Arcane Shadow (Re-Written)

Spitfire blinked upon seeing NoLegs standing at the steel ring of the Aerie, three floating jewels surrounding him and spinning about in an intricate harmony of light and darkness, ice and fire that was also dancing outside of the steel ring. She held the megaphone under her wing, and approached the scene with caution. Lance also approached the cat, frowning. "Looks like Someone's about to grace us with Her presence very soon, no thanks to NoLegs…" he said, shaking his head. And as soon as he said that, twin felines appeared before them, one white, one black, both with legs and glowing with power. "Alright, what got Your tail this time?" he asked.

The cats looked at him. "Progress here is slow, yet… admirable," the white cat said telepathically. "Fantasia still has much to catch up on, to be on equal footing with Mythos."

"However, shadows still dance. And it would seem that they have regrettably done a much better job of erasing Fantasian history than We expected," the black cat telepathically added, before turning to Spitfire. "And while Our second battle with Faust might have accelerated things in that regard, We Both still did not pay heed to the warning signs… how could We have ignored the signs?"

Spitfire paled upon realizing Who she was looking at. She made to bow, but Lance stopped her with a spread wing. "She's not one for formalities," he said, glancing at her for a moment, before turning back to the floating cats. "So, what are You on about?"

The cats turned to regard Lance again. "We speak of profane entities working in the shadows… shadows that call themselves Nightmares," They said in unison. "Long… long ago, when the Second Divine War was raging, the alicorns of yore sought out means to stop it. They were truly a desperate tribe—anything that seemed as if it could help, they took it, without realizing the consequences in full. Even then, it did not stave off, nor halt, the total collapse of their society."

When We were sealed, We beheld only a small number of alicorns that had confronted Us—four in total. Only one, whom We had punished before, showed any remorse for what she set about to do," the white cat said, waving a paw to gesture to Herself and Her other half. "Alongside them… was an Umbrum, a cruel king that smiled wickedly as We found Ourselves trapped in pocket dimensions. He told Us… that he would ensure Fantasia would never rise again to stop its fate."

"Its fate? Godcat, are you saying this one Umbrum…" Lance trailed off as both halves of Godcat nodded.

"We do not know how he went about his goals, nor what his goals are; We only know that he has mostly succeeded through our months-long observation of Fantasia. Cutie marks, communities, livelihoods—all have been damned by this Umbrum, and those who support him. We had no choice but to break the barrier between the worlds Ourselves—for it was not a construct of Our own making, nor was it a construct We could attribute to Faust. In fact, the Umbrum themselves… they were not of Our own making, either. Once Redpine and its unforgivable situation is addressed, General Boltwing, seek out this Umbrum, and put a stop to his plans," both halves of Godcat commanded firmly. With that, in a flourish of light and dark, ice and fire, both halves of Godcat were gone, and the jewels came to rest around NoLegs.

Lance's brows tabled. Several thoughts ran in his head, all of them parallel and in disarray. The same could be said for his soldiers, and the Wonderbolts. It took several long moments for anyone to manage a reaction, and it was Maria who had spoken first: "Daddy, does that mean we have to kill a bad Umbrum?"

Lance sighed, and turned to his daughter. "Apparently so… and if we can, we're extracting answers from that shadowy fuck," he said firmly. "But first: bad grandparents. We have to send them to Godcat so she can punt them to hell." He put a hoof to his chin. "But if the Umbrum are not Godcat's creations, nor Faust's… then who, or what, created them?" He pondered and pondered, when something occurred to him. "And why the fuck do the ones I have met, and the one in Equestria that I kept hearing about, have connections to crystal ponies…?"

Spitfire put a wingtip to her temple, rubbing in contemplation. Now that she thought about it, it sounded… very weird and suspicious that Umbrum would have some ties to crystal ponies. Granted, in Equestria, the only known case of Umbrum wanted crystal slaves, but here… at least, with the two-and-a-half Umbrum she met here, the opposite held true. Something about this whole thing was indeed suspicious—she decided she would help the others look into the matter, once Redpine's tragedy was sorted out. If nothing else, she had to make sure the situation didn't needlessly bleed over into Equestria somehow.

