The Sentinels: The Conversion Bureau

Chapters

Chapter 1: Inquiries at Orientation
Chapter 2: Harbinger of the Unknown
Chapter 3: Reunion and Revelation
Chapter 4: A Question of Trust
Chapter 5: The Sentinels Keep
Chapter 6: The Test
Chapter 7: A Chance at Revenge
Important Notice.

Chapter 1: Inquiries at Orientation

“… You are all probably aware of the fact by now, but the end of the human race is drawing closer day by day, and we only have ourselves to blame. Disease and ever-present war has had a significant impact on the population of our race, and we passed the point where we could have done something to fix the damage done by pollution a long time ago. Hope is not lost however, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last several years you may have noticed the appearance of these ponies and how they have begun to take up residence in our once bustling towns and cities. These ponies come from an island known as Equestria, that up until recently has been completely hidden and separated from us. Equestria is a land of peace that has not known war for over one thousand years. It is also a land full of magic, yeah you heard me, honest to goodness magic! The reason humans never knew about Equestria, is because it is protected by a magical barrier that we can neither detect nor pass through. Now, humans and ponies have lived together these past years in relative peace, and because of this relationship we have been given a second chance at life so to speak. Human and pony scientists have worked side by side to develop a formula that turns humans into ponies, allowing us to pass though the barrier. This barrier doesn’t only protect Equestria from the rest of the world, it also protects us humans. You see, being born into a world with zero magic makes it so our bodies can’t handle its abundant presence on the other side of the barrier, but your new Ponified body will have no such problem. This concludes the orientation. Please enjoy your stay with us at the Conversion Bureau, and if you have any questions feel free to ask any of the equine personnel working here.”

As soon as the movie ended, fluorescent lights illuminated the crowded room, and conversations immediately sparked between friends and acquaintances. Even among those that chose to undergo Ponification, a term humans used to describe the process of becoming a pony, there were mixed feelings.

“Jeeze, this is going to be awesome. I can’t wait to be ponified!” one man whispered to his friend.

“I don’t know, that whole video screamed propaganda to me.”

“Ha! That’s a big word coming from you. Do you even know what it means?”

“Shut up man!”

This carried on for a minute or so until a small unicorn stepped up onto the raised platform at the front of the room. It had a lavender coloured coat and a purple mane and tail with a lighter purple and pink streak running through each. On its flank was a six-pointed magenta coloured star encircled by several smaller white stars. Clearing its throat to get everyone’s attention, it, now obviously female to the gathered humans, spoke up.

“Hello everypo— err, I mean everyone, my name is Twilight Sparkle and I am currently acting as the administrator for this branch of the Conversion Bureau. I’m sure that most of you have a lot of questions, but I am really busy at the moment so regrettably I only have time to answer a few of them.”
One individual near the front of the room shouted out, “How long do we have to wait till we get to become ponies?”

The unicorn smiled to herself, glad that there were people eager for the change, and replied, “Due to the number of humans currently signing up for the procedure, you may have to wait a day or two. After you have gone through with the change you will be required to stay at the bureau for a time period of one week in order to become accustomed to your new bodies.”

From another part of the room, a nervous looking woman removed herself from the crowd followed closely by a man appearing equally as nervous. With a shaking voice she said, “Our son and his friends came in a week ago to be ponified while we were away on a cruise. W-we were wondering if he was still h-here.”

“One week? Let me see.” Twilight said. Her horn started to glow and a clipboard holding several papers floated up in front of her. Some gasps and oohing sounded from those watching.

“What was your son’s name?” Twilight inquired to the married couple.

“Marcus, Marcus Damian” the father replied.
Twilight quickly scanned the lists of names in front of her. “I found his name. It says here that his orientation period at the bureau just ended yesterday and that his group is leaving for the final part of their orientation in Equestria in about forty five minutes. If you want, we can send someone to take you to visit him after you’re shown to your room.”

The couple quickly nodded their heads spluttering their gratitude, and moved back into the crowd.

After a few more questions, Twilight announced, “I’m sorry but that is all the time I have to answer your questions for now. So if you would, please exit through the doors to your right, outside are some ponies that will lead you to your rooms. Thank you for coming and have a pleasant day.”

As the crowd began to disappear from the room a lone figure, unnoticed by anyone in the room, detached itself from the back wall. The figure was seemingly ignored by everyone it passed as it approached Twilight, who had turned around to gather some of the papers she brought with her.

“Greetings Miss, Twilight Sparkle was it?”

Startled, Twilight dropped all the papers she had picked up and spun around to find a man dressed in a casual white polo shirt and black cargo pants standing right behind her. Two things about the way this man looked immediately caught her attention. One, the man’s windblown, slightly messy hair was jet black with silver highlights, not grey, not white, and definitely not dyed, the sparse streaks of silver shined whenever they caught the light. The second feature that stood out was his eyes. They were blue like a clear winter sky, but what perplexed Twilight the most was that they betrayed a profound wisdom that very few could ever hope to possess. It reminded her strongly of Princess Celestia, and that sent a chill down her spine.

“Y-yes, that’s my name.” Twilight stuttered, still slightly shocked from the man’s sudden appearance.

He knelt down so he could talk with the unicorn without forcing her to crane her neck. Although he had an average height for a human, just shy of six feet; Twilight, along with most ponies, stood about four feet tall. He extended his hand to Twilight and put on a warm smile.

“My name is Raymond, and I must say that it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Twilight, having regained her composure, reached out with her hoof which the man grabbed and shook in greeting. “Likewise, Raymond.” Twilight responded. “You can call me Twilight. Now did you have something to ask me? Because I do have a lot of work I need to catch up on.” She said with a touch of irritation evident in her voice.

“Yes I do. You mentioned earlier that a group of new ponies is leaving for Equestria in about forty five minutes. I was wondering if it would be alright for me to hitch a ride with them to the barrier, I just want to learn a little bit more about the Ponification process before I make a choice.”

Twilight took on a more serious tone as she replied, “Sorry but we cannot allow you to accompany them on the trip. It is part of our security measures against possible HLF attacks; I hope you can understand that.”

The Human Liberation Front or HLF for short, is a terrorist group comprised of individuals who share the beliefs that to become a pony is to abandon the human race, and that the only chance for human survival is the destruction of all pony-kind. There have already been a wide number of attacks by the HLF ranging from muggings and murder, to ambushing the vehicles transporting newly ponified humans, and there have even been a few rare instances of direct attacks to the Conversion Bureaus themselves.

“That is very commendable of you Twilight; I understand and fully respect your wishes and methods to keep everyone safe. Sorry for wasting your time.” Raymond calmly said as Twilight turned around to gather what she dropped.

“Oh not at all,” she hurriedly responded as she looked back over her shoulder. “It was an honest questio—huh!?” The man was nowhere to be seen. Twilight was dumbfounded, she hadn’t heard him get up to leave, and there was no way he could have left the room that quickly. She shook her head and muttered to herself, “Get a hold of yourself Twilight. You’re simply overstressed from all this work, that’s all.” Still, as she left the room she could not shake one nagging thought from her mind, that something about that man felt very familiar to her.

Twilight made her way through the complex to the main foyer, receiving friendly greetings from the few employees she passed. As she approached her destination a voice called out to her.

“Twilight darling! There you are, I was wondering when you would be finishing up. Honestly dear, you should never keep a lady waiting.” The voice came from behind the front desk where a white unicorn with a stylized royal purple mane and tale, was busily organizing various files and papers that were scattered all over the desktop. On her flank was an image of three blue diamonds.

“Rarity!” Twilight exclaimed, happy to see her friend again. “What are you doing here? I thought you were back in Ponyville trying to finish your new fashion line.” She questioned the white unicorn.

“Oh I was, and I was almost finished too. But then I received a letter from Princess Celestia requesting for me to fill in for you at the Bureau as she wishes to see you as soon as possible.”

“The princess wants to see me?” Twilight said in surprise, “I wonder what is so important that she cannot simply send a letter.”

“I’m not sure Twilight, but you’d best be on your way now if you want to find out.” Rarity stated.

“You’re right! I think I will hitch a ride with the next group of new ponies to Equestria, they should be leaving soon. Thank you for covering for me on such short notice Rarity.” Twilight said as she galloped off to where the transport van would be waiting.

Once Twilight left, Rarity returned to organizing the cluttered desk. She was too engrossed in her work to notice the man that had been speaking to Twilight earlier approach. Once he reached the front desk his gaze shifted towards a map lying open just off to the side of the rest of the papers.

“Excuse me.” The man said to the unicorn.

“One moment please.” Rarity responded, “I’m in the zone as it were.”

The man continued anyway, “I was wondering what the purpose of this map here might be.”

Upon hearing that, Rarity stopped what she was doing and turned around, “Map?” She questioned, and then she realized what the man was referring to. “Oh, that map. It shows the location that the transport vans are to take the new ponies. From there they will be taken through the barrier and into Equestria.”

“Do you mind if I examine it then?” The man asked.

“I’m sorry dear, but I’m afraid our security policies prevent me from sharing such information with anyone.” Rarity replied somewhat hesitantly.

“I see.” The man sighed as he turned to walk away.

Just then a large crash sounded through the doorway of the office behind the front desk. Rarity jumped at the noise and darted inside to determine its source. Upon entering her eyes locked onto a bookcase that had fallen over, its contents strewn about the surrounding floor space.

“Heavens!” She exclaimed “How on Earth did the shelf fall over? Oh, and just look at this mess!”

Rarity frantically began to clean up the mess made by the fallen shelf. This one task completely occupied her thoughts, and she quickly forgot all about the man at the counter.

Chapter 2: Harbinger of the Unknown

Twilight was holding her head out the window of the moving van gazing ahead at the barrier that protected Equestria from the rest of the world, which was just now coming into view. The barrier that could only be seen by those with magic, namely unicorns; and that humans were incapable of passing through. To Twilight it looked like a giant bubble giving off a soft white glow, but to humans it would seem like an invisible brick wall, ‘It’s a wonder that nothing has ever crashed into it, especially considering how much it’s apparently grown since we began moving out of Equestria.’ Twilight thought.

When Twilight first began working at the Conversion Bureau, Princess Celestia had informed her that the barrier surrounding Equestria had once extended only a short way off its own coastal border, but as the islands population increased and more humans chose to undergo conversion the barrier expanded. It was a phenomenon that researchers were still examining, the only thing they were able to determine thus far was that the barrier was efficiently decontaminating the planet as it grew, and this became even more apparent when it finally reached the mainland earlier this year.

She pulled her head back inside the van. The original interior had been torn out and redesigned to accommodate up to five ponies in relative comfort. There were five small cots arranged around the van, each large enough for a single pony to rest on. In the corner was a tank of fresh drinking water and beside the tank was a bale of clean hay, for if anypony got hungry during the trip.

The transport van Twilight boarded had left early the previous evening, and they had traveled all night only stopping twice to let the ponies out to stretch their legs and to relieve themselves. It was now nearing midmorning as they approached their destination. Twilight walked to the front of the passenger area and slid open a panel revealing the front seats and the driver.

“We are here now Bradley.” Twilight said to the driver, knowing very well that he couldn’t see the barrier himself, “You can let us off now.”

“Sure thing Miss Sparkle,” replied the driver. He was a middle aged man, balding with a rather large gut hanging over his belt.

The van came to a stop and a moment later Bradley opened the back door. Twilight and four other ponies hopped out of the van onto a grassy field. She paused a moment to take in the scenery. Straight ahead was the ocean, the salty scent was carried to her nose by the gentle breeze blowing off the water. Off to the right was a dense forest of maple and oak trees which ended right at the edge of the barrier.

Twilight turned to face the driver again, “Thank you for your help, and have a safe drive back.”

Bradley replied with a simple “Any time,” he then closed the back of the van, climbed back into the driver seat, started the engine and drove off the way he came.

Twilight looked back at the four once-human ponies she traveled with. Two of them were pegasi; one was white with a fire red mane and tale, the other light blue with a dirty blond mane and tail. There was one earth pony with a grey coat and navy blue mane and tail. The last was a beige unicorn with an orange mane and tail. All four of them were male. The unicorn was staring intently at the barrier, but Twilight noticed that the blue pegasus was wearing a sad expression.

“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked the unhappy pegasus. “You said your name was Marcus right?”

The pegasus replied, “Yeah, that’s my name. I was just thinking about my parents is all; will I ever see them again?”

Twilight remembered the married couple at the orientation asking about their son’s whereabouts. ‘Those must have been his parents,’ she thought. “Don’t worry. Your parents will be staying at the bureau for about seven days, and then they will be taken to Equestria just like you are now. After that we will do everything we can to get you back together with your family.”

The pegasus brightened up after hearing her answer and excitedly struck up a conversation with his friends.

Twilight watched them talk and laugh a little longer before finally announcing, “Alright now, our transportation to Equestria will arrive shortly, so we should probably go inside the barrier to wait where it will be safer.”

Marcus piped up, “Barrier? Where? I don’t see it!”

“It’s right in front of you, you dolt,” sighed the beige unicorn.

“Only unicorns and other creatures able to use magic can see the barrier,” Twilight informed the group.

The unicorn stuck his tongue out at Marcus who suddenly looked crestfallen.

Twilight giggled at this before saying, “Alright, come on now.”

Sure enough, as they passed through the barrier Twilight could make out what appeared to be their ride approaching from the distance.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, standing out of sight just inside the forest was a man wearing a white robe with gold trim. While evident that it once it held a dignified appearance, the robe was now tattered and covered in dirt and dust from years of travel. From within the shadow of his hood watched a pair of winter-sky blue eyes which boasted an unfathomable wiseness. The man known as Raymond watched the events before him unfold. He watched as the five ponies were let out of the van. Watched as the van and its driver sped back in the direction they came from. And he watched as the group of ponies walked through to the other side of the barrier.

“Now, let’s see how they are going to cross to the island,” Raymond said silently.

He noticed that Twilight was watching the sky. He looked up as well and noticed two small dots heading towards the shore. As they drew nearer he could make them out to be two carriages, each one painted a golden colour, and each one was being pulled by a team of two pegasi, all wearing golden armor. ‘I should have known this wouldn’t be easy,’ he chided himself.

Once the carriages touched the ground Raymond began to scan them carefully. ‘No compartments on the insides, nor handholds on the outsides,’ he thought. ‘The wheels however… yes, the axles, they appear strong enough.’

