Purity

by LightStriker

Rating: everyone
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Sad, Princess Luna, Original Character, Rarity, Adventure
Length: 34696

Change is never easy. Even more when some ponies want you dead.

Luna has taken a filly as student in magic.
But not everypony agrees with her choice when that filly is an earth pony.

Editing and pre-reading by: Web of Hope, shutaro and Dusk Watch

Cover image by The Paragon

Published 2012-09-06 09:24:03 UTC
Last updated 2013-08-24 17:16:58 UTC

Protecting Angel

Azure sat in her room in front of her desk. The last set of magical equations Luna asked her to solve was pushing her mind to its limit. She dropped the pen she was holding in her mouth and looked out the window. She needed a small pause, but she knew with time she would come up with the answers. The Moon was high in the sky. It was well past midnight, but she was now used to staying awake whole nights long. It was little to pay to be the personal student of the princess of the night.

In the last six months she had really come to enjoy the company of the princess. She was kind and funny but hid a tremendous amount of knowledge. She learned that while Luna was less powerful than Celestia when it came to magic, she knew a lot more about it. Luna enjoyed reading as much as she did. Was it because she was so often alone? She couldn't say. She didn't understand why the princess didn't have more friends, she was so kind.

She loved sitting with her in the garden as Luna would show her the stars and constellations. She was surprised how the princess would often simply play around, just for fun. She didn't think a princess could be like that. However, she never saw Celestia playing or having fun, so it wasn't all princesses. She really felt lucky to be Luna's student.

She knew the stories about Nightmare Moon, but she simply couldn't believe that such a kind pony could become that dark monster. She noticed how Luna wasn't at ease with that part of her past and Azure didn't want to push her questions forward. Maybe one day she would come to talk about it on her own.

The last months were like a dream. Before meeting Twilight, she had lost all hope to ever manage to follow her passion, her talent. She didn't even know that this particular library was held by the Element of Magic, personal student of princess Celestia. Fate or luck, she didn't care as she now felt she was where she belong and it was all that mattered. She only wanted to study magic and learn everything there was about it. Not even in her wildest dream she would have thought of living in the castle and learning from the princess.

She received a letter from her parents a few days ago, they were so proud of her. They said they would come visit her the next time they came to Canterlot for business. She was looking forward to seeing them and showing them the castle. Maybe even her brothers would come to visit? Azure's mind drifted toward her family. She loved them very much and was happy that they understood the path she had taken.

She yawned, surprised to feel sleepy. She was convinced to be used to sleep in the day instead of the night. Her study was hard and she was sure Luna wouldn't mind if she was to sleep a bit. After all, she was still very young. She put her head on her hooves. Yes, a few minutes would be perfect. She closed her eyes as something tickled at the back of her mind. She recognized it and faked being asleep.

A few moments later, a cloaked figure came out from behind the curtains and approached the sleeping filly without a sound. This unexpected visitor was draped in a long black cloak that completely covered his face and body. A few hooves away from her, a sharp dagger came out floating from the garments of the intruder, wrapped in a red aura. The weapon came close to the filly, ready to strike, but it simply stayed there hanging.

To his surprise, the pony in black was unable to move a single muscle. To his even bigger surprise, he was unable to move his dagger with his magic. Everything felt as if it was frozen in time. He tried harder, putting all his strength in moving a hoof, but it was in vain. He would have more chance in physically pushing the castle. His eyes felt dry as he couldn't even blink.

He couldn't turn his head to see the shadows blobbing up behind him, nor could he see them emerging out of the floor and taking the shape of a tall dark blue mare. The pony's mane sparkled under the Moon's light as she walked up to him. She stood beside him and whispered in his ears, "You choose the wrong pony to mess with." The floating dagger turned to ashes, erased from existence. Both the mare and the cloaked pony disappeared in a flash.

Azure opened her eyes and looked around, wondering what event of importance she had missed. With her eyes closed, she didn’t hear much of what happened. She sighed and grabbed her pen, those equations wouldn't solve themselves.

"Good morning, Tia!" greeted Luna with a fake smile as Celestia came out of her bedroom. Celestia knew her sister very well, if she was there that early in the morning, it wasn't without a good reason.

"Good morning, Lu, how was the night?" Celestia noticed her sister was looking around, noting the different guards present.

"Mind if I take a breakfast with you?" Luna asked. That ticked Celestia's mind, she knew very well that Luna took her breakfast late in the afternoon. After all, she slept in the day and lived mostly in the night. She would sometimes take a late meal with her, but never a breakfast.

"Of course not," Celestia answered as she started walking toward her private dining room. As she came in, she noticed her breakfast and a large pot of steaming coffee was already on the table. The cook was used to Celestia's timetable being like clockwork. She sat down and took a sip at her cup, the black beverage finished waking her up.

Luna closed the doors behind her, leaving the guards outside. She then took time to inspect the room. When she felt nopony could hear or see them, she sat down at the opposite side of the small table. She didn't have to wait for long.

"What's wrong, Lu?"

"There was an assassination attempt last night," she calmly said.

Celestia closed her eyes and lowered her head while putting her cup back on the table. "Azure?" she asked between her lips.

"You knew?"

Celestia opened her eyes back and stared at her sister. "I suspected it could happen, but I deeply hoped it wouldn't."

"Who?"

Celestia took a deep breath and looked at the window, the Sun slowly going up in a blue sky empty of clouds. "I think you know who."

Luna frowned and thought about it for a minute. "What? No, they disappeared over sixteen centuries ago. We hunted them down to the last."

Celestia took another sip at her coffee, the black liquid bringing her no joy this morning. "That's what I thought too, but eight hundred years ago they tried to kill me again." Luna's eyes widened in surprised. "When we hunted them down back then, they simply went underground. They took their time and built their forces. After a third attempt, I managed to meet their leader, or one of their leaders. Even now I don't know how their leadership operates. Anyway, we came to a truce; they would never try to seize power again and I would leave them alone. The high council was one of the points I conceded them."

Luna had a hard time to digest the information. "Why did you leave them alone?" she asked with anger.

Her sister lowered her head again. "It was getting close to a new civil war. I couldn't let that happen and they gave me a way out, one I truly believe was for the best. No matter how stupid or corrupted the high council can sometimes be, it's still a direct link with the population. The ponies can communicate quite easier with the council then with me. And well... it's a way to prevent the errors we made a long time ago. As for them, they kept their words. Since then, they stayed underground as a kind of group of influence." Celestia looked at her sister's eyes and could see rage burning in them, one she knew very well. One she used a long time ago to seize power of Equestria. "How did she react to it?"

"She saw nothing. I put a sleeping spell on her before he attacked. I doubled the protection wards in her room and put a warning spell on her, in case anypony with bad intentions comes close to her," Luna explained.

"For the best, I guess. Where's the assassin?"

"In the dungeon. He is dead," Luna answered softly.

"What?"

"I didn't kill him. He killed himself before I could interrogate him. The spell he used on his body when I released my constraint was... messy," Luna said avoiding her sister's eyes. "The same spell they used back then. Knowing he was part of them, I wouldn't have released my spell."

Celestia stood up and walked to the balcony. "I hoped very hard they would forget their roots, that they would leave the past behind. That... they had learned what ponies could build when working together. However, that they could infiltrate the castle like that and avoid all the protection and detection spells..." Celestia knew very well that Luna came to the same conclusion, their enemies had allies in the castle.

"You know I will hunt them down, every one of them?" Luna said, letting a bit of her cold rage surface.

Celestia knew that nothing could change her sister's resolve, not even her. Luna had found a friend, one to take care of and it wouldn't end well for anypony trying to hurt her. She let a small smile show up. "I know. It won't be as easy as it was. Today, I couldn't even name you a single one of them. They stayed deep underground. When I saw that filly... Azure, I knew it would be a turning point in Equestria's history, one of evolution, like it was two thousand years ago. I know it's for the best, but I feel there will be dark times ahead. Too many ponies are afraid of changes. And some... some can't accept it."

Losing All

This particular morning, while reading a fairly complex old tome about transformation and illusion magic, Twilight couldn't shake off the feeling that something bad was going to happen. After all, Ponyville never stayed quiet for that long. A few months ago she even started a few experiments to prove that somehow this small town had a special way of attracting problems. Most of pony's cities never experienced a fraction of the mess that kept falling on that one. She suspected it was because of its proximity with the Everfree forest, but she couldn't prove it.

Yet.

She wondered if her friend Pinkie Pie's 'senses' were not spreading to her. That feeling was there in the back of her head, but the last thing she wanted was her body to start shaking randomly if somepony was about to sneeze. In the last two years, she started to listen to her sixth sense. After all, she was the avatar of the Element of Magic and she knew that in theory the magic field surrounding everypony would react to troubles or strong emotions. One of her theory was that if she could listen enough those vibrations, she could maybe feel a danger before it would happen.

But that was only a theory, nopony was that attuned to magic fields, not even the princesses. After a lot of tests she even managed to discard magic from Pinkie's abilities, in her case it was something else. She shook her head again to get rid of those thoughts, she accepted years ago that she couldn't explain it and the only thing she managed to do was to find what it was not.

She gazed off her book and looked outside; it was a bright sunny day. That tickling in the back of her head was still there, stronger than ever. Maybe it was that after being in so many dangerous situations her brain was getting used to recognizing the mood of a specific situation. Deep in her thoughts, she almost missed the first pony sprinting by her window but she didn't miss the second and the third one.

By the time she had stood up and reached the door, she had lost count of all the ponies running in the same direction. She stepped outside and looked in the way the ponies were going, a large column of black smoke was raising in the distance. Just as she thought that smoke meant fire, the pegasi squad of fireponies flew over her head with large clouds full of water. She didn't waste time and ran in the same direction as them.

She was about half way to the source of the smoke when she stopped in her tracks. She knew very well where that smoke was coming from. After all, in a small town like Ponyville, it would be hard not to. Her eyes went wide with surprise and she sprinted as fast as she could.

When she turned around the last house before her goal, she was almost out of breath. She wished she was wrong, but in front of her was proof that she was right; the Carousel Boutique was ablaze. The fireponies positioned the clouds above the building and started stomping them. Twilight knew very well it was too little too late, the structure of the building was already collapsing.

She looked around, afraid Rarity was still inside the building, but she quickly found the white mare sitting in front of her burning shop with a small saddlebag on her side. She quickly remembered Sweetie Bell was gone with her parents in some kind of summer trip. As she walked toward her friend, she noticed something was very wrong; Rarity's tail and mane were a mess. Even in the darkest time Rarity would never let them in such a bad state. She knew that even when waking up in the morning Rarity's mane was a dozen time cleaner and prettier than Twilight's would be in a good day. She would hate to be seen in such a dirty state. Even when the tailor would work days and night, even tired out, her mane would still be more presentable than that. There was no doubt the fire took her by surprise.

Coming beside her, she put a hoof on her shoulder and looked at her with a kind smile. To her surprise, Rarity didn't take her sight off the building and didn't even acknowledge her presence. Twilight decided she needed to do something and quick, that look on her friend's face was unlike anything she saw before. It was as if she was looking at a ghost or worst. She charged up a teleportation spell that brought her and her friend to the middle of the library.

Rarity lied on the floor, right where she appeared. "Do you want a tea?" Twilight asked.

"No, thanks."

Twilight stood there surprised and staring at her friend, when was the last time Rarity refused a cup of tea? Her memory told her it actually never happened. Didn't she once say that a lady never refuses a cup of tea?

Had Twilight not gotten used to listening to Fluttershy's whispers, she wouldn't have heard what Rarity breathed out almost in silence, "My life is over."

"What?"

It wasn't the first time the Carousel had been damaged or destroyed; the parasprites, the ursa and some other accidents had forced Rarity to repair or rebuild it. Twilight knew very well Rarity never kept a pattern for more than few months as fashion kept changing. Besides, she kept copies of her best works in some safe places. Her tools had been lost before and the Guild of Designers was prompt to replace them. There wasn't anything in the building itself that was worth that much, and every time she rebuilt it she claimed it was better than the previous version.

"Nothing," Rarity answered between her teeth.

Why was Rarity broken like that? Even in the worst moments she would still display a hidden energy not unlike Pinkie Pie, but right now it was all gone.

"Come on Rarity! You can tell a friend," Twilight pushed.

Rarity frowned as if something ticked in her mind, as she just woke up and notice the library. She raised her head and stared at Twilight with a look of pure anger painting her face. Twilight took two steps back, surprised at the display; she never saw Rarity that mad before and she wasn't sure if it wasn't directed at her.

"You! You!" Rarity shouted. "I know you too well. I know that look in your eyes: that cursed curiosity." She sat back and stamped the floor with a hoof. "If I tell you there's nothing, you won't believe me and will poke around to find out and you will get yourself in trouble. If I tell you to stay out of it and to not get involved, you will pace around like a caged animal," Rarity spat out in rage. "Your brain will keep asking 'what if?' up to the point you will ask questions and get yourself in trouble anyway." Rarity stopped and stared at Twilight, tears coming out of her eyes. "For this once, stay out of it," she screamed with her lips shaking.

But what if it's important...

"That! That look in your eyes! You're already going at it!" Rarity barked while pointing at Twilight's face. It was obvious to Twilight her friend was close to a nervous breakdown, after all she had her own share of those. "Why can't you listen for once in your life?" Rarity was shaking and tears were flowing freely off her eyes. "Just once?" She pleaded.

"I will. I promise."

Rarity stared at Twilight for a long moment before lowering her head and letting her tears wet the wooden floor. "Who am I kidding? You will never keep that promise. I know you too well. Not knowing will turn you crazy before long. Maybe it's what makes you a good friend, or the stupidest fool of the universe." Rarity took a deep breath. "I guess I have no choice but to tell you everything. Maybe after that you will understand why you should not get involved."

Twilight sat there in front of her friend, she simply had no idea how to react. Deep down she knew Rarity was right, those urges, that curiosity, she never managed to control them and more than once it got her in danger. She knew that she couldn't sleep not knowing it, whatever 'it' was. Within a week she would be going around asking questions. She closed her eyes; in the past that curiosity hurt her friends more than once. Everypony had their secret and not knowing them doesn't mean they didn't love each other. She was sad and tired that she couldn't help it.

"I'm sorry Rarity," Twilight honestly apologized.

Rarity's face was twisted by conflicting emotions. Rage, sadness, love and that smile she reserved for her friends were fighting for a place. Twilight couldn't say which won as Rarity laid back on the floor and put her front hooves on her face. "Shield, Twilight. Just put a shield around this place so that nopony could hear what we will say."

Twilight obeyed without asking questions. She focused her magic on a spell that was one of her specialty. She changed the spell slightly so that it would only block air vibration, that way it wouldn't show up as a huge and bright purple bubble. She looked around, the only sign that her spell was working was a small refraction in the air. Nopony could see it without being very close to its limits. "There."

Rarity sat once again and stared at the floor. "No pony, no matter how talented, gets a spotlight in the high spheres of Canterlot," she said. "It just doesn't happen. Talent alone doesn't bring you to that point. You need more, you need contacts and influence. Hoity Toity, I'm sure you remember him, he doesn't even think about somepony unless he heard their name a dozen times from his close relations. It took me years to build the network needed for my name to go around. I'm young, it should have taken me another decade to get to the point I was."

"A proof that you are that talented?"

"A proof that I'm that foolish," Rarity said with her anger coming out once again. She sighed loudly. "I got contacts, lot of them. A while ago, I started pushing my name around, up to the point I was contacted by a group of very high influence. Basically, there isn't something that happens in Equestria without them knowing about it. They heard about that Nightmare Moon incident and wanted to help me, or so they said. Saving Equestria once or twice, surprisingly brings you some notoriety."

"They didn't help?"

