MX

Another calm day. We have not had any activity out of the rebels in a week now. I cannot fathom if I am disappointed or relieved. I don't want to kill them when I agree with everything they are claiming. They're all that's keeping things interesting around here, though. Seth is on guard duty tonight. I think I'll use the spare time to listen to the river…

TX

Gah! If nothing happens soon, I'm going to go insane! There is nothing worth writing today! I'll just finish this early and go to guard duty.

FX

Two full days since my last entry… Never again will I ask for something to happen, or complain of boredom… What an idiot I was being.

We have been fighting non-stop since that night. Even now the stretchers and coffins are amassed on the grounds.

Partway through my watch, an explosion rocked the castle. I got Luna safely in her tower before meeting up with the others. The rebels had blown a hole in an outer wall with some kind of explosive spell. They must have attempted to create magic amulets. Not a bad attempt by any means, but their work needs improvement. …As much as I can suggest improvement of somepony who's trying to kill me. Many were killed by sudden, complete cardiac arrest.

I am needed back on guard duty, but felt the need to write this short record. The wall is still being repaired, although I'm not sure it will help. It's only a matter of time before they return even stronger. At least Luna was safe this time…

SX

The wall is back up, but paranoia still runs rampant in the castle. I don't think anyone has slept in a few days. Luna is a bit frazzled, unused to watching over so many, but no one is sleeping. Cepheus keeps hinting he has a plan, but I'm fairly certain he's full of manure and just trying to raise morale.

SQA

Cepheus has revealed his plan- the forbidden amulets crafted by Starswirl and Clover. …I honestly do not know what to think of this plan. They are "forbidden" for a reason! We may not know the reason, but I feel very sure they would have had good ones. Cappelan agrees with me, but the king refused to stop. He has compromised, though. We will be testing just one amulet to begin with, and see how things go. Mata was over-eager to finally get noticed. She received the privilege and plenty of …attention. I will have to keep a close eye on her…

MQ

Commander Discord, the Twins, and I were charged with opening the lockbox containing the amulets, and breaking the chosen one of its enchantments.

-Now, now, dearest SkyTear! I've told you before! With that new, fancy title of yours, there's no need to call me "Commander".

Discord! I told you not to air-write in my journal, or to read over my shoulder via floating eyeball!

-Oh come now-

GO! …I apologize for that, future self… I was inattentive. Where was I…? Oh yes- we were charged with opening it. The strength of the defensive spells only serves to make me more nervous. Cepheus continues to not listen to us, however. Taiji was slightly injured, but most of the spells were safely deflected. That the makers would go so far as to employ lethal spells….

Mata chose a silver-grey amulet with a diagonal, red gem. Clover's notes refer to it as the "Alicorn Amulet". She says that it will give even a unicorn who can barely cast magic as strong of power as a skilled alicorn or higher. I can see why Cepheus wants its power under his command… Having another alicorn-level fighter in his army can only help make things easier. Especially since Celestia is such a poor fighter…

The notes along the margins are harder to understand, but I feel like I need to decipher them. I don't think anypony was supposed to have this book… I feel as if it is just like Father's and my book… I told Cepheus it was incinerated by a trap, and the other three backed me up. He was angry, but with the others supporting me, he had no choice. I'll have to be careful in how I hide it….

Those notes though… This amulet seems to have an interesting set of information scribbled in. So far I have deciphered something about "Flashing red eyes" and "violently lethal". …Cepheus would only think that was hot, and useful. I'll need to watch over this, however… At least I can live in comfort that this was one of the least-heavily protected amulets, so must be less dangerous in Clover and Starswirl's opinion.

SQ

I finished piecing together what Clover was trying to warn us about. The Alicorn Amulet addles the mind of the wearer. It takes any emotion and tendency and amplifies it to evil. For example, if someone is shy and introverted, they will descend into madness, hiding in a closed room and killing anyone who disturbs them. Eventually, their power is theorized to be able to drag the room out of existence.

The amulet also dulls wit. It seems to be one of two inherent weaknesses in the amulet- the wearer cannot think complicated plans through, and is easily tricked. The wearer also is addicted to power, and wants more.

I'm paranoid. She hated and was envious of me before. What might she do with this amulet now? But I cannot avoid her- I need to watch and make sure everypony is safe. May Luna bless my soul…

SL

The rebels attacked again today. The fact that I am writing should tell you how short the battle was. Mata set up some kind of barrier over the entrance they were swarming in. Those who stepped through collapsed, screaming, their mouths foaming as they died. I have no idea what spell she used, but I never want to learn it.

Cepheus was thrilled, of course. A battle ended that quickly, and that was won with next to no casualties. The rest of us are terrified, though. Many of us in the Chaos Division have talked together since the battle, and I'm not the only one with this suspicion.

During the battle, she opened with several spells in the confusion. They were bursts of magic coming out of the ground. I felt it coming, and got out of the way, but one shot was right underneath me! I'm not the only one, either. Several other members said they had similar experiences. Yin said she even saw her send a shot at Cepheus himself, and she was forced to deflect it. But with the victory, he refuses to listen to us. He's even recruiting for more amulet wielders. Luna bless all our souls….

MR

I am finally able to write again… I remain, however, in intensive recovery.

