The Great Conspiracy

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
The Background Papers: Part 1
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
The Background Papers: Part 2
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Epilogue
Chapter 1
The Background Papers: Part 3

Prologue

Echoing hoofsteps rang through the quiet halls. The gentle gurgling of a stream greeted the new comer as he passed over the small arching pathway that went over it. The dancing lights of the torches made the darker patches of the corridor dance to and fro, making the shadows of ponies into hideous shadowy forms of monsters, ready to devour whoever came to close.

A pony dressed in fine clothes wound his way around the twisting corridors until he finally reached the huge double wooden doors. He stood waiting in front of them, the two pegasus guards standing stock still as a unicorn guard came out from his small crook in the stony halls. The well dressed pony removed a piece of paper from his blazer and presented it calmly to the approaching unicorn. The unicorn lit his horn and touched the small piece of paper with his yellow aura, causing a symbol to appear briefly. The unicorn turned back towards his post and nodded to the two pegasi who nodded back and pushed the door in, allowing the pony to enter as he stowed his paper back into his blazer’s pocket.

Inside were numerous ponies who sat in small groups, chatting about this and that in a low murmur. The new arrival made his way over to one group in particular, where three there ponies sat discussing some matter or another. As he approached the group fell into silence, letting the pony to sit down before speaking again.

“Magistrate, how are things?” One pony asked as she stroked her pet rabbit gently, who, despite being a rabbit, seemed to purr in delight.

“They are well, Advisor. Is the council all here?” Magistrate asked in curiosity, eyeing the room for any of his closer comrades.

“You’re the last one of them to arrive actually. The others are in the back room discussing some thing or another.” Advisor replied letting her rabbit down, whom quickly scurried off to the small stream that ran through the edge of the room and began drinking. “I believe they’re waiting for you now.” She finished, keeping an eye on her precious pet at all times.

“Thank you, Advisor. I’ll be seeing you when the meeting is in full order.” Magistrate replied before standing up and walking towards the door leading to the council’s meeting place where a lone earth pony guard stood in silence. Magistrate nodded to the guard as he pushed the door open.

The room was the same stony walled room with a thin curtain of smoke lining the ceiling from the candles, giving a yellowish tinge to the whole room. Several other well dressed ponies stood on either side of the table as Magistrate entered and took his place on one of the side in front of a cushion.

“Magistrate, it is good to see you again. We had almost given up hope of you coming at all.” The pony at the head of the table commented.

“I’m sorry, Sire, but there were things that came up as I was about to leave that would’ve made our secrecy disappear if I had attempted to leave without attending to them.” Magistrate replied.

“I suppose the reporters were quite happy to get on your heels after your success in the court.” Another pony replied.

“Aye, they were quite fervent in getting any information on it. They flocked around me like little puppies around a bowl of kibble, and were quite willing to eat me up in the same way.” Magistrate replied. “But let us set that aside for another time. We have important matters to discuss, do we not, Sire?” He finished, taking his seat along with the rest of the ponies.

“Indeed we do. Members of the council, we all know the secrecy on which this group is founded and sustained.” A general murmur of agreement wafted over the room. “The secrets are so deep we do not even know the other’s real name, only knowing one another through this group and by the names we give ourselves. But I tell you now that this veil of secrecy is being lifted slowly as our cause comes closer and closer to our grasp. Our armed forces are growing, several ponies from the Royal and Equestrian Guard joining us in our cause. Soon, my brothers and sisters, we shall have our goal and the due prizes for achieving it. Soon we shall see through the other side of the wall and gaze at the wonder of the hidden.” Several of the ponies nodded with smiles across their muzzles.

“When do we advance to the next step?” Magistrate asked, echoing the thoughts of many of the other ponies around the table. Sire smiled lightly as he stood.

“Our plans are so far along, I believe we can announce our intentions tonight and be fully ready by tomorrow night.” Sire stated as he walked around the side of the table with the surprised looks of his council pegged on him. “Shall we?” The ponies looked at each other, and then at their leader.

“If you believe we are far along enough to begin, Sire, than I trust your judgment wholeheartedly.” Magistrate stated. “Let us let the others know that they begin to play the final notes of their parts in this mighty orchestra.” Sire nodded with a smile as he exited, followed by his council members.

Sire stepped onto the platform set up and the far wall from the main doors, his council members standing behind him in a single, curving row. The room suddenly became quiet as the ponies that were scattered about the room migrated to sit in one mass in front of the stage.

“Ponies of the Alliance,” Sire began, “This meeting is called to announce something that shall change us and Equestria forever.” Sire stopped, the air crackling with tension, making his smile grow larger. “We are drawing ever closer to our goal, so very close in fact.” Sire scanned the room slowly, his eyes going over each pony, their given names ringing in his mind. “Tonight, it is my pleasure to announce,” He continued, his smile growing larger and larger, “That we are now in the midst of completing our task.” A low whisper passed through the room, causing even the council members to look at each other in confusion. “Even as I speak, our guards are bringing in our greatest prize that will grant us sight into the unknown.” He stopped, his smile now going from ear to ear, his eyes wide in anticipation as his lips finally parted, revealing his perfectly white teeth.

“Sire, the guards have arrived with the package.” A guard stated from the back, one of the massive doors opened slightly, revealing the magically augmented white coat, red mane, and dull silver helmet of the guard pony.

“Bring them in then, and let our ponies witness the turning of an age; the new age of unity for all Equestrians to enjoy.” Sire replied, his smile slowly growing a bit more sinister. “Ponies of the Alliance of the Two Halves please raise your cowls and greet our new guest.” At that the room was filled with the sound of the door opening, revealing four guards who walked side by side with their charge. The ponies quickly lifted their cowls of the official dress of the Alliance that for the most part was covered by some other piece of clothing.

The guards pushed the new arrival inside the room father, the tall alabaster pony stumbling a bit under the effect of some sort of spell or concoction. A collective gasp filled the room as the celestial princess was pushed to the front of the room in front of the stage.

Celestia lifted her head, only to have somepony slam something in between her shoulders, causing her knees to buckle, leading to her collapsing with a groan of pain. The magic sapping chain wrapped around her legs, neck, and body sapped her strength, her magic completely being ripped out of her.

“I give you all,” The hooded Sire continued, unhindered by the presence of the princess, “Our key to the other side. The one who all those years ago separated the truth from us will now be the tool to let us gain back what we’ve lost.” Sire finished, the ponies around him breaking into rabid cheers, hooves slamming into the ground, making the entire cavernous room shake. “Tonight we have gained our last piece, and tomorrow, we gain much, much more. Tomorrow in the evening, in the last rays of the sun we shall see the end of it all and be reunited with what she and her putrid sister tore from our hooves, but not from our hearts and minds.” Sire finished, the cheers becoming all the louder before he raised his hoof for silence. Celestia craned her neck to see the pony on stage, his visage hidden in the shadow of a dark cowl.

“What do you want? Why have you brought me here?” Celestia asked before falling into a coughing fit as her body began to fall apart at the lack of magic.

“We bring you here to bring an end to what you started all those years ago. Tonight you pay with weakness as your magic is stripped, but tomorrow you pay by removing the greatest blocking point in the world. You will remove the wall that separates us from the other half.” Sire replied, his teeth still glinting in the faint light that entered his cowl.

“That wall, which you speak of, separates you from naught but the edge of our world; you’ll find nothing beyond it except darkness!” Celestia retorted.

“Indeed it does separate us from the edge of our world, but it also lets into the next. Paths don’t lead to abyss, they always lead somewhere. And even if it is naught but darkness then it will be our darkness, and you have no right to take it from us.” Spire replied.

“You’ll fall off the edge! That wall is to protect ships from going over and tumbling into the abyss.” Celestia interjected. “Please don’t do this; you’ll all die if you go that far!” Celestia pleaded.

“No, we’ll gain something we’ve lost, something so terribly secretive that you can only hope to hide it. And even though you have tried, all trace has not been erased, and I have been granted a small glimpse of the other side and what it holds. The wall of water is but a barrier keeping us from the truth, keeping us from absolute balance and peace.” Sire replied. “We will connect with the other side, and we shall see the other side, as not an exact mirror, but as a mirror showing an image of reverse, an image that provides the balance we need. After all, every bit of darkness has a light, and every foal has an elder.” Sire looked down toward Celestia. “And you know exactly what the other side of that mirror holds, what type of reflection we shall see.”

“Sire, the ships are ready in the harbor for when we leave.” A guard stated from the entryway. Sire nodded before turning back to Celestia.

“We’ll soon be seeing through the looking glass.” Sire stated. “And you’ll be the one clearing the way for us.” Sire finished, his smile still going from ear to ear in mad glee. “Take her back to her cell; she’ll need to rest before tomorrow’s excursion.” With that the guards around her urged her to her hooves and ushered her forcefully towards the door. Sire finally gave a soft chuckle as his plans unfolded. Soon he’d have his goal met, and all of Equestria would see the truth of the matter, and balance would be achieved once again. Celestia looked back to him, her body quaking in weakness as she continued on, the guard shoving her in the correct direction.

“You’ll see that I was right.” Celestia stated, her voice cracking slightly. “You’ll all know how wrong you were in the end.” She finished as she was pushed out the door, the gigantic entrances slammed behind her with a mighty boom. Sire looked over the group, forcing his smile off of his face as he lowered his cowl.

“Ponies, today I call upon you to do your parts as they were assigned at the beginning. The final phase of our plan is coming to fruition, and soon we’ll see the whole of the other side. We set sail in the morning so we can reach the wall by night fall.” Sire said calmly. “Brothers and sisters, soon the day comes, will you seize it?” He asked, scanning over the ponies bellow.

“Yes!” The unanimous reply came back, followed with roaring applause and cheers. Sire’s smile returned slightly.

“Ponies of the Alliance, tomorrow we show the world the truth! Tomorrow we return Equestria to its true balance!” Sire shouted, his voice only breaking through the cheers briefly before the sound consumed the room once again.

Chapter 2

Twilight, along with a detachment of guards, walked down the pier towards the manager’s office. One of the guards picked up his pace and opened the door before the princess. The pony inside looked over and quickly got up and gave a bow, causing Twilight to feel a bit uncomfortable.

“Your highness, if I had known you were coming I would have cleaned up my office. Please excuse its current state of disaster.” The pony said towards the ground, not even looking up to Twilight.

“Then it is good we didn’t call ahead.” The guard sergeant said as he walked ahead. “There are certain files we need from you, and if we are correct somepony might have attempted to destroy them before we came.” The manager stood up and looked in confusion at the guard.

“Somepony might want to destroy them? Sir, we have nothing to hide here, we make sure no illegal cargo is shipped or received. If you wish, I can run up a record for all items of that sort that have attempted to pass through our port.” The pony replied, his expression unwavering, showing Twilight either he was telling the truth or was a very well versed liar.

“No, we are looking for anomalies in your shipping. You wouldn’t catch this cargo and remain silent for so long.” The guard replied as he opened a cabinet and started flipping through the files.

“Anomalies? Sir, we run the highest security port in all of Equestria, there is no piece of cargo that gets past our waters without one of our ponies laying hoof or eye on it.” Dry Dock replied.

“Sir, this piece of ‘cargo’ was removed from our highest security area and has been traced to this area. If whoever took it got this far without being caught, they can get through this port without flicking an eyelash.” The guard replied.

“Oh, I see, of course. We’ll see what we have.” The sailor pony replied, walking over to another one of his cabinets.

“What can we call you, sir? We need it for the report.” The guard asked as he continued to flip through some of the papers before tossing them over to the desk

“Dry Dock’s my name. What timeline are we looking at?” He asked while removing certain folders and placing them on his desk.

“The day before yesterday, yesterday, and today is when this ‘cargo’ could’ve left port.” The guard replied as he began to scan through the files. “I want to know if the regular port master was out of an area for any of those days. The group that did this might have had the usual replaced with one of their own.” Dry Dock looked up with a raised eyebrow before opening another folder and flipping through it.

“Well, let’s see… Stern was out and was replaced by Anchor two days ago… and then there was Gangplank replaced by Dragnet and then there was Anchor who got sick yesterday evening and had to have Dragnet cover for him too.” Dry Dock replied.

“What were the circumstances for each pony calling out for those days?” The guard asked as he moved to the cabinets with Gangplank and Stern’s names on them.

“Let’s see… Stern went on vacation to Los Pegasus area, his vacation days were about to be removed if he didn’t use them, so he took the wife and kid to see some of the extended family in the suburbs. Gangplank had a case of food poisoning or something and Anchor, as I said, caught something over the night and came down real bad it this morning.” Dry Dock stated. The guard looked over to him, a small suspicion beginning to form.

“Bring up all files on ships that this Dragnet passed through port.” The sergeant ordered. Dry Dock shrugged as he opened a draw on his desk and taking out a file labeled ‘recent departures’ that he opened and removed a small folder labeled ‘Gangplank’ and another labeled ‘Stern’.

“This should be what you’re looking for, but I doubt he’s who you’re looking for.” Dry Dock stated with great certainty. “He’s been with us for nigh onto sixteen years and was trained by our best inspectors. He alone has caught about three fourths of the illegal cargo that we’ve found over the last six months and about half of what came through over the last year. He is as loyal as they come.” Dry Dock finished.

“That makes him all the more likely. He could just have been trying to get on your good side so that when he passes a ship that couldn’t have been passed if he actually searched it you never notice since he has such a good reputation.” The guard retorted as he flipped through the pages and landed on one paper in Stern’s file. “Hmm… what do we have here?” He asked himself.

“I don’t know; what do we have here?” Dry Dock replied dryly. The guard shot him a look before returning to the paper.

“Six large crates, tree wagons and two small chests put onto one ship that left today… I have a feeling that he might not even have to be on their side.” The guard said as he closed the file.

“Well I can tell you right now that you’re wrong about that one.” Dry Dock stated simply.

“How can you be sure? Were you there with him every step of the way?” The sergeant asked sharply. Dry Dock looked at him with a flat expression.

“Yeah, I and three others; when we get a ship hauling a large amount of cargo I get called in along with all other reserve inspectors. We each look over the crates one by one, each of us checking over one another’s work.” Dry Dock shot back at him. “So that ship is a no go on the score of hidden cargo.”

“Hmm… you know that is actually a lot more helpful than you might think.” The guard said as he continued to flip through the pages and removing a few a he went. “All small ships with small amount of cargo; if he’s on their side and are passing cargo he shouldn’t, these are the chances to do so.” The guard laid out the fifteen papers on the now hastily cleared desk.

“I can remove three of those for you.” Dry Dock stated as he took away said amount of papers. “We have surprise spot checks where we send in another inspector to see if the pony is doing his or her job correctly.” The guard nodded as he let Twilight step in front of the pages and check over them quickly. One by one they were put to the side, removing those that were too small, until there were three left.

“A ship bound for the zebra lands with two small carts and a chest, another heading for the dragon lands with a large crate and another heading for… found you.” Twilight said as she tossed one aside and levitated the other two into her saddlebags. “Where is Dragnet now?” She asked Dry Dock.

“He should be at either Stern or Gangplank’s area that would be… area 5-C and 6-C. The signs should get you there.” The guard nodded and turned to leave, “Oh, and one more thing.” Dry Dock said before he even took a step towards the door.

“Yes, what is it, Mr. Dry Dock?” Twilight asked, turning to look at him.

“Tell me how it goes when you get back. I really want to know what you all found that incriminates my most prized employees.” Dry Dock stated before starting to pick up papers and putting them back in their folders.

“I will” The lead sergeant interjected, “You deserve to know why one of your employees is going to be incarcerated for high treason.” The guard finished flatly as he left the guards and Twilight in tow.

“Well, you check out, nothing that makes it so you can’t leave.” Dragnet said as he took his stamp out of its place and pressed it against the papers. “Have a good trip and be sure to come back soon.” He finished, giving a parting wave before walking off towards another group of ponies that were walking towards their ship. “I am so glad it isn’t a busy day…” He grumbled as he walked over. “Last night was a killer.” He finished while twisting his neck, several pops sounding out as he did.

“Mr. Dragnet, I presume?” A gruff voice asked from behind him. He looked at saw an entourage of guards around Princess Twilight Sparkle. He quickly dropped into a bow in respect for the monarch.

“Yes, I am Dragnet. Are you here to deport? I can have the royal cruiser prepared for sailing within fifteen minutes.”

“Whether we need it or not is yet to be seen.” One of the guards replied before stepping back, allowing Twilight to come forward.

“Please, rise, I have a question that I believe you can answer.” Twilight said in a light tone, not sounding like there was anything out of the ordinary happening.

“Of course, your majesty,” Dragnet replied as he rose up to his hooves and looked the princess of friendship in the eye. “I know most of all there is to know about port functions and ships.” He said with no small measure of pride. Twilight levitated two small papers out of her bag and looked at it, using her magic to make the back of the papers opaque, making it so the light of the sun wouldn’t allow him to read through the thin papers.

“Yesterday a ship departed with minimal crew members and only a large cart that had supplies in it.” She said, immediately gaining a curious look from Dragnet. “It was said to contain wine, cheese, bread, and several aromatics it in for trading with the gryphons and that it was owned by a pony under the name of ‘Sire’.” Twilight finished.

“Yeah, that sounds about right… I think the destination was something else, but the cargo and personnel sounds about right.” Dragnet replied, now understanding the situation.

“Very good… now, there was another ship that left yesterday that had a large crew and water, bread, and medical supplies that they were going to use for a simple coastal cruise owned by one ‘Hummingbird’. Is this correct?” Twilight asked again.

“Hmm… no, Hummingbird had cheese, bread, wine, aromatics, gems, and multiple other items to trade with the zebras.” Dragnet replied, and then his eyes opened wide in realization.

“Mr. Dragnet, you are under arrest for allowing the deportation of a prized possession of Equestria. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to…” Twilight stopped paying attention to the guard that was reading of his rights. She turned to one of the other guards who stood in the file patiently with the others.

“I want you to get the royal cruiser prepared and brought around. If I’m right, their ship should be slow enough that we can still catch them.” Twilight ordered. The guard saluted and galloped off towards another one of the port masters and relayed the message, motioning towards Twilight during one part. The port master looked over and then turned back to the guard and nodded and galloped off to another part of the port. The guard soon returned and fell back in line.

“The port master says that the ship shall be available within the hour.” The guard stated. Twilight looked to the big clock tower than rose above the port, the time reading three forty-seven. If the pony was correct it would be good on the time side, after all, they were low on time as it was.

Twilight walked across the plank, her guards walking around her as she boarded. In the distance the shape of sky chariots began clearer and clearer as the small group approached. Twilight smiled as her friends disembarked and galloped over to join her.

“Twilight, glad we made it in time; looks like you were about ready to shove off.” Applejack commented as she boarded the others already on the deck.

“Well we need to hurry. We have a possible lead on where Celestia might have been taken.” Twilight stated. “There was a ship that probably contains the ponies that had Celestia that was reported to be heading out towards deep sea.” Twilight continued as she walked towards the helm. “The type of ship they have might be just slow enough that we can catch them within a few hours with this ship.”

“How fast can this thing go, Twi?” Rainbow asked, a grin across her face, undoubtedly knowing she could out do it.

“Well, this ship is rated to hit about eight to nine knots, the ship the other ponies are using have a usual speed rating of four or so.” Twilight replied, leaving Rainbow with a look of confusion, not truly understanding what she had just said, except for the part that their ship was around two times as fast as their competition’s.

“Um…, Twi, what’s a knot supposed to mean?” Rainbow began, still looking at her friend, hoping for some answer that would make a certain amount of sense to her as she hovered in place.

“A knot is one nautical mile an hour which is about one point five to one mile per hour.” Twilight replied with a smirk. “And yes, you’re quite a bit faster than that.” Rainbow crossed her forelegs in satisfaction at that reply. Twilight approached the captain of the vessel, a stocky stallion with a blue coat and a black and white striped mane. Said stallion turned as she approached and gave a smile and a bow to her.

“Ah, Princess Twilight, glad to be of service today.” He said, his smile bleeding into his voice, “My name is Galleon, and I’m he captain of this vessel. Where are we sailing today, your highness?” He asked, as polite as ever.

“We sail to the west, good sir. We are in pursuit of another vessel that has had several hours head start, but we believe such a fine vessel as this can catch it.” Twilight replied, trying to sound as regal as possible. Galleon rose and looked at Twilight with an intrigued look.

“West? Why, a few hours that way and you’ll be running into the rising waters.” He stated. “Whoever sailed that way would probably have taken a turn before too long unless they’re one of the fanatic challengers that ram their ships into the wall in an attempt to break through. I’d wager more than six dozen good ships lay at the bottom of the ocean near that wall, for all the good they do.”

“Thank you for the warning, Galleon, but we need to sail that direction. We have reports pointing to them going that direction.” Twilight responded, taking his words as seriously as she could. It might stand to reason for such fanatical ponies to charge such an impenetrable wall and even have Celestia as a resource to break through, it would be a rather solid plan if you really wanted to get through.

“Very well, your majesty, we’ll sail west.” Galleon replied with a nod as he turned and walked over to the wheel. The captain let out a shrill whistle, causing the ponies that had been walking around the deck at a decent pace to stop for a split second and scramble to different areas. Twilight watched in amazement as several ponies began to climb the ropes and unfurl the sails. The sound of drums began to echo out from the lower decks as the oars on either side of the ship extended and began to row as the last pony jumped from the docks onto the ship after removing the last rope.

The ship cut through the water, the waves parting on either side as it made a beeline to the west. Rainbow Dash, for the tenth or eleventh time, flew beside the ship, quickly passing by it before turning to one side and looping around the ship, just as proof of her speed. She finally landed and trotted over to the other ponies that were playing a round of cards.

“How’d I do?” She asked one of the sailors sitting on the ground around the barrel that had a cloth spread over it with the cards on top of it.

“Ten second flat, not bad. Just remember you’re going through air, this ship has to move through something with quite a bit more resistance than that.” He replied as he pushed a few more chip into the main pile. “Try doing the sonic what-cha-call-it and diving straight into the water and see how you fair.” After a few seconds of thinking, “On second thought, don’t do that. You’ll end up a broken mess if you do that. I’d prefer to not be the one responsible for the death of one of the members of the Council of Friendship any time soon.” He amended while another pony put his cards face down and walked away grumbling something about folding and cards being rigged.

“So, do you have any idea when we might arrive at the wall?” Twilight asked the captain. Galleon looked at one of the charts that were mounted in a glass case by the wheel, and after a few rough calculations came to a conclusion.

“I’d say we’re almost there. I’d wager a minute or two before we’ve able to see it rising up before us.” Galleon replied, returning his attention to the wheel.

“Thank you, captain, you’re services are greatly appreciated.” Twilight said with a smile. The captain simply shrugged as he maintained a steady course through the waves.

“I said I’d serve the crown with my abilities as a sailor and I meant it.” The captain replied nonchalantly. Twilight looked to the sea before them with a smile; everything was going well, even better than anticipated.

“Ship spotted on the horizon, sir!” The pony in the crow’s nest shouted down to them as she continued to peer through her telescope.

“Is it a small trade ship?” Twilight shouted back, hoping desperately that it was the ship they were looking for. The pony continued to gaze through their telescope, trying to get a better view of the ship in question.

“No, ma’am, it appears to be…” Her voice trailed off, her words barely passing a breath. Twilight and Galleon looked at each other in a mixture of horror and confusion.

“What is it, lass? Speak up!” Galleon shouted up to her. A few moments of hesitation passed as the pony continued to look through her eyepiece, and then lift away from it, and then go back to looking through it. She finally looked down towards the captain.

“It appears to be another royal cruiser. It looks to be outfitted with the same materials as we are as far as the top deck will show.” She shouted the reply. The captain looked back to Twilight, and then looked back up.

“Another royal cruiser? Is it Luna or Celestia?” The captain questioned, causing Twilight to stiffen when she remembered that nopony actually knew about Celestia’s kidnapping except the guard and several detectives and her friends.

“I can’t tell, sir, but they’re flying Equestrian colors… wait… no it appears to be slightly altered from the Equestrian flag. It appears the light and dark sections of the flag are reversed on the central piece.” The pony in the crow’s nest replied as she continued to look over the ship through her telescope. Galleon looked to Twilight with a raised eyebrow.

“That’s really is odd… what do you make of it?” He asked Twilight. Twilight thought for a few seconds, trying to make reason of it.

“I don’t know. We’ll have to get a better view of it.” Twilight replied, unsure of what else to say. “Just get us closer to them so we can see what is with this.”

“Aye, we’ll bring her in for a good look.” Captain nodded. “Take her to half mast!” The captain barked the order to the sailors on deck who left their games and other activities to begin to climb the ropes and roll the sails up halfway, lowering the speed of the craft slightly. “Tell the oars to go at cruising speed.” He told one of the runners near him who quickly galloped down to the deck bellow and relayed the message, the beating of the drums instantly slowing.

“I don’t know what we’re going to see here, Captain.” Twilight admitted, “But I know Luna and Celestia are not on the sea currently.” Galleon just smiled.

“That just makes it all the more fun, your majesty.” He replied. “What do we have up there?” He asked the pony who was still looking through her telescope.

“They’ve lowered to half mast and cruising speed as well, sir!” She replied without looking away from her telescope. The captain looked curiously at the ship that was beginning to appear on the horizon.

“Don’t know what they’re trying to do, but hopefully it’s friendly.” Galleon said to nopony in particular. “Tell the oars to pick up a bit.” He ordered the runner again who galloped back down without complaint.

“Sir, it appears their oars are picking up a bit!” The pony in the crow’s nest shouted down to Galleon who looked perplexed at her.

“I’m not making a lick of sense of this. Not only do we have this ship that looks almost exactly like us but has the same orders given and executed at the same time as us… not only that but we should be able to see the wall by now.” Galleon said with concern etched across his features.

“I have a hypothesis in the works,” Twilight commented as she looked at the shape of the ship on the horizon grow larger as it drew closer, “But I’ll need a bit more details before I can really say it’s a real theory. So far it’s the only option that really is making sense to me, but I could be wrong.”

“Well, we got nothing else to work this, let’s hear what you have to say about this.” Galleon said as he took out a spyglass from beside the wheel and extended it before raising it up to his eye.

“It could be a reflection spell to hide what’s really behind there.” Twilight explained. “They probably figured we’d be able to follow them soon enough and decided to make it we could only come so far.” The captain grunted in reply as he scanned the deck of the other ship with his looking glass.

“Hmm… yeah, I’d say we got a mirror.” The captain said to himself. He removed his eyepiece and looked at the deck of his ship and the rigging before looking back at the other ship. “Well, maybe not a mirror.”

“What do you mean by ‘maybe not a mirror’?” Twilight asked. Galleon passed the spyglass to Twilight, who levitated it over to her eye.

“The object are mirrored, they are on the same side of their ship. They have barrels on the right side of the deck, just like we do, while as if it were a mirror the barrels would appear on the left.” Galleon stated, and to Twilight’s surprise, he was absolutely right. It was as if they were simply sailing towards an exact replica of their ship.

She focused the spyglass on the helm of the ship and saw two ponies standing rather still, the mare, most likely the captain, looking at a lavender stallion that stood looking through his spyglass towards her direction. Twilight lowered the eyepiece and looked at the captain, who was looking at her expectantly.

Twilight lifted the spyglass again and looked towards the rest of the ship where ponies were working on the rigging and what not, and then lowered it and looked at the relative positions of those ponies if they were on her ship, and indeed there ponies finishing the same tasks the ponies on the other end were starting a few seconds ago. She looked to the captain again, not entirely sure what to say.

“C-captain… I… I think we’re in danger. This doesn’t look like anything I’ve ever seen before.” She finally settled, “I believe we should continue, but with the utmost caution.”

“I understand, your majesty. I’ve been sailing for nigh onto twenty-seven years and this is the first time anything like this has happened, and trust me, I’ve had my fair share of odd experiences at sea.” Galleon replied as he took to the wheel while Twilight stowed the spyglass away. “Send the signal for a peaceful meeting.” The messenger nodded and charged to a pony that sat by a box of flags. The ponies talked for a few seconds before the flag pony lifted the flags up in his magic and began to signal, only to have another pony on the other ship start the same signal. Both sides pressed on and finished their messages.

“They also sent a call for a peaceful meeting?” Twilight asked, only gaining the nod of the captain. “Well, at least we both agree on meeting on peaceful terms.”

“Aye, it is good to see they think like us in that regard. Send them a reply that we fully acknowledge and agree.” He ordered the messenger, who took off and quickly told the flag pony his order. The flag pony stood up and sent the signal, and again had the pony on the other ship send the same message over to him.

“Again… I’m… I’m truly at a loss for words.” Twilight said as she removed the spyglass from its case and extended it. She focused it on the helm once more, and as before, the lavender stallion still stood as he did before, looking at her with his own spyglass. Twilight lowered the optic device and levitated it over to the captain. “I think it would be wise to send everypony down to the lower decks for the time being, or at least until we have established contact with them.”

“Aye, I believe that to be a wise decision.” Galleon replied before giving a shrill whistle, which could also be heard from the other ship. The ponies on either ship scrambled and stowed the sails and then descended to the lower decks. Twilight walked down the stairs to the main deck as they drew closer to the other ship, the lavender stallion that looked exceptionally like her if she were a stallion, doing the same on his ship. She finally reached the forward most part of the ship.

“Hold her, captain; this is far enough in my estimation.” Both lavender ponies ordered their captains. The captains of each vessel looked at the other’s commanding officers. Twilight and her counterpart looked at their captains. “Galleon?” Twilight asked, while as her counterpart seemed to say Frigate.

“Sorry, your majesty,” Both captains replied, “I was slightly distracted by… well, the other… you know.” The captain hesitate before whistling loudly in an descending pitch, the oars lifting out of the water and pulled into the ship in response as the anchor’s splashed into the waters. Twilight directed herself to her counterpart on the other ship, taking a deep breath before motioning for him to begin, only to have him making the same motion to her. Both ponies took a step back in confusion.

“Who are you and why are you in these waters?” Both of them asked each other, making little progress. “I am Princess Twilight and we are searching for a ship carrying cargo of incalculable value to Equestria.” Twilight said, though her counterpart said he was ‘Prince Dusk’. Twilight looked at him curiosity, only to notice that he looked at her the same way. She turned back to her captain, who seemed to be looking suspiciously towards his counterpart. “Captain, bring us a bit closer.” Twilight said, and heard ‘Dusk’ say the same as well.

