Romance, Royalty and Revolutionby walkmanChaptersMemories, rain, and a plan beginsThe price of powerPain and powerMemories, rain, and a plan beginsRomance, Royalty and Revolution Chapter 1 The first thing that he noticed as he awoke was the feeling of an intense pain in the side of his head. He groaned as he forced his eyes open, then he winced and squinted as the sun stung his eyes, shutting them again he tried to regain the sweet oblivion that was sleep but it was too late, the pain in his head refused to grant him his wish. He reluctantly opened his eyes again and surveyed his surroundings, to discover that he was laid on the edge of a huge bed that was adorned with pristine white bed sheets, pillows, and quilts, well mostly white anyway; he snorted in disgust as he noticed that the bedsheets directly next to him were covered in vomit. He quickly struggled upright and attempted to back away from the offending body fluid which had been ejected mere hours ago. However, this merely resulted in him falling from the edge of the bed to the floor, landing in a heap with a loud unceremonious thud he proceeded to struggle into an upright sitting position. Casting a quick glance around the room, it was simply massive and most ponies would have described it as such, to him however, it was simply normal this had after all been his room for as long as he could remember. It was a room that seemed to only contain two colours, white which covered most of the visible surfaces within the room, and gold which appeared in lines on the panelling around the edges of the room. He stumbled upright and headed towards one of the room’s two doors, whilst trying unsuccessfully to ignore his pounding headache and overwhelming sense of nausea. Using his magic to open the door he stumbled into the on-suite and proceeded to the far side of the white and gold room before collapsing with a heavy sigh within the shower cubicle, using his magic to turn the shower on and to the right heat. He simply sat there in the shower unthinking and unmoving letting the water flow over himself. It was at this point that it hit him. Memories Memories of a day that had changed his life, memories of a day that had started much like any other but that had yet changed his life completely. Memories of the day that made him realize just how pathetic he truly was. Bolting upright like a shot, the headache and nausea from moments ago quickly forgotten; he galloped out of the on-suite and into his room dashing across it as fast as possible; he threw open the balcony doors with his magic and ran onto the balcony. Celestia’s sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon and the balcony’s position high above Canterlot offered a magnificent view of all Equestria. Upon seeing this view most ponies would simply sit and stare out over their beautiful homeland, and maybe give thanks to Celestia for raising the sun and gracing them with yet another beautiful day. This stallion in-particular however, did not stop and stare at the beautiful sunrise he neglected the amazing view, and did not allow the sun’s rays to warm him. Immediately after bursting out onto the balcony he cast his glance wildly around searching for what he needed. Meanwhile inside his head memories were pushing upwards, trying to break free threatening to overwhelm him. In his minds eye he could see the blood, he could hear their screams as they begged for mercy, as they cursed him for his cowardice, as they screamed when the pain became too much for them to bear; he could feel the pain he would never forget the pain. “Celestia damn it! Where is it?” He yelled in frustration, he was certain that he had left it out here. Dashing back inside, he began searching frantically all around the room; he could hear it now in his head, the voice, the voice that he knew would haunt him until the day he died, the voice of the pony that had changed his life forever. It’s your fault that they died, the voice said; we gave you an opportunity to save them but then what did I expect from you, of course you would be stuck up and arrogant, of course you would believe yourself to be better than every other pony, I don’t blame you, its simply how you were raised, you are nothing but a product of this corrupt society. He whimpered, remembering the voice’s owner had been right, he hadn’t cared about his fellow ponies; he had thought himself above them, just because of his blood, well… now he knew better, after what he’d experienced. He reached his forehooves under his bed and almost cried out from joy as he found what he had been searching for. He awkwardly pulled a crate out from under his bed, on the side were the words, “Stalliongrads Finest” using his magic he quickly levitated a bottle out of the already open crate and unscrewed it lifted it to his mouth and downed half the 1litre bottle. In the last moments before the alcohol hit him he wondered how his life had come to this, and if he would end up living the rest of his life unable to even go half an hour without a drink. Then the alcohol hit him and he started feeling tired, and remembered that he couldn’t have had more than a few hours sleep. Yawning he curled up on the floor with his forelegs wrapped around the bottle, holding it tightly, the last thing he heard before sweet oblivion embraced him was the voice of the stallion that had destroyed his life; the final words, well its time to say goodbye, but don’t worry, we’ll meet again once the princesses have received my message, until we meet again prince Blueblood. __________________________________________________________________________________ It was raining heavily that night, but that no longer bothered the mare who stood at the edge of Ponyville; she was beyond caring, she remembered how her life had been ruined when all those months ago that lavender mare in the small village had destroyed her reputation. She had been forced to flee that place without any of her possessions, but that wasn’t the worst of it, not by a long shot. Ever since then she had been left with no place to go, word had somehow travelled ahead of her; so that at every town, village, or even city that she visited, she had been ostracised and called a charlatan, by every pony. It was all because of those two stupid colts and that lavender mare, even in places where before she had been loved, she was now hated; she had even been run out of towns by angry ponies, on multiple occasions, that was what had led her to this. She had tried to move on, to rebuild her reputation, but she was never given the chance, before she knew it she ended up in Hooffield. It was a small city in northern Equestria, where she had put on a performance before; she snorted with indignation and anger as she remembered that the very ponies that had flocked to her shows not too long ago, had chased her out of town. And to make things worse, they ran her into the nearby Everfree Forest; she shivered as she remembered what she had encountered in there. It had been a miracle that she had managed to survive for almost a week in that place; when she had finally emerged from the forest she was battered and exhausted, but she had been able to recognise her location and she knew that she was close to that accursed ponyville, where that lavender mare had ruined the life. The life she had worked so hard to rebuild from the ashes of her childhood, there and then she had decided to take revenge on the mare that had ruined it all. She had no dastardly or elaborate plan for her revenge, she decided that for now she would simply find and confront the lavender mare, and what happened from that point on, was any ponies guess. “No pony is better than Trixie and its time for Trixie to show all of Equestria that.” The mare smiled to herself as she turned to go and find some shelter for the night, in the morning she would find that lavender mare and finish what had been started that day when the Ursa Minor attacked. ________________________________________________________________________ The stallion sighed as he stared out of the back of the wagon and watched as Canterlot slowly dwindled into the distance behind him. “So where to now what’s the next step?” Asked an obviously irritated voice from behind the stallion “C, you know that Mist will tell us sooner or later, so just calm down okay?” “Calm down! You expect me to just calm down after what Mist did back there? After what we did??!!!” “Look, just shut up Cloudy! You knew that Mist had been planning, something like this for years, you could have left at any time; anyway it’s not like we did anything that bad it could’ve been worse so-” “Worse? WORSE?!!!! Silk do you know what we’ve done? In case you didn’t notice, just one month ago we kidnapped a member of the royal family and his friends; then proceeded to kill them in terrible ways, right in front of the prince scarring him for life. Then we even left Blueblood alive, after he had seen our faces, and left him for the royal guards to find.” Cloudy paused to regain his breath, before he resumed his heated exposition of recent events. Mist wasn’t surprised, Cloudy did have asthma after all, “But that isn’t all, oh no!” Cloudy continued, “Last night, just as we were getting ready to get out of the city, since the search for us was finally starting to calm down a little; what does that foal do? He only sneaks into the royal gardens, and then proceeds to steal one of the statues, not only that, do you know which statue he stole?” “Look, just shut up Cloudy! And stop worrying so much, it’s not like Misty didn’t place an illusion spell over the three of us; heck, I bet that even Blueblood wouldn’t be able to recognise us! So it’s not like the guards will recognise us, looking like we do right now. Misty made sure that we looked totally different before we ponyknapped him, and his bucking rich friends, and as for the statue, no pony’s gonna be able to find it! I mean It’s been shrunk and turned invisible, only Misty knows exactly where it is, so stop shouting! It’s only gonna make it harder for you to pull the wagon, you know that you have asthma.” Mist sighed and turned from the now almost invisible Canterlot; he walked to the front of the wagon and jumped down onto the road, “Okay, time to swap. C stop pulling and get in the wagon.” Cloudy grumbled to himself, as he unhitched himself from the wagon and proceeded to grumble as he climbed into the wagon’s driver seat. Mist paid no attention to his twin’s behaviour, since to him, it seemed childish; he hitched himself to the wagon and began moving forward next to Silk. After about fifteen minutes of silent walking, his sister spoke up beside him. “Y’know I may not care what the next stage of the plan is, but it would be nice to know where the hay it is we’re walkin to right now?” The grey unicorn sighed at the question, then he sighed at his sigh, and it took all of his self-control to keep himself from sighing again; life, it just took too much effort sometimes. He didn’t even know why he bothered or even why, but then he remembered, he remembered his foalhood, and he remembered what had happened and why it had happened, and he remembered whose fault it was. He almost couldn’t believe that he had finally begun to implement his plan, Equestria was going to change soon; the princesses would be gone; and so would all of those ponies who like the one’s in Canterlot, thought that they were better than other ponies. They would learn the error of their ways, just like Blueblood had learned. He would also show all of the ponies that lived close to Canterlot, in the centre of Equestria, which thought that their country was a paradise, free of corruption; he would show them, just what life was like in the real Equestria. He would show them, what it was like to grow up in the gang culture of Fillydelphia; he would show them the dark underbelly of Manehatten. He would show them what life was like for all the ponies that were forced to live and die on the streets of Stalliongrad. Yes, there was so much to change and the thought that he would be the one to change it, brought a smile to his face; it would be a revolution and it would bring freedom for everypony! His smile grew wider yes it would … His thoughts of change and revolution were interrupted by his sisters’ voice “Stop smiling to yourself like that Mist, it’s creepy!” He managed to cancel his widening smile, and return his face to relative normality. “Home,” He said simply, in response to his sisters’ earlier question, “Home? What home? We don’t have a home!” “He means Fillydelphia,” Said Cloudy from his place in the drivers’ seat, behind them. “You wouldn’t remember that place since you were so young when we left, but it’s the place where you were born; we didn’t always live on the road you know, we used to have a family.” Cloudy’s voice grew more hushed on that last word. “I know that, I was born there you bucking foal! And I know