KillerWoW - All of the drama! Lol jk. Is it because the story is too awesome for critiques? Jk again; I know it's not perfect. ;)
xel101 - Canonically, we're in the middle of season three, but Blake's presence is essentially messing with the canon timeline.
CreeperTamer20 - I know exactly what you mean; I've gotten involved in too many stories that have been abandoned, so I'm not going to do that to you guys. Though, if something should happen and I can't complete the story, you guys will know about it. I even have arrangements with next of kin to post an announcement here in case something unfortunate should happen to me.
SaiyanUltima - Do tell.
centaurus2 - I'll be sure to take a look. Been there, done that.
Ponified Bacon Boss - Lol I know what you mean; I've been updating on Tuesdays for just shy of two years, so this new schedule feels off to me. And just how does pointing out that Applejack's cows have stereotypical Canadian accents make me (or Blake) racist? :P
arkraiththeepicbrony - Yeah, that's what I meant. Lol I dunno about every mare... I think Granny Smith is a little too far ahead of him in years. ;)
DragonLovingBrony - You're welcome ;) And your wait is over, my friend.
PBJFanFiction - Well, to be fair... it is Blake's house. I say keep going; even if no one really reads it, it can still be a satisfying experience for you.
shadows being - Yeah, that would be a little odd, to say the least. But, she's a smart, compassionate mare, so I'm sure she'll figure something out.
SquirtlePWN - Oh, don't worry; that will be addressed too.
ShadowfireAngel - Mwahahaha!
chipmunkfanatic - Lol they can be tricksy.
PyraohXBlaze - Eeyup. Oh, I'm sure at least some of it will come true. In fact, some of my teasing only comes true because I teased about it.
Guest - I love me some Doctor!
Nothing.0 - I could, though I didn't plan on more than two or three songs throughout this entire fic, and they all would have some sort of relevance to the plot.
DragonLord RyuKizoku - Lol. You perv. :P (Not that I'm not ;) )
theflammablefiredragon - Maaaybe...
coldshadow 92 - Well, here you go :D
Mikalzilla - Lol I know. And now you know; I ate them. :P
Lord of darkness the 1st - That's my job; to keep you guys and gals your toes by tossing in the unexpected.
Nostalgia Cop - Indeed.
Zero the Warrior of Chaos - Yes... yes it did.
Kyguy - Perhaps...
A/N - Howdy everypony! I still can't believe we're at the big one-zero-zero... It doesn't feel like I've been writing for that long. But, I've got all of you lovelies to thank for making this journey with me, and making it an awesome one with all of your amazing reviews. I hope you're all ready, because I've got a treat for you; this chapter, the one hundredth in the story, is twice as long as an average chapter! And so, without further ado, I give you chapter one hundred of A Second Chance!
Before our conversation continued any further, Rarity offered to take us all to her dining room, where she finished preparing tea for us all and then left us to talk in private.
The sad look in Celestia's eyes told me of how she wanted to comfort her student, but that she couldn't think of what to say to do so. Eventually, an idea popped into my head. "Twilight?" She looked to me, and I could see uncertainty in her gaze. "I know this is a strange thing to think about, especially at a time like this, but I want you to understand something; Celestia and Luna are sisters, blood relatives, yet they're willing to look past that, even though it means that whatever magic may be surrounding us might cause them to fall in love with one another as well."
The mulberry mare was quiet for some time as she thought the idea over. "But… what if I can't get used to the idea? What if I can't deal with this, and you have to make a choice? I… I don't want to do that to you, Blake…"
It was Celestia's turn to speak up and try to answer her concerns. "Twilight, you know that we wouldn't do anything like this to hurt you, right? Blake and I have been ignoring our feelings for one another for quite some time, and we've only just come to realize that we can't do that to ourselves anymore." She placed her uncovered hoof on Twilight's own, and smiled gently. "It is true that you and I may eventually grow close to one another, but ask yourself this Twilight; would that really be such a terrible thing? Am I so engrained as a mother-figure to you that you couldn't possibly look past that?"
Twilight stared at her mentor's hoof for a long moment. "I… I don't know…" Her voice was quiet and filled with uncertainty.
My newest marefriend cupped Twilight's cheek with her hoof gently, and turned her gaze up until they were looking one another in the eye. "Twilight… over these many years that you've been my student, I've come to view you as the daughter I can never have, just as much as you've come to know me as a second mother; but I am willing to set these roles aside in order for us both to give our hearts to this wonderful stallion."
Silence reigned in the room as Twilight's violet eyes shifted subtly from side to side while she studied Celestia's features. "What did you mean by 'the child you could never have'? What about Blake, can't he sire foals with us?"
A heavy sigh escaped from Celestia's lips, and her hoof once again rested against her abdomen. "Yes Twilight, he can… but, I'm afraid the time for me to bear foals passed nearly three centuries ago."
After another moment of silence, the younger mare's eyes went wide. "Y-you mean…?"
