This... this was not what I expected. The morning was alright, after Twilight and I got up. Which was funny as she fought to try to get out of the shirt she slept in. Course that was harder with her wings kept flaring out on her as I made jumps. Once she was out of it and we got cleaned up. Which took longer than expected but to be fair I was about to head out on a possible long trip. So some personal needs had to be met. That being said, Twilight had helped to go over my checklist and her back up checklist.

So far, so good.

Once we were done, she helped me get equipped for my mission. This makes me feel like I was getting ready for a boss fight in an old school game. Which I couldn't help to make jokes, much to Twilight's annoyance. Mostly because she didn't get the reference as much as Spike did. Regardless after I got myself cloaked up and masked, we made our way to the Everfree. As we get to the entrance we are met by Luna and at least twelve of her guards as well as my guards. Floating next to her is the egg-shaped stone that I will be using. The guards all watched me ready to jump into action. Reaching up I slide up the mask to show it was me under it.

“So we ready to get this show on the road?” I asked with a smirk.

“Yes, let's begin.” We all nodded and headed into the forest itself. Oddly enough this trip was uneventful, which is out of the norm for the Everfree. Honestly, it's gotten to the point I started to expect an attack from timberwolves. Which is I think at this point annoying to no end. We were able to get to the castle which is just as it was last time I was here. Entering it we see the massive staircase that leads to the scriptures in the wall. As soon as I got past the threshold of the door, the hairs on the back of my neck began to stand up on end. I knew what this was, it was my fear coming back to bite me. I always had this feeling when I was about to make a big leap in life. It was the same when I've had to move, and this was no different. Well unless you count the fact that I was about to jump universes of my own will.

“Storm are you sure you want to do this?” Twilight asked standing next to me as I bet every one of them could see the fear running through me like a river.

“Want and having too are two different things Twilight. I have to go through to get the last artifact of harmony.” I leaned down to be eye to eye with Twilight as we looked into each other's eyes.

“Storm, are you scared?” I could see the worry in her eyes.

“More then you can ever know Twilight, more then you can ever know. Just... I've got to do this and I don't have a choice.”

“But why?”

“Because this is what destiny call from me.”

“But why of you?” Twilight said getting close putting a hoof on my chest as she reared up enough to put her nose against mine.

“It's about the same as you miss Princess of Magic. Sometimes it's beyond our control.” It was tearing at my heart seeing Twilight so upset about this.

“Destiny is a jerk,” Twilight said puffing out her cheeks in annoyance, which she looks adorable when she does that.

“You can say that again. But I've got to do what I've got to do.” With that, I held Twilight gently as I just needed the hug.

“We are ready, your highness.” One of Luna's guards said.

“Alright,” I said looking up. “Twilight I will be back as soon as I can, I pinkie promise.” She looked up at me before nodding.

“I will keep you to it, even if I have to hop over and drag you back myself.” She said with a smirk.

“That's my mare,” I said with a smirk, with that I get up and see that the egg was in the center of the room as well as some of the unicorn guards were putting every safety spell in place. I went over to the beacon that I placed in the remains of the pedestal that housed the Elements of Harmony. I just felt like a fitting place to put it to make my way back. From what I could feel it was still there and strong since I used all five of my pools of magic to make sure I could find it again. Slowly making my way to the center I placed my right claw on the egg as I was trying will my own fear down. “In for a penny, in for a pound.” That's when I began to speak the spell.

Crystal touched where I must be, Through the air, overland, and Sea.

I tear a hole into the skies, so I can see this world with my eyes.

As I began to speak the spell. First, it was the wind as it began to whip around. It was soft but as I continued, it was getting to the point of gale force or at least what felt like it. All while the egg itself set out a soft blue glow.

Reveal to me which I have bidden. The world that was once hidden.

Pass me through the void of worlds. Sought the portal, let the view unfurled.

The sky over me began to fill with dark gray clouds. They swirled around and around making a spiral in the sky, it's a center point right over me. Each second I could feel the egg began to get warm. Which is surprising as this was my prosthetic limb. It could be a phantom limb kind of deal, or just how this magic works. The egg began to glow brighter and brighter as the pattern on it started to swirl. The weirdest part of it was this odd sinking feeling. Not in the sense of depression or like that, but more a physically sinking feeling. As the world around me was like quicksand. Just every second of as I continued to focus my magic on the spell, it was I sinking faster.

Watch my steps, and keep them straight, Keep my travels lined with fate.

Passed the vial in worlds through air. My destination, take me there!