that we used to have a happy family, yadda, yadda, yadda, you two are always talking about mum, dad and that orphaned filly that they adopted; whatever, it’s in the past now, they’re all dead.” “Be quiet you two, I’m thinking and don’t call her an orphan. Her name is Trixie, and she isn’t dead!” At least I hope that you aren’t T, I hope that your out there somewhere, maybe someday we’ll be able to meet again; Mist thought to himself as he walked down the road. The price of powerChapter 2 The Price of Power Trixie shivered as she stared out of the bushes that she was currently concealed in, it had been a bad night, the rain had come down in a constant and steady stream for hours. If she had been a pegasus then she may have felt some small amount of admiration for the weather, ponies who had created it, since rain like that was just right for making sure that the ground got just the right amount of water that was needed for plants to flourish and grow, was hard to create since you had to get the cloud’s consistency just right; in fact even the simple act of moving cloud’s was a difficult job and every pegasus appreciated the work that they did.Trixie however, was not pegasus she was a unicorn and therefore she did not appreciate the skill needed to create good rain; instead as she lay trying unsuccessfully to gain some sleep, she had just wished that the rain would end and the day would begin so that she could finally end it. She didn’t even consider the possibility that something would happen that would prevent her from gaining her revenge. In the same way that she did not consider how she would take her revenge, or even what would happen to her afterwards; she was completely focused revenge. So she crouched in bushes on the outskirts of Ponyville watching and waiting for any sign of the lavender unicorn. She did not have to wait long before she was rewarded as she saw the lavender mare exit a large tree not too far away. Her gaze was so captured by the lavender mare that had ruined her life, that it took her a few moments to see the small purple and green creature that had also stepped out into the street; when she did notice it, she instantly recognized it as the baby dragon that had been with the unicorn most of the time whilst she had been in Ponyville. From the looks of things the dragon and the unicorn seemed to live together but that didn’t really matter, although it did mean that she would have to be careful since to the best of her knowledge the dragon seemed to be with her all the time. She watched from the bushes as the unicorn and dragon talked for a few moments, then the dragon climbede atop the unicorns back and the pair began to head in the general direction of the village centre. She waited for a few minutes before she began move she moved backwards away from the village, then she circled around the outside of the village until she was directly behind the tree. She slowly approached it until she was directly behind, she looked cautiously around. It didn't seem to have a back entrance, so she slowly circled round the front, luckily it was still fairly early so she managed to get inside the tree without any real difficulty, the door wasn't even locked! It always surprised her how different life was in some areas of Equestria, in the place where she had been born any unlocked building was an instant target for thieves, yet this village seemed to be crime free. Once inside she took moment to look around a library. The pony that had designed this place must’ve been mad, the risk of fire must be huge. What type of pony even lives in a library, let alone a library that could be burned down so easily; of course the pony that lived there was a powerful unicorn, capable of vanquishing an Ursa Minor, but the idea still seemed ridiculous to her. She sighed and decided to search for a place to hide, she managed to find a cupboard within the cellar, she used her magic to close the door behind herself. There was barely any space to maneuver within the cupboard, so she ended up sitting awkwardly, with many household implements sticking into her at various angles. She was actually glad about the pain she felt from all the implements sticking into her, since she guessed that it was a help in keeping her awake and alert for when the lavender pony returned. But it obviously didn’t help since within minutes of entering the cupboard, she fell asleep. ________________________________________________________________________ Mist noticed that he was shaking as he trotted through the tree’s, not good, definitely not good, he was utterly and completely terrified. You have to do this Mist, you need to be more powerful well maybe not need, but it will be extremely helpful if you had some more power, and this is the one place in all of Equestria that can give you what you need. Just remember how much power the first one gave you, your magical energy was barely above average, but now? Now you must be one of the most powerful ponies in the whole of Equestria! But the price, remember the price, the lives of three ponies, even though they deserved it, and someday it’ll be Blueblood’s turn. Of course it’s not Blueblood’s fate which bothers me, but what I did to those three and the fact that it was actually, kind of fun, ha! That is what has me worried! I always knew that I was sort of a crazy after what happened…but to do what I did to those three and actually enjoy it, and not feel any guilt at all? My psychosis must be worse than I thought, mum and dad would be horrified. He snorted, I should be bucking horrified. He sighed as he continued to move through the trees, it was getting dark fast, that in his opinion, was quite possibly the most annoying part of winter, the darkness may make some activities easier, but on the whole, the speed with which the sun dropped beneath the horizon hindered rather than aided him. He had better hurry up or Cloudy would start worrying his twin was even more nervous than he was, which was actually pretty impressive given the fact that even talking to another pony that he was not familiar with, was enough to make him stutter and feel light-headed. All of a sudden he stopped dead in his tracks, it was around here that he could feel it, such power! He began to search the area eagerly looking for the entrance; with this much power and the secrets of how to use it he would easily be the third strongest pony in Equestria after the princesses, and it would make putting his plan into motion so much easier. It had already enabled him to take the first few steps down this road with far more ease than it should have taken him, yes, Blueblood and Discord the first two pieces of the puzzle; next would come Fillydelphia, and when he controlled that city's gangs, that was when his plan would begin in earnest. “Gah! There I go letting my mind run away with me again, and now I’m talking to myself! I really am a mad pony.” At last he found the entrance, it was a rather plain nondescript door, but it did have one rather interesting feature, and that was the fact that instead of standing upright like most doors this one seemed to just lay of the ground. Mist used his magic to pull the door open, it opened noiselessly and in the rapidly diminishing daylight Mist could just make out a spiral staircase leading down into the gloom, he lit his horn up with magic and proceeded down through the darkness. Mist couldn’t be sure how long his descent took, but he was fairly certain that it had been more than ten minutes; upon reaching the bottom he gulped, directly in front of him lit up by his magic was a large door that was completely devoid of anything even a handle in fact the only reason that he knew it was a door, was that he had seen one just like it before; that and the fact that rather than the dull gray of the stairs and walls, the door was a crimson red somehow, that colour reminded him of wine and blood too, he thought to himself. Mist realised that he was shaking, dammit! He really needed to get a handle on his nervousness, how could he change Equestria if he was a nervous wreck? He steeled himself and walked up to the door, and began to recite the words that had been given to him in preparation for this moment. "Door oh door, I’ve seen you before And your strange colour, I could not ignore Door oh door, you opened before do so again, for I wish for more." The door swung open both slowly and noiselessly, beyond the door’s threshold there was nothing but darkness not even the bright magical light given of by his horn could illuminate anything. Come on, don’t be afraid! Remember life is just a game, but it’s the hardest game that your likely to play, so you need to take every opportunity to cheat that you can, and that doorway in front of you is merely the greatest cheat ever created. Mist took a deep breath, okay let’s do this; he stepped through the door and as he did so all light vanished and the darkness was complete. ________________________________________________________________________ How could this happen? Why did this happen it doesn’t make any sense! Celestia sighed as she tried to find that ever elusive entity known as sleep, these same thoughts had been running through her head for weeks, ever since Blueblood’s ponyknapping; it was the first time that any pony had done anything this terrible in a long time, in fact it had been hundreds of years since any pony had done anything which even came close to being this terrible Is it just a coincidence, first the incidents with Nightmare Moon and Discord and now this? Celestia thought to herself, or does it go deeper? I feel as though there is something going on, but I cannot even begin to guess what it is; Equestria’s harmony is failing and I don’t know how to stop it! And then there’s Blueblood, dammit he was just beginning to change, he tried not to show it, but that incident at the gala was a good starting point, a few more experiences like that and he might’ve begun to change, but now ? Now he’s gone to the opposite extreme, he’s gone from self glorification to self loathing; he just stays in his rooms within the palace all day, and drinks himself into oblivion just to forget what happened. And then there are the ponies that are responsible for this crime, according to Blueblood there were three of them, but we haven’t been able to find any ponies who match the description that Blueblood gave; of course they may have used magic to drastically alter their appearance, but if they did, why didn’t I feel it? A spell like that should have used a large amount of magical energy, but neither I, nor my sister have felt any large expenditures of magical power, and not only are we the only two ponies that know how to feel a ponies magical energy, we are the only ponies that even know about sensing magical energy. And then there is the theft of Discords statue, luckily I’ve been able to keep all but a select few from hearing about that, if it became public knowledge that his statue had been stolen, it would be cause mass panic! And although it should be impossible for him to be freed from his stone prison, if there are ponies out there with the ability to perform powerful magic directly beneath mine and Luna’s noses, then might they not also have some way of freeing Discord from his stone prison? All of these thoughts filled Celestia with a wide range of emotions, horror and anger at how any pony could do such terrible things; confusion as to how they had done it, and why? And lastly, sadness and regret at the fact that this had happened, but also at the memories she had of a certain Draconequus, of the times that they had shared, the life they had led, and the end ... Dammit! Celestia get a grip, thinking about the past will not change the present, stop these foolish thoughts this instant, and get some sleep, it’ll be another busy day tomorrow. Telling herself to stop did not avail her in the slightest, memories of her past flashed inside of her head as she closed her eyes and tried to once again find sleep; she wished that her memories would stop before they reached their inevitable conclusion, but before she knew it she had already arrived at their last meeting. She now regretted how she had acted that day, but she had been so angry upon discovering that he was not only free but that he apparently had not changed at all during his imprisonment, and did not even seem to regret what he had done, he certainly hadn’t looked very apologetic about what had happened more than a thousand years ago now. It also hadn’t helped to calm her temper, when she discovered that he had stolen the elements. And then before she had the chance to even see him again, he had already been returned to his stone prison by Twilight and her friends. Then after seeing him once more entombed within his stone prison, she had felt an enormous amount of regret; after all, she thought as she finally began to drift off into slumber, its