A Family Matter.

Chapters

The wandering pony.
The Hospital
Hospital pt. 2
Evolving Situations
Nightfall
Aftermath.
Elsewhere

The wandering pony.

Metal armored hooves swept through dark grass as the unicorn trod along a non-existent path pushing her way farther and farther through the dark forest on her way...somewhere. She really couldn't remember where she was heading, or why she was heading there in the first place. She remembered the mists, the attempt to access the ancient archives, followed by the desperation and struggle to escape while still alive. Was she even still alive? Or did she die there in the archives and this was her punishment? Had she breached the archives, or was this all still part of the tests that allowed access? She was so tired she wasn't sure if this was just one more trick.

'One hoof in front of the other, just one hoof in front of the other.' Her mind continued to focus directly on her forward motion, as if it was only that single mindedness that was keeping her walking. Of course that might have been true as a stumble every now and then lead to a struggle to move the next hoof forward. Her mind dimly noted the flickering greenish glow that shined from the shadows nearby and if her mind had been more open to the outside world she might have realized it was a timberwolf, as it was she was to focused on her forward momentum to care about anything approaching her. For its part the wolf was finding that every time it considered attacking the oblivious food source that it felt a very impressive desire to be elsewhere as its survival instinct pushed it away from the pony. Overcoming said survival instinct in the end it rushed from the trees and leapt towards the pony with a roar, fully intent on getting a nice meal from the foolish pony.

The timberwolf was still airborne and descending towards the pony when its eyes caught the minor shimmer of blue that seemed to ripple through the air around its intended food source. The creature had no idea what the shimmer was, though it found out seconds later as its forepaws impacted the shimmer and simply ceased to exist as they were turned into wood shavings. The rest of the timberwolf followed behind and the mare stumbled on as tiny floating remains blew away on a breeze. Pale eyes blinked in confusion as several large slivers of wood floated down past a face partially obscured by a black scarf. The confusion was short lived though as the pony's mind began to focus on forward motion again to keep her moving.

'House?' The thought whispered dimly through the mares mind as she stumbled free of the forest and continued to push onwards. The house appeared to be surrounded by the largest number of birdhouses that she had ever seen, not to mention what looked to be burrows and other animal homes. Her mind slowly dredged up the fact that she had stopped moving and ever so slowly she lifted a hoof and struggled to shift it forward putting all her effort into the slow movement until she managed to get moving once more. What had started as spiking agony with each step had long ago dulled to a whisper of pain in the back of her skull. She was certain that there would have been those who would say that that was a problem, that she had pushed herself so far and so hard that she wasn't even feeling her pain anymore. Or maybe she had felt that pain for so long that she was simply getting used to it, she wasn't sure.

"Al-most t-there." Her voice was so hoarse that she didn't even recognize it. "Ju-st a litt-le farther. I'm coming m-mother." A hoof slipped on a small rock and the mare tumbled rolling down a short hill before sliding to a stop. Her vision blurred and she felt the tiredness that had been struggling to pull her down for the last six days leaping forward to try and grab her mind in an attempt to drag it into darkness. 'No!' The thought slammed through the encroaching blackness and with a pained filled sob she managed to get her hooves under her and struggled upright. She tried to tell herself that the agony that she was currently feeling in her back legs was just one more discomfort among many that she would get used to but was finding it hard to do when her mind didn't want to work correctly. Struggling to ignore the pain she focused on moving again and began another stumbling walk towards the town she could now see ahead. The closer she got to her goal the harder it was to focus and continue to go forward even as her hooves dragged with each step. The silver and black armor that covered her legs seemed to be getting heavier but she would never remove it for anypony, there was no way she wanted anypony to see her failure.

0000000

PONYVILLE

"Twilight! Twilight!" Twilight groaned and shifted about under her covers trying to block out the annoyance. "Twilight you gotta come quick, there's some unicorn walking into town and she nearly killed Rock!" That got Twilight's attention.

Throwing off the covers Twilight found herself looking cross-eyed at Rainbow Dash who's muzzle was less than an inch from her own. "What are you talking about." Rainbow Dash backed off and Twilight struggled out of bed trying to untangle herself from her sheets.

"Some unicorn just walked into town, well actually she stumbled into town and looked like she was going to fall over any second so Rock went to ask her if she was okay. When he started to get close he said he thought he saw something around her so he reached out and the next thing anypony knows there's blood everywhere and his leg was really torn up." By the look on Rainbow Dash's face it was obvious that it hadn't been a pretty picture. "Lyra told everypony to stay back and that it might be a offense shield, whatever that is."

"Is everypony else okay?" Twilight finally managed to toss off her sheets wishing that Spike was back from Canterlot.

"Yeah, but only cause Lyra was there. What the heck is it anyway?"

"Think of your body being surrounded by thousands of knives working like a blender, anything that touches it is torn to pieces in seconds." Twilight shivered at the thought of what would have happened to Rock if he had just walked into the shield, she hurried down the stairs and out into the street. "Our instructors at school showed us how dangerous such a shield was by creating one and then throwing a toad into it."

"Whoa! What happened to it?" The pegasus noticed Twilight Shudder.

"Everything was chopped so fine that it was nothing but a mist of blood and very tiny parts of the body." She still had bad dreams about that. "That spell is powerful and only some of the most talented unicorns can cast it without...bad things happening." Reaching the center of town she could see the crowds of ponies standing well back from the unknown unicorn that was stumbling and staggering through town. It was impossible to see much of the pony as he or she was shrouded in a black cloak that covered nearly everything and any part of the pony's legs that were seen were covered in heavy silver and black armor that covered from hoof to knee. Twilight recognized the armor immediately as a type worn by those who patrolled the frontier, mostly those who were forced to patrol in danger prone areas. The cloak hood covered most of the head but there was also black scarf that wrapped around to hide the ponies face as well meaning the most she could see was a bit of coloring that looked to be a dull pale blue. A simple spell allowed her to see the shimmering force that surrounded the pony and she stared in surprise at the size of the shield. A normal unicorn using a offensive shield spell would create a close shield that would exist only a foot or so out from the full extension of a fore and back leg allowing full movement but no danger of the pony running into their own shield. This pony had a shield that was nearly six feet outwards from her and seemed to be dual layered as well, as if the pony was actually afraid that something might get through the first shield.

"Everypony stay back!" Twilight was about to move closer in an attempt to speak to the pony when Lyra hurried over.

"Don't bother, I already tried to snap her out of it but she just keeps walking forward and doesn't respond to anypony." Lyra frowned as she looked at the shield "I've never seen anypony create a shield that big, or actually layer two of them together."

"I could try and disperse it." Twilight looked worriedly at the ponies all around "But if my spell fails it might detonate the shield instead and..." She didn't even want to think about what that might do to anypony standing around. "We need to get everypony out of here so I can..." She stopped speaking as she noticed a pony striding down the center of the street straight for the cloaked pony. "Hey! Stay back!" She didn't even get to move to intercept the pony when he began to shout.

"Beatrix Lulamoon stop this right now!" The stumbling pony froze, her one raised hoof lowering somewhat jerkily as if unsure if she should move forward or stay still.

'Talked to her?' Her mind struggled to focus and she noticed a blue unicorn standing in front of her, though his mouth moved she could barely hear what was said. But he was familiar to her battered mind, a blue unicorn with a blue and silver mane "P-ok-ey?" But Pokey lived in Ponyville, that vile town that she hated so much, filled with all those ponies she despised. 'Am I in Ponyville?' Her mind refused to answer that in the positive, she couldn't be there of all places. She had left the archives, fled the consuming darkness and its evil though she could still feel the chill of it on her legs.

"Beatrix! Listen to me!" Pokey stepped forward though he made sure to stay out of the range of the shield. "You're safe now, there's no need for the shield."

'Shield?' Her mind slowly began to move, memories ever so slowly began to churn about. She had been...running, fleeing something in the dark, and she had summoned a shield to protect herself. When the darkness had breached the shield she had reinforced it and struggled onward. So close to her goal, so close to what she sought and yet miles away. "I failed." It was at that statement that her magic finally gave out and the shields collapsed along with what fading strength she still had vanishing and sending her forward as her forelegs gave out. She barely felt the softness of a magic aura as it closed around her holding her in place. A scarf peeled away and the hood slid back as she felt herself being held.

Twilight stared as the cloth slid away to show a pony she had never expected to see in Ponyville again. "Trixie?" The mare looked horrible, her coat a dull pale mockery of its normal bright azure blue color and as the rest of the black cloth fell away Twilight could only stare at the strange black lines that curled and flowed across the unicorns form. They weren't a single solid mass of lines but short marks of black that curled or ran straight for a few inches and then curled or twisted. Her eyes though were what caught Twilights attention the most with the color almost completely gone leaving behind nearly white eyes with the normal violet barely visible.

"Beatrix." Pokey's telekinetic field faded as he held Trixie tightly. "Please, talk to me."

"Bro-ther." She struggled to speak through her abused vocal cords "I f-failed. Couldn't get in. I f-ailed m-m-mother." She stiffened suddenly "Not real, you're not real, nother tri-ck. Ha-have to-to..." Finally exhausting what little reserves she had left she slipped into unconsciousness.

Author's Note

I will say the chapters for this story will be shorter than the ones for my doctor who story, so don't expect a 13k chapter for this one unless I really feel like it sometime. Most chapters will probably be anywhere from 2 to 4k at most. Well enjoy if you want to, or hate if you want to, it's up to you.

The Hospital

Ponyville Hospital

The beep of the heart monitor filled the room as the nurses bustled out to begin their rounds to other patients. Twilight found herself simply standing and staring at the pony who was now occupying the hospital bed. She had honestly never expected to see Trixie again, not after her actions with the Alicorn Amulet. She had simply assumed that Trixie was off doing...well, whatever Trixie did when she wasn't bothering ponies or trying to conquer towns. Of course in the condition she was in right now Twilight doubted that Trixie would be causing anypony any trouble anytime soon. But she also found herself wondering where Trixie had come from, and why she had stumbled into Ponyville of all places. Rainbow Dash had taken off to find the others and tell them what had happened, which left Twilight with Pokey in the hospital waiting for the doctor to return and tell them how bad Trixie's injuries were. The door to the room opened and Doctor Stable hurried in only to be accosted by Pokey nearly immediately. "How is my sister?"

"Malnourished, dehydrated and extremely exhausted both physically and magically. The markings on her body appear to be some form of magic but no spell we know has told us anything about them other than that they are seeping some kind of base energy into the air around her. We had to remove the armor she was wearing." He looked worriedly at the x-rays held before him "As you can see we needed access to her left rear leg and her right foreleg to cast them."

"How in the world could she walk on broken legs!" The idea of any pony stumbling along on broken legs was almost impossible for Twilight to believe.

"She's using a simple medical spell that's used to hold bones in place and keep them from shifting around. We use the same spell when we have to put a cast on broken limbs, even though she is currently unconscious she's maintaining the spell somehow. She's currently maintaining six different holds dealing with two breaks in her rear left leg, one in her right foreleg and three broken ribs. I am impressed she even made it to town from wherever she was as it must have been agony to even walk." Turning to Pokey he nodded to the unconscious Trixie. "Since she was already maintaining it we allowed her to continue and just put the casts into place. As soon as she wakes up we can tell her to release the spell. There is...something else I think you should see." Moving to the bed he drew the sheets back to allow them to see Trixie's left foreleg revealing that It was now a solid black from hoof to knee, the normal blue color was missing entirely.

"The armor covered it completely but all four legs bear the same blackness to them. It only reaches from hoof to knee on the forelegs and hoof to ankle on the rear but we have no idea what it is." Doctor Stable levitated a chart to Pokey who began to look it over quickly. "At first we thought it might be the same as the lines on her body but it isn't showing any activity at all that we can register as magical. In fact the only difference in those areas from the rest of her body is that they appear to be slightly colder than her normal body temperature. It's not some kind of dye or discoloration of just the fur either, it appears that any new fur growth there will also be black."

Twilight found herself staring at the black for several moments while her mind ran through every single injury and disease she could think of and came up empty. 'If I don't have a name for it why does it look familiar?' It was as if she had seen it somewhere before but so long ago that she couldn't remember when. Maybe she could find information in the library about whatever it was that would cause such a reaction in a pony.

"I highly doubt she will wake for quite some time, she's going to need quite a bit of rest even after she..." The doctor's words were cut off by a soft moan from Trixie as she began to stir. "That's not...there is no way she should even be awake for another day at the least." The doctor hurried to the bedside.

"My sister has never let others set her timetable for her." Pokey watched carefully as Trixie began to wake.

'Irritating beep! Trixie should crush you.' A feeble attempt to grab onto her magic and destroy the offending beeping object failed spectacularly as no magic came to her call. Deciding that this meant she would have to do something physical she debated if it was worth it or if it would be better to just pull the covers up and go back to sleep. 'Wait, covers? When did Trixie get to a hotel?' A quick attempt to open her eyes ended up nearly blinding her and she clamped them shut again immediately. Giving herself a few seconds she cracked her eyes open and slowly began to get them accustomed to the shining light above her. "Stupid light." Her throat felt like she had just tried to run sandpaper through it, which set her to coughing which only made it hurt worse.

"You always did know how to make an entrance Beatrix."

Trixie winced as she turned her head and found herself staring at her brother. "Pokey?" She nearly started coughing again but Pokey levitated a glass to her and helped her get a drink. It didn't fix her throat but it at least made it feel a little better, even if her voice was still weak. "What are you doing here? You are supposed to be watching mother." She tried to grab the glass of water only too notice the cast on her foreleg. "Why is Trixie wearing a cast?"

"I am watching mother, where do you think you are?" Pokey had to admit that he didn't know where his sister had gone, she had practically dropped off the face of the planet two years ago with only a handful of letters sent to him. All of said letters spent far too much time reassuring him that she was doing great and to not look for her because everything was fine. That had told him that everything was not fine and that she had needed help, unfortunately he had never been able to spend the time to find her and keep an eye on their mother at the same time. And he certainly didn't have the money to pay somepony to look for his sister.

"Trixie is in the Crystal Empire of course, where else would she be? She was tracking down..." She noticed the minute shake of his head and clamed up upon realizing they weren't alone in the room. "Why, where is Trixie?" With another wince she turned her head to look the other way and spotted a certain lavender unicorn she had hoped never to see again standing near the door to the room.

"Ponyville." Pokey had expected some response, mostly one based on how far from the empire Ponyville was, but the sheer hatred that suddenly flared on his sisters face as she saw Twilight surprised him.

"YOU!" Trixie struggled to push herself up and failed. "Why is Trixie in Ponyville! Did you do this? Wasn't destroying Trixie's life enough for you? Did you decide you needed to take this from Trixie as well!" By the end of her attempted shouting her voice was barely more than a hoarse whisper but it still carried enough for Twilight to hear.

"I-I had nothing to do with any of this." Twilight was surprised by the anger directed at her, she had honestly thought that she and Trixie had ended on a somewhat upward note after the amulet incident. "You stumbled into town on your own Trixie, I didn't do anything. I helped bring you to the hospital, I was worried about you." To Twilight's surprise Trixie's rage only seemed to grow worse, the blue mare shuddered and the eyes glaring at Twilight took on a shockingly feral look as the injured unicorn let out a deep growl and bared her teeth at Twilight.

"Beatrix!" The panic in Pokey's voice seemed to shock Trixie out of whatever was happening to her and her expression changed to one of horror before she turned her head and buried her face in the pillow with a whimper.

"Please leave Trixie alone." There was fear in Trixie's voice now and Twilight could only stare in confusion at her. Even more confusing was the knowing look that Doctor Stable wore as he looked to Pokey.

"I think we should leave for awhile, it would do Trixie well to have some rest." The doctor led them out of the room and into the hallway. "Pokey do you wish to check on your mother while you're here?"

"Yes." Pokey sent one more worried look back at the room his sister occupied before speaking to Twilight. "Please don't hold this against my sister, she didn't mean anything by it."

"What was..." Twilight stopped for a moment to try and collect her thoughts, one of which was trying to process Trixie suddenly acting like a cornered wild animal. In the end though her mind focused on one thing above all others. "She hates me. I thought that after the amulet, and she apologized and..." Twilight found it nearly impossible to even understand the idea of somepony actually hating her, hating her so much that Trixie had looked like she wanted to attack her. Even when Trixie had worn the Alicorn Amulet Twilight hadn't seen hatred in the other pony's eyes, there had been anger and injured pride but there had not been true hatred.

"Beatrix has been under a lot of strain." And he knew almost none of what had happened as he hadn't been in Ponyville during either her first arrival or during her return with that damned amulet, everything he knew had come second hoof from ponies around town. 'Why would she even use that thing? She couldn't possibly have believed that the family bloodline would protect her, could she?'

"I just wish there was something I could do to change her mind." Twilight didn't see the calculating gleam appear in the other pony's eyes.

"In that Endeavour I'm afraid I can't help much, my sister has always been very finicky over who she likes and dislikes." And she was as stubborn as could be when it came to ponies she disliked. He had thought to say more but Twilight's face lit up and she smiled in excitement.

"Thats it! I know what to do." Twilight waved a quick goodbye to Pokey and hurried off down the hallway with plans to head to the school hoping that she could get there in time to talk to Snips and Snails. The two had cleaned up Trixie's wagon and Twilight wanted to know if there was anything they had managed to salvage from the wreckage. It had been two years ago but she held out hope that they still had at least something of Trixie's that could be returned. It might not make Trixie her friend but it at least would show her that she wasn't her enemy.

'This should be interesting.' Pokey turned and strode down the hallway towards the room his mother occupied. On the way he couldn't help but think about Twilight and her friends and everything they had done for Ponyville and Equestria in general. He didn't dislike them, and they had been chosen by the elements of Harmony so they had to be good ponies. But Twilight was the personal student of Celestia and if it came down to it he had no doubt she'd choose her mentor over his family. If he had been a bit more vicious and cold hearted he would have done something to Twilight just to teach Celestia a lesson. But if he did so he'd be no different than those who had harmed his family for so long, and there was no way in Tartarus that he would ever by like them. His steps slowed and he came to a stop before a thick door that bore several locks and had a large plaque on the front of it reading 'Patient: Screw Loose'. Locks clicked as they opened and Pokey slipped inside and closed the door behind him.

A soft growl from near the bed greeted him as he walked into the room and he stopped not far from the door. "It's me mother." The pony that popped out from behind the bed gave a happy bark as she dashed across the room to Pokey and gave the larger pony an affectionate nuzzle. Pokey rested his head against his mothers neck, as she did the same to him, and closed his eyes. "Beatrix is back mother." The doctors would tell him that his mother didn't understand much of what he said but the fact that she seemed to lose some of her jittery tension at those words told him that they didn't know what they were talking about. "She's...hurt, but she'll be fine." For a few moments they simply stood and Pokey remembered a time when they had went on picnics and Beatrix would practice her magic while their mother prepared the food. As much as he wanted those times back he knew there was no chance of picnics in the fields near Manehattan anymore. The only reason they even still had their mother was because of Beatrix and her magic, she had defended Pokey as he ran and took their mother with him the day the guards had come for her.

"We're close...Beatrix found it. You just have to wait a little longer and everything will be fine." He had been telling himself that for years, but this was the first time where he was truly beginning to believe.

000000000000

Pokey's Classified info.

You're getting the minimum here Pokey, I'm not digging deeply into the lives of national heroes just so you can try and find some tidbit to exploit and use. My friendship only goes so far.

Elements of Harmony.

Fluttershy: Element of Kindness

Birthplace: Cloudsdale

Education: Cloudsdale Flight School. Cloudsdale public school. Hurricane Combat Academy.

Power Level: Variable (minor to high). Extremely shy and timid most of the time unless friends or innocents are endangered. Capable of using mental domination techniques. Ranked 1rst in her class in close combat techniques. Weak flight abilities normally, but certainly capable of high speed when she wants truly wants to.

Parents: Hotshot and Snowy Day. Currently working as Weather Operations Lead for cloud city Aurora. Aurora is currently in position near Diamond City and working weather control duty for the diamond dog kingdom.

Addendum to parents: Weather Operations Leads my feathers! You wanted information Pokey and I'm happy to do a little investigation for a friend. But these two are certainly not weather operations leads, they have Nova Guard written all over them. Don't even ask me what they are doing running weather control as I am not going to dig into Nova Guard operations.

Siblings: None

Author's Note

Yes Fluttershy is combat capable, though she doesn't seem to want to use it for fighting, just watch Lesson Zero. Will probably put one element of Harmony info at the bottom of each chapter.

Hospital pt. 2

thoughts
{mental speak}

00000000000000000

Ponyville

Twilight couldn't help but be amazed by the large pile of books, artifacts and small chests that now dominated the center of the Library. When she had went to Snips and Snails for whatever they had managed to salvage from Trixie's wagon she had expected a few knickknacks that might have managed to not get crushed. Instead she had found a clubhouse filled with books and magical artifacts that had weathered the paw of a rampaging celestial bear quite well. There had been so much stuff that she had enlisted Applejacks help with hauling it all to the Library. They had run into Rarity and Rainbow Dash on the way back and now all of them were in the Library looking at everything piled before them. The books were what had caught Twilights attention first, if only because she was certain she had seen a title that she had never read before somewhere in there.

"Seen this one, and this one." Twilight floated several more books past her taking a quick glance at the titles before moving them on. Most appeared to be magic volumes, ones she had already read, and several were books on repairing everything from faulty springs to wagon wheels. She had whittled the pile down quite a bit when she started to get to some more interesting books, one of which appeared to be a History of the Crystal Empire tome like the one she had read while in they had been in the Crystal Empire. The only difference was that this book still bore the ending chapters that talked about the Crystal Heart and that chapter was quite a bit larger than she had expected it would be. A minor scanning spell brought to light the surprisingly large amounts of preservative magic that had been placed on the tome and she began to wonder if the book was actually an original copy from the empire before it had vanished, the magic's protecting it were certainly old enough to have been placed on the book at that time. The strange thing was that the book seemed to even bear several chapters that were not in the one she had read, one of which looked to deal with changelings of all things. The loud crash as Rainbow Dash accidentally knocked over a chest and spilled the contents out drug Twilight back to the present.

"Look at all this junk." Rainbow Dash looked through the things that had spilled across the floor.

