With a hammering skull, I opened my eyes, only to be greeted by darkness again, the regularity of which was slowly getting on my nerves. I gathered the little strength I had left and made my horn glow. The cave had collapsed and rocks and rubble lay everywhere, along with the remains of cocoons and two ponies. Immediately I realized who they were and rushed over to Trixie and Glimmer, who were buried underneath some smaller rocks. I leaned against the ones on top of Trixie to free her from them. I did the same with Glimmer, who regained consciousness with a groan.

“Damn changeling…” she muttered and held a hoof against her head. “If I get them in my hooves…” She stood back up and looked to my light source, only to immediately turn away again. “Could you dim that a bit?”

“Oh, sorry.” I dimmed the light and pointed the beam straight into the air so that the entire room was only being passively lit now.

“And that’s why we always make sure the enemy really is incapacitated. That wouldn’t have happened to a soldier,” she said snidely and dusted off her armor.

“I’m not a soldier, but I’m here to help. I think it’s safe to say that I’ve done well.” Glimmer laughed at my words.

“You managed to be thrown aboard by griffons without even putting up a fight and now you’ve brought us in this situation by not knocking out your opponent. Sure, you’ve done well.” She used that sickly sweet tone that one might have used to lecture a daft foal.

“Hey, I’m just here to help. Plus it was only because of that accident that we even found this hive in the first place!” I was starting to get angry. Why was she so negative towards me?

“You are here to help yourself and no one else! Because the princess forced you to help here first before we help your world. You are here for your own desires!” Why did I care what she thought, why did I want to justify myself? I didn’t have to put up with this.

“For your info, Equestria has become my home. My friends and especially my marefriend live here. I admit that I killed two birds with one stone, but is that a bad thing? I’m going to make the world safe in which I live, where my marefriend lives, and where my foal will be living. Then I’m also going to help my old world. I honestly can’t see what’s wrong with that. My thoughts are with Equestria just as they are with my world.” During my little speech, it finally struck me that I had heard Glimmer’s voice before. She had been one of the consultants during my hearing. I stared at her angrily, and she stared back until she eventually nodded and turned towards the exit. Trixie seemed to have woken by my little outburst and got back shakily on her legs.

“Did an Ursa run over my head?” she asked the room while she looked around in the faint light.

“Only the ceiling…” I said shortly and looked over to Glimmer who tried to clear some stones. I went over to her and pushed a few stones aside as well, but I couldn’t do much. Trixie was swayed on her legs and wouldn’t be much help.

“This is a waste of time.” Glimmer stopped and dropped the stone in her magic. She opened one of her bags and pulled out a small sheet of paper. As before, she quickly scribbled something on it and burned it with her magic.

“How long would the others need to get here?” I asked her but she ignored me. The azure mare sat down next to the blocked exit and looked at the bleak rock wall. “How are you doing, Trixie?”

“I’ve got headaches but everything else is all…” She looked over to the scorched cloak which was buried underneath a bit of dust. “No! No no no no no…” She rushed over to it, picked it out of the dirt with her hooves, and inspected it closer. I could see some tears and suspected that it had to be very important to her. I went over to her and put a hoof on her shoulder. “Changer gave it to me as a present after I got my cutie mark…” she said shortly, as if she knew what I was going to ask. I could have calmed her, or bought her a new one later, but this was nothing that could be replaced. So I left her alone in her grief for now while I faced the bigger problem.

“Glimmer.” She ignored me.” Glimmer! Can we dig out of here with magic?” She shook her head.

“It could cause the cave to collapse completely.”

“How about help from the others?” She showed me a small piece of paper, just like the one she had just sent.

“They won’t come; the message came back. Either they are out of range, or…” I gulped and looked at the rocks in front of me. We had to get out of here and find the others to report our findings and then get rid of this problem. An idea shot through my head, but I know that my two companions wouldn’t be happy with it, but that was a problem for later. I concentrated quickly to establish the connection to Nightmare. Trixie looked around, startled as I did so, but didn’t say anything.

~Look who comes crawling back to me.

Shut it, Nightmare.

I preferred answering with my thoughts to not make this whole thing crazier than it already was.

We have to get out of here, and I will need some help for that.

And why should I do that?

