A few hours later, Whiplash stared intently at the book, trying to discern the latest word he had stumbled on. He had read this all with remarkable ease; The terminology had definitely changed, but the meanings were still there, and the writing was less formal or fancy, making the meanings easier to figure out. He still had troubles with words every now and then, and had personally retrieved a dictionary to save time.

With an intense glare, he sounded out the letters to the best of his ability. “Im... Imp-er sea... puh tea ball?” He rolled the word over for a second, before it snapped into place. “Imperceptible!” he quickly read the rest of the name of the legend and the associated spell. “Legend of Imperceptible magics, used by the servants of chaos...” He trailed off. If this was the same spell that was effecting the Foals, that would mean some form of chaos magic was involved. Could followers of Discord still be about? He sincerely hoped not.

He continued reading, pausing only rarely to make sure he knew a certain word from the dictionary at his side. It matched up almost flawlessly. Can't see, hear, smell. Only when a pony makes physical contact can they perceive the one effected by the spell. The only detail that didn't match up, is that it normally only ever effected one individual. The target of the spell. The spell was also so draining to perform that using it many times in rapid succession would be very taxing, possibly even dangerous. The sensation of changing into this state lined up though.

“A brief sensation of being underwater.” He read out, remembering Sweetie belle mention that she had that sensation before it happened. He read further. Every little detail matched up perfectly with what he had seen and observed. Whiplash eventually folded the corner of the page, closed the book, and hopped out of the bed. His back stung form the sudden movement, but again he ignored it. He trotted quickly to the door, and swung it open.

Twilight was on her couch, staring intensely at her book of choice. Whiplash slowly approached and cleared his throat to announce his presence to her. She jumped slightly, but turned to him. “Find anything?” She asked after a moment.

“Yeah, it matches up with what I know almost perfectly. There's just one detail that doesn't add up right.” Whiplash said,levitating the book over to her,and opening it up to the page he had left it at. Twilight looked it over.

“It's a spell that effects the user...” She mumbled, and took over the books levitation with her own magic. Holding it up, she studied the page, face lighting up briefly, before her expression shifted to one of irritation. “Theirs no reference of a counter spell.” she said.

“I know, which troubles me. Since its a spell that effects the caster only, its removed either when the caster dismisses it, or it wears off or is disenchanted. But we're dealing with a large group of foals.” Whiplash said. “And not all of them are Unicorns, and this sort of spell demands knowledge of chaos.” Whiplash added.

“So, its a step in the right direction, then.” Twilight muttered. Whiplash nodded slowly. “I have no idea what our next move should be, though. I mean, All of the books I've read only have basic invisibility spells.” she added, her voice getting irritated in tone. Whiplash looked to the book again.

“Hey,Twilight? I noticed something.” Whiplash said slowly, gently taking the book back into his aura, and sitting on his haunches. Looking into the book, he continued. “This spell dates back to over a thousand years ago. That was when Discord was in power, right?” He asked.

“Yeah, why?” Twilight asked.

“Well, from what I know, discords followers used mainly chaos magic. A form of magic, which, to my understanding, is almost never used these days. What does that mean, do you think?” Whiplash asked, seriously pondering the question.

“I can only assume that somepony is practicing chaos magic. It would make sense, Given discords brief return a little while back.” Twilight explained. Whiplash froze. Twilight noticed pretty quickly just how still he was, and went to speak when he cut her off.

“Discord came back?” Whiplash asked in a trembling voice. This was a piece of information he had definitely missed.

“Well, yeah. He caused a lot of destruction and wrecked a lot of stuff with all of the chaos he spread around.” Twilight added. She noticed how Whiplash seemed to have deflated slightly. “Luckily we dealt with him.” She added, smiling slightly at the memory of watching Discord get encased in stone. She normally didn't approve of harming others, But Discord brought it on himself.

“Dealt with him?” Whiplash asked incredulously. “How can one simply deal with a spirit of chaos!? And how can you talk about it so casually?”

“We used the elements of harmony. It banished him to a prison of stone.” Twilight said, growing a little unnerved by Whiplash's sudden behavior.

“Elements of harmony...?” Whiplash asked. That sounded familiar, but he couldn't put his hoof on where he might have heard it before. “So, Discords gone now? He won't come back?ever?”

“Not for any of our lifetimes, at least.” Twilight said. Whiplash slowly nodded, and relaxed.