“Yes, your highness.” Both captains replied, as they let out another odd whistle, causing the anchor to be raised slightly out of the water as the rowing began softly, bringing the two ships closer. The gap was soon bridge and both captain with slightly different timings whistled for their crews to stop, which was quickly executed by both crews. Twilight looked to Dusk, who was looking at her. They both took several steps closer, the distance being reduced to a fraction as the two ship bows almost touched.

“I’d appreciate an explanation for this.” Both of them said; their timing slightly out of sync. Both ponies took another few steps forward, closing the gap further. “What did you mean by cargo of incalculable value?” Both asked each other. Twilight took another few steps, noticing Dusk was taking a second longer than her to begin. Both of them stood at the tip of their ships.

“Will you answer me in a straight forward manner or will you persist with simply copying me?” Twilight asked; Dusk not making the same question.

“As far as I’m concerned I’m more entitled to this answer than you.” Dusk countered his ire raising. Both ponies’ eyes opened wider, and then narrowed into slits with matching grins of satisfaction.

“Ah-ha!” Both of them exclaimed. “You don’t always have the ability to copy me, do you?” Both ponies said in the same instant, only to grimace in disgust at the recommencing of the imitation. “Stop that right now and answer properly!” They yelled at each other before pointing accusing hooves at each other. When they touched they both fell back, writhing in pain. Twilight and Dusk broke out of the pain and glared daggers at each other. “Assaulting royalty is a capital offence!” They both cautioned. “You’re no royalty; you’re just a failed reflection spell!” They both shouted in exasperation. Twilight and Dusk stood up and walked back up to each other, glaring daggers.

“Captain, sail on!” Twilight shouted over her shoulder only to hear a scream filled with pain. She whipped around and saw her captain holding onto the wheel as the pain overcame all his senses. Reacting on instinct, Twilight started into a gallop towards the helm, only to stumble and fall in pain. Twilight looked with teary eyes and gritted teeth towards Dusk, who was slumped over the forward bow of his ship, obviously going through a lot of pain as well. Twilight inched her way back towards him, her body screaming out in agony. She hooked her hooves over the edge of her ship and pulled herself up, and immediately felt relief.

“Why are you doing that?” Dusk asked, tears streaming from his eyes as his pain subsided. Twilight shook her head.

“It isn’t me; I don’t know any instant pain spells.” She looked him in the eyes. “I don’t even know what’s happening, or why it’s happening.” She continued. “One of us needs to explain who they are really. Will you board my ship or will I board yours?” Twilight asked.

“Why does either of us need to board any other ship?” Dusk questioned, looking suspiciously at Twilight.

“Would you rather stay on separate boats? It’s usually customary to only have a table between talking ponies, if anything, instead of a gap that leads to water.” Twilight stated coolly. Dusk sighed before jumping over the gap with the aid of his wings.

“So, can you explain to me who exactly you are or do you want me to go first?” Twilight asked as she floated over a pair of stools and a barrel. Dusk sat down, thinking for a few seconds.

“I guess I’ll go first. My name is Prince Dusk Shine, Prince of Friendship, head of the Council of Friendship, former Element of Magic of the Elements of Harmony. Pupil of Prince….” Dusk said.

“Wait,” Twilight interjected before he could go any farther. “Prince of Friendship, Element of Magic; are you doing some mind reading spell?” Twilight asked suspiciously.

“No, I gained all those titles. Through actions or circumstances in the proper manner one obtains such titles.” Dusk replied. “Why do you ask?”

“My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle,” She began, “Princess of Friendship, head of the Council of Friendship, former Element of Magic, former librarian of Ponyville, where my castle is now. How are you so similar?” Twilight asked pointedly.

“I could ask you the same. As I see it, if anypony is using a mind reading spell, it’s you. I lived through all those things, lessons, experiences, adventures, and dangers.” Dusk retorted.

“How about your mentor? Mine was Princess Celestia.” Twilight stated, attempting to find some discrepancy.

“You got Solaris? No wonder, he would have tried to model his student after his brother’s during his banishment. He must have returned to your side at an earlier date than predicted and made you as close as he could, even mirroring my experiences of my late life with a bit of precognition.” Dusk responded.

“Solaris? He? I said Princess Celestia, who is a she.” Twilight retorted. “And she was not banished, that would be Luna as Nightmare Moon.”

“Who as whom? Solaris was banished as Solar Flare who let pride get to him so that he never wanted the sun to set again, keeping the moon down forever.” Dusk said, quite confused.

“Uh… no, that was Luna turned into Nightmare Moon who was envious of Celestia for receiving so much praise while she was basically left to side, and so never wanted the moon to set so that everypony would be forced to gaze upon it at all time and see the beauty she did.” Twilight retorted, as confused as Dusk.

“Well, we have something in opposition here. I was mentored by Prince Artemis, prince of the night who banished Solaris to the sun over a thousand years ago.” Dusk stated.

“Indeed, mine was Celestia, princess of sun who banished Luna to the moon over a thousand years ago.” Twilight concurred.

“So we aren’t exact copies of each other, but we do have our share of similarities.” Dusk stated. Twilight nodded in agreement.

“So what was this cargo you were looking for? Was it Solaris who was kidnapped mysteriously?” Twilight asked.

“No, it was Artemis; Solaris is still back in Canterlot giving whatever aid he can to the investigators.” Dusk replied. “I’m guessing by the question that your Princess Celestia was taken in a similar way?” Twilight nodded.

“Yes, she was kidnapped a few days ago. We had a recent lead pointing us in this direction.” Twilight replied.

“As did we; but if they came here, where are they? Shouldn’t they still be here or at least nearby?” Dusk asked. “If they were affected as we were, shouldn’t they be rather close?”

“Well, if you have the same type of mind as I you should be developing a theory about it right as I speak.” Twilight stated. Dusk thought for a second, and then smirked in satisfaction.

“Yes, I suppose you’re right, though we have limited evidence of it being true, so it’s more of a hypothesis.” Dusk replied, putting his hoof on the barrel.

“It’s the best we have at the moment. We don’t have any idea how this whole thing works.” Twilight responded, “Though we both probably have the same ideas.”

“Indeed, a mirror of actions and lives with reversed ponies. Who would’ve thought that all that was behind the wall of water?” Dusk admitted.

“The water was most likely just a barrier to keep ponies from crossing over…” Twilight commented. “But that begs the question.”

“Why.” Dusk finished. “Maybe it’s just because ponies were scarred of having two of one pony on one side. That would be rather confusing. Or maybe…”

“There was a very really danger presented. Maybe just being on the same side is a hazard.” Twilight ended. She looked to Dusk Shine with concern, “I think you know what I’m thinking.”

“Yeah, time to get to my ship.” Dusk stated, standing up from his barrel and went to jump back across, until he stopped. “But… how would we talk? We need to work this out and once I’m on my ship the reflective properties because active again to a certain extent, only fading a bit.”

“We’d be unable to communicate…” Twilight summarized. She thought for a few seconds, and then came up with a solution. She quickly scribbled an order on a piece of paper, and then another on a different piece. She levitated on over to Dusk. “Give this to your captain and tell him to obey it.” Dusk nodded and took the piece of paper in his magic, which was same color as Twilight’s. He jumped over and looked to Twilight one last time, both of them nodding before walking towards each captain’s. Twilight gave the captain the piece of paper, the captain looking over it.

“Obey the order.” Twilight said simply. The captain sighed before turning the wheel slowly while giving another whistle of a different variation. The ship began to sail away from the other. A collective scream sounded out from both ships. Slowly the ships drifted forward, Twilight looking through her tears at the other ship, which was sailing towards them, the front oars being the only ones rowing, each row behind it slowly starting up.

“Ma’am, why am I feeling all this pain?” Galleon asked in agony. Twilight put a hoof on his shoulder, gritting her teeth against her own pain.

“You’re breaking the reflection. Your body was tied to another, but now you’re working against it.” Twilight replied. “Your other is currently sailing her ship behind ours.” She said as half of each ship’s rowers were putting their strength into making their ships inch forward. “Don’t worry, it will be over soon enough, we just have to have both halves on the same side.”

“I certainly hope so, your majesty. I… I don’t think I can handle all this pain for much longer.” Galleon admitted to her. Twilight gave a strained laugh before looking back towards the ship behind them that was still chugging along, three quarters of her crew broken out of their pain.

“Don’t worry, any second now you’ll be released.” Twilight strained as she began to help the captain into a position closer to the front, trying to ease his pain faster. Suddenly, the pain was lifted, letting her breath once again. She looked to the weakened captain. “Alright, you can tell everypony to rest, they’ll need it.”

“Aye, your majesty, yours truly included.” Galleon admitted as he got up and gave another whistled, the rowers immediately stopping. The ship stopped, everypony on it giving a sigh of relief. Twilight looked over towards Dusk’s ship that slowly inched up beside them. Dusk walked up to the plank that extended from his ship towards hers.

“Mind extending the same courtesy? We both know we have earth ponies and unicorns on our ships.” Dusk asked as he walked across the length of his plank. Twilight nodded and hurried down to the main deck. She quickly found the extending mechanism, which she activated, the plank extending towards Dusk, though it was off by a meter or so. Dusk motioned to his captain, who was still at the wheel. Their ships slowly aligned, the planks lining up almost perfectly. Dusk walked over and joined Twilight on her ship.

“Welcome aboard, Prince.” Twilight said with a grin, watching Dusk’s reaction, which was a slight cringe, barely noticeable, just as she had attempted.

“Please, tell me don’t tell me you’re already comfortable with everypony doing that to you.” Dusk groaned. Twilight giggled at the new found companion in her unease; Dusk eventually joined in with his deep chuckle.

“Well, chalk that one up as another similarity.” Twilight said, suppressing her giggles. Dusk nodded as he cleared his throat. “So, I’m supposing that you brought the rest of your friends?” Twilight asked hopefully.

“You know I did because you did. You could write my biography with accuracy probably greater than any other… then again… at that point; wouldn’t it be counted as an autobiography?” Dusk questioned. Twilight simply shrugged, unsure herself.

“Either way, I think we might need to introduce them before they go jumping to conclusions.” Twilight stated, with the sound of hatches slamming against the deck as two blue pegasi with rainbow manes shot up into the sky and scanned the decks for their lavender friends. “Speaking of which…” The two pegasi shot like meteors down and knocked their friends to the side, intending to face down their friends doppelganger, only to face their own.

“Twilight, what is this thing?” Rainbow Dash asked, her counterpart saying Dusk instead. “Is this part of what caused the pain a moment ago?” They both asked in the same instant, as if the mirror were still between them. Both lavender alicorns walked up beside their friends and placed a hoof on their shoulders.

“Look, Rainbow,” They both began only to look at each other in slight surprise. “Also called Rainbow, huh?” They both asked, only nodding in reply to each other, not wanting to continue the repetitious speech patterns. “Look, Rainbow, they’re friends.” They explained to their hotheaded friends.

“This is Prince Dusk Shine,” Twilight introduced Rainbow Dash, “And this is my friend Rainbow Dash.” She then motioned to Dusk.

“And this is Princess Twilight Sparkle and this is my friend Rainbow Blitz.” Dusk explained. “Dash, huh? Slight differences can be expected in names then.” Dusk said to Twilight.

“Yes, I think that’s what we can expect from this.” Twilight confirmed. “Um, Rainbow, would you mind getting the other girls?” Twilight asked her friend. Both Rainbows stayed in their locked stares.

“Rainbow Blitz, can you do the same for the guys?” Dusk asked politely, neither Rainbow moving an inch from their locked gazes.

“How long?” Rainbow Dash asked simply to her male counterpart, who grinned at her.

“Twelve seconds flat.” He stated simply, his grin growing expectantly.

“Ten seconds, got you by two.” Dash counter before bolting away towards the open hatch to gather her friends leaving Blitz slamming his hoof into the deck before pushing off the deck and zooming back to his ship and down his ship’s hatch, accomplishing the same goal as his counterpart. Twilight looked at Dusk, who simply shrugged.

“Some things never change in any version of things,” He explained, “Though it would seem two seconds can make all the difference to certain ponies.” He sighed. Slowly, five ponies and a small dragon emerged from either ship, coming out rather hesitantly, except for one blue pegasus who had found out she was faster that her counterpart.

“See, I told you, two of Twilight, except the other is a guy.” Rainbow Dash pointed out, everypony looking at the two lavender alicorns, who simply smiled at each other.

“Well, here we are everypony.” Rainbow Blitz said to his friends as they hopped off the plank and onto the ship.

“This is Twilight Sparkle,” Dusk began, “If you would start, please.” Dusk asked. Twilight nodded and walked over to the first pony and began to walk down the line.

“Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Spike, this is Dusk Shine, and his friends are...” She motioned to Dusk who nodded and did the same.

“This is Elusive, Applejack, Bubble Berry, Rainbow Blitz, Butterscotch, and Spines.” Dusk returned. “Now, if you all would head over to the royal lounge we can let the questions and discussions begin. Twilight and I doubtlessly have something to tell our captains.” Dusk declared, Twilight nodding in agreement.

“Just tell her to follow our ship and we’ll enter our port. I think you know what I’m thinking right now.” Twilight stated.

“Yeah,” Dusk agreed with a nod, “No way to follow those ships without knowing which side they took.” Dusk said before jumpy onto the plank and walking across to his ship where his captain sat at the wheel resting a bit. Twilight turned the two groups of friends that still sat gapping at each other, except, of course, for the blue pair that were swapping stats and accomplishments.

“Head on over to the royal lounge, Dusk and I will meet you there.” Twilight said one more time before starting for the captain’s quarters which was up on flight of stairs, just below the helm. She turned to watch the ponies walk up to the door below her and enter the lounge, still in silence except for the two Rainbows. She nodded and knocked on the captain’s door before entering. Galleon was inside, an icepack laid across his forehead.

“Oh, hello, your majesty. How’s the crew fairing?” He asked as he sat up in his bed, using one hoof to hold the icepack to his brow, giving a low groan as he gained yet another headache from standing up. “I’ll tell you what, if that had kept going for a few more minutes I probably would’ve been done for.”

“I think you would’ve been in quite the same condition as you are now. I doubt it’s the type of pain that kills a pony.” Twilight stated. “But, that can be saved for another time. Captain, I need you to tell the crew to set sail for port, and after that you can rest as long as you can.” Galleon groan a bit as he tossed his ice bag into a bucket that had several others in it.

“I know we should head on back home, we only have supplies for about two days sailing and I rather have extras and rest at home than rest here and cut it close.” Galleon stated. “I’ll get the crew rounded up and back to work.” He said as he walked out the door. “Join me at the helm, your majesty?” Galleon asked before opening it.

“No, I have a meeting to attend with the commander of the other vessel.” Twilight replied with a shake of her head.

“Of course, you need to talk to… him.” Galleon replied before opening the door while shaking his head as another headache struck at the memory. Twilight walked out behind him and closed the door before walking downstairs, Dusk trotting up behind her quickly.

“I suppose we don’t want either of our crew knowing about… well,” Dusk began, motioning towards the door. Twilight shook her head, knowing what he was going for since the same thought was in her mind. “Ladies first?” Dusk said motioning to the door.

“It’s funny that in some way you are saying that to yourself.” Twilight giggled. “At least it’s good to know that as a guy I’d be a gentlecolt.” She commented, watching as Dusk chuckled with her in a more awkward way. Twilight finally entered through the door, finding it weird to see her magic’s aura around the door when her horn wasn’t even active, only to realize it was Dusk, a fact that would take her a bit of time to get used to.

Inside the room the ponies were conversing pleasantly, comparing notes. Twilight and Dusk sat at different sides of a small coffee table that had a kettle of tea with some cups and a container of sugar cubes.

“Two cubes of sugar?” Dusk asked Twilight, who nodded in return. Dusk poured both of them some tea at plopped the sugar into each cup and gave them both a brisk stir before giving Twilight her cup. They both tilted their cups to each other before taking a small sip and setting them down in perfect synchronization. Both of them broke out into laughter.

“You really are just like me.” Twilight said through her giggles. Dusked levitated his cup back to his lips and finished off the cup before setting it back down.

“I thought we had come to that conclusion before this point.” Dusk said. “Then again we both were keeping ourselves on alert in case the statuesque changed.” Twilight nodded before finishing off her tea and leaning back in her chair with a smile, before it faded from her features, the mood between the alicorns changing completely.

“Now we have two very important ponies are missing.” Twilight stated soberly. “Both of our mentors are gone by originations that have the same goals.”

“Yes, but how did they even get to this point?” Dusk asked. “There would have to be some knowledge of that there was something on the other side. Otherwise, why would they go to such lengths to remove this wall for some simple intrigue?”

“Both leaders would have to know of the other side somehow. The question would be how, but we still don’t even have how.” Twilight stated.

“I’d suggest getting back to Canterlot for further investigation,” Dusk stated “We don’t know anything as of yet that really says anything special except they bought chains from the gryphon and also purchased a boat in the port on the other side of Equestria that was barely large enough to carry anything except ponies wanting to go on a cruise around the coast for a few days.” Twilight nodded.

“Once we have something on their personal lives we might be able to actually make some estimation of what they are trying.” Twilight continued.

“We can see if that pony that was arrested at the port has anything to say. They might have been more than just a bribed third party to this whole shenanigan.” Dusk said.

“I’m good, aren’t I?” Twilight asked Dusk, who gave a nod and a smile. “So, any other points we need to cover?” She asked.

“How we are going to explain me and the fact we are binging ponies of the opposite gender that look exactly like famous ponies and common workers to port.” Dusk said.

“Yes, and if we’re right there are some effects if the other side of a pony can’t mirror and action, so they’ll have to be quarantined in a sense from all others.” Twilight pondered. “I suppose we could have our crew stay at the ready to sail, I’d rather now tell them that they are carrying some sort of deadly disease.”

“I carry that motion, but we’d need to work quickly… but then anypony we talk to will also be affected.” Dusk stated.

“True… we can only talk to those who have also broken the mirror.” Twilight said. “That means none of us can actually contact anypony without causing pain for both sides.”

“Maybe the… princess can help.” Dusk suggested. “She probably could counteract the mirror, maybe even cast a spell to destroy it.”

“Maybe, we’ll just have to see I suppose.” Twilight looked over to the five ponies and dragon that were talking with their counterparts, each looking quite intrigued with their alternate version. “At least they all seem to be getting along quite nicely for only having just met each other.”

“I’d suppose it does help to have somepony ease you into it. We didn’t know what to expect so we kept on high alert.” Dusk commented as he poured some more tea for himself and Twilight and did the same actions he did before with the sugar before taking a sip.

“There is one thing on my mind though.” Twilight stated. Dusk turned to look at her. “If there is a mirror, that means there is a prime and a copy.”

“So you’re wondering which one of us is the original and which is just the disjointed refection?” Dusk surmised before taking another sip from his tea cup. Twilight nodded, looking down at her cup of tea, not entirely sure how to feel.

“I know it’s foalish to what to know that I’m the prime or the copy, but it just keeps nagging at me.” She replied as she swirled the tea around in her cup.

“It’s not foalish, Twilight. You’re really just concerned about your friends and how’d they take it, much like I am concerned about mine.” Dusk calmed her fears. “And as for who’s prime and who’s the copy… well, I’d say that each of us are pretty much as real as it gets.” Dusk finished.

“Thank you.” Twilight said with a smile.

“I guess I really do get depressed over the details at certain times.” Dusk thought out loud. “Well, it’s an interesting experience to give council to myself.” He commented, settling back into his chair.

“I suppose it would be. So, what’s your… sister’s name?” Twilight asked; gaining her a look of slight confusion from Dusk, until he finally understood what she was doing.

“Gleaming Armor,” Dusk replied, swirling his tea a bit. “And your… brother’s name is?”

“Shining Armor,” Twilight responded, “I see that certain names don’t change much between worlds.” Twilight observed as she finished her cup of tea and set the cup down on the tray.

“I suppose it depends on the pony and the name itself. Armor in both of our siblings names’ is aimed towards the guard carriers, much like how Applejack’s name didn’t change between us, being as their name is suitable for both mares and stallions.” Dusk mused. “What other names might be suitable for both versions…” He pondered.

“What about mom and dad’s names, what are they?” Twilight asked. “I suppose they switched places for us.”

“Well, my father is Dusk Satin and my mom is Night Light.” Dusk stated, finishing his tea as well. “Don’t tell me yours, let me guess. Your mom is Twilight… Plush and then your father’s name would be… hmm… I’d say it’s probably Night Lamp.” Dusk wagered.

“Close, but not quite. It’s Twilight Velvet and my father is Night Light, yet another case of exact names.” Twilight commented. “What’s the name of you dragon?”

“Spines; and I think she and your dragon are getting along quite nicely, though I’d wager they wouldn’t admit it in the presence of Elusive and… what was it again? Uncommon?” Dusk asked, a slight blush touching his cheeks.

“Her name is Rarity. My dragon’s name is Spike.” Twilight replied.

“Yes, I remember that from the line up… although I guess certain other names didn’t stick, just like you had trouble with Spines.” Dusk explained, “It isn’t too hard to imagine for either of us to forget names you only really heard once.” Twilight nodded and looked towards the other ponies, still engulfed in each other’s conversations.

“It’s good to give them a break; they’ve already been quite a lot over the last few days.” Twilight commented. “It’s only going to get worse.”

“Aye, now that we have two royals to look for that are with a bunch of fanatics that we still have no idea how to find.” Dusk said, his tone matching Twilight’s melancholy one. “First things first though, we need to get back in port and gather some more evidence.”

“Until then we might as well enjoy the company, hmm?” Twilight asked, Dusk replying in a nod.

Sire and his mare counterpart, Majesty, walked out of their ship, side by side, their ponies behind them, a cart carrying supplies and two important ponies that were stuffed under said supplies.

“I suppose you guessed as I did for my brother that they’ve found your sister out already?” Sire asked as they took their first few steps onto dry land.

“Aye, and now we must deal with some of those Royal Guards that are marching over here.” Majesty said in the same flat expression as Sire.

“Unfortunately I only brought half an army.” Sire replied cheekily, gaining a grin from Majesty, which put a grin on his snout.

“Fortunately I brought the other half.” Majesty said as she flipped her hood up in perfect synchronization with Sire.

“Halt, you are under mandate to be searched by the royal guard, do you comply?” The head sergeant, a mare, asked in a tone that more implied a chance to fess up than a choice of whether they wanted searched or not.

“What do you say, Sire, shall we let them search our goods?” Majesty asked, turning her cloaked head towards the stallion.

“We carry cargo so precious, I don’t want anypony’s hooves touching it.” Sire replied, his nearly visible snout wearing a haughty smirk.

“Guards,” Both ponies shouted, “Show Equestria’s finest a good time!” The white coated and red maned soldiers burst past their two leaders. The Royal Guard detachment formed a quick semicircle and lifted their spears, only to fall in pain at doing so.

“I’m surprised it took that much to make them break reflection.” Sire commented, “I thought speaking to them would have done it, but I guess sometime the mirror breaking takes a few seconds to take effect.”

“Yes, it is possible, since we don’t have full knowledge of its complete range of effects.” Majesty nodded, “Perhaps it will allow our passengers to feels better for a bit longer than we had hoped.” She turned to her guards who were tying up the Royal Guards. “Should we really do that, it’ll show on the other side, and no matter what side the royals take they’ll find out about it.”

“Why not, it will take care of them, unless you want to take the chance that they might work past the reflection’s effects and act against us.” Sire commented, “I rather incapacitate two detachments of guards until we’re far away enough that it wouldn’t matter.” He said as he walked up to the guards. “Keep two guards here, cut them loose when we’re out of sight, after that make way to point Zeta Alpha two.” Two guards of the mix nodded and stood beside the restrained bundle of guards.

“You… won’t get away… with this.” The sergeant groaned, fighting against the pain of the broken reflection. Sire and Majesty looked towards her, and then at each other, and then back at her.

“Just to prove how exactly we will…” Sire began,

“We’ll take you with us, as an observer...” Majesty continued.

“And to see the effect of a broken reflection that continues for an extended amount of time.” Sire finished, his smirk developed into a full on smile.

“Separate her from her group; she’ll be our new traveling partner.” Majesty ordered another one of her troops, who gave a salute and removed the sergeant and tied her up in another measure of chain. “Now, let us make haste, we don’t know how long we have before the royals find out about our plan.”

“Indeed,” Sire agreed, “Let’s get going, time is of the essence in this situation.” Sire then turned. “It’s this way if I remember correctly.”

“Aye, the ponies should be arriving by now.” Majesty replied, starting into a trot, leading the way, Sire quickly joining her, step for step. “We’ll have the first reflection breakers, and soon our migration shall have everypony sharing the peace and completeness that they were born to have.”

“Our plans our coming to fruition, but it all depends on our speaker being there at the right time.” Sire commented.

“Do not worry, you and I both share the confidence that this pony shall be there at the appointed time.” Majesty comforted. Sire kept his expression flat as they walked along. The group finally arrived at their destination, being a platform where multiple ponies were gathered. A pony walked up onto stage as Sire and Majesty took their group of guards and entered a rather decrepit building, quite unnoticed as the ponies of the crowd focused their attention on the pony on stage.

“Well, the pony’s here, they better not do the speech wrong or they will be treated to the same as the sergeant, and worse.” Sire hissed.

“If they do, they’ll have to deal with both of us.” Majesty stated. “Now, let’s listen and judge how well they do under stress.” Majesty directed the ponies around her to the stage as the pony stood behind the pulpit.

“Ponies of Equestria, thank you for coming here today for this most important of occasions.” The pegasus mare began, her voice’s volume increased by a unicorn that stood at the back of the crowd.

“So far, so good. If they keep it up we’ll have everypony join that’s here and soon have everypony else follow their steps.” Sire stated. Majesty nodded, her ears tilted in the pony’s direction as they spoke.

“Today a most wonderful, and dare I say it, earth shattering, has occurred while you were yet unawares.” The pony continued. “Anypony among you who has sailed will know that there is a wall of water that rises to the heavens, so high no pegasus can rise above it, so low that now spell can keep a pony safe while descending, so far on either side that none can go around it. This wall, ladies and gentlecolts, has finally fallen, and today, we offer to you a ride to the…” The pony stammered as a shot of pain went through her.

“The reflection is starting to break, the speeches have diverged.” Majesty summarized, “The secondary pony should be able to pick it up if necessary.”

“We offer to you… a… a ride to the other side.” The pegasus struggled. “We ask only for… a… small amount of coin to help pay for… certain cost that this… voyage entails.” The pony said finally, pausing a few seconds to gather herself. As she took a breath to start again, several ponies in the crowd began to fall to the pain as well, causing many of the ponies to look very concerned. “This pain that you feel… is caused by… the reuniting of the two halves…” The pony said, skipping past several paragraphs, “If you come on this… this voyage, you will be guaranteed to… to recover by the halfway point of the… trip.”

“I believe it’s going quite well, don’t you?” Sire commented. Majesty smirked and nodded as the speech continued.

“So who will be the first pony, the first… to… see the other side of this world… the… the side we were denied… all those… years ago?” The pony continued, scanning the crowd of pony who were all grimacing at him as they attempted to focus through the pain and pay attention to the pony. Slowly, two stallions came forward.

“We’ll go, if it means we… won’t have to deal with this pain.” The one said to the pegasus, who nodded in return.

“My… associates will tell you the fee when you are at the ship, the… guards will lead you… and your friend to the ship.” The pegasus stated, still struggling past the pain.

“You three,” Majesty said, motioning to certain ponies, “Get your reflections and guide those ponies to the boats.” The guards nodded, quickly gathering their counterparts before walking out and presenting themselves before the two passengers.

“Any other ponies… wish to go now? The price is reduced by half for today only… as a special occasion for the… opening of the second half.” The pegasus continued, gaining the attention of ten more ponies who stepped forward.

“I certainly hope we have food for each of these ponies.” Majesty murmured. Sire looked towards the ship, but more specifically at the guards who were loading the ships with crates upon crates of necessities.

“My only concern is the space left after taking care of that problem. I don’t know if we’ll have sufficient room for everypony’s luggage. Besides, most everypony won’t eat until the halfway point of the journey will take care of any doubts about food.” Sire replied.

“Indeed, I almost forgot about the cargo we’re loading as we speak, perhaps I ought to work over the plan again.” Majesty stated.

“The ships will be… leaving in a few minutes, does anypony else… desire to go on the first voyage of our noble ships?” The pegasus mare asked one last time, several more ponies walking forward slowly, inching through the pain. The final number of ponies that slowly made their way onto the boat was seventy-seven, each pony simply deciding to take a cushion on the edge of the boat, believing that at any moment they might need to lean over the edge and let their last meal enter the water.

“Well, I’d say this was a good venture.” Sire commented, “For a first trip over I’d say we did well.” Majesty nodded in agreement as they walked out of their spot and towards the boats, past the group of tied up guards, the two guards of theirs, who were reflections of each other, stood in alert around them.

“I’ll… make it back… stay tight, and don’t… give up.” The sergeant wheezed as she was dragged away to the boat. Sire and Majesty looked at each other, and then both of them smirked.

“Don’t worry, my good soldier,” Majesty stated, her smirk growing into a smile. “You won’t be leaving them.” The sergeant’s eye widened.

“Sling her over the dock and let the good pony feel water, but don’t drown it.” Sire continued. Several guards nodded and hurried over to the broken pony, adjusting her chains so that they were only around her legs and chest before dragging her over to the edge of the pier before shoving her off and wrapping the loose end of the chain around a post.

“I do hope that the fished were fed today, or else we might only have half a pony left when we return.” Majesty commented.

“Indeed, that would be a terrible shame, wouldn’t it?” Sire replied. “But perhaps we shall just have to wait to find out.”

“Quite, we’ll just have to wait for when we return.” Majesty affirmed, “After all, these ponies have paid and require the services we promised to them before they paid.”

“Sire, Majesty, we are ready to shove off when you say.” A guard said. Both ponies nodded and walked to the boats, members of their orders taking the positions of the sailors that were removed before the last journey’s finish. Sire went to his boat while Majesty took to her ship.

“Set sail, ponies, we have a journey worth the centuries before us!” Both leaders commanded, the ponies on each ship quickly responding and making the last adjustments to the ships. Slowly, both ships inched out of port, leaving the one half behind and heading to the next.

