Chapter 28 - Answers

John felt another being force itself into his consciousness, and he wasted no time in sliding to a halt, literally inches out of the door. Rainbow Dash carefully slid off his back, her hooves thumping against the cold stone as they made contact. Her hind right leg buckled slightly under her weight, and she let out a suppressed hiss of pain, clenching her teeth in an effort not to scream. After a moment of composing herself, she noticed that John had still not moved, and craned her neck to look at him. Now that they were outside and in the light, she could get a proper look at him, and look she did.

His eyes, once full of life and happiness, were dull and dead to the world. The dark bags under his eyes revealled sleepless nights. His mane was limp and dirty. His grey coat had lost some of it's colour, become even lighter than it had been, and his coat was stretched taunt over his bones, giving him a haggard appearance. Here and there, speckled across the grey, were dark spots and blotches of crimson, dried into the hairs. All in all, he looked horrible.

"John?" She whispered, wondering why he was so silent, and why he had stopped running immediately after beginning. No responce. "John?" She nuzzled him lightly, confused. "This isn't funny John." He remained silent, unmoving. She put a hoof to his face. It was cold. Not just cold, but freezing. Almost as if he were dead. "John!" He began to tremble slightly, and his eyes flickered with awareness for a second. She recoiled away from him, studying his face in fear. What's wrong with him? His lips began to move silently.

"You wouldn't dare..." She heard two voices speak at once, in her head and from John. As if he were talking to himself. She flicked her ear, before leaning towards John, almost to the point of touching noses with him. His breathing was shallow, and each exhale sounded forced.

"I would. Would you risk it?" A completely different voice echoed in her ears and in her mind. It was a lot deeper, and extremely cocky, almost goading her. She knew that voice...

"If you do, I'll hunt you down, and I'll..."

"You'll what? You're too boring, Shaded. Perhaps I could change that..."

John's eyes flashed, and she jumped backwards, before her eyes widened in shock. His eyes had turned red. Rainbow Dash heard a click, saw a flash of an extremely bright light, and that was all she remembered, aside from a feeling of falling into an infinite void. A moment before she was lost to the darkness, however, she heard one last thing.

"DASHIE!"

John screamed in anger, awakening from the calmness and jumping head first into the realms of rage. How dare he do it again! HOW DARE HE! He could feel the stone beneath him becoming warm to the touch, almost hot. He looked down, and he saw that his hooves were surrounded the auras again. He saw red. By now, he didn't care. He'd burn down Canterlot if he had to.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

His hooves burst into unforgiving flame, engulfed in magical fire, twisting and licking up his legs, but he didn't feel the pain. The edge of his vision was tinted a vicious blood red. His wings became longer, the feathers ending in points. His mane became ethereal, igniting into a bright blue and white flickering blaze. But his eyes... the whites of his eyes clouded over with a bright yellow, highlighting the bloodshot edges. The irises were aglow with the pure, concentrated fury of a millenium spent imprisoned, producing a frightening illusion of malicious red flames dancing in freezing cold winds. The edges of his eyes gave off orange smoke, trailing past his ears. He reared up, eyes full of undisguised madness, and slammed down on the floor. It cracked, and a tremendous amount of dust was thrown into the air, leaving a slightly smoking crater about hoof deep in the tiling. Pushing off from the hole, he burst into a gallop, his ears dead to the pounding and hissing of his hooves scorching the stone underhoof.

His lips curled inwards, forming a silent snarl as he thundered back up the stairs, fury blocking any rational thought. But then again, something was nagging at him, much like an itch, from the back of his mind. Something keeping him poised ever-so-carefully on the brink of a frenzied bloodlust. Regardless, he powered onwards. After a while, he was able to think for himself, but not able to control his limbs; they were on autopilot now. By the time he regained his composure, he found himself dashing down the hallway into the main chamber. As he approached the door, he scowled, lips curling back even more. He slid to a halt, studying the scene.

