Unlikely but Possible

Making his way through the dirt streets of the simple town of Ponyville, Ocean remained focused on his objective. But anypony looking at him would easily assume he was really really pissed off.

"(Why Crescent of all ponies?)" Ocean thought to himself. "(It's bad enough I have to ask the most inexperienced Princess for a guard but it had to be the one pony I can't stand.)"

Despite his mental rants, Ocean reached the crystal-like tree that was the Castle of Harmony. Without a word or another thought, Ocean took a deep breath and walked in. The interior was very clean and looks to have been recently polished. Ocean assumed Rarity, the Element of Generosity had some guards or servants keep the walls clean. Several tapestries and other items lined the polished crystal wall, all appeared to be remnants from the old Alicorn Castle. At the end if this hallway was the Council of Harmony chambers. Ocean nodded at the guard and the guard let him in.

The interior of the room was quite spacious and like everything else, made of crystal. In the center of the room was a circular formation of six thrones, each with the Elements of Harmony's individual cutie marks. When Princess Twilight first established this Castle, everypony thought to call this the throne room. But seeing as how Twilight wanted to make her friends equal in authority to her or at least close enough, the room became a council chamber. Not to his surprise, the last pony Ocean wanted to see today was already in the center of the room.

"Hello Ocean Stardust." Twilight greeted kindly.

"S-sorry for calling you here." Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness said from her throne.

Ocean did a quick look and saw that only Twilight, Element of Magic/Friendship, Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty, and Fluttershy were the only Elements in the room.

"Are we to wait for the other three to arrive?" Ocean asked.

"I'm afraid not." Twilight answered. "Rarity is working on new projects."

"Applejack is doing some family thing." Rainbow waved her hoof.

"And Pinkie Pie is doing a birthday party for the twins." Fluttershy answered.

"So what have you learned so far?" Twilight asked.

"There is a strange reading in what we now believe in the far north." Ocean explained. "This energy wave was quick and only by accident did our long range scanner pick up any of it. We believe it is some form of Alicorn magic or something of equal power."

"Well that is something." Crescent interrupted. "So just send a few guards to pick up the thing, I don't see why I have to go."

"The reason being Crescent." Ocean interrupted. "Is because if this energy source is a living creature, then coming in with swords drawn will possibly frighten it. That is why I am asking you reconsider sending this guard with me. I would rather take a guard better at being discreet or even no guard at all."

"I can kick your flank to the ground!" Crescent interjected with a grimace. "If that's not discreet enough for you."

"Last thing I want is to get into a screaming match with some mindless brute." Ocean sighed an insult.

"Last thing I'd want is some scarf wearing pansy who would die without help." Crescent let out his come back.

Ocean gave no verbal response, but his eyes glaring spears and his orange colored horn glow gave a clear answer.

"You wanna go?!" Crescent grinned, with his own horn lighting up red.

"Enough! Both of you need to work together!" To everypony's surprise, Fluttershy ordered, quite assertively.

"Fluttershy is right." Rainbow Dash added. "You two can kick each others flanks outside, Spike just cleaned that floor."

"Regardless." Ocean continued, adjusting his scarf, calming down. "I feel I alone am more than enough."

"I understand what you're saying Ocean." Twilight nodded, trying to find a peaceful resolution. "But Celestia told me you are to be accompanied and I suggested Crescent because not only do I trust in his abilities, but I know he is the most qualified to protect a pony of interest such as yourself."

Ocean couldn't argue Twilight at that point, it was obvious that Celestia was able to convince her that a guard was required.

"It looks like my hooves are tied." Ocean coincided. "Crescent and I will depart when I have finished gathering whatever tools and resources I require. I should be done in a day."

"Then that's all there is." Rainbow said.

"Yes." Fluttershy smiled.

"This meeting is adjourned." Twilight nodded.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

"And that's how it's gonna go down." Crescent explained to a less than happy Ruby.

"I see." Ruby sighed. "So how long do you think this mission will take?"

"Knowing Ocean." Crescent pondered. "Several months, depending on how interested he gets in his research."

"Several months?!" Ruby almost shouted. "You can't be gone for that long.It's sad enough that you take long shifts for guard duty but several months is too long!"

"I don't like it either." Crescent said shrugging his shoulders. "What else can we do?"

"I'll tell you what I'm gonna do!" Ruby quickly ran off and started writing a letter. As quickly as she leaped to it, Ruby finished her letter and sealed it with with a wax stamp. "Here, send this to Princess Luna."

"What did you write?" Crescent asked.

"Don't question me Crescent!" Ruby said. "Just send it!"

"Alright alright." Crescent sighed again. "Just relax."

With a glow of his red aura magic, the letter vanished from sight.

"What did I just send Luna?" Crescent asked.

"You'll see." Ruby winked.

It wasn't long before a small scroll almost poofed out of Crescent's horn, dropping to the ground.

"That was quick." Ruby smiled, picking up the scroll, reading it. "Yes! It worked!" Ruby was almost bouncing with joy.

"Let me see that." Crescent replied, reading the scroll. His eyes grew large with surprise then let out a sigh of defeat. "Well, looks like my hooves are tied."

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!!" Ocean protested.

At the Canterlot train station, Ocean and Crescent were already at each others throats. Despite the full day of preparation, both Ocean and Crescent appeared to have packed lightly. But this wasn't what their argument was about; between the two, watching the argument was Ruby, packed for the journey as well.

"There is no way we are bringing your marefriend with us!" Ocean snapped at Crescent. "This is an important mission that requires delicate steps and confidentiality...not some pointless date!!"

"Date?!" Both Crescent and Ruby's face lit up in a blush.

