Author's Note: This story takes place after the events MLP: Friendship is Forever.

Chapter 1: Addiction

Misty's ears twitched and her eyes darted back and forth as she slunk through a dark, decrepit stone hallway. Ever since Twilight had become the new princess of Equestria, the Wonderbolt had felt a strange, inexplicable sense of restlessness set in, and whenever strong fits of it struck her, she would sneak through the unused underground pathways that crisscrossed deep into the cliffs of Canterlot. She feared that if anypony saw her agitation, they might view it as a sign of weakness, or worse, mental illness. Then again, who was she to assume it wasn't mental illness?

So of course she gave a start when she saw a shadow appear from around the corner up ahead. She scrambled backwards, looking for the nearest hiding place, but it was no use. The other pony rounded the corner and stopped as she caught his eye.

"Misty?"

She shuffled her wings, avoiding his gaze. "Hey, Blizzard. What are you doing down here?"

"Me? What about you?"

She shrugged. "You first."

He looked around, in case somepony else from their team happened to be wandering through the tunnels. Then, he sighed. "Something's… wrong. I can't quite explain it, but I think it might have something to do with Princess Twilight removing our cutie marks."

Misty snorted. "Princess Twilight… what a joke."

"I don't see how," said Blizzard, though he wasn't reprimanding her. "Are you saying Celestia had more right to rule over us?"

She waved her hoof in the air, a sarcastically dreamy gesture. "What is 'right?'" she asked, a dry rhetorical. "Did those we killed have the right to live? Did we have the right to kill them? Are the two rights mutually exclusive?"

"I don't see where you're going with this," said Blizzard, bemused.

"Then allow me to continue," said Misty with yet another sarcastic sweeping gesture. "What right has a wolf in the forest to kill and eat a rabbit? If he has no right, is it then his moral obligation to starve to death? Has a pony born with no legs been denied the right to walk? If so, who is responsible? Who is it that owes him a set of legs?"

"Just spit it out," sighed Blizzard. "I don't have time for your nonsense."

"What I'm saying," explained Misty, visibly disappointed by how dense her comrade was being, "is that there is no such thing as right. We only live by the idea because it's a convenient way for us to keep things nice and orderly, with a minimum of conflict. I think it's ridiculous that we should have to call that upstart alicorn 'Princess Twilight' just as much as I think it's ridiculous that we had to bow before Celestia. The only reason we should listen to them is because they're stronger than we are."

Blizzard was quickly becoming depressed by what he was hearing. "But wait," he said. "Celestia forced us to kill for her in order to maintain her ideal of a perfect society. Twilight is willing to let us do whatever we want."

"She won't let us kill," retorted Misty. "That's one less thing we're allowed to do now that Twilight is in power."

"Are you saying you liked killing?"

Misty opened her mouth to respond, then realized she was unsure what to say and closed it. She hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Well… now that you mention it, even though my cutie mark's gone, I can still kind of feel it, only it's being held back or something. It's been driving me crazy. That's…that's kind of why I'm here. I was hoping to sort of walk it off, I guess."

"It's been the same way for me," said Blizzard. "I feel like there's something I need to do…"

"…Like there's an itch you can't quite scratch…" continued Misty.

"Yeah, it's as though I've stopped doing something vital, like eating enough or sleeping enough, only it's something else…"

"Like you've lost a dear friend that you never knew you had," said Misty in a singsong voice, swooping by him and casually circling him through the air. "Like there's a hole where your heart used to be, only it's not your heart, it's something else, and you can't even name it…"

-"I've been having uncontrollable thoughts about killing," stammered Blizzard, speaking quickly, as though he was keen on putting as much distance between himself and the words as possible. "They come on really strong, all of a sudden… just murdering random ponies, or pigs, or other living creatures—stamping them to death, or cutting them up, and I don't know why, and it's terrifying…"

"What's so terrifying about it?" asked Misty unsympathetically. "We used to do that stuff all the time, remember? I should think you'd be used to it by now."

"But it was supposed to stop," insisted Blizzard. "Without those skull cutie marks, what reason do we have to be murderers?"