"Careful Rainbow, we don't want to break anything." Twilight glanced at the items and saw that most appeared to be sheets, though there was a small stuffed griffon doll that looked heavily worn.

"It's just Trixie's." Rainbow Dash dismissed the worry casually.

"Really, are you still holding a grudge after all this time?" Rarity quickly straightened out the items Rainbow Dash had spilled out, noting that most looked to have been patched multiple times.

"She took over the town, and banished Twilight! Why the hay should I care if her things get roughed up." Rainbow flew over to another chest and rooted around inside.

"Anypony wearing that amulet would have done the same, it's a corrupting influence. I'm not even sure where it came from." Twilight stopped her examination of the items from the first chest and tried to think of what little was written about the Alicorn Amulet. The only really definitive things known was that it would corrupt those who wore it, and that it gave the wearer a massive power and skill boost to allow them to cast spells they wouldn't have normally been able to.

"Yeah well she chose to wear it, not like Anypony forced her to put it on." Rainbow stopped digging through the chest and pulled out what looked to be a large scroll which she unrolled on the floor.

"Ah gotta agree with RD Twilight, Trixie's been nothin but trouble every time she's shown up." Applejack walked over to Rainbow and looked at what she had found. "It's just a map."

"Yes but a very well drawn one." Rarity pointed to one section "That is the griffon empire, and over there are the Minotaur city-states."

Twilight had to admit it was an impressive map, covering everything from Equestria to the Diamond Dog Kingdom. She noticed quite a few of the cities and villages on the map bore circles in red around them while a handful bore a large red X over them. Looking around the edge of the map revealed two lines of writing in the same red ink, the top line reading Places I've performed with a line and a circle after it. The next line below read Places not to go again followed by a line and a large X. The amount of circles on the map was shocking to anypony who hadn't traveled very far in their life when seeing the distances that the showpony had crossed in her travels. Trixie had been in cities in all of the major lands to the point of traveling into areas that Twilight was certain ponies weren't even welcome in.

It was while looking across the map that her original reason for searching through Trixie's things came up as she noticed what she had been looking for lying nearby. Leaving the map behind she snagged the two items. "This is what I wanted. I'll be back as soon as I get these to Trixie." Sending Rainbow Dash a glance she gestured at the chests and books "Please don't make a mess while I'm gone."

Ponyville Hospital

Trixie's sleep was interrupted by the click of the door opening and the sound of hooves on the wooden floor approaching her bed. She remembered a time when she would have slept through the noise of a pony entering her room but those times were long past and she was a very light sleeper now. A quick reach for her magic in case of any kind of danger proved to her how exhausted she was, as if the struggle to keep her eyes open wasn't proof enough. When Twilight Sparkle, of all ponies, wandered into her view she tried to get angry only to find that she really didn't have the energy to sustain a truly good feeling of rage. "What do you want?" The answer came in the form of soft purple cloth, covered in blue and gold stars, that settled onto the bed in front of her.

"I wanted to return these to you." Twilight watched as Trixie pulled the cloth tightly to her holding onto it as if it was one of the most important items in the world.

To say that Trixie was shocked would have been an understatement, she had believed the items destroyed in the smashing of her wagon. She had known the chests had enchantments on them, placed by family members centuries ago, but she had never believed that they would be able to hold up to the strength of a celestial bear, even if it was a baby. When she had fled Ponyville she had simply assumed that all of her possessions, from her cape and hat to her collection of family journals, had been destroyed. She had had several fake versions of her original outfit created but none could every truly match up to the items given to her by her mother after her first successful performance in Los Pegasus.

"Trixie I..." Twilight struggled to organize her thoughts for a moment. "I want you to know that I never wanted anything bad to happen to you. If I had known what was going on I would have done something to help you." She didn't get a response from the injured mare. "I...I was just hoping that we could be friends." That received a response, even if it was only soft bitter laughter.

"Friends?" Trixie looked up from her clothing and focused pale eyes on Twilight. "Trixie is not stupid enough to trust so easily. When Trixie was little her mother told her that no matter how bad things got she would always find friends to help her. That every bad thing could have a silver lining if only Trixie would look for it." Trixie pulled her cape and hat closer, focusing on the purple fabric. "She lied. She wanted Trixie to believe in other ponies, to believe that when things were at their worst there would be other ponies to help her. Trixie has learned that nearly all ponies are just waiting for weakness to show itself so they can exploit it."

"That's not true Trixie." Twilight couldn't even begin to understand the kind of life Trixie must have led to believe things like that about other ponies. "I'm sure if you were to look you would find lots of ponies who would want to be friends with you."

"Says a national hero, wielder of the element of magic, personal student of princess Celestia and sister to the prince of the Crystal Empire. Have you ever known hardship? Have you ever struggled to find food or wonder if you will make enough bits in the next performance to tide you over to the next town? Have you ever been chased out of a town because somepony started rumors about you and nopony will even listen to your side of the story?" Growing anger filled Trixie's voice. "Have you ever been laughed at and insulted by everypony for something that isn't your fault? Even worse is to step into every town and know they know your name, the great Twilight Sparkle is known in Every. Damn. Town." Trixie grew quiet for a moment. "Trixie learned a valuable lesson for the last two years, that to the ponies of Equestria she's a nopony. Just a pathetic waste of space that they don't care about." Her voice firmed. "But that's not what Trixie is. Trixie is sister to Pokey, daughter to the greatest mom in the world and descendant of one of the greatest families in world, and Trixie will do anything for her family. To every stupid pony in Equestria Trixie might as well be nonexistent but she is everything to her family and they are everything to her, and that's all that matters to her now." Silence filled the room before Trixie looked down at the bed. "Please go Sparkle."

"Snips and Snails managed to salvage a lot of your things, they'll be at the library when you want to get them." Twilight turned dejectedly towards the door and had nearly left the room when Trixie's voice stopped her.

"Sparkle. Trixie...Trixie is grateful for the return of her cape and hat, and for taking care of her things." She seemed to struggle for a moment before deciding what to say. "She supposes you aren't too bad." There was a small amount of mirth in her tone and Twilight couldn't help the smile that spread across her face as she slipped from the room to head back to the library.

Trixie looked at the closed door for a moment before looking happily at her cape and hat, remembering the day her mother had given it to her while telling her of the story of how it was handed down through the Lulamoon family. Even though her mother was an earth pony she had spent time teaching Trixie slight of hoof tricks she could use to augment her magic. Of course that had been back when she was a little filly, when her family was still normal and sane and she believe that it would never be anything else. It had only taken a few days to shatter that young filly's perfect world, broken by the view of her mother finally giving in to the madness of her family and then spending nearly a month on the run from the royal guards as they attempted to catch them. She still remembered spending nights and mornings trying to control a mother that acted more like a wild animal than a pony. For a time she had still believed her precious mother would come back, that she would wake up one morning and smell breakfast already cooking and find her mother smiling and happy and looking after her and Pokey again. But in time she realized it would never be that simple, and that it was going to be them that would look after their mother from then on.

Pokey had known. He had spent the next day's telling her everything their mother had told him about what the family had learned over its long existence studying the madness that afflicted the mares of the family. Several years passed as they moved around the country and cared for their mother while making attempts to return her sanity. They had traveled and Trixie had performed, though at that time she was known as the Wondrous and Amazing Beatrix. Their spare time was spent hunting down every rare magic user in Equestria that they thought they could trust, followed by every single one of said magic users telling them that the magic that was causing the sanity break was so far beyond their ability to understand that even attempting to study it might cause horrible reactions in the spell. The two had struggled onward in their search, finding more and more exotic spell casters in the form of Diamond Dog wizards and Minotaur shamans until the few contacts that still worked for their family simply told them it was hopeless. Worse was watching that same death of purpose in her brother as he woke day after day and struggled to care for their mother while growing more and more haggard and run down as the years progressed.

And then began the knowing looks her brother sent her way as they grew up and he began to wonder when the family madness might start to afflict her as well. Trixie had refused to accept what seemed like a growing inevitability and decided that the open road was no longer the place for her mother. They needed professional doctors to look after Screw Loose so that they could continue their search to cure the affliction that both knew would eventually affect Trixie as well. Canterlot was out at the very beginning as it was the seat of power for the princesses. Manehattan had to many ponies who knew them and would report them at a moment's notice if they showed up there. Which had left a few large cities and lots of small villages dotted throughout the country. They had eventually settled on Fillydelphia as it was one of the few places where money could buy silence. Once Pokey and mother were secure Trixie had set off on a whirlwind tour of every nation she could get into searching for whatever information she could find.

A search that had led her around the known world and into cities and lands where ponies were everything from common to rare myths. More than once she had been mistaken for prey by intelligent creatures that didn't know she was intelligent herself. One race of feline creatures that she still couldn't remember the name of hadn't gotten the picture until she had started casting more and more impressive attack spells to stop their assault on her wagon. At first they had believed her magic to be nothing more than the defensive ability of a mindless animal. Once she had started countering the spells cast by their shamans they had realized that she was as smart as them. It took nearly two weeks of hard spell work to get her mind around their language and begin to speak to them, even after all of that they still seemed to see her as a sort of lesser species. They particularly seemed to find her pulling of her own wagon to be somehow demeaning as they only used mindless beasts to do so in their lands. She had managed to speak to their shamans about their magic and learned that overall they were actually on the lower end of magic users. That had been a conversation she hadn't been meaning to have, considering their high estimation of themselves, but it came out eventually and necessitated a quick exit from the lands controlled by them. Though in truth she supposed that she did feel a bit of gleeful pride when that information had been thrown into their faces, along with a few choice spells to cover her leaving.

Pushing the memories aside she snuggled into her pillow and was about to slip into slumber when the door creaked open eliciting an irritated groan from her as she sent a baleful glare towards the pony entering the room.

"You look better Beatrix." Pokey sat next to the bed.

"Trixie would be even better if ponies stopped interrupting her so she could sleep for awhile." The complaint held only minor annoyance in it as she couldn't help but feel happy to see her brother again. "How is mother?"

"Happy that you're here and safe." He moved to the side of the bed and sat down. "You found it?"

"In a manner of speaking." Trixie looked pointedly at the glass of water on the bedside table and waited till Pokey brought it to her and helped her drink. "Trixie traveled to the crystal empire because she knew that if there was information there the princesses wouldn't have had time to reach it yet. Even so Trixie must admit that she almost didn't get her hooves on the information due to the princesses niece now ruling the empire. Trixie managed to corroborate the information with that which was found in the recovered journals of Sombra. With that information she traveled deep into the crystal mountains on the same path that Sombra took in his search for the Archive."

"So he truly did find it." Pokey frowned as he turned that information over in his head. The belief among those who knew of Sombra's trek had always assumed that he had failed to find the archive.

"Yes and no." Seeing the confusion on her brothers face she sighed. "The path into the archive can be found in many places, the crystal mountains, the Everfree forest, the caverns below Canterlot, and many more. The problem is that all of these paths are trapped and impassable to any pony. The stories of those falling to the trapped entrances to the Archive aren't just stories, they are very true."

"You got caught in a trap?" It would explain both the markings on her body as well as her legs.

"Trixie searched deep into the crystal mountains for the Way and found many dangerous things before stumbling across it." Trixie decided not to go to deeply into her trip there, it hadn't been excessively eventful anyway. "When Trixie entered the Way into the archive she found a hallway filled with traps meant to kill the unwary. Trixie is far too great and powerful to get captured by such trivialities and so she made it deeper into the Way until she passed into a major chamber that must once have been a connecting hub for those entering the archive from different places the world over. Many of those entrances were blocked off but there were still four that were open, Trixie had come through one of them and it is obvious now that one must exit into the Everfree."

"The trap?" Pokey watched his sister closely.

"It was left by Him." The hatred in her voice was far greater than that which she had shown Twilight earlier, it was a hatred aged by decades of knowing the one responsible for your pain but never being able to bring them to justice. "Trixie barely escaped with her life and that was with large amounts of running and spell casting."

"So it's a bust." The slump to Pokey's stature and the way his voice changed told Trixie that her search had been one of his last hopes.

"You give up to easily brother, Trixie has not finished." Trixie lifted her good foreleg and tapped her brothers horn lightly "Think, if we can't get in through access of the Way how else would one reach the Archive?"

"There is no other way, the Archive is held within a small sub-magical dimension that can only be accessed by the Way." His sister was giving him the 'I know something you don't' look and he couldn't help but start to feel excited.

"Trixie found another of Sombra's journals while traveling, it was buried deep within a canyon in the frozen remains of several destroyed wagons. Sombra found that the Archive can be accessed by a direct entry point that leads straight into the Archive itself instead of into the danger prone access ways that are filled with defenses." She took another drink to sooth a throat that was starting to get scratchy again. "He never found out where that entrance was so he tried to simply smash through the defenses in the Way instead."

"And he failed." Pokey frowned "But if he couldn't find out where it is how do you plan on us doing so?"

"Do you remember the story of the last Journal of Lulamoon? How it was taken by the royal guards and never seen again." Trixie looked to the shadows again letting a frown set in "Sombra managed to find out its location, within containment floor six of the royal archives."

"It's inaccessible then." Seeing the look on his sisters face Pokey began shaking his head "No, absolutely not! Even if I called in every favor from every friend I have in the guard I couldn't get you into even the first containment level, those levels hold some of the most dangerous artifacts and books the kingdom has. Only the senior archivists, captains of the guard, Celestia and Luna are allowed in there. The magic defenses that protect even the weakest of the containment levels is too difficult for either of us to break even if we were working together. What makes you think it's even still there?"

"Sombra believed it was there a thousand years ago and Celestia has had no reason to destroy it. Trixie needs that journal if we want to find out where the primary access portal to the Archive is."

"You are asking the impossible, there isn't any way into those levels unless escorted by the captain of the royal guard, or one of the princesses." More than once the family had attempted to sneak into the containment levels but had always failed to even penetrate the first door.

"Put a little more faith in Trixie, do you think she has been traveling for nothing?" She sighed "Trixie will explain everything after she has had time to sleep, she is very tired. Please check on Trixie's things, she doesn't need Sparkle adding Trixie's books to the library."

000000000000000

Canterlot

The stars shone as pinpricks of light in the sky as the moon began to slowly rise. Luna had put more work into the night than she had in some time, and yet was still acclimating to the shifted positions of the stars due to her long banishment. It was as she looked across the night that she noted something strange. "A red star?" Looking to the strange crimson star she was almost certain that she had seen it before somewhere, it made her thing of a time when she and her sister had been having an argument.

{We hear his words} Luna stiffened as the voice whispered in the back of her mind.

"Show thyself!" Spinning around she examined the shadows around her but found only the night.

{We remember him, he whispered in our ear and woke us to madness.}

Multiple spells spread out creating a shield around her and protecting her from outside influences, but the voice continued.

{He fears us, we grow stronger, beware the red star. We wish to sleep.} The voice trailed off into what Luna could swear was a faint snoring. Looking to the sky again she frowned as she noticed the star was gone.

0000000000000

Ponyville

Twilight set aside the history book while trying to wrap her mind around what she had learned about the link between the Changelings and the Crystal Empire, she was certain that the book she had seen in the Crystal Empire hadn't contained any information on changelings. Which begged the question of why those books didn't have it but this one did. Spike had sent a letter saying he'd be back tomorrow, which would be a great help in organizing all of the books that were now lying in the Library. Floating another book to her she blinked in surprise at the realization that it was a journal of some kind. Opening it up she could just make out the words Journal of Melody Lulamoon before seeing that that entire first half of the book was water damaged to the point where nothing was legible. She had flipped slightly more than halfway through before finding the first entries that were able to be read.

Month 4, Day 12

Amazingly I found my journal in all the wreckage, though it is obvious that the first half is an entire write off I am certain that I can salvage the last half of the book and use it for collecting my thoughts instead of trying to begin an entire new journal. Not to mention that I would have to find a new journal if I truly wanted to write a new one. Considering that we're now trapped on this island in the middle of nowhere I highly doubt another journal is close by and ready to be written in.

Well let me start by being truly surprised that so many of us are still alive after a storm like that one. The pegasi tried to divert it or break it apart and failed due to the nature of such wild storms, especially those that happen out at sea. The Headhunter took some heavy hits in the storm and then we hit something in the water which just made it start taking on more water. The fact that we reached this island is completely dumb luck. Not that all of us were so lucky, the crew lost four of their number and one of the pegasi who were nothing but a simple traveling passenger like me got injured pretty badly. I've asked around and found out her name is Blitz, unfortunately we have no doctors left and I know no healing spells of any kind.

Month 4, day 15.

Our situation certainly hasn't improved very much. The island we are on is fairly large and populated by a handful of creatures capable of being eaten by those among our crew that need such a meal but the food supply is getting low and hunting will only tide our members over so long. Blitz's left wing has become infected, with no doctors and no understanding beyond low level herb lore we might end up having to amputate it. The mere thought of such left the mare an emotional wreck for the rest of the day. I've stayed near to try and help her through the situation, all the while cursing my failure to learn even a single medical spell in all my travels.

Month 4, day 20.

Long days. Pretty tired but decided to start up the dictation spell and have it record some thoughts again. I've spent the last two days trying to keep Blitz from killing herself after the removal of her left wing. She's been alternating between saying she can handle it to trying to find whatever sharp object is nearby to end her life. As much as I can sympathize with her I'm also getting quite angry with her as well, she acts as if her life is over without the ability to fly. While I know she doubts it I can understand her situation as I once spent two years unable to do a single spell. Well, I really need to sleep now and Rock Slide is watching her.

Month 4, day 25

Well I don't think I need to spend so much time with Blitz anymore. It seems she was ranting about her inability to fly and said something quite insulting about powerless ponies. At which point Rock Slide tore into her about shouting such insults at an earth pony. While I don't know what all was said Blitz seems to be more at peace than she was earlier and has even begun to help out around the camp. It's a good thing for her and Rock Slide seems to be getting more interested in her, not that that is surprising considering her looks. I have to admit that even I find her quite good looking, and if my remembrance of history is correct her rainbow colored mane and tail means that around five thousand years ago she would have been a member of the pegasi royal family. Their family line appears to hold its colors quite well compared to other family lines.

The captain is beginning to set his crew to work building us a fairly large raft in the hopes of heading to land. This would be an impossible task were it not for the pegasi on the crew who will be able to pull the raft far faster than any wind could push it as well as do scouting runs to find the closest land to us.

Another of the crewmembers found a strange structure deep in the forest, I've gone and examined it but found I can't make heads or tails of the civilizations writing style. I certainly have managed to see several references to the creature known as Discord, depictions of him anyway. A being that seems to crop up far too often for my likings in the writings of old civilizations. Whatever that creature was it was well known across all currently discovered civilizations. Though information on what it was, beyond a being of chaos, has never been found.

Month 4, Day 35

We've finally finished the raft, and none too soon as we are running extremely low on food for our more meat oriented crewmembers. The last thing I need to do is have to defend myself from the crew.

I have found myself wondering what would happen were I to remain on this island. Would the princesses come for me? Would the royal guard launch a Cutter and fly out here to try and find me when my time is up? It is nearly laughable to think of them putting so much effort into grabbing a wandering singer, but then they stormed Blackwatch to capture Swift Arrow so it's likely they'd find me out here.

Which means I need to keep moving, to keep looking. It is a pity that the forward sections of my journal were destroyed as there was some information there that was useful. Well I shall attempt to recreate the information in the rest of the journal so it can be of use to the family. Hopefully the rest of this journal will remain in good shape.

I shall dictate again when we reach land.

Twilight flipped the page and blinked in surprise at the destroyed pages beyond that last entry. The next pages looked to have been damaged by both fire and water which made the rest of the journal unreadable.

00000000000

Pokey's Classified info.

Twilight Sparkle: Element of magic.

Birthplace: Canterlot

Education: Celestia's school for gifted unicorns. Personal student of Celestia.

Power level: Extreme. Seriously Pokey, don't screw with this one. I've met a lot of unicorns in my days but the information I've managed to dig up on Twilight Sparkle puts her magic reserves at nearly ten times that of the strongest arcanist in the royal guards, And that's a conservative estimate.

Parents: Night Light and Twilight Velvet. Currently living in Canterlot.

Addendum to Parents: Now this is interesting. Took a bit of digging on why a couple of ponies of their supposed modest means are able to live in Canterlot without a job. Well I can honestly say I was surprised to learn that they don't need to work due to the money accrued during their last jobs. Night Light is still listed as a reserve combat trainer for the Royal Guards, and Twilight Velvet is listed as a reserve member of the Nova Guard Aracanist squad.

Siblings: Shining Armor, Prince consort to Princess Cadance and general of the Crystal Empire armed forces.

Adopted Sibling: Spike. Young dragon. Twilight bears a older sister/mother relationship with the young dragon.

Author's Note

This is actually the second attempt at this chapter. I wrote it and then trashed it and rewrote it again in the hopes of making it better, not sure if I succeeded. I have the bad habit of writing something and then telling myself it's junk and that it needs lots of fixing. It gets bad enough that I have to force myself to put the chapter out and stop messing with it.

Anyway, tell me if you see anything I screwed up on as it would help me fix things and get better at writing.

Evolving Situations

'thoughts
{Mental speak}

000000

Canterlot

Armored hooves cracked against stone as the princess of the night strode down a hallway that she knew only Celestia and herself ever used. Even so the white marble that made up the walls, floor and ceiling was as clean as if the servants had passed through it just that very day. The closer she got to her goal the more worried she got as she had not been in this section of the castle for now over a thousand years. It was true she had returned to the palace almost three years ago but she had struggled to avoid this particular section of the castle, and what it contained. Now she found herself being forced to go down this dark hallway again in search of her sister, whom the servants said had vanished into the restricted area just after sunrise. This meant the entire Solar Court was in an uproar over the fact that the princess had abandoned them without even telling them of the reason for her absence, and thus Luna had been awoken to find out what was going on and rectify the situation if at all possible. She had done so for the Solar Court by telling prince Blueblood to handle the daily petitioners until Celestia could return, after which she had headed down to the only place her sister could go that nopony else could follow.