not like what he did to me was any worse than what I did to him. ________________________________________________________________________ Mist didn’t know how long he had been walking through this darkness which surrounded him, but it felt like it had been an eternity. But he could see his destination now in the distance, he should be there soon. All of a sudden he realized that he was at his destination, which had mere moments ago been nothing but a distant glow. He gazed around the strange place in which he found himself, the area was lit by a red glow that seemed to have no identifiable source. The floor was pitch black, and darkness seemed to surround the glowing area in which he found himself. The area was empty save for a crimson red pony, who sat not 5 hoofsteps from where Mist stood. Mist looked at the pony in front of him and tried to identify whether it was an earth, pegasus, or unicorn pony. It seemed to change before his very eyes, one moment it appeared to be an earth pony, and then suddenly it was a pegasus, and then it seemed to be a unicorn; and before he could do anything, it was suddenly a unicorn again. But that was not the most disturbing thing about it. The one of these creatures that he’d seen before had been black, so its eyes hadn’t bothered him, he had barely noticed them, he had been too terrified by the creature that was before him and too entranced by what it was offering; but now that he saw this one, he decided that its most disturbing feature was it’s eyes, they were black as coals just like the first one’s eyes must’ve been, and they were the one part of the creatures anatomy that did not seem to be constantly morphing, but most disturbingly, they were watching him, waiting for him to act, he gulped. “There’s more than one of you?” He asked “The one that I met before was black” “Oh Mist, of course there is more than one of us, or rather there was.” It said in a voice that seemed to sound both full of joy and full of hate, “We are many, but in direct answer to your question, I am actually the same “one” that you met before, I have merely changed my form a little, I like this colour so much more.” The harsh tone in which it said “one” somehow reminded Mist of the things that he had done to Blueblood’s friends, it probably wouldn’t be wise to refer to it like that again. “What shall I call you then?” said Mist as he wrestled to quell his nerves. “You may call me “Highest” for that is what the name of my race means, when translated into your tongue. Ah, but we waste time Mist. I know why you have come to find me a second time, you wish for more power, and I am the only one that can help you. Do you not you wish to be able to change your land for the better don’t you? And I wish to see the fall of the princesses. So tell me Mist what four things are you willing to pay this time for power? Remember last time you gave the lives of four ponies, and three already dead, one due to suffer guilt and then die by your hand at a later date; and that means that you must give four things of your own this time” “What! You didn’t mention that I had to give you something of my own?” “Oh Mist, you didn’t think that you could simply give me other ponies in order to gain this power did you? No, in order to gain truly great power, you must be willing to sacrifice something of your own.” Mist’s mind worked fast, I did not plan on this dammit! Think Mist, think, there must be some way to use this situation to your advantage. Wait…yes, yes, that’s it. “I have a question for you Highest, can I pay by using my feelings as the payment?” “Of course you can Mist, if you couldn’t, then you would not have enough to give.” Mist smiled he could do this! He was just about to open his mouth, when his doubts began to arise. Is it really worth it? I mean, I don’t even know what this creature is, or if this is its true form. He thought, should I really give up my feelings and emotions just for this creatures simple promises of power? I mean he says that he wants the princesses’ reign to end, but why? And why choose me? Also, its not like I need the power, I can accomplish my plan without it, all this power will do is make the accomplishment of my plan easier? But then, if it is easier, doesn’t that increase the chances of my plan succeeding? I mean, not only is this thing giving me more power, it’s also giving me ways to use that power that not even the princesses know of, that could give me a massive advantage. And in the end what happens to me is irrelevant, it doesn’t really matter, even if I give him my soul, Equestria must be free! I have to do this, for my race, for my family, for revenge. “Okay then Highest, take from me my kindness, since life has not been kind to me; take away my honesty, for the truth never set me free; and take from me compassion, so that I may keep my passion.” “Very well” said Highest, “And what of the fourth thing that you are to lose?” Honestly thought Mist to himself, doesn’t this thing appreciate how hard it was for me to talk like that? I mean, they alw s use rhymes and things like that, at this point in a good story. Ha! Mist, you are the only pony I know that would think in such a way under these circumstances. “You may take from me my left eye for I, may use my magic to spy. But do not take it yet, only when I am no longer under threat.” “It is done.” ________________________________________________________________________ The pony was gone within moments, drunk upon his new found powers, and Highest wore a satisfied smile, as he used own powers, which he was confident were even greater than those of the two princesses who ruled this land, to reopen the portal back to his own world. As he stepped through he reverted back to his real form; wondering what Mist would do with his new powers, and also how much of this night he would even remember in the morning, drunk on powers as he was, and as for the way that he had spoken, it was hilarious, he thought that he was being poetic, or epic or something like that no doubt. And then there was the eye that had actually been a good idea, but Mist had forgotten to whose perception of threat it was, that he meant as it was Highest didn’t think that Mist was under any threat, after all it wasn’t like Highest was going to bother killing him right now and there weren’t any creatures nearby that could harm Mist, especially not with his new powers. This just went to show that ponies were unsuited to this type of magic, even one that believed himself to be worldly wise, like Mist was; yet he was innocent to the fact that the Highest could take Mist’s eye at anytime he wanted, but he would wait for a short while first. Playing with these ponies, is just so much fun, he thought to himself. “Highest! Ha! What in the blazes made you come up with that name Denallius?” Said a voice directly in front of him, as he stepped through the portal, “Not even that foolish equine, believed all that mumbo jumbo about revenge on the princesses, ha! Highest indeed, that word does not even begin to describe our power. Talking about power, be sure not to give that creature too much power, this only a test of the princesses after all.” “Oh Father, do not use my full name please, and anyway, I thought that I did a rather good job of it myself, also it doesn’t really matter if he believes me or not, he took the power and he’ll take it the next time as well. Although I don’t think that I’ll offer him any more after that, after all as you say, this is only a test and I’m sure that his plan is brilliant, he just doesn’t realize what the princesses are capable of, I’ll just give him enough power to make stopping him, test the princesses to their limits. You are also forgetting the elements, this may well test them as well.” “And what would you suggest son, if that pony should succeed in his plan to overthrow the princesses?” “You know Father just because I am your heir, that does not mean that you must ask me these questions all the time, it becomes rather annoying after a while.” “Just answer the question Denallius.” “I do wish that you would stop calling me that.” “It’s your name Denallius, now just hurry up and answer the question!” “Fine, fine, if Mist were to succeed in his plan, then when we invade that world and enslave it’s species. I would destroy Equestria, we do not need slaves from a race with rulers so weak that they cannot stop one of their own, no matter their plans or powers.” “Very good Denallius, however, you must stop referring to these creatures like that. They are merely potential slaves, and therefore lower life forms. Also are you sure that even if this plan fails, it will still create the correct amount of upheaval to enable us to take Equestria with greater ease?” “Of course I am sure Father! I have been working on this world and in particular the land of Equestria, since it first caught the eye of The Exalted One more than 200 years ago! I’ve used a lot of subtlety, I have created places of corruption, and dissatisfaction with that land without Celestia, and now even her sister Luna, is hearing rumours about the harsh lives that some of her ponies are forced to lead; there are many ponies in the large cities who are downtrodden, but they will never even begin to think about rebelling against their rulers unless they have some hero or another to follow. Although Mist’s plan, which I’m sure is quite brilliant, will almost certainly fail; I am also sure that in the aftermath, there will be many ponies who will be inspired to rise up against their corrupt oppressors, and the result will be a country in such turmoil that it will take the princesses years regain full control. And the best part is, very few of the ponies, least of all the princesses, will actually be at fault for the corruption, yet the poor and downtrodden ponies will hate them anyway. It’ll be even better if Misty dies as well, because then he will become a martyr and that will ...” “Yes, yes I get your point! You really do ramble on sometimes Denallius, just make sure that the plan works; if we can subdue and enslave all of the creatures with the minimum of effort, then The Exalted One will be greatly pleased with us; so be sure not to fail, also don’t forget that you are supposed to be dealing with those bird creatures.” “The Griffons? Yes Father, I have not forgotten.” “Very well, now I’m going to the land of the dragons, I will see you later Denallius.” “Ah yes, the war, good luck with that Father, it really is a good idea.” Pain and powerChapter 3 Pain and power Trixie awoke in complete darkness. It took her a few seconds to remember where she was and why then she noticed all of the household cleaning items that were sticking into her at various angles. It was a wonder that she’d even managed to get to sleep in the first place. She decided to move out of the cupboard and check to see how long she’d been out for; she also wanted to see if that lavender mare and her pet dragon were back yet. Using her magic to open the door and light up the dark cellar for herself; she was surprised by how hard she found it to accomplish these simple tasks, it seemed as though her rest had not left her rested, in fact she didn’t feel like she’d got any sleep at all. She just felt like collapsing right there and then, but tiredness was not the only thing that was afflicting her, she was in pain all over from where the household implements, mops and brooms, had dug into her and it hadn’t even been a week since her escape from the Everfree Forest! She still had wounds both physical and mental from that place. All in all she was physically and mentally tired and in pain. She just felt like laying down right where she stood and the thought of rest was so tempting… Don’t give up Trixie, Trixie can do this! Trixie never gave up before, remember, just go upstairs and get Trixie’s revenge and then Trixie can rest for as long as she likes. Come on Trixie’s been through worse than this before and made it out with her hide intact. Spurred on by her own thoughts she cautiously made her way up the cellar’s stairs. She nudged the door an inch open and peered out; it was dark within the tree library, it appeared as though she had slept for the entire day. It angered her that she had let an entire day slip by, but she soon realised that this was a good thing; the lavender mare and her pet dragon were probably asleep. Whilst she had great confidence in her own magical abilities, she was not stupid enough to believe that she could take on both a unicorn that was capable of dealing with an Ursa Minor, and a dragon, (even if it was just a baby) in a head to head confrontation; especially not when she was in the greatly weakened state as she now found herself. Yes it was for the best that it should happen this way, after all it wasn’t like she cared about how she got her revenge, or if anypony even knew that she’d got it. She slowly, carefully nudged the door open