Chapter 36: The Lesser Heavens

Chichi-hime felt a sudden surge of warmth through her body. The sunshine blinded her for a moment.

Then her hair got in the way of the sun.

As the numbness turned rapidly into pins and needles, the thought she might be falling crossed her rapidly de-addling mind.

The painful screeching intensified to a more of a wail. She caught a glimpse of Hakuchi. The way the clouds swirled reminded her of a snake wrapping itself around a pole when its head was pinned.

Hakuchi dove and caught her close to the ground again. The coldness immediately returned but not as bad as before. It felt more like when he was touching the shield.

He began going slower, and she took the opportunity to look out over the side. She saw fields and towns below her in foothills and mountain valleys. Not an ounce of snow in sight. And judging from the state of the trees, there hadn't been for a long time. She then noticed Hakuchi was constantly growing and shedding a thin layer of ice. It was almost like he was…

Shrinking.

Suddenly a loud boom shook the air and a wide blade ripped a huge gouge in the fields below.

If she had not already lost her right arm…

The kinto'un had finally caught up, the windigos that had been keeping them occupied for some reason, probably a lucky break in a sky territorial war, were now nowhere to be found.

Hakuchi sped up again. But he was struggling to go full speed. The way he bounced around reminded her of when a trainee monk failed to walk over hot coals correctly, burning their hooves.

Hakuchi exited the mountains and plunged towards the ground.

They ran through a desert area dodging rocks and cacti. The world was being torn up around them and twisted iron rails and large pieces of wood occasionally joined the natural airborne landscape. Suddenly they entered a grassy area that swiftly turned to trees.

Hakuchi disappeared under the leaves, but not for long. A kinto'un got low and did a horizontal slash. Hakuchi spun over holding on to Chichi-hime by two rings of clouds and she was dragged along through the grass.

She was spun back around, spitting out the apple that was in her mouth as Hakuchi struggled to pick up speed through the now completely leveled apple orchard.

While still constantly shedding ice.


Hakuchi was definitely getting smaller. Her lower legs now freely dangled in the air up to her knees. Even without the kinto'un chasing them…

Chichi-hime knew he was dying.

She would be crying if she wasn't desperately hanging on for dear life. Chichi-hime was also thankful that her larynx was still partially paralyzed, saving the warrior's honor she only managed to regain a few hours prior. She buried the bottom of her face in Hakuchi chilly fluffiness, not wanting a repeat of the fruit incident.

She had noticed the sun changed sides after the apple orchard was destroyed. They had turned north.

She could see another forest in front of them. But something looked… off about it.

As they sped closer, Chichi-hime could see it was dead, and covered in a deep purple haze that looked like it was choking the very essence out of the air. It looked so fundamentally wrong on every level; it made her nauseous.

Suddenly the explosions stopped.

Hakuchi flew into the trees and ducked behind a tree.

The two peaked from around it.

The kinto'un floated above a crest of a small rise, stopping at the line the ground began becoming discolored. They started to fly to the left and right until one was left.

All the tension left her body and she slumped down and hugged Hakuchi. Her best friend was dying. She was barely alive herself. And she was somewhere south of the only place she ever remembered. Lost in a creepy place, and the kinto'un surrounding the forest, there was no escape. No one would find her bones and she would become a ghost.

She sobbed.


Hakuchi flew off through the trees. At first, she thought he knew where they were going, but then he began randomly circling around and doubling back. The forest was no longer dead, but its strange purple and blue hues were far from comforting. And the trees looked terrifying, seemingly twisted and frozen in a moment of extreme pain.

Wondering if this was the fate of ghosts here was forefront in her mind.

Hakuchi ultimately had to put her down. They were at the edge of a narrow canyon that looked more like the ground was ripped apart versus any natural weathering. After he made sure she was resting comfortably against a tree, he raced off.

She did not know how long it was. Terror tends to slow time down, while sobbing tends to speed it up.

Hakuchi came back. If she wasn't already in hysterics, she would have escalated seeing how he looked like he was barely holding himself together.

