Chapter 8: Long Live the Emperor

March 31, 1504 A.D.

Outskirts of Eclipse City, Celestial Territories

The sky was overcast the morning Twilight and her friends woke up within sight of the walls of Eclipse City.  They could see the Unicorn Mountains looming over the city in the distance.   They jutted out of the flat plains of the north like skyscrapers in Ponyville, growing in size as far as the eye could see.

Fortunately for Twilight and her friends, nopony had come to chase them down yet.  Twilight had timed their escape just right so that they had the maximum amount of time to get ahead before the next shift of guards discovered the ones she had put to sleep.  Twilight didn’t know what was happening back in Equestria, they had left the last Equestrian city before crossing into the Territories borders, Stalliongrad five days ago.  Since then, they had hiked towards the capital of the now independent Celestial Territories, Eclipse City.

It was large, from where they sat in a tree line two miles south of the city they could see that the center of the city was the oldest, with newer buildings expanding outward until they hit the walls and stopped.  It was perhaps smaller in population size perhaps, but it covered more ground than Canterlot did.  Canterlot was built on a mountain side and so the ponies there built up instead of out, the Celestial Territories did the opposite.  There were five buildings or complexes that seemed to tower above the rest of the otherwise low buildings, but Twilight didn’t know what those were.

In fact, her lack of knowledge is what she and the others were discussing at the moment.  The six mares and dragon were sitting around a small campsite, trying to decide how best to enter the city, they had been watching ponies, griffons, and dragons enter and leave the city for the past two days.

From what they could see through Twilight’s telescope, anypony entering the city had to do so through one of the four main gates.  Each gate had at least two guards in front of it, checking ponies for identification to make sure it seemed that the ponies were citizens of the Celestial Territories.  Twlight had considered teleporting to the other side of the walls with the others, but after reaching out with her magic she discovered that the walls had magical wards that prevented anypony from teleporting through.  Rainbow Dash had considered just flying everypony over the walls, but Rarity had pointed out that the soldiers would soon spot them and they would be in a heap of trouble then.  Spike, trying to think of something, wanted to dig under the walls.  Applejack told him however, that the ground was too hard for them to dig a big enough tunnel under the ground.  She also said that with how thick the walls looked, the foundations would undoubtedly be very deep.  In the end, they had decided to try Pinkie Pie’s plan, and walk through the gates.

Of course, some preparation was needed for that and they had stolen an identity paper from a pony traveling with a group of merchants.  They felt bad for stealing from somepony and they watched him try to get through.  Fortunately for him, the ponies he traveled with that had proper identification vouched for him and the soldiers were lenient and let him through, so Twilight and the others didn’t feel too bad.

The identification papers weren’t complicated, they had a picture of the pony, their name, citizenship, and place of residence.  The only hitch was that there was a Celestial Territories seal on it that was stamped on it, making it very difficult to forge.  Rarity tried her best, being an expert in design, and managed to come up with something very close to the real thing.  They all came up with a false name to put on their identities, since their names as the former elements of harmony were probably well known.  For Twilight, she used Trixie (appropriate since she was trying to maintain an illusion), Applejack would be Apple Bushel, Rarity would be Sapphire, Fluttershy would be Angel, Pinkie Pie would be Maud Pie (her sisters name), Rainbow Dash would be Lightning, and Spike would be Scales.  They knew that their cutie marks would be a dead giveaway, especially Twilight, and so they decided to wear clothes that covered their cutie-marks, and Twilight’s wings.  Afraid the clothes might not be enough for her, Twilight also put an illusion charm on her wings, making it look like she didn’t have them.  Unfortunately, Twilight couldn’t hide that she was slightly taller and thinner than the rest of them and came up with an excuse should anypony ask.

Twilight had also finally gotten a knack at her Dimensional Pocket spell, and so had packed many things she thought they might need like clothes, food, maps, books, etc.  Their clothes were plain, much to Rarity’s discomfort, to make them appear as ordinary travelers.

With everything set, they hopped onto the road and approached the city as casually as possible, trying to act normal as they approached the southern gate.  The two legionnaires were a dragon and an earth pony, each had iron armor, a rectangular shield, a short sword, and a spear.

When they reached the gates the dragon called out in a loud booming voice.

“Halt!   Who approaches this city?”

Applejack was decided to be the spokespony for the group because they didn’t want too many soldiers getting a closer look at Twilight and her disguised wings.  Also, Applejack’s accent would mark her as a regular farmer and that’s what they were trying to sell.  So when the dragon challenged them, she stepped forth confidently.

“Mah name is Apple Bushel, and my fellow workers and I want to enter Eclipse City.”

The dragon cocked a scaly eyebrow and looked at the earth pony next to him.  He then looked back at Applejack.

“I can see that, you wouldn’t be trying to get by me if you didn’t want to enter the city.  Let me clarify.  What is your business here in the capital?”

At this Pinkie couldn’t help herself and bounced forward, startling the earth pony soldier, but the dragon just turned to face the bouncing mare as she talked.

“We’re here for the party silly!”

The dragon looked at Pinkie with a questioning gaze and a frown as the others silently cursed Pinkie’s over-talkative nature.

“What party?”

The others tensed up unnoticeably, thinking their cover had been blown, but Pinkie continued smiling at the large dragon.

“Why the Celestial Territories Independance party!  My friends and I could think of no better place to celebrate than here in the capital, so we came here for the weekend!”

The dragon smiled, showing a set of sharp and pointed teeth.

“Glad to know, in that case all I need to see is your identification and you can go on ahead.”

The others were very relieved to hear this, Pinkie seemed to have a knack for getting by slyly.  One by one they showed the earth pony soldier their I.D.s and he nodded at them, satisfied that they were the real deal.  As soon as he finished, he turned around and signaled at the gatekeeper at the walls and the gates swung outward to let them in.  As they walked through, the dragon called out to them.

“I would go to Castle Nova Square if you want to see the festivities, I heard their having a bonfire tonight.  Enjoy your stay in Eclipse City!”

The gates shut with a loud boom behind them and the group wilted in relief, glad they had made it through.

Rainbow Dash trotted up to Pinkie and poked her in the side.  “How did you know there was a party going on?  That dragon was trying to trip us up.  I thought we would have to bolt for sure!”

Pinkie just shook her head with a knowing smile, “Of course there’s a party!  I knew there ponies here would want to celebrate!  It’s like a birthday party for the nation!”

Twilight shook her head as she walked to the front of the group, Spike on her back, and marveled at the utter simplicity or brilliancy that was Pinkie Pie.

“Thanks Pinkie, I think that helped us get by a lot easier.  Now all we got to do is find a library around here.”

They all started taking in the sight of the city, now from inside the walls instead of out.