Gage was lying there. It was obvious he was dead. Surrounding him were quite a number of dead Changlings, one in particular grabbing his attention. John's eyes went from the disfigured horn imbedded in Gage's stomach, to the splintered stub on Chrysalis' head. Both wounds were bathed with gore, and it was pooling down beneath their shattered corpses. Looking closer, he saw that Gage had a very small smile on his face with his eyes closed. He was at peace.

The same could not be said for Chrysalis. Moving closer to get a better look, he leaned down, listening intently. She was still breathing. It was soft, shuddering and raspy, but she was breathing. Her mane was stained with blotches of crimson, and patches of it were plastered onto her face, the sides of her neck and on her back. Her wings twitched ever so slightly at random. There were scorch marks on her forehead, as if something had exploded or discharged. Magic? He knelt down, and touched a fiery hoof to her wing. There was a muffled shriek of pain and a foul odour of burning, but she didn't move. With a grim grin, John, completely out of control, effortlessly lifted the broken Queen into the air, the mixed aura gripping her in place. He slowly raised a hoof, and curled it inwards towards him. The Changling floated in his direction, and he gestured with flick of his leg. She quickly gained speed, and an audible smack could be heard as she crunched against the far wall. Silently laughing, yet also repulsed by the action, he approached the body. Her wings were twitching more often now. With a growl, he raised her off the floor once more. Red was quickly creeping up on the edges of his vision again, and soon, he would lose control.

"Do you know who I am?" He whispered as Chrysalis awoke, only to be pulled towards him. Her entire body was in a magical vice; one thought and she would be crushed. She coughed, choking slightly as John increased his grip on her throat, moving more power to there. She wriggled in pain, confused but knowing of what was going to happen. He smirked, fire dancing in his blood red pupils. "Open your eyes." John whispered again, watching her green pupils dilate as she saw what was in front of her. She hissed in trepidation, seemingly intimidated by the 'pony' in front of her. She tried to squirm her way out of the grasp again, but John compensated by applying more pressure to her throat. Her eyes bulged out, and she shook her head quickly, either in answer to his question or to plead with him. John laughed. It wasn't like a normal laugh though; it was deeper, filled with a mortifying passion that chilled him to the bone. It felt... unnaturally pleasant. He pressed harder, leaning forward with his hoof still outstretched.

"I'm your worst nightmare."

John grinned widely, laughing again. His eyes stayed locked with Chrysalis' for a moment, before she was roughly tossed towards the open door, towards the bridge. She landed with another crack, her crown rolling off of her head. Outside the door, and beyond the bridge, the battle was still in full swing. He could end it, right now. Kill her. But then, the chaos stops. Decisions. It was as if two voices were on either side of his head, their honeyed words sweetly said and noted. As he strode across the bridge, she weakly tried to raise herself off the floor, but slipped, legs giving up on her. He laughed again.

"Where's your confidence now, Changling?"

Her eyes darted towards her crown, milliseconds before it was crushed and melted underhoof by the celestial fires, rivers of black dripping off the edge of the bridge. She was half-heartedly picked up and tossed again, this time landing on the other side of the bridge. John watched in dark glee as she rolled to a halt at the hooves of a Changling locked in combat with a stallion. The stallion and the Changling exchanged glances, and stopped fighting. Around them, the remaining portions of each army stood idly, entranced and mystified, too afraid of the newcomer to do anything. Chrysalis didn't move this time around; she was probably too broken. Her 'subjects' backed away slowly, never removing their empty blue eyes from her hornless forehead. John, unrecognisable to the crowd, slowly made his way to the defeated Changling. Sensing his aproach, she turned her head pitifully, too weak to do anything else, her once malice-filled green pupils clouded over with resignation.