Stopping before a pair of doors, massive behemoths of marble bearing the emblem of sun and moon she steeled herself for what she was likely to find within and pushed her magic into the locking system. The doors slipped open without even a groan of protest, opening to a room that many might have considered a place of beauty if not for the statues that surrounded the edges. The room, though buried deep in the mountain, was sheathed in the same beautiful white marble as the hallway outside. Four thick obsidian columns rose from the floor to the ceiling surrounding a shallow pool of water in which floated water flowers of a type Luna had never seen before. Set within the center of the pool was a fountain that she remembered had been sent by the griffons long before her fall from grace, not that she or Tia had ever truly liked that fountain, the griffon and dragon forms carved into it were locked in a never-ending battle for dominance and it reminded the sisters of first contact with both races. Neither of those first meetings had gone well and the dragons had held a grudge against Celestia for nearly a thousand years for her killing of Grieve, who had held the lofty titles of Lord of the Winds, Master of the Land and Water, King of all Dragons. The blowhard had thought himself powerful, he had been forced to learn the hard way that King of Dragons didn't stack up well against Solar Princess.

Finally forcing herself to look near the walls she shuddered at the realization of how many more statues were in the room now than had been here when she had been banished. Yet she couldn't stop herself from moving to the nearest statue and looking upon it. She found herself looking on a pegasus, hooves planted as if readying for a charge, head down and teeth bared in a snarl of feral defiance. The statue, appearing to be white marble like the rest of the room, bore a cutie mark of a sealed scroll done in silver on its flank. She forced herself to look at the small gold plaque that was set into a short stone block at the statues hooves. 'Destiny Lulamoon' Luna turned away and found herself walking to another statue, this one a unicorn. This statue was rearing up, front hooves lashing out as if to strike an unseen opponent, her face bore the same feral look as the pegasus statue did. This statues cutie mark was a harp marked in gold that seemed shimmer and glow. The plaque underneath bore the name 'Melody Lulamoon'.

The princess turned slowly and moved among the statues looking from one to another, here a unicorn, there an earth pony, she found herself stopping at another pegasus statue, this one being a truly large specimen of a pony. She was as tall as Luna herself, heavier muscled than the princess though not by much, and bore a set of wings twice as large as they should have been for her size. The wings were thicker than a normal pegasus's wings as well as bearing more feathers than a pegasus would. The thicker fur of the coat, larger ears, and the slightly odd shaped eyes all pointed to one of the pony's parents being a griffon, mostly likely the father as if the griffon had been the mother the offspring would have been a griffon with some pony traits. The pony was wearing metal armor that covered her flank making any view of her cutie mark impossible. The plaque underneath read 'Farstrider Lulamoon'.

The sounds of water cascading down the fountains sides didn't quite hide the soft sounds from behind it and Luna began to walk again, though she froze as she came to a statue she knew all too well. A unicorn, though the expression on the face of this unicorn was not one of feral hatred but of sneering superiority. She stood with head held high looking down upon those who would think to cage her, as if at any moment she could simply walk away whenever she liked. She was a regal unicorn with slim build and long legs bearing a cutie mark of a black star. She would have seemed almost normal if it wasn't for the curved horn that graced her head and the fangs that were visible. The plaque underneath read 'Midnight Lulamoon'.

Shaking her head she strode past the last column, past a statue of a unicorn with a broken horn and a pegasus who had lost her wings, and turned to see Celestia sitting upon a pile of cushions simply staring at the first statue to have ever been placed within the room. One hoof scraping absently at the marble floor tiles and Luna could see a small gouge in the rock making her wonder how many times her sister had sat within this room over the thousand years she had been banished. Striding to Celestia's side Luna looked at the statue her sister was staring at. She had been here when it had been placed so she knew it well. A slim long legged unicorn who bore an expression of desperate concentration, she stood with a regal bearing and bore a cutie mark of a star topped wand. The plaque underneath bore the name 'Lulamoon' and Luna, as she had even before her banishment, found some strange feeling of connection to the statue.

"Tia?" It was all that needed to be said as her sister lowered her head.

"When it began I told myself that it was the best path, the way to save so many and protect all that our little ponies had worked so hard for." Celestia's voice cracked as tears began to flow. "But would they thank me if they knew what cost was paid for Harmony? Or would they damn me for the actions I've taken." She looked to Luna "Is this the future I build? Prosperity for the many on the backs of the suffering few, Is this what mother would have wanted?"

"Do not lay this upon yourself Tia, this was His work not yours." Luna rested a wing on her sisters back.

"But I agreed to it, I didn't stop him." Celestia's eyes scanned the few closest statues "For peace and harmony I agreed, for the millions of lives that have been spared death, disease, and hardship I agreed." Pained eyes turned to look at Luna "And every time I look into their eyes I see how far I have fallen. Sombra was correct in his accusations Luna, every word he spoke."

Luna shivered as Sombra's name seemed to echo within the room and a tiny faint whisper of sound slipped through the air. "Do not speak of that filth, he was a torturer and a tyrant." She looked to the empty spots along the walls. "Is that why you are here? Is it time?"

"The guard operative in Ponyville has sent word that Screw Loose has been found, and the Crystal Empire is calling for action to be taken against the mare Trixie for her actions within their capital. They say two ponies are dead and the Emerald Feather Archives were almost completely burned down by her." Celestia lay upon the pillows resting her head upon her forelegs while looking sadly at the statue before her. Luna settled next to her sister, planning to stay as long as she would.

Two hours later the doors slipped shut in complete silence behind the departing princesses and the crystals set in the ceiling dimmed until the room grew dark.

A soft crack sounded within the darkness.

{Sombra}

The name whispered around the room, bouncing off walls and statues.

{Brother}

A black aura shimmered around a curved horn.

{Find me!}

A second crack sounded and a small tiny flake of stone fell away from the statues eye allowing a green glow to be seen.

HELP ME!

00000000000

Ponyville

"Lulamoon." Twilight frowned while looking at the next journal to be added to the pile. "Why the same name for each mare?" It was an oddity. Most ponies did not have a continual name within the family, instead they named their children in ways that always seemed to be scarily accurate in relation to their eventual cutie mark. But from what Twilight had seen of the journals, of which she had only truly read one and skimmed a couple of others so far, the mares of Trixie's family always seemed to have Lulamoon incorporated into their name somewhere. It was as if it was a name being passed down through the generations in honor of somepony else, something she had heard of happening a few times in the admittedly limited amount of history she had read.

Not that all the journals were from the mares of the same line, there were multiple journals that seemed to have been written by stallions as well. She had even found one journal that seemed to be written by the pony Swift Arrow, the same pony that was mentioned in the journal of Melody Lulamoon. What was odd was that many, if not most, of the journals were damaged in some way or another, as if they're owners had been either very careless in their travels or just very danger prone. Levitating several more journals she added them to the pile near the window and told herself that she shouldn't be looking through them without Trixie or Pokey's permission. These were the writings of their family after all and it wouldn't be nice to pry into such personal matters without...her eyes were drawn to another journal, or at least she thought it was a journal. The cover was a solid black with a silver dragon curled in a circle biting the end of its tail. She struggled with indecision for a second and then finally gave in and opened the book to find...blank pages.

Staring at the book in confusion she turned it this way and that and even flipped to the front cover and looked for the normal writing that proclaimed the author, only to find nothing again. Deciding to try something else she reached out with her magic only to find the book repelling any scanning spells she tried to cast on it. The only thing she managed to learn was that it was heavily enchanted with spells she wasn't familiar with. But that alone gave her an idea and she set the journal down and hurried to a particular bookshelf looking for the spell that she believed would be able to help with the reluctant journal. It didn't take long, though it likely would have been faster with Spike looking, and she hurried back to the journal prepared to cast the spell. Sitting down she lowered her head and closed her eyes while concentrating on channeling the magic into the right form. Eye's closed and horn glowing with magic she didn't see the blackness that spread slowly across the pages of the journal even as it twisted and flowed across the paper, seeping out of the book itself in the form of a black mist. Finishing her spell Twilight opened her eyes in time to see the black mist swirling together in a mass right in front of her before it surged forward, impacting her faster than she could react.

Blackness...it was the only thing she could see in every direction. Shifting her hooves on the floor she could tell she was standing on stone now instead of the wood of her library. Reaching for her magic she attempted to cast a simple light spell only to find no magic to grab onto, she could feel it out there but was simply incapable of grabbing it. Any more thought on the matter stopped as she felt something brush against her causing her to spin around in a circle trying desperately to see anything.

"Is anypony there?" She was proud of the fact she managed to keep any fear out of her voice.

"You are not Beatrix, you do not have permission to examine this journal." The voice that spoke was deep, and sounded as if spoken from all around her. "I believe they call this trespassing." By the end of the sentence the voice sounded amused.

"Who...who are you?" Twilight again attempted to reach her magic, and again found something akin to a wall between her and it.

"I suppose that isn't against the rules." And the darkness peeled back as light blossomed allowing a stallion to step into the view. His coat was a dark grey with a mane and tail of black, crimson eyes matched the color of the curved horn that he bore.

"Sombra!" Twilight stumbled backwards, falling over in her attempt to retreat in fear.

"So you have heard of me." The voice contained mirth and Twilight found herself staring in shock at the tyrant of the crystal empire. "I suppose I should be impressed since it has been a terribly long time since I created this particular journal." The stallion focused crimson eyes on the cowering mare and raised an eyebrow. "I know I am impressive but you certainly don't need to cower from me."

"Y-your dead!" Twilight was trying to reach her magic for the fourth time now and again met nothing but a wall. Her panic was slightly shorted out by the amused laughter of the stallion before her.

"I would assume so considering it's been over a thousand years since I created this book, I am many things but immortal I am not." He smiled genially towards her and extended a hoof to help her up. Twilight stared at the appendage for a moment before extending a shaking hoof and letting herself be pulled upright. Finding herself remembering the dark doorway that Sombra had left behind to show ponies their worst fears she quickly jerked her foreleg free of his grip and backed away, eliciting another raised eyebrow.

"Interesting, you are afraid of me." Frowning he looked up into the darkness "Never had that happen before." He sighed "Be that as it may I am afraid that you will have to leave, you do not have permission to see this journal. If you want to do so you will have to ask Beatrix, or any member of the family for permission. I look forward to seeing you again fair lady." He gave a bow and suddenly blackness surged forward and drowned Twilight in darkness again.

Blinking away spots Twilight found herself sitting back on the floor of her library with the journal sitting open before her. With a panicked yelp she slammed the book shut and tossed it across the room while diving behind a different pile of books, hoping they might shield her from anything bad that could happen. After the first few minutes of a whole lot of nothing happening she peaked out and stared at the book where it lay near the door to the kitchen. She levitated the book slowly to a drawer in her desk and shoved it inside, making sure to lock the drawer afterwards to make sure nopony would find it by accident. And yet now thinking on the Sombra she had seen within the book she remembered the lack of green glowing eyes, and he had seemed almost...amused, at her intrusion into the journal. He also had told her to get permission from Trixie about the journal which raised one very interesting thought. How had Trixie got her hooves on a journal by Sombra? And what kind of spell was on the journal to allow it to create a mental world like that? Twilight had heard of sensory spells that could create a mind linking between ponies, and in cases where it was desired the spell could create a mental world for the ponies to converse in. But this was a journal that had been written by a pony over a thousand years ago, the spell age alone should have degraded any kind of enchantment.

This was something that would require research of...from the corner of her eye she caught the title of a book on top of the pile she was near. It was probably best that nopony was around to see her attention being jerked around so easily but she couldn't help it when it was a book she knew existed but had never seen within the royal library. Without a second thought her mind shifted gears and focused on the book before her as she scrambled into a good reading spot and tried to ignore the nagging feeling she should be doing something about the journal of Sombra.

4 Hours Later

"Twilight I'm...back?" Spike stared around the library at the piles of books and papers that were scattered around the floor filling every nook and cranny the library had. Twilight herself was sitting near the window with her head buried in a book while muttering about 'historical oddities'. "Um...Twilight?" Getting no response told him it was going to be one of those times where he would have to nearly break something to get her to pay attention. Then again, by the looks of the library she hadn't slept at all last night and probably hadn't eaten anything for supper or for breakfast. Abandoning his attempts to get Twilights attention he headed towards the kitchen to make her some food before another attempt to pull her attention from the book she was reading.

Just as he finished making the daisy sandwich's he heard the jingle of the bell on the library door. knowing Twilight, not to mention the library, wasn't in any shape to accept business he hurried out. "We're closed, oh hi Pokey."

The blue unicorn blinked in bemused confusion at the large mess that currently filled the entire library's main floor. It had been late yesterday when he had left the hospital anyway and he had decided to wait till today to deal with Beatrix's worry over her things, though why she was worried now and hadn't been two years ago he couldn't figure out. "Hello Spike, I was just returning these books I checked out last week." He would have said more but Twilight popped up suddenly.

"Oh that's great, let me just get those put back and get your account settled up." The somewhat frazzled mare practically dashed past Spike to get the work done so she could get back to reading. Pokey looked at one of the papers nearby, something that looked to be cross referencing things from three different books, and realized that Twilight was using Trixie's supply of books to create a hypothesis on the changelings. It was something the family had done years ago when looking into old histories dealing with both the Crystal Empire and other ancient countries and kingdoms. Catching sight of the pile of slim books sitting near one of the windows he nearly muttered a curse. The family journals. While the family had a collection of journals that could probably fill a library all by itself he knew that Beatrix had always carried what she considered the most important ones with her. Most concealed information that only a family member could read by using the correct spell but there were others that were dangerous to ponies outside their family without either spells or permission from a member of the family. Not to mention there was quite a bit of information in several of those he did not want getting back to Celestia. Sharp eyes picked out three chests sitting against a bookshelf and after a quick look to make sure nopony was looking he cast a locking activation spell on all three. The spell itself was fairly weak but it activated enchantments on the chests that had been placed there long ago by other unicorns. He wasn't going to delude himself into thinking that it would hold if Twilight Sparkle got truly interested in those chests, she was well known among the magical community for being immensely talented and Pokey knew even more than those ponies did about Twilight's true power pool.

Twilight had just turned back to Pokey when the bell at the door jingled again and a grey pegasus trotted into the library. "Hi Twilight!" Derpy smiled as she tried to weave her way through the mess on the floor, she hadn't made it halfway when she tripped and was sent tumbling into several book piles. With a sigh Derpy pulled herself free of the piles and tried to find the book she had been returning, a nearly lost cause in the amount of books currently piled where she had fallen.

"Don't worry about it Derpy, I'll just check it in." Twilight smiled as the other mare perked up happily. "Did you enjoy it?"

"Oh yes, it was very good." Derpy smiled "But I barely got through it with all my work."

"You should really take a vacation." Spike was futilely trying to find some unoccupied space to place the daisy sandwiches.

"Oh I'd love to take a vacation, but they extended my rounds to cover even more ponies because Letter Opener is out sick." Derpy turned to glance at Pokey and the blue unicorn stiffened as he noticed the look she sent him.

"Lots of new ponies?" His question was innocent enough.

"Lots of new ponies, all outside my normal rounds in Ponyville." She looked back to Twilight who was giving her a concerned look.

"You shouldn't be pushing yourself so hard Derpy, tell the management to hire a temporary worker to help out till Letter Opener gets back." Her obvious worry for the grey mare was enough to make Derpy feel bad for lying to her.

"I'll be okay, thanks again for the book." She turned and trotted back out of the library.

'Damn it. If Derpy says they're out there then they're out there. Probably damned Nova Guard. Why? Why in Tartarus would she send them now, and into Ponyville! She has to know that we won't just surrender mother to them, it will turn into a fight. Or is that the point? If she thinks we won't defend ourselves inside a town of innocent ponies she's got another thing coming.' Pokey's concentration was broken as Twilight tapped him on the shoulder. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Oh, I was just asking if you were okay?" Twilight stepped back when he nodded and looked around the library as if seeing it for the first time. "Wow, this is a mess."

"That's what I said." Spike finally managed to shove a few books aside and set the tray of food down before turning to Twilight.

"Spike! When did you get back?" Twilight got a confused look when the small dragon rolled his eyes and kicked a few pieces of paper out of his way.

"What's with all this stuff?" He picked up one page to see information on something called the Kingdom of Chains.

"It's something I'm working on." Excitement filled Twilights voice and she looked too Pokey "Did you know that Trixie had a copy of A History of the Land of Mists? The royal library has only one copy of that book and nearly half its pages are missing! She also has a book on the origins of the wastelands. I've been trying to bring together all the information from these different books and form a hypothesis on where the changelings come from, and why they feed on love." She smiled as she trotted back to the table she had been using and picked up the book again. "If I can get enough information I could send a letter to the princess on what I've learned. Maybe even submit it to the archives so that it can be written up for reading by the guard and others."

Pokey barely managed to restrain a smile, Twilight was probably more at home among a library and piles of books than she was among other ponies. 'If only we could put that brain to use helping us in our work instead of Celestia getting sole use of it.' He looked out the window realizing that it was likely getting close to noon, which started to beg the question of what to do with Beatrix's things. He couldn't take them to his house with the Nova Guard around and preparing to try for his mother, his house would be one of the first hit and any information from the family there would be grabbed and impounded by the Guard. As much as he didn't want to leave the items here he had to admit that the library was the safest place inside Ponyville for the moment. It wasn't as if he couldn't get them later anyway, he'd just have to contact Derpy and ask her to move them to the rendezvous point. By the looks of Twilight he wasn't going to have to worry much about her digging into the journals right now anyway as she was focusing on the mysteries of the changelings, and that was something that he knew from experience took a long time to truly dig through.

Which of course only left the few journals that could cause injury to those who weren't meant to see them. Finding them in the pile of books they were in was easy enough as to Pokey's eyes they glowed a constant dim grey and seemed to exude a magical presence. If their enchantments had been any stronger Twilight likely would have been able to feel it. Quickly extracting the books from the pile he turned to Twilight. "I'm going to be taking some items to my sister." The distracted response he got back got a snort of mirth from Spike who had once again picked up his tray of food and was trying to make his way through the clutter to Twilights side.

"I'll tell her." It took till he reached Twilights side to realize that he didn't even know Pokey had a sister, and by then Pokey was long gone.

0000000

Below Canterlot

The room appeared to have no entrances or exits and was nothing more than rough hewn stone no wider than a small apartment. Dominating the center of the room was a strange multicolored jewel slightly larger than a pony that seemed to pulse with a pale light. For a moment there was silence in the room, and then a flash of yellow light as a young unicorn teleported into the room.

"Report." The voice sounded old and weak, and emanated directly from the crystal.

"Celestia has dispatched the Nova Guard to Ponyville, one heavy combat squad and one Arcanist squad. How did you get her to agree?" The confusion in the stallions tone was quite pronounced.

"One simply has to know what words to whisper in what ear. Celestia and her sister are more...controllable than you would think." The malicious glee in the voice caused the pony to shiver.

"But the Nova Guard? Just to capture Screw Loose? Is this...necessary?" The young stallion spoke the words warily.

"I'm not letting this one get away again." The voice from the gem spoke with cold anger. "I've waited long enough as it is."

"But it's Ponyville. It's not like trying to force a way into a griffon town." The stallion looked worriedly around the room "This could end in deaths in the town."

"Let me deal with any fallout that comes from that." A dark chuckle escaped the gem. "Is that all you desired to report?"

"N-no. Trixie has been seen in Ponyville."

"What! Your last report put her in the Crystal Mountains." The light from the gem grew brighter, along with the heat in the room.

"That's where she was! Our operatives followed her into the mountains and then lost sight of her. Word is she stumbled half dead into Ponyville yesterday. The Crystal Empire has demanded she be turned over to stand trial for the damages caused by her actions in the city."

"Did she reach the transport Hub?" The words were murmured quietly but still overheard by the operative. "It doesn't matter, there is no way she would be a threat to this operation. And in time she will be joining her mother anyway." For one moment a pair of eyes shimmered into existence within the gem "Now go, before you're missed."

Silence filled the room for a moment before soft laughter came from the gem "You are turning out to be quite interesting Trixie. All the way to the way to the Hub, only Sombra made it that far. And he didn't leave the same pony that he entered." Vicious glee sounded when it said those words. Seconds later the gem darkened until only minor waves of color slipped across its surface.

00000000

Ponyville Hospital

{HELP ME!}

The cry echoed faintly through Trixie's mind and jerked her out of her trance, nearly sending her tumbling from the bed as well as having her looking wildly around the room for a moment to try and find whatever had made the noise. Finding nothing that could have woken her from her trance she shook her head and looked to the floor beside the bed which was filled with the remains of her casts. She slowly flexed her right foreleg finding that the bone was intact once more even if she was getting twinges of pain when she moved it. Slipping from the bed she settled her injured legs onto the floor and clenched her teeth around a slight whimper as pain shot up the appendages. Closing her eyes she began to focus again and the black lines on her body began to shimmer and glow dimly as a cold chill spread from her hooves up her legs. It didn't take long for the pain from her legs began to fade from nearly tear creating to just barely bearable. She knew that it would take the rest of the day to purge the remaining injuries from her body, and that she could only do so thanks to the sleep, food and care the hospital had given her. Even so she was not going to laze around here any longer, she had work to do and it required more than Pokey knew to get it done. One thing or another, it required Twilight Sparkle.

That of course hadn't been her original plan, said original plan had been for her to be triumphant in her attempt to enter the archive and find the information that she was seeking. Now that that was a bust she was going to be working on backup plans, and since foalnapping Twilight and forcing her to do what Trixie wanted was about as likely to work as Trixie was to suddenly become and alicorn she had changed her plans. Which meant she was actually on plan G right now and working from there. Which required either Twilights freely given help or required a very involved spell and some of Twilights blood freely given. Trixie doubted either was going to be easy to get but in the end it was better than plan J. She was willing to do a heck of a lot to save her mother but plan J was one of the few that even she would admit was insane. Any other thoughts on the matter were cut off as the door opened and a grey pegasus with odd eyes wandered in.

"Hi Trixie!" Derpy smiled as she trotted over and produced a letter from her saddlebags to give to the showmare.

"Derpy? Trixie didn't know you were in Ponyville. She also didn't know any pony would send her a letter." Trixie cocked her head to the side at the look Derpy gave her.

"Just for you, says for Trixie only." Derpy's ears twitched and turned as if listening for sounds that shouldn't be nearby.

