“A Banshee?” Twilight repeated the name, unfamiliar with any aspects of such a creature. “That’s… that’s not something normally from Equestria.”

“It’s not.” As were nearly all things she said, Aisling’s reply was quick and unmistakable. “It was a wailing woman from before Brendan’s time, before my time. She sings not for death, she sings for the living. She sings of death, forewarning.”

“So, its trying to help the crystal ponies out?” Dash ventured with a screwed look in her eyelids. “How? I mean, yeah, warnings are great and all, but why isn’t it just… you know, telling them? From the letter the princess got, it sounds like it’s just scaring the crap out of them.” The Fae’s white hair whipped to and fro as she shook her head.

“The banshee is not an ‘it’,” the nymph instructed. “She, her, female, woman in form. A woman who mourned for her lost love, warning others of such a fate.” Celestia caught the thread of the story Aisling let loose. Stories, no matter how embellished they could become, always told of some truth of some past.

“This banshee,” the diarch began. “You said she lives in the dark, aiding the light. How did she come to this curse?” Unfortunately, Aisling only shrugged.

“I do not know, so no one knows.” The Fae adjusted the book in her grasp, taking in a breath from the tome’s heavy pages. “My mother only whispered warnings of her to me, reminders to heed her songs. They are never wrong.”

“Never wrong…” Celestia repeated the phrase. Her mind worked at speeds unfounded. Her eyes widened as a conclusion was reached. “Then my niece’s empire is in peril?” The following silence was deafening.

The ponies around the princess all began to make the connection Celestia had. The banshee was not a threat, but the song she sang was not to be taken lightly. If this creature from Aisling’s era was not the cause of the song, then something else was. There was only one thing it could be.

“She’s there.” Applejack spoke as if it were the most obvious fact in the world. “That Macha is there, ain’t she?”

“Such a possibility cannot be ignored,” Zecora agreed. “To deny it is an ignorance we cannot afford.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Rainbow Dash asked as she flapped her wings, taking to the air in the stone tomb. “We gotta get to the Crystal Empire like, right now!”

“She’s right,” Celestia spoke, nodding towards the airborne pegasus. She swiftly turned her gaze back down to the Fae, letting her eyes harden into those of a leader. “Can I assume you will leave with us?”

“Leave?” Aisling repeated the word like a question. Her eyes were open as her brows rose. It was not confusion that she spoke with, but shock.

“Yes,” Celestia repeated. “We must have your aid if we are to fair against Macha and her ploys. Both you,” she spoke as she pointed her hoof at the Fae. “And the book you carry,” her hoof lowered until it aimed at the golden tome. Aisling’s grip became heavier across it, burying it further into her thin chest.

The Fae had no words of reply, not immediately at least. For a time, there was nothing but silence in the chamber. Nothing but still ponies, a frozen Fae, and moving portraits. When sound finally did conquer the air again, it did so with a whisper.

“I’ve never left my woods before.” Never before had Twilight heard a statement that seemed so implausible, yet also so believable.

“Never?” The unicorn repeated, curiosity laying her words. As much as the mare could understand the love of a single location (she had similar affections for her library), she could not imagine living in one for millennia on end. Even she needed to see more than merely words on a page.

“Never,” Aisling repeated. “I have lived for many ages, lived as fish and deer and wolf. The woods, my woods, are safe because I am here.” The nymph shivered against the book held tightly to her chest. She adjusted her grip, letting her head fall over the heavy tome. Her pale hair cascaded around her, blanketing her small form with the long locks.

“You have forever guarded your home… because you never let yourself roam.” If there was anypony who could neatly describe the nymph’s condition, it was Zecora. The Fae did not offer the zebra her gaze, but she did nod her head in agreement.

“Is that true Aisling?” Apple Bloom almost naively asked the Fae, walking up to a hoof’s length away from her. “You’ve never gone exploring before?” Aisling was silent under the filly’s gaze.

With her head hung over the book, only Apple bloom could see the Fae’s face, framed by her pale mane. The filly could see the fear in those green eyes.

“What’s wrong?” The tone of concern was genuine from the foal, concern for a new friend that had already shown her more than she had ever seen before.

“I have always guarded by forest, and always protected it.” The Fae’s whispers continued. This time, however, Celestia could heard the faint snarl of horrid memories dripping into her words. It was only odd to the alicorn to hear it come from someone other than herself. “Wolves made of timber, lizards made of rock, bears made of stars, even a monster made of many things. I have never left nor abandoned my woods. Now… now I must to stop darkness. To keep darkness from changing light.”