You want my world, right? That won’t happen if I die in here.

But then I will have your body…

Which will simply be taken from you by the Elements.

I heard it grumbling inside but then felt it giving off some magical power. It wasn’t like Changer’s magic from before. It was cold and hurt a lot.

What’s this?

My magic…

Why does it hurt this much?

I had to clench my teeth and tried hard to not grimace.

We are too different. No harmony. I just trump you.

I couldn’t get around hearing the happy sound in its voice.

Whatever, do you have a spell that can bring us out of here?

You have that already.

What do you mean?

Celestia’s runes…

Now I remembered what Trixie had told me about the ancient magic of Luna. I needed a circle and a spell to cast them. That was surely not any different to that of Celestia. I quickly went through my head, searching for the right spell that would bring us out of here, and found what I was looking for.

“Trixie, Glimmer, get behind me and run outside as soon as the path is clear.” They didn’t ask any questions, instead did as I told them. I prepared the circle, by giving the runes form and quickly translated the spell in my head before speaking it out. “In harmony with the elements, fire, water, earth, air, light, and shadow, justice knows no name.” The circle began to spin and golden arcs that illuminated the room shot out of it. “So judge my enemies like you do with me.” The circle was a single golden disk that was rising above my head now. “Carry out the sentence, the bow is drawn, spread bright and clean.” The ring parted and nine glowing arrows formed a half-circle around my head. “Light arrows!” And with that, the spell was complete and I immediately shot four of the arrows at the wall in front of us, which left a big hole in it. As Glimmer had expected it, more rooks began to fall from the ceiling as the small cave collapsed. Quickly the two mares rushed to the outside and I was close on their heels. The remaining arrows I saved for falling stones that would have hit us, but so far only dust remained of them. We came to a halt outside, and I immediately noticed that Nightmare stopped giving me magical power, as the pain was ebbing away. The first thing I noticed was that Celestia’s sun no longer stood in the sky, but Luna’s moon.

“Damn! How long were we down there?” Glimmer asked, noticing this as well, and pulled out a small crossbow from her bag. Her bigger one must be lying down there with the rocks somewhere, completely buried now and therefore unreachable. She put one of her signal arrows in the shaft of the weapon and fired it. A few seconds later, a red light lit up the night sky, and she immediately looked around to see if any of the pegasi were coming. Trixie was just as excited as me, but for a long time nothing happened.

“If the others are… prisoners, aren’t we giving away our position now?” I noted after a short thought.

“If the others are prisoners, it doesn’t matter what we do. We’d have to retreat and wait for backup,” Glimmer said while still inspecting the night sky. “We are only three unicorns who weren’t directly trained for combat.” I had never heard Glimmer talk like that. I didn’t know her for long, but she didn’t seem to be the type who easily gave in.

“Do what you must. I have enough magic in me to do it on my own.” She obviously didn’t have the same abilities as Twilight or Trixie, who could see or feel both auras, so she hadn’t noticed Nightmare. “And Trixie has trained under Princess Luna for the last week and is adept in magic already.” I knew how she was very sensitive with the little magic she had and that I seemed like a rough chunk compared to her. “She will surely help to find Shining Armor and the others.” Trixie nodded encouragingly at me.

“Do you think I don’t want to help them? I’ve know Shining Armor long enough – he was my instructor! But this is madness, a village full of changelings.” And I had a creature of pure darkness which was overflowing with magic inside of me.

Keep me out of this. I will not help you!

I’m going anyway, and if you want a body or to get into my world, then you’ll have to help me.

“Since it is settled then, in which direction lies the village?” Trixie pointed straight ahead and slowly we began to move out. Glimmer seemed to think about it for a whole, but then followed us with some distance.

“Are you sure that you’re alright?” asked Trixie slightly worried now.

“This time we aren’t in a cave and I can freely use my magic. Also, Nightmare and I have a deal,” I said with a confident grin.

With the borrowed binoculars from Glimmer, I looked from some distance into the dark village. Unlike last night, the houses were dark, but I could still see some figures moving through the night.

“Okay, it looks like there are only a few guards left in the village. If we sneak in quietly, they probably won’t even notice us.” I considered for a moment. “How well can changelings see at night?”