"Trixie thanks you." Taking the letter Trixie waited till Derpy left and then opened it while making sure that she wasn't in view of the window. Several seconds later she wanted to be cursing out loud but held back from doing so. There would be no way to get mother out of town during the day, and attempting any kinds of moves would be seen by the operatives that the princess very likely had within the town. It left them the narrow window of opportunity that nightfall would give to try and slip out of town. A narrow opportunity that her brother was making worse by deciding to head into the Everfree as their retreat, if only because the guard would be wary of heading into the dangerous forest at night. "And with good reason." Trixie muttered. She didn't remember much of her trek through the forest but she did have a few vague memories that told her she had been lucky to get through the place the first time. Trixie had learned to trust her instincts in the last half year, ever since she had taken the Rite of the Dancing Shadow in the Bison lands she had been more in tune with the world around her. She had been very grateful to the Bison for their aid in her quest to help both her mother and her family. It was her commitment to family that had swayed the Bison to her side, she had true friends among them and hoped to be able to visit again when all of this was finished.

Levitating a small mirror from the stand nearby she almost warily looked into the surface. She hadn't seen herself since her entrance into the Ways and her attempt to access the archive, and the image reflected told her how badly her attempt had cost her. Closing her now pale eyes she shoved the mirror onto the bed and turned to leave the room, it was time to visit her mother and then to get ready for tonight. She didn't care if it was a thousand arcanists, nopony was laying a hoof on her mother.

0000000

Unlike many ponies who set up shop in towns and cities Derpy didn't live above her place of work, which happened to be the mail office, she instead lived above the Ponyville clockwork shop with her husband and two daughters. Pokey was heading there now to give Time Turner the journals and warn him of the possible need for his family to get out of Equestria for awhile. Even as he approached the building he could see the usual signs were not set out and the curtains were already drawn with a sign reading Closed: Return in several weeks, maybe. Pokey didn't bother knocking on the door and simply opened it with his magic, stepping inside to see the amount of clutter that usually covered every workspace of Time Turner's shop was even more pronounced now that it included items that were being packed.

"Pokey, about time you got here." Time Turner rushed into the room carrying what looked to be a large round watch that he threw into the top suitcase. "Derpy already told me to get ready to move out."

"Yes things are likely to get a little dangerous for those who've helped us, at least for a time. Taking her and the children to the Diamond Shores?" Pokey set the journals near the suitcase getting only a cursory glance from Time Turner.

"Everyone goes to the Diamond Shores, probably get trampled in the rush to see those gem whales." Shaking his head as if this was the worst thing in the world Time Turner turned and tossed a travel booklet to Pokey who caught it and looked at the cover.

"You're seriously taking your family to see the Horned Clock Tower? What could possibly be interesting there?" Pokey couldn't help but laugh at Time Turners irritated glare.

"I'll have you know there's supposed to be a ghost rampaging around the place once a week." Pulling a strange clockwork item out from under the counter of his shop the stallion shook his head. "Don't need that, actually I'm not even sure where that came from."

"Just be careful." Pokey smiled as he noticed Dinky and Sparkler come into the building "After all I don't want to have to worry about my favorite little nieces."

"Uncle Pokey!" Dinky dashed over to Pokey while Sparkler followed at a more sedate pace. "Did ya get us anything."

"Now you've got her calling you uncle all the time." Time Turner didn't sound as if it bothered him.

"There is someone outside that has asked to see you uncle." Sparkler's more formal speaking was something Pokey had gotten used to though he still wondered why she was the only one in Derpy's family who used it. "I did not like the looks of him."

"I'll take care of it, just keep them inside till Derpy gets back." Pokey stopped at the door "I'll swing by later before nighttime to give you a list of things I'd like picked up from the library. Do you think you can handle that when everything gets started?"

"Twilight?" By the tone in Time Turner's voice Pokey could tell the stallion wanted nothing to do with anything that might hurt the mare.

"Shouldn't involve her at all. I just need Beatrix's things gotten out and moved to our rendezvous point." Seeing the clock maker nod Pokey headed out the door and towards the pony standing in between the two houses across the street. Stopping some distance away he examined the cloaked stranger, noting the unicorn horn as well as the crimson and gold ring that was placed around the base of said horn. "An arcanist with a power amp. Well I didn't know I was so important as to get this kind of treatment." He smiled as he saw irritation flare in the strangers eyes.

"We're not here for you Pokey, unless you cause trouble." The deep voice sparked a dim memory in Pokey's mind but he couldn't place it. "I'm here on behalf of the princesses, and everypony in this town, to ask you not to make this harder than it has to be."

"Harder than it has to be?" Pokey thanked every self control measure he had ever learned, because they were the only thing that kept him from trying to slam the pony though a wall. Which would have been a futile attempt anyway as the guardspony was a member of the Nova Guard, which put his power pool significantly above Pokey's to begin with and that wasn't even counting the battle spells and power amp. "You are here threatening my mother and sister and you're telling me to make this easy on you?"

"Do you want innocent ponies to get hurt!" The Nova Guard member took a step forward "If we have to come into this town we will."

"Just like Blackwatch then hmm?" Pokey noted a direct deflating of the guards arrogance at those words.

"The guard has changed since then." The pony seemed to hesitate for a moment and then with a sigh pulled off the crimson cloth that shielded most of his face. He looked to Pokey who now bore a look of shock on his face. "I won't let them do something like that again."

"Strong Heart." Pokey was truly surprised his voice hadn't failed him as he stared at a pony he had thought dead for over ten years. "Y-you..." Every plan began falling apart in that one instance.

"Well I expected to garner a bit of surprise but to see you speechless is certainly impressive." Strong Heart tried to inject mirth into that statement but it fell flat. And the more the existence of the pony before him sank in the more Pokey began to put the pieces to together.

"You were always a guard." The soft spoken words only elicited a nod from Strong Heart. "Was that your purpose? Keep an eye on us, wait for our mother to fall and then turn on us?!" A hoof slammed down as power began to gather on Pokey's horn.

"Don't do something you'll regret Pokey." Strong Heart looked sadly at the stallion before him "I won't lie to you and say I was trying to save you all from the guard. My job was simply to keep an eye on your family and make sure we knew when the inevitable happened."

"She trusted you." Banishing the magic from his horn Pokey let his hate for the pony before him show.

"I know. I don't make excuses for my actions, but I'm a member of the guard and it's my duty to watch over Equestria and act on its behalf." Strong Heart gestured proudly to the buildings around them. "Because of the sacrifices of soldiers like me and the rest of the guard the ponies of Equestria can live and work peacefully with no fear."

"The fact you can say that with a straight face is astounding." Pokey sent a withering glare at the pony "Next you'll try to claim it was the Nova Guard who defeated Nightmare Moon, or Sombra, or the Changeling Queen." he snorted and added "Discord. The elements of harmony have done more to protect this land than you ever will."

Silence met the statement for a moment before Strong Heart sighed and backed into the shadows of the buildings. "I'm sorry Pokey. I'm sorry I lied to you, your mother and your sister. I'm sorry that this is the way things have to be. I'm just begging you to think about the ponies who live in this town, don't bring them into your conflict with the guard." He drew the crimson cloth back over his face.

"My conflict with the guard?" Pokey shook his head "You were with us for years and yet you don't understand. This was never our conflict, it was always yours and it always will be. You've invaded innocent towns in order to take members of our family, fighting is the only answer left to us." He watched as the Nova Guard captain teleported away in a flash of red and shook his head "It isn't me you should have come to Strong Heart, and it's not me you should fear in this. It's Beatrix."

00000000

Ponyville, moonrise

"No resistance yet sir." The youngest of the arcanist squad looked towards the hospital that was only two more blocks away.

Strong Heart stared at the street ahead thinking of the reports from their operative and how she had said that Trixie was up and moving around. It should have been impossible but reports said she was healed already, which meant he'd have to deal with her in a fight instead of just picking up a wounded mare. Not that he was to worried, he knew how powerful Trixie was and at most she might be a match for a single low power arcanist. He had a squad of ten all of whom were outfitted with power amps, which meant any fight between Trixie and his forces would be short. Slipping from the shadows between the two buildings the arcanists moved into the street and began to head towards the hospital when the sky darkened and a flash of lightning nearly blinded the ponies.

When the light faded Strong Heart found his squad facing a single pony standing in the center of the road. A pony wearing a purple cape and hat, both of which were covered in gold and blue stars. Any words he might have spoken died when he saw the changes in the pony he had taught some magic to during his time with her family. The spells the Nova Guard bore in their armor allowed them to see at night as well as during the daytime and he could easily see the dark markings on her body, the dull colored coat and pale eyes and mane that seemed to mark her now. He noted she was wearing the boots and leg armor of a frontier ranger, it even bore the enchantments only given by the royal armorsmith.

"Trixie..."

"Did you think that Trixie would just let you pass?" Trixie knew the answer was yes, and it likely would have been allowed if she had listened to Pokey. Her brother had come up with a convoluted plan that would have had them engaging nopony and hopefully escaping with minimal danger. It was the mention of Strong Heart that had changed Trixie's mind about going along with her brothers plan. "Trixie trusted you. She wanted to be like you!"

"I understand you don't like me Trixie, in fact I'm betting you hate me right now." He gestured for his subordinates to back up slightly. "And I understand that you want to protect your mother." By the look on the other unicorns face he had better speed up his words. "But do you really want to fight right here? Do you want to put the innocent ponies of this town in danger? You have to understand I can't back down, I have my orders. This is your decision." He nearly let out a sigh as he noted Trixie's look to the buildings around her, buildings holding sleeping ponies, and the uncertainty that began to show in her face. He was about to speak again when a small flash lit within a window at the hospital followed by a section of the building exploding outward in a thundering boom that actually shook the buildings nearby. Strong Heart could only stare at the burning hospital for a second before anger surged "What in Tartarus does Bulwark think she's doing!" He froze as he felt power beginning to swirl in the street ahead of him and all of it coming from Trixie. "Trixie, we didn't have anything to do with that!"

"You want Trixie to understand you?" The black lines on her body began to shimmer and glow as she tapped the nearby elemental powers. "Trixie doesn't need to understand you..." Arcanists froze and stared in shock. "Because..." Strong Heart's eyes widened in fear as a dark black aura surged up around Trixie's horn and green light filled her eyes. When she spoke next her voice boomed louder than any princess Luna had ever called forth.

"TRIXIE WILL END YOU!"

0000000000000000000

Pokey's Classified info.

Applejack: Element of Honesty

Birthplace: Ponyville

Education: Ponyville Public School

Power Level: Medium. Strength wise she is ahead of all other members of the elements but her skill level is low compared to the other elements. Don't let that fool you, she is strong fighter and quite a bit smarter than many think.
Parents: Apple Blossom and Orchard, currently whereabouts unknown.

Addendum to parents: Starting to get a weird vibe on these ponies Pokey. Apple Blossom and Orchard were never part of any of the military structure but they just so happened to be on the Cloud Breaker when it took its maiden voyage and vanished over the Hornmount. Did you know that every major investigative force that began to look into the mysterious disappearance of a so-called "Invincible" airship were not only all under the authority of the crown but also all amazingly came to the exact same conclusion? Passenger lists are impressively hard to get and I had to bribe six different archivists to get my hooves on the correct one. Applejacks parents tickets showed they boarded from Canterlot instead of Ponyville when the airship stopped there. Reasons were hard to come up with but I did manage to get a break when one of the castle maids told me she remembered the two, if only because they apparently met with princess Celestia privately before they boarded the ship. And may I say that the main reason she even remembered that, considering how long it's been since then, is that she was nearby and says she is almost certain she heard them arguing with the princess which is not something you hear about every day. I'm starting to pick up heat down here Pokey, don't know who it's from but I'm certain that Breaker is missing. These ain't the royal intel agents either, sompony else is getting interested in your little investigation.

Grandmother: Granny Smith

Siblings: Applebloom, Big McIntosh.

Author's Note

Well that sort of put the death to my 'only between 2 to 4k length chapter' statement. Well I finished this thing at 2 am last night, still think it turned out okay.

If you see any problems just tell me, it'll help me get better at this sort of thing.

Nightfall

'thoughts'
{Mental Speak}

0000000000

In a dark statue filled room deep in Canterlot mountain a loud crack sounded.

0000000000

1030 years ago.

Two shadows dashed through the underbrush streaking past trees and bushes, the lead pony had his head ducked down with his eyes squinted mostly shut to protect them from the lashing branches around him as he broke a path for the pony following him. Moments later they burst from the edge of the forest and out into the bright sunlight at the edge of a river. Said river cascaded down into a huge waterfall that plummeted so far below as to be impossible to see the bottom in the mists it created at its base. To any looking these were not normal unicorns, the curved horn and sharp fangs would have indicated to those who were looking that the two bore a much more impressive heritage than any average unicorn pony. The female bore a black star as her cutie mark and males flank was stamped with a golden shield.

"And of course sompony put a giant waterfall right here." The male pony stamped a forehoof in anger which elicited laughter from the female.

"Well they couldn't know we needed to escape through here, we can lodge a complaint with somepony later Sombra." She smiled as she looked up the river towards the mountains they had left a day ago.

"lodging complaints requires work and you know how I feel about that." Sombra managed a weary smile before a great shadow swept over them gaining an angered glare towards it. "I'm starting to think that princess Luna doesn't like us Midnight."

"Did you figure that out when she torched our home, and I use that term lightly considering it was a cave, or when she had her Cutter start blasting the mountain where we were?" Midnight frowned at the dragon wheeling about above them. "We need to move."

"Leave it to me." Sombra's horn glowed a dark red and with a thundering crack the cliff underneath them began to tilt dangerously outward.

"What are you doing!" Midnight's eyes widened as the ground underneath them stopped its forward tilt, and then dropped straight down. Her panicked scream was cut off as she was pancaked into the dirt as the ground glowed and its descent slowed to a crawl. Scrambling to her hooves she stalked over to her brother, who was getting a good laugh at her expense and smacked him in the head. Before he could react to her justified attack a giant dragon swept down from above to land on the edge of the now sheared off cliff. Giant claws slicing into stone with the same ease she could have swept a hoof through air while watching their descent with mild interest before tossing it's head back and letting out a loud roar that would obviously draw attention.

"Coward, not even willing to try and engage us himself, to scared he might get hurt." Sombra looked down noting they had gone at least a third of the way down the falls. Looking back up he watched as a large airship swept down past the dragon and began to lower itself down the falls to catch up to them. The red and gold markings showed it to be a Nova Guard Cutter, which likely meant that the princess was no longer actively involved in the hunt for them.

"We won't make it down in time." Midnight looked fearfully to the cutter as it continued to move downwards, in several more seconds it would be on them.

"We'll make it." Sombra looked to the ship as it came level with them, noting the arcanist squads that were lined at the rail. "They're going to try and overwhelm us with sheer power this time."

Midnight didn't need any explanation of what she was meant to do, she'd been doing it for years now anyway, and summoned a massive shield of crimson between their little chunk of ground and the Cutter. Moments later her shield was put to the test by fireballs, lightning bolts, acid attacks and even a few nullification beams that carved great rents into the crimson energy and forced her to work to repair them quickly. "If you are going to do something I suggest you do it soon." She looked to her brother noting his bowed head and soft mumbles. "What are you..." She barely restrained a curse as Sombra summoned a black aura around his horn and began to speak loud enough to be heard.

"My years given freely, my blood given freely." Spinning shards of dark magic appeared on either side of the unicorn before slicing lightly into him drawing a small amount of blood. "To summon he who spoke the oath, who gave his life to aid our cause." Sombra lifted his head looking out at the Cutter with green glowing eyes. "Aid me now as you have before, this I ask." The last was spoken softly but it would carry impact to any pony who knew of the magic just used.

"What are you thinking!" Midnight shot a glare at her brother, who now looked almost exhausted. "That spell takes time Sombra, years of your life you won't get back!"

"Maybe, but it'll be worth it." He looked up at the sky above as the two dragons working scouting duty for the Cutter launched themselves from the cliff and began a slow circling descent. "Let them learn who the true master of the skies is." The words had barely left his mouth when a giant shadow swept over the area, followed by a roar so loud it made the other two dragons above begin to look about in a panic.

{GET AWAY FROM MY CHILDREN!} The mental shout blasted through the minds of all in the small area, causing even Sombra and Midnight to flinch as well. Seconds later a thundering boom sounded through the skies as lightning flashed and a dragon bearing a charred stump where its head should have been plummeted past the descending Cutter. The second dragon tried to gain a greater chance of survival by banking away from the cliff which was probably the worst thing it could have done as a giant black dragon impacted it in the back and then curled claws around the base of the smaller dragons wings and pulled. The ponies on the Cutter were desperately trying to turn the Cutters main magical cannons towards the enemy above but it was a futile gesture, the ship was far too slow. The second dragon, now bearing only stumps where its wings should have been was slammed bodily into the Cutter, and that attack was followed by the giant black dragon above opening his mouth and releasing a lightning bolt that carved through every magical shield the Cutter had and blew the ship into shrapnel. This attack was swiftly followed up by a wave of fire that washed over the now falling wreckage and frying any who had survived.

Massive wings shifted the air as the black dragon lowered itself to the level of the descending piece of earth. Taking the chunk of ground in giant claws the beast flew down to the ground below and set the two unicorns down.

"Father!" Midnight rushed forward to rest herself against one of the creatures massive legs. She stepped back as light began to suffuse the scales of the dragon and it shrank down into the form of a pony, though bearing a curved horn and fangs, as well as a pair of dragon wings more than twice the size any pegasus would have. He stepped forward giving Midnight and affectionate nuzzle before turning to Sombra. "That was foolish."

"I didn't have a choice." The unicorn sat down with a sigh as exhaustion tugged at his body, he looked up into the concerned eyes of his father. "An entire Cutter, we aren't like you father. We don't have your strength."

"Strength alone gets one nowhere. It is useful until you run into an opponent who can use it against you." The dragon in pony form turned to look at the base of the waterfall. "Do not cast that spell again."

"If we are attacked..." Sombra's words were cut off by the anger in his father's gaze as he spun around.

"Do you know what that spell does to your body! You lose years of your life Sombra, you may be my son but you are not a dragon. I will not answer another summons from you." He turned to look at the waterfall again. "I will not contribute to my own child's death." He bowed his head "My time is over son, I fell. If I could I would take you both under my wings and protect you for the rest of your lives, I would seek the ancient truths and find a way to help you and your mother." He turned to look at the two of them sternly. "Listen to me well. A corruption burns in Celestia, I know not its purpose or where it began but I felt it in the end."

"Are you trying to say her actions are not her own?" There was disbelief in Sombra's tone but all it elicited from the dragon was a frown.

"Something...has happened. I was there to see the fall of Discord, and to see the fool sky kings fall. And a dozen other times she strode the battlefield beside us." Turning he looked at his children. "But when I saw her last." His eyes narrowed and his wings shifted uncomfortably. "Something is there, a light that burns deep within her. I know not whether it controls her or just influences her actions, before my fall there was talk among the Sky Guard that she had begun to neglect her sister." He glanced down at his hooves as they began to pale and fade away. "My time is up." He again sent a glare to Sombra "I do not want to be summoned by you again son, protect your sister and find some way to do what I could not. Find a way to fix this."

It was some time before the two began to move once again, heading ever away from their old and now destroyed home.

"Teach me." Midnight trotted forward to walk beside her brother.

"Teach you what? You already know nearly all the spells I do." A look told him that wasn't what she wanted to learn.

"He said he didn't want you calling him again, he said nothing about me." Midnights devious smile brought laughter from Sombra.

"Very well, but this is a spell that you will use only at the most dire of times, father isn't going to allow us to summon him again after that." He looked at the dark forest around them and frowned while his mind focused on his father's words concerning Celestia. 'A light? She's the princess of the sun there is nothing that could ever control...unless...The harmony stone?'

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Stone clattered to the ground as a hoof stamped in anger, muscles bunched as a body strained to break free.

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Ponyville Hospital, Moments before Trixie engages Nova Guard.

"Ma'am we're supposed to wait for Strong Heart's squad." Stalker crouched near the corner of the hospital building, keeping an eye out for both possible enemies and their slow to arrive Arcanist squad.

"I'm not wasting any more time waiting for Strong Heart to get his flank in gear and be here when he was supposed to. He was the wrong pick for this mission." Bulwark had just known that the irritating stallion would screw up his part of the plan, she had figured it out the instant that he had tried to talk to the targets. She should have been put in charge of this mission, not an idiot who wasted valuable time, and surprise, on trying to talk ponies into surrendering. It was bad enough that her squad didn't get to see much combat, but to send them on a simple retrieval mission was adding insult to injury. 'Maybe I should put in for a transfer, a trip out to the frontier would have some action.'

"We're going in." She ignored her seconds complaint and slipped around the corner to dart to the front doors. Nudging them open she frowned as she found no ponies on duty in the reception area. Even a hospital in such a small town would have a twenty-four hour receptionist for cases that came in late at night.

"I don't like this ma'am." Stalker moved slowly into the reception area and looked to the doors leading into the rest of the hospital. "My instincts are saying this is a trap."

"You think?" Bulwark shook her head and looked to the doors. "Let's move. Our target is in the mental ward. Meadow, you and Storm guard the front of the hospital." She moved through the doors and headed deeper into the hospital. The lack of nurses and doctors was starting to get to her when she saw the door to the mental ward ahead. Slipping silently into the mental ward Bulwark frowned as she noted that many of the doors looked to have been opened and the rooms cleared out. 'Do they seriously think they can escape the Nova Guard? Or that they can take us by surprise? Hearing voices ahead of her she picked up speed to reach the corner of the hallway and peeked around. Two nurses and one doctor where helping a stallion she recognized from pictures as Pokey Pierce secure an unconscious mare across his back. By the looks of her the unconscious mare was their target. The hallway was cluttered by trays and other small carts that had been placed strategically to slow down any attack. Not that that would help any, the hallway ended in a solid wall and the only way out was back the direction she and her squad had come from. She stepped out into the hallway getting the attention of the unicorns. "You will stand down immediately and hand over the mare Screw Loose." She smiled coldly "Or you could resist, it doesn't really matter to me as the outcome will be the same either way."

"I'm afraid that neither of those options will work for us Bulwark." Doctor Stable turned to the Nova Guard.

"Scalpel? Well I suppose that explains what hole you found to hide in." Bulwark tensed as she looked at the doctor. "The royal guard always wondered where you ran off to." She gestured for several of her troops to begin moving in.