"You will regret the day you marched into Equestria." He growled, but it sounded weirder. Twisted. Chaotic. As if at least four voices were saying it. Unknown to the stallion, high above them in the sky, the pegusai stopped still, watching on in interest. She was, once again, effortlessly pulled into the air. Her head lolled downwards, her mane tattered and dirty, her crown gone. John breathed in deeply. He was going to make an example of her. Even higher in the inky black sky than the pegusai, the stars twinkled and the eclipse flared with light, glowing of its own accord as if it were radiating power. The blazing halo around the edge began to get brighter, casting a heavenly glow down. Where it touched John, around his shadow and around his hooves, it burst into flame. White hot flames that could be felt from where the soldiers were standing, the wave of heat washing over them. As if it were a combination of heaven and hell, and he was to judge. Dark stormclouds appeared out of nowhere, blinking into existence, circling and massing over John. He looked up, past her dull eyes, into the night sky. A thin smile worked its way onto his face, and he looked her straight in the eye.

"You will burn for your crimes."

"W...wait..." She croaked out, pleading with him with her eyes. Something came to life inside of him; he raised an eyebrow, but kept her held aloft, as if to say explain.

"W...we were... forced... into conflict..." She gasped, not daring to look inside John's burning eyes. "...My subjects... were... starving to... death..." She coughed violently, a little droplet of blood dripping from one corner of her mouth. "...Ponies drove... us... away from our... home... near them. No way to... feed without... positive emotion... around us..." She coughed again, miniscule drops of crimson cast to the floor in a red mist. "We... I... was desper...desperate..."

"Where is Discord?" He whispered into her ear, speaking into her mind and thoughts all at once, a cacaphony of hushed voices expelling themselves into her mind.

"Celestia's... tower..."

"Thank you..." He growled, and with a twist of his hoof, her head was violently pulled around, snapping her neck. With a strangled sigh, she was dropped to the ground wordlessly, not spared a glance from John, who was already striding back into the castle. Remembering something, he spun around, fixating a murderous stare on the rest of the Changlings.

"Burn."

He turned back. The air became thick with the screams of the Changlings, and the smell of cooking flesh. Ignoring the pleas from the stallions, he strode over the bridge, eyes full of rage again. The Elements would be useless now... He had to tell them... John shook his head, and began to gallop towards the Hall of the Elements.

/br/

"Can you hear that?" Twilight flicked her ears, listening intently to the rumbling from across the castle. Shaded must have found something, or the fight had moved inside.

"Hear what, Twilight?" Rarity questioned, looking towards the door.

Infinity Blitz and Lazer Bright were standing guard just inside the door. Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were a little behind them, but close to the vault door nevertheless. All were pretty nervous, and all were confused.

"Ah hear it." Applejack announced, gazing towards Twilight.

"Me two!" Pinkie added, smiling. She was a paragon of emotions, as unreadable as... well. Something.

"DASHIE! I'LL KILL YOU!"

Blitz and Bright's eyes went as wide as dinner platters, but stayed in position. The voice was definitely Shaded's, but amplified, like the Royal Canterlot Voice. Twilight's eyes also grew wide. Surely she must have misheard!

"Ah knew it! Ah told ya he was evil!" Applejack spun around to face the door, looking by far the angriest Twilight had ever seen her. She could have sworn that her eyes had gone grey in that brief moment.

Fluttershy, if it was possible, was even angrier. Her eyes went cold, her facial expression eerily calm, and she raced out of the door.

/br/

The voices in his head...

John stumbled up a step, coming precariously close to faceplanting.

"I could never hate the mare I love, Dashie..." They whispered, cold, dead voices echoing with each beat of his hooves. By now, the anger had worn off, and he was back to normal, albeit very scared of himself. Nopony knew what damage he could cause if he was permanently like that, which is what would happen...

He had barely managed to restrain himself from killing Chrysalis, only just managing to instead give her a painless death compared to the one he had originally had in mind.

"Who are you...?"

"I don't know!" He cried out, shaking his head to try and clear his mind of the parasitic thoughts.

"Do you seriously think that I enjoyed doing the stuff I did...?"

"NO!"

"Shaded...?"

"Shaded...?"

