Scootaloo ran through a maze of ice and fire, a labyrinth of glass and sand that constantly changed around her. One moment the walls were stainless steel with mechanical claws that attempted to block her path with whirring saw blades, the next the gleaming walls had changed to colossal monoliths of stone that watched her with unblinking red eyes. She spun to avoid a wall of swords that battled an invisible foe and turned down a path paved with tombstones that clawed at her with spectral hooves.

She saw a giant structure ahead and ran towards it, knowing that it was the centre of this impossible maze. A swarm of small metal circles moved to intercept her, but she dodged it and slid under a barrier of pure energy that threatened to tear her mind apart with its intensity. She was close to the building now, she could see it just ahead.

The huge temple remained unchanged from the last time she'd seen it. It resembled a giant spear stabbing at the heavens, forged of black volcanic rock. A vast torch burned at the tip of the huge spire. Suddenly, a roar behind her caused her to glance back. A horrifyingly grotesque monster loped through the maze, smashing through all kinds of obstacles in its relentless pursuit of her. No part of the monster aside from its eyes, which blazed with fury and promised death and suffering, were clear.

She ran faster, trying to evade the fiend as it pursued her through the maze. She ducked under a wall of pure gold that tried to crush her, dodged a storm of arrows that swarmed around her with unnatural intelligence, and jumped over a series of logs covered with rusty nails. She reached the temple and ran in the open door, which closed behind her. She looked around the interior of the temple. Leering faces were carved into the walls, and a fire burned in every corner, and there were a lot of corners.

In the centre of the room, a massive statue stood. It resembled Princess Celestia, but something was wrong. Her face was contorted in a scowl and she wore jagged armour that had agonized faces carved in every plate. She wielded a long spear that was wreathed with two serpents who had burning manes like a lion's. In most images of her from before Nightmare Moon, she had a similar spear, but it usually didn't have the serpents and she never wore armour aside form her regular regalia. There was something wrong with this statue and this place, and Scootaloo knew it.

She looked back towards the entrance and saw that the monster had stopped just outside the now open door, and was glaring at her with an expression of absolute hate. If she left, it would kill her. She heard a noise behind her and turned to see an awful sight. The Celestia statue had turned to face her, now grinning evilly. The statue spun its spear and advanced, still grinning. Scootaloo looked behind her and saw that she couldn't back up, if she did she'd walk into the talons and tentacles of the monster. There was no way out.

Suddenly, a massive noise from behind caught the attention of the evil Celestia statue, who spun to confront whatever had made it. It was a statue of Princess Luna. The younger princess held a pair of swords in her magic and wore armour similar to the suit that she'd worn as Nightmare Moon. However, this armour was silver and glowed with light magic, and Luna's expression was kinder. Raising her swords, the Luna statue attacked the Celestia statue, who retaliated in kind. As Scootaloo watched the battle, the monster took a step forward, seeking to attack her while she was distracted. She spun just in time to dodge the demon as it lunged. It turned to her and spoke two words:

"Wake up."

"Wake up, for Celestia's sake!! We have to go!" Starbeam yelled.

"What time is it?" Scootaloo mumbled.

"About six o'clock. Get up, it's time to go."

"Go back to sleep, Dinky. It's not time for school yet."

"Why are we yelling?" Sweetie Belle asked, pulling her head out from under a pillow.

"Scootaloo won't wake up." Starbeam said, waving her hooves exasperatedly.

"I know how to get her up." Sweetie took a deep breath. "Hey Scootaloo! Rainbow Dash is doing stunts outside!!"

"WHATREALLYWHERE?!?!?!?!?" Scootaloo yelled, springing out of her sleeping bag and running outside.

"Works every time." Sweetie Belle said with a satisfied smile.

"Now that you're up, you can help us pack up camp." Starbeam said. Steel Talon was already up and was busy dismantling his tent while Moonstruck was frantically stuffing random things into a giant bag that didn't seem anywhere near big enough to hold everything he had. Starburst was meditating in the spot where her tent used to be.