Tears were coming back to her eyes. "Oh yes, they did, my business rocketed. Such a young and inexperienced designer being visited by Hoity Toity, it was unheard of. There is no doubt that he came here because of them. He simply doesn't go in some small town like Ponyville. Within months, my designs were sold across all over Equestria." She stopped to think about it. "About a year ago, they asked me to officially join their group. Something about an element of harmony being a powerful symbol. I was pleased with the attention."

"Who are they?"

"I have no real precise idea, they don't even have a name. I probably guessed one or two of them, but no real proof to back it up. They are as powerful, if not more, than the Princesses. The high council members are their puppets. I accepted their offer, I had no reason not to. After all, they helped me so much."

"So, what happened?"

Rarity sighed once more. "They have a weird structure. Twice a month, they send to all their members a list of topics to be voted on. A lot of random stuff, like should we allow this contract with this company, do we allow this law to be passed by the council, export toward that country and so on. Two months ago, one of the points was; do you agree on the assassination of the unnatural."

"What?" Twilight asked, surprised.

"I heard rumors before joining that a long time ago they were a group of extremists, that they waged some kind of under-covered war against the Princesses, ut I thought it was just the past, after all, Equestria is quite peaceful now," she explained with a small shrug.

Twilight was quite stunned by the information, she never heard of a group battling against the Princesses. If it really happened, all her history books judged good to omit that information. "And?"

"Influence is one thing, murder is another. I sent a letter saying I was leaving the group." She opened her saddlebag and with her magic drew a letter from it. "Their answers came in two parts. The first one came in the mail today; the Guild of Designers banning me, making all my contracts null and void. In other words, I'm not allowed to sell my design in Equestria anymore."

Twilight's eyes widen in surprise. "They can't simply..."

"Yes, they can simply," Rarity hammered. "They are that powerful. Minutes after I received the letter, my shop was on fire. The link is quite obvious, even if I have no direct proof they did it. Their message is quite simple, they don't even need to kill me to destroy my life." She laid back on the floor staring in front of her. "And they did."

"That's terrible! How... How can anypony do that? And... who is the that unnatural?" Twilight asked, confused by the whole explanations.

"How can anypony do that to another, I have no idea. As for their assassination’s target, I don't know. Some pony in Canterlot's castle from what I understood. Something probably happened recently to make them move like that. There were lot of weird stuff going in the last four or five months, lot of voted topics that made no senses, like bringing the tomatoes industry down to its knees. Why would they do that?"

"The tomatoes industry? That's..." Twilight stopped as her brain started working hard. The link was easy, she knew very well which pony's family was the biggest provider of tomato in Equestria. She wanted it to be wrong, that it was a simple mistake, but it couldn't be. Her eyes were wide in horror. "Oh no, no, no," she said while shaking her head. "They can't do that! Can they? She's only a filly!" She stopped and looked at Rarity that was staring at her. "Come on Rarity! We are going to Canterlot."

"Now?" She asked back, confused.

"Now!" Twilight shouted. "I know who they want to kill."

"Who?"

"Azure!" Seeing Rarity didn't understand who she was talking about, she continued, "the filly that stayed here for a day a few months ago. You know, Luna's student."

"Oh. But why her?" Rarity asked not sure how to react. She remembered Twilight mentioning the filly once or twice, but she never met her. From what she knew, there wasn't any reason to kill an harmless filly.

"From what I understood, some ponies don't like the idea of an earth pony learning and performing magic, even if it's with the help of a unicorn," Twilight explained. "There were a lot of complaints voiced to the princesses when the word got out that Luna took a student that wasn't a unicorn."

"That's silly. But we can't go," Rarity countered.

"Why?"

"They are probably watching me. If we go to Canterlot soon after they burned my shop, they will know we are up to something. We would be of no help if they kill us before we reach the castle," she explained. "And from what I understand, they have no scruple to do that."

"You're right." Twilight sat down, disappointed. But it didn't last long, her brain quickly found a way to get around the problem. Rarity took a step back as a huge grin showed up on Twilight's face. "Only, they won't know we will be in Canterlot."

"What?" Rarity didn't like her friend's smile.

Twilight didn't answer, instead she walked toward the center of the library. She closed her eyes and focused her magic on a very complex spell and aimed it at the table and the equine statue in the middle of the room. The air itself appeared to crystallize and from outside looked like a huge diamond. It slowly grew inside, collapsing on itself as if somepony was pushing it, crushing it. After a moment, it almost looked like a tunnel carved out of reality. With a burst, it somehow flipped inside out and where the table was a moment ago stood a large chest and a thick tome on pedestal.

Rarity shook her head, she simply didn't understand what she just saw. It wasn't a simple teleportation. She understood that much. Her eyes were telling her brain something that made no sense. "What... What was that?"

"Some of the experiments I perform for the Princess are quite... sensitive. I store here anything dangerous or any informations that should never fall into the wrong ponies' hooves. It's a nice trick a friend of mine designed; it's a bubble of reality hidden behind the normal reality. Like a flipping door, the table is now in that bubble and what was inside is now outside. Without knowing exactly where it is and the frequency of activation of the bubble, it's impossible to unlock it," Twilight explained, quite proud of herself. After all, she was the first pony to ever be able to perform that spell. It took her almost a week to build up the magic needed to carve out a bubble of reality, but it was worth it. If the University of Canterlot knew about that spell, there would be raging debate for years about the implications of creating hidden pockets of reality.

Rarity's eyes were wide in amazement. She wasn't an expert in magic like Twilight, but she knew enough to know that this kind of spell was simply out of her reach in both theoretically and practical application. "By Celestia! I never heard of such a spell. Who could create something like that?"

"Azure," Twilight answered while flipping pages of the tome.

"What? That's... That's impossible! She's only a filly! It takes years... decades of study, maybe more before being able to design spells of that level." When Rarity was younger, before she got her cutie mark, she tried her hoof at spell crafting. She quickly learned that the difficulty of designing and casting a spell had a very sharp slope. Telekinesis was a fairly basic one that foals quickly mastered, but even a spell like teleportation, one of Twilight's specialties, which could be considered only a few levels more complex was out of her reach. She might be able to cast it if she would train for it for a few months, but she never felt the need to invest that much time. She was sometimes jealous of how her friend could excel in spell casting, learning new spells in matters of hours or days, but right now she was downright stunned. The spell she cast was beyond anything she had seen her perform before.

“You should see the spells I designed for her. She has a lot to learn. She can’t cast most of them but in time, I’m sure she will succeed. She loves designing new spells and I love casting them," she explained with a large smile. "Ah! There it is," Twilight said as she found the right page. Rarity took a look above Twilight's shoulder but she quickly backed off. The pages obviously displayed the structure of a spell, but simply looking at it made her head spin.

"What is it?"

"After the changelings’ invasion, the Princess asked me and Azure to investigate as much as we could on their transformation spell. Azure managed to replicate it," she said as he tapped the page.

"She drew that? That's insane!" Rarity said, honestly impressed.

"She's good and I heard Luna isn't an easy teacher. Once we knew how they transform, I designed a protective shield against that spell.” She flipped a few pages displaying an even more complex spell. Rarity's eyes went wide when she understood that Twilight was casting that monster of a spell in a recurrent manner. She always assumed Twilight was talented, but she never truly understood up to which point. “My brother is keeping it up at all times on Canterlot and me on Ponyville. Any changelings that would try to get close to the cities would see their disguise fail. We actually caught a few changelings that were trying to get back inside," she explained with a proud smile. "Some other unicorns are keeping it active around other major cities."

"That's... quite impressive," she said, her brain still trying to absorb all that information. "But I don't understand how it would help us."

"This morning, I was doing researches about that. My protection spell works perfectly against the changelings' normal disguise, however it is not flexible enough. Azure wrote me a letter a week ago about a way to slightly modify the transformation spell that would make it able to go pass our defenses. I found the solution, but I haven't sent it yet to Canterlot."

"Sorry, I still don't see how it helps us."

"Twilight and Rarity won't go in Canterlot. Two other ponies will," Twilight said with a huge smile.

Love the New Style, Twilight

Two ponies sat down in the waiting room of the castle, one white and one bright green. A dozen other ponies were sitting around waiting for their turn to plea their requests to the Princesses.

The white mare pushed her purple glasses up her nose. "Vinyl... Why her?" she whispered to the green one.

"Well, you are both white. It was easier that way," the pony that looked like Lyra Heartstring replied.

"It didn't look like you had problem with your..." Her face showed a bit of disgust. "... green color."

She smiled. "Don't tell me you don't like someponies because of their colors?"

Rarity's eyes went wide in horror behind the huge glasses. "I would never!" She lowered her head. "But you know I don't particularly like green."

"So I heard," Twilight whispered back with a playful smile. She sighed. "The last six months have been great."

"Azure?"

"She's amazing, in many ways she reminds me of myself," she explained. "Well, myself when I was her age. She understands perfectly what type of magic I'm good at and vise versa. We bounce ideas at each other so easily. I've designed spells for her just as she did for me." Twilight had a wide smile. "She still has a lot to learn! However, she is tackling challenges in a way no unicorn would. It's giving me a view on what could be a whole new branch of spell crafting and..." Twilight stopped midsentence. "I'm babbling again," she said with some red showing up brightly on her green cheeks, something that wouldn't show as brightly on her normal purple coat.

Twilight's smile was contagious. "I'm happy you found a friend that shares your passion, dear. I'm just a bit surprised you never really talked about her. And that red is great on your green coat, you should do that again in winter," Rarity cheered.

Twilight frowned. "Well, I know how... the books and magic research kind of bored you and the others too. We have such different passions from each other." It wasn't the first time Twilight thought about how strange that friendship turned out to be with the five other mares; fashion, agriculture, sport, animals, party and magic. All kind of passions that would hardly mix with each other, and yet she would never trade her friendship.

"How about your relation with her?" Rarity asked.

"Well... it's... I..."

Rarity sighed loudly. "I see. You only talk magic with her?"

Twilight nodded back in shame. "And I thought I learned that lesson with you guys, to not focus only on my passions but to also go out with my friends."

Rarity smiled back. "Not as easy when the other one is sharing the same passions, right?"

She nodded slowly. "She is still a filly. I could be here to prevent her from making the mistakes I did when I was her age."

Rarity put a hoof on her shoulder. "Now, you got that wrong too!" She pushed her glasses over her head.

"What?"

"A filly needs to make mistakes, otherwise there is no real learning. Life experiences need to be lived to be learned. What you need to do is to be there when she will make some. Not to be around for her passions... or yours, but be there for her," she explained.

Twilight stared at Rarity. "Since when are you so knowledgeable of fillies?"

She let out a small laugh. "Dear, you would be surprised how much I've learned while taking care of Sweetie Bell."

Twilight laughed back. "I take it wasn't easy?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Rarity claimed. "Metal doesn't become strong by being soft with it, bounds between ponies are the same. By the way, don't you know some secret passage in this castle? Why do we have to wait like that?"

"You want to do it safe. We are doing it safe. Besides, it hasn't been that long." It was the moment a guard chose to enter the room and call their number. "See? Already our turn."

They stood up and followed the guard as he walked them to the audience chamber.

Rarity got close to Twilight. "You never told me how we are supposed to make the princess understand who we are."

"You will see."

The ponies walked up to the large chamber that hosted the two thrones of Equestria's rulers. At this moment, Luna was most likely sleeping in her tower, so Celestia was alone on the large seat at the end of the room that represented the Sun. Ponies always had the option to talk to the high council in case of business problems or anything that wouldn't require the princess approval. Considering the size of the pony population, it was a good idea to have this extra layer, otherwise the princess would pass all her days and nights answering queries from all around the land about every possible topic. There were also the ponies that found the princess presence a tiny bit too intimidating and would prefer to talk to somepony of their size.

However, the princess insisted to always offer her time to the population, so that they could come ask her directly anything they had on their minds. As Rarity and Twilight entered the room, the later noticed that the princess didn't appear to be well rested. She tried to remember a moment from her past where she wasn't fully rested and failed to find one. No doubt that for other ponies it wouldn't noticeable, but Twilight had lived most of her life with her. The way the guards were giving small glances toward her was enough to make the her understand that she wasn't well.

They came as close as the protocol required and bowed before the large winged unicorn.

"Good morning my little ponies," Celestia said with a smile. Twilight always loved that voice, and right now she had to fight herself from jumping forward and hugging her. "How can I help you?"

Twilight took a step forward. "Good morning princess. We would like to acquire a crate of bananas."

Surprise showed up only a fraction of second on the princess' face, quickly replaced by a caution frown. "I can understand your problem, we are out of season," she replied.

"We heard our majesty could maybe part with some of her own reserve considering it is for a cake in her honor," Twilight countered with a weird smile.

Celestia fought very hard not to roll her eyes. "Very well, follow me," she said as she stood up and walk down the throne. "Guards, I'm sorry, but the audiences are over for today." She was walking out of the room and made sign to the two mares to follow her. Another quick sign toward the guards was clear enough that she didn't want them to follow. Rarity and Twilight trotted behind her as the princess walked down the corridors of the castle in silence. After a while, she stopped in front of a door that looked like any other door of the palace. She lowered her head and touched it slightly with her horn. The air flickered as protection spells were released and the door unlocked itself. The princess and the two mares entered the room. Celestia closed the door and the spells reactivated themselves.

It was a small room without windows at the heart of the castle. There was a large table with seats surrounding it, in all appearance a standard meeting room. It was the very center of the palace, a place where every detection or protection spells would overlap. In the thousand years of existence of Canterlot, nopony ever managed to enter this room without Celestia being aware of it, at least none that she was aware of.

Celestia faced the two mares. "Love the new style, Twilight." She turned to look at the white mare. "And you would be?"

"Rarity, your highness," she said while bowing down.

Celestia raised a hoof. "Please, leave the formality outside this room. Twilight wouldn't have used the emergency identification system without a good reason."

Rarity looked at Twilight. "The weird dialogue about bananas and cake?"

Twilight smiled. "Secret keywords that change every few hours and every few days. Only a few know about it..."

"And I'm afraid this circle won't expand anytime soon," Celestia interrupted Twilight. She stared at the green mare. "I'm pretty sure I know why you are here, but not how you came to know about it."

It reminded Twilight why she was here. "They will try to kill Azure!"

Celestia nodded slowly. "They did try." Twilight and Rarity's eyes went wide in surprise, they were too late. "Don't be alarmed," Celestia continued. "Azure is safe and sound." The two let out the breath they were holding.

"How?" Twilight asked.

"If it was only me, the assassin would have succeeded, but it is without counting on my sister," Celestia explained.

"Luna? But..."

Celestia smiled. "She is not the princess of the night for nothing. What I would fail to do with brute force, she always succeeds in subtlety."

"I... princess... I don't understand," Twilight replied.

Celestia sighed and looked at the roof. "I guess there is no helping it. You both need a little history lesson." Twilight and Rarity looked at each other, puzzled. "However, what will be said here must never leave this room, understood?"

The two mares slowly nodded, unsure what kind of information the princess was ready to reveal.

"It is the story... the story of how I and my sister came to be the rulers of Equestria. And... Why there is no queen or king of Equestria."

History Lesson

"Over two thousand years ago, we defeated Discord, me, my sister and four other ponies," Celestia started. Twilight could swear she saw a small tear in her eyes at the mention of the previous bearers of the elements. "You did that play a while ago about how the three pony tribes united to survive. The message, the idea behind the foundation of Equestria was right. But the rest of the play wasn't really representative of the reality."

Celestia sat down and sighed while bringing back memories that were so old. "Ponies back then, were almost feral, running freely on plains, in herds without any kind of solid social structure."

"Discord?" Rarity asked, trying to propose a reason for that strange statement.

The princess let a small crystal laugh. "Discord had nothing to do with the ponies' state. Everything had to be discovered and learned, including how to build a society... a house or even simple tools. Once Discord was sealed, his control over the environment vanished and the ponies almost came to extinction," she explained with a serious look. "For that part of the story, that theatrical play is right, the only way the ponies could survive was to pool their strength and resources to survive."