They seemed to be in a main street that went on for a mile before breaking in a T shape.  There were houses of all sorts for ponies, griffons, and dragons.  Each house was unique in shape and size but they all followed the same color scheme of black, dark blue, gold, silver, and white.  Many of the houses seemed to use black bricks for the walls.  The residents themselves walked along the street, everypony seemed to be in a good mood and they greeted each other warmly.

Twilight took the initiative and walked up to a griffon that was headed down the street their way and politely waved at him, grabbing his attention.

“Excuse me, we just got here and we were wondering if there is a library here?  And if there is, could you please tell us where to find it?”

The griffon nodded politely at her and scratched under his beak with a claw, mulling over her question before looking at her again.

“Do you mean the Solaris Library or the library at the academy?”

“Which one is the oldest?”

“Hmmmmm” murmured the griffon, he turned around and began pointing at buildings.

“The library at the Imperial Academy is the younger of the two, and Solaris Library is older, but I heard the archives inside Castle Nova are the oldest.”

“Thanks, we’ll head for the castle then.”  Twilight started to leave and the others began following but the griffon stopped her before she could get too far.

“You need to go to the Solaris Library, not the castle, nopony goes in there.”

Twilight turned back to the griffon and raised an eyebrow.

“Why not?  It’s the oldest isn’t it?”

The griffon shook his head at her, to Twilight’s chagrin.

“It is indeed the oldest, as Castle Nova is the oldest part of the city, but the castle has been closed and boarded up for the past 1,000 years.  Nopony has been inside it in all that time.”

“Oh.” said Twilight, caught by surprise.  She needed to end this conversation before she said something that gave the impression that they didn’t know much of the history of the city.  “In that case, just tell us where the Solaris Library is and we’ll be on our way.”

The griffon smiled and turned and pointed with a claw out over the city towards one of the large buildings they had seen earlier.

“Follow this road, turn right at Artemis Street and follow that until you hit an intersection, then turn left on Starlight Lane and the library will be a couple blocks down on your right, you can’t miss it.”

Twilight held at her hoof and shook the griffon’s claw, smiling at him.

“Thank you, have a good day.”

“You’re welcome, and same to you.”

With that the griffon walked away, and Twilight and the group began following his instructions.  As they walked through Eclipse City, they saw soldiers walking in groups up and down the streets, more houses, they passed what seemed like a city park with animals (Fluttershy wanted to stop but the others dragged her back on the street), and then saw a marketplace where food and wares were being sold.

Twilight could see that the large marketplace was filled with good-smelling food, trinket saleponies, and all sorts of venders.  Twilight could smell all the tasty food from the delicious aroma that drifted across the square.  She turned back to her friends and she saw that they too were distracted by all the fanfare.

“We’re not in a rush, let’s look around and see what there is too eat.  I don’t know about you but I am starving.  It’ll also be good to eat something fresh than what we have been eating.  Let’s split up and we’ll all meet back at the library.  Ok?”  They all nodded their heads and each turned in a different direction as they explored the marketplace.  Spike stayed with Twilight.

Spike cast his dragon eyes all around the market and the city in general and tugged on Twilight’s mane.  Twilight looked down at him as they walked towards one of the dessert venders.  She saw that he was in awe and wondered why that was.

“What is it Spike?”

“Twilight look at the dragons here!  They are living here, making homes here, and the ponies just accept them without batting an eyelash!  They’re like me and nothing like those other dragons we saw during the migration!  Do you know why these dragons are so different?”

That hadn’t occurred to Twilight, she had been so focused on her mission that she didn’t find it strange at all.  She berated herself mentally and let out a frustrated snort.  Twilight forgot how she took Spike’s civilized manners for granted, since he lived with her all the time, and that the dragons she had encountered in the past were a far cry from what she had seen here in the city.

She focused more attention on the dragons, trying to truly observe them.  The dragons were taller than all the ponies, far more muscular and bulky, but they seemed to fit in with the ponies just fine.  She then noticed that the proportion of ponies and griffons to dragons was 50 to 1, the dragons were more than what she had ever seen (except the migration) but were clearly a minority in the city.  These were also a lot more controlled, she thought.  They clearly felt like they belonged in the city and treated the ponies here equally than those dragon bullies she and Spike had encountered.  She turned back to Spike and spoke in a soothing voice.

“I don’t know, but tell you what.  When we go to the library you can look for the answer, I’m sure it’ll be there somewhere.” Dismissing the matter for the moment, Twilight turned to look at the dessert stand she had arrived at, the unicorn was selling all sorts of goodies, from fresh baked moon pies to sunflower cupcakes.  The orange unicorn smiled at Twilight and Spike and gestured with a hoof at the pastries.

“Hello there.  Is there something you’re interested in?”  the unicorn then saw Spike and quickly ducked behind her stand.  Twilight thought she was hiding until she popped back up with a small bag of cookies.  She gave it to Spike and said, “Here are some free samples for you little mister.  Those are cookies with obsidian instead of chocolate, I made them myself!”

Spike looked in wonder at the treat and quickly began munching on some cookies, a dreamy expression on his face.  Twilight decided it would be rude not to buy something and decided on a delicious moon pie, she dug in her saddlebag and pulled out the right number of Equestrian bits.

The unicorn gave her the pie and took the money, but her questioning gaze went back to Twilight.  “Pardon me miss, but why haven’t you traded these in yet?”

‘Traded what in?’

Twilight looked again at the unicorn and saw she was gesturing at the bits she had just given her.  Uh oh, she thought, she should have realized that they might not be using bits anymore since they separated.  She took deniability as the best option for her slip-up and gave the unicorn an exasperated frown.

“I’ve been trying to, but haven’t found out where to go to.  Do you know where I can trade?”  the unicorn nodded and gave her a smile.

“That’s Ok, I know it’s been confusing lately.  You go to the bank where they’ll trade these old bits for new ones.  They then take the old bits and melt them down to make the new ones.”  Twilight nodded her thanks and they left the vendor and started headed back towards the direction of the library.  She munched on her pie as they walked, depressed to be reminded of the Territories separation from

Equestria.

They reached Solaris Library after navigating through the streets, the others were there waiting for her and Spike already, sitting on the steps eating their food.  They sat down in a companionable silence as they ate, gazing out over the city, it was then that Twilight noticed something.

The sun was about to set.

“Girls, it’s almost sunset!  The library might be closing!”  They all quickly got up and scarfed down whatever food remained before entering the library.

Twilight stopped on the threshold and cast a loving gaze over the inside.  The library was filled from floor to ceiling with books, artifacts, statues, and all sorts of goodies.  She mentally squealed like a school filly on the inside but kept a level head, she didn’t want to attract too much attention.  She walked up to the front desk where an elderly pegasus was sitting.

“Excuse me, could you tell me where the history section is?”

The old mare nodded and pointed with a wrinkled wing toward a section at the back of the library.

“Right over there youngster, enjoy yourself.”