At least Godcat Herself confirmed that She more or less didn't like what was happening over in Fantasia—and if She had something to say about that, then would the same hold true for Faust if She were ever let out? The query was as uncomfortable as it was unavoidable in this case, and sooner or later, someone was going to draw the big guns and ask the million bit question.

Spitfire turned to Lance. "Despite Godcat more or less commanding you to get a move on, we're not going to rush through training. If we do, our attack will be lackluster, and will give the Redpine bozos a chance to counterattack," she said firmly.

Lance nodded. "I was actually about to ask about that," he said, turning to her. "However, I am concerned about this wicked Umbrum king lurking around here… I'm starting to think that Matt's folks might know where that fuckstick is, and how to get to him."

"And if they don't?" Spitfire asked, raising a brow.

"Well… I have confidence he'll show himself either way," Lance replied with a shrug. "I mean… we took out one of his possible cronies, and 'mom' and 'dad' might be another two we're shooting down," Lance replied, shaking his head. "And if they somehow aren't, well… the fuckstick will still notice our pushback against the pre-established order of years ago, and that order's collapse. He's going to have to investigate it, if he isn't already."

Spitfire nodded. "And we still don't have the full story from Godcat," she surmised.

Lance nodded once more. "Exactly. In fact, we might need Faust to fill in some details, if She ever gets loose… and provided we beat Her ass, in case She's still homicidally angry after the fact," he added. He turned to NoLegs, who looked up at him and mewed. "I take it you figured that Godcat had something for us, didn't you?" At his nod, Lance sighed. "I figured we'd have to summon Her sooner or later anyway… alright, put the jewels back in their hiding spots, in case we need them again." NoLegs nodded, and teleported away with the jewels.

Spitfire's expression hardened a little. "Alright; let's begin the next exercise; formations, everyone!" she ordered, and at once, the troops assembled into rows that left some breathing room for cloud generation between them. She took the megaphone out from under her wing and brought it to her mouth, just to make sure everyone could hear her once they were assembled. "Okay, so Godcat's approved of our little mission, it seems—so let's start this day of training in high spirits! Form clouds, everyone!"

The order was heeded, and once more, clouds were generated. "Now then, we're going to be flying… and self-levitating, our clouds to the airspace behind us, but rather than merging them and spinning them around, we're going to be merging them… and then beating the stuffing out of them," she said. "I know, it sounds weird, but you'll see why when we do this."

Maria raised her claw. "Are we making thunderclouds?" she asked.

Spitfire grinned and nodded. "Exactly that," she answered. "Oh, and when you merge your clouds, try to make a uniform layer. Add some mass here and there to make it look natural, but try to be as uniform as possible." As soon as the command was uttered, it was understood, and carried out with gusto. The last one to add her cloud was Katie, who more or less waited for everyone else to make a uniform layer of thunderclouds before taking off to add her own. She was careful to not make ice, lest she potentially cause a chain reaction that would have brought the whole thing down to the ground like an anvil dropped from a great height.

Once that was done, Katie and Lazarus sat back and watched as everyone gathered on the mass of thunderclouds started to kick and punch at their creation, spewing intracloud lightning with every other strike. Rain started to pour from the clouds, but given what they were doing, the result was to be expected. Spitfire watched carefully, seeing the clouds start to fizzle up into vapors as soon as they were fully spent.

But that was the point—they were probably going to have to rain out the entire continent that Redpine's volcano sat on after all, once that issue with its leaders was addressed. Or at least, a substantial chunk of it—it really depended on how much the volcano spewed in the end, if it did ever erupt before or during their assault. And that was if Godcat Herself didn't decide to rain out the continent afterwards, which, while possible, was highly unlikely—She was probably sorting out other important things that had languished since Her and Faust's sealing.
Spitfire saw thoughts brewing in Soarin's eyes from the corners of her own. "Something bothering you?" she asked.