Celestia's sight was staring the empty space above Twilight's head. "Ponies were savage beasts living in nature, one alpha stallion overlooking the wellbeing of multiple mares. The idea of living inside houses or simply the concept of agriculture or storing food was completely alien."

Rarity's eyes went wide in surprise. "That's... That's so..."

Celestia smiled in amusement at the mare's reaction. "You would never see me as a pony running around freely and eating wild herbs, would you?"

Twilight was sure Rarity would pass out, but she managed to avoid it at the last moment. No doubt that if it wasn't in front of the royalty, she wouldn't have restrained herself, being the drama queen that she was. But she had to admit the idea of her teacher, the ruler of Equestria, running in nature without any structure... She shook her head, she would let her imagination run crazy later.

"Back then, ponies had started to talk a few hundred years before Discord's banishment," Celestia continued. "At this point, they had to do the unthinkable, change their ways to survive. Even today, lots of pegasi and earth ponies still hear the calling of nature and choose jobs that keep them outside, in the wild. Surprisingly, unicorns had much less problem adapting to live inside caves... or houses."

"Caves?" Twilight asked.

"When the first winter came, nopony was ready for that. Caves were our first homes. It was also where I was..." Celestia stopped and frowned. "Three kinds of ponies that never had any kind of real communication with each other were suddenly forced to live in the same confined space and find a way to survive as one."

"That's how Equestria was made?" Rarity said. "I don't see how it is different from the play we did."

Celestia let another small laugh. "Well, for one, there wasn't any political structure back then and nopony called this land 'Equestria'. The three tribes is a metaphor for the three pony kinds. After we survived our first winter..." Her face took a serious look. "'Survived' being an overstatement, over a third of the original population died." She sighed. "I and my sister pushed the ponies towards each other to find solutions. We knew the winter would come again and we would need to be ready. Otherwise, a few years later the ponies would have disappeared. Growing crops, storing food, building shelters, all kind of new ideas the ponies never thought about before. Extinction is a powerful motivator for changes."

Rarity and Twilight were drinking every word from the princess, fascinated by the details that were never written in any history books.

"It took a while, but ultimately the ponies came to do what they do today, with only one exception."

The two mares looked at each other, puzzled.

"The earth ponies came to be the pillar of agriculture, feeding the population," she explained. "The pegasi controlled the weather, bringing longer and more stable seasons for growing food and stopping harmful weather from destroying the crops or the first unstable houses. The unicorns controlled the length of the day, raising the Sun and the Moon which in turn reduced the length and strength of winter. I'm sure you remember in the history books that said it took a thousand unicorns to do this work?"

They both nodded like some attentive students.

"About two hundred years after the ponies agreed to work together, a group of unicorns decided they should be in control of everything. Their idea was that unicorns were smarter and were the only ones who could do magic," she said with a look of disgust on her face. "They also had control over the Sun and the Moon and they were ready to use it as a way of coercion over the pegasi and the earth ponies."

Rarity and Twilight both looked at the princess in horror.

"I'm sure you can understand how stupid that idea was. After all, using the Sun as a weapon would prove as dangerous for the unicorns as for the others, since they can't really survive without food. Indirectly destroying their own source of food was a completely irrational act, but they weren't rational ponies." Celestia sighed once again and her sight drift again as she dived into her memories. "Civil war, it was less than an hour before it would break out among ponies when me and my sister stepped up and took control of the Sun and the Moon, rendering the unicorns claims groundless."

She closed her eyes and appeared to shrink on herself. "We never intended to take control or be the leaders of anypony, but we couldn't find any other alternative. Had there been any other choice, we would have taken it. Everything we worked for, for centuries, was about to be destroyed in a swift move of madness from a small group of unicorns. Most unicorns didn't know what to do and were caught in the middle."

Twilight blinked in surprise, she never saw Celestia appear so vulnerable before. Even when she was knocked down by the Queen of the changelings, she still radiated power and security.

"I understand it wasn't easy?" Rarity asked.

Celestia opened her eyes and stared at the ground. "The civil war happened, but it wasn't among ponies; that group of unicorns battled against those who decided to rob them of their power. Earth ponies and pegasi never cared much for political control and after long discussions they accepted me and Luna without much fuss because, somehow, we represented them too," she said while doing a quick flap of her wings. "It wasn't easy, we had lots of talks with them to accept us, but it was better than fighting. We could have negotiated for a millennium if it meant preventing combat among ponies. I’m happy that most ponies jumped at the opportunity. But for centuries after that, we had to fight off a threat from inside that refused to have any compromise."

Twilight thought about it for a moment. "And... you had to..." she trailed.

"Kill unicorns," Celestia dropped sharply. "It wasn't pretty in any way. Ever since then I still ask myself what I could have done differently. When I watch what Equestria became since then, I still hope that it wasn't in vain. But was there a better solution?"

She took a deep breath. "That hidden war lasted well over two centuries. We thought we had hunted them all down back then. Most ponies, unicorns included were unaware of what was going on in the background." She looked at the two mares. "Twilight, I'm sure you noticed Luna is a very kind pony."

Twilight nodded. "Yes."

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "She has another side to her personality, one she hates deeply. One I used to solidify our power over the ponies." She let out her breath and closed her eyes once more, deep in her memories. "After we took control, I wouldn't have survived without her. She isn't the princess of the night without reason. I..." A full tear showed up in the corner of her eyes as her body tensed up. "I used her to slay my enemies. She was silent and efficient, and even the best assassin sent by that group was no match against her. In two centuries of fighting, the kindest pony I ever knew became a ruthless killer... by my fault."

"It wasn't..." Twilight started.

Celestia shook her head. "It was my decision, Twilight; I pushed Luna towards that. Nightmare Moon was in part my fault because I was unable to take her feelings into account, unable to see what was hurting her inside. Nopony could live that kind of experience without keeping some deep emotional scars. I kept repeating that we had to do it and I was blind to the fact that I was turning my own sister into a monster." She let a small moment of silence. "So, sixteen centuries ago, we thought they were all gone. In truth, they simply went deeper in the shadows, training and waiting for an opportunity."

"For that long, up to now?" Rarity asked.

"No," Celestia said while shaking her head. "Eight centuries ago, with my sister gone, they decided it was time. Another war of the shadows broke out, and this time I was alone. Or so I thought." She stared at Twilight with a weird look. "It didn't last long, unlike the previous war, a few decades and they almost won. One of them was a very powerful unicorn and he almost killed me. He would have, if it hadn't been for the unexpected help from other unicorns that came to my rescue. In all that time, I guess some of them thought I didn't do such a bad job at leading the country." She looked away. "Again, a lot of ponies died so I could live."

After a long uneasy silence, she resumed her story. "It was painfully obvious to me, that even with that victory, it wasn't enough to stop them, they would simply go back in hiding and wait once more for another opportunity. Without Luna, the next strike would no doubt end with my death, Equestria would fall into chaos, in a civil war I had fought so hard to prevent."

"But I was lucky, I managed to capture one of their leaders and this time they were ready to negotiate. We managed to make a truce as, surprisingly, they too didn't want that war to continue. Eight centuries ago, I stepped down from the title of queen to the one of princess. All my decisions would have to be validated by an elected council, the high council. They would leave me alone as a figurehead of the government of Equestria, but would have their say in all the politics. They were used to work from the shadows, so they appreciated the idea," she explained.

She shrugged. "No doubt the council is fully in their control, but so far that balance of power hasn’t been so bad. They used their power to counter my decisions only a few times and it was always with good reasons."

"You're wrong on one point," said a voice behind Celestia. The princess jumped in surprise as she was sure they were alone in the room. She turned around to face the dark mare that came out of the shadows projected by some drapes hung on the walls.

"Luna!" Celestia said somewhat stunned that her sister had heard her speech. "How long have you been here?"

"Since the beginning," Luna said with a kind voice. "You're wrong. You never pushed me to do anything. I made those choices by myself. I'm a grown mare, you know?" She asked with a sad smile. "You were not the only one who was ready to do everything possible to avoid a civil war. I wanted Equestria to be as safe and stable as you wanted it to be." She looked away. "I might not like what I became or what I had to do, but if I had to redo it I would do it the same way without hesitation." Luna stepped forward and stared at Celestia with an angry look. "My mistake was to be unable to speak of what tainted my heart. I kept it to myself and let it grow. However, what I will have a hard time forgiving, after all that happened, is you keeping those feelings of guilt hidden from me."

Celestia looked like a child caught with her hoof in the cookie jar and looked away. "I'm sorry... I..."

"I knew you somehow felt responsible for the Nightmare, but I didn’t know you assumed you were the reason for me doing what I thought was best,” she said sharply. “I thought what happened a millennium ago was a good enough lesson to not keep our feelings from each other," Luna explained. "Next time you feel responsible for something related to me, I want to know it."

Celestia looked down and nodded. "I promise I will tell you."

Twilight and Rarity both had a wide smile at the display of sister friendship, however Twilight's face slowly transformed into a concerned attitude. "Sorry Princesses, but there's something I don't understand."

"Only one thing?" Celestia asked back, knowing her student’s habit of questioning everything.

Twilight blushed once more. "Well... Yes, I do have many questions," she admitted while looking away. "But right now, I think I only have one that is important."

"Go ahead," Celestia replied, surprised that she would control her curiosity like that.

"If they stayed undercover for so long, what made them come out now?" Twilight asked. "I mean, they don't really have a reason anymore to target you or Princess Luna. Azure is hardly a reason enough to come out of hiding and put everything they achieved in jeopardy."

Celestia and Luna looked at each other. "You've really grown up a lot Twilight," Celestia commented with a motherly smile. "I've been asking myself the same question since the assassination attempt," she said, her face serious once more. "I've kept an eye on them since our agreements eight centuries ago and as far as I knew, they slowly changed toward a group aimed at influencing the commerce and making sure their own political agenda would go smoothly. However, I've lost track of them over a decade ago. I assumed the group was dissolved or that it lost enough influence to not be noteworthy anymore." She sighed loudly. "No case of violence has been linked to them in over seven centuries. They didn't do anything or they were too subtle, I can't say."

She looked at Rarity. "I've heard of what happened with your shop. I will see what I can do, but I can't promise anything since the guild of designer is a private entity." She gave a quick look at Luna. "What concerns me is that they became so explicit about their actions, almost as much as they did eight centuries ago. We are missing something important, something that happened in that group."

A heavy silence weighted on the conference room. "So, what do we do?" Rarity finally asked.

Celestia looked at Luna. "We wait for their next move," the princess of the night explained.

"It would be unwise for you two to stay in Canterlot for now," Celestia explained while coming out of the room.

"Rari... huh... Vinyl can stay at my place for now, it's not a problem," Twilight offered. The white mare nodded back behind her purple glasses. "But princesses, promise me to contact us when you have any information," she pleaded at the two large winged unicorns.

"We prom..." Luna started but was interrupted by a steel blue blur.

"Twilight!" a blue filly that was waiting by the door screamed with joy as she jumped and hugged the green mare. "I knew it was you!"

"Azure! But how?" Twilight asked, surprised the filly recognized her despite her disguise.

Azure let Twilight go off her hug and sat down. "It's easy!" she said with pride. "Your magic is so bright, it would be hard not to notice it!"

"That doesn't really explain how..." Twilight tried to ask before being interrupted by a large white stallion in armor running down the corridor.

"Princesses!" the newcomer screamed, obviously in an extremely panicked state.

"Shining Armor," Celestia greeted. "Please calm down and take your breath."

Azure was pointing at Twilight and was about to say something when the later put a hoof on the filly's mouth and shook her head in negation. The young one understood the silent message and remained silent, Twilight would have time later to talk with her brother.

The captain of the guard took a few deep breaths and tried to be as calm as possible but failed to do so. "My parents!" he finally said. "They are missing! Somepony broke into their house!"

Family Crisis

Twilight Sparkle's conscious brain, for the first time in its life, didn't know what to think; it was all empty and blank. She did hear what Shining Armor said, but somehow the process of analyzing the meaning of his words got stuck somewhere. Or maybe she simply didn't want to know about it. However, a part of her brain she had no control over kicked in, taking over the empty space and decided on the next course of action.

Her horn flared up, preparing a spell as she had done thousand times before, so often that even her subconscious mind could cast it on its own; teleportation. It was only when two pairs of hooves grabbed her that she snapped out of it. She was about to ask what was going on and why she was casting a spell when she, Rarity and Azure disappeared in a purple flash.

The two princesses left behind weren't really surprised. For a good moment Celestia considered going after her student, it wasn't really a problem as she had a good idea of where she would find her. However, she couldn't come up with what to do next. Trying to stop Twilight was out of question, she had no doubt that the unicorn could be as determined as Luna in this kind of situation and that was one of her best qualities. Helping her maybe? It wouldn't work, no matter how much she tried to make Twilight understand that she could be a friend just as any other pony, the purple one still considered her a mentor. Time was the only way to level that mountain separating them. Which meant she would doubt and question her every step if she was to be present. Even more, she would ask the Princess for guidance, which would no doubt prevent her brilliant mind from focusing on the task. No, her only choice was to stay behind, once more, and hope that Twilight would call for her in case she needed help.

It was that kind of situation that made Celestia curse her stature; she wished she could simply grab Twilight and go forth to help her. She knew her time for adventure had passed long ago and that she should be grateful for the chance of seeing others had their own, but she couldn't help it.

The captain of the guard wasn't too happy to learn that a unicorn could teleport out of the castle. From his point of view, he just say two unknown unicorns disappear with Luna's student. It also meant that this particular green unicorn could also teleport back in. Obviously the security measures were out of date and the protection spells had to be strongly reinforced. Only a few unicorns were allowed this kind of privilege and he personally knew them all; this one wasn't part of that select group. Still slightly out of breath, he was about to voice his anger about the security protocols when Celestia opened the door she had just come from.

"Shining," she called him by his name, which was quite unusual and automatically put him on the defensive. "Come in, we have a lot to talk about."

"Girls!" Twilight shouted in surprise. "What you just did was very dangerous, we are lucky to be in one piece! Teleportation isn't to be taken lightly. It's... It's..."

Rarity coughed a small cloud of black smoke. "Dear, I doubt you would have waited for us." She checked her body for anything missing and was happy that everything was at the right place, if only slightly burned from the uncontrolled spell. She didn't want to know how her mane looked at this moment. Azure looked sad as a good part of her tail hadn't made it. Rarity hugged her. "Don't worry honey, it will grow back in no time."

"I... I know. It just looks weird," answered the small filly while swinging her tail around.

"I'll give you a makeover, short tails are in this season," Rarity consoled her with a wink. She looked around before fixing her sight on Twilight. "I take this is your parent's house?"

Twilight suddenly remember why she was here and her eyes went wide as she looked at what remained of the small living room. It was obvious her parents had put up quite a fight, multiple burn marks painted the walls and the floor. What was left of a chair was slowly smoldering in a corner. "Oh my!" Twilight said as she brought a hoof to her mouth.

Rarity walked around and quickly checked the adjacent rooms before coming back. "The fight only happened in this room. The others are clean," she claimed before noticing Twilight lack of reaction. "Twilight!" she shouted. "Snap out of it. You need to focus if you want to help them."

The purple mare blinked a few times before staring at the floor. "But what if," she started before being interrupted by Rarity's hoof on her shoulder.

"No!" Rarity barked.

Twilight took a step back. "Right, focus! Focus Twilight, focus." She shock her head trying to push away the questions and the uncertainty. Rarity was right, she wouldn't help anypony if she couldn't put all her mind to the problem at hoof. She had the ability of noticing hints other would miss. She looked around the room, taking time to let every bit of the room sink in her brain. After a few minutes of examination, she stopped in the middle of the room to think, a hoof under her chin.

The whole time, both Rarity and Azure watched her in silence. As Twilight stood in the middle of the room they looked at each other wondering if she had noticed something.

"I don't understand," Twilight finally let out.

"What honey?" Rarity asked back.