Twilight happily trotted over to the designated spot and began looking for the right book.  She was in her element.

After an hour of search, Twilight realized she hadn’t been the only one looking for a background of the Celestial Territories history.  As she and her friends perused the shelves, they noticed that there were many gaps where books would have been.  With nothing presenting itself to Twilight, she had returned to the front of the library to where the librarian sat.

“Ma’am, are there any more history books detailing the Territories past, particularly pre-Discord history?”

The mare looked sadly at Twilight when she answered in a quivering voice.

“Sorry young mare, but since leaving Equestria, there has been a huge-surge in fascination of our history.  All the history books that you’re looking for have been checked out, there weren’t many pre-Discord books to begin with anyway, sorry.  Also, I’m afraid we’re about to close, there is a celebration tonight and we’re locking up early.  Could you get your friends please?  I have to inform the other patrons.”

Twilight sighed again, feeling defeated inside, before nodding to the elderly mare and trotted slowly back to where her friends were.

When she got there, she looked up and saw that they were all reading a couple books that Spike had in his claws.  Spike looked back up at Twilight as she approached and ran excitedly up to her.

“Twilight look!  This is shorter than I think you wanted, it’s an abridged encyclopedia, and I also found out why these dragons are so different!  Read these!”

He gave her the first book entitled Hoofster’s Encyclopedia:  Revised 1504 Edition, Spike pointed with a claw at a passage and Twilight could see it was about Equestria, the Crystal Empire, and the Celestial Territories.  It read:

**Equestria:* Ruled by three princesses called a triarchy and a Parliament consisting of both ancient noble families and elected representatives of different equestrian territories.  Equestria was formed by the Unicorn, Pegasus, and Earth Pony Tribes following the harsh winter and pony exodus of 3,350 P.W.  After the reign of Discord, the ruling nobility ceded governance to the Royal Pony Sisters, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.  Recently, a unicorn named Twilight Sparkle, who was Celestia’s protégé, ascended to an alicorn and was crowned as a princess of equal standing alongside the Royal Pony Sisters, forming today’s triarchy.*

**Crystal Empire:  Ruled by a monarchy and a council of crystal pony nobility.  This empire was founded by alicorn nobility millennia before the Hundred-Year War.  After the killing of Queen Broken Heart by the emperor, ending the Hundred-year War, the emperor allowed a non-alicorn ruler to sit on the Crystal Throne.  King Sombra took over the crystal empire in 496 A.D. and was defeated the same year by the Royal Pony Sisters after Sombra routed the Celestial Legions in a battle in the frozen north.  The Crystal Empire disappeared by Sombra’s dark magic however, and didn’t reappear until 1502 A.D. Sombra also returned but was defeated by the current bearers of the Elements of Harmony.  Upon reappearance and Sombra’s second defeat, Princess Cadence, a previously unknown descendant of Queen Broken Heart, assumed the Crystal Throne as the Crystal Princess.

**Celestial Territories:Older than Equestria, the Celestial Territories traces its roots to the Solar and Lunar Thrones that inhabited the Unicorn Mountains before the Hundred-Year War.  Now it is formally part of Equestria but is governed by a fiercely independent Senate that sends a representative to the Equestrian Parliament.  It was independent of Equestria and ruled by an emperor and the Senate before it was peacefully annexed by the Royal Diarchy shortly after Emperor Starfire’s death in 496 A.D.

Timeline:

B.W. (Before Hundred-Year War) 10,000+ years

H.Y.W.  (Hundred Year-War) 100 years

P.W. (Post Hundred-Year War) 3500 years

D.D. (During Discord; unknown years)

A.D. (After Discord) 1504 years

Twilight smiled up at the group, joy filling her heart.  She finally had some answers! Twilight didn’t know if this dating system was correct, but it was at least seemed somewhat reasonable.  And it also seemed that the Territories didn’t like the Crystal Empire because of several past conflicts that had occurred between the two.

Twilight still had no idea who this Broken Heart was and why it mattered that Cadence was a distant descendant.  But she did understand if they were bitter because of a past defeat by Sombra.  Also, this “Hundred-Year War” kept cropping up, Twilight still didn’t have a clue what that was or whether it was historical fact.  More questions were also raised, like the brief mention of an “alicorn nobility.”  As far as Twilight knew, Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and she were the only alicorns in existence, past or present.   Without further evidence, Twilight doubted the outlandish claims of the author.

Then there was this brief mention of a deceased emperor of the Territories named Starfire, she wondered why the emperor’s death would compel the Territories to join Equestria.  Still so many questions.

She felt Spike’s claw pulling on her.

“Look at this one, it has all sorts of information on dragons in here!”  Twilight smiled at how enthusiastic he was and quickly read the short passage:

Dragons;

In the ancient past, these scaly creatures had an ancient civilization in the more volcanic regions of the world.  They didn’t build any structures or cities but inhabited caves and shared nesting grounds.  They only worked together rarely and only had a single king.  A King was only needed to settle disputes between dragons and to lead them in times of war.  The King was a title that referred to the dragon that won the position from the previous holder.  Any dragon had the right to challenge the current king for the position.  Younger dragons today demonstrate this with their “King of the Hoard” games.  Unexpected deaths resulted in tournaments for the title of king.

Today’s dragons are descendants of two lines of dragon lineage.

The first and most well-known are the wild dragons.  These ferocious beasts are the descendants of dragons that went mad from greed growth.  They are generally stupid and only care for themselves and their hoard.  Also important is that their diet turned carnivorous over time.  The only semblance of order is that of tribes, they also have taken the ancient dragon’s homes as their nesting grounds.

The much smaller and reasonable group of dragons are the descendants of the army that marched with King Draco, the last king of the dragons, during the Hundred-Year War.  After extremely heavy casualties and the death of Draco during the war, the last of these dragons migrated to the Celestial Territories and integrated into its society.  These dragons are much smaller, wiser, smarter, kinder, and have an unusual diet of gems and plant food when compared to their wilder and unreasonable cousins.

“This is great Spike!  That book sure does clear things up a bit about the dragons that live here.  It was very interesting and we found out a bit more about the culture history here.  Go put the books up though, we’re not checking anything out.”

Twilight turned back around to her friends as Spike but the two books back on the shelf, she gave them a disappointed expression.

“I wish we could have found more, but the librarian told me that there weren’t that many pre-Discord books to begin with.  Also, we have to leave since the library is closing in a few minutes.”  She turned to leave and headed out of the library and heard her friends following when she felt a tap on her shoulder.  Turning her head to the side, she saw it was Fluttershy.

“Hey Twilight, what do we do now?  We can’t wait for those books to be returned.”

“I’ve got an idea!  Why don’t we sneak into the old castle!  That griffon said earlier that nopony goes in there and that the oldest books are there!”  exclaimed Rainbow Dash as she flew outside the library back into the street.