and emerged into the center the libraries main room; she stopped using her magic to light her way, aware of the noise of magic being used, and the need not to wake up the libraries inhabitants by using light. If Trixie remembers correctly, there should be some stairs to her right; the bedroom must be up there. She turned and started towards where she thought the stairs were. Maybe Trixie should have checked the layout of the entire library this morning, but it was not Trixies’ fault that she was too tired to remember such a task. Trixie has had much on her mind recently. “Who” the sudden sound shattered the nights silence and Trixie’s head jerked as she around searched for the source of the noise. “Who” the mysterious noise sounded again as Trixie searched frantically for its source. Suddenly she saw it perched on the desk next to the window, not three meters away from her was an owl “Who” it said again as it stared directly at her. Trixie almost shouted at the creature telling it that she was the great and powerful Trixie, but luckily her common sense saved her just as she opened her mouth; she glared at the owl as it had almost ruined her plans, but she would not be foiled that easily, oh no! She continued to glare at the owl which in return simply stared at her and said “Who” once again; it took all of Trixies self control to keep herself from yelling at the thing. Dammit! If that stupid thing keeps doing that, it’s bound to wake up the entire town! She had to get rid of this stupid creature. As she continued her staring contest, Trixie tried to think up a way to get rid of it. Luckily it didn’t take her long to come up with a plan. Using her magic she created an illusion of a black and white cat, and at the same time she used her magic to open the window directly behind the owl; the illusory cat jumped up at the owl, which immediately took to the air and shot out of the window with the illusion in quick pursuit. “Ha!” Exclaimed Trixie, and then suddenly she put her hoof over her mouth hoping that she hadn’t been heard. She waited in silence for a few minutes and sighed in relief when she didn’t hear any noises at all, she closed the window as silently as possible and resumed her journey to the stairs. Found the stairs easily as her eyes adjusted to the darkness and started up them. Trixie is close now, she can feel it not much further, then it will all be over. She set all of her concentration on reaching the top of the stairs and her revenge. She was halfway up the stairs when she heard a faint thudding noise and a muffled cry of “Who”. Her concentration faltered and it broke completely when she heard the sound of the owl slamming itself against the window and another muffled “Who!” She turned around, planning to go back down the stairs and get rid of that annoying bird once and for all; however, as she began back down the stairs, she heard voices and movement coming from above. She panicked and attempted to scramble away. She remembered too late that she was still on the stairs, as she tripped up on her own hooves she fell halfway down the stairs before she even knew what was happening. She hit the floor at the base of the stairs with her forehooves instinctively outstretched, she heard a sickening snap as her hooves hit the floor and an intense pain shot up her right forehoof causing her to scream in pain, as she buckled to the floor. The last thing she remembered before the pain and exhaustion caused her to blackout, was the sound of hoofsteps on the stairs. ________________________________________________________________________ Mist awoke with what was quite possibly the worst headache that he had ever had the misfortune host within his skull. It felt like a firework had exploded within his head, he struggled upright and then groaned in pain as he squeezed his eyes shut; the pain in his head seemed to double. “Finally awake are you?” Mist opened his eyes and looked up to see his twin staring at him with a look of anger upon his face, Cloudy always seemed to be angry at something or another these days. “What’s up C?” He said, doing his best to ignore the pain in his head. “What’s up? Can you not bucking remember? I’ll tell you what’s bucking up Mist! You have been missing for two bucking days! Ever since we camped out by the Evergreen Forest, we’ve been searching for you, two bucking days! We finally found you trying to attacking an Ursa Major, a bucking Ursa Major in the middle of the bucking forest! It’s a miracle that we managed to escape at all, let alone unharmed, but that isn’t all. A bucking bear chased us all the way to Baltimare! It took the whole of the cities royal guard to bring that thing down, and it still managed to kill and maim half of them!” At this point Cloudy began wheezing loudly as he tried to regain his breath; Mist took this opportunity to get a bearing of their surroundings, they were in the wagon surrounded by their few belongings. He also tried to recall what had happened over the past few days, but his memory went blank after leaving the campsite. Damn! I need to remember what happened. “Do you honestly not remember anything” said Cloudy “No, not after I left the campsite anyway. Are we still in Baltimare?” said Mist “Oh yes, but not for long. We just heard this morning that Celestia herself is coming here to investigate the reason behind a seemingly unprovoked attack on a major city by an Ursa Major! We were lucky that in all the chaos nobody realized that we lead that thing here, but I don’t want stick around till the princess gets here and starts asking questions. Silks is out buying us some supplies and as soon as she gets back we’re out of here.” Mist frowned this might be trouble; he knew that the princess could sense the use of magic and she could even sense a unicorn’s presence through their magic aura even if they weren’t using it. He had been as careful as possible with his magic usage in Canterlot, but he still couldn’t be sure if the princess had sensed his aura at the place where they had held Blueblood; then she would sense him as soon as she arrived, unless he was already long gone. He could have used a cloaking spell to hide himself from her, but the one that he’d used in Canterlot had taken most of his strength to accomplish and had been a constant drain on his energy. But I guess that I don’t have a choice, even if it leaves me unable to move, it may be what saves us from falling into Celestia’s hooves. Mist sighed this was probably going to make his headache even worse. “Okay C, go and keep an eye out for Silk and as soon as she gets back we’ll go.” “Oh? And what may I ask will you be doing in the meantime?” Mist could normally handle his brother’s comments without getting irritated, but his headache had made his temper short. “What do you bucking think I’ll be doing you bucking idiot? I’m gonna do some bloody magic so that we don’t end up bucking dead! Now, get out there and keep an eye out for silk, YOU FOAL!” Shouted Mist in a voice which rivalled even the one used in royal Canterlot. Cloudy stared in shock at his twin’s outburst, he was used to Mist staying calm; no matter what he said and he couldn’t even remember the last time that his brother had shouted at him “Fine, fine no need to get so het up, seriously.” Said Cloudy as he turned and left the wagon. Mist took a calming breath He’d better make this quick, he didn’t know how much time he had left before the princesses arrival; the thought that this spell was unnecessary and that the princess had failed to find any trace of his magic in Canterlot did briefly occur to Mist, but he dismissed it immediately, better safe than sorry after all, he reached out for his power and began the spell. ________________________________________________________________________ Silk made her way through the crowd of ponies that were going about their daily lives with ease; she could have simply flown over them, but that would have defeated the object, this was a good way to keep in practice and she’d already made twenty bits without the victim ponies noticing a single thing. She was a skilful cutpurse even if she did say so herself, she had to be with all the attention her coat and mane drew; she prided herself on being able to steal without being caught, despite how much she stood out from the crowd. She would have loved to have simply spent the whole day stealing; at night she could go to all the bars & pubs around town, and swindle all of the foolish drunk stallions, but she had a job to do and she should probably hurry as well. The wagon was currently on the outskirts of Baltimare, and as Silk got nearer to the edge of the city she noticed that there were hardly any ponies about; normally on a day as nice as this, ponies would be streaming outwards for a fun day out in the fields with their friends and family, since Baltimare had no real parks or open spaces. They’re scared after what happened yesterday, it may have been on the other side of the city but…well… She wondered how many ponies had died yesterday; it had taken almost half an hour for the royal guards to halt the advance of the Ursa Major and just as long again to kill it. And in the process an entire suburb was destroyed causing the deaths of who knows how many ponies, many of them civilians. Silk knew that she should probably feel guilt or something like that for leading the Ursa Major to the city, even if it had been unintentional; she knew that Cloudy did, that was why he had been so angry that morning, he always got angry when he felt guilty. She felt a small amount of anger too, but it was directed at herself for not feeling any guilt. But then, why should she feel guilty? They hadn’t known that they were so close to a major city, they were only trying to escape from a rampaging Ursa Major and as far as she was concerned the fact that it was her brother that had started all this didn’t matter. She’d learned in her life that the only ponies that she could rely on were her two brothers, they were the ones that had saved her when she was just a baby, they were the ones that had cared for her as she grew up; sure they argued all the time, especially her and Cloudy, but they were family and she would gladly die for either of them. Especially Mist, she was sure that his plan to overthrow the princesses would succeed and in the end wouldn’t that make Equestria a better place? The way I see it it’s sad that those ponies had to die yesterday, but it was for the greater good after all. Mist is the pony that will save Equestria. So it doesn’t really matter if I don’t feel guilty, does it? I mean some innocents may die, but in the end it’s for the greater good. She finally made it back too the wagon and found Cloudy sat outside with a blank look on his face. Great, here we go again. “Hey C get up, I got the supplies!” Shouted Silk as she shook her brother, it had no effect, he just kept staring into space with a blank expression. Sighing Silk took off her saddlebags and picked up her brother with ease, despite the fact that he was nearly twice her size; she then flew a couple of feet into the air and let him go. He hit the ground with a loud thud. “Ouch! What the hay was that for?” Said Cloudy as he sat up holding his head in his hooves. “You were doing it again, the whole staring off into space thing y’know?” said Silk as she landed on the ground and picked up her saddlebags. “I was only thinking damn it! There was no need to...to…to do whatever you did, that hurts you know?” “Ha! You don’t even know what I did, see if I hadn’t dropped you then you would’ve taken hours to wake up, and in case you forgot, we don’t have that much time!” said Silk as she headed towards the wagon’s door, “Did Mist wake up yet?” “Yes he’s-” Both ponies fell quiet as the door to the wagon swung open. ________________________________________________________________________ Mist didn’t know how, but the very moment that he had gathered his power and performed the cloaking spell his headache had vanished and he had been flooded with an overwhelming amount of magical power; and that wasn’t all, he’d regained his memories of the past two days as well. He had been experimenting with his newfound powers; for he didn’t know how long, but based on how long he had been missing it must’ve been almost two days. He didn’t quite know how, but he’d somehow found an Ursa Minor, and killed it singlehandedly! Such power, yes! He could remember now, he had still been marvelling over his newfound magical power, when the Minors mother had shown up and he’d fought it for more than an hour, without receiving any major injuries; before his power had begun to run out, he’d resorted to attacking it, then fleeing when his siblings had found him. Mist suddenly realized that he was stood in the wagon’s doorway when he didn’t even remember standing up, his two siblings were watching him. “So you’re back Silk, well come on you two, what are you looking at? Lets get a move on before the princess arrives.”
