is just one thing to completely convince me. One action and then I will personally work to ensure that you serve the rest of your time on some five star beach resort with all the stallions or mares you want.” He ignored Spliced, Legal Preview and High Tree’s glare. “Give us the cures to your diseases.”

“What?” Spliced jolted in surprise with her heart racing.

“If you truly do care about other people, you will have no problem giving us the cures, right?” Due Justice asked her, leaning in close. “You do care about other people, yes?”

“Ye-es,” she stammered, trying to keep her eyes on him but it was hard.

“Then you wouldn’t mind doing this, right?” he asked loudly, leaning in closer to her. “This would be the ultimate gesture of your so called reformation, so you should have no issue in giving us the cures. You have proved that you can do it with Captain Comet. So Genome, will you give us the cures now?” he asked, leaning in very close, with Preview and and the judges shooting him angry glares, but Spliced couldn’t focus.

“N-no,” she panted out, the choices in her head screaming so loudly now.

“Why not‽” he shouted at her with ponies moving to take him away.

“Because I’m scared of you!” Spliced shouted, slamming her hooves onto the table with tears running down her face. “I’m scared that the moment I do, you will take my memories away again and leave me to rot back in that hellhole station on the moon! Do you think I want to hold onto these cures‽ I want to give them to you but my fucking cowardness is stopping me! I know I don’t deserve any of this, the damn voices in my head screaming at me that I deserve worse are yelling at me to do this but I can’t! I’m too damn scared but I know that I need to and I-I-” Spliced couldn’t continue, hiccuping too much and her eyes were full of tears.

“ORDER!” Balanced Scales shouted, slamming his gavel against the table. “Preview, Justice, to the bench. Now!”

Tilting her head to the side through her sobs, Spliced saw that a privacy screen had been enacted from the gallery.

“Due Justice, you are inches from being found in contempt of court and you are being fined five hundred credits for this stunt,” High Tree snapped angrily with the stallion looking sullen.

“Legal Preview, why were we not informed of miss Genome’s mental status?” Schneehund asked just as angrily.

“I am not trained to psychoanalyze anyone and arranging to have one evaluate my client within a two day period would have been near impossible,” Legal Preview replied harshly, causing the judges to wince guiltily for a moment before they returned to how they were before.

“Back to your seats; we will have closing statements before we will decide on our verdict,” Balanced Scales said, lowering the screen to the gallery with Legal helping Spliced back to her own seat. “Due Justice, your closing statement.”

“Th-thank you,” Due Justice said a bit uncertainly before he cleared his throat. “Your honours, let us cut to the basics. This is Spliced Genome, the Viral Maniac. Her diseases have caused unaccountable damages and ruined trillions upon trillions of lives. Look around; maybe only one out of every twenty or so here are without any augmentations or mutations.” That was true, and the sheer sight of it caused Spliced to wince over in pain and guilt. “That is not taking in account of those outside these doors, those who are in the grave right now, those suffering because of her. What about their rights to see that she never sees the light of day again? Are we really willing to sell out all of their suffering and pain just to give her a measure of comfort while she spoon feeds us the answers to a galaxy’s worth of problems?” He turned to look at the gallery before shaking his head. “No I say no, and I hope that you will see reason to never let that mare out ever again.”

He turned around sharply and went back to his seat with the gallery muttering behind her and Spliced was doing her best to keep her wings under control as all she wanted to do was just run away at this point, either that or curl up and some-.

“Preview, your closing statement.” Balanced Scales said with Legal giving her a discrete pat on the back before standing up.

“Thank you, your honours,” Legal Preview said before looking at Due Justice. “As you said you were getting to the basics, so will I. The actual basics,” that earned her a glare from Due Justice. “My client here is a criminal, there is no denying that. She has committed heinous crimes in the past, crimes that have seen her sentenced to enough life sentences to last a thousand years. During her incarceration, she had escaped our attention for several months before we were able to locate her. But before any action could be taken against my client, she had turned herself in and stated outright her desire to make up for her crimes, asking for only one adjustment to her sentence - a change in the location where she was being incarcerated. She has not asked to be let off, she has not denied her guilt.” Legal walked closer to the judges. “This is the basis of our prison system; to have criminal reformed and contributing to society. That is what my client wants to do and all that she requests in return is that she be placed somewhere other than her original cell.”