Chapter 3

Twilight and Dusk, along with all their friends, joined together in front of the plank as the sailor ponies readied to extend it; Dusk and his friends in cloaks, concealing their visages from everypony else. The plank moved out slowly, the ponies quickly jumping onto it, walking towards the port as several of the other ponies jumped over the gap and fastened the ship to the dock. Twilight turned towards Galleon while Dusk hurried over towards his captain, Frigate.

“Can you keep everypony on board here? We might need to sail again rather soon, if not just to return our visitors to their home.” Twilight said to the aged captain.

“Of course your majesty, my ponies will stay here at the ready. I… I also suppose it has to do with what happened on the ships when you met our visitors?” Galleon asked.

“Yes, that is part of it, but mostly because we might need to return to sea at any moment to search for the ship we were originally after.” Twilight replied.

“Well, I’ll keep my crew here as long as I can, but the refreshers come every three weeks, and the next batch coming in is in three days, at which point this crew won’t be here, so I’d say you have until then to do whatever you have to do here at port.” Galleon replied.

“Of course, I understand completely, we’ll work something out before then.” Twilight said finally before walking back towards the ponies waiting for her, Dusk included, as he jumped off the plank of his ship and joined the group.

“Do you really think this will work?”Dusk asked as Twilight joined them. Twilight just looked at him with a raised eyebrow, causing him to cough nervously. “R-right, same mind, sharing the basic essentialities of each other’s thoughts.” Dusk answered his question.

“Your majesty…” a guard said, limping up to them, “the… the guards that were left… at port are down.” The pony stated, “Some sort of spell seemed to cause us pain without explanation.” Twilight and Dusk looked at each other, though Twilight could only see the tip of his muzzle.

“Broken reflection.” Both of them said at the same time. Twilight looked towards the guard, thinking as fast as she could for some answer before finally settling on something.

“We know what is happening, but we have yet to figure something out that relieves it permanently. Try moving the guards around the dock; it seems that certain positions actually make the pain disappear.” Twilight ordered, the guard nodded and then shambled away in pain.

“This isn’t good. They are on the other side for sure, but we have no way of getting there fast enough to stop them.” Dusk said angrily.

“Now now, Dusk, keep your temper, we mustn’t let the situation have the better of us.” Elusive chided, causing Dusk to calm down almost immediately.

“Sorry, I just think of what we could’ve done that is now impossible.” Dusk explained, calmed downed exponentially. “But really, if we had gone to our side we might have had a chance at catching them.”

“True as that may be, it isn’t happening.” Twilight stated, “I’m as disappointed as you about this, but we both know that there is nothing that can be done. We’ll leave some of our guards that have already broken reflection to catch them; they won’t be able to use the same tactic as they did here again if they decide to come back.”

“Alright, sounds good.” Dusk agreed, “Now we best get to Canterlot. The only problem with that is that any method that has speed entailed requires interacting with other ponies. If we take the sky chariots the pegasi will not be able to lift us up because of breaking reflection and if we get on the train we’d need our own car to ourselves, and I don’t think any of us can pull off a teleportation spell that powerful and precise.” He pointed out.

“True… the only other method is walking… unless…” Twilight bean, stopping as a thought came to her. “Say that last part again.” She instructed Dusk.

“What? I don’t think any of us can pull off a teleportation spell that powerful and precise?” Dusk questioned Twilight pointed at him again, a smile growing on her snout.

“Exactly, none of us can ALONE.” Twilight emphasized. Everypony looked at each other, until Dusk finally realized what she was going at.

“None of us ALONE. Of course, we can’t do it alone, therefore the only other way we CAN do it is…” Dusk began.

“Is for us to combine our magical power and use the larger, more powerful magic to get us there. You and I might not be able to do it, but with Elusive and Rarity can just pour magic into the spell structure and we’ll be golden.” Twilight finished. “It might just work out, and if it doesn’t we’ll only be that much closer to getting there.” The ponies nodded in agreement. “Now before we go we need to give the order to the guards, everypony, just stay here and don’t talk to anypony that wasn’t on the ship.” The two ponies galloped off towards the small contingent of guards on each ship.

“Well this certainly has been interesting.” Elusive said, “I never expected to meet a pony that had almost my exact interests and my same experiences.”

“Indeed, I would have never imagined in my wildest of imaginings.” Rarity agreed as they continued waiting for their friends to return from giving instruction to their guards.

“All I know is that there’s going to be a gigantic party after all of this is over!” Bubble commented excitedly.

“With two pink party ponies planning particularly perfect parties I don’t see how anything could go wrong!” Pinkie Pie agreed. “There’ll be punch, games, cake, everything we could ever need for a super fantastical party!”

“Well it sounds like you have it all planned out.” Female Applejack noted. “Personally I find it kind of confusing having somepony who’s just like me with my same name, nickname and life experiences.”

“Not to mention us both remind each other of our siblings.” Male Applejack added. “You really act like a more talkative version of my sister.”

“I can say the same about you and Big Mac. The sooner we can figure out a way to separate us by name the better.” Female Applejack said.

“Well,” Rarity began, “Why not call our Applejack AJ and yours just simple Applejack.” She suggested hopefully. Both Applejacks looked at her with a raised eyebrow as if the mirror effect was still on them.

“Did you miss the part about sharing the same names and nicknames?” Male Applejack asked, causing Rarity to blush.

“S-sorry, I was just trying to help.” She explained with a sheepish smile. Elusive walked over to her and placed a hoof on her shoulder, his visage still hidden under his cloak.

“It’s quite alright to make mistakes when trying to help, much more so than making mistakes while simply acting rashly.” Elusive stated simply.

“I still find it weird how Twilight said that in a way we’re talking to ourselves when we talk between our different sides.” Rainbow Dash commented.

“Yeah, it’s really wacked out. Still it’s kind of cool at the same time.” Rainbow Blitz agreed. The two friends quickly returned to the groups, their guards rushing off the boats and onto the docks as quickly as possible.

“Alright, we’re ready to get going.” Twilight stated. “Everypony gather around, this might get a bit interesting.” She warned as she and Dusk lit their horns.

“Elusive, Rarity, add some of your magic to the mix, we’ll need all we can get for this spell.” Dusk asked; the two unicorns nodding in response as their horns began to glow, their magic streaming around Dusk and Twilight. The air cracked with power as all four unicorns joined in the same mental image, communicated through the waves of magic around them. Slowly the group was engulfed by a white light as the spell began to unfold, the sparks of energy now shooting off almost every second. All at once there was a blinding flash of light, and when it cleared, the twelve ponies and two dragons were gone from the port, small twinkling sparks of magic still flashing where they were.

Luna walked back at forth at the top of the stairwell, her sister’s disappearance still eating at her mind. Her ears perked up as she heard the distinctive crackling of a powerful spell beginning to come from the room. She looked around, but she saw nopony anywhere near her, but the sound and the presence of energy told her that something was coming, and then a pain shot through her. Her eyes widened as she realized what was happening to some measure.

The sound became louder and louder as the first sparks began to form in the center of the downstairs area. The sparks began to spark off and shoot across the room as a small white orb formed. The orb expanded, and quickly engulfed the room, completely blinding the room. Luna opened her eyes once again and looked to where the orb had been and saw the six pony friends and Spike along with seven other hooded figures, which she could only guess the identity of.

“Princess Luna, we have a situation!” Twilight shouted as she quickly rushed up the stairs to Luna’s side. “We found out about this wall that seems to function like a mirror.”

“And we think that you might know how to take it down.” One of the hooded figures said. The pony flipped his hood off, confirming Luna’s suspicions; a nearly perfect match for Twilight, but instead of being a mare, he was a stallion.

“N-no!” Luna shouted, the pain digging deep into her. “Celestia and I… we swore to let the world… exist as it had for all those years before we made that mistake”

“Luna, we need you to lower the barrier, the water is already gone, it’s just the mirror effect now.” Dusk pleaded. “If we take down the barrier the main advantage of our opposition is taken away.”

“I… I can’t, I’d be making the same mistake as I did all those years ago!” Luna shouted. Twilight reacted quickly and cast a sound barrier spell, blocking the shouts, making the castle silent everywhere except where they were at the moment.

“Luna, if you do this we’ll have a better chance of getting Celestia back here.” Twilight said, desperately trying to convince her.

“No, I made that mistake once before. I’ll never… let that mirror fall.” Luna rasped as the pain dug into her. Dusk looked around, trying to find something to help him think, when he found one thought that stood out.

“Luna, if you don’t lower it,” He began, “Your reflection might just do it to figure out why he’s feeling pain.” Dusk stated. “Who do you want to have the blame, you or your reflection?” Luna looked towards Dusk, a fire in her eyes like non he had ever seen; with such intensity he actually took a step back from the enraged alicorn.

“If you leave now, neither of us will have a blame in this. I’d rather take that option.” Luna countered angrily as she struggled against the pain.

“We aren’t leaving Luna. We believe that removing that barrier will help both sides find who they’re looking for.” Twilight stated firmly. Luna gazed at her with the same look as Dusk, but she was prepared and gave the glare right back. “If you won’t help us, maybe your reflection will.”

“You’re no better than they are!” Luna shouted, tears beginning to pour out from her eyes. “You think you can bring balance by taking the contents of both side and putting them all on the same side? That’s not balance, that’s destruction!” Luna shouted, though none of the ponies knew what she was getting at. “I’ll never lower that wall, not now, not ever, that would only accomplish their purpose!” She roared.

“Luna, this is the finding of Celestia we’re talking about. If anything, that would be against those ponies’ plans.” Twilight pointed out, feeling wretched inside at the knowledge that she was causing pain to one of the monarchs of Equestria.

“No, they want to join the two halves! You all are accomplishing their plans by allowing yourselves be on the same side! Don’t you see?” Luna shouted; her pain, like bolts of lightning slicing through her body, made her quake with each jolt. “You’ve played right into their hooves! You fell to the temptation to have another like you to walk with! You have no earthly idea what you are causing by being on the same side!”

“Luna, please, lower the wall, it will make their main advantage disappear. It’ll be forcing them to fight on an even playing field!” Dusk pleaded.

“NO! I will not fail, I’ll stay strong, and so will my reflection!” Luna roared as she writhed in pain, sweat forming on her brow as she fought on.

“Luna, please, do this for Celestia, she needs you!” Twilight shouted, trying to get through to the lunar princess. “Please, we need you to lower the wall!” Luna looked at Twilight, her gaze void of rage, leaving only the eyes of a pony in anguish, her body tormenting her constantly. She gave a roar of pain, and then lit her horn, the blue aura forming around it.

“No! Please don’t make me fail!” Luna pleaded with the ponies around her. “I don’t want to break it again!” Her voice was weak as she continued to pour strength into her magical aura, her body rejecting all order to stop as it sought its only known method of relief.

“I’m sorry, Luna,” Dusk and Twilight said in a whisper, “So sorry.” Luna looked at the two, their heads hung as her horn continued to grow brighter as the spell manifested. She gave one last power yell, and then a blast of magic shot up, passing through the palace’s ceiling before it shot towards all direction as a field of indigo energy that covered the sky briefly. Suddenly the world shook, water rose and fell violently, objects that weren’t fastened to something solid fell down to the ground. The ponies looked at each other in concern.

After several minutes of this violent reaction, the world grew still, and eerily quiet, as if anticipating the next wave, yet none came. The pony near Luna simply looked at each other, unsure at whether it had been the wall breaking or Luna struggling to not lower it.

“Why… why did you have to force my hoof?” Luna whimpered. “I failed all those years ago, and just when I come back from banishment you make me fail at something that had not posed any temptation since that first time.”

“Celestia will understand, Luna.” Twilight comforted the weak lunar princess. “We’re just doing what we though best to get her back.”

“We really are sorry, Princess Luna.” Dusk said gently. “We were only trying to do what we thought was right, we didn’t want to cause you any pain. Trust me, if we had known another way than this we would have taken it whole heartedly.”

“I know,” Luna replied, “But this was one point I thought I was strong on ever since it was first explained to me. I never once thought that I’d fail in it, yet here we are, and I have failed my sister, myself, and Equestria as a whole.”

“What do you mean by ‘first time’?” Twilight asked, “You mean to say that this wasn’t the first time the wall has been removed? And failing your sister, yourself, and Equestria? What do you mean?” Luna closed her eyes and sighed. Slowly, but surely, she rose to her hooves, looking as regal as ever.

“There is much to say, please, follow me to a place where we can discuss this in a more private setting.” Luna then turned and walked towards one of the door, the other ponies quickly following her. The soon arrived at Luna’s private study, were each pony took a seat. Luna looked around her at the many tomes, storybooks, and other pieces of literature.

“So what is it that you wanted to talk to us about, Luna?” Twilight asked as she got a bit more comfortable in her cushion, fully expecting a long story to follow.

“It all happened so long ago…” Luna reminisced, “It was rather early on into our reign over Equestria, a time of hard feelings, various contentions between families for land rights. After Discord, everypony was in a rut in one way or another.” She continued. “But, there was one thing intrigued my sister and I: a region of the world where ships would report that whenever that got close, another ship would come and block them. We had no idea what might cause a group of ship to always attempt to block intruders, and such dedication that no matter how many ship sailed at the same time there, there were always a ship blocking each one…”

“The mirror effect,” Twilight inserted, “Both side wanted to get over, but neither side could since the other wanted to do the same.”

“Indeed,” Luna agreed, “But we had no way of knowing that. No book of records says what happened next, only memories of my sister and me. This story has never left our mouths before this moment, but I believe that with all that has transpired that you should have an idea of what has led to all this.” Luna sighed, and dove into the story.

Chapter 4

“And as you see here, your majesties, in all honesty, both provinces that say they have a right to this parcel of land are actually both, in some regard, telling the truth.” The pony continued her monologue while using her magic to levitate a small stick, which she used to point out the area of contention. “Cloudsdale claimed the land back during the time of the initial formation of Equestria and later resigned rights to all lands to the east of the river to the Central Province. After Discord’s reign, however, the river forked in this area, causing slight contention as to who the real owner are. Cloudsdale states their right is that it is now to the west of the main river while as the Central Province believes since both branches of the river count as the river, thus making any land to the east of any part of it rightfully their due to the contract made between them and Cloudsdale.” The pony continued, her tone droning on and on as the explanation of the situation came to a close. “Both parties have agreed to release all claims to said piece of land and to allow you to choose who shall be declared its proper owner.” Celestia nodded while Luna simply stared off into space, a quill twirling in her magic.

“Very well, thank you for telling us the specifics.” Celestia said to the pony with a nod, “We’ll deliver our decision later on when we have had a time to truly consider all factors in this situation.” Celestia finished. The pony nodded with a smile while stowing away her stand with the map into her bags.

“Thank you, your majesties. That is all we ask you do.” The pony said as she headed towards the gigantic, wooden, double doors and went out into the hall, walking away calmly as the doors shut behind her.

“The world will never know how grateful I am that that is over with.” Luna commented as she planted her quill back into its fountain with a groan.

“Believe me that I gain no pleasure from it either,” Celestia replied, “But it’s what is necessary after such a dramatic event as Discord coming into power.” Luna looked at her sister with a tired expression.

“They said we would be more of a symbolic form of leadership.” Luna reminisced, “Now look at us, ruling over the land entirely. Ponies make journey worth several days just to complain about the conditions of where they live.” She groaned as she levitated a scroll over to her line of sight. “Seriously, complaining on how the apple trees are not doing as well and that certain deposits of water are now undrinkable. These are the type of things you’d expect after a being of pure chaos takes over, and yet these ponies act like it’s something unthinkable.”

“Indeed, ponies can be fickle at times, but really, what can we expect.” Celestia said. “Once we get farther into this, namely when all the effects of Discord’s reign are minimal, there won’t be so many complaints on living conditions.”

“Famous last words, sister, famous last words.” Luna commented. “Oh, here’s an interesting one. A pony out west complains that the dust storms are getting more and more violent. It’s almost as if Discord destroyed a mountainous dune of sand or something…” Luna commented with a groan. “I sometimes think ponies think Discord never happened and that it’s really weird certain things are changed, like this one pony who noticed their flower are planted upside down and wants an investigation launched to find, and I quote ‘The mischievous hooligan pulling such dastardly deeds on a poor old widow.’”

“I believe the ponies are merely turning a blind eye to Discord’s time in power simply because it causes so much pain to think about it, and so they just believe somepony else did whatever is happening to them.” Celestia replied. “Maybe it’s better if ponies forget all about Discord… there is no lesson to learn except to be prepared. Such lesson can be taught without constantly reminding ponies of one of our darkest moments.”

“Maybe, but these ponies can really nag sometimes.” Luna grumbled. “I wonder if princesses get vacations… I definitely could use one. Maybe a nice rest at the Manehattan waterfront would do nicely.” Luna pondered.

“Unfortunately, to leave this castle we’d actually need permissions and be on official business.” Celestia stated, shooting down Luna’s idea before it could take flight.

“Maybe we could say there were reports about strange occurrences in the sand and that the water was reported to contain some odd substance. Most everypony would believe it, and those that didn’t could be shooed away by the guard.” Luna offered, causing Celestia to chuckle while she rolled her eyes.

“Luna, I want to get away as much as you do, but there is simply too much to be done to simply drop it all and go on a venture of pure pleasure.” Celestia stated as she picked up a stack of scrolls and began to read through them. Luna groaned, slamming her head into the table. “Keep that up and the guard will come in asking why he’s hearing odd thumping noises only to see you bruised cranium.” Luna gave her a sideways glance before starring back at the wooden grain before her eyes.

“Maybe then they’ll take me to bed rest and give me a break from all this.” Luna said in a tired tone as she knocked her head against the table a few more times. “I’d be willing to share my cloud cake with you if it happened.” She offered her sister, who shook her head with a smile.

“I doubt injured ponies get cake.” Celestia countered. She put one scroll away and took out another, reading over it with sleepy eyes. “Besides, if I wanted I could ask for another piece in an instant.”

“And then you’d be breaking rations.” Luna returned. “Yet another rule you’d doubtlessly want to keep by.” Luna said while smacking head a few more times in the table. “Ugh… why does being a princess have to be such a boring day job?”

“Because it’s a job, which implies work, which usually mean entertainment at all hours unless you have the absolute perfect job that you can’t wait to get back to each day.” Celestia replied. “Now come on, I think we can knockout another case of scrolls by lunchtime, and if we do, we can take a nice relaxing walk in the courtyard, maybe even have a nice visit to the forest if we’re lucky enough and have sufficient time.” Luna just groaned as she raised her head and began reading another scroll.

“Why can’t we have some of the servants or even a guard to sort these out?” Luna asked as she slammed one of said scroll onto the table before her.

“Because they are all busy preparing the last few things about the castle, and even if they were available, they wouldn’t know what we would consider important and rubbish, so we are the only ones suitable for the job.” Celestia replied as she put another scroll into the unimportant box. Luna once again groaned and levitated her scroll back to her line of sight; the hours ticking by slowly as lunchtime approached as scroll by scroll were sifted through, removing the requests that were not worth attention from the ones that were of actual concern. Luna stuffed another scroll in the unworthy of attention section and took out another one, which, unlike the other she had read through, actually caught her attention.

“Sister, how does a nice cruise to relieve the nerves sound?” Luna asked, lowering the scroll to look at her sister who sat in her seat on the other side of the table.

“We’ve been over this before, Luna; we can’t do something like that at a time like this. We’re needed here in Equestria and we can’t break away at any time unless it’s official business.” Celestia replied, trying to remain calm.

“But this is official business, and it might not even have anything to do with Discord.” Luna stated. “Take a look at this.” She pressed while levitating the scroll over to Celestia, who lazily grasped it in her grip and began reading over it her expression shifting to one of intrigue.

“Indeed, this is interesting news… and I do believe we can pull away to investigate personally.” Celestia replied, a smile spreading across her snout.

“After lunch then?” Luna asked, taking out another scroll, quickly skimming over it before tossing it into a box of the messages of little importance.

“Indeed, I believe we shall, after all,” Celestia set the scroll in an empty box before taking another scroll from another box, doing the same motions as she had with all its previous compatriots. “This is matter of the utmost importance and must be dealt with before another day passes.”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself.” Luna replied, placing a scroll into the section of scrolls that would need to be looked over later.

“Though, it would be best to finish this job before then so we can properly enjoy ourselves while investigating such weird occurrences.” Celestia stated as she took a new scroll out and scanned it quickly.

“Of course, Celestia, it would be best not to let it pile up on us…” Luna commented, “No matter how much of a boar it is.” Luna finished with a groan while tossing one of the scrolls into the furnace. “Losing a cat is no reason to ask the princesses for help. It probably just wanted better food.” She said while rubbing her temples as a headache started to come on. Celestia grinned at her while placing a scroll into the file to be reviewed later.

The two sisters walked onto the boat, their guards forming a wall around them, discouraging any hopefuls that wished to present their request or complaint in person. The ship was well kept, the deck almost shining in the noonday sun.

“Your majesties,” One of their advisors said as he approached them, “Might I ask why you require to leave the capital so promptly and need this boat as well. There is much work to be done, and though I realize that it really must be a strain on the nerves, we must all do our parts.”

“We know this, good stallion, and that is why we must go.” Celestia replied with an expression as cold as stone. “One of our notices gave us a cause for intrigue, and slight concern, such that we know have resolved to find it out.” She levitated the scroll over to the advisor, who took it with weary eyes before reading over its contents. He shut the scroll once finished and approached the princesses, who had moved away since he began reading.

“Forgive me, your highnesses, I now know the truth and see you indeed looking out for the best interests of your kingdom. I thank you for keeping my advice in mind.” The advisor said, bowing before his princesses.

“It is good that you showed concern for our motives,” Luna stated, “It would not do to have an advisor who cowers to give advice.” The advisor nodded and trotted away to attend to another matter.

“Well handled, sister, maybe this shall translate to our card games.” Celestia commented in a whisper. Luna looked at her with a smirk.

“I still intend to beat you in case you’ve forgotten.” Luna replied, “And one day I shall turn the table on you and claim victory without using illegal methods, unlike a certain pony I know.”

“You’ve yet to conclusively prove I’ve cheated at any time. When and if you can, please tell me.” Celestia replied.

“Maybe I will during this trip, but I certainly won’t tell you how so that you can improve you cheating methods.” Luna shot back. Celestia smiled as she turned around to face the crowd of ponies held back by the guards. As the ship moved from the dock, both princesses waved at their subjects until the ship was well out of sight of the ponies.

“Well, we’ve made it this far. I guess we can say that it is time to let our nerves have a break from all of that and focus on what we’re doing.” Celestia said calmly.

“To pass the time until we arrive,” their advisor said as he walked up beside them, “I suggest you finish another box of requests and complaints to save time later on.” With that, a pony that had been walking up behind him dropped a rather large crate filled with scrolls.

“You brought them along…” Celestia said in a breath. The advisor nodded as he used his magic to pry open the box with a crowbar. “You went to the trouble of insuring those papers got aboard.”

“Of course, your majesties, I’d wouldn’t be much of help to you all if I’d let you waste time away from the castle on nothing useful. Instead, I brought along these papers to help pass time and get ahead in the work that has piled on top of us.” Celestia looked at Luna, who smiled awkwardly.

“Thank you, good sir, have them taken to our quarters, we’ll attend to them promptly.” Celestia managed to say. The advisor nodded, relenting on the boxes lid, and motioned for the bulking pony to pick it up again before directing him to the room. The advisor eventually was out of sight and hearing range.

“So much for a relaxing time at sea to refresh the nerves,” Luna grumbled, “Now we’re stuck doing the same old thing in a different setting; so much better if I do say so myself.” Luna finished with a sarcastic smile.

“Don’t blame me, Luna; we both know he won’t let us out of sight for a moment.” Celestia said, “And if he did he’d have the papers sent to us with a guard who’d make sure we’d look through them.” Both princesses shook their heads before finally walking towards the stairs that led to their room.

“Well, this has been a fun time to get away from it all.” Luna commented while taking a drink from her glass while reading yet another scroll.

“Indeed, such a refreshing time to be out at sea and reading up on complaints that barely ever rise to the level beyond something that could be dealt with by a few concerned ponies.” Celestia affirmed sarcastically.

“Well at least we have the gentle sway of the waves to keep us company, right?” Luna replied with a smile and a swirl of her glass. “Nothing like a sunny day at sea spent in a dry, hot room doing paperwork.” Luna continued. “Maybe if we had another box we’d being having more fun.”

“Don’t tempt fate, sister,” Celestia warned, “We’ve done enough of that by thinking this trip to be an escape from all of this, and yet here we are on a delightful cruise, spending our time with our good friends, friendly mister scroll,” She punctuated by tossing a scroll into one of the boxes. “And ever delightful misses box.” Both princesses shared in a short laugh before returning to their task until the sound of hoofsteps echoing down from above caught their attention.

“My ladies,” Their advisor began as he entered the room, “We have arrived, and as predicted, a ship is coming to block our path. I believe the scrolls may wait until this matter is resolved.” He stated; gaining the small smile of Luna, which was hidden due to her being seated facing away from the door.

“Of course, Starswirl, we’ll be up with all swiftness.” Celestia replied, the elderly sage nodding as he ascended the stairs back to the deck.

“Wow, Starswirl was your first royal advisor?” Twilight asked, leaning closer in great interest, almost spilling her drink as she did. The story had been going on for nigh onto a few hours, Luna giving details of everything she could recollect from those years gone by.

“Yes, he was, though his tales of not being one for friendship we proven to be quite true over and over. His stringent management of our time made Equestria rise faster than anticipated but killed any free time my sister and I had hoped to have for the first three years of our time on the throne.” Luna said as memories flooding over her as her eyes grew distant, “He always looked after our best interests as well as those of our kingdom, a set of qualities rarely joined into one pony.”

“Artemis and Solaris’ first advisor was much the same I’d suppose.” Dusk commented, “She certainly was a master practitioner of magic.”

“Indeed, no doubt she would have been if I had known her personally, and yet I have trouble remembering her name.” Luna commented.

“Her name was,” Dusk began, only to have Luna lift her hoof for silence.

“That is a matter for another time, for now I should continue with my tale...” Luna interjected, “Let me see, where were we? Oh yes, we had just spotted their boat.”

“Your highnesses! The boat we are approaching is almost an exact replica of ours with very minor changes to certain aspects.” The watch pony called down from her post in the crow’s nest. Celestia and Luna looked at each other with wonder before continuing to walk towards the front of the boat.

“Captain,” Celestia called out behind her, “Bring the ship into a right turn; we’ll pull in beside them.” She ordered. The captain nodded and began to turn the wheel, their ship immediately responding. Celestia gazed in wonder as the other ship did the same.

“We need to talk to them,” Celestia told her sister; “I suppose it’s time to use the Royal Canterlot voice.” Luna nodded in agreement, and both ponies drew in a breath as their horns began to glow. Luna hesitated, a put a hoof on Celestia’s back.

“Sister, do you feel it?” Luna asked, gazing towards the other ship. “I sense a large magical energy between us… perhaps a shield of sorts.” Celestia closed her eyes and began to feel for such energies, and quickly found what her sister was talking about.

“What in the world?” Celestia said in a breath. “Are they raising a shield?” Celestia asked as she focused on the power.

“I don’t know, but I believe it would be wise to forcefully lower it.” Luna suggested. “Who knows what it really is. If any pony comes after us and doesn’t sense it may run the risk of hitting it and being destroyed.”

“I believe you are right, sister. Let us combine our power and remove this obstacle for the safety of all ponykind.” Celestia agreed as she relit her horn and put more power into her spell, causing sparks to flash and shoot from it. Luna quickly followed her example and reached out to the wall of magical energy. The wall began to spark and crackle as the colors of the sister’s magic latched onto it and began leeching the magic from it. The wall shone brighter and brighter as it seemed to resist being torn down by the sisters. Ponies on both sides of the ship look on in awe of the spectacle as the wall began to fall. As the wall continued to weaken, sections of the wall began to fall, as if piece of magic became solid and fall off, causing gigantic waves to slap against the hull of the ship. Celestia and Luna continued to focus, the signs of strain showing plainly on their faces as beads of sweat began to form on their foreheads with eyes closed against the mental strain.

“I feel it beginning to give.” Celestia grunted to Luna. Luna opened her eyes through the strain, looking up at the crumbling wall, as piece by piece it crumbled.

“Aye, it’s giving in, we’ll have it soon enough.” Luna replied. “It… it is worth it for the sake of our ponies.” Celestia nodded with her teeth gritted.

“Just a little bit more. Come on…. come on.” Celestia urged on as the wall continued to disintegrate. “Almost have you, just a bit more.” Suddenly there was a mighty boom, as if the sound of shattering glass. Both sisters looked up and saw the wall giving way completely. The two royals released their magical hold with a sigh as they watched the magical shards crash into the sea and promptly melt away.

“Well, I’d say we’ve finished it off.” Luna commented. “Do you think it’ll come back?” She asked she looked towards the water where it had been a few seconds ago.

“We’ll just have to wait and see if it does.” Celestia replied before turning towards the helm. “Sail closer to the other ship.” She ordered, “Let’s see who’s been blocking our way for all these years.” The captain nodded before turning the wheel and pointing the ship towards their target.

“Sister, I feel a massive force of magic again…” Luna cautioned.

“Is it the wall?” Celestia asked looking towards her little sister. Luna shook her head, a look of bewilderment across her face. “What is it then?” She pressed.

“I-I’m not entirely sure. It’s… it’s like your magical aura… but on the other ship.” Luna said. “Almost as if you’re over there, yet still over here, and not only that but… I can also feel my own power there as well.” Celestia looked at Luna in concern. “I can’t explain this… it… it doesn’t make any sense at all.” Celestia sent here senses out, and sure enough, she too sensed the power Luna referred to, and it indeed did feel like her own and her sister’s power on that ship. “What should we do, sister? This is far too strange for my liking.”

“We proceed with caution,” Celestia replied with a deep breath, “But we cannot back down now after coming this far. We must find out what was been the cause of all this.”

“Of course… but what do we do when we find out what it is?” Luna asked, still looking quite unsure. “Whatever it is, it is as strong as we are.”

“We’ll figure that out when we cross that bridge, but for now we must keep our composure. Whatever it is, being as powerful as you say, is cause for us to remain calm lest we incur its wrath and need face it in combat.” Celestia replied soberly. Luna took a few deep breaths, and then put on her best poker face, which wasn‘t actually the best, no, that would be Celestia’s, whose face remained as calm and composed as before though her emotions inside her swirled around like a storm.