"It's Stable now." Doctor Stable glanced at the soldiers moved slowly down the hallway, checking every place for possible danger. "And I truly doubt the Royal Guard cared that I left. The princess herself granted my leave, in fact I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her. I owe her a great debt." He nodded as if coming to a decision. "But I owe nothing to the Nova Guard. Quite frankly you are a bunch of thugs that are desperately trying to fill the hooves of the Praetorian Guard. You have all their equipment and training but none of their honor." Stable looked to Pokey who nodded and stepped up beside him. "One last thing Bulwark...I never liked you." Power winked into existence on his horn and dull green glow shimmered into existence under multiple carts along the hallway.

"Emerald mines! Get back!" Bulwark tried to turn but suddenly came face to face with the entire doorway next to her glowing green as well. 'Ponyfeathers. It was the last thing she got to think before her world dissolved into flame.

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With a pained yelp Twilight impacted the hard floor of her bedroom as the library shuddered and shook from an unknown source. Scrambling to her hooves she rushed to the nearest window and stared out at the town noting ponies scrambling out into the streets as another ground shaking shockwave passed through.

"What's goin on?" Spike stumbled from his bed and stared around.

"I don't know Spike but I think there's fire." Levitating the small dragon onto her back she rushed outside and towards the town square.

"The hospitals on fire!" Spike pointed to the burning building and Twilight was about to turn to head that way when the ground under her bucked and sent her tumbling.

"Twilight!" Rarity rushed over even as Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash arrived as well.

"What the hay's going on?" Rainbow Dash zipped around the others before looking towards the hospital.

"Rainbow Dash, get the weather patrol and scavenge up some clouds to put that fire out! Rarity, you and Pinkie Pie see if you can help with any injured." Before she could say more the ground bucked underneath them and a rain of green lightning bolts came down in a street some distance from her. "I'm going to find out what's going on over there."

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The cart exploded as black lightning smashed through it gouging a trench into the hard packed earth below. It was quickly followed by jagged waves of black energy that tore the street to shreds in an attempt to hit the Nova Guard arcanists as they dodged and teleported out of the danger zone. Trixie was doing a fairly good job of tracking the frantically dodging ponies with her attacks while they were getting in a few good shots themselves. The street ahead of her was littered with the remains of black crystal shields that had been punched through by lightning, fire, nullification spells and many more. The sky darkened as thick clouds began to form before releasing a barrage of green lightning that struck shields hastily erected by several of the guards. Trixie created another shield and dashed for an alley to seek cover from the retaliatory kinetic pulses that tore her shield to pieces and nearly sent her flying along with debris from the street.

Skidding into the alley Trixie couldn't help but send a silent thanks to Chief Thunderhooves and his herd for getting her back in shape before her trip into the mountains. Not to mention the elemental magic link she now had that was keeping her from collapsing where she stood in pain from the overamped magic she was currently wielding. She had learned a lot from many of the old journals of the family and how to wield dark magic was in more than one of them. 'Except nopony told me how much it would HURT!' It felt like liquid fire running through her veins and only the elemental magic she was constantly dragging into herself was keeping her upright. And that was a short boost itself since one could not use elemental magic on a whim, it was the reason the bison hadn't steamrolled Appleloosa when they had their short little disagreement. Using elemental magic was almost as much a last resort as dark magic was, but in this she believed she really didn't have much of a choice. The thoughts had just barely finished going through her head when the corner of the building she was hiding behind was blown apart by a kinetic burst that buried chunks of wood in the building across from her.

"Trixie is starting to think they don't like her." She smirked as she began to focus on several more spells to use. Ever since the Alicorn Amulet fiasco she had found her head stuffed with spells that she had never known before, the problem was that many were beyond her power level, even her amped up power level wasn't good enough for a great many. Which she supposed actually proved a hypothesis the family had had for several decades, not that any of it would do anypony any good if she got caught. Galloping down the alleyway she found herself heading deeper into the town, more towards the towns school. In her mind this was a good thing as it was a place she didn't have to worry about anypony being nearby so nopony would get hurt. Skidding out into the open she concentrated on another spell and watched as the ground buckled upwards and black crystal claws tore through the earth to latch onto the ground and drag her creations free. The wolf like creatures bore a shimmering green sphere deep within them that was their power core and their eyes glowed the same green as Trixie's own. Leaving them to guard the outside of the building Trixie headed into the school.

Strong heart slowed as they approached the end of the buildings and looked out into an open area where the town's school rested. His orders were to take Trixie alive and as undamaged as possible, it was an order that he was starting to question his ability to complete. He had personally tested Trixie's potential power pool when he had first met her and had noted in a report to Canterlot that he could tell that her pathways were likely equal to that of a low level arcanist. To a trained eye, and the right testing spell, her power ran through her like a small river of gleaming purple that snaked its way from one pathway node to the next. Or at least that was what it had been when he had last seen her years ago. What his spell had shown him now was a raging river that was overflowing its banks, bleeding out from straining pathways into the rest of her body and burning everything as it went. To fix this she was dragging in large amounts of ambient elemental magic to try and keep from burning herself out to the point where she would be lucky to be able to levitate a fork. Worse was the dark streaks of black that were beginning to pollute the beautiful river of Trixie's magic.

Peeking out into the open area near the Ponyville school Strong Heart could see nearly a dozen dark crystal wolves that were pacing slowly through the schoolyard while always staying near the schools front doors, which had been blasted inwards and were now a gaping black opening leading into the school. He knew that in a normal combat situation the squad would attempt to disrupt the delicate balance of magics Trixie had built up in her body thereby creating a backblast through her pathways. Such an act would cripple the unicorn in both magic and body if not also in mind. Strong Heart had to admit that even if his orders had allowed for such action he doubted he could have brought himself to do so to a mare that was simply defending her family.

"Sir, if we hit the summons with a nullification it should disperse them easily enough." Firelight had crept up next to her captain and was looking at their enemies.

"Yes it would, it would also require us to be out in the open and put us in the way of whatever attack Trixie has thought up." Bright Eyes had always been good at pointing out the obvious.

"We need to at least try something!" Firelight looked to Strong Heart. "Unless you're going to give us permission to start using Rune casting?" Silence filled the air for a moment as Strong Heart slowly went over every option they had before coming to a decision he knew was going to get him in trouble later.

"Squad, under authorization of section 5 you are allowed the full use of Rune casting." Strong Heart looked sadly at the building he was sure Trixie was in. "We're moving fast so pay attention to every other ponies spells, the last thing we need is another screw-up like in Fillydelphia last year." He turned to the others. "Bright Eyes, you're on shield duty. Firelight, I want you to stick near me and keep an eye on the school for whatever she's going to throw at us. The rest of you are on trash detail, keep them off us."

A second later the squad burst from cover, rushing towards the school with a glowing shell of green protecting them from any spell that could be tossed from the school itself. Nullification beams lashed out from the shield to strike the crystal wolves and where each beam struck a wolf released a howl as the bonds of magic that held it together failed and it faded away. Strong Heart and Firelight broke for the school and had nearly made it to the doors when power flared and waves of black energy surged out the doorway to slam into the green shield.

"To much boss! I can't keep it solid when it's so stretched!" Bright Eyes was straining to keep his shield up and covering the entire squad even as they began to split apart and put additional strain on his casting.

"Then pull it in!" Strong Heart nodded to Firelight who erected her own shield around them just in time to take the brunt of another black wave that slammed into it.

"What the heck does she think she's doing?" Firelight watched almost casually as another black wave of power dissipated harmlessly on her shield. "Whatever that spell is it's not very powerful."

"It doesn't have to be powerful, drop your shield for a second and it will be the last thing you ever do, at least without the help of the princesses to restore you." He watched as another wave of power washed outwards and grimaced. "I never expected her to go this far." They had nearly reached the entrance when a crystal wolf nearly twice the size of the ones outside the door launched itself from the darkness within the school and impacted the shield with enough force to shatter it. Strong Heart threw himself to the side to avoid the wolf even as Firelight flung it backwards with her magic. So surprised were they by the attack that Firelight didn't get her shield back up when the next wave of power rushed outwards, she managed to see it just before it impacted.

"Firelight!" Strong Heart didn't hesitate an instant and simply obliterated the giant wolf with a lightning bolt that left it nothing more than smoking chunks of crystal. Rushing to his subordinate he stopped before her to stare, he had always been told of what would happen with that particular dark magic spell but had never truly seen it himself. Firelight was now nothing more than a black crystal statue, partially reared back in surprise and still bearing a look of fear on her face. Hearing a sound behind him he spun around to glare at the blue unicorn as she stepped from the darkness of the school. "Trixie! You..."

"Don't tell Trixie that you are suddenly full of compassion for those frozen in their own bodies. If you were you wouldn't be doing what you are." Looking out into the schoolyard she watched as her summoned creations kept the other arcanists busy. "It is just you and Trixie now."

"Is that what you want? Do you want to kill me?" Strong Heart knew that anything he said wasn't likely to persuade Trixie of anything. "It won't fix things."

"No, but it would make Trixie feel better." The mare took a step forward and Strong Heart could see the minor unnatural twitches in her body. He knew that soon she would either have to let go of the conflicting magics she was using or cause damage to her body.

"Listen to yourself, when did you take pleasure in killing? You're letting the dark magic control you." He knew he had only a few moments of opening left before Trixie might push herself to far and either cause damage to her body or damage to her mind.

"Trixie..." And Trixie hesitated as her mind dredged up warnings from Chief Thunderhooves, warnings were he told her not to overuse either her elemental powers or the dark magics she had been training with around him. The old bison had known the dark power she had begun to tap and been rightfully afraid of it. "No...Trixie doesn't need to worry, she is strong enough." She looked up to see Strong Heart summoning a rune circle in front of him. "She is stronger than all of you!"

"No Trixie, you're not." Strong Heart looked sadly at the mare. "I'm sorry about this" The circle shone with a bright glow before a golden beam punched outwards towards Trixie, who had erected three black crystal shields between herself and Strong Heart by that time. The beam sliced through all three as if they were made of nothing but air and slammed Trixie back into the school with a crash. As Trixie's steady supply of power failed to continue giving them life the last of the wolves crumbled apart into tiny shards. "Stay down Trixie, I don't want to have to hurt you."

Trixie stared up at the ceiling of the school and began to, for the first time, contemplate fleeing the battle and just meeting up with her brother and their mother in the Everfree. Wincing in pain she struggled back to her hooves and tried to drag more dark magic forward only to get a few fitful black sparks from her horn and a bone deep weariness that nearly dropped her to the floor. The lines across her body were back to being black and no amount of trying changed that, in fact even trying made her nearly lose her lunch as she stumbled to the doorway to see Strong Heart standing near his trapped soldier. He had been joined by the rest of his squad and all were now facing her as she struggled to stay standing. "Tr-trixie will n-not give up." She managed to bring out a small dim purple glow around her horn but all it did was add to her weariness and she looked up to see Strong Heart charging another blast rune. Before she could even try anything another golden beam rushed towards her and she flinched back clenching her eyes shut against the incoming pain. A second later a dull boom sounded and in the absence of injury she cracked an eye open to find herself staring at a wall of purple that the golden beam raged against. Looking wearily to the right Trixie found a certain lavender unicorn trotting into the schoolyard with her horn glowing brightly. "Sparkle."

"That is ENOUGH!" Twilight Sparkle sent a glare towards the Nova Guard. "What do you think you're doing?" She couldn't help but look worriedly to Trixie, who looked like she was barely able to stay on her hooves.

"This is an issue that doesn't concern you miss Sparkle. Miss Lulamoon is wanted by the crown for actions against the Crystal Empire." Strong Heart kept a close eye on Trixie who wasn't exactly looking to well.

Trixie would have to admit surprise at the tone Twilight was using in addressing the Nova Guard, she sounded almost disgusted with them. Not that that was interesting enough to keep her from spending most of her attention on trying to figure a way to escape. It was obvious that she had seriously underestimated the Nova Guard arcanists and that the only reason she was still standing was that they were obviously trying to capture her instead of simply defeat her, even low level arcanists were deadly when allowed to cut loose. Which meant she needed to find a way to get out of the area before the guards took her into custody. Twilight might delay them for a few moments but even if she had the desire to interfere, and Trixie doubted that would happen after she saw the damage Trixie had done, she wouldn't be able to stop them as the Nova Guard operated by royal decree. Deciding that the doorframe holding her up was probably not a good image for the Great and Powerful Trixie to put forward she tried to step forward only to have her forelegs buckle under her weight sending her collapsing to the wood flooring.

"Oh my gosh, Trixie are you okay!" Twilight was about to take a step forward when a small gem bounced onto the ground between Trixie and everypony else.

"Down!" Strong Heart was already turning away when a brilliant flash blinded those still looking.

"I've got you." The voice spoke gently in Trixie's ear as legs closed around her barrel and lifted her from the ground taking her into the air.

"Derpy?" Trixie winced as her body was jerked about as the pegasus flew higher and angled towards the Everfree.

"Muffin said I should check on you." She gave a stern look to the blue unicorn. "You shouldn't have stayed behind, you need to think of your family."

"Trixie was..." Growing silent for a moment Trixie contemplated the words and then let out a sigh as the cold wind blew her mane around "Trixie is sorry. You are right Derpy, Trixie just forgot it for a moment."

"Don't worry, you're safe now." Derpy swept down through the air to stay just above the treetops of the Everfree.

"No, Trixie doubts she's going to be safe for quite some time." But she could make sure her mother was.

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Her mind rode the edge of fire and ice, clinging to the razor edge of sanity with every ounce of strength that she could muster, trying to ignore the sweet seductive call of the whispers in her own mind, the whispers that wanted her to rejoin them, to fall again. 'Can...not...fall...you promised, you swore, you would be here, you would save me...you...promised!'

{BROTHER! SOMBRA!}

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Canterlot

Luna looked to the night sky smiling as she set to work making sure all was as it was meant to be. Even as she worked though she felt that something was wrong, something was off of where it was meant to be. Her eyes scanning the night she froze as the red star from the nights before shimmered into existence. At first she waited several minutes to see if the voice would return but as the time passed and nothing came of it she began to examine the star as best she could while being unable to influence it. It was nearly a full thirty minutes after it appeared when the voice spoke again.

{We do not listen.} For some reason Luna thought the voice sounded strained. {We will not be used again.}

"Who are you?" Luna frowned as she reached out with her power to try and find the source of this intrusion.

{You know us.}

"We do not." She froze as she felt a presence behind her.

{You know our name.}

Luna turned slowly and found herself nearly muzzle to muzzle with another alicorn. An alicorn with a coat of black and a mane of the night sky. An alicorn with teal catlike eyes and a set of fangs.

{You know our name.} The black alicorn smirked at the panicked expression on Luna's face.

"TIA!" The scream of panic was followed by the entire top of the Lunar tower vanishing in a massive explosion.

Celestia jerked awake at her sisters scream and without hesitation teleported herself to her own balcony. From there she could see the remains of the Lunar Tower as a sphere of moonlight hovered over the crumbling mass below. Even as she watched beams from the sphere seemed to almost gently caress the stone below only for said stone to melt away into vapor as the power of the princess of the night lashed out at everything around her. Celestia wasted no time in leaping from her balcony and flying above the tower to get a better vantage point in spell casting. She summoned a shield and used it to surround the sphere below, wincing at the feel of power so opposite her own tearing at the shield and attempting to breach through the energy. Diving through the shield and into the light below Celestia felt the power her sister had placed within the destructive spell and could only marvel at her desire to use such might within the palace itself.

"TIA!" The scream was closer now and Celestia pushed past moonlight that scorched her fur and dove into the heart of the light to find her sister lying upon a slab of rock and trying to bury her head under her forehooves.

"I'm here Lulu." Gathering her sister into a hug Celestia held her until the light began to fade and the rubble began to settle into the bottom of the shield sphere. "Lulu what is wrong?"

"She's here! I saw her!" The darker alicorn pushed tighter into Celestia's embrace.

"Saw who?" Celestia asked the question but feared she knew the answer already.

"Nightmare." The words were spoken with fear and Luna buried her head under one of Celestia's wings mumbling to herself so low that Celestia could barely hear her sister speaking of not being a 'bad pony' and wanting the darkness to go. For a second Celestia felt something twitch in her, an old feeling, a feeling of something being wrong. The feeling left as quickly as it arrived and she brushed the memory aside to focus on helping Luna.

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She was an island in her own mind. A ship on a sea of madness. The power reached upwards trying to claw her back down but she bore the blood of dragons in her veins and would not give in, not yet anyway, not when she had something yet to do. As the last of the stone shattered free she took a struggling step forward, then another, and another. Even as she moved she could feel the power of the spells struggling to stop her, each step was accompanied by flakes of stone falling free as the spell attempted to restore itself. If she stopped for even a moment stone would began forming on her legs again. Had she the strength she would have summoned father and let his vengeance fall upon those who imprisoned her. 'But is it the right enemy? Was father right? Is Celestia just another pawn in this game? And if she is, is victory even possible against one who can control an alicorn?' The thoughts flickered through her mind and she realized she had stopped moving, her legs were already once again encased in stone and it was clawing its way upwards.

She knew she couldn't escape, that it was a failed effort to even try. But there was one thing she could try to do. And so she gathered her power, all of the might she could wield in one giant conflagration of might. Her horn shone with crimson and black energy in a corona of power that would have been painful to even look at.

{SOMBRA! I NEED YOU!} She released all of her power to back up that mental shout, throwing out everything she could in one last ditch attempt to reach a brother she couldn't even feel anymore.

Stone closed around her chest and began to claw its way up her neck and no answer had come. She could feel tears beginning to flow as she realized she was alone, a feeling she hadn't felt in her entire life. Her father and mother had been there for both her and Sombra when they had been little, and when their father had died and their mother was taken she had always had Sombra to rely on. And now she was alone.

As the stone reached her head her eyes widened as a soft whisper touched her mind. {Sister?} The whisper grew in strength as if the mind speaking was waking from a deep sleep. {Midnight! I'm coming! I will find you!}

When seen again the statue of Midnight Lulamoon now bore a smile of hope upon its face.

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Tartarus

Pain...It was what he remembered first. A blazing white light that had cut to his very soul, a light that had tore through every dark thought and feeling that had filled him and then burned them out. That light had tore through him with a power he had never felt before, greater than the combined might of the celestial princesses...it had felt both destructive and protective at the same time, a cleansing light that burned the darkness from his soul. Crimson eyes opened slowly to stare dully at the rock walls around him. 'A prison?' He wouldn't have been surprised considering the number of small time dungeons he and Midnight had ended up being tossed into. The one after the tavern brawl where Midnight had beat up an entire table of Diamond Dog miners had been quite hilarious.

With a pained groan the stallion slowly began to stand as chains rattled and jangled. It wasn't until he was fully upright that he could feel the weight of the collar around his neck. Rolling his eyes first one way and then another he was able to get a good look at what was being used to hold him. He had to admit that he was impressed by the sheer size of the chains that came from the walls to attach to the collar he was wearing. "I don't know where I am but do they think this can hold me?" He reached for his magic and suddenly found himself back on the floor with his head feeling like a Diamond Dog had just hit it with a war hammer. A shaking hoof slowly rose to prod at his horn and found only the shattered stump of it remaining.

It was a unicorns worst nightmare, the breaking of their horn. He knew that Equestria reserved such punishment only for the worst offenders, the kind of unicorns that used their power to rape or kill. It was harder for other nations, the crystal empire ponies didn't have unicorns but still had those able to use magic, as did the Diamond Dogs, Minotaurs, and Griffons. Only among the ponies was it so easy to cripple ones magic, at least for normal unicorns. 'But I am no normal unicorn. His father was a dragon, and as such he had a deeper connection and power pool than most unicorns did. Forcing himself to his hooves he again reached for his magic, though this time he was braced for the head splitting pain that spiked through his brain.

Crimson energy crackled fitfully around the shattered stump of Sombra's horn as he struggled to focus his magic through the heavily damaged part of his body. In the end crimson energy lashed out and tore the collar apart sending chunks of it to the floor as the chains crashed down. Letting out a shuddering sigh he released his magic and the agonizing pain in his skull began to fade. A quick look around the room showed it to be nothing but a rock cave with the chains in it and a single doorway that bore a dim shimmering within it, like a heat wave in middle of summer. Striding to the doorway and its shimmer he slowly lifted a forehoof and touched it, only to have his hoof pass right through with no resistance.

Stepping outwards Sombra found himself on a ice covered rocky shelf overlooking a vast plain of ice and snow that stretched as far as he could see, though far in the distance he could make out what looked to be a dead forest of some kind.

"I wouldn't try it pony." The voice rasped from behind him and Sombra spun about reaching reflexively for his magic which caused a pained wince. He found himself facing a gaping hole in the rock that was an opening into another room, this one bore a creature unlike any he had ever seen before but he could practically feel the demonic energy rippling from it. "Do not be afraid, we're all prisoners here." The creature chuckled darkly as it lounged back on the rock behind it.

"I am prisoner to nopony." Sombra drew himself up trying to ignore the biting cold that blew across the rocky shelf. Looking upwards he found himself staring at a cliff that extended up into the clouds, dotted with holes all over.

"The prison cells...for this level anyway." The creature yawned. "I'd suggest you stay put, heading out into there is a waste of your energy."

"Where am I?" He had a inkling but he wanted to know for sure, he recieved laughter in response.

"Tartarus of course." The creature managed to answer after its mirth had died down. "Where else did you think you were little pony."

Sombra let the 'little pony' statement pass and looked out again at the snowy expanse below. "How does one escape Tartarus." This brought even louder laughter from the creature and this time it was joined by beings from many of the nearby cells.

"One doesn't escape Tartarus, you are here to stay pony." The creature showed sharp teeth in a smirk. "Unless you think you can cross the plains, of course you'd have to travel the other levels above to escape. And once you reached the top you would have to pass Cerberus and the pony guards who are also there." The creatures mirth vanished as Sombra turned to the plains and began to concentrate again, lighting a fitful glow around his horn once more.

The grey stallion felt the thick clothing appear around him as the hood of the cloak settled over his broken horn, he pulled up the scarf that was part of the outfit and tucked it around to cover most of his face leaving only his eyes visible.

"Don't be a fool pony, there are guards out there. And I'm not talking about mortals." The creature leaned forward. "No one has ever escaped Tartarus...ever." He watched the as the pony stamped newly armored hooves.

