After Light rushed off, nopony really knew what to say, not even Trixie. She wasn’t proud of it, but she had eavesdropped the conversation between Applejack and him yesterday and knew the demons he fought. Knowing what she did, it shocked her that his own mother, adopted or not, didn’t want to help him. Of course, she had to choose between the sake of her own country and another, and that was never easy, but couldn’t she have done something different? She was a powerful alicorn, strong enough to move the sun and see the souls of ponies. She must know something.

“I think we should take a break, don’t you think?” Everypony stared at her like she had just set herself on fire. “Blind rage – we can’t do anything until he calms down,” she said to the Bearers, who were still wrapped up in their thoughts, probably thinking about what had just happened.

“Ah don’t like to admit it, but Trixie’s right, sugarcube.” Applejack went over to Twilight, who still stood with a hanging head in the hallway and hadn’t said a word. “As long as he’s…. angry, he won’t be open for words.”

“She’s right, Twily.” Everypony turned around to the new voice and saw a white unicorn with blue mane that was traversed by a brighter stripe. Trixie knew that pony from the newspaper. He was Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard. “If a pony is in blind rage, words won’t help.” He stepped over to Twilight and took her into a soft embrace. “I will see what I can do,” he said and went off. Trixie didn’t know how much he knew, but since he just came from the room behind them, he must have at least heard them talking. She hoped that he could calm Light, for his own sake.

“Come on, guys, I want to see what my brother is planning.” Twilight was a bit more motivated again, and they followed the Captain at a distance.

Still nothing. That was the tenth shelf by now that didn’t contain anything useful. I had immediately went into Starswirl the Bearded’s wing of the library and began searching for something that could defeat the Nightmares. Much to the dismay of the librarian, an elderly pegasus mare with a hair clip that held back her grey mane, I left behind a huge mess. I basically ripped every single book or parchment out of the shelves, skimmed over the title, and threw it on the ground when it didn’t looked like it contained anything useful.

“Your Majesty, please, you can’t just…” She flew across the room to catch the books that I threw away. “These books are very old, and you have to be more careful.” I ignored her and went over to the next shelf. From the middle of the room, where a large hourglass stood, I could see into every aisle, and so it was easier to clear everything. On a small table in a corner, I stored every book that caught my interest.

“Sir, I have to ask you to act more careful.” The librarian had gotten the help of a guard, who now stood next to me and didn’t really seem to know what to do. I didn’t mind him and took one book after another. “Sir, I have to ask you again to stop that, otherwise I will have to remove you from the library.” I didn’t bother answering, so it was no wonder that he tried to drag me out of the room shortly after. Unfortunately for him, I wasn’t in the mood for any shenanigans and simply tossed him aside with my magic and tied him to the ground by wrapping him in it. The librarian began to panic and ran out of the room.

“Finally some peace…,” I said with a sigh and turned back the next shelf. The guard tried to free himself from the stone wall but stood no chance. Without being able to move his wings, and not even his neck, there was no escape.

“I see somepony has a bit too much adrenalin.” Apparently another guard had entered the room, but I couldn’t care less. I felt some magic being used and the ground retracting.

“Thanks, Captain.” Now I was curious and turned around, the angry face of Shining Armor directly in front of me. He didn’t wear his armour, but that didn’t make him seem any less imposing since he was still a good amount taller than me. Not as big as Big Mac, but at least half a head, horn not included.

“How about we two go outside for a while?” Judging by his tone of voice, it was more of an order than a question.

“And what if I don’t want to?” I didn’t care that he could probably tear me into pieces. If I got angry, my brain didn’t function that logically.

“That was more of a rhetorical question.” Without further ado, his horn glowed, and in the next moment, we stood outside of the castle. To be more precise, on the training ground of the soldiers. With the training dummies and the obstacle course running alongside the maze, it was very distinctive. A few soldiers jumped aside as we appeared out of the thin air and pointed their spears at me as they saw their Captain preparing to attack me. “Back! This is just between us!” he ordered them, and they made space. “Listen to me, Light. I am here to help you, as a friend and family. I know that you are a good guy, but life goes on, not always as you want it, but it goes on.” I didn’t want to listen to that and got up to leave, but a magical wall blocked my path. “If you want to go, you have to defeat me.”

