Harmony Blade

The group continued there journey towards the outpost, they dragged the hoofs through the snow, exhausted from the long journey. Twilight was at the front of the group with a map floating in front of her face. The group had chatted when to first started but quickly had nothing to talk about. They had been walking in silence for a half-hour, until Pinkie broke the silence.

"Are we there yet." Pinkie asked.

"No." Twilight said.

"Are we there yet." Pinkie asked again.

"No." Twilight said again.

"Are we there yet." Pinkie asked yet again.

"No." Twilight said....again.

"Are we." Pinkie asked but was cut off by the group.

"No!" They shouted.

"Ok." She said in her normal cheery tone.

"Hey Twi is that it over there." Rainbow asked pointing her hoof to a structure build under the mountain.

"Yes that's it!" Twilight shouted happily, now that the walk was over and they started running towards the outpost with new found energy.

The group ran towards the gates, the guards pointed their spears at the group as they came closer to the gates.

"Halt, state you names and business here." The Gatekeeper shouted in a commanding tone.

"I am Twilight Sparkle, this is AppleJack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and uh,"

"Wheres Pinkie." Twilight said looking around for Pinkie.

"Come on, smile!"

The group turn around to see Pinkie, with her hoofs in a guard's mouth push it into a smile.

"Help me!" Cried the guard.

"Pinkie stop that your going to get us in trouble." Twilight said in a demanding tone.

"Oh, Ok," Pinkie said before she bounced towards the group as they turned away and when no one was looking she went back to the guard and whispered in his ear, "If your not smiling when I see you again, Celestial help you." she said in a sinister tone.

The group turned around again to see Pinkie Pie bouncing towards them and the guard curled-up in a ball crying his eyes out.

There was only one thought going through the gatekeeper's head "How in the name of Celestia did she turn one of our best guards into a sobbing mess."

"Ok, now that we're all here I'm Twilight Sparkle and these are my friends, AppleJack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie," she said pointing to each of them as she said there names. "We were invited to the exposition of so ruins by my brother, Shining Armor."

"Alright then, lets get these gates open." He said before turning around and pulling a lever on the wall. There was the sound of rattling chains as the gate lifted from ground.

"Do you know where Shining Armor is right now." Twilight asked.

"He will most likely be in the map room, I can send a guard to escort you and your friends if you want." The gatekeeper said.

"It alright I'm sure we can find our way there." Twilight said enthusiastically.

30 minutes later

"Were lost aren't we." AppleJack said.

"No, were just, um looking around." Twilight said

"Now I know were lost." Rainbow said hovering lazily in the air .

"We're not lost!" Twilight yelled.

"Whats all this noise about." A voice said from behind the group.

They turn around and saw standing in the doorway Shining Armor.

"Shining!" Twilight yelled before pulling him into a hug.

"Twily, how have you been." Shining asked.

"I've been fine what about you." Twilight replied.

"A little stressed running the empire and filing all the paperwork for the exposition, but other than that just fine." He said.

"Thats good to hear, anyway when do we get to explore the ruins." Twilight said now very excited.

"We're meeting the exploration team tomorrow and then we head into the ruins." Shining replied.

"But why we can probably go on our our, we don't need a team to do it, we only need you, a few guards and us." Rainbow Dash said, annoyed that they had to wait even longer to explore the ruins.

"We have to be able to setup a research base down in the ruins and it was so you girls could help me plan for the expedition and where would be the best place to setup the base." Shining stated matter-of-factly.

"Well I thing thats a fabulous idea in need to have a clean after that walk." Rarity said.the

"I have to agree with Rarity on this one a good rest never hunt nopony." AppleJack agreed.

Twilight sighed in defeat "Well I guess it can't hurt to wait a little while, where will we be staying tonight." Twilight said.

"You'll be sleeping in the same rooms as the exploration team, but I notice that you were all lost when wondering around to outpost, so I'll give you a tour after you unpack." Shining said with a smirk on his face as Twilight blush with embarrassment.

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After being shown to there rooms and unpacking the group going to the mess hall for some lunch. The group headed of on the tour of the outpost.

"So this is the armory and supply storage, all of the equipment for the expedition are stored in here and the armory is for the guards only" Shining stated.

Moving down he corridor Shining Armor stopped and turned outside of a door before speaking. "This is the operations room, if you need to find me after the expedition I'll most likely be in here."

After the tour was completed, the group went back to the operations room to start planning for the expedition. The research base would be setup need the entrance and would setup a wall around the base to fend off any creatures that would try and attack the base. After the expedition was completed they would gather all of the artifacts and finding and sent them to Canterlot University.

The sun started to set as they can out of the operations room and the the group decided it would be best if they were well rested for the exploration of the ruins and went back to the bed chambers.

Tomorrow was going to be a big day they would be meeting the researchers, setting up base camp and basic defenses. There was no telling what they would find down there but they knew it was going to be incredible.

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A shadow watched as guards patrolled outside the gate leading inside the outpost, feeding of the fear off of a guard patrolling the gate.

"Soon I will return and the first thing I will do is get rid of the Elements of Harmony, then I will take back what is rightfully mine and then I will take Equestria." It said laughing manically. Disappearing back into the shadows.