Twilight raised her head to look at her friend. "That fight, it was violent, no doubt about that, but there is no blood, no fur. Not hint that any of those magic bolts hit anything beside the furniture or the walls," she calmly explained.

Rarity was surprised that her friend managed to keep her head cool like that. "Well, you always said protective magic was a family specialty. If you or your brother are any indication, your parent must be able to cast some pretty solid shields."

Twilight sat down and thought about it for a moment. "Well, I never saw them perform any, but it doesn't mean they can't. And because their work isn't focused on magic doesn't mean they are unable to do it." She shook her head. "No, what troubles me is that both sides didn't suffer any damage. I'm sure my parents would defend themselves, and yet they didn't score any hit. On top, nopony saw anything. I doubt it would have been easy to carry two mature ponies around Canterlot without anypony noticing."

"They could have teleported them," Azure proposed.

"Teleport two unicorns against their will? Unlikely, it is fairly easy to counter that kind of spell and my parents are kinda expert in that field," she explained looking guilty of something.

"What?" Rarity asked.

Twilight let out a small laugh. "Teleportation is one of the first hard spell I mastered. You can imagine they were not very happy to be unable to keep me in place, and well... sometime they had to."

Rarity smiled. "Oh? So the bookworm wasn't a nice and calm filly?"

"More like to keep me from teleporting to the city's library at night," Twilight explained while blushing.

Rarity used a lot of effort to prevent from facehoofing, but was unable to not roll her eyes. "So, I understand they would not agree to be teleported away."

"Well, they know how to counter my teleportation spell. But it doesn't mean it would work against higher spells."

"Higher?"

"There is three," Twilight started before being interrupted by Azure coughing. "Sorry, four teleportation spells. But your isn't well known yet, Azure. As for the three other, each one requires more magic, but allow for longer distances. I doubt me, or my parents could counter the bigger one," she explained before going back to her thoughts. "And if the attacker is able to cast that, he would easily be listed as one of the most powerful unicorns currently alive."

"Considering he or they captured your parents without being hurt, I doubt they would be weak," Rarity said with a sigh.

"So, what's next?" Azure asked, somewhat excited.

Twilight and Rarity looked at each other before facing the blue filly. "Well," Twilight started, disappointed. "I feel we are kinda stuck. Whoever did that didn't leave clues behind, at least none that I can find."

Azure frowned. "What do you mean? If they had such a big magic fight, they probably left tons of magic behind."

Twilight's eyes went wide. "Of course!" She quickly turned around and cast a fairly easy spell: magic detection. After a moment, she turned around once more while looking at the room. "Wow. I was afraid the magic would be long gone, depending how long it was since the fight happened, but there is plenty left."

Azure and Rarity looked around, not noticing anything different. Seeing they were unable to perceive the magic, Twilight cast the same spell on both. "Wow," they both let out at the same time. Colorful swirls of magic bleed away from every burn mark. The floor and the walls were painted of magic stream slowly pulsing. There were three distinctive hue around the room; cyan, blue and gold. In the middle of the room, a huge sphere of bright cyan was slowly expanding.

"I take this is where the teleportation occurred," Rarity said while pointing at the bright sphere.

"Probably," Twilight agreed. "I'm not sure, but I think the gold magic is my father and the blue my mother," she explained. They looked around, noticing that most of the burn marks were either gold or blue.

"So, your parents defended themselves, but whoever assaulted them didn't care much to attack back," Rarity noted turning around to look at Twilight. "Woah!" she let out in a small scream.

"What?" Twilight asked, looking around in defensive stance.

"Nothing dear, I knew you were a powerful magician, but I think I never fully understood it," Rarity explained.

"What?" Twilight asked again, confused.

"You're leaking magic," the white mare said with a small laugh.

"I told you you were easy to spot Twilight," Azure said with a large smile.

Twilight looked at her front legs and sure enough, her body was emitting a bright purple aura. "That's weird, I will have to ask the Princess about that." Suddenly noticing something, she turned around toward Azure. "You said you spotted me at the castle. How?"

The filly sat down, not sure if she did something wrong. "Well, I... It's just..." she started, nervous, looking at the floor.

Rarity came close to her and hugged her. "You can tell us, you know?"

"Just don't tell Princess Luna!" she said, almost shouting.

"We promise honey," Rarity said with a smile, obviously used to this kind of situation with her sister.

The small filly looked around, and finally decided to explain. "Princess Luna cast a lot of spells on me," she stared unsure. "Defense, detection and plenty others I'm not sure what they do." Twilight and Rarity looked at each other as they were not understanding.

"Well, I'm sure the Princess just wants to keep you safe," Twilight explained.

"I know they want to kill me," the small one let out in a breath. "Princess Luna tried to cast a sleep spell on me a few nights ago, but I was awake. I thought she was testing me or something, but I saw everything," she explained while looking at her hooves.

After a moment trying to digest the information, Twilight frowned. "You countered one of Princess Luna's spell?"

The filly shrank in fear. "Don't tell her! You promised!"

"Why not? It's awesome you managed to do that," Rarity said with a comforting smile.

Twilight shook her head. "Sorry, I don't understand how it made you able to spot me in the castle. But Rarity is right, you shouldn't fear anypony for being able to do something. Beside, we are here to protect you, nopony will be able to harm you. How about you explain exactly how you were able to spot me?"

Azure took a moment to collect her thoughts. "You know when they teach that everypony has some magic, that pegasi use it to fly faster and walk on cloud or that earth ponies use it to be stronger and healthier?"

Rarity nodded. "Of course, they teach that at kindergarten."

"But that only unicorns can cast spells? That's true, and I tried a lot."

"Honey, I saw your spell diagrams," Rarity cheered while hugging the filly. "Trust me, you will be famous around Equestria in no time, able to cast spells or not."

"However, if you have a spell applied to you, an earth pony and probably a pegasus too, can modify it. It's like... we have all magic inside, but only unicorns can use it outside," she explained while pointing a hoof at her chest. "So, I found out I could modify Luna's spells that she cast on me. It's very hard and only works on the spells that are inside. It's like... swimming with your eyes closed. If I didn't know the spell's structure, I couldn't do anything or if she created a shield around me, I couldn't affect it because it's outside. You understand?" She asked while looking at Twilight.

Twilight brought back a hoof to her chin. "So, you modified one of Luna's spells that detects threats so it would detect magic instead?" Azure nodded back. After a short moment, a huge grin lit up Twilight's face.

"It's not funny! Somepony wants me dead because of that!"

"Of course not!" Rarity shouted while putting a hoof on the filly's shoulder. "Some ponies are afraid of changes or the future, not your abilities. They fear that the next generation could be better then them or do things they couldn't even dream of." She pointed at the filly's heart. "You should never stop going forward or dreaming big. Because for every moment it hurts, for every critic, for every pony that tell you should stop, reaching your goal is worth all that pain and more." She noticed that Twilight was staring at her. "What?"

Twilight smiled. "That's nice, but it also applies to you Rarity."

Rarity looked away while blushing. After a moment she stared back at Twilight with a cold fire in her eyes. "I will rebuild my shop, and it will be better than ever."

Twilight's smile grew even bigger. "Now, that's the Rarity I know." She sat down and sighed loudly. "I'm happy you got your spirit back, but now what? We know my parents are probably alive, but how do we find them?"

"Couldn't we see them with a more potent magic detection spell?" Azure proposed.

Twilight shrugged. "It's worth a try." She stood up and once again cast a spell on the three ponies present. Where a few blobs of three color painted the room, there was now thousands of dots of every color possible. Some were appearing around, other were moving or pulsing while some were slowly fading away.

"What am I looking at?" Rarity asked while slowly turning around, overwhelm by the number of colors.

"It's no good, there's too many of them," Twilight let out. "What you're seeing is every source of magic in Canterlot right now. The pulsing lights are ponies, while the appearing and fading ones are spells cast."

"I never imagined there are so many unicorns in Canterlot!" Rarity said in surprised.

"There aren't. Like Azure said, every pony has some magic, unicorn or not. There are simply too many ponies in Canterlot."

Azure touched Twilight to get her attention. "I... may... may I?" she asked while pointing her own forehead.

"Azure, I told you a dozen times not to be shy for asking that," Twilight replied. She closed her eyes to focus on a more complex spell and let it out. A purple spark drifted from her horn to the filly's head, which glowed for a short moment.

"What was that?" Rarity whispered to Twilight.

"A mental link," Twilight whispered back as the filly closed her eyes to concentrate. "She can now use my horn to cast spells."

"I don't understand," the white mare replied.

"She has an idea, but I'm sure you know spell structures aren't really easy to communicate vocally," she explained.

Rarity opened her eyes wide as she understood. "Of course, so she will show you instead! I thought that kind of mental link was a very hard spell."

Twilight smiled. "It is, but I'm kinda used to it now." She sighed. "I would just prefer if she wasn't so... ashamed asking for it."

Rarity's face gained a serious look. "Well, if I put myself at her place, I don't think it's something I would be at ease asking for." She pointed at Twilight. "I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be any easier for you if you were at her place."

The purple mare thought about it for a good moment. She sighed. "You're saying I should be more considerate and not push her?" Before she could answer, Twilight continued. "You're right. She must go at her own pace."

She turned to face Azure as some spell structures started to show up in her mind. They weren't very complicated and she quickly noticed the basic shapes of a detection spell, but a web of different magic quickly wrapped around the familiar core. She was about to ask for some explanation just as the spell was released.

Azure turned around to face them. "It's... it's a kind of filter. We should now only see magic that is being actively used." Sure enough, the mass of colorful dots faded away, only leaving behind a few small dots.

"Awesome," Twilight said while looking around. "There's only a few dozen active magic sources left."

Rarity poked Twilight to get her attention and pointed in the direction of a large green sphere. "Over there."

Twilight examined that source for a moment. "Well, it is a lot of magic being used, no doubt about it, but it's green." Rarity sat back, stared at Twilight and raised an eyebrow. "What?" the magic expert asked confused.

"Which color do blue and yellow make?"

"Green... of course! You think my parents are using their magic in tandem and at this distance they blend together?" Twilight cheered.

Rarity shrugged. "Sounds like a nice theory."

Twilight walked up to the wall in the direction of the magic source and opened the nearest window, letting a flow of light enter the still smoky room. The light flickered as the dust was pushed back by a soft wind. Looking outside, Twilight waved to the two other ponies to come closer. "I'm not sure, but isn't that green magic coming from the mountain?" She said while pointing at the huge peak Canterlot was attached too.

"Or inside it," Rarity noted.

Twilight nodded. "You're right, it is."

"So... how do we reach them?" Azure, who stayed a bit behind, asked.

Twilight turned around, walked up to the small hill of charcoal and metal springs that used to be a sofa and smiled at the filly over her shoulder. "Well, teleportation is my specialty," she said with a wink.

It took Twilight half a dozen tries of teleporting random objects in the general direction of the magic source to finally find an empty spot big enough for them. All other attempt ended up with what remained of the sofa being teleported back to them with rocks partly or fully merged in them. If her parents were in troubles, she didn't want to appear in the middle of what could be a magic battle or anything that could cost them their lives.

It wasn't an easy task to send objects in a general direction and actually remember the exact spot, but Twilight wasn't any random pony. After a few more tests to verify that they wouldn't appear meters above ground, they finally got to be transferred inside the mountain.

At first, the arriving three ponies didn't move, trying to understand the shape of the room they had appeared in. They were on what seemed the third floor of what looked like a huge cathedral, hewn directly from the rock of the mountain. They were standing on a gallery a few meters wide that circled the entire room. Multiples columns were spaced around the room, some broken what could have been hundred of years ago, there was no way to know for sure.

At first Twilight feared that it would be hard to find her parents, but as her eyes got used to the darkness, they were right in front of her in the middle of the large room, suspended twenty meters above ground in a force field that pulsed of blue and gold magic. They hovered next to each other, both having their eyes closed, focusing to keep the shield powered, merging their magic just like Rarity had suggested.

A second cyan sphere was encompassing their spell. A stream of the same color was slowly pulsing toward the bottom of the room.

"What's going on?" Rarity whispered to Twilight.

"The blue sphere looks like an anti-magic spell or something similar. It's probably what prevents them from teleporting away," Twilight explained while keeping the volume of her voice as low as possible. "As for the stream going down, I think someone is trying to drain their magic."

"What? What for?"

"My guess would be that if their shield runs out, they will crash down. At this height..." Twilight didn't finish her sentence. It was quite obvious that falling from this height onto a stone floor would be fatal.

Family Lesson

"You did what?" Shining Armor shouted.

"Captain!" Luna replied as a warning that it wasn't a proper tone to address a princess.

"It's alright Luna," Celestia said while interposing herself between the two ponies.

"You let my little sister teleport away to face those... those dangerous criminals!" He screamed with wide eyes. He was close to a nervous breakdown, first his parents went missing in what appeared to be a magic battle against terrorist unicorns and now his sister ran away after them.

"Captain!" Luna shouted back.

Celestia rolled her eyes. "Luna, please step back. We are in this room so the captain can speak his mind." Celestia wasn't too keen on the protocols coming with her status of royalty. She understood the need for it and accepted its burden, but never cared much for it. Ponies speaking their mind openly, once in a while, were refreshing. In another epoch, things were stricter and if asked, she would admit to have helped loosening them over the centuries.

"But... she... she's..." the captain babbled.

"One of the most powerful unicorn in Equestrian history," Celestia finished for him with a nod.

"She's my little sister!" he pleaded. What the Princess said just hit him. "What did you just say?"

Luna growled at the lack of respect the captain was displaying. Celestia rolled her eyes at the unwanted tension. "You heard me right, Shining. After me and Luna, she is currently, without doubt, the unicorn with the biggest magic reserve and the talent to use it. In time, and with a lot of training, I have no doubt she will come to rival us." Seeing the captain's display of skepticism, Celestia sighed and sat down. "I guess some explanations are in order. The Elements of Harmony don't grant any special power and they are not magic batteries," she said while slowly shaking her head. It was the first time in centuries that she had to explain how some of the mysticism behind the legend of the elements was unfunded. "They are a conduit for those using them. They merge and shape the magic coming from their users. If the bearers don't have that magic in the first place, the elements are as good as six weird shaped rocks… or jewelries"

"I... huh..." the captain replied, more confused than ever. The discussion had taken a turn he wasn't expecting and he had a hard time to see where the princess was going with it.

"The bearer of the element of magic has a special role in this; to provide most of the raw arcane power. The other magic streams are there to shape the spell into something that brings harmony. If the bearer of the element of magic is weak, the spell won't be any stronger," she explained while shooting a look at her sister, happy that the princess of the night was once again calm. The fact that her own student, Azure, followed Twilight in this adventure explained why Luna was restless. Celestia didn't want to think what could happen to the fragile mental stability of her sister if something was to happen to her first real close friend in ages. However, she was surprised that Luna didn't rush after Twilight and Azure.

Maybe she's starting to act her age?

"It's like a stream of water," Luna added. "Twilight is a river and..." Both Celestia and Shining Armor stared at the princess of the night which looked away and pouted. "Whatever."

Not a chance.

"I understand that she grew up but..." Shining Armor started while bringing his sight back to Celestia.

"Your brain does, but your heart doesn't. She is still, to you, the little sister that needs protection from the world." Shining frowned at Celestia's words. "Did she ever tell you what happened at her entrance exam to my school?"

The captain slowly nodded. "Yes, but somehow I feel there is more to it, right?"

Celestia smiled as she remembered that day. "It is a well-known secret that the school requests something impossible from potential students. The goal is to see how the potential students would react while facing impossible odds and how imaginative they get. Sadly, from that point of view, Twilight would have failed. But it is only the first test among others. Twilight never took the other tests; the teachers didn't want her to. I wonder why." She chuckled. "They sometime used dragon eggs because they are highly resistant to magic. Dragons in general are very hard to handle with magic, but their eggs tend to nullify or reflect it. They are not immune to it, nothing is, but to force a dragon to hatch by sheer brute force? It should be out of reach of any foals or most unicorns for that matter." She shook her head. "I doubt any of the teachers present that day could have hatched Spike."

