---

Ponyville was no more.

In the wake of the brief but memorable and terrible rule of one Emperor Jason Wright, each and every building, save for the Castle of Friendship, had been reduced to rubble, leaving the once quaint and proud town a shadow, barely a whisp, of its former self.

Instead, in its place, temporary housing in the form of large tents, one near the sight of each burned house, and one larger temporary wood building in the center of town where Town Hall used to be, had been erected. Ponyville now looked like a refugee camp, because that’s exactly what it was.

Jason Wright had been thorough in his destruction of the town. Nothing had remained after the devastation save for burned husks, ashes that had once been the belongings of every single pony in town.

However, with help from without, more specifically, the Crystal Empire and what little Canterlot could spare, all the rubble had been moved after every single part of Ponyville had been meticulously gone through, in the hopes that the changelings missed something. Alas, very little remained.

Reconstruction plans had already been formed, but with the oncoming of winter, any construction had to be delayed. Not even Cloudsdale could delay the regular snowfalls. However, the team in Cloudsdale had promised to try their best to have the bare minimum amount of snow fall when the first day of winter came, which was coming up soon. Until that time came, rush orders for heaters and extra wood for fire pits had been leaving Ponyville ever since a few flurries fell here and there.

It was in the middle of all this, right inside the temporary Town Hall where Twilight Sparkle sat at a desk looking over the many request forms from the citizens of the vanished town. She had a haggard look on her face as she carefully read over the request from the Cakes once more. They had sent a request for thicker blankets for their foals along with some extra baking supplies in the hopes that they could use their temporary wood oven to bake more for the town. However, it seemed to be a losing battle with them. Since Pinkie had taken a temporary leave of absence from Ponyville, the mood of the ponies had only gotten lower and lower.

Especially now that trickles of the truth about Jason’s invasion had begun spreading around the town like wildfire.

Normally, nopony would even think twice about Roseluck’s words, especially since she and her two closest friends Daisy and Lily were known to be overdramatic more often than not. But when a few other citizens who had been taken from Ponyville to Canterlot during the invasion began corroborating her story, there was nothing stopping the rumors to start spreading.

Jason might have been a monster, but he had been a monster of their own creation. Without any hesitation, the strange creature, who they now knew to be called a human, had been shunned, ignored, and even beaten by the very ponies who he had come back and conquered.

This divided up the entire community, as there were many who still demanded that Jason Wright be hunted down and brought to justice. Others, however, argued that if they did such a thing, they would be no better than the so-called Emperor of the changeling hoard. Still others, especially those who had seen Jason’s appearance up close and heard the stories about what had happened to him, remained silent either way, the guilt overwhelming them.

And it was this guilt from that group of ponies that turned to anger which was quickly redirected at the town’s local celebrities: the Elements of Harmony. They had been chief in their abuse towards the human in the three years he had lived there, if you could call that living. The other groups were also angry at the six mares, but for different reasons. In a sick and twisted way, it was one thing the destroyed town’s residents bonded together: agreeing that the six ponies who were meant to espouse everything good in the world had brought this calamity on them.

Beside Twilight, Mayor Mare looked equally as exhausted, her currently pink mane and tail a complete and utter mess since she had no time to tend to it or dye it as she normally did. She was looking over a few reports on the status of orders from Manehatten in regards to building materials to help reconstruct the town. The words on the pages began to dance around for the mayor, so she grabbed the cup of coffee next to her and drank a large swig of the now cool beverage, hoping against hope it would help keep her awake.

Twilight wasn’t faring any better. She might have been an alicorn, but that didn’t make her invulnerable to overworking herself. Still, she kept at it, mostly since she didn’t want to go back to the castle. So she didn’t have to face the angry and mistrustful stares of the citizens which followed her everywhere she went. She could even see and feel them in her dreams, and not even Princess Luna could step in every time.

And rightly so. She had been the one who had started it despite what Discord had done to her, her friends, her old mentor, and…him. Jason Wright.