"Well, it looks like you're done, so can we have breakfast and go?" Scootaloo asked.

"We're almost done, but you haven't even started yet." Starbeam gestured towards the Crusader's tent, which was still very much standing. Scootaloo groaned and resigned herself to a morning of work. Over the course of the morning, she almost forgot about the strange dream she'd had. Almost.

"Are we there yet?" Sweetie Belle mumbled from her position on top of Moonstruck's head.

"The answer is the same as the last three hundred times you asked that, no." Starburst said, exasperated.

"I hoped that it had possibly changed in the last five minutes." Sweetie said.

"Well, it hasn't."

"When will it?"

"When it does."

"When will that be?"

"I don't know. Now could you please let me concentrate?" Starburst crouched down and looked at a patch of ground.

"Isn't there something we could do while we travel?" Scootaloo asked. She was walking beside Steel Talon, who had been lecturing her on how griffin flight and pegasus flight were different for the last hour. She'd lost interest when he'd started teaching her how to fly like a griffin and she'd almost sprained her wing.

"You told me that you didn't want to play any games while we travelled because they weren't interesting enough." Apple Bloom accused. "You didn't want to play Eye Spy because it was too easy, you didn't want to play Eye Spy advanced version because it was too difficult, you didn't want to play Hide and Seek because it took too long, you didn't want to play Tag because it didn't take long enough. In short, you didn't want to play anything." She ranted.

"Well, maybe I was nitpicking a bit." Scootaloo admitted.

Suddenly, Starbeam landed in front of the group. "We're almost there. Just a kilometre or so."

"Just a kilometre? I don't think the little ones can take that much walking." Steel Talon said jokingly.

"I could teleport us all there." Moonstruck suggested.

"The children are going to walk." Starburst said firmly.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Scootaloo yelled.

In the nearby concealed fortress, a pair of guards looked at each other worriedly. "Why do I get the feeling that something is going to go really wrong in the near future?" One of them asked.

"I don't know, but I have that same feeling." The other one said.

"We're finally here!" Starbeam said.

"Praise Celestia." Scootaloo and Starburst muttered in unison.

"Where is it then?" Sweetie Belle asked. There wasn't anything in the clearing to suggest that there was a super-secret assassin fortress here. In fact, it looked like a perfectly typical clearing. Almost too typical. Starburst walked up to a small tree in the centre of the grassy meadow. The tree was covered in graffiti, with inscriptions like 'RD wuz here' and 'O x V' and 'Existence is futile!'. Things like that. In short, the most typical tree that's not owned by a farmer in the world. At least, until Starburst pushed it over. The hole revealed a periscope that extended out and looked at all seven of them in turn. Finally, a mechanical voice emitted from the hole. "Password?"

"Liquorice." Starburst said.

After a short pause, the voice replied. "Four operatives and three guests?"

"Yes."

"Enter." The ground peeled itself apart and revealed a stairway leading down.

"Thank you, Viattermecnattech."

"Viattermecnattech?" Apple Bloom asked as the seven descended the staircase.

"He's our tactical AI. Been here for as long as I can remember. Quite intelligent but very literal. If you ask him to damn someone, he'll do his best and then some to literally damn that pony."

"Really?"

"It's happened."

"Can we go inside already? My hooves are killing me." Scootaloo whined.

"Okay, pickypants." Starbeam said. "We're about to enter the most secret place in the world that we know about, so be courteous. Most of the ponies in here can easily kill you, so don't annoy them. The pony you're about to meet is even more lethal than anypony in the order, so especially don't annoy him. Got that?"

"Yep!" The Crusaders said in unison.

"Excellent."

The fortress may have been spectacular, but it's ceilings weren't. As the Crusaders followed Starburst through the stronghold, they tried to see everything but couldn't. There was a lot going on around them. Sweetie Belle saw a trio of young ponies either practising some kind of martial arts or dancing, she wasn't sure which. Apple Bloom spotted a minotaur holding a battle axe fighting a three headed dragon without wings wearing heavy plate armour covered in spikes. Scootaloo caught a glimpse of a couple of ponies in lab coats building a six-legged robot with blades for legs. A few seconds later, the robot ran out of the room it was in and joined the fight between the wingless dragon and the minotaur. The ponies in lab coats and the martial artists/dancers ran after it.