The silence came once again, determined to snuff out even the faintest traces of sound. The ponies who watched and listened to Aisling felt their thoughts flee with her words, unable to comprehend the conviction or horror of living the solitude the Fae had endured.

“Is this what Brendan felt?” The questioned was from any context the ponies could observe. The nymph clarified without ever seeing the confusion across their features. “Leaving my home to protect my home. I do not like this.”

Twilight had no words that could be helpful, nothing she could think of to comfort her. She was not an immortal, she had never guarded anything other than the Elements of Harmony, but even worse, there were no book she had ever read on how to deal with something like this. There wasn’t even a friendship report she could reference. This was all far too gone from her normal everyday life.

But that didn’t mean she could do nothing.

The unicorn lightly trotted backwards, spacing herself from the conflicted fairy. Her gaze turned to her friends, both watching the impossible situation. Applejack had her lips between her teeth, clearly just as conflicted as the unicorn was. Dash, however, had her legs drooping down like her jaw, only staying in the air by the almost automatic flexion of her wings.

“Rainbow, Applejack” Twilight spoke to them, getting their attention away from the conversing immortals and filly. “We have to do something.”

“You wouldn’t say that unless you’ve got something in mind.” Dash almost immediately shot back with a knowing grin, her grin. Twilight returned it in kind. “Don’t worry, I’m in.”

“Same here,” Applejack threw in. “Ah hate waitin’ for work to get done if there somethin’ I can do.” The farm pony adjusted her hat till it was tight on her head before finishing. “So what’cha have in mind?”

“Celestia’s right, we need Aisling and the book if we want a chance against Macha. I mean, Celestia by herself couldn’t even phase that… thing. The Book of Kells is the only shot we have.” Twilight took a breath before she continued. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t buy some time, or at the very least warn the rest of the ponies about what’s happening.”

“Yeah, yeah!” Rainbow nodded her head almost as fast as her wings were beating. “We just gotta give the princesses some time. I get it!”

“Ah don’t,” Applejack voiced. “No ‘ffense Twi, but warning the ponies that there’s somethin’ out there stronger than the princess sounds like a mighty fine way to start a panic. Those never do no pony any good.”

“I know, you’re right and I know,” Twilight offered, but didn’t relent. “That’s why we can’t do this alone. Applejack,” the unicorn put her hoof on the mare’s shoulder. “You’re probably the best pony around when it comes to controlling a crowd, be it a stampede or mob.” The farm pony tried not to smirk too brightly. “That’s why I need you to head back to Ponyville and get the rest of the girls. You, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie should easily be enough to warn the rest of the town.”

“Ah think Ah can do that.” The farm pony nodded her head at the instructions, understanding what had to be done. “What should Ah do after that?”

“After that, you need to go the library and get the Elements of Harmony.” Rainbow Dash knew right where the unicorn was going.

“Oh, I get it! She’ll meet you and me up at the Crystal Empire.” Twilight could only beam at the pegasus’s astute thinking.

“Exactly,” she agreed. “You and I are going to fly ahead. There may not be a lot we can do, but at the very least we should be able to warn Cadance and Shining of what’s happening. With any luck, we may even be able to use the Crystal Heart to outright stop Macha.”

“But just in case, the Elements should be ‘nough ta put the old hag down.” Applejack couldn’t help her cheeky grin. “Got it, you can count on me Twi.”

“Same here,” Rainbow flexed her forehoof into the air, giving her signature grin to her pair of friends. “I’ll get us there in no time. Fastest pegasus in Equestria here.”

“This is a good plan you have made,” Zecora spoke the ponies, approaching them as she did so. “But remember, this is no time be delayed. Macha’s plans are still yet a mystery, only the Book of Kells containing her history. You three must be swift as you are brave, else we may be the second people to call this land our grave.”

“Zecora,” Twilight began, but the hoof being held up towards her stopped her.

“I will do what I can to sway the earnest Fae. Be ready for the worst, as our luck may reverse.” Without another word, Zecora trotted briskly to Aisling, still huddled over, eyes shut atop the golden tome.

The trio watched as the small creature turned to offer little attention to the approaching zebra, doubtlessly because of words spoken they could not hear. The small Fae blinked at the striped mare, her large green eyes focused upon the speaker. But as the nymph and zebra talked, Twilight turned her attention to the other immortal.