Celestia's eyes slid shut, and she nodded. "Yes. My body is now barren… forever incapable of conceiving a foal of my own." The sadness in her voice would have been plain even to a deaf pony.
"And yet… you can look past the fact that you think of me as a daughter…" A moment later, she practically dove into her mentor's chest. "I'm so sorry! I was so selfish…" Her voice began to break as she spoke, her remorse clear.
My mouth stayed shut as I watched the touching scene unfold before me. Celestia wrapped her forelegs and wings around her beloved student, encasing her in a loving shroud as her smaller form shook gently. "Shh… it's alright, Twilight… I will always be here for you, no matter what happens… no matter what choice you make." I could vaguely make out movement beneath her wings, and the pattern of the movement told me that she was stroking Twilight's back gently and slowly.
I watched as the two sat there, Celestia comforting Twilight gently as she wept into the soft, white fur of the Solar Princess. The scene was truly touching to behold, and I couldn't bring myself to interrupt, instead simply basking in the affection the two shared with one another.
Eventually, Celestia's wings unfolded, and Twilight looked up to her. "Feel better now, my dear Twilight?"
A smile slowly spread across her face as she let out one last sniffle, wiping her nose with the back of a hoof. "I… I do… and I'm sorry again for the way I reacted… I just, didn't know what to think." She took a deep breath to calm herself, and her smile brightened slightly. "I'll do my best to get used to this… but, it's going to take some time to learn not to call you 'Princess'."
Celestia giggled. "Oh, I can imagine it will. As long as you are willing to at least give this change an honest chance, then we can't ask any more of you."
A confused look came over the purple mare and she tilted her head. "We?" Her eyes shifted in my direction, and went wide. "Oh! Blake, I'm so sorry; I forgot you were there."
I chuckled and gave her a warm smile. "Don't even worry about it, Twi. I'm just glad that you're feeling better now." I looked to Celestia for a moment, and seemingly understanding my silent query, she nodded slightly. "And don't worry; Celestia and I will be taking this slow, for our own sakes as much as yours, so hopefully you won't need to worry about things moving too quickly for you."
A small sigh escaped Twilight's lips. "I appreciate that, thank you."
With that crisis seemingly over, Celestia regarded her new herdmate. "If I recall Twilight, I seem to remember you saying something as you entered Blake's home. You seemed excited about it."
Twilight perked up as she seemed to recall what Celestia was talking about. "Oh! That's right! I think I may have found a lead on something that may be what's been causing Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash to act so strangely."
Celestia and I both leaned in closer to her, eager to hear more. "Well? You gonna tell us what it is or what?"
Twilight giggled at my enthusiastic question. "I'm getting to that. I found out that some ponies around town have been seeing strange lights coming from the Everfree." She paused for a moment, and just as Celestia looked like she was going to prompt the studious mare to continue, she did so on her own. "The lights didn't seem that out of place to the ponies that saw them; what makes them strange is that each and every pony claims that the light was in a different color, and many said that it was in a different location from where anypony else said they saw it."
The room faded into silence as Celestia and I took in the information. Eventually, I decided to speak up. "So, what you're saying is; no one who saw the light saw it as the same color as anyone else did, and it never seemed to be in the same place for two different ponies? Even if they saw it at the exact same time?" Just the concept of such a phenomenon threatened to fly over my head. The well-read mare nodded. "So… what does that mean? What could this light have to do with what's been happening?"
Twilight shook her head. "I don't know. It may have nothing to do with it… or it may have everything to do with it. Either way, it's worth investigating."
With a heavy sigh, I rose from the table. "Alright. I see only one option here; I'm going to head into the forest and see if I can find out what's causing the light."
Celestia rested her hoof on my arm, stopping me in place as I turned to the door. "Blake, I won't stop you from doing this; but please, allow me to send a detachment of guards with you."
Her pleading look was almost enough to make me agree, but I knew that this was a solo mission. I heaved a sigh, and turned to face her. "Sorry Tia. Normally, I would agree, but this is something I have to do by myself." She looked like she wanted to say something, but guessing what it was, I pushed on, intent on explaining my reasoning. "I'm only going to be doing reconnaissance for now, which is something a single soldier can do far more effectively than an entire team, at least when it comes to avoiding detection. Besides that, it's winter now; that means that if we should need to stay in there for an extended period unexpectedly, food is going to be scarce enough for a single scout, let alone several. If that happens, I would be better off by myself because I can survive on a larger variety of food than your guards can."
The pastel-hued mare studied me for several moments, and I could tell she was struggling with what I had said. Eventually, she let out a sigh, and hung her head slightly. "Alright… I can see the logic in your words. Just… please, be careful."
With a warm smile, I leaned in and kissed the both of them. "Always." Without another word, I turned and left the boutique.
The trip back to my house was made on foot, since I'd wanted the extra time to think of a strategy for going into those dangerous woods. By the time I got there, I had a basic plan hashed out in my mind; I would enter the forest wearing just some winter clothing and a small supply of food and emergency gear, though keeping my amulet on me in case I needed my armor. I had even worked out a rough search pattern through the forest that minimized backtracking while allowing me to spend the least amount of time in there.
