Topaz looked around the cavern, trying to get her bearings as Ruby and Onyx got to their feet. Looking up for the source of light, she was awed by its grandeur: A massive chandelier fashioned from all manner of crystals was hanging from the ceiling on an ostentatious golden chain. She saw their reflections in the faceted, crystal-like indigo ceiling. Following one of the facets down to the ground, she realized the ceiling must be almost fifty feet high. Did Sombra find these caverns like this, or did he carve them out? I bet we're the first ponies beside Sombra to see these. Went a little overboard with the ceiling and lighting. I was expecting more stairs, too. Beside her, Ruby and Onyx were struggling to shake off the magic-induced vertigo and get on their hooves.

Ruby was looking around the chamber as well, trying to stop the slight swaying in his legs as his mind did its best to forget about the nausea-inducing trip his body had been sent on. "Okay, we're here. Onyx and I are going to find the ritual and power crystals Sombra wanted us to check. You find his research notes and we'll meet back here as soon as possible, " Ruby said, his back already to Topaz as he made for one of the archways out of the main room. Onyx was still sitting beside Topaz, not trusting his back legs quite yet.

"Wait!" Topaz shouted as Ruby was listing to the right of the door before recovering, "why not find everything together? We can search more thoroughly as a team."

Ruby didn't slow his pace as he shouted over his shoulder, "We have to find the anti-scrying and non-detection crystals before the Crystal ponies stumble upon us. We can cover more ground this way," he explained as he continued into a passage and around the corner.

Topaz looked over to Onyx, who was just starting to trust his hooves again. "Are you sure you're alright?" she asked him. He'd better be ready to travel soon. He's our best chance at getting out of here if things get hairy. She extended a hoof to help him to his feet, expecting him to brush it off. She was shocked when he accepted the helping hoof.

"Thanks," he offered, "I never did like transportation magic." Getting back on his hooves, he experimentally took a few steps toward the passage that Ruby had just disappeared down. His legs were still wobbly, but they stayed underneath him. "Good luck finding those notes. We'll meet you back here, or we'll come looking for you." Onyx turned and slowly walked toward the passage, trying with all his might to stop the shaking in his legs.

"You too!" Topaz replied with a smile. It really is good to be back here. Before long, we'll even be back in control on the surface. Topaz looked to the other pair of passages leaving the chamber they had appeared in. Well, one of them is probably the exit. Doesn't matter, we need to explore anyway, she decided, moving for the passage opposite the one Ruby and Onyx had chosen. Lighting her horn, she wandered into the tunnels.

To say that Twilight Sparkle was happy would have been an understatement. She sat in the library of the Crystal Empire, a location holding books that were thought to be lost to the ages. She sat at her table, paging through old history tomes, dissertations, manuscripts that went as far back as the defeat of Discord. All of history was accessible to her hooves, and she didn’t have impending doom looming over her shoulder to ruin it. She could take her time, delicately turn each aging page, smelling the dust and knowledge pouring out of the books; Twilight Sparkle was absolutely euphoric.

The old librarian mare had helped Twilight find several reference texts to start off with. She had paged thought Whiney's Natural History and Ponybius's 'The Rise of the Crystal Empire' to try to sort out what was fact and what was myth. She knew the origins of the Empire were post-Discord, that much was clear. Different texts each claimed that either unicorn settlers founded the city or it was a mix of the three pony races that were present.

She started re-reading the passage from Ponybuis describing the Empire’s rise to power;

Though the exact date of the creation of the Crystal Heart is subject to much speculation, it is mentioned specifically in documents dated to 200 AD (After Discord). The development of the Crystal Heart is considered to be the magnum opus of the crystal mages and is sometimes used as a reference point in the timeframe of the Empire. The heart was a source of protection and power for the still growing city. Its magic protected the city during the Gryphon Incursion of 232 AD, preventing the gryphons from entering the city and allowed the ponies to endure the subsequent siege. The Crystal Army sallied forth in 234 AD, led by the guard captain and crystal mage, Bromas von Laue. The besieging gryphons were eventually driven back to their kingdoms in the mountains. The time period following the victory led to the adoption of the name, Crystal Empire, and saw an expansion of the boundaries and spheres of influence of the city.

