"What in Tartarus is he doing here?! And what happened to Charlie?!" Shouted Twilight as the trio landed within the palace gardens, her horn, as well as Celestia's, Luna's, and a barrage of unicorn guards all alight with enough magic to vaporize the very moon.

As the dark Alicorn back peddled from the group, he quickly placed the human onto the floor with care, so as to not anger them further. Discord on the other hand, was conflicted between wanting to help, and wanting to let them beat the Alicorn to death in front of him. Ultimately though, he had to intervene, but not before Twilight zapped him with a lightning spell, making him twitch involuntarily on the ground as black smoke slowly escaped his singed hide.

Twilight, wasting no further time, bolted over to the fallen human and began to shake him gently, stirring him back into the world of the living. "Charlie? Are you ok? Did Flame hurt you?" She asked as she began to hug him roughly.

"Yea Twi... I'm fine, but could you guys take it easy with the magic? Flame and I, well..... we all need to sit down and have a talk." He chuckled nervously as he sent a sidelong look to the dark Alicorn, only to stop as he starred at the twitching body of his darker half. "Uh...."

"HA!" Discord shouted out, pointing a finger toward the fallen Alicorn, only to pull it back and cover his mouth for a moment before removing it and giving a sheepish smile. "Sorry, but I think he deserved at least that much."

Charles only shook his head, giving an annoyed sigh as he pressed himself up and onto his legs, walking over to the still twitching Alicorn as he gritted his teeth in agony from trying to move.

"Flame, relax and the spell won't cause you any pain." He stated as he gave the Alicorns shoulder a pat, and sending out a small plume of static.

After giving an annoyed snort, the dark Alicorn sighed as he went limp, the only thing now moving on him being his chest as he breathed softly. Twilight on the other hoof, quickly made her way over to the duo, giving the human a shocked expression.

"What's going on, and why are you helping him?!" She screeched out in disbelief, only to make Charles sigh.

"Firstly, remove the stun spell. I'll need Flame to help explain things more thoroughly so that we can fix this whole mess." Charles sighed, giving a nod toward the fallen Alicorn. Twilight gave an annoyed pout as her horn lit up, sending out a small bolt of magic toward the darker half of her husband. After a few moments, the Alicorn slowly got to his haunches and kept a firm seat on the ground.

"Now then..." Charles began as he looked around to everyone. "Let me tell you guys a little story...." He began.

A short time had passed by as the human told his story, with Flame filling in the blanks. All the time, his brides gawking with unending disbelief. The only one to actually understand the situation to its fullest extent though, was Twilight. That was of course until they came to the point in the story about....

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN OUR FOALS ARE GOING TO BE AFFECTED?!" Shouted Rarity in a panic as she began to hyper-ventilate. Applejack, and Twilight just giving a very worried expression to them as they both rubbed their bellies gently.

"Calm down love, I can explain this part a little better." Charles sighed as he pulled the ivory pony into a loving embrace. "Our babies will all be fine... It's just that...." He trailed off, feeling uneasy about what he was about to say.

"Spit it out Charlie, or ah swear ah'm gonna buck ya upside the head." Applejack quickly spat as she pressed a hoof to the side of his face, giving it a gentle, yet firm, shove to get her point across.

"Well, if my calculations about this whole incident are correct. Then our foals may be born being three parts good, and one part evil." He smiled softly seeing them give a satisfied smile in return. "However..." He paused seeing their eyes go a little wide. "If things aren't as they seem, then they could be three parts evil, and one part good. It will only be a matter of time, and how we raise them, before it will truly show."

The girls all gave one another a worried look as their hooves slowly began to rub their bellies, wondering what their foals would be like in the future. Only time would tell, and that time would not come soon enough.

"So then..." Discord began, tossing a wrench into the gears of the conversation. "How, exactly, are we going to get these two back together into a single pony?" He asked, pulling the human and dark Alicorn into each of his arms.

"That, may be a lot easier than you think." Celestia began, giving a soft giggle. "But do you truly want to recombine with your darker half my love?" She asked, seeing him nod with determination.

"I do, if only to become whole once more." He stated as he pressed Discord away, Flame doing the same.

"Very well, but please be cautioned." She began. "We, as your brides, do not wish to see you harmed in any form or fashion. I understand that you will be taking in your demons once more, but having been without them for such a long time..." She paused, pulling the human into a loving embrace. "I am afraid that your mind will not be able to cope with having those memories within you once again, and may force your mind into a severe state of unrest."

Giving a sigh as he hugged the mother of his child closely, he began. "Tia, I've dealt with those demons before, and I can do it again. Don't worry yourself, I'll be fine, I promise." He smiled, giving her nose a kiss and pulling away. "Now then..." He stated loudly as he clapped his hands together. "Where can we get some of the poison joke cure?"