I entered the house and headed up the stairs. I had my armor's amulet on me, as I usually did, but I needed Falathiel at the very least in case things went sour while I was out there. "Hey there Fal. You ready to see some action?"
The sentient blade gave me a mental nod. "I'm ready anytime you are, Bearer. I've been aching to 'stretch my legs' as it were."
The comment got a smirk out of me as I crossed the room. "And here I thought you liked it here."
The sensation I got next felt like a mental eye roll. "Your house is quite lovely, as is this town, but I haven't been out of either in some time. My blade yearns for adventure."
I chuckled at her words. "Be careful what you wish for, my glittering Huntress, you just might get it."
As I strapped her to my hip, I glanced down below her resting place, to the small, sheathed dagger resting on its pegs. My thoughts went back to Mitta, and the promises I made, both to her and to myself, to free her from that Hellish prison of a town. With careful, methodical movements, I reached out and grabbed the hilt of the blade, removing it from its pegs and strapping it to the small of my back for easy access.
Concern radiated from Falathiel as I secured the small blade to me. "Are you sure it's wise to do both in a single outing, Bearer?"
I sighed, and looked out the window towards the Everfree. "Probably not, but I've been putting this off for a lot longer than I should have… and Mitta's been out there suffering this entire time, while I was too indecisive to go out there and help her. Besides, if not now, then when?"
There was a moment of silence as I stood there and took in the sight of the snow-covered landscape and the stark treeline that marked the entrance to the forest. "I understand. I won't argue with you; this decision is yours to make, and I believe that you will make the right choice in the matter."
With almost everything I needed ready, I headed downstairs to gather some supplies. "You know, it's too bad I don't have any meat; hardtack would be perfect for something like this." I absent-mindedly commented as I finished packing the last of the foodstuffs I'd gathered.
"What in tha hay is 'hardtack'?" I cringed internally at the voice of my sweet southern belle, hoping to avoid having to explain myself to her of all ponies. "And just where do y'all think yer goin? Ya look like yer getting' ready fer war, Hon."
As I turned to face her, I noticed the confused and concerned expression on her face. "Well… I kind of need to go into the Everfree."
She simply stared at me for a moment. "Just what in tha hay d' y'all need ta go in there for?!"
I sighed, and walked over to her, kneeling down and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Because Twilight found a possible lead on what's been causing Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor to act the way they have been, and I need to check it out. Even if it's not related, it could potentially be dangerous, so it needs to be checked out either way."
Her face soured into a disapproving expression as I spoke. "If it's dangerous, why tha hay are ya gonna go it alone?"
Her eyes searched mine for an answer as I stroked her cheek reassuringly. "Trust me AJ, I wish I could bring some guards with me; but I'm only going to be doing some reconnaissance, and having more ponies with me would just make it more likely that one or all of us would be caught and/or attacked."
She continued to study my eyes, and I could see her mind trying to come to terms with my logic through those big, emerald orbs. "Alright Hon… Ah don't like it, but what yer tellin' me makes sense…" She leaned in and kissed me lovingly, a kiss which I gladly returned. "Just… be careful, alright."
I nodded and gave her another quick kiss on the lips. "I will be Applejack. After all, there's no place I'd rather be than in your loving hooves."
The country mare blushed and shook her head. "Go on ya sweet-talker! Get goin' before Ah change my mind!" I chuckled as she shooed me out the back door and towards the forest. "And don't worry, Ah'll save a bowl o' that stew fer ya!" She called out as I walked towards the eerie forest.
With no one else in sight, I heaved an anxious sigh and started for the forest at a brisk pace, hoping that my luck would hold and I wouldn't have to explain my actions to anyone else and delay the inevitable even longer.
Fortunately, my luck did hold for once, and I made it into the forest without further incident. Once there, I started my search, not bothering with the outskirts since the reports Twilight had told me about all mentioned them coming from further into the forest.
As I walked, doing my best to remain unseen and unheard, I thought about what could be causing the lights. My first thoughts turned to Nightmare Moon and her cult, but I couldn't see how the things that had been happening would benefit them in any way, unless they just wanted to make life miserable for me.
I quickly dismissed thoughts of some of the other villains I'd learned about since I'd been here, such as Tirek and Sathanus, since from what I understood, both of them were forever imprisoned in different realms; Tirek was safely enchained in Tartarus, and Sathanus was sealed in another realm, placed there by beings who each surpassed even Celestia and Luna's combined magical power.
My next thought turned to Sombra, the stallion who made the Crystal Empire disappear for a thousand years. I knew that he wouldn't be able to attack the Empire again with the Crystal Heart in place, which meant that he might very well try something in Ponyville, seeking revenge against the Element Bearers, some of the most beloved ponies in my life.
As I continued my self-appointed scouting mission, the thought dawned on me that whatever was causing the phenomenon might only come out at night, hiding during the daylight hours. I kept that thought in mind as I continued along my path through the woods, heading deeper and deeper as the hours crept by.