He could not even support her anymore. Hakuchi wrapped himself around her like a lifesaver and began dragging her along.

She jumped and hopped along as fast as she could. He clearly found whatever he brought her across the entire continent for.

She spotted a rope bridge and thought that was where they were headed.

Then he pulled her over the edge.

Hakuchi lost his grip half way and Chichi-hime plunged to the ground. She gave a silent scream when her leg snapped. She thought her other leg may have broken too, but the pain was too close to her ankle to tell if it was her leg or her foot.

Either way, she wasn't walking out.

Hakuchi flew down. He wrapped himself around her again and dragged her across the ground into a cave at the end of the gorge. The rough ground eviscerated her flesh as she was still only in a back opened hospital robe.

Not far from the entrance, Hakuchi finally lost enough cohesion that he could not hold onto her anymore. She flopped to the ground.

Chichi-hime rolled over and saw Hakuchi float around like he was stumbling. As he got farther away from the light, she saw something she had not noticed before. Beyond the remnants of his clouds, was a white, glowing outline. Ethereal and beautiful, like the sparkling white swirls that graced his cloud's form, was the image of a horse.

The horse stumbled trying to walk deeper into the cave, covering more distance to the right and left than any progress forward. Finally, he fell over.

Hakuchi lifted his head and let out a long screech. He continued to cry out in a mournful wail, the call full of desperation.

Chichi-hime had put her head down on her arm, resigning herself to dying in this spot when the deeper section of the cave lit up like daylight.

She raised her head hopefully and saw a ball of light fly out from around the corner. Then it rushed over to Hakuchi. He gave a happy but tired chirp as he nuzzled the light. He continued to make cooing sounds as the light hovered just above his nose.

He then laid his head down peacefully and dissipated into sparkling embers that evaporated into nothing. There was a click when a small crystal hit the ground where he had been laying.

Chichi-hime put her head down and started to tremble and shake.

She heard a tinkling sound and looked up. She was well-read enough from the temple library to know what a breezie was. This one was snow white with scarlet red hair. She almost looked like she had a cutie mark as well, even though breezies did not get them. It was hard to tell because she was glowing.

The red-haired breezie was awkwardly clutching the crystal that came from Hakuchi in her elongated limbs. It was nearly as big as she was. Chichi-hime at least thought it was a she.

The breezie suddenly hoisted the gem up and pressed it against her forehead.

Chichi-hime felt like she got hit in the forehead as a wave pulsed through her body. She took what felt like her first truly deep breath in eons, like she was de-pinned a second time, and began gasping and coughing. She was shivering as she stared down at her hand, flexing her fingers.

She then absentmindedly stood up.

Chichi-hime held her hand out in front of her, palm up. A ball of light formed in her hand.

She had a rush of realization, that she did not know where it came from, of what had just happened.

She also had a rush about the identity of the breezie.

The rush gave her the sensation of wanting to bow and slam her forehead into the ground as swiftly as possible. But that was quickly overwhelmed by her familiar feeling of burning rage.

She smothered the ki ball in her fist. "(Why…)" she trembled, her emotions still on fever pitch, "(WHY!)" She forcefully moved her arm to the side, "(WHY DID YOU DO THAT?! YOU COULD HAVE HEALED THE BOTH OF US WITHOUT ANY EFFORT! WHY DID YOU LET HIM DIE WHEN IT WASN'T NECESSARY TO SAVE MY LIFE?! WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST LET ME DIE FOR HIM?! MY LIFE IS NOTHING COMPARED TO THE GODS AND SACRED RACES! I AM LITERALLY WORTH NOTHING ANYMORE! I HAVE NO PURPOSE! NO VALUE! NO USE IN THIS LIFE! SEND ME TO HELL BEFORE REBIRTHING ME AS A DUCK OR EVEN A BLADE OF RICE! AT LEAST MY EXISTENCE WOULD HAVE SOME MEANING THAT WAY!)"

The breezie flew closer and kissed her forehead.