The two ships slowly came side by side, the ponies on either side attempting to remain as calm as possible. The planks on either ship extended and landed right beside each other. Celestia watched as two ponies walked across, clad in royal regalia. Celestia looked to Luna, and gave a nod. The four ponies met together on the deck of the sister’s ship.

“We are princes Artemis and Solaris,” The one, presumably Artemis, stated with pride, “We are here to investigate persistent reports of ships blocking ours as they came this way.”

“We are here for the same reason,” Celestia stated, “We are princesses Celestia and Luna, rulers of Equestria, the lands to the east of these waters.” Both Solaris and Artemis looked at each other and then back to the sisters with curiosity.

“We are also rulers of Equestria, though we must say Equestria lies to the west, not the east.” Artemis replied. “I believe we should meet in a more private forum.”

“Indeed,” Celestia replied, “Perhaps we should. Please, follow me to the meeting room, we can discuss all in private in there as much as it pleases you.” Celestia said as she turned towards the direction of said room and began to walk. Luna quickly trotted up beside her, matching her sister’s pace step for step when she reached her.

“What do you make of this pair?” Luna asked. “The only thing that would make them more suspicious ponies would be if they were also princes of the moon and sun.”

“Indeed, they are quite odd.” Celestia agreed, “But we still must keep our composure near them. There is no telling what their limits are.” She stated as they drew closer to the door. Celestia used her magic and swung it open, allowing the princes to enter first before following and closing the door behind her. Artemis and Solaris sat at one end of the table while Celestia and Luna took a seat on the other side. The four ponies sat in silence for a few seconds, fully expecting the other to begin the exchange.

“So who actually met the princes?” Dusk asked as he took his fork to cut another bite from his cake. “I suppose that would make some sense in a way, but I wonder why you didn’t her or why I wasn’t told by anypony.”

“I’ll explain that once I get there.” Luna said before taking a sip of her tea. “Now,” she continued while setting the cup down, “As you can guess, we four started talking at length and began finding similarities between our two sides, soon arriving at the conclusion that our sides of the world were reflections of each other in certain respects. That is when it happened…”

Luna and Celestia sat listening as Solaris continued his story of how he and his brother vanquished their spirit of chaos, nodding as he went, realizing the details being very much similar to their version of things.

“Then she started laughing as the elements began to glow,” he explained, “And when the rainbow hit her, she turned to stone, frozen in her position of laughter. We took her statue and put it on display at our castle in the Everfree where it still resides.” Solaris finished, motioning for the sisters to tell their version.

“Well,” Celestia began, “Much like you did; we took the elements from the tree and confronted Discord at his throne. He, like yours…” Celestia was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a door slamming open. The four ponies turned and saw the two advisors making a hurried entrance to stand by their leaders.

“You majesties,” the brother’s advisor began, “We must leave at once and return to Equestria.” She explained frantically.

“We also need to return to our Equestria post haste.” Starswirl stated with the same urgency. Everypony in the room stood up at once and looked at their advisors.

“What’s wrong, have you received a message recently? What did it say?” Celestia and Artemis asked their advisors. Both advisors shook their heads, still keeping an air of haste about them.

“It is our belief that the balance of our worlds has been disrupted quite significantly.” Starswirl explained. Celestia and Luna looked at each other with questioning glances before returning their gazes to their advisor.

“We believe that since the meeting of our two ships the world has begun to suffer in a substantial manner.” The female advisor continued. “We need to sail away from this ship, replace the wall, and sail back to our port.”

“Why? These ponies mean no ill intent; in fact they are quite the opposite.” Solaris observed. “In fact, I believe we all are working towards the same goals.” He continued. “Wouldn’t it be wise to join together in an alliance with such a powerful and very understanding nation?”

“No, it would not be wise to do any such thing.” Starswirl interjected. “Especially since all ponies from either side need to stay on their side if they are to survive.”

“What are you saying, Starswirl?” Celestia asked her trusted advisor, “Can’t our two nations join together to make a strong bond? It would benefit both our halves greatly.”

“No it would not.” The brother’s advisor replied, “We have discovered that objects on either side are beginning to suffer because of the lack of balance.” She explained.

“How can you tell if we haven’t received a message yet?” Artemis asked. “If we have had no contact with them it very well could mean that they are in trouble or just don’t find it necessary to send a message every five minutes.”

“The effects of the imbalance haven’t extended to far, thankfully.” Starswirl stated. “If you wish prove, come to the top deck and see.” The six ponies galloped outside and looked over the side of their ships and saw what their counselors were meaning. All over the surface of the water were dead fishes, sharks, dolphins, and a variety of other sea creatures.

“W-what is happening here?” Luna asked as she looked over the spectacle. “Why are all these animals… dead? Is there something in the water causing this?”

“No, your highness, the water is same, save for the fact its occupants are now dead or dying.” Starswirl replied. Suddenly, a massive wave sloshed against the side of the ship as a whale bobbed up on both sides of where the wall used to be.

“We believe that if we let this continue it will reach the mainland and commence to kill ponies.” Starswirl said solemnly.

“So why are we alright? Shouldn’t we be dead if all the fish around us are dead?” Solaris asked as he watched a squid break the surface.

“We believe we are only safe at the moment because we are on the same side but that that will change soon enough when the effects of this imbalance become stronger.” The female counselor replied.

“So you are suggesting we go our separate ways and raise the shield again. Am I correct?” Artemis asked as he looked away from the spectacle.

“Very much so. The faster the better, unless you wish to succumb to the effects as well.” Starswirl nodded. “I’ll tell our captain the plan.”

“I’ll tell ours as well. Your highnesses, I suggest you make your goodbyes swift and board our ship.” The female advisor stated simply while walking across the plank.

“Very well… we’ll be right over.” Solaris replied before turning back to the sisters. “I suppose that this is it.” He said disheartened.

“Yes, I suppose it is.” Luna replied while hanging her head. Celestia put a hoof on her shoulder with a smile and then looked at the brothers.

“One day we’ll meet again, I can feel it.” Celestia said. “Until then, Artemis, Solaris; take care of each other, and fair thee well.” The four ponies nodded before the two brothers went back to their ship. The brothers looked back at the sisters and waved a hoof in farewell, the sisters returning the gesture. Their ships soon began sailing farther apart; the sisters looking at the brothers and the other way around as well as the distance grew ever larger.

“Are you ready, your highnesses?” Starswirl asked as he walked up beside the two royals. Both of them nodded and lit their horns on and began concentrating making a wall of magic mush like the last on the same echoing pattern that remained faintly. The ponies used their magic and filled it out slowly, making it stronger and more powerful than the last. Finally the wall was completed, shimmering in a slight blue and golden aura before disappearing.

“There, it is finished.” Luna said solemnly as she began to turn back towards her room, fully willing to take a long rest while on the return trip to Equestria.

“We would do one more thing, to keep other from trying to do the same.” Celestia stated while continuing to pour magic into her horn. Slowly, a wall of water began to rise from the surface of the water while a matching torrent of water began to flow downwards as the level of water began to lower as it was displaced. Eventually, it rose far beyond the clouds and far lower than what could be seen; Luna then lit her horn and placed a regenerating spell on the walls surface, perpetuating its existence.

The ponies in Luna’s room looked in awe at the princess as she finished her story with a sigh. The lunar princess looked at the ponies around her with a glare that was a mix between anger, sympathy, understanding, and many other emotions.

“I don’t entirely blame you for what you’ve done.” Luna said with her head hanging low in sadness. “I only wish it could be avoided.”

“Well, can’t you put the wall back up again?” Twilight asked. “You did it before, just redo it. We’ll leave so you won’t suffer once you finish.” She assured the princess of the moon. Luna shook her head sadly.

“I didn’t do it myself last time. Last time we had four powerful alicorns doing it in sync, now we’d only have, at most, two alicorns that both were banished for a thousand years and are still trying to recover their full power after said incident.” Luna explained; sadness etched in her voice.

“So… you mean that… until we can get Celestia and her counterpart back to their kingdoms.” Twilight summarized. Luna nodded before looking up at the ponies.

”The world as you all know it is now a ticking time bomb which will go off within a few days.” Luna stated with no attempt to sugarcoat the truth of the situation. “And the only way to stop it is to get our two, lost alicorns and get us all together to recast the spell, otherwise… well, to put it simply, there won’t be an Equestria, much less any part of the world.” Dusk stood up while flipping his hood back up.

“Then we best get searching before the world crashes down on our heads,” He stated with stern conviction, “For all ponies, gryphons, zebras, and everything else in the world.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash agreed, “Let’s take this fight to the ponies that started it and finish it, once and for all.”

“Alright girls, let’s do this.” Twilight stated while standing up, “We only have so much time to find them, let’s not waste any more of it.” The girls gave a shout of agreement as they each got to their hooves.

“You with me, guys?” Dusk asked his friends, who gave a very similar response. Dusk looked at Twilight, and both ponies gave a nod.

“Alright, everypony,” Both lavender alicorns began, “Let’s go find those ponies, and let’s finish this!” Everypony gave a shout of agreement before charging out of the room. Luna stayed in her room, thinking over the events that had just transpired, the light in her room slowly dimming as time passed.

“I sorry,” she murmured into the darkness, “I never wanted to fail.”

The Background Papers: Part 1

The ship rocked gently as in continued its course to the Equestrian shore. Its passenger had been released from their pain earlier after passing the barrier a few minutes before the reflection had been destroyed. Octavius and his friend, Disk Jockey, sat at the edge of the ship, looking at the passing waves as they waited for their journey to finish.

“Well, this certainly is a fine trip now that we have gotten over those pains.” Octavius commented, the breeze making his mane flow directly into his friend’s face, though DJ Pon3 didn’t make any effort to alert his friend to this fact.

“Yeah, a whole ton better now that we can actually enjoy it.” He said, turning his head from the strands of mane that tickled his snout. “I wonder what will be there when we land. Maybe it will be ponies, or gryphons, or maybe other creatures that we’ve never seen before now?” DJ Pon3 wondered aloud.

“Well, we’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we? Though, whatever it may be, I hope they enjoy a good classical piece now and again.” Octavius stated while looking down at his cello case that was leaning against the wall. “This trip cost more than I’d like to remember, but it wouldn’t be worth it if I might make up the money once again, if not a bit extra.”

“Maybe I can help too. I brought my portable setup with me,” Disk Jockey commented, putting a hoof on a thick black case beside him, “I’ll ramp up the tunes and we’ll have the residents of the place begging for more. There’ll be no end to the stream of bits poured at our hooves.”

“I appreciate your confidence, Disk,” Octavius said, “But I doubt it will be that easy. I suspect we’ll actually put some effort into any performance we do if we want a single bit out of it.”

“Come on, you know I put effort in all my gigs. Promotions plastered on every street corner and they come galloping for the show.” Disk replied. “I could just pass the word to one pony, and soon the whole nation would hear of it.” Octavius shook his head at his friends over whelming confidence.

“Professor, what do you think this place is going to be?” A gray pegasus stallion asked a female earth pony beside her. “Have you ever gone to this side?” The Professor shook her head.

“No, Blunder, I always assumed that since your town’s library said that the sun and moon orbited around the planet that it must be equivalent to ancient Earth beliefs including being flat… I actually never thought of going around the planet to make sure, but I guess now is as good as ever.” The Professor replied.

“What about the Tardis? Shouldn’t we have brought it along just in case?” Blunder Hooves asked with one eye on the Professor and the other looking at the waves.

“No, I believe we’ll be fine this time. Besides, she needed a rest from our last adventure. We’ll be back in no time at all and then we’ll hop right back in and go off again.” The Professor stated. “Besides, you always were asking for a ‘normal everyday’ adventure, so here you go, Mr. Hooves.”

“Alright… if you say so,” Blunder replied, “But I can’t help but feel you might have wanted to go get it. You could’ve used you psycho paper to make the sailor ponies think it was necessary cargo or something.”

“First,” The Professor began, “It’s psychic paper, secondly, I considered it as a possibility, but that disturbance I was feeling demanded more attention than getting the Tardis when we’re only going to be gone a short while.”

“What was that anyway?” Blunder asked, “It hurt a lot, like, more than a lot.” The Professor scratched her chin in thought for a few second, thinking back to what she had felt.

“I’m… not entirely sure, but it was some trans-dimensional disturbance to say in the very least, though its source is still a mystery.” She stated nonchalantly.

“Trance did what now? Professor, you’re not making sense again.” Blunder stated. The Professor looked to her companion, thinking how best to describe it in simple terms.

“Hmm… well, basically it’s a disruption in the balance of the multiverse, such events cause ripples through space and time such as we felt.” The Professor explained.

“Um… that doesn’t really help me, Professor.” Blunder replied. “Can you say it… a bit… simpler?” He asked hopefully. The Professor sighed and rolled her eyes as she though again before settling on an explanation.

“Imagine that the worlds are represented by a body of water.” The Professor began, Blunder nodding, signaling he understood so far. “Well, this event that we felt was like somepony throwing a pebble into the water. What happens when you throw a rock into water?” She asked.

“Well,” Blunder thought, “The water gets all dirty and yucky and nopony wants to drink it anymore unless they are really, REALLY thirsty.” The Professor hit her face with a hoof, only to regret the distinct difference in sensation between the bludgeons of a hoof against the curved surface of a snout against the slap of a hand on a rather flat face.

“No, no, besides that. What happens to the surface of the water when anything hits the surface?” She asked again in an exasperated tone.

“Well,” The stallion began again, “The water ripples around it and maybe even splashes over the edge.” He replied, gaining a satisfied smile and nod from The Professor

“Exactly, so somepony or somebody did something that was like throwing a big rock at the pond of the multiverse which sent out ripples which came to us as extreme amount of pain.” Professor stated. “Do you understand?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Blunder replied.

“Good, because it’s nothing like that at all.” The Professor stated before turning back towards the waves. “We should be arriving soon at any rate.” Blunder looked at the Professor with a confused glance before gazing off towards the waves as well.

The ship slowly pulled in towards port, the ponies aboard quite eager to get off and back to dry land to explore the great expanse of what they assumed was a brand new world of possibilities. A pony wearing the same cloak walked up towards the two ships with his cowl lowered.

“Welcome,” She began, looking over everypony present, “To the other half of the world, welcome, to you reflection.” Each of the new arrivals looked at each other with questioning glances.

“Um, excuse me,” Octavius interjected, “What exactly do you mean by ‘your reflection’?” Everypony around him nodded in agreement to the question. “You said that this was a new world, a separate world.”

“I’m sorry, but we did not. That, my good ponies, was what you believed. But what we said was simply that this was the other side, nary a word about a new world or separation, save by means of the wall of reflection.” The pony replied. “Nay, you will find that this side shares many aspects of your side. Please, enjoy your stay, for you are but the first colonists of your realm to transfer to this side to reside with the rest of the world.”

“Colonists? Excuse me, but I only came as a short R and R, nothing more.” Disk Jockey retorted angrily. “Come on Octavius, let’s get back to the ship, I’m not wearing any dopey hat or over coat.” Octavius nodded with a snort while turning to go with his friends. When they turned, however, they noticed the boats already leaving port, returning the way they came.

“Hey, what’s the big idea?” One of the ponies cried out, “I have thing that need to be attended to back home. I only came to entertain some vain curiosity, not to stay for the rest of my life!” They complained, several others around them expressing their agreement loudly.

“I am sorry, but even if you did not know, those ship only take the sailor back and forth, no pony else.” The mare explained. “And when there is nopony left from whence you came, they too shall stay here on shore.”

“Well, what’s stopping us from crossing on another ship?” Blunder asked curiously. “Can’t we just ask another ship to take us back; it isn’t like you own every ship in port.” He pointed out.

“Of course, you may contract another ship to take you back to your homes.” The mare admitted. “Who among you has two hundred bits?” She asked, scanning over the crowd. “Nopony? Well then, I think your stay shall be quite long indeed. That price is the cheapest fair, mind you all, meaning it will provide you a snug spot by the sacks of corn and hay on a small, uncomfortable ship that might head there after traveling to the zebras and maybe even the gryphons.” The ponies in the crowd looked at each other, quickly asking how many bits the other, attempting to gain sufficient between them to hire a vessel.

“This is extortion!” Octavius exclaimed. “I demand my money back!” The other ponies around him shouted in agreement.

“Unfortunately all the bits you paid left with those ships and cannot be returned for another couple of days at the very least. Besides,” The pony continued, “You paid to be brought to these lands, and thusly it was dealt with you all. I see no extortion. If you really wanted to return to your homes at any point you should have paid for a round trip, otherwise, you have no reason to want your money back since every comfort available was given to you during the voyage.” The crowd of ponies murmured between themselves, the gravity of the situation truly coming down on them.

“What do you expect us to do then?” The Professor asked, “To do you suggest we just… accept all of this convoluted mess?” She pressed.

“Indeed, we suggest you accept your new surroundings to be your new home for at least the time being. Enjoy your new life in the new lands.” The mare replied before walking off, spreading her wings and flying off, leaving the ponies behind in utter confusion.

Chapter 5

Twilight and Dusk walked up to the holding cell in a slow trot, the ever present threat of annihilation on their heels, constantly spurring them onwards. The guards standing by the cell nodded at their approach and released the heavy-duty lock that was attached to the cells only entrance, a solid metal door with no window on it. The two ponies entered the room, face to face with another door of the same description, and a guard who stayed stationary while they waited for the first door to close behind them. The door shut firmly, the lock sliding into place once more before the guard ahead of them opened the lock on this end and allowed the two ponies to enter.

Twilight and Dusk walked in cautiously as the second door slid shut and the dull thud of the lock falling into place echoed through the small chamber. The three ponies in the center had their heads hung low, unwilling to look at the two new arrivals, knowing full well who was to be the next visitor on the schedule.

“Your majesty,” a voice sounded out from the small port in the wall beside the one way mirror, “As you can see we have detained two new ponies that are allegedly part of this group called ‘The Alliance’. Mr. Dragnet you’ve already met before,” The sailor pony lifted his head to look at the two newcomers, “Then we have Morning Gloria,” The pony lifted her head in response to her name, “And finally we have Amethyst.” The final pony lifted her head. Twilight walked up closer to the earth pony and two pegasi, eyeing each closely.

“What exactly is this ‘alliance’?” She asked, looking from pony to pony carefully, attempting to notice every shift in body language. “If you are compliant and help us, your sentence shall be made lighter for helping peacekeeping forces.” Dragnet looked up at her with a plain expression.

“Merely your end,” He replied simply, “The Alliance is the end for all royals for the ponies of the Equestrias shall come and join together and rule themselves. You can still live in these lands, but you will no longer have any power to your name.”

“I’m not sure if I’m supposed to be angry or relieved.” Dusk admitted, still concealed under his hood. The three ponies looked at him curiously. “One thing you seem to not know about Twilight is that she cares not for power.”

“That is true,” Twilight confirmed, “I don’t care if you take away my throne. You’ll just take away my position and give me back my old life.” She stated. “Not an entirely bad trade if you ask me.” The three ponies looked at each other in confusion, not understanding how a royal could despise their own power.

“Small tip for future reference,” Dusk chimed in, “Maybe try and research your target before assuming you know who they are and what will make them fear you, because loss o power isn’t what she fears.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Amethyst snorted, “Whether the rulers of Equestria fear us or not, their power shall crumble, soon followed by the Crystal Empire, then the Zebras, and then the Gryphons.” She spat. “The rulers of these lands are weak and petty and have no earthly right to rule such great nations. The power belongs to their people, whom know what their lands need better than any pony or otherwise that sit on high on a throne of gold, attended by servants day and night without a care save for what their peoples might think of them.”

“So,” Twilight thought, “Basically you lot are a bunch of utopians that see anarchy as the best possible route for peace and tranquility because it cuts the necessity for a supreme ruler that oversees the affairs of their countries?”

“The rulers of the lands do not know what best fits the needs of their countries. If they lived as peasants and understood the common pony as a common pony, then they might actually begin to see what their countries really need.” Morning Gloria stated firmly. “You of all the leaders are suited the best to lead, being raised from a status of lower quality that allowed you to mingle with the commoners before becoming a leader, but even you fall short for your pampered life in Canterlot.”

“You may be the Princess of Friendship,” Dragnet interjected, “But you are no friend to the ponies of Equestria; huddled up in your crystal castle, looking down upon the world with a mere group of six friends, if one may even call them that.”

“What do you mean by ‘if they can even be called my friends’?” Twilight asked pointedly. The three ponies smiled darkly as they looked at the now infuriated alicorn.

“Simply this,” Amethyst replied, “Think of why they became your friends over the course of one evening’s adventures? They knew you were Celestia’s pupil, and so latched onto you in the hope of hitching their wagons on a rising star that they would rise to, and now you are a princess. They see that you really have climbed, and because of their relations to you, they now are parts of a high ruling council.”

“No pony would ever really wish to be friends with a stuck up pony such as you.” Morning Gloria added. “They only stay near you as friends in the hope that one day, they too shall be crowned princesses of Equestria and given their own thrones and castles and kingdoms.”

“They were opportunists,” Dragnet continued,”Nothing more, nothing less. They guessed you, being the princess’ star pupil would lift them up as you rose, and they were ultimately right. But when you lose your throne, your status in the upper echelons of society, you’ll lose them too as they go off to find another star to hitch their wagons to.”

“They are the truest friends a pony could ever have, and they’ll never abandon me, not now, not ever.”Twilight proclaimed while glaring daggers at them. The three ponies shrugged in almost perfect sync.

“No matter what you think, princess, they are mortals.” Amethyst replied, “And mortals have a high tendency to attempt to rise in the world and leave a mark for the entirety of society to see for at least a few decades.”

“Besides, you have already seen them leave you before. It has already happened once, why not again?” Dragnet commented. “Discord’s power was not to corrupt, but to show the true side of ponies, no matter how dark or hateful. Your ‘friends’ are merely holding onto you for as long as you continue to rise or keep them at a high enough level.”

“That isn’t true; they were corrupted by Discord, which was nothing but him flipping their personalities to the reverse.” Twilight refuted.

“Really? Then explain why the reverse of magic is despair?” Morning Gloria asked. “You know as well as any that that assertion doesn’t seem to make much sense. How does magic turn to such a feeling as despair? No, it was him showing the truth behind each pony, giving the world around them a truer look at the pony they thought they knew.”

“Laughter is not but a guise with which to hide anger until the appointed time, kindness is but a wall that can divert eyes from cruelty, loyalty is temporal, while as abandon is permanent, generosity is but a the highest form of greed, a set of motions to make others think higher of you, and honesty is but a method of selecting which points are easier to lie about.” Dragnet stated with a cruel smile. “Magic… well magic is but a façade to block out the despair with commitment to a task that removes the time to truly think about the situation that one is in.”

“If you believe in your ‘friends’,” Amethyst continued, “Then you believe in lies and falsehoods that cover up their true personalities.”

“You try too hard to make me hate you.” Twilight stated, holding back her anger. “If you truly wished to make me hate you, then you are on the right track.” She said while approaching them, taking each step carefully. “But remember this: you are attempting to take away a throne from me I could care less about, but until you succeed I have full power to judge you traitors to Equestria.” She said, stopping mere inches from Dragnet’s muzzle. “And on charges as high treason and attempted usurping of Equestrian royalty you can be hanged and much worse.” The three ponies returned Twilight intense for a few second before Twilight broke off and turned towards the door. “So remember who you are dealing with.”

“I find it all so funny,” Amethyst commented to her comrades with a devilish smile as she made no attempt to hide her voice, “Imagine, we have just been threatened within an inch of our very lives by the embodiment of friendship. Now that is a combination that I can’t but help find ironic.”

“Aye,” Dragnet agreed, “I suppose that it’s as it would be called ‘friendship that kills’.” The three ponies joined together in a laugh that resembled more a chorus of devilish cackling. Twilight knocked on the thick prison door, Dusk walking up behind her as a barrier between her and the prisoners. The dull sound of the lock opening on the other end greeted them before the door finally slid open, revealing a guard that looked nothing like the Royal Guard, which instead had an entirely different set of armor and a white coat and red mane.

“What is the meaning of this, who are you?” Twilight demanded. The pony drew his spear from his side and shot it towards the ponies, but Twilight simply caught the spear in her magic.

“I’m sorry your majesty, but you’ll soon be unable to fight against me.” The guard said sympathetically. “The reflection shall break and you’ll fall to my attacks as the first casualty of this bloody conflict that is simply beginning.” Twilight cracked a wiry smile at him.

“Dusk, did you hear that? I’ll succumb to the broken reflection and be unable to fight back and then he’ll kill me.” She said almost too cheerily. “What do you make of it?” Dusk lowered his cowl, giving the guard the same smile as Twilight.

“You lot really need to do research before attempting to attack somepony in those high echelons of society you were talking about.” He said in a cocky tone. “I suppose I can throw him into this cell with the others?” He asked Twilight.

“Yes, please do, I can’t stand imposters of the guard.” Twilight replied. “Also you might just want to make a one way shield spell; I’m guessing there are more ponies on the other side of this door much like this one.” Dusk nodded and lit his horn, wrapping his magic around the fake guard and lifted him up off the ground and unlatched all the pony’s armor, several daggers, lock picks, and other utensils falling out of certain pieces of the armor.

“Nice try, I’ll give you bonus points for being prepared for situations like what we are in now, but I think you ultimately fail the exam on how to capture an alicorn.” Dusk stated as he levitated the guard across the room and set him down next to the rest of the prisoners. The two alicorns stepped into the passage between the two doors while Dusk put up a shield over the still open door. Twilight looked at the next door and knocked on it. Dusk cleared his throat in anticipation of what would happen next.

“Did you get the job done?” The pony o the other side asked. Dusk smiled as he ushered Twilight to the side and walked up to the door.

“Yeah,” Dusk said in his best impression of the attacker, “As soon as the reflection hit her it got real easy, that other pony with her too.”

“Other pony? You’re telling me that two ponies walked in there and we didn’t know it?” The pony on the other side asked in an exasperated tone. “Who were they?”

“One of the princess’s advisors he said, but he still acted a bit more like a guard than an advisor with that sword of his.” Dusk replied, still imitating their assailant. “Our ponies are fine though, not a scratch from the whole ordeal.” There was silence on the other side for a few seconds, though it was well long enough to make Dusk begin to sweat bullets.

“Alright, I’ll get the door open, hold up.” Dusk finally let out a sigh of relief as the sound of the lock sliding out of its place. The door opened and a flurry of arrows shot at them as the twang of bow string returning to their natural position filled the air. Dusk brought up a second shield and blocked most of the arrows, though some of them made it past, though they thankfully missed.

“Hey what’s the big idea?” Dusk shouted as more and more arrows struck the surface of his shield. “I thought we were chums.”

“Ordeal isn’t a word that my pal would use.” The other guard replied. Dusk looked at him with a curious expression.

“Really? Do you happen to have a dictionary of words to use and to not use when imitating you guys? I’m completely in the dark when it comes to all of this.” Dusk asked as the arrows continued striking against his shield.

“Dusk, would you mind if I could take care of them?” Twilight asked politely. Dusk looked at her with a raised eyebrow, and then shrugged.

“Sure, why not, be my guest.” He said. Twilight nodded before lighting her horn and using her magic to snip the bowstring on each of the archer’s bows. She then enveloped each one in a magic field and took off their armor, finding each as well equipped as the last. Twilight sighed before finally tossing them into the cell with the others. She closed the cell the door behind them, the lock shutting with a resounding thud. Both alicorn walked out of the small passage and locked the second door behind them quickly.

“Well, now we know they have the ability to infiltrate even the highest security area.” Twilight commented while looking at the knocked out guard ponies around them.

“We also know that those ponies in there were in all likelihood not actually believing what they were saying but were just trying to buy time for their comrades to get in and overtake the complex.” Dusk observed. Twilight nodded before making for the door.

“We best leave; the guards will wake up soon enough and be able to take care of the situation in the correct manner.” Twilight said while opening the front door.

“Wait, Twilight,” Dusk shouted after her, trotting up beside her, “I just wanted to make sure of something with you.” Twilight looked at him curiously.

“Yes, what is it, Dusk?” Twilight asked, not knowing what might be bothering him, even with the same mind that had a tendency to think along the same lines.

“It’s about what those ponies said,” Dusk began, “You know that it isn’t the truth right? You know your friends… our friends aren’t like that at all.”

“Of course it wasn’t true, Dusk. Coming from the mouths of delusional ponies I can’t really take it seriously in any way at all.” Twilight replied.

“Good, I just wanted to make sure because you were looking quite upset when we were getting ready to leave.” Dusk explained. “I was worried you might have taken them too seriously. After all, when the lies strike at a chink in our armor they might start making sense and we start thinking that they might be truth.”

“Right, don’t worry. I was only angry because they doubted my friends, and I’m not very fond of ponies bad mouthing other ponies without basis.” Twilight explained. “Now we need to get going. If we are going to stop these ponies we’ll need to understand them better, but at the current moment we know nothing but that they are called the Alliance and are basically utopians that believe anarchy is the way to go to achieve peace in our time.”

“Right, we should head on out.” Dusk agreed. “How about we head over to the docks, see if the guards have anything to report.” He explained. Dusk motioned to the door with a hoof. “You first?”

“Thank you.” Twilight said before walking past and into the fast fading daylight. “We have two days left before refreshers, which now that we have no reflection isn’t a problem, but the time is still ticking for when Equestria begins to… die out.”

“Then we better hurry.” Dusk said as he came out of the door behind Twilight. “If there is no time to waste than we better start making some up on a dead… I mean… a… no good lead.” He corrected himself.

“Very well, the sky chariots might be out, but we still have our wings if it comes to that.” Twilight commented while the two ponies galloped around the side of the building where their chariots had been left before. Sure enough, the pegasi were knocked out and the chariots were broken in several places.

“We should leave them a note explaining what happened and where we are.” Dusk stated. “We don’t need the ponies thinking their missing two princesses now.”

“Yes, that would be no good.” Twilight confirmed. “I’ll write out a quick letter, you start heading towards the port, I’ll catch up.” Dusk nodded and quickly took to the air, though his takeoff was rather unsteady, much like Twilight new her takeoff was. Twilight scratched down a quick note on one of the parchments that was in the chariot and set it in front of one of the ponies’ snout before taking flight herself.

Chapter 6

Celestia was awoken as her cart jostle as it hit yet another bump on, what she could guess, was a long and winding road. She groaned as the chains sapped yet another portion of her strength.

“You’re awake, I see.” A voice said from behind her, slightly muffled by the sacks of hay and other objects. “I’ve only woken up myself.”

