Dove was annoyed, which she blamed on this Ocid place; she had never been so annoyed, so often, as she had been since arriving in this place. When she had to go potty she had to be taken to some weird enclosure to go. Why would any pony want to go potty inside of an enclosure? It wasn't sanitary, and her mother had always told her that she needed to worry about being sanitary when going potty. But if you went potty in a metal enclosure it would just sit there, on the ground in it, making the entire place stink. Not to mention some other pony could step in it if they went in there. Going in a river was much better. The whole thing was a bad idea, and it looked like some pony had taken a potty in the basin of drinking water, which was completely disgusting.

At least after she has gone potty she had finally gotten to rub that itch. It had felt so good, she didn't think anything she had ever felt had ever felt so good. She hadn't wanted to stop, but her hoof and area down there had gotten really messy with some weird stuff, and it kind of freaked her out. Of course the horrible estrus had to go and do something to upset her again after she found at least one thing she seemed to enjoy about it. She needed to ask either her mother or aunt about it. She wanted to right now, but she they had stressed to her that she was only supposed to talk to them where other ponies couldn't hear about this kind of stuff.

Now she sat waiting for her mother to come back out. Her aunt and Quiet were sitting with her, along with all the strange ponies who had that black coverings on them that her aunt had told her were suits.

She couldn't imagine spending her life in this place. It was just a miserable place that smelled bad. It looked horrible too; she couldn't see the sky through all the cloud above, the light all seemed weak, there were no trees, and all the ponies looked at her funny. Plus she had been told that if she had stayed here she would still be a little foal that couldn't even talk yet.

She kind of understood this was where they had to go to be safe, but this wasn't home, back through the mirror was home, and she wanted to go back.

They told her she was likely going back in an hour or two. She really didn't understand time when they tried to explain it to her. Like they tried to explain that back when her mother turned into an alicorn was like two years ago, and she could kind of understand that. But when she was told about what a day was she got all confused. A year was made up of three hundred something days. That meant days were less time than a year it from what she could tell. But they said they had all arrived in the mirror world just the previous day, so now she got confused. Was a day supposed to be longer or shorter than a year? Her mother was supposed to be back within an hour, but there were supposed to be twenty four hours in a day, and she couldn't figure out even how long a day was. She decided she hated time even more than she hated estrus.

"We're back," came her mother's subdued voice. Apparently within an hour wasn't really that long.

Her mother and Water Shadow came out of inside the big structure. Both looked sad, and that worried her.

Dove raced over to her mother to see what was wrong. When she got close her mother looked at her and looked even more sad, which worried Dove even more than before.

"Are you okay, Mama?" Dove said, not caring about the slip back into filly talk.

Her mother just looked at her and smiled. Dove could tell that was the kind of smile that was a lie. It was the kind her mother had when she hunted in front of Dove. The kind that said her mother was upset but she didn't want Dove to be upset. Normally Dove wouldn't say anything about it, that made her mother more upset, but today was a day Dove was very upset herself, and she needed her mother to not hold back part of herself.

"It's going to be okay Dove, don't worry about it right this second," her mother said kindly.

"You aren't okay, I can tell, and I'm not okay either. Tell me what's wrong. You want me to act all grown up and you treat me like I am small. This place is weird, I'm feeling weird, and you're all sad. I can understand better if you talk to me," Dove protested. She felt guilty for doing so right away, but she was too upset to let that faze her.

"You have to tell her Midnight. You're going to scare and confuse her more if you wait till the last minute to do so," Water Shadow said.

Her mother looked at Water Shadow like the bigger alicorn had just slapped her with a wing. Then her mother looked at her with a look that made Dove extremely scared.

"Dove, I'm going to do whatever it takes to keep you safe. I love you more than anything in the world, and the day you were born was the happiest day of my life. Unfortunately keeping you safe might involve me having to be away from you most of the time from now on. There are going to be long periods you won't see me, or any of us for that matter, except for Quiet..if Sweet Pea even allows for Quiet to be with you. I don't know how to have that conversation any more than this one," her mother said. It sounded like she was trying not to cry.

"What's this about Quiet?" Came the voice of her aunt from behind her. Dove turned to look at her aunt coming up to them looking very concerned.

