Legend of Silva's Gate

"What has he said to you?" Celestia suddenly asked, her face right up next to Leo's, her magic closing the door once Luna walked in.

"What? Who?" Leo replied, recounting the events of a few moments ago. Celestia let loose an uncharacteristically annoyed sigh.

"The voice, the VOICE! The one in your head, that only just NOW you decided was pertinent to mention to either of us." Princess Celestia rephrased her question curtly, prompting Leo to get a little hot under the collar himself.

"I'm sorry, I was under the impression that hearing voices in your head was a clear indication that YOU'RE INSANE! What, with all the crap that I'd been forced, not ASKED, to endure this past month, no, FIVE YEARS, forgive me for desperately wanting to ignore a NEW problem and hope that it GOES AWAY!" Leo shouted at Celestia. It goes without saying that Leo was certain that he had just went out of the frying pan and into the oven, and was convinced his life's status was slightly elevated above 'Unlikely to Survive Next Encounter'. However, instead of unleashing a solar flare in his general direction, Celestia pulled away from him and appeared confused.

"Five years? Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I was under the assumption that you have been on this planet for only about a month."

"And you're not wrong, Princess. But I've been dealing with non-stop BS for the past five years, this is year number six I'm into now. Of being away from ho...being away from earth." Leo started strong, but finished quietly. Celestia was quiet for a moment, as it didn't take her any effort at all to realize that, somehow, Leo's ties with his home was completely severed and probably due to reasons that had stirred up some strong emotional responses at the time. Before she could try and ask him about it, Leo broke the silence. "From now on...I'll mention everything that happens. I mean it, because this is my own life on the line, too."

"Thank you, Leo. Now, what has the voice said to you, and how long has this been going on?" Luna replied in place of Celestia for the sake of getting more information, who was still keen on getting Leo to open up about his 'Five Year' statement.

"When did it start? As soon as I woke up in the forest as a pony. Actually, she is the reason I woke up in the first place. Not only that, but shes shown me visions, something called the 'Heartlands' if I remember correctly, and she is also the one that told me about Applejack and the fillies." Leo began to recount the various incidents where he saw the figure or heard her voice. "When I went to save the girls, she also somehow made me healthy, temporarily. Mentioned I should ask you two about the 'bending of reality'."

"The bending of reality..? Are those the exact words used?" Luna had asked, a troubled look upon her face. When Leo nodded, she seemed to slump slightly, as she began to ponder.

"I'm...sorry, Leo, but that term doesn't seem familiar to me at all." Princess Celestia replied, a frown similar to the one her Sister wore now adorning her face.

"Yes, this will require some research, but I'm...not entirely sure either of us can dedicate too much time to this. Celestia, perhaps if we asked Cadence, the answer may be uncovered?" Luna suggested to Celestia, who nodded without hesitation.

"My thoughts exactly. You should get into contact with her the moment you return to the Castle, Sister." Celestia instructed Luna, who nodded in agreement. Turning her gaze back to Leo, Celestia asked him a question. "Leo, did you have anything else you might need to ask or let us know? Time is running short, for I must return to the meeting soon."

"Well, a few things, actually. Has their been any progress to finding a cure for my...ah...condition? The sooner I can get back to normal, the sooner I can start preparing myself for war." Leo asked, reminding Celestia to his promise of assistance.

"Short of a few abstract, albeit interesting, leads...no. I apologize, for all my years of practicing magic, even I've failed to come to come upon a cleansing spell that would properly fit this scenario. I'm aware that we have precious little time, so I'll be the first to promise to you now that we have every scholar in Canterlot looking over our ancient magic tomes." Celestia assured Leo, for what little the gesture did for his nerves.

Even thought the Hive was technically months away from landing their full armies, Leo's two close brushes with them had definitely made him aware of how woefully unprepared and under equipped he was to face them. And that had begun to cause his base of confidence and bravado to crumble, ever so slightly.