Celestia was looking upon her as well, her pink gaze showing the strength of the ruler Twilight had always seen. There was kindness and empathy, a level of understanding most ponies would dismiss. But then there was determination and will, the knowledge that her actions carried the weight of more than merely her own safety. And finally, there was hope, a sight that never failed to lift the unicorn’s heart.

They were all the things that made Celestia the princess of the ponies, all the qualities of every leader history had ever cared to record. But through all of that, reflecting off of the diarch’s pink eyes, there was something new. It was not foreign, nothing Twilight had never seen before. She had seen it in the gaze of her friends, of her assistant, and from many other foals around Ponyville.

Celestia believed in Twilight. Twilight, in turn, believed in Celestia.

The unicorn turned away from her mentor then, focusing her gaze on Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Both of the ponies nodded towards her in turn, agreeing silently to what they already discussed out loud.

With little more than a turn of their tails, the trio began to gallop and fly from the tomb.

Celestia watched them go, sure that her student would know what to do. She had taught the unicorn herself. She, however, had her own task to accomplish, and her own goals to fulfill. But most importantly, a frightened immortal she had to console.

“Your worry is well deserved,” the diarch carefully began, placating the Fae’s worries. “No soldier nor guardian wishes to leave their charge, no matter the circumstances that force them to.”

“Then why do they leave?” Aisling asked almost immediately, no mocking tone across her voice. “Wolves leave their den to hunt, a crow to scavenge, and deer to flee. But all will stay if they have a child born, a pup they must protect.” The nymph’s head shook in the space between her words. “I don’t want to leave my forest.”

“And I not only understand, I agree.” Celestia could not challenge the Fae’s worries. That was not how to a situation as delicate as this. She had to convince through words and reason, not threats or consequence. “But someone must feed the child,” she reasoned. It did little to lift Aisling’s spirits. “Leaving your charge, you leaving your woods, is something you should not enjoy. Such a feeling shows not only your devotion, but your love for these woods, your woods. It is a feeling I share for my own home.”

For a moment, the ghost of recognition haunted the nymph. Her head craned up to see the alicorn smiling kindly down upon her, only empathy being projected from her, no mockery or deception about her form. In that same moment, Celestia thought, hoped even, that the Fae would agree. Immortals however, as Celestia was quick to remember, were far harder to convince with words than the mortal.

“You have ponies who aid you. You said you do.” Aisling returned. It was still only a whisper, but it was sharper than the swords her guards carried. “I have my wolves, but they listen to me alone. Without me they are wild, my forest will be vulnerable. I cannot leave my forest alone.”

That was when the zebra made her move.

“Then I will guard your forest in your place,” Zecora spoke with undeniable confidence to Aisling. “I have many ways to give danger chase. Though I am not joined like you, I will protect your woods through and through.”

The pale creature stared at the zebra, emerald eyes unblinking as she memorized the confidence across Zecora’s features. Her equally white hair was drawn about her body, making the Fae’s eyes the only part of Aisling to be seen. Zecora had no qualms or fears staring into the youthful yet ancient eyes.

“And Ah’ll help her!” All eyes turned to the young Apple Bloom, still standing at her tallest besides the nymph. “Ya showed me just how amazin’ your forest is, and Zecora has been taken’ care of me here too. Ah can help tons!”

Zecora smiled kindly at the filly, feeling her elation rise at the Apple Bloom’s exuberant actions. Though she could not clearly see the Fae, she knew a similar feeling must have been rising through the nymph. Aisling’s embrace and worry for the filly before only made that too clear.

“You will protect my forest?” Aisling asked the filly. Apple Bloom nodded vigorously, undeterred by any level of the responsibility she was undertaking. Then the Fae turned her attention to the zebra. “You will keep my woods safe?” Zecora had no need to lie.

“It is a home I have made here, I will not allow it to disappear.” As a smile pulled at Aisling’s lithe lips, Zecora felt her own smile grow.

“You are never alone when you have friends.” The words came from Celestia and Aisling turned to her as she spoke. “For friends working together are what keep us safe. I have little doubts that you and Brendan were much the same.”

It was a risk she had taken, but it was one she made with calculation. Her words spoke no harm to the memory of the boy, of a hero that had banished a dragon of magic from the forest, that had sealed away a goddess before, but it did guess on how Aisling saw the boy, and how he saw her. Thankfully, gracefully, the gamble paid off.