Once the last word left my mouth the world sank completely away. It felt like forever as I just stood there my hand on the egg as my world was washed with colors. It wasn't prismatic but more muted if anything. Nothing like reds, yellows, or greens. More like grays, blues, and browns. As soon as the sinking feeling subsided I found myself in a different location. Going from castle ruins, to what I could only guess was the slums of some kind of city. Oddly it felt... familiar in a way, not like I've been there but something about it was eating at me. Setting the mask back into place and my hood up, I began to slowly make my way out of what looks like an alleyway. That's when it hit me the hardest, this was the slums. Old pieced together buildings, made of bricks, wood, and some other kind of stone. Looking around, I saw something out that stood out to me. Unlike when I turned Twilight, Luna, and Celestia into anthropomorphic, the 'ponies' of this world were closer to human in style. The difference here was that they house muzzles but not as pronounced. Just more in the nose region. I also noticed unlike the 'ponies' from my Equestria. Their horns are also not as pronounced either, in length. The pegasi also had differences that I can tell. As the wings were not as massive as mine in my satyr form. Where my wings are large enough that they go down to my tail, the pegasi are only large enough that they go to about the middle of their backs and a lot longer to compensate that.

Otherwise, a lot of them were much the same. Their ears where on the top of their heads as well as their tails were about the same as I expected, and all of them were covered in fur, just instead of hooves, they have feet as well as hands. Pulling the front down I began to walk within the crowd as a lot of them have the same garbs as those from earth. Normal shirts, pants, skirts, and so forth. But some of them looked ragged and even a few in cloaks. Like a fifty-fifty mixture of modern and western fantasy. I followed the main crowd as I could see more of this universe.

The street itself looked pieced together like the buildings. It was like it was built on to it like a shantytown. After a few more streets I was able to see two major things. One was Canterlot and it was on the same level as I, the second was the fucking massive ocean itself. Moving closer to it, it was as far as the eye can see. Leaning over the side, it's given me pause as I saw floats. Not small ones either, as these were structure supporting floats. The problem with using these is that they can't last forever and with buildings like these. As soon as one of them goes, the building weight will be too much for them. The ground began to shake as I turned to see a building just sink into the water. Rushing over I saw other ponies lean over with sad looks.

“Shame that's the third one this week.” Said a mare nearby.

“Third one?” I asked looking towards here.

“Building this week. I take it your new to the Canterlot Slums.” She said as I turned to see a rose-red mare with a white mane with blue stripes, wearing a blue shirt with tan pants.

“Yeah, just arrived from out of town.”

“Where from?” She asked with a smile.

“I'm from the Rock Islands.”

“Where's that?”

“Somewhere pretty far from here down south.” Lucky for me I learned most of my Equestria's map so I can always bullshit a location that would be up high enough. As long as these both were the same in build. Which is hard to tell seeing as it's covered with ocean.

“You'll have to tell me about it stranger. What's your name?” She asked with a smirk.

“My friends call me Nerada,” I said holding out my left hand. She looked down and gently took it.

“A dragon, I haven't seen one of you in a long time.” She said with a smirk as she leads the way to what looks like a small cafe. She sat me down and I followed suit across from her.

“How did you know I was a dragon?” I had to ask.

“Your claws are scaled, no other race has that. That and my neighbor use to be a dragon so I'm familiar with them.” She said with a smirk.

“Oh? Who was your neighbor?”

“Ah, just some dragon that worked in the castle.” It makes me wonder, who she was talking about. But that leads me to a question.

“If I may ask, what's with the buildings sinking?” I asked.

“It's been happening over the years, none of the supports was supposed to hold up this long. But to get someone from the castle to come out and replace them is a nightmare. So a lot of us just kind of explain it.” She said pointing off to a side street. That's when I saw something that just broke my heart. I saw a mother and her two young ones huddled in a makeshift shelter. “Most of the buildings are apartment complexes which left a lot of ponies homeless.”

“And the castle does nothing? What about the princess?” That got the mare to look at me with a critical eye.

“Princess? Don't you mean Queen?” Okay, that's interesting, to say the least.

“Queen?”

“Yes, Queen Daybreaker?”

“Daybreaker? What happened to Celestia?” I asked curiously.

“You don't get any new out in the Rock Islands do you?” She asked curiously.

“Not really, we are pretty cut off from everypony. To be honest, this is the first I'm hearing of it.”

“You are really out of touch then. After Princess Luna's disappearance, Princess Celestia lost it and became Queen Daybreaker.”

“Princess Luna's disappearance?” That had me worried. Partly because of what that could mean.

“We don't know what happened. One day she was walking down the main streets of Canterlot, and the next day she was gone.” Interesting.

“No clue as to the reason?”

“Nope, it's just odd. There should have been something but there's nothing.”

“You sound like you've looked into it.”

“I am a reporter.” She said with a smirk as she made a flick with her hand as a card appeared. Reaching out I picked it up to read it over.

“Velvet Note, ace reporter. Freelancer?”

“How did you know?” She asked looking surprised.

“Elementary if you were with a newspaper it would have said it on the card. As most reporters make sure to state what paper they are with as a sense of pride.” With a flick, I slide the card into my little space pocket.

“Clever. So do you want to tell me where you're really from?” That got me to smirk under my mask.