Soarin nodded. "If Godcat broke the barrier… then what had necessitated Her doing so?" he asked, turning to Spitfire with a flash of worry in his eyes. "What could be so dire that She thinks She might not be able to stop it on Her own?"

"If She was sealed alongside Faust, then something might be more powerful than both of Them put together," Spitfire argued, shaking her head. "Which… isn't a thought I am happy with, to be perfectly honest. Either that, or They were tricked somehow—another possibility I am not ruling out." She sighed. "And that confession means that, in Her current state, Godcat… may no longer be omniscient—which sounds blasphemous to say, coming from me."

Soarin paled at the implications. "You mean…"

Spitfire gravely nodded. "Someone, or something, weakened Faust and Godcat enough to seal Them," she answered bitterly. "How that individual… or potential individuals, pulled that off? I don't know—but we're dealing with weakened gods here. Gods who were once at Their prime, and now… reduced to having to be summoned just to be able to commune with us at all. They may regain Their strength in time, but… that's time we can't afford to waste in the first place."

Spitfire had gears turning in her head as she added, "And whatever had languished after the sealing must be an awful lot to keep Godcat occupied. And that, in turn, is keeping Her from intervening as much as She would prefer. If Faust ever turns loose, and regains Her senses, even if that ends up meaning that we have to beat the stuffing out of Her, I feel She would feel the same way."

Soarin frowned at the troubling revelation, and turned back to the cloud-kicking in action. "And do you think that Godcat is… sorting the afterlife out as we speak?"

Spitfire nodded. "If nothing else, that's bound to keep Her occupied on the basis that it probably turned into a free-for-all in Her and Faust's absence," she answered. "Unless Her divine servants managed to keep everything running while She was gone. And not to mention all of the other functions She and Faust thought to add to our little worlds while They were tidying everything up the first time."

"Does that mean… the alicorns are lesser gods then, directly serving Godcat and Faust in maintaining those functions?" Soarin asked, turning once more to Spitfire.

"If they are, then it would explain why Celestia's kept quiet about what befell the ancient alicorns… then again, seeing as she and Luna were both born alicorns, we don't exactly have a frame of reference for what early year they were born in," Spitfire answered, sighing as she shook her head. "And if the ancient alicorns let themselves get as bad as Lance's folks did, then maybe it's time to change out the old guard anyway."

Soarin frowned at the thought. "But… the ones we've seen on Fantasia are…"

Spitfire nodded, and looked at the steel ring she stood upon. "Yes. They're… how do I say this delicately… they've got some issues to work out first," she said tactfully. "Their numbers are low, ascensions are rare, random, and therefore unpredictable, and so far, the gender ratio is heavily skewed—one stallion, three mares, and that's not even mentioning the alicorns of Redpine's little Flock that have yet to grow up."

Spitfire glanced back up at the training in progress. "And not to mention, there's only three alicorns in all of Equestria to boot. Granted, Cadence might have ascended, but still… skewed gender ratio. I can see the nobility trying to hitch Luna with Lance or something, if they ever found out he was an alicorn," she said, shaking her head. "Or they might overrule Cadence's marriage to Shining for pretty much the same thing—not that they really have the power to do either, mind you."

"Then again, the nobility are pretty entitled… it's probably a leftover from the Days of Formation, back when nobles were even more entitled back then than they are now," Soarin noted, frowning at it all. "How that entitlement lived up to the present day baffles me."

Spitfire sighed. "I agree, the nobility is more or less its own echo chamber in some ways," she said ruefully. "I'd wager the ancient alicorns here are likely the same way." She shrugged. "A volcano isn't good for one's headspace in the long run." That got a nod out of her subordinates. "I wonder what Misty Fly is seeing right now…" she said, glancing up at the city at the top of the Aerie's mountain.