“You know,” Celestia began, “When I said all those years ago that we’d see each other again someday I never implied it would be under circumstances as these.” Artemis chuckled slightly.

“Well, I certainly guessed it would be just like this.” Artemis stated with heavy doses of sarcasm. Suddenly the jabs of poles caused the two regal ponies to cry out in pain.

“Silence, there’s no reason to talk you two.” The gruff guard barked at them. Celestia grumbled slightly as she settled in deeper into the sacks around her, the bag of apples under her causing each bump’s pain increase tenfold as her pain in the landings were compounded on the uneven surface.

“Well, aren’t they pleasant?” Celestia muttered with clenched teeth. Artemis snorted, another bump causing the wind to be knocked out of him. Suddenly the cart came to stop, followed by the sound of chains rattling and the turning of gears, scratching against each other as, what Celestia could guess, was the opening of a gate. The cart began moving again, another jolt following as the cart rose up onto the cobble path, making the large bumps turn into a constant jostling as they moved over each stone, dipping into the gaps between stones, which felt more like gigantic valleys as Celestia and Artemis were thrown about.

Suddenly the tarp was thrown away, and the supplies were taken out, leaving only the royals in their black chains. The ponies pushed them out slowly, their limp forms flopping onto the path with a grunt and a thud. The guards ushered the two to their hooves with agonizing pain, each gritting their teeth as they fought past the pain the chains delivered to them. The two leaders walked up before flipping their hoods back, exposing their wide grins.

“Welcome, Celestia,” Sire began.

“And welcome, Artemis; to the castle of the Alliance, we hope you enjoy your visit, it shall be a long one, no doubt.” Majesty finished, her smile growing more maniacal and devilish.

“Guards, please, remove their chains. We wouldn’t want our guests to feel uncomfortable during their stay.” Sire ordered with a grin. The guard quickly removed the chains from the princess and prince, unlocking the several locks that were scattered across their links. Celestia rolled her shoulders, her strength growing quickly as the magic of the land flowed into every fiber of her being.

“I suppose there’s a catch to our new found freedom.” Artemis stated while stretching his limbs, low pops cracking through the air. Sire and Majesty shook their heads, their grin still plastered from ear to ear.

“No, we have no reason to keep you anymore, the ponies of the world now know, and will find out if you block the path and will know whom to blame. There is no reason to hold you back.” Sire explained.

“Go on, rally forces and attempt to take us over, but know you’ll have a mod of the common ponies on your tails.” Majesty said with the tone of a chess master knowing their opponents every possible move and knowing how to counter it. The two royals looked at each other and then spread their wings and took off. The two ponies flew higher and higher, rushing away until a wall of magic appeared as they struck it, sending them plummeting to the ground in their still slightly weakened state to the utter confusion and horror of Sire and Majesty.

“What have you done; what has happened?” Majesty roared while turning to face the ponies behind her, nostrils flaring in anger, looking around at the ponies around her as a wild animal trapped in a cage.

“Why, we have only done the next step in the greater plan.” A pony replied, emerging from the shadows slowly. “There has been no error, I assure you.”

“Are you insane?” Sire shouted in anger, furry in his eyes burning straight into the pony’s form. The pony came out further into the light, followed by her counterpart.

“Are you?” The stallion asked pointedly. Sire and Majesty walked angrily towards the two ponies. Six of the guards quickly circled around the two newcomers, separating Sire and Majesty from the two new ponies. “Letting those two just up and leave? How foalish can you be and still expect us to still follow you without question?”

“By not letting them leave you make them both martyrs and make the other ponies search for them with even more strength!” Majesty shouted at them, not at all hindered by the guards.

“But if you had let them go they would have returned to their kingdoms and the ponies would have seen us as the heroes, especially after they would doubtlessly attack us, killing the ponies that joined the halves!” Sire blasted in furry. “But instead of trusting our joint judgment you just had to stick your hoof in the door and ruin all we had planned.”

“Well,” The mare began, stepping through the line of guards, “There are many of us that believe you’re time as leader has come to an end. Many of us believe you overstayed your welcome when you denied our right as bringers of the new age to rules these lands.”

“Nopony was going to rule anything because the princesses’ only flaws were that they separated the world in two!” Majesty roared. “There was no reason to usurp them!”

“Then you have abandoned the Alliance and can no longer even attempt to lead it.” The stallion stated simply. “Guards, take them and the prince and princess to a nice holding cell.” The guards quickly threw the same magic leaching chains over the two, who simply stood still, glares still boarding into the two revolutionists. The locks snapped shut as the guards began to lead them away.

“Take us prisoner, throw us into the deepest, darkest cell you can find, just know you’ll be the reason the Alliance fell.” Majesty said as she was pulled away.

“We’ll have had no part in the Alliances fall as we were removed from our leadership. You’re killing the flower of our great new order by slowly snipping the roots and leaves away.” Sire stated with his gaze still fixed on the mare who had betrayed him. “Believe me, Sister, you’ll soon find that the burden of leading this order and always trying to be one step ahead of the enemy.”

“I believe I can manage with my reflection at my side.” The mare replied with a smirk. “Ponies of the Alliance,” She began, directing herself towards the ponies around her in the courtyard and everywhere else in the close vicinity, “It is time to fully remove the guise of secrecy, it is time to fully reveal ourselves.”

“What are you doing?” Sire shouted in desperation, straining against the chains around him, but found that the chains took more effort than he had exerted.

“My name, my true name, is Inkpot, I am the sister of Sire, or should I say En Passant.” Inkpot revealed, her smile growing.

“And I am Quill Scratch; my sister’s name is Checkmate.” The counterparts shared in a light chuckle, to the furry of their siblings.

“The era of secrecy is over! All ponies of the Alliance are encouraged to share their names that all ponies may know whom they share with!” Inkpot and Quill Scratch proclaimed proudly, causing the voices of many ponies to join in the chorus of cheers. Sire and Majesty, or En Passant and Checkmate, were dragged away, their strength almost complete taken away already as their bonds continued to sap them dry.

Artemis groaned as he woke up slowly from his uneasy sleep, a pain jabbing into his skull, and really, everywhere else too. He heard a painful sigh beside him, and when he looked, he saw the weak form of Celestia in the darkness. Artemis looked around the cell, and the grimy stones and dim lighting with chains wrapped around him told him they weren’t in the castle’s infirmary, or any friendly place for that matter.

“I see you’ve woken up…,” A raspy voice commented from the other side of the cell, “I assure you that none of this was intended, but my sister saw it to be good to restrain you two, capture me and my reflection in this cell and take over herself.” Artemis looked over to the two ponies that sat on either corner of the room.

“Sire… Majesty…?” Artemis questioned. “Weren’t you the leaders of all of this?” He asked as he looked over the two ponies that were in chains like his own.

“The operative word is ‘were’.” Majesty stated with her head hung low in anger. “My brother led a revolution against us and took the order from us. We intended to let you go back to your lives and allow you to continue to rule.”

“There’d be changes, of course,” Sire admitted, “If nothing more, to accommodate for the inherent intricacies for ruling a nation of doppelgangers successfully, but we never intended to take you off the throne, that would only cast us in a negative light.”

“While as absconding with the two kingdoms’ most important ponies wouldn’t?” Celestia asked as she emerged from her unconscious state. “I’m sorry, but I think that that would definitely cast you in a very negative light.”

“Maybe for the higher classes that depend on you to keep their facades and livelihoods together, but in the eyes of the commoners we would have done what was necessary and would be quite highly esteemed.” Majesty replied.

“But now that our siblings have usurped us both the Alliance is subject to their whims. Who knows what they see fit to do? For all we know, they might try to destroy Canterlot and forcefully take over Equestria with a bloodbath of a war.” Sire groaned as he leaned back and hit his head on the stone wall. “So much for any chance at peace with the world, now we’ll doubtlessly be attacked and destroyed for naught because of their stupidity and ambition.” Suddenly the sound of a lock clinking along with the jingling of a ring of keys filled the air, causing the ponies to fall silent. The door to the cell slowly opened, revealing four guards and the jail keeper.

“En Passant, Checkmate, the lords of the Alliance have sent for you to come with us to meet with them.” One of the guards stated; silhouetted against the brighter light of the corridor.

“What is it this time; want to finally finish me off so there’s no more competition?” Majesty groaned. “If they had any bit of a strategic mind they’d really should.”

“They are going to question you as to the whereabouts of the Hidden Castle.” The guard informed. “And for you own sakes I’d suggest you tell them exactly what they wish.”

“Oh really? I thought we could just beat around the bush while having tea and crackers and never have to worry about what we had to say or do.” Sire stated with a level of sarcasm that was almost tangible as it dripped off of each word.

“To your hooves, we mustn’t keep the lords waiting.” The guard said as he and his comrades walked in and got the two ponies to their hooves forcefully.

“You know, if you can throw our names around like Nightmare Night candy you could simply refer to them by theirs. Or would that be disrespectful to refer to the very pony that opened the door to share names and break our secrecy?” Majesty jabbed. “Their names are Inkpot and Quill Scratch in the case you’ve forgotten.”

“Move, En Passant, we don’t have any time for this nonsense.” One of the guards barked, pushing Sire out the door, causing him to stumble and fall as soon as he got out and plow face first into the stone on the other side of the prison corridor.

“That might have gone better…” En Passant groaned in pain as one of the guard ponies gripped into the chains with his teeth and pulled the weakened stallion back up.

“Go on, get moving!” One of the guards shouted as he pushed Majesty out of the door. The cell door closed behind them and the clank of the lock rung out before all the ponies moved away. Celestia shifted up to the door and looked out of the small gap between the bars and into the corridor, watching as the two ponies were dragged away by the guards.

“They might be as much of victims as we are now…” Celestia mussed as she went back to her corner, leaning against the crook in the wall, resting her weakened body in an attempt to gain an amount of strength.

“Maybe they are, or they’re planning something that requires them to go behind the scenes.” Artemis stated. “It wouldn’t do to let our guard down; let us be vigilant and wise, lest they should betray us and show their true colors.”

“Indeed, we mustn’t let our guard down.” Celestia agreed. “But I can’t help but wonder what they might be doing if they are just trying to divert our attention while they work.” She admitted.

“Well, when it happens we’ll know whether they were diverting us, or truly were betrayed by their comrades.” Artemis stated, shifting in his chains in an attempt to get more comfortable. “Hopefully whatever happens happens soon. I have a feeling that these chains might have certain unspeakable effects if worn as jewelry for an extended period of time.” Celestia nodded in agreement, rolling her aching shoulders.

The door to their cell opened once again as two new ponies were thrown in, both groaning as they struck the ground, bits of hay flittering up into the air before slowly drifting back down. The door was once again closed behind them with the dull sound of the lock shutting once again.

“Ouch…,” One of them groaned, “I guess we aren’t going to see if the guards have anything to report then?” She asked; the pony’s voice very familiar in Celestia’s ears.

“I guess not, but now we know where they’re set up at least, that’s a plus… of sorts.” The other replied; his voice making Artemis’ ears perk up.

“D-Dusk Shine, is that you?” Artemis asked as he struggled over to the ponies, Celestia right beside him, but heading to the other pony.

“Twilight, are you alright, what happened?” Celestia asked as she approached her former student. Twilight and Dusk looked up towards the voices, and once they recognized the faces, both of them sprung up and embraced their old mentors.

“Princess Celestia, you’re alright! We were so worried they might have done something terrible to you!” Twilight said into Celestia’s shoulder as they hugged.

“Artemis, I’m so relieved you’re alright!” Dusk said in the same way as Twilight. The ponies shared a moment of silence as they let the moment of relief sink in as they shared in the calming embrace. The ponies eventually broke apart.

“So this is where you’ve been all of this time?” Twilight asked, looking at the cell around them, examining each nook and cranny.

“No, we’ve been many places during the last few days. It has been quite the ordeal.” Celestia replied with a shake of her head.

“Indeed, it has been quite a lot for just a few short days.” Artemis agreed. “But tell me, how did you come to be here, and why aren’t you wearing these chains?” He asked, looking the two ponies over, who both were without any chains around them.

“That is a good question… maybe they forgot.” Dusk stated. “I’ll try my magic; see if we can get out of here.” Dusk lit his horn, and a very faint purple aura started to form around his horn before being leached into the surface of the chains around Celestia. “What the…?” He said before crumpling to the ground in agony.

“What’s wrong, Dusk, what’s happening?” Artemis asked, getting a bit closer to his fallen former student.

“G-get away! Back off, please!” Dusk begged as he put his hoof to his head as a wave of pain flooded over all of his senses. “The chains latch onto any magic source and begin to drain it, even if they aren’t around said source.” Artemis and Celestia drew back as Twilight helped Dusk get as far away as possible.

“The chains… their magic absorbing powers are based on the fact that they had all traces of magic removed and are now trying to replace what they’ve lost.” Twilight stated as she looked over towards the chains around the two alicorns. “They are so devoid of magic that they’ll latch onto anything and everything that even remotely shows a bit of magical power.”

“Indeed,” Celestia said while she examined her own chains carefully, “These could very easily be converted into a very devastating weapon if they fell into the wrong pony or thing’s grasp. Imagine if a block of this was to be placed in Manehattan, or even worse, Canterlot.”

“The whole of the city would begin to fall to the magic absorbing properties of the stone.” Artemis stated solemnly. “Soon the entire city would be defenseless and any attacker could just walk in and take over without even trying as long as they showed no signs of magical potential.” Everypony in the cell shuttered in horror at that notion.

“It would be absolutely deadly…,” Twilight breathed, “Nopony would be safe as soon as they showed any magic. An earth pony would only have to ten to a small garden, a pegasus would only have to push one cloud, and unicorns would only have to cast a levitation spell or even the most basic spell to begin to be effected.”

“But…,” Dusk thought for a second, “Like any weapon, it goes both ways, affecting whomever it finds using magic without discretion.” Dusk stated. Twilight’s eyes lit up as she understood where her counterpart was heading with this line of conjecture.

“We could incapacitate any guard if we can only get them in hear and show a bit of magic to us.” Twilight finished. “If we get a unicorn guard it would be extremely easy, and another pony would be only a bit harder.”

“Well, I suggest we try it, the sooner the better.” Dusk stated, getting to his hooves, only to fall back down with a grunt of pain. “On second thought, Twilight, you can figure something out, I just really feel like lying down, yeah, lying down is good.” Twilight nodded before approaching the door of the cell and looking around what she could see through the slats of metal.

“Guard! Guard! Come quickly, please!” She shouted out in a shrill tone before jumping behind the area where the door would open. The sound of tingling keys and the lock opening soon came as the guard began opening up the door.

When it opened, it revealed a unicorn guard using his teeth to hold his keys, which he was putting away. Twilight dove forward and grabbed the keys in her teeth and pulled them out of the guard’s mouth, throwing her head back and letting go of the keys, letting them fly into the cell behind her. The guard acted on reflex, not even thinking a second, and lit his horn to wrap a levitation field around the keys and bring them back, and the bubble of yellow magic formed for a second before it popped and flew into the chains’ surface, along with the aura around the unicorn guard’s horn. Twilight quickly shoved the guard inside the cell, right up against the two royals, who stood still as the chain around them began leaching the magic from the writhing unicorn. Twilight quickly picked up the keys in her mouth, and using her tongue to flip through each key, she began attempting to open the locks on the chain.

“Great work, Twilight.” Dusk said with a grin. Twilight nodded as she continued to work through the keys before on finally slid into the lock and turned slowly, unlatching the lock, letting it fall to the ground. Twilight repeated the process with the other locks, and soon had the chain off the two royal ponies and wrapped around their guard. The four formerly captured ponies quickly made their exit, Twilight closing and locking the door behind them as the other three went down the corridor. Before she went to catch up to them she strained her neck to get her mouth above the bottom of the window.

“W-wait, those are the only keys for this area! If you throw them in they won’t be able to get me out of here! Please, don’t do it.” The imprisoned guard begged. Twilight spat the keys out and caught the ring that held them together on her hoof.

“Trust me, they’ll figure a way out to get you out of there, though it will involve the destruction of the cell’s security for a short while, something I’m not entirely against actually.” Twilight stated before putting the key ring back into her mouth and straining her neck once again to get her mouth to the bottom of the window, which was at eye level, and then promptly tossing them inside, clattering on the stone floor.

Checkmate and En Passant sat down at the table in front of their siblings, Inkpot and Quill Scratch, their chains removed. Silence reigned over the room until the guard finally left the room, guarding the door without a word.

“Well done, I believe everypony believes the revolution was a true one.” En Passant congratulated his sister with a smirk. “This will prove to be a great advantage at a later date, especially after the two ponies in the dungeon escape.”

“I certainly hope it will; I wouldn’t want to be the cause for this plan to fail in any way.” Inkpot stated. “This plan has been brilliantly flawless this whole time, anticipating reaction and every eventuality perfectly. It would wound me to cause its downfall.”

“Good, then stick to your part and it shall be unhindered.” Checkmate said with a nod. “Now, again I wish to reiterate that the princesses and princes will still rule, but shall be merely constrained by the will of the commoners more so than before, a just payment for their abuse of power in years previous.”

“Indeed, it shall be glorious retribution for their actions against the ponies of Equestria.” Quill Scratch chimed in. “And soon we shall see the turning of a new age, brought about by the ponies on whose back this empire is built.” Suddenly a guard burst through the door, gasping for air as if he had been running a great deal.

“Inkpot, Quill Scratch, the prisoners have escape!” The guard shouted completely out of breath. Inkpot slammed her hooves into the table and stood higher as she shoved the seat back with her hind legs, Quill Scratch opting more for standing up completely without touching the table, his chair clattering against the wall.

“What, how did this happen?” Inkpot asked with her ire evident in her voice. The guard trembled as he desperately tried to catch his breath again.

“They… they tricked a guard into coming closer and used the chains to sap him of his magic before putting him in the cell with his keys inside. The guard was able to summon the strength to get his keys and open the door before collapsing where his reliever found him.” The guard replied. En Passant and Checkmate both chuckled lightly at the news.

“It seems your reign of the Alliance is already springing leaks.” En Passant noted with a grin as he looked up to his sibling. Inkpot grimaced at the truth in her brother’s voice.

“Lock these two back in their cell until further notice and start searching the castle for the four of them. They couldn’t have gotten far in their condition.” Quill Scratch ordered, the guard nodding before charging out, leaving the two ponies on either side of the door to chain En Passant and Checkmate and lead them back to their cell.

“Just wait, brother, you’ll soon see how wrong you were to attempt to take control of the Alliance.” Checkmate taunted as they walked away. Soon enough the room was quiet, Inkpot and Quill Scratch merely standing at the table, looking at each other.

Author's Note

Fun fact for you all. Quill Scratch was one of the first names I considered when making this account. So in a way it's a reference.

The Background Papers: Part 2

The Professor and Blunder walked around the docks, looking at each ship they came by. Almost every ship, with exceptions being privately owned ones, had a small sign stating the price for a trip. Much as the pony had said before, the cheapest they had found yet was two hundred bits, a price far beyond Blunder’s piggybank and the Professors meager amount of coin.

“Professor, I don’t know about you, but I’m really tired. Can’t we just stop and rest for a bit?” Blunder asked as the Professor continued to look over each ship they passed.

“The longer we dilly dally, the longer we stay away from your home and my Tardis.” The Professor stated calmly.

“I told you we should have brought it along with us. Now we’re stuck here when if we had it we could just fly right back home when we were finished here.” Blunder complained as he continued to walk behind the Professor until he suddenly ran into her standing form. “Professor, why did you stop? Are we going to take a rest?” He asked, but the Professor wasn’t replying, but instead was looking off into the distance. Blunder looked where she was looking and saw a brown earth pony stallion and a gray pegasus mare walking about the dock in a pleasant conversation.

“T-those ponies… they look just like…” The Professor stumbled. “T-that… stallion…” Blunder looked at the Professor, then at the ponies, and then back to the Professor.

“What’s wrong, Professor?” He asked, truly concerned for his friend who currently seemed to be petrified, cemented to the spot.

“That stallion…” She muttered again “He can’t possibly be another… t-they all d-… h-how.” She stammered; her gazed fixed on the stallion that shared a remarkable semblance to her. “I-I can feel it… but how could h-he be…?”

“Professor, what’s wrong? Is he an alien or something?” Blunder asked, waving a hoof in front of his friend’s snout, gaining no response as she continued to stare towards the stallion in question.

The Doctor and Derpy walked along the port, the Doctor using his sonic screwdriver to scan the area. Derpy followed while stretching her limbs, happy that the pain was gone. The pitch of the screwdriver changed into a higher pitch and stayed at the same, causing the Doctor to pause in confusion. He let the screwdriver fall down onto his hoof, looking over it carefully.

“What’s this now?” The Doctor mumbled to himself. “We both know that isn’t possible in the slightest.” He said to his screwdriver.

“What’s wrong, Doctor; is it broken?” Derpy asked, coming up beside him. The Doctor shook his head as his screwdriver continued to emit the high pitch sound.

“No, it’s not that… it’s giving a signal that… well, to put it simply, is impossible.” The Doctor said, giving it a little jostle, but the sonic screwdriver continued to emit the same noise. “It’s saying there’s another Timelord in the vicinity that is carrying a sonic just like me.”

“And why is that particularly impossible, Doctor? It might be hard to bump in to each other while going through time, but can’t it still be possible?” Derpy asked. The Doctor didn’t reply immediately, but simply hung his head in sadness.

“No, it’s impossible…,” The Doctor said finally, “Because…” Suddenly his screwdriver spun around in his hoof and pointed to one side, the frequency of the sound it was producing increasing. The Doctor and Derpy looked towards the way it was pointing, and in the distance there was a brown earth pony mare and a gray pegasus stallion.

“Isn’t that interesting… they look kind of us, don’t they?” Derpy commented. The Doctor looked at the mare, which seemed to be gawking at him, and soon realized as he felt the same.

“T-that mare… she’s a Timelord…” The Doctor said in surprise. “B-but how is… how is it even possible?” He trailed off before taking a step towards her. The pony in questioned mirrored him, and soon they were face to face, their assistants nearby.

“You’re… but how… when?” The Doctor stammered.

“I thought I was the last for so long. H-how… where…” The Professor stumbled, unsure of her wording. “Where have you been all this time?”

“Traveling, running… hiding…” The Doctor replied, looking the Professor with a mixture of fear, regret, anger, and a slew of other emotions. “What’s your name?” He asked.

“I’m called the Professor.” She replied. The Doctor smirked and shook his head.

“I can’t believe the alternate me also decided to take up a promise in name.” The Doctor sighed. The Professor simply shrugged with a light smile touching her snout.

“Wait,” Derpy interjected, “Alternate you? What do you mean by that, Doctor?” She asked, as confused as her male counterpart who looked to the Professor for an answer.

“Well, thinking about it that there might be a version of you of the other gender that has equivalent life experiences isn’t too out of the question.” The Professor explained.

“It’s the only reasonable answer for why there can be two Timelord at the same place and same time when they both know of the fate of their race.” The Doctor continued. “Besides, the multiverse is a big place. Anything you can imagine is bound to be the truth somewhere else.”

“You mean that somewhere there’s a place where muffins are growing on trees like apples?” Derpy and Blunder asked, mouths watering. Both Timelords smirked at each other with a short nod, sending the two pegasi into a begging fest to go there straight away.

“I suppose you’re Tardis is still parked safely in the usual place?” The Professor asked, the Doctor giving her a nod. “Good, since we left in the hurry so that we could escape the dimensional disturbance we left in back on the other side of the sea.” The Professor explained. “And we need a lift to get back to it.”

“Don’t worry; we’ll have you back there before you know it.” The Doctor stated. “Now, let’s get going before something earth shatteringly important diverts our interest.” The four ponies charged off, leaving the dock in a hustle.

Chapter 7

The four ponies crept through the halls of the dark castle, avoiding guards as best as they could. Twilight peeked around yet another castle on their route to the outside, when suddenly the sound of many hooves striking the stones behind them caught their attention. The four ponies bolted around the corner, and upon Dusk spotting a door, they all dove inside. Twilight lit her horn, the darkness around them quickly receding, showing them exactly where they were. All around them was the equipment of the guards that had been chasing them, as well as normal chains and various other pieces of equipment that were not so much for guards or prisoners.

“I think we both just got an idea…” Dusk said in a whisper. Twilight nodded as she used her magic to lift a helmet off one of the racks and placed it on her head, making sure that her horn slid into the slot cut out of the top of the helmet and that her mane was in the standing position typical of the guards. When the helmet finally was completely on her head, the spell cast on the helmet took effect and made her coat white and her two color mane into monochromatic red.

“How do I look?” She asked with a smile while putting on the usual chest piece that didn’t have slots for her wings, making her appear like a normal unicorn.

“Good enough to stun and tie up while I get everypony out of here.” Dusk replied with a smirk while taking a helmet and body piece. Soon the two violet alicorns became the basic white and red guards of the Alliance, their cutie marks covered, being the one part the spell did not affect.

“Should Celestia and I take armor as well? We’d be a bit out of place being how tall we are.” Artemis said, looking at the armor and pieces of equipment around them. Dusk scratched his chin in thought, before finally coming to a conclusion. He quickly took some of the chain and locked them onto the two ponies and latched the end of the chains to the horn of the saddle piece of his and Twilight’s armor.

“There, you are now our prisoners that are getting a transfer to a more secure location since you were already able to escape from this area.” Dusk said with a smirk. “Now act like the chains are the magic draining ones, we need to be realistic.” The two ‘prisoners’ looked at each other and nodded, and then let their head go limp and took a stance that rang out with weakness, as if the ponies were barely able to stand.

“Alright, I’ll check if it’s clear to head on out.” Twilight stated, moving a bit closer to the door and opened it a crack and looked around, and after seeing that there were no guards around, she let Dusk take point and lead them out, since the majority of the guards they had seen thus far were stallions, and there was a chance all of them were stallions that had been posted at this castle.

The four ponies continued walking for a good while without interruption until a guard approached them with queer looks. Dusk gave a salute, which was returned without hesitation.

“Since when did we have these two captured and why are you taking them this way. The holding cells are back downstairs in case you’ve lost your way.” The guard stated.

“Yeah, we know, and that’s where we took them first, but we got a message from the new pony on watch that these two were to be taken to a more secure location while as those other two alicorns were kept in the old cell.” Dusk replied, using his natural voice, not wanting to risk it with a fake voice.

“Really? Why is it that I’m always the last one to get these memos?” The guard asked with an annoyed sigh. Dusk shrugged with a frown.

“I guess they’re just telling the ponies that it directly affects right now. Namely the guard on duty at the cells and the ponies that have streak of unfortunate circumstances to get stuck escorting these two on their hike to the new location.” Dusk replied with a shake of his head.

“Yeah, I guess that’s what they’re doing. Say, where are you taking them anyway? I didn’t hear of any secure holding cells up this way.” The guard questioned, looking back at the two trembling alicorns. Dusk hesitated for a moment, racking his brain for some answer.

“We’re bound for the secret castle.” Twilight replied, stepping in for Dusk. “Seriously, Nightshade, I think we could tell one of our fellow guards where we’re going.” Twilight chided the newly named Nightshade with a shake of her head. Dusk shushed her quickly, keeping up the act.

“We weren’t told to tell anypony where. For as much as I care, Boysenberry, nopony besides us and those ponies that are meeting us halfway should really know.” Dusk growled angrily.

“So I’m allowed to guess you’re reflection by the names?” The guard asked with a smirk.

“No,” Dusk replied with the shake of his head, “Boysen here is my half-witted sister that worked some magic to become one of the guards.” Twilight huffed and looked away in frustration. The guard chuckled a bit at the mare’s reaction.

“Well, anyway, could you… perhaps tell me where the secret castle is? I’ve been dying to know ever since I heard about it.” The guard pressed.

“You see now, Boysen, you got him asking questions that he isn’t supposed to know the answer to now. Great work, sis, great work.” Dusk groaned in exasperation before turning back to the guard. “Look, I don’t know where it is, I only know the rendezvous point where we meet the ponies that are taking these two the rest of the way. Even if we did know I wouldn’t tell you because that would make it the once-secret-but-not-anymore castle.”

“I guess so,” The guard said in a bit of disappointment,”well, you best get these two where they need to go before they can get enough strength back to revolt.” The guard said, stepping to one side to let them through. Dusk nodded and started off, Twilight coming up beside him quickly. Dusk shoved her a bit and gave her an angry glare.

“What was that for, Nightshade?” Twilight asked, rubbing at her aching shoulder. Dusk huffed, not even caring to reply.

“Oh, hey, Nightshade,” The guard said as they passed by. Dusk looked back at him, coming to halt to listen, giving the pony a nod to signal for him to begin. “Hoy many years did you have in the Royal Guard?” Dusk looked with a questioning gaze, not sure how to respond.

“It would be a year and a half two day from now… why, how did you know?” Dusk said, and eyebrow lifted at the pony.

“The salute,” The guard replied with a smirk, “The Alliance has a different salute than the guard, but even I find myself doing the guard’s from time to time. Just remember, the hoof goes across the chest, not the head, that’s how we can distinguish ourselves from our former allegiances.”

“Right, thanks,” Dusk said with a nod, correcting his salute, which the guard returned with a smile, “I’ll try to remember that for future reference.”

“Good, I’ll see you later, Nightshade, maybe we can get to know each other a bit better when you get back from delivering those two.” The guard said before heading off. The guard eventually turned the corner and was out of earshot, giving the four ponies a reason to give a sigh of relief before heading off again.

“Well done, Nightshade, I think you did an excellent job playing my overbearing brother.” Twilight said with a smirk.

“We can’t drop the act now, Boysenberry, who knows if we’ll meet another patrol before getting out of here or not.” Dusk stated.

“Hey, I think I probably know the answer to this, but were you actually in the guard or was that just a part of the act?” Twilight asked as they went on, no guards in sight thankfully.

“Part of the act, though my sister constantly told me everything there was about the guard and how great it was.” Dusk replied. “Though I have to say that it served as a pretty good alibi for that instance at least.”

“It was a rather interesting exchange if I do say so myself.” Twilight commented as they rounded another corner in complete confidence, especially after finding no guard nearby.

“It does prove one thing to me, though.” Dusk stated, gaining the curios gaze of Twilight who was slightly confused as to what he meant, which gained her more confusion since she really should know what he was trying to say because of them begin reflections.

“What exactly do you mean by it proves something?” Twilight asked as they opened the door before them with their hooves, keeping the guise of the chains being magic absorbing material, even if they weren’t aware of any followers.