"I'M NOT SHADED!" He screamed, falling and rolling to a stop with his forehooves clenched against his ears. He lay there for a few seconds, whimpering silently to himself.

"Make it stop..." He whispered, tears in the corner of his eyes, slowly dripping onto the polished stone beneath him.

"Shaded...? I'm so sorry..."

"Arrrgh!" He screeched, fumbling to his hooves and running a few strides, before falling over again.

"Understand what...? That you don't love Rainbow Dash...? That you cheated on her, driving her to try to commit suicide...?"

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." He cried to himself, unable to stop or block out the voices in his head.

"JOHN!"

The voices stopped. Something had banished them... for now, anyway.

"JOHN!"

Something was calling him. Or somepony, could it be Twilight? No, she only knew him as Shaded. That meant...

"Luna!?"

"John! You must listen! You are in gre..."

"Luna?"

Silence again. He was alone. With a weary sigh, he dragged himself to his hooves, beginning to gallop away. Soon enough, the voices returned. Thankfully, he was close to the Hall now, so maybe Twilight would be able to put some form of block over his mind? That could work. Closing his eyes and feeling for the stars, he tried to regain some energy from their springs, but failed without the armour.

Huh, go figure. I'm able to move the fricking moon, but can't take energy from the stars.

Funny, if he kept thinking about irrelevant things, he could block out the voices. That could also work. He ran into something soft, yet unmoving. Whatever it was, it was not being pushed around. John picked himself up from the floor, eyelids fluttering, trying to clear his head as the voices caught up with him. Standing over him was the Element of Kindness.

Fluttershy's bright blue eyes pierced John's soul, looking all the way through him as if he were made of glass. Instead of being filled to the brim with happiness, or kindness, they were clouded over in rage, locked in battle with his own blue eyes. Refusing to look away, or just unable to, John couldn't help but cower slightly under her gaze. He was afraid. The yellow pegasus was snarling down at him, her teeth clenched and bared, wings spread in anger as she regarded him with as much happiness as one would show a stain on their coat. The grey stallion, sprawled on the cold stone floor, stared up at the mare defiantly and fumbled to place his hooves in such a position as to be able to lift himself up. In the distance, somewhere along the corridor, he could hear the rest of the Elements of Harmony, racing to catch up with Fluttershy. After a moment, John attempted to push himself to his hooves, but was shoved back down harshly by the mare.

She growled something, her cold icy irises unwavering from their assualt.

John blinked a few times, shocked, and tried again. He was pushed down another time, but with a lot more force behind it.

"Fluttershy!" He heard Twilight shout out, and the mare backed away slowly, never looking away. John pushed himself backwards cautiously, a mixture of emotions and thoughts blasting through his brain as he watched the five mares giving him cold glares made of nothing but fury. Twilight had less of a nasty expression, but it was anger all the same. Once back on all four hooves, he cracked his neck. Before he could say anything, he was interrupted by a swift and bone-breakingly powerful kick to the chest that sent him sailing gracefully across the room, before smacking into the far wall and sliding down it with a noticable difference in grace. As he slumped at the bottom, he hissed in pain at a sudden burning inside his right wing, and scowled upwards at his attacker.

The Element of Honesty spat at him from across the room, before audjusting her cowpony hat and approaching him. Fluttershy walked at the same pace as Applejack, whilst the others were considerably slower.

What the hell?

He blinked past a few tears of agony, noting the horror and betrayal in their eyes.

"You monster!" Applejack snarled, snorting at him. There were a few tears in her green eyes, but she either didn't notice or ingnored them. Her expression was dark, as if she wanted justice. Fluttershy was exactly the same. John closed his eyes for a second and breathed in. As soon as he did so, he felt something hard smash into the side of his face. His head rolled to the side, and he felt a vacant slot in his teeth. He tasted blood, hot and coppery, and he spat it out on the floor. The side of his face felt numb, and he tentatively raised a hoof to touch it. It stung at his touch.