Eventually, I came across the old castle ruins nestled deep in the thick of the ominous forest. Thinking this a likely place for someone to hide out, as they had done in the past, I pushed forward, creeping into the ruined stronghold as I searched for the source of the mysterious lights. Every now and again, I activated my aurasight, checking rooms for any sign of recent activity before proceeding forward.
With every room I checked, I became more doubtful that I would find anything, or anyone, living in the dank ruins. I searched the ruins for over an hour, and just as I was about to leave, I heard what sounded like voices echoing down an unfamiliar hallway. Curious as to who or what could be living here, I crept down the hallway in search of the source of the voices.
After some time, I heard a familiar voice ring out. "You must watch your step little Applebloom; A misplaced hoof could spell your doom."
I listened in for a moment, waiting for her reply. "Thanks Zecora! Ah didn't see that loose stone there." Yup, that's Applebloom alright… but, why are they way out here?
"Come along, my little friend. We should mix these herbs so that Big Mac can get on the mend."
The pieces fell together fairly quickly in my mind; Applebloom had volunteered to help Zecora gather some things that she needed to make some medicine for her big brother. With a soft chuckle, I called out the zebra herbalist's name. "Hey Zecora!"
There was a moment of silence, followed by a hushed voice before she spoke up. "Who is that who calls my name? I'll warn you now; mean us harm, and I'll leave you lame!"
I chuckled louder as I walked towards the pair. "You always were feisty, weren't you Zecora?" I called out again.
There was a gasp from further down the hall. "Hey, Ah think that's Blake yer talkin' to!"
I smiled at the sound of the little filly's voice. "You got that right, kiddo." I was close enough by then that I didn't need to shout anymore. "I'm coming around the bend, be ready." I warned them, just in case.
When I actually rounded the bend, I saw Zecora standing warily in front of Applebloom. When the little filly saw that it was really me, she grinned hugely and darted out from around her protector and dashed over to me.
I grinned in return and scooped the little filly off her hooves. "Hey there 'Bloom. Having fun?" She grinned wider and nodded, her eyes closed.
When she opened them, I nearly reeled back; gone were the sunset-hues pupils I had come to know from the little filly. Instead, her eyes had turned a sickly yellow-grey color.
Her grin turned into a wicked smile as the realization that this wasn't really Applebloom struck me. "That's right, human," She spat the words in a voice that didn't belong to the little filly still clutched in my dumbfounded arms. "We're not who ya think we are. Y'all have been looking for us, and now ya've found us." Applebloom's country accent being spoken by a voice that wasn't hers was disconcerting.
I dropped the impostor filly to the ground, where she dashed back to Zecora, who sported the same glowing eyes as she did. I growled at the pair, hand moving to Falathiel's hilt. "Who are you? And what have you done with my friends?!"
The Zecora imposter laughed. "They might be here, or they might be elsewhere. You should worry about yourself, since you're already in our snare." The rhyming sounded Like Zecora, even though the voice that came from her was the same as the one coming from the fake Applebloom.
There was a subtle shifting in my mind as Falathiel used some kind of magic that I couldn't identify. "Bearer, I can't tell if these are actually your friends or not. Try to subdue them without hurting them if you can, just in case."
I nodded and unbuckled her scabbard from my hip, intent on using her sheathed form as a bludgeon to hopefully knock the two out.
The Applebloom imposter sneered at me. "That won't work, ya know; yer gonna hafta kill us."
I brandished Falathiel in a two-handed stance against them. "We'll see about that." The pair charged me as I finished speaking, sticking together until the last moment before splitting off and flanking me.
My eyes darted to either side, and I noticed that the two were holding their ground. I knew that if I lashed out at one, the other would attack me from behind, so I held my ground as well, ready to defend against an attack from either side.
My eyes suddenly went wide as the fake Applebloom did the one thing I never would have expected; she opened her mouth, and a ball of dark grey magic formed there, lasting but an instant before being launched at frightening speed, far too fast to dodge.
Without even realizing it, my mind summoned my shield, which took the brunt of the impact, the force of which was enough to send me staggering towards the imposter Zecora, who was ready for me, bucking both of her hooves hard into my chest.
I grunted and fell back as I felt the sharp pain of a broken rib stabbing into me with every movement I made. Time seemed to slow down as I watched the fake Applebloom charge up another one of her magical bolts, and I knew that this time, there wouldn't be any saving myself; I was off-balance, injured, and there simply wasn't time to react.
My eyes went wide as, an instant before she loosed the ball of deadly magic, something slammed into the little doppelganger. Losing my balance from the Zecora doppelganger's attack, I fell to my knees, clutching my side from the fiery pain.
I looked in the direction the fake filly had gone when the object struck her, and saw a statue of an armored pony lying atop a mass of formless grey flesh. I looked in the opposite direction, and caught sight of my savior; a stout earth pony with a mane of emerald streaked with mint green.
As I stood again, the Zecora imposter growled. "You should get out of here! A spirit like you should not interfere!"