Spitfire turned back to the training in progress. By now, half the clouds were fluffy whites again, now fully spent but just needing one extra kick to dissolve them. Maria was pronking about, kicking at the clouds with glee, and fortunately, Lance was nearby to supervise her even as he beat some other clouds into submission. Well, at least someone was having a blast with the training.

"That kid's a natural at this. She might be going places when she's older," Soarin said, grinning at the prospect. Spitfire nodded in agreement.

"By Tartarus, she might just be a future Wonderbolts cadet after all," Spitfire said, smiling at the thought. "She just has to get bigger and stronger first."

"I can see why the military didn't think of this sooner—they didn't think it would be practical," High Winds said. "But as they say: the best offense is a good defense."

"And vice-versa," Fleetwind agreed with a nod. "Especially for a military reliant on magitek—it's best to cover more ground in case of an attack or something."

"I'll drink to that," Thunderlane said, shaking his head. "At least it keeps my mind off of mares with Jocasthock complexes…" Spitfire turned to him and opened her mouth to comment, but then closed it when she considered what she had learned the night before, after Lance was done rolling on the floor laughing.

She turned back to the training, and now noticed the soldiers assembled on fluffy white clouds. "Now what?" Lance called from his perch.

Spitfire lifted the megaphone. "Kick the clouds one more time, to make them dissolve—can't have shadows lingering all day, after all," she answered. The soldiers heeded the command, and soon enough, the clouds were fully dispersed, and the soldiers returned to the steel ring.

Maria was prancing in place once she touched down, looking fit to bounce off the nearest wall. "Does this mean we can do more weather?" she asked, eyes shining at the prospect.

Spitfire grinned, and made to say something when she saw Anna conjure a radio that was buzzing with static. She fiddled with the knobs for a moment, and then asked, "Okay, is anything interesting happening at Redpine?"

"Uh, yeah… you guys might wanna come see this… I can't really explain it," Matt said on the other end, his voice fraught with worry.

Spitfire's smirk fell. Something interesting was happening at Redpine? What could be interesting enough, that would warrant all the higher-ups of the First Unified Army's presence?

Anna conjured a magitek watch, and flipped it open to glance at the time. "Shit… it's lunch hour, too," she grumbled. She turned back to the radio. "Okay, can we reconvene after lunch?"

"No can do, you'll have to eat in the office today," Matt answered. "And be quick with picking it up."

Anna sighed. "Alright." With that, she sent the radio and pocket watch back to the ether. She turned to Spitfire. "So… we'll grab food, and see what the hell Matt wants," she said, in a tone brokering no argument.

Spitfire nodded. "Take us to the grub zone, and then to the office. I wanna see what's up this time," she said. With that, Anna lit her horn up, grasped the Wonderbolts, herself, and the others in her magic, and teleported them to the mess hall to get lunch sorted out in a way that would let them enter the office faster.

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The volcano of Redpine finally decided that it had had enough of its former occupants, and it decided that it wanted to do things its way. Matt watched as the Illicit Instrumentation went first, bringing down the rest of the former base with it, causing the magma to boil aggressively until it began lancings its way to the top of the summit from within. Misty Fly gaped as the volcano split in two down the center from the top upwards, while also blowing said top off completely, launching lava in spouts and bombs that went everywhere.

Ectoplasms and sprites with flame-shaped heads danced on the eruption clouds, channeling their power to blacken the skies over Redpine. Acid rain fell, alongside burning ash and suffocating smoke. At the foot of the volcano, watching with wide eyes, the Redpine Flock beheld the terror that was Mother Nature. Even as they stood there gaping, lava bombs impacted members of the herd, knocking them down and burning them with impunity.