Twilight stopped at the end of the paragraph, slowly digesting the knowledge and coming up with a list of further questions. The most pressing question that she couldn’t answer was why no one ever talked about this 'crystal magic'. If it’s such a source of power, if it can create an artifact as powerful as the Crystal Heart, why didn’t other unicorns take to studying it? It seems like it’s a huge, untapped power source, but no one in today’s Empire even seems to know it existed.

Sitting back on her haunches, she slid the history book to the side. She rubbed her eyes, trying to decide on her next course of action. This ‘crystal magic’ was intriguing, and beckoned to her curiosity and scholarly nature. With time and research, she could be the one to unearth a lost school of magic, be the first crystal mage in centuries. And yet it was the knowledge that came with the field that interested her, not the potential power she could gain through it.
The other possible course of action was to delve deeper into the history of the Empire, like Celestia had asked her to. She was a princess now, and had obligations she had to see to. This was one of them, assigned to her by Celestia herself. And the history assignment did have deadline that she needed to keep in mind. Disappointed that she would have to sacrifice her curiosity of crystal magic to her duty to history, she picked the old book up in her hooves again.

Who was this Captain Bromas von Laue anyway? This book doesn’t mention him at all before this. He must have been important, or at least noteworthy if he organized the defenders under a siege that became the start of an empire. I’ll have to see if any other books mention him. I wonder if the Empire keeps genealogy scrolls around, if any of his decedents have any knowledge about their heroic ancestor. He seems to be an important figure in the history of the Empire. Twilight looked around her area, figuring she would ask Spike to start looking up this pony-of-interest while she continued other avenues of research. Spike was not in the immediate vicinity, so she got to her hooves and decided to go looking for him.

Walking past the stacks on the ground floor, she started to worry a bit. Though it was a library, she hadn’t heart a peep from Spike while she had been engrossed with that last history book. I hope he hasn’t run off and gotten into trouble. At least in Ponyville everyone knows him and his antics. She continued trotting past the stacks of the second floor, and was moving on to the third floor, her concern growing. As she neared the last set of history stacks on the third floor, she spotted Spike in between two rows of shelves. He was sitting on a small pile of old-looking books, his back to her, and he seemed to be reading one of the books.

Her worry turning quickly to embarrassment over her concerns, she quietly approached him to thank him for his help. “Oh Spike, I just wanted to say thank you again for helping me with this assignment. There’s so many new books here, I need all the help I can get!”

Hearing Twilight so close behind him, Spike’s body tried to quickly choose between freezing in place or jumping in surprise. The outcome was a bit of both, as he started to jump off the pile of books he was seated on, but only made it partway up and was mid turn when his body froze and he fell onto his back. The comic book that was in his claws fell to the ground between the two of them. Recovering, Spike tried to put on a smile, “Twilight! I... you’re finished with that first set of books already? I was just about to bring you some of these that I found.” He reached down to his former seat and grabbed one particularly dusty tome, “this one talks a lot about the regular conflicts between the Crystal Empire and Gryphon Kingdoms before the Empire’s disappearance. It seems like the conflicts have really shaped a lot of the Empire’s policies and…” he trailed off, noticing that Twilight wasn’t paying attention to his words.

Twilight’s muzzle was inches away from Spike’s dropped comic book. From that distance, she could see Ironpony in his namesake armor beating on some nameless thug. Looking up from the comic, her face was a mix of disappointment and frustration. “I can see that Ironpony played a significant role in those gryphon conflicts. Spike, I know you don’t enjoy 'boring' research, but I didn’t need to you go and read everything. I just needed you to look for books that might be relevant and bring them back to me. “

Spike looked toward the floor in shame. His shoulders sagging, he confessed, “Sorry Twilight, I figured you had enough books for a while, and I had just gotten to a good part in the comic. I wasn’t reading it for that long.”