"Alright...as for where I was, right before I was cursed, have your guards located anything of mine?" Leo asked, attempting to continue the conversation to avoid dwelling on his current state. When he was met with a simple shake of the head from both Princesses, Leo sighed. "I see...then perhaps I can asked you one last question. About what happened last week. Something occurred that nopony knows about."

"I'm...sorry, what happened last week? Twilight has been awfully quiet lately, save for that request of your to meet with us." Princess Celestia explained her curiosity, eyes focused on Leo.

"Wait, what? You mean you didn't hear that I'm supposedly some sort of celebrity for rescuing Applejack, her little sister, and her sister's friends?" Leo asked, confused. Not that he was upset that Celestia hadn't heard of it, in fact that told him that perhaps Healing Dawn had blown his apparent popularity out of proportion.

"I...You did what?! Saved them from what doom?" Celestia exclaimed, shocked to be only hearing of this news just now. Her outburst had surprised both Luna and Leo, causing both of them to stumble backwards.

"Uh...what gives? Twilight told me that apparently everyone, err, everypony knew of me having saved them from the Hive's forward scouting party!" Leo replied before Luna could speak. This news had caused the pupils in both the Princess eyes to shrink, with Luna slowly turning her gaze to Leo in shock.

"THE HIVE IS ALREADY IN EQUESTRIA?!" Princess Celestia shouted deafeningly towards Leo, as she had mistakenly used the Royal Canterlot Voice.

"SHE HAS ONLY MENTIONED THOU'S ACTIONS TO BE AGAINST NAUGHT BUT MONSTERS! FORSOOTH, SHE DOTH LIE! WE ARE ENRAGED! SISTER, WE PROPOSE WE SIT HER BETWIXT AND FIRE A RICK IN REGARDS TO HER BEHAVIOR!" Luna, who similarly shouted in her Royal Voice, fumed, as Leo stared at her in confusion.

"What...the hell did you just say?" Leo asked, genuinely confused. He had managed to get the idea that Twilight had lied, but the last few words had managed to completely confuse him.

"She...wants to essentially shout at Twilight." Princess Celestia explained. "Why...would Twilight refrain from telling me about this? Lie to Luna? Of all the foalish, downright idiotic things a pony could do, not warning me about a hostile threat is quite high up their. But for HER to do such an action...it's inexplicably out of character." Princess Celestia finished, looking too dumbfounded for her to be angry. The room was quiet for a moment, as Princess Celestia pondered while Princess Luna fumed in silence.

"Perhaps you two should have been a little more forthcoming with her, then? No one likes to be left in the dark, particularly when they know their life, and the lives of others, are on the line." Leo said suddenly, grabbing the attention of the Princesses.

"Yes...I suppose that's true. I knew it was wrong of me to keep this from her and her friends, but..." Princess Celestia sighed, turning to look out a window in the room. "I suppose, looking at it from another angle...it actually is in her nature to do something like this. When she wants answers, and she'll do almost anything to get them." Princess Celestia admitted, to which Leo's expression softened.

"You really wanted to protect her from experiencing War, didn't you?" Leo spoke softly as he decided to follow Celestia's gaze out the window. In the silence, he discovered that they were perched upon a jagged mountain top, with a chain of mountains that seemingly went on forever. Celestia nodded, with pursed lips.

"Regardless of whichever 'game' Celestia and I have mistakenly entered into with the bearers of the Elements, that does not excuse Twilight Sparkle for refraining from mentioning that enemies of the state have made landfall, and have attempted to attack our citizens." Princess Luna suddenly announced, the angry tone in her voice hinting to Leo that she may have been insulted by Twilight's decision to implement her as a tool to fool her Elder Sister.

"No, it doesn't. I shall have to speak to her about these matters, as she might have gotten a good number of innocent ponies hurt." Princess Celestia began to say to her sister, before Leo cut in.

"If I may, Princess? Allow me to talk to Twilight. If you go and talk to her as things are now, it might just make things worse. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure she still cares a great deal about you, it's just that she is probably feeling a bit ignored right now."

"I...alright. I'll let you speak to her on my behalf, just let me know when she would like to talk." Princess Celestia made Leo promise.