"Maybe not, but I do not do this for me. I have somepony to save." Sombra turned and leapt down to the next shelf below and from there began to work his way down from one shelf to the next on his way towards the plains below.

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Pokey's Classified Info.

Rainbow Dash: Element of Loyalty

Birthplace: Cloudsdale

Education: Cloudsdale Flight School. Cloudsdale public school. Typhoon Combat Academy.

Power Level: High. While many pegasi are capable of passing the sound barrier only Rainbow Dash is known for the ability to exceed it at such speeds that a sonic rainboom is created. While she has never used this move in combat she is perfectly capable of doing so. Ranked in top ten in close combat techniques.

Parents: Spectrum and Dark Skies. Currently working as Weather Operations Lead in cloud city of Stratus. Stratus is currently in position near the fortress city of Iron Horn and working weather control duty for the Minotaur city-states.

Addendum to parents: Look it's my favorite title again, 'weather operations leads'. Just like the last two these ponies have Nova Guard written all over them. These two are top notch Pokey, I'm talking cream of the crop '75 ways to kill you with the feathers on my wing' type ponies. I'm sure you remember that little coup attempt in Bull Rush? Well let's just say that the leaders of that coup got on the bad side of these two, said leaders were found so badly beaten they had trouble identifying them.

Siblings: None. Though it appears she is mentoring a young filly named Scootaloo.

Report on interference: They found Breaker this morning, or what was left of him anyway. I don't know who the heck you've pissed off Pokey but these aren't some soldiers or even elites. I'm getting wing deep in trouble out here doing your dirty work for you. So I've decided to do a little preemptive defense work as well, I've called in the twins. If Lock and Key can't keep me from getting offed by whoever is doing this nopony can. Already told them you'd cover their expenses.

Author's Note

Thanks to those who've favorited and liked this story.
Not sure how good I am at writing combat in this verse yet. I rewrote Trixie's fight with the Nova Guard three times till I got what I have up there, just couldn't do it again and not sure how good it is.

Personal headcanon on Sombra is that his horn and fangs are indication of a dragon and pony relationship. So if Spike and Rarity ever got it on and their child was a unicorn he or she would have the same curved horn and fangs that Sombra does. Sombra's actions in Tartarus will be mentioned now and then in some chapters. Not sure about whether to write a side story about his actions there but not sure if I want to.

Read and comment, tell me if I screwed up so I know what to fix.

Aftermath.

'thoughts'
{Mental Speak}

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Ponyville

Chaos. That was all Strong Heart could claim the situation had turned into. With the magic in their armor boosting their vision the flash from the weapon had blinded him and the rest of the arcanists for nearly four minutes. In that time Twilight Sparkle, who had recovered swiftly due to not boosting her vision, had rushed off after Trixie and her unknown accomplice. This had left Strong Heart to deal with Firelight's crystallized form, which was now being loaded onto a chariot for transport to Canterlot, and the remains of Bulwark's squad. When Meadow and Storm had checked in he had finally gotten the chance to learn that all of their squad except Striker had been killed, and Striker was injured so badly that even with spells he'd be down for weeks of healing and then weeks longer for physical therapy.

This now left him trying to handle the angry ponies of Ponyville who were demanding to know why, and who, the Nova guard had been fighting inside the town. Strong Heart had left that in the capable hooves of Bright Eyes, who happened to be quite good at convincing others of what he wanted them to believe. Not that the situation was going to calm down anytime soon, not with Trixie's accomplices being local ponies who were now also missing, as well as the damage to the town.

"Sir!" Strong Heart spun to face Meadow as the pony skidded to a stop before him.

"Sir, we've done our best to try and track them and we're certain they entered the Everfree." Meadow steadied his breathing from his long gallop across town and waited for a response to the bad news from the Arcanist captain.

"Damnit!" Strong Heart looked towards the old forest "Find Emerald Dawn and..."

"That won't be necessary Captain." Both of the Nova guard spun to see a pegasus landing nearby. "Your orders are to remain in Ponyville and aid with the cleanup here."

"Spitfire? What are you doing here? You have no command over the Nova guard." Strong Heart would have said more if Spitfire hadn't shoved a paper signed by General Cutter into his face.

"Orders, directly from the top. You are to stay put and help out around town." Spitfire looked to Meadow. "The remains of your squad are now under Captain Strong Heart's command until you can be folded into a new unit."

"Yes Ma'am." Meadow saluted before looking to Strong Heart for orders.

"Keep everypony out of the damaged wing of the hospital until I've had a chance to look into it, and get Bright Eyes to meet up with the mayor and find out what needs to be done for cleanup of the Hospital and the surrounding area." Strong Heart looked to Spitfire as Meadow rushed away. "Inside, now." He waited till Spitfire entered the school to follow.

Strong Heart glanced around the schoolhouse room for a moment before turning to look at the captain of the Wonderbolts. "What the hay is going on Spitfire? We can't allow Twilight Sparkle and her friends to go after Trixie and Pokey by themselves, it is too dangerous for them to be involved in this."

"The element bearers have traveled the Everfree alone before, not to mention they have an ally within the forest." Spitfire sat near the front of the schoolroom. "If you were to enter right now there is a high chance you would encounter heavy resistance from the local flora and fauna, to the point of losing more ponies. General Cutter believes that our best chance to capture Pokey, Trixie, and Screw Loose is to allow the Element bearers to reach the zebra, Zecora, and get her aid in tracking down the Lulamoons while they attempt to lay low within the forest."

"You entire plan relies on the hope that they get aid from Zecora?" Strong Heart couldn't help but feel confusion when Spitfire nodded. "I will admit that Zecora knows the forest far better than any other pony, and she is friends with Twilight and the others, but even if they do get her help to find Trixie how exactly would you know about it?"

"All of the element bearers are tagged with a tracker package. After the changeling invasion it was believed that the element bearers needed some extra protection from possible attack and incapacitation." This explanation got a raised eyebrow from Strong Heart.

"I'm surprised they agreed to have a track package put on them, there's a lot of intrusive spells in that group." He frowned at the look on her face. "They did agree, didn't they?"

"The safety of the country relies on those ponies, they are Equestria's most powerful weapon and cannot be compromised under any circumstances." Spitfire could see Strong Heart's growing anger. "This was done as a security measure for the country."

"When the heck did we start violating the very laws we are sworn to uphold simply because it makes things more secure!" Strong Heart stamped the floor with enough force to crack the boards. "The placement of those spells on a pony without said ponies approval is breaking over seventeen laws and while the punishments vary due to spell type used they are all severe. The princess would never...!"

"The princess doesn't know." Spitfire interrupted the other pony. "Not all items cross her desk, or need her approval. This was a decision that was made in a joint meeting by the generals of all the armed branches."

"Twilight's brother would not allow this, or did you keep him out of it as well?" Strong Heart let out a snort of anger when he saw her nod. "Of course he was left out, couldn't let somepony close to the situation speak on it."

"We nearly lost Canterlot. One of the princesses, the element of magic, and the captain of the royal guard were all nearly incapacitated and out of the fight. If it hadn't been for miss Sparkle's strength we could have lost everything, as such these spells have been emplaced to allow the tracking of the element bearers in case of danger to them from an outside force. No matter what you might believe these spells are for their protection." Spitfire knew this was an uphill battle, she had known Strong Heart for some time and knew that he was not going to simply let it pass.

Strong Heart grew silent for a moment before something Spitfire had said truly caught his attention. "A weapon? Is that how you see them? Is that how the generals see them? They are ponies like you and I Spitfire, they are not some spear you can fling at an enemy and hope that it will find it's mark."

"No matter what you might think of them Strong Heart they are the one thing that has kept Equestria safe for the last few years. In fact even other countries are showing Equestria more respect since the six of them got together." Spitfire could tell this wasn't lessening Strong Heart's anger.

"A weapon." Strong Heart had begun to pace before a thought caught his attention again. "But a weapon isn't very useful if some of its parts are missing. I seem to remember that one particular mare has been trying to become a Wonderbolt, Rainbow Dash I believe." Strong Heart looked sharply at the captain of the Wonderbolts.

"Yes. If she was a normal pegasus she would already have been accepted onto the team as a reserve member and started training. As it is she won't be allowed to join, Soarin is a bit broken up about it but he'll be spending time with her after her rejection anyway."

"Why would...? Oh I see, she's to uncontrollable. Twilight Sparkle is Celestia's personal student, Fluttershy is already living her dreams as a animal caretaker as well as being too timid to make a move that would be against any plans made. Applejack, like most of the Apple family, will spend her life taking care of her family farm and Rarity is already an established fashion designer and not likely to move her shop. That leaves only two ponies they can't be sure of, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. Two ponies that you have to keep a closer eye on than usual on the chance they decide to follow dreams away from the other element bearers." He sent Spitfire a disgusted look. "Pinkie Pie you have little to worry about since she is so devoted to her friends that even the thought of leaving them could send her into a depression, but Rainbow Dash has dreams and desires that don't mesh with the generals plans. That means you need somepony there to tie her to where she is, and what better way to do that than to have her settle down with the stallion she idolizes so much."

"I'm impressed." Spitfire's smile vanished at a snort from Strong Heart.

"Don't be, I've read the files on them all. With you calling them a weapon it wasn't difficult to figure out how the generals would look at them. But why tell me?" For just a second Strong Heart thought he saw the barest hint of something...off about the pegasus. He couldn't help but wonder if it had been his imagination or if he had truly seen a tiny flicker of a strange rainbow light within the eyes of the Wonderbolt.

"You're a high ranking captain of the Nova guard Arcanist squads, your abilities and those of the ponies under your command are going to be needed in the coming days and you will need to know what's going on." Spitfire drew another piece of paper from the saddlebags she was wearing and set it on the desk. "This was sent for you from agent Spy Glass, it details the actions that are being taken by the Intelligence agency and where their operatives are so you don't get in their way." The pegasus headed for the door to the classroom. "Now if you will excuse me I need to organize the pegasi that will be heading out into the Everfree once we have the correct position."

Strong Heart stared after the pegasus captain wondering, not for the first time in the last few months, why old instincts were shouting that something was very, very wrong. For some reason the statement about him needing to know what was going on had sounded almost...desperate, as if the pegasus was trying to justify to herself why she had told him. Glancing at the paper the mare had left he frowned and headed out of the school and towards the hospital. With the leaving of the arcanist captain no pony was left to notice the movement near the window as a small pony dropped to the ground and dashed to a bush nearby to pull out her scooter and hurry away to find her friends.

Kicking rubble out of his way Strong Heart walked through the shattered and blackened remains of the Ponyville Hospitals mental ward. He had to admit that it was extremely quick thinking on somepony's part to douse the fires with clouds as fast as they could. But he also cursed the fact that the water had likely washed away a great amount of evidence. There were still a few mangled metal tables and gurneys within the remains of the hallway and as he pushed one aside his eye caught a shimmering glimmer of green partially buried within the floor. Wrenching the small shard free with his magic he summoned a small globe of light to get a better look at what turned out to be a shimmering shard of green crystal.

"An emerald mine?" Strong Heart frowned as he used his magic to probe the small jewel shard and found a very distinctive mark to the remnant of magic left in it. "That's not possible."

"Sir?" Storm's voice caused the arcanist captain to jump in surprise and nearly drop his find, instead he just leveled a glare at the scout. "Sorry sir, didn't mean to sneak up on you. I was just wondering what you were looking at."

"An emerald mine, and not the cheap knockoff versions that you can pick up in Steel Horn. This is a true emerald mine, created and carried by the Obsidian Guard." Strong Heart turned the shard of emerald several different directions while trying to figure out how Pokey had gotten his hooves on it.

"The obsidian guard don't sell their equipment to anypony, they even refused to sell to the griffons." Storm glanced around the blackened and shattered remains of the hallway. "Is that what happened here, emerald mines?"

"Yes." Strong Heart put the small shard into a pouch within his armor. "The question is how they got it. The Gem Kingdom and the Lulamoon family do not get along."

"Sir?"

"Old history, There is little known about it beyond the fact that a pegasus of the Lulamoon family assassinated the Empress and then raided the royal library making off with a large amount of items." Strong Heart wasn't telling the entire truth, the Equestrian intelligence service knew for a fact that there were two pegasi who had been involved in that political catastrophe. The first was Whisperwind Lulamoon, she was the one who raided the library while her brother, a titan of a pony named Blockade, had assassinated the gem empress. Few outside the Intel agency knew that the assassination was actually both revenge for actions taken against Whisperwind and an attempt to procure information that the Gem Kingdom refused to allow the Lulamoons to see.

Strong Heart shook his head and muttered a curse while trying to figure out what exactly to do about everything that had happened in the town, as well as the things he had learned from Spitfire. "This is why my parents told me to go into the salt mining business instead of the military." He remained quiet for a moment before looking to Storm. "I need you to find a local pegasus named Thunderlane, and tell Bright Eyes to get over here as well."

It was nearly a half hour later but Bright Eyes showed up first. "You have no idea the stuff that's gonna be in tomorrow's paper, it isn't going to be pretty for us." Seeing the look on his captains face he snapped to attention. "Orders?"

"I have a mission for you, it isn't going to be easy and possibly could end with us all in the dungeons." Seeing no hesitation in his subordinate he stepped closer. "I need you to head back to Canterlot, there's some things I need done there."

"Aren't our orders to help out here in Ponyville sir?" The unicorn nodded to the destroyed walls around them.

"I need you to carry a message to Princess Celestia for me, this needs to get done as quietly and quickly as possible. Avoid all guard patrols and especially other Nova guard units." Strong Heart levitated a small note he had composed while waiting. "This is not to fall into the hooves of anypony but Celestia or Luna, is that understood?" Seeing the nod from his subordinate he forged ahead. "Once that is done, if the princesses don't have need of you anymore I want you to speak to a bar owner by the name of Frosty, his business is right off of dock seventeen and there is almost always an old cargo airship docked nearby. When you talk to Frosty tell him you want to try a feather dasher, he should take you into the back. Once you're there I want you to ask him everything he knows or can find out about contingency plans involving the bearers of the Elements of Harmony."

"Sir, are we making waves?" Bright Eyes knew his captain would understand the reference and which pony he was talking about.

"Not yet, but don't rule it out." Strong Heart frowned "Something is wrong here, something I can't quite put my hoof on. Spitfire..." Strong Heart once again thought of the strange barely seen rainbow shimmer in the other ponies eyes. "Let's just say I don't trust her right now." clapping a hoof to his friends shoulder he pulled him close. "If things work out as I think they will then the princesses should have freed Firelight from the spell that hit her by the time you get there. Meet up with her and bring her along." Movement in the corner of his eye alerted him to the arrival of Thunderlane. "Get going, I have one other thing to do yet." He waited till Bright Eyes had headed out from the Hospital before turning to Thunderlane, who was staring around at the destruction around him. "Thunderlane."

"Sir." The pegasus came to attention, even though he was simply a local volunteer recruit for the guard he still took his duty seriously. "I-I didn't know this would happen."

"Not your fault, I have a mission for you if you're willing to accept it." Seeing the pegasus stand a little straighter and nod proudly Strong Heart almost changed his mind, but he knew that with this mission he needed one of the more reliable flyers of Ponyville. "I have a letter that needs to be delivered to the Crystal Empire, directly to the hooves of Shining Armor himself. This is of utmost importance, and by that I mean you cannot allow this message to fall into the hooves of anypony else." Seeing the slight hesitance in the other ponies stance he continued. "This mission should be easy in and easy out, no pony will know of it but you and all you have to do is get to the Crystal Empire and tell the ponies there that you need to speak with Shining Armor. But if you are followed and you can't escape I want you to destroy the letter rather than let it be captured, is that understood?"

"Yes sir." Thunderlane took to the air and glanced back at the destroyed section of the Hospital thinking of the fact that he was working essentially as an informant for the guard. "Rainbow Dash is going to kill me." He turned and shot off northward.

From a cloud far above the town orange eyes tracked the pegasus's departure from Ponyville before shifting to watch the much more stealthy barely seen departure of another pony, though this one wore Nova guard armor. For just a moment, a fleeting flicker of a second, something like triumph flared in a deep portion of her mind. Shaking her head a moment later Spitfire blinked in confusion before giving an irritated look to the destroyed hospital wing. "You always were too much of a bleeding heart for your work Strong Heart." Spitfire stood and leapt from the cloud to glide silently towards the nearest pegasi messengers, she needed to get orders out before things got too far out of control.

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EVERFREE FOREST

Twilight moved carefully behind Pinkie as the party pony bounced through the Everfree as if they were out for a simple stroll in a normal forest instead of one of the more dangerous parts of Equestria. In truth Pinkie's carefree style and her strange Pinkie sense was exactly what they wanted from her, a pony who could lead them to Zecora's without running into anything of true danger in the middle of the night. When Twilight had chased after Trixie she had quickly found herself being led directly for the Everfree, which had necessitated a new plan at that point. She had rounded up her friends and they had made their way into the forest with the plan of reaching Zecora's and getting the Zebra's help in tracking down Trixie and her brother. While Twilight didn't doubt that the varied abilities of herself and her friends would have kept them safe within the forest if they decided to try and find Trixie the chances of finding the showmare and her brother were slim without help.

Twilight again found herself thinking back to the image of Trixie barely able to stand in the schoolhouse entrance while being faced down by the Nova guard. It had taken a hefty amount of restraint to keep from blasting the Nova guard and simply pulling Trixie away from them. Looking over her shoulder for a moment she checked on Spike where he sat on her back watching the forest around them carefully. The pressure he was putting on her sides with his legs as well as the way he held himself told her how tense he was after seeing the Nova guard in Ponyville and being so close to them.

"It's alright Spike, they won't follow us into the forest." The startled jump from the small dragon told her how worried he was.

"You don't know that, they might follow us here." Spike's eyes darted as he looked to the deformed trees around them leading to another worried look from Twilight.

"Why are you worried about them?" Applejack moved closer. "Ain't they members of the guard?"

"They are not members of the royal guard!" Twilight realized a second later how harsh she sounded. "I'm sorry Applejack, it's just that Spike and I have had some...bad experiences with the Nova guard." Twilight's stared at the ground with her ears lowered in shame.

"It's not your fault Twilight." Spike scooted forward on the unicorns back and reached forward to give her a hug. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"It is my fault, I should never have agreed to it!" Even so Twilight felt her spirits rise at the show of support from Spike.

"You're saying we can't trust 'em?" Applejack frowned looking worriedly to her friend. Twilight was known to overreact to quite a lot of things but Applejack and the rest of her friends had learned to trust that their friend had at least some reason for her beliefs.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. My brother often referred to them as a rogue element of the military." Seeing that it was going to require more explanation she started from the beginning. "As you know the Equestrian military is broken up into multiple sections, each under the command of their own general. The Airborne fall under the command of General Wind Shear, the Legions fall under the command of General Rock Slide, and the Arcanists fall under control of General Shimmer. Then there is the Royal guard which is headed not by a general but by the Captain of the royal guard who holds power equal to a general and has the ability to give orders to any of the other branches of the military. All but one."

"The Nova guard." Spike glared out at the forest, the anger and hate he felt for the Nova guard seeping into his voice. Twilight sent another worried glance to her assistant before looking ahead again.

"Yes. The Nova guard are headed by General Cutter, he is the only pony who seems to have no superior but the princesses. Shining said once that the Nova guard did as they pleased and asked for permission later. More than once he took complaints to Princess Celestia about the actions of the Nova guard only to be told that the Nova guard had particular duties that required them to act as they did. They were...are...allowed to requisition any equipment they believe is needed for the mission they are on, even local legion, airborne, or arcanist forces are to fall under their command when they are in the area. In fact that was the most low equipped Nova guard force I've ever seen."

"What did they d..." Rainbow Dash's words stopped as she felt a hard tug on her tail causing her to look back at the blue glow that was pulling her back, looking to Rarity she saw the other pony shaking her head quickly. Trying to change the topic of what she was asking she settled on what had happened in Ponyville instead. "Uh-Did you find out what they were there for?"

"The captain in charge of the action mentioned the Crystal Empire and that Trixie is wanted for something there." Twilight grew quiet for a moment, thinking of the guards actions. "I don't believe it, if she was wanted by the guard they would have simply sent a nearby legion squad or even asked one of the local guards to handle it."

"No doubt the explosion at the hospital was their fault." Spike glared at a particular tree as if it was going to have Nova Guards jump out at any moment.

"We don't know that Spike." Twilight looked to Rainbow Dash "Did you find anything out about what happened there?"

"It was one heck of an explosion." The pegasus looked unsettled. "We got the clouds into position and dropped enough rain to put the fire out but they didn't let any of us close enough to really get a good look at what happened."

"There were several guards there who were keeping ponies back." Rarity frowned "From your description of the others, those at the hospital must have been Nova guard as well."

Before anymore could be said they began to hear muffled voices from ahead. Twilight gave a quick gesture for the others to be quiet as they moved carefully into the bushes nearby and peaked out into the small opening near the entrance to Zecora's tree. From there they could see Pokey standing in front of the tree talking to Time Turner while Derpy played with Dinky and Sparkler sat near a sky chariot reading a book. It took some heavy concentration but Twilight managed to mask enough of the glow from her horn to keep them from being spotted and yet allowed her to cast a spell that allowed them to hear what was being said.

"...verything but one. We searched all over but the black journal with the dragon on it wasn't anywhere we could find."

"Damn. That's one of more dangerous ones as well." Pokey looked at the night sky for a moment. "Well we can always retrieve it later, once we've had a chance to hide out for awhile and let the guard calm down." The blue pony was quiet for a moment before looking to Time Turner "If you would..."

"No." Time Turner interrupted Pokey before he could say more. "I'm sorry but I simply can't get involved in this. I'm retired, I have a family now and I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure they're safe." He looked to the ground for a moment. "I'm sorry Pokey, there was a time I would have thrown caution to the wind and ran headlong into this kind of trouble." He looked to his daughters and Twilight could hear a mixture of sadness and happiness in the stallions voice. "I've given all that up for them, please don't ask me to risk more than I already have."

"I understand." Pokey smiled at where Dinky and Derpy were playing while Sparkler did her best to act like she wanted to read her book instead of join in. "Take care of them Time Turner. And if you ever need aid just send us a message, we'll send help as quickly as possible."