I didn’t need to be told twice in my current mood. I levitated a hard clump of dirt into the air and threw it after Shining Armor, but it was simply stopped in mid-air. His magical shield protected him. “That’s all? Come on! Show me what you’ve got!” More clumps were thrown at him but was stopped by the shield like their predecessor. I tried to manipulate the ground he was standing on, but I couldn’t control anything that was inside his shield. Frustrated, I continued hurling earth on him, but nothing happened and I got out of breath quickly. “Light, maybe we can talk now. I know that politics aren’t always pleasant, but—” He couldn’t get out more before I fired small metal projectiles at him. It was a bit harder to turn the little rocks into iron, but he also seemed to struggle with keeping his shield up. “No, listen to me! It’s useless to fight the system. That’s why I’m making you an offer.” Again bullets from all sides hammered against his shield. Some splintered after they crashed into it the third or fourth time, but there were enough stones to make new ones. “You know what, I’ve had enough! You’re worse than a little foal!” His shield expanded suddenly and hit me, causing me to be flung onto the ground. “Now you’re going to listen!” I was exhausted, physically and mentally, which only increased my rage. “You have sunk so deep into your anger that you have overseen the obvious solution.” I stood back up. It was time to bring out the big guns. I had so many ideas of what I could do with my new talent that I had overseen one completely, one that I could only smile about.

“A sword…,” I said quietly to myself, just loud enough that Armor could have maybe heard it. I used my second source for the transformation, and slowly a sword emerged from the ground. I grabbed it in my mouth and charged at him. Shining Armor just grinned and suddenly dropped his shield, and in the next moment, I had a hoof in my face. The sword flew through the air for a few metres before the magic left it and it turned back into the earth that it once was. I, instead, was lying on the ground, out of breath and magic, and with an aching jaw. I wanted to stand back up again, but his forehooves pressed me back down.

“So, now you have to listen to me. You didn’t really expect that we would send troops into a world that is overrun by an unknown amount of enemies and with no known method to fight them? That sounds like a suicide mission.” He snorted, his eyes almost drilling into my head. “And let’s not even talk about you going there alone. You couldn’t even score a hit against me or make me move at all.” I hadn’t paid attention to that before, but he really stood just in the same spot from the beginning. More frustrating was that, since my exhaustion made my brain function again, I realized he was right, unfortunately. For the last hour, I had cursed the world, saying they were all fools, only to be the fool myself. It wasn’t a nice feeling to get that slapped in the face, even without the other one having to make an effort.

Shining Armor must have noticed that I began to understand and released me. He took a few steps back before beginning to talk again. “Like I said, I have an idea. Do you want to hear it?” Slowly, and with aching limbs, I stood back up, looked at him, and nodded shortly since I was out of words. “Good. You heard the Princess. We are having a changeling problem. Those things almost ruined my wedding a while ago, and now they’ve raided a helpless village. They are an immediate threat and can’t be ignored. They were the only real reason the Princess listed why she couldn’t help you, right? That means that if you get rid of the changeling problem, we will be able to help you.” I knew that I had watched too much television, but I remembered a quote from my favourite series. If you could not destroy the system, let it work for you. In my head, I made a list with three points. First of all, what were changelings? Secondly, how do I get rid of them, and thirdly, save Earth. It sounded like a simple quest, but it was the best I had.

“That sounds… acceptable.” I still had a bad feeling about how I just behaved, and I wasn’t one for admitting when I was wrong. I liked to chew on those moments until they turned into a gooey mass and slid down my throat on their own. It was quite rare that I got into a bad mood, and then it took me way too long to act normal again. Aries – we were just stubborn and had to run our head against the wall. I hated to admit it, but my mother had been right again with her astrology bullshit. “And how do I get rid of these changelings?”