Chichi-hime immediately fell backwards and hit the ground unconscious, twitching and foaming at the mouth.

The breezie rushed back into the deeper parts of the cave.


Chichi-hime woke up. She did not know where she was. She moved to stand up, and suddenly she realized she had both arms.

Then as she examined herself, she saw she was naked, and semi-transparent.

She got up even though there was no ground in this pink and blue haze and could walk.

She wandered around for she did not know how long until she heard a very loud tinkling sound. She turned and saw the breezie fly up.

Chichi-hime knelt down and placed her forehead on the non-ground. "(I am prepared to be reborn to whatever plane you deem appropriate.)"

The breezie tinkled, almost sounding like a laugh.

Chichi-hime lifted her head and looked around, "(This is not the Well of Souls?)"

The breezie tinkled again, and Chichi-hime stood as instructed. Suddenly they were surrounded by dozens and dozens of screens.

"(What… is this?)" she said, placing her hand on a display. She saw the princesses sleeping with a horse and a cat with clothing on the screen. She looked at the one next to it and saw Discord sharing a hospital room with a large black pegasis. They were also asleep.

Welcome to the Harmonic Convergence. Normally the alicorns handle travelers to this higher plane, as it is usually their own foolish fault, but as you can see, they are busy. So I don't have to hide this time.

Chichi-hime looked around again. "(This… this is your blood.)"

Minotaurs always have a way with words. Yes, this is the Heart of Magic, as the casters prefer.

The breezie flew up to a screen.

Just because I cannot interact with the world, does not mean I am ignorant of it.

"(But… But I saw you! You've returned!)"

What you saw is all the power I can muster. And for a very short time. This is a fleeting moment before my eyes shut again. Especially now.

"(Now?)"

A screen rotated in front of Chichi-hime. She saw an Equestrian train stop out in the snow fields. It was at a switching point before a narrow chasm, so trains could wait for each other to pass on the one-line track. No windigos in sight. A second train, an engine and just one car faced the opposite direction on the passing side rail.

Griffons came out of the second train, some with glittering ropes.

The engineer driving the train hopped out and shook hands with one of the griffons, then gestured to the train.

"Denken Sie daran, ziehen Sie Ihre Schuhe an und lassen Sie es echt aussehen!"

The griffons surrounded the train, wearing boots on their back paws that made hoof prints and two grips for their front talons to do the same, connected by a chain over their necks for when they were not on all fours.

They began unloading the cots holding the barely struggling occupants from the passenger cars and placing them beyond the barrier in the deeper snow.

"(WHAT ARE THEY DOING?! No! No, no, no, no, no,)" She backed up and looked at the breezie. "(Stop them! Do something!)"

I cannot. I divided myself in preparation for one war, only to be ambushed with another that should not have been triggered. With time, it would have been prevented. But that time has been stolen.

"(The Rén… this is their fault…)"

The breezie flew in front of her. No. It is not. Their presence has caused fear. Fear brings irrationality, panic. And those that slink in darkness can lead the herds over a cliff with the fall of a leaf.

Look at what is happening. They know of the panic, the irrationality. They hide themselves with hooved shoes, brass knuckles that leave bruises and crushed bones that match who they want it to look like. Now what do you see?

"(I see… I see the reason I need to live… And you can't or won't teleport me there to save them, will you?)"

You enter where you exit. Even I can't change that. And this… this will take time…

"(What wil—)"

Chichi-hime suddenly rose in the air and ribbons emerged from the pink and blue soup and began wrapping around her. She began to scream.

"(It burns! Oh, kami it BURNS!)"

Only the pure can take form and leave this place. But even your fusion with Hakuchi is not enough. Yet there is also no other option but you.

Chichi-hime's screams were smothered as she was completely enveloped. Then, the cocoon evaporated back into the soupy fog like it was never there.

The screens vanished, as did the breezie as she turned into sparkling dust.


Back in the empire…

An equestrian city guard ran into the crowded throne room. He was intercepted by crystal guards and pushed back out.