Rarity looked up at Dash with a beaming smile as she trotted down the steps.  “I think that’s a splendid idea.  With the castle being closed, all the books should be there!”

Twilight wasn’t so sure, it sounded like to her that these ponies were very sensitive about the castle.  It was also probably very secure since nopony was supposed to go in there anyway.  Although she reasoned that it was probably their best bet to find out more about the Territories.  She was distracted from her train of thought as Applejack walked in front of her and pointed a hoof into the distance.

“Look at that ya’ll!  Thars a big herd a ponies a gatherin!  What do ya think their doin.?”

Twilight looked at what Applejack was talking about and saw a very large group of the city’s residents moving towards the center of the city.  She went back over today’s earlier conversations and realized what it could be.

“Oh!  This must be that festival the dragon soldier was talking about.  They must be headed towards Castle Nova Square.  I bet that’s right in front of the castle.”

Rainbow Dash flew upwards a bit, scanning the growing crowd and flew back down with a mischievous grin.

“Twilight’s right!  They’re all moving towards the front side of the castle.  I bet that with all those ponies there, none of the guards would notice us slip inside!  It’s perfect!”

“Oooooh!  We can also see the party going on!  Can we see Twilight?!  Please oh please oh pleeeeaaasseee?!?!” whined Pinkie at Twilight as they followed the crowd at a discreet distance, so they couldn’t be overheard.  Twilight thought about it.

On one side, she really wanted to find our more information.  Also attending the festival sounded interesting, she wanted to see more of the city and what was going on.  Rainbow Dash had come up with a good point too, with all those ponies at the festival it would be much easier to get inside without anypony noticing.

On the other side, breaking into what was probably a very important building to these ponies was not a good way to stay low.  She also didn’t know a thing about the castle and if it was even safe to enter after being closed so long.

She thought them over, rolling the ideas over in her head and came to a decision.

“Alright girls, let’s go and see the festival and then while their celebrating, we’ll find a way into the castle.

Twilight didn’t see it, but she could feel all her friends’ excitement at continuing their mission.  No doubt they probably hadn’t felt nearly as excited looking through books at an ordinary library compared to sneaking into an old abandoned castle.

That always seemed to come up in their adventures, Twilight thought, sneaking into old abandoned castles.

When they arrived at Castle Nova Square the citizens were all there talking excitedly and making a clear space in the middle of the square, where there was a tall stack of wood.

The castle loomed over everypony.  It was around the same size as Canterlot Castle, but was extremely different.  Where Canterlot Castle was white, gleaming, and elegant, Castle Nova was a black, rather gloomy, and solid looking fortress.  The stone was cut of a very black rock and Twilight could see many of the windows bricked up and there wasn’t a single light shining throughout the entire castle.  If Twilight was in the air and had looked down at the city, she thought the city would be a large circle of lights with a black and empty center.  Like a donut with sprinkles.

Or a black hole.

Twilight motioned for Spike and the girls to come over to the where she was, an open spot near the walls of the castle.  They all gathered and looked over to the open square, waiting for the festival to start.

They didn’t have to wait long.

Twilight could see a small crowd of decorated legionnaires, moving towards the center with a group of ponies that looked to her much the members of Parliament.

“Those must be some of the ponies of the Senate here.”  She told the others.

One of the senators, a unicorn, led the others and got onto a platform in front of the pile of wood before Twilight sensed him casting a spell to amplify his voice.  He spoke in a loud, deep, and booming tone as he called out to the mob.

“Citizens of the Celestial Territories!!  It is time to celebrate our new independence!!

There was a roar from the crowd cheering his words in approval.

“It has been over a thousand years since our flag flew alone, but with the dreaded Crystal Empire returning, we must stand against this new threat!!

Much to Twilight’s disappointment, the crowd booed when the senator mentioned the Crystal Empire.

“Yes it is true my friends!  Not only has our old enemy returned, but they are now ruled by the vilest of their race!  Princess Cadence!  The spawn of our old foe Broken Heart!!”

Twilight hated listening to this speaker, and she could see the others felt the same way too.  But they couldn’t escape with them backed up to the castle walls and the crowd.  The crowd roared in anger as the speaker spoke, they hissed and booed as Cadence was named.

“Equestria would have us bow down to that usurper and be ruled over by that traitorous mare!  The Equestrian Parliament arrested our representative on a false accusation and imprisoned him!!

“Booooo!!!!”

The speaker then took a calmer tone of voice as he addressed the crowd again.

“BUT, there are still among you those who doubt leaving Equestria was the right thing to do, that doing so means that we betrayed our beloved princesses, Celestia and Luna, who have protected us for the past millennia.”

Twilight grew confused as the crowd murmured and looked disappointed as he mentioned Celestia and Luna.  They didn’t grow angry as when Cadence had been called, instead they grew quiet and many of them looked sad.

The senator spoke on in a mournful voice.

“I am sorry to say but the princesses have abandoned us.  If you doubt my words, just look behind me at this castle.”

Twilight and the others could see him point a hoof at Castle Nova, and the crowd’s eyes followed to where he was pointing.

“Look!  Look!  Castle Nova lies abandoned, quiet, and cold!  The Celestial Throne has sat empty inside the castle’s frozen halls for over a millennia since we failed to defeat Sombra!  If the princesses truly cared for us, this would not be so!  They would not coddle the pretender that seeks to expand her power!  Even as we speak, Cadence grabs more tyrannical leverage over all of Equestria!”

The crowd began yelling abuse at the mere mention of Cadence again.  Getting a tad angry, Twilight didn’t want to stick around and started searching for a way into the castle.

“And what of Princess Twilight Sparkle!!”

Twilight froze at the mention of her name, the others gathered around her protectively, shielding her from the view of the crowd.

“She was the wielder of the Elements of Harmony!!  She succeeded where we failed and cast down the vile Sombra!!  When Discord broke loose, it was her that led her friends and restored harmony to the world!!  When Nightmare Moon returned, she cleansed Princess Luna of her nightmarish possession and reunited the Royal Pony Sisters!!”

The crowd grew quiet as he talked, not knowing whether he was trying to praise Twilight or insult her and waited for his next words.

“But she is forever lost to us as our friend!! For her own brother has married the treacherous Crystal Princess!!   I heard that when our representative, Senator Tejas, was arrested on false charges, Princess Twilight did nothing as they led him away in chains!!  It is clear to us in the Senate that it is time for us to stand alone once again.  For we will never bow to the wretched tyranny of the Crystal Throne!!  Long Live the Celestial Territories!!”

The crowd broke out cheering, waving their flags and the senator motioned to a group in the crowd to step forward.

“To commemorate this event, we have put together something special for the bonfire!!”

To Twilight and her friend’s horror, a large wooden horse was wheeled out from behind a building and unicorns placed it on the pile of wood in the center of the square.