“You? Not at all! At least not in your current state.” He laughed quickly, maybe even because I just thought about that. “But if you really want to do something, then I will help you. My troops are marching out in a week. If you manage to get into something resembling a shape until then, I will take you with me. That’s my offer.” Since I had no better plan, this was my only choice.

“Deal. But how do I get into shape in one week?” Judging by the grin on his face, I shouldn’t have asked that.

“I’ll make you get a move on, and I think…” He looked over to one of the windows in the castle. “Twily, come down here!” With a flash of light at the window and one next to Armor, Twilight Sparkle stood on the training ground. “I will look after your fitness, and my sister here surely will help you with your magic.” Twilight just nodded and put on a forced smile. I knew that she disliked the idea of fighting, but it was necessary. “I heard you are living on an apple farm in Ponyville? I will see you there tomorrow morning at six o’clock.” And with that, he left me behind with Twilight. The guards, who had been watching everything the whole time, let him go through their ranks and went back to their duties.

“Twilight, I’m—” I couldn’t get any further as six more ponies rushed over the field, with two coming right at me and one of them slapping a hoof across my face. “Hey, ouch, AJ, that hurts!”

“Serves ya right, sugarcube.” Too bad when you knew that someone was right. “We were worried, and ya can’t just go on a rampage in the library like a wild manticore.” I had never seen Twilight being angry until now.

“What, what, WHAT!?” Now I had two ponies with incredible magical powers that I owed an apology for two reasons. Luckily for me, Trixie, who came to me with AJ, interrupted Twilight’s tantrum.

“I heard what this Shining Armor said. Do you really want to go against the changelings?” As quickly as Twilight got angry, she calmed down again at the subject.

“Trixie is right, Light, there is no fooling around with these creatures. They almost captured Canterlot. Not even we could do anything against them. They were simply too many.” Now I was curious. What were these things?

“Okay, could someone explain to me what changelings actually are?” Everypony looked at me, bewildered, and seemed to search for words.

“Are you an idiot or what?” Trixie was the first to speak again. “You want to fight against something that you don’t even know?” Her hoof hit her forehead. “What have I gotten myself into?”

“Changelings are ponies in one way, but they are more like insects. They feast on the love of the ponies and suck them out. That’s what makes them stronger,” Twilight said curtly.

“Oh oh! And they imitate you, but really badly,” Pinkie said and grimaced.

“What Pinkie is trying to say, darling, is that they can transmorph into you or any pony that you love to weaken you and fight against you.” I couldn’t help myself, but did a dementor really need to nail a boggart? But the thought of having to hit an AJ copy didn’t suit me at all. Hitting myself sounded quite funny though. Still, I could understand why ponies were so afraid of them. In a world that almost solely consisted of love and friendship, they were the creatures that feasted on that. They must be the ponies’ natural enemies. They had something from vampires, and not the sparkly ones.

“And? Do they have a weakness? How did you defeat them the last time?” Everyone looked at each other worriedly.

“Actually, sugarcube… it was Shining Armor and Princess Cadance that defeated them. With a bit of help of our lovely Twilight here.” I think I really missed something with this wedding.

“They are like insects. They live in a swarm and are all connected to each other. At the top there is their Queen, Chrysalis. She orders every drone. I couldn’t find out more yet; there was a bit of chaos.” A HIVE? First dementors and now the Borg? My lucky streak didn’t seem to end.

“What chaos are you talking about, Twilight?” She turned red and pointed at me with a hoof. “Oh…”

She had enough of all this back and forth. His mind was clear again and that was all that counted. In one week, he would march with the other soldiers against the changelings. What would she do now? Continue to sour at the farm and watch one day after another go by? That wasn’t her style, not at all. She was the Great and Powerful Trixie, for Celestia’s sake! She belonged on the stages of Canterlot, Manehatten, or even Ponywood. Ponyville was nice, at least now that she had found something like a family there, but it wasn’t her home. She had to start from the bottom and make herself a name again, rebuild her reputation. She had a flash of genius right there in the corridors of the castle. There would surely be reports about the troops that were marching out to fight the changelings, and she could help her brother. That would help them both.