Her mother looked between Dove and Sweet Pea like she didn't know what to do. Then her mother looked at Water Shadow like she was looking for help, but the bigger alicorn just gestured for her mother to continue. With a sigh her mother turned and looked down at her hooves.

"Dove, I'm going to get you back into the mirror as soon as it lights up. The rest of us are going to stay out here to guard it so no pony tries to destroy it. After you go in a lot of bad things might start happening on this side, and if we aren't here a lot of ponies might get killed, and the mirror destroyed without us being able to get to you. If Sweet Pea agrees we will likely put Quiet with you as well, but you two will be on your own over there for a long time, and be responsible for getting back here when it is time again. The rest of us will try to visit you on and off, but you might not see any of us for years at a time," her mother said, breaking out in a sob at the end.

Dove wasn't sure what to say. She still didn't understand the concept of years well, but she understood they were supposed to be a very long time. She could take care of herself back home, finding food was not hard over there. The thought of not seeing any pony at all felt like she was being punished for something. She didn't even know for sure if Quiet would be there by what her mother said.

"I prefer Quiet to grow up there, but why would we not be there? You're asking me to miss the entirety of my son's remaining colthood and first years of his stallionhood; I want to know why," Sweet Pea said in a tight voice.

"Ocid is likely going to be under direct threat as long as Dove lives. We have to defend both Ocid and the mirror. Water Shadow can go a long way towards defending Ocid, but not while trying to watch the mirror too. It falls to you and me to try to defend the mirror here. We can take turns visiting inside, but we have to defend it. We need you here because you're likely better at defending it than me right now," her mother said, still looking down at her hooves.

Sweet Pea just stared at Dove's mother for a long time, not saying anything. After a long few moments her aunt turned and gave a long look at Quiet, before turning back to Dove's mother again.

"You take the first trip into the mirror with them. Take two years to get yourself more into fighting shape. We can trade off every hour here after that. If my services with any new foals are needed at any point I take the time for a few months to make sure things are taken care of if it isn't my turn," Sweet Pea finally said, looking unhappy.

Dove's mother looked stricken at what Sweet Pea had said, shouldn't she be happier that she was getting extra time with her up front? Worse they were discussing doing this without giving her or Quiet a say in it, which was completely unfair. She wanted to go home, but without her mother felt horrible.

"Foals..I hadn't even thought of that happening. They will be in their twenties by the end of this first stay, enough years will pass that something will likely happen. You're right though, they'll need you for that, I can agree with that arrangement," her mother said. It was Dove's turn to have her eyes go wide. She had gotten enough explanation about what estrus was about to put those pieces together.

She glanced at Quiet, because she knew he was the only male it could be. It just occurred to her that they had just said that the two of them were not allowed to be alone together anymore when she was on estrus, but now they were making them be alone together for a long time. Well, either her mother or aunt would be around she guessed, she was still trying to figure out how that worked, but it was close enough to being alone. They were saying years, but she still couldn't figure out the whole time thing to tell what that even meant. Just thinking about it made the itch worse again too, and now that she knew why she felt kind of sick.

This whole thing was just the worst.

Sweet Pea walked over to her son and embraced him. Very soon she would be separated from him for two hours, but those two hours were going to be much longer for him, and he would be different when she saw him again. If she was going to spend more than half her time outside the World of Eternal Day and him most of it the then he would eventually pass her in age. At the end of the sixth day he would pass her by her calculations even if she gained six years herself every day. How was she even supposed to process that kind of thing? Bloody Tartarus, she could be seeing great grandfoals within a week's time. She loved foals, but she wasn't ready to have multiple generations spawn from her in a week.

She needed to spend her time with him in that world wisely, pushing him towards ascending. If he didn't she would be losing him to old age in the seeming blink of an eye. There would be more than enough foals for her to tap into her cutie mark for the same to happen to her. This would be extremely rough for her, and even worse for him, but it was something that could be endured.

"I know you all thought you had more time for me to be asleep, but my nap ended up being short," came the dreaded voice of the Ponymother.

Sweet Pea immediately threw up a shield over herself and the foals. She knew that with Peridot up Dove was about to get attacked. Doing a blind teleport within Ocid was too risky though, there were simply too many things she could teleport into here. They were going to have to fight their way to the mirror.

Midnight and Shadow were both in defensive positions, but none of them did any attack yet. Water Shadow had made it exceedingly clear that they weren't to start throwing magic blasts until they were actually attacked; their party would not be the aggressors in this.