Jason had gone through literal Tartarus because of her. She allowing herself to be overwhelmed with her prejudices against humans. She should have known better. What she’d learned about humans during her first trip through Star Swirl’s mirror had tainted her views of them. When Sunset had learned what had happened, to say that she’d been angry would have been a gross understatement. She’d literally stormed through the mirror and, the moment she saw Twilight, had reared back her hoof and sent the alicorn directly into one of the crystal walls of her castle with enough force to crack the wall. She then verbally tore into Twilight with so much anger that the unicorn had nearly had a magical surge. When she’d said her peace, she told Twilight never to contact her or her new human friends ever again before running back through the portal.

Twilight shook her head quickly, trying to come back to the hear and now. As of late, she’d been thinking more and more about the event of that terrible invasion. How could she have been so blind and stupid? Why was her kneejerk reaction to slam the door in Jason’s face? Of course, some of the other Elements had been quick to point out that Discord was the primary suspect. However, it hadn’t even taken much of Discord’s nudging to push her towards abject hatred and abuse, and now she, Princess Celestia’s former magical apprentice, was heavily paying for it.

And not just in the piles and piles of paperwork. She’d all but lost all of her best friends.

Applejack had returned to her former home and had begun working on the rebuilding process. When the changelings took over Ponyville, they made Big Mac pull an entire cart full of apples to the temporary refugee camp to help feed the ponies that had been placed there. The townsfolk were decent enough to leave the cores alone, especially on the cores of the one barrel of zapp apples. Twilight had yet to go visit the orchard, but she’d overheard other ponies saying how it was nice to see at least some trees on the hill. Even from her room in her Castle of Friendship, she could always see a small orange dot going to and fro. Applejack never came into town anymore. Big Mac would be the only member of the Apple family she saw, and even then he spoke less than usual.

Pinkie Pie had taken what she called a temporary leave of absence from Ponyville. When the date for Pinkie’s party for Jason, which had been set for a month after his departure just to be safe, came and went, and he hadn’t showed up, she’d become more depressed. She was seen less and less around town, but whenever she was, her mane was completely straight, her eyes were drained of whatever smile used to be in them, and her pink fur and mane had dimmed. Finally, she packed up and returned to her family’s rock farm but had said, using her signature promise, to return within at least four or so months, sooner if an emergency arose. In her own words, she needed time to be “…Aloney on her owny.”

Rainbow Dash, true to Jason’s threat, had not flown since that day. In fact, any time that Twilight had seen her, her wings were always by her side, almost tightly so as if they were strapped in some invisible bindings. Since her house had not been destroyed during the burning of Ponyville, she could still live up there, but since she wasn’t flying, she’d made arrangements with Twilight so she could use a hot air balloon to get to her house. When she wasn’t up there, hiding away from the world, she spent most of her time on the ground helping in the rebuilding process. Twilight had seen her the most of her old friends since the invasion, but no words were ever exchanged between them.

Fluttershy had been spending less and less time with the other five Elements of Harmony. Instead, she’d wandered close to the Everfree: forlorn and mournful. She took some comfort in that her Angel was by her side, as were some her other animal friends. But from what Twilight had seen, the loss of Discord hit her the hardest. Twilight might not have been her old foalsitter, but she took a guess that Fluttershy had deeper feelings for the deceased draconnequus. She’d been seen the least, always wandering around her home and talking quietly to her animal friends, what little remained.

Rarity had thrown herself into using her skills as a seamstress to help in the relief effort. The tent she had set up near the site of her own boutique was larger than most since she had promised to make clothes and blankets for those who needed it. Lately her mane didn’t have its normal styled appearance, just tied back as she sewed thick blankets for the upcoming winter months, a winter living in tents and temporary housing. But Twilight could tell, any time she caught a glimpse of the seamstress pony, that she was miserable and bitter. And that bitterness had been most likely directed at Jason. In fact, Twilight had heard that because of what had happened, and with her name being besmirched, she’d lost Canterlot Carousel, which only seemed to make her more bitter.

Spike had been completely horrified when Twilight had sat him down and, between tears, told the young dragon what had happened with Jason. When she had finished, he asked her if he was going to be treated like that someday, too. He’d been to the human world with her, had interacted with the humans there, and had not seen one bad thing about them. Sure, they ate meat and could be a bit more violent, he’d argued, but griffons ate meat and if their experience with Gilda all those years ago had been any indication, they were meaner than ponies. Since that conversation, the two had hardly said more than a few words to each other, and that was mostly in passing down the halls of the castle. It broke Twilight’s heart to have lost him, too, but deep down she felt that she deserved it.