“Judging by their dark hives, a bit better than ponies. Why?” Glimmer seemed to be confused.

“Later.” Now all the years of playing computer games would finally pay off. “We’ll sneak in there now. I suspect that the saloon was their headquarters since it was the only building large enough. If the others were captured, then they’ll be there.” Trixie and Glimmer agreed with me. “If someone sees us, just speak with an assumed voice. With a bit of luck, they might think we are one of them and the darkness will do the rest.” I was just hoping that they were still running around in changed forms, as I had no clue if their screaming was some kind of language. Even if it was, it sounded just as friendly as Russian. It didn’t matter if one of my friends said, “Today is a nice day.” In Russian, it always sounded like “Piss off.” That was probably because Russian had a different intonation. “Okay then, move!”

Slowly but steadily, we went towards the village. The most important thing was now to act like it was the most normal thing in the world. Nothing was more suspicious than someone who tried to hide while the others weren’t doing it. We went between the same two buildings as during my first visit here and reached the wide desert road that went through the entire village.

“Halt!” And now came the time to put my plan to test. A citizen must have seen us coming out of the alley.

“What’s the problem?” I lowered my voice so that it was much deeper now, something that I was used to from working on Youtube.

“By Chrysalis, is that you, Cossus? You scared me.” I couldn’t believe that this actually worked. But what could you expect from a race that was constantly shifting their shape? I was bad with names already, but if they kept on changing their looks, I would be completely overwhelmed.

“Who else?” I asked and looked at Trixie to my left, who calmly stood there and watched the show.

“And what happened to the hive? Could you save the new ones before the soldiers came?” Apparently we unknowingly had crossed ways with a group of changelings who were on their way to their hive.

“Collapsed,” I said truthfully. “Everyone was buried.” I saw him nodding quickly before he was back on his way and disappeared in one of the alleys.

“I never thought that… that would work,” Glimmer said in surprise and seemed more motivated now. “We should hurry. If the real group returns, they will know that something is wrong.” And with that, we quickly trotted through the streets and came by the saloon not long after. Instead of directly walking to the door, we went around the building and looked through one of the windows. Behind the counter stood Big Joe who was cleaning glasses, as though it was the only thing he had ever learned.

“Okay, the bald head is behind the counter, and since the room is lit, our trick won’t work again. Anyone got an idea?” Trixie and Glimmer glimpsed through the window as well.

“He’s just a changeling. I can handle him,” Trixie assured us.

“Good, Glimmer and I will search the building in the meantime and keep an eye out for the others. A fight will surely draw some attention.” I was about to go, but Glimmer held me back.

“Since when are you giving the orders?” she asked with a curious look.

“Because you… I’m a prince, so move,” I hissed at her and immediately they both followed me. I knew that she wasn’t serious, but since her whole act, she just didn’t want to admit that I was right with my plan. We stepped in front of the door and I silently counted to three. Trixie, with her horn glowing, was the first to jump through the door at three. The surprised changeling didn’t have time to react before Trixie’s magic threw him into the shelves behind him, causing the alcoholic fluids to spill over him. Glimmer immediately shot past me upstairs, and I made my way past the counter and into the kitchen or rather what was supposed to be kitchen, as the room was completely empty aside from a large table. No windows, but another door at the end. Quickly I tried to open it, but it was locked. My training on the farm would finally be good for something, and I turned around and with a strong kick the door sprung out of the hinges. The now open door gave a look into the wide desert that was surrounding the city. A scream made me jump, and I almost flew back into the main room of the building where I found Trixie with a satisfied grin. The scream had come from a small fire wall where the counter had once been.

“Trixie, are you insane? You’ll wake up every changeling a few kilometers around us,” I said to her, slightly surprised.

“That was the revenge for my cloak,” she said shortly, looking satisfied. In that moment, Glimmer came back from upstairs as well.

“Nothing. Either they are being held elsewhere or are still out there. But then they would have seen our signal…” Glimmer didn’t get any further as she noticed the flames now.

“Her cloak,” I said and nodded over at Trixie. Glimmer didn’t seem to bother any further and came down to us. I was about to say that we should get going, but then I was hit by some kind of magical wave. Together with Trixie and Glimmer, I was smashed against the wall underneath the staircase where we were now hanging motionless in the air. I searched for the origin of the spell and saw a glow coming from the kitchen. Shining Armor, followed by Night Hawk and Shooting Star, entered the room, throwing dark glares at us.