"Sure thing Princess Celestia. Now, about my question...?" Leo trailed off, only continuing when he received a nod from both Celestia and a still irritable Luna.

"The drones took Applejack and the fillies deep within some sort of ancient building, not sure what sort of function it had, but it had long, long hallways, rather long stairways, and then the last section I had seen, it was this humongous banquet hall. It was so big, even the moonlight wouldn't light it up all that much." Leo began to describe the building, not forgetting to mention the beautiful effect the moonlight had with the hanging moss and vines.

"Now, I had been spotted, and after a bit of...ah, goading, they ended up chasing me deeper into the hall. It was then I had spotted Applejack and the girls, but when I approached, I had to skid to a stop, because their weird wavy permeable curtain was in the way. I didn't know if it was a trap or anything, but I was running out of time, so I took a leap of faith, galloped through it, and went out cold. When I woke up, I was mostly normal again."

"You changed back? And what do you mean mostly normal?" Luna suddenly asked for the two of them, Celestia hanging on his every word while simultaneously scouring her mind for what that mysterious magical veil was.

"Well...I was extremely weak. Normally, even I could best around four hundred of those drones before I would begin to have problems with fatigue. But, when I changed back, I was actually close to dying." Leo explained, recalling how his diagnostic sub-system told him he was in dire straits and needed immediate repair.

'At least I know my nano-bot repair system was still mostly working. Otherwise I'd have a gaping hole in my pony gut from that Pole-arm.' Leo recalled. Something weird was going on, and it was definitely something weird as even the Princesses were unsure.

"That's extremely odd. We observed that your injuries seemed to correlate to the ones you had sustained on the beach as a human. Why your healthy state hadn't been transferred to your human form when you transformed is confusing. This needs to be investigated further." Princess Celestia decided, nodding her head once quickly. "Where did this all start? I imagine somewhere along the road between Sweet Apple Acres and Ponyville?"

"Yes, that's where I began to follow Applejack." Leo explained, getting right to the point.

"Alright, we shall be sending somepony there shortly. Those old ruins are not something to be trifled with, and you seem to still be occasionally unsure of your new body. Therefore, for the time being I'd appreciate it if you returned to Twilight's library and await further word." Princess Celestia said to Leo, who simply nodded in agreement as it sounded more like dictation than a request. As glanced towards the door, he found Luna waiting for him.

"I shall teleport you to just outside of the library. It will be much quicker. Follow me." Luna commanded, which Leo heeded. As the lunar princess walked silently in front of him. As she wound her way through the massive hallways, Leo took note of the strange architecture, and chanced a peek out of the nearest window, only to be greeted with the view of valleys down below, and neighboring mountains with other buildings on them. Making a point to ask Twilight where he had found himself later, he trotted to catch up to Luna. After they finally exited the building, Leo gawked when he saw some Griffon guards look towards them, and then look away uninterested.

"G-Griffons?! You have GRIFFONS on this planet?" Leo asked in a loud whisper, an incredulous expression upon his face.

"I...take it Earth lacks them?" Luna asked warily. Leo simply nodded and sighed.

"First Dragons, no Griffons! Jeeze, next you'll be telling me that Hydras exist. No, no! Cerberus!" Leo exclaimed, flopping onto his flanks and throwing his front hooves into the air in exasperation. Luna pursed her lips and remained silent, attempting to control the building hearty laughter she felt billowing in her stomach. Noticing this, Leo eyelids drooped into a half-closed position with another sigh. "You have GOT to be kidding me." Leo growled angrily, finally breaking the remainder of Luna's self control, prompting a torrent of laughter from the Lunar Princess.

"I'm truly sorry, Leo. Your ignorance is just so...fresh! And Entertaining! And it reminds me of myself. It's rather interesting to see the situation from another angle." Luna explained herself, after having calmed down enough. Seeing that he was confused, Luna smiled. "A story for later. Now, I must send you to the library so I can return to my Sister."