I looked to the mare again, and took in more of her features; her eyes were a pleasant hazel, and bespoke of both a cheery nature as well as strength of will. Her coat was a flat, olive green color, and her overall look seemed to speak of the woods in springtime.
The new arrival smirked confidently. "Sorry, but this human is under my protection!" Wait… I've heard that voice somewhere before.
Without another word, the two charged one another. The green mare turned at the last moment and bucked her hooves into the top of the doppelganger's head as she continued her charge. Rather than the solid *SNAP* I expected to hear as her head was caved in and her spine broken, there was only a wet squishing sound as the creature slumped to the ground as another amorphous blob of grey flesh.
I wheezed as I stood to my feet, and began feeding my innate healing magic into my broken rib. I knew a wound that large wouldn't completely heal in one sitting, even with my reserves of healing energy, but it would at least allow me to move around relatively pain free.
The green mare trotted over to me. "Are you alright, Blake?" I froze as I heard her utter my name, though I still couldn't place where I'd heard her voice from. She giggled at my obvious confusion. "I'm not surprised you don't remember me; I did look completely different the last time we met after all." Her voice, while somewhat deep, was far more feminine and friendly than her stature would have suggested.
I looked the mare up and down, trying to puzzle out who she was. "Who… who are you?"
The mare giggled again. "I'll give you a hint." She cleared her throat. "The last time we saw each other, I sounded like this."
I blinked as memories flashed into my mind; memories of a labyrinth, and a trio of black, skeletal ponies with eerie, hollow voices. "Wait… Spring Leaf?!"
The mare grinned and nodded. You got it! I just couldn't move on after you set me free; I wanted to help you out somehow so I could repay you for what you did for me. Turns out, I got to help you pretty quickly too; when those two fillies got attacked by that pack of timberwolves, I pulled one of them away so that she could go get help." She let out a heavy sigh. "I didn't know that the one I couldn't save was your filly though."
I looked her over for a moment. "Why could you only help Applebloom though?"
She shook her head, her mane swaying gently. "I had only just come back, and I didn't know how all… this worked yet." She swiped at a rock with her hoof as she spoke, emphasizing the fact that she was a ghost when her olive hoof passed straight through the fist-sized stone. If I'd have known what I could do as a ghost, I would have fought off those timberwolves myself. What I did for that little filly was basically just an act of desperation. Even right now, I can only manifest solidly enough to affect physical things for a few seconds at a time, and even then it's pretty draining."
Keeping a wary eye on the two inert blobs, I took a few steps towards her. "So, I take it you've learned a few things since you helped Scoots and 'Bloom?"
"I did. A little filly named Ruby found me while I was wandering around the forest, trying to find my way to you, and she taught me how to manifest for short periods." She waved a hoof in the air. "I can't do it for as long as she can, but apparently she's had like a thousand years to practice."
Having finally reached the mare, I sat down in front of her, continuing to pour healing magic into my battered chest. "So, you know Ruby then?"
Spring Leaf nodded. "I do. She talks about you a lot too; one of the first friends she's made since she… well, became a ghost." The green mare paused for a moment. "She's a little miffed that you haven't helped that 'Mitta' mare yet, but after I told her what you went through in that temple, she understood why you haven't gotten around to it yet."
A dry chuckle escaped my lips as I allowed the flow of soothing magic to dwindle. "Funny you should mention that… that's actually one of the things I came here to do." I glanced around the room we were in for a moment. "Speaking of Ruby… where is that little scamp?"
Spring Leaf giggled at my pet name for the little ghost filly. "She's actually here; she's off exploring the rest of the castle." She stepped up to me and placed an ethereal hoof on my shoulder. "We know about why you're here, Blake. That's why we're here; to help you."
A relieved smile spread across my features, and I gave her a grateful nod before climbing to my feet again. "Thanks for that. I'd have been toast if it weren't for you."
The spring-themed mare giggled again. "You've got that right; look at what that weirdo magic did to the wall!"
She pointed with a hoof, and I followed, my eyes going wide when I saw the aftermath of the strange, grey magic; the wall had been melted, leaving a circular depression nearly two meters in diameter, with a smaller circle in the center of about a meter where the dark magic had melted entirely through the ruined wall. I walked over to the hole and inspected it, being careful not to touch the smooth stone in case there was some sort of residue.
The stone was carved utterly smooth, as though what had been melted away had simply evaporated. There were no runs, streaks, puddles, or other indications that the missing stone had dissolved or slid down the face of the wall in some fashion; it was simply gone.
Spring Leaf walked up next to me. "I wasn't quite fast enough to stop her… it… but I did manage to deflect that freaky magic before it hit you."
A heavy sigh escaped my lips. "And I owe you for that; I doubt there'd be enough of me left to bury wi- Ow!" I got halted mid-sentence by a sturdy hoof colliding with my shoulder.
The stern look Spring Leaf was giving me told me everything I needed to know about how she felt, but I knew I deserved to hear it anyway, and she did too. "Don't you go saying things like that! You've got a whole herd of mares back home waiting for you, not to mention your fillies, and you're not going to disappoint them as long as I'm around!"