It was Cadence.

But Twilight could see that the makers of the wooden Cadence had darkened her pink colors and twisted her loving smile into a ferocious snarl with pointed teeth.  Her crown was large, pointed, and sharp, much different from her normal and petite one.

The senator stepped down from the platform and gestured to the bonfire kindling as he backed away.

“Let the festivities begin!!”

When he finished speaking, ponies and griffons lit torches and threw them at the bonfire pile while the dragons breathed fire at it.

Twilight thought she would be sick as she saw the wooden Cadence catch fire and she heard the crowd screaming in affirmation of the Territories Independence.

The six mares and Spike could only watch in petrified attention as embers and sparks drifted into the night sky from the bonfire, casting a red haze of smoke full of hate over the glimmering city.

The castle was a dark, sad, and empty place.  Rotting tapestries long faded to gray hung from rusting bars, there was no natural light as all the windows had been bricked up, the floors were slick with mildew and mold like the deepest cave.

But the worst part was the silence.

After the bonfire started Twilight had snapped out of her shock, grabbed her friends, and headed around toward the backside of the castle with all haste.  The crowd had taken some force getting through but they managed it.

When they reached the backside of the castle, nopony was there as everypony else was at the bonfire or in other parts of the city, it appeared to be a back alleyway anyway.  Twilight didn’t want to fly over the walls, for fear of being spotted, and so instead set to work seeing if they could teleport to the inside.

When Twilight reached out with her magic, getting a sense of enchantments, she detected several old and powerful spells designed to guard the castle.  The first was a layered enchantment that could be activated to throw a shield over the castle, much like Shining Armor’s spell that protected Canterlot.  Another main spell prevented anyone from flying over deliberately, Twilight sensed that if they had tried their wings would have snapped shut and they would have plummeted to the ground.  The last spell was an anti-teleportation spell.

Twilight couldn’t disable the enchantments without setting off a light show that would have alerted the entire city to their presence, instead she would have to make a small temporary hole in the enchantment and punch through into the castle while maintaining the spell.  She couldn’t have done this earlier with the walls around the city because those spells were constantly monitored by live unicorns.  This enchantment was set up a long time ago, and was not constantly powered.  Nevertheless, Twilight doubted anyone that was not an alicorn would be able to get through, this enchantment was powerful.  Twilight reached out with her magic and opened a small holed in the enchantment and puched through.  After she had teleported them inside, they had immediately began searching for the library.

But it eluded them.

In retrospect, Twilight realized with a grimace, the castle was very large and they had never thought about where in the castle it might be, only that it was in here somewhere.  On and on they searched through the hallways, looking into old abandoned rooms that only had mildew and dust in them.  Twilight could smell the rotting decay of the castle, this wasn’t like the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, where everything was open to the air, no, Castle Nova was like a tomb that let nothing out.  Contaminating the air with the foul smell of disease and sickness.

“Twilight!”  Rarity squealed “This castle is horrible!  Why ever would the ponies in this city let this place rot?”

Twilight shook her head, stopping in the hallway to look back at her friends.

“I don’t know Rarity.  That’s why we’re here, because we don’t know.”

“Well I think we should go back to Equestria.”  pouted Rarity “The ponies here obviously don’t like Cadence, that’s all we need to know right?  Besides, we’ve overstayed our welcome, the longer we stay here, the more likely you’ll be exposed Twilight!  And you saw what they did out there, they will run us down like an angry pack of Diamond Dogs!”

“Yeah Twilight!”  shouted Rainbow Dash “This old castle is empty and BORING!  Look at the place, nopony has even set hoof in here in years!”

Clop Clop Clop

The whole group froze, looking at each other, seeing if it was one of them.

Nopony was moving.

Clop Clop Clop

Spike jumped onto Twilight’s back, scared out his wits.  Twilight could hear the sound of hoofsteps coming from the end of the hallway and around the corner.  A small light was getting brighter as it was about to come into their hallway.

She had to act quickly.

Before the other ponies could panic, Twilight’s horn glowed as she encased them in a silencing spell and another spell that would allow them to talk to each other without anypony else listening.

“Quick!! This way!!”

She galloped at full speed, the others right behind her, towards the opposite side of the hallway, rounding the corner and rushing through the next hallway.

As she ran, she saw up ahead a large open doorway leading to large room, the only door she could see that wasn’t closed.

“This way!!  We’ll hide in there!”

They galloped as quick as they could, the light growing in brilliance as it closed the distance behind them, but Twilight could see that it was slow, like they didn’t know anypony else was in the castle

She leapt through the doorway and stopped, taking in the room before her with wide eyes.

It was the Throne Room.

The darkness clung to the room like sheets on a bed, making the shadows seem deeper and malevolent to Twilight.  There were dark columns stretching along the walls that met with an arch that expanded the ceiling upward like a cathedrals.

There was a throne on the exact opposite end in front of Twilight.

It sat alone on a large platform, and was a solid jet black of obsidian, looking uncomfortably solid and unmovable.  At the top of the back of the chair sat an eclipse with an opaque center and a golden corona, reflecting brightly the purple light from Twilight’s horn.

Clop Clop Clop

There wasn’t anymore time!  Tearing her gaze from the throne, Twilight looked in a frenzy for a place to go!  A place to hide!

The walls were solid though and the windows bricked.  No doors either.

Clop Clop Clop

Twilight looked back and could see the light approaching slowly, her friends had moved out of the way of the doorway so nopony saw them.

“Twilight!!” whispered Fluttershy “What do we do!!  There’s no place to hide!!”

Her panic rising, Twilight looked above her and saw the rafters on the ceiling.

“Hold on!!”

She quickly lifted Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Spike up to the rafters using her levitation and each pony clung to one for dear life as Twilight, Rainbow, and Fluttershy flew up to them.

Clop Clop Clop

“Shhhh!!”  Twilight whispered frantically “Stay quiet!!  I’m casting an invisibility spell on us!! But it’ll cancel the spell that prevents them from hearing us!!  If you make any noise, they’ll hear us!!”

The others shut up quickly while Twilight lowered the silence spell and cast her invisibility spell, watching the others disappear.

They waited.

A couple minutes later, Twilight watched with baited breath as the pony that they had heard earlier steped fully into the room.

She knew this pony.

Although it had been a brief and short meeting, Twilight’s sharp memory kicked in as she eyed the black unicorn.

It was Professor Papyrus Scrolls.

‘What’s he doing here?!’

The black unicorn, standing around Twilight’s height with his grey mane, beard, and tail, slowly trotted across the room, his eyes fixed on the throne on the other end.  He was wearing the same vest and cloak he had been wearing at the banquet Twilight had met him at after her first session of Parliament.

His horn was lit up with a mostly yellow light, tinged with black, as he reached the platform at the base of the throne.