Her old mentor, Princess Celestia, had not sent any messages to Twilight or anypony in Ponyville ever since that day. She had been dealing with the rebuilding of Canterlot. She’d spared as much help as she could for Ponyville, but her place was in the capital. Twilight didn’t blame her. The look of guilt and shame on Celestia’s face was enough to shatter Twilight’s heart. She had heard about Celestia’s attempt at pardoning Jason, but he had yet to set foot on Equestrian soil after that day. Not that she could blame him. It would have probably seemed to him like a useless gesture.

“Princess Twilight? Are you alright?”

Mayor Mare’s concerned voice broke through the young alicorn’s reverie. Twilight looked down at the page in front of her, and saw that a few tears had fallen onto the scroll. She wiped her eyes with her foreleg. “Just Twilight,” she said with a shaky voice, “and I’m fine. Just a bit tired.”

Mayor Mare was one of the few ponies in town who was somewhat tolerant of Twilight. In fact, she treated Twilight with enough of a friendly manner to keep the princess from totally collapsing into a full-on depression. The mayor herself had openly admitted to Twilight that she had been one of Jason’s tormentors, refusing him a job the moment he’d asked all those years ago. The guilt had begun to eat away at the earth pony so that she was starting to get natural gray streaks in her mane and tail. “Twilight, it’s past nine. The sun set hours ago. Go home. Get some sleep. You need it more than me.”

Twilight shook her head. “No…I’m alri…” she trailed off as the words on the page began to morph into a very familiar face. She went pale as Jason’s sneering form took shape, leaning down towards her with clear menace. She stared in mute horror as his gloved hand reached out, ready to grab her throat.

She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again a few seconds later, the page had returned to normal. She heard somepony breathing heavily, only to realize a moment later that it was her own ragged breathing she heard. She heard somepony calling out her name in fear, and when she looked up, she saw the pink maned mayor looking down at her with a worried expression on her face. “Princess?”

“Don’t…don’t call me Princess,” Twilight said. “I don’t deserve that title…” She stood, set the scroll from the Cakes aside, turned down the lantern she’d been using to read, and looked over at the mayor. “I’m heading home for the night. Talk to you later.”

Mayor Mare gave Twilight a sympathetic look, then nodded. “See you tomorrow, Princess-ah, I mean, Miss Sparkle.” And with that, she turned back to her work, pulling her own lantern closer to the pages.

Twilight grabbed her scarf, saddle and her boots, then headed out into the bleak wintery night. The sky was overcast, and a light snow was falling before her. The ground was white with previously fallen snow, and tracks from dozens of other ponies lay in the snow. Some were fresh, others were at least a couple of hours old or more. There were a few hastily erected gas lanterns on the main thoroughfares, one for every five tents. The streets were, thankfully, empty, and Twilight began slowly walking home.

As she did so, she took in the town before her once again. The tents were all practically identical, making the town look more like an army camp than anything else. The uniqueness that had made Ponyville so charming was completely gone, giving way to sameness wherever she looked. Each building in the town might have been older, but to Twilight, that’s what gave the town its rustic charm. She missed it all, but she also knew that no matter what, there was no going back to the past. If she could, she’d do it in a heartbeat, if only to attempt to undo what she and her fellow Elements had done.

Cold, wet, and deep in thought, she arrived back at the castle. Despite having many rooms inside, most ponies stayed away from the building. Most ponies associated the castle now with nothing but the failure of the six ponies who’d started it all. However, there were still a few holdouts, those who acted like they understood and who explained that it had all been a cruel trick by Discord.

One of them, Derpy, was walking through the main foyer towards the bedroom section of the castle. In one of her wings, she held a roll of bread which she was snacking on. When she heard Twilight enter, she turned and smiled politely at her. “Hi, Princess,” she said. Her tone was subdued, but it was definitely kinder than most other voices that she’d heard lately. “Long day? Need something to eat?” From her other wing, she produced another roll of bread, offering it to Twilight.

“It’s just Twilight,” the alicorn said, “and no thank you. I’m too tired to eat.”