"Alright, I guess." Leo frowned as he prepared himself for the awful feeling of teleportation again.

"I just want you to know, Leo Silva, that if you...need anything, don't hesitate to send me a letter. I'm here if you need a shoulder to lean on." Luna quickly offered, just before she closed her eyes and cast a glow from her horn.

"What do you mean, a shou- wow!" Leo shouted, as he suddenly noticed that his surroundings had changed without much notice, and he found himself in front of Twilight's library. Sitting down for a moment, he began to go over what had happened in the last few minutes, as everything went by so quickly. 'This creepy coincidence stuff needs to stop.'

"Argh! Ahhh...get off, dang you! Aw, consarn it, darn thing just keeps fightin' to stay on!" Leo had heard Applejack grumble loudly from within the library. Leo decided to peek through one of the small windows to the side of the door, only to see them closed with magic suddenly, and the inside of the library grow very quiet.

"Ssh! I think somepony is outside! Quick, hide somewhere!" Leo had heard Twilight's panicked whispers from the other side of the door. Snickering, he sat on the ground in front of the door.

"Just gonna put this out on the table, Twilight Sparkle. You suck at stealth." Leo spoke aloud, netting himself a small 'eek!' from the other side of the door. As the door cracked open, a purple eye peeked out to catch a glimpse of who was on the other side. Leo smiled as the door opened up further, but let out a startled gasp as a couple pairs of purple and orange hooves grabbed him and whisked him into the library.

"Leo, when did ya get here? Ah didn't even hear a sound outside for tha past while, 'cept for a small crack...ah, that explains it." Applejack nodded to herself. "Ya got teleported back."

"Uh, yeah...about 5 seconds ago...I think? I don't know, I need to sit down for a sec...I hate teleporting. Flying is much, much less sickening..." Leo grumbled as he laid himself down on the floor of the library, feeling the sudden onset of the same nausea he had felt back at the Griffon building. "Uhh...nice necklace. Didn't know you wore jewelry." Leo motioned with a hoof as he felt his nausea begin to subside.

"Oh, hmm...ah don't normally. It's...a really long story about this here necklace, so ah'll spare you tha details." Applejack explained, garnering a nod from Leo. Everything was silent for a moment as Leo's stomach calmed down, before Twilight continued the conversation.

"So...how was the meeting with Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked with a look of cautious curiosity.

"Oh yeah, Twi' told me Princess Luna suddenly went ballistic and teleported both you and her to wherever Princess Celestia was." Applejack said as she looked upon Leo with a look of curiosity.

"Well, first things first, neither of the Princesses are happy with you, Twilight. At all. In fact, I'm a little peeved myself." Leo began, frowning as Twilight offered a sheepish grin. "I mean, seriously? You totally lied about the Hive being here. You know what could have happened, had I not been able to find them all? Mass destruction and Death!" Leo shouted at Twilight, a look of disbelief crossing Applejack's face as she turned her now upset gaze upon her friend.

"Ya'll did what now? Twilight! That was incredibly foalish of you!"

"I only did it to get answers! Once I found out that he had defeated them all, only then did I set my plan in motion!" Twilight shouted back at the pair of them.

"Plan to do what? Get this town killed and give the Hive an early foothold in Equestria?" Leo shouted back at her, now incensed that the mare before him would do something so utterly stupid.

"No! My p-plan t-to prot-tect everyp-p-pony I love..." Twilight spoke quietly, beginning to stutter as she looked towards the ground, and began to sob. "I...I'm so scared that everypony is going to die, and th-there is Princess Celestia not telling me anything, so I...I can't even do anything to try and stop it."

"Oh, Sugarcube, come here...everypony will be okay. Ah'm sure tha Princess has very good reasons for staying quiet. Ah'm sure she has a plan nearly complete right now." Applejack spoke soothingly, as she walked over to Twilight and cradled her into a hug, rocking her back and forth lightly as she patted her distraught friend's mane. As Leo watched the scene with a suddenly heavy heart, he experienced a disturbing recollection.

'I missed the Captain.'