"Where is she?!" He heard one of them say. He didn't know or care who had said it. They had just attacked him.

Rage boiled inside of him, twsiting and churning, expanding like a gas to fill every vacant space. His eyes began to water, but he didn't bother to blink. He felt a muscle twitch violently in his face, and he growled in pain, the sudden realisation that they, the Elements of Harmony, the very ponies he was trying to help, had just attacked him without warning. He began to shake without control, eyes clenching shut in an attempt to block their stares.

Monster.

The shaking and twitching stopped all of a sudden.

"Shaded?" He heard a whisper, and sensed a hoof in front of him.

His eyes snapped open, revealing a pair of blood red irises. The crimson swirled as if it had a mind of it's own, various shades curling around each other. The whites of his eyes had become yellow, tainted and stained, a somewhat ugly bight yellow, and at the edges, a darker yellow melded and blended with the lighter counterpart. The pupil was still black, but it was now a cold, merciless ink that was darker than black could ever be. Applejack and Fluttershy recoiled away in shock and fear, jumping backwards a few feet.

John refused to move however, a small grimace appearing on his now darker face. His mane and tail greyed slightly, bringing back unwanted memories for the girls. As his lips thinned, his eyes focused on them, the pupils shrinking by a considerable amount, and a small trickle of blood escaped from his lips, painting a line of red down his lips. He scowled, and wiped it away with the back of his hoof, examining the vital liquid against the dark grey. He chuckled slightly before lowering his hoof.

The girls backed away slowly, retreating away from John. He raised his head slightly, eyeing the nearest one: Applejack. She blinked back at him, confused, before the gravity of the situation hit her. Without warning, she was yanked forwards back to John, a yelp echoing around the room as a red aura enveloped her. Twilight leapt forward, as did Rarity, but were both quickly thrown backwards by the same aura, crashing down a few feet away.

Applejack squirmed as she was brought closer, trying to fight against it. As the orange mare wriggled, John swore that he could hear thunder overhead, loud and clear against a sudden silence. It boomed in his eardrums, deafening everything in comparison. Memories raced past his eyes, flashing and disappearing as quickly as they began. The sounds of each, however, were whispered into his ear, reverberating again and again.

"What did you do to him you...you...MONSTER!?"

As each one was repeated faster and faster, it slowly amounted into a demonic choir, hissing and melding horribly with another.

"...Monster!"

John stared coldly into Applejack's forest green eyes, a snarl toying with the edges of his mouth. The orange mare, still struggling valiantly, could only watch in fear as the pegasus examined her with a vacant, merciless gaze. Steadily, he began to squeeze the life from her, smiling as he did so like a pleased child.

"MONSTER!"

Something sparked inside of him, and he growled at the sensation; it felt like an itch deep inside him. As he concentrated on it, the aura surrounding Applejack vanished, and she gasped for air, retreating backwards and stumbling. John's breath caught in his throat, and the red swirling energy around his forelegs dissipated, returning the room back into it's natural ambience. He froze in place, unable to breath or move all of a sudden. He was helpless. He felt pain erupt into existence behind his eyeballs as an impossibly bright light burst into the center of the room.

Then, he found himself able to move. He tilted his head away, lifting up a foreleg to shield his eyes as he squinted at the source.

The...hell?

Then, the room returned to darkness, all lights extinguished in the blink of an eye. And out of the gloom, with a softly glowing blue light to guide her, strode the Lunar Princess. Her mane wasn't ethereal, and she was a lot smaller, younger even. Dark bags under her eyes highlighted the pale blue eyes that scanned the room, and her legs trembled as if she could barely support her own weight.

"Luna!"

John heard Twilight cry out in joy, and observed as the purple unicorn embraced her, temporarily forgetting about him. The others soon joined her, creating a group hug that warmed John's heart. Slowly, he began to think, realising just how close he was to giving in to his anger, and... He blocked out the thought, repulsed at his actions. But then, he listened to his heart, and let himself admit the truth.