Shining's eyes were wide in amazement as the princess what giving her own point of view on those events. “Where… Where those eggs come from?”

“As you might have noticed, dragons aren’t a really peaceful species. Their political structure is in constant flux from continuous conflicts. Eggs are very valuable as they spell the future of a flock. While not really fragile, they take decades to hatch. They are often stolen or used as bargaining chips between rival flights and alliances are sealed with them. A weak group can buy protection from a stronger one with their eggs.” Seeing the look of disgust on the captain’s face, she continued. “Don’t take it like that. For them, there is nothing more valuable than a dragon egg. The worst crime you could perpetrate is to destroy an egg. A dragon or any creature for that matter that would destroy one is marked as a monster to be killed on sight. As for how we got some… It happened a few times that a flock in danger of extermination would send some eggs to be safeguarded here. In some other cases, we managed to seal truces with powerful flocks in exchange for protecting their eggs.”

“And Spike?”

“Dragons have a very large sense of family. A hatchling is taken the greatest care, no matter where his egg came from. Since a dragon takes centuries to mature, no chance is taken when it comes to the young’s protection. As for Spike, I’m afraid I don’t know. Considering the lack of information, I would guess his egg came from a flock that was exterminated.”

“That’s… sad,” Shining said while looking away.

Celestia nodded back. “I agree, but I know he got the best with Twilight. I’m sure you agree that discretion is important in this matter.”

He nodded.

"Now back to the exam… What was probably missing from what you heard is how your parents and the teachers were unable to remove the spells cast on them. Or how that tower became a very hazardous place as raw magic ran in its frame. We actually had to take it down as it became structurally unsafe. The panel of teachers was not weak by any measure and yet..." Celestia stopped as she remembered the very awkward meeting she had with the teachers the day after the exam. "They were not so fond of the idea of teaching a filly that could render them powerless so easily. They were very happy that I was taking her as my personal student so they wouldn't have to do the practical classes with her."

The captain actually had to put a lot of effort to prevent his jaw from dropping.

"That day, at the exam, I placed a powerful seal on her magic reserve. It was the easiest and safest way to stop her magic from running amok. Since that day, she was only able to use a small fraction of her real potential. It is also why, since I took her as student, I've taught her not only spells, but mostly control techniques." Celestia smiled. "Of course, it was up to the moment she came in contact with the elements. Since then, the seal has been weakening. In a few months, maybe a year, it will be all gone. It also depends of how often she will use the elements as they tend to push a pony to her limits."

"How," the captain started unsure. "How powerful are you talking about?"

"You remember when you placed that force field around Canterlot? If Twilight was in full control her power, I think she could create one that would cover both Ponyville and Canterlot at the same time," Celestia explained.

"Really... she's..." Something ticked in Shining's mind. "Did... Did I become captain of the guards so you could keep me close... To use me as a leverage if Twilight went rogue? Did I get promoted... because... because..." His sight drifted down.

Any trace of happiness left Celestia's face. "Honestly, I did push the recruitment for you to get admitted faster. The first few years, I was really worried of what could happen with Twilight. Yes, I did see you as a safeguard in case the worst was to happen. However, I soon realized that she is not the kind of pony to hurt another. She doesn't care for power, and if she has a vice, it's her thirst for knowledge." A weak smile showed up on her face. "As for your promotion, you earned that on your own. I might command the army, but not its internal structure or promotion system."

Feeling his honor was safe, Shining came back to the topic of her sister. "But... she could be killed," he said softly.

Celestia took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Do you think I don’t know that? In my life, I've seen so many ponies killed before their times. However, it's even worse if you try to protect them from everything. How do you think your parents took it when you joined the army?"

"I... they probably..." Shining started but was unable to finish. He wasn't stupid, the idea crossed his mind a few time in the last years, but not at first, when he joined or trained. Back then he was so focused on his passion, he didn't give a thought about what his parents could feel. How did Twilight feel when he left for the training camp for recruits? Probably she felt as bad as he was at that moment. Leaving like that... Was he a reason she stayed away from making new friend? He grounded his teeth in discomfort.

"Even in peace, the army is hardly a safe job; help in case of natural disaster, border protection or simply defending this country from the unknown. Compared to other jobs, soldier is still one with the highest death rate. The changelings’ invasion could have ended far worse than in did," she explained. "Your parents knew if they were to stop you, you would never reach your potential or your dreams. Growing is painful and dangerous, and for some pony, it is more than others." She smiled in compassion. "You and your sister are on a path to have a particularly bumpy growth."

"So we do nothing?" he asked, disappointed how the discussion turned out.

Celestia shook her head. "Of course not! We stay ready in case Twilight needs help. She is not stupid, if she needs it, she will find a way to call for us. Also, an assassin managed to gain entrance to the castle. If he got help, there's a traitor among us. If not, the security measures would require a major overhaul."

He sighed in despair. "Being as old as you are, does it get any easier?"

Luna's mane and tail stiffened at the lack of respect. She would have to talk to Celestia about the captain of her guards. Back then, they sent ponies to jail for less than that. Celestia put a hoof in front of her mouth to keep from chuckling at her sister's reaction. She had accepted her special age a long time ago, and couldn't care less. From her point of view, every pony was very young, her sister included.

After a moment, Celestia's eyes drifted out of focus as she thought about the question. "No captain, it doesn't get easier by any means. The more powerful or older you become, the harder it gets."

The captain left the room, not fully reassured, but at least he had a specific task ahead of him. When the door closed behind him, Celestia turn toward her sister and waited for her to speak first.

“The captain was completely out of line!” she finally said.

A grin showed up on Celestia’s face. “I warned you things were different now.”

Luna didn’t look convinced. “In the three years since our release from the Moon, we never saw any pony act like this to us.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Going back to the royal ‘we’?”

Luna sat down. “Sorry.”

“I’m sure you would agree that we made some pretty big mistakes a long time ago. Like wars that shouldn’t have been, among other things.”

Luna looked away and nodded.

“Those mistakes could have been avoided,” she let out plainly. Luna stared at her sister. “If a pony trusts you enough to tell you his or her concerns, you can get an insight in things that would be impossible otherwise due to our positions.”

“Ponies trusted us back then too,” Luna replied.

“They respected us. Trust is something that take years to build and requires that they understand that we aren’t better than them,” Celestia explained calmly.

“But we…”

“Are no better than them,” Celestia finished. “Older… More powerful… But not better when it comes to things that really matters.”

“I don’t understand.”

Celestia laughed. “You will when you get older.”

Luna pouted, making her sister laugh even more. “Do you really think Twilight Sparkle could become that powerful?”

Celestia stood up and walked to the door. “Do you remember how hard it was to seal Discord?” She asked without looking back.

“Of course! It was a long fight and we were exhausted for weeks after.”

“One day, you should ask Twilight how hard she felt it was to reseal him once she got rid of his mind control,” she said while leaving a puzzled Luna alone in the conference room.

Battlemage

"So, what do we do?" Rarity asked while keeping her sight on Twilight's parents, floating in front of her, high above ground. "Couldn't you teleport them away?"

"I told you, the sphere around them is a disruption spell. It prevents us from getting them out just as well as it keeps them from teleporting away. If I had time, I could find exactly what spell and frequency it uses and get rid of it," Twilight explained.

"How long would that take?" Rarity replied.

"An hour, maybe more if the spell is more complex," she let out in a sigh. "I would have to try different spells and see how it affects..."

Rarity interrupted her by pointing at the two floating ponies. "They are all in sweat from keeping that spell for hours! I doubt they would last that long!"

"Whoever did this is a monster!" Twilight cringed. "They drop their shield and they fall down to their death, or they stay inside and die from exhaustion when they run out of magic."

"Can't we move them here? Then they could drop their protection spell safely." Rarity proposed.

Twilight shook her head. "No, for the same reason, the disruption field messes up any spell that... touches... it." She hardly finished her sentence and the last words were barely audible.

"Twilight?"

The purple unicorn had that expression when she was deeply thinking. She turned around and looked at Azure that was sitting behind them. A smile slowly crept on Twilight's face as her brain started calculating the magic needed. "What?" the confused filly said as Twilight walked up to the edge of the gallery.

"You know, your teleportation spell isn't really one. I think the better term would be displacement." The filly appeared confused by the remark. "If I can displace the whole volume... My parents, their shield and the disruption spell... It could... It will work!" Twilight explained with some forced optimism. "As long as my spell doesn't touch the others," she let out in a whisper.

"That's a huge volume!" Rarity countered. "That outter spell is almost the size of a bathroom, do you think you have enough left to do that?"

Twilight tried to count all the spells she performed today. Between the reality bubble, the changeling spell and the numerous teleportation; from Ponyville to Canterlot, to her parent's house and the dozen required to find a safe spot in the mountain, she should have been exhausted. She wouldn't mind going in a warm bed for a long night, but she expected to be in far worse shape than she was right now.

"There's only one way to find out," Twilight said as she readied herself while facing her parents.

"You're sure?" Rarity asked while putting a hoof on her friend's shoulder. Performing a spell that one didn't have the magic to supply was a dangerous task. At best, the incantation would simply fail before being released. For more complex one, the spell's components could keep draining the caster until the required energy is met. Without magic, the only source available would be the caster's life force.

"Rarity, I'm fine and there is no other solution. You can't cast it and Azure doesn't have the magic pool needed for it," she explained while pushing her friend back.

"We could get the Princess here," Rarity countered.

Twilight thought about it for a moment. "No time, it could take a while to find them and managed to teleport back here." She tried to display a reassuring smile. "If I fail, we go get her, alright?"

The white unicorn gave up, walked back and sat beside the blue filly. "And you, what do you think?" Rarity asked.

"I... I don't know," Azure replied unsure. "I never read anything about disruption spell."

"I meant..." Rarity sighed. "Bookworms," she whispered.

"What?"

Rarity pointed at Twilight, whose horn started glowing brightly. "I meant, do you think she can do it?"

The filly thought of the question with a hoof on her jaw. "Would you give that task to another pony?" She finally asked back.

Rarity took a deep breath and hummed. "No. No I guess I wouldn't." She eyed the filly. "You're pretty smart for your age." Sparkles showed up in Azure's eyes before focusing back on Twilight.

Twilight had the spell's structure nailed down for a while now, but wasn't releasing it. She kept adding magic to it, as for any spell that involve a volume of space, anytime the caster would double its initial radius meant adding nine times more magic, or more depending on the spell complexity. After what felt an eternity, her spell was roughly the size of the bubble she had to engulf. She felt the exhaustion creeping on as her knees started shaking.

Can't take any chances.

She felt it wasn't enough, as any imprecision at placing the spell in space would cause them to intersect and all her effort would be wasted by the disruptive magic. She needed her spell to be bigger. She had no room for error and she could only cast something like that once, so she kept going. Twilight clenched her teeth, closed her eyes and kept adding more. Her coat was wet in sweat and her muscles start burning as she felt she was now draining beyond her magic reserve. Her whole body was now shaking in pain. Fully rested, she was confident that she could have done it without so much effort. After all, she had lifted that Ursa Minor over a year ago.

The moment she couldn't take it anymore, she opened her eyes and let the spell go to its destination. Just as she did, she started falling to her side but didn't react as her focus remained on her parents. She felt another body break her fall, she didn't need to look to know that Rarity was keeping her up.

The spell started to take effect, slowly ripping pieces of the fabric of space as two volumes were forced to overlap each other. The sphere, big enough to encompass her parents, their shield, the blue draining and disruption spells, slowly shimmered like a crystal in the dark cavern.

After what felt like ages, the sphere started to disappear, as if someone was ripping the wallpapers off a wall. It was soon gone, sending its content to a place Twilight knew to be safe, the Princess' apartments. The cavern was now much darker as there wasn't any spells to light it up. Twilight released her breath, unaware she had kept it in since she released her spell. Even after running the marathon of the leaves, she didn't felt that tired. Now the only thing on her mind was to go home and sleep for a week, and hopefully forget about the whole story.

"Dear, you never cease to amaze me," Rarity said with a large smile. "But right now, you look terrible and I'm not really found of all the sweat."

"Sorry," Twilight replied automatically. With some efforts, she managed to calm her shaking knees long enough to sit down properly. Her head spun as the heat generated by her horn started to diffuse in her body. A single very strong spell had simply no time to dissipate the residual energy, and now she could feel a headache building up as it propagated along her forehead into in her brain.

"That was... so awesome!" Azure cheered while jumping in front of Twilight. "It was huge!" she said while doing a wide motion with her front hooves. The quick motion of the filly wasn't helping Twilight's head and the walls were slowly rotating in front of her eyes. White sparkles were flying through her vision in chaotic motions wherever she looked. She lay down and closed her eyes, letting the coldness of the stone floor eat away the fever that always results of powerful spells. "Twilight?" the filly asked concerned.

"Azure, come here," Rarity asked. The filly trotted to her. "You know a lot about magic. I'm sure you know what happen when a unicorn cast a spell that requires a huge amount of power?"

"The excess of magic may turn into heat as..." she started as if she was reading from a school tome, then realization struck, "Oh!"

"Yes," Rarity replied with a smile. "Just give Twilight a moment."

Once during her training, Princess Celestia made her cast spells after spells for almost a whole day only to fully understand the signs that came with being drained of magic. Every magic beginner's book warned the junior spellcaster of the danger linked to going beyond one's limits. After that trail, the fever and the feeling of being empty of energy took almost a week to subside. The whole time, anytime she wasn't at the court, Celestia sat beside her bed in silence.

The third day, she asked the Princess if she did something wrong. Her teacher smiled and explained that she didn't expect the filly to put so much effort into it. She added to the young student that she should see that as a learning experience, something that no book could explain as precisely and to memorize how everything felt. The naive one replied that if magic exhaustion was that painful, she would never use that much magic ever again. The ageless pony looked away in her thought.

Sometime, you don't have the luxury of choosing.

For Twilight, the cold stones felt like a huge relief from the insane day. One moment the stones under her were slowly heating up while cooling her body, the next they were once again fully cold. A small scream from beside her forced her to open her eyes. She quickly realized that something moved her without her noticing it, she was not longer on the third floor of the room but on the ground at the bottom. She tried to stand up, but her legs didn't accept the quick motion. She felt back and decide that only moving her head around would have to do for now. A quick look toward the source of the scream showed that both Rarity and Azure followed her in whatever transported here down there. The two were looking in front of them and Rarity was using her body to protect the filly from whatever her sight was locked on.

Twilight turned her head once again, happy that movement didn't mean a wave of nausea. Her sight finally stopped on a pony that was standing in the shadows cast by the upper floors. Then it hit her, obviously whoever was keeping her parent prisoner had good chance of being around to wait for her parent's death. If she was that pony, she would have tried to detect the presence of intruders and teleport to them... or teleport them to her. She suddenly felt stupid from not planning a way to leave this place quickly after saving her parents.

Feeling a bit of her strength return, she decided that whoever the pony was, she would be better facing it on her hooves. She managed to stand up and after a moment, felt stable enough that she wouldn't fall back. After all, it wasn't the first time that Twilight experienced magical exhaustion.

"Who are you?" Twilight shouted. As if the dark figure noticed her for the first time, he walked toward them. Entering the middle lit part of the room, Twilight heard Rarity gasp.

"You!" Rarity hissed with disgust. Twilight looked attentively at the white stallion with a blond mane that had showed up and while she felt some kind of déjà vu, she couldn't name that pony.

"Well, I don't know how you managed to save your parent, Sparkle," he said with a mean voice while keeping his head raised high. "But it's only a small delay." He looked at Rarity and Azure while a smile slowly crept on his face. "Three pains in the flank reunited at the same place, such a gift." He stared at Azure. "You, little brat! You cost me my best assassin."