He was intercepted several times trying to find ways around.

Finally, he found what he thought were sympathetic guards to his urgent message. They pulled him into a side room.

He did not even get to finish the words 'thank you' before a spear was thrust through his throat.

The guard lay dying on the ground.

The unicorn of the five guards took the scrolls and burned them to ash.

"That's the fifth one. You'd think equestrians would be thrilled at this…" he shook his head.

"Mercy to Sombra's servants. It's disgusting. Whoever came up with the idea and intercepted that train and strung the bodies from the shield lamps was a genius who deserves a medal."

"It will be another three hours before the train would have arrived at Vanhoover, and four before that train carrying the passengers that keep sending instascrolls to relatives arrive and cause a panic in the station."

"Do you think we should take inspiration and ask the next passing traffic house to signal the train to stop?"

"Leave that decision up to the transportation department. The longer that Equestrian is in the dark, the better chance whoever did it has to get away."

"Speaking of dark. That story of a new dark mage has to be real at this point, right?"

"Judging by the newspapers that keep teleporting in for the princess's maids and foot stallions. The seals needed to teleport non-enchanted paper are ridiculously expensive. No one would waste money like that on a gossip column."


"There is no bucking way this is true!" Shining Armor threw the newspaper on the desk and stomped his hooves on either side.

"I think the fact that dark magic can be hidden by using enchanted keys to change its colors to whitish-yellow needs to be taken seriously," an equestrian sorcerer aide said ominously.

"I swear, all equestrians are idiots," Vermarine Quartz said. He walked from behind Shining to in front of the desk. "Your majesty. Think about everything that's happened today and how it relates to what's happening in your home country right now."

"Huh?" Shining Armor glanced at him, then looked seriously back down at the paper.

Shining Armor slapped his hoof on the desk. "Goku's friend! This is all panic and nonsense over Goku's friend." He paused. "But that also means…" He leaned over and put his hooves on the sides of his head. "Oh, Celestia… Poor Pinkie Pie…" He slumped back into his chair, "At least she's alive… even if the healing was botched…"

"Shining," Flash interrupted. "This isn't good. I'm sure the ponies here will figure out what the keys they are talking about are even faster than you. With everything right now being tied back to Sombra, a supposed dark mage wielding it is not going to help matters."

Shining moaned and held his face in his hooves.


She opened her eyes.

Then rolled into a ball and screamed. Unable to remember where or even who she was through the searing pain in her head, she pulled herself over to a stalagmite and leaned against it. She used her right hand to push the amber-gold hair out of her eyes. She noticed her hand. It looked like swirling yellow clouds housed in blue tinted glass.

She looked at her other hand. It was a normal hand with fluffy white fur. She rubbed her thumbs and fingers together. Both hands felt the same. Then the thought something was wrong with her left hand came to her mind. She held it up to her face, but couldn't place what the problem was.

She was recounting her fingers for the third time when she noticed a very faint ball of light in front of her. Nothing was causing it, and it was so faint that if they had been closer to the entrance, it would have been invisible.

She screamed and backed up, smashing the stalagmite, the three behind it, and slammed into the wall causing rocks to fall from the ceiling.

She thought she heard someone speak even though she was alone.

Pull that fog back and hide everything within you. Her mind isn't handling the transmutation into a caster well.

Her headache got lighter, and she scrunched her eyebrows together as thoughts tried to push through her confused brain.

She suddenly shoved her hands back in front of her face, felt all around her body, then her head.

Her beautiful, glossy almond fur was now white with a slight puffy curl to it. Her black hair was now a reddened moppy mess, but her ears and horns were still gone. Then she ran over her horn stubs again. They were rounded like a newborn calf instead of the magically fused slice that sealed the holes in her skull.

Let me help with that, since you can't yet.

The barely visible ball of light did not move, but her cheeks pushed up and felt like she was being puckered by two hooves. Then her cheeks were released and the hooves turned to hands. She felt like her ears were being violently tugged.

"Ouch!" she instinctively grabbed her head, and discovered ears.