As I rubbed my sore shoulder with my free hand, I looked around the room again. "Sorry, don't mean to be a pessimist." I told her off-handedly. "So, should we go look for Ruby, or is there a rendezvous point we're supposed to meet at or something?"
"Nope! I'm right here!"
The sudden, disembodied voice caused me to yelp and stumble back as I looked to where I thought it had come from and saw the little ghost filly's head poking through the stone floor, right where my feet had been. "Gah! You've got to warn me when you're gonna do that!' I cried out as I regained my footing.
The spectral filly giggled as she floated up through the floor and set her hooves down on the aged stone, her glowing, yellow eyes bright with mirth. "Hee Hee… Sorry Blake." She trotted over to me, her smile fading. "I heard what you said before, about coming out here to help Mitta. I hope you can."
I nodded and rested a hand on her ethereal shoulder as I knelt down. "So do I, kiddo… so do I."
She nodded solemnly, and then her ears perked up. "Oh! I almost forgot to tell you what I found!"
I looked to Spring Leaf. "Well, What're we waiting for?" I stood up and paused as a thought came to mind. "Hang on a tick, let me just…" I sent a mental command and summoned my armor.
A giggle escaped Ruby's lips as Spring Leaf looked on in disbelief. "Wait… you can do that?! Why didn't you do it before?!"
I let out a chuckle and looked the armor over. "Well, I wasn't really expecting any trouble at the time, and those two kind of caught me off guard."
Ruby started prancing around us. "C'mon! You gotta see this!" The excited little filly turned towards the doorway and ran off while I shrugged to my sturdy companion.
We followed her through corridors and down stairwells as she led us to wherever or whatever it was that she wanted to show us. Along the way, I noticed that Spring Leaf seemed to become less substantial, and she explained to me that she still wasn't used to holding a visible form, and so she was saving her energy for when we needed it. Satisfied with her explanation, I turned my attention forward and watched the little ghost filly as she trotted along ahead of us, holding her form as easily as if she were actually alive.
Eventually, she led us to a part of the ruined castle that seemed vaguely familiar to me. She ran back over to us, giggling the entire way. "Does this place look familiar to you, Blake?" I looked around at the familiar architecture, but I couldn't place where I'd seen it before. She giggled and pointed further down the hallway opposite us, where a wooden door with wrought iron supports lay. "This is just outside the room where we found the secret room with your armor in it! Remember? That room has that awesome secret passage behind the bookcase!"
Flashes of memories ran through my mind as I recalled the last time I had been here, when I had been kidnapped by that cult of Nightmare Moon worshippers. "Yeah… I remember this place now. But, what's so important about this place?"
A grin spread across the spectral filly's face. "There's something neat on the other side of that door! I didn't see anypony guarding it, so I came to tell you and Spring Leaf about it!"
I smiled and leaned down, patting her on the head. "Thanks Ruby; whatever's on the other side of that door might just be what I came here to find in the first place."
I turned and motioned to Spring Leaf, and we walked up to the door. I rested my hand on the iron handle, and after taking a deep breath, opened the door a crack. The three of us peeked through it, though I had no idea why Ruby and Spring Leaf didn't simply phase through the wood of the door to get a better look.
The inside of the room looked nearly the same as it had before, save for the pedestal resting on the table in the center of the room, some sort of crystalline orb resting atop it. I looked around for any guards, or any more of those shape-shifting, grey-fleshed creatures, but the room appeared deserted. Gaining a slight bit of confidence, I opened the door further. The room was eerily silent, and the looking back at the orb, I noticed that it seemed to be emitting an entire rainbow of light in shifting patterns that all emanated from its core.
"What do you think it is?" Spring Leaf asked next to me.
The two of us warily entered the room, with Ruby merrily trotting her way inside as though nothing at all were wrong about the situation. I approached the orb slowly, and I began to make out its shape with more clarity; it seemed to be made of some sort of clear crystal, and its surface was carved with pentagonal shapes, making it look a lot like a soccer ball. The closer inspection showed me that the lights it was emitting seemed to be coming from random bursts of different colors happening at seemingly random places and times within the orb itself.
Before either Spring Leaf or I could say a word, Ruby reached up and touched the crystalline orb with her ghostly hoof. "What do you think it does?" She asked, looking back to us.
A shiver ran down my spine and I cringed as her hoof contacted the strange magical artifact's surface. "I don't know, Ruby. I do know that it's a bad idea to touch things like that though."
The green mare next to me trotted up to the orb and examined it. "Is there any way to tell what it does?"
As I was the only one with a pulse or requirement to breathe, the room fell deathly silent when I failed to answer immediately, wrapped up in thinking of a solution as I was. A moment later, a thought came to mind. "Hey, I know!" I said with a snap of my fingers. "Twilight knows a few spells that might help us identify what kind of magic is powering this thing!"