It had only taken a short time for the group to travel to Ponyville so that Charles could go to the spa. However, upon arriving at the spa, the wait for the kings turn in line was a little longer than expected.

"Ugh... I don't see how getting a single drink of that stupid cure is taking so long! We've all been here for over an hour!" Flame groaned as he casually read a magazine that lay on the floor in front of him.

"Give the twins some time. It is the weekend after-all, and they're quite busy with some of the older ponies in town." Rarity piped up as she rubbed up against her husband, only to cause Flame to pout.

"Where's my love? Doesn't the big bad stallion get any compassion?" He mock cried only to seize up as Discord gave his cheek a quick smooch, then pulled away giving a girlish giggle.

"Awww, the poor little thing needs some love." Discord tittered, only to cause everyone within earshot to burst out laughing. Flame on the other hand, didn't know wether to murder the draconequus, or facehoof at setting himself up like that. However, instead of doing either, he did something completely random as he waved a hoof toward Discord, making him vanish and reappear in a flash of light.

Everyone in the room just stared in astonishment at what they saw as Flame began to chuckle at his handy-work. Before them, Discord had shrunken greatly in size to about the same size as Charles. The only real difference though was that his features were a lot more... feminine.

"What did you just do... to... me?!" Discord squeaked out in a feminine tone, and quickly clamping both of her paws over her mouth.

"What's the matter love? I thought you wanted to give me a little loving?" Flame snickered playfully toward her, only for the transgender draconequus to roll her eyes.

"Now if I wasn't currently taken, I might consider it." Discord giggled, wiggling her eyebrows playfully, only to make Flame raise both of his in surprise. In turn, making everyone giggle out again.

It wasn't long before the twins had finished up with the few clients they had waiting, and were now attending to Charlie. However, once they were asked about the cure for poison joke, and told as to what the intended use was, they became quite startled with the request. The main reason for this though...

"The poison joke cure is not meant to be consumed sire. Due to the fact that is has several different ingredients that are poisonous to non-pony species, even those transformed by magic are not entirely immune to it." Aloe stated in slight alarm.

"You have got to be kidding me." Charles and Flame both groaned out. "What are the ingredients that could be poisonous to me though?" Charles asked.

"I believe that Nightshade, would be one of them."Lotus spoke up as she brought for the book in which had the cure. "The others would only cause you to become sickly, possibly with a very bad tummy ache."

Taking a seat on the sofa nearby, Charles sighed out as he placed his face in his hands, slumping his shoulders in defeat.

"What, exactly, are the chances of the nightshade hurting Charles?" Celestia asked in concern.

"I am no herbalist your majesty, but I believe that it could be fatal." Aloe stated sadly.

"We need to find an herbalist that can tell us what the final results would be. I'm sorry you two, but we can't run on best guesses right now." Twilight piped up as she began to head out the door of the spa.

"Do you know any pony herbalists that also know which species can consumes which herbs without dieing?" Charles asked as he flopped backwards onto the couch he was resting on.

"As a matter of fact, I do." She smirked. "The only problem is that they live quite a distance from here." She smiled sheepishly toward them.

"How far, exactly?" Charles inquired.

"Well.... they... they're dead." She cringed slightly upon seeing everyones shocked expression.

"Huh uh, no way am I traveling into the afterlife in order to find out that tidbit of info. I'll just end up in hell again, and before you say anything man, I don't trust the spell enough, or even myself, to risk ending up in hell again." Flame quickly spoke up.

"Well then..." Charles began as he looked up toward Celestia. "I guess that means that only you can do this Tia." He smiled worriedly. "Well, you and Luna. But let's just hope that we can get the info soon, I don't want to risk dieing and ending up being a permanent resident of Asgard anytime soon."

XXX

It hadn't taken much time for the Sun Goddess to make her way to her room so that she could begin the process of traveling over into the afterlife. Her mission: Find the pony herbalist that she, surprisingly, knew all too well. Yet never knew that his knowledge about herbology was beyond, even her own.

Once she was within her chambers, she would find a comfortable spot on her bed, then begin to channel her magic fully into the spell that would send her into the afterlife. In the past, she would always use her specialized magical reserves in order to send her there, but today, was different. Today she would need as much time as she could get in the afterlife in order to find the pony she would need to get the information from, and then convince them to relinquish that information as quickly as possible.

As her magic finished filling her horn to the brink, causing her to groan slightly in pain from how much she was using. She released it, bathing her vision in the purest of white light.

Taking only a few seconds to blink away the dots from her vision, she began to look around as she hoped to find the pony in question within the area she had appeared in. Giving a sigh of defeat, however, she lowered her head and began to quickly trot toward the Hall of the Gods.