“It's hard to explain, but let's just say that I come from a very far away place.”

“Some secrets are hard to get at ey?” She said smirking.

“You can say that, but I will be fair with you on one thing.” With a smirk, I slowly removed my mask and gave her a look of my face. “Some things are stranger than fiction.” With a wink, I slide the mask back into place as she looked at me with surprise.

“No kidding, you are not from around here for sure. What do you plan to do?”

“To gather some information about an artifact I'm looking for.” It was a few moments before a waiter came up and we placed our orders. Velvet orders a full meal while I only ordered some tea as I wasn't that hungry.

“Is the artifact dangerous?” She asked as curious as I noticed that an aura appeared in her mane. She hid her horn in her rather large mane. Not as big as pinkie's but it was enough to hide her horn out of sight. In seconds a pad of paper appeared before her with a pencil.

“Only in the wrong hands,” I said with a smirk. “Of course you can say that about any artifact.”

“What is it?”

“A sword,” I said with a smirk. “A very old sword.”

“Interesting, any clues where to find it?” She asked as she began to scribble.

“No clue, but I figured if any place would have an idea it would be the Archives.” That got her to stop writing.

“You're going to have a hard time getting in there. So far no pony has been able to enter the Archives since Princess Luna's disappearance.”

“Hmm... let me ask you this. How hard would it be to get into the castle itself?”

“Almost impossible if you don't work there yourself, without a pass you can't even get into the high end of Canterlot.” When I inquired about this, that's when I had this dropped on me. Canterlot got split off into three sections. The castle and what would have been the normal areas of the city were now the High Quarters. After the flooding as Velvet told me which was after Luna's disappearance as well. Canterlot was expanded to make room for the refugees that came up from the towns down below, like the once Ponyville before they were washed away. That sent a chill up my spine. Since then Canterlot has kept things very tight to keep ponies from getting out of hand. Most of the guards keep to the wall but from what I've been told that if somepony tries to hop the wall without a pass they were captured at best... shot down at worst. This put a second spike of fear through me. They had guns, a lot of guns that could do a lot of damage.

This means I have to be careful, more than useful. Not even my normal improvising is going to help if I fly by the seat of my pants. The thing that eats at me is that this all started with Luna's disappearance. When I asked Velvet about Nightmare Moon, something the Moon in my head was annoyed with. She said she had never heard of her. Much to all three of us surprise. If this was a world where Nightmare Moon didn't come into being then... what if it was flipped? That would explain a few things. Nightmare Moon's plan was to cover everything in eternal night. The problem with that is most of the food requires sunlight for food. Meaning that they would have to switch to a more dark based food or make artificial light.

I asked her about how long does the sun keep up and she said that out of a full day sixteen of it regardless of the season is always day. This means that if my hypothesis is correct, she used that unrelenting sun to melt the poles. From there it would have flooded the world. That much ice and snow, just like a tidal wave covers everything. So anything high enough much like the mountain Canterlot is attached to would have been a safe spot. This was a lot of food for thought to think about and to be honest, I needed to do a little recon. After Velvet and I finished our little 'chat' I gave her a gem to make up for my tea. After that, I went over to the mother and her children and gave them three of my largest gems on hand with instructions to help others. She nodded and thanked me with a smile as she went off. Probably to break it down into bits to help pay for things. Taking my chance I decided to sneak inside one of the buildings and get to the roof.

“Why didn't you fly to the roof?” Moon asked.

“Because I rather keep that ace in the hole for later,” I commented.

Upon the room, I could see how far I was from the High Quarter, and I was a few rooftops away. Stepping to the edge I saw that the distance between buildings was rather short besides main roads. With a jump, I was able to clear the distance, with a little gliding help with my hidden wings. Since these buildings were on the balloons, I didn't want to tempt fate per se. Till I got to the last building I could. From here the gap between the last building was a lot more massive. On top of that, I got a look at this universes guards and boy I was in the screwed department.

Which each guard had armor like those from western medieval times. Mainly that of the chest plate, with its normal white with gold trim. The difference is the rest of it. From what I could tell they wore tactical pants. Possibly made thick to or out of resistant materiel. The kicker in all this was that each of them was armed with rather large rifles. They look close to Ak-47s but modified in some way, it was hard to tell. I sat there watching the guards move back and forth, it comes to at least six different guards. They really are going back and forth in time. Making sure that no one pony was left alone. But what I did notice that the guards on this side, out of the six only two were pegasi. So if I could do it while they were the furthest away. Then that leaves me doing my best to avoid getting shot by at least two of them. Watching them go back and forth I saw my chance and gave myself a running start with help from a strength enchantment to push myself. With a few flaps, I was up and over the wall as I saw the first two take aim. Praying, I pulled up a shield to at least defuse the impact of the bullets.