"No, no, NO!" Leo shouted, as he bolted from the library, leaving behind a pair of confused mares in the library. As his legs began to protest against the sudden extreme exertion, Leo felt the bottom of his stomach seemingly drop as a strange sensation of dread cloud some of his thoughts. He pushed the haze in his mind away, continuing his mass sprint up the street and towards the road to Applejack's farm. He was so preoccupied with reaching the ruins, that he hadn't even noticed that he had cut into a sharp turn right infront of Rarity, who was leaving a grocery store with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.

"My word! Mr. Silva! Where are...you off too...well, that wasn't very becoming of such a gentlecolt!" Rarity huffed, as she and the other two watched Leo speed off into the distance.

"Think maybe we should follow him? Maybe we'll learn more of his 'dark secrects'." Rainbow Dash suggested. Just as Pinkie Pie was about to scold her for invading a pony's privacy, Applejack and Twilight peeled up to them.

"Girls, we need to follow him! I think something is seriously wrong!" Twilight motioned towards Leo's last known direction with a hoof.

"Hey, Twi'...have you been crying?" Rainbow Dash asked, moving in closer to get a better look. As Twilight looked towards the ground, trying to avoid the gazes of her friends, Applejack cut in.

"Twilight has something she needs to share with y'all later, but right now we need to follow Leo!" Applejack shouted, trotting alongside Leo's hoofprints that had dug into the ground when he turned.

"But he's long gone, Applejack! How can we follow a pony we can't see anymore?" Pinkie Pie asked, convinced Applejack knew something to help. She wasn't disappointed.

"Oh, ah think ah know where he's goin'. Follow me, girls!"

/*----------------------------------------------*//n

"Wow, your family really let this place go, didn't they?" Shining Armour joked, earning himself a glare from his wife.

"The books state that we haven't lived here since before Aunt Luna's outburst and banishment. The fact that it has become so run down shouldn't really be a surprise, Shining." Princess Cadence replied, annoyed.

"Alright, alright, calm down! I was only kidding! Trying to..." Shining Armour paused for a moment, motioning to the gloom in the main hall they found themselves in. "...lighten the mood."

"Oh, you can be impossible sometimes." Cadence grumbled, yet unable to help but let a smile plant itself on her face as she wandered further into the giant, gloomy chamber. She couldn't help but giggle at his antics. It was just one of the many things she loved about him.

"Aww, come on sweetie. It is kind of lifeless in here. I'm just trying to refrain from letting it get to us. Anyways, onto the job at hand..." Shining said, his expression firming up into a more serious one as he motioned for the guards accompanying Cadence and himself to move forward. The group of ponies, numbering twelve in all, proceeded down the stone steps and into the main area of the grand hall. Even in the gloom, some afternoon sunlight was filtering in through the holes in the roof, allowing a rather quick division of forces to begin collecting and cataloging all the strange technology left behind by the late Hive Drones. After he divided his guardsponies and delegated the groups to certain tasks, Shining took a look around the chamber to take in the bigger picture, as Cadence began to assist in organizing the items. As he glanced around, he began to pick up on the signs of combat that had occurred inside the chamber. Numerous dark blotches surrounded a larger number of the husks of dead drones having met their ends in various ways, some of them downright unexplainable. As his nose began to tingle a little bit at the vaguely familiar smells of oil, his eyes came upon a metallic pole sticking out from the wall, garnering up his interest enough to get him to wander over and examine it.

"Shining? What is it?" Cadence asked, having glanced up and noticed her husband walking towards something, the something being a weapon having been rammed through the heavily dented and punctured chest cavity of a drone and embedded in the wall, oil having already long leaked out and onto the floor, leaving streaks of sticky black over the metal carcass. "Oh....my."