He waited until the carriages were facing out to sea and the ponies were situated inside, two to one carriage, and three to the other, as they were both relatively small. When he was certain that no one was looking his way, Raymond darted out from behind the trees and through the barrier. He sprinted across the field and slid under the carriage that held only two ponies without making even the slightest of sounds. Once there he wrapped his arms and legs around the axles of the carriage to secure himself, just in time too. As soon as he was in position the armored pegasi started to run. Before they reached the shoreline the pegasi started to flap their wings and the carriages lifted off the ground, rising higher and higher into the sky.

~~~~~~~~~~~

They flew for two hours before the island appeared on the horizon. Twilight smiled and said to Marcus, who stepped over beside Twilight to look for himself, “There it is Marcus, your first glimpse of Equestria.”

Unbeknownst to the two ponies in the carriage, they had a third passenger who was also viewing the same sight. Raymond, whose arms and legs were beginning to get sore, was grateful that he would be able to set his feet on the ground once more.

Not long after they were flying inland, those on the carriages could begin to make out a large castle situated on the side of a mountain with many towers of all different shapes and sizes jutting skyward. The castle looked to be made of a white stone, and the roofs of the towers were mostly golden coloured with bits of purple here and there.

“That is Canterlot castle, home of our Princesses Celestia and Luna,” Twilight mentioned to Marcus, although Raymond was listening in as well. “Canterlot is the capital city of Equestria, and our current destination. When we arrive, a decision will be made as to whether you and your friends will stay in Canterlot to learn about our customs and lifestyle, or if you will be taken to Ponyville instead, which is where I currently live, to experience the same lessons.”

Raymond noticed that they were beginning to descend, and that they were nearing the outskirts of the city. He waited until the last possible moment, and then dropped from his hiding place to the ground below, which was still a good eighty feet away. When he let go however, his robe managed to get caught in one of the carriages wheels for a moment before it untangled itself. This caused the carriage to bounce suddenly and both passengers stumbled. Twilight managed to regain her balance, though Marcus was not so lucky and fell on his face.

“Ow… What was that?” he complained while rubbing his sore nose.

“I’m not sure,” replied Twilight as she looked over the edge of the carriage. She thought she saw something white disappear into the treetops below them. ‘Did that just fall off the carriage,’ she thought, not wanting to scare Marcus, ‘I’m going to have to report this to the Princess.’

A few minutes later, Raymond emerged from the small grove of trees he fell into rubbing his head. Nothing broken, no cuts or bruises, and other than a strong dizzy sensation and a growing weakness throughout his body Raymond was fine.

“I didn’t think I would feel the effects this strongly,” he said weakly. “I’d better finish what I came to do quickly before my time runs out.” And with that he headed towards the city; that is until a magically amplified voice from behind stopped him dead in his tracks.

“Halt trespasser!” the owner of the loud voice yelled.

Raymond turned around to see who the voice belonged to, and he saw that it was an alicorn who had spoken. Her coat was dark blue and a white crescent moon was clearly visible on her flank. She had a flowing ethereal mane and tail which reminded Raymond of a starry midnight sky and from under her forelock glared a pair of dark cyan eyes. Upon her head just behind her long horn rested a tiara of black obsidian, and an obsidian peytral plate emblazoned with the same moon as the one on her flank covered her chest.

“Ah, Princess Luna,” Raymond bowed low. “It is an honor to finally meet you.”

“I see my reputation hath preceded me,” responded the princess flatly. “I haven’t the slightest idea how thee managed to infiltrate the barrier protecting this fair land, nor how thou art still able to continue drawing breath; but for thine wellbeing and the protection of this land I must have thee removed from this place, with force if necessity bids it!”

“I can understand your concern Princess, but I cannot leave until I finish what I came to do,” Raymond calmly responded.

“So be it,” Luna growled. “Then it is with force that I shall have thou removed!”

The princess of the night jumped high into the air, and plunged toward him.

Not bothering to move, Raymond muttered to himself more in resignation than as a question, “Why must it always come down to violence?”

He locked his eyes with those of the Princess of the Night and extended his arm, his palm facing his assailant. Luna was perplexed by the man’s action, and her breath caught in her chest when his palm began to glow with a faint blue light. She didn’t know what the man was trying to do but some nagging suspicion in the back of her mind was telling her to change course, however before Luna could respond she found herself trapped in a translucent blue orb. Startled, she tried kicking the barrier, but to no effect. Her horn emitted its own blue glow and released a bolt of magic that was absorbed into the thin membrane.

Angered, Luna regarded Raymond, “I have no idea how thou art are doing this, but I demand that thou release me at once!”

Even as Luna spoke Raymond was lowering his arm and the orb descended as well. Once it made contact with the ground Raymond dropped his arm, the orb fading along with the glow of his palm. Once Luna was free he collapsed to his knees, sweat beading on his brow and his breath coming in short ragged gasps.

At first Luna was furious, but she calmed down significantly after seeing the state that the man was now in.

“Thou used magic, but humans are incapable of such a feat,” the Princess stated.

“Perhaps humans are incapable of using magic, but maybe not, and maybe they simply lost the ability to do so,” Raymond responded cryptically, seeming to have regained enough strength to stand.

Luna lowered herself into an attack ready position, but the man just raised his hand again.

“Relax, I mean no harm in my visit,” the man said steadily. “Though I do have a goal to accomplish and only a short time left for me to complete it.”

“And what is this task that thou hast chosen to pursue?” Luna inquired.

“I have come to observe and no learn, nothing more and nothing less,” Raymond calmly replied.

“So, thou art a spy,” was Luna’s immediate accusation as she prepared herself to attack the man once again.

“How can someone be a spy if they’re not working for anyone?”

“How do I know that thou art telling the truth?” Luna retaliated.

“Point conceded,” Raymond said with a faint smile. “Nevertheless, I’ve come here to observe and that’s what I’ll do. Accompany me if you wish, the only thing I ask is that you do not inform Princess Celestia of our encounter, or that I can use magic. I was hoping to remain anonymous for the time being, but sadly you discovered my presence.”

All Raymond received in response was a skeptic look from the regal equine.

“I promise that I’ll answer any questions that you and your sister may have at a later time,” he finished as he turned and stumbled towards the city.

The Princess of the Night simply stared after the man in mild confusion. Unsure as to what she should do, Luna spread her wings and took off into the afternoon sky.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Elsewhere in Canterlot city, Twilight was saying goodbye to Marcus and his friends after she led them to where their instructors on pony culture and life were waiting.

“Now, to go see Princess Celestia,” Twilight said trotting off towards the castle, happy to be able to see the Princess again after so long.

Soon after, she reached the main gatehouse to Canterlot Castle. One of the guards, a white unicorn stallion clad in golden armor, strode forward to meet her.

“The Princess has been eagerly awaiting your arrival,” the guard said gruffly. “Please come this way.”

Twilight fell into step behind the guard as he escorted her to where Princess Celestia was waiting.

After several minutes of walking the pair arrived at a large solid wood door decorated in golden painted designs. The guard opened the door and stepped to the side allowing Twilight to enter.

The royal audience chamber was a large ornate room with grand marble columns supporting the high ceiling. There were several stain glass windows depicting key historical events, at the end of the room was a large golden framed window overlooking the royal garden. Gazing out this window was none other than Princess Celestia. Her coat was purest white, sparkling amethyst eyes that spoke of wisdom gained from living countless ages. Her mane and tail a bright ethereal rainbow, seemingly alive as they gently fluttered as though caught in a slight breeze. Her cutie mark was that of the sun, which she used her magic to raise every morning and lower each night. Resting just behind her horn was a golden tiara inset with a glittering amethyst, and covering her chest was a golden peytral plate with another embedded amethyst. Upon hearing somepony enter, the alicorn ruler turned around, galloping towards her was Twilight wearing a big smile on her face.

“Twilight Sparkle, my most faithful student,” the princess greeted warmly, a smile spreading across her own face, “I’m so glad to see you again.”

“I’ve missed you so much Princess,” Twilight said as she nuzzled up against her mentors side. Being six feet tall, the princess was still a fair bit taller than the unicorn.

“Tell me, how are things at the bureau?” Celestia inquired.

“Everything is running quite smoothly,” Twilight eagerly replied. “The humans still seem to have mixed emotions about it all even after signing in at the bureau, but after the conversion process they all seem to enjoy being ponies just fine. One problem I think we should aim to fix as soon as possible is reuniting families that get separated converting at different times.”

The two of them, beloved mentor and faithful student, spent a long time simply talking and catching up on events both inside Equestria and out.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the city, Raymond was wandering the streets between the clean, white stone buildings. He watched the citizens go about their daily lives while trying to draw as little attention as possible, which was proving to be quite difficult considering how many ponies there were. To Raymond it looked as though the city was nearing overpopulation, stores were incredibly crowded and at times it was hard to walk without bumping into somepony. He had no trouble navigating the crowds of ponies himself, anypony who noticed him either stared at him in fear or quickly moved out of his way. ‘Understandable,’ he thought to himself. ‘Most of these ponies have probably never seen a human before, and they definitely know that humans cannot even cross the barrier.’

Raymond was aware of one set of watching eyes in particular. Shortly after entering the city he felt Princess Luna circling high above his location, he couldn’t see her though so he assumed that she was using magic to conceal herself.

Despite the looks he was receiving, Raymond managed to accomplish what he had set out to do, not to the extent that he wanted, but to a satisfactory amount nonetheless. Everypony seemed friendly and kind to each other, not a single pony showed a hint of hostility to another except for a few pranks he noticed being pulled for fun. He smiled; even in the center of such a busy city a calm peacefulness permeated the air.

‘I’m sure kings of old would have dubbed this place utopia,’ was Raymond’s last thought before succumbing to his growing weariness and blacking out.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Luna watched the man from high above the city street, unnoticed by all except for the most perceptive of eyes as she drifted by in the form of a blue wispy mist. She did not trust the man enough to leave him be, yet she felt inclined to honor his request in keeping silent to her sister about meeting him. She felt compelled to believe that he meant no harm, yet she was frightened by what the appearance of this man might mean for the fate of Equestria.

Her conflicting thoughts were soon interrupted when the man she had been watching collapsed unceremoniously to the ground. Luna was taken by surprise, the way he walked and observed his surroundings did nothing to indicate anything wrong with him, ‘Perhaps this is what he meant by not having much time.’

She started drifting towards the unmoving body, but she stopped her descent when she noticed a small group of Royal Guards hurrying towards the scene of the disturbance.

Following through with the man’s request Luna turned and flew back to the outskirts of the city. Not wanting to go back to the castle quite yet anyway and not being needed to raise the moon for a few more hours, she decided to continue her leisurely walk through the peaceful areas surrounding Canterlot.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the royal audience chamber, Twilight and the princess had begun to discuss more serious issues.

“Up until now we’ve only been telling the new ponies why we decided to move out of Equestria once we have brought them here, that we are beginning to experience the problems of overpopulation. The new ponies are accepting of our situation and they support our choice for the most part.” Twilight said to Celestia. “But we need to start telling the humans this information also. They believe we are keeping secrets from them, so more and more people are starting to refuse to go through with the conversion.”

Twilight paused for a moment before continuing, “The humans are beginning to suspect our situation, since the only real traffic across the barrier is out into human cities while no new ponies have been allowed to take up residence in Equestria.”

“I completely agree with your observation Twilight,” Princess Celestia replied. “We do need to start being more open with the humans about our situation. Concerning the flow of ponies out of Equestria, I am hesitant to even allow many of the ponies who wish to move to human cities to leave.”

“Why is that?” Twilight asked in surprise. “That won’t help our population crisis at all.”

“That may be true,” Celestia responded with a frown. “But I am wary of the Human Liberation Front, they have been peculiarly quiet during these past few months and I fear they are planning something big. But what worries me most is the fact that I have felt a magic unknown to both myself and my sister Luna probing Equestria, almost as if someone is searching for something.”

Puzzled, Twilight asked “But how is that possible? I thought there wasn’t anyone with magic outside Equestria.”

Princess Celestia shrugged, she was about to say something when the door swung open and two guards entered.

“Your Highness!” one of the guards announced, sounding slightly flustered. “A human has been found in Canterlot City!”

“What?!” Celestia exclaimed, shock clearly evident on her face.

Twilight, sharing the same expression as the princess, turned to look at the guards. Sure enough, on a stretcher carried between the two of them a human lay face down wearing a dirty white and gold robe.

The princess rushed over closely followed by Twilight, and the guards set the stretcher down on the floor.

“Is he dead?” Celestia asked the guards.

“No Your Highness, he is just unconscious. Several eye witnesses reported that he was walking through the center of the city before he suddenly collapsed.”

This seemed to unsettle the princess even more. With a hoof she rolled the man over onto his back. As the body rolled over the man’s hood fell away, revealing a head of jet black hair and silver highlights.

This elicited a gasp from Twilight. “Princess Celestia, I recognize this man!”

The now more than surprised princess looked at her, waiting for Twilight to elaborate.

“When I was getting ready to leave the orientation at the bureau yesterday, this man approached me. He said his name was Raymond, and he asked if he could accompany some of the new ponies that were being transported to the barrier. I told him he could not as it is against our security regulations. After that I turned around just for a moment to pick up some things I had dropped, and when I glanced back he was gone. I didn’t even hear him leave.”

Celestia was silent. She examined the man carefully and after a few moments she noticed a strange silver key hanging from a chain around his neck. She reached out to touch it, and instantly recoiled, appearing to those watching as though something just burned her hoof.

“That key is enchanted with an incredibly old and powerful magic,” Princess Celestia stated grimly.

“Do you think that is how he managed to get here?” Twilight asked, concern showing in her voice and the way she held herself.

“I cannot be sure,” the princess replied. “Twilight, I want you to take this man back to the bureau and question him. For all we know he could be part of the HLF.”

“I understand Princess,” Twilight said with determination. “I will not let you down.”

“Good, I will have a carriage prepared for your departure immediately. Guards, take the man and escort Twilight to the courtyard. Your transportation will be waiting for you there.” The princess of the sun ordered.

Twilight and the guards bowed to their princess and left, the guards picking up the stretcher again before exiting.

After they left and the door had closed, Celestia returned to the window she was looking out when Twilight had arrived. Her mind going over all that had just occurred. She sighed, ‘All we can do now is wait and see what happens.’ Celestia stared at the sun setting over the horizon and said quietly, “Where did you go Luna? It’s getting late my dear sister.”

Chapter 3: Reunion and Revelation

The trip back to the Conversion Bureau was much quicker than the trip to Equestria. The two golden armored pegasi pulled the carriage straight through the night, never stopping to take a break. Twilight was asleep in the carriage and Raymond was still unconscious, breathing steadily.

They arrived at the bureau just as the sun was beginning to crest the horizon. One of the pegasi walked over to Twilight and gave her a nudge to wake her. She stretched and stood up, looking around to see that they had finally arrived at their destination. She also noticed a few people already at the front door waiting to go inside, just last month there were lineups of humans even at this hour but now the crowds were beginning to die down. Most of the humans that were left were either sided with the HLF or just plain undecided about the whole thing. The attention of the group at the door was drawn to the golden carriage when it landed, now they all watched with mild interest.

“Thank you sirs,” Twilight said to both pegasi. “If you’d like you could come in and rest for a while, that flight must have been tiring.”

“Thank you for the offer,” the pegasus who had woken her replied, “But we were told to return to Canterlot as soon as possible.”

“I see, well have a safe flight back.” Twilight said. She turned to the carriage, her horn glowing as she used her magic to pick up the unconscious man. Once Raymond was clear of the carriage the pegasi took to the sky once again.

Twilight walked towards the doors of the bureau with Raymond floating behind her, now noticing that the gathered people were gaping at the unconscious figure.

“Take a look at the guy’s getup, is he late for a nerd convention or something,” one of the onlookers scoffed.

“Screw the clothes, what the hell happened to him?” another voice added rudely.

Twilight paused for a moment before falsely explaining, “I don’t know. On my way back I saw him lying on the ground like this.” She did not want to risk telling them that he was found inside the barrier and that was seen walking around Canterlot, so to avoid any more questions she quickly unlocked the door and slid inside, closing and locking the door behind the limp man as he floated through the entryway.

It was still early in the morning, so Twilight figured that she was the only one awake in the building. She walked quietly through the bureau to where the bedrooms were located. Finding one that was vacant, she stepped inside, followed by the hovering body. She set Raymond down on the bed and cast some binding spells on his arms and legs.

Satisfied with the glowing cords around his ankles and the cords tying his hands together behind his back, she turned and made for the door, but she stopped when she remembered that Princess Celestia said the key hanging from Raymond’s neck contained some powerful magic. Not wanting to take any chances she used her magic to lift the chain and key off of his neck, and hid it in a drawer on the far side of the room. Expecting the key to reject her attempt, she was surprised when she didn’t feel any sort of magical resistance from the object. ‘Maybe the key was only meant as a tool to pass through the barrier.’ This was the only explanation Twilight could come up with at the moment, so she let the thought go for now.

Unable to think of anything else that required her attention, Twilight decided to get a little more rest. She headed off towards the staff bedroom, which was not very far from where she was now.

She reached the bedroom and quietly walked inside. Several bunk beds lined the wall; Twilight instantly recognized two of the sleeping ponies. In the closest bunk rested two of her best friends, Rarity on the bottom, eyes covered by a pink sleeping mask, and Fluttershy on the top. Fluttershy was a pegasus pony with a yellow coat and a long bright pink mane and tail; her cutie mark was an image of three pink butterflies.

Not wanting to disturb her friends, she made her way to the nearest empty bed trying not to make a sound. As soon as her head hit the pillow, Twilight was asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~

In Princess Celestia’s private chambers, the two sister alicorns were talking.

“Where were you yesterday Luna? You were gone from the castle for an unusually long time” Celestia inquired.

“Dost thou really need to know my whereabouts every moment of the day?” Luna shot back, clearly irritated by her sisters’ question.

“I was worried about you,” Celestia said quietly. “And besides, you still haven’t told me anything about what you were doing all day.”

“Am I not permitted to wander the countryside at my leisure dear sister?” Luna replied, giving in slightly.

“Is that all that you did? You were gone for an awful long time for a simple walk.” Celestia cocked her eyebrow questioningly.

Ignoring her sisters’ remark Luna asked, “I was made aware of a surprising development upon my return, however I was not informed regarding the nature of this disturbance. Hath something happened that I should be notified of?”

“Something has happened,” Celestia said taking on a more serious tone. “Yesterday evening a human was found walking the streets of the city. He wore a dirty white robe and an object of great magical power.”