Memories, rain, and a plan beginsRomance, Royalty and Revolution Chapter 1 The first thing that he noticed as he awoke was the feeling of an intense pain in the side of his head. He groaned as he forced his eyes open, then he winced and squinted as the sun stung his eyes, shutting them again he tried to regain the sweet oblivion that was sleep but it was too late, the pain in his head refused to grant him his wish. He reluctantly opened his eyes again and surveyed his surroundings, to discover that he was laid on the edge of a huge bed that was adorned with pristine white bed sheets, pillows, and quilts, well mostly white anyway; he snorted in disgust as he noticed that the bedsheets directly next to him were covered in vomit. He quickly struggled upright and attempted to back away from the offending body fluid which had been ejected mere hours ago. However, this merely resulted in him falling from the edge of the bed to the floor, landing in a heap with a loud unceremonious thud he proceeded to struggle into an upright sitting position. Casting a quick glance around the room, it was simply massive and most ponies would have described it as such, to him however, it was simply normal this had after all been his room for as long as he could remember. It was a room that seemed to only contain two colours, white which covered most of the visible surfaces within the room, and gold which appeared in lines on the panelling around the edges of the room. He stumbled upright and headed towards one of the room’s two doors, whilst trying unsuccessfully to ignore his pounding headache and overwhelming sense of nausea. Using his magic to open the door he stumbled into the on-suite and proceeded to the far side of the white and gold room before collapsing with a heavy sigh within the shower cubicle, using his magic to turn the shower on and to the right heat. He simply sat there in the shower unthinking and unmoving letting the water flow over himself. It was at this point that it hit him. Memories Memories of a day that had changed his life, memories of a day that had started much like any other but that had yet changed his life completely. Memories of the day that made him realize just how pathetic he truly was. Bolting upright like a shot, the headache and nausea from moments ago quickly forgotten; he galloped out of the on-suite and into his room dashing across it as fast as possible; he threw open the balcony doors with his magic and ran onto the balcony. Celestia’s sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon and the balcony’s position high above Canterlot offered a magnificent view of all Equestria. Upon seeing this view most ponies would simply sit and stare out over their beautiful homeland, and maybe give thanks to Celestia for raising the sun and gracing them with yet another beautiful day. This stallion in-particular however, did not stop and stare at the beautiful sunrise he neglected the amazing view, and did not allow the sun’s rays to warm him. Immediately after bursting out onto the balcony he cast his glance wildly around searching for what he needed. Meanwhile inside his head memories were pushing upwards, trying to break free threatening to overwhelm him. In his minds eye he could see the blood, he could hear their screams as they begged for mercy, as they cursed him for his cowardice, as they screamed when the pain became too much for them to bear; he could feel the pain he would never forget the pain. “Celestia damn it! Where is it?” He yelled in frustration, he was certain that he had left it out here. Dashing back inside, he began searching frantically all around the room; he could hear it now in his head, the voice, the voice that he knew would haunt him until the day he died, the voice of the pony that had changed his life forever. It’s your fault that they died, the voice said; we gave you an opportunity to save them but then what did I expect from you, of course you would be stuck up and arrogant, of course you would believe yourself to be better than every other pony, I don’t blame you, its simply how you were raised, you are nothing but a product of this corrupt society. He whimpered, remembering the voice’s owner had been right, he hadn’t cared about his fellow ponies; he had thought himself above them, just because of his blood, well… now he knew better, after what he’d experienced. He reached his forehooves under his bed and almost cried out from joy as he found what he had been searching for. He awkwardly pulled a crate out from under his bed, on the side were the words, “Stalliongrads Finest” using his magic he quickly levitated a bottle out of the already open crate and unscrewed it lifted it to his mouth and downed half the 1litre bottle. In the last moments before the alcohol hit him he wondered how his life had come to this, and if he would end up living the rest of his life unable to even go half an hour without a drink. Then the alcohol hit him and he started feeling tired, and remembered that he couldn’t have had more than a few hours sleep. Yawning he curled up on the floor with his forelegs wrapped around the bottle, holding it tightly, the last thing he heard before sweet oblivion embraced him was the voice of the stallion that had destroyed his life; the final words, well its time to say goodbye, but don’t worry, we’ll meet again once the princesses have received my message, until we meet again prince Blueblood. __________________________________________________________________________________ It was raining heavily that night, but that no longer bothered the mare who stood at the edge of Ponyville; she was beyond caring, she remembered how her life had been ruined when all those months ago that lavender mare in the small village had destroyed her reputation. She had been forced to flee that place without any of her possessions, but that wasn’t the worst of it, not by a long shot. Ever since then she had been left with no place to go, word had somehow travelled ahead of her; so that at every town, village, or even city that she visited, she had been ostracised and called a charlatan, by every pony. It was all because of those two stupid colts and that lavender mare, even in places where before she had been loved, she was now hated; she had even been run out of towns by angry ponies, on multiple occasions, that was what had led her to this. She had tried to move on, to rebuild her reputation, but she was never given the chance, before she knew it she ended up in Hooffield. It was a small city in northern Equestria, where she had put on a performance before; she snorted with indignation and anger as she remembered that the very ponies that had flocked to her shows not too long ago, had chased her out of town. And to make things worse, they ran her into the nearby Everfree Forest; she shivered as she remembered what she had encountered in there. It had been a miracle that she had managed to survive for almost a week in that place; when she had finally emerged from the forest she was battered and exhausted, but she had been able to recognise her location and she knew that she was close to that accursed ponyville, where that lavender mare had ruined the life. The life she had worked so hard to rebuild from the ashes of her childhood, there and then she had decided to take revenge on the mare that had ruined it all. She had no dastardly or elaborate plan for her revenge, she decided that for now she would simply find and confront the lavender mare, and what happened from that point on, was any ponies guess. “No pony is better than Trixie and its time for Trixie to show all of Equestria that.” The mare smiled to herself as she turned to go and find some shelter for the night, in the morning she would find that lavender mare and finish what had been started that day when the Ursa Minor attacked. ________________________________________________________________________ The stallion sighed as he stared out of the back of the wagon and watched as Canterlot slowly dwindled into the distance behind him. “So where to now what’s the next step?” Asked an obviously irritated voice from behind the stallion “C, you know that Mist will tell us sooner or later, so just calm down okay?” “Calm down! You expect me to just calm down after what Mist did back there? After what we did??!!!” “Look, just shut up Cloudy! You knew that Mist had been planning, something like this for years, you could have left at any time; anyway it’s not like we did anything that bad it could’ve been worse so-” “Worse? WORSE?!!!! Silk do you know what we’ve done? In case you didn’t notice, just one month ago we kidnapped a member of the royal family and his friends; then proceeded to kill them in terrible ways, right in front of the prince scarring him for life. Then we even left Blueblood alive, after he had seen our faces, and left him for the royal guards to find.” Cloudy paused to regain his breath, before he resumed his heated exposition of recent events. Mist wasn’t surprised, Cloudy did have asthma after all, “But that isn’t all, oh no!” Cloudy continued, “Last night, just as we were getting ready to get out of the city, since the search for us was finally starting to calm down a little; what does that foal do? He only sneaks into the royal gardens, and then proceeds to steal one of the statues, not only that, do you know which statue he stole?” “Look, just shut up Cloudy! And stop worrying so much, it’s not like Misty didn’t place an illusion spell over the three of us; heck, I bet that even Blueblood wouldn’t be able to recognise us! So it’s not like the guards will recognise us, looking like we do right now. Misty made sure that we looked totally different before we ponyknapped him, and his bucking rich friends, and as for the statue, no pony’s gonna be able to find it! I mean It’s been shrunk and turned invisible, only Misty knows exactly where it is, so stop shouting! It’s only gonna make it harder for you to pull the wagon, you know that you have asthma.” Mist sighed and turned from the now almost invisible Canterlot; he walked to the front of the wagon and jumped down onto the road, “Okay, time to swap. C stop pulling and get in the wagon.” Cloudy grumbled to himself, as he unhitched himself from the wagon and proceeded to grumble as he climbed into the wagon’s driver seat. Mist paid no attention to his twin’s behaviour, since to him, it seemed childish; he hitched himself to the wagon and began moving forward next to Silk. After about fifteen minutes of silent walking, his sister spoke up beside him. “Y’know I may not care what the next stage of the plan is, but it would be nice to know where the hay it is we’re walkin to right now?” The grey unicorn sighed at the question, then he sighed at his sigh, and it took all of his self-control to keep himself from sighing again; life, it just took too much effort sometimes. He didn’t even know why he bothered or even why, but then he remembered, he remembered his foalhood, and he remembered what had happened and why it had happened, and he remembered whose fault it was. He almost couldn’t believe that he had finally begun to implement his plan, Equestria was going to change soon; the princesses would be gone; and so would all of those ponies who like the one’s in Canterlot, thought that they were better than other ponies. They would learn the error of their ways, just like Blueblood had learned. He would also show all of the ponies that lived close to Canterlot, in the centre of Equestria, which thought that their country was a paradise, free of corruption; he would show them, just what life was like in the real Equestria. He would show them, what it was like to grow up in the gang culture of Fillydelphia; he would show them the dark underbelly of Manehatten. He would show them what life was like for all the ponies that were forced to live and die on the streets of Stalliongrad. Yes, there was so much to change and the thought that he would be the one to change it, brought a smile to his face; it would be a revolution and it would bring freedom for everypony! His smile grew wider yes it would … His thoughts of change and revolution were interrupted by his sisters’ voice “Stop smiling to yourself like that Mist, it’s creepy!” He managed to cancel his widening smile, and return his face to relative normality. “Home,” He said simply, in response to his sisters’ earlier question, “Home? What home? We don’t have a home!” “He means Fillydelphia,” Said Cloudy from his place in the drivers’ seat, behind them. “You wouldn’t remember that place since you were so young when we left, but it’s the place where you were born; we didn’t always live on the road you know, we used to have a family.” Cloudy’s voice grew more hushed on that last word. “I know that, I was born there you bucking foal! And I know that we used to have a happy family, yadda, yadda, yadda, you two are always talking about mum, dad and that orphaned filly that they adopted; whatever, it’s in the past now, they’re all dead.” “Be quiet you two, I’m thinking and don’t call her an orphan. Her name is Trixie, and she isn’t dead!” At least I hope that you aren’t T, I hope that your out there somewhere, maybe someday we’ll be able to meet again; Mist thought to himself as he walked down the road.