“Ok... that's a relief.” He said. Twilight eyed him. She opened her mouth and closed it a few times, as though trying to formulate a question. Finally, she abandoned whatever she wanted to ask, and brought the book back over to her with her magic.

“Let's get back on track, We still need to find something that can counteract the spell.” Twilight said.

“Right.” Whiplash mumbled, and trotted over and the two begin to study the book.

<><><><><>

Twilight flipped through the last of her notes, biting the inside of her cheek, and carefully studying the instructions laid out on the sheet of parchment. Whiplash stood idly off to the side, looking out over the town from the window. Twilight's horn slowly lit up with her characteristic aura. “Ok... Let's see how well this works...” The glow gradually intensified, and she directed it at an orange which rested atop of a stool. Whiplash turned his attention to the orange.

“Be careful. Chaos magic is dangerous, to say the least.” Whiplash warned, eying the slow distortions around Twilight's horn.

“Don't worry. I think I've got it.” Twilight assured, though the strain entering her voice and features was counteracting to the statement. She twitched her ears, and her face scrunched up as her spell began to take effect. The orange suddenly distorted, warped, and seemed to twist the air around it, before vanishing. Whiplash's eyes widened at the sight, or lack-their-of. Twilight wiped her brow. “whew... That was tougher then I thought it'd be.” Twilight gasped. Whiplash beamed.

“Be that as it may, it's time to test our counter-spell. I'll cast it. You rest up.” Whiplash advised, standing beside her. Twilight nodded, and stepped aside. Whiplash glared to the invisible orange. “Here we go...” He muttered. They had spent hours looking at various books, trying to find a counter-spell, and they eventually found a universal dispel enchantment spell. It worked to dispel any magic that effected anything for a prolonged period. How much power you put into it determined how strong the counter-spell would be.

Whiplash grunted, ignited his horn, and looked over the book and notes that were now on the floor next to him. He then turned his gaze to the orange. He began to channel his magic into the invisible object. He felt it, and began to channel the magic to do what he willed. His face contorted with concentration, and he felt the spell beginning to slip. Cursing under his breath, he channeled even more power into it, and finally, much to his relief, the orange reappeared. He quickly cut the flow of magic, and stumbled slightly.

“Ok, so we know that works...” he mumbled. His ears lay flat against his head. That was harder then he expected. Twilight nodded.

“Alright, now we just need to figure out how we can get this spell strong enough to effect an entire group of foals.” Twilight said, voice trailing off. Whiplash turned to face her.

“No easy task. Any ideas?” He panted. Twilight nodded.

“I think so. It's a kind of spell that can only be used on another unicorn. It amplifies whatever spell they are currently casting, giving spells a large power boost. This effect can be layered on, which means that if you have a unicorn amplify another unicorn, who is amplifying a third unicorn, it will possibly double the effect.” Twilight explained, bringing a book off of a nearby shelf with her magic.

Whiplash trotted over and peered at the pages as Twilight flipped through them. She paused at a pager which detailed the spell in question. They sat down, and began to study the pages contents. After a short while, Whiplash piped up. “Whose going to help us power this thing?”

“I'm not sure. I mean, Rarity is good with magic, but barely uses it for anything other then helping with her job.” Twilight said.

“And what's her job?” Whiplash asked.

“Simple enough, really. She's a fashion designer. Nothing really all that taxing.” Twilight said, jotting something down on her notes.

“I see...” Whiplash pondered for a moment. For a moment he drew a blank, Then an idea bloomed. “I have an idea.” He said.

“What is it?” Twilight inquired curiously.

“We can send out a notice. Get all of the unicorns in town to gather, try and teach them the spell. Once they've got it down, you cast the spell to make the foals come back, and have all of the other unicorns amplify each other, and you.” whiplash suggested, and a large smile began to sneak onto Twilights face as he spoke.

“That is a great idea, Whiplash! All we need to do is call for a town meeting of all the unicorns in town at town hall!” Twilight exclaimed happily. Whiplash smiled and nodded.

“Shall we get a move on, then?” Whiplash asked. Twilight turned her gaze on him, and nodded.

“Yes, let's go!” She beamed. They left the Library tree house, and trotted down the streets towards town hall. The two stayed quiet as they went. The rest of the ponies in town muttered quietly to each other about various things, mostly about the rumors of ghosts. Twilight made turns through the town which was still being mapped out in Whiplash’s mind, so thusly, he just followed her. Eventually, the town hall came into view. The mayor was outside already, speaking to a small group of ponies.