“Are you sure? This one’s raisin,” Derpy said.

“No thanks, Derpy,” Twilight repeated. “I’m just going to bed.”

As Twilight headed down the hall, Derpy called after her, “Don’t let this get you down! We’ll be alright eventually!”

Eventually, huh? Twilight thought as she trudged down the long halls. The words rang through her head as she finally reached her room, crawling into bed. However, sleep was slow in coming despite her exhaustion from the day. She lay on her back, staring up at the canopy above her bed. She heard nothing but the sounds of her own breathing.

And the sound of somepony else in the room with her.

She quickly sat up, completely on alert. Looking around wildly, she saw a dark shadow standing directly at the bottom of her bed. It stood there, tall and menacing, a being shrouded in nothing but the blackest of black.

And she recognized the form. Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to speak, but all that she got out was a croak that sounded vaguely like, “Ja…son…?”

The shadow didn’t move, just sat there, hanging there. Like a dead body hanging from a tree. Twilight quickly used her magic to light up the room, only to find that what she’d thought had been Jason was in fact an uneven curtain that she now remembered had been ripped during one of her night terrors.

Whimpering, she closed all three sides of her canopy bed curtains, grabbed the blankets with her teeth, and pulled them over her head, curling up and trembling with fear as the adrenaline rush began to subside. As she had for many nights, tears welled up in her eyes. She went to sleep with one thought on her mind: Will things ever really be okay…?

---

Applejack sat on one of the hills overlooking the desiccated remains of what had once been acres and acres of sweet and delicious apple trees. Now, all she saw were bare hills and plains and a few stumps that poked out through the snow. Jason did nothing half-heartedly. He completely destroyed every single plant and blade of grass on the farm. The barn had been destroyed, the farmhouse completely obliterated with every piece of family heirlooms and memories within.

Fortunately, many of her relatives had heard about what happened and came down to Ponyville to help restore the barn and the house in record time. She was glad of that. At least the cows, chickens and other livestock that lived on the farm were going to be safe.

She took it all in, soaking in the view before her. On the one hoof, she was relieved that the snow was covering what lay beneath: bare rock and stone. On the other hoof, she actually cursed the snow. She wanted to see what the damage was. She wanted to never forget what had happened. She wanted to punish herself for what she did to Jason. Even if Discord had been the architect, she’d always thought she had a stronger will than that. Even when she’d met Spike, she’d never once thought of him as some monster to hit without so much as a second thought. Seeing the snow covering the land felt wrong to her somehow.

The sky above was darkening quickly as the sun behind the clouds reached the horizon. She saw the distant lights that once shone with warmth and invitation. Now, they looked desolate and lonely, too organized to be a proper town. Looking down at the large hole beside her, she remembered the day when she’d carefully uprooted the apple tree that had been there. Bloomberg, the one she’d taken to Appleloosa during the events with the Buffalo.

As she remembered that little adventure, she recalled that, even then, she’d never stooped as low as she had with Jason. She’d been stubborn as a mule, sure, but she’d finally seen reason with the help from her friends. Or rather, the ponies who’d used to be her friends.

“Gosh-dern it!” Applejack shouted, stamping her hoof into the ground, “Snap out of it!”

“So here you are,” a deep voice said from behind her.

Applejack jumped up, completely surprised by the silent approaching stallion behind her. She stared into the level gaze of her older brother, Big Macintosh. “Oh…howdy, Big Mac.”

“Granny says dinner’s almost ready,” he said, turning to face the newly built lit house. “C’mon.”

“In a minute, big brother,” Applejack said, turning away from the house and its undeserving warmth to stare out at the darkening landscape. “Ah just need tah think.”

There was silence from behind her. Then, Big Mac slowly walked over and sat next to Applejack. The two sat next to each other, not speaking. The snowfall began again, light and still. Finally, Big Mac said, “You’re still thinkin’ a lot about him, aren’t you?”

Applejack didn’t say anything for a while, but finally nodded. “Ah can’t help it,” she said. “Ah’ve tried tah git him out of mah mind, but ah can’t.” She turned to her big brother, remembering the times when she looked up to him, thinking he was perfect. She knew he wasn’t now, but that never stopped her from looking to either him or Granny for advice if she ever needed some.