“We see we are not the only ones wrapped in thoughts.” She jumped around and saw a dark alicorn standing in the corridor behind her, a smile on her lips.

“Your Highness, yes, I was just thinking about how I could fix… help Light.” Luna’s smile vanished and turned into a thoughtful expression. It took her a few seconds to speak again.

“We know from thy little pact and are happy that Blue Light could give such an important lesson to someone else. But are thou feeling able to help, Beatrix?” She flinched at the name. Almost nopony actually knew her actual name. She hadn’t even told Light, and he was the closest to her, be it family or friend.

“That is what worries me, your Highness. I belong on a stage, not in a fight! But I want to help him. I owe him and I think it would mean a lot to him.” She could be quick-tempered from time to time, she knew that, but she wasn’t dumb.

“Then come with us if thou feel ready to take on this duty. The changelings have hurt our daughter enough already.” Her daughter? She didn’t know the Princess of the Night had a daughter.

“Forgive my ignorance, but you have a daughter?” She couldn’t really imagine Luna as a mother. Celestia suited that role much better and she was one too, at least for Light.

“Thou does not need to apologize, Beatrix. Our daughter, Cadance, as she likes to be called, was born before our banishment. A few years before Nightmare Moon. She is also not my only child.” Trixie was flabbergasted and saw the Princess in a completely new light. Even though she was barely taller than her, she seemed so much nobler now. She turned away from Trixie and motioned her to follow her. They went up a staircase into one of the towers, which must have been the Princess’ quarters.

“May I ask what happened to your children?” Luna stopped on the stairs for a moment. Trixie hoped she hadn’t hit a wound spot, but she continued walking after a few seconds.

“As thou may know, Cadance has been recently married. Our son, Arctus, was born under a different star. He was no alicorn like his sister, but a pegasus. From our sister, we know that he lived a good life and his bloodline remains to this day. Prince Blueblood is one of his descendants.” She wondered how many ponies in Equestria, aside the princesses, knew that.

“I am happy that you are so open to me, but may I ask why?” Luna sighed but didn’t stop this time.

“Light is trusting thee, so we do not see a reason not to do the same. Also, we are going about to teach thee a spell that is a far greater secret than this. We will show thee to use the night for thyself and its guardian, Beatrix Lulamoon.”

After Trixie had disappeared and the situation in the yard was under control, Twilight and the others were on their way again, but not without giving me words of encouragement first. AJ didn’t want to leave until I left, and I was happy to have her at my side. It sucked that it always took situations like this to realize that. Together with her, I was on my way to the throne room to apologize to Celestia. I would rather face a manticore now, but that was how it went with parents. I was actually grown up, but stepping in front of this alicorn made me feel like a toddler.

“Sugarcube, she’ll forgive ya. Ah’ve never seen her angry. Damn, not even after Twilight put a curse on half of the town.” AJ had been trying to encourage me for a while now, but only with moderate success.

“Thanks, AJ, but that doesn’t help much if you have to stand in front of your mother with remorse. Who knows, a year or two on the moon doesn’t sound that bad.” I couldn’t help it, but my humour was back again – a good sign. The large door to the throne room was blocked by two guards who immediately stepped aside as they saw us. The door swung open, and we entered the big room. On a pedestal that stood above everything were the thrones of Celestia and Luna, one of them that had a smiling, white alicorn sitting on it. I approached the steps, but before AJ or I had the chance to talk, Celestia began to speak.

“Applejack, would you mind leaving us two alone?” AJ just nodded, and with a peck on my cheek, she said goodbye before walking back to the door. I looked after her until the door closed and turned to my mission again. Where was that manticore when you need one?

“Celestia, I…” I didn’t get any further as her never-tiring smile vanished and her brows raised threateningly. “Mother, I wanted to—” She smiled again but raised a hoof to order me to be quiet.