Peridot gave them all a bemused smile as she looked them over. After a long moment of silence she broke out laughing, to the confusion of every pony, including the guards.

"I'm sorry for laughing, I don't know what has come over me. I just had a very emotional experience and for some reason walking out here to see you all ready to defend yourselves against me seems the funniest thing for some reason. I honestly can't give you a sensible answer about why I'm laughing. Maybe I'm just finally going mad," Peridot said with a surprising amount of cheer in her voice.

"I fear for Ocid if your sanity has finally slipped, perhaps I should seize leadership from you right now, for the good of every pony," Water Shadow said with a dread tone to her voice. All the guards were now aiming weapons at them, though they were casting uncertain glances at the Ponymother. Sweet Pea couldn't help be baffled by Peridot's behavior as well. Perhaps the old mare really had finally cracked.

"You're likely right," Peridot said as she cleared tears from her eyes and stopped laughing. "There will be no need for violence though. Water Shadow, by my authority as leader of Ocid I hereby appoint you leader instead. I surrender all commands to you, and the fate of Ocid to you. Computer, please acknowledge transfer of the ability to use all commands that are normal reserved to me to Water Shadow."

"Command accepted, control of Ocid's systems transferred to alicorn two, designated Water Shadow. Ocid Survives," the computer's voice intoned.

"Ocid survives," Peridot said with a relieved smile, a smile like she had just let go of a very heavy burden.

They all just stared in shock at her. Every single eye was on Peridot and every mouth was agape. This was so out of nowhere and completely unexpected. She must have gone mad.

"Not that I'm going to refuse, but what in fucking bloody Tartarus is going on?" Water Shadow exclaimed as she stared at the Ponymother.

"Well, I just gave you full command of Ocid to start with," Peridot said happily. "As for why, it's because I don't want the job anymore and you'll do better. If what Biblo tells me is true I'm possibly a long term danger to Ocid as well. I don't know if I can trust her, I'll leave that decision to you, but she told me many things."

"Like what?" Sweet Pea hissed. She had every right to be suspicious of anything this mare said or did.

"Well, for starters she and Sunset both will be arriving at one of our gates soon," Peridot said with a smile. Sweet Pea's body went stiff and a cold chill passed down her spine. This was too close to what that dream had said.

"Sunset is alive? Why if she is alive would she be traveling with Mera?" Water Shadow said with suspicion.

"Some shared goals was what I was told. I was just told to tell you about it, and that Sunset would explain when they arrived. I was also told to keep Dove safe at all costs, so I won't be trying to do anything to her. Not that I could, now that I've surrendered control of Ocid to you. Consider that proof that I at least am being honest," Peridot explained as she looked the other ancient in the eye. Sweet Pea was trying to control her breathing, but panic was rising. This was all that dream had been saying.

"You're lying! It can't be true! It's all some sort of trick!" Sweet Pea screamed at the the crystal pony.

Sweet Pea's outburst caught every pony off guard. Now every eye was on her, and she felt them questioning whether she was well herself. It didn't matter, she knew this all had to be a lie. It made no sense at all, and they all had to see that. All they had been through had happened for a reason, and no pony was going to tell her now that they had gone through it for nothing. Further, every pony had to realize that the necromancer was no friend of any pony.

"Sweet Pea, we all appreciate and share your concerns, but please try to contain yourself. You seem to be far more bothered than the rest of us and as soon as we have finished this conversation with Peridot you and I are going to have a talk and you are going to tell me what the cause of that is," Water Shadow said evenly. Sweet Pea nodded back as she tried to pull herself back together. She would tell Water Shadow about the dream after this, and Water Shadow would know what to do.

"Now," Water Shadow said as she turned her attention back to Peridot. "Sweet Pea's outburst did voice concerns we all have. You've had a very sudden change of in behavior and are saying you are letting Mera walk right up to our front gates. That's any number of red flags that something isn't right. Why is Mera supposedly interested in protecting Dove now? And why are you letting her walk right up to the front gates? Are you so much in league with your sister now that you would let her into Ocid?"