Big Mac didn’t look at her, his expression placid. Finally, he said, “Forgettin’ somethin’ like that isn’t somethin’ you should do. When you told us what happened, I remembered Zecora.” Applejack’s ears flattened when he mentioned the zebra. They hadn’t seen her since even before the burning of Ponyville. Nopony had even dared venture into the woods, ever since a rumor had spread that there were changelings in there that Jason had left behind. Big Mac continued, “There’s an old sayin’: out of sight, out of mind. Zecora doesn’t live in Ponyville, so we don’t see her a lot. That lesson you said you learned with her didn’t stick as well as it should have. So don’t forget, little sister. Because if you do, you’re more likely to make the same mistake a third time.”

“But how can ah work when all ah can think about is Jason?” Applejack asked. “Ah can’t just abandon the farm!”

“AJ, have you just taken the time to think about it, or did you just come back home that day and jump right into your work?” Big Mac asked, finally turning to her. She looked away, not able to look him in the eyes. He knew her better than most, because the latter is exactly what she’d done. It was what she’d always done. Having guessed her thoughts, Big Mac sighed. “Take a few days off, sis. Go for some walks, write in a journal, talk to somepony…”

“Nopony will wanna talk tah me,” she said, “They hate me.”

“Then write down your thoughts in a journal,” Big Mac said. “Didn’t you do somethin’ similar with that old Friendship Journal?”

Applejack looked down at the ground in front of her. That had been part of what Jason had burned along with their friendship letters to Princess Celestia. However, she had to admit that he had a good point. “Yer right,” she said, “but ah can’t just shirk mah chores.”

“I’ll pick up the slack,” he replied. “Just take some time, okay? It’s been three months. Time for you to come to terms with it and learn from it.” He stood, looked down at her, and smiled for the first time since coming up the hill. “Come on now. Soup’s on.”

Applejack stood and followed her brother down the hill. Having a few days to myself might help. At least, I hope it does…

---

Pinkamena Diane Pie lay down in the snow near Holder’s Boulder, looking up at the midnight sky. There were a few stars poking out of the clouds, and while normally seeing how amazingly beautiful the stars were would cheer her up, tonight it was only another reminder of her failures. Shivering, she curled up in a ball to conserve warmth, not that it did any good. Winters on her childhood farm home were always bitingly cold. But she felt like she deserved it.

Especially since, for so many years, that poor human had lived in nothing but a cave, eating garbage like she had been forcing herself to eat ever since she’d gotten back.

Pinkamena didn’t look at all like the same happy filly who’d discovered her cutie mark by making her family smile for the first time. She had lost a lot of her normal pudge and her mane and tail were straighter than they’d ever been. She’d even begun to lose very small patches of her fur coat, exposing what was underneath. She’d been hiding it for a while by wearing a thick pink jacket, which now lay on the snowy ground by her side. Even if she’d completely avoided Jason Wright thanks to Discord’s influence, she still couldn’t properly come to a reason as to why she had that reaction in her to begin with.

I’m supposed to represent laughter, and I stole somepony-no, someone’s-laughter away from them forever, Pinkamena thought, and that thought only sent her deeper into a spiral of depression. Why…? Why did I do that?

Tears began pouring down her cheeks as the thoughts came flooding back to her. She had never once been acknowledged by Jason during his invasion, just like she’d hidden from him whenever her Pinkie Sense went off. But…even if that was Discord’s doing, as he’d said, she should have seen the despair in his eyes. The hurt, pain, suffering and loneliness. She covered her eyes with her hooves. “I’m so sorry…” she whimpered.

The wind started picking up, and she shivered even more. She curled up tighter and shed a few more tears which began to sting her cheeks. Just then, a shadow appeared over Pinkamena’s field of vision. A very familiar one. The shape of her little sister Marble Pie.

Pinkamena sat up and looked over at her. “Marble? What are you doing up so late? Don’t you have to get up early tomorrow?”

“Mmhmm,” she said, then she looked questioningly at Pinkamena. One the pink mare knew well. But what surprised her more was when the normally quiet earth pony spoke up. “Why are you out here, Pinkie?”