“What is the code word?” Shining Armor barked at us and pushed us further with his shield against the wall. I tried to look over at Trixie or Glimmer, but my head was being held in place by force.

“There is none,” answered Glimmer and immediately we fell to the ground. I took a deep breath first and then stood back up.

“Good to see you again. Where were you for the past day and a half?” Armor asked. Just like my companions, I was more surprised about the time and not about them seeming to have searched at the cave.

“We were trapped in the cave. A changeling blew up the entrance,” I said, still feeling the pain from the harsh landing.

“We searched for that cave but didn’t find it. Now we know why,” Hawk said. “I told Star the whole time that you wouldn’t go down so easily.”

“Judging by your approach, I take that you’ve discovered the secret of the village?” Glimmer asked and Star nodded.

“We had to fight out of one of the mines.” Hawk grinned and licked her lips. “My throat’s still sore from all the fire spitting.”

“We can exchange stories later. We have to get out of here,” I threw in hastily. “We weren’t exactly quiet.” Shining Armor agreed. Glimmer had meanwhile stepped towards the window and looked into the dark night.

“Too late!” she shouted and immediately everyone was quiet and listened. A faint buzzing could be heard, and everyone in the room knew what it was too late.

“Retreat!” Armor shouted and we ran out of the kitchen and into the night.

They are faster than you.

I know!

We ran for a good distance before I threw a look back. I could see around twenty changelings in the dark sky surrounded by green aura and heading towards us with incredible speed. Armor seemed to have noticed them as well. “Get ready!” he shouted towards us. The group stopped and everyone turned towards the approaching enemies.

“Give me some time!” shouted Trixie and began to form a circle. Glimmer took out her small crossbow and readied a few arrows for reloading. Hawk and Star pushed themselves off the ground. Stare held his spear ready, and between Hawk’s teeth came the first green flames. Armor had his mobile shield ready again. I looked around for material, as I didn’t want to just throw stones again. To my dismay, there wasn’t anything suitable, and without a second energy source, I was too exhausted.

It will hurt… Nightmare said cheerfully and I instantly felt the power but also the promised pain. I didn’t have the time to think, as the first changelings crashed into the ground around us. With their bright green glowing horns, they fired missiles at us while others changed their form. One looked like Glimmer now, another like me, and a third like Trixie. Since they only copied looks and clothes, however, they weren’t wielding any weapons and as such were easy to spot. Shining Armor blocked the first missiles with his mobile shields. Hawk shot into the air and threw the first flame pillars at the approaching changelings. Star was close to her and fended off enemies that tried to attack her from the side. Glimmer was the one who responded to the missiles by shooting one arrow after another past me. For a second I wondered how many she had in her bag. My eyes wandered to my hooves and then I had an idea, actually the idea. A weapon from the sun crystal would be the perfect solution. I tried to form it, but it made its magic resistant abilities proud.

You are going to need more powerful magic for that.

Quickly I searched for the right runes in my head and gave them a form. With a faint grin, the right idea for the spell came to me.

“I am the light, I give you sight.” The circle around the crystal began to glow, just like the crystal itself. “The darkness will be consumed, with the help of this sword.” The circle disappeared in the crystal and slowly the crystal began to form. “Light blade, Bladework.” The blade formed so that now instead of a simple crystal, a sword’s blade was mounted at my right front boot. It would immediately be put to use. Armor blocked another missile for me. I charged past the shield and lunged out for a strike against a changeling behind it, but he simply flew into the air. My eyes followed him, which gave a second one, who was disguised as Trixie, the chance to ram her horn into my side. Luckily my armour caught most of the blow, and a moment later I hit the false Trixie in the chest. The effect of the blade came immediately, and the disguise of the changeling was gone. I was happy with my weapon, but it wasn’t of much use against the range of the insect ponies. I charged at the stumbling changeling who I just hit, who quickly made attempts to go into the air. “Traveler in the darkness…” I had more runes in my head and knew that this spell was perfect against their wings. “Witness of the past…” The changeling in front of me took off and shot a green ball down at me which I blocked with my sword, Zelda-style. “Come falling down on us…” The circle which had been around me feet the entire time vanished. “Star tail, witness of destiny!” And with that, the spell showed its effect. A beam of light came from the night sky and hit the changeling in the back. With tremendous force, he went to the ground and stayed there, motionless.