"I guess that old codger isn't nearby." She sighed. "Let us hope that my father, or one of the other know where he is at least. Making a wasted trip into the afterlife would be terrible, especially with it having been just myself." She stated in annoyance.

After only a couple of minutes to gallop toward the Hall of the Gods, Celestia had finally reach it and made a quick entry, startling some of the other Gods in the process. As she quickly looked around, she would notice her father and Garret, butting heads once again as they argued of something frivolous, as always. Once Celestia had walked up to them however, she cleared her throat, garnering their attention.

"Tia? My daughter!" Blazing Dusk Chuckled loudly as he shoved Garret sideways off his chair and then quickly turned to pull his daughter into a loving hug. "My goodness its been a while!" He shouted, before quickly teleporting himself and his daughter out of the hall into a random location.

Once their vision returned, Celestia looked around to see themselves withing a large, ornate park, filled with countless other individuals and the like, all relaxing and enjoying the day.

"So what brings you here Tia, and where is your husband? Don't tell me he wouldn't bring you here to see your only father?" He tutted, furrowing his eyebrows as he shook his head in disappointment.

"No daddy, he... he can't make the trip right now, as I'm sure you're aware, considering you're always spying on him." She smirked, seeing her fathers face turn a little pale.

"N-now, you know that isn't true." He chuckled nervously.

"Daddy...." She trailed off, as she slowly raised one brow toward him.

"Fine, I admit it." He groaned. "I do tend to watch him from time to time."

"Uh huh, you do realize I can feel you watching him at all times, correct?" She snickered seeing her father facehoof. "So please, go easy on him." She continued. "Now then, I came here to ask you where a pony is at." She quickly began again, causing her father to give her his undivided attention.

"I need to know where Starswirl is hiding. He has some information that I require, and I do not know how much time I have here during this visit. So please, make haste." She asked, causing her father to rub his chin in contemplation.

"I believe he is off visiting a pony called Neighbert Einstein, to discuss some strange theories." He began only to cause Celestia to groan out.

"Where is this pony at? I must speak with Startswirl at once. Please father...." She sighed, lowering her head in what felt like defeat.

Looking down to his daughters pouting face, his resolve immediately crumbled, causing him to bring her into a loving hug.

"I'll find him if it kills me, my daughter." He joked, causing her to groan out once more.

XXX

After a short time, they had finally located the ponies in question, but not before they witnessed several hooves being thrown and landing onto each others chins and faces.

"I DON'T CARE WHAT UNIVERSE YOU'RE FROM, THEIR IS NO WAY THAT A BLACK HOLE COULD BE REVERSED UNLESS A GOD DID IT THEMSELVES, OR THAT DIMENSION WAS MADE THAT WAY!" Starswirl shouted just before being bucked backwards to beside Celestia.

"Ahnd I say zat it is pozzible you idiot! You need to open your mind further to grazp the intricacies of the universe. Not keep your mind within a small box!" The elder pony with the wildly frizzle main and mustache stated as he turned and trotted away in annoyance.

"Such an imbecile." Starswirl grumbled as he got to his hooves, then noticing the two Alicorns at his side. "Well now, what a surprise this is." He laughed as he hugged his in-laws. "Don't tell me you made a special trip up here just to see an old mule like me." He laughed.

"Believe it or not, yes." Celestia giggled softly. "I have a very important question to ask you. Is there any other plants within the Nightshade family that are not poisonous to humans?" She quickly stated, causing Starswirl to look at her in confusion.

Starswirl was taken aback by the sudden question, but quickly regain his composure as he rubbed his chin in thought. "Hmmm, There are actually a few. A potato, would work, but a human would need to consume about a thousand of them in order to get the same affect as nightshade. A tomato would follow suit but still it would take maybe ten bushels. If you want the same, overall effect as nightshade, and in a smaller dosage, then you'll need to get maybe twenty of the hottest chile peppers in Equestria, freshly picked. Otherwise, whatever you're planning won't work."

Celestia shook her head in disappointment, knowing that the peppers in question would probably kill the human faster then the nightshade, but at least he could be healed from that particular plants effects.

"I guess there is no other choice, is there?" She sighed.

"Not unless you want that idiot grandson of mine to die." Starswirl laughed, causing Celestia to gawk at him for a moment.

"What, you don't think that your father is the only one who spies on him, do you?" He continued to laugh for a moment before Celestia began to disappear.

"That was ll the time I had?!" Celestia gasped in surprise. "Please forgive me everypony, I shall return soon." She smiled softly as she faded into nothingness, leaving the stallions to give a saddened smile as they waved goodbye.

"Maybe she'll be back sooner, rather than later this time." Starswirl smile up to Blazing Dusk.

"Let us hope, because I do miss my children greatly." He smiled back sadly.