Alright Hakuchi. You know her best. She won't be able to take this back for a while.

She felt a warm embrace and wondered if this is what being hugged by a mother felt like.

It did not hurt per se, more like a white flash of nothingness as her brain felt like it was being pulled apart out either side of her skull.

She felt herself being gently laid down, before she blacked out again.


Back at the castle…

The guards were guarding the outside of the hallway's stallion's room when they heard Shining Armor scream and start cursing.

The crystal guards threw open the door to discover an equestrian unicorn guard tangled on top of the prince. Then they grimaced seeing all the instascrolls on the ground.


Shining Armor raced towards the train system control room with the crystal guards trying to calm him down and disregard the letters as an 'equestrian snow-blind hallucination'.

Shining Armor threw open the doors. "I want a report on the two overnight trains coming to and from Vanhoover, NOW!"

"No reports of troubles on the train heading north," a crystal stallion said, not looking away from the controls, "in fact it is an hour ahead of schedule with the line cleared."

"What happened with the train heading south?!"

"The one that broke down in the farmlands? It reported breaking down again near the border mountain pass. A locomotive came up from the Whinnypeg conjunction to hookup and pull it back to that city's repair yards. Took an hour to clear the line. Thankfully it did not cause any delays."

"And the ponies on board?!"

All the ponies at their stations stopped what they were doing and got up from their chairs. They all stood next to each other in front of Shining Armor.

The one that had been talking stepped forward from the line. He tilted his head slightly and gave a sly smile. "There are no reports of injuries from the engine drivers or the conductor. Why are you so worried? The couple of train cars that engine was pulling were completely empty, right?" He tilted his head the other way, "Hmm?" He lost his smile, "Dull coat."

"Shining!" Flash galloped into the room. "Maids have found the bodies of eight soldiers and four other staff! All the soldiers are messengers from the city guards that went missing —"

Shining hung his head, "They're all dead," he said. He started to chuckle. "A conspiracy within my own troops. You murdered your brothers."

Suddenly a new symbol glowed over his existing cutie mark.

"YOU'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!" Shining shouted as he was engulfed in flames. Anything that was flammable was set alight. The ponies scrambled with their burning clothes.

"Hot! Hot! Hot!" Flash pulled off his armor and backed out of the room.

"I WILL NOT HAVE TREASON IN MY KINGDOM!"

The train and the castle guards huddled together.

Shining Armor's hair had turned to fire. Flames came from his mouth and nose. Then the fire swirling around him settled down and gathered at his sides.

One of the castle guard's eyes widened for something else other than fear.

He remembered being in the throne room as one of Sombra's brainwashed soldiers. He remembered the unicorn who turned into an alicorn of pure fire and what Sombra said as the magic circle he had set for the princesses went off.

"… you're the son of Celestia…" he stammered.

Flash pressed himself against the wall as a solid column of flames erupted out of the door and deep into the hallways.


She came to again.

She looked up at the dim light, still trembling in pain. "(Am… I… even… still… Chichi?)"

Yes. Yes you are. What good would choosing a new minister be if I destroy the reason I chose them in the first place.

"(Minister?... as… am I? Jinguushi?)"

Yes. I chose you over a thousand years ago to take on the duties of the Lesser Heavens, including ruling over the kinto'un and reigning in the windigos. But Sombra and Yajirobe had other plans. You scared me so much little one. While few enter, only those with harmony can exit. You almost got your wish for death many times, even with Hakuchi's assistance.

"(Why did you need to do this to my body?)"

Because your old ceased function, but was used to make this one.

"(I… died?)"

In a way… yes. For example, becoming an alicorn isn't as simple as adding a few new muscles and bones. One can have all the alicorn magic in the world shoved into their bodies, but that does not an alicorn make. My little ray of sunshine sleeping on a cloud, the reason you're struggling to think now is that you can cast magic now, and that required a fundamental remaking of your head. Hakuchi is now flying through your veins instead of the sky. He will take all the burden for now. If you want something to happen, and there is magic for it, he will cast it for you. And as you learn and grow into your heavenly immortal role, you'll understand just how close our beloved Hakuchi has become to you. Rely on him.