Cepheus's amulet assigning ceremony was a complete disaster. As he went to call up those he'd chosen- all mares, I should mention- Mata burst into the hall and ordered a halt. She insisted she was all the power we needed, and she would destroy those who planned to jealously steal her power and position. When Cepheus tried to command her to stand down, she caged him. Before we fully realized what had happened, her magic swept over the chosen mares, killing them all horribly. Several ponies who were standing near them caught some disease the healers are calling "The Red Death". The name is from the way they sweat blood as they descend to a swift, painful death. It is highly contagious, but a quarantine seems to have been successfully set up. …I pray…

We turned to attack her, falling into battle formations for single attack as she darted back out the main doors. Once again, she had us off guard. We ran headlong into an army.

I should have seen the signs. I should have realized her power. She had always been obsessed with death and the dead. I just never would have imagined her power was so great as to raise an army of the dead… The defeated rebels mingled with bloodied soldiers we'd seen alive just minutes before. Not a guard in the yard was left to support us. We pulled back in shock and fear, and several were cut down by the mares we had left in the hall. Thus the battle began…

It is incredibly difficult to kill an undead pony. You stab them and they keep going. You snap a bone and they keep walking. Only fire spells seemed particularly effective.

Mata stayed behind her army, throwing magical death over at us. I took it on myself to distract her. I teleported behind her army and threw her with a pit of the ground upheaving. She floated in the air though, supported by magic, challenging that my power was nothing to hers, for she was the princess of death. I was just a unicorn.

I shifted to alicorn, flying up to challenge her. As easily infuriated as Clover suggested, she began to focus wholly on me. Without her leadership, her army moved more as a mob, and became easier to handle. I tried using my knives, but each time she deflected them and countered with magic. It was turning into a magic duel. I was able to easily dodge her attacks, but she blocked mine.

The longer we fought, the more ponies fell to her mob. Each fallen soldier rose again after a few moments. To join its new brethren. I didn't' have the time to drag this out…

I threw all my blades at her at once, backing them up by a dust storm. Using this as cover, I tucked my wings in, diving into the tactical egg. She didn't notice the change in attack and just deflected the blades again. She couldn't spot me, though, confused and searching.

Here, I made my greatest mistake. As I rose up through the up-sweet of the egg, I extended my wings again. I plied my magic on them, and they became wings of blades. As I was about to hit her, I foolishly shouted "Block this!"

I was a fool. An imbicile, puffed up with my own brilliance. My shout drew her attention, allowing her to dodge the kill shot and get off an attack of her own. A blast of unknown magic caught me in the side. It felt like I'd had boiling water thrown on me. I acted instantly, trying to siphon the damage onto members of her mob before the spell could kill me. I succeeded, but was forced to land. She was too, however, with a gash up her side.

We stared off, trying to figure out what to do now. I stomped a hoof, unleashing entropy, and she braced herself against the nothing that happened. Her hit was festering, and getting difficult to counter, and she knew it. She threw back her head, laughing, and that is when the boiling hot geyser I had called up blasted forth. Not even I can survive that kind of hit in the head and chest, but as she dropped, I blacked out.

The healers say I've been an earth pony since they took me in, and only recently could I shift back to unicorn. Seth says I killed her too quickly, that all the "zombies" died …again when she did. That's what they're calling them- zombies. What an odd name… Discord tells me Cepheus has his division studying Mata's spell remnants, in hopes of creating his own zombie army. I cannot say I'm surprised. Cappelan says Cepheus is listening, though. He wants to talk to me, too. …I'm not sure what to think… Tomorrow will tell.

TR

Cepheus spoke to me in the hospital today. …I am unsure what to think still. He has tasked me with, once I am recovered, hiding all of the amulets. I think his own near-death experience scared him. But, why me?

He claims that Father and I are annoyingly good at hiding things from him, and that even when he finds where I hid something; it is too well protected for his men to get in to it. So, I should make it so no one can ever use these amulets ever again.

They were already protected! I went through hell to get them out of those protections! …But I have to take this chance while it is there- Cepheus so rarely speaks sense. I will hide them all even more carefully than I do Father's discoveries, because the worthy should find our work again. No pony should ever wear these… It will take time, but it needs to be done. Even if found, many of Starswirl's defenses remain on individual amulets. If the Alicorn Amulet is found again, though… I will hide it from even myself, not even recording its location in this journal. May I get well soon, before anything worse can happen, and Luna be left without my protection.

I closed my journal, deep in thought. I still remembered hiding the amulet. I had built a hill over an underground spring system, leaving no way in and down to the amulet. Even I could not identify which hill in the area hid this terror when I was done. So how, then, had this "Trixie" found it!? …Whatever plan Zecora had better work… I would need this bearer alive for some questioning…

So, hopefully you all enjoyed the little insight into SkyTear's old life. There'll be more glimpses as seen through his eyes as he remembers living them down the road, but for now... Next chapter is already in work, and Amaya's pushing me to keep writing more often. It'll have some arguing between Ayana and Lantra, and Trixie the Great and Powerful. As always, if you have any thoughts/concerns/suggestions, feel free to let me know- I'm always open to thoughts on how to better my work.

I don't own MLPFIM. Please don't sue me.

Yin and Taiji belong to Kate (no applicable site to show you)