As Twilight was trying to figure out what to do next, she saw Scrolls pull out of the air the last thing she expected.

A tea set.

‘What!  He’s in here to have TEA!’

She could sense through her spell that she was maintaining that the other’s reactions were similar.

She continued to watch as Scrolls conjured up a small table to set the tea on, and a burner to warm up the tea.  He seemed very relaxed to Twilight, he had a small smile on his face as he sat below the throne.  He kept looking towards the other end of the hallway.

“HAH, there you are!  I knew I would find you in here, sitting back and drinking tea!”

Twilight almost cried out in shock.  While she had been watching Scrolls, she had completely miss the other pony enter the room.

He was a tall and sturdy looking thestral with amber draconic eyes and black bat wings.  He was wearing a long cloak similar to the one Scrolls had on and had a wide smile plastered to his face.

“Ah, Inquisitor Long Fang.  I’m so happy you could join me for tea tonight.  I know you must be very busy with all the fanfare outside.”  Scrolls said with a small smile as the thestral approached.

‘Long Fang?  Wait a moment!  That name was on the report Luna’s guards found that landed Tejas in prison!  He might be the one behind my attack!’

Twilight glared at the thestral, trying to figure out if Long Fang had indeed plotted against Equestria.

“Hhhmmph” snorted Long Fang “I have plenty of keen eyes watching out there for me, and I didn’t particularly enjoy the opening ceremony.”  He cocked an eyebrow at the stallion in front of him.  “Did you sir?”

Scrolls was shaking his head, a disappointed expression on his face.

“I found it revolting.  Especially the speech the senator made, it was poorly made and written for a mob.  I also didn’t like the insinuations he made.”

Long Fang nodded his gray head an agreement and shivered a little bit, looking about the room.

“Why are we here your majesty?  The castle has nothing in it.”

‘Why did he call Scrolls “your majesty?”’

Scrolls shrugged and grasped a tea cup in his magic and sipped it before answering.

“It’s the most deserted part of the city, and almost nopony can get in here.  Perfect for our discussions I might say.”

Long Fang nodded and shivered a bit, his wings wrapping around himself more tightly, Twilight could see his bright eyes rove about the dark room as he turned his head.

“Would you mind lighting up the torches, it’s cold and dark in here.”

“Very well,” Scrolls said sadly “It’s a lot emptier than it used to be and I don’t like looking at it.”  His horn lit up and lights shot forth from it, dancing across the room and finding their spots in upholsters along the walls.  The room had new warmth to it and Twilight could see the room better.

Scrolls was right, it was empty.  Whatever had been in the room had long since been removed, leaving the throne as the only furniture in the room.  Twilight did see though, that there were murals along the walls, depicting scenery she recognized as the land outside the city walls.  On the floor, the tile depicted the Royal Crest of the Celestial Territories, an eclipse surrounded by six stars of six different colors.  Right above Twilight, the ceiling was studded with gems that depicted the sky, with the sun in one corner and the moon and stars in another.

“Why is the castle so empty anyway?  Why didn’t they keep it up after Sombra?”  Scrolls inquired, he was holding his tea cup in his magical aura as Long Fang sipped from his cup.  Long Fang returned a sad smile to the black unicorn.

“After Celestia and Luna took control of the Celestial Throne, anything of personal or emotional value they took with them to Canterlot along with much of the artwork and books.  Whatever was left was either sold or stolen.  I found the records in the Senate building regarding the transactions and what the sisters took.”  He laughed a bit and his eyes closed in mirth.  “Why, locals still seem to think that there’s anything of value in here, like treasure or a long-hidden library.”

‘Drat’

Scrolls had been nodding along as Long Fang talked, he sipped his tea again.

“So,” he said “Have you heard anything from your spies in Equestria?”

Twilight listened more closely at this, knowing this was important information.

Long Fang regarded Scrolls with a nervous expression, and his wings shuffled, like he didn’t like the answer he was about to give.

“Yes but you’re not going to like it.”

“Oh?  Do tell.”

“Twilight Sparkle has gone missing.”

Twilight stiffened at this, sweat breaking down her back.  She sensed the others were nervous too.

Scrolls straightened up and stared at Long Fang through narrowed eyes.

“Explain please.”

Long Fang nodded and talked fast in his deep voice.

“My spies said that a week ago today, she, her dragon, and the other former elements vanished from Ponyville.  They didn’t leave a note or anything.”

“How do you know that?  You’re good but not good enough to intercept dragon fire mail.”

“Celestia and Luna’s actions gave it away.  They have left Canterlot with a contingent of guards and they are searching Equestria as we speak.  I was told they were panicked and feared something has happened to her.”

Twilight’s gut clenched in guilt and her throat caught up in her throat.  She didn’t mean to panic the princesses, they were practically family.  Long Fang continued.

“I wouldn’t like to be Flash Sentry, the princesses were outraged that he couldn’t keep track of a single princess surrounded by 1,200 guards.  One of my reports said that both princesses grew so angry, that he had to report to the medic for temporary deafness after getting demoted to a private.”

“The Royal Canterlot Voice?”

“The VERY Royal Canterlot Voice.”

Scrolls snorted in amusement as if the Voice were a joke and tapped his chin with a hoof, deep in thought.

“Hhhhmmmm.  It’s understandable they would draw the conclusion that she was kidnapped or attacked, but I doubt she’s in trouble.”

Long Fang tilted his head slightly as Scrolls poured him more tea.

“What makes you say that?”

“Oh, a hunch.  If it was just Twilight and Spike that disappeared I would be worried.  But for all the other elements to disappear without anypony noticing is ludicrous.”

“That makes sense, I suppose she and her friends went on one or their little “adventures” their known to go on and knew the guards would slow them down.  They did defeat Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, and Sombra almost entirely by themselves after all.”

Twilight saw Scrolls shake violently as Long Fang listed of the names.  Long Fang looked on in shock before comprehension lighted up his face.  He then waited for Scrolls to calm down before speaking up in a remorseful voice.

“Oh I’m so sorry Starfire!  I forget how you don’t like it when I mention them.”

‘Starfire?  That sounds familiar, where have I heard that before?’  Twilight thought, frowning at the pair of stallions below as she searched her memory.  Then it clicked, Starfire was the name of the last emperor of the Territories before it was annexed by Equestria in 496 A.D.  Twilight thought it was strange for Long Fang to call Papyrus Scrolls that, but then realized that Papyrus Scrolls was probably an alias, and Starfire was the black unicorn’s real name.

Starfire looked at Long Fang in reluctant acknowledgment of the apology before shifting his back  left leg and reached out with a hoof, itching his sides.

“Blast it!”  He said “I haven’t been able to get much sleep ever since I found out about those four.”

“You’ve been having night….I mean bad dreams sir?”  Long Fang asked.