The light became even dimmer.

I don't have the strength to stay here anymore. I will watch in earnest.

The light ran away, leaving Chichi-hime alone.

"(I'm cold…)"

Suddenly a warm sleeping mat and blanket appeared around her out of nowhere.

"(Bunnies?)"

A box of her favorite treats appeared.

She reached out and popped one in her mouth.

"(… I could get used to this…)"

She pulled the blanket over her head.

"(Wake me up when everything stops hurting and we can do things, okay Hakuchi?)"

She felt a sensation of agreement.

Chichi-hime grabbed a handful of candy and disappeared into her warm cocoon.


Fire alarms and sprinklers went off as Flash ran into the room. He slid to a stop seeing the… aftermath.

He put his hoof to his mouth not to gag.

Then he ran up to Shining lying on the ground unconscious. The first thing he noticed was two thin burns where wings would connect on a pegasis. Then he saw his flanks.

His cutie mark had changed, his old mark now without its three small stars and the shield part now surrounded by a golden ring with disconnected curved light rays.

Emergency staff and more guards ran into the room. After the initial pause, they got to work, putting out the fires, getting Shining Armor onto a stretcher, and laying blankets on the remains.


Flash was with the doctors while Shining was in bed.

"How is he?"

"Not good," the crystal doctor said. "His magic is surging, circulating in unusual patterns for him, and causing pressure to build up in his filaments." He looked nervous. "We're using some old… items… we…" his voice squeaked, "randomly found." He coughed. "To relieve some of the pressure on his brain. But with the unprecedented change in his cutie mark, this may be a permanent shift in his mana heart. If it doesn't calm down… It's… It's not going to be good. I'm sorry."

Flash looked at the equestrian doctor, "And you concur?"

"Yes," he nodded. "My staff confirmed the," he looked at his coworker, "special items… cause no permanent harm. But it's like trying to drain a river through a garden hose, even at its highest setting. I don't know where all this magic suddenly came from. None of his records record his mana heart with this capacity. Even with familiar records, it's greater than even the princess pre-ascension, but nowhere close to her current alicorn state obviously."

He nodded. "I'm heading back to the royal office. I'm trusting him with you. Remember his wife and sister as you work."

He left the room as the doctors glanced at each other with fear in their eyes.


Flash went back into the royal office and was surprised to see Vermarine Quartz sitting at the desk, taking reports and issuing orders.

Vermarine Quartz spotted him and raised his hoof at the messenger currently talking. "Hold on a moment." He stood and walked over.

Everyone in the room went silent when they noticed Flash.

"Come with me," he said authoritatively, but his eyes were very pleading inside his helmet.

Flash nodded and Vermarine Quartz turned him around and they left the room.

Vermarine Quartz unceremoniously grabbed him in his magic and shoved him into the bathroom.

He then began frantically looking around the room, including under the sink.

"What are you doing?" Flash said seeing him lift the lid on the toilet tank.

He got in Flash's face. "I emptied my poofing box and stuffed it with recording stones after I overheard some of the responses to the castle blowing up. I am running out of stones," he said in a panicked whisper. "Lieutenant Flash. Stay with the prince. I know you're mad I pulled rank and sat in the chair but with the way things are going, you probably would have gotten a spear through you by now like the others."

"Things are that bad?"

Vermarine Quartz nodded his head frantically.

Flash pressed his lips together. "The prince has not regained consciousness yet. The doctors are trying to remove the pressure on his brain, but it is currently not enough."

"Is… is it true his cutie mark changed?"

Flash nodded.

"The crystal heart went off about the same time. The panic is probably the only thing that got the gathering ponies outside the eastern district to flee. The area around the temple is becoming overcrowded. Seems the monks brought all the villagers into the district. And I have a recording that instead of protecting property, soldiers are helping rioters to burn the untouched farms down. Even video footage from a report while the orchard trees are being cut down behind him."