Which semi-worked, the first few rounds did strike and fall. After close the third round the shield began to crack like glass. The only thing saving me was that I was getting further and further away from the six guards firing at me. Which left the two that flew after me. With a smirk, I formed an escape plan. Grabbing the clasp with my right claw, I undid it and focused my magic at the same time. My cloak went flying the same second as I teleported to the alley below. The two guards flew up grabbing the cloak in the air and looked around for a target that wasn't there. From what I could tell they were talking with each other as the on that grabbed the cloak, let go of it and it dropped down to the alley below. Where I grabbed it from the air and put it back on. That's one problem down, and many more to go. Walking the main street from the gate, I saw the crowd was rather thick so I was able to slip in and continue my way towards the castle.

Unlike the slums of Canterlot, the High Quarter was just like my version of Canterlot. Just not all of the high-end stores here. This version had a lot more clothing stores then the main street back home. Ranging from dresses to everyday wear and even some tech stores that had things like TVs and radios. Which surprised the hell out of me. If it wasn't for the fact that I was on a mission and from a different universe, I would have done a little shopping. Well... maybe more then what I was about to do. Sliding into one of the stores I began to look around. Honestly, this looked like more a resale shop than a higher-end store. As things were just haphazardly placed around, with a resale sticker. I found what I wanted which was a small portable radio and a pair of clip-on headphones. Sliding up I was able to slide a few bits onto the counter and slip out of the door before the owner noticed as I made sure to pay a few extra bits.

After a few more streets I began to slide a headphone into my ear, as I started to tune the radio. Surprisingly enough that there was quite a few different radio station just in the High Quarter. Including a classical, rock, techno, country, and drama as in radio drama stations. The one I was looking for was the news, which I only found two. One of them 'endorsed' by the castle and then a rebel radio. Listening to a few minutes of each I got some rather interesting intel. The castle wasn't to promote the good that they are doing, that was giving me propaganda flashbacks. Including something about closing in on some 'pirates' raiding a lot of Solar Guarded Ships.

On the flip side, the rebel radio more puts out what they suspect is the 'real' news. From what I can tell that the Celestia here is very 'squish the rebels' mentality by any means. That's if you take the rebel's side of it with a grain of salt. Which without seeing her for myself I can't say for sure. I will admit that with the 'disappearance' of Luna, it is suspicious, to say the least. With that out of the way, I began to plan my entry into the castle. As I made my way to the castle wall. I noticed more and more about the High Quarter. Namely the back dealings, it seems that this Canterlot has a seedy background or at least seedy alleys. I few ponies in the throws of passion here, a few drug deals there. It didn't surprise me one bit, as I expected the same of my Canterlot. Each pony I passed either stopped to watch me or ignore me like I wasn't even there. That was until I got closer to the wall that overlooks the hedge maze. As I got close I began to feel the radiant magic that was just rushing through the wall. Focusing on it showed me a very complex spell weaved into every inch of the wall. Looking around I found a fire escape that I began to climb till I could see over a short wall before I found out that there was a second taller wall that ended up looking over the hedge maze.

Okay, so they are protective. Rubbing the side of neck thinking on what to do. Floating up a rock from the street below. With a flick of magic, I sent it over the walls. As soon as it got close, magic shot up from the wall and zapped the rock into oblivion. “Clever bastards,” I said thinking out loud.

“How are we going to get in there?” Shadow asked.

“That is a good question.”

“Why don't we just use the hidden tunnels?” Moon asked.

“Hidden tunnels?” Both Shadow and I asked at the same time.

“If this Canterlot is built like ours, then they should have hidden escape tunnels. If my memory serves me then it should be a few streets down.” Moon continued, as I hopped down back to the alley.

“Okay, that leaves so many questions.” I started before Moon cut me off.

“Yes, I have used them before to spy. Little help that it did.” She groaned.

“Do I even want to ask?” Slowly I kept going down the alley.

“Stop, turn to the wall.” Following Moon's instructions, I did just that, and that's when I noticed the discoloration in the wall and slowly reached out for it. With a light touch, the spot began to glow till it engulfed the spot. Which was round at the size of a soccerball give or take. Within seconds the ground around me gave way so fast I was almost unable to catch the edge. Slowly I began to hop my way down just falling and grabbing the ladder till I got down to the bottom. The tunnel itself reminded me of the tunnels from the nightmare. Like it was carved out of the rock to make it look like bricks. The walkway looked closer to the sewers but unlike most of them, the water here ran clear. “If my memory serves me here, this should take you to my old room.” Walking down it I found it rather eerie for the most part. Just the sounds of rushing water and the flicking of magic flames. All of them, gave the tunnel an eerie glow as they crackled and popped.

“What were these tunnels used for?” I asked mostly to distract myself from the eerie feeling creeping their way right up my spine.

“Most of them were put in if we got invaded. This allowed the staff and us to escape if we had to abandon the castle for whatever reason.”

“Let me guess, you didn't use that for them,” I said with a smirk.