“I knew Celestia knows a lot of magic, but this is just awesome.” I couldn’t resist a small cheer. The pain that Nightmare’s magic was causing was almost gone and I looked for my next target. Shining Armor had been busy the entire time keeping mine and Trixie’s back free. Giving him the chance to attack surely wasn’t a bad idea. With a bang, another changeling landed in front of me, but before he could get to attack, I slashed my sword at his chest and he went to the ground. Green light was illuminated the ground, for once by Hawk’s fire, but also through the missiles of the changelings who hadn’t hit any of us yet. I ran over to Trixie and Armor and aimed for another changeling in the air as I ran past him. “Star tail!” The spell was still active and another of the powerful lasers shot from the sky and had the same effect as the first. With a thud, the insect landed on the ground.

“I’ll soon run out of arrows!” Glimmer shouted, still shooting in the sky like crazy. Some changeling had arrows stuck in their back armors but didn’t seem to be bothering much by them. Armor took his spear between his teeth and threw it over to Glimmer, who had just shot her last arrow. She tossed the crossbow aside and defended herself against two changelings who charged at her. Armor had to play shield for a few more seconds then. I changed my direction and came just in time to take out a third changeling, who was about to attack her from behind, with another shot of star tail.

The first signs of exhaustion were showing now showing despite Nightmare’s support, as the spell was very powerful. Next to me fell various changelings to the ground who were all either slightly charred or had a large hole somewhere in their body. Hawk and Star were in the air directly above me and had their hooves full with dodging and attacking if there was an opportunity. There were about five changelings left on the ground, most of who were occupied with Shining Armor’s shields, and just as many in the air. Just as planned, my next target was the small group of changelings who were shooting non-stop at the shields. As they saw me coming closer, they changed their target, and I had to roll to the side to avoid being hit. Glimmer, who had the same idea, used my tires and rammed her spear into the first of the three. He immediately went to the ground, but his two comrades now had her as a target. My chance had come and I charged at the remaining two and managed to cut off the horn from one of them. He screamed in pain and rammed both forehooves into my face. Surprised by the counterattack, I fell to the ground, lying down on my side.

“Why am I always breaking my nose when I’m fighting…?” I groaned and managed to dodge a missile that was shot at me from the side by… me. My doppelganger fired green balls at me and rushed to aid his comrades. I stood back on all fours quickly and dodged the incoming attacks, but my tail was less lucky and got slightly scorched. It didn’t really hurt, but the scent of burnt hair wasn’t really pleasant to the nose. Just as I wanted to fire at my doppelganger, my mirror image was smashed into the ground by one of the Shining Armor’s large purple shields. I looked around and saw him using another large shield like a flyswatter and sending the remaining changelings into the desert. Now there was only the doppelganger left on the ground and the two in front of Glimmer. “Star tail!” Only one in front of Glimmer. My doppelganger came crawling out from underneath the shield again and rammed into my side as hard as he could.

“You will never defeat us!” it said with my voice.

“Could have said the same thing myself…” I commented and dodged another of his attacks. Armor seemed to have switched to offense now as well.

“Duck!” he shouted and I dove onto my stomach. Another shield rushed over me and now two of them were smashed together, with my doppelganger in between them. Glimmer, who was just pulling her spear out of the other changeling, seemed to enjoy the sight. We regrouped on the ground and looked into the night sky where Hawk and Star were still dealing with around four of the creatures. What caught our attention were many small lights that were quickly approaching.

“What’s that?” I asked Armor.

“Backup… but not for us.” Glimmer had took out her binoculars and checked what the captain had just said.

“Changelings, around thirty,” she said shortly. “They’ll be here in around a minute.” We had just barely survived the fight with twenty of these creatures; how were we going to last against even more now that we are exhausted? The dots came closer quickly, and after a few seconds I could make out the shapes of the opponents and also the green auras around them.