“Thank you both for your work,” Balanced Scales said as the three of them stood up and walked off to a private room with the privacy screen going back up and security guards directing Legal Preview and Spliced Genome to one room while Due Justice walked off to another room.

“What if I-”

“As I said before, don’t you dare,” Legal snapped at her with Spliced feeling slightly better at the words. They had been waiting for over an hour for the judges and the voices in Spliced’s head were screaming to her to withdraw her request for a change in her prison.

It was easier to have someone like Legal to keep her from doing so but it was still very hard. Half of her mind was screaming at her to go to the judges while the other half was screaming at her to stay quiet or she’d be stuck back on the moon forever without her mind again. The only way she was able to keep herself from falling apart was the knowledge that if she broke down again, they wouldn’t let her fix her mistakes and she couldn’t live with that.

“Right, right,” Spliced said, trying to get her breathing under control but it was easier said than done without resorting to just killing herself to reset her body. “It’s just-”

“Spliced,” Legal held her hoof up. “Please, just wait for the verdict to be given. We can move on from there.” She grimaced. “Of course, what I’d really like is for Due Justice’s legal license to be dumped in some black hole after what he pulled, but I doubt it’ll happen.”

Spliced gave a faint smile that showed the faint tremors in her body. “Thanks, Legal. I need that.”

Legal just smiled brighter at her before looking at the door again with her eyes darting to the chronotracker hovering above the door, displaying the Hesturland standard time, which was the universal measure of time along with the local times of several other planets flashing by. Spliced found it fascinating that while she knew a lot of them, several were brand new to her though the possible reasonings for it disturbed her and made her feel even worse.

Before she could fall into that hole, there was a chime singling that they were to return to the courtroom. Standing up, the two mares walked through the door and down the hallway with guards flanking them and leading them through the doorway and back into the noisy courtroom.

Once everyone had taken their seats, the bailiff stood and approached the judge’s bench. “Your honours, have the judges reached a verdict?”

“We have,” Judge Balanced Scales replied. “In the case of the State Vs. Spliced Genome, we hereby readjust her sentence as follows. She is to cure all of the viruses and diseases she has created, following standard medical procedures in doing so, with both parole and release upon completion, her thousand year life sentence null and void. She is also to undergo psychological evaluation and attend mandatory therapy.” He raised his gavel but before he could bang it, there was a commotion at the door with the guards raising hooves and talons to their helmets. “What is going on?” he demanded angrily as the doors slammed open and new guards stormed in with a team of lawyers in the middle of them, all wearing badges of the intergalactic alliance on their uniforms.

“Sorry, Judge Scales but the intergalactic tribunal has already reached their decision regarding Spliced Genome and we’re here to make sure justice is done for the entire galaxy.” The lead lawyer said holding out a long sheet of papers in their hooves before tilting his head towards Spliced. “Take her.”

Before Spliced could react, she felt needles being shot into her with tranquilizer darts sticking out of her side. Already she was woozy, barely able to make out what Legal or the judges were shouting angrily before she passed out.

Spliced sat upright in the bed she was in and her heart plummeted as she saw the same four prefabricated walls of her old room in her prison on the moon.

With her heartbeat thundering in her head, Spliced could only utter one word.

“no.”

Chapter Thirty

“No,” Spliced whispered to herself, feeling her heart race in her chest as she took in her old room in. “No, no, no, no, no, no, no!” she shouted to herself as she raced through the hallway and into the same living module as before and shouted no louder as she saw the door blocking her way out to the larger hub room of her prison.