I could have killed her.

He blinked, time slowing down as he looked down at his hooves, raising them up to his eyes and studying them. His eyes traced the edges, the individual grey hairs and finally, the splotched stain of blood. He felt his heart grow cold, and he dropped his head, letting it roll as his hooves hit the floor with a bang.

What have I become?

The yellow tinging his eyes slowly faded to reveal the white again, giving him a less demonic look. His greyed mane diminished, replaced by two-tone blue. The lone cutie mark on his right flank regained colour, but John didn't notice. His now lighter grey ears flattened against his head as he heard hoofsteps approach. As quietly as possible, he breathed out, a ragged sigh of breath escaping his lips, accompanied by a lone teardrop that sparkled in Her presence, shining like a diamond before it descended, splashing down in front of him.

"John?" He heard Luna whisper. He was afraid to open his eyes, but at the same time, relieved that she was here, be it to help or punish him. He carefully raised his head, fear ripping through his body as he steadily opened his electric blue eyes. He was met with the worried face of Luna, and the confused faces of those assembled behind. Somehow, Bright and Blaze had stealthily sneaked into the room, and were joining the girls in observing the pair.

Before he could open his mouth, there was a stab of agony in his skull, and he barked in shock, recoiling away. It was relentless in the attack, worming through any and all mental barriers, as if it had a mind of it's own.

And then, the soothing absence of pain as Luna closed her eyes, and lightly touched her horn to John's head. After a moment, he shook his head, looking up at the midnight blue alicorn with renewed trepidation.

"Why... is this... happening to... me?" He hoarsely gasped, the volume barely louder than a whisper in the wind. Luna gave him a sad smile, reassuring yet sorrowful. She sat down carefully next to him, and began to speak.

"John... I am so sorry. I can only imagine what has been going on in your brain, and I don't want to."

"He just tried to kill Applejack!" Rarity interrupted with an icy glare to accompany her statement. Luna turned around and scowled at her, until the unicorn mumbled something and went silent again. Luna exhaled, and continued, an even sadder look, almost as if in shame.

"I should never have given you a portion of my power. That is why that happened..."

John coughed, looking up sharply. "I don't understand."

"The original Shaded Comet, as with all full Royal Guards, recieved a portion of my sister's power. That is what makes them white. For an alicorn to remain healthy, and to be able to bestow such a power upon a pony, the alicorn must give the reciever the equivalent of a third of their power, or magic. There are two types of magic: Magi, and Anti-Magi. Anti-Magi is the opposite."

Twilight cut in this time. "Chaos Magic..." She breathed. Luna nodded.

"Discord, long before I was born, was an alicorn, but Anti-Magi corrupted him, turning him into Chaos itself. Discord gave you a third of his power, which balanced out Celestia's remaining Magi inside Shaded, and since it is fuelled by negative emotions, it eventually became dominant over you."

John nodded slightly. Luna looked away.

"My Magi is unstable. Since I was corrupted by Anti-Magi before, my magic still contains traces of it."

This is what that," She motioned at the black around her cutie mark, "Is."

John nodded again. "So when you gave me a third of your power, it balanced it out again, but the negativity in your Magi fuelled the Chaos?"

Luna nodded. "Yes. That is why you are hearing voices. It is the Chaos inside of you trying to turn you by accessing your worst memories. Thankfully, due to it being so closely balanced, you never fully turned. But because all three combined, you came to possess mixed powers."

"The aura..."

"Yes. I told you about Shaded's ability. It was never his to start with. He was corrupted with Anti-Magi the day he got his cutie mark, which is why he can burst into flame. It is a mixture of Celestia's power and Chaos."

Twilight caught onto something. "Hold it! Why do you keep saying 'Shaded' or 'Original', and not 'You'? You make it sound as if he isn't Shaded..."

John and Luna shared an uneasy glance.

John answered for her. "I told you before, I am not Shaded Comet. I'm John."

"Excuse me?"