“Get ready!” Armor shouted loud enough so that the two pegasi could hear him as well. They were still dealing with two remaining changelings, but still found the time to nod. I looked over to Trixie who was still busy with a circle. If she had been at it for the whole time, what kind of spell had Luna taught her?

“Big hunter in the firmament, heaven’s tent…” Trixie’s circle began to spin as the she started the spell. Armor renewed his shields which had taken a hammering. Glimmer freed her spear in the sand from unwanted remains and Star was ramming his own into the last changeling and pushed it to the ground. Now the two came over to us and saw exactly what was coming towards us.

“Well, they say that you should leave off with an appetite, but these guys are really hungry it seems,” Hawk said as she closely inspected the situation for the first time.

“Come down from up high…” I was hoping that Trixie would finish her super spell soon as I didn’t know how we could keep her clear from so many enemies. They still came closer with insane speed, and the first missiles were hitting the sand in front of us. They would just be flying over us like a bomber squadron and cover us in green fireballs. “Guide my way in the darkness…”

“Trixie, whatever you are doing, hurry up!” I shouted towards her, but she didn’t react. What I noticed was that her eyes were glowing white by the sheer amount of magic she was putting to use. I had thought that only Twilight could do that, but it seemed as if I was wrong.

“So that nothing stands against me in the night.” The spinning circle moved up into the sky and disappeared in the darkness of the night. The first missiles hit the shields that Shining Armor had erected in front of us. “I, Trixie, summon you, Sagittarius.” Just as she had spoken these words, the sky almost fell apart.

A large rift opened in the sky, flooding everything in a bright white light. If that wasn’t enough, a translucent creature stepped through it. At first I couldn’t figure out what it was, but as it floated down towards us, I could see it. The changelings, just as surprised by the display as us, had stopped attacking and were hovering in the air. The gigantic blue centaur, equipped with bow and arrow, was now suspended above us. Trixie’s eyes were still glowing as she whispered her command, so quiet that one could only hear it if one stood next to her. “Help us, destroy our enemies.” The huge centaur, who was at least as tall as a three story building, nodded and drew his bow. The changelings seemed to have realized what would happen next and began to fire at the translucent blue construct of stars and nebula to no avail. A gigantic glowing arrow flew through the night sky, and in one go, the enemy numbers were cut in half.

Our dear Luna knows how to help herself.

For the first time, I understood why Luna had been banished to the moon when she had been possessed. If Nightmare had been in possession of such powerful magic, it was the only option. The surprised changelings, who seemed stunned to stupidity, hovered motionlessly in the air and looked at their doom as the centaur drew a second arrow. It flew, just like the first one, with a bright glow through the sky and perfectly hit its target. Nothing was left in the sky, not even the remains which fell to the ground. The creature began to dissolve and I looked over at Trixie, whose eyes had turned back to normal before she fell to the ground. Glimmer caught her just in time.

“Now I know what Luna meant when she said that she had sent her to protect us…” I mumbled to myself. Everyone in the group was more than surprised about Trixie had just done, but Armor was the first with a clear head again.

“Quick, we have to get to the train,” he said. Glimmer had thrown Trixie on her back.

“What? Train? Is it here already?” I asked, surprised, but no one answered. Instead, we were galloped in the direction of the village.

“We had planned to move the Lunar in front of the train and destroy the tracks. The changelings took it over when it arrived and packed it with their kind,” Hawk, who was hovering above me, explained.

“But we haven’t seen the train nor the tracks in the village,” I said, but she interrupted me.

“It seems that they didn’t want to wait any longer. They caught it about a kilometer from the city.” And so what Shining Armor had expected at the beginning of their mission had occurred. The changelings were using this as a base to infiltrate large parts of Equestria. We were running directly past the village but saw from afar already that we were too late. Smoke was rising and the sound of a steam engine that was slowly driving away.

“Damn!” Armor shouted. “Quick, to the airship.” Immediately he changed direction and we all followed him. The ship was not far away, as we had the presence of mind to have anchored in direction the incoming rails, but again the changelings had been faster. The balloon of the Lunar was lying flat and with no helium on the ship.

Author's Notes:

FF summoning anyone? xD
That was the first big fight I ever wrote btw.

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

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