“It was like that.” Aisling admitted, the volume of her voice unchanging, but the words far softer than before. “I aided him, and he helped me, then to and back again.”

“Friends are kind like that.” Celestia let her tone slip, stepping off of her podium as ruler long enough to reach common ground with the Fae. “They care little for being even; only for your safety. It is what I need of you now. And I promise you Aisling, it is a favor I will in turn keep for you.”

The absence of noise was not nearly as tense as before. It was short but needed, for as Aisling raised her head, hair falling to her back and off of her shoulders, the nymph looked every bit as ethereal as the first time Apple Bloom had saw her. The golden tome in her hands was held no harder, yet no softer than before.

“Okay,” Aisling spoke, her smile growing with the volume of her words. Her voice became confident. “I will go.”

“Yeah!” Apple Bloom cheered beside the Fae, jumping into the air as she clopped her hooves together. “Save Equestria, Aisling!”

The nymph smiled at the filly, leaning down until their foreheads met together. They giggled at one another as foals do. Celestia had not the mind to stop them, even if haste was something she wished for. After a moment’s time, the two separated. Turning towards Celestia, Aisling nodded.

“I am ready.”

Celestia lit her horn, washing the two of them with her ethereal magic. As the pink haze of the diarch’s mind swiftly enveloped them, the nymph had enough time to gaze at the zebra and filly charged with guarding her forest.

They were young, they were mortal, and they knew little of the true strength of her woods.

Yet, she could think of no others she would trust her forest to more.

In a flash of white, the pair were gone.

BEGIN

“You stay away from her!” Shining Armor shouted at the goddess, either unfazed or apathetic to the power she already displayed over him. “If you lay one hoof on here, just one, and I’ll buck you so far a-AGH!”

The cry of pain erupted from the stallion as his leg was bent backwards.

“Shining!” Cadance cried towards her husband, flaring her wings with every intention to glide towards him. But she was stopped, by something both visible and unseen.

Macha had turned her hand towards the princess, only just after flicking it at the Captain of the Guard. It was only too clear that she was behind his pained state. What’s worse, she clearly had fewer than no qualms of inflicting such pain onto her.

“Do not take flight.” The goddess ordered, her sharp eyes focused on the stallion still. Cadance could not see the creature’s face nor hear any emotion. But someone, yet someway, the princess knew she was grinning. “He will not perish, of this I know.” Cadance, however was not so easily silenced.

“What did you do!?” The princess shouted at the creature, anger not enough a word to express her rage. She wanted to pummel the monster to the stone floor, she wanted to break her bones, she wanted to see the “goddess” suffer! Never before had the princess felt such an emotion before.

“Lower your tone.” Macha responded coldly, unfazed by any words or wrath behind Cadance’s words. “You will not speak in such manner to your creature and ruler.”

“R-Ruler?” Shining stuttered from the floor. Both females turned their attention to him, one of worry and the other of indifference. “W-What makes you think yo-AAAAAGH!”

And again, the stallion fell.

“Stop it!” Cadance screamed at the monster. “Stop it now!” The goddess only turned her head to see the pink alicorn, no smile present upon her lips, but instead shining like a faint glimmer in her cold eyes.

“Silence your tongue.” No different than before did Macha return. “Your sacrifice will come, but not yet.” Cadance couldn’t tell if her mouth went dry because of the words, tone, or the events thus far combined. “Not before you service to me is done.”

The princess felt her wings shaking, extended to their fullest and rigid as stone. Her eyes were wider than serving plates, seeing this black maned demon with fear she never knew she had. Chrysalis, for all her deception, was tamed and beatable. Discord, for all his greatness, never did what couldn’t be undone. This… Macha, in spite of appearing so... plain, was more terrifying than any creature Cadance had seen throughout Equestria.

But Cadance was still the princess of the Crystal Kingdom. Her well-being came second to her empire.

“What are you here for?” The princess growled at the monster, attempting to drown her fear with her rage. It was a short and easily won fight. Macha’s façade did not betray any emotion or tell. “You don’t care about my husband, you haven’t tried to harm me… are you here to claim my land for your own? To pretend to be the goddess you say you are?”