“Yes!”  Starfire said indignantly, “After being on ice so long, my sins keep cropping up in my dreams, reminding me of my failures.”  He fidgeted again before he started to take off his cloak.  “And I hate having to wear this cloak all the time!  It makes me feel claustrophobic!”

To Twilight’s and the others complete shock, when Starfire pulled off the cloak, they could see very clearly a pair of large, black wings with yellow tips on the feathers.

Twilight couldn’t believe her eyes, sitting right below her was another alicorn that nopony knew about!  She closed her eyes and opened them again to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating, but the wings were clearly still there as Starfire preened the ruffled appendages.

The hidden lavender alicorn started putting two and two together and came up with fish.

Starfire was the name of an emperor that supposedly died over a millennia ago.  Long Fang called him ‘your majesty’.  Starfire was very familiar with the castle.  He was an alicorn, one that nopony knew about.

The Emperor of the Celestial Territories lived!

Suddenly, the Territories secession from Equestria made much more since.  If their true ruler, the one before Celestia and Luna, had returned after a thousand years, of course they would want to separate.  The only conclusion that Twilight could draw was that Starfire was responsible for the Territories leaving and that the black alicorn was fanning the flames of hatred between the Crystal Empire and the Territories in order to reclaim his throne!

Twilight looked back down and saw that Starfire had finished preening and had put his cloak back on.  He had also put away the table and tea set and he and Long Fang were slowly walking back out towards the open doorway.

“Better sir?”  asked Long Fang.

“Yes, very much so.”  Answered Starfire, “You understand how wings get when their covered.”

“Yes sir.”  Long Fang nodded in reply.  A thoughtful expression came across his face and he turned back to the emperor as they reached the middle of the throne room.

“Sir, what have you been looking for?”

Starfire stopped and raised a questioning glance at the thestral.

“What do you mean?”

“When I walked through the castle earlier, many of the doors were open.   They’re usually closed if I recall.”

‘Uh oh’

Starfire shook his head in rejection of the thestral’s statement.

“No, I haven’t been searching for anything.  Are you sure?  When I modified the spell protecting the castle, I made it so that only you and I could pass through.”  He chuckled, “Why, the only beings who could modify or bypass my enchantment would be ………..”

He stopped, his amused smile dawning into horror as understanding came to him.

“A what sir?”  Long Fang asked, concern written on his brow.  They had paused just before the doorway to the throne room.

“……another alicorn.”

Long Fang also looked shock and they both turned their faces to the doorway.

“Twilight Sparkle has gone missing.”

“She and her friends are known for going on adventures.”

“She is worried about us, the Territories.”

“The rooms in the castle have been searched.”

Starfire quickly turned to Long Fang with a fierce expression of determination, sending chills down Twilight’s spine as she and the others prayed they wouldn’t be discovered.

“They must still be in the city, I’ve been here every night and the castle hasn’t been disturbed until tonight.”

“Orders Sir!!”  Long Fang dropped his informality and snapped to attention as Starfire took a commanding tone.

“Find General Stonewall and tell him to lock down the city.  Send out orders to search for any visitors, and to spread the word that she is here!  I will start searching the city while maintaining my disguise.  She must not escape!”

They both quickly ran through the doorway and galloped down the hallway, their hooves clopping loudly on the stone floor, the echoes growing quieter as the distance grew.  The noise then dropped off to nothing.

Twilight dropped the invisibility spell and teleported them all to the stone floor.  They all had distressed expressions flicking across their faces and they looked very skittish to Twilight.

“Twilight!  What do we do!  We’ll be trapped!”  Screamed Spike.

Twilight herself was scared but was trying to remain calm and in control of the situation.  She tried to speak but the others were crying out in alarm too and her voice was lost in the cacophony.

“We got to get out of here!!”

“We can’t all fly away Rainbow!”

“They’ll find us for sure!! No more parties!!”

“I’m too fabulous to go to prison!!”

Fluttershy just fainted, her legs sticking up in the air.

Twilight had had enough

“Stop!!”  she yelled, clamping their muzzles shut with her magic.

“We’ve got to calm down and get out of the castle first, we’ll find a way out.  Don’t worry.  They haven’t discovered us yet.”

“I’m afraid it’s far too late now, Twilight Sparkle.” An old voice said behind them.

Twilight and the others froze, Fluttershy jumping awake, and slowly turned to where the rasping voice came from.

There standing in the doorway to the throne room stood the black alicorn.

Emperor Starfire.

He had a small grimace on his face that spoke of sympathy towards the group in front of him.  His eyes flitted nervously between all of them and finally rested on Twilight.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle, it is good to see you again.  However, I wish we could meet under…..better circumstances.”

“Twilight?  Do you know this stallion?”  Rarity asked.

“Yes…..”  Twilight replied, wary of Starfire “…he was at Parliament’s reception in disguise when I met him.  He told me his name was Papyrus Scrolls though, a professor at the academy here.”

“Ya filthy liar!!  Ya’ll have been the one’s responsible for the Territories leaving!!  All this trouble too ah think!!”

Starfire blinked and looked at Applejack, his posture non-threatening and his voice polite.

“You are Miss Applejack, correct?”

“So what if ah am?”  Applejack asked suspiciously.

“I do not appreciate being called a liar, it is not in my nature.  Something you of all ponies understands, being a former bearer of the element of honesty.”

He paused before looking back at Twilight.

“I did not lie, princess. I do indeed teach at the academy under the name of Papyrus Scrolls, a necessity to hide my return.”

He stopped and looked a tad remorseful.

“I will not deny however, that it is by my doing that the Territories seceded from Equestria.”

“So,” Twilight began “You are the one that stirred up this hatred between the Territories and the Crystal Empire.  I bet you were even behind my attack.”

Starfire shook his head gently as he slowly approached Twilight.  The lavander mare backed up slowly accordingly, not wanting to be any closer to the stallion.

“I’m afraid my disagreement with the Crystal Empire is not your business princess.  And it was not I who attacked you, nor my men.  I have no quarrel with Equestria, the opposite in fact.  But our talk must end here.”

He drew himself up and flared his wings, looking intimidating to the group in front of him.

“You know too much, I cannot allow you to leave this city.  I am sorry.  Surrender and come quietly, I promise you will not be harmed.”

“Why should we believe ya?  Ya’ll are causing a whole lots of trouble.”

“Indeed, I agree with Applejack.  You are simply not to be trusted.”  Said Rarity.

“Um… please just let us go.  We don’t mean any harm.”  Whimpered Fluttershy.

Starfire looked apologetic as he looked at the shy Pegasus.

“I cannot do that Miss Fluttershy, you all being here threatens to destabilize my plans with the Crystal Empire.  You cannot leave.  Please, calm down and surrender.”