"Don't worry about us, we'll be long gone and off towards the minotaur lands before the Nova guard even thinks about trying to do something about us. It's you that should be careful." Time Turner gestured at Zecora's home "I wouldn't stay here long, the Nova guard might be cowards when it comes to the forest but they will eventually get the guts to follow you."

"I know, we're just holding up here until Beatrix is better and then we'll be heading out." Pokey glanced back through the open door for a moment and sighed. "This situation went about as bad as I expected it would when Beatrix decided to confront them."

"Don't blame your sister too much for that." Time Turner grew quiet for a moment to stare up at the stars above before turning to his family. "In any case I believe that it's time we took our leave." Derpy carried Dinky to the sky chariot, setting her inside, and then moved to the front and began latching the harness closed. After Time Turner and Sparkler climbed into the back as well she checked the harness one more time and then took to the skies dragging the chariot behind her. Twilight and the others watched for a bit as the chariot vanished into the sky before looking back to Pokey as he turned and vanished back into Zecora's home.

"What the hay are they doin here?" Applejack watched the home closely for a moment to see if anypony else might come out but there was no more movement that they could see.

"Well it certainly makes finding them much easier." Rarity frowned as Rainbow Dash pushed her way forward.

"She was watching us." Rainbow Dash's words got the others attention.

"Who was watching us?" Fluttershy stepped closer to the other pegasus.

"Derpy, the entire time she was playing with Dinky she kept looking directly this way." Rainbow Dash frowned "How the heck did she know we were here?"

"It's coincidence, she couldn't have known." Rarity looked worriedly towards Zecora's tree.

"That's fine but we gotta find out what they did to Zecora." Applejack had barely started to move from where she was when Rainbow Dash burst past her straight for the tree, bucking the door open she dashed inside.

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight and the others rushed into Zecora's home to the image of Rainbow Dash sitting on the floor looking somewhat abashed, Zecora looking at all of them in confusion, Pokey sitting nearby with his head in his hooves mumbling what sounded like 'what did I do to deserve this?', Screw Loose lying unconscious on Zecora's bed, and Trixie curled around a bucket near the bed groaning.

"No harm has befallen me, of this you can see." Zecora turned to her cauldron and began to stir the mixture while Pokey ceased his mumbling and turned to the mares. Everypony stopped as weak laughter came from where Trixie was laying and she waved a hoof in Pokey's direction.

"They followed, you owe Trixie twenty bits." Her voice was hoarse and seconds later she buried her head in the bucket and retched, followed in the end by staring into the bucket in confusion. "Trixie doesn't even remember eating carrots."

"Is-is she okay?" Twilight watched as Trixie clutched her stomach and moaned in pain.

"Don't worry, my sister will be fine." Pokey sent an irritated glare towards Trixie, who did her best to ignore him before letting out another moan of pain and curling up tighter. "Beatrix decided to use conflicting magics in her fight with the Nova guard, it didn't end well for her."

"The great and powerful Trixie will not be stopped by minor conflicting magic." Trixie was interrupted by Zecora who approached with a cup of liquid from her cauldron.

"Your magics were a jumble, it would do to be more humble." Zecora managed to get the unicorn to drink the potion and nodded as Trixie's somewhat green color began to fade. The zebra looked sadly at the mares faded colors before focusing on the blackness that coated the unicorns legs. "This I cannot cure, you succumbed to evils lure."

"Trixie made a mistake but escaped before she was captured." The mare settled back to the floor while trying to ignore the looks sent her way at her statement.

Twilight noticed the pile of books and chests that had been placed near one window, she knew now what Time Turner and Derpy had been doing during the attack. Frowning at the thought of anypony breaking into her library she turned to speak to Pokey only to be preempted by Rainbow Dash.

"Okay what the hay is going on!" The pegasus landed in front of Pokey and glared at the larger unicorn.

"Do you really want to know?" Pokey sat down near Zecora's cauldron while watching as Pinkie slipped around the edge of the room to stand near the bed Screw Loose was lying in. The pink mare looked sadly at the unconscious pony.

"Is she okay?" Pinkie sounded uncharacteristically subdued, her voice carrying worry that Twilight and the others hadn't heard very often before today.

"Doctor Stable gave her something to keep her knocked out for the trip." Pokey looked sadly at his mother only to suddenly have his vision blocked by an angry pink pony.

"Why didn't you tell me! You promised!" She nearly knocked the unicorn over backwards as she leaned close. "I would have visited and she would have been gone and I tried to...always..." She didn't finish and Twilight and the others watched in surprise as Pokey hugged Pinkie as she started to cry.

"We had to move quickly Pinkie, the guard was going to make a move and we didn't have much in the way of time. If everything had worked out right we would have gotten out of town without even engaging the Nova guard and you would have got my letter tomorrow telling you everything." Pokey tried to think of something to make Pinkie feel better. "I know you visited her nearly as much as I did, I want you to know that besides Beatrix and myself you were the only other pony that she responded well too." Pinkie sniffled and looked at Screw Loose.

"Why are they after you?" Pinkie drew back to look at the pony that had helped her plan and set up enough parties that she had eventually gotten involved enough in his life to find out about his mother.

Pokey grew quiet as he looked at the mares before him contemplating whether to speak truth to them or not, with a sigh he shook his head. "I'm sorry but this does not concern any of you, and it would be best if you didn't get yourselves involved. Not just for the safety of my sister and mother but for your own safety as well."

"We're already involved Pokey." Twilight watched Pokey glance to Trixie who acknowledged his attention only with a simple ear flick in his direction.

"Please tell us what's happening." Fluttershy added to Twilights words, Rarity appeared to simply be waiting while Applejack and Rainbow Dash were looking to both Pokey and Trixie with suspicion.

Pokey grew quiet for a moment as he looked over the element bearers while trying to decide what to do. Getting them on his side would be extremely useful, but he was unsure if that was even possible. Not to mention his morals were voicing their disagreement with dragging any innocents into this situation. "I'm sorry, this is a family matter only." Seeing that this was likely only to get more arguments he continued. "Your families would be in danger if you became involved with us."

"My parents can take care of themselves..." Rainbow Dash didn't get to finish whatever she had been going to say as Pokey's anger flared.

"This isn't a game Dash! You saw what the Nova guard were willing to do back in Ponyville, and that's with being told to hold back and cause as little damage as possible, you have no idea the extent they will go to in efforts to capture mother and Beatrix! If you really want to know what the Nova Guard are capable of then ask your friend Gilda, she's a griffon and I doubt the griffons have forgotten." Pokey stopped his rant when Zecora stepped in front of him shaking her head.

"You don't need to tell us what the guard is capable of Pokey, Spike and I already know." Twilight looked to Spike where he sat on a small stool nearby. "But the princess stopped..."

"You think the princess cares about this? We're just a means to an end, as are all of you." Seeing several of them about to protest he bulled forward. "You're a weapon to them. Not ponies with dreams, ideas and futures, you're just a mobile weapons platform that can be deployed where the largest danger is."

"That is not how the princess sees us! She..." Twilight was interrupted by the sound of the door being knocked open again and three excited voices entering in.

"Applebloom! What in tarnation are you doing out here!" Applejack had stalked over to glare at her sister who launched into a long and complicated explanation that essentially boiled down to Scootaloo having something important to tell Rainbow Dash. Rarity simply sat shaking her head at Sweetie Bell who looked like she was unsure if her sisters reaction was good or bad. And Scootaloo, exhausted from using her scooter to pull her friends to Zecora's in their wagon was trying to get enough breath back to explain to Rainbow Dash what was so important that they had needed to travel into the Everfree in the dark.

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Canterlot

"I've told you Tia you need not baby me, I can take care of myself." The princess of the night frowned at Celestia and expressed her desire to be allowed up and about.

"And I would be perfectly happy to let you, when you are feeling better." The worry in Celestia's tone was the only thing that kept Luna in the bed she was in.

{Honeyed words hiding the knife.} The whisper in her mind caused Luna to flinch slightly, thankfully Celestia was not looking her way when it happened.

"I am capable of completing my duties, I need no arcane examination to find the cause of this..." She floundered at the end, unable to come up with a word to adequately describe her problem.

"I will not allow that...thing to control you again Lulu. We may not have known before of its existence but we do now. I won't lose you again, never again." The last was spoken so softly that Luna almost didn't hear it.

{He made us lost! Look! Look with eyes uncluttered, with mind wide open! See what he has wrought!} The Nightmares voice echoed through Luna's mind causing the night princess to shiver again as she tried to banish the angered ranting deeper in her mind. But it wouldn't leave, and she found her vision blurring slightly as she looked to her sister. It was in that instant that she saw...something, though she wasn't sure what to make of it. In the place of the regal sister with the aurora mane and tail she had seen since her return was the sister she remembered when she had been banished. Pure white coat, pink mane and tail, sun cutie mark and only a little larger than Luna herself, just as she remembered. But the alicorn stood with head bowed and eyes closed, and wrapping her form were rainbow colored chains that seemed to spread out in all directions before fading away several feet from her sides. The rainbow hue of the chains seemed to flow and ripple along their length in a dance of colors that was nearly mesmerizing. But her eyes were also drawn to six chains that were no longer rainbow colored but blackened and warped as if exposed to great heat and then stretched nearly to the breaking point.

Shaking her head and blinking rapidly made the vision fade away and she found herself looking into the worried eyes of her sister. "Are you okay Lulu? Truly okay?"

"I am...fine sister." Seeing the look she got in return she sighed. "Very well if it will make you feel better I shall allow this examination, though we both know that it will not show anything." The relief on her sisters face was not mirrored within Luna. 'What is it that I have seen?' The thought had barely entered her mind when the Nightmares voice answered. {You see the hidden truth.}

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Journal of Lulamoon

10,752 E.F.

Month 6
Day 7

Arrived at the outpost today. I do have to admit that I'm impressed at the sheer size of the floating structure. If anypony had told me just a year ago that gravity manipulation spells could be enacted to keep something nearly the size of the royal palace floating in the sky I would have told them they were nuts. Yet I stand upon the woodwork crafted by thousands of beings and held aloft by the work of nearly fifty unicorns and Diamond Dog sages.

Tomorrow I'll see if I can find an airship that is heading into the Land of Mists. While I know that this trip is likely to be extremely dangerous I have little hope of discovering anything of use in the lands that have already been so picked clean by the Explorers League. If I desire to make a name for myself, and my family, I will need to travel beyond the normal paths and ruins, I will have to travel into the unknown. The princesses are rumored to have come from the east when they arrived to fight the creature history calls Discord, and now I will backtrack that direction to find out where they came from.

End Spell.

Month 6
Day 15

It took me much longer to find a ship than I thought possible but I have finally gotten passage on a vessel called Ebon Horn that is captained by a hulking mountain of a minotaur that happens to have a penchant for hiring beings he thinks he can throw between himself and danger. My usual dislike for cowards has apparently been noticed and he has shown me some animosity, though his fear of my magic is enough to keep him from trying anything foolish.

We have taken on multiple explorers and random adventurers who all wish to travel into the mists and see what is there for the taking. I do find it somewhat curious that so many are going upon this journey considering that very few vessels that enter the mists ever leave, and those that do leave invariably have suffered great damage from the dangers within.

I have made friends with one of the mages hired to aid in guarding the ship against the dangers within the mists, his name is Emerald Star and he is a crystal pony rune caster. It took all of three minutes of conversation with him to realize that he is vastly out of his depth here, both in traveling and in magic. When I found that I, who can't even cast rune magic, know more about it than he does I quickly realized that he was on his first trip into the unknown as a Wanderer. While I consider the practice of the Wanderer to be outdated and counterproductive to creating powerful spell casters I have no say in the matter and thusly have let it languish instead of speaking on it.

We leave for the mists in two hours, I suppose I'll get to put even my vaunted talent to the test here.

End Spell.

*Multiple pages missing.*

Month 7
Day 5

Something is not right. We have entered and left the mists nearly twelve times since I took passage upon this ship. We have found the remains of six old outpost station buildings that had at one time been used by the kingdom that must have existed here before the mists. We have found nothing of interest in each of the buildings and each time the captain retires to his cabin more angry than the last.

Like any vessel within the mists we have found ourselves under attack multiple times, but each time the ship has managed to get clear with little or no damage. Though I would normally attribute this to the skill of the crew I find I cannot do so. We follow winding and twisting paths through the mists, sometimes even coming in complete circles. Yet we continue to move forward while avoiding dangers the captain shouldn't possibly know the existence of, or be able to avoid.

Something is going on here and I intend to find it out. The captain refuses to see me or any being within his private cabin but I believe it is time to find out the truth of this matter.

End Spell

Month 7
Day 9

I must say I am impressed, seldom have I met a creature I despise more than the captain of this ship. None dared challenge me as I made my way to the captain's cabin, Emerald Star actually joined me, and I simply blasted my way inside.

I truly find it difficult to dictate to this journal right now, not only from what I saw but also due to having to spend time trying to care for the injured mare Star and I found within said cabin. She has not given us a name, if she even has one, and has simply acquiesced to every request without question. It took no spell work to see the mental damage caused by what is likely years of abuse, but spell work certainly showed what severe damage needed to be repaired.

Through interrogation of the captain we have come to the understanding that this young mare is the reason that we have suffered so little damage on our trips. It took some time to understand it but when the mare had scooted for cover nearly a half minute before things started falling from the shelves I understood what she was. In truth I am surprised her kind even exists anymore due to the attempts to destroy all of them by the Terra Preta. While it was true the Terra Preta themselves had been exterminated by Terra Rossa under orders from the Chancellor of the time, the Terra Preta had been so thorough in their actions that nopony had believed any of the Terra Alta had survived. Yet one was now standing before me, and with her came the question of what I was to do.

We were very close to the biggest find yet. All mapping placed us near the center of the mists, near where the ancient city was said to have once stood. If this is the case we could be the first to come across it in thousands of years. Yet to do anything but sit in place we need the mares abilities, whether that is to go back or to go forward.

For the time being we will sit as I consider the choices.

End Spell.

Day 9

Marooned.

I can hardly believe the bastards got the drop on us but they managed to do so. As such I find myself on a rock outcropping with Emerald Star, an aging griffon by the name of Gail, and three diamond dogs who are currently making a game out of trying to decide which of us they are going to have to eat first to survive.

So much for Lulamoon the legendary spell caster, I seem to find myself in these kinds of situations far too often. Even so I suppose I will have to speak to our three canines to keep them from thinking that we are their next meal. After that it will be time to plan our next moves.

End Spell

*The rest of the journal appears to be blank though each page bears a tiny glowing rune near its upper right corner.*

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Pokey's Classified info.

Pinkamena Diane Pie: Element of Laughter

Birthplace: Unknown

Education: Unknown

Power Level: Unknown, I have dug as deep into the past on earth pony abilities as I can and the only thing I can dig up that even comes close to the abilities she has shown is a vague reference to some group called the Terra Alta. Translation from old records seems to be either High Land or High Earth. I suppose that could translate into High Land Pony or High Earth Pony but I have little real knowledge of this kind of history. There are limited references to the Terra Alta in some very old scrolls that translate into things like 'extermination' and 'danger to all ponies' that were written by a group called the Terra Preta, which seems to translate to Dark Earth, but this is all really old history Pokey, old on the order of Three Tribes old.

Parents: Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz. Rock Farmers.

Addendum to Parents: Completely normal. Not a thing weird about these two. Okay even I can't keep a straight face while trying to write that. No idea what they did but there is some very interesting links to the Obsidian Guard in the Gem Kingdom. The only thing I could find out was that old Igneous got himself a Diamond Star Medal for 'Bravery in the face of overwhelming odds'. That's about the only thing I was able to dig up without going up against the Guards internal service.

Siblings: Marble, Limestone, and Maud Pie. Did a little digging and the three seem to exhibit the same abilities as their sister.

Addendum to family: Something weird going on here Pokey. I'm writing this part nearly two months after the first and I've made a nice trek to the Golden Pillars, along with the Twins, and done some more digging into the ponies known as the Terra Alta. Nearly got thrown out just for asking about them but the Lulamoon name carries enough weight in the empire that I only got a few glares in the end. Even within the Pillars the info I've been able to turn up has been heavily limited, in some cases I even believe it's been censored. But I have learned enough to know that the diamond dogs don't have anything nice planned for the Pie family.

I'm going to have to cut this short, the Twins came back and it seems our pursuers have decided to both follow us and make a move today. Don't worry, I got your last letter just fine and will begin work on the investigation as soon as I've mopped up our interlopers here.

Author's Note

I'm back! Hopefully anyway. Extremely sorry for the long break and no writing. Well enjoy if you will.

Elsewhere

'Thoughts'
{Mental Speak}

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CRYSTAL EMPIRE

{Guardian...}

{Guardian...you must wake...}

{RISE!}

The voice tore through Cadance's mind, shredding dreams and thoughts by driving her into the waking world with a cry of pain. The young alicorn winced as her head throbbed with the lingering effects of a very powerful mental connection that still had some attachment to her. A quick look to her left told her that Shining Armor was still sleeping though he looked to be in some mental distress himself. Reaching for her husband she was about to touch him when she felt the same brush against her mind as before, though this time it was a weaker connection.

{Guardian, we must speak with thee.}

Cadance immediately began to cast several spells meant to track the position of the mental intruder and found that it appeared to be right outside the entrance to Crystal palace itself, though still within the boundaries of the palaces defensive spells. Such a thing should have been impossible with the amount of defensive spells the palace bore woven through it's crystalline structure, as well as the those that had been placed in the rune markings that had been added in the near year since the empires return. Yet somehow this intruder had managed to get past every defensive spell and ward that had been placed to guard the princesses home. And yet the voice almost sounded familiar, as if she had heard it somewhere else before its intrusion into her dreams. Without even a thought of what she was doing she slipped from the bed, through the room, and out into the hallway leaving a still sleeping Shining Armor behind.

Light danced from hanging lanterns as the princess moved down carpet padded hallways following the strange voice, and her spells, with the hope that this wasn't going to prove to be another problem for the still recovering empire. Since Sombra's spell was broken and Empires capital city of Phenacite had returned to the world the Empire had been working on rebuilding back to its former glory. Cadance knew a great deal of history but even she had never known of the sheer size and scope of the empire and how large an area it had covered. Unfortunately much of the empires old cities and towns had not weathered the rise of Sombra well, taking heavy losses when they attempted to strike back at the dark unicorn and retake the capital. When Sombra retaliated against them he literally wiped many from the face of the world before Equestria became involved. Since the cities return the crystal ponies had dispatched explorers into the far north in an attempt to find any of the remaining cities or towns that might have survived the loss of Phenacite and the empires Crystal Heart. Cadance didn't hold out much hope, for surely any survivors would have contacted Equestria long ago.

"Your highness?" The voice caused Cadance to jump in surprise and she shifted her focus from the whisper in her mind to the squad of guards she had nearly walked into. All of them wore worried expressions and the squad leader stepped forward. "Is there a problem your highness?"

"No, everything is fine. I am simply having difficulty sleeping and decided to take a stroll." Cadance smiled reassuringly to the guards and then stepped past them to continue on towards the whispering voice. The lower she descended into the palace the more guards she passed, until she reached the main floor and found herself walking down the Rose Hallway on her way out of the palace. The instant she stepped outside she knew where the voice came from, her eyes focused on the Crystal Heart where it glowed gently between the two spikes of crystal that had grown when the heart had been replaced in its home.

"Your Highness, is something wrong?" The voice came vaguely from her right but Cadance wasn't paying attention, the only thing that mattered to her now was the heart and the call that was coming from it. Striding past guards, several of whom began to look worried by their princess not answering, she stopped before the Crystal Heart and lowered her head touching her horn to the glowing artifact. To Cadance the world dissolved into a white mist of power and feeling. To those watching the princess she simply collapsed to the ground.

"Princess!" Several guards rushed forward to check on their ruler while a corporal spun to the nearest private. "Find the prince!"

"Rouse the arcanists, and send somepony to the academy and get me every senior caster they have!" The corporal turned back to where his princess had fallen. Sending a wary look at the Crystal Heart, which now glowed nearly four times brighter than it had before, he stepped closer to the group of guards who had rushed to the aid of the princess, only to see one of the guards suddenly knocked backwards by a flare of power from the Crystal Heart. "What happened?"

"Tried to move her sir." The injured pony winced as he shook a slightly blackened foreleg. "Would have been a heck of a lot worse if my armor hadn't absorbed most of that."

"No pony touches her until the arcanists get here." Corporal Quartz could only hope they would get good news when the magic users arrived, or he could well end up on the receiving end of far more than just a demotion at the hooves of the Prince.

000000

Cadance stared around at the white mist around her for a moment before reaching out with her magic to try and find out what had happened. The soft glow of power from her horn began to shine for a moment only to be absorbed by the mist around her. This only added to her anxiety as her mind latched onto the concept that she might be trapped, which drug other extremely unpleasant memories back to the surface. She may have been an princess, and an alicorn, but it didn't stop the panic that began to grow as her mind marked parallels between where she was and the caverns below Canterlot where Queen Chrysalis had imprisoned her. Though even as that panic grew she felt a soothing presence fill the misty void around her and the voice that had led her spoke again.

"Do not fear." The voice no longer sounded inside her head but from all around in a deep echoing tone that vibrated and seemed to make even the mist shift and flow oddly.

"Who are you?" Cadance wasn't sure where to direct the question to so she simply spoke to the air. Around her the mists shifted seeming to flow here and there while faint ponylike shadows flitted through it.

"We are..." The voice sounded confused, as if it had not thought of the answer in a very long time. "We are..."

"The heart of the empire."

"The strength of the crystal ponies."

"The shield of the throne."

When each statement was made Cadance could hear a different voice speaking, and she could swear she felt the presence of others within the mist. "Why have you spoken now? It has been nearly a year since your restoration to your proper place before the palace."

"Time was needed to forge the connection to our Guardian." When one voice stopped another took its place. "The chains needed to be broken, the abomination could not be allowed to hold sway in the empire."

"Chains?" Cadance blinked as her vision became fuzzy, a strange pressure brushing against her mind. Even as she registered this feeling she felt a rush of warmth through her and the pressure vanished as a sound of snapping metal echoed within the mists.

"The last...it will know. You stand in the astral realm, here you can see what cannot be seen with simple magic." The voice gained strength. "Look! Look upon thyself and see the abominations work, its actions have not left thee unscarred."