"If Biblo wanted into Ocid she could have done so at any point by now and you know it. She's far too powerful for us to do anything to stop. The very idea that we were doing anything to effectively defend against her was always laughable, but we told ourselves lies to make ourselves feel safe. As for why she has changed her tone; Biblo has a new contract, one that I don't think I should tell you about with Dove listening," Peridot said, and her ears drooped as she glanced at Dove.

"If it concerns Dove it would not be right to hide it from her. Tell us what it is Peridot," Water Shadow said evenly. Sweet Pea listened closely as she waited to hear what possible reason there could be for all this.

"As you wish. Biblo's contract, if she's being honest with me, is now simply to kill Dove. She has to be the one to do it, and she has to be in a particular place when she does it. If Dove dies in any other way before that point then Biblo's bell will be claimed by Grogar, and he will promptly order her to destroy us all instead of doing any more delay. Biblo is actually terrified that Grogar is already plotting a way of killing Dove before she can. She's desperate to keep Dove safe till she can kill her under the appropriate conditions. She is willing to negotiate any terms to do so," Peridot gave her explanation with a slight quiver in her voice. The filly in question gasped and went and hid behind her mother, which was not very well done with her size.

"So all her power depends on Dove.." Sweet Pea whispered as she gazed at the filly. It wasn't exactly as the dream had said, but the necromancer was likely lying too. What did that mean though?

"I won't let that monster have my daughter," Midnight snarled. The alicorn's horn sparked and popped as she stood glaring at Peridot.

"To be honest it isn't your call, little alicorn. If we can keep her alive till she reaches old age I assume it would be for it to be Dove's call on whether she will sacrifice herself. I'm not entirely confident we can even trust my sister; which is why I am no longer in the decision making process. Water Shadow is in charge now and will decide what to do. I'll do as I am told," Peridot said as she looked Midnight in the eye.

They all turned to Water Shadow to see what the new ruler of Ocid had to say. The alicorn glanced at them all before letting her eyes settle on Dove for a long period. Sweet Pea wondered what was going on in the old alicorn's mind.

"Shadow, I really need to talk to you before you make any decisions," Sweet Pea finally spoke up again.

Every pony looked at Sweet Pea and she felt a little small in that moment. She had three immortal ponies, a filly that had her life and death being discussed, and her own son's eyes all on her judging her. Yes, she was a powerful unicorn with big plans for Ocid herself, but aside from her son and the guards she was the least significant pony in the room.

"For now I'm going to go with the plans I already had. We're going to find out what the threats we face are, we're going to have Dove and Quiet Word go through the mirror for now, and nothing has changed about those two things regardless of whether Mera is telling a truth or a lie. When Sunset arrives I'll speak with her, after Sunset submits to Peridot's touch to assure that she is not being forcibly influenced in some way. Sweet Pea, you and I are going to have a talk about whatever has you particularly rattled, because having a unicorn of your power and ability behaving as you are now makes me uneasy. Midnight, you're going to take command of finding out about what is the threat that's already in Ocid is, you'll do this because otherwise you may find something within Ocid already may be a more pressing threat to Dove and all of Ocid than Mera is right now. When I have a clear view of what the seas we are sailing look like I will make further decisions," Water Shadow said at length, giving them each their duties.

"I was going to spend the first two hours in the mirror. Not only to get time with my daughter, but to develop my magic," Midnight said.

"Well, I'm in need of your knowledge of Ocid and your ability to give an order as an alicorn right now, not your magical prowess. I'm severely short staffed of capable ponies with the loss of all the acolytes. We don't yet know what is going on with Sunset either. No offense intended to Peridot, but I don't know how much I can trust her yet. Sweet Pea will take the first shift with them in order to get them settled, and both of you will have to accept that you may have to both leave them unattended for periods. I will spare you both a few minutes at a time on and off to visit, but priorities are here," Water Shadow said with sympathy.

"I take no offense, I would have issues trusting me in your position," Peridot said.

Sweet Pea couldn't put into words what she felt. She looked at her best friend and decided she must feel about the same as her. What was more devastating was that she now was starting to have her own doubts about whether Dove should live, and that went against everything she believed in and was not only a betrayal of herself, but also a betrayal of those closest to her. She desperately needed to talk to Water Shadow.

"As you say Shadow," Midnight finally said in a low voice.