"There is NO way that a Pegasus did this on his own, not with a crippled wing. It's too high up if he stayed on three hooves, for one thing." Shining commented, in way of a reply. "Second, even if he was on his hind hooves only, he shouldn't have had the upper body strength to pierce this thing's metal skin." Shining thought aloud, his expression perplexed. "And that's not taking into account the fact that the pole-arm is stuck about 2 hooves inside an ancient rock wall," Shining added, having eyeballed the hole in the wall behind the drone, before turning behind himself, "Or that it looks like another three of four of these things got trampled horribly in the process. So unless he is a SuperPony of comic lore, he shouldn't have had enough strength to really do...any of this. Even I probably couldn't do this." Shining finished, continuing to survey the wreckage before him with a hoof to his chin and a 'hmm'.

"Might be a bit far-fetched of a theory, but if he is a descendant of one of the ancient Pegasus warrior tribes, he may of invoked one of their ancient strength amplifying spells inadvertently in an adrenaline rush." Cadence offered. Shining simply shrugged.

"I suppose there isn't much use at the end of the day trying to figure out how that Pegasus the Princesses mentioned could have done this. I'll just focus on helping to get information from these machines they left behind for now, and deal with figuring out what happened here later." Shining decided, getting a nod from Cadence, who returned to her own task at hand. Just as he was about to set himself a task, he heard an odd vibrating rumble come from the massive doors on the opposite end of the chamber. The unnerving noise wasn't lost on any of the guardsmen or Cadence, either, as they slowly dropped what they were doing and began to stare towards the doors as the shaking and rumbling grew exponentially until it seemed like whatever was on the other side was directly in front of the doors. Once it sounded like it reached there, the shaking ceased immediately, and everything went quiet, except for the occasional chirp from birds in the forest or a guard shifting slightly.

"Okay, I'm not interested in finding out what's on the other side of those doors. I want everypony to get their things as quickly and quietly as possible and begin to make for the stairs-" Shining had begun to whisper to his men and Cadence, before all hell broke loose as the massive doors were smashed in, accompanied with the visage and unearthly wail of an enraged Hydra. All three heads seemed to have a sort of helm on that had little antennae sticking out from them, the middle one being a little more complicated, with what looked like a drone controlling the Hydra.

"Hello, MEATBAGS! Prepare for your doom!" The drone yelled, pushing a control stick of sorts on the middle head's helmet, prompting the Hydra to begin moving forward to attack the ponies.

"EVERYPONY, FALL BACK AND GET THE BUCK OUT OF HERE!" Shining shouted, suddenly picking Cadence up in an adrenaline rush and throwing her onto his back just before he began to gallop towards the stairs behind his soldiers.

/*----------------------------------------------*//n

"Oh...oh thank Jobs! Looks like nothing-" Leo began to exclaim, as he began huffing and puffing from the exertion. Finally having caught his breath and no longer dizzy, Leo began to slowly wander towards the entrance of the ruins, constantly glancing around to see if he couldn't catch a glimpse of the captain, when there was a roar from deep within the ruins. Leo began to gallop into the entrance, when he was quickly bowled over by a large group of stallions clad in armour, sporting various wounds. Looking towards the entrance in a daze, he witnessed a light pink Alicorn screaming and shouting as it flayed about to escape the grasp of the two guards it took to escort her out of the ruins.

"No! No, no, no, no! Let me go this instant! Shining Armour is still in there, he needs my help! I...I-!"

"I'm sorry, your highness, but we can't let you in there! Lord Shining has sacrificed his own safety for ours, and with the Rainbow magic you casted to block the creature inside, the Captain can't be reached as it is!" The guard holding her onto his back with one hoof cried.

"What's going on in there? What's attacking?" Leo suddenly asked, picking himself up off the ground and approaching the group of guards ponies and the Princess, surprising them.

"Citizen, it's best that you flee at once! Head to Ponyville, and send word-" The guard had begun, before he was silence by a hoof from the pink Princess.

"Your name is Leo Silva, right?!" The frantic Princess asked, her face begging for the answer she wanted. When Leo nodded, she gripped him with magic suddenly, bringing him right to her face. "You! You're the one that killed those 'robots'! You must know how to stop the one that's in there, right?!" she asked, her snout almost touching Leo's. When she got another nod, this one a little more frantic and quick, she stared him right in the eye.