"I knew you were a jerk the first time I've met you Blueblood!" Rarity shouted.

"Blueblood?" Twilight asked confused.

"That's 'Prince Blueblood' for you, peasant," he replied. "But it's not like you would remember me. We might have lived in the same castle for over a decade, your only friends were Celestia," he spitted out with rage, "and books."

"What do you have against the Princesses? That doesn't make any sense! You're of royal blood, why would you do all this?" Twilight asked back, her mind unable to find logic or structure in his actions.

He tilted his head and displayed a fake smile. "You're right, it doesn't make sense. But, for you, Sparkle, it doesn't have to!" he said while quickly lowering his horn.

The blue bolt of magic took Twilight by surprise, her mind still trying to decipher the motive behind his actions. It was a few hooves away from hitting her when a chunk of rock flew in front of her chest and blocked the attack. Twilight stumbled back a few steps trying to focus on what happened. "Thanks Rarity! Nice reflex!"

Rarity let the stone drop off her magic grip. "That's the result of having an overexcited filly at home all day," she explained with a weak smile.

"I'll thanks Sweetie Bell later," Twilight added while spreading her hooves to have a more balanced position, ready for any other attack. She noticed that Blueblood wasn't really in a hurry of doing another move.

He sat down and clapped his front hooves. "Bravo!" he said in a sarcastic tone.

"Surrender!" Twilight shouted back. "It's three versus one. You stand no chance against us."

Blueblood snorted at the weak retort. "A foal, a dress maker and a unicorn empty of magic. Sure, I feel like my life is in danger." Twilight hated to admit that he was right and he did manage to capture her parents. A sparkle of hope appeared in her mind, if he battled her parents today that meant he could also be exhausted. His smile widened as he noticed her staring at him and as if he was reading her thought, "Don't even think about it. Your parents offered no real resistance beside their pesky force fields. I didn't even break a sweat. The royal bloodline does offer some advantages."

Twilight cringed at the retort, but she had to admit he didn't look exhausted. She dived deep inside herself, trying to find any drop of magic. She looked at every corners of her being and places she knew didn't store any, just in case. She hated to admit that she did manage to empty all her reserves today. However, she was somewhat relieved that her last spell didn't dig in her life force or she wouldn't be standing right now.

She was about to give up when a small sparkle caught her inner eye. Magic! There was no doubt about its existence, but she was sure she had looked at that spot before and it was as dry as the badlands. Any pony's reserve would replenish itself over time but any real recovery would come from a good night of rest. How could she miss some like that?

She took that droplet and carefully brought it to her horn, trying to be as ready as possible for Blueblood's next move. Just as she was about to exit her inner self, another sparkle caught her eye. Could it really be? At the same spot where she found that bit of magic laid another one. Her analytic mind tried to find an explanation for that odd event but couldn't find any; magic simply doesn't appear like that, by magic! The process of a pony converting food into energy and then that energy to magic was very well known and documented. Magic appearing like that out of nowhere was scientifically impossible.

Her thought were interrupted when Blueblood spoke again. "Dear dress maker, let's see if you can do anything against that!" On his last word, his horn lit up and fired a bolt of magic upward. The vault over their heads cracked and a huge slab of rock was hurled down. Rarity tried to react but she simply didn't have the experience or the magic skill to prevent such a mass from falling. She pushed all her telekinetic ability toward that rock, hoping to be able to at least deflect it. Seeing it wasn't slowing down, she closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable while trying to protect Azure with her body. After what appeared to be a too long delay, the cave roared as the mass of rock crashed against a wall. Feeling no pain beside her ringing ears, she slowly opened one eye. Seeing no direct danger, she looked around and finally found the slab of stone embedded in the wall to the right of Blueblood.

The mad unicorn was grinning as his horn slowly lost his blue glow. "Now, that was impressive." Rarity wondered for a moment if the prince actually changed the rock's trajectory until she noticed Twilight's horn's glow.

"Twilight!" Rarity shouted while taking a step toward her purple friend. She was stopped in her tracks by a purple glow as her and Azure was lifted from the ground.

Twilight looked over her shoulder. "I got this Rarity," she claimed while trying to sound reassured. Rarity wasn't fooled and could clearly see the exhaustion in her friend's eyes. However, she could do little as the telekinetic field floated her and the blue filly to the far corner of the room. When her friend's magic finally dropped her, she wasted no time and tried to dash back to her side but only managed to crash face first in a purple sphere that appeared around the two ponies.

Rarity saw stars as her head slowly stopped spinning. That fooled librarian had locked her and Azure in a force field, no doubt to protect them. She hit the field with her front hooves in vain. Force field was Twilight's family specialty, and this one was particularly solid. She knew what it meant, Twilight would use her life force to save them and she couldn't accept that!

Once sure they were safe under a layer of her best shield spell, Twilight brought her focus back to Blueblood, only to see the cursed stallion, once more, send a bolt of magic upward. She readied herself, hoping she wouldn't have to deflect another mountain, but the bolt went way over her head. Too late she noted its trajectory as it hit the vault above her friends. The wall cracked in half and the upper portion crashed down on the trapped ponies. "Twilight!" Azure shouted before being buried alive. As the dust settled, in horror she could see no trace of her shield.

"They are fine," Blueblood claimed. "For now. Who know how long your force field will hold."

Twilight clenched her jaw to prevent it from shacking while she faced the stallion once more. "It will hold as long as needed," she replied in between her teeth, not sure at all of her statement.

The prince laughed, not threaten one bit by Twilight's presence. "Maybe, but the air they have under that might not last as long."

The purple mare growled as her brain automatically computed the time they had left. The move that she thought would protect her friends was instantly flipped around, turned into a race against the clock. She could feel the force field still linked to her magic reserve, draining whatever was left as the mass of rock was pushing against it. She couldn't explain it, but the field was holding and even after pushing away a bolder ten time her mass, she could still find some. A part of her brain warned her that she was most likely draining part of herself that wasn't meant to be used. She quickly pushed that thought away, if she had a choice she would take it, but right now her friends needed her no matter what.

She gathered any droplet of magic she could find and fired it in a purple bolt. To her surprise, the attack was more powerful that she expected but Blueblood didn't appear impressed as he conjured a flat angular field to easily deflect it to his side. The bolt bounced off and exploded against a stone pillar. Blueblood stared for a moment at the field he created as a crack had appeared at the place Twilight's bolt hit it. With a swift move of his head, he dispelled the field. "Interresting," he claimed with a dangerous smile. "You might be more interesting to play with then I thought."

Twilight quickly checked that the force field protecting her friends was still active. It was still strong and somehow was still draining magic from reserve that twice now she looked into to find empty. She looked up to Blueblood. He was ready, standing up with his horn aimed at her. "It has been a very long time since I had the chance of a real magic duel."

The next bolt that he shot toward her was much faster than the previous one and was pulsing with something in it. Unable to cast a defense in time, Twilight dodged to her side. The bolt disintegrated the rock she used to stand on, it wasn't a bolt of simple magic, but a complex spell crafted to kill. She was ready for the next one as her own square of force field deflected it.

And the next one... and the next... and the next. Blueblood gave her no chance to retaliate as he kept firing bolts of magic toward her. She was blocking them with surprising ease, but she couldn't continue endlessly like that, her friend's time was counted. She needed to attack back. Gathering once more magic from that mysterious source, she teleported a dozen meters to her left and shot a bolt of magic as quickly as possible. The bolt hit the wall with no Blueblood in sight, he teleported away!

Spinning around, she readied her force field just in time to be stuck in his telekinetic field. He fired a bolt just as she teleported away from his grasp. To her surprise, the bolt trajectory changed, followed her and struck her in the chest before she could react. The impact left her breathless for a few seconds, but she managed to stand strong on her hooves. Quickly checking for damage, she found that it would hurt for a while to lie down but nothing major was broken.

"I'm sure you can do better!" he shouted with the same mad smile. He shot another bolt and just as Twilight was about to intercept it with her force field, it changed its trajectory and once again hit her on the chest. She took a step back as she started to see stars. The spell wasn't strong, but she couldn't take many like that.

The idea of putting a full force field around herself crossed her mind, but she would be unable to attack back. If she was to save herself and her friends, she had to defeat him. Sadly, Blueblood appeared to have much more experience with direct magic duel then her. Celestia never trained her in the kind of magic duel where your opponent tries to kill you. She was used to civil duel, where two unicorns would cast more and more complex spells to find who the better magician is.

Once more he aimed at her and his horn glowed. Twilight readied her magical shield, not knowing what to expect, but at least she was sure to be able to protect herself from previous attack type. The bolt of magic he sent wasn't very fast, but after traveling half the distance, it blew in a thousand sharp shards of magic. The purple mare tried to react quickly by expanding her shield and while it blocked most of them, some managed to pass and dug deep in her left flank. She couldn't hold back a bark of pain. Giving a quick glance to her behind, she saw that the spell left a dozen small dots of blood on her cutie mark, as if someone repeatedly probed her with a needle. Her rear left leg was in pain and wouldn't react as quickly.

"Why?" She screamed, hoping to get an answer.

"Because!" He screamed back while casting another spell. This time, no bolt came and the moment Twilight wondered what the spell was, she noticed her hooves were now frozen on the floor. The moment she lower her head to melt that ice away, she felt a telekinesis field appear around her throat. She didn't try to dispel it, instead she grabbed with her own levitation a nearby rock and shot it as fast as he could toward her opponent.

The rock caught Blueblood by surprise and stunned him a moment long enough for Twilight to free herself. A red line of blood was visible on the side of his head. Twilight never wanted to hurt anypony, however she was running out of options and time. She was trying to come up with a solution, but train of thoughts were only finding dead-end.

He shocked his head to clear his mind. "You're weak," he said. "You missed another opportunity to attack me." Without waiting, he attacked again with chained bolt of magic. The attack was aggressive and Twilight was once again forced on the defensive. She summoned a second force field just in time to block a rock thrown at her. She took a step back, then another and another. She was forced to expand her force fields to block the rain of rocks and bolts coming from every direction.

Her next step put her in the corner of the room. She couldn't even remember how she ended up cornered like that. The deluge of attacks was continuing and her force fields were starting to show sign of weakness under the stress. She felt hurt, her body ached and she had no idea how to save her friends, let alone saving herself. She was about to give up when it happens. Similar to when someone closes the lights in a room, you only notice it was there the moment it's gone.

There was a small blue light in her mind, sometime with time she got used to and didn't notice while she was focused on something else. With it gone, its absence was like a small black void in the middle of herself. Her eyes went wide at the realization, her mental link with Azure was gone. They should have had more air than that in her protective shield. Or did they? Was the shield still up? It was supposed to hold longer! She couldn't think clearly, she couldn't even check if the spell was still functional as attacks continued to hammer her protections.

No! No! No no no no no no... No!

With tears in her eyes, something inside her broke. Something she didn't even know existed. The white explosion of pure magic that radiated from her dissolved her force fields as well as Blueblood's attacks and protections. The white stallion was pushed violently against the wall by the blast. When he managed to open his eyes, it was as if a miniature sun was radiating from within the purple mare. He tried to cast a spell, only to find his magic disturbed the moment it left his horn. He tried to cast the fastest magic bolt he could, but the missile dissolved in midair way before reaching its target.

For the first time, he found himself without options and he didn't like it at all.

Twilight was floating toward the middle of the roam, her brain locked on two tasks, stopping Blueblood and saving her friends. She couldn't think clearly as her mind was as white as the light that was filling the room.

He must not be able to cast spells was the closest she got to a coherent thought.

Just as her brain came up with that much information, the magic flow around her pulsed in response. Blueblood was almost back on his hooves when he felt something change. In front of his eyes, something long and white fell down on the floor. The moment he started to wonder what it was, he collapse on the floor, shaking violently.

Almost as if she was reading a checklist, Twilight came to the next item; saving her friends. Once again, the magic sent a wave outward. The rocks and the force field under them vanished, disintegrated, exposing two ponies. Rarity was wrapped around Azure, as if her body could protect the filly from the crushing weight of the now gone rocks. It took a moment for the white mare's eyes to adjust to the bright light that was filling the room.

Finding her friends safe and no more important item on her list, Twilight let out a breath of relief. It was also the moment the magic disappeared, letting her fall hard on the floor. But she had passed out long before touching the stone.

Rarity rushed to Twilight's body, but was beaten to it by Azure.

"Twilight!" the filly screamed but no answer came back. Fearing the worst, Azure hugged the purple mare.

Finally close enough, Rarity noticed her friend was still breathing. She carefully took Azure off Twilight with her telekinesis. "She's alright," she said softly. "But if you hug her like that, she won't be for long."

Turning around to face Rarity, Azure was crying. "You're sure?" She asked in tears. "You saw it too! She must have drained her life to win! It's... she's..."

Rarity hugged her. "There! Twilight is tougher than that," she explained, not really convinced herself. "She is still breathing, and if she is, it means there is still enough force in her," she said while giving the filly her best smile. Something moved in the corner of her sight.

Her smile disappeared as she scanned the darkness. Something white at the end of the room was moving, kicking. "You!" Rarity screamed while standing up. She walked in the direction of Blueblood, who was on his side, his legs kicking the air as if he was trying to stand up. She held her head low, ready to protect or to attack.

"Bastard!" she screamed. "Twilight might have been too good to end you, but I'm not as nice." While she thought she was prepared for anything, when she finally came close to him, the sight of Blueblood made her stop in her track.

The stallion was on his side, his legs taken by spasms. He was breathing erratically and his eyes were similar to a crazy animal, rolling in their sockets without conscious control. Rarity noticed his horn was missing, a trickle of blood dripping through his mane, forming a pool under his head. She had heard what damage to a unicorn's horn could do; the top of the list being a neural shock but she wasn't expecting something like that.

Azure had come beside Rarity while her focus was on the stallion. Noticing the filly, she turned around. "Azure, please, can you stay with Twilight?" She asked with a firm tone. Azure nodded, understanding it wasn't time to argue. She walked back to the middle of the room and sat down beside Twilight, not leaving Rarity from her sight.

After a moment, Blueblood stopped kicking. For some reason, Rarity was sure he was trying to say something, but couldn't as if he had lost control over his body. After all he did, she was ready to kill him, but seeing him like that, helpless and defenseless, she couldn't do it.

She cursed under her breath, happy that Azure wasn't close enough to hear it. Why her generosity had to kick in the worst moment? That monster didn't deserve it. She sat down her sight locked on him, unsure what to do next.

"T... tss... Tat..." Blueblood said, as if he was trying his voice for the first time. Rarity had to admit he did sound weird, but she was no expert on horn damage. For all she knew, it could be a side effect she never heard of.

Blueblood closed his mouth, as if he was exasperated by his vocal cords. He closed his eyes and after an eternity of trying out, with a voice more suited to a foal than a stallion, managed a soft "Thanks."

Old Grudges

Rarity took a step back. "Thanks?" She asked in a dangerously soft tone. "Why would you thanks anypony, you monster!" she screamed while moving forward. To her surprise Blueblood, still on his side, tried to move away from her. His legs, however, were jerking convulsively, each motion useless and wasted. "Why?" She shouted at a mere hoof from his face.

The Prince tried to hide himself from the white fury, hoping to disappear behind his forelegs. "For... for freeing me," he said softly. Had Rarity not been so close, no doubt she wouldn't have heard that.

The white mare, stunned by the answer simply sat down on the spot without ceremony. It was a trick, it had to be. But Blueblood didn't sound like the jerk he was at the gala or the monster that tried to kill them moments ago. He acted like a frightened colt, reminding Rarity a lot of Sweetie Bell when the fashionista would be mad at her and scream because she had once again destroyed something in her shop.

She tried to shake the idea away; it had to be an act! He had to be the best actor in Equestria, since he managed to stay around Princess Celestia for so long without anypony knowing his dark secrets. Was the fear in his eyes fake or was it only because he had been defeated? "Explain," Rarity cringed in between her teeth.