In upholding the man’s request to keep their encounter unknown Luna was acting as though this was all new to her, though she didn’t have to fake her surprise when Celestia informed her about the key.

Luna’s eyes widened, “Where hath he been taken?”

“My student, Twilight Sparkle, mentioned that this man approached her while she was working at the bureau, so I had her take the human back there to be questioned. Why do you ask?”

Luna merely said, “I believe we should interrogate the human ourselves, though I shall not sit here and wait for thou to accompany me,” and with that she hurried off before Celestia had the chance to question her again.

“You’ll never change little sister,” Celestia sighed with a smile. ‘Then again she does have a point, and I certainly want to talk to that man myself.’

The princess called for a guard, knowing that two were positioned just outside her chambers at all times. When the guard entered Celestia ordered, “Have the Royal Secretary clear my schedule for the next couple days, I will be away attending to some business outside of Equestria.”

The guard bowed in compliance and hurried off.

‘If I hurry I may be able to catch up with my sister before she reaches the barrier,’ Celestia thought to herself as she stepped out onto her balcony and took off into the sky.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight groggily lifted her head and stretched. She looked around the bedroom to find that all the other bunk beds were empty.

“I must have overslept,” Twilight yawned. She got out of bed and walked over to the mirror where she brushed the tangles out of her mane. Once she had succeeded in straightening her mane, she exited the bedroom.

Twilight passed the front desk where she saw Rarity once again organizing several stacks of papers. The white unicorn looked up as her friend walked into view, “Oh Twilight dear, you’re awake. I did not expect you to be back from Canterlot so soon.”

“Good morning to you too,” Twilight replied, still somewhat asleep. “I didn’t think I would be returning so quick either, but something important came up so the Princess prepared a carriage to bring be back. I traveled through the night and arrived early this morning.”

“I expected you had a long and tiring night, which was why I didn’t wake you,” Rarity replied. “And besides, you just looked so peaceful sleeping there so I didn’t want to disturb you.”

“Thank you, I was pretty tired,” Twilight said with a giggle. “I’m going to go and say hello to Fluttershy, she’s still taking care of the plants and animals in the greenhouse isn’t she?”

“Yes she is,” Rarity answered. “And later you can tell me all about this business that made the Princess send you back here after just arriving.”

Just as Twilight was turning to leave Rarity stopped her, “Oh and before I forget, shortly after you left yesterday some lady dressed in an exquisite white robe arrived and asked if a man named Raymond was here.”

Twilight froze where she stood and urgently asked, “Did she leave? Where is she now?”

“She stayed the night in one of the empty rooms and as far as I know is still sleeping. Why, is something the matter?” Rarity replied calmly.

“That man, Raymond, he is the important business that Princess Celestia sent me back for; he was found walking around the center of Canterlot city!” Twilight blurted out as she galloped off to where she had left Raymond the previous night, leaving Rarity shocked and speechless behind the desk.

Moments later Twilight rushed into the bedroom where she found Raymond lying awake on the bed. His legs and arms were still bound, but his hands now rested behind his head instead of behind his back where Twilight had originally left them.

“Good morning,” the man greeted warmly, “I was wondering when you would be showing up.”

“You were expecting me?” Twilight asked surprised, “How?”

“Well, you were the first one I spoke to here, and upon realizing where I was when I woke up after passing out in Canterlot, and the fact that I am bound up and alone in this room makes it painfully obvious that you want to ask me some questions,” he replied steadily, and smiling.

That made Twilight realize how silly and obvious her question must have sounded to the man, she continued anyway. “Well then, since you already seem to understand the situation you’re in, may I begin?”

Raymond gave a slight laugh, “Ask away Miss Sparkle.”

Twilight was perplexed by how calm Raymond was acting, his situation did not unnerve him in the slightest, and if anything he seemed happy. Nevertheless, Twilight continued.

“What I want to ask first is how did you manage to get through the barrier?”

“I walked through it,” he replied matter-of-factly, “Well, technically I ran through it.”

“You didn’t use anything to help you, like that key you had around your neck?”

“Nope, I just ran through like I said,” Raymond stated calmly before his voice took on a slightly darker tone, “So where did you put it? My key I mean.”

“What makes you think that I took it?” Twilight asked. “And how do you know the Princess didn’t take it when your unconscious body was brought before her?”

“What reason could the Princess have for taking an object when she doesn’t have the slightest clue about how to use it? And it’s safe to say that you took it since I can only assume that you are the one who brought me back here,” Raymond countered.

Twilight conceded the point, “I hid it. I will return it to you, but only if you can prove that we have no reason to mistrust you.”

“Fair enough,” Raymond said, calm once more.

“Now that we’re on the subject, what is the purpose of the key?” Twilight inquired.

“Just the same as any other key, it unlocks something,” Raymond chuckled silently to himself.

Twilight was beginning to get irritated; Raymond was not taking this very seriously. “Well what does it unlock?”

“A door,” the man again calmly said.

Twilight let out an exasperated groan. It seemed like Raymond was honestly answering her questions, still, he was only sharing the bare minimum.

“Alright, so if you didn’t use the key to get through the barrier, how were you able to pass through it when no other human can?”

“Just because all the humans who’ve tried up until now couldn’t does not mean that all humans are unable to pass through it. Honestly Twilight, here I thought you were a scholarly sort of pony and that you would have been able to reason that one out yourself.”

Twilight thought for a moment, ‘I guess he’s right, we can’t really know for sure that all ordinary humans are incapable of passing the barrier when not all of them have tried. Still he did have that magic key, though he claims that he didn’t use it to cross into Equestria; but it stands to reason that if he had one magical item he could have more. The Princess may not know where the magic came from, but I think it’s safe to say that we can rule out Raymond as being an ordinary human.’

“I have a few more questions to ask you,” Twilight finally said.

“It’s not like I’m leaving anytime soon,” Raymond stated while wiggling his arms and legs showing that his bindings were still holding strong.

“You were able to get through the barrier, but how did you cross the ocean to Equestria? You can’t fly, and that is an awful long distance to swim.”

“I simply hitched a ride underneath one of the carriages that showed up, which just so happened to be yours,” he replied with a smile. “When no one was looking I ran over and grabbed onto the axles.”

“But how did you get off and into the city?” Twilight asked, but then she remembered something she noticed during the flight. “Wait, on the way I happened to see something white disappear into the trees below, was that you?”

“So you did notice me,” Raymond sighed, “I thought I was being rather clever.”

Twilight was stunned, “But we were so high up, how did you manage to survive?”

“Tell me about it, I’m just glad that those trees were there to slow my descent.”

“But you had no cuts or injuries at all, how do you explain that?”

“Luck, I guess,” Raymond shrugged as best he could with his hands bound and still behind his head.

Twilight just slapped a hoof to her face at that. “Alright, last question,” she said, becoming more serious. “What is your relationship with the HLF?”

“Now decidedly against,” Raymond said, also becoming serious. He forced himself into a sitting position, bringing his hands back over his head to rest on his lap as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed.

“Now?” Twilight asked, “What do you mean by that?”

“Like I said before when I asked if I could accompany the new ponies to the barrier, I wanted to learn more about the situation and observe things how they stood before making my choice; this is the reason why I went to Canterlot, to see how ponies lived and interacted with one another, and to determine whether or not the current course that we have chosen to take is what’s best for human kind. Before, I was on the fence as to whether I should support the HLF or Ponification, but now I have made up my mind.”

Twilight stood there shocked. After how he had seemed to dance around her questions up until now and giving only half answers, she did not expect him to be so upfront concerning this question, especially since he openly admitted to almost siding with the HLF.

Before she could say anything in response there was an obviously irritated voice at the door, “What is with all this noise? I’m trying to sleep over here!”

Both Twilight and Raymond turned in surprise to see who this newcomer was. In the doorway stood a woman with golden blonde hair and piercing green eyes. She was about six feet tall, and had a very slender and lithe appearance. What caught Twilight's attention the most were her eyes. They seemed to hold a similar wiseness to Raymond’s, though hers held a bright gleam of a childish joy and innocence in contrast to the cool and almost distant look in Raymond’s. Her white and gold trimmed robe was again the same as Raymond’s except for the fact that it was clean and looked as good as new.

Everyone was silent until the woman, who until now was looking at Twilight, spotted Raymond, who was trying to crawl quietly behind the bed and out of sight.

“Is that… Ray, it is you!” The woman said in delight as she bounded into the room towards the man crawling across the floor.

“Uh oh,” Raymond gulped as the woman quickly closed in on him. Before she made it to him however, he jumped to his feet and ran to hide behind Twilight spluttering, “W-what are you doing here Becky?”

The woman named Becky simply stated with a laugh, “To see you of course, it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other.”

Twilight, who had been standing dumbstruck until now, whirled to face Raymond, “How did you free yourself? I had your arms and legs bound with my magic.”

Becky stopped, “Isn’t it obvious? He used his magic,” she said flatly.

Shocked once again Twilight stammered, “But I thought humans couldn’t use magic.”

Becky looked pointedly at Raymond, “You didn’t tell her Ray? I thought I told you it was bad to keep secrets little brother.”

“Only little in height, and only by a few inches at that,” Raymond retaliated, “You know we’re the same age.”

“Why do you always have to be so literal?” Becky replied with a mocking sigh.

Twilight spoke up again, a little irritated that she was being ignored, “I said I thought that humans couldn’t use magic.”

“I heard you the first time Twilight,” Raymond said softly, “But that explanation can wait a little while longer for when the Princesses arrive.”

“How do you know that?” Twilight inquired, receiving a simple shrug in response.

“The Princesses are coming Ray?” Becky asked, “What did you do this time?”

“Nothing, I just visited Canterlot city to learn and to make a decision,” he replied calmly.

“And your decision would be?”

“We will support Equestria, Becky. Ponification is the best course of action for the human race, and the HLF is our enemy,” Raymond stated.

“Alright, so what are you going to do now?” Becky asked.

Raymond gave her a wink, and then turned to Twilight, “Well Miss Sparkle, I would like to mention that I have made up my mind about another matter.”

“And what would that be?” Twilight asked hesitantly.

“I would like to undergo the Ponification process myself, if that’s alright with you.”

“What? You can’t be serious!” Becky gasped, “What about our duty?”

Raymond replied calmly, “Our duty is to insure that the best interests of the human race are protected and carried out. I think these interests should be clear now, so understand that there is no harm in me becoming a pony, and my magic will not leave me because of it. Of this I am certain.”

Becky backed down and slowly nodded in agreement.

Raymond turned to Twilight, “So, may we begin?”

“Certainly,” Twilight smiled, “Are you sure about this? There will be no turning back afterwards.”

He nodded his head, “Completely. Lead on.”

And with that Twilight led Raymond out of the room, followed closely by Becky who still seemed a little worried.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Moments later the group found themselves in what appeared to be a doctor’s office, except for the fact that the only pieces of furniture were a cushioned bench and a table on which could be seen several vials, syringes, and a file folder containing some documents, most likely the results of the days Ponifications.

“Please lie down on the couch Raymond,” Twilight instructed as she walked over to the table where she poured a strange purple liquid into a cup and extracted another liquid from one of the vials on the table into a syringe.

“What’s the purple stuff for?” Raymond asked.

“It’s a sedative to put you to sleep for the process.” Twilight informed him. “The pain you would experience from the restructuring of you skeleton and all your muscle and organs would send your brain into shock and probably kill you. Nobody would want to feel that sort of pain.”

“I can think of one person who would,” Raymond said, and Becky just sighed and slapped her palm to her forehead while Twilight stared at the two of them in confusion.

“Oh, and you may want to take your clothes off before you drink the sedative. It wouldn’t be very comfortable waking up as a pony in clothes that are meant for humans,” Twilight said.

“I see your point,” Raymond replied while standing up. “Becky, could you go wait outside until I’ve finished in here?”

“Aw, wimpy Ray is self conscious about his body,” Becky laughed. “It’s not like you’ll have that body for much longer anyway. But I guess I can wait outside if it’ll make you feel better about yourself.”

“Please do,” was all Raymond had to say, already halfway through taking off his shirt.

Once Becky was out of the room and Raymond was back on the bench, this time without clothes. Twilight brought the sedative over.

“Alright, now you can drink this,” Twilight said as Raymond took the levitating cup.

He brought the concoction to his lips and downed the whole thing. As soon as he finished he began to feel light headed, and as he lay down and began to close his eyes the last thing he noticed before passing out was Twilight moving the syringe towards his arm.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Raymond slowly opened his eyes; he was still lying on the same bench as before. As the numbness in his body began to fade he lifted his head and looked around the room noticing Twilight standing over at the table, her horn glowed while writing something down in the file folder. She turned around when she heard Raymond begin to move.

“Oh good you’re awake,” Twilight happily said. “And guess what, you’re a unicorn. Earlier your friend sounded like she was worried about you losing your magic, but you two don’t have to worry about that anymore since unicorns are able to use magic,” she paused before continuing with an intrigued expression. “Although… your horn is longer and sharper than most unicorns’.”

Raymond looked up and sure enough he could see the tip of a near needle-sharp horn protruding from his forehead. He began to slide his body to the edge of the bench.

“Now don’t rush yourself, most new ponies have an incredibly difficult time learning to walk with their new bodies,” Twilight cautioned as she noticed what he was trying to do.

“I expected as much,” Raymond replied, “And that’s what I was counting on. I just find the journey so much more fulfilling than being able to immediately acquire the skills in question.”

Twilight gave him a curious look and he said, “It’s just something that my magic can let me do.”

The more Twilight heard about this once-human’s magic the more she wanted to ask him about it, but she decided to keep quiet for now and watch his progress.

Raymond was standing on all four hooves now. He started to take one careful step forward and lost his balance. He immediately sought out the best way to stabilize himself before falling.

Twilight smiled inwardly and began walking towards Raymond to help him up after what would be his first inevitable fall when what she saw stopped her dead in her tracks, her jaw gaped wide open as she witnessed what she had missed seeing before.

To regain his balance, Raymond had extended two large and majestic looking wings.

Twilight was completely stunned by the sudden and uncanny revelation, and was at a loss for words. She was looking at something that had never resulted from Ponification at all before today. Twilight’s initial observation was incorrect, Raymond wasn’t a unicorn… he was an alicorn.

Chapter 4: A Question of Trust

Twilight stood motionless, unresponsive, her jaw still hanging wide open, and in front of her stood the once-human-now-pony, Raymond, who was currently swaying on three legs as he rubbed at the base of his horn with a slight grimace. He was now about a foot shorter than his human self, the silver streaks through his black mane and tail were now more prominent, his coat was a pale ice blue, and his blue eyes remained just as deep and profound as ever. Whereas most unicorns have the same colour to their horn as their coat, Raymond’s horn was noticeably paler to the point of being nearly snow white, and Twilight was right in saying it was longer than most; being an entire foot and a half from the base to its wickedly sharp tip, it was slightly longer than even Princess Celestia’s horn. However only part of this was the reason behind Twilights stunned expression.

“Well now that’s an unexpected surprise,” Raymond said as he examined his majestic wings, which were akin to those of a falcon in appearance. “Though I guess it makes sense upon further consideration.”

The fact that Raymond also had wings in addition to his horn was the cause for Twilight’s shock induced stupor. She was silent for a moment longer before finally regaining her thoughts enough to speak up.

“What… I don’t… How is this possible? How could you be an alicorn? No human has ever turned into an alicorn before!” Twilight spluttered all at once.

Raymond lowered his hoof to regard Twilight and calmly replied, “Remember what I said before about the barrier? With the same reasoning, just because none of the humans who have undergone Ponification turned into alicorns does not mean that it’s impossible.”

Twilight was unconvinced that the explanation could be so simple. “That may apply to most situations, but this is different. There must be a reason why you turned into an alicorn while no other human has turned into one out of the hundreds of thousands that have come over the past several years, and never in Equestria’s recorded history has there been another alicorn besides Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!”

“In this case you are correct Miss Sparkle; my situation is a special one, and I will explain it to you once Princesses Celestia and Luna arrive,” Raymond stated, earning an irritated sigh from Twilight in return. “Now if you don’t mind, could you teach me how to walk? I can stand just fine but I’m having some trouble with taking just a single step.”

“Didn’t you say something about using magic to learn how to walk?” Twilight inquired with some irritation still evident in her voice.

“That I did,” Raymond happily responded, “But I also said I enjoy the journey.”

Somewhat confused, Twilight asked, “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean that I find it more fulfilling to take the time to learn something useful rather than simply being able to, absorb for lack of a better word, the skill or information. However I have zero patience for learning languages. If you manage to live as long as me you’ll be able to understand the feeling easier.”

Twilight nodded her head to show she understood. Then another question popped into her head, “How old are you? I’ve met enough humans to know how someone of a certain age should look, but you make it sound like you’re much older than you appeared.”

Raymond sighed, “I was planning on waiting until the Princesses arrived, but you did ask and there isn’t any reason to hide it,” he paused. “Your guess is correct, I am older than what my appearance may let on. I cannot recall an exact number anymore, so for the sake of simplicity I’ll just say… I’m roughly two hundred thousand years old.”

Twilight’s jaw dropped once again. ‘Two hundred thousand? That’s impossible, as far as I know not even the Princesses have been alive that long! Besides, when he was human he didn’t look a day over thirty.’

“I know that it seems a little farfetched, but I assure you that’s the truth. Perhaps it will seem more believable after I explain it but that will have to wait a little while longer,” Raymond said nonchalantly in response to Twilights expression. He then smiled, “Now, about that walking lesson.”

Twilight gave an exasperated groan, she clearly wasn’t going to get anything else out of him before Celestia and Luna arrived. She shrugged and walked over to stand beside Raymond and began to teach him how to walk.

After several minutes of Raymond walking slowly on four wobbly legs between the moments where he was sprawled out on the floor, he finally managed to make it once around the room without falling.

“Thank you for the help Miss Sparkle, I think I have the hang of it now,” Raymond said.

“Don’t mention it, you picked it up very quickly,” Twilight congratulated, “And didn’t I tell you when we first met to call me Twilight?”

“I suppose you did. I’ll try to keep that in mind,” Raymond chuckled before wincing and lifting a hoof to start rubbing at his forehead once more.

Twilight regarded this and asked, “Is there something wrong?”

With a sigh Raymond replied, “It’s nothing, just a dull ache in my forehead. Well… I suppose it may be more accurate to say the base of my horn now.”

“That’s odd,” said Twilight as she leaned towards him for a closer look. “On occasion there have been reports of some mild discomfort with horns and wings upon waking up after Ponification, but those cases were all short lived. Nopony has ever claimed to be in pain afterwards.”

Before she could continue there was a knock on the door accompanied by Becky’s voice, “We have two very important visitors here, so I suggest you finish up whatever it is you’re doing Ray!” and before either Twilight or Raymond could respond the door swung open and in waltzed Becky followed by the Princesses Celestia and Luna.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight said happily as she galloped over to the tall ivory equine.