"The Captain of the Guard is trapped inside with that monster and his pet Hydra! As a Princess of Equestria, and as his wife, I'm requesting your services in getting him the buck out of there!"

"Alright! Alright! Just let me go already!" Leo shouted, shortly before he dropped to the ground rather ungracefully as the magic holding him was released.

"Princess, you can't be serious?! He's an untrained Pegasus with a crippled wing! Even if he makes it past your magic, somehow, what good will it do him? He should at least have armour, in case he gets hit!" The guard still underneath the Princess exclaimed. The Princess thought for a moment, before she looked at the armour the stallion below her wore, and then to his face. With a sigh, the guard scrambled about, unlatching the pieces of armour he wore, as Leo found himself floating in the air again, surrounded by the other guards who similarly scrambled to buckle the armour onto him.

"Are you...kidding me? How is this even going to help against-" Leo began to say, just as the Hydra let loose a blood curdling scream "-a Hydra?"

"Please! I can't loose Shining, I just can't!" The Princess pleaded, grasping him with magic again, but with the added benefit of feeling like a bear hug as the guard holding him with his own hadn't quite let go yet.

"Well...if you...put it...that way- URK!" Leo struggled to say as his lungs felt like they were turning into mush.

"Thank you! THANK YOU!" the Princess shouted at him, as she suddenly threw him quickly into the ruins, his yells quickly fading into the quiet sounds of battle deep within. Just as the Princess began to sob, six ponies entered into the clearing before the entrance.

"Cadence?! What in Equestria are you doing here? Why are you crying?" Twilight Sparkle's voice floated out from the treeline, ensnaring the attention of Cadence. Noticing her new younger sister-in-law standing before her with her friends, Cadence picked herself up off the ground and galloped towards them, crying along the way.

"Oh, Twilight! Thank Celestia you're here! Shining Armour is stuck inside the ruins, fighting one of those 'robots' while it rides atop the middle head of a Hydra! I've just sent him help, but...I'm so worried." Princess Cadence cried into Twilight's shoulder, who had become mostly unaware of anything once she finally understood that her brother was in danger.

"Princess Cadence, that help ya sent in, did it happen to be Leo?" Applejack asked cautiously, not caring for the answer she figured she was about to hear.

"Y-yes! Aunt Luna mentioned that he was a great hero, who has defeated these monstrosities many times! Why do you ask...?"

"Awh, Ponyfeathers! Come on girls, a crippled Pegasus is no match for a Hydra!" Applejack shouted, the rest of the girls began to gallop towards the ruin entrance, before...

"...Twilight, wait!" Cadence suddenly spoke, stopping the girls in their tracks. "...please help Leo in rescuing Shining Armour. He shouldn't be alone in this..."

"You bet, Princess Cadence! Come on, girls! We have some Hydra butt to kick!" Rainbow Dash shouted, before anything else could said. The six mares galloped into the ruins without looking back, nor heeding the words of the guardsponies.

/*----------------------------------------------*//n

Leo had quickly gotten to the Main hall's entrance, in which from his hiding spot behind stone pillars he was able to see a three headed hydra rampaging around, looking for it's prey as it's mind was controlled by the drone riding it. He looked throughout the room, trying to catch a glimpse of the weird veil that had returned him to his original form before, only to curse when he couldn't see anything.

'The hell does she expect me to do? Appeal to the Drone's sense of empathy?' Leo grumbled in his mind, snorting in the process. As he looked around, he suddenly noticed a subtle movement come from underneath a group of toppled storage containers. After staring for a moment, he glimpsed a flash of blue turning into white.

'Guy probably doesn't even realize how lucky he is that drones don't have XRay of Thermal optics. At least I know where he is now...hopefully ugly and the hydra don't find out.' Leo thought to himself, slowly building up a plan. Biting his lip and looking back and forth from his position, coming to the realization that the only thing he could do was suicidal: Run in, grab him, run out. Typical hot evac. Of course, he had the 'added benefit' of being a pony.