"That itch inside you," responded Misty, "that tells you that you have to kill. That feeling like you'll go crazy if you don't. What other reason do you need?"

Blizzard was dumbfounded. "But… it's wrong!"

Misty yawned. "I've just explained to you how the concept of 'right' is an illusion. Do I really need to spell 'wrong' out for you, too?"

"No, I just"—

-"Here, I'll spell it: W-R-O-N"—

-"Shut up."

Misty hovered directly in front of Blizzard, her face so close to his that she might have been about to kiss him. Instead, she whispered huskily: "Come on, Blizzard. Imagine going out into Ponyville, late at night, and picking a random house to break into. Imagine dragging somepony kicking and screaming into the trees, and just kicking him around, breaking all his legs, smashing his skull in, watching the glistening blood stream out…"

"You're sick."

"So are you. You just won't accept it."

He sighed. "Maybe if I tell Twilight about this, she can cure me. She can figure out what went wrong and fix it, and then I won't have these urges anymore."

"And what if she can't cure you? What if she doesn't know what's wrong, so she just puts you on a short leash and doesn't leave you alone with anypony? You'll be a dangerous potential criminal to her, and what little freedom you have now will be gone…"

"Just stop it, alright?" He shoved Misty away, prompting a soft "hmph" from her. "If you want to go kill innocent ponies, go do it yourself. Why do you want me to come along so badly?"

She shrugged. "I thought it'd be more fun with a friend."

"Gee, thanks. I feel so validated."

Misty laughed. "Well, after talking to you, I feel a lot better, so I guess there's that. Anyways, I think I'm gonna go get something to eat."

As she took off, heading for the surface, Blizzard tried not to dwell on thoughts of Misty's vile suggestion.

Meanwhile, Princess Luna and Twilight were flying through the skies above Canterlot, slipping through the clouds and savoring the sensation of cool mist rushing through their coats. It had been five months since the death of Princess Celestia, and Luna had forced herself to eschew a traditional alicorn mourning period in order to move on and help Twilight prepare Equestria for the wrath of nature that would come when Celestia's enchantments wore off.

"It's the diseases that worry me the most," explained Twilight. "Ponies everywhere have been building levees and redesigning buildings to prepare for natural disasters, and stocking up on food that doesn't spoil to prepare for crop failures, but I'm afraid training unicorn doctors to cure deadly viruses that don't even exist yet is a challenge that I've still no idea how to overcome."

"Well, Celestia's enchantments are doing a fine job of keeping ponies healthy, at least for now," observed Luna. "Perhaps I can look through her notes and find something that explains how she solved the problem."

"That sounds like a brilliant idea."

From their altitude, Canterlot looked tiny, like a toy city built into a large, hilly carpet. Twilight looked down upon it and thought absently of how much it was dwarfed by the rest of Equestria, and how Equestria in turn was dwarfed by the rest of the Earth.

"How much of the world do you think has never been explored by ponies?" Twilight asked Luna.

"The vast majority of it, I'd assume… but why do you ask?"

"It just seems strange that with our capacity for flying and using magic, we would stay confined to Equestria to the point where we only know of other creatures that cross or bounders, or live in neighboring regions. I know it was part of Celestia's way of maintaining secrecy, but after we deal with the problem of her enchantments, I feel like exploration should be one our next major goals."

"Why not send somepony to explore now?" asked Luna. "You are the princess, after all."

"Yeah, I guess…" Twilight said, before quickly adding "but so are you."

Up to this point, they hadn't discussed how they would split the responsibility of ruling Equestria. Twilight secretly felt that Luna had more of the right to the throne than she did, since Luna had not only been Celestia's sister, but also had also demonstrated herself to be a much more responsible ruler than the older alicorn.

"It's funny," said Luna. "We always encouraged the myth that Celestia's main task was to raise the sun, and mine to raise the moon, but in reality both of those things happen on their own due to the motions of planets. Was there ever a moment when you realized that during your stargazing?