Celestia leaned over to nuzzle Twilight “My most faithful student. I’m glad to see you’re safe.”

“Well why shouldn’t she be? She was with Ray the whole time after all.” Becky stated flatly.

“Manners Becky, we’re in the presence of royalty,” Raymond chided as he bowed, the gesture caused him to lose his bowed. The gesture caused him to lose his balance, yet he was able to catch himself before becoming reacquainted with the floor. “Your Majesties, it is an honor to meet both of you together in person, and while awake.”

Luna spoke first, “I see that thou went through with Ponification. Does this mean that thou hast chosen your side?”

Raymond nodded, “And I trust that you honored my request.”

“I did,” Luna responded. “Now, thou promised answers to the questions that my sister and I seek. Are thou ready to provide them?”

The questioning look Celestia gave her sister made it obvious that Luna was being truthful and had in fact kept their meeting secret.

Smiling, Raymond replied, “Princess Celestia’s expression reinforces your statement, so I guess I can also assume that she still doesn’t know about me using magic.” Exchanging his smile for a more calm appearance, he continued, “Yes, I’m ready to ans-“

Celestia cut him off, “Wait, did you just say that you can use magic?”

Raymond nodded.

“And you, Luna,” she faced her sister with an accusatory glare. “You knew about this and did not tell me?”

Startled by her sister’s sudden anger, Luna hesitated in her answer, allowing Raymond to interrupt.

“Please calm down Your Majesty. I requested that Princess Luna keep our brief meeting a secret. As I had already told her, I did not intend to be discovered during my venture, and if I hadn’t used my magic to prevent her from capturing me I would have had the energy to complete my task and return to the mainland on my own.”

Celestia calmed down and with a sigh she said, “Very well then. Since you’ve apparently promised to answer our questions, I’d like to start by asking about why you were in Equestria. What was the purpose behind your visit?”

Luna replied before Raymond had the chance, “He claimed to have come with the intent to observe our society personally, and whilst I watched he did nothing to disprove that claim.”

“I see,” Celestia muttered. “That brings another question to mind. So tell me, why did you want to observe our society?”

“I wanted to know whether or not Ponification is the best choice for the human race, or if the HLF’s beliefs were justified. As you can see from my current appearance, I’ve decided upon Ponification,” Raymond promptly stated.

Becky spoke up, “Wow Ray, you’re being pretty open for once.” She scooted over to Raymond’s side and ruffled his new mane. “But don’t you think telling them that was a little much?”

“If we want the Princesses to be able to trust us we cannot afford to hide anything from them,” Raymond replied. “Your thoughts, Your Majesties?”

The sisters both wore somber expressions. Celestia stated, “I respect the fact that you’re willing to be honest with us, however I cannot overlook what you just said. The fact that you almost sided with the HLF. That alone makes me wary to trust you.”

“Thou mentioned deciding on the best course of action for the human race,” Luna said. “Who art thou to make this decision?”

“Oh boy,” Becky groaned. “Prepare yourselves for one of the only things Ray can be longwinded about.”

Raymond gave her a flat glare before starting, “Allow me to begin with a comparison. You are both ponies, I can only assume that you were both born from powerful magic and thus you two are alicorns. Similarly we are humans, we were born from magic and so we took the name Sentinel for ourselves.”

Turning to Twilight, who seemed somewhat irritated by being left out thus far, he said, “This, Miss Sparkle…”

Twilight gave him a flat glare.

“Sorry… Twilight. The fact that I was born from magic, is the reason why I became an alicorn through Ponification.” At that he flapped his wings once and folded them at his sides once more. The two princesses stared in shock, yet they chose to remain quiet and let Raymond continue.

Raymond looked back to the Princesses and continued, “I already mentioned to Twilight that I am around two hundred thousand years old, as is Becky here. We, along with the other members of our council came into being at the same time as the first humans. Humanoid creatures have existed on the planet for four to five million years, though the humans you see today were first born around two hundred thousand years ago.”

With a mockingly nostalgic sigh, Becky interrupted, “Ah, those were the days. Nothing but drawing on the walls, loincloths and grunting.” Raymond shot her a flat glare. “And fire! Oh the fires, can’t forget about those little… accidents. Good times,” she finished with a chuckle.

With his own sigh of exasperation, Raymond resumed speaking, “To your understanding humans cannot use magic, and this is partially true. In the beginning humans had full use of magic just as you do now, however magic is closely connected to the nature of those who use it, and as the human race grew more corrupt and violent over the ages the magic also suffered. Becoming tainted and malevolent, it eventually disappeared, there are still some magical artifacts hidden around the world, and of course we still have our magic. Humans have the capacity to relearn and use magic, but no one actually cares enough or has the desire to make an attempt to reclaim it, dismissing it as nothing more than fiction.

“Our duty as Sentinels is to protect the best interests of the human race, and to see that those interests are carried out. As magic faded from humanity, it became our responsibility to guard against any possibly threatening resurgence of magical origin, and to ensure the safety of the human race by removing or hiding any remaining traces of magic. Now that the time of the human race is ending, a decision had to be made regarding the course of action that would be best for human kind. Now that there are so few of us Sentinels left it fell to me to make the decision, which is why I traveled to Equestria. After my short visit to Canterlot and observing how ponies live and interact with one another, I came to the conclusion that our duty should be to protect the remaining humans as they continue with Ponification, and also to protect the new dominant species on the planet, the pony race.” Raymond took a deep breath as he finished.

Becky sighed, “And there you have it, a lengthy summary of who we are and what we do. What do you think?”

“I find your story difficult to believe,” Luna stated hesitantly.

“If it is true though,” Celestia began, “and all humans were able to use magic, then what made the Sentinels so special?”

Raymond replied, “There were several significant factors separating us from the rest of human kind. The most notable of these though were our immortality and our own unique magical abilities.”

“Unique?” Twilight inquired.

“On top of our regular magic, each Sentinel had their own form of magic. Becky’s unique magic is of the mind, she can control ones actions, see into their mind, and ultimately bend them to her will. Mine is the ability to create the ultimate defenses, there is nothing that can penetrate my barriers, as you saw firsthand, Princess Luna.”

“’Twas an impressive spell indeed,” Luna admitted. “However, does it always drain thou as much as it did in Equestria to use it?”

Raymond shook his head, “Being used to a world with no magic made it difficult for me to remain inside that barrier, let alone use my magic.”

Celestia pointed an accusing hoof at Becky, “Isn’t her mind magic a danger? From what it sounds like, she could easily overcome anyone who stands in her way. Surely you have a way to deal with that.”

Raymond chuckled, “We never had to worry about it. Becky was never ambitious, positions of power never appealed to her and she never tried to influence those who had such positions. Besides, abilities like hers have very little to no effect on other Sentinels. We could never figure out why, but for whatever reason that’s the way it was and so a balance was kept between the members of the Council.”

Becky crossed her arms and gave a firm nod with a smile hiding a laugh spread across her face.

Twilight stepped forward and asked, “You mentioned that there aren’t many of you Sentinels left, did something happen?”

Turning to face Twilight, Raymond replied, “In the beginning our council was made up of fifty Sentinels, we were never that numerous to begin with. As the magic became corrupted so too did some of the Sentinels, not all of us were affected by this and as such fighting began to break out among the council. We may be unaffected by the passage of time but we can still be killed, and now only four of the original fifty Sentinels remain.”

His eyelids drooped slightly in sorrow as a tear formed and rolled down his face, immediately closing his eyes Raymond turned away from the small group. Becky moved to stand beside him and stroked his mane to comfort him, and the two Princesses regarded him, sadness and understanding evident in each others eyes.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up such memories,” Twilight apologized in a rather shaken voice.

“It’s alright Twilight,” Raymond said tiredly while rubbing his eye with a raised hoof. After a moment he turned to face her and said, “No matter how much you may want to it is impossible to change the past, so there is no point in dwelling events that have long since come and gone. All you can do is move forward and strive to make the world a better place.”

The two princesses visibly softened and Luna said, “We too understand the pain of losing the ones that are closest to thou, and sometimes not even the passing of time can heal those wounds.”

Celestia added, “I can see that your hearts are in the right place, but my sister and I need to discuss this further before we can fully trust you.”

Before she could say anything else Becky interrupted with a serious tone, “We have trouble!”

The others regarded her curiously for a moment before the sound of screams and gunshots reached their ears.

“It’s coming from the main foyer,” she said to Raymond.

“It looks like we’ll have to finish this conversation later,” he stated as his horn began to glow. There was a sudden flash of light which consumed all five individuals in the room. As the light subsided, Twilight, Celestia and Luna all looked around to see that they now stood at the front desk in the foyer. Twilight peered over the counter to find Rarity lying on the ground with her hooves covering her head.

“Rarity what happened?” Twilight asked the frightened unicorn.

“Oh Twilight!” Rarity sobbed as she reached up and wrapped shaking forelegs around her friend, “That m-man over there walked in, and then he s-suddenly p-pulled out a gun and shot s-somepony!”

Twilight turned around, and sure enough there was a man standing in the center of the room pointing a pistol at a young mare. The man was wearing a brown leather jacket and had long unkempt chestnut hair. The mare had a burgundy mane and tail and a white coat that was slowly staining red from the pool that was slowly forming around her as blood escaped from a wound in her hind leg. There were several other ponies in the room but they were all pressed up against the walls with fear written clearly on their faces, it didn’t look like any of them were hurt.

As the injured mare sobbed the man laughed maniacally “You’re an abomination, a freak! You deserve to die you fucking piece of shit!”

Both princesses prepared to attack the man, but Becky held her arm up to stop them, “Allow us, this is our duty.”

The man lined his gun up with the mares head; he let loose another crazed laugh and pulled the trigger.

There was a loud bang, and in that split second Raymond’s eyes glowed with a blue light and a transparent blue veil sprang into existence between the crazed man and the terrified mare; the bullet hung in the air for a moment before falling harmlessly to the floor. At the same time Becky began to rapidly weave her hands through the air in front of her, and suddenly the pistol flew out of the man’s hand to hang several feet off the floor well out of reach. The man’s arms and legs snapped together and he fell on his back with a loud thud where he remained, grunting in confusion and struggling to break free.

Everyone present in the room gasped at this, including the Princesses. Celestia’s surprise however came not from the two using magic, but from something only she noticed. When Raymond had cast his spell his horn didn’t glow. Though seeing as things were all ready progressing Celestia decided to keep quiet for the time being.

“Becky, find out who this man is” Raymond ordered.

Becky closed her eyes and put her hand to her forehead in concentration. When she opened her eyes she stated, “He is Frederick Jacobs, age thirty seven. He is not connected with the HLF, though he does share their beliefs. Nine months ago his wife and two kids came here to be ponified; he was completely against the idea of becoming a pony so he remained at home all this time. Something finally snapped in his mind and he decided to try and kill everyone here himself.”

“I see, thank you.” Raymond said to Becky, he turned to face to two princesses who still wore very startled expressions. “Now that we’ve taken care of the problem at hand, what do you propose we do with this man?”

Celestia was the first to speak, “Well… he is human so it only seems fit that he be dealt with under human law. However it was a pony that he attacked and severely injured, so I would like to have him examined before handing him over to the proper authorities. Have him placed in one of the back rooms until somepony is free to question him.”

“Very well,” Raymond complied; he turned to Twilight, “Would you like to accompany me? I don’t think they completely trust us yet.”

Twilight’s jaw snapped closed upon being addressed, “C-certainly. The back rooms are this way.”

However, before Twilight could fully turn to lead Raymond away his hooves glowed and the two of them along with the magically bound man disappeared in a flash of light.

Now it was Luna who spoke, “How is he able to teleport with such ease, let alone with so many at once?” wonder was clearly evident in her question.

“Just another thing that separated us Sentinels from everyone else. Teleporting comes as easily to us as breathing, how else were fifty of us supposed to watch over the entire human race?” Becky stated as she approached the injured mare who was whimpering in pain as she tried to stop the bleeding with her hooves. “Now please excuse me, I need to tend to her wound.”

She knelt down beside the mare and said in a soothing voice, “Everything’s alright, that man is gone now. I’ll take care of that injury for you.” As she spoke, she waved one hand to the side, the pool of blood disappeared and blood stopped flowing from the mare’s injured leg. Her other hand hovered above the hole made by the bullet, the hole began to glow as the bullet floated out of the wound and dropped to the floor. Once the bullet was out Becky weaved her fingers through the air above the mare’s leg and the injury sealed itself shut.

The young mare looked up, and with immense wonder and gratitude showing in her eyes she said, “Oh thank you, thank you so much!” She sounded quite weak as she spoke, “How can I ever repay you?”

Becky smiled, “You can repay me by getting some rest. You've lost a fair amount of blood and it’s a wonder that you haven’t passed out already. You must have a very strong will,” she said warmly.

The ponies that were plastered against the walls in fright were now awestruck at the events that were unfolding before them, and they began moving a little closer to get a better view. Two medical ponies came running into the room with a stretcher suspended between them; they picked up the weak mare and rushed her to the medical wing, all the while she continued thanking Becky.

Even Luna couldn't hide how impressed she was, “Thou mended that mare’s wound with such speed and ease, ‘twas truly an incredible performance!”

Becky shrugged, “The bullet was lodged in her bone so I fixed that, repaired the damaged muscle and resealed the broken skin. She won’t experience any trouble that could have been caused by that bullet and the procedure left no scarring, she’ll be as good as new after she gets some sleep.”

“Still, healing magic of that magnitude is no simple feat. It takes unicorns years of training to come anywhere close to being able to do what you just accomplished and even still there is some scarring.” Celestia responded just as awestruck as Luna.

“Healing and protection are specialties of ours after all,” was all Becky said before Raymond and Twilight reappeared with a flash.

Raymond quickly surveyed the room and turned to Becky, “Did you tend to the mare?”

“I sure did, Ray. Some ponies took her to the medical wing so she could rest.”

Celestia asked, “So where is the man now?”

“We locked him in the unused storeroom. He’s still bound but I’m not sure how much longer that will last.” Twilight informed the Princess.

“His body will remain paralyzed until I dismiss the bonds,” Becky interjected happily.

“I see,” the Princess said slowly. “Now, regarding you two. I can see that your intentions are good, but I am still a little hesitant to fully put my trust in you.”

“Come now Tia, thou art too cautious.” Luna said slightly exasperatedly, “I trust the actions of these two; surely thou can do the same.”

“And you aren’t nearly cautious enough little sister,” Celestia said pointedly. “Although they do seem like trustworthy individuals, perhaps we should test them to put our doubts aside.”

Luna smiled mischievously, “And perhaps to see whether or not they are strong enough to protect all pony-kind as they claim?”

Becky and Raymond shared Luna’s smile. Raymond spoke up, “I have the perfect place in mind for such a… test. Now, Twilight. Where did you hide my key?”

Chapter 5: The Sentinels Keep

The group made their way through various corridors of the Bureau. Twilight was leading since she knew the layout of the building better than anyone present. Beside her walked Becky, the two of them were engaged in conversation about varieties of magic and how it can be used in day to day life. Behind them strode the Princesses Luna and Celestia side by side, heads held high and proud as they smiled at the many ponies they passed. There were some humans as well, and anyone they encountered was quick to bow to the regal sisters. The humans and new ponies did not give the group much thought, though the ponies originally from Equestria raised their heads questioningly towards the figure trailing the procession. As far as they knew the only two alicorns in existence were the Princesses, and to add to that confusion word of the recent occurrence in the foyer had begun to spread throughout the complex.

The alicorn tailing the Princesses didn’t notice the curious stares he was receiving; he was too preoccupied with the tattered white and gold robe which now hovered in front of him enveloped in a blue light. Twilight had retrieved Raymond’s key from the drawer she had hid it in. Celestia wanted to hold onto it until she knew exactly what it did, but as she slid the chain down around her neck it began to glow red hot. Raymond quickly took hold of the key and slipped it around his neck where it now rested.

After explaining that he was the only one able to hold onto the key, Raymond asked if they could stop by the Ponification room so he could pick up his robe. “Our robes aren’t just a uniform, they also function as a sort of protective armor as well. They’ve been imbued with various useful spells and enchantments,” he stated when questioned about its importance.

Twilight glanced over her shoulder to regard the black haired alicorn and asked Becky, “So why does he need an open space to show us what the key does?”

“Simply telling you about it wouldn’t have the same effect as witnessing it now would it?” Becky smiled as she replied, “So where are you taking us?”

“The greenhouse, it’s the largest part of the bureau and only staff are allowed in during week days. Also, I think my friend Fluttershy is the only pony working in there today so I’m fairly sure that nopony will bother us.”

Eventually the group arrived at a set of metal double doors, the sign above which read ‘Greenhouse’ and below that in smaller writing, ‘Open to public on weekends.’ Twilight opened the doors and they stepped through and onto soft, well maintained grass. Twilight nonchalantly mentioned that the greenhouse was about the size of two football fields side by side. They stood before the edge of what appeared to be a small forest, birds of various sizes and colours flitted from tree to tree singing their unique songs as squirrels jumped from branch to branch and bunnies darted here and there. The aroma of wildflowers permeated the air, and the calming sound of a lazily flowing stream could be heard through the trees. The domed glass ceiling above and the white stone wall behind them were the only features indicating that they were still inside.

“This… this is incredible,” Becky said in awe as she took in the breathtaking scene before them.

“We have similar greenhouses set up in each of our complexes. They were designed to replicate the woodlands and other such areas that you can find all across Equestria,” Princess Celestia commented.

“Through the week the ponies who work in here tend to the plants and animals, and grow the food that we serve in our cafeteria. Also the people who’ve become pegasi through Ponification are brought in here to test out their new wings.” Twilight added after her mentor.

“It truly is wonderful to see an environment such as this. It’s sad that humans became so removed from nature,” said Raymond.

The others turned to face him; he hadn’t spoken for so long they nearly forgot he was with them. He had donned his now repaired yet still dusty robe, which now more closely resembled a cloak; it still had a hood, yet the sleeves were gone and it was entirely refitted to the shape of his new body.

“Now’s not the time to mourn over what could have been though, it’s time to get down to business. Twilight, we’ll need an open space for what I’m about to do, is there a large clearing somewhere in here?”

Twilight nodded, “Yes, there’s a fairly open area beside the small lake in the center of the greenhouse.”

Raymond smiled, “That should do nicely, lead on.”

A short while later they arrived at the edge of the lake Twilight specified. Raymond took a moment to examine the clearing. Sure enough there was a sizable field filled with flowers, bordered on three sides by trees and the other greeted a small sandy beach which sloped gently into the water.

“Perfect, this should do nicely. Now please stand b--” Raymond paused as he heard the soft sound of someone humming. Glancing to the center of the field he noticed a pegasus with a pale yellow coat and pink mane and tale, she was too busy feeding some carrots to a family of bunnies to notice the arrival of the group, and all the while she hummed happily.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight exclaimed as she galloped over to see her friend.

The pegasus let out a small “Eep!” scaring the bunnies away. She calmed down upon realizing who it was. “Oh. Hello, Twilight. What are you doing here? You rarely come to the greenhouse.”