The price of powerChapter 2 The Price of Power Trixie shivered as she stared out of the bushes that she was currently concealed in, it had been a bad night, the rain had come down in a constant and steady stream for hours. If she had been a pegasus then she may have felt some small amount of admiration for the weather, ponies who had created it, since rain like that was just right for making sure that the ground got just the right amount of water that was needed for plants to flourish and grow, was hard to create since you had to get the cloud’s consistency just right; in fact even the simple act of moving cloud’s was a difficult job and every pegasus appreciated the work that they did.Trixie however, was not pegasus she was a unicorn and therefore she did not appreciate the skill needed to create good rain; instead as she lay trying unsuccessfully to gain some sleep, she had just wished that the rain would end and the day would begin so that she could finally end it. She didn’t even consider the possibility that something would happen that would prevent her from gaining her revenge. In the same way that she did not consider how she would take her revenge, or even what would happen to her afterwards; she was completely focused revenge. So she crouched in bushes on the outskirts of Ponyville watching and waiting for any sign of the lavender unicorn. She did not have to wait long before she was rewarded as she saw the lavender mare exit a large tree not too far away. Her gaze was so captured by the lavender mare that had ruined her life, that it took her a few moments to see the small purple and green creature that had also stepped out into the street; when she did notice it, she instantly recognized it as the baby dragon that had been with the unicorn most of the time whilst she had been in Ponyville. From the looks of things the dragon and the unicorn seemed to live together but that didn’t really matter, although it did mean that she would have to be careful since to the best of her knowledge the dragon seemed to be with her all the time. She watched from the bushes as the unicorn and dragon talked for a few moments, then the dragon climbede atop the unicorns back and the pair began to head in the general direction of the village centre. She waited for a few minutes before she began move she moved backwards away from the village, then she circled around the outside of the village until she was directly behind the tree. She slowly approached it until she was directly behind, she looked cautiously around. It didn't seem to have a back entrance, so she slowly circled round the front, luckily it was still fairly early so she managed to get inside the tree without any real difficulty, the door wasn't even locked! It always surprised her how different life was in some areas of Equestria, in the place where she had been born any unlocked building was an instant target for thieves, yet this village seemed to be crime free. Once inside she took moment to look around a library. The pony that had designed this place must’ve been mad, the risk of fire must be huge. What type of pony even lives in a library, let alone a library that could be burned down so easily; of course the pony that lived there was a powerful unicorn, capable of vanquishing an Ursa Minor, but the idea still seemed ridiculous to her. She sighed and decided to search for a place to hide, she managed to find a cupboard within the cellar, she used her magic to close the door behind herself. There was barely any space to maneuver within the cupboard, so she ended up sitting awkwardly, with many household implements sticking into her at various angles. She was actually glad about the pain she felt from all the implements sticking into her, since she guessed that it was a help in keeping her awake and alert for when the lavender pony returned. But it obviously didn’t help since within minutes of entering the cupboard, she fell asleep. ________________________________________________________________________ Mist noticed that he was shaking as he trotted through the tree’s, not good, definitely not good, he was utterly and completely terrified. You have to do this Mist, you need to be more powerful well maybe not need, but it will be extremely helpful if you had some more power, and this is the one place in all of Equestria that can give you what you need. Just remember how much power the first one gave you, your magical energy was barely above average, but now? Now you must be one of the most powerful ponies in the whole of Equestria! But the price, remember the price, the lives of three ponies, even though they deserved it, and someday it’ll be Blueblood’s turn. Of course it’s not Blueblood’s fate which bothers me, but what I did to those three and the fact that it was actually, kind of fun, ha! That is what has me worried! I always knew that I was sort of a crazy after what happened…but to do what I did to those three and actually enjoy it, and not feel any guilt at all? My psychosis must be worse than I thought, mum and dad would be horrified. He snorted, I should be bucking horrified. He sighed as he continued to move through the trees, it was getting dark fast, that in his opinion, was quite possibly the most annoying part of winter, the darkness may make some activities easier, but on the whole, the speed with which the sun dropped beneath the horizon hindered rather than aided him. He had better hurry up or Cloudy would start worrying his twin was even more nervous than he was, which was actually pretty impressive given the fact that even talking to another pony that he was not familiar with, was enough to make him stutter and feel light-headed. All of a sudden he stopped dead in his tracks, it was around here that he could feel it, such power! He began to search the area eagerly looking for the entrance; with this much power and the secrets of how to use it he would easily be the third strongest pony in Equestria after the princesses, and it would make putting his plan into motion so much easier. It had already enabled him to take the first few steps down this road with far more ease than it should have taken him, yes, Blueblood and Discord the first two pieces of the puzzle; next would come Fillydelphia, and when he controlled that city's gangs, that was when his plan would begin in earnest. “Gah! There I go letting my mind run away with me again, and now I’m talking to myself! I really am a mad pony.” At last he found the entrance, it was a rather plain nondescript door, but it did have one rather interesting feature, and that was the fact that instead of standing upright like most doors this one seemed to just lay of the ground. Mist used his magic to pull the door open, it opened noiselessly and in the rapidly diminishing daylight Mist could just make out a spiral staircase leading down into the gloom, he lit his horn up with magic and proceeded down through the darkness. Mist couldn’t be sure how long his descent took, but he was fairly certain that it had been more than ten minutes; upon reaching the bottom he gulped, directly in front of him lit up by his magic was a large door that was completely devoid of anything even a handle in fact the only reason that he knew it was a door, was that he had seen one just like it before; that and the fact that rather than the dull gray of the stairs and walls, the door was a crimson red somehow, that colour reminded him of wine and blood too, he thought to himself. Mist realised that he was shaking, dammit! He really needed to get a handle on his nervousness, how could he change Equestria if he was a nervous wreck? He steeled himself and walked up to the door, and began to recite the words that had been given to him in preparation for this moment. "Door oh door, I’ve seen you before And your strange colour, I could not ignore Door oh door, you opened before do so again, for I wish for more." The door swung open both slowly and noiselessly, beyond the door’s threshold there was nothing but darkness not even the bright magical light given of by his horn could illuminate anything. Come on, don’t be afraid! Remember life is just a game, but it’s the hardest game that your likely to play, so you need to take every opportunity to cheat that you can, and that doorway in front of you is merely the greatest cheat ever created. Mist took a deep breath, okay let’s do this; he stepped through the door and as he did so all light vanished and the darkness was complete. ________________________________________________________________________ How could this happen? Why did this happen it doesn’t make any sense! Celestia sighed as she tried to find that ever elusive entity known as sleep, these same thoughts had been running through her head for weeks, ever since Blueblood’s ponyknapping; it was the first time that any pony had done anything this terrible in a long time, in fact it had been hundreds of years since any pony had done anything which even came close to being this terrible Is it just a coincidence, first the incidents with Nightmare Moon and Discord and now this? Celestia thought to herself, or does it go deeper? I feel as though there is something going on, but I cannot even begin to guess what it is; Equestria’s harmony is failing and I don’t know how to stop it! And then there’s Blueblood, dammit he was just beginning to change, he tried not to show it, but that incident at the gala was a good starting point, a few more experiences like that and he might’ve begun to change, but now ? Now he’s gone to the opposite extreme, he’s gone from self glorification to self loathing; he just stays in his rooms within the palace all day, and drinks himself into oblivion just to forget what happened. And then there are the ponies that are responsible for this crime, according to Blueblood there were three of them, but we haven’t been able to find any ponies who match the description that Blueblood gave; of course they may have used magic to drastically alter their appearance, but if they did, why didn’t I feel it? A spell like that should have used a large amount of magical energy, but neither I, nor my sister have felt any large expenditures of magical power, and not only are we the only two ponies that know how to feel a ponies magical energy, we are the only ponies that even know about sensing magical energy. And then there is the theft of Discords statue, luckily I’ve been able to keep all but a select few from hearing about that, if it became public knowledge that his statue had been stolen, it would be cause mass panic! And although it should be impossible for him to be freed from his stone prison, if there are ponies out there with the ability to perform powerful magic directly beneath mine and Luna’s noses, then might they not also have some way of freeing Discord from his stone prison? All of these thoughts filled Celestia with a wide range of emotions, horror and anger at how any pony could do such terrible things; confusion as to how they had done it, and why? And lastly, sadness and regret at the fact that this had happened, but also at the memories she had of a certain Draconequus, of the times that they had shared, the life they had led, and the end ... Dammit! Celestia get a grip, thinking about the past will not change the present, stop these foolish thoughts this instant, and get some sleep, it’ll be another busy day tomorrow. Telling herself to stop did not avail her in the slightest, memories of her past flashed inside of her head as she closed her eyes and tried to once again find sleep; she wished that her memories would stop before they reached their inevitable conclusion, but before she knew it she had already arrived at their last meeting. She now regretted how she had acted that day, but she had been so angry upon discovering that he was not only free but that he apparently had not changed at all during his imprisonment, and did not even seem to regret what he had done, he certainly hadn’t looked very apologetic about what had happened more than a thousand years ago now. It also hadn’t helped to calm her temper, when she discovered that he had stolen the elements. And then before she had the chance to even see him again, he had already been returned to his stone prison by Twilight and her friends. Then after seeing him once more entombed within his stone prison, she had felt an enormous amount of regret; after all, she thought as she finally began to drift off into slumber, its not like what he did to me was any worse than what I did