Twilight tempered the disappointment in her voice, trying to take a more ‘motherly’ tone; “I understand Spike, but sometimes we have to put off what we want to do while we do what we have to do.” Her thoughts drifted to her own desire to investigate the mysterious crystal magic. She sympathized with Spike, as he was still learning the self-control that she had all but mastered. “Let’s find another couple of promising books. After dinner, we’ll relax in our room in the palace; you can read your comic, and I’ll work on getting through some of these texts. How does that sound?”

Surprised that he wasn’t getting more of a lecture, Spike smiled up at Twilight. “Okay Twilight, that’s a good idea. Did you find any leads in that first set of books?”

“Well, they mentioned something called crystal magic and how it was instrumental in making the Crystal Heart. I’ve never heard of that before, and it seems like it must be important to the early days of the city. There’s also a pony, Bromas von Laue, who sounds like he was a national hero for leading the city against the gryphons. I don’t have much to go on other than the fact that he was a captain of the guard and a crystal mage. I thought I’d see what books were available on those topics before I chose what to look at next.”

Spike looked down at the books that he had pulled before and had been sitting on. Reviewing the titles, he proclaimed, “well, most of these talk about history of the Empire in the years after its founding. Some of these are probably relevant to at least that hero-guy.”

“Alright then,” Twilight said, looking at the size of the pile, “let’s take a few of them with us, and put the rest on reserve with the front desk. We’ll be here a few days, no need to cram everything into our bags for tonight.” Twilight levitated some of the books with her magic and started to walk toward the front desk.

Feeling his subordinates travel through the one-way portal, Sombra turned to consider where he stood and what needed to be done in the near future. The power circuits beneath the Palace will need some time to charge up to full capacity. My research notes won't be critical until we are back in the Palace and have it under control. The plans are in motion, now I need to take care of the immediate concerns. The army must be rebuilt, and I need to figure out a plan to deal with the Alicorn Sisters, Cadence, and the Elements. One step at a time.

A small bag of mixed gemstones sat on the table near the entryway. From the bag, Sombra levitated a dozen small alexandrite shards in his magic, circling them around his horn, magically checking the integrity of each one. Topaz did quite well with preparations for my arrival. I have to remember to properly reward her once we have reclaimed the Palace. Returning the gems to the pouch, he secured the pouch to his waist and prepared to venture out into Horning.

Resting a silver circlet inlaid with a large, green emerald upon his head, he crafted the illusion magic into a disguise. Where Sombra once stood, a normal-sized, sky blue stallion now stood. His short, straw-colored mane was disheveled, giving the appearance of a disorganized and haggard pony. "Well then, let's go see," he said to himself as he adjusted his voice up an octave, "how many ponies will volunteer for our cause."

It didn't take Ruby and Onyx very long to find the non-detection crystal arrangement in the winding caverns beneath the Crystal Palace. Though Ruby had seen ritual crystal arrangements before, he had never seen one of this scale. Dozens of quartz focusing crystals stood like spires in a city, with a smattering of sapphire amplifiers and diamond power crystals filling the gaps, sitting on important magical intersections. Near the center of the arrangement, on a small pedestal, stood the focal point of the whole arrangement; a single blue beryl gem, the aquamarine crystal appearing flawless in the dim light of the chamber. Focusing his magic on one of the diamonds, he sent a pulse through the system that would sustain the circuit long enough for them to accomplish their other goals.

Onyx watched Ruby from the entryway. The aquamarine glowed with a cold light that washed over Ruby, standing as a shadowy contrast to the brightness. Onyx was getting restless, he wasn't used to this doting around and exploring empty chambers. I still don't know why Sombra sent me with these two. I do cloak and dagger work in the shadows. I don't know the first thing about these big setups, give me a single crystal with singular purpose, one that I can use. Already bored, his mind started to occupy itself by planning the rest of the mission. "So Ruby, did you have a plan for getting us out of here?"

Ruby was walking out of the crystal arrangement, intent on finding the other crystal chambers they needed to check on or activate. "Worrying about our exit already? Are you nervous or something?"