“Well... I may have used it to have a little fun out on the town before things 'happened'.” She said and I could tell she was smirking by her tone of voice. After a few minutes, we found ourselves at a second ladder. “This should take you directly into my room.” Climbing up we found ourselves in a rather duct and cobweb-covered room. Moon taking the initiative cast a light sleep to show that it looked much like Luna's room on my Universe. The difference here was that everything was covered in a thick layer of dust at least a few years old. That includes the spiders crawling around the massive sets of webs. Walking up to the door I noticed the door, I unlocked the door and slowly began to open it. Looking through the small crack to show me a rather empty hallway. Shadow even confirmed it for me as she formed an eye in the shadow of my claw. This got me wondering why not to set up guards here. Even if there isn't a princess here, it's still an empty part of the wing. I mean I get the room but why not the hall.

Taking a lot of side halls, I got to the Royal Archives and found it empty. Not missing books or the sort, but empty of ponies. Which is odd as there should at least be one pony keeping an eye out encase of intruders. Taking advantage of this I slide into the room and began to search. If I were to hide information about a magical sword that appeared out of nowhere. Where would I hide it? Me, I would put it in plain sight but out of the sightline. Walking around down the aisle, I found myself in the 'forbidden section'. My right ear twitched as something sounded off.

Taking a few odd steps I could make out the second set of steps in that missing step. I knew it was too easy, so with a flick of magic, I began to snuff out the magical flames that were placed throughout the room. One by one the room began to darken till it was left in pitch blackness. I fired my claw up and dug it into the ceiling and pulled myself up slowly. All the while I could hear the steps get closer, and it wasn't just one set. It was multiple as they must be the castle guard. So they may have used a different tactic to cover the halls. With a smirk, I pulled out my radio, and with a flick of magic slowly turned it on with the volume down low. Then flung the sucker the furthest away, going down the way I came. Sliding to a top, I could hear the guards turn and head the way I threw it. Slowly lowing myself to the floor, I began to take a different means to walk. Namely softly sliding my hooves down the aisle, with a few seconds between steps waiting to hear if I was being followed.

The good thing about my eyes that I have a sort of dark vision of a sense. The downside is that it causes my eyes to glow. With my mask, it covers most of it, but it still leaves a faint glow. So every few seconds I would turn it on and off. Mostly to keep my self hidden as much as possible, since I know that I am not alone in here. With a few more flashes of my dark vision, I found something that stuck out. Magically lifting I pulled it from the shelf and with a quick flash of magic, tossed it into my magical pocket. That's when I heard the click of a gun being cocked right behind my head.

“Got you asshole.” Said a rather gruff voice, that was before the room was flooded in a new set of magical flames. Turning around I saw a unicorn guard stallion with a cream coat with a dark dust gray mane. “Did you really think that the radio trick was going to work?”

“No.”

“Turn around.” He said as I did. All he could see was the creepy smiling mask. “Take the mask off.”

“I can't.”

“Bull.” He said reaching up to grab the mask, but every attempt to pull it off was met with failure.

“The mask is cursed, I can't remove it.” I will admit he was rather stubborn about trying to pull it off. Even going as far as to magically try to pull it. That didn't end well as I used chaotic magic to make sure it stayed where I wanted it. The downside of trying to force chaotic magic with unicorn magic is the massive feedback and spike of pain that comes from it.

“Fine, I seems it was cursed. But you should know that no pony is allowed in the forbidden section let alone the archives by the law of Queen Daybreaker.” He said as I noticed a few other ponies coming up with matching guns in their hands. “Put your hands up.” He said as I had Shadow hide my arm within the shadow.

“Can't if I don't have any arms.” The guard reached down and began patting my sides to confirm that I didn't have arms there. It's a little hard when they were being hidden within the shadows of my cloak.

“Hand me a chain.” Said the guard as I hard the rattling from my side as it began to wrap around me. “Move.” Said the guard moving his gun to indicate which way to go. Turning, I began to walk as I felt someone grab the back of the chains. They walked me out of the archives into the main halls. Which now that I was really looking at it, I saw the differences in the décor. Unlike my universes Canterlot, which was normally white, gold, and purple. This one had more fire tones of white, red, orange, and yellows. Very 'fitting' for a 'day breaker' of sorts. The walk was rather short from where I was as I saw many different changes. One being the stained glass windows in the main hall. Namely, a few caught my eye, like the 'destruction' of Discord. This being depicted of the statue itself being shattered into pieces. The other is the elements of harmony being 'shattered' themselves. That did worry me as the Elements were the biggest weapon Equestria has on hand. If this Celestia shattered them then that would leave them without a leg to stand on against larger big bads.