Cadance wanted a reaction, she wanted to see this creature react. A sneer, a growl, a furrowed brow, something to show that the alicorn’s words were piercing the shell that looked harder than the crystals they stood on. But she got nothing, nothing but a frosty voice and taciturn glare.

“My being here has little to do with your faux kingdom.” Macha’s words did little to ease the minds of the Crystal Empire Rulers. “What I care for has been here far before your castle of glass, even longer before your brittle bodies first trotted here.”

“The H-Heart.” It was a pained whisper from the stallion, but spoken still with great strength. “You… You want to take the Crystal Heart.” He sneered at the goddess’s turned head, wishing in spite of his broken bones that she would seem him. Shining never cared to hide how he felt.

“Yes,” Macha replied, still leaving her dead eyes on the alicorn. “Yes and no.”

Air swept through the grand room, the voice of the Banshee still singing through the cold winds. A shiver ran through the princess and prince. It was impossible to know if it was from the cold, the song, the goddess before them, or the threat she posed.

“What?” It was a pitiful word, one said when the speaker truly had little idea of what was happening. At that moment, Cadance had little idea what Macha’s intentions were, both involving and not involving the sacred treasure of the Crystal Kingdom. Thankfully, no matter how small of thanks it was, the goddess chose to respond.

“The heart is a tool, made for a purpose you do not know.” Macha took in a slow breath of air, the first Cadance had seen yet. The princess had the fleeting wonder if this goddess even needed it. If not, then she was likely remembering an event the alicorn could not fathom. “The heart was made to lock a door, a seal that has buried away. To open this path, to regain what was taken, the heart must shatter.”

To Cadance and Shining, who knew little of what Macha was speaking of, the desires the goddess spoke of meant little. No matter what the black maned creature threatened, no matter what actions she had already done, there was only sole fact the royal pair focused on.

Macha wanted to break the Crystal Heart.

“You will not touch the Heart.” Cadance’s voice was that of a ruler, of a mare sitting on her throne and caring more for the kingdom she led than herself. “You will not harm it, you will not gaze upon it, you will not even have the privilege to speak of it again. Not once I am through with you.” If even the smallest amount of the goddess felt threatened, she didn’t show it.

“Couldn’t break it e-even if you w-wanted to.” The alicorn could only wince as her husband chuckled at his own remark, laughter turning into visible pain. He was a brave stallion, and strong pony. “It had to be… h-hidden before. W-Wasn’t possible to break.”

“It has not broken because time has not permitted it to, not even after a millenia, but it is weak. And, like all things brittle and old, it will shatter.” Macha’s hand rose and clenched as she spoke. The action, small and forceless as it was, made the princess’s hooves shake. She forced the feeling down and away.

“The heart is stronger than you give credit for.” Cadance challenged, unwilling to give any ground. “With only but a touch of good will, it has cast a blanket over this kingdom the likes of which even you fear.”

“A thousand years without love,” Macha spoke in turn with no more care than before. “A thousand years with naught but the faintest glimmer of any warm emotion, a void many call the abyss. Tell me, what good is a treasure of magic that has no magic to use?”

Cadance stared coldly at the creature, teeth grit as it calmly walked closer towards her. The voice upon the wind continued to sing, turning the already dangerous encounter into what the princess could only describe as an ominous chant.

“The love and joy of my ponies is powering the heart now.” Cadance challenged the red robed creature, lighting her horn as she barred her teeth. “Against a creature of such spite such as yourself, it will be like moving a mountain!”

What the princess was hoping for was a frown of disapproval from this Macha, a look of disdaining contemplation. The kind of gaze one would offer a bad apple in a freshly bought bushel or a poor grade among an otherwise blemishless report card. That would mean there was room to push against this beast, something that could be used to convince the black-maned creature to leave.

That was not what she gained. Instead, both she and Shining witnessed something that appeared surreal. It was not the transformation into crystal bodies, nor the work of the Elements of Harmony. It was not a trick by Discord nor even something as twisted as the return of Sombra. It was far eerier than the first two and beyond darker than the last.

Macha was laughing.

It was not the shrill cackle of an all powerful queen, nor was it the low snickering of some mischievous spirit. It was high in pitch but low volume. Short on breath but heavy in tone. Caught somewhere between a child’s flirtatious giggle and an elder’s tired chuckle, it made the ice of the north seem warm the pink alicorn.

Cadance felt her wings shiver as they drew in on herself, too late realizing how obvious of a sign it was. Even as the soft cold giggling continued, Macha’s cold gaze was focused on the ruler, unfaltering.