"What about the dead soldiers?"

"I got that too. I got lots. Just stay with the prince. For your safety and his. Now let's have a fake argument and both leave here looking absolutely pissed at each other."


Outside in the hall, crystal soldiers were gathered around the bathroom door. One had a glass to his ear.

"Do you hear anything?"

He shook his head. He cast a hearing amplification spell right when the shouting started.

"Buck!" he shouted, pulling away and grabbing his ear.

Vermarine Quartz threw open the door. He saw the broken glass and the soldiers.

"What do you think you are doing?" Vermarine Quartz demanded.

"Get out of my way," Flash said rudely and pushed past Vermarine Quartz. He stomped angrily down the hall.

"Everything alright sir?" one of the soldiers asked and the other rubbed his ear.

"Yes. Prince Shining Armor is still unconscious and will be for some time. The doctors are having a very hard time stabilizing him."

"So we might get lucky?" another said excitedly.

"The princess is a skilled healer",Vermarine Quartz reminded them, "and the dark mage rampaging in Equestria won't keep her occupied for more than a few days."

"Let's blame the train attack on marauders and close the tracks down. We don't need Equestria. He'll die before she even realizes the messages are fake."

"And it will give us time to deal with the temple."

"And how do you suggest we do that?" Vermarine Quartz quipped. The frustration was so sharp, it sounded completely real.

"It was griffon alchemists among the easterners that taught us how to use the tar pits. Let's see what the westerners can do? If they also know how to use it, all we need to do is block off the sewers to that part of the city and up it goes. Celestia will need to set the sun sometime. Can't use that light when everypony is asleep."

"How about we calm that enthusiasm before we set nearly a sixth of the empire on fire. The Buddhists were ecstatic to know the way to Earth was open again. If we can convince them to leave on their own, we can take over the area without turning it into a future lake."

The guards looked at him suspiciously.

"Hey, don't look at me like that," Vermarine Quartz pointed at them. "I was thrilled at the chance to finally clear out the last of Sombra's supporters. But you're not thinking about the long-term effects of losing a sixth of the city. The conduits that feed the crystal heart run underneath that part of the city too, you know. Let's not permanently damage the empire's defenses. Sombra destroyed all the records and killed everyone who built it. We don't even know what it's made of anymore."

One of the ponies drooped his ears. "He killed my cousin's family because his wife's parents were involved in laying the crystals…"

"See," Vermarine Quartz said. "Now let's not cut our noses to spite our faces."


Chichi-hime kept slipping awake. She would dream a little bit, usually a happy memory, before things began to go wrong and she felt like getting slapped in the head, like trying to force bedding into a slightly too small of a chest.

Something about a moving picture about a train…

And it had made her angry.

Chichi-hime suddenly felt like she was being shaken awake. She opened her eyes wide and saw fire.

She threw her blanket off and rolled away screaming. She raised her right arm across her face and held out her left hand defensively. Suddenly a ring of clouds formed around her wrist and water shot out of her palm, putting the fire out and soaking her bed in the process.

She panted as she looked at the burned bedding, then glanced around the cave. She saw more scorch marks and trails of melting ice.

She put her face in her palms realizing she was casting spells in her sleep, which she got internal confirmation. She looked up, closed her eyes, and sighed. Now that she was awake, she could focus on her dreams and actually remember what memory was trying to poke out.

Chichi-hime took a sharp breath and gritted her teeth. She was tired, and her body still screamed in aching pain, but she forced herself to her feet. She wobbled a little as her body and the little thoughts in the back of her mind protested.

"(I'm not wasting anymore time,)" her teeth chattered. "(Clothe me.)"

She found herself in a kimono. It had a flower pattern similar to her favorite childhood one with some added cloud motifs. An ice mirror appeared in front of her and she saw herself for the first time.

Despite the slight fluffiness she saw on her arm her face was smooth and she still looked like herself. Except being white.