As soon as we reached the main doors to the throne room I saw why they were shattered. The door open and I saw this world's Celestia. The first thing I noticed was that Celestia's mane was engulfed in flames. The second was that she was wearing what I could best describe as a combat dress. The chest was a dress that was designed two suns on the left and right that was a vibrant red. That showed a small chain set of chain mail that was either gold or at least tinted gold. The main part of the dress was dark orange. That lead up to a golden collar that ended with a round fire ruby as a centerpiece. The palanquins or shoulder guards were a matching orange with a fire red trim done up like fire. The arms were covered in sectioned plates of dark red till it reached a full forearm covering gauntlets that left the hand itself uncovered that had either a Kevlar or thick clothed gloves. On her head was a crown that was set that had her horn that would set through it. The skirt of it is where the more dress part of it comes in. As it left the legs open enough to move enough as the leggings looked like it's made of the same scaled style as the upper arms leading down to knee-high armored boots. Each piece having the same style as the palanquins. The last part of the outfit is the armored tops of her wings. That had a dark red metal with a golden spiral flourish.

The way she sat had a very dictator feel to it. As she sat back with her wings spread enough to show the armor, but not flared out in a combative stance. She had her right leg crossed over the light of her left. As they both were angled where the knee was pointed towards her right hand. As both her hands were on the armrests of her throne. The look on her face was rather stoned walled angry in a very 'how dare you interrupt my day.'

“Your highness, we caught this one breaking into the forbidden section of the archives.” Said the same guard that was holding me at gunpoint. Honestly, I'm a little surprised with myself that I wasn't freaking out that I was being held at gunpoint again. She stood up and slowly made her way down the set of red-carpeted steps that lead down to the main floor of the throne room. I noticed that the room had several fire dishes that had large magical flames burning in them in a raging inferno. She came up to me to look me directly in the face.

“What were you doing in there?” She asked with a stern look.

“Trying to deal with a cursed object,” I said with a smirk.

“He said the mask he's wearing is cursed and won't come off.” Said the guard.

“Won't come off you say?” She said as her fingers began to engulf in her golden aura as she reached to grab the mask. She began to pull hard which forced me forward. I will admit she has a lot of strength behind her. She growled as each time she pulled that it didn't remove the mask. Going as far as blasting the mask directly with the magic only caused her more frustration. “Where did you get this mask?”

“Floating out on the water,” I answered still smirking. “I figured the great Celestia would be able to have a book on the subject.” As soon as that left I say her demeanor quickly shift as each guard began to stiffen.

“What did you call me?” She growled as she grabbed the front of my chains and began to lift me up.

“I called you Celestia, Princess Celestia.” She turns and threw me towards her throne as I flipped in the air and landed on my feet on the steps to her throne.

“My name is Queen Daybreaker, you little whelp.” She growled as she reached into a pocket of space and pulled her a very familiar poleaxe that she pointed at me while it's held in one hand. “Give me one good reason not to spit roast you here and now.”

“Luna.” Her eyes widened for a moment before it returned to a picture of rage as her flame gold eyes turned completely white with magic. Surprising feet when the whites of her eyes where bright red beforehand. With the thrust of her weapon, the point of poleaxe fired a beam right at me as I jumped up into the air to avoid it.

“You will never speak that name in front of me.” She said as he flew right at me with her wings flared trying to stab me. With another jump, I landed on the tip of her weapon smirking.

“Something wrong? I figured you would love hearing the name of your sister that 'disappeared.'” She growled at me swinging up her weapon causing me to go with it as it threw me towards the wall.

“She is no sister of mine!” She roared at me as threw her poleaxe at me. I jumped up but she caught me in midair as she grabbed the chains that still bound me. She then proceeded to punch me directly in the face over and over again. This brought a nasty habit of mine of getting me pissed and it was a war inside to force myself to go slack. “So much for the big bad pony.” She said throwing me to the ground and rolled a few feet. “Get my ship ready, my 'sister' is about to have some company.”

The next few hours were had to play out as I had to remain limp the whole time as they began to plant my hooves in cement. Well, not directly my hooves, but the boots I had on. As well as she chained me up a lot more including my legs. Then I was placed into a large wooden crate and placed on a ship. I couldn't tell the full size, but from what I could hear. Six stallions lifted the box I was in onto a ship that took roughly twenty minutes from an internal count. If I was placed on the dock of a ship. That means the ship was medium at best. Especially if these are earth pony stallions. The next what felt like two hours but I could only guess was thirty minutes was felt being on the sea. From the up and down feeling, I was getting as the boat flew through the water.

“I hope you enjoy your time with her.” I heard said through the crate. That was followed by the sound of wood being scraped against wood and metal. My guess was the deck of the ship. With a flick of magic, I began to prepare myself.

Splash.

The water began to rush into the box rather quickly. As I worked on picking the locks to the chains binding me. Shadow was working on some of the other locks as he could form himself out of the darkness in the box. A few soft clicks the chains fell the side of the box as I think the box began to flip while it sank. Sliding my hooves out of the boots I stood on the clement slab, feeling around. I gave the box a few test punches, but the water resistance slowed down them.