"Now that is settled I want you two to get the mirror someplace defensible and get those foals in. Sweet Pea, only take as much time as you need to get them settled and no more, then come to me. I would recommend getting them a timer of some sort so they know when they must return should no pony be available to come get them out in time. I will be in the command center in Crystal Heart. Midnight, I expect you to come straight to me when you're done saying your goodbyes," Water Shadow commanded.

"Yes Shadow," Midnight said again in a low voice and with a bow of her head. Sweet Pea simply mimicked her nod.

Sunset watched with hesitation as Mera approached her through the ruins. Despite everything she had a hard time trusting the crystal pony not to immediately betray her and try to finish her off. Mera made no attempt her hide her approach. The necromancer could have likely appeared right next to Sunset with the vast amount of power she possessed. This was clearly meant to put Sunset more at ease. Sunset wasn't certain how much it was working.

"You didn't run away I see. I didn't expect you to, but I hadn't ruled out you might. Thank you for letting me come to you," Mera said as she came up to the rubble Sunset was perched on.

"If you intended on killing me you have had plenty of opportunity without taking it already," Sunset said.

"Yet you're still afraid. I suppose that is to be expected," Mera said, not seeming ashamed or embarrassed that Sunset should feel that way. "We need to be about our business quickly. When I woke up I found I no longer had control of the undead. Something has taken control of them from me, and it is easy to guess what is coming next."

Sunset stared at her one time friend and long time nemesis and wondered if it was the truth. Whether truth or fiction it did not bode well for Ocid. Either Mera was lying and planning on bringing the entire horde down on Ocid, or Mera was telling the truth and something else intended to do exactly that. She and Water Shadow were likely strong enough to fight it back now, but not without serious losses of life.

"I didn't think it possible for you to lose control of it. It is tied directly to your magic isn't it?" Sunset asked with continued suspicion.

"If Grogar chose he could power something to give far more control than I. Not another acolyte, it would have to be one of my bloodborn as they are already tied to controlling undead. There are reasons I never created more of the things, and it seems my reason is justified. I made three of them most recently. If I were Grogar I would give them all the power and spread them out. I have to actually find and destroy them in order to regain control, and spreading them out so that is more difficult would be the best tactic against me,," Mera said with a grimace.

"Well, then let's hurry. I need that knowledge quickly and need to be on my way. I'm fairly certain both I and Water Shadow can fight back your creations, and the sooner I'm back in Ocid the better," Sunset said, not willing to waste any more time. The sooner she could meet up with Water Shadow the higher likelihood they could contain the damage.

"Definitely. I'll put that knowledge at the front of my thoughts, and will let my mental guards down so you can take it directly from me. Feel free to search out my mind to know I'm telling the truth while you're at it, but be quick about it. We need to get to Ocid quickly. Peridot has likely surrendered control of Ocid to Water Shadow and they're expecting our arrival soon," Mera said as she gazed off to the north east.

"We?" Sunset questioned. The bit about Peridot surrendering control of Ocid to Water Shadow was a surprise, but something she could find out the details of later.

"I have three upstart creations that need destroying. At least one or two of them will come near Ocid to confront you directly, and if they're going for my position they might make a try for Dove personally. They will be near Ocid, so I need to be as well. I will only be in the vicinity outside, I won't try to enter Ocid myself. I would have preferred to head straight home to go do some housecleaning before Dove's arrival, but this takes priority," Mera said as she started snarling in the same direction she had been gazing.

Sunset could see the reasoning if Mera was telling the truth. She was not comfortable with Mera being close by Ocid though. In the end she had little way of stopping Mera from going.

"Alright, let's get this over with," Sunset said as she rose and glided down to Mera.

She placed a hooves on Mera's shoulder. Mera sat still just watching her. What Sunset felt was surprisingly extreme fear within the necromancer. Mera might be still putting on a show of strength, but she was clearly terrified from what Sunset was feeling. It was hard to sense much else because the level of fear was so high. How did Mera even function with this much terror going on right now?

One thing was certain; with as much fear as Mera was feeling and where it was directed it was almost certain she was telling the truth about the stakes they all faced. The other thing that was certain was Mera would almost certainly betray their agreement about letting Dove live a full life if it came down to where she felt she had a good opportunity.

"What all do you think needs to be done before you feel safe bringing Dove to your Sanctuary Tomb?" Sunset asked as she continued to try to push through Mera's emotions to the knowledge she was looking for.