Onyx walked at Ruby's side as they left that non-detection crystal chamber behind them. "No, just... bored," Onyx replied, his scowl matching his attitude.

"Onyx, we just started. How are you bored already?"

Onyx tried to keep from sounding defensive; "Hey, I normally do information gathering in nearby cities. There's always something to be thinking about there. Where your targets are, possible escape routes, how to use the crowds to avoid the local guards, which agents' safehouses are nearby..." Onyx was just getting into a rhythm when Ruby interrupted him.

"Yeah, and all that in itself sounds boring. Listening to people talk, meeting with your agents, establishing safehouses. How aren't you bored all the time? It just sounds so sloooow and duuuulllllll, "Ruby teased him, trying to instigate Onyx further.

Onyx did not take the bait with his response; "Hey, just because you don't have a knack for it doesn't mean it isn't important or worthwhile. I just wanted to know which of us is going to take the lead during our exit."

Ruby considered his friend's choice of wording. "Well, I figured we'd get a royal escort. I'll just dominate one of the guards and we'll have him escort us out." Ruby gestured toward his the alexandrite in his horn ring, "I'll give this thing a work out that way. Gotta get back into the groove, we're going to be gathering a lot of the initial recruits that way. As for being bored, you won't be for much longer. Once we've recruited a few agents, you'll be shipping off with them for one of the border towns, back to doing what you love."

Ruby's plan caused Onyx to reconsider his role in this whole mission. Why the hell am I even here, then? If Topaz could handle all of these crystal arrangements herself, and Ruby can simply walk out of the Palace, why did Sombra bother sending me? I could have stayed in Horning and started establishing a base of operations. We won't stay hidden forever, and it'd be nice to have agents in place that can feel things out when the guards start poking around.

The thought processes that Onyx put into organizing and developing his network of spies and agents led him to familiar memories. He tried to recall what he had pieced together about the disappearance of the Empire. Sombra had called several of us back to the palace to report. He wanted to know how ready we were to make moves on the various towns. Something about taking advantage of an opening that he was going to create using the Crystal Heart he had hidden away. That didn't quite work out, did it Sombra? Your own experiment backfired, casting you out of the Empire and sending us all forward in time almost a thousand years.

Onyx wasn't even listening to Ruby anymore, just following while lost in his thoughts. You lost your powers and your throne in the Palace, but you aren't the only one that lost something precious. All of my agents in Baltimare are long dead. All my friends, lost in the blink of my eye. Their descendents don't even know why their ancestors were in Baltimare in the first place. And now I have to start again from scratch. I can't do it in Baltimare again. Too many memories. I need a fresh start...

"... and then we'll just take the train back to Horning. That should throw anypony following us off the trail. What do you think?" Ruby asked Onyx as they turned a corner that led into another crystal chamber. The chamber was dimly lit, but the flickering light was enough to illuminate the large shards that seemed to be growing out of the ground; Dozens of shards of alexandrite grew within the chamber. Some were larger in diameter than Onyx was long, others were thinner than the width of his hoof. At least four dozen were visible to Onyx from his vantage point. In the process of counting, he noticed something strange; some of the shards were cloudy or blackened, while others retained their translucent reddish-purple hues.

Ruby's horn was aglow with magic as he wandered between the alexandrite monoliths that towered over him. He studied each crystal for a few moments, checking their integrity. Ignoring the blackened crystals, his inspection took less than ten minutes. Satisfied with the results, Ruby spoke to Onyx, breaking him out of his reverie. "Well, everything's in order here. Topaz should have found the other crystal arrangements, and that notebook by now. Let's go find her and get out of here, so we can move on to the fun assignments," he said to Onyx with a grin.

Ruby's excitement wasn't contagious, as Onyx's perpetual scowl didn't waver. Turning from the blood red stallion, he started back toward the chamber that they had teleported into.