“Let me out!” she shouted as threw herself into the door, her heart racing even faster as the door remained shut. “Let me out!” she repeated as she slammed into the door again and again. She might have heard voices but she couldn’t be sure as she continued hit the door, now bloody due her attempts to break it. She didn’t stop when she heard the scraping of bone against the door; the pain she felt now was nothing compared to that of dying.

She did stop when the gas began to fill the room. Coughing into her hoof, Spliced could tell it was not a poisonous gas cloud but a simple knockout variant. She already regretted telling them the benefits of just incapacitating her instead of killing her before she passed out.

Spliced sat up in the bed as she woke up, sobering up instantly and dashing back towards the door, her anger growing at this injustice at being placed back here. Growling as she prepared to use her magic against the door, she again shouted to be let out, only to hear a voice.

“Miss Genome, wait, please!” a voice called out, causing Spliced to halt in surprise at hearing someone.

“Who said that?” Spliced asked, turning her head to see who had spoken but seeing nothing beyond her prison’s walls.

“I am Steady Cut, ma’am,” the stallion continued to speak. “I am part of the team assigned to this project, but bef-”

“Let me out!” Spliced shouted back.

“Ma’am, I cannot do that yet, we need you to calm down first,” Cut said in his namesake tone. “I’m sorry for this; no one is happy with this stunt from the tribunal.” He snorted from his side of the doorway. “One of the most useless organizations in the galaxy and the one time they actually do something, they go over the heads of the people who’d actually made a good choice. Your lawyer has been raising a damn storm about this but…” His voice trailed off. “The damn politics of it all forced the council of the Senate to accept this shit decision that is more or less the same that you were going to get. I’m really sorry miss Genome, you don’t deserve this.”

Her heart clenched hard at his words with the voices of guilt in her head telling her otherwise. She tried to tell him this but she couldn’t force the words out past her lips. All she managed to say was “I… I need to lay down.” She felt weak in the legs and was already heading back to her room when Steady Cut called out.

“I will be waiting here until you’re ready.”

Spliced barely paid any attention to him as she made her way back into her room and fell onto her bed, crying and shaking as her mind continued to tell her that she deserved worse than this, that she was wrong, she was selfish and how horrible she truly was.

On and on these thoughts kept washing over her, no break in sight until she managed to clasp onto the notion that she couldn’t do anything while here and that she needed to do something. With a pained groan as she pushed herself upright, close to death from either starvation or some other malady from staying in bed however long she had. Not feeling the strength to check what was wrong with her nor caring to nurse herself back to health, she simply snapped her neck and stood up in perfect health that she did not deserve. Doing her best to squash that thought lest she fall back onto the bed, she made her way mutely towards the door of the hub room of prison and saw some changes she missed the first time. The most notable was that the corridor was no longer claustrophobia-inducing, the size actually comfortable. Looking at the table, she saw that it had a finely-stitched cushioned chair with a holographic computer emitter built into the table replacing the old clunky machine that had stayed there for nearly four hundred years.

Spliced couldn’t figure out why they had done these changes, it made no sense to her but regardless, she needed to see if she could find… whatever the stallion was called again as she forgot his name and find out what he was talking about when he spoke of a team and this project. She stood in front of the door and stared at it for a while before knocking on it hesitantly.

There was a clatter of noise from the other side as someone was struggling to get through something. “One moment, one moment,” the same stalli-Steady Cut, that was his name. “Sorry, I was just washing my dishes.” The door opened up to reveal a light blue unicorn stallion with black mane wearing a labcoat smiling at her. He was young looking, maybe in his mid-twenties. Behind him, however, was what caught Spliced’s eye. It had all the markings of someone setting up a temporary living quarters. There was a bed, refrigerator, a wash station with dishes in it and even a chemical toilet further down the way. “Sorry again for the mess, miss Genome.” He gave her a smile as he held out his hoof to her. “I’m Steady Cut, in case you forgot ma’am.” She didn’t take his hoof and continued to stare at everything behind him with the stallion catching her eyes. “Ah, well when you didn’t come back after a few hours, I had these things brought in.”