"Did somepony say my name?" I slowly turned at the sound of my mulberry marefriend's voice, sweet and innocent as always. My eyes widened as I saw her, standing with a smug look on her face in front of a veritable army of armored humans… who were all wearing copies of my armor. "Oh, don't mind them; they're not exactly the talkative type." The Twilight clone said with a sweet smile.
Spring Leaf stepped in front of me and snorted aggressively as she took a defensive stance. "What the hay is going on here?!"
The imposter Twilight giggled. "Wouldn't you like to know? Well, too bad for you; I'm too smart to monologue about our plans, so your human friend there is just going to have to die in ignorance." She turned to leave, a small channel opening in the small sea of dangerous-looking clones of me. As they shifted to let her through, she looked back to us. "Oh, and don't worry about being alone; I'll be sending all your little marefriends to you soon enough."
I growled and unsheathed Falathiel, ready to fight through every single one of these clones if it meant getting to the fake Twilight. "Bearer." I hardly heard the enchanted blade in my head; all I could focus on was the creature wearing my marefriend's appearance. "Fighting such a large force at once has only two outcomes; either you will lose your life, or you will be so exhausted as to be unable to defend yourself from further threats."
The numerous humans each drew what looked to be a replica of the sentient sword in my own hand. "Then what do you suggest I do?"
"Look above."
Following her bidding, my gaze turned upwards, keeping a wary eye on my adversaries in the process. Above them, I noticed that the ceiling was heavily damaged, and could easily crumble. "I see what you're getting at."
The humans across the room crouched down for a moment, and charged me as the plan solidified in my mind. I reached out with my magic, and grabbed ahold of several of the loose stoned of the ceiling in my levitation magic, yanking hard and pulling them free.
The absence of those stones caused a chain reaction in the weakened ceiling that caused it to collapse atop them, sending several tons of debris raining down on the creatures before me. I heard the Twilight doppelganger yelp as the first of the debris rained down on her minions, and I watched as their back ranks parted, allowing her to escape the maelstrom that was burying them in what would be their tomb.
I shielded my eyes out of instinct, but the visor of my helmet made the action unnecessary, as my eyes were shielded by a glass-like material any time the face mask was down.
When the dust cleared, all I saw was a pile of rubble with the same grey ooze-like flesh seeping out between the cracks and from underneath. I looked beyond the destruction to see an open section of the wall; another hidden pathway through the ruined castle that I hadn't noticed before.
My body went into motion, propelling me forward even as my mind worked to formulate my next move. The secret section of wall fed into a long hallway that was pock-marked every so often by either a door or an opening. The openings seemed to lead into other, shorter hallways, and I speculated that the doors led into smaller rooms.
As I ran down the hallway after the duplicate Twilight, I activated my aurasight to make sure she hadn't ducked into one of the rooms. The strange, magical sense allowed me to detect what was on the other side of the doors that I passed, and I quickly noticed that each was a large room, containing all the amenities that a pony would need in order to live comfortably for an extended period; a large bed, washrooms with the same in-ground toilets that the rest of this world seemed to use, shelves of what had once been books, even dilapidated jars of canned food. It clicked in my mind what this was; a sort of fallout bunker, meant to house hundreds of pony families for months, if not years.
While the implications swam through my head, my body raced onward, the end of the hallway coming into sight as I pushed the thoughts from my mind. At the end of the hall was a single bend that led off to the left, but when I turned the corner, I was forced to skid to a halt; the hallway was blocked off with a forcefield of dark grey, the silent field of magical energy serving as blockade, preventing me from following the strange doppelganger any further.
I looked to the edges of forcefield, where it met the wall, and noticed that it actually bit into the stone, meaning that this magic was related to the spell that the false Applebloom had tried to melt me with. I nearly jumped out of my armor when a small head popped out of the wall in front of me. "This thing goes really far into the wall!" Ruby exclaimed as I tried to coax my heart into beating again.
Just as I began to calm down, a second voice sprang up from next to me. "It wouldn't matter anyway; Blake can't move through walls like we can."
There was a mental tug that told me that Falathiel wanted my attention. "Bearer, I have an idea." I regarded the sheathed blade, giving her a mental nod to continue. "I believe that if you were to pierce this barrier with my blade, that it would destabilize and dissipate."
I shook my head. "No, I don't think that's a good idea, Fal; you saw what that magic did to the stone wall."
"My blade is crafted from Star Steel, and is easily capable of surviving the heat and pressure found at the core of a sun, and is equally as resilient against magic. There is little doubt in my mind that this malign barrier would be little more than an inconvenience to me." I knew her point was valid, but I was still hesitant to risk her safety again. "I understand your concerns, but this may be our only option, and every second we debate the matter is that much farther ahead of us that that creature will be."
Spring Leaf tilted her head in confusion. "Blake? Who are you talking to?"
I held up Falathiel for her to see. "Her. This sword is sentient. Remember how it attacked the three of you in the temple? Well, that was her."
The faint hum of the force field was the only noise in the hallway for a moment as the spring-themed, ghostly mare processed the information. Eventually, she looked up to me. "You mean… that wasn't you?"