“Shit,” I said as I had to figure out a way. I can't superheat the water around me as the force of the explosion could bruise my organs at best. Pierce them at worst, as shock wave wouldn't have the air to dissipate the shock-wave from the blast. Not counting the close nature of it. If I tried to escape within a shield by expanding it, I would have to worry about the water pressure, as well as the water, rushing back into the void. As the shields I can form is either a flat wall or a sphere. That's when an idea popped into my head. Placing my back against one wall, and my hooves against the wall across from me. With a flash of a strength enchantment, I began to push. Water has this nasty habit of muting tones, which would sound like a large crack. It would sound like bits of wood strain. After a few minutes, I got aboard loose. “One down, a lot more to go.”

“Relax,” Shadow said, trying to ease my nerves.

“I am.” Placing my hooves on the next board. Repeating again and again, I was able to make an opening wide enough for me to get out. Once out, I held onto the box till it sank all the way to the bottom.

“What are you doing?” Moon asked.

“I'm finding what happened to Luna,” I answered as I focused to make a rather large light in the deep water. Since the deeper you go into the water, the harder for light to pierce through it. Even down here it was a challenge. I had to make some rather massive light so I could see for miles. With this depth, the light shouldn't be visible from the surface.

“How do you plan to figure that out?”

“Haven't you been watching?” Shadow commented.

“Besides being dropped into the middle of the ocean, I think we are on the same page. Since he decided to piss off Celestia for some odd reason.”

“That was the plan. He pushed Celestia's button so she would be so angry that she would have to put him away as he would have been the only pony to know what happened to her.” All while they talked I began to look around taking on the ocean floor. Most of it was still covered in the blades of grass and the odd bits of trees. Taking a few steps, I fought against the was resistance as I head towards a nearby hill.

“How would he know she wouldn't just kill him?” She asked.

“By making sure Luna was in the forethought of her mind. So he makes sure she was linked to him. So for someone who has an ego like that, a repeat preference in the same location wouldn't be too far off.” Looking around I saw something that caught my eye, or I should say the lack of something.

“As I expected,” I said as I continued on my way.

“What did you expect?” Moon asked as I could tell she was confused.

“When she sank she didn't go straight down. Between the currents of the water itself and the nature of the wood wanting to float. The box began to drift and in doing so, she ended up further away.” I explained as I found myself at a wall of water. Reaching out with my left hand, I tested the barrier to find it rather easy to pass through. Sliding into it, I found a rather breathable air, and in the middle of it was a wooden crate. Stepping closer, I could see that the box was covered in mildew from a piece of wood that was dunk into the ocean and kept in a damp environment. If I had to guess, at least a few years worth. Reaching in, I slid my claws around the edge and found that because of the mildew. It weakened the wood, and with a bit of strength, the wood gave way to show me a mare breathing slowly. Silhouetted by a soft glow coming from her horn. Inside I saw a soft midnight blue mare with an ethereal star filled mane, the same as the night sky. She was wearing a black dress shirt with white-dressed pants. Both covered in dirt and grim and very heavily bound. Turning to my left, I saw the bubble of water surrounding us slowly shirt by a good foot.

“Oh that's not good,” Shadow commented.

“What is?” Moon asked confused to no end by the sound of it.

“If the shrinking of the wall of water is anything to go by. That means that Luna is on the last strings of her magic. Me going through her barrier may have tipped that a bit faster then I expected.” I answered as I began to get to work breaking down the crate around her for access. Once I was able to see, I started on the locks. With the rust on it, it makes it harder to even pick. “These locks are just trashed, shit.” Grabbing the edge of the lock I began to focus my breath into a small stream to melt the lock. Even with the grim on it. It shouldn't take much to break through the small bit of metal that holds the chains. Tossing it to the side, I got the chains off her. Luckily I didn't cause her to have any burns, but to be safe I had to magically remove them. My hand was too hot to do so. With that out the of the way, that left the biggest challenge. The slab of clement shoes on her. “Shit. If I shake her, it could cause her to lose her hold on her remaining magic.”

“Couldn't you lift it as a whole?” Moon suggested.

“With the water, it would make it too heavy on her legs and could end up breaking them,” Shadow commented.

“But... Unlike my crate. We are already in an air pocket.” I said shaking my right hand with a pointer finger as I stepped close. Wrapping both her and I in a shield bubble, I focused a second spell into my right hand and snapped my finger. In seconds the clement rock began to fall away like sand. Chaotic magic got to love it at times. My heart skipped a bit when she fell into my arms, not from her beauty. Even if she is rather good looking. No, it was the wall of water rushing towards us. For a second I thought I was going to see Jessica again, till it hit my shield. I watched the water settle in place as I watched the walls shudder from the impact. The bubbles raised slowly to the surface. As if they are a swarm dancing in the fluid dance floor called the ocean.

“Are you alive?” Moon asked, my guess was that she closed her metaphoric eyes as the water came towards us.