"I... I found these caves a... a long time ago," he said without lifting his head off the floor. "Twenty, twenty-five years? I was just a colt. There's a room deeper in the mountain, it... there is a trap for unicorns. Some... somepony sealed his... mind or something in there a very long time ago. I think... I think it used my horn to control me," he said while pointing at his severed horn.

Rarity frowned at the story; it had to be the weakest excuse she ever heard of. "You can't seriously think I would believe that?"

The Prince looked at the stone floor, his eyes showed a deep sadness. Rarity had some troubles to think it was fake. "N... no... Probably not. But it's the truth," he said in a breath. "It wasn't me... at the gala, or... or just a moment ago, or... or for most of my life," he finished in a whisper.

"Who?" Rarity managed to ask.

"I... I don't know," he replied. "I just know he was some... somepony of importance a long time ago. That... that he hated Celestia more than anything."

The white mare stayed there for a long time, thinking of the courses of action, her sight never leaving the stallion on the ground. Blueblood didn't try to stand up; his apparent lack of control over his legs wouldn't allow him to attempt anything. She could try to carry Twilight and escape the caves, but she had no idea how to find her way through the labyrinth of tunnels. As long as her friend was out cold, there was no chance to be able to teleport outside. The Prince could find his way out, but she didn't trust him with that kind of task; he could lead them into a trap.

Rarity sighed, disappointed by her inability to come up with a solution. "Azure!" she shouted always keeping her eyes on the Prince. "Honey, I wouldn't mind if you had some idea on how to get us out of here." The silence of the heart of the mountain was the only answer. Worried, Rarity finally looked over her shoulder, only to find Twilight lying on her side, snoring softly; there was no sign of the blue filly. "Azure!" she screamed but no answer came back. "What have you done to her?" she hissed at the wounded prince.

"N-n-n-n-nothing!" he answered while cowering behind his forelegs.

It hit Rarity, the young filly must have heard Blueblood's story and probably went exploring the dark corridors. "Seriously! She's like Sweetie Bell!" she said while sprinting towards the door at the opposite side of the room. "I never was that careless when I was her age!"

"Don't!" Blueblood barked in fear, but Rarity didn't stopped. "If he takes control of your body, you will become a danger for her!" Logic finally kicked into gear in Rarity's head and she stopped just in front of the dark passage. What if he was right, she couldn't take that chance. She stomped on the ground as hard as she could with her front hooves; cursing her powerlessness once again. "Twilight!" she said while walking towards her sleeping friend. She sat down beside her. "When you wake up, you will teach me and I will learn."

Azure walked down the dark corridors surprised to be able to see her way. Somehow, the walls were lighted up just enough for her to see a few hooves ahead. However, she was unable to find any source of illumination. She could feel a faint trace of magic ahead and from the Prince's story she had no doubt it was that magical trap.

She had left Rarity behind because she decided that she was the only logical choice. She had no horn, so this magical trap shouldn't affect her, right? At least it made some sense: a unicorn's horn was a magical conduit which allowed magic to go out just as well as flow in. Hopefully she could physically destroy whatever was holding the spell to allow the magic to disperse itself without affecting another unicorn. After all, she learned a while ago it was easier to apologize than ask for permission. Grown-up always assumed she couldn't do anything right.

Truth was it was mostly curiosity that got her going. In all her study she never heard about this kind of spell and even while thinking about it she couldn't come up with a way to replicate this kind of effects. Obviously it wasn't just a simply trap that would turn a pony into a mindless drone as anypony would have spotted Blueblood. Something had to be alive in some way to be able to plot and gives orders. The Prince said somepony sealed its mind, but that subject wasn't discussed in any of the magical tomes she had read.

Walking deeper into the mountain, for what felt like ten or twenty minutes, she reached a circular room with a large bowl of stone in the middle. Surprisingly, it looked like there was a mirror in it. As she entered the room, a light field of energy wrapped around her head. Shocked, she jumped back out of the room. The energy slowly faded away.

If it wasn't for the light show it produced, she would have never noticed the field that tried to grab her. He moved her legs and head around, verifying that she still had control over her own body. She smiled; she was right, without a horn to channel that spell in, it had no way to take control of her. She walked back to the entrance of the room; a stone arch was engraved with old runes. She put a hoof forward under the arch and the field reappeared, trying to grab her appendage.

She watched the bluish energy fly around her hoof harmlessly. If her fur hadn't waved in rhythm to the energy pulses, she wouldn't have feel a thing. That spell was unlike anything she saw before; it was obviously crafted by a master unlike any she encountered before. She wondered for a second if the princesses could perform one like this.

After a while watching it, she heard it; a small whisper in her mind. It was trying to take control. The voice was obviously angry for losing its last puppet and even more by its inability to seize the new comer.

She stepped forward and entered the room, the field fully wrapped around her. As she came closer to the middle of the room, she could finally see that the mirror was in fact a liquid that was glowing faintly of the same color as the energy field. Upon closer examination, she noticed that the field originated from the bowl itself. Even after seeing the spell's container, she still couldn't postulate on the spell's structure; it was at a level beyond anything she had learned so far.

She wanted to take her time and examine it, but she didn't have this luxury. At some point, Rarity would start to look for her, but the unicorn's rage was the last thing Azure was concerned about. If she entered here, Azure had no doubt the spell would take hold of her. She could hear that voice raging at its inability to control her. She didn't like it, but she had to destroy it. Who knew what Blueblood had been forced to do.

She turned around and placed herself at kicking distance of the bowl. She might be a bookworm, but she lived on a farm for almost all her short life. She looked back; no, the stone wouldn't offer much of a challenge for a good bucking. She took a deep breath and kicked as her as she could.

The stone broke easily, the gooey liquid spilled out of it's bowl.

Azure looked around, there was nothing but darkness. She could swear she was still standing up but she couldn't feel anything under her hooves. The last thing she remembered was the strange liquid touching her. Her heart skipped a bit; maybe she was wrong, maybe the liquid was the trap!

She shook her head, she didn't remember losing consciousness and she was pretty sure she could still feel and control her body. Maybe whatever spell was lighting up the cavern was broken the moment she destroyed the bowl? No, something felt odd, as if this place didn't exist.

"Defeated by a filly, what a shame," said a voice all around her. It was the same as the whisper that was raging against her but now she could clearly hear it. "I should have been more careful."

Azure looked around but there was still nothing. "Who are you?"

A dark purple stallion appeared in front of her; it was a unicorn with a short but sharp horn. He was smaller than most stallions Azure met, if only slightly taller than a mare. His silver mane was brushed back. His left eye was completely white, an obvious result of the large scar that started on top of his head, passed on his eye and finished down on his jaw. "You can call me Constellation," he said with a proud tone.

"You're the one who made that mind control spell? Why?" the filly asked, surprised the stallion didn't look like any monster and was much smaller than she imagined.

Constellation moved forwards without moving his legs. "And why would I tell you anything? You're just a stupid earth pony," he spat out.

"The stupid earth pony defeated you," she replied louder than she wanted, half afraid and half proud. "I think I can talk to you because I came in contact with that fluid. The bowl is broken, this... this reality won't last long," she said softly, analyzing the recent events as she talked. "You're dying," she finished in a whisper.

He frowned, somewhat surprised at the accurate analyze. "Whatever," he growled.

He turned around and the darkness rippled out, leaving the two ponies in a large room. For the first time Azure could see his cutie mark, an arc of stars similar to a cloudless night. Azure looked around, surprised to remember that room too well; it was the exam room used for the entrance examination to Celestia's school. In a childish fear, she looked up the room and yes, there was four teachers looking down on her. Or actually, they were looking pass her. She looked back and found a much younger version of Constellation standing in the middle of the room. Beside the colt was standing his older version.

"A prodigy," he said while looking at his younger self with pride. "That's what they called me. Or genius. I solved and answered all their lame tests; it wasn't even a challenge. Even their so call impossible test was no match for my talent."

The surrounding rippled again and the colt was in front of a class of other ponies, explaining something Azure couldn't hear as a chalk was drawing madly on the board. "Within two years, I was decades ahead of most teachers in this school," Constellation said while staring at a white mare that was captivated by the formulas taking shapes on the chalkboard.

"There's a mistake in the third formula," Azure whispered. "The equation isn't balanced."

Constellation turned around in rage, staring at the insolent filly who shrunk on herself. After a moment, he looked at the board and slowly a smile crept on his face. "Yes, but no teachers could even understand it," he said in a chuckle. He raised an eyebrow and throw a glance at Azure. "You're Luna's student, right? I guess I had the wrong teacher."

Space rippled once more and the two ponies found themselves in a room of Canterlot castle. Celestia was there, standing in front of a slightly older Constellation that was reading a large tome full of complex formulas. "She took me under her wing; became my private teacher. The Queen teaching a young pony, it was unheard of." He took a deep breath. "But even her... After four years under her tutelage, I had surpassed her in all magic topics."

Another change of scenery happened and Azure found herself in the throne room, as Celestia was slowly lowering a sword on an adult Constellation. The sword hit his shoulder and the princess repeated the process a few times as she spoke some official ritual that Azure couldn't hear. His robes displayed clearly his status as archmage of Equestria. "Seventeen years old; I was the youngest archmage, and even today nopony managed to do better."

He hit the marble floor with his right forehoof, but no sound came from this ethereal memory. "And then it came, her first order; to research a specific field of magic, one that nopony ever had any success before; time travel." He faced Azure with a large but fake smile. "I was delighted! Finally a challenge at my level! Something nopony else ever did!" he shouted as he hit his chest with a his hoof. "Obviously, the Queen wanted such magic to bring a new era of prosperity to Equestria! It was for the better of everypony, to make our country better!"

Azure found herself in the middle of an old magic laboratory. A now much older Constellation was writing a formula on a huge chalkboard, but this time the filly couldn't understand its meaning; it was beyond anything she learned so far. "Two decades, it's the time it took me to come up with the unified time equation," said Constellation while standing beside the board. A white unicorn mare in golden armor walked up to the magician and hugged him. "Aurora, my wife," he said softly. Azure could swear she saw a tear at the corner of the ethereal Constellation's intact eye, but he looked away before she could be sure.

"If my work was owning my brain, she fully owned my heart," he explained softly. "There was no mare like her. She was one of Celestia's guard, but she could challenge me on my theories. I never understood why she didn't use more of her intellect. She could have taught in any college, those lazy teachers would have been no match for her. She could have been an archmage with little effort." He looked down. "But she always said she enjoyed her work as much as I did mine; guarding the Queen."

Celestia entered the room and walked up to the couple, her eyes fixed on the board. "My Queen was happy, I had succeed in the task she gave me. And at that moment, I was happy too," he explained with obvious tone of sarcasm.

An argument broke out between the archmage and Celestia. Once again, Azure couldn't hear anything of the discussion. "She didn't only want to travel back in time, she wanted to go back centuries in the past," he explained. "I argued that for such a long... distance in time, it would require more raw magic that even her possessed."

For a moment, Azure thought she was back in the darkness as all lights faded away. Her eyes slowly got used to it and noticed she was back in the cavern where Twilight fought Blueblood. However, the walls appeared as if they were newly constructed and the floor was clean. Torches arranged around the columns were faintly lighting the large room. In the middle, a huge metallic contraption was taking most of the available space. At the heart of the device lied a large sphere of crystal. It was pulsing as numerous stream of golden energy were flying chaotically within it. "This was my solution; it was brilliant!" Constellation said while staring at the machine. "An accumulator. Any unicorn could use it to store magic. In the end, that unicorn could use it to cast a spell that would require far more power then what this unicorn could provide. My biggest success, my worse failure."

Celestia came out of the shadows and inserted her horn in the device. Her horn glowed brightly for a moment. "For almost a decade, every weeks, she came here to put some of her magic in it. There was numerous safety, of course; only her could use the stored magic."

The ethereal Constellation walked up to the device and pointed at a blinking light. "That day, it was full. There was enough magic in it for Celestia to do her little time travel," he spat out.

The Queen smiled at the two unicorns also present in the room; Constellation and Aurora. She pointed at the blinking light and the archmage nodded back. She moved around and inserted her horn in the device once again. She closed her eyes and started to cast a spell. Almost immediately, a small tornado whipped up around her and accelerated as she drained magic from the accumulator to stream it to the spell. As the tornado started to fully envelope the Queen, a crack appear on the surface of the crystal sphere.

The archmage noticed it right away and ran to Celestia, screaming. Azure couldn't hear anything, but the fear on the Constellation's face was obvious. It was too late, the Queen vanished in a flash, but at the same moment, the sphere of crystal shattered violently sending bolts of golden energy around. The energies exploded columns of stone, burned the floor and melted the delicate mechanism of the device. One shard of crystal flew towards Constellation and stroke his face, slicing in his left eye. He collapsed on the floor, but managed to turn around and scream at Aurora. Azure didn't need to hear it to know he was begging her to flee. The armored mare turn around and was about to sprint out when a stream of magic sweep across her. For a moment, she looked like she was about to scream but she disappeared in an explosion of golden dust. Constellation lost consciousness.

Azure was back in the void, shocked by the experience. "When I woke up, I was in a bed in an hospital," Constellation explained behind her. "The Queen came back from her little travel just fine. However, nothing had changed. No rewriting the history, she had failed whatever task she wanted to perform," he cringed. "Worse, I managed to learn at what time she traveled; it wasn't for the country, it was a personal matter!" he screamed.

"The Queen," he said with hatred. "she locked herself in her apartment for almost two years, talking to no one. Her servants said she was sad," he explained with an ironic tone. "I spent over thirty years of my life for her and I was rewarded with a locked door and a dead wife!"

"No one could replace Aurora, no one," he raged in front of Azure. "And that ageless Queen of ours, she sure wasn't helping. Why would she? What are we to her? She saw countless ponies die throughout history, what is one more mare?"

Azure recoiled back at the display of such strong emotions. "They found me. They have no names, but for their goals, names are not needed. They explained, they showed me the history as it really is, not as we are taught in school. Our divine Queen is wise," he snorted, "but her wisdom came from millennia of trial and error at our expense. We even called her Goddess at some point. She started numerous conflict with other countries. One of them almost wiped out ponykind completely!"

He moved his face in at a hoof distance of Azure's. "My wife was simply the latest victim in a very long list that history simply forgot," he whispered with a dangerous smile. "The Queen never apologized, never cared about what happened."

He stood back up and looked down on her. "I accepted what that group told me; the Queen had to be removed. And the only way to get rid of a leader that ages has no grasp on is to kill her. She should have been killed centuries ago, but they never managed to do it; she was simply too powerful for them."

"So, it's about vengeance?" Azure asked softly.

"Vengeance!" he screamed at her. "It's only a small part! Vengeance is a motivator, not a reason. We have to control our own destiny and not leave it at the hooves of a leader who simply doesn't care. One who locked herself up for two years, leaving the country on its own. One who spend fortunes on research for her own personal reasons."

Constellation took a few deep breath. "It wasn't that hard; I only had to eliminate Celestia." The darkness faded away, replaced by the royal library. Time was frozen as books were burning. Windows were shattered, desks were broken. In the middle, Constellation was standing up, his horn glowing brightly. At his hooves, Celestia was lying on her side, her horn burned and cracked.

"It wasn't even hard. I had expected much more challenge from a being of millennium of experience," he said while looking at the hurt form of the Queen. "But she's never been very bright; always leaving other do the job for her and when she fight, it's without subtlety. With her, it's all about brute force, and if that fails, she has no idea what to do."

He glanced at Azure. "In retrospective, I had much more trouble with Twilight then with Celestia." He stepped back. "It was all done," he said while pointing at the defenceless leader. Time slowly resumed its course and as the archmage was about to cast the killing blow, a royal blue unicorn jumped in front of his target and create a force field around him and Celestia.

Time stopped once again. "Brilliant Shield... One of the Twilight's family. What a fool."