Ruby stood amidst the alexandrite, the flickering light refracting in the crystals and dancing over his coat. His smile faded as he watched Onyx turn back toward their entry chamber. Geez, what do I have to do to get him to crack a smile? I've had saddle-sores that were more fun than him. Maybe he'll cheer up once we've got a group behind us again. Or maybe he's just a curmudgeon, Ruby thought to himself. Looking at the alexandrite around him one last time, he trotted after Onyx. "Hey, wait up! I know what will put a smile on your face. Did I ever tell you about the time this guard mare was tailing us back from the tavern in Vanhoover?"

Topaz had succeeded in activating both the scrying crystals Sombra had in his meditation chamber, as well as the anti-scrying defense crystals that would prevent anypony from seeing into the caverns. Those had been fairly simple, and didn't require much of an expenditure of energy on her behalf. The room she stood before now would not be as quick or easy.

The chamber she was looking down into seemed to be a teleportation room and staging area. A half-dozen deactivated portals were carved into the walls around the room. The large, open space in the middle of the room looked like it could hold more than 50 ponies in military formations.

Topaz approached one of the portals to examine it, unsure which action to take. The black stone arches were easily large enough to permit a train to pass. Carved into the black stone were eldrich shapes as well as channels running between inlaid gems. Topaz was staggered by both the complexity of the portals, as well as the amount of power that the gateways would require. I don't have anywhere near the power required to charge one of these up right away. It would've been nice to just take one of these out of here and not have to deal with the guards. Still, I can set them up so we can use them later. Extending her magic sense out into the surrounding walls, she located the magical leylines that Sombra had used as a power source for the portals. She felt the ebb and flow within the lines, and tried to alter a portion of the flow so that it would start to trickle into the gemstone-encrusted arches. It'll take a couple days, but these should be fully charged by the time we're back here to retake the city. That'll surprise Sunbutt; shortly after we take the Palace and the city, our agents will be pouring into other strategic locations before she can bat an eyelash.

She lost track of time, her mind enjoying the sensation of the leylines flowing like a river around her and through her as she redirected the energy. It seemed like it had been ages since she felt this kind of raw power at her disposal; the minor lines underneath Horning weren't nearly as satisfying. She expanded her senses through the lines, experiencing a minor sort of clairvoyance, seeing the magic flow throughout these chambers hidden below the Palace. She felt the draw of the anti-scrying and non-detection crystal setups. In all directions, she felt the draw of the dozen minor crystals providing light in the chambers. To the side, she felt the draw of a few small crystal arrangements, ones that were utterly unfamiliar to her. That must be Sombra's experimentation chamber. That's where his research notes will be!

While she was remotely studying the magic draw of the arrangements in the experimentation chamber, she suddenly became aware of the fact that she was not alone in the room.

"Topaz!" Ruby shouted from the entryway, "Topaz! Hey, come down from there!"

Topaz had been levitating several feet up in the channeled magical energies. Her concentration broken, she dropped several feet toward the ground, catching herself with a levitation spell before she could impact the floor. She let herself down softly, thankful that it was just Ruby and Onyx. Her heart was racing, and she could feel beads of sweat running down her neck and legs. She waited for Ruby to speak again as she tried to calm her pulse and slow her breathing.

"Well we managed to get everything done that we needed to do," Ruby bragged to a quiet Topaz, "and while we were looking for you, we even managed to find the notes Sombra sent you here to retrieve. Here, put them in your saddlebags," he said, levitating the ancient-looking book over to her. "What were you doing up there, anyway?"

Her breathing slowed sufficiently, she broke her silence. "I was redirecting the leylines around these caverns into the portals in this room. They're charging now, but won't be ready for a couple days. " Topaz explained, leaving out her leisurely dip into the leylines. She opened her left saddlebag and dropped the book into it, closing the clasp and double checking that it was secure.

Onyx's attention had piqued at the mention of portals, but he was left with disappointment when he found out they wouldn't be using them today. "So then we still have to get out of here on hoof?" he inquired.

Topaz nodded, "Yeah, unless you want to wait a couple days and see where these would take us."

"No, that's alright," Onyx replied quickly, "If we've done all we came to do, let's get out of here. Did you find the exit over on this side?"