Her hair was back to its original length from the short mess that had grown back after being shaved a year ago. It was a golden with a tingle of red, similar but darker than a kinto'un. It was also a complete mess as she kept trying to pull her long bangs from in front of her eyes. When she tried to move them behind her horns like she always did, she dropped her hair and put both her hands on the mirror.

They weren't the small slender horns she had before, but large horns that curved high on her head like a male's. She began tearing up realizing they were modeled off her father's.

She took a step back and wiped her eyes. "(Cute. But you know what I meant. Get me my father's armor. I know ponies can magically adjust the fit of their own, so you can make it fit me.)"

She felt hesitation, then a sound like snapping fingers.

In front of her was a pile of ash and melted slag.

She screamed and knelt down. She grabbed the solid lump of metal. "(What happened,)" she choked out.

The mirror suddenly flashed and she began seeing images of the past. Her heart sank as the first thing she saw was Yajirobe's merchant backers being let into the Kohane embassy.

She watched the highlight reel of what happened, from the lamp oil being switched out, to the shinobi killing the soldiers and wearing their armor and skin to get at the tanegashima. The tunnels being flooded with fumes and the trap set with what her rangaku lessons called a 'Leyden jar'.

She saw everyone die, and Shining Armor weeping hugging one of the surviving soldiers.

"(What's happening now?)"

She saw Shining Armor unconscious on a bed with something on his horn.

"(What happened?!)"

She saw the explosion in the train room and what the doctors said. She also heard what the one pony said before he died.

"(Is he really her son?)"

She felt an internal shaking head and was shown another image. The failed assassination on Sombra. The equestrian fire mage had an extremely similar cutie mark, a shield within the circle sun. Then the trap went off and sucked him almost dry. The sun circle vanished from his flank. Then Sombra's laugh and monologuing about the trap and how it only worked on alicorn magic and he obviously was Celestia's secret child judging from his mark.

"One can have all the alicorn magic in the world shoved into their bodies, but that does not an alicorn make," she remembered.

"(The filaments. His ancestor's filaments hardened too large to use magic effectively after Celestia's magic was stolen. And now the prince's filaments have hardened too small. Is there anything we can do?)"

She felt the shaking head again.

"(What's happening with the farmers?)"

Chichi-hime saw the evacuation of the farmers by the monks, the current systematic destruction of the villages and farms, and the gathering of angry crowds outside the district entrance only to be scared off by the shield's activation.

"(Has the empire turned against us?)"

She was shown many, many conversations, from couples talking while their foals slept in the privacy of their homes to the soldiers in the palace.

"(How old was that conversation?!)" she shouted, watching Flash Sentry walk away from the bathroom.

She felt that it was live as the conversation between the guards continued.

Chichi-hime had a thought. An awful thought. A wonderful, awful thought.

She knew it was not only possible, but now as a Jinguushi, she was expected to do something similar. A haven near impossible to reach, but still accessible to mortals so the worthy could still find an audience.

Chichi-hime stood.

"(What is the strongest armor you can change to fit me?)"

A box was teleported in front of her. She opened it.

"(This is made for Shī Jiù,)" she said looking at the helmet. "(This is Kohane?)"

She felt a nod as she pulled out the chest piece. She recognized it.

"(This is what the Kohane shinobi were wearing on the escape trails.)" It flopped over in her hands. "(There's no metal. Not even chainmail…)"

She felt her answer.

"(If this is immu—?!)" she chuckled. "(The box isn't.)" She laughed. "(And as a cow, I'm small enough to wear it!)"

"(We are little zashiki bokko, are we now?)" Chichi-hime smiled, putting it on. It was basically a vest with no sleeves for her. But it covered everything important.

She searched through the box some more. "(Hmmm,)" she sighed disappointed. "(Nothing else I can use. What next on our borrowing spree?)"


Somewhere…

"Wo ist es geblieben?! Finden Sie es! Das war für uns das ursprüngliche Geschenk zum Lernen und Kopieren! Wenn sie es herausfinden, würde die Allianz ruinieren!"