Author's Notes:

Hello everybody. I apologize for not posting many chapters as of late, but I've been so busy with work along with my studying that I barely had time. I hope that this chapter makes up for the tardiness. Leave me your thoughts and opinions in the comment section down below and I'll see you on the other side.

Inside the Crystal Empire, two colt pegasus soldiers were guarding the outside of the large gate. One said,

“Geez, just how long will it be until the anomaly blankets Equestria?”

“Beats the shit outta me. We’ve been losing so many soldiers that I’ve lost count of who came back.”

“No kidding. The food shortage doesn’t help either. Plus, the princesses have been acting strange lately. First, Princess Luna has gone missing. Then, Princess Cadence starts keeping secrets from us. And now Princess Twilight is off galavanting in Celestia-knows-where.”

“Speaking of Princess Twilight, there’s something off about her. I often see her leave the castle with Pinkie 24/7 with no reason as to why. And when she does return, she’s carrying something in her bag and she’s covered with all this black, gooey crap on her. You don’t think it’s-”

“Quiet! If anypony hears us, we’ll be sent out to the field for jungle sweeping.”

“That’s better than waiting to die. We’re losing each battle everyday and we’re not one step closer to figuring out who the leader is! Why did this have to happen? Just what could we have done to deserve all this?”

“I dunno. But whatever caused all this, it’s giving us one helluva fight.”

“Hmph. By the way, is it just me, or have there been more fires as of late?”

“There have been dragons everywhere in this past year. And every tree has been burnt to cinder along with our fellow troops.”

“Yeah, but the fires recently have been more stronger than what the dragons usually blast us with. Also, why do I have a funny feeling about these flames? I feel like my armor’s turning into wax right now.”

“Who knows? But ones thing for sure is that we’re reaching the endgame and I’m not even sure myself if Twilight and her friends can prepare for the wind-up the anomaly is gonna give us next.”

“You and me both…”

Moving around the bottom was a young mare. Walking around the Crystal Empire, she walked towards the castle. But before she could go in, she was immediately stopped by two guards.

“Halt! What business do you have here?” a female guard asked.

“I have a message for Princess Twilight Sparkle. Please don’t hurt me!” the filly begged.

Looking into her bag, there was nothing but letters and rations inside. Feeling suspicious, the male said,

“I’ll deliver the message to the Princess. You go along now.”

“No. I was instructed specifically by Starlight Glimmer to deliver this message to her. No questions asked.”

The two tried to figure out what to do next. While the filly appeared to be harmless, they couldn’t help but feel the cling suspicion that she was hiding something. Seeing two guards walk by, the female said,

“You two.”

The two guards walked towards them. One asked,

“Yeah, Feathers?”

“I want you to watch the entrance while me and Tropic escort this little girl. Can you do that for us?”

“We can do that.”

After nodding in acknowledgement, the two guards proceeded to walk with the filly to Twilight’s quarters. The guard proceeded to open the door for her. But before the filly could go inside. The guard stopped her. He said,

“We’ll take it from here.”

“What? But I was told to specifically put this message into her room by Starlight.”

“We know what she said. But it’s standard protocol that we be the ones who send the message in. It’s by order of the princesses.” the female said.

“I don’t have any reasons to bother her. If you don’t believe me, you can come with me.” the filly said in a innocent tone.

The two guards looked at each other, suspicious of the little filly. They knew that she meant well and had little to no ill intentions, but they felt something off about her. They couldn’t put their hooves on what it was, but they had a feeling that she was hiding something. Regardless, the female guard told the filly,

“Place the message on the princess’s desk and we will show you out. She does not take kindly to strangers entering her room without a warrant.”

“I know. It would be awful if anypony knew what secrets she was keeping…” the little filly said with a sudden shift in her voice.

“Huh?” the male guard said.

Just then, the doors behind the guards closed. They both pointed their weapons at the little filly. The male shouted,

“Let us out this instant or you’ll be playing with your dollies in the Crystal Empire dungeons!”