“Long story,” Twilight sighed, “But it has something to do with them,” she nodded her head towards where the two Princesses stood with Raymond and Becky.

“O-oh my, what are the Princesses doing here?” Fluttershy then noticed the two cloaked individuals, her light blue eyes widening as she saw that one of them was an alicorn. Quickly hiding behind Twilight, she squeaked, “W-who are t-they?”

Twilight pulled her friend out from behind her, “Well... we’re not quite sure yet. They claim to be protectors of some sort, and they can use some pretty powerful magic.” She motioned for the others to join her.

As the group approached Raymond mentioned to Luna, “Though I don’t know how to use Equestrian magic, I can still feel it; and right now I can sense a strong magical connection between Twilight and that pegasus. That same connection seems to be extended to a few others from what I can tell.”

Luna replied, “Thou art sensing the Elements of Harmony. The elements are strong magical artifacts that only Twilight and her friends are capable of using. Their past use of the elements has wrought this connection, thus strengthening their friendship.”

“Fascinating, I need to learn how to use Equestrian magic myself. I think it would also be a good idea for me to learn how to fly.” Raymond’s cloak, draped over his left shoulder, fell from his wing as he extended the pair of flying appendages and gave them a powerful flap, lifting him off the ground, surprising him and sending him sprawling to the ground in a heap.

Becky broke down laughing, “Y-you should see yourself Ray! Oh this is gold, the poor baby birdie needs help learning how to fly!”

Raymond simply grunted in response, he picked himself up and folded his wings underneath his cloak.

Celestia and Luna both smiled when they approached the two friends, Becky was clutching her sore sides as she continued to laugh, and Raymond just scowled at her.

“Hello Fluttershy, it’s been a while. I hope you and your friends have been well and safe all this time,” Celestia said warmly to the timid pegasus.

“H-hello Princess, I’m fine. How is your pet phoenix, Philomena?”

“She’s healthy, though she is still just as much of a trickster as ever,” she replied with a wink.

“Greetings dear Fluttershy, I am glad that thou are well. I must thank thee again for thine assistance with my voice,” Luna greeted in a voice softer than her normal commanding tone.

“Y-you’re welcome,” Fluttershy replied quietly, smiling at the Princess of the night.

Becky walked over and knelt down in front of Fluttershy, saying kindly “Hello there. My name’s Becky, and that grump over there is Raymond.”

Raymond shot another stern look at Becky before putting on a calm expression and saying, “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Sorry if it sounds like I’m prying but I couldn’t help but notice you with those bunnies, you seem to like being with animals quite a bit.”

Fluttershy, who was being held in place by Twilight as she tried to back away from the two strangers, suddenly perked up. “Oh yes! I simply love taking care of all sorts of wild life. Back at home it is my job to take care of all the animals and tend to their injuries and illnesses. I got my cutie mark shortly after realizing my love for taking care of all these little critters.”

“What’s a cutie mark?” Raymond asked.

Fluttershy looked a little puzzled, “It’s a mark that all ponies eventually get when they realize what their special talent is.” She indicated the image of three pink butterflies on her flank.

“I seen so that’s what you call them.”

Twilight turned to look at Raymond’s flank, she had completely forgotten to check whether or not he had his cutie mark, most people who went through with Ponification were blank flanks. She was surprised by what she saw, “I’ve never seen a cutie mark like yours, what does it signify?”

Raymond looked at his flank to see a silver shield emblazoned with the image of a golden eye, the eye seemed to faintly shimmer when the shadow cast by Raymond’s head fell across it. “If I had to guess, I would say it symbolizes my position as a Sentinel quite nicely, well either that or my unique form of magic.”

“S-sentinel?” Fluttershy questioned rather quietly.

Raymond gave her a warm smile, “Yes that it was Becky and I are called, and it is our duty to protect the entire pony race. Well… first we have to earn the trust of the Princesses, and to do so they have issued us a test.”

Fluttershy still looked questioningly at him but remained quiet. Raymond took this opportunity to continue speaking, this time to everyone gathered.

“Alright, now before I continue I need you all to back up to the edge of the clearing.”

Knowing what he was about to do, Becky eagerly began to push the others away from where Raymond stood now facing the lake. “Come on now, hurry it along. He’s not doing anything dangerous so just give him the space he needs will you?”

Luna and Celestia hesitated before allowing Becky to guide them to the clearings edge, Twilight was focusing on what Raymond was doing, not wanting to miss anything, so she slowly began walking backwards. Fluttershy however was all too quick to retreat to the specified safe area.

Once they were a safe distance away, Raymond lifted the silver key from his neck, a faint glow sparked into being around his horn as his magic wrapped it in a soft blue light. Once he had the key held before him, he closed his eyes. Almost immediately glowing white runes appeared on the key’s surface; it slowly inched forward and began to disappear as though it was being inserted into a keyhole. Once in place the glowing key turned and the creaking of an ancient tumbler could be heard. Suddenly the white runes jumped off the key and began to rapidly circle the shaft, expanding outward; the center of the circle of rotating runes also began to glow white. There was a brilliant flash of light blinding all spectators apart from Becky, who had closed her eyes shortly after Raymond had inserted the key.

Once the light subsided and everyone’s vision had returned, Celestia, Luna, Twilight, and Fluttershy all wore the same expression; eyes wide open with wonder and limp jaws dangling as if to touch the ground. None of them could find the words to describe the awe invoking structure that had appeared before them.

A massive marble archway, much taller than any of the trees in the greenhouse and wide enough to fit nearly twenty ponies walking abreast, now stood at the lakes edge. Its surface was covered with white pulsating runes, a silver gate glided open to reveal a white glowing mist which swirled slowly in the archway.

Raymond turned to regard the group standing in muted astonishment. “This gateway leads to the place that Becky and I call home, there is a suitable location to conduct our test inside.” With a flourishing bow, he announced, “I formally extend an invitation to you all, asking you to join us in entering, for the first time in over five thousand years… The Sentinels Keep.”

To everyone’s shock, Fluttershy was the first to speak. “B-but the lake is r-right b-behind it. I d-don’t see your home anywhere.”

“The gate leads to the Keep, in fact it’s the only way to get there considering that our home is located in its own dimensional pocket,” Becky explained flatly. “How else would a castle home of magically inclined humans be kept secret from the world?”

“If thou art telling the truth, than how did thou come to discover the castle?” Luna inquired.

Raymond replied, “Well technically it wasn’t… discovered. As I already told you, we were born from magic; we always assumed that the Keep came into existence in the same manner, though we’re inclined to believe that it is much older than the Sentinels. We have no idea where the Keep came from, what we do know is that it resides in a space separate from this world. When we arrived, there were several gateways such as this connecting the Keep to the rest of the world allowing humans to come and go freely, though this is the last gate currently in existence.”

Celestia spoke up rather impatiently, “So let me get this straight. You want us to pass through this gate to go to a place that only you two know anything about, so we can determine whether or not we can trust you?”

“You would be right. We can’t go to Equestria for your test since Becky is still human and just being there would exhaust her, and doing it anywhere outside would most likely gather some unwanted attention. Therefore I thought that this would be the ideal location,” Raymond replied calmly.

“But how do we know that we won’t be walking into a trap?”

Replying to the Princesses question, Becky blatantly said, “You don’t. Either Ray or I could go in first, but if we did that then who’s to say that we wouldn’t be setting up a trap just for you. Then again you could always go in first, but it just falls back to that whole trust issue.”

“Indeed,” Luna growled.

“I’m sorry but this is getting us nowhere,” Twilight said clearly irritated. “I have so many questions I’d like to ask you, but for now… while you two are being tested what am I supposed to do?”

Raymond pondered this for a moment, “Well what do you like to do? I’m certain we can find some facility in the Keep that pertains to your interests.”

“Well I do like to practice using my magic, and, um,” continuing in a slightly quieter voice, “I really enjoy reading and studying all sorts of things.”

“I think you would be interested in our Library then,” Raymond said. He didn’t notice how Twilights ears perked up. “I believe it’s one of the largest structures in the Keep, and inside are books on every topic imaginable; magic, science, politics, the entire history of the human race including even that which has been hidden from public knowledge. There are also facilities for practicing spells and alchemy among other things, and there is also a chemistry laboratory.”

The entire time Raymond spoke, Twilights eyes were opening wider and wider. When he finished Twilight stood there for a moment, and then before anyone could stop her she practically flew through the archway.

Luna was dumbstruck, Celestia took off after Twilight, and Becky was trying to stifle another fit of laughter while both Fluttershy and Raymond just stared after them with surprised faces, though Fluttershy was the quicker of the two to recover.

“Was it something I said?” Raymond asked, oblivious to the reasoning behind Twilight’s sudden disregard for Princess Celestia’s caution.

Fluttershy filled him in, “Oh, well yes… I mean, kind of. You see, Twilight never had many friends before coming to Ponyville; she was always too busy studying. Now she lives in the Ponyville library, and although she has lots of friends, she is still quite obsessive about her books and studies.”

“I see, so basically I offered her what you could consider as her idea of paradise then, didn’t I?

Fluttershy nodded meekly.

“Well it wouldn’t be fair to leave you out now would it? From what I’ve seen you enjoy being with animals, and since you’re basically in charge of the greenhouse I think it’s safe to guess that you also like taking care of plant life.”

Fluttershy nodded again, this time with more force and a sense of eagerness in her gaze.

“Then perhaps you would like to see our garden. There’s no one around to take care of animals there so only a single species lives inside, though I can guarantee that you will not be disappointed by it. Now in the area of plants, again, all the different varieties you could imagine and more; from your average daisy to prehistoric ferns as tall as three story buildings. Coincidentally enough, the garden is right behind the library, so you won’t be too far from Twilight if anything happens to either of you.” Raymond chuckled slightly upon finishing.

Just like Twilight had, Fluttershy galloped toward the archway, smiling with eyes wide with anticipation. That left Luna, Becky and Raymond in the field of flowers.

“That settles the debate then,” Luna sighed.

“I guess it does. After you, Your Majesty, I need to close the gate behind us so no one wanders in and gets lost. Besides, I don’t think Fluttershy would ever forgive me if one of the small animals here got stuck inside.”

Luna conceded the point and trotted towards the archways swirling mist, the two Sentinels following closely behind.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight was giddy with excitement, just the thought of all those books sent her head spinning. She had no idea what to expect on the other side of the archway, but she couldn’t resist, ‘All that information, just waiting to be learned. The spells, the experiments, oh the possibilities!’ She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn’t notice the strange sensation as she galloped through the mist.

However once she stumbled out of the gateway her mind froze. She stood in the center of an enormous circular courtyard; several large wooden doors lined the wall leading to different parts of the castle. Even from her low vantage point she could see the tops of countless towers jutting up over the top of the courtyard wall, thrust like lances into the sky. Protruding from the wall directly in front of her was an elaborately designed and ornate clock tower; it was clearly the tallest structure in sight.

After the initial shock of witnessing the enormity of the Keep, Twilight began to notice a few oddities. For one, although she could see as clearly as though it were day there was no sun in the sky, and she couldn’t see a single shadow anywhere. Though the most unsettling of these abnormalities was that the cobblestone beneath her hooves wasn’t cool like she expected, the stone was warm, and if Twilight really concentrated she could feel a faint pulse now and again through the hard surface.

Just then Celestia burst into the courtyard behind Twilight. “Twilight!” she trotted over and nuzzled her student. “That was incredibly reckless, what if something had happened to you?”

Twilight looked crestfallen, “I’m so sorry, it’s just… he kept going on about everything their library has, I just couldn’t help myself.”

“I’m simply glad that you’re safe,” Celestia said smiling.

The two of them gazed around together, and they noticed something that Twilight had missed with her initial scan being drawn up towards the towers. Circling the courtyard was a ring of statues, each of a different robed man or woman immortalized in stone, for how long was anyone’s guess.

“Those robes,” Twilight muttered in thought, “They look a lot like the ones that Raymond and Becky wear.”

Celestia nodded in agreement, “These must be statues of the Sentinel Council that Raymond mentioned.” After a quick count she continued, “He did say that there were fifty members of the council, but what strikes me as odd is the fact that four of these fifty pedestals are empty.”

Twilight looked around, and sure enough there were four ornate stone slabs that had no statue to display.

Before Twilight could give voice to a question, Luna stepped through the archway and into the courtyard; she was followed by Becky who was holding a quaking Fluttershy in her arms. Last was Raymond, as he stepped out of the mist he made a beckoning gesture towards the archway with a foreleg and the silver key shot out after him, its chain settling about his neck. The silver gate swung shut and the white mist faded away.

“Well, what do you think?” Raymond was quick to ask.

“It is a very impressive castle,” Celestia responded. “But I want to know, why is it so large?”

“Like I said before, the Keep was here longer than we were, therefore we don’t know why it was made so large. Even though there were only fifty individuals that called this place home, the Keep was nearly always full of people in the past. Travelers seeking refuge from the elements, scholars staying here for months on end to study the books and scrolls in the library, foreign dignitaries looking for guidance at times or to simply discuss political matters with one another; a vast majority of the Keep is living space.”

While she listened to Raymond, Twilight was also trying to calm down Fluttershy who was still a bit shaken from her trip through the archway.

“What happened to scare you in there? There was only mist in there, nothing else.”

“E-exactly, there w-was n-n-nothing else. I felt weightless, l-like I would b-be swept away, I couldn’t even feel the g-ground beneath my hooves.”

Becky overheard their conversation and walked over to join the two sitting ponies, “Don’t worry, you’re not the only one who felt it; in fact you took it even better than some people I’ve seen in the past. That feeling of nothingness comes from being between dimensions, nothing exists there. This archway forms a bridge between here and Earth, the only safe way we can travel between dimensions.”

Twilight nodded at this, “Now that you mention it, I do remember feeling something… but I guess I was too caught up in my excitement to pay it any attention.”

Raymond walked over accompanied by the two princesses. “I’d like to get our test over with so we can deal with the matters at hand. Twilight and Fluttershy, we’ll lead you to the library now, I’m sorry but the grand tour will have to wait until such a moment where we aren’t so pressed for time.”

Twilight jumped to her hooves as Raymond mentioned the library, Fluttershy stood as well, eager to see the garden and this mystery animal Raymond spoke of.

This time Raymond led the group since he knew the layout of the massive Keep by heart. As they walked through the doors to the clock tower, Twilight noticed that one of the empty pedestals was situated right beside the entrance. Risking falling behind to get a better look, she bent down and noticed an inscription of a single name. 'Raymond'. Straightening with a look of confusion, Twilight noticed that the group was just disappearing around a corner. Galloping to catch up, spurred on by her need to ask Raymond about the significance of the inscription on the pedestal, she managed to catch up before losing the group around another bend in the forking passage they entered.

Sliding up beside Raymond Twilight asked, “Those statues out in the courtyard are of the other Sentinels aren’t they?”

Raymond gave her a brief glance and nodded.

“Well how come you don’t have a statue? All that’s there is a pedestal with your name on it.”

Raymond’s brow furrowed as his features became clouded. After a moment of silence, punctuated only by the clopping sound of hooves on stone and the scuffle of one pair of boots, he replied slowly.

“Because I am still here.”

Chapter 6: The Test

After what seemed like ages of walking through twisting corridors and other smaller courtyards, the group stopped in another large courtyard, in front of them towered a large ornate building. Its windows revealing eight floors to the structure, and tall spires raised from each of the buildings four corners. A solid wood door similar to the ones they passed through while entering the clock tower and the buildings entire front was covered in carvings of scrolls and books.

“Here we are. This library houses all of the knowledge gathered by the Sentinel council over the two hundred thousand years of our existence.” Raymond announced, he then said to Twilight, “You can select a few volumes to check out if you’d like, just remember to write down which ones you choose in the ledger on the front desk.”

“You mean I can take some home with me?” Twilight gasped, excitement washing over her features. This faded however as a thought came to her mind, “Wait, what language are the books written in? I doubt there is anything written in Equestrian, and I’m not very good at reading English yet.”

“Don’t worry; this library was once open to everyone in the world. Anyone who wanted to could come to read or borrow our books, so of course there would be some problems if they were written in only one language. Every book in the library is enchanted so they can be read by anyone no matter the language they speak. Additionally you won’t have to worry about any being missing; you see when a book is checked out and recorded in the ledger, it is magically transported to its original spot on the shelf after two weeks.”

Twilight was once again overtaken with joy, but she had one more question to ask before she lost herself in her studies. “How will I find any of you if I need anything? The castle is so large, there’s no way I could find you.”

“You probably noticed the slight pulsing warmth coming from the stone on our way here. Our home is, in some ways, alive. It will help you with transportation,” Becky interjected. “Once you enter the library you will probably see a large cabinet off to the side. If you open it, the Keep will provide you with what you need, you can use the glass orb you find inside to be instantly transported to wherever we are, or where the Princesses are if that’s what you’d prefer.

“One more thing, Fluttershy will be in the garden out back, so make sure you don’t leave without her. All you need to do is drop the glass orb at your fee—um… hooves, and the magic contained in it will bring both of you to us.”

Twilight looked at Fluttershy who nodded her head, failing to hide her eagerness. “So, can we go now? I mean, if it’s alright with you. I can’t wait to see what sorts of things live in this garden.”

“The garden is just through the doors strait back from the entrance,” Raymond instructed Fluttershy.

As disconcerting as it was that the Keep has a life of its own, the two ponies were not deterred from wanting to explore the library and garden.

“Have fun you two,” Becky said to the two friends as they ran into the library.

“Please, be careful!” Celestia shouted after them.

As the door closed behind the two, Raymond turned to the others, “Now I’ll show you to where we will conduct our test.”

Luna, Celestia and Becky followed Raymond back into the Keep.

“I still don’t see how this is going to earn us their trust Ray,” Becky sighed.

“We’ll cross that bridge soon enough, please be patient.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight stared in awe at the grand room she had just entered. Candles flared to life in their brackets at her presence, illuminating the walls; shelves full of books covered them completely from the stone floor all the way to the high vaulted ceiling where a large crystal chandelier hung from a chain. In the center of the room was a massive spiral staircase, presumably allowing access to every floor.

Twilight was so mesmerized by the sight that she didn’t notice Fluttershy slip away and out the back door of the library.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The garden was unlike anything Fluttershy had ever seen, just standing in the doorway she could make out hundreds of varieties of flowers each one more exotic and colourful than the next. Trees of all shapes and sizes were spread evenly out among the rest of the plants. Surprisingly, there were some plants here that Fluttershy knew to be native to Equestria. Fluttershy was trembling with excitement, all of this amazing plant life, most of it she had never seen or heard about, and the garden path continued onward and out of view.

Just then she cringed at a strange sound, it seemed to be the call of some kind of bird. The sound was unique, but Fluttershy was certain she heard it before. Curiosity overriding caution, she trotted down the garden path.