Twilight paused until the three trotted off, each one looking troubled. “Mayor Mare!” Twilight said as she approached. Whiplash took note of the name.

“Ah, Twilight sparkle. Have you made any progress?” The mayor asked.

“Actually, yes, we did. We found a spell that can make the foals come back!” Twilight said, and Whiplash nodded in response.

“Yes. The only problem is the spell is incredibly difficult to perform on something as small as an orange. So using it on a large group of Foals isn’t exactly an easy option.” He added, and the Mayors face darkened.

“Then what are we supposed to do?” she asked.

“We found another spell. It amplifies the effect of another spell being cast, and the effects can layer up.” Twilight replied, her voice filled with determined confidence.

“So we bring all of the unicorns in town together, give them the spell, and have them amplify each other, and the one at the end of the chain is amplifying Twilight. Then she casts the spell to get the foals back, and it should work.” Whiplash finished. Twilight nodded firmly. The mayor looked between the two. Before anymore words could be shared, however, Whiplash suddenly grunted, bringing a hoof to his head. His legs began to tremble.

“Whiplash? Are you OK?” Twilight asked, looking at him with worried eyes. Whiplash suddenly cried out In pain, falling onto his side, writhing in agony.

“What's wrong with him!?” The mayor asked, taking a step back.

“I don't know!” Twilight replied, unsure of what to do. Whiplash screamed once more, before falling still, unconscious.

<><><><><>

I have no idea how it happened, but our force had been decimated by the enemy. Only a handful of carriages made it past the husk-like pegasi, and most of the survivors were too tired upon landing to properly defend themselves. We had underestimated our foes. Celestia and Luna had forged ahead, hoping to find and eliminate discord. I watched from my vantage point on the floating island that served as discords home as the encampment below was swiftly picked apart by enemy pegasi and unicorns.

“Darn it all...” I mumbled to nopony in particular. I was lucky to be alive at this point. Not far away, a small group of husks were laying dead on the ground. “Better them then me...” I whispered, though regretted it immediately. They had once had minds of their own, and been free of mind. They had a will, though exercising it is what led to these empty, emotionless husks.

I turned and began my slow, pained trot towards the heart of this capital of chaos. I passed my fair share of oddities on my way. A streak of pinkish-red lightning cracked the sky around me, sending a batch of four-eyed crows flying. I ignored the disturbance. There was a sense of urgency,a nagging sensation that drew me onwards. As I rounded the next corner, my breath caught, my heart skipped a beat, and my mind shut-down.

Up ahead, I saw Hopelock dismissing a husk pegasus, and standing over a Lavender mare. His whip was being unraveled, it's long thorns standing out ominously. “Lav!” I shouted, charging my horn. Hopelock turned to me,a smirk playing it's way onto his features. His whip lashed out, and caught Lav around the throat. She yelped in surprise, fear, and pain. Before I knew it, he was holding her up in front of himself, facing me. His smirk widened, and I saw the look in his eye. That look... That was the look he got when he began to go into one of his psychotic episodes. I recomposed myself, and took a step forward. “Let her go, Hopelock!” I shouted.

“Why should I?” He asked simply. His smirk faded, replaced by a serious frown.

“She's innocent, and done nothing to you. She has done nothing to deserve this!” I say, putting as much venom into my voice as possible.

“Innocent? Ha! This little fool turned her back on the true nature of the world.” Hopelock chuckled, tightening his whips grip on Lavenders throat. Her eyes were beginning to roll back into her head.

“You will. Put. Her. DOWN!” I snapped out each word like a bark, practically shouting out the last one. Hoeplock smiled.

“I see you too have turned your back on the true order of things- Or lack-their-of. Maybe you need a reminder...” he tosses lavender aside, and she crashed a little ways away. I began to make a beeline for her, but Hoeplock suddenly teleported between me and her.

“Move!” I snarled.

“Make me.” Hopelock replied. I screamed with anger, and fired a blast of magic at him. He sidestepped, and I watched as the blast struck Lavender. My mind froze. She was out cold. The crater-like area in which we resides seemed to disappear around me as I watched what happened. After several moments, my mind caught up with me. Rage began to boil my very being.

I turned slowly to Hopelock. “You should've taken that hit, instead of running like the coward that you are.” I said darkly. Hopelock readied his whip. “I've let you live too many times!” My voice raised to a shout, and my horn ignites. “I won't make that mistake again!” A primal scream escaped me as I tilted my head down, and fired another blast.

Hopelock, I had decided, would die. Here, and now.