I do not own MLP.

"This is me speaking"

'I'm thinking...I'm thinking'

AVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAV

Patrick

The operation was going well. Scootaloo's wings and back had been torn up but was now healing as a normal body would. At the moment the bones had regrown and the muscles and tendons were about half-way healed. However, it had taken hours and while we started at midnight it was now a little after three. If I didn't pick up the pace the pony nurses and doctors would start their rounds. And that would spell a bad time for all of us.

'Plus whatever's happening to Rainbow Dash. Lord knows what my Lich magic is doing to her.'

The operation was taking my full concentration, so even looking down for a quick peek wasn't possible.

'I just have to hope that she makes it out of this alright.'

Luckily the blood packs that were hooked up to Scootaloo's body were well within my field of vision and were still quite full. I said a silent prayer and doubled my efforts. I had to get this done as fast as possible.

'Just hold on Rainbow.'

Twilight

It was five in the morning when I was woken up by a pounding at my door. I knew it was one of the girls, as only us six, Spike or one of the Princesses could get passed the magic locks on the door or windows. And if one of the other Princesses needed me they would have sent a message though Spike, who never knocks.

'Even when he should. I don't care if I'm normally naked, somepony doesn't use the toilet when another is showering.'

I walked over and opened my door to see Applejack standing there looking nervous.

"Applejack," I said while I only had half my brain working. "what are you doing here?"

"Twilight. Applebloom's gone!"

'What?' "She's missing?"

"I woke up early to get some water. But when I looked in her room, she was gone and her winda' was open. I checked everywhere' Twilight, and I can't find her."

"Did you check the clubhouse? Maybe her and Sweetie Belle got up early to make something for Scootaloo."

She looked down "I did and she ain't there!"

"Did you check the hospital?"

"No." she said shacking her head. "It's closed to visitors after midnight. She knows that."

"and that would stop the crusaders how?"

She opened her mouth but stopped. Those three have always done things that bordered on criminal. So something like the hospital closing wouldn't stop those two from seeing their injured and upset friend.

I signed "Why don't we go check on Sweetie Belle. She *yawn* was supposed to be at Rarity's tonight. If she's gone too, then they're likely to both be with Scootaloo."

"Alright. Thank ya Twilight."

"Don't worry about."

The walk over to the Boutique wasn't long, but in the early dawn, and after only three hours of sleep, it felt like it took longer than it did. We walked to the front door and knocked. It took a few minutes but Rarity answered. She looked about as tired as I did and was still wearing her night robes.

"Twilight? Applejack? What on earth are you two doing here at this hour?"

"Moring Rarity. Not to alarm you but Applebloom's missing."

"Good heavens! Did you need help looking?"

"Kind of. We actually came to check on Sweetie Belle. If she's gone too then the two are most likely with Scootaloo. If that's the case we were going to check the hospital after."

"Yes, those three are quite inseparable. Come in, I'll check on Sweetie Belle."

We walked in as Rarity left to check on her sister. Applejack was surprisingly quiet, with what just happened to Scootaloo, she must be fearing the worst.

I put my hoof around her shoulders as Rarity came back down.

"Your right, Sweetie Belle's gone and her windows wide open."

"Then they're at the hospital."

"Thank ya Rarity. You coming with us?"

"I think I will. This situation with poor Scootaloo has me somewhat in a panic. Even if I know they're ok."

We started walking towards the hospital, thinking that everything would be ok.

Rainbow Dash

The voices. The singing of the souls of all living things, I could hear them all. The girls next door, the plants outside, the bugs landing on them.

Everything.

They sang sweet, like a melody from a ponies childhood. Each living thing gave a note and together the song they sang was like honey to the hears. I could have listened to it forever.

Forever.

I shook my head. That was the third time I had thought something like that. If I wasn't careful...

'Just hold on Rainbow, Patricks got to be almost done by now.'

Looking at Scootaloo's body showed that I was right. I could see the feathers starting to grow from her new wings. As the last of them grew in I felt Patricks magic leave my body and I fell face-first onto the hospital floor.