Topaz nodded, "Yeah, I think. There's a set of stairs leading up at the end of one of the hallways. I'm assuming they'll lead up into the Palace. Once we're up there, it shouldn't be too hard to find our way out."

Ruby spoke up and cut off Topaz, "And once we're up there, I'll domineer one of the guards and we'll strut right out the front gates. Sounds like a plan. Let's go!"he said, trotting excitedly out of the portal room.

Onyx looked at Topaz, his raised eyebrow conveying his skepticism. Topaz just shook her head, "Yeah, he gets really excited about mind control. We should probably keep up so he doesn't have the chance to do anything stupid."

Nodding in agreement, Onyx took off after Topaz and Ruby. Boy, I'll be glad when I can finally operate without these two, he thought to himself.

Ascending several flights of stairs, Topaz and Onyx finally caught up with Ruby at the top. He was standing at the end of a short passageway near what appeared to be a mirror in the wall. His head was bobbing around, as if he were trying to look through the mirror and around the other side. Approaching him from behind, Topaz was trying to figure out what Ruby could be looking at in a mirror. As she got closer, she noticed that she couldn't see her reflection; the frame was actually a window!

At that realization, Topaz's blood ran cold. We can't be discovered here! The Crystal Ponies can't find Sombra's chambers and secrets! "Ruby!"Topaz hissed, "get away from that window! We can't let them find us here!"

Unphased, Ruby turned to the side, bringing Topaz into his field of view. "Relax, it's not a window, it's a one-way mirror or something. A couple guards walked past already and didn't bat an eyelash at me. I'm trying to figure out how we go through it now. Any bright ideas?"

Topaz moved close in beside him, her saddlebags squashed between them in the narrow corridor. The mirror was twice as tall as your average pony but narrow as one. The gold frame of the mirror was plain, not bearing any inscriptions that Topaz could find. A small red gemstone was set in the decorative swirl atop the mirror. She reached out with her magic, only to find that the gem was of low quality, and didn't hold any, nor respond to, magic. Perplexed, she sat down before the mirror, trying to determine what she was missing.

Ruby couldn't suppress a grin at Topaz's confusion, "Well this is awkward: trapped in Sombra's private chambers because we can't figure out how to operate the door. At least we have that portal room downstairs that's charging. Hope you had a big dinner, because I didn't see any food down here, and it sounds like we could be waiting a while for those portals."

Not amused with the sudden roadblock, Onyx tried to contribute to their predicament. "Is it like a portal? Do we just walk through it?"

Thinking it couldn't hurt to try, Ruby reached a hoof forward, slowly inching toward the mirror. His head started to spin, the memory of vertigo from their previous portal-travel still fresh in his mind. He did his best to banish that feeling from his thoughts. Time seemed to be crawling forward as his hoof reached the surface of the pane.

His hoof contacted the pane with a DINK, and his hoof was gently pressing against the cold surface. "Nope, it's solid," he said casually.

Disappointed and frustrated, Topaz looked through the mirror, watching an earth pony in the armor of a Crystal Guard performing his casual patrol through the Palace halls. Oblivious to the three ponies behind the mirror, the guard stopped briefly to consider his reflection and adjust his armor. Satisfied, he stood up straight, tall and proud, and continued down the hallway.

Topaz again reached out with her magic, probing the mirror. Nothing about it responded to magic in any way, and Topaz could not feel any sort of magical aura coming from anywhere on the mirror. Do we need to break it? Is it just a wall that we can see where we're supposed to teleport to? I was hoping to not use teleportation magic inside the Palace if we didn't have to. I know they'll be able to detect that. Topaz was unsure what kind of magic or trickery Sombra had built into this mirror. She didn't want to admit that she was being defeated by a mirror. Her frustration was building, but it wasn't directed at Sombra; she was stumped and out of ideas. She stepped forward and took our her frustrations on the mirror, letting her head falling forward and contacting the mirror with a thud and an exasperated sigh.

She nearly lost her balance as the mirror started to swing outward.