Lightning sprites crackled as they danced on the eruption clouds, causing lightning to spew down and strike at the Flock. Whole swaths of ponies were taken out by pyroclastic flows and the roiling clouds overhead. The herd started speaking not amongst themselves, but looking towards the volcano as they talked. They seemed to be chanting something, but what that was, Misty Fly couldn't translate, no matter how many lips she read.

Even the grand and glorious leaders were chanting, horns aglow and eyes closed as spells danced upon their heads. They didn't seem to care that their army would be no more—in fact, they didn't seem to care about anything but the spells they were casting. Runic circles erupted into existence below the falling herd, spinning in an intricate dance even as lava filled in their cracks to add its power to the spell.

The volcano continued to erupt before them, shaking the ground with its thunderous roars, and yet it didn't seem to faze the leaders of Redpine at all. They kept casting, even as lava touched their hooves and claws—and whatever the spell was doing was making the lava climb up their legs and seep into their flesh, while their wings caught fire as soon as they were spread. The same happened to the still-standing members of the herd, whose horns started glowing to further power the spell.

Matt paled when he realized what had happened, and what was playing out before his very eyes. "It's… it's a mass suicide…" he mumbled, turning to Misty Fly.

"Why are they committing mass suicide?" Misty Fly asked, unable to look away from the horror playing out as the map relayed it.

"... they're trying to become wraiths… if they're successful, they'll be a lot harder to kill than they were before," Matt said gravely. "Molten wraiths are far stronger than fire wraiths, as they have to die with hatred in their hearts while a volcano kills them…"

Misty Fly paled. "And how do we kill them, if they become wraiths?" she asked, watching as lava seeped into the eyes, mouths, nostrils and ears of the grand and glorious leaders, whose cutie marks now shone with the power of the volcano as lava pooled within them.

"... we'll have to decapitate them, or else find some way to rid them of their hatred and despair… and worse, the geases on the Flock will probably remain active afterwards," Matt said, shaking his head at the horrifying tableau playing out on the map. The feathers of the rest of the Flock caught fire, as all available wings spread wide to accept their owners' fates.

Then, a horrifying thought occurred to Matt, and he somehow paled further. "The Illicit Instrumentation was being fed with those prisoners… to power this… this is their true endgame—gain power from this ritual, to stop us cold," he said, turning to Misty Fly with wide eyes etched with fear. "They'll do whatever it takes to kill us all from here on out."

A burst of light shone from behind the desk, and faded to reveal Anna, the other higher-ups, the Wonderbolts, the rest of the Mythonian diplomats, and the newly-inducted soldiers who had begun their weather training alongside them as well as the lunch trays they were juggling. Lance set his food tray on the desk and turned to the projection, before paling upon realizing what he was witnessing. "... oh shit… that is not good…" he mumbled weakly.

"No kidding," Matt said, shaking his head. "We'll need to pull out all the stops to halt this bullshit." He and the others watched the ritual progress, as flesh and skin and fur melted into a uniform patina of charcoal black, cracks showing through to reveal lava coursing within emaciating bodies. Hooves and claws soaked it all up to become burning tools of suffering, while manes and tails went aflame and wavered about in tandem with smoke pooling from scalps, all flowing in the prevailing winds that directed the eruption cloud. Eyes melted, went black, and all went alight with hellish pools of red that burned like the magma they sought to emulate. Horns cracked, revealing magma flowing within twisting spires that warped into pieces emulating molten rock.

Bones melted, and reforged themselves in fire, leaking out of bodies and twisting into moon pale molten rock that solidified against chests, heads, wing joints and where vulnerable organs once were. Some bones twisted upon the heads of the leaders, creating crude horn crowns curling around temples that were beset upon their forelocks like profaned royalty. The two sole cutie marks of the entire Flock changed, showing their weapons of choice emerging from the cracks in their bodies, as though forged in the pyroclastic flows of Hell itself. The geases themselves glowed upon the foreheads of the Flock's unlucky ponies, keeping them under the firm hoof and claw of those that had subjugated them.