~~~~~~~~~~~

In the middle of a large structure that appeared to be a sort of stadium, Celestia and Luna stood side by side facing Raymond and Becky, the two of whom were situated several feet away.

Luna spoke, “To clarify, this shall be a test to determine whether thou art strong enough to do as thou wish in protecting the pony race. We will do battle here so thou can prove thyself.”

“This probably won’t earn you our trust, but if you can show us that you have what it takes to protect everypony then we won’t try to stop you from doing so. Unless of course, you give us reason to stop you.” Celestia finished.

“That sounds just about right,” Becky smiled getting into a ready stance.

“First things first,” Raymond stated receiving a dull look from Becky. “To avoid having an incredibly unfair advantage, Becky will not use her mind magic to bind you or hinder your fighting abilities in any way, but she will still be able to use it to attack.”

“Fine…” Becky said while pouting.

Raymond continued, “Also, I want you two to come at us with everything you have, don’t hold back. We want you to have complete faith in our abilities to work as protectors. And finally, I have absolutely no authority over Becky’s decision in this matter but…” Raymond paused before he finished, and what he said shocked everyone including Becky. “If you find that our abilities are, inadequate, I want you to kill me.”

Everyone was speechless. No one knew what to say, that is until Princess Celestia stuttered, “We… I… I cannot do such a thing.”

“I need you to promise me, promise that if I cannot prove my worth you will kill me!”

“But Ray… Why? Surely you don’t mean it.” Becky questioned, she was trying to hide her shaking.

Raymond just gave her a sad smile, “I think you know well enough my reasoning by now.” He then addressed the Princesses, “What I want to do, no… what I need to do, is protect everyone that I possibly can. If I cannot do that, then my life has no purpose. How cruel would that be, to leave me alive with no purpose? Unable to die from times passage… unable to kill myself… you need to promise me this, please.”

The Princesses were quiet; they looked at each other with similar sorrowful expressions. Luna nodded slowly to her sister; Celestia hung her head and sighed.

“Very well then, I promise.” Celestia said grudgingly.

Raymond smiled, “Thank you, I can’t tell you how much that means to me.”

“Well then Ray, we’d better make sure that we don’t disappoint them then.” Becky stated with a grin.

With a magically amplified voice, Luna announced, “Let the testing begin!”

Right away, Becky got down into a crouch. She began to draw large circles in the air with her hands, and as she did two glowing orbs materialized in front of her. As they increased in size the two sisters readied themselves for whatever attack was coming.

Becky rapidly thrust her arms forward and a beam of violet light shot out of each orb toward the Princesses. Celestia took to the sky while Luna jumped to the side in an attempt to avoid the beams, however even as they dodged the rays of violet curved through the air, each striking their target and, to the surprise of both Celestia and Luna, continued right through them and disappeared.

“Analysis completed!” Becky called to Raymond with a giggle and a grin. “Both have incredibly powerful offensive magic and they’ve had loads of fighting experience in the past.” She continued more quietly so only Raymond could hear, “I’m also detecting a foreign source of magic inside Luna. It’s very faint, but I can tell it was once extraordinarily powerful and it has a malevolent nature to it.”

“We’ll have to keep an eye on that then won’t we?” Raymond replied.

“What dost thou mean in saying analysis?” Luna questioned.

“Exactly that,” Becky chirped, “You don’t go into battle without first understanding your opponent.”

“Commendable tactic,” Luna complimented, “But do not think that thou have changed anything.”

With that Luna charged at Becky, horn lowered and sparking with energy. She stopped just a few paces from her target and thrust her horn forward releasing her magic in the form of a lightning bolt. Becky immediately threw her hand up in front of her and projected a shield in the path of the oncoming lightning. The shield shattered and Becky was sent flying head over heels.

Her robe seemed to shimmer for a moment as her momentum slowed; she stopped spinning and began to float gently to the ground. She grinned and begun to waggle her fingers. A mass of roots exploded to the surface directly underneath Luna, twisting and reaching to grab hold of the dark blue equine.

Luna flapped her wings and jumped out of the way, “Ha, thou cannot best me with such traps!” but when Luna looked to where Becky had been a moment before she was surprised to see that her opponent had vanished.

Luna felt a sharp pain in her back as Becky’s foot slammed into her back, kicking her back to the ground with magically enhanced strength. Luna was flung back down towards the grasping roots where she was immediately ensnared. Becky touched down before her and said quite smugly “Ha, thou have been bested.” She turned to regard Raymond, thinking her duel over.

Raymond was standing still, having one massive fireball thrown at him after another. Each one exploded in the air in front of him, yet the flames never reached him. “I told you Celestia, my defenses cannot be penetrated!” He shouted to the Princess of the sun over the roar of the flames. Another fireball flew his way but instead of exploding, it was engulfed by a blue aura extending from the air in front of Raymond.

Celestia paused in her assault, her instincts warning her that he was about to attack. Suddenly the fireball that had been consumed reappeared, though this time it was doubled in size and flying straight towards her. “And you should know that you cannot use fire against me, I guide the sun across the sky after all!” Celestia’s horn glowed with a brilliant golden light, and the monstrous flame simply dispersed. She smiled defiantly at Raymond, at least where he used to be. Celestia whirled around upon hearing him directly behind her.

“I figured as much. Still, it did prove to be a nice distraction,” he said as his eyes began to glow.

Celestia threw up her own magical barrier in defense, Raymond just chuckled.

“You forget that barriers are my specialty, there is no barrier that can stop me.” He leaned his head forward, and as his horn made contact with the thin golden membrane Celestia’s shield shattered. He flared up his magic and released it in the form of a shockwave, sending Celestia sprawling. “I thought I told you not to hold back, I cannot prove anything this way.”

“Like your friend said earlier, you shouldn’t fight until you understand what your opponent can do,” was Celestia’s reply as she climbed to a standing position. Her eyes and horn began to glow. Raymond could feel the massive amount of energy she was gathering, he braced himself. Celestia threw her head back and flames erupted outward, sending Raymond flying. Fire spread across the ground searing everything it touched. Raymond, mane singed and with a particularly nasty burn extending down the right side of his face all the way to his shoulder and upper foreleg, quickly corrected himself and put up his own protective shield, staggering as pain shot up his leg when he landed. The spreading fire surrounded him and even through his protective magic he could feel the intense heat.

From where she was watching Becky could see that Raymond was in a bit of trouble. “Barriers aren’t the only magic you can use bonehead!” Becky called.

Raymond heard Becky and looked over to see her watching with a worried look, behind her Luna was struggling in a large tangle of roots. “I think I know what I’m capable of doing thank you, but don’t you think you should be focusing more on your fight?” He hollered back.

Becky regarded him curiously, ‘Finish? I’ve already won. I have Luna-’ She lost her train of thought as a surge of magic from behind made her fall forwards on her face. She pushed herself off the ground and turned around to see Luna standing behind her free from the now destroyed roots, her eyes and horn glowing brightly. “Trapped… oh,” she concluded aloud.

Celestia regarded Raymond, “She seemed rather worried about your safety. Perhaps you are not as powerful as you claim to be?” she stated more than questioned.

Raymond shook his head, “She’s my friend, and all she was doing was making fun of me. She’s made quite a habit out of it over the years.”

Celestia was about to voice another remark before she was cut off by Raymond, “Trust me, I am more than able to deal with this.”