Topaz caught herself on the small slab of stone that now separated the floor between the hallway and their corridor. Stepping over the slab, she quickly looked down both sides of the hallway, expecting a guard to be running at her. She quietly thanked Faust that nopony else had seen her graceless entry into the hallway, and looked back as Ruby was walking through the archway. Onyx followed closely behind him, the two quickly exiting the corridor.

With the two stallions through, Topaz used her magic to swing the mirror shut again. Onyx chose that moment to speak up, "You two ever think that jumping to magic as the solution every time might be wrong?" The looks that he received from the other two could have pierced stone, and he smiled nervously in response. As he tried to ignore the almost-tangible waves of anger being cast in his direction, he spotted a guard coming around the corner behind Ruby and Topaz.

Before Onyx could muster his invisibility bubble, the guard spotted them.

Swirling Knight had been a guard in the Crystal Palace for 12 years. Technically, he had been a guard for about 1,011 years since the Empire had been pushed forward through time. In those 1,011 years, he had never seen any unidentified ponies this deep in the palace without an escort, let alone three of them.

"HALT! Identify yourselves!" he called out to the three unicorns that found themselves standing in his patrol route. He lowered his barrel toward the ground, knees flexing and ready to spring into action.

The red unicorn turned toward him and flashed a relieved smile. "Oh, finally a guard! We got separated from the tour group. We've been wandering around, lost, for almost half an hour," he explained.

Swirling relaxed his guard at the friendly approach of the unicorn, "Tour group? I didn't know we were giving tours of the Palace right now," he confessed.

Red spoke up again, walking calmly toward Swirling, "oh, everypony in Equestria wants a tour of the Crystal Palace, what with its reappearance and the fact that it's the site of the next Equestria Games. Our group came early to beat the crowds. The name's Tanner, by the way."

Looking past 'Tanner' to the orange and the black unicorns, Swirling could see that orange hadn't moved a muscle. Her nervous stare and tense body were causing all sorts of alarms to trigger in Swirling's head. "What's wrong with her? Why does she look like she's seen a ghost?"

The red unicorn was still walking toward Swirling. As casual as the exchange had been, Swirling couldn't help but feel like the situation was wrong, if not dangerous. Tanner was almost on top of Swirling when he responded to the guard, "oh, she's probably just worried that this isn't going to work," he said, reaching his hoof out to Swirling.

"Worried that what isn't going to..." was all that Swirling managed to say before Ruby's hoof made contact with the guard's chestpiece. Swirling blacked out as his mind was cast into oblivion.

Outwardly, Swirling Knight's pupils contracted and his tense muscles slackened into a state of relaxation. Inwardly, his mind was locked away by the magic of Ruby's now-glowing alexandrite horn ring. While the guard's body continued to breathe, most of the higher functions, including all of the cognitive processes, were no longer occurring.

"That," Ruby explained to his puppet. Exerting control over the guard, Ruby practiced walking the guard around, re-familiarizing himself with magic that he hadn't used in a while. The connection seemed to be solid; the guard retained his coordination, and showed very little sluggishness.

Topaz watched the puppet trot around in circles and felt a little sick to her stomach. She had always disliked the idea of using the mind-control branch of the crystal magic. She tried to berate Ruby to get her mind off the feeling. "Really, taking that gamble? 'Worried that this isn't going to work,' " she mocked, "What if he had reacted, jumped backwards out of range? Yelled for help? Was that really necessary?!?"

Ruby flashed his usual, cocky grin as the guard started to speak Ruby's words, "Relax, he wasn't expecting anything. Besides, it would have been three against one, one of us would have been able to take him out, and we could hide the body behind the mirror passage."

Ruby continued to speak, this time going on the offensive in his own voice, "Anyway, what was that, Topaz? Freezing up at the first sign of a guard? What are you, a little filly? Get control of your nerves and act like you belong here." Topaz's cheeks began to redden with embarrassment as Ruby continued his verbal assault. "The last thing we need right now is you attracting unwanted attention. We still need to get out of the palace and then the city itself, and we'll be walking past a lot more guards and ponies then!"