to him. ________________________________________________________________________ Mist didn’t know how long he had been walking through this darkness which surrounded him, but it felt like it had been an eternity. But he could see his destination now in the distance, he should be there soon. All of a sudden he realized that he was at his destination, which had mere moments ago been nothing but a distant glow. He gazed around the strange place in which he found himself, the area was lit by a red glow that seemed to have no identifiable source. The floor was pitch black, and darkness seemed to surround the glowing area in which he found himself. The area was empty save for a crimson red pony, who sat not 5 hoofsteps from where Mist stood. Mist looked at the pony in front of him and tried to identify whether it was an earth, pegasus, or unicorn pony. It seemed to change before his very eyes, one moment it appeared to be an earth pony, and then suddenly it was a pegasus, and then it seemed to be a unicorn; and before he could do anything, it was suddenly a unicorn again. But that was not the most disturbing thing about it. The one of these creatures that he’d seen before had been black, so its eyes hadn’t bothered him, he had barely noticed them, he had been too terrified by the creature that was before him and too entranced by what it was offering; but now that he saw this one, he decided that its most disturbing feature was it’s eyes, they were black as coals just like the first one’s eyes must’ve been, and they were the one part of the creatures anatomy that did not seem to be constantly morphing, but most disturbingly, they were watching him, waiting for him to act, he gulped. “There’s more than one of you?” He asked “The one that I met before was black” “Oh Mist, of course there is more than one of us, or rather there was.” It said in a voice that seemed to sound both full of joy and full of hate, “We are many, but in direct answer to your question, I am actually the same “one” that you met before, I have merely changed my form a little, I like this colour so much more.” The harsh tone in which it said “one” somehow reminded Mist of the things that he had done to Blueblood’s friends, it probably wouldn’t be wise to refer to it like that again. “What shall I call you then?” said Mist as he wrestled to quell his nerves. “You may call me “Highest” for that is what the name of my race means, when translated into your tongue. Ah, but we waste time Mist. I know why you have come to find me a second time, you wish for more power, and I am the only one that can help you. Do you not you wish to be able to change your land for the better don’t you? And I wish to see the fall of the princesses. So tell me Mist what four things are you willing to pay this time for power? Remember last time you gave the lives of four ponies, and three already dead, one due to suffer guilt and then die by your hand at a later date; and that means that you must give four things of your own this time” “What! You didn’t mention that I had to give you something of my own?” “Oh Mist, you didn’t think that you could simply give me other ponies in order to gain this power did you? No, in order to gain truly great power, you must be willing to sacrifice something of your own.” Mist’s mind worked fast, I did not plan on this dammit! Think Mist, think, there must be some way to use this situation to your advantage. Wait…yes, yes, that’s it. “I have a question for you Highest, can I pay by using my feelings as the payment?” “Of course you can Mist, if you couldn’t, then you would not have enough to give.” Mist smiled he could do this! He was just about to open his mouth, when his doubts began to arise. Is it really worth it? I mean, I don’t even know what this creature is, or if this is its true form. He thought, should I really give up my feelings and emotions just for this creatures simple promises of power? I mean he says that he wants the princesses’ reign to end, but why? And why choose me? Also, its not like I need the power, I can accomplish my plan without it, all this power will do is make the accomplishment of my plan easier? But then, if it is easier, doesn’t that increase the chances of my plan succeeding? I mean, not only is this thing giving me more power, it’s also giving me ways to use that power that not even the princesses know of, that could give me a massive advantage. And in the end what happens to me is irrelevant, it doesn’t really matter, even if I give him my soul, Equestria must be free! I have to do this, for my race, for my family, for revenge. “Okay then Highest, take from me my kindness, since life has not been kind to me; take away my honesty, for the truth never set me free; and take from me compassion, so that I may keep my passion.” “Very well” said Highest, “And what of the fourth thing that you are to lose?” Honestly thought Mist to himself, doesn’t this thing appreciate how hard it was for me to talk like that? I mean, they alw s use rhymes and things like that, at this point in a good story. Ha! Mist, you are the only pony I know that would think in such a way under these circumstances. “You may take from me my left eye for I, may use my magic to spy. But do not take it yet, only when I am no longer under threat.” “It is done.” ________________________________________________________________________ The pony was gone within moments, drunk upon his new found powers, and Highest wore a satisfied smile, as he used own powers, which he was confident were even greater than those of the two princesses who ruled this land, to reopen the portal back to his own world. As he stepped through he reverted back to his real form; wondering what Mist would do with his new powers, and also how much of this night he would even remember in the morning, drunk on powers as he was, and as for the way that he had spoken, it was hilarious, he thought that he was being poetic, or epic or something like that no doubt. And then there was the eye that had actually been a good idea, but Mist had forgotten to whose perception of threat it was, that he meant as it was Highest didn’t think that Mist was under any threat, after all it wasn’t like Highest was going to bother killing him right now and there weren’t any creatures nearby that could harm Mist, especially not with his new powers. This just went to show that ponies were unsuited to this type of magic, even one that believed himself to be worldly wise, like Mist was; yet he was innocent to the fact that the Highest could take Mist’s eye at anytime he wanted, but he would wait for a short while first. Playing with these ponies, is just so much fun, he thought to himself. “Highest! Ha! What in the blazes made you come up with that name Denallius?” Said a voice directly in front of him, as he stepped through the portal, “Not even that foolish equine, believed all that mumbo jumbo about revenge on the princesses, ha! Highest indeed, that word does not even begin to describe our power. Talking about power, be sure not to give that creature too much power, this only a test of the princesses after all.” “Oh Father, do not use my full name please, and anyway, I thought that I did a rather good job of it myself, also it doesn’t really matter if he believes me or not, he took the power and he’ll take it the next time as well. Although I don’t think that I’ll offer him any more after that, after all as you say, this is only a test and I’m sure that his plan is brilliant, he just doesn’t realize what the princesses are capable of, I’ll just give him enough power to make stopping him, test the princesses to their limits. You are also forgetting the elements, this may well test them as well.” “And what would you suggest son, if that pony should succeed in his plan to overthrow the princesses?” “You know Father just because I am your heir, that does not mean that you must ask me these questions all the time, it becomes rather annoying after a while.” “Just answer the question Denallius.” “I do wish that you would stop calling me that.” “It’s your name Denallius, now just hurry up and answer the question!” “Fine, fine, if Mist were to succeed in his plan, then when we invade that world and enslave it’s species. I would destroy Equestria, we do not need slaves from a race with rulers so weak that they cannot stop one of their own, no matter their plans or powers.” “Very good Denallius, however, you must stop referring to these creatures like that. They are merely potential slaves, and therefore lower life forms. Also are you sure that even if this plan fails, it will still create the correct amount of upheaval to enable us to take Equestria with greater ease?” “Of course I am sure Father! I have been working on this world and in particular the land of Equestria, since it first caught the eye of The Exalted One more than 200 years ago! I’ve used a lot of subtlety, I have created places of corruption, and dissatisfaction with that land without Celestia, and now even her sister Luna, is hearing rumours about the harsh lives that some of her ponies are forced to lead; there are many ponies in the large cities who are downtrodden, but they will never even begin to think about rebelling against their rulers unless they have some hero or another to follow. Although Mist’s plan, which I’m sure is quite brilliant, will almost certainly fail; I am also sure that in the aftermath, there will be many ponies who will be inspired to rise up against their corrupt oppressors, and the result will be a country in such turmoil that it will take the princesses years regain full control. And the best part is, very few of the ponies, least of all the princesses, will actually be at fault for the corruption, yet the poor and downtrodden ponies will hate them anyway. It’ll be even better if Misty dies as well, because then he will become a martyr and that will ...” “Yes, yes I get your point! You really do ramble on sometimes Denallius, just make sure that the plan works; if we can subdue and enslave all of the creatures with the minimum of effort, then The Exalted One will be greatly pleased with us; so be sure not to fail, also don’t forget that you are supposed to be dealing with those bird creatures.” “The Griffons? Yes Father, I have not forgotten.” “Very well, now I’m going to the land of the dragons, I will see you later Denallius.” “Ah yes, the war, good luck with that Father, it really is a good idea.”
Pain and powerChapter 3 Pain and power Trixie awoke in complete darkness. It took her a few seconds to remember where she was and why then she noticed all of the household cleaning items that were sticking into her at various angles. It was a wonder that she’d even managed to get to sleep in the first place. She decided to move out of the cupboard and check to see how long she’d been out for; she also wanted to see if that lavender mare and her pet dragon were back yet. Using her magic to open the door and light up the dark cellar for herself; she was surprised by how hard she found it to accomplish these simple tasks, it seemed as though her rest had not left her rested, in fact she didn’t feel like she’d got any sleep at all. She just felt like collapsing right there and then, but tiredness was not the only thing that was afflicting her, she was in pain all over from where the household implements, mops and brooms, had dug into her and it hadn’t even been a week since her escape from the Everfree Forest! She still had wounds both physical and mental from that place. All in all she was physically and mentally tired and in pain. She just felt like laying down right where she stood and the thought of rest was so tempting… Don’t give up Trixie, Trixie can do this! Trixie never gave up before, remember, just go upstairs and get Trixie’s revenge and then Trixie can rest for as long as she likes. Come on Trixie’s been through worse than this before and made it out with her hide intact. Spurred on by her own thoughts she cautiously made her way up the cellar’s stairs. She nudged the door an inch open and peered out; it was dark within the tree library, it appeared as though she had slept for the entire day. It angered her that she had let an entire day slip by, but she soon realised that this was a good thing; the lavender mare and her pet dragon were probably asleep. Whilst she had great confidence in her own magical abilities, she was not stupid enough to believe that she could take on both a unicorn that was capable of dealing with an Ursa Minor, and a dragon, (even if it was just a baby) in a head to head confrontation; especially not when she was in the greatly weakened state as she now found herself. Yes it was for the best that it should happen this way, after all it wasn’t like she cared about how she got her revenge, or if anypony even knew that she’d got it. She slowly, carefully nudged the door open and emerged into the center the libraries main room; she