It did not help that the grin across the creature’s face was sharper than any sword or spear the princess had seen.

“Poor deluded mare.” The self-proclaimed goddess spoke to Cadance, her bare feet tapping on the crystal floor as she walked forward. “You dare to think that fleeting emotions of a few of my own subjects will be enough to sway my power? My will? My wrath?” The Crystal Princess was, honestly, no longer sure.

“Stay -ah- away from her!” Shining yelled at the goddess, doing all that he could to stand to his hooves. He only succeeded in letting his already broken bones crack further, echoing through the halls. Cadance wasn’t sure what was worse, the sound of Macha’s laughter or her husband’s bones. His cry of pain gave an answer in no time.

“Shining, stop!” The princess cried back to him, tears brimming at his pained expression. His teeth were grit in pain, but his eyes were alight with rage, no differently than his horn. Macha turned to him for only a moment, a moment long enough to show the end of her patience.

Beneath both gazes and his own exponentially increasing pain, the unicorn slumped over once more, his agony immense and energy spent.

“Be still little beast.” The goddess coolly instructed. “And I will permit you to listen.” Cadance fought every instinct to gulp audibly as Macha turned back towards her.

The goddess’s walk did not cease, but neither did its pace increase. Rather, it only showed her confidence as a trophy. Between the broken Captain of the Guard and the Princess of the Crystal Empire, Macha felt not rush, no hurry, and no need to slow. Her entire form, from the ends of her bare feet to the cool waving dark mane, was the very poise of confidence.

Cadance loathed it more than the Changeling Queen.

“I live from the magic that seeps from the Ley Lines.” Macha noted on an icy breathe, frosted by her grin. “My being, my power, my everything is a product of those remarkable borders in the world. Crafted ages past by an ancestor undeserving of name, grown by the dragons that maneuver their wells, and ultimately, sealed by the second creatures to walk these lands.”

It was a single sentence. It was long and over spoken, but it still was a single sentence. Yet, in that amount of time, Cadance had thought of a dozen questions she wanted answered. She dared not speak a single one as Macha continued.

Where was Celestia when you needed her?

“I was born eons before your kingdom was but a thought. I crafted the minds and wills of your people only after I rid this land of your predecessors. Do you not see what I mean yet, foolish mare?” Truthfully Cadance did not, but her eyes were too terrifyingly captivated on the slowly ascending hands of the creature to speak otherwise.

They were dull digits moving towards her, hovering above her muscle as if she were something easy to break. In truth she was not, but in relation to this monster, she very well maybe.

“I am not only the one who moves the mountains,” Macha all but whispered to the pink alicorn. “I am the one who shaped them.”

Macha’s pale hand descended into Cadance’s mane.

“STO-AGHMFF!” Shining’s cry of protest turned into one of pain before being muffled completely. Cadance was able to divert her shivering eyes just enough to see her husband bound by a muzzle, wrought from black leather and tied by chains. It curled painfully over his coat, digging into his skin as it held his maw tightly shut.

“Your voice is nuisance I can no longer stand.” Macha once more easily, too easily, spoke. The princess was only briefly able to note the backwards manner to which the goddess’s hand was aimed at the now bound stallion. “Be glad you have yet to end. Though, if you continue, that may arrive sooner other than later.”

Cadance could not speak. Her voice was frozen little differently than the lands beyond her castle, caught in the howling winds and frosty voice singing upon them. Her eyes darted, shaking, from her broken and bound husband to the wrecked creature that had battered them both. All the while, the goddess’s hands continued to stroke, prod, and mockingly “comfort” the mare’s mane.

“The banshee still cries young mare,” Macha whispered to the princess, her pale dull claw lightly scraping through Cadance’s mane. She bit back a whimper as Shining screamed into his muffle.

The princess could feel the bare skin of the creature lift over her, its chin settling on top of her head. Her crown had already been pushed away and forgotten. She couldn’t recall when that had happened. All Cadance could think of, pay attention to, was the overwhelmingly powerful creature, heinous in intent and purpose, coddling her like a toy about to be used.

“There is only but one way to end the song.” The words were whispered into the princess’s ear as a mother would to a frightened foal. Their purposes were polar opposites. “Let me help end that song.”

From there, Cadance’s light was overcome by darkness.

END Next Chapter: Songs Unsung Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 14 Minutes