"First I need to deal with the threats to her at Ocid. We now know Grogar has turned my bloodborn against me and they're going to be laying siege to the nation. That will be first priority. The next is that even though Peridot didn't say anything I picked up a sense that not all is well within Ocid's walls either. That will be for you to figure out, as well as to thwart any within Ocid that are being tempted by Grogar. Third, I expect other acolytes to try to take this opportunity to slay Dove, get me out of the way, and gain favor. I need to figure out who and how those strikes will come. Fourth, I need to deal with Pinkie Pie again. I highly suspect that she is going to try to strike at Dove as soon as Dove enters the Sanctuary Tomb. I'm not sure how to deal with Pinkie yet, but she needs to be dealt with before I dare try taking Dove there," Mera explained.

"It seems we have our hooves full of problems then. It makes me almost regret not just giving her over to you at the start and saving us all this. I said I would never do such a thing again after what I made Pearl do, we can see how well that went for us all. I guess that least there is no good reason for you to betray us and try to seize Dove early. There are far too many things that could go wrong with that," Sunset said in a level voice. She found what she was looking for in Mera's mind and started trying to learn it.

"There is every reason for me to, but as you observed it is just too risky a thing for me to do. I won't lie about the fact that if it comes to it I'll risk trying to take her to the tomb if I feel the situation is desperate enough, but I'm going to do everything I can to minimize risk until then. You have to understand what is at stake here as well. You were the alicorn that once threatened me with death if you thought I was a threat to the well being of ponies, and the one who ordered me put to death rather than having Pearl try to pull me back from madness. Dove is a far greater threat than what I could have presented at the time you made those choices. If she refuses to come with me when the time comes, or the situation gets too dire, you need to stand aside and let me do what needs to be done. She can have her time in the mirror, but at some point sacrifices for the greater good must be made," Mera said with conviction.

"You aren't concerned with the greater good. You're concerned with the same thing you have always been. Pearl may have been a good pony worthy of your love, but your obsession is a perversion of that love that was not only harmful for every other pony, but harmful to her as well. It was back then and it is even more so now," Sunset replied in a still level tone.

Mera pulled back from Sunset's touch and glared hatefully at her. The crystal pony shook with rage, and seemed to be visibly restraining herself from lashing out. After a tense moment Mera licked her lips and spoke.

"If you have the information you need then I advise we put this conversation on hold. I'm trying very hard to restrain myself and you're making it harder for me to do so. You push your luck far too much, alicorn. It might be harder for me to accomplish what I need to do without you, but if it comes to it I can find a way to still accomplish what must be done without you," Mera growled, causing Sunset to take a few cautious steps backwards.

Sunset took a breath and steeled her nerves, well aware she might be sealing her own doom by what she was about to say.

"You might be a creature beyond redemption," Sunset began. "You want to think that you will suddenly become a good pony once you complete your contract, and that everything will be better once Pearl lives again. You need to take a good long look at yourself and question if that is true. There was darkness in you before you signed that contract, and even after the corruption leaves you it will still be there. If Pearl comes to life again you need to make sure you don't end up hurting her again. She will be horrified at the lengths of what you have done because of her, and you need to learn to be horrified by them as well; not because it invokes horror in her, but because you need to recognize your obsession hurts her in more ways than everything you hope to protect her from."

Mera sat staring at Sunset for a long moment, not making any immediate signs of aggression. Sunset knew that meant little; Mera could go from sitting still to killing her in a blink of an eye. The fact she hadn't done so already was a good sign, but it was still a something that could yet happen.

"You're right. That is something that needs to be addressed. In the worst case scenario I may just go back to my original plan of ending myself soon after Pearl's resurrection. It doesn't matter right now though. If you have what you need then we need to be about our business or none of this will matter. Do you or don't you have the knowledge you need from me?" Mera asked with no fluctuation in tone, still gazing fixedly at Sunset.

"Yes, I do," Sunset answered matter-of-factly, not releasing her eyes from Mera's.

"Good, then let's be on our business without any further discussion of things that aren't pertinent for the moment. I have no intention of being undone by Grogar because I spent time listening to your preaching." Without waiting for reply Mera launched herself into flight to towards Ocid again without the aid of any sort of wings. The necromancer didn't even look back to see if Sunset would follow right away.

Sunset wavered just a moment before following suit.