“Why?” Spliced couldn’t figure out why anyone would do this, with her mind going in circles as it tried to figure this puzzle out.

“I told you that I’d be waiting for you,” Steady Cut said with confusion in his voice as if there could be any other reason for his action. “Ma’am,” he said, standing a bit straighter. “You don’t need to come right now if you aren’t ready. You can take another week to get yourself ready, okay?”

Spliced wanted to say yes to that, to hide in her room and never come out again but that would be the easy way out and she didn’t deserve that.

“Let’s go,” she said with Steady Cut leading her through the mess and down the hallway, his presence soothing her racing heart ever so slightly. As they reached the doorway, Steady Cut looked at her and his eyes offered her again a way to go back to her room. Shaking her head at that, she steeled herself and walked through the door.

What greeted her took her breath away.

The main hubroom was still there but vastly changed. There were terminals installed into the floor with all kind of species working away with some in deep discussion with each other over some points of data. There were throngs of individuals going through newly installed doorways and above all the doors were counters that held massive numbers which Spliced could instantly tell was the number of her own blasted creations minus one. It was overwhelming and nearly sent her back into a downward spiral of self-hatred but a slight bump from Steady Cut made her meet his eyes.

“Are you sure?” he asked her, with some people starting to notice them.

“Ye-yes,” she said, nodding her head as he led her to a door with the room going quiet as she passed by, the overwhelming guilt nearly sending her to the floor but she managed to use it to push herself forwards. Stepping into the room, she saw an assessment of the different races standing before some of most impressive biochemical equipment she had ever seen. With a deep breath, she walked forwards to central table and said, “I can do this.”

I can’t do this, Spliced thought to herself with tears running down her face. She knew she should be outside with everyone but she couldn’t face them. She couldn’t see Legal and Steady with their foal.

She hated herself for being this weak, for feeling this petty and jealous but she couldn’t help herself. Fumbling off the bed, Spliced knew that this would be her last chance to see them but she couldn’t go.

Panting in anger and frustration, she tried to lift herself upright but only managed to raise her head to let out a choked sob as she knew that she didn’t deserve to go see the foal, that she deserved this for her sinful crimes and worse.

It would be six months before she managed to leave her room.

Ever since she took this job twenty years ago, Stone Wall knew it would be unlike any other prison she had been the warden for.

“What do you mean no,” Spliced snapping angrily at her, was one example of it as it was actually a good sign instead of it being a sign of trouble. Spliced showing any emotion was to be celebrated, considering how the changelings and windigos had been reporting that she was in a steady emotional decline since she had got here. Well, the windigos had reported it, as almost all of the changelings had been evacuated a while back as Spliced’s negativity was getting toxic for them and the last thing anyone wanted was someone dying or worse, Spliced finding out that was the cause for it as it would undoubtedly send the mare into a deeper depression and it might take a year or so before she was ready to work again.

“I’m sorry, Spliced,” Stone shook her head, as she stared at the mare across her desk. “There is nothing I can do.”

“Look, I have asked for nothing the entire time I have been here,” Spliced stated sharply- which was true. The mare had not requested anything from them during her tenure which was unusual for a prisoner but Spliced was not a usual prisoner by any means. “All I want is to go down there with everyone else.”

“I understand that,” Stone Wall said calmly. “You worked closely with Doctor Cut while he was here and you wish to pay your respects but-”

“Look, I-” Spliced got close to her and if this was any other prisoner she would them thrown into solitary for this. “I will take the damn medication and go speak with the therapists; I just need to go. Please.” Spliced begged her and Stone Wall was torn. This could be the breakthrough everyone was hoping for. When Spliced was first brought here, they had tried to put her on medication before Spliced had purposely overdosed on them which ended that dead in its tracks. They also tried to make her go to therapists but it was a waste of time as Spliced had stated flat out as she didn’t want to make herself better, it would have no effect. After a day’s worth of time spent with a therapist in complete silence, they ended that too.