As he spoke an icy glow enveloped his hooves, and Celestia could see the space around Raymond begin to waver like the air when you open the door to a heated house on a cool winter day.

Celestia raised an eyebrow at this, “I know this isn’t the best of times, but I can’t help but notice how your hooves glow with magic instead of your horn when you cast a spell.”

Raymond chuckled, “I may have mentioned it to your sister earlier but I’ll say it again, I don’t know how to weave spells like you do in Equestria. Human spell casting is the only spell casting I am practiced in, and humans never needed to use catalysts for every spell in the past. Only certain kinds of magic needed one.”

She shook her head and braced herself for what was to come next. Despite his explanation it still didn’t seem right that he didn't have to focus magic through his horn now that he was a pony.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight was prancing happily around the library, a pile of books in tow. Mostly they were volumes regarding the use of magic or its history, though there were a few others that also caught her attention. One book in particular caught her eye quite early in her search; it was incredibly old, easily the oldest book she found yet. Its cover was made out of what Twilight believed to be dragon skin and it was titled, ‘Histories of Magical Races: The Dragonkin’. She picked it up mainly because she thought Spike back at home in Ponyville might be interested in looking at it, but also because she wanted to learn more about the magical past of humans.

Twilight was wandering the seventh floor looking for a place to start reading. Eventually she came across a side room with a sign above the doorway saying ‘Study’. ‘What a perfect place for reading,’ Twilight chuckled silently to herself as she stepped in.

Upon entering the Study, a fire roared to life in the stone fireplace and torches mounted on the walls lit up as well. It was a cozy room, a couple shelves with stacks of parchment, quills and inkpots were also in plentiful supply. A large window overlooking the garden occupied the far wall. Cushions and chairs were spread about, and a desk was positioned opposite the fireplace.

Twilight set her books down beside the fire and pulled over a cushion, just before she sat down to lose herself in the wonderful world of literature she noticed a single small leather bound book lay open on the desk beside a quill and half used inkpot. On top of the book rested a miniature copy of a lifelike painting of two individuals, one she immediately recognized as Raymond when he was human, and the other was a woman Twilight did not recognize. She wore the same robe as Raymond so Twilight assumed that she must have been another Sentinel; she was a slender woman with raven black hair and hazel eyes. The two of them were smiling and wrapped in each other’s arms while seated at the bow of a boat. Behind them was an island on which rested a massive city of pristine white marble. In the painting the island appeared to be shimmering and it’s only connection to the continent in the background was a marble bridge spearing into the distance.

Turning her attention away from the captivating painting, she closed the book to look at its cover, a single word was written, ‘Journal’.

‘This must belong to either Raymond or that other woman in the picture,’ Twilight thought to herself while flipping open to a later entry in hopes of finding out more about their enigmatic friend.

“My dearly beloved Caroline, all the years we’ve spent together, the countless sunsets we’ve gazed upon, the many trials we’ve endured side by side. All this time I was there to protect you, but not once have I told you just how much your presence, you being there beside me, helped me continue moving forward all these long years. But I failed; I failed in the single most important task of my cursed long life, now you’re gone and it’s entirely my fault. I became lost without your guidance, your constant support, and even now I cannot bring myself to write about the atrocities I’ve committed. To try to make amends, I’ve decided to save every single individual life that I possibly can. I know that I will not succeed, and I know even more will die at my hands before my life finally comes to a close; but above all else, I know that once I pass on I will never be able to look you in the eye. Nothing I do will ever be able to make up for what I’ve done…”

The rest of the page was unreadable, the text smudged and faded beyond comprehension by the stains of ancient tears.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The strange birds call could be heard from somewhere ahead, and Fluttershy was certain she had heard it before but just couldn’t remember where.

Eagerly following the garden path before her, Fluttershy stumbled to a halt as she turned a corner. On the path in front of her was a small pile of ash. She knew what this was but for the life of her she couldn’t remember what it meant, that is until a large red and gold bird swooped down between her and the ash pile, flames trailing the bird’s wings. Fluttershy panicked and jumped headfirst into the bushes. A moment later she sprung out of her hiding place, the realization suddenly dawning on her.

“Oh! Was that what I think it was?” She looked at the ash pile to see the majestic bird gazing lovingly down at a newly reborn chick just poking its head out of the ash pile.

“Phoenixes!” Fluttershy exclaimed with glee as she watched the large bird help the newly reborn clean itself off. She looked up when she heard more of the same calls that led her there in the first place, and saw five others perched in a nearby tree. “A family of them!”

Fluttershy was overjoyed, she was in the midst of a family of incredibly rare birds, and better yet she just witnessed the rebirth of one of them. The only other phoenix Fluttershy had seen was Princess Celestia’s pet Philomena, but that was only for a short time and the bird was sick nearly the entire time they were together.

Fluttershy stepped towards the phoenix that stood guard over the little one. “Could I hold the little guy please, that is, if it’s alright with you?”