“This little filly has played long enough…”

The two guards shuddered in horror upon hearing that voice. Before they could strike against the filly, the Creature cut their front hooves off, making them fall to the ground. The male tried to escape, but the Creature sent a part of itself into the colt. As she tried to crawl away, she asked,

“Why…?”

Instead of answering, the creature simply chuckled and cut her head off. The Creature used a part of itself to enter the mare’s severed body before reattaching the head. It turned towards Twilight’s bag before looking at the mare. Licking its lips in hunger and grinning with malice, it lunged towards the filly and started eating her alive. Crunching and chewing every fiber of the filly all the way to the marrow in her bones. After finishing its meal with her brains and eyeballs, it cleaned out whatever mess there was left in Twilight’s room before heading into her bag. But before it entered, it said,

“Wait until I order you to lower the defenses on the Crystal Empire. I want the princesses to know what they are heading in for.”

Getting off the ground into attention, the guards said,

“Yessir!!!”

After watching the guards leave, the Creature looked around the room to see if there could be anything useful against the Princesses. Scanning the areas, it noticed a multitude of spells that Twilight concocted herself ever since the day the war against the Corruption began. Just then, Spike appeared with the Creature, splitting his consciousness with the Creature.

“What is all this?” he asked, looking at the vials and glasses.

“I believe she is trying to turn the tide against us.” the creature said, grabbing a vial.

“How do you plan to make use of this?” Spike asked, turning the vials around.

Chuckling at his question, the Creature opened the vial and sent a bit of itself in the bottle before doing the same to all the others. After having finished, it turned around and noticed a picture. Spike, taking the helm, grabbed the framed picture and looked at it. It was a photo of Spike, Twilight, and Owlicious. Taken aback by all this, he had no idea what to think of it. However, he thought back to a time when he was still in Ponyville and Canterlot with Twilight. He carried on his face a sad expression as he rubbed his claws on it.

“Twilight…” Spike said with sorrow in his voice.

But just then, the Creature took over his subconscious. It said,

“This is your way of remembering him…?”

He crushed the frame in his claws and threw it to the ground. Turning back to the bag, the Creature switched back and said,

“It’s time.”

“Right…”

The Creature slithered into the bag and hid until Twilight came into her room. Entering her room, Twilight took a seat in her desk to rest herself from the soul harvesting she has commenced.

“Just where are you, Pinkie…?” Twilight said, resting her head.

Rubbing her tired eyes, she couldn’t figure out what was real anymore. It was bad enough for her that the Royal Sisters have gone missing, but her first friend in Ponyville was nowhere to be seen in Equestria. Her mind was pinballing everywhere as she started thinking about what happened back at the castle.

“If I hadn’t banished him… if I hadn't listened… none of this would’ve…”

Just then, she turned around and noticed a vision of Spike.

“What’s wrong, Twilight?” the apparition asked.

“No… you’re not real…” Twilight said, backing away.

“Why not? I mean, what’s happening outside is real. Just like the day when you threw me out of your life.” Spike said in a menacing tone.

“Please. You don’t-”

“-Understand? Don’t worry. I understand completely. If you had chosen to fight for your beliefs, if you just told your friends what was going on instead of playing Undertaker, you could have found a way to destroy that monster outside the Crystal Empire!”

“Stop it…”

“Or else what…? You already threw me out of the castle! What left could I have to lose? Besides, it’s not like you another pet to look after!”

“I didn’t choose Owlicious over you! He was lost! I was only-” Twilight said, on the verge of tears.

“You tried to replace me! Not to mention the fact that Celestia made you her perfect little teacher’s pet and I was always the bite in the dust! You think you know how to save Equestria, but you and your friends are nothing more than a symbol of how low Equestria has fallen over the years!”

“Please… just listen to me. You-”

“I’m done being your obedient dog!!! If you really valued me, you would have looked for me!!! I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING THAT MONSTER TEAR YOU APART!!!”

Just then, a shadowy figure appeared behind Spike. Twilight, out of fear, backed away and covered her face before it lunged at her.