To have her on medication and actually talking to someone about her problems would help increase the pace and progress of their work to making the cures but more importantly, it would help her. Stone Wall had read the reports several times when she had gone through orientation to know what she shouldn’t say to trigger one of Spliced’s depressive spells and after spending two decades here, her heart continue to break as she imagined how much guilt the alicorn was putting on her back and continuing to place on her back. Doing this would be beneficial beyond belief but...

“I’m sorry, Spliced, I really am,” Stone Wall sighed sadly, shaking her head as she looked at the obituary of the eighty year old Steady Cut before facing the mare again. “If I could, I would authorize a temporary visit pass for you but the funeral is in a couple of days and the paperwork will take at least a week to get through.” Stone Wall saw Spliced’s face fall at this and she knew that the mare would be holed up in her room again, possibly for a long period this time.

“I understand,” Spliced said in her usual emotionally dead tone, dipping her head and moving to leave her office.

“Spliced,” Stone Wall called out to her, causing her to halt in place. “Please, I- you offered to take medication and talk to someone. I beg you, please do so.” Stone Wall was staring at her, trying to see some sort of reaction in the mare.

“I’m fully aware that I would feel immensely better if I were take the medication and talk to someone,” Spliced said, shaking her head. “That is why I cannot do it. I do not deserve it.”

With that, the mare left the office and entered her room, only leaving it a year and half later.

“This is pointless,” Spliced said without a hint of any emotion as she fixed her mane.

Dedicated Duty said nothing as Spliced wasn’t looking for a response, though she was secretly pleased to hear Spliced complaining. Years ago with about twenty or thirty wardens behind her the emotivors that were still on the base had reported that she had entered into what they called emotional silence; her depression had grown so large it had bottomed out and caused her to be unable to feel any more emotions. She still got depressed with years lost due to some idiot calling her doctor or giving her some sort of praising as proof but she no longer actually felt any sort of emotion. So any sign of her emoting, even complaining, was to be celebrated secretly as a victory and a possible sign of her recovering.

“Agreed,” Dedicated Duty said after seeing Spliced was actually looking for some sort of response for once, another good sign though Dedicated Duty wasn’t going to hold her breath. “But we all need to go through the measures.”

Spliced nodded her head, placing down the brush and straightening the coat she was wearing. It was plain and completely unrepresentative to Spliced’s actual status in the group but no one was stupid enough to risk causing Spliced to spend several years in her room by giving her one. She then turned around and started at the door with Dedicated Duty leading the way out of Spliced’s private bathroom.

“I had told the reporters not to bother you nor will you need to answer any question,” Dedicated Duty knew she was repeating herself but it was helping steady Spliced’s nerves, even if she wasn’t aware she was nervous.

“Thank you,” Spliced said as they walked out of her private hubroom with white sheets already draped over everything and into the hallways to the main station of the moon base with half of the terminals already dismantled and being stored away to be taken elsewhere. The workers paused as the two of them passed by but said nothing which was a blessing. Dedicated Duty looked at the counters hanging above the doors, which had zeros in all but one of the many spaces with a single digit left in each one of them.

They then entered in the main laboratory that been emptied out of almost all of the equipment with chairs installed to hold the reporters from across the galaxy on one end. On the other end was the current team of people assigned to assist in Spliced Genome’s work and their last client sitting down in a medical slab. All of the reporters turned to stare as they entered the room but they had been instructed heavily to what they could and could not say or do with heavy fines and punishments if they broke the contracts they signed.

Spliced walked over to the client, appearing to be as eager to be done with this annoying piece of political bullshit as everyone else was. Reaching for the injector that her number two provided her, Spliced turned to the client on the medical slab and placed it against their skin and gently pressed the plunger. Every eye darted to the screen above the medical team showing the genetic makeup for their client and then there were cheers as the screen flashed green and all of the counters flashed zeros.

Dedicated Duty watched the reporters getting ready to ask their questions to the medical team with Spliced Genome giving her a look before she asked her. “May I wait in the shuttle?”