Onyx took the opportunity to clear his throat, "Ahem, isn't there a better place and time to be doing this? As in, anywhere but here and now? Let's get moving."

With an angry snort at Topaz, Ruby moved alongside his guard puppet and the two of them started down the hallway, looking for familiar landmarks to guide their way out.

Onyx quietly said aside to Topaz, "Nothing wrong with being nervous. You just gotta learn how to keep it from showing. C'mon." Satisfied with the support he had given Topaz, he started to follow Ruby down the hall.

Topaz weighed Onyx's words carefully, watching as he followed the others. She could feel the heat in her cheeks starting to dissipate, but the shame lingered. Onyx is right, just get a hold of yourself and act like you belong here. This was your home for most of your young life. Just pretend that the guards are looking out for you, rather than looking for you. With a sharp exhalation, Topaz tried to clear her mind and trotted along to catch up with the rest of the group.

The disguised Sombra returned to the cabin on the outskirts of Horning just half an hour after he had left to start recruiting. The recruitment had gone well, and Sombra had a half dozen ponies at his command already; four earth ponies and a pair of pegasi. They followed him obediently, shrunken pupils gazing off into the distance.

He had been very selective in his targets, not daring to try to take a guard yet. His subjects had all been commoners; laborers, shopkeeps, and miners. The fledgling army would continue to grow in time. These six needed to be made into long-term subjects before being allowed to return to their work.

Chuckling to himself, Sombra considered his position, From such humble beginnings, great victories will be crafted. In a few days, we'll have enough troops that we can leave to establish a better base in one of the gryphon outposts. The spy network needs to be rebuilt so we are kept aware of the Alicorn sisters' movements. Ruby and Onyx should be able to handle that aspect of the plan. I will take the army into the mountains to take the gryphon settlements and swell our ranks.

Sombra began mentally preparing himself for the ritual ahead. It was always draining, setting up the control crystals that ensured the loyalty of his selection of troops. Once I have a sufficient core of troops, the ritual won't be necessary, the bulk of the troops will follow out of fear. And fear... fear is contagious he thought to himself with a smile. This is going to be fun.

It had taken only a few short minutes for Topaz to orient herself within the Crystal Palace. Leaving the hidden corridor behind, they passed alcoves filled with antique pony and pegasus armor. Tapestries decorated with the crests of old pony houses broke up the uniform color of the walls. Despite not knowing where exactly in the Palace they were, some of the tapestries looked vaguely familiar to Topaz.

Ahead of her, Ruby walked beside his puppet while Onyx trailed that pair. None of the group had spoken since their little argument outside the false mirror. Though she couldn't see her companions faces or read their thoughts, she felt that the uncomfortable silence was sapping their morale. She kept her spirits up, remembering some of her foalhood memories spent galloping through these very same halls of the Palace.

Her memories seemed to be lining up with tapestries and paintings remarkably well. As they approached their first intersection, Topaz recognized the cutie mark engraved on the statuary standing off to the side. It honored some hero of the Gryphon Campaign, she remembered from the history lessons. Relief washed over her when she realized where they were, and that they would be out of the Palace very shortly.

"Guys, wait!" she shouted at the trio that was nearly at the intersection in front of them. "I know where we are! The palace library is just over this way. It's real easy to get to the eastern gate from there and out into the city." Excitement welled up inside her as she trotted past Ruby and turned the corner toward the library. We'll be out of here in no time, with no problems, just a long, peaceful train ride back to Horning.

The rush of familiarity and euphoria of success propelled Topaz down the halls, with Ruby, his guard, and Onyx cantering to keep up. As they passed columns and old paintings of scenic vistas and old Empire nobility, Topaz felt the pangs of nostalgia. She remembered running down these halls with some of her friends as a filly, racing to the library to find new spells to try. Lost in her memories, she turned a corner and nearly ran headlong into another pony.

Topaz had managed to stop just in time, but now found herself standing nearly muzzle to muzzle with a purple alicorn and her dragon companion.

Author's Note

Stay tuned for "From the Shadows (Part III)" As always, let me know if you find any mistakes, and thanks for reading.