The phoenix turned to face Fluttershy; it looked as though it were pondering something, then the phoenix nodded its head and hopped back a couple steps. Fluttershy stepped closer and tenderly picked up the baby and held it close. The bird chirped and wrapped itself up in Fluttershy’s mane, Fluttershy smiled contently as the family of magical birds gathered around her and the little one.

~~~~~~~~~~~

A strong gust of icy wind assaulted Celestia, the surrounding flames were quelled and ice began to form on her coat and wings.

The wind stopped as suddenly as it formed, and there stood Raymond, his hooves glowing blue as a thin veils of frozen vapor floated around them. He held his right eye closed, the skin around it severely blistered.

Celestia brought fourth another surge of flames, melting the icicles that now hung from her feathers. As the inferno approached Raymond he front hooves into the ground, flinching as the blistered skin on his shoulder stretched. The fire was met with a wall of ice that solidified between the two combatants. The fire began melting the ice with a loud hiss and steam clouds were cast into the air, as the last of the wall vaporized and the remaining flames burst through, they were dispelled with another light stomp from Raymond.

“Winter always was my favourite season, and I am quite fond of using elemental ice spells,” Raymond said from behind Celestia.

Celestia spun around; the drifting steam clouds prevented kept her from noticing Raymond’s movement. “Impressive strategy,” she complimented. “Is that another ability of yours like those barriers?”

Raymond shook his head, the glow fading from his hooves and the veil of ice crystals falling away, “No, it’s just the only other type of magic that I ever really practiced using.”

Becky wasn’t faring as well in her fight with Luna as Raymond was in his against Celestia. She was running back and forth, jumping over small craters as Luna flew above firing bolts of lightning and other magical projectiles at the Sentinel desperately avoiding the attacks below.

“Thou cannot continue dodging forever!” Luna called in an attempt to provoke her. “I thought thou would put up a better fight.

Becky was about to reply, but a stray lightning bolt struck her chest and she fell to the ground convulsing, smoke drifting from her hair and robe. After her body stopped shaking it remained motionless, void of any sign of life as the rise and fall of her breast ceased.

Luna stopped and hung in the air. Clearly shocked she stared in horror at the lifeless corpse below her, “Surely this is another trick. Thou could not have died from such a strike. Thou cannot be dead.”

Just before Luna began to descend however, Becky’s body faded away. Luna froze for a moment; ‘A trick, I knew it!’ a moment was all that was needed. Luna’s head jerked around, the air began to vibrate as a massive glowing white blade of pure magic shot towards her, the volume of its howl growing as it sliced through the air getting closer and closer. Behind it on the ground stood Becky with a mischievous grin plastered on her face.

Luna didn’t have time to dodge. The blade made contact at the base of her wing, continuing through and severing both of the appendages from her body. She howled in agonizing pain as she plummeted towards the ground, landing painfully in a heap. Writhing in agony, she noticed Becky walking slowly towards her, all mirth drained from her features, her face hooded and cast in shadow. She now held a wicked curved sword in her hand. Becky bent down and grabbing Luna’s midnight sky mane violently yanked her head up so she could whisper into the Princesses ear.

“If the mind is weak… A simple illusion is enough to kill.” With that Becky threw Luna’s head to the ground and raised the sword above her head.

Luna cringed as the blade began its arcing descent to her neck. She wasn’t scared; she was disgusted with herself, disgusted by the fact that she didn’t see this coming. Two complete strangers boasting powerful magic appearing out of nowhere and claiming to want to help, if this was the case then why didn’t they show up sooner when the HLF first started causing trouble? It all seemed too good to be true, and now Luna could see that it was exactly that. She closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable.

Luna waited. She waited and waited, and then she felt a hand on her side. Opening her eyes, she saw Becky sitting beside her gently rubbing the area below her wing. Luna’s head popped off the ground in surprise, both her wings were still attached to her body, and not a scratch was on them, nor was a single feather out of place.

“Glad to see that you have a strong mind,” Becky said with a kind smile.

“W-what did thou do to me?” Luna stammered, not understanding what had just transpired.

“I showed you an illusion, one that was real enough to trick your mind into thinking it was reality. Sorry, but I just can’t resist testing the strength of someone’s mind.” She gave a sheepish grin.

It took Luna a moment to digest this, but when she did she was furious.

“Thou had the nerve to test me whilst we test thine strength? And thou had almost killed me in the process!” Luna’s eyes were glowing darkly, and Becky could sense that something was off.

A shudder racked her body as Luna’s mane began to wrap itself around her, becoming a wall of dark ethereal mist; her temper rising as she continued, “I have never been so insulted and humiliated!”

Worried, Becky called to Raymond who was too busy with Celestia to notice what was happening to Luna, “Um… Ray? Remember that dark magic I said I felt in Luna?”

Raymond had just deflected another vicious attack from Celestia, both of them were panting from the effort they were exerting. “Yea!” he called back before turning his head, “By Aldrich, what’s happening to her?”

Celestia froze in horror at what she saw happening to her beloved sister. A single disbelieving word escaped her lips as her knees buckled beneath her.

“…No…”

Chapter 7: A Chance at Revenge

‘What did he fail to protect her from? And what did he do that he doesn’t want to bring up?’ Twilight set the journal back on the desk with an exasperated groan. She had originally thought that the journal would provide more of an insight towards Raymond, but reading that last passage left her in no better of a position in her understanding. “Now I have even more questions than before.”

Twilight trudged back to the cushion by the fireplace where she had deposited the books that caught her eye during her exploration of the vast library. After reading the journal entry she had thought that other pages may reveal something useful, but recalling how enigmatic Raymond acted she assumed that the rest of the journal would be just as irritatingly vague.

She lay down on the cushion and levitated the first book on the pile towards her, ‘History of the Silent Kingdom: The Dream State Reign’. Suddenly the small amount of concentration she needed for such a trivial task was shattered as Twilight felt a powerful wave of magic wash over her. Tainted with such strong resent and bitterness, Twilight immediately recognized it for what it was.

“That’s… but the Elements… this can’t be happening!”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Fluttershy sat and watched in awe as the family of phoenixes weaved and danced through the branches and dense foliage of the trees edging the garden pathway, singing their strange melodious song all the while. The newly reborn phoenix chick was perched atop Fluttershy’s head, fluttering its small wings and chirping in delight as it’s watched the others fly overhead.

The phoenix was still small, but it had matured considerably during the short time since its rebirth. Fluttershy was amazed at how the little guy was almost big enough to fly already.

The young phoenix stopped chirping and hopped down to curl up in Fluttershy’s mane. She watched it with a warm smile, but her smile was quickly replaced by a frown when she noticed its shaking.

“What’s wrong little phoenix, did something scare you? Don’t worry, Fluttershy’s here to protect you,” she calmly soothed. However her gaze was drawn upwards to the sudden alarmed squawks of the rest of the family. The older phoenixes had stopped their aerial dance, their own eyes directed in the direction of the library and the castle beyond.

The ensuing silence had Fluttershy’s heart racing. The seconds crept by into minutes, and neither the phoenixes nor the timid pegasus moved a muscle.

“Fluttershy!” The pegasus jumped at the sudden noise of her name being called, the little phoenix that had been clinging to her being scared a few feet away by Fluttershy’s jarring movement.

“Fluttershy, where are—“ Twilight rounded the bend at a gallop, a small glass orb enveloped in a purple glow floating in her wake. “There you are. Come on, we need to get back to the others.”

“W-why, what’s w-wrong?” Fluttershy asked, anxiety creeping its way into her mind and making her voice tremble. “The phoenixes all suddenly stopped flying, and now they look pretty defensive.”

Twilight shot a brief glance towards the branches overhead, her eyes quickly sparkled with wonder at seeing a group of such a rare species.

Shaking her head and returning to the matter at hand she hurriedly stated, “I’m not sure, what I do know is that I felt Nightmare Moon’s magic suddenly flare into existence. We need to get to the others now!”

The pupils in Fluttershy’s eyes quickly contracted from fright, “Nightmare Moon?!”

Twilight nodded, “I don’t know how, but somehow she returned. Now come on, we have to go try to help!”

She was about to shatter the glass orb she brought from the library on the ground under Becky’s instruction before Fluttershy said, “But our friends aren’t here, how can we stop Nightmare Moon without all the Elements?”

“I don’t know,” Twilight replied sourly. “But we have to try.”

Before Fluttershy could voice any further objections, Twilight launched the orb towards the ground at their hooves. As soon as it made contact with the dirt path it shattered and a glowing white mist akin to that which swirled in the gate that brought them to the Keep escaped the broken sphere. The mist wrapped around the two friends becoming a thick white veil separating them from the rest of the world. Thin wisps drifted skywards, and eventually the veil dissipated leaving the garden path empty. The only exception was the phoenix chick. It stood there staring longingly at the spot the pegasus had been sitting in.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The rapidly twisting ethereal shroud of dark blue sparkled with small white lights reminiscent of the night sky. As this was happening Celestia and the two Sentinels looked on, the former was trembling with an expression masked in horror as she unintelligibly mumbled her disbelief. The latter two regarded the event with a more calm and calculating gaze even as they felt strong pulses of magic being emitted from the lunar Princess.

“Princess,” Raymond finally spoke, turning to face the ivory equine and noticing her shaking. “What’s happening to her? What’s going on?”

Celestia slowly shook her head never taking her eyes away from her sister, “T-this shouldn’t be happening—“

“Celestia!” Raymond snapped, his one good eye locked with her two amethyst irises, his calm demeanor replaced with a snarl of impatience and looking all the more intimidating with his blistered features. The Princess eyes were shimmering with tears. “We can—“

Raymond’s words caught in his throat as the swirling dark mist flared outward, revealing an ebony coated Alicorn taller than even Celestia. The dark equine threw her head back, her ethereal mane, the same dark mist as before, flowed backwards and sparked with energy as she gave a bone chilling laugh. The helmet on her head, the peytral plate covering her chest, and the slippers she wore on her hooves were all made of the same ancient blue tinted metal.

“Princess, what is that?” Raymond whispered as the equine continued its cold laughter. “We can help; you have to trust us on this. But we can’t do anything if you don’t tell us what’s going on!” he finished with a hiss.

Celestia shuddered as she let out a ragged sigh, “That’s Nightmare Moon.”

“Nightmare what?” Becky interrupted.

Raymond shot her a cold glare even as Celestia continued. “It was born from the bitterness in my sister’s heart just over one thousand years ago. I fought her and… regrettably, in order to save the world from endless night I was required to banish her to the moon.” She shuddered again, her own ethereal mane matted against the side of her face by ill concealed tears. “A couple years ago Twilight and her friends wielded the Elements of Harmony and purified the darkness that took hold of my sister’s heart.”

Nightmare moon had stopped laughing, her gaze was now fixated on the three individuals before her. Eyes once a deep cyan were now a dark azure colour and her pupils were dark slits, her stare exuded anger and a perverse joy for the revenge she was about to exact.

“Hello sister,” her voice tinged with a cold mirth. “It’s so nice to see your sun loving face again. It’s a pity that you’ll be leaving so soon though,” Nightmare Moon took a slow step towards Celestia. “You’ll be missing the return of my glorious night.”

Celestia, on her hooves again, shook her head defiantly, “You are no sister of mine foul creature. I demand that you return Luna to me!”

Nightmare Moon chuckled silently as she continued her slow approach. “Don’t you see Celestia, Luna is me, I am Luna. It was her resent towards you and your precious day that created me. She knew what was happening, she could have easily stopped it if she so desired… yet she didn’t!” She threw her head back, “She welcomed me, grateful for the company of another who enjoyed the night as much as her!”

“You took control, you imprisoned her mind!” Celestia retorted angrily, her bloodshot eyes unblinking.

“Because she soon started to fear me, she was frightened of the things I was capable of. Luna was becoming weak with fear, a weakness that I was required to lock away,” Nightmare Moon replied with a deathly calm voice. “That’s in the past now though…” she paused. “Now all that’s left is for me to finish what I started!”

She lunged at Celestia, sparks of energy leaping off her horn as her eyes glowed white. Celestia prepared for a counter, her own horn glowing with golden light. Before Nightmare Moon could reach Celestia her path was blocked by Becky. Her signature jovial expression replaced with one of serious determination as she reached out with her hand and grabbed the dark equine by the head, the deadly horn sliding between her fingers. As hand made contact with head Nightmare Moon’s gathered magic was dispelled, leaving the equine frozen in bewilderment. Before she could retaliate, Becky threw her arm to the side and Nightmare Moon found herself flipping head over hoof through the air.

Landing with a heavy thud, Nightmare Moon grunted, and before she could even begin pushing herself into a standing position she felt something cold pressing down on her. An icy blue light surrounded Raymond’s hooves as ice started forming over the prone body.

“This isn’t your fight Sentinel; you have no right to interfere!” Nightmare Moon spat, her words dripping with hate.

“Actually I do, in case you weren’t listening,” Raymond replied steadily. “Though since you know what I am, I’d say it’s safe to assume that you were aware of everything happening up until now.”

Nightmare Moon said nothing; she simply continued to glower at the ice blue Alicorn. Her icy prison covering all but her head, she couldn’t move and the cold was beginning to penetrate the protection of her ebony coat.

Raymond turned to Celestia, “Now that we have some time, is there anything else you could tell us that may aid our efforts?”

Celestia was about to respond, but she remained silent as her gaze was drawn to the spot directly behind Raymond. The Sentinel turned to see what had caught Celestia’s attention; his eyes were greeted by a swirling white mist. As the mist began to clear he could make out the forms of Fluttershy and Twilight, though they weren’t the only ones watching.

A sinister grin crept its way onto Nightmare Moon’s face, “What do we have here? The Elements of harmony… but what’s this, there’s only two of them?”

All eyes shifted towards the now laughing Nightmare Moon, “Oh what a glorious chance this is!” the dark Alicorn all but shouted as her body burst apart into a dark cloud, escaping the encasing ice.

“What impeccable timing Miss Sparkle,” Becky said flatly as she dropped into a crouch and rolled up her sleeves.

“Get back now!” Raymond yelled at the two new arrivals as the ethereal body of Nightmare Moon shot towards them.

Quick to heed his advice, Twilight and Fluttershy retreated to Celestia’s side as a blue glow flared to life from the depths of Raymond’s open eye. The dark cloud almost caught up to them before it was stopped by a thin translucent blue membrane. Deflecting upwards and spiraling back at another angle, Nightmare Moon continued her assault, each vicious attack made the barrier vibrate. One particularly fierce attack left a small crack which Raymond quickly sealed.

Out of the corner of his eye Raymond noticed how each time Nightmare Moon struck the barrier Becky would flinch and tense up just a little more, her eyes widening and becoming slightly more panicked as they darted after the dark cloud. Raymond grimaced and returned his focus to the barrier.

“We came to help!” Twilight spoke with urgency.

“And how were you planning on doing that exactly?” Raymond retaliated, his patience beginning to wear thin.

“I… the Elements—“ Twilight started.

Celestia gently cut her off, “—Are useless without all six present.”

Fluttershy trembled against Twilights supporting body and flinched each time the dark cloud collided with Raymond’s barrier. The lavender unicorn replied disheartened to her mentor, “I know… I just felt Nightmare Moon and thought we could do something to help.”

“Don’t you worry, Twilight,” Raymond spoke determinedly as his one good eye followed the twists and turns of the dark cloud. “We can handle this can’t we, Becky… Becky?”

Raymond twisted his head around with a grimace to see the female Sentinel hugging herself tightly as her head jerked back and fourth after Nightmare Moon with wide eyes, muttering anxiously to herself.

“Rebecca!” Raymond snapped. Her wide eyed gaze locked quickly onto him. Raymond continued much calmer in as soothing a voice he could manage, “Please, pull yourself together and focus here, Becky. Nightmare Moon can’t reach us, she can’t reach you. It cannot hurt you.”

Becky was still holding herself, but not nearly as tightly as before. “S… safe?” she managed to murmur.

Raymond nodded with a small smile. “Yes, safe. But in order to keep everyone safe we need your help.”

She slumped as her body gave a barely perceptible shudder. Becky blinked a few times and suddenly she was standing tall again with a wide grin like nothing happened.

Flashing his own rare grin, Raymond spoke, “Now Becky, do you think you could try to catch her now?”

With a brief hum of thought she crossed her arms and ponderously at Nightmare Moon. “I don’t know if you noticed, Ray. But she’s kind of, oh how should I put this… smokey right now, and that makes it just a teeny bit difficult to pinpoint her mind.”

“Well then allow me to correct that,” Raymond said, fixing his own one eyed gaze at the ethereal form of Nightmare Moon.

After a moment his good eye flashed again and a translucent sphere materialized around the dark cloud, successfully trapping it and halting its erratic movements. As he did this, the protective dome around the group cracked and vanished. With a grimace Raymond cracked open his blistered eyelid as his eyes began to glow brighter. Slowly the floating blue orb began to shrink, compressing the ethereal cloud within. The walls of the orb began to distort and stretch until finally with an agonizing howl of pain the cloud solidified once again into the form of Nightmare Moon.

“Thank you very much,” Becky stated as her eyes briefly flashed green.

Suddenly Nightmare Moon’s body went limp. Raymond released his hold on his magic and the barrier faded away, the ebony Alicorn falling to the ground in a heap.

“Do you have her?” Raymond asked turning to Becky, it was visible in his expression that he already knew the answer.

“What does it look like?” Becky responded with an exaggerated shrug.

Celestia spoke up, “What did you do? Why did you—Watch out!” She dropped into a battle ready stance as Nightmare Moon climbed to her hooves.

Twilight and Fluttershy watched with fear as Nightmare Moon approached and the two Sentinels just stood there. Nightmare moon stopped her advance directly in front of Raymond and lifted a hoof towards his head. Before any of the onlookers could offer the aid that it appeared Raymond needed, Nightmare Moon’s hoof gently poked the end of Raymond’s snout, an action accompanied by a fit of giggling coming from Becky.

“Yes, yes. Very funny, Becky,” Raymond said flatly.

“What is going on here?” Celestia pondered aloud, looking from one Sentinel to the other, then finally to Nightmare Moon. As she looked closer she noted how the dark alicorn's eyes were glazed over and staring at nothing in particular.

“Becky took control of Nightmare Moon’s mind,” Raymond replied while pushing away the ebony hoof, which was now stroking his mane. “Right now she’s having a bit of fun.”

“I assure you that this isn’t as fun as it looks,” Becky stated with a pout. “I’m just getting used to moving her body. It’s quite disconcerting actually, what with being in two minds at one time… well technically I guess you could say three minds right now, though Princess Luna’s being a bit unresponsive at the moment.”

“L-Luna?” Celestia stammered. “Is she alright?”

Becky nodded, “She seems fine, just a bit shaken up and drained of energy.”

The ivory alicorn gave a relieved sigh, “Thank goodness. Can you free my sister now?”

“Not yet,” Becky started. Though when she saw Celestia’s expression shift to one of sadness she explained, “I’m not saying that I can’t, just that we should remove Nightmare Moon first so Luna’s magic doesn’t cover up her presence.”

“You can remove Nightmare Moon?” Celestia asked in disbelief.

“Yes, we can,” Raymond replied. “But first we need a vessel to contain her. Becky, take everyone to my house while I search the vault for a suitable unit.”

Becky nodded, and before anyone could say anything he disappeared in a flash of blue light. Becky turned to the others and said, “You heard Ray, time to get going.” Directing her attention briefly to Nightmare Moon she said with a grin, “You too Hokey Smokes, don’t think I forgot about you.”

With a flash of green light the group found themselves standing in front of a small log cabin surrounded by a flower garden. A decorative water fountain gurgled gently off to the side, beside which was a swinging bench made to seat two. On a hill in the distance they could see the tall turrets of the Sentinels Keep.

“This is where Raymond lives?” Twilight spoke surprise at the quaint little structure. “I would have thought that he stayed at the Keep.”

Celestia nodded her head in agreement, “As did I Twilight. This is quite the surprise.”

“Well I like it,” Fluttershy added. “It’s so calm and relaxing here. The only thing it’s missing is the sound of birds singing.”

“Raymond never liked the Keep much,” Becky said quietly. “He rarely ever associated with anyone, not even the other Sentinels on the council. Sure he often worked alongside the head of the council, Aldrich, and he and I were good friends. Other than that though, there were very few on the council he spoke with, and even fewer would ever come visit him.”

“What about Caroline?” Twilight asked softly.

Becky’s eyes widened in shock as she stammered, “W-where did you hear that name?”

“I… read it in Raymond’s journal…” Twilight trailed off. “Why, was I not supposed to?”

Sighing, Becky turned away and said, “It’s… a very sensitive topic for him. A sensitive topic for all the remaining Sentinels actually.” She spun to face Twilight again, a forlorn look in her eyes, “I’d advise you do forget about it. Don’t mention anything that you saw to Raymond.” Casting her gaze over the others she said sternly, “Not a word.”

Before anyone could object however, Raymond appeared in another flash of light. In front of him floated yet another orb, though this one was metal, its surface incrusted with gems all inscribed with runic markings.

“Alright, we can get started now. Princess, you may watch if you wish, though I must request that you two stay out here, Twilight, Fluttershy,” Raymond instructed the group. “Bring Nightmare Moon inside so we can begin.”

With that said, Raymond trotted into the cabin followed closely by an anxious Celestia. Becky and Nightmare Moon brought up the rear. The door closed once they were all inside, leaving Fluttershy and Twilight alone in the flower garden.

“What do you think is going to happen?” Fluttershy asked, worry seeping into her voice.

“I don’t know,” Twilight truthfully replied. “I still don’t see how Nightmare Moon was able to come back in the first place, the Elements of Harmony were supposed to have purified her.” She sighed, “I just hope they really can save Princess Luna.”

“I’m just glad Raymond and Becky were here to stop Nightmare Moon. Beating her just looked so easy for them.”

“I guess…” Twilight muttered. She still couldn’t get over that fact herself. The two Sentinels both had incredibly potent magic, and the way Becky was able to completely take control of Nightmare Moon’s body… it terrified her. “I’m just glad that they’re on our side.”

Fluttershy nodded in agreement and the two friends fell silent. Eventually they eased back into conversation, the less stressful topics of their time spent in the library and garden.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“So how is this going to work?” Celestia inquired.

She stood back by the wall while Raymond and Becky stood on either side of Nightmare Moon’s prone body.

“I’ll be creating a barrier to help guide the transfer, and to prevent Nightmare Moon from escaping in the off chance that she regains her senses,” Raymond explained.

“And I’m running the transfer,” Becky added. “I’ll be pulling the shards out of Luna’s core and sealing this thing in that orb there,” she finished pointing at the containment vessel floating between the two Sentinels and above the dark alicorn.

“Shards?” Celestia said voicing another question, “Shards of what?”

“You said the Elements of Harmony purified Nightmare Moon didn’t you?” Raymond stated more than questioned, receiving a nod in return from Celestia.

“Well from what I can see, she wasn’t purified,” Becky interjected. “These Elements you mentioned sort of… shattered, Nightmare Moon. The shards I was referring to are the fragments of Nightmare Moon that remained lodged in Luna’s core, the place where most of one’s magic resides in any magical being.”

“But why would the Elements of Harmony do that to Nightmare Moon?”

“I assume that the Elements of Harmony purify things that aren’t… well, harmonious. Correct?” Raymond asked looking for clarification, receiving yet another confirming nod from the ivory Alcorn. “Well that’s the problem right there. As evil as Nightmare Moon is, there was nothing really chaotic about her other than wanting to put an end to the sun and bring about eternal night. There is harmony between good and evil, light and dark… sadly one cannot exist without the other.”

Celestia was quiet, contemplating what she had just been told. “I see. What you said is true… nevertheless, it would be wrong to stop fighting the evil in the world.”

“I wholeheartedly agree with you, Your Majesty,” Raymond replied. “Which is why we should get this over with now.” He turned to face Becky, “Let’s begin.”

The two Sentinels closed their eyes; Becky extended her hands and held them above the vessel. Raymond’s hooves and Becky’s hands began glowing their respective colours as Nightmare Moon’s body was enveloped in a green light and a translucent membrane formed a dome over the three figures in the center of the room. A soft humming filled the air as the containment vessel began to pulse slowly in response to the dark mist lifting from the ebony alicorn. The dark mist began to slowly swirl around the vessel as it continued to flow out of the prone body, this process continued for several minutes, the dark cloud slowly growing larger each passing second. Suddenly there was a soft flash of white from the body of the alicorn lying on the ground. When the light subsided, there lay in the place of Nightmare Moon, a sleeping Princess Luna. Her mane and tail were no longer ethereal and sparkling like the night sky, they had turned light blue, and Luna’s mane covered half of her face as steady breaths caused the dangling ends to sway.

Celestia found herself crying with tears of joy. Nightmare Moon was gone once again, and her dearly beloved sister was safe. Luna’s light blue locks showed a significant drain of her magic, but she would quickly make a full recovery like before. Celestia was brought back from her thoughts by Becky’s distressed voice.

“Ray, I can’t finish the transfer!” Becky’s face was strained, her forehead glistening with sweat. “The vessel isn’t compatible with Nightmare Moon’s entity!”

Raymond swore. “Of all the rotten… Becky!” Raymond hollered, getting the females attention. “Give me control of the transfer, hurry!”

“But—“

“No objections! Quickly, before we lose it!”

Becky lowered her head and closed her eyes, suddenly the glow around Raymond’s hooves turned from blue to green and he grimaced in pain as his horn sparked and was enveloped in its own faint glow. Celestia’s expression began to turn fearful as things began taking an apparent turn for the worst. Raymond’s horn continued to spark painfully, sweat began to drip down his coat and over his blistered hide, and the barrier containing the three individuals suddenly became opaque. All was silent as the seconds crept by into minutes. Finally the solid blue dome faded away, revealing Luna sleeping soundly, the containment vessel discarded on the floor nearby, the two Sentinels standing on weak legs, and Becky glaring daggers at Raymond.

“Princess,” Becky started slowly, her voice trembling with suppressed anger. “Please take your sister and go check on Twilight and Fluttershy. I need to talk to Raymond… alone.”

Important Notice.

I'll just get straight to the point:
I'm canceling this story.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to finish it and I may even come back to it someday. But as of now I can't even force myself to work on this one.

The original idea I started writing this with was way over the top with aspects like over powered characters with no real restraints, blatant plot devices, and utterly useless additions (like Raymond being able to control time but never using the ability? I just want to shoot myself for that one) and hints at massive world expanding ideas. In short: utter trash.
Additionally, with all the times I've changed my mind on different aspects of the story from minute details to large overarching themes and the many times I've gone back to edit, tweak, fix, or just flat out rewrite I'm fairly confident that what is published of this story is filled with conflicting and out of place ideas.
And now that I'm ready to actually take writing this seriously and know where I want to take the story, it's just too large a mess to continue with as it stands.

I've wanted to get back to writing for a long time now, but I think part of the reason as to why I haven't done so was because I was too intent on finishing this thing before working on anything else.
A story that I look at and wonder: "How did I even manage to come this far with this?"
A story that has taken me the past four months to push out almost barely three thousand words of the next chapter.

So... yeah... I won't be touching this for a very, very long time.

I just want to address one thing before I finish up. I don't know if there's anyone still waiting for updates to this story or even remotely interested in it any more, but in case of the off chance that there is, feel free to shoot me a private message if you're curious at all in regards to what I was planning with the characters or how I planned on finishing this story. I'll respond with the asked for details as soon as I'm able to.