“Plans?”  Twilight said, flaring her own wings back at the black stallion.  “Your plans for the Crystal Empire?  I won’t let you!!  Cadence is my sister-in-law, I will not back down when she is in trouble.”

Starfire sighed and looked sadly at Twilight.

“We have more in common than know Princess Twilight.  One last chance.  Stop or I will be forced to detain you.”

Twilight gathered up all her courage and shouted back at the alicorn.

“NO!!  You will not harm them!!”

Twilight saw Starfire beginning to gather his magic and Twilight did the same.

Before Starfire could unleash a spell, Twilight gathered up herself and her friends and barreled through the magical barrier surrounding the castle, teleporting them outside and shattering the old enchantment.

Twilight fell and lay panting on the cobblestone of the city streets, she had used almost all of her magic to break the anti-teleporting barrier.

Behind her, the barrier was reacting to her breaking it and it exploded like fireworks, waking up the slumbering city and alerting the garrison.

“Twilight!! Are you O.K.?”  Fluttershy picked up her prone friend and put her on her back.  Twilight nodded weakly.

“I’m fine, but weak, breaking magical barriers that quickly used up all of my energy.  I can hardly stand.”

“What’s the plan Twilight?”  Asked Rainbow Dash quickly.   “That Long Fang guy is sure to have sent patrols out by know and that alicorn will soon be following us.”

Bells started ringing through the city.  Not pretty ones that a pony heard during Hearth’s Warming eve, but the kind the spoke of imminent danger.

The city knew they were here.

Taking stock of what she knew about Eclipse City, she quickly deducted that getting out would be almost impossible, she couldn’t break the second anti-teleportation barrier on the city –walls, and soldiers were bound to be searching the air and guarding all the gates.

How do they escape?

Over of the ringing of the bells, Twilight heard a train whistle and looked to the east side of the city where she saw a train station.  There was a train that had just stopped and pulled up.

Twilight smiled, the plan coming together.

“Girls!!  Make for the train station, we’ve got to board that train and leave city.”

“Halt!!  You’re under arrest!!”

From Fluttershy’s back, Twilight spied a squad of soldiers led by a griffon knight pouring into the castle square, their armor and drawn weapons glinting in the moonlight.

Twilight tried to get up but was too exhausted.  Fortunately, Applejack took charge.

“Fluttershy, you carry Twilight, she’s too tired to run.  Spike, hop on my back!!  Rainbow, fly ahead and find us a pathway that isn’t crawlin with guards!!  Pinkie Pie!!”

“Yeseronie?”  the mare said.

“Distract them.  Meet us at the train station” Applejack ordered pointing at the approaching soldiers.

With that, they all took off down the street leaving Pinkie Pie behind.  Twilight could see the soldiers trying to catch the bouncing pink ball as she giggled and shot confetti at them out of her party cannon.

‘Sending Pinkie Pie at them, why didn’t I think of that?’

Rainbow was flying ahead of them as they galloped through the streets, dodging citizens who had woken up from the barrier exploding.  They ran fast and didn’t stop, Twilight was feeling nauseous from bouncing up and down on Fluttershy’s back.

“Stop in the name of the emperor!!”

A squad of legionnaires, led by a dragon, ambushed them along the way from a narrow alleyway.  Acting quickly before anything could happen, Twilight gathered the remains of her magic and sent a concussive beam of energy at the tall dragon.  It was difficult to aim from being jostled so much but Twilight found her target.

“Aaaaaarrghhhh!!”  The dragon screamed as the powerful beam collided with him, sending him back into his comrades and causing them to topple like dominoes.

“Good goin Twilight!!  That’ll teach um!”

“The train station’s just up ahead!! We’re almost there!!”  Rainbow Dash yelled.

Sure enough, they galloped into an open square where they stopped in shock, gaping at the sight in front of them.

It was Pinkie.

She was in the cab of the train wearing an engineer’s cap.

“Heya guys!!  I finished playing tag with those meanie mcmeanie pants and now I get to wear this neat hat!”

“But…behind us…miles! Impossible….”  Twilight stuttered, gaping at the pink conundrum.

“No time for science darling!!  Everyone into the tender!!”

They all climbed up into the engine’s coal car.  Spike started shoveling coal while Pinkie Pie pulled a cord, letting off a loud whistle.  Fluttershy set Twilight down gently.

“Rainbow!!”  Twilight shouted at the cyan mare, “Unhook the train from the cars!!  We don’t need to pull extra weight.”

The Pegasus saluted and flew down to the couplers, bucking the pin holding the tender to a freight car, unlatching the train.

“Applejack, push the throttle into full speed!”

Applejack pushed the lever with her hoof and the train lurched forward, gaining speed as Spike shoveled in more coal using his tail as a shovel.

“Look girls!!”  Pinkie Pie giggled gleefully, “They’re throwing a going-away party!”

Twilight jerked up at what she said and peered over the lip of the coal bunker.

Approaching fast was Starfire at the head of at least fifty soldiers running towards the train.

“Stop!!  You cannot leave!!”  the emperor yelled at them, his yellow eyes wild and desperate.

The train pulled out of the station, leaving the angry alicorn behind.  Twilight wondered why he didn’t fly after them but suddenly felt his magic reaching out to the train.  Giving it her all, Twilight threw up a magical barrier around the train that prevented any arcane influence from penetrating.  She sweated and strained as the emperor’s blunt force pounded at her shield, but still she held on.

Twilight could see the gates closing up ahead and knew that if they shut, they would be trapped.  She looked up quickly at Rainbow and shouted to her.

“Go to the tower where the gate winch  is, stop them from closing it or we’re done for!!”

Saluting at the princess, Rainbow flew ahead as the train sped closer to the city walls and disappeared inside the gate house above the tracks.  Twilight couldn’t see what happened but did see two earth pony soldiers fly out unceremoniously.

With a screech, the gates stopped lowering and began their climb back up into the thick stone walls above the railroad.  Rainbow Dash flew through the gate as the train ran through also, leaving Eclipse City behind.

As the city grew smaller behind them, Twilight looked back over the tender back through the gate they had just escaped through.

There, silhouetted amongst the lights of the city stood the familiar outline of the emperor, Twilight could almost feel him staring at the train as it chugged out quickly to the west.

Shivering with fear from how close they were to being trapped, Twilight thanked her lucky stars as the train rattled beneath her.  Twilight looked back up at her friends.

“Girls lets go home.”  They all nodded back at her.  Spike came up and settled up next to the alicorn, falling asleep while he munched on some coal.  Pinkie Pie and Applejack took turns running the engine while the others fell asleep.

Before she fell into dream land, Twilight could only imagine how Equestria would react to the revelation of another alicorn, one that might not be friendly.

It would almost be like Nightmare Moon and Discord all over again she grumbled to herself.

As she fell asleep, the city disappeared under the horizon, and they left the Celestial Territories and its returned emperor behind.