John rolled his eyes. "Shaded died the day you found him in Manehatten. I'm a human, and to make it easy, we're the dominant species where I come from. We kinda resemble monkeys, but we're taller, and way more evolved. I died, and somehow, I was reborn as Shaded, even though he is dead."

Twilight just stood there, flabberghasted and gobsmacked, unsure of how to respond. She initially opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was a "huh?".

Luna nodded again, looking away for a second before turning back, looking even more sad. "John, when you were brought to Equestria, it wasn't I who brought you. It was Chrysalis. You were brought back and are now sustained through Chaos and tainted magic..."

He cocked his head to the side, curious.

Luna swallowed. "When Magi or Anti-Magi is transferred between objects or people, the reciever will always undergo a change. And it can't be reversed."

John remained silent, analysing what was just said.

"So, I'll keep having 'moments' where my body will try to audjust to the Chaos, but your Magi will stop it, therefore putting me in an eternal loop?" He slowly asked. "You're saying that until Chaos takes over my body, I'll be cursed? And because it's tainted and Chaos Magic, I'll end up becoming more and more corrupted each time?"

Luna nodded gravely.

"And it can't be reversed?"

A shake of the head confirmed this. John sighed, closing his eyes. Luna's eyes brimmed with tears, and she hugged him.

"I'm sorry..."

John shook his head. Luna moved back, confused.

"No. Chaos won't have me." He looked up at the girls. "I'm sorry. I really am."

The girls whimpered, before rushing over and embracing him as well. Their coats rubbed softly against his own, but he couldn't bring himself to look them in the eyes, instead closing them again. They needed to know.

"Girls. Listen to me. I need you to grab Dashie, and get the hell out."

"Why? You're not facing Discord alone!" Twilight returned, an edge to her voice.

"You don't understand. I now do." He paused, looking at them, an eerie calmness in his heart.

"Earlier, before we got here, I had a vision. I killed everyone. Not just a few ponies. I burnt Ponyville to the ground. I personally killed all of you. And Dashie..." He moaned, unwilling to remember. "I watched as I killed her, slowly scorching her to death..." His voice broke up, and he choked gently. "And it will happen if I don't do something."

He raised his head, gazing out the window at the still burning corpses of the Changlings.

"I need to kill Discord, so this never happens again." He stopped, frowning at his hooves. "And myself..." He whispered.

Luna released him, her voice soft. "I need to lower the moon. Girls, I'll need your help in getting Celestia to raise the sun. It should be just before dawn."

The girls relinquished him, standing up. John followed suit, straightening up and looking over his shoulder. He hissed at the sight of seeing his right wing broken, but didn't feel any pain. Instead, he looked up and out of the window, towards Celestia's tower.

"Please. Look after Hope." He asked, not looking away.

Behind him, the leaving group turned around one final time.

"We will. Thank you, John. And, we're sorry."

Twilight answered for them for the last time. And then, they were gone, leaving behind a lone grey pegasus. The pegasus didn't stop staring out of the window, gazing down at the carnage he had wreaked, and then, Ponyville. A single teardrop sparkled in the half-light outside as it fell gracefully, eventually dropping out of sight. The pegasus closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry..."

A/N- I did it :3 I managed to wrote a chapter. I'm a tad rusty, so please excuse any grammar mistakes. Just point them out, and I'll fix them. Same goes for spelling mistakes. If you noticed, this is just an update to Chapter 28; I couldn't be bothered to put it in another chapter.

I thought this was rather emotional. Hopefully, this has cleared up any confusion about John's abilities. I thought it was rather clever, actually. I even hid a reference to the Season 3 Finale. Woop-de-freaking-doop. If there's any questions, post 'em in a review, and I'll answer them all next update.

NEXT CHAPTER: Shaded Comet - There's a spoiler for you. I'll leave you to your imaginations.

By the way, there WILL be a sequel, which WILL be more THOUGHT OUT and DESCRIPTIVE. Hopefully.

Signing off,

Daz