'Yuck, who knows how many ponies have thrown up on this floor.'

At the corner of my eye I saw the runes leave the door and I saw Scootaloo's body start to turn. It seems like she was back. The door opened as I felt Patricks hands on my back. I heard the two girls gasp and then jump on the bed.

"Sweet Jesus...Rainbow are you alright?"

"I...I think so."

That's when Patrick shot up.

"Shit!"

"Swear." Said one of the girls, who I couldn't tell.

"Twilight's entering the building."

He ran out the door in a panic and returned with the golem that held Scoots spirit. He must have placed a trigger spell on the front doors to tell him if somepony entered the hospital.

'Wait...how did I know that?'

But I couldn't ask him, I was so tired. I heard him say something to the girls and then teleport out. I heard a voice call my name when the door opened again. Even though I heard my name get called again, I couldn't stay awake.

'I'll just rest my eyes for a minute.'

I felt several hoofs shake my body but it was to no use.

I was just so tired.

Fluttershy

"What do ya' mean you don't know what's wrong with her?!"

"I've never seen this type of magic before Applejack! I don't even know what happened to her, let alone how to fix this!"

We all watched as Applejack and Twilight yelled back and forth. It had been going for a little while now, but they didn't seem to be going anywhere. I looked to my left and saw Rarity and Pinkie Pie talking to the three fillies. Somehow Scootaloo's wings had been healed, but at the same time, Rainbow Dash was...I stopped as tears became to form.

'She'll be ok Fluttershy, just stay strong.'

Scootaloo was crying and was hugging Pinkie pie. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were beside Rarity. The yelling continued for a few minutes when Rainbow's door opened. The doctor walked a stressed and tired look on his face. He looked at us and sighed.

"Well, I'm sorry to say, but I have no idea about what happened to her."

"What do ya mean you don't know!"

"I don't know! I'm sorry but I've never seen this before! Besides the changes, she's in perfect health, but I don't know how to reverse this."

Scootaloo looked down and started crying again. "It's all my fault. If my wings weren't broke then Patrick wouldn't have had t..." She stopped but not because she wanted to. Applebloom had stuffed her hoof into Scootaloo's mouth, cutting her off. As she did Scootaloo's and Sweetie Belle's eyes grew large, as if they had accidentally given away information. The six adults shared a look and turned their eyes to the three fillies.

"Girls?" Said Twilight "Who's Patrick? Is he the reason Rainbow's like this?"

The three looked at each other, as if daring the others to break first. Sweetie Belle spoke up first.

"We weren't suppose to tell anypony."

"What is it girls? If this pony hurt Rainbow Dash they sh..."

"He didn't mean to!"

It was Sweetie Belle who had her own hoofs shoved into her mouth this time. Applebloom sighed and walked forward.

"Last night Rainbow came to ma' window. She got me an' Sweetie Belle an' took us to see Scootaloo."

Applejack and Twilight shared a look and turned back to the filly.

'Rainbow Dash did that, why?'

"When we got there was...Patrick. He was talkin' to Scootaloo and said he could fix her, but he had to remove her mind or somethin' so that he wounldn't hurt her. So he put her in this plant pony thing..."

Sweetie Belle spoke "I think he called it a golem."

"Yeah, that's it! Anyway, when he put her mind into the golem the three of us went' into the other room and we just talked and played."

Scootaloo sniffed a few times and spoke "It felt weird."

"Near sunrise, the golem just fell over. When Me and Sweetie walked over we saw that Scootaloo was back to normal but that Rainbow Dash..."

I looked over at Twilight and only now did I see how much paler she had gotten. She spoke in a quite tone...almost like she was scared.

"Was Patrick a pony? A unicorn?"

Applebloom spoke again "No, he stood on just two legs, like Spike, but had no tail from what I' could see."

"And he was a skeleton!" Sweetie Belle said in an excited voice

"A...a skeleton?" I said, a wave of nervousness rolling over me.