"Why are the ceilings so low?" Scootaloo asked Starburst. "Can't they be higher?"

"They need to be low, otherwise we wouldn't be able to fit five stories in between bedrock and the surface."

"Why can't you just dig into the bedrock?"

"Because it's virtually impossible."

"Why?"

"Because bedrock is very tough and when this fortress was built, there was no way to cut through it." Starburst explained.

"Okay, if you say so." Scootaloo clearly wasn't satisfied with that answer, but decided not to press the matter further.

"We're here, anyways." Starburst gestured to a large door, or at least large for the stronghold. The door was large enough for the dragon they'd seen earlier to fit through with room to spare. It was undecorated and made of plain wood held together with rusted bronze plates. In short, it was the most ordinary door they'd ever seen.

"We're supposed ta go inside?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Yes. Unless you want to go home now I'd advise going in there. Don't worry, Mastermind doesn't bite as far as I know." Starburst said.

"Are you coming in with us?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I'm afraid not. Moonstruck, Steel Talon, Starbeam and I have to report to our immediate superiors first. Mastermind is expecting you, and I wouldn't keep him waiting. Once you three are done, I'll take you on a tour." Starburst said. As she left, the Crusaders exchanged worried glances.

"So, ah reckon that we should just get it over with, ah guess." Apple Bloom said after a long pause.

"I guess." Scootaloo replied. Apple Bloom knocked on the door tentatively.

"Enter." A male voice said. The three fillies walked in the suddenly unlocked door, which closed behind them on its own. The room they walked into was as undecorated as the door it had hid behind. It contained a single painting of a strange symbol shaped a bit like a plus sign, but slightly curved. Other than that, the room held only a desk and some chairs. A plain white teacup stood in the middle of the desk.

On the Crusader's side of the desk, three chairs were arranged in a half circle. On the other side, a single high-backed mahogany chair was turned away from them. The Crusaders sat in the chairs cautiously. As soon as they did, the fourth chair spun around to reveal a pony clad from head to hoof in black leather armour. His head was completely concealed behind a black mask that concealed every aspect of his face, including his eyes. A black hood completed the costume.

"Are you Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom?" He asked in a deep baritone voice.

"Yes, that's us." Apple Bloom said uncertainly.

"Good. Starburst says that you three have been bound to a prophecy. Is this correct?" He asked.

"Yeah, but we don't know how it happened." Apple Bloom said.

"Starburst said as much. She also says that you showed an interest in our organization. Is this accurate?"

"Yep, we were interested in how it works."

"I see. Would you three be interested in possibly joining?"

"Joining what? Your top secret assassin team?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Yes."

"Well, ah don't know. Girls? What do you think?" Apple Bloom said. She looked at Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo and saw that they were both nodding madly.

"I think that your friends want to join." Mastermind said dryly.

"Ah think that you know what our answer is." Apple Bloom said.

"Excellent. Starburst should be back by now, so you can tell her. Your evaluation begins in two hours and once it's done, you'll be assigned a mentor, and your training will begin tomorrow. You can leave now." The door opened and the Crusaders began to leave. Just before Apple Bloom left, Mastermind called after her.

"Whatever your prophecy entails, just remember that everything until its completion was meant to happen."

"Do you believe in fate, Mastermind?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Yes, but I also believe that we are masters of ours. Now hurry along, your evaluation is going to be soon and you don't want to miss it." Mastermind said.

To be continued...

Author's Note

This took a bit longer than I'd hoped. I blame it on laziness. Anyways, I hope that this chapter is as good as the others, but don't be afraid to tell me what you think. If it's terrible, it's terrible, although it probably isn't. As always, thanks for reading!