Pinkamena sighed, then looked up at the sky. “I couldn’t sleep.”

“How come?” Marble asked

Pinkamena looked away from her sister. “Jason…”

There was silence between the two sisters for a number of seconds. Pinkamena felt Marble reach out and touch her back gently. “You’re cold. Come back inside near the fire and warm up before going to bed.”

Pinkamena shook her head. “No…I don’t deserve that. I don’t deserve a warm bed. Not when he…when he never had one…”

Pinkamena’s family knew the entire story about Jason Wright. She’d not been able to stop herself from blubbering it out. In their own way, each family member had tried their best to reassure the poor broken mare, but mostly in vain. Everypony, that is, except Marble. Marble had always been a mare of very few words.

However, she startled Pinkamena even more by speaking again. “Pinkie…you can’t keep doing this to yourself. You’re gonna get really sick.”

“I deserve worse…” Pinkamena said with finality.

Marble straightened up and looked at Pinkamena with a frown. “Put your jacket on and follow me. Now.”

Marble wasn’t like her sister Limestone. She more than likely couldn’t have shouted even if she’d tried, but she had said those words with such force that Pinkamena reacted instinctively, reaching down to grab her jacket before stopping herself. She pulled away. “Leave me alone, Marble…”

“Do you want me to get Limestone to drag you back in?” Marble said in a threatening tone, or at least, as threatening a tone as she could muster.

Even so, this sent shivers down Pinkamena’s spine. Slowly, she stood up, grabbed her jacket, and trudged back to the farmhouse. Marble pressed herself against her sister, then said in a softer, kinder tone, “Give it time, big sis. Time erodes all wounds, after all.”

As they walked slowly back towards the house, Pinkamena looked down at the ground. Will it, though? she thought. Will it really…How can I make this right…?

---

Fluttershy was curled up on her cot inside the large but warm tent that Rarity had made for her. The soft wool of her blanket had been sheered from some of the sheep on the Apple farm before Jason Wright’s invasion. It was one of the very few of her possessions that had survived being burned since she’d left it in Twilight’s castle before her house had been destroyed. Nearby, a small magical heater glowed red, filling the large tent with warmth.

A warmth which did little to soothe Fluttershy’s broken heart.

Not even the very few animals who she’d manage to find out in the Everfree who were sleeping near her or under the blanket with her could do much to mend her shattered emotions. Even her best animal friend Angel Bunny couldn’t help. Just when she’d thought she’d cried her last tear, she remembered his final words and they began anew despite the fact that it now physically hurt to cry.

She had realized, too late, that she had grown to love Discord in a way she had never loved anypony else before. Or probably even since.

Despite the circumstances behind Discord’s death, she still couldn’t find it in herself to blame the instrument of his death, Jason Wright. He’d been through so much because of her, her friends, Ponyville, and Discord. Even now, she still couldn’t tell whether or not she should be feeling anger at what Discord had done or not. She’d yelled at him, yes, but upon thinking back they’d all forgiven him a bit too easily. Not even her own feelings for the draconequus could hide the fact that he had tortured and mutilated an innocent being for years and had never even bothered to check to see that what he’d done hadn’t done damage.

She remembered the shots fired suddenly, Discord’s final moments alive, and how Jason had reacted. She’d seen the look in the human’s eyes as he’d passed them in the cells when he left Canterlot. There was sorrow there as well as regret, but she’d only caught a glimpse of it and it didn’t register for her until much later.

“Duh…Discord…” she said as the tears ran anew and she curled up underneath her blankets. Angel and the other few animals who were with her snuggled closer, trying their best to warm her, but failing. “I’m…I’m so sorry…I’m sorry Discord…I’m sorry…Jason, I’m sorry…”

---

“Rarity, when are we gonna get some different food?” Sweetie Belle asked her older sister as the two ate a bowl of vegetable soup for a late dinner. They’d been eating more or less the same thing for about a week ever since they’d run out of other ingredients.

Unlike most other tents, Rarity’s was larger and able to hold more than its fair share of supplies. However, winter was coming, and with that came less food coming in from all over Equestria. As such, their supplies had dwindled, but there was a scheduled supply train coming in the following morning. “Don’t worry, Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said reassuringly, brushing one of her stray hairs out of her face. “We’ll be getting some new food very soon. I made sure to special order a few things from Manehatten to eat, too.”