“I mean it prove that these ponies aren’t actually really bad ponies, just that they are following a confused pony with rather… interesting motives.” Dusk stated. “Think, he was actually being friendly while we talked, not once being our stereotypical bad pony’s henchpony.”

“I guess you are right, he really didn’t act like you’d expect from a pony like him.” Twilight agreed after a bit of thought. “Maybe these ponies can be redeemed in some way.” Twilight thought aloud.

“That’s what I’m thinking. These ponies are just misled is all, and we can change that by changing who they follow, at least, in theory it would do the job.” Dusk said.

“I suggest less chatter,” Artemis said in a whisper, “It might draw unwanted attention to us.” Dusk and Twilight nodded, their lips immediately sealed and staying so for as long as they kept walking though the thoughts of the previous discussion still rang in their minds.

The four ponies eventually made it to the courtyard where several dozen ponies were standing in files. Dusk looked towards Twilight, and both nodded as they trudged onward through the swarm of ponies with confidence, keeping to their parts.

“Get out of the way, coming through!” Dusk shouted, several of the ponies before him moving away slowly, looking at their ‘prisoners’ with curious gazes. “Come on, move, we need to get through.” Dusk continued sounding a bit annoyed at the ponies that moved slower than the rest. Finally they came to the gate, which was shut, the portcullis lowered and the gigantic wooden doors beyond it secured with an equally massive wooden beam that might as well have been a tree they had taken the branches off of and attached to four chains.

“Open the gates, we haven’t got all day!” Twilight shouted at the ponies up above. The four ponies looked at Twilight and Dusk with the two royals chained behind them.

“Where are you heading with the prisoners?” One of them asked pointedly. Twilight opened her mouth, only to have Dusk shove her.

“You’re not spilling the beans one more time, sis.” He stated sharply. Twilight pretended to tear up slightly, acting rather offended at Dusk’s harsh words, an expression Dusk ignored while looking up to the guards.

“We have orders to take these ponies to a more secure location, now open up!” He shouted up at them. “I rather not wait until they get enough strength to do something out of line, so the faster the better.” The four guards in the area above the gates looked at each other and shrugged.

“Fine, hold you horses, we’ll get the gates open for you in a second.” One of them replied; the four ponies turning back into the room where the various mechanisms were held that raised and lowered the portcullis as well as raise and lower the beam that blocked the wooden doors. Twilight and Dusk waited in a huff, their prisoners looking to and fro at the courtyard.

“Hey, don’t get any ideas!” Dusk shouted back at the alicorns, who both focused their gazes on Dusk, which almost made Dusk flinch back. Suddenly, the sound of chain scraping against stone and other things filled the air as the portcullis slowly lifted, soon followed by even more clatter as the gigantic wooden beam blocking the massive wooden doors was lifted. The two huge doors slowly inched apart, letting the ponies through. Dusk pulled against his chain and took a few steps before the tension stopped him. He looked back at the abstinent Twilight who wouldn’t move. Dusk’s shoulders fell as he sighed. “Come on sis, we need to get these ponies out of here and on the road now if we want to get back anytime soon.” Twilight gave a huff and finally started moving, to the relief of Dusk, who thought for sure that the doors would close before they got out if Twilight played her part to well. The ponies continued onward, soon enough encountering a turn in the road, where Twilight quickly undid Artemis and Celestia’s bindings and removed their armor.

“Alright, let’s go before anypony gets suspicious.” Twilight said, spreading her wings and getting ready to take off. She leaped and flapped her wings, expecting to take off into the sky, only to flop back onto the ground as she felt something restraining her, namely Dusk’s magic gripping her tail. “What are you doing, we need to get out of here.”

“Yeah, they do,” Dusk agreed, “But I think Nightshade and Boysenberry need to stay behind and get medical attention.” He stated, pushing Twilight’s armor back towards her.

“What are you thinking, we need to get out of here, not stay behind and wait for them to figure us out.” Twilight pleaded desperately. Dusk shook his head, using his magic to put Twilight’s armor back on her, the spell changing her back into her unicorn guard form.

“Equestria can do with us still in here; in fact, they need us in here right now.” Dusk stated. “We need some inside ponies in this operation.” Dusk explained. “And since Nightshade and Boysenberry are already known as guards and are about to be attacked by a group of Royal Guards that spring the two prisoners, it’ll cement us as loyal guards.”

“I guess that’s true… hey, what Royal Guards?” Twilight asked hesitantly. Dusk looked over to the two royals with a straight expression.

“Attack us and chain us up, just don’t hit the helmets.” Dusk ordered. “We need to get back in as the eyes and ears for Equestria.” Artemis and Celestia looked at each other, their gazes saying everything. Finally the two ponies nodded and turned back to the two disguised royals.

“We’ll do it, but we’ll help you in your entrance to the Alliance.” Celestia stated, taking a bit of the chain and turning it into a necklace, adding a bit of a design on the end before casting a spell of some sort on it. Artemis took a bit more of the chain that was left and made a necklace with the other half of the design and cast his spell on it before giving it to Dusk.

“These will give you a unique appearance when your helmet is off.” Artemis explained. “It’s a bit weaker than the armor’s, so it should be covered with the usual spell, though it does have something the armor doesn’t.” He stated. “It will change your cutie mark for as long as you wear it, thus making you completely unrecognizable.” Dusk and Twilight put on their necklaces, looking at the design on it, being half of a strange design.

“The story behind it is that you got it from an exchange with zebras that occurred during a trip where one of you went on the trip as a guard for the cargo.” Celestia stated. “Now prepare yourselves, for the guards are coming.” Dusk and Twilight nodded nervously, preparing for the beating. Suddenly the sky lit up with the beams of magic, Twilight and dusk even lighting up their horns to add a bit of variety as the blasts struck them, sending them sprawling across the road in pain. Dusk lifted his head and looked at the alicorns, waving them on before letting his head go limp. Soon enough the guards from the castle charged up, forming a half circle around the two fallen ponies that had scorch marks all over their armor.

“Search the area; we need to know what happened here!” The head guard shouted the order while a medic skidded up to the two fallen ponies, flipping the locks on their saddles magic with their magic as they set them down flat. Another pony charged up and set up a magical shield around the front side of the medic and the injured ponies.

“What happened to you two?” The medic asked as she became to take out supplies from the boxes. Twilight tried to prop herself up to answer while looking at the medic, but slipped and fell back down. Dusk rolled over and put a hoof on Twilight’s chest.

“Take… take it easy sis, I-I don’t think we should move much.” Dusk cautioned Twilight, believing every word he said to be true, save for referring to Twilight as his sister.

“I-I’m needed to help the search…,” She rasped, fighting weakly against Dusk hoof, “I… I can’t let those two get… away.” Suddenly she fell back, completely limp.

“Sis… sis? Boysen!” Dusk shouted frantically. He pressed his ear against her chest, listening carefully for a heartbeat, which was absent. He put a hoof to the base of her neck, and sure enough there wasn’t a pulse. “S-she’s gone into cardiac arrest!” He shouted, immediately putting his hooves on her chest and began resuscitation. “Come on, Boysen, give me something…” Dusk murmured before putting his ear over her mouth, but he couldn’t hear or feel anything. Dusk suddenly was pushed aside by the medic, causing his to tumble a short distance before looking back towards Twilight and the medic as some weight seemed to be lifted from his neck. The medic rubbed the two pads of her mobile defibrillator, charging it with her magic.

“Clear!” The pony shouted before slamming the pads into Twilight’s chest, shortly followed by a crackling sound as the pads released their charged directly into Twilight, causing her to jolt, though her pulse did not return. The pony rubbed the pads together again, charging them back up before slamming them into Twilight’s chest again with the same shout, the same crackle, the same jolt, but no change in Twilight’s condition. Dusk inched back up to her, looking her over, trying to find something that might be inhibiting her heart restarting, but found nothing, much like he expected.

“We need to do a manual muscle command through the cardiovascular centre.” Dusk told the medic. “There’s not enough power in the pads to get her back up and going.” The medic looked at him with a surprised look before nodding and discarding the pads and placing her horn on Twilight’s forehead, directly below her horn. A shock of magic passed from the medic’s horn directly into Twilight’s skull, directly entering her mind, sending a manual signal to her heart to being at the correct pace. Slowly, Twilight chest began to bounce slightly as he heart began pumping once again, though she still wasn’t breathing. Dusk quickly pressed his muzzle against Twilight’s and started CPR, hoping against all hope to get Twilight breathing again.

“Sir, we need to give her space!” The medic ordered Dusk. Dusk whipped around and glared at the medic with an amount of fury unmatched.

“She is not breathing! A beating heart is great, but it’s pumping deoxygenated blood through her system, which is doing her no favors.” Dusk stated plainly before going back to CPR on Twilight. Suddenly she coughed four times in quick succession before she began breathing normally. Twilight slowly opened her eyes and saw Dusk standing over her.

“D-Dusk? W-what happened…?” She asked bleary eyed, unsure of the entire situation. Dusk froze, realizing she had just used his real name. “Where are we?” She said, looking around at the other ponies.

“Shhh…, it’s alright honey, you had a bump, just go back to sleep and rest.” He put a hoof on Twilight’s lips. Twilight nodded before drifting off, back into sleep. Dusk stood up shakily, his own injuries making him wobble. “We need to get her back into the castle and stabilized.” Dusk ordered. “I don’t want any more scares today.” The medic nodded as she gently lifted Twilight with a magical field. A hoof found its way to Dusk’s shoulder, making him jump slightly as he turned to look at the pony putting his hoof on his shoulder.

“Well, Dusk, I never would’ve guessed your time in the guard would’ve also included medical training.” The pony stated. Dusk recognized the voice as the guard that had stopped him and Twilight in the hall earlier.

“It didn’t, and my name isn’t Dusk, it’s Nightshade.” Dusk stated. “She mistook me for her husband…” He explained. “That blast must have really jostled her because this white coat doesn’t at all look like Dusk’s violet coat.”

“True, the armor spell doesn’t look violet in the least.” The pony agreed. “But you’re steel grey certainly does.” He stated with a smile. Dusk looked at his leg, and sure enough, he was a steel gray. He looked around and saw his helmet lying near where he had landed after being shoved off of Twilight.

“I guess it would now that you put it like that.” Dusk said, levitating the helmet in a field of white magic, which felt quite alien to him as he placed the helmet back in its place, the spell instantly coming back, turning him to his white maned and red coated façade.

“Well, we best get you into the hospital as well before you collapse.” The pony stated. “You aren’t looking to good yourself.” He finished with a smirk.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right about that.”Dusk said as he began limping back towards the castle only to teeter to one side and fall onto the ready shoulder of his new found friend.

“Hold on there, partner, I think you aren’t suited to be going all the way to the infirmary by yourself.” The pony stated, almost as if he knew it to be a fact. Dusk mentally kicked himself for even of trying, being as he had no idea where he was supposed to be. “Come on, let’s get going.” With that the pony began walking, Dusk keeping most of his weight against the friendly shoulder given to him. “The name’s Thunderlane.” He said in a congenial tone, quickly peeking Dusk’s interest. He knew a pony on his side with a similar name, but he couldn’t seem to remember where he had heard it. Dusk shoved the though away as they continued inching towards the castle as the guards behind them continued the search of the area.

“Nice to meet you, Thunderlane, I… I think we can agree on that we’ll probably become fast friends.” Dusk stated with a smile that was scarred slightly with a jolt of pain that shot up his hind leg.

“Yeah, I’d like to think that.” Thunderlane replied as they passed through the gate. Dusk silently hoped that of all the ponies they could turn to their side, that this pony would be one of the first.

Chapter 8

Twilight woke up slowly, feeling light headed, very dizzy, and quite thoroughly confused, not to mention the aching pain in her chest. She attempted to get up, only to have a hoof nudge her back down. She looked over and saw a grey stallion shaking his head at her. She didn’t recognize the pony, but then she saw the pendant hanging from his neck.

“D… ouch…” She fumbled, realizing her mistake in time to stop from saying Dusk’s real name. “N-Nightshade, what happened? Where are we?” She asked her adopted brother.

“After the prisoners escaped you attempted to go and help the search, but it appears you had a few too many blasts to the chest.” Dusk explained. “You went into cardiac arrest. You gave us quite the scare for a moment there with you not giving any response.”

“I went into… cardiac arrest?” Twilight questioned, looking at the clean room around her. It made a bit more sense now why she was in this place without recollection. “How did you get me back?” She asked while looking down at her chest, more to be able to see her coat color without the armor’s spell. It was a vibrant crimson and her tail was black with a thin red stripe running through it, quite fitting for a Boysenberry.

“He resorted to a magically induced manual signal to your brain to restart your heart. After that I had to perform CPR on you to get you breathing again.” Dusk explain. “When you woke up you mistook me for your hubby.” He said with a smirk, and to the questioning gaze of Twilight. “Seriously, you’d think that I’d look different enough from Dusk for you not to mistake me for him.” Twilight suddenly realize what he meant, and blushed in shame at her stupid slip up.

“S-sorry, I guess I was really out of it back then.” Twilight replied in embarrassment. Suddenly there was the sound of somepony clearing their throats on the other side of the room. Twilight craned her neck and saw a pony standing with a clipboard grasped in their magic along with a pen that bobbed up and down behind it. The medic walked up to the two with a blank expression as he read over the papers.

“Not to interrupt this oh so touching moment, but there are a few matters that must be attended to.” The physician stated, flipping to the next page, reading it over quickly. “So by several accounts you are brother and sister, correct?”

“Yes, that’s right.” Dusk replied. “We’re actually twins.” He continued. The doctor grunted as he turned to the next page, reading over it quickly.

“According to a fellow guard, you had a bit of training in the Royal Guard, approximately a year and a half by his account of what you said, is this also correct?” The doctor asked.

“Yes, that’s right… why exactly are you asking these questions now?” Dusk asked, attempting to use one of the mirrors on the far wall to read the papers with little success.

“Well, ever since our two new leaders declared open usage of real names, we’ve been forced to make records for everypony, while as before we simply had a slip of identifying paper that responded to a spell a certain way, but now we need physical documentation of every guard and high ranking member of the order.” The doctor explained. “And since you were taking those two prisoners away, you are now some of the last to receive your papers.” Dusk and Twilight looked at each other, and even though they had flat expressions, their eyes were showing the joy that they felt at how they were already being accepted into the ranks of the guards.

“Right, sorry we didn’t come sooner.” Twilight said. “We were going to get the papers when we got the alert that the prisoners had escaped from their cells, so we started the search and were the ones to find them. After that we were told to take them to…”

“Alright, Boysen, he knows what happened next.” Dusk said with a nudge. “Now let’s leave the doctor alone while he fills out the papers.” Twilight huffed, looking away from Dusk, acting a bit upset.

“Wait…” Twilight began, slightly apprehensive, while turning back towards Dusk, “What about our cards?” Dusk looked at her with a smirk, and then back at the doctor.

“I believe that has been already taken care of.” Dusk stated. “We found their chard remnants and small piles of ashes where we were jumped.” He turned back to Twilight. “It seems some of their bolts hit us just in the right way to catch the papers on fire.”

“Yes, that will also be something addressed with these new pieces of identification.” The doctor stated, filling out several more blanks. “We’re devising a new fireproof casing for them, thus making magical bolts unable to destroy them.”

“That’s good. We wouldn’t want the papers to be destroyed before the ponies carrying them.” Twilight joked, gaining another shove from Dusk and a stern glare. Twilight again looked away, acting as if she didn’t even care.

“I find this quite interesting…” The doctor commented as he flipped to the next page, reading over it while taking his pen and filling out a few spaces.

“What exactly do you find interesting?” Dusk asked. The doctor looked at the two ‘siblings’ over his spectacle with a smirk before going back to his papers.

“How you two can bicker so much at times, both by what I’ve seen and heard reports of, and then can go into saving each others’ lives. You might think that the other wouldn’t give a care if their sibling died with such a relationship as yours.” The medic stated as he continued flipping through his papers.

“Even though Boysen can be harebrained and stubbornly stupid at times,” Dusk began, gaining the angry huff of Twilight, “She’s my harebrained stubborn idiot, and she’s my sister.” Twilight looked back towards Dusk with a look of surprise. “I wouldn’t let anything happen to her without repercussions.”

“As I said, you two have a very interesting relationship as brother and sister.” The medic said. “Also, Ms Boysenberry,” The doctor began.

“Yes, what is it, doctor?” Twilight asked, not knowing what the doctor might be thinking.

“It was mouth to mouth CPR.” He stated plainly, flipping to the next page on his clipboard and filling out a few more blanks. Twilight stared at him blankly, blinking for a few seconds, before she realized what he was getting at, and so sprang into her part.

“Yuck!” She shouted, rubbing her foreleg across her muzzle with great fervor. “Disgusting, gross!” She continued, muffled by her own hoof. “Nightshade!” She shouted, glaring daggers at him, he smirked and raised his shoulder in a shrug.

“Hey, it’s CPR; do you think it works on the cheek as well as on the mouth?” Dusk stated nonchalantly. Twilight huffed, crossing her forelimbs. “If it makes you feel any better I had a mint before doing it.” He jived, only gaining another disgusted huff from Twilight. The doctor continued to smirk to himself as he filled out a few more blanks, occasionally asking a question or two, like date of birth, location of birth, allergies and such, before continuing making out the papers for the two ponies.

Eventually the stream of questions came to a close, and the doctor left the room to get the official forums made and the identifications made for the two ponies. Dusk walked around the perimeter of the room, making sure there was no way for anypony to be listening in on their conversation.

“So you really saved my life out there?” Twilight asked. Dusk turned back to her and walked up to her bed, sitting down on his bed which was right beside it, separated by a small walking space.

“Yeah, you went into cardiac arrest so I had to do something quickly, and so I just did what I remembered from Artemis’ medical lessons.” Dusk stated. “The really weird part is that the field medic seemed like she was surprised when I told her she was doing something wrong and gave her a better suggestion.”

“Well, it is understandable to be surprised to be receiving competent instruction from somepony you never expected to have such knowledge.” Twilight pointed out. “As far as she knew, you were just some guard you had received a massive injury that was frantic to save his sister, and you still were able to help in some way.”

“I guess that’s true enough.” Dusk agreed. “But they really should invest in better field medics if they want to keep ponies alive. She was content to continue using the defibrillator even though it wasn’t giving us anything. It was only when I suggested manual magical transmission did she even seem to consider it.”

“Well, you know as well as I that that operation has several adverse affects on a pony’s system. She had no way of knowing that I’m a bit more on the side that it would take an extremely powerful shock to cause the same damage to me as a normal jolt to any pony of the street.” Twilight stated. “She might have thought of it, but was just waiting for a next of kin to give permission, but when you upright and told her to do it without being asked if you consented caught her off her guard.”

“Maybe, but I still think they should have a bit more proactive group of medics in the field if they want to keep ponies alive longer than past their first serious injury.” Dusk stated. “I don’t want to have to explain to everypony why you died because some field medic wasn’t adequately trained to handle a situation like yours.”

“Well, we’ll just have to be more careful then.” Twilight stated. “I doubt we’ll be shot by Celestia or Artemis ever again.” Dusk nodded with a small smile.

“Yeah, I guess that method of joining the guard was a bit… harsh.” Dusk said. “But it was effective enough for its repercussions.” Twilight nodded, sitting up in her bed, only to have Dusk gently put her back down.

“Dusk, I… I mean, Nightshade, I can’t stay here forever.” Twilight reasoned. “Let me get up and walk around, I need to know my surroundings. I can’t let my heart stopping hold me back.”

“Boysen, I need you to stay here for the very reason you just suffered a cardiac arrest only two hours ago.” Dusk said. “You shouldn’t be this fit so soon after such a life endangering condition.”

“Nightshade, I feel fine, just… just let me get up and going.” Twilight pleaded, pushing against Dusk’s hoof with little success. “If I stay here they’ll get suspicious. I need o go and protect my cover, or else both of us will be discovered.”

“Our cover is the very reason you need to stay here.” Dusk reasoned with her. “Boysen, you just had an episode of cardiac arrest. You shouldn’t be alright, so I need you to stay here.” Suddenly the sound of the door opening behind them put Dusk’s mind on overdrive. “Sis, you need to stay here and rest, you aren’t stable enough to even try to stand.”

“I’d tend to agree.” The doctor concurred. “Ms Boysenberry, you just had your heart stop for, approximately, a minute and a quarter, and then had deoxygenated blood pumping through your veins from ten second after that. Those factors alone are pretty damaging to a pony’s physiology, not even taking to account that you were struck down by this world’s two strongest beings, which in itself is a miracle that you made it through. You’ll need to rest for at least a month, and in all likelihood, much more than that, just to be sure that you are completely well.” The doctor explained. “Once the heart fails it might still have problems and might even go as far as to stop again, and a good number of patients who get hit by the second never get to see the third.”

“Listen to him, Boysen, you need to rest, trust me, and if not me, trust him.” Dusk pleaded. “I know you want to be back on duty as quickly as possible, and trust me when I say I know why, but you and I both know that neither of us can take on those two alone.” Twilight sighed and went limp in the bed as Dusk retracted his hoof.

“Fine, I’ll rest up, but I don’t want you running off to avenge me while I still can’t keep up, alright?” Twilight bargained. Dusk nodded before turning to the doctor.

“Do you have our papers ready?” He asked the medical pony who walked a bit closer o the two. The doctor lifted his clipboard again, looking between the two ponies.

“Yes and no.” He replied, gaining the questioning glances of both ponies. “You see, I just really had a burning question I wanted to ask you, Nightshade, before I put the final touch on the identification slips.”

“Yeah, and what might that be?” Dusk asked, unsure of what the medic had in his mind, a feeling that at one time had been familiar, only to have it thrown away upon meeting Twilight.

“Well, according to reports on the events that transpired during your sister’s cardiac arrest, you showed great amount of competence and confidence while ordering my field medic.” The doctor explained. “First thing I’d like to know is where you got such training.”

“Well,” Dusk began, “When my talent of mixing herbal remedies came to light, my father sent me off to the university in Canterlot to study advanced medicine.” He explained calmly. “There I learned a few ways to treat patients in critical condition that didn’t have the time for my remedies to be brewed properly.” Dusk looked towards Twilight with a smirk on his snout. “I also might have shown a few things to Boysen, but that’s for another day.”

“Might have? You taught me everything until I got it down to a T and them even farther.” Twilight groaned before rolling over, giving a quick glance towards her cutie mark, which was a small bush that had berries on it, quite a bit different from her usual star with sparkles, but while looking down her side towards it, she noticed her armor was gone, but her wings were still not showing. She flexed the wing that she wasn’t lying on, and found that the covers over where her wing should’ve been moved as if there were something moving below them, leading her to believe that it was yet another part of the disguise spell.

“Well, now that that’s out of the way,” The doctor continued, “The second question is this: would you be willing to join the medical core? With your skills, you could very well save the lives of many injured ponies on the field or here in the medical bay.” Dusk looked in surprise at the doctor, but then shook his head.

“Sorry, but I can’t accept. I might now emergency remedies for critical conditions, but I am really quite rusty after joining the guard on all the uses of the items in a medical kit.” Dusk replied. “I haven’t had too much experience in the field anyway, and I’d probably do more harm than good by administering cure based on eye evaluations without proper medical examinations.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, I still think we really could’ve used you, but still, if you don’t want to I can’t force you.” The doctor stated, scratching a few last words into the blanks of the cards and the papers that hung from his clipboard. He slipped the small cards into protective cases and levitated them to the two ‘siblings’. “Here you are, just remember that whenever someone needs more extensive verification of your presence as part of the guard you can come to me.”

“Um, one small question, doctor.” Twilight said, looking over the card that bobbed up and down in her blue field of magic. “Why exactly are these records being kept in the clinic’s area?” She asked, looking around at the gray room around her.

“As I’ve told many others with the same question as you, Ms Boysen,” The doctor replied, turning towards the ponies again, “It is because they also contain medical information, such as allergies and such, which are essential for treating ponies effectively. Imagine if we thought you might have contracted rabies and gave you the shot to counter act the disease without knowing if you had a reaction to it. If it ended up you really were allergic to it, we’d only know after you started having a reaction, and by then it’s a bit late.”

“I see, thank you, doctor.” Twilight finished. The doctor nodded to the two and walked away, flipping through some more papers while filling some of the empty blanks. The doctor left the room, closing it softly behind him. Twilight and Dusk looked at their cards, each containing name, rank, birth day, cutie mark, eye color, coat color, mane and tail color, and a serial number.

“So, I guess I’ll see you later, Boysen.” Dusk said, slipping his card into his armor. “Just take it easy, you need to keep up appearances, and right now the best way to do that is to actually act like you’re trying to recover in an uphill struggle instead of having such a large amount of magical energy inside of you that you can just up and run after being revived.”

“Alright, Nightshade, see you when you get back.” Twilight replied, retreating farther underneath the covers while trying to get a bit more comfortable in the rather crudely made bed. “I’ll try to act like I’m recovering, but no promises that I’ll do a convincing job.” Dusk nodded and left the room, hoping to meet up with his newly made friend.

“And you actually let them stay?” Solaris asked incredulously. “Need I remind you that they were not only your former students, but are also part of the Equestrian monarchs?” Luna nodded in agreement to her male counterpart’s statement.

“Yes we realize that and all of the entailed dangers that come with this mission, but they also knew all of that and fully accepted it.” Celestia replied. “They believed that we needed inside eyes and ears to what this Alliance was doing. They are doubtlessly already fully accepted into the ranks of the guards.”

“And what if they aren’t, suppose they need to send a message, but can’t because they don’t have a messenger dragon.” Luna questioned pointedly. “There seems to be parts of this plan you have over looked.”

“Actually, no, we haven’t look over any points that you have mentioned thus far. Spike and Spine volunteered to be captured while spying after hearing that Twilight Sparkle and Dusk Shine were both inside.” Artemis countered.

“So know you’re sending in two more subjects of Equestria in there just to fill the holes to your Swiss cheese of a plan?” Solaris asked sharply.

“If it is necessary to make this plan full proof, than yes, we’ll make sure every eventuality is prepared for.” Celestia replied. “This operation is very, and I repeat, very delicate and requires the utmost care to execute properly.”

“Next thing you know,” Solaris groaned, “You’ll be plugging the whole of Twilight and Dusk’s absence with your niece and our nephew disguised as them.”

“Actually, they are already in place for that very mission.” Artemis replied. “They’ll make it harder to pin anything on the real Twilight and Dusk by tying together all loose ends quite nicely.” Luna and Solaris gaped at this revelation, not sure if they were egging them on or if they were actually serious.

“You mean to tell me that you sent our prince of the Crystal Empire and you princess of the same into an already overcrowded area that is getting more and more filled with ponies of some importance or another?” Luna gawked.

“Quite, as we said, this is a very delicate situation and must have every eventuality planned for unless we want all of them to be caught.” Celestia replied. “We even have a whole company of earth ponies and another of unicorns and a third and fourth company of pegasi of the royal guard out there, constantly avoiding the enemy patrols, ready to jump into action and take the castle at any moment.”

“Are you serious? In our time as royals you’ve come up with some harebrained ideas that had more holes than I care to recall in hindsight, but this one is so far the opposite that there is no way it could turn out nicely for anypony.” Luna stated. “Please, just let Dusk and Twilight do their thing without so many eyes watching and so many hooves to keep track of. If you wish to let those two do their thing, than let them, but don’t involve so many others.”

“We are only doing what we feel is necessary. Being as we have so many important ponies in one basket, we have placed a safe amount of guards around the perimeter and have sent in the messenger dragons to ensure that we can maintain constant communication.” Artemis stated. “If any of the ponies there were not necessary, we’d recall them with all haste.”

“But since all of them play an important part in this we can’t safely recall them.” Celestia continued. “We need Dusk and Twilight to help us understand the workings of the Alliance for an inside perspective, we need Spike and Spines as to modes of communication, we need the fake Twilight and Dusk there to ensure that nopony suspects the real ones, and we need the guards in case we get caught and need a quick evacuation.” Solaris and Luna sighed in defeat.

“Fine, do as you think is right.” Solaris stated. “When I came over this way I didn’t expect to be thrown into a mess of convoluted planning.” He groaned.

“Trust me, when I called you I didn’t intend for you to have to.” Luna assured. “In fact, when I called you these two weren’t even out of the Alliance’s hold.”

“So,” Artemis interrupted, redirecting their attention, “Are we agreed that none of us will interfere in the plan unless our intentions are revealed to the Alliance?” Everypony nodded and murmured their agreement. “Alright, the pieces are in place; let us all hope that there are no incidents during the course of this plan.”

Chapter 9 Author's Note

The Grand Finale! This week, because these are the last two chapters, you get a double release! Yep, the Epilogue is also up, so you can read that when you finish here!

Chapter 9

Dusk sat down at one of the table in the dining common, setting his platter and helmet down on the table’s surface, and soon Thunderlane came by and sat down across the table from him, setting his helmet and platter down as well, revealing his grey coat, icy mane and yellow eyes.

“How’s the patient?” Thunderlane asked before taking munching down on an apple. Dusk levitated a spoonful of mashed potatoes to his mouth, the dry, obviously recently rehydrated, paste barely giving off any taste resembling potatoes.

“She’s resting and not very patient about it all.” Dusk replied with a smirk before taking another bite. “Cardiac arrest isn’t going to stop her stubborn tendencies. It’s only because the doctor won’t let her leave that she’ll even stay down for a few seconds.”

“She sounds like a hoofful.” Thunderlane commented before downing the rest of his apple, bits and pieces scattering across the table. “I’m starting to wonder how any pony could handle her, but I guess being sibling does give you a certain bit of leverage in knowing what makes her tick.”

“You might think that, but if anything it makes it more difficult.” Dusk replied. “Because we’re twins she doesn’t she why I have to be so ‘bossy’, as she puts it. She can be a headache, but it’s the type of headache you wouldn’t trade away.”

“Sounds like my little brother in certain ways, though he is a bit better about it than your sister by what you’re saying.” Thunderlane observed. “One time he decided he really wasn’t scared of the Everfree and went in with a bag of snacks and a blanket.”

“How’d it go for him?” Dusk asked, lifting his glass to his lips to drink the extremely watered down apple juice.

“Well, he soon remembered how much he’s scared of the dark when I’m not around. He came home after ten seconds in the forest claiming that there had been a three headed creatures, one part timber wolf, one part Ursa Minor, and another part dragon.” Thunderlane replied.