"Yes, back when I was a filly studying in Canterlot," replied Twilight, "but when I asked Celestia why she would lie about something like that, she told me that she used to really believe she had the power to raise the sun. The massive amounts of light she would generate during her 'raising' spell created the illusion that she was accelerating the sunrise, she said, and when she realized the truth, she just felt too embarrassed to tell everypony."

"I… suppose that might be true," said Luna, though she sounded doubtful. They trailed behind a flock of birds until they dispersed after a few seconds. "Celestia did convince me that I was raising the moon, and we alicorns never were a very scientific-minded race. I suppose that's one downside of being gifted with more than enough magic to meet all of our needs."

About half an hour later, Twilight headed to the Wonderbolts' wing of the castle, remembering Luna's suggestion that she send somepony to explore neighboring lands.

As the alicorn stepped out into the flying team's private courtyard, Rainbow Dash spotted her while in the middle of a sharp turn. "Twilight!" she shouted with joy before skidding ungracefully into the ground.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, Rainbow!" cried Twilight as she ran over to her friend.

"It's cool," said Dash dismissively as she hopped to her hooves. "All part of the job description. So, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Miss Rainbow Dash of the Wonderbolts," Twilight said airily, (though she was unable to keep a straight face) "I, Princess Twilight of Equestria, have a most important mission for you and your fellow royal fliers."

Rainbow Dash caught on immediately, and bowed so low that a blade of grass tickled her nose. "O, most noble Princess Twilight, what is your command?"

"Outside the borders of Equestria lie many lands yet unknown to ponykind. I hereby task you, Lady Dash, along with any Wonderbolts who may wish to accompany you, with the most honorable duty of exploring these lands and report what you discover to me, thereby expanding our knowledge of the world outside of our kingdom."

"Wait, like, actually?" asked Rainbow, breaking character.

"Yes, actually," giggled Twilight, doing the same. "My projections indicate that we have more than a sufficient workforce to prepare for the disasters that will arrive when the enchantments wear off, so that means we can turn our attention to other things."

Rainbow Dash considered Twilight's proposal. "If I go exploring," she asked, "can you and our other friends come?"

"I'm afraid I'm going to be quite busy," explained Twilight, "and besides, I suspect that anypony who wasn't a Wonderbolt would just slow the rest of you down.

Rainbow Dash looked somewhat dismayed by this, but said "Well, maybe… but it depends who is coming with me."

"Well, I'm all for the idea of an exploration mission, for what it's worth," said Spitfire. "It sounds like a lot of fun." By now, all six of the main Wonderbolts were gathered around Twilight and Rainbow Dash.

"It would be a nice change from having to stay in one place while we perform tricks," added Soarin'.

Blast and Tyco chimed in that they, too, would like to go on the mission, at which point Twilight and Rainbow turned their gazes to Misty.

"I think our fans would be a little disappointed if we just up and disappeared for a few months," she shrugged. "Seems like at least somepony needs to keep giving shows to tide them over 'till the rest of the team gets back."

"Good thinking," said Blizzard. "I think I'll stay, too." Misty raised an eyebrow at him, smirking almost imperceptibly.

"Well," said Rainbow Dash, looking back at Twilight, "that sounds good enough for me. I'm in."

"Excellent!" cried Twilight, clapping her hooves together. "Then we should start making preparations at once."

While everypony else was distracted, Misty and Blizzard slipped away, heading back to the Wonderbolts' lounge.

"Now do you see what I mean about her being a joke?" whispered Misty. "She and her little friend were acting like a couple of kids. Just think—she's the one in charge of our country.

"It's not like we can do anything about it," Blizzard pointed out.

Misty gave him a sly grin. "We just did, didn't we? With the other Wonderbolts gone, there won't be anypony watching us, so long as Twilight's busy, we can get away with all kinds of fun. That's why you're not going with them, isn't it?"

"You're not still on about killing ponies?"

"I know you're still thinking about it. Don't lie."

"Alright, so I am thinking about it. So what? Don't make this harder for me."

"It would be easier if you'd just go out and do it."

He could see nothing good would come from talking to her any longer, so he turned and left without a word, heading towards his room as he ignored her protestations. Once he was there, he gazed out his window, wondering how he could save himself from himself.