Blinking in confusion Cadance shifted her wings with nervous energy only to hear a soft chiming of metal on metal. Glancing back along her form she stared in shock at the lengths of blackened metal that hung from her...chains, though broken and shattered, they still in places wrapped her in a metal embrace that she could not even feel. Looking closely she could see the chains original coloring was a strange rainbow hue that seemed to shimmer and shift along its length. The blackness that stained the links seemed to be caused by a magical backlash into the metal where it had been destroyed. Looking along the length of one of the chains she realized that it seemed to merge directly into her flesh, the skin where it entered bore a slight rainbow hue as well. In a panic she summoned her magic, faster and stronger than the mist could dissipate, and gripped the chain giving it a wrenching pull that sent waves of agony through her side even as the metal was torn from her. Stumbling backwards in pain she watched as the now bloodstained metal impacted the misty floor without a sound.

"Cease! Do not cause thyself injury. It is impossible to remove the chains that way without causing damage. They have been broken, the abomination can no longer use them."

"Who did this? What is happening!" Cadance held her wing tight to her side as her magic brushed against the wound in an attempt to heal it.

"The true power is hidden, we only know of the abomination. That which thy kind calls the Harmony Stone." The voice held both contempt and hatred for the mentioned object.

"The Harmony Stone? How could it be the cause of this, its purpose is limited to nature suppression." Cadance had only minor knowledge of the stone, not surprising since after over a thousand years of activity it was a rare thing to hear of it at all.

"Built to devour, built to control. All fall under its view, all suffer from its power." The voice changed again, this time a deep gravelly tone that sounded much like the voice of a dragon echoed around Cadance. "A shard of darkness in the heart of Harmony."

Cadance winced as she felt something wrap around her and begin to slowly tug at her essence, she was about to call upon her own magic to stop the strange feeling when the Crystal Heart spoke again.

"Stay thy magic Guardian, tis only thy loved ones seeking thy release. Go with our blessing Guardian, and let our strength shield the empire together." The voice suddenly changed again, gaining tones of desperation "let not the darkness consume the sun."

"What? What darkness? What do you mea...." Cadance didn't get to finish the sentence as she was wrenched from the white mist and placed back into a sore and aching body. The warmth from her side told her she was bleeding from the same area she had removed the chain from in the astral realm. She couldn't hold back a pained groan as she opened her eyes to see rune circles floating in the air around her as the crystal pony arcanists worked their magic to try and aid their princess. It was they that had pulled her from within the Crystal Heart, she wasn't sure whether to thank them or get irritated with them.

"Cadi?" The concern in her husband's voice certainly got her attention and she struggled to her hooves as the rune circles vanished and several arcanists collapsed in exhaustion. She had barely made it upright when Shining Armor nearly knocked her over again by snatching her up into a hug.

"Don't worry Shiny, I'm fine. The Heart just needed to talk to me." Cadance winced as pressure was put on her injured side.

"You're hurt." Shining didn't even wait for her to say what had happened, lifting her onto his back with his own magic he headed towards the Palace and the doctors within. Cadance looked back once more at the Crystal Heart and tried to work out what it had meant with its last statement. As Shining Armor carried her into the palace she was almost certain that for just a moment, a fleeting few seconds when she had first seen him after awakening, that she had seen the same blackened and shattered rainbow hued chains upon her beloved that she herself had.

'What is happening? What darkness consumes the sun?' For a moment she felt something, a tiny twinge within her mind, as if a memory long forgotten was struggling to push itself forward. But the only thing she could get from it was something about her cousin Blueblood. Her mind was telling her there was something very important about him. A memory, a fleeting glimpse of eyes glowing a rainbow hue and Blueblood, fear in his voice, ordering soldiers to run. "Cadi?" And in that moment the memory slipped away, any attempt at retrieval was like trying to grasp smoke with her hooves.

"Is something wrong?" Shining Armors worry was obvious.

"No Shiny everything's fine." With a frown she looked back down the hallway towards the Crystal Heart. Everything was not fine, that much she was sure of, something was very, very wrong.

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IRON HORN

"I think you broke him." The voice sounded mirthful, as if the pain being dealt was a joke of some kind.

"Naw, he's tougher than that. You saw how he handled those minotaur's we hired, there's no way he's that badly injured after a couple little love taps like that." The other voice was older, more knowing of the world around it, and also more annoying.

Whirlwind tried to quiet the thumping pain in his head as he assessed his injuries and tried to figure up at least the beginnings of a plan for the situation he found himself in. He had to admit that the two were professionals, hiring just enough muscle for him to tire himself out fighting and then moving in to finish him off when he was too tired to see the attack coming. The fact he was here, wherever here was, simply told him that either the twins had been taken out or they were busy with their own problems. And if the two of them had been taken out he was in bigger trouble than he had thought he was. Deciding to stop pretending about being knocked out Whirlwind forced his right eye open, his left having swollen shut some time ago.

"See, I told you he was fine." The older voice belonged to a bright green stallion and he stepped forward to dominate Whirlwind's vision and keep the other pony from seeing too much of the building. "Now, like us I'm sure you desire to get this over with as quickly as possible so let's just cut to the chase and have it over with." He lowered his head so he was nearly muzzle to muzzle with Whirlwind "Where is it?"

"Not sure what it you're referring to." Whirlwind managed a smile, though pain spiked through the side of his face when he did. "After all I have lots of it or small amounts of it depending on what you're looking for." He had barely finished the sentence when the other pony struck, faster than he could respond to, and his vision flared with stars. Shaking his head Whirlwind spat blood to the side and tried to blink the stars out of his vision. Any mirth he felt at goading the stallion into action vanished in a second as he felt a nose brush against his left wing. He struggled to pull his wings in but they had been pinned to the wall his stool was sitting against by several large metal staples.

"These are some nice wings you have here." The stallion moved back into view of the pegasus, he no longer looked even mildly amused. "Let's just stop with the act now shall we? I promise that if you give me what I want I'll finish you quick and painless, this only has to get as messy as you want it to."

"Like you did with Breaker?" Whirlwind was glad his jaw wasn't broken from that last hit, at least he would be able to mock the bastards until he died. He was paying such close attention to the one before him that he almost missed the flicker of movement in the shadows near the door.

"I'm afraid your friend Breaker decided to be a bit dense and refuse to give us what we wanted." The stallion sighed theatrically before smiling "It did let me try a few new ideas I'd been meaning to get to." The stallion leaned forward again "Now are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?"

"Go screw yourself." Whirlwind was done playing the game, especially as he knew what was coming next, or at least thought he did. He jerked in surprise as something falling from above impacted the stallion in front of him before going straight through the floor and into the room below. The other stallion in the room, which he hadn't really gotten a good look at, was impacted by a pony from above who drove his head into the floor with enough force to crack the wood. Another pony dropped from above a second later and looked through the hole in the floor with a smirk.

"Sorry we are late, we..." "Got held up outside." What one pony started the other finished.

"I was wondering if the two of you were going to show up." Whirlwind didn't bother to hide his relief at seeing the twins as they moved to pull the staples from the wall and free his wings.

"We did a bit of digging, these...""Are some very bad ponies." The two ponies gripped the staples in their teeth and then pulled the metal from the wall.

Looking at the two no pony would have expected them to be as good as they were at what they did. A couple of simple brown earth ponies with red manes, the only way to tell the two mares apart was that one's cutie mark was a pair of interlocked padlocks and the others was a pair of crossed skeleton keys. The two were combat specialists and came highly recommended by Pokey himself when it came to situations like this. They were quite fast as well, which Whirlwind found out a second later when he tried to stand and nearly fell into the hole that had been made by the object the twins had dropped on the stallion who had been questioning him. Key grabbed him before he could join the unfortunate questioner, though it gave him a good view of what had been dropped.

"Is that a safe?" He glanced to Lock, who was trying to look innocent. "You dropped a safe on him? That's so cliché I'm surprised it actually worked." Whirlwind winced as he put his weight on his back legs and felt pain from bruises that likely weren't going to go away for some time. "We need to get out of here before they decide to send somepony more competent that these two."

"Already on it boss...""We've secured the area with the help of a few friends." The two had barely finished speaking when a head poked through the doorway on the other side of the room. Whirlwind recognized the dark brown and black feathers, as well as the slightly different shape of the head, as marking the griffon as a member of the Shadow Valley clans.

"You two done in there yet?" Noticing the pony they were supporting the griffon entered the room entirely, though she looked wary. "Local guards are starting to move into the area, we made too much noise."

"You can take your friends...""And go now, we have everything under control." Lock and Key helped Whirlwind to the door and out into the street outside. The only problem after that was getting back to the hotel they had been using, which was going to prove problematic considering that they were going to have to deal with the minotaur guards. The mere fact that three ponies were traveling through this part of town was going to get the guards to detain them for hours if they got caught. Which was why the twins quickly dragged the injured pegasus into the nearest sewer access and down into the tunnels under the city.

"You know I never spent much time thinking of the magic that goes into cleaning up the waste in Equestria's sewer systems." Whirlwind shuddered as he glanced at the stream of...something that flowed through the bottom of the tunnel. "But the more I travel and the more I see the more I appreciate unicorn magic." He grimaced at the smell "I don't know about you two but I'm going to take a four hour bath after this, I'm not going to trust my hooves being clean for days."

"And mother always said...""We were squeamish." Lock shifted her hold on Whirlwind as they reached another turn in the tunnel. "We should...""Be getting out soon."

"Do you two know how creepy that is?" Whirlwind winced at the pain in his ribs when Key bumped up against him when the small rock path they were on narrowed. "Aren't you capable of talking by yourselves."

"Of course we are." Lock looked at the number on the wall nearby to figure out which tunnel exit they were near.

"But we enjoy our other way much better." Key shook her head when Lock glanced at her to see if they were where they needed to exit. "In truth we don't even know how we do it."

"Mother even took us to several unicorn specialists to see if they could figure out how we know exactly what the other is going to say but they couldn't figure it out either." Lock looked up at the next tunnel exit and nodded. "This is the one."

Exiting into the street near where they had been staying since entering the city the three ponies got to see the burning remains of the building while minotaurs dashed here and there trying to put out the blazing fire before it could spread to some other building and set the entire district ablaze. Lock tugged Whirlwind into the shadows of an alley where they could rest in peace for a moment while watching the firefighters.

"You know I'm beginning to really dislike these ponies." Whirlwind looked to the nearby rooftops to see if there was anypony watching them where they were sheltered. "We need to move, they wouldn't have found anything in there but it won't take them long to decide to try and check in with their friends back at the warehouse."

"Where would we go...""We have no safe houses within this city." The twins stayed close to the alley entrance to try and keep an eye out for threats.

"I have some friends in the city, one in particular, that I believe we can trust not to be involved with our enemies." Whirlwind looked to the rooftops again before turning back to the twins. "We need to head to district four."

"That is one of the...""Richest areas in the city."

"Trust me." Whirlwind gave one last cursory glance around for danger and then limped away down the alley.

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With a loud creak the mansions double doors swung open to reveal a well dressed female minotaur that looked somewhat imperiously at the three dirty ponies standing on the steps of her employers home. "Can I help you?" An attempt at a superior sniff ended up with the minotaur nearly gagging from the stench the three ponies were putting out.

"You can tell your employer that Whirlwind is here to see him." Whirlwind noted the immediate change in the females demeanor.

"I'm sorry mister Whirlwind, had I known it was you I would have allowed you entry immediately." The minotaur stepped aside to allow the ponies in. "Please try not to track...whatever it is you have on you into the rest of the house." She turned and strode up the rooms central stairs to the second floor.

"Didn't recognize you...""Why exactly?" The twins sent a confused look to Whirlwind, who simply chuckled.

"Sorry ladies but I have to have my secrets." He sent a look to both of them. "Just as you do."

"We have never...""Said any differently." The two looked up to the second floor as a door thumped shut and a large male minotaur strode down the steps to the first floor.

"Iron Will must admit that it is surprising to see you here Whirlwind." Iron Will looked closely at the pegasus noting the altered coat, mane, tail and eye color from what he was used to, though the cutie mark of a dust devil was still the same.

"Things have gotten out of hoof." Whirlwind looked ashamedly at the floor. "Breaker is dead."

"What!" The minotaur took a step forward anger flashing in his eyes. "What happened?"

"It has to do with my current objectives here in the city." Whirlwind own anger was more directed at himself than at the ponies who had gotten to Breaker. "I should have been more careful, but I thought I lost the bastards back in the Hornmount, and again in the Golden Pillars. In fact I know I lost the ones who were following me there." He frowned as he went over every moment from the last month and yet could think of no point in which he had made any mistake. "Something big is going on, something so massive that we've got Nova guard infiltrators sitting in easy reach of the rulers of several lands."

"Nova guard? What would they be doing here?" While Iron Will was happy to do his motivational speaking and assertiveness training while traveling, his true mission was often to gather Intel from planted agents and return it to the ruling senate of his home city. The knowledge that there were Nova guard forces within his home city was something that he had never uncovered in any of his reports.

"That's the thing, I left well enough alone about them until I stumbled onto a few memos from home. Since then I've done a little digging and yet nearly all I can find out is a reference to something called Contingency 83 and something called Operation Starfall."

"Starfall?" The minotaur pondered the name while filing away the new information that would have to be handed off to his superiors.

"I've done everything I can to dig up info on it and I've come up empty. The most I've got is it has something to do with the Nova guard." Whirlwind pondered the information while trying to figure out why the memo had also mentioned the Praetorian guard, there hadn't been a Praetorian guard for nearly two thousand years. It had also made passing reference to the Elements of Harmony and something marked EoH C-1B, an abbreviation he knew meant Elements of Harmony, Contingency 1 Beta. That was information he hadn't sent to Pokey, though he was starting to wonder if he should.

"There is...""Movement outside." Key pointed out the window she was near and Whirlwind looked out the nearest window to see Minotaurs and Diamond Dogs moving towards the house, all of them being followed by a dark red unicorn who casually began to stride through the group and approach the mansions entrance.

"We need to get out of here now!" Whirlwind spun towards Iron Will only to be blown through the air as the entire front of the mansion smashed inwards under the large telekinetic impact from outside. The pegasus impacted the floor skidding to a stop near the stairs that lead to the second floor. He had barely begun to recover when he felt pressure clamp down on him and lift him into the air as the unicorn entered the mansion. He was turned to face the blasted entrance while the unicorn crossed the rubble strewn floor.

"Now was any of this really necessary? Had you simply told us what we desired we wouldn't need to resort to this kind of action." The unicorn smiled coldly as the pressure on Whirlwind increased. "And your friend Iron Will wouldn't have had to get involved either." The clatter of rubble caught the ponies attention and both looked to see Iron Will shrugging off some of the front of his house while pushing himself upright. Spotting the unicorn holding Whirlwind the minotaur didn't even hesitate, grabbing a chunk of stone larger than a ponies head he lobbed it at the unicorn and charged in after it. It was a futile effort, the unicorn casually deflected the stone and then focused on Iron Will sending the minotaur to the floor clutching at his chest with pained cry.

"Did you really expect to accomplish anything by that?" The unicorn shook his head and let out a snort of mirth. "All it would require is just a tiny bit more pressure and I could crush your heart and lungs, this entire thi..." The pony was cut off by a crash that ended in several strung out musical notes as strings vibrated.

Whirlwind, managing to land on his hooves, could only stare at the piano that had just crushed the unicorn, followed a second later by Lock and Key landing on top said broken piano with wide smiles. "A piano?" Whirlwind stared up at a ceiling that bore no rafters or other easy means to transport anything, much less a piano, to the needed spot to drop it. "Where did that even come from?"

"We have...""Other problems." The twins pointed out at the stunned Minotaurs and Diamond Dogs that were currently staring at the piano that had smashed their employer. They had been brought along on the chance that their targets had a unicorn with them that their boss would need to fight. Without a unicorn for them to worry about they had been perfectly willing to let the pony who paid them take care of everything, except he had just been crushed. The thugs, being thugs, had no real loyalty to their employer but there was also the chance, considering the durability of the average pony, that the pony who had yet to pay them was simply unconscious. Thus the grouping of thugs felt at least some loyalty to their pancaked hirer, or at least loyalty to his money. Two of the minotaurs were the first through the broken entrance, and were promptly ejected by a dresser on a rope that swung down and slammed into them. The twins high hoofed and then leapt towards the still stunned group of enemies, before the two had even cleared the front of the mansion there was a loud groan from the front wall as the damage it had taken from the telekinetic blast finally gave in to the inevitable and heavily damaged supports began to give way.

Lock and Key skidded to a stop and reversed course to head back into the safety of the house as the front of the building began to lean dangerously outward. The thugs decided that any kind of payment wasn't worth this kind of trouble and bolted before they could get caught under the collapse of wood and stone. With the thugs running and Iron Will back on his hooves, and at least looking like he wasn't going to collapse any moment, the four rushed for the back of the building and out into the city.

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"Okay we've been running and hiding for nearly three hours, are you going to tell Iron Will where we are going?" The minotaur was looking distinctly irritated.

"The museum." Whirlwind's legs still ached from his original fight and interrogation but he was getting along a lot better now than before. "These ponies are after a particular item and we need to retrieve it and leave the city before they can get their hooves on it." Scanning the rooftops while the twins watched the street level Whirlwind tried to put a lid on his anger. "Pokey's going to owe me big time for this."

Attention caught by the museum up ahead Whirlwind focused on the next steps of his plan while trying to factor Iron Will into it now. He couldn't leave his friend behind to be attacked by the insane ponies that were following him which meant he would have to bring the minotaur along. While that wouldn't be much of a problem normally he found himself wondering how Captain Rose would take that particular twist in the plan considering that Iron Will wouldn't be a paying passenger. In the end though Whirlwind knew that Rose would simply have to deal with it as she was being paid by Pokey, just like Whirlwind, and thus couldn't really complain.

"The museums just up ahead, let's go." The only thing he could hope for was that they had lost those who had been following them long enough for him to retrieve the item and get picked up by the captain. About to move out into the open Whirlwind could only stare as a large airship swung into position over the museum followed by ropes being flung over the side allowing Diamond Dogs and Minotaurs to rappel down onto the roof of the building. Though the ship was obviously one of the city's own Air Guard vessels it now sported a flag of a dragon skull with gem filled eye sockets set over crossed swords. "What in Tartarus does she think she's doing!" Whirlwind broke into a gallop for the entrance of the museum.

Approaching the entrance to the museum Whirlwind could see a small grouping of museum guards outside and noticed that they had sent a runner for the nearest guard post, which meant that everyone was on short time now. He didn't even slow down as he darted past several internal security guards who were trying to get control of a somewhat panicking crowd of museum goers as several loud bangs were heard from deeper into the building. Skidding around several corners and smashing through several exhibits Whirlwind reached the entrance to the crystal exhibits in time to see a group of diamond dogs gathering up a large obsidian box that was sealed with multiple silver locks.

"Whirlwind!" Looking upwards the pegasus saw a large diamond dog standing at the railing of the ship floating above the museum. Leaping over the railing the diamond dog slid down a rope to land nearby. A patch over one eye, a black vest, a silver collar studded with rubies and a giant sword slung onto her back left the female looking the perfect image of a sky pirate. "Saw the hotel, figured you were dead when you didn't check in." Sending a glance to Whirlwinds allies behind him she shook her head. "Should have known better with those two with you." Sending a sharp toothed smile at the twins she stepped past Whirlwind. "My offer is still open, I'd love to hire you two."

"We are already...""Employed." The twins looked at each other for a moment and then smiled. "You also...""Couldn't afford us."

"Rose, I can't believe you'd hit this place." The pegasus watched as several ponies, guarded by a couple diamond dogs, trotted in from a different wing sporting a thick scroll case nearly as long as Iron Will was tall. "You have the map and the gem?"

"Aye, we have both of them." The captain laughed. "Don't worry about it, we had a Plan B in place the instant Pokey told us to work with you. Hurry now, we have what we want and it's best we get to leaving."

Before any other conversation could be made a pegasus so swathed in cloth that Whirlwind couldn't even tell the pony's color glided down into the room to land near Rose. "We have incoming defense airships Captain, we need to move."

"Cap'n, got guards comin front." A large minotaur moved from the exhibit entrance to the nearest rope even as the chest began to be lifted to the ship.

With a sigh Rose glanced at the gems around her that she was now being forced to abandon due to time constraints. "Pokey's going to owe me big for this." Gripping one of the ropes to allow herself to be pulled up onto the ship she scrambled onto the deck next to the minotaur Whirlwind had had with him. Said minotaur looked like he not only had no idea how he had gotten involved in all this but also had no idea about what was happening. "Shove off! We need to get this scrapheap the minotaurs call an airship into cover and get back to our own."

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Remnants of the last Journal of Destiny Lulamoon

Begin spell.

Have to...Lost everything in the fire.

(Unable to translate sound.)

Came...came from the east...save...No, not save. Take! He takes from us! Steals our power, steals all power!

(Unable to translate sound.)

Can't remember, hard to...Andromeda! Remember...names ...power. Tried to make his disappear, tried to wipe it from history.

(Unable to translate sound.)

The...stone, we have to...to

(Unable to translate sound.)

Spell power diminishing, spell ending.

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Pokey's Classified Info

Rarity: Element of Generosity

Birthplace: Ponyville

Education: Ponyville Public School

Power Level: Medium. Not high on the unicorn scale but powerful enough, as well as being smart enough to know how to use her power to the fullest.

Parents: Hondo Flanks and Cookie Crumbles. Seemingly retired.

Addendum to parents: Surprisingly normal, and this time I'm serious. There isn't anything really interesting about these two except a few friends they have that are linked to some of the Intel agencies.

Addition to parents: I'm writing this a half month later. I saw a very interesting painting in the Golden Pillars and so I've hired a good friend to do some digging for me. Something about that family doesn't add up. Did you know that the Solar Court sponsored the creation of the Carousel Boutique? The bank that was going to loan out the money for Rarity to start her business had originally refused to do so, until they got a letter from the Court demanding they allow the loan to go through. Something is wrong. I remember investigating this family before, back in my days in the EIA, but I can't remember what I found out which is odd in and of itself with my memory. I'll get back to you.

Siblings: Sweetie Belle

Author's Note

I tried to write Lock and Key sort of like combat versions of Pinkie Pie, though not nearly as powerful of Pinkie is. They will play no major role in the story and are, and only will be, Whirlwind's bodyguards.