That brightened the young filly’s spirits, and she continued eating with a bit of pep. But while Rarity might have been outwardly smiling, on the inside, she was practically snarling. She hated every bit of this whole situation. She hated the fact that she and her sister were forced to live in nothing but a tent. She hated eating the same bland foods day after day. She hated the looks others in town gave her, accusing and angry. And she hated that they were pretty right in doing so.

But most importantly, she couldn’t decide whether she hated either herself and Jason more for what had happened. Yes, she had been cruel towards the human, and every memory of those past years had come back to haunt her with clear recollection. She might not have had a good memory of things other than fashion, but after Discord’s spell had lifted from her, the massive amount of guilt and self-loathing threatened to overwhelm her.

The only thing that kept her going was her little sister. She was too young to understand, and Rarity wasn’t going to tell her the truth about it just yet. She would in time, of course, but when Rarity was ready.

Still, the cruelty of all Ponyville directed against him didn’t excuse his retaliation, she reasoned. Maybe that’s just something humans do, she had sometimes thought to herself. Murdering, pillaging, razing villages to the ground…

Our of all the Elements, Rarity’s inner struggle was one of the most difficult to reconcile. She’d done Jason Wright wrong, but in return he had destroyed the lives of many ponies. She’d even overheard rumors of secret pony groups who were said to hate humans in general and Jason in particular.

One man caused so much sadness, Rarity thought as she took another spoonful of her soup. Sweet Celestia…what’s the right answer…?

---

Rainbow Dash walked around the edges of what had used to be Ponyville, a small lantern held in one of her hooves. Ever since the town had begun to reestablish itself and attempt to rebuild, she’d volunteered to be a night guard, sleeping during the day and walking around with a few other ponies at night to make sure no bandits took advantage of the situation.

It was also a good excuse for her not to face the accusing faces of the town and those she’d once considered her friends.

Her wings were tightly folded against her sides. Ever since being freed all those months ago, she had not once moved them, save for the occasional preening. But she didn’t deserve to fly again. Not after what she, the so-called Element of Loyalty, had done to a completely innocent creature who had once been a fan of hers. She remembered what Jason Wright had said during their brief tour of Ponyville as it was being destroyed.

“You were my favorite.”

That had broken her completely. She’d always promised herself that she would be loyal to her fans and give them shows and demonstrations of her awesome talents, but upon learning that Jason not only was a fan, but knew about her sonic rainbooms, something inside of her just snapped. She’d betrayed not only him, but herself and her other fans.

Discord’s magic be damned, she thought. I can’t call myself an Element of Loyalty. Or an element of anything! Just a fucking bitch! She kicked some snow up angrily, watching by lantern light as the soft white powder fell softly back to the ground.

“Hey!” a voice called out, “eyes up, private!”

Rainbow winced. The voice belonged to another guard, one of her least favorite mares in Ponyville. Lightning Dust, a turquoise pegasus with a need for speed that rivaled the old Rainbow Dash’s own. She’d become a night guard as well, and Rainbow suspected it was because she wanted and excuse to harass Rainbow. She looked up at the young pegasus. “This isn’t your area,” Rainbow said in an attempt to sound angry, but when Jason had left Ponyville, he’d taken all of the spark out of her attitude, leaving a husk of a mare in its place.

“Your point being, Rainbow Crash?” Lighting sneered.

In another life, she would have thrown down with the upstart pegasus mare, but Rainbow was a different pony now. She felt older, weaker than she ever had been before. It had never occurred to her that she would eventually lose her bite. She’d always felt indestructible. She’d always been strong and loyal. Now? She was nothing but another body. Rainbow sighed deeply. “Never mind…”

“That’s what I thought, bitch,” Lighting said as Rainbow walked passed her, heading towards the end of her beat. The snow had picked up now, but Rainbow didn’t care. She took a look up at the overcast sky, the thick snowclouds pushed in by other pegasi barely visible in the light of the temporary torches around the tent town. She ignored the other various insults Lighting was throwing at her as beside her, her wings rustled slightly, but eventually snapped back into position.