“You know, I might chalk that up to imagination, but since it’s the Everfree we’re talking about, I wouldn’t put it to far out of the realm of possibility.” Dusk commented.

“All guards are to report to the main courtyard!” A voice shouted from the stairway leading down to the cafeteria. “Leave your plates here; if things go smoothly you’ll have time to finish up within five to ten minutes.”

“Well, nothing lost really,” Thunderlane mumbled, “The food isn’t hot anyway.” Dusk nodded in agreement, putting his helmet back on, his coat and mane turning back to the uniform colors of the Alliance guard. The two friends stood up and walked over to the stairs in the swarm of other guard filing out to see what they were needed for.

“So, Thunderlane, how’s the guard life treating you?” Dusk asked as they went up the stairs. Thunderlane shrugged, ruffling his wings slightly.

“Good enough, even though we don’t get enough wing time around here unless you’re on pegasus patrol, which I’m not eligible for since I’m still just a corporal.” He replied with a sigh. “That is something I just don’t understand.”

“Well, by what I understood from our first conversation you were a Royal Guard at some point?” Dusk questioned.

“Actually no, that would be my dad. He taught Rumble and I everything he knew after he was discharged due to health concerns.” Thunderlane explained. “Whole reason why I’m already a corporal in all honesty, otherwise I’d probably still be in basic training.”

“Hmm… interesting, I guess having certain connections to former military personnel does help in some regard.” Dusk noted. “If you don’t mind me asking, why’d you join the Alliance? I mean, everypony here has some reason to have join, what’s yours?”

“Well, it was a chance to be in something bigger than myself. They offered me a chance to change Equestria for the better and I couldn’t pass that up.” Thunderlane explained.

“Well, that is a good reason… but, what if they aren’t doing what they say they’re doing?” Dusk asked. “Hypothetically of course. Imagine if the leaders of the Alliance launched an Equestria wide attack to over throw the princesses forcefully. What would you do?” Thunderlane looked at him skeptically.

“Just what are you trying to get at, Nightshade?” Thunderlane asked apprehensively, not sure what to make of the sudden shift in his friend.

“Exactly what it sounds like, Thunderlane; it is a simple question.” Dusk replied. “What would you do if the Alliance went into all out war against Equestria, or what if you found out that that was their goal?” Thunderlane paused for a moment, deep in thought.

“Well, I couldn’t really feel justified. Equestria is my home, and even if any pony could make a complaint against the princesses, they would easily be outweighed by all the good they’ve done.” Thunderlane stated simply. “I don’t mean any disloyalty, but I couldn’t go to war against my own country.”

“Good answer, we should all know our bounds of allegiance. Congratulations, Thunderlane, you’ve passed the test.” Dusk stated with a smile.

“Test, what do you mean that it was a test?” Thunderlane questioned. Dusk looked at him with a smile a chuckled slightly.

“That’s what I asked when I was given the question before. It seems the higher ups want to make sure they aren’t leading a bunch of bloodthirsty brutes.” Dusk explained. “If you had said that you would’ve followed on, I wouldn’t have told you about the test. You see, they set a single pony to start the test and everypony who passes does the test on another pony they place some amount of trust, but it seems the original barer of the question has been… detained in the infirmary.” Thunderlane blinked a few times, and then his eyes lit up in realization.

“Boysen was the original questioner?” Thunderlane asked incredulously. “Why not have a high ranking officer give the test to everypony, why her? This just gets more and more confusing.”

“Because nopony would expect a long ranking pony to be giving a test from the leaders of the Alliance, and plus, since it’s just a long ranking pony, most others feel more comfortable with telling the truth about the matter.” Dusk explained. “Now that you’ve passed, you also need to test another pony you place some trust in.” He stated with a grave expression. “Remember, if they pass, tell them to carry on the test with another, but if they fail, tell them that they’re a good soldier and are to be commended for their faithfulness.”

“Alright, Nightshade,” Thunderlane sighed, “This is a big responsibility, but I’ll do my best to pass on the test.” He stated. “I’ll see you around later.” Dusk nodded as the pegasus melted back into the main bulk of the crowd. This plan was working better than expected. If the test was given to everypony, soon enough the whole army would either immediately leave the Alliance once the truth was revealed, or would be swarmed by comrades that didn’t believe in going that far. But the whole plan depended on the leaders of the Alliance wanting to go to war against Equestria, an eventuality he make inevitable by means of two certain counselors.

Dusk, along with all the other guards who were in what seemed like deep conversation as the question he had began spread like wildfire, which spread and reached out, snatching ponies that had already been in the courtyard. On their way, Dusk had met with Clockwork and Timeturner and had told them him plan, to which they agreed. He directed his attention to the platform that was set up in the courtyard were the two leaders stood, waiting for everypony to arrive. The two, brown, earth ponies stood by the platform with the other counselors, like a ring of the highest order, which was surrounded by another ring of the higher ranking military ponies.

“Ponies of the Alliance of the Two Halves,” The mare began, stepping forward, taking the place of prominence, “Yesterday, as you all know, four ponies escaped, almost killing two of our own.” She continued, causing Dusk to grin a little. If he was any good at predicting where a speech was going, this one was going directly where it needed to go. “We have recaptured two of those ponies, and they are now being tried along with two baby dragons.” Dusk’s eyes went wide. Was it possible that Artemis and Celestia had been captured again? And by baby dragon, did they mean Spines and Spike?

“Indeed, we have recaptured the two royals of supposed Friendship along with their petty draconic assistants.” The stallion confirmed with a grin. Dusk forced his jaw closed, almost having to put a leg under it to keep it from dropping to the floor. He was here, and Twilight was in the infirmary, who were they caught. ”Say hello again, prince and princess, to those you have so wronged.” And on cue, two alicorns walked onto stage, both with his colors and cutie mark, but something was off. Both of them were a bit tall and lanky to be him, even though their colors, mane and tail style, and everything else were correct.

“Will the brother of the mare who almost died come forward?” The mare on stage asked. Dusk froze in place, though he had enough presence of mind to furrow his brow in anger. He felt a tap on his shoulder, to which he turned to look back.

“That’s you, Nightshade, get up there.” Thunderlane said with a flat expression. “They’ve summoned you, you need to go.” Dusk nodded slowly and started to make his way through the crowd, and up on stage.

“Please, state your name and you sister’s name and state what happened to you at the hooves of these two ponies’ former mentors.” The stallion said.

“I am Nightshade, my sister is Boysenberry. Boysen suffered a cardiac arrest due to an overload of magic to the brain and to the rest of her body for that matter.” Dusk stated.

“Very well, this has been noted, and these two ponies here are now at your mercy. Do as you may with them, and ask for anything out of your power at the moment and it shall be given.” The mare stated with a snide grin.

“Let them be bound in magic absorbing chains and dragged by me to the deepest darkest cell where I can do as I wish in retribution for my sister.” Dusk forced out, trying to stay in character as much a possible.

“Very well, it shall be done.” The stallion stated. “Guards, do as this stallion commands, and let the ponies know the character of this guard, whether he show a measure of mercy or a dose of pure justice.” He ordered. The guard quickly responded and climbed up on stage and wrapped both of them in chains, which they linked to the horn of the saddle piece of Dusk’s armor.

“Show me where the cell is that I have described.” Dusk ordered one of the guards, who nodded and began walking towards the inside of the castle. Dusk pulled against the chains, and the ponies behind him stumbled forward as they were dragged along. Dusk’s heart was beating so hard that he thought he might have to get a bed in the hospital. Slowly, they progressed through the winding, stony corridors, the smooth, cleanly cut, well lit stones devolving into craggy, unkempt, dimly lit slabs. Torches, which had been placed in such a way that there were no dark spots, were now so sparse and far between that for most of the trip it was hard to tell where they were stepping.

Slowly, the gurgling of a stream came to their ears, and the clip clopping of their hooves against the stone path changed into the crunching sound of walking across dried grass and caked earth. The torches slowly became more and more regular, lighting their path better than before, though they still let several patches of darkness, while their dancing, uneven light caused shadows of ponies to become ravenous, starving monsters, wanting for the meat of the body they were cast from. Dusk pulled harder on the chains, trying to go a bit faster to keep the ponies leading them in sight.

As they continued down the path, they crossed over a small arching path of stone that passed over the small stream they had heard before, and all around it, mushrooms and other plants that didn’t need sunlight to survive sprouted, enjoying the moisture of the little, churning brook. Dusk saw two gigantic, wooden doors that had a small office like structure set into the wall beside it. Eventually, they reached a cell with only a solid metal door that had to small slits in it and a large metal bar going across its length facing them. Dusk nodded to the guard, who began heading back.

“Make sure nopony else comes even close to here as long as I’m inside. I want no distractions whatsoever.” Dusk ordered. The guard nodded and continued down the hall towards the exit. Dusk then opened the cell and led the two ponies inside, leaving the door completely open. “Well, for starters, I’d like to know who you two really are and why you are here.” He said, taking his helmet off and tossing it to the side.

“I am Princess Twilight Sparkle.” The mare fake replied with a horrible imitation of Twilight’s tone that was almost as grating as nails against a chalk board in comparison.

“And I’m Prince Dusk Shine.” The stallion fake stated with a grave expression. Dusk groaned and looked at the two with an annoyed gaze.

“No you’re not. For one thing you sound nothing like them and you body proportions are way off.” He stated simply. “The entire reason I brought you down here was because you two are obviously fakes and I want to know why you are even pretending.”

“We’re Twilight and Dusk, really we are.” The fake Twilight pressed.

“Um, no you aren’t. I’ve seen both of them and besides cutie mark and colors, you are nothing like them, especially your voices.” Dusk stated. “So let’s come clean, who are you two and why are you even trying to pretend to be two royals?”

“We are royals, really we are. And we are Dusk and Twilight.” His fake version stated, still using a incredibly bad imitation.

“Sure, I’m more willing to believe the royal part than who you claim to be.” Dusk said. “Seriously, ‘Dusk’ you of all ponies should be getting the voice right when you’ve heard it so recently.”

“Sure, you could say that, but I’m telling you that I’m Dusk.” The faker continued. Dusk sighed and began to walk out of the cell when suddenly Thunderlane crashed into him.

“Thunderlane? What’s wrong, what are you doing down here?” Dusk asked, looking over the guard, making sure he wasn’t hurt badly.

“A-after you left with… with these two,” Thunderlane began, still trying to catch his breath, having probably running the whole way from surface to this cell, “I-Inkpot and Quill announced t-that… that as their p-part… to help gain… justice for Boysen that they would… would launch a mission to attack Canterlot and show… show Equestria that w-we aren’t to be trifled with.”

“W-what, they’re going to attack Canterlot?” The Twilight fake exclaimed. “We need to get out of here and warn them.” Thunderlane shook his head.

“You two are prisoners here, I can’t let you leave.” Thunderlane explained. Dusk grabbed the pony by the shoulders and looked him square in the eyes.

“Two things Thunderlane; one, didn’t you say that if the Alliance crossed that line that you’d have no choice but to leave since you couldn’t do it?” Dusk asked.

“Y-yes, but these ponies were involved in the incident that nearly killed your sister. Even after separating from the Alliance I can’t let them go without facing justice.” Thunderlane reasoned. “It just wouldn’t be right for us to just let them walk out.”

“These two aren’t the real Dusk and Twilight. They are in disguise, and if I’m right, those chains do what I expect, soon enough the spell concealing them will drain the magic that is making them appear this way and reveal who they are.” Dusk stated, and as if on cue, the spell wore out and revealed the ponies for what they really were.

“Princess Cadence and… her reflection?” Thunderlane questioned. “B-but how, they looked perfect.” He said, trying to wrap his head around the situation.

“I’d disagree, their proportions were way off and their voices really didn’t help them out.” Dusk said. “Now, let’s get them out of here, the ponies up top will be happy for any help to fight against the Alliance loyalists.” Dusk walked over to the ponies and took out his sword in his teeth and slammed it into the lock on Cadence’s chain, which gave up the ghost immediately. Dusk repeated the process on his brother-in-law’s lock with the same results. “Alright, let’s get going. No flying or magic until we’re well away from these chains, they’re quite potent.” Everypony nodded as Dusk rushed out into the lead, rushing through the winding corridor, splashing across the stream as he missed the bridge, but didn’t care to stop as they charge on towards the surface.

Eventually the four ponies reached the more civilized portions of the castle, taking a quick turn towards the clinic. Dusk bucked the door off of its hinges, breaking the look that held it closed before turning in a jump to rush inside. He skidded to a stop when he saw a pony holding a knife to Twilight’s neck.

“Stop right there, Nightshade, or Boysen gets it and hard.” The pony cautioned with murderous intent. “You don’t want her hurt, and I could care less.”

“I don’t have time for this, Boysen, let’s give it to him.” Dusk said with a groan as he charged his horn and shot a magical beam straight into the stallion’s horn, causing the knife to tumble while Twilight shot the knife into the wall, the blade melting to slag as it slid down the stonework. “Quick advice for you, get running before I lose all patience.” The pony charged out of the room, heeding Dusk’s advice.

“Nightshade, I thought you’d never get here, and I see that… Cadence?” Twilight questioned. “What are you doing here, Cadence?”

“Well, until a moment ago I was Twilight by means of a spell, but a bit of chain took the magic away and now I’m me.” She answered nonchalantly.

“Boysen, we got a situation in the courtyard. We need to get there and help apprehend the loyalists.” Dusk explained. “We have no time for cover right now, so let’s go.”

“W-wait, hold on a second, she just suffered a cardiac arrest yesterday and you’re ordering her to do highly strenuous work already?” Thunderlane questioned, looking at Dusk as if he was a crazed loon.

“Remember how I said a cardiac arrest wouldn’t stop her in the slightest?” Dusk asked, Thunderlane nodded in response, “Well, we’ll just say that it doesn’t stop her in anyway and leave it at that.” He looked back towards Twilight, who was putting on the chest piece of her armor, leaving her helmet like he had.

“B-but how is that even possible?” Thunderlane stammered.

“Well, I’ll just say it isn’t and leave it at that. She was alright this morning and was raring to go, only staying here because of the doctor and I insisting, and now she’s leaving because I say so and there is a very good reason.” Dusk stated.

“Well, let’s get going if we got such a good reason.” Twilight said walking up to them. “Or do we have time for sightseeing?”

“Maybe after we help get the situation under control, but not before then, follow me.” Dusk replied. Everypony charged out of the clinic and into the halls once again, taking turn after turn as they drew closer and closer to their target.

The five ponies burst through the main doors and found the two groups of ponies fighting, one group with their helmet off and the other still with helmets on, the helmed ones most likely being the loyalists, especially since they surrounded the ponies closest and the leaders themselves. Suddenly a flood of royal guards descended from the sky, while the main gates were broken open, revealing even more royal guards.

“Maybe they have it covered.” Twilight ventured before the sound of a horn blared across the sky, and on the far hills, a force of ponies arrayed in the same red mane and white coat charged towards them, headed by two other ponies of matching colors of blue and black with tan overcoats. “Or maybe I spoke too soon.” Suddenly a blue box appeared in the middle of the courtyard, throwing the ponies away that had been where it now forced itself to be. The double doors opened and a slew of guards in royal guard armor spewed forth and joined the battle. “Or maybe I was right.”

“Or maybe we should try to intervene while there are still ponies left to save and stop correcting ourselves when the tables start to turn.” Dusk commented. Dusk grasped his pendant in his magic and snapped it off, his true colors showing through. Twilight smirked and snapped her chain as well and took the armor piece off, spreading her wings.

“Y-you two were… really Twilight and Dusk the whole time?” Thunderlane stammered in surprise. “Is this going to get any more convoluted, or are we good for now?”

“I’d say we work out all the twists for now.” Dusk said with a nod from Twilight. Now let’s go and see if we can stop this thing. All four alicorns spread their wings and prepared to take off, when suddenly a blast of yellow and blue magic blinded them and everypony around. When the light cleared, the royal sisters and brothers appeared above everything, casting a spell that stopped the motion of everything within a large circumference, so large, in fact, that even Sire and Majesty’s force were frozen.

“EVERYPONY, BE STILL!” The mighty royal Canterlot voice of Celestia rang out across the battlefield, and everypony obliged, though it was by force instead of wanting to. “This battle is not necessary! Blood need not be shed today!”

“You nearly killed one of our ponies! Blood of the common pony need not be spilled,” Quill Scratch shouted the reply, “But as justice demands, your blood, as well as the blood of you reflection need be spilled!”

“I’ll correct that statement.” Twilight said, still trapped in Celestia’s magic before she suddenly landed on her stomach as the field disappeared suddenly. She stood up and wrapped her magic around her broken pendant and wrapped the broken chains around her neck, the spell reviving and changing her appearance to Boysenberry’s. “She nearly killed me, and as the victim, I do not press charges against her purely because I know she didn’t mean to do me harm to that extent.”

“You have all heard her proclamation, and you have also heard to true intent of the Alliance. Choose now, do you stand with them, or do you stand by Boysenberry and Nightshade? Remove your helmet if you wish to leave the Alliance and never return to its ways!” With that, everypony was released from the spell.

“Brothers and sisters,” Inkpot shouted from the stage, “Be not deceived by her, stand by me and the Alliance! Let the world be one whole, not two halves!” The ponies slowly drift apart, some going towards the Alliance’s side, while others took their helmets off and marched over to Twilight and Dusk, who both wore their pendants, now joined together to form one symbol. Eventually the two sides were divided, a massive advantage for Twilight and Dusk being as the other side was comprised of Sire and Majesty fighters who had not heard the declaration made by Inkpot and Quill Scratch and some personal friends of the two new leaders. Celestia again cast her spell on the Alliance ponies, trapping them in a magical field, moving them into a massive carriage that was enclosed in metal bars.

“Be not mistaken, Celestia!” Quill Scratch shouted out. “Our beliefs are still strong in the hearts of everypony. We have won; even in this loss we have won a great victory.”

“Say what you may, but because of your own faulty leadership, you chance at obtaining your goal is now impossible, for everypony all across Equestria has heard your intent, and has rejected you.” Artemis proclaimed before sealing the ponies with a magical shield.

Epilogue

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Chapter 1

Twilight pushed the last book into place, the first of many re-shelving days planned for her new castle’s library. Spike pushed against the post of one of the shelves, using his feather duster to wipe off the dust from the crystal shelves. Spike wiped an arm over his sweaty forehead as he began to descend.

“See, that wasn’t so hard. We had it done in no time in all, just like I said.” Twilight commented as she took a white rag and wiped off one of the harder to reach nooks of the shelf. Spike put his feather duster over his shoulder as he cracked his back.

“Yeah sure, if you call two hours and a half no time at all.” Spike retorted. He quickly waddled over to one of the tables set around the room that had a pitcher of lemonade, which he had prepared, and a few disposable cups. Spike lifted the pitcher and poured a cup for Twilight and himself. Twilight nodded and smiled at him as she levitated the cup over to her lips.

“This is really good,” Twilight commented as she levitated the pitcher over to her now empty cup and refilled it and downed her second cup in a few gulps before levitating the pitcher back to Spike and pouring him some more. “What would I do without you, Spike?” She said as she finally set the pitcher back onto the tray.

“You’d probably go insane and lock yourself in here with nothing but your books and a few sandwiches.” He replied with a smirk. Twilight chuckled lightly at the joke.

“Yeah, I’d probably do something as drastic like that.” She commented as she walked over to the table and tossed her cup into the trash bin nearby. She drew Spike in for a hug with a smile. “Thanks for being there for me.”

“I wouldn’t be much of a number one assistant if I didn’t, now would I?” Spike replied with a chuckle. “You’re welcome, Twi.” He said as he returned the embrace. Suddenly there was a gurgling noise, and in a rush of green flame, Spike burped up a scroll as he quickly turned his head away, the scroll landing neatly on one of the reading table nearby. Twilight and Spike let go of each other with a laugh.

“Remind me not to give you a hug when a message is coming in.” Twilight joked as she walked over to the message as she used her magic to lift it and bring it closer for her inspection. “Well isn’t this curious…” Twilight muttered as she looked at the still closed scroll.

“What is it Twilight, something wrong?” Spike asked as his laughter faded and turned into a concerned tone. Twilight turned the message toward him and showed him what had made her curious.

“The seal, it isn’t Celestia’s, it’s Luna’s.” She stated as she turned it back to herself, looking it over carefully. “I don’t recall her ever sending me messages before.” She continued as she used her magic to break the seal. “I hope everything is alright…” Twilight trailed off as she began to read. Spike watched as her expression shifted from concerned to terrified and then to horror until it finally came upon a feeling even beyond those. Twilight rolled it up and galloped out of the crystalline library, leaving Spike behind her, running up behind her in an attempt to keep up.

“Twilight, what’s going on? Why are we running?” He shouted after her, but she didn’t take the time to stop and reply, instead she just kept running. Spike continued chasing after her through hall after hall, through stair cases and other adjoining rooms that Spike hadn’t even been to previously.

“Hey, Sugar cube, what’s going on?” Applejack said, but Twilight just barged past her. “Spike, what’s going on?” Spike just held his hands up in confusion as he ran by as well. Spike heard Applejack running behind him, and then felt her scoop him up as she began to overtake him and catch up with Twilight. Suddenly she skidded to a stop and then jumped through a door and, by what Spike heard before going through the doorway, began to throw things to and fro.

Applejack and Spike entered the room and found themselves in a disaster area that was at one time Twilight’s room. Twilight was a lavender blur galloping this way and that, throwing things into a pair of saddlebags that lay in the middle of the floor that had several things already shoved into it.

“Twilight, what’s going on here?” Applejack asked as she watched Twilight bounce from one end of the room to the other like some sort of deranged tennis ball.

“Ooh, what’s happening here?” Pinkie asked as she popped her head through the gap between Applejack and the door. “Is this run crazy and panic type of time? I can do that!” With that she zipped into the room and began flailing about screaming beside Twilight while making funny faces and giggling occasionally. Applejack rolled her eyes, not even noticing as Spike slipped off of her back and walked farther into the room.

Spike jogged over to Twilight general pattern, and as she passed, ran his claws along her side, which caused her to spasm and trip over herself, landing face first into a heap of scarves. Pinkie immediately noticed the change in pace and froze stock still in the middle of the air before landing softly on the ground with a smile.

“That was fun; maybe we can get everypony to do it next time!” She said while skipping out of the room, gaining her several more eye rolls. Spike turned back to the now dizzy Twilight who was trying to get her sense of direction back.

“Twilight, what’s happening, why are you running around so much?” Spike asked her as he helped her out of the pile. Twilight took a deep breath, calming herself enough to speak.

“Luna said that last night Canterlot was attacked by an unknown entity. They kidnapped Celestia and left Luna unable to give chase until somepony came by and noticed her two hours later. There isn’t any other information that she gave me except I need to get down there right now.” Twilight said before she began trotting around the room and tossing thing into her saddlebags.

“How did they do that?” Spike gasped, “Celestia and Luna are the most powerful magic wielders in all of Equestria; they could take on anything if they were even slightly aware of the danger!” Spike said, waving his arms in exasperation.

“Wait, you’re telling me that some random thing or pony just up and took Celestia but left Luna behind?” Applejack interjected. “If they really wanted to do some damage wouldn’t they take both of them? I mean, if they took Celestia and left Luna unable to chase them, wouldn’t it stand to reason that Luna would be hunting them down. So, why not take her too? It just doesn’t make a lick of sense.” She finished, shaking her head as she removed her hat and held it o her chest with a hoof.

“I don’t know anything about that; all I know is that I need to get there right now.” Twilight replied before stopping and turning to Applejack. “Can you tell the girls to get ready as well? If they ask why just tell them we are needed in Canterlot and we don’t have much time or details on the situation and that we just need to get there now.” She said. Applejack nodded as se set her hat on her head and lowered the rim in determination.

“Alright, I’m on it. See you at the train station then.” Applejack replied. She then turned and galloped down the hall and began to tell the others. Spike looked at Twilight as she continued to throw things into her bags.

“I know this might be a bit cliché for this situation, but…” Spike began, “I got a bad feeling about this.” He said finally, his head bowed and his hands folded together behind his back. Twilight stopped and walked over to him and sat down, placing a fore hoof on his shoulder.

“It’s alright to be scared, Spike. You just have to learn to face your fears. Being courageous isn’t having no fears at all, but knowing how to face the ones you do have.” Twilight replied, a loving smile on her face. Spike smiled back, and then slipped out of the hug.

“I guess I’ll need to pack as well, huh?” Spike said. “Well, better start now then.” With that he scurried off and dug his bag out from under the pile of scarves and began gathering his things together.

Twilight and the rest of the Element of Harmony along with Spike arrived at Canterlot station later that evening and quickly hurried through the streets towards the castle. As they drew nearer to the castle, a large group of guards became visible in front of the main gate and in the courtyard before the castle. The guards at the gate saw Twilight and her friend’s approach and quickly opened the gate, the guards inside quickly forming a wall on either side of the path to the castle’s front. The ponies looked at the guards around them, along with the guards that sat in the windows with crossbows or bows, ready to take down any in coming enemies.

“I say, things must really be in dire straits if the security has been increased so exponentially.” Rarity noted as they continued down the path. Twilight, Applejack, and Spike shared a nervous glance while they drew nearer to the main castle. The guards on either side of the doors used their magic and pulled the door open. The six ponies and the dragon went in quickly, the scores of guards patrolling around the interior of the castle instantly grabbing their attention, as well as the majestic lunar princess that stood at the top of the stairs.

“Princess Luna, what’s happening?” Twilight asked as she and her friends ascended the stair to meet Luna. With a flick of her tail, she motioned for the new arrivals to follow her. Increasing their speed to keep up, the ponies fell in line and entered the main throne room right behind Luna, the guards on either side of the entrance pulling the doors closed behind them. Luna turned to face the ponies, her eyes drifting over each one, reading their expressions like a book.

“Last night, near the eleventh hour, somepony or something attacked Canterlot, catching us completely off our guard.” Luna started.

“Well that explains the increase in security, but why were we called here?” Rarity questioned. “And for that matter, where is Celestia? Is she off trying to figure out what happened?” Luna sighed.

“No, we believe that she was captured by whomever or whatever did this act.” Luna replied, “And before you should ask the same question as those who have heard it before,” Luna cut them off before they could interject, “It is very much within the realms of possibility for that to happen.”

“But how did they even manage?” Rainbow cut in suddenly, “You and her are like super powerful, I’m not seeing how anything short of Discord…” Rainbow trailed off slowly, that last word catching on her brain, a catalyst for a train of precarious thought.

“Discord…. yes, it is a possibility, he could’ve done it. After all, he has shown that he can be swayed if talked to correctly.” Twilight theorized.

“Now before you go besmirching my good name,” Discord said from nowhere and yet everywhere, “I’ll have you know that I had no part in this. I was counting sheep by the time this whole thing was happening.” Suddenly a burst of magic blinded the room, revealing Discord sitting on the edge of his bed with a nightcap on, counting the sheep that strolled merrily on by his bunk bed that had a plush Fluttershy on the top bunk laying under a comforter that had a metallic face on it with the word ‘Transformers’ etched across it.

“Discord, if you could remove your bed from the hall and have it placed back in your room I’d be much obliged.” Luna stated calmly to the reformed draconequus. Discord sighed and snapped his fingers, the bed disappearing in a puff of smoke while the sheep grew wings and flew away, straight through the ceiling.

“I wonder if I might be able to make the saying into ‘when sheep fly’… but then it would be more likely.” Discord wondered aloud while he removed his nightcap and pulled out Angel and handed him to Fluttershy before tossing his cap away, and when it hit the ground, it unraveled some of its strings and walked off behind the throne in a huff, using the strings as legs. Angel and Fluttershy looked at each other in surprise.

“Um, Discord… I think you should get Angel Bunny back home. I left somepony watching over the place and I think they might be a bit scared after having him disappeared.” Fluttershy said in a concerned tone.

“Oh don’t worry, I took care of that. They won’t even notice that he’s gone.” Discord replied with a winning smile and crossed arms.

Daisy poured the last of the box of animal feed into the bowl, the small animals immediately scurried over and began devour the food. She looked around and saw little Angle sitting in a shaded corner, his arms crossed, his head tilted downward.

“What’s wrong, Angel? You miss Fluttershy?” She asked as she walked over to him. “It’s alright, she’ll be back before too long, just go over there and eat up.” The bunny, however, stayed still, not responding to her words. Daisy finally sighed and walked off, never noticing the button eyes and stitching across its side.

Fluttershy looked at Discord uncertainly and then back to Angle, and then back to Discord.

“If you say so, Discord; I believe you.” Fluttershy replied finally, letting Angle down on the ground where he hid behind her, looking in anger at Discord.

“How do we know you were actually doing as you say?” Applejack asked, looking unbelievingly at Discord. Discord pondered this for a few seconds, and then snapped his finger, causing the whole group to appear in his house as blue spirits. The room wasn’t a mess, and yet it couldn’t be called clean. Many of his objects were floating about like soap bubbles, and even bounced off of each other when they struck.

“Ah,” Past Discord sighed as he leaned back, a literal chorus of cracks echoing as his back popped each note in perfect harmony with the last, sounding more like a piano than anything. Discord then leaned forwards and touched the floor with his talons and lion paw before bobbing back up, bobbing forward and backwards with a sigh of satisfaction. “That definitely feels a lot better.” He said as he put his fedora on the hat rack and placed his black suit coat on a hanger and placed it on the rod that floated on by as he tossed his suitcase onto the couch, one of the few grounded objects.

Discord plodded over to his bed and twisted his back once more, no more pops sounding before he sat down on his bunk bed, the Fluttershy plushy already snug under her comforter. Discord grabbed his nightcap from the bed post, his talon arm extending extremely just to reach it. Discord planted it on his head. He finally lay down completely on his bed, pulling a comforter over him that had several weird faces and forms on it with the label ‘G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero’ written across it much like the Fluttershy doll’s comforter.

“Oh, right, almost forgot.” Discord said, a little light bulb popping up above his head, which he yanked the chain that dangle from it, turning it off, plunging the room into darkness except for the faint glow of a clock that had a dog’s face on it that clearly read eleven o’ seven.

“Satisfied?” Discord asked before snapping his claw again, setting them back in Canterlot Castle as if nothing had happened.