Then, the pair of leaders conjured their weapons, an estoc and a gladius, and dipped them into the magma they now derived much of their power from. The weapons themselves reforged into burning tools of hatred and despair, molding into molten rock with sharp edges lined with magma and wrath. Once this was done, they waved their horns, alongside the rest of the Flock, and their spell circle dissipated. The Flock reared up on their hinds as one, brayed and whinnied in demented glee, and stomped on the ashen ground to finish their ritual.

Spitfire blinked at what she saw, and frowned. "... okay, first Godcat gets summoned, and now this…" she muttered, ruffling her wings. "I knew I had a bad feeling in my gut, but I didn't think the situation would become this bad…"

Shining Armor appraised the situation with a critical eye, chewing thoughtfully on a slice of bread. "Yeah… that does look like it's pretty bad," he said. "But… do fire wraiths extinguish in heavy rain?"

Matt nodded. "We're not sure about molten wraiths, however," he replied. "And besides, Redpine is still an air force in itself—now that they've bolstered their power through the ritual they performed, they're not gonna really give us a chance to weaken them with rain."

Shining nodded, and chewed on another bite of bread again. "And do molten wraiths… solidify… after a few days?"

Matt mulled the question over, then shook his head. "Not the painfully few we've encountered before, but then again, they stayed in an active volcano…" he answered.

Shining pointed at the volcano that was once the home of the Illicit Instrumentation. "Well, truth be told: the volcano is now spent. It used up every burst of energy to throw the trash out, as it were. Assuming the dunderheads don't figure out how to prevent it, the lava will dry into obsidian once the eruption finishes—which will take months normally. It might take days for the eruption to finish, but once it does, the skies will probably be clear," he said.

"Now… if we have the ability of weather on our side, then we have another advantage: we could, theoretically, use this supercell I keep hearing about to conjure a tsunami, which will douse the bastards enough to drown their lava, and that's if we lead them to the shorelines." Shining glanced at the four Fantasian alicorns and asked, "Which of you four can whip up a tsunami?"

Hesitantly, very, very hesitantly, Lance raised his hoof. "If you want to know how, well… I got spooked in Lankyroot once, and forgot my horn was out of commission… I almost drowned myself summoning the tsunami," he answered, looking embarrassed as he lowered his hoof. "I haven't been able to replicate it since."

Shining nodded, and looked at Anna. She shook her head. "I can try, but… last time I did so, I wound up having to pluck out extra hairs for a week," she replied.

Natalie also shook her head. "Don't look at me; I'd probably evaporate the water needed for a tsunami," she said.

Sarah's head also shook. "No can do," she said bluntly.

Shining turned to Matt to see if he could cough up anything. Hesitantly, he nodded and answered, "Tried drowning a robot on four legs, with little mech balls adorned with crystals, to see if I could kill it that way… and while we were near a beach, it did take a while for the water to go up to the base of the mountain. I'm amazed the water didn't make Goldenbrick's ponies pissed at us; after the robot was put out of commission, we went back to town to see if a drop of water clung to the buildings, and found them dry as could be."

"So… you can manipulate water, just… not very well," Shining surmised.

Matt nodded. "Unless it's groundwater, which I can just force out with my earth pony magic," he confirmed. He saw gears spinning in Shining's eyes and asked, "What?"

"Well… volcanoes have groundwater, not quite next to the vent that lets them erupt, but close enough to matter as it were," Shining replied, pausing to take another mouthful of food. "Not only that, but Redpine is sitting on a big island, basically—if you channel your earth pony magic, alongside a few potential others, you could force an upwelling of that groundwater and summon a tsunami that way. Combine that with the supercell, and those blowhards are going to be soaked." He gestured to the continent where the eruption was taking place. "And that has enough groundwater to go around for a few rounds of tsunami calling."