“It is nice to see that you are using your head.” Slowly, she rose from the throne and came down to me. “I know that you didn’t mean the words that you said. Remember, I know you very well.” She had seen my whole life when she was inside my head, so it was to be expected.

“Still, I’m sorry. I was angry and let it out on you. That was wrong. I am sorry.” Her head pressed against mine before she continued talking.

“I forgive you. We all make mistakes and learn from them. As long as you have learned your lesson, I am happy.” She let go of me and looked me in the eyes.

“I have to thank you again. For all that you have done, I can’t really put it into words. During my… trip, I realized fully for the first time what that means. Thanks... mom.” It was the first time that I really felt right.

“I am glad that you feel this way. Would you like to tell me what happened?” I began to tell her the same thing as I told AJ. That our world is in chaos, overrun by Nightmares. That I was attacked and pursued and had to break the rune prematurely. About the parallel Equestria, the two humans, and of course how they sent me home. Not a single time did she interrupt me or ask any questions until I had finished. “You have seen a lot. I am sorry for what has happened to your world. I know the Nightmares, for they are monsters.”

“You have met them before?” She nodded and her look grew darker.

“Over a thousand years ago, they tried to invade Equestria. Luna and I fought against them back then, but could not defeat them, only stop them. Since then, we have maintained a spell to protect Equestria from them.” So there was protection.

“Could this spell help Earth?” She seemed to think about it for a moment.

“To a degree. The spell is designed to keep them from entering a world, not forcing them to leave it. But the problem is that it needs a focus, and your world does not have one.” Damn. I had to see that spell.

“What kind of focus does Equestria has?”

“Luna and I. As long as we both are close to Equestria, the Nightmares are unable to enter it.” So I couldn’t ask either of them to cast the spell on Earth.

“Could you teach me that spell? It could be useful if I ever see one of those creatures again.” Celestia just nodded and lowered her horn until it touched mine. Within seconds, runes flashed through my mind until I had the spell in my head, together with a small migraine. The spell itself was enormous. A normal spell had between two and five runes; this one had about two hundred. I could only trust in what I learned, for half of these runes were obsolete. I would find a way to make something useful out of it, and I already had an idea. My second one today to be precise. Creating a spell on your own was simple – you just had to translate your will into runes.

“Before you go, I have one more piece of advice to give you that I think will help you more. There is no known weapon against the Nightmares, but who knows more about these creatures than themselves?” Did she suggest that I should capture one of these things? “Nightmare Moon, the darkness that had possessed Luna, was one of them. A Nightmare feasts on souls, but the soul of an alicorn is immortal.” She began to explain right away since she sensed that I would ask anyways. “When Luna was touched by one of those things during combat over a thousand years ago, it merged with her. At first there were no signs, but over time, Luna changed more and more until she was Nightmare Moon.” So there was a story behind this all. I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t seen that on my own. Nightmare Moon was a Nightmare. It was just too obvious. “The Elements separated them again. Since then, Nightmare has been wandering around Equestria, unable to leave it, bound by the same spell that is keeping her kind away. She could get you the answers to your question.”

“But how shall I capture a creature that can rip out my soul?” That sounded much like the suicide Armor was talking about.

“The darkness changed when it merged with Luna. She will rather try to capture your body, and with the spell I taught you, you should be able to hinder her from it. Unfortunately, that is the only solution I have so far.” She didn’t seem to be excited about her own idea either.

“And where should I look for it?” Please not the Everfree, please not there. The parasprites had taught me to respect the forest.

“She is where misery, suffering, and death is.” In other words, when looking for the changelings, keep an eye out for Nightmare.

“Thanks, mom. It won’t be easy, but I think it’s better than nothing.” I was about to turn around and walk away, but then I was grabbed by a golden aura and a kiss was pressed on my cheek. I was confused and didn’t move. Celestia just giggled.

Author's Notes:

Finally something resembling a plot! Before anyone asks: Yes, we will go to earth again. Nearly 45% of this story takes place on our blue globe.

Thanks to Gron and Tripl3M for translating this chapter.
Special thanks to JBL for proofreading and editing.

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