“Well if we weren't we would be in a pretty white room right about now,” I commented as I could feel my heart trying to escape my chest.

“Did not expect to see my short life flash like that,” Shadow commented. With a flick of magic, I formed the sand into a makeshift seat. Pressing it together with hard enough to keep it solid as I took a seat to catch my breath.

“God, that would have been a way to go. Crushed under an ocean in a different universe. Fuck...” I said shaking my head a bit before I looked down at Luna in my arms. She was breathing lightly and looking feverish. Sliding the back of my left claw against her forehead as I could feel her burning up. “Shit...”

“What?” Both Shadow and Moon asked.

“She's running a fever. Running on such low magic must have shot her immune system, and I can't jump start it here.” With that, I began to focus on the ground under the shield. With a massive shove, I sent the four of us up with a massive thump. We were sent up through the water, up and up. With a splash, we hit the surface. To see that by the time we got up there, the sun was setting. Looking around, It was the middle of the ocean. “Double shit.” I can see Canterlot in the distance but if I go back there with Luna in my arms. She would be killed for sure, so that's out. “Triple Shit,” I said looking at one of the nearby ships. Taking to my wings I flew towards the nearest ship. From the look of it, it was a rather small cargo ship. Hopefully, their hold is full. Grabbing onto the side we were dragged along, and with a small jump-started to climb up. Looking around the edge of it, I didn't see anyone.

So for so go.

Climbing up, I got to the deck and slid to the side to avoid any window. With any luck, I can get to the hold to stash Luna then go get some medical supplies. A ship like this should have that at the very least. Sadly, my knowledge of ships are very lacking.

“Do you think you can find me a way to the hold?” I asked.

“I think so,” Shadow said as I watched a little blacken blob shoot out of my shadow.

“I didn't know he could do that,” Moon commented.

“Well, we have had time to expand our skills. So we used it.” I shot back as I turn to look to make sure I wouldn't be spotted. Sliding into the hall I extended my senses through the wall. Metal was rather easy to sense through, as I tried to keep track of the vibrations. So far the rooms seem empty, and I slide into a small room. From what I could tell it was empty, sliding in. The room looked like some kind of meeting room. With a large table in the center with at least ten chairs surrounding it. Two on two sides, and three on the other two sides. From the sign on the wall, it looks like the ship is either called 'The Royal Blue' or is owned by a company of that name. Locking the door behind me, I slid Luna into a chair. So I can have my arms free as I can at least transfuse a little bit of magic to try and keep her going. Slowly I placed my right claw onto her head, keeping her horn in the natural hook between my thumb and pointer finger. Focusing my magic through my prosthetic I began to feel a little light-headed as I forced my magic into her.

Something a found out is that with my now strengthen magical veins is that if I need to focus my magic, that I need to be careful. I have to regulate my magic pouring out of me unless it comes out in one massive shot. If I did something like that right with Luna. I could do massive damage to her. Not something that I would want to do. After a few seconds, I could see some of the colors come back into her fur as well as a light tint to her cheeks on top of that.

“So far I haven't seen anyone, but I found both a medic room and the way to the hold. The problem is that you'll have to go through a few different halls.” Shadow said suddenly that caused me to jump.

“Ah, fuck. Alright, let's go.” Sliding my arms back under Luna, I stepped towards the door. Unlocking it, caused it to make a loud metallic thump as it opened. Stepping out I found myself face to face with a barrel of a gun.

“Why who do we have here?” Looking past the barrel I saw a semi-familiar looking mare who was holding a nine-millimeter handgun pointed at me. Wearing what just screams punk rocker, with a torn-up black dragon shirt. She also was wearing ripped blue jean shorts, and a set of combat black boots done up with metal studs. Sadly that didn't help the fact that her rose-colored eyes were locked on me. “So... who are you and why are you here?” Said the mare as all I could do was mouth two words.

Rainbow Dash...

[End of Chapter]

Author's Note

Hello again everyone, I know it's been a while since I last posted chapters and I can explain. The next four chapters I've been sort of holding off on posting till I had all of them written. As these chapters are an arc that I had called Codex. Hence why these have Codex in the chapter title. I may go back and do the same with the Nightmare Arc but I'm not sure about. But since I know some of you like to see more than one chapter posted at a time. I thought I would hold off and post all four chapters at the same time.

With that out of the way. Some of you may notice that I kind of pulled a water world here and honestly. I've had this arc on my mind for quite some time and I had plans and I'm happy I finally got to do it. As for why I went with Daybreaker here instead of Celestia. Let's just say I love playing 'What If' and after coming from dealing with Nightmare Moon. I thought to have Celestia's equivalent be the ruler here would be fun. And I will admit it was pretty fun to write. But now that Luna has been saved. How will this world's Rainbow Dash act compared to Storm's normal universe's Dash? Find out in the next chapter.

Stay Frosty My Friends.