"Nope. That was all her. At least, until I took hold of her." I looked to the barrier. "We've delayed long enough." Without another word, I held Falathiel's hilt in a two-handed grip, and thrust her forward.
Her shining, silvery blade pierced the magical barrier almost effortlessly, and a moment later, it shimmered around the spot that had been pierced, and winked out of existence like a popped bubble. With the barrier down, the three of us raced down the new hallway, with Spring Leaf and Ruby taking off ahead of me thanks to their ghostly forms and lack of need to breathe.
The corridor ended in a doorway abruptly, and I activated my aurasight when I was close enough. I could tell that something living was on the other side, though I couldn't make out its shape, something that had never happened with the extra-sensory spell before.
There were no words needed for the two specters beside me, I simply looked to them and nodded. Without any hesitation, the pair dashed through the walls of the ruined castle while I used my armor-enhanced strength to kick the door off of its hinges and step into the room.
The false Twilight was standing in the middle of what appeared to be an ancient storeroom, sneering smugly. "You fools! You've left the artifact unguarded, and now it can complete its task in peace!"
Falathiel practically flew from her sheath as I dropped into a fighting stance. "What task?! What are you even doing here?!"
The mare's sneer deepened, and she crouched down. "Didn't you hear me?! I'm not about to monologue our plans to you!" She leapt at me, hooves stretched in front of her as though she meant to tackle me.
Guessing at her ruse, I held out my free hand and grasped her in a levitation spell. The purple duplicate yelped and glared at me. "Now, what do you plan to do? It's obvious you tried to get me to kill you so you couldn't talk, so now that that's foiled, why not tell me what's going on here?" I walked up close to her, looking her directly in the eye. "Or would you rather I find another way to get the information out of you? Perhaps a memory spell?"
She writhed and struggled in my grasp, trying to find a way to break free, but she was obviously too weak to do anything more than annoy me. "Fine! You really want to know so bad?!" Her mood suddenly shifted to a more somber one. "We goo ponies are here to help the cult of Nightmare Moon to bring back their Lady."
I looked the mare up and down. "Ok, let's say that for the time being, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you're being honest with me. Why are you helping them? They want to bring back a tyrant that will kill the world with her ignorance and take vengeance on the Princesses by slaughtering their subjects in front of them. Not to mention, the last time we met, she nearly killed both me and the mare you're imitating." The mare looked like she was about to say something, but before she could, I held up a hand. "Before you say anything, I want you to take your natural form; talking to somepony who looks like one of my marefriends is disconcerting."
She nodded and her form shifted, taking on the shape of a relatively generic female pony, though made entirely out of pale pink goo. "I'm sorry… I didn't know any of that… We're helping them because they promised to help us find sustenance… and mates." She sighed and looked away from me. "Something happened to our kind recently, and we've lost our ability to reproduce with each other. Those drones you saw were the result of whatever happened to us."
My magical grip on her slackened, and I set her down on her hooves, though I kept my magic at the ready. "They seemed pretty alive to me. But, if you're calling them 'drones', I'm guessing that there's something wrong with them."
The pink, gooey mare nodded. "They can only imitate life… in reality, they're pretty much just golems; they can't think or reason for themselves, they only live for a few years, and if a true goo pony isn't nearby to keep them in line, they go berserk. The two you saw imitating your friends, the zebra and the filly? Those two have the closest thing to actual intelligence we've seen in over two generations." She looked straight into my eyes, an almost pleading look in her own. "We need ponies to help us repopulate… without them, our race could die."
Spring Leaf walked up to her. "Ok, so I get that part… sort of. What about food then? What do you guys even eat?"
The goo mare looked to Spring Leaf. "We can only eat the fruit of the Gingold plant. A few years ago, all our crops of it started to die out. Now, there are only enough plants left to feed a few dozen of us, and there are hundreds of mouths to feed. In addition to helping us find mates, the Followers of the Moon promised to help us find a place to replant what few seeds we have left and save us from starvation." A long, heavy sigh escaped her gelatinous lips as she looked to me. "I'm sorry I threatened you earlier; I hoped that if I could scare you into thinking they were in danger, that I could make you leave so we could work in peace."
The mare seemed to be distressed about something as she spoke, though it didn't seem to be us. Deciding to try to befriend her, I took a cautious step forward. "That's alright; better you try to scare me off than actually try to kill me. Now, what's got you so upset? Why were you so hesitant to tell me?"
She looked away from me, seemingly scanning the room. "Because… because they threatened not to help us if we told anypony about this. I'm only telling you because I can see that you actually do want to help, without forcing us to do things for you."
The ghostly green mare next to me chuckled heartily. "Yeah, from what I know of him, that's just about how this human is to a tee."
"So what does that weird crystal thingie do, anyway?" All eyes turned to Ruby as she spoke for the first time during the conversation.
Our new friend regarded her for a moment. "Well, they told us that it was supposed to search out suitable mates for us… but I'm not so sure now."