Shining looked at Matt evenly. "And besides, you have enough firepower to make the upwelling of groundwater work on your own—granted, you'll probably suffer from mana drain with the effort, but if you combine that effort with those two—" He gestured to Anna and Natalie as he said that, "—then that makes the risk of mana drain less prominent." He turned to the pair and added, "Besides, you two have the magic of all three pony tribes—why not use it to the fullest and really blindside these idiots while we have the chance?"

"So… you're proposing a new plan, one running congruent and parallel with our original plan?" Spitfire asked, garnering a nod from Shining. She chewed on a piece of bread and mulled it over before nodding. "Alright, I'll bite… but we'll have to make our assault two-pronged."

Shining nodded. "I was hoping you'd say that: because there is no way a tsunami-supercell combo will work otherwise." He conjured some wooden figurines of ponies, no taller than the hoof and more than enough to represent the three pony tribes. He worked some magic on four of them, turning two green, one bright red, and one dark red, making sure that two had wings and two had horns. He set those ones aside for now, and another horned one that he willed his magic to paint in a bright blond melding to black.

Shining painted some more horned figures to look like changelings, and set those to one side as well. Another few pegasus figurines were painted to look like gryphons, and arranged with pegasi painted in Wonderbolts and royal guard colors, all heading in from the eastern front. He put the winged red and the winged green figurines at the front of this formation. "Okay, so we'll do our two-pronged attack like this: the pegasi and gryphons will strike from the east of the continent, heading due west towards the volcano. We have more than enough numbers to make it possible, but we need timing. Thus, we'll wait for the volcano to stop erupting before making our move."

"While the gryphons and Wonderbolts mobilize the supercell, the changelings will strike from the west, lead by those most proficient in earth pony magic," Shining continued, putting the blond-black figurine, the horned red figurine, and the horned green at the front of that formation as he moved it to the west of the continent. "Now, there will be pyroclastic flows on the west side, assuming the dunderheads make it so the lava stays active. From there, groundwater will be channeled, and will trigger the tsunami."

"And how would changelings help here, exactly?" Spitfire asked.

Katie piped up, "Oh, that's easy: most normal changelings can channel their magic through the earth like an earth pony, as well as through their horns. You gather enough of them together, and they can make hives by changing the landscape, like what we're standing in now. Of course… the holes will constantly shapeshift because the changelings' earth magic is fundamentally different from earth pony magic if used by enough changelings, but you'll yield the same general effect. It helps changelings blend in better to pony society, when they need to feed in secret." Spitfire looked at her, and Katie wilted sheepishly. "At least… that's what I was told, in the few classes I had before my hive went kaput."

Matt grinned. "It's how we were able to fix the scars I made back when the Trials of Attrition just kicked off," he said, a bit of pride in his voice. "We figured we could at least do that before repairing the hive itself."

Shining grinned. "See, not every problem is unsolvable; you just need to find what makes an issue tick," he said. He turned back to the wooden figurines on the table, and put another pair of earth pony figurines, one orange and one pink, with the changeling formation. He then put another pegasus figurine in yellow next to the Wonderbolts, and some unicorn figurines on either side of the attacking formations. "Blueblood, Fluttershy and Twilight will be with the pegasi, while Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and I will be with the changelings. And in case we need them, we will have the Elements of Harmony ready if all else fails.

NoLegs teleported into the office, and sat on Shining's head with a mew. Shining looked up at him. "Alright, what do you have to report this time?" NoLegs said nothing, instead turning to the massive window of the office. A low rumble that rose in volume came from that direction, and in moments, the source revealed itself by gently shaking the office slightly. Everyone looked out of it to behold a massive airship that was more like an aerial fortress coming down to land in the plains nestled within the mountain ranges, right in front of the Aerie.

Lance sighed. "Looks like the sky pirates found something," he said, frowning. "Let's finish up our food and head out to meet them, and see what they have." With that, everyone nodded and raced to finish their lunch before heading out to see what needed to be done this time, hoping that it would run congruent, or at least parallel, to their plans.