“You better run, you traitor,” Lightning growled. “Everypony knows it’s not just that monstrous human who’s at fault! It’s yours too! Yours and your friends! Or are they even friends anymore? Not that it matters. Now the world will see you for how you really are. Hypocrites.”

Rainbow continue walking, letting the insults wash over her. Because they weren’t insults.

They were the complete truth.

---

In a large cavern which separated the Everfree Forest from the ruins of the ancient castle where Princesses Celestia and Luna had once lived, there was a massive five limbed tree. For many hundreds of years ever since Star Swirl the Bearded and the other Pillars of Equestria had planted it, the tree had grown. But this wasn’t just any tree. This was a crystal tree, the Tree of Harmony from whence the actual Elements of Harmony had spring as its fruit.

It had endured so much since its first planting all those years ago. Its magic had only begun to grow once again ever since the bearers of the Elements had relinquished them and set forth the seeds that would eventually create the castle of friendship.

But now, the tree had begun to wake up. And it could sense that something was very wrong. Something that had gone wrong for many years. Friendships had been broken, lives lost and hope replaced with despair and self hatred.

The crystal tree began glowing brighter, its roots digging deeper than they ever had before as it searched all over its purview for whatever could have caused it. When it connected to the minds of the sleeping Bearers, it saw horrors beyond anything it could have ever imagined.

“…Very good… Very, very good. Good behavior will only help your case in the trial…”

“…Yes, Applejack, you did this. You, and your rainbow-maned whore of a friend…”

“Look, they’ll come around when this is all over. They’re your friends! No stupid monkey-monster with an axe to grind is gonna change that, even Discord couldn’t swing that one!”

“This is what he is now. This is what we turned him into…oh mah dearest Stars an’ Bars…”

The tree stopped, appalled at all the various memories that came from the Bearers. The torture and abuse of an innocent being. A being who became a monster just to get back at those who hurt him. The death of a being older than most due to his involvement…

It was too much to take in all at once, so the tree waited, then looked more closely at the memories individually. It saw so much that it couldn’t even begin to comprehend. The primordial chaotic being who had tried to destroy it so long ago had corrupted the tree’s charges, yes, but it was disappointed to see just how little magic the chaotic one had used to amplify the preconceived notions of what was already there within them. Gone was the kindness. Gone the loyalty. Nowhere to be found was the laughter. Generosity? What was that? And where had the honesty gotten to? But worst of all, the friendship had shattered.

NO, the tree thought to itself. IT WILL NOT END THIS WAY! It spread its senses far, searching for the strange being. It saw many things as the hours between dusk and dawn passed, but nothing that could indicate a location for this being, a human as one of the Elements had called him.

However, just before the crack of dawn, the tree found something unusual. Across a narrow sea, sitting in a bed in a large mansion, looking out the window with a soft smile on its face, sat another human. This one was not like the one it ha seen before, what with its facial covering and horrendous scars.

No, this human was unmaimed. It was dressed warmly and was staring out at a cold but clear starlit sky. It took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly before closing the door and covering itself with a thick and warm blanket. As the tree watched, the human pulled out a small rectangular object and touched it. The device began to glow and changed color as strange images passed over it. Finally, the human found something he apparently liked and touched it. The device went dark, then something began to be seen on it.

A tiny voice began talking, and the tree immediately recognized it as belonging to the one who raised the sun. The voice said the following: “Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land.”

Immediately, the tree was back in the cave, its mind made up. It hadn’t contacted the castle it had created in many long days, but this was an emergency. The silvery glow that normally shone through the crystalline structure of the tree immediately turned red. Red for emergency summons to solve a friendship problem…

---

In Equestria, the Elements of Harmony, along with two others who would be instrumental in helping, were completely unaware that their cutie marks (and the spines of one baby dragon) were shimmering, but not with the normal white light. Instead, they were red.

---

The Cutie Map came to life after having been abandoned for months. The entire landscape of Equestria and its nearby neighbors appeared. Seven cutie marks along with a miniature purple and green dragon, hovered over a very unusual construction across the sea east of Ponyville.

The massive capital of the Griffonian Empire, Griffonstone.

Next Chapter: 2: First Adjustments Estimated time remaining: 22 Hours, 42 Minutes