stopped using her magic to light her way, aware of the noise of magic being used, and the need not to wake up the libraries inhabitants by using light. If Trixie remembers correctly, there should be some stairs to her right; the bedroom must be up there. She turned and started towards where she thought the stairs were. Maybe Trixie should have checked the layout of the entire library this morning, but it was not Trixies’ fault that she was too tired to remember such a task. Trixie has had much on her mind recently. “Who” the sudden sound shattered the nights silence and Trixie’s head jerked as she around searched for the source of the noise. “Who” the mysterious noise sounded again as Trixie searched frantically for its source. Suddenly she saw it perched on the desk next to the window, not three meters away from her was an owl “Who” it said again as it stared directly at her. Trixie almost shouted at the creature telling it that she was the great and powerful Trixie, but luckily her common sense saved her just as she opened her mouth; she glared at the owl as it had almost ruined her plans, but she would not be foiled that easily, oh no! She continued to glare at the owl which in return simply stared at her and said “Who” once again; it took all of Trixies self control to keep herself from yelling at the thing. Dammit! If that stupid thing keeps doing that, it’s bound to wake up the entire town! She had to get rid of this stupid creature. As she continued her staring contest, Trixie tried to think up a way to get rid of it. Luckily it didn’t take her long to come up with a plan. Using her magic she created an illusion of a black and white cat, and at the same time she used her magic to open the window directly behind the owl; the illusory cat jumped up at the owl, which immediately took to the air and shot out of the window with the illusion in quick pursuit. “Ha!” Exclaimed Trixie, and then suddenly she put her hoof over her mouth hoping that she hadn’t been heard. She waited in silence for a few minutes and sighed in relief when she didn’t hear any noises at all, she closed the window as silently as possible and resumed her journey to the stairs. Found the stairs easily as her eyes adjusted to the darkness and started up them. Trixie is close now, she can feel it not much further, then it will all be over. She set all of her concentration on reaching the top of the stairs and her revenge. She was halfway up the stairs when she heard a faint thudding noise and a muffled cry of “Who”. Her concentration faltered and it broke completely when she heard the sound of the owl slamming itself against the window and another muffled “Who!” She turned around, planning to go back down the stairs and get rid of that annoying bird once and for all; however, as she began back down the stairs, she heard voices and movement coming from above. She panicked and attempted to scramble away. She remembered too late that she was still on the stairs, as she tripped up on her own hooves she fell halfway down the stairs before she even knew what was happening. She hit the floor at the base of the stairs with her forehooves instinctively outstretched, she heard a sickening snap as her hooves hit the floor and an intense pain shot up her right forehoof causing her to scream in pain, as she buckled to the floor. The last thing she remembered before the pain and exhaustion caused her to blackout, was the sound of hoofsteps on the stairs. ________________________________________________________________________ Mist awoke with what was quite possibly the worst headache that he had ever had the misfortune host within his skull. It felt like a firework had exploded within his head, he struggled upright and then groaned in pain as he squeezed his eyes shut; the pain in his head seemed to double. “Finally awake are you?” Mist opened his eyes and looked up to see his twin staring at him with a look of anger upon his face, Cloudy always seemed to be angry at something or another these days. “What’s up C?” He said, doing his best to ignore the pain in his head. “What’s up? Can you not bucking remember? I’ll tell you what’s bucking up Mist! You have been missing for two bucking days! Ever since we camped out by the Evergreen Forest, we’ve been searching for you, two bucking days! We finally found you trying to attacking an Ursa Major, a bucking Ursa Major in the middle of the bucking forest! It’s a miracle that we managed to escape at all, let alone unharmed, but that isn’t all. A bucking bear chased us all the way to Baltimare! It took the whole of the cities royal guard to bring that thing down, and it still managed to kill and maim half of them!” At this point Cloudy began wheezing loudly as he tried to regain his breath; Mist took this opportunity to get a bearing of their surroundings, they were in the wagon surrounded by their few belongings. He also tried to recall what had happened over the past few days, but his memory went blank after leaving the campsite. Damn! I need to remember what happened. “Do you honestly not remember anything” said Cloudy “No, not after I left the campsite anyway. Are we still in Baltimare?” said Mist “Oh yes, but not for long. We just heard this morning that Celestia herself is coming here to investigate the reason behind a seemingly unprovoked attack on a major city by an Ursa Major! We were lucky that in all the chaos nobody realized that we lead that thing here, but I don’t want stick around till the princess gets here and starts asking questions. Silks is out buying us some supplies and as soon as she gets back we’re out of here.” Mist frowned this might be trouble; he knew that the princess could sense the use of magic and she could even sense a unicorn’s presence through their magic aura even if they weren’t using it. He had been as careful as possible with his magic usage in Canterlot, but he still couldn’t be sure if the princess had sensed his aura at the place where they had held Blueblood; then she would sense him as soon as she arrived, unless he was already long gone. He could have used a cloaking spell to hide himself from her, but the one that he’d used in Canterlot had taken most of his strength to accomplish and had been a constant drain on his energy. But I guess that I don’t have a choice, even if it leaves me unable to move, it may be what saves us from falling into Celestia’s hooves. Mist sighed this was probably going to make his headache even worse. “Okay C, go and keep an eye out for Silk and as soon as she gets back we’ll go.” “Oh? And what may I ask will you be doing in the meantime?” Mist could normally handle his brother’s comments without getting irritated, but his headache had made his temper short. “What do you bucking think I’ll be doing you bucking idiot? I’m gonna do some bloody magic so that we don’t end up bucking dead! Now, get out there and keep an eye out for silk, YOU FOAL!” Shouted Mist in a voice which rivalled even the one used in royal Canterlot. Cloudy stared in shock at his twin’s outburst, he was used to Mist staying calm; no matter what he said and he couldn’t even remember the last time that his brother had shouted at him “Fine, fine no need to get so het up, seriously.” Said Cloudy as he turned and left the wagon. Mist took a calming breath He’d better make this quick, he didn’t know how much time he had left before the princesses arrival; the thought that this spell was unnecessary and that the princess had failed to find any trace of his magic in Canterlot did briefly occur to Mist, but he dismissed it immediately, better safe than sorry after all, he reached out for his power and began the spell. ________________________________________________________________________ Silk made her way through the crowd of ponies that were going about their daily lives with ease; she could have simply flown over them, but that would have defeated the object, this was a good way to keep in practice and she’d already made twenty bits without the victim ponies noticing a single thing. She was a skilful cutpurse even if she did say so herself, she had to be with all the attention her coat and mane drew; she prided herself on being able to steal without being caught, despite how much she stood out from the crowd. She would have loved to have simply spent the whole day stealing; at night she could go to all the bars & pubs around town, and swindle all of the foolish drunk stallions, but she had a job to do and she should probably hurry as well. The wagon was currently on the outskirts of Baltimare, and as Silk got nearer to the edge of the city she noticed that there were hardly any ponies about; normally on a day as nice as this, ponies would be streaming outwards for a fun day out in the fields with their friends and family, since Baltimare had no real parks or open spaces. They’re scared after what happened yesterday, it may have been on the other side of the city but…well… She wondered how many ponies had died yesterday; it had taken almost half an hour for the royal guards to halt the advance of the Ursa Major and just as long again to kill it. And in the process an entire suburb was destroyed causing the deaths of who knows how many ponies, many of them civilians. Silk knew that she should probably feel guilt or something like that for leading the Ursa Major to the city, even if it had been unintentional; she knew that Cloudy did, that was why he had been so angry that morning, he always got angry when he felt guilty. She felt a small amount of anger too, but it was directed at herself for not feeling any guilt. But then, why should she feel guilty? They hadn’t known that they were so close to a major city, they were only trying to escape from a rampaging Ursa Major and as far as she was concerned the fact that it was her brother that had started all this didn’t matter. She’d learned in her life that the only ponies that she could rely on were her two brothers, they were the ones that had saved her when she was just a baby, they were the ones that had cared for her as she grew up; sure they argued all the time, especially her and Cloudy, but they were family and she would gladly die for either of them. Especially Mist, she was sure that his plan to overthrow the princesses would succeed and in the end wouldn’t that make Equestria a better place? The way I see it it’s sad that those ponies had to die yesterday, but it was for the greater good after all. Mist is the pony that will save Equestria. So it doesn’t really matter if I don’t feel guilty, does it? I mean some innocents may die, but in the end it’s for the greater good. She finally made it back too the wagon and found Cloudy sat outside with a blank look on his face. Great, here we go again. “Hey C get up, I got the supplies!” Shouted Silk as she shook her brother, it had no effect, he just kept staring into space with a blank expression. Sighing Silk took off her saddlebags and picked up her brother with ease, despite the fact that he was nearly twice her size; she then flew a couple of feet into the air and let him go. He hit the ground with a loud thud. “Ouch! What the hay was that for?” Said Cloudy as he sat up holding his head in his hooves. “You were doing it again, the whole staring off into space thing y’know?” said Silk as she landed on the ground and picked up her saddlebags. “I was only thinking damn it! There was no need to...to…to do whatever you did, that hurts you know?” “Ha! You don’t even know what I did, see if I hadn’t dropped you then you would’ve taken hours to wake up, and in case you forgot, we don’t have that much time!” said Silk as she headed towards the wagon’s door, “Did Mist wake up yet?” “Yes he’s-” Both ponies fell quiet as the door to the wagon swung open. ________________________________________________________________________ Mist didn’t know how, but the very moment that he had gathered his power and performed the cloaking spell his headache had vanished and he had been flooded with an overwhelming amount of magical power; and that wasn’t all, he’d regained his memories of the past two days as well. He had been experimenting with his newfound powers; for he didn’t know how long, but based on how long he had been missing it must’ve been almost two days. He didn’t quite know how, but he’d somehow found an Ursa Minor, and killed it singlehandedly! Such power, yes! He could remember now, he had still been marvelling over his newfound magical power, when the Minors mother had shown up and he’d fought it for more than an hour, without receiving any major injuries; before his power had begun to run out, he’d resorted to attacking it, then fleeing when his siblings had found him. Mist suddenly realized that he was stood in the wagon’s doorway when he didn’t even remember standing up, his two siblings were watching him. “So you’re back Silk, well come on you two, what are you looking at? Lets get a move on before the princess arrives.”