"I hate this place." Leo grumbled to himself. He began to ready himself to bolt into the hall the second the hydra looked away as it searched for it's prey. Just as his chance came up and he let himself loose, he tripped when he heard his name shouted at him from behind. Quickly scrambling to move back into hiding first, he turned to glare towards the source only to find the six mares tasked to look after him galloping down the stairs.

"Leo! Wait, we can help!" Twilight shouted, causing Leo to grimace in fear as the Hydra turned towards the entrance in curiosity.

"Shut. Up! Against the wall!" Leo commanded in a harsh whisper, to which the mares hesitated at first. When he turned and pointed towards the Hydra's curious stare, Leo wasn't even able to look back before they had heeded his order. "You want to help? Fine. Just don't cry when one of you get hurt. This isn't a game. You sign on now, you're stuck here for the entire ride, regardless of how this ends." Leo explained, cutting to the chase. When all six nodded, Fluttershy extremely hesitantly as she shook in fear, Leo continued.

"Okay, who is fastest on their hooves?" Leo asked. When both Applejack and Rainbow Dash a forehoof, Leo glanced between the two of them for a moment, and then brought a hoof to his chin.

"Okay, uhh...I'll need you two then. Rainbow Dash?" Leo called, getting her attention. "I need you to distract the Hydra and the Drone, as me and Applejack sprint in and yank whathisname's flank out of there. And if you get the chance, ONLY if you get the chance and it's not too DANGEROUS! I need you to sever that large cord that's glowing green and connected to the center head's neck. That should disrupt the mind control enough to give us ample time to get completely clear of these ruins." Leo instructed.

"But what if she can't get a chance to knock that thing loose?" Applejack asked, frowning.

"Well, that's when we run. Fast. Now, ready? On my signal." Leo asked. Neither of the mares looked happy about the ordeal, but got into position. Seconds went by as Leo watched the Hydra moving around, shrieking in rage over it's inability to find it's prey.

"Go, go, go!" Leo shouted suddenly as the creature turned away to kick some more equipment around. When He, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash approached the the doorway, he noticed a slight glow.

"WAIT! STOOOP!" He had heard Twilight's voice suddenly exclaim, but he ignored her as he bolted into the room. He counted himself lucky when he and Applejack approached the hidden Stallion.

"What are you DOING here, guardsman? ...wait, you're not a guard, who are you?" the Stallion asked.

"No time! We're here to get you out of here!" Leo shouted at him as he waved a forehoof clad in armour, a hesitant Captain of the guard looking behind him.

"We? You're the only one here besides me, you foal!" The stallion shouted at him. Leo had suddenly become aware of the clear air above him, free of a certain cyan Pegasus. Turning around, he noticed that Applejack hadn't even actually been with him at all. And the entrance was covered with a transparent rainbow veil, where he could see the two of them holding their heads and groaning as the other four mares tended to them as they watched Leo in terror.

"Why the hell didn't they get through?" Leo asked the stallion, just as he suddenly felt and heard the shrieking from the Hydra from behind him, the hot breath stinking. Turning and looking, he noticed that they had been spotted. Leo sighed.

"What a particularly well executed rescue operation." The stallion's sarcasm irritating Leo.

"Time to go!" Leo shouted, diving under the other stallion and then standing up, picking him up as he sprinted towards the exit. He felt his little pony heart pumping like mad as the adrenaline flowed freely throughout his body, giving him that much more speed as he approached the exit, hearing the frantic shouts and screams from the mares on the other side of the magical rainbow veil. Just as he felt the heat of the Hydra's open mouths closing in on them, he had heard what sounded like glass shattering as he burst through the veil.

"RUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUN!" Leo screamed at the top of his lungs, the others not far behind him, as the hydra's heads smashed through the opening, creating a massive hole in the wall. It didn't get far, however, as the upper wall of the entrance that joined the Chamber and itself collapsed under the assault and buried the now howling hydra in the rubble. The group of ponies didn't look back, however, and kept up their sprint away from danger, towards the safety of the camp outside.