“Yes, thank you, Discord.” Luna replied with a nod while turning to the Elements of Harmony. She paused for a second, and then turned back to Discord. “Could you possibly show us the incident that happened last night? It would be of great help to our endeavors to find out who did this.”

“Sorry, but I can’t,” Discord replied, “I can only show you scenes I was there to witness. Think of it as a third person replay of my memories.” He finished, plopping down onto a couch, an arm wrapped around a surprised Fluttershy’s shoulders who sat beside him, even though she had been standing beside her friends a few seconds ago.

“Um, Discord…” Fluttershy muttered before she was presented with a plate of cookies. She looked over at Discord who now had a thin black mustache and a chef’s hat.

“Do you want some fresh cookies, Madam?” Discord asked in a thick accent. Fluttershy took one and ate it slowly looking over at Discord, motioning with her eyes towards her friends. Discord’s eyes opened up slightly in understanding, and then he smiled as she presented the cookies to the other ponies. “Do any of you ladies want a cookie?” Discord asked with his accent as thick as ever as couch and chairs appeared and scouted under the ponies, sending falling backwards into their cushions. Rarity levitated one over and took a ladylike bite, her eyes lighting up instantly.

“My goodness, these are wonderful. Did you make these, Discord?” She asked, wiping the crumbs from her muzzle.

“Yes, indeed I did. I can give you the recipe if you like.” Discord said as he produced a small cup of milk and dipped his cookie into it before taking a bit out of it, giving a purr of delight at the flavors.

“Not to disrupt this pleasant moment,” Twilight said, “But I believe that as long as Celestia is missing we can hold back on eating cookies.”

“I guess you’re right, Twilight…” Discord groaned as he snapped the couches and chairs away, leaving everypony standing and him floating with arms crossed. Everypony quickly finished their treats before Luna finally spoke.

“I have some of Equestria’s greatest detectives already working on this case, but I believe you might be able to provide them with a bit of assistance.” Luna stated, motioning to all the ponies. “I believe that sometimes those detective’s egos blind them to a certain side to each situation that ponies like you all can see.”

“Well shucks, Princess,” Applejack said bashfully, her front right leg crossing over her left front leg. “We aint super sloths in the slightest, I don’t see how we could be of much help.”

“Um… Applejack, that’s ‘super sleuths’.” Fluttershy corrected in her usual meek tone. Applejack’s ears shot up, her brow furrowed in confusion until she realized what she had said.

“Shoot, I guess I aint much of a pony for speaking either.” Applejack chided herself.

“Either way, I want you all to help in any way you can. Whether it is in deducing clues or simply aiding the other detectives that are already on the case,” Luna stated. “Every bit of help we can obtain to find my sister is appreciated.”

“You can count on us, Princess.” Twilight said confidently. “We’ll do all we can to help in figuring out who the perpetrator of this crime is.”

“What do you mean by ‘the purple traitor’?” Rainbow asked in confusion. Twilight looked at her for a few second, trying to figure out what she was talking about.

“Oh,” She said when she finally understood, “A perpetrator is the one who commits an act, Rainbow.” Twilight clarified.

“Now that meaning of certain word is clarified,” Luna interjected, “I must leave; I need to attend to the ponies of higher position in government. There was to be a congress today, and since Celestia is currently unable to be in assistance, I must be there to represent Canterlot and the crown.” Luna then turned and walked out of the two doors that swung open, enveloped in her magical aura as she approached them. Discord looked around, and then shrugged as he flew after her.

“So, what’s the plan, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked, hovering in front of her friend. “Find those bad guys, get Celestia back and be back here in time for dinner?” She finished, hitting her hooves together for emphasis.

“It’s much more than that.” Twilight said as she looked around at her friends. “These ponies most definitely knew what they were doing, otherwise they wouldn’t have gotten as far as they already are without being caught. If the detectives haven’t found anything yet I bet they really know how to cover their tracks well.”

“Well, we aint getting any closer by just sitting around here,” Applejack commented, “Let’s get going and solve this mystery. Celestia is counting on us.” With that the whole group charged out the room and went their separate ways, each trying to find clues.

The dock was bustling as the group of ponies walked towards their rather small boat. The uniformed guards forming a perimeter around the rather simple looking ponies that pulled a rather large cart that had a cloth roll over it. The guards at the front stopped, forcing everypony behind them to stop as well. The leader walked forward, the guards parting, allowing him passage to the reason they had stopped; the dock master. The lead pony walked up in front of him and lowered his cowl, revealing his royal blue mane and black coat, his steel gray eyes looking over the sailor pony.

“Oars…” Sire noted simply as he looked into the ponies eyes. “I thought Gangplank was the port master for this area.”

“He is, Sire, but…” Oars trailed off, a smile forming on his lips, “It appears something he ate did him harm; he called in sick and is now resting at the hospital until further notice.” Sire nodded in approval. Sire took a clipboard out from his saddlebags.

“Nothing but the essential for such a journey, food, water, etcetera.” Sire stated plainly as Oars levitated the board over, taking a stamp out of his bags.

“I usually check if you’re telling the truth right about now…” Oars commented as he pressed the stamp against the paper that was held down on the clipboard, flapping in the breeze lightly. “But I see no reason in this instance.” He said as he gave Sire his papers once again.

“Thank you, brother, I knew I could count on you.” Sire said to his real brother. Oars nodded and walked away to attend to another incoming group of ponies, whom he searched thoroughly.

“Sire, do we continue?” One of the guards asked. Sire nodded, standing still as the guards passed him before he started walking along with the main group towards the ship. The cart clunked over the side of the dock and onto the plank to their ship. Sire walked over to the cart and lifted the cloth away slightly, revealing several bags of grain and what not, which he pushed to the side, revealing a rather angry, and weak, Celestia.

“I hope your ride wasn’t too bumpy, Princess.” Sire sneered at the weakened pony that was still wrapped in the dark chains that sapped her strength. A brief seizing sound, that probably was supposed to be some side remark, came out between her gritted teeth. “I’ll take that as a yes.” Sire covered the princess once more and drew the cloth over, a corner gripped in his mouth.

“Sire,” Magistrate began, “The sailors are slightly suspicious. What should we do with our… cargo?” Sire looked over at his trusted fellow.

“I suggest we find out how many of our ponies are good at sailing in the case they decide to become mutinous.” Sire stated as he walked away from the cart, allowing the two ponies hitched to it to drag it away to the lower decks. “Let’s set sail as quickly as possible. The farther away we are from port when they make their discovery, the better.” Magistrate nodded and trotted off to the captain, exchanging a few hushed words before the sailor pony whistled loudly in an ascending tone. Sire looked around at the ponies climbing up the ropes and unfurling the sails while others untied the ropes that connected the vessel to the dock. Soon the ship began to drift away from the dock and towards the open sea.

Twilight walked down the winding corridor from memory from her time as Celestia’s student. The halls were crawling with guards going back and forth on their new patrol routes. Spike plodded beside her, looking around at the familiar sights.

“Like old times, ay?” Spike commented, “Except the part about guards and crisis, it’s almost we were back in the good old days.”

“Old, yes, good, not so much,” Twilight replied, “There were some good times, but my life has gotten a lot better since we left.” She reminisced as she looked around.

“Yeah, you used to do all you could to avoid parties, now you try to make all efforts to get one.” Spike said. “Kind of funny, really…” He trailed off.

“What’s kind of funny, Spike?” Twilight asked, looking at her reptilian assistant.

“I was just thinking about that day we left. You actually ran from somepony’s party and right into your own.” Spike pointed out. Twilight thought about it for a few seconds, and then smiled as she remembered.

“I guess you are right. It is funny how things work out.” She commented, “It’s almost like there is something behind the scenes laying things out in a progressive storyline.”

“You mean the writers?” Discord said, wrapping around Twilight’s neck like a scarf. Twilight jumped back, looking in dismay at her new neckwear. “Some fine chaps really. You should meet them sometime.” Discord said as he slipped off of Twilight’s neck.

“What are you even talking about, Discord?” She asked, looking rather cross about having him so close to her.

“Well, you were talking about something out there playing the pieces out like a story; I was just wandering what you really meant.” Discord replied as he floated before Twilight. “They really are nice people, trying their best and all.” He said with a smirk. “Except that fellow behind that computer screen, he’s just plain out weird.”

I leaned back from my keyboard, looking at my computer in confusion at what I had just typed out. I looked at my keyboard, and back at my screen, still trying to work it all out until I finally turned my music down a bit and went back to writing.

“Yeah that’s right, you just slink off, mister.” Discord said, shaking his talons at the ceiling. Twilight looked at Spike in confusion, but he just shrugged, just as confused as her.

“Look, Discord,” Twilight said, slightly aggravated at the chaotic spirit, “If you aren’t going to be helpful just try not getting in the way.” Discord laughed and then disappeared, leaving Twilight, Spike, and the author in a state of confusion. Twilight just shook her head and walked on, Spike scurried after her, not wanting to be left behind.

“I will get you, Quill.” Discord said one final time before truly disappearing to another part of the story. Yeah, I’m kind of confused about that too.

Twilight finally reached the main body of the investigators who were looking over every inch of the room Celestia was taken from. The guards beside the door saluted and lifted their lances, letting her go through, Spike following close behind.

“Princess Twilight, we were told you were coming. Maybe you can find something we’re all missing in this whole thing.” One of the detectives greeted her.

“I’ll try, but I can’t really say I’m the best investigator here.” She replied bashfully. The detective nodded and walked off; back to the corner he had been scanning with his magic for anything that could indicate what happened. Twilight walked over to one of the investigator’s that was standing in the middle of the room, writing something down on his pad of paper in short hand.

“Hmm… maybe teleportation; no, there’s no trace of the residual magic energy, which would also rule out invisibility and other spells. Unless those chains have the ability to leech the magic from the surrounding area as well as the magic from the wearer… not to self: investigate exact effects of condensed form of anti-magic material in question, determine exact effects on surrounding area’s magical essence and possibility of crime scene alteration.” The detective droned to himself while scratching down what he was saying on his paper, having to turn the page at one point.

“Excuse me, sir, but I wish to ask some question in regards to this crime.” Twilight said, standing directly in front of the pony. The fedora wearing pony lowered his notepad and looked at Twilight before lifting it again and turning in a different direction as he looked over the room.

“Ah, Princess Twilight, good to see you; I suppose you are trying to find the princess as well?” He asked as he continued to scratch something down about the room, though he continued to turn so quickly that Twilight couldn’t discern what he was writing exactly.

“Yes, can you tell me what you have so far?” Twilight asked as she walked beside him as he took a short tour around the perimeter of the room.

“Hmm…no signs of any type of a struggle in physical terms, though a magical conflict is still possible if chain theory is correct.” He said to himself as he continued his inspection of the room. “Well, we’ve ruled out most everything except an inside job. Nopony can confirm if there was any sighting of Celestia after the time Luna said she was restrained, which is our working time for her sister's kidnapping. We still need to investigate the exact effect the chains have on ponies and environments, but we still have no leads in how these ponies got the single most iconic pony of Equestria out of Canterlot without anypony noticing.” Twilight looked at the few words that were scratched onto the current piece of paper on the pony’s notepad, but they only said what he already had said.

“Do you have any ideas where the chains came from?” Twilight asked as the detective once again walked off.

“This type of anti-magic material really can only come from two places: Equestria and the Gryphon Empire. The zebra lands have some anti-magic material caches, but to make something like what we have right now it would take certain conditions that only the Gryphon Kingdom and the Crystal Mountains have, being extreme pressure and temperature. Most places were zebras find their anti-magic caches only have one of the two points or none at all. True, they could make some, but it would really be more of a waste than a viable economic resource.” The detective muttered as he continued to walk in a certain area.

“Have you tried to figure out which of those it came from?” Twilight asked, causing the pony to stop in his tracks. “We could figure out who bought it and so glean where they are, or at least where they were.”

“And how exactly do we tell where it came from? Searching the record would take too long.” The investigator dismissed as he continued to scratch down notes.

“We could always see how it smells.” Twilight said. “That and the state of the exterior of the chains should give us a big clue.”

“How exactly does the combination of those two factors give us the location of the chain’s origins?” The detective asked as he turned to face Twilight.

“Well, it’ll still have a slight scent of the sea if it came from the gryphons. The exterior of the chains should also have a slight crusting of salt on them if it came from overseas.” Twilight explained, causing the detective to pause in thought.

“You know what… that might just work.” The detective turned to one of the runner ponies that stood by, ready to take quick messages. “Have the chains found on Luna taken to a private room where we can have it examined, also call in our best scent experts.” He said, the messenger nodding when he finished. The pony galloped off to accomplish his mission. The detective turned back to Twilight with a smile. “This might just be the break we need. Thank you, your majesty.” The pony said, giving her a bow. Twilight blushed, quickly looking away nervously.

“You’re welcome, I just trying to do my part in finding out what happened to Celestia.” Twilight said before walking off to see if she could find something in the room that the others were missing, not wanting to leave anything to chance.

“And you’re sure that it is sea salt and not just dried salt from Luna’s sweat?” Twilight asked the pony. The pony took a sniff off his flower that he levitated before bending down again and taking another whiff of the chains.

“Indeed, your highness, it has a distinct tang of the sea, I am also getting the scent of Luna’s dried sweat, and I can say for sure there is a great measure of difference.” The olfactory specialist replied before taking another sniff of his flower, making his nostrils able to smell any other smell once again.

“Thank you. Do we have any confirmation from the lab about what we scrapped off the chain’s surface?” Twilight asked one of the ponies nearby.

“The results are coming right now.” She replied, motioning to the messenger pony that galloped down the hallway towards them. The pony skidded to a halt and took a few deep breathes before stating the answer.

“Lab confirms the substance delivered to indicate whatever had the crusting had been near a coastal area or at sea at one time for a period of at least three days, and at maximum, seven weeks.” The pony stated before sitting down and taking several more breathes as she tried to recompose herself.

“Well, the only explanation is that it was shipped over from the gryphons.” Twilight stated. “I want all the records of purchase made as far back as three months ago, search for anything about chains made of concentrated anti-magic material.” Twilight ordered the other messenger pony, who quickly charged down the hall, using her wings to propel herself even faster without leaving the ground.

“Is there anything else, your majesty?” One of the ponies asked. Twilight scratched her chin thought, only to sigh and shrug.

“I can’t think anything else. We just need to wait and see what we get.” Twilight replied finally. “Just stay ready; we never know when something might come up.” The ponies nodded a response as Twilight walked out.

The ship rocked back and forth, the waves all around it surging towards the massive wall of water that climbed up into the sky. Sire stood at the tip of the ship with Celestia at his hooves, still wrapped in the chains.

“Brothers and sisters, today we are here to bring down a wall of unnecessary division that separates from the truth.” Sire said over the noise of the waves, warranting a round of applause and cheers from his fellows. “This very evening, Celestia shall tear down the wall she built all those years ago.” Sire looked to Celestia, who looked unimpressed with him.

“What makes you think I won’t just teleport back to Canterlot when these chains are off?” Celestia asked, her strength completely gone, her voice coming out only loud enough to be heard over the water’s roar. Sire leaned in to her with a grin.

“Because if you do a message will be sent by magic, getting there as fast as you that will give the order to kill Luna. She’s in quite the weakened state I imagine, barely being fed and in chain much like you.” He replied with a grin, making Celestia’s eyes widen. “One strike of the axe and Equestria will be short one princess. After that… well… let’s just say Equestria won’t be the most stable of countries.” He finished, standing back up. “Remove the chains.” He commanded, the two guards complying quickly. “And remember, anything funny and your sister is dead; but if you do as we say and she will be released and you’ll be allowed to live.” Celestia glared daggers at him as the chains were taken away.

Celestia finally stood, her strength returning to her. She looked at the hooded ponies around her, and then at the massive wall. She remembered that day well, the last day of the whole and the first of the halves. She turned back to Sire, who stood patiently.

“I give you one last chance to stop this. You don’t have any idea what lies on the other side, nor do you wish to.” Celestia pleaded.

“Lower that wall, the ponies of Equestria deserve the second half to be present.” Sire stated his tone unchanging. Celestia sighed as her horn flared. She looked to the wall of water, knowing what she’d see. The wall was wrapped in a blue and golden aura as she wrapped her magic into the structure of what appeared to be water. Suddenly there was a loud booming sound as the water fell down, drenching the ponies on deck. Sire looked up to see the wall was gone and saw another ship sitting in the waves opposite of their own ship.

“Sir, we have spotted the ship you talked about. What are your orders?” The first mate said as he trotted up to Sire.

“Bring us in closer; it is time the two halves met.” He stated coolly, his smile growing. “Guards, give Celestia her chains again.” He ordered, the guard immediately obeying as they began to wrap the chains around the stalwart Celestia. “It’s time we looked through the looking glass.”

The Background Papers: Part 3

“So you’re saying that there are disturbances all over this place?” The Professor asked, swinging the monitor away from the Doctor, taking a good look at the blips on the map of Equestria that we constantly popping up. “Well this certainly is interesting. Any ideas on what might be causing it?”

“Nothing that you don’t have already I’m afraid.” The Doctor replied, galloping around the side of the Tardis’ console, pressing a few buttons, winding a few lever, flipping a few switches before pulling back on a yet another lever, causing the machine to jolt, and all the ponies inside to give a yelp.

“Did we really have to bring all of them?” The Professor asked, looking towards the ponies that had been dropped off of the ship with her and Blunder.

“Of course, you know we do, so let’s just see if we can get you all back before anything else…” The Doctor began to reply before a blast shot up from the control panel, directly into the Doctor’s face, causing him to stumble backwards into the handrail, which since the advent of no hands and all hooves had become quite useless until it suddenly decided to be there when the Doctor took a tumble.

“Whoa girl, what’s wrong?” The Professor asked, rushing over to the sparking panel, taking her screwdriver out to scan it. “Hmm…”

“What happened, Doctor, are you alright?” Derpy asked, kneeling by the Doctor, looking over him with one of her eyes.

“Eh, mostly. I’ve been better, but it doesn’t matter.” He replied, getting back to his hooves and walking over to the console. “The Tardis seems to not want to work properly.”

“You mean that we’re all stuck here again with now way back like before?” One of the ponies shouted in an exasperated tone.

“Well, sort of… let’s see if maybe it’s just those coordinates that aren’t functional.” The Professor said to nopony in particular while resetting the target coordinates. She threw the lever and in the typical fashion, the Tardis vanished from a dark alley and Equestria all together.

The Professor swung the Tardis door open and looked out on the cratered surface of the moon. She closed the door once again and walked back to the console, setting in another set of coordinates and flipping the lever was again. She opened the door and saw the sun through a shaded filter down below them. She repeated the process several times, each time popping up somewhere farther and farther from Equestria, each time met with the expected amount of success. She then once again set the coordinates to her side of Equestria, but the Tardis once again reacted violently.

“Well, I suppose that we aren’t getting you lot back home.” The Doctor commented, looking around at his Tardis, trying to find something, though not entirely sure what to look for. “Well, perhaps you all could keep yourselves entertained while the Professor and I try to figure out went wrong.”

“Alright, Doctor, you got it. I got just the thing to do while you figure out what to do. Come on everypony, follow me.” Derpy shouted, charging off with Blunder and everypony who was on the ship following, though the other ponies followed at a more reserved point.

“So, what do you think it might be? Maybe we actually have some problem with some unknown alien force.” The Professor suggested, looking at the monitor closely.

“Maybe, but with a place like Equestria a beetle might be responsible for the disturbance. All this magic can really get you confused, especially when trying to figure out what is possible and what isn’t.” The Doctor commented.

“Maybe we should head for the one area with the highest concentration of disturbances. It might be the point of origin for all of this.” The Professor stated.

“Trust me when I say that if such a point existed that I’d have us go there right now.” The Doctor replied while flipping several more switches. The Professor looked at him and then pushed the monitor along, causing it to spin around the track that encircled the main console. The Doctor caught the monitor, a hoof stuck between the main body of the computer and one of the handlebars.

“You’ll see what I mean.” The Professor stated simply while continuing what the Doctor had been doing.

“Huh, I guess there is a point of higher disturbances… are you setting coordinates?” The Doctor queried, leaning back from the screen to look at the Professor, who replied in a nod. “So we’re just going to go without even thinking twice.”

“Since when did we ever think twice?” The Professor asked, twisting a nod as best as she could with her hoof. “It never was never any fun thinking more than once, it only complicated things more than we cared for; wouldn’t you agree?” She asked, swiping her hoof across one of the panels, flipping all the switches on it at the same time.

“True enough I’d suppose. Now, should we wear a winter jacket or a summer blazer?” The Doctor asked, looking at the monitor, twisting one of the knobs to focus on the point of interest.

“How about a fez?” The Professor asked with a smirk, throwing a lever. The Doctor chuckled slightly while leaning against the console.

“Oh wow, that was… what was it? Three regenerations ago?” The Doctor reminisced. The Professor stopped messing with the console and started thinking.

“I’m getting two… unless you count the last human form and this one as separate ones.” The Professor stated. “Personally I can’t really say if they’re separate or just different forms of the same. Either way,” She continued, throwing another lever and flipping a few more switches, “We’ve got business to attend to at the moment.”

“True, now let’s see.” He scanned the area, finding a castle nestled in a ridge of hill surrounded by hundreds upon hundreds life signals. “Well I’ll be… it’s almost like it’s a large family reunion of something. Let’s get a better look, shall we?” The Professor nodded and pulled the final lever. The Doctor opened the door and looked out and saw said castle with ponies all around it and in it, with ponies flying through the skies while other ponies seemed to be avoiding them while other ponies on the ground seemed to be doing the same motions with another group of ponies.

“Very interesting indeed…” The Professor mumbled. “Want to get a closer look?” She asked, turning to the Doctor, who was no longer there, but at the main consol, steering the Tardis down into the outlying forest.

“We’ll get inside, see how things are and what’s going on, get out once our curiosity is satisfied and be on our way.” The Doctor stated. The Professor shut the door and walked back up to where her counterpart was continually fiddling with knobs, levers, and buttons while looking at the monitor occasionally.

“Since when did we stop at just that?” She asked with a smirk. The Doctor looked at her while shaking his head as he tossed another lever.

“It’s not fair having someone… I mean somepony that knows me so well.” The Doctor said. “I can’t get away with saying sensible things anymore.” The Professor shook her head, heading back towards the door. “Landing in…three…two…” Suddenly the Tardis shook violently; causing the Professor steadied herself, attempting not to fall out the doors. “I guess that’s one, now let’s go.” The Doctor quickly grabbed his overcoat and slipped it on before descending the stairs and heading towards the door.

The Doctor and the Professor walked up towards the castle’s front gate, immediately received by several guards that held their spears directly towards them. The Doctor would’ve put his hands up, but being as he had a certain lacking in those appendages, he didn’t.

“State your name and business here!” One of the guards shouted, eyes fixed on the two new comers. The Doctor quickly took out a slip of physic paper and presented it, one of the unicorn guards taking it in their magic.

“I think you’ll find everything in order.” The Doctor stated with a smirk. The guard moved his head, signaling his unicorn comrade to send it back. The guards raised their spears.

“Very well, Counselor Timeturner, You may pass, but remember that Sire and Majesty no longer rule.” The guard stated, stepping aside, allowing the ponies to go through. “And, whatever your name is,” The guard began, directing his speech towards the Professor.

“Oh, you mean me; I’m his reflection, Clockwork.” She stated with a small smile, displaying the same level of confidence as her counterpart.

“I guessed as much, just remember to stay in line and keep your reflection doing the same.” The guard stated. “Keeping each other in line is how things work.”

“Of course, I’ll be sure to keep him in line as well as I keep myself in line.” The Professor stated. “And I’m sure you agree as well, Timeturner.”

“Hmm… What? Oh, yes, of course, I agree completely.” The Doctor agreed, returning from looking over the castle around them.

“Very well, just keep it that way. There are quite a few loyal supporters of Inkpot and Quill Scratch, and if you show so much as an inkling of disloyalty or insubordination they’ll doubtlessly have you expelled from the Alliance and directly to the bottom of the sea.” The guard cautioned.

“Of course, we’d never think about being disloyal. The Alliance is our home; we owe them… well… everything.” The Professor said with a smile. The guard nodded slowly, watching as the two ponies strolled past.

“Keep a guard on them.” He whispered to his lieutenant, “I have a feeling that they might have forged those papers. If they so much as take one miss step I want to know about it.” The lieutenant nodded and walked over to another guard to give the task.

The Doctor and the Professor looked at the stonework around them, inspecting each and every detail about it. The Doctor sniffed at a bit of moss he had scrapped off of one of the cracks in the wall.

“I’d say…” He murmured before taking another sniff, “Ten, maybe fifteen years old.” He said with pursed lips as he continued to look at his surroundings.

“I was thinking of more like twenty, but that doesn’t make much of a difference.” The Professor stated. “More to the point is why it’s here, and why the security is so tight. Are they expecting trouble or do they really not like house guests.”

“Maybe they’ve had some trouble recently and are just becoming a bit more alert in response to it.” The Doctor replied. “Or maybe that guard stalking us could tell us something, he’s getting awfully close.” Suddenly a clatter hoof came from beside them, followed by metal clanging and some shouting. The Doctor and the Professor looked behind them, watching as their follower was chased out of the kitchen by an angry chef that had a splattered pie on top of his chef’s hat that was starting to drip on the ground.

“That was quite interesting, don’t you think?” The Professor asked as the chef returned in a mess to the kitchen, grumbling something about clumsy guard and extra security measures. “A bit of an overreaction to being found out.”

“I think it might have to do with him being only a corporal. Really, they should’ve sent a sergeant if they wanted somepony to keep their cool after hearing that they’ve been found out.” The Doctor commented. “Either way, it doesn’t matter.”

“Quite agreed. Moving on.” With that, both ponies turned and continued walking down the hall. As they turned a corner, the Doctor ran into another pony, which fell to his haunches upon their contact.

“Oh, sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.” The guard apologized. The Doctor helped the pony back up to his hooves, but when the guard looked at his, he almost seemed to freeze. ”You’re one of them too?” The guard mumbled under his breath, barely even recognizable as speech.

“Eh, what was that? Speak up, don’t mumble.” The Doctor stated, quite curious about this particular guard behavior in contrast to the others.

“Oh, I’m sorry, it’s just that I recognize you, but I didn’t realize you were one of the members of the Alliance.” The guard stated. “Rather, I know your female counterpart, who, it seems, is standing right behind you.”

“Oh really, you two have met?” The Doctor asked with surprise. “I suppose that means I’ve met your reflection as well. Who was she?”

“Oh, um, well, I’m Nightshade, but…” The guard looked around, quickly making sure no other ponies were around. “Come with me, I believe the high council was looking for you.” The Doctor and the Professor looked at each other with a smile.

“Alright, lead the way, sir Nightshade.” The Doctor said with a goofy grin, surprise he had already been called to a meeting with the Alliance’s high council, only being a member for a few minutes. The Nightshade pony led them down several halls, taking turn after turn before finally entering a door, the Doctor and Professor right behind him. The door closed behind them in Nightshade’s magic, and the room beyond was quite the opposite of the long, lavish hall with a hardwood table and tall back chairs that they had been expecting; instead it was a rather dark room until Nightshade used his horn to light their surroundings.

“Isn’t this interesting. I never thought of having a high council meeting in a broom closet. Saving on space?” The Professor asked.

“I don’t believe that you two are parts of the Alliance.” Nightshade stated. “I know you two well enough, no matter how little that may be, to know that the likes of you wouldn’t join, especially without two other certain ponies right on your tails.”

“Hmm? What do you mean by two certain ponies on our tails?” The Doctor asked. Nightshade removed his helmet, his white coat and red mane shifting to dark gray and steel blue respectively. “Oh, is that a alternate appearance spell? Fascinating, I suppose it would work in place of having badges or uniforms even though you all already seem to have uniforms as well.”

“Look, I know that, for at least Clockwork, Blunder would be right behind her. I don’t know you’re follower’s name, but I know the principle of reflectivity, so I also know you have one.” Nightshade stated. “And I know Blunder very well, and he is the type of stallion to join such a thing like the Alliance.”

“Isn’t this interesting, I thought mutiny was stamped out. Well, at least the guard said that, but it seems we have a bit right here.” The Professor commented. “Are you actually mutinous or are you just trying to test us to see if we are?” Nightshade sighed before removing the necklace that had been dangling around his neck. Immediately, his coat and mane changed again, not only that, but his cutie mark changed and the bottom of wings poked out from the sides of the armor.

“Wait, an alicorn… no, no, wait, I mean, a second disguising spell? Isn’t that overly complicated? Do you happen to have a third or are you staying like this.” The Doctor questioned. “Also, you look remarkably like that Twilight girl, are you her reflection? I suppose you are since you said you knew my reflection and not me.”

“Also you must be on an espionage mission and are just as surprised to see us here as we are you.” The Professor chimed in.

“I’m here as an inside agent, yes, and so is Twilight.” Nightshade, or Dusk rather, said. “I suppose I am right about you two not being part of the Alliance. If so, how did you get in. Only ponies with identification can get it.”

“Let’s just say we can really make a good fake slip of identification.” The Doctor replied. “And yes, we are just as much as outsiders as you are in this case.”

“I suppose there’s no harm in having eyes and ears in both the guard’s ranks and the higher ranks.” Dusk said while slipping his necklace and helmet back on, both layers of his disguise fully working as planned. “So, did Celestia or Artemis send you?”

“Actually, no, we came here on a bit of curiosity, that and this place is the beating heart of disturbances that are echoing throughout the world as we speak.” The Professor stated.

“It makes sense that it would be, being as it is the main base of the Alliance who seems to not give a care about the delicate balance of the world.” Dusk rationalized. “So, how about we get out of the closet and into the hall before the janitor needs a bucket or something?”

“Sure thing, but you go first with a bucket in case some… pony thinks you coming out of a closet is a tad off.” The Professor instructed, stumbling a bit when she struggled to say pony instead of body.

“Alright, on disguise and forerunner coming up. I’ll knock twice when it’s safe to come out.” Dusk agreed, levitating a bucket and walking out, leaving the two ponies inside. Dusk immediately saw another guard coming down one of the halls, who quickly gave him a glance of curiosity, but walked on without any question. Dusk knocked his hind leg against the door twice once the pony was far away enough, and the Doctor and Professor quickly obliged the signal and came out.

“Let’s not hide in broom closets again, alright?” The Doctor asked hopefully. The Professor nodded, and both ponies walked on down the hall, leaving Dusk to throw the bucket back into the closet and walk his own way.