"It's not like that." Crescent said. "Ruby and I can't be away from each other for too long." Then his face went red again. "Wait, that came out wrong."

"Uh huh." Ocean asked. "And why is that?"

"It's uh..well..." Crescent looked back at Ruby for back up.

"We have a letter here from Princess Luna that explains it." Ruby reached in her satchel, handing an envelope to Ocean.

Ocean skimmed through the contents:

Ocean Stardust,

As you are aware, Lieutenant Crescent-Blade Nocturnis is to accompany you on this journey. But it seems we forgot to mention an important fact. For reasons that have to remain classified, Crescent's roommate Ruby Wing is not to be away from Crescent for an extended period of time. Given the circumstances of your mission, we have decided that it would be more effective and beneficial to have Ruby accompany you both on this mission.

Good Luck on your find,

Princess Luna

"Well that's Luna's royal seal." Ocean sighed. "Damn it. I have no choice." He then looked at both Crescent and Ruby. "Just don't ruin this. This find could lead to a potential new power source."

Just as Crescent was about to argue back, Ruby placed her hoof on his mouth. "Don't worry about me being here." Ruby smiled kindly. "You won't even know I'm here."

"What can you even do?" Ocean inquired.

"Well." Ruby answered, opening her wings a bit. "I'm a good flyer and I have a good memory, so I can be good recon."

"That could be useful." Ocean nodded with a sigh, clearly he had no choice, since it was Luna's orders as well. "Our train will arrive soon." He then said, looking up at the clock.

The train came to a slow stop in front of the trio. Steam and screeching rippled through the air. Various ponies were coming on and off the train.

"ALL ABOARD!!" The conductor pony shouted.

"Let's go." Ocean said.

"Where are we going first?" Ruby asked.

"The Crystal Empire." Ocean answered, getting on the train, followed by Crescent and Ruby.

"Why the Crystal Empire?" Crescent asked, putting the satchels on the luggage rack.

"I have a colleague up there who studies ancient energy sources." Ocean answered, sitting back, his gaze out the window. "Then we'll go from there."

The train let out a whistle and a screech, slowly starting up. Crescent laid back and quickly fell asleep. It wasn't long before Ruby passed out as well. Ocean was the only one awake, spending his time looking over notes and drawing up new hypothesis and potential experiments. But despite all the time and focus he was putting into his notes, a thought kept hitting him.

"(Why can't those two be separated?)" He thought. "(Even Luna didn't specify, what are you two hiding?)"

______________________________________________________________________________________________

To the a rocky and barren cliffs and small mountains where the Diamond Dogs keep greedily to their mines, two cloaked figures, a rather small one and a very tall one. Both obviously not ponies, approached the main entrance.

"Who goes?" A guard asked, barring his spear.

The two figures removed their hoods, revealing them to be diamond dogs as well, the taller one being female and the smaller was male.

"We seek an audience with King Lockjaw of this Mine." The smaller one requested in a unusually intelligent tone, not a very common thing in a Diamond Dog.

"Audi-what?" The guards scratched their heads in confusion.

"It didn't work Pit." The female giggled.

"Ugh." Pit sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Collie, give them the incentive."

"The what?" Collie stuck out her tongue in a confused manner.

"Oh for the love of." Pit sighed. "The gems!"

"Oh those!" Collie reached into her cloak and threw a few large rubies and diamonds at the guards' paws.

The guards leaped at the gems and quickly picked them up. "Oh..uh..Welcome."

"Thank you." Pit said, walking past the guards with his companion.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

In the dark and wet lair of Chrysalis's Changeling Hive, two cloaked ponies, one of which had a sword on its back, walked up the stairs to the main entrance. Several Changeling sentries held weapons at the ready at the intruder.

"What business you have here?" A guard hissed and clicked.

Both ponies removed their hoods; the larger of the two, with the sword on his back, was a muscular white unicorn stallion with piercing red eyes and a long, straight black mane. His companion was a lighter blue pegasus mare with flowing dark blue mane with white streaks, her purple eyes closely observed her surroundings.

"We come on behalf of our master to offer a deal to your Queen." The Unicorn formally announced.

"We were told to give you these as 'gifts'." The pegasus reached in her cloak and pulled out a wooden box, passing it to the guard.

The guard looked over the box carefully and opened the lid.

"By Chrysalis's mane!" A guard almost fell back in surprise.

Inside the box were several large bottles of a pink liquid, each bottle had a heart sticker on the corks.

"We shall bring you to our Queen." Another guard informed, opening the front gates.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

The frigid winds and icy storms hid this castle well. Castle being a very strong word for what was actually an ancient ruin that has been lost for unknown eras. Deep inside this ruin, lay a massive clear crystal monolith, with what appears to be an alicorn sealed within. In front of the monolith were three ponies, but their appearances were hidden in shadow.

"After centuries of searching, we are so close." One pony said.

"Yes it is true, we have sacrificed much to get this." Another pony said, looking around the room and seeing a few empty holes. "But we only require a few more crystals to free it."

"Where do we go from here master?" The third pony bowed to the two others.

"We wait for the reports from both the Diamond Dog Mines and The Changeling Hive." The second pony stated. "Then we shall strike at the Crystal Empire."

"The Crystal Empire?" The third asked.

"Yes." The Second responded. "There is a scholar who specializes in crystals and ancient energy sources. He shall help us."

"And if he doesn't master?" The third asked.

"Remember." The Second placed his hoof on the third. "There are worse things than death." A dark purple glow illuminated in front of this pony, revealing himself to be a zebra, with a ragged black mane and his horn was made of dark purple crystal. "That I can provide should he refuse."