"Yeah! He didn't have any eyes and you could see this teeth!"

"Girls! Don't lie like that. Really, a walking skeleton." Rarity said, looking annoyed.

"But it's true!"

"She's telling the truth." Twilight said. She walked to one of the chairs and sat down, a thousand yard stare on her face. "I know who she's talking about."

We looked at each other and then I spoke up "Who's that Twilight?"

"Well...You know how Discord is the Spirit of Chaos, right? Well, just because he is the Spirit of Chaos doesn't mean others can't use Chaos magic. It just means that he is so close that kind of magic that he is just as much a part of it, as it is a part of him. The same can be said of the alicorns too."

"What's your point Twilight?" Applejack asked

"The thing is, removing someponies mind is impossible, it physically can't be done...but a pony schooled in necromancy could remove someponies soul and place it into something else."

The rest of us jumped a little.

"B...But the pony that used the m..magic wasn't a pony, but so...something else." I said, feeling scared. I don't want my soul removed.

"Because it wasn't. Only one being has ever been recorded to be only a skeleton and to have such magic. The Lich, an ancient horror that is so skilled in necromancy that he had become the Spirit of Death and is unable to die."

The rest of us turned as pale as Twilight.

"Wow," Applebloom said, breaking the ice "Patricks sounds cool!"

"Yeah!" Sweetie Belle said "Do you think he could get me a cutie mark in necromancy?"

Three voices echoed in the halls "NO!"

Rainbow Dash

I didn't know where I was when I first awoke, but no other building beside the hospital would have white everything in their rooms. My head was pounding and my throat was dry. Hoping it would help my headache, I put my hoof to my head but ended up poking myself in the eye with something pointy.

'Wait...What?'

I opened my eyes and looked at my hoof. The normally oval shape now had three pointed spikes on the front, looking like dragon claws. Patrick had said that there would be changes, but...

'What else changed?'

I got up, and when my hoofs hit the floor my "claws" scraped on the tiles. I walked to the bathroom mirror and looked at myself.

My fur didn't change colour and neither did my mane. While I breathed a sigh of relief at that, I did start to see the changes. My eyes were different, with my old magenta eyes replaced by white and the white parts had turned black. My mane was longer and so was my tail, each a bit shorter then Fluttershy's. I also saw two black horns that started at my forehead, they went backwards and went down at the back of my head, only to go up at the points.

I turned and saw my sides. My ribs had gotten bigger and could easily be seen, and my spine was pressing on my back, looking like it would pop out any second. I turned back and opened my mouth. My old flat teeth had fallen out during the first of my "episodes" while Patrick healed Scootaloo. In their place were hundreds of tiny needle like teeth. My tongue had changed colour, now a purple instead of pink.

I breathed in, I was nervous about this but,

'Better just get it over with, like a band-aid.'

I opened my wings, and saw the changes. They had gotten bigger, about the same size as princess Luna's, and while my feathers started as their normal blue, they ended in a black C. I let out the breath I was holding and sat down. To some extent, I did look cool. Like something on a heavy metal cover...whatever that is. I didn't feel all that different, so maybe the changes were just on the outside.

"Thank Celestia."

I snapped shut. My voice was still there, but there was a second voice speaking too. It sounded a little like Patrick, but maybe somewhat deeper.

"That...will take some getting used to."

Hearing a loud noise outside, I looked at the door and saw something. There was nine coloured mists outside my door, six larger ones and three smaller ones. From the colour of five and the shape that glowed at their centres, I could tell they were my friends, and the three smaller ones most be the fillies. Looking back at myself in the mirror, I could barely recognize myself. I looked like Nightmare Moon remade me in her image. I knew that from this day on, I would be the attention and fear of ponies around Equestria. But...

"Scootaloo's alright." I smiled at myself. "And I'm still me."

I walked to the door and opened it quickly. Everypony jumped and looked at me, most wide-eyed and startled.

"What?" I asked, playing innocent "I got something on my face?"