“Yes, of course,” Dedicated Duty replied with a nod of her head, watching the reporters giving Spliced a breadth to walk back to the door when one of school children that had won that idiotic contest to see this event had walked up to Spliced.

“Miss Genome, do you feel good after curing everyone?” the little filly asked her with everyone in the room wincing in anticipation of Spliced’s reaction. Spliced turned around slowly and stared at the filly before lowering herself down to look the filly in the eye.

“When you break something at home and fix it, you do not feel good about fixing it. You are simply doing what is right. Nothing more, nothing less.” She then looked at the filly with a frown on her face before she asked the filly her own question as she stood up.

“What is the date?”

The filly blinked confused at this before answering her question.

Then something completely unpredictable happen.

Spliced smirked though the smile didn’t reach her eyes. She said while shaking her head as if she was amused, “A thousand years, on the summer solstice. It could be nothing else.” She then looked at Dedicated Duty. “What is the name of the pilot for the shuttle?”

“Escape Velocity, piloting the Aiding Stars,” Dedicated Duty said with concern as Spliced smirked again, shaking her head as she left the room.

Spliced waited on the stage as the construction crew worked around her. Everyone was preparing for the ceremony to commemorate her diseases all being fixed with medals and awards to be given out to the living and dead that had worked with her but Spliced wasn’t focusing on that.

She was waiting for this to happen, something she had been waiting since she had been brought back here from Equestria. It had been a long, painful wait but it would soon be over and then everything would be finally be right. It almost made her smile but she couldn’t get over that emotional hump to do so.

Her eyes scanned the people passing her with no interest in their business before she finally spotted them. It was easy as they were with their bodyguards and the number of monitors hovering around them.

They froze when they spotted her, their bodyguards tensing up as Spliced walked up to them.

“Council members,” Spliced said, addressing the leaders of this nation.

“Spliced Genome,” one of them responded, looking at her with some fear in his eyes. “Congratulations are in order.”

“No they are not,” she stated the obvious with her heart starting to race as it was finally within reach. “I have finished my sentence, both the one stipulating that I fix all that I have broke and my life sentences.” She took a step closer to them with all of them taking a step backwards. “As such, I request you make me mortal again so I can finally kill myself and have it stick.”

They shared guilty looks with each other before the one that spoke to her lifted his head up to her. “I’m sorry Spliced, but we cannot do that.”

Spliced’s eye twitched at this and a surge of annoyance rushed through her. “If it is because I stated my desire to kill myself, then you can ignore it.” She leaned in close to him and said, “Think of how well it will do your reelection when you’re connected to being those finally put me in the ground.”

“You’re not understanding us, miss Genome,” he said, looking at his fellow council members. “It’s not because we don’t want to, it’s because we don’t know how.” These words caused Spliced’s heart to chill to the bone with her head beginning to spin. “We’ve gone over the records of the council members from your time countless times and we still have no idea how they managed to make you like this Spliced.” He gave her a guilty look before he muttered out. “We’re sorry.”

“You’re sorry‽” Spliced snapped, rage filling every aspect of her body. How dare they do this to her! She had been looking forward to her death ever since she started working on the cures, the one thing that had been her anchor for her sanity all these years and now they were telling her that this was all a lie‽ They thought her mad before, they would learn that they had only tasted the bare hints of what she was capable of doing! She would bring down everything on their heads for this, for doing this to her! She did not deserve this and -

The thought was like a bolt through her conscious and every slammed to a halt. She was wrong; this was exactly what she deserved. How dare she be given the peace of death after all she had done? How dare she think she actually deserved anything to suffer until the end of time? Her sins were endless and she deserved to suffer for an endless amount of time to make the barest of amends to those she had killed and ruined.

She looked down, seeing the cowering councilmembers beneath her and she was suddenly tired. Tired of people using her, tired of people lying to her, tired of everything.

With a flash of her horn, the mare from the moon teleported away to never return ever again.