Constellation cast his spell; a sharp lance of purple energy flew towards his target. The force field didn't even slow the spell down; it shattered as soon as the tip touched it. The offensive spell entered the unicorn's body and vaporized every cell at a molecular level. The soldier didn't have time to scream or react, in a second he was gone.

But the damage was done, as Constellation was readying himself to cast the spell once again, an arrow appeared on his flank. Then a second and a third; the time gained by the soldier had been enough for other guards to come to Celestia's rescue. Seeing he wouldn't have time to prepare his attack, he charged up a much quicker spell. In a flash the archmage was gone, teleported away.

Back in the void, Azure was staring at her hooves. She knew the history of Equestria wasn't pretty, but she never expected something like that. "So now you know," Constellation simply said. "Those arrows were enough to kill me. I never really took time to learn healing magic. I would die three days after that, but not before I managed to seal my soul in those caves."

"I... I don't understand," Azure replied. "Why did you try to kill me?"

The purple stallion laughed. "You? I don't care about you. If Blueblood had a third of the power I used to have, I would have attacked Celestia directly. I'm sure you know what happened to Luna a thousand years ago. Killing you might very well be enough to push her over the edge. A combat between the two princesses would weaken them both enough for us to make our move and eliminate them both."

He shrugged. "For the simple mind of the group, you, an earth pony, learning magic was a powerful motivator, not a reason. For them, such preposterous act must not be left unpunished. For me, I couldn't care less; my targets are the princesses. It's the same thing with Twilight and her family; they are close enough to Celestia to push her to make mistakes."

"Did... did you ever talked to Celestia after... after you wife died?" Azure asked softly.

He stared at her. "You've been Luna's student for six month. Tell me, in all that time, what have you learned of the princesses?"

She looked away, unable to look at his eyes. "I... I don't know."

"Nothing!" he shouted. "After three decades at Celestia's side, I knew nothing of her, of her past, her history or her feelings. I tried to talk to her but she refused to answer. They lead us, but they aren't part of our society. They are detached, distant from us. They let others do the job and watch. They let other ponies die for them," he finished in a whisper.

"I could have accepted her apologizes, but they never came. She was in her world, in whatever events she tried to prevent in the past. She didn't care about what was happening around her. Some ponies could say that something good came out of it; she stepped down of the title of Queen and created the high council. But it's obvious that the council members are only her puppets," he explained.

The void shook as if an earthquake was happening. Behind Constellation, the darkness fractured, letting flow in a bright light. Azure had to look away as the light was painful, but the stallion appeared to be drawn to it. "I guess I cheated death long enough; no escape this time," he said disappointed. The cracks widened enough for him to pass.

He started to walk towards it, but stop and looked behind. "Good luck little one, you will need it. Our society isn't ready to accept an earth pony magician, but... but there's always a beginning to everything." He did a few more steps and stopped again. He sighed loudly. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry of what I did to you and Twilight," he said without looking back. "You were the only ones I could reach that would hurt them." He looked up in the void, as if he could see a starry night. "Part of me is happy you managed to stop me."

The moment Constellation stepped in the light, Azure found herself back in the cavern, her hooves wet from the liquid. The bowl was broken and no fluid was left in it. She started to walk back to the main chamber, her head low. They had won, but her heart wasn't happy. She had no idea how to handle the mass of information she just received.

Wake Up Sleepy Head

Twilight was warm and comfortable. She wished to stay like this a while longer, but there is a moment when dreams fly away and no way to bring them back. Not that she didn't try. She attempted to move and at first her body refused to comply. The tightness she had felt in her body was a sign that she slept a lot longer than a single night, but she felt utterly rested. Beyond that her mind was still an empty void.

Then it all came back in a flash: looking for her parents, the cavern under Canterlot, the fight against Blueblood, Azure and Rarity trapped and running out of air under the rubble. But nothing after that; she must have passed out. Her heart ached at the thought. She opened her eyes and sat up way too quickly. "Rarity!" she tried to shout, but her dried throat only managed to let go of a rather unpleasant croak. Her back screamed in pain at the sudden movement, her eyes closed back because of the light and her head started to spin dangerously.

"Good morning Twilight," said a voice she would always recognize. She tried to answer, but once again her voice refused to come out correctly. "Take it slowly," the voiced continued as a gentle force pushed her back until her head rested on a very soft pillow. "You almost slept a full week."

After a few tries, she managed to open her eyes without being hurt by the brightness. Light flooded the room as the sun slowly rose from the horizon. Princess Celestia stood beside the bed, giving her a large smile. Twilight tried to speak again, slowly this time, but her throat felt like it was made of sand.

"There," the Princess said while levitating a small crystal bowl filled with a strange brown liquid. "Drink this, it should help." Twilight forced herself to drink the nasty beverage. If it was from her mentor, no doubt it was for her own good, even if her nose didn't agree.

As soon as she finished the bowl, not without a lot of efforts, her muscles relaxed and her throat opened up. She didn't know what was in that concoction, but it was working miracles. A few deep breaths later her voice also came back. "Rarity? Azure?" she managed to ask, concerned. "My parents?" Her voice sounded dry, but she would make do.

Celestia smiled. "They are alright," she said calmly. She pointed a hoof at Twilight. "It's you who troubled us the most."

"Blueblood! He is -" Twilight tried to sit up again, but Celestia's magic gently pushed her back into the cushions once more, silencing her.

"I know," Celestia replied. "Rarity and Azure explained everything. It may take years for Prince Blueblood to regain the use of his horn, if he ever manages to."

"What?" Twilight asked puzzled. "His horn?"

The Princess raised an eyebrow, surprised at the reaction. "What is the last thing you remember?"

"Well, I was battling him. He was really good... too good... and frankly I don't know how I... or we managed to win. I... I was losing. Rarity and Azure were trapped under... and..." He eyes widened in shock. "I felt her die... and... and..."

"Calm down," Celestia said softly. "You only felt the mental link spell expire. They are fine and you rescued them."

Twilight looked away, confused. "I... I did?" The Princess nodded. "I... I'm not sure I remember that. It's... foggy. I'm not sure what happened or what I did."

"It might come back in time, or not," Celestia explained. "What is important is that you are all alright." She smiled. "You should rest for now. I will ask the chef to prepare you a hot meal. When you have recovered some strength back, I know a filly that looks forward to spending some time with you."

After she had made sure Twilight was comfortable, she turned around and walked to the door. She was about to push it open when she stopped and her head dropped. Her hoof rested on the door for a moment before falling to the floor. Twilight had lived with the Princess long enough to know that something was wrong, her mane and her tail were not floating in the celestial wind as they usually did. Her sides shook and her wings trembled uncontrollably like under a tremendous effort. "I... I let it happen again, didn't I?" the Princess asked softly.

"Princess?"

"I... You..." Celestia took a deep, but jumpy breath. "You always end up facing my mistakes, my errors. The demons from my past, things I never managed to fix or mend..." She shook her head. "They always end up in your hooves." She turned around to face the unicorn. Twilight was stunned to see Celestia was crying. She had never seen the Princess in tears before and she had no idea how to react to this. "This time... this time you almost died. You... I..." she pleaded while walking back to the bed, her eyes fixed on Twilight.

"Princess, you're crying?" asked Twilight, concerned for her mentor.

Celestia brought a hoof to her eyes, surprised to find it wet. "Am I?" Her whole body was shaking as the tears kept flowing down her face. She fought against them but the battle was obviously one-sided. "Ridiculous, the Princess is stoic, a beacon of stability! She does not cry, she... I..." After a moment she fell down on her knees, her head resting on the bed. "I could have lost you!" she shouted in distress. "Again and again! I keep making the same mistakes over the ages!" she screamed. "I'm a stubborn old pony who thinks she knows better, who thinks she's so clever," she finished in a whisper. "I tried! I tried to stay distant, detached, to be an image, a figure of leadership... but... but... I can't help making friends... and... and... I always end up hurting them!"

Not knowing what to say, Twilight simply hugged the Princess. She felt it was the right thing to do. Her teacher kept crying for what felt like a very long time, soaking the bed sheets. The tears finally stopped and she found Celestia had fallen asleep, but even in her dreams her face did not relax and showed signs of pain. She wondered if the Princess had stayed awake the whole time she was in a coma, a whole week watching over her. She thought that maybe she had taken her teacher for granted too much, the Princess that had been, was and would be for many more centuries. An icon, a facade that was protecting a pony with emotions and feelings far more complex than she first imagined.

Twilight knew she had to talk with Celestia later, when both would be rested. It wouldn't be easy; friendship rarely was.

Twilight didn't remember falling asleep, but when she woke up again Celestia stood on the balcony looking outside. Judging from the sky, it was late in the afternoon. Sensing her student was awake, the Princess looked over her shoulders.

"Your brother is wiser than he looks," she said. "He asked me if making friends... if having friends and letting them grow and make mistakes on their own becomes easier or harder as you get more experienced." She sighed while staring at the horizon. "It is harder with time, much harder," she said. After a moment, she walked back in the room. "It's harder because I've seen it happened before. It's harder because I only feel more powerless to change anything."

The Princess' mane was a mess, her eyes were red from the tears and showed black rings from the lack of sleep. "Princess?" Twilight asked.

Celestia gave her a weak smile. "Don't worry; it is nothing a good night of rest won't fix."

She walked to the bed and sat down. There, she recounted the events Rarity and Azure had told Luna and her. Twilight was stunned that Blueblood had been only a puppet of a pony who died centuries ago. The implication of this kind of spell-craft was disturbing to say the least. However, she was curious and amazed by the genius behind all this. Twilight had the feeling the story had missing fragments. She wondered if that old archmage hadn't told everything or Azure omitted details she felt not important. She would have to talk to the young filly; she was most likely shocked by the experience. A pony of her age shouldn't be facing events like that.

"Had I known who was behind all this, I would have followed you and prevented you from facing him," Celestia said plainly.

Twilight frowned. "Princess?"

"To be blunt, had he been alive, with all his power, I'm afraid you would have lost. You were not trained for this kind of combat. Back then, it was part of the basic training, every unicorn followed a course of magic battle," she explained. "Between him and my sister, I simply can't say who would win. They were both so good at this kind of thing." She shrugged. "Luna always said I was too direct, lacking the subtlety for a proper magic duel. I might have the raw power, but he had the talent."

Twilight fought hard against asking why the Princess took a trip in the past. She knew her teacher was secretive and wouldn't talk unless she felt it was needed. Her respect for Celestia won over her curiosity.

The Princess looked down, as if she was ashamed of something, her mouth twitching as an internal battle took place. Twilight stayed silent, knowing better then to push her teacher for answers. The fight didn't last long and Celestia brought her sight back to her student. She had come to a decision and her resolve was palpable.

"I lied to you Twilight," she let out rather bluntly.

"What? I... Princess?"

"I told you the magic you released at your entrance exam was a flare... triggered by your growth and your cutie mark," she explained. "I lied."

Twilight didn't know what to say. She never really questioned Celestia's words and never really felt the need to.

"It was the first time you accessed your magical reserve in full. But it was uncontrolled and dangerous." Considering what happened, Twilight could only agree with that statement. Having potted plants as parents was not really a desirable outcome. "I stopped you by sealing most of your magic potential." Celestia sighed. "The seal should have held a lot longer and should have weakened over time, making the transition easier. In hindsight, I'm glad it broke the moment it did." The Princess looked straight in Twilight's eyes. "I should have told you a long time ago. When you fought Blueblood, you burned more magic in matter of seconds than a unicorn normally uses in months. It was terribly dangerous and could have killed you." Tears were coming back to the Princess' eyes, but she managed to keep them at bay. "It's nothing short of a miracle that you survived."

She looked down and laughed weakly. "My past experience with Constellation made me overcautious of too talented ponies, because he tried to kill me. However, it was me... keeping to myself that made it happen in the first place; not trusting, not talking." She took a deep breath. "If only I had known," she said in a whisper while closing her eyes. The shock of Constellation's story as Azure had told it was still present. It was obvious it moved the Princess far more than Twilight first thought, most likely reopening an old wound.

"He was a good pony... a good friend. But I wasn't; I couldn't see the pain that was burning our bridges. I ignored him in the moment he needed me the most," she said, reliving her memories. "Had I been... Had I said..."

Twilight took the Princess by surprise when she jumped out of bed and hugged her. "It's going to be alright," Twilight whispered.

Celestia let go of a breath that she felt she had been holding for centuries and lowered her head to rest on her student's. A weight had been lifted from her shoulders, one she put there by herself. She had no doubt now, there was no way she could have removed it on her own. She had been that stoic figurehead of leadership... of fake perfection for so long that she forgot how to face her own errors and admit them to others... and to herself.

What have I done to deserve such a good friend?

Carousel

Rarity admired the blueprint spread out on the wooden workbench in front of her. Her short experience as a designer was just enough for her to be able to appreciate the quality of this plan, even if it wasn't her branch of art at all. A famous pony once said that perfection was impossible, but a designer's job was to spend his life trying to reach it. She had started to see glimpses of what perfection could be in the design of her dresses, and how far she was from reaching it. In truth, the massive gap between her current abilities and that mental goal was sometimes frightening and encouraging her at the same time.

Although she had no training in architecture, she could see a lifetime of hard work towards perfection in the papers in front of her. They breathed experience, control and the mastering of an art form. She could only hope to reach such levels when she would be the age of their author. Rarity smiled and looked over her shoulder when she recognized the distinct gait of the brown earth pony trotting towards her. Nopony could figure out how old he really was from his energetic bouncing steps. His short silver mane had traces of the original pitch black color, but it was just long enough that they would freely flow in the wind. His square lines and rigid posture hinted at a life of physical work. He was a very old stallion who managed to keep the heart of a colt.

"Still looking at those silly doodles?" he asked with a friendly smile.

She smiled back. "Are you sure it's alright for you to help me rebuild my shop?"

Of course he knew what she was talking about, but he feigned ignorance pretending to think with a hoof on his jaw. "Oh! You mean the designer guild?" he said and blew a raspberry. "Those lazy aristocrats can eat a bale of hay for all I care."

"Be serious for a moment uncle Clé," she pleaded. She wasn't related to him in any form, but for her he was part of the family. "I would hate if it was giving you troubles."

Clé de Voûte, master architect, laughed at the idea. "They could try," he pouted. "It could be fun, but they won't. I'm currently designing and constructing a dozen buildings all over Equestria. Contracts for almost a quarter of a billion bits! I doubt any of those paper-pushers will do anything about it. They couldn't absorb the economical impact even if they wanted to," he said with pride. "Did you know I was supposed to retire five years ago? And yet this year my company received more contracts then ever before."

Rarity ignored the attempt at changing the topic. She pointed at the blueprint, which half a dozen construction ponies were currently working to implement at the spot her old shop used to stand. "How much? You still haven't told me your price."

"Nothing!" he said while shaking his head. Seeing she was about to argue, he raised a hoof to interrupted her. "And it's not open to negotiation," he finished with a look that didn't leave place for objection. He stood at her side. "I heard you became the bearer of the Element of Generosity?" he whispered.

"Not that it's any secret..."

"... but you still have a lot to learn about it," he finished. She gave him a confused look. "The Elements choose well. I'm sure your parents are very proud. You and your family are some of the most generous ponies I've met." He looked away. "And I've been in the receiving end of that generosity more than once in the past four or five decades. However, you should know that generosity is not a one-way street, being generous inspires generosity in others. Learning to gracefully receive it when in need is also an important skill," he explained, dead serious.

"I was about your age, when I made a terrible mistake," he started. Rarity didn't interrupt him even though she had heard that story more times than she could remember. "It was my second... or third contract and the investors found a loophole. They managed to remove their funding while I would still have to do the work. I was left on the road, forced to sell my home to pay for the construction. I was at a point where I was sure my career was over; who would accept to work with a pony who had nothing left?" He snorted. "That's when your grandfather invited me for a meal."

He looked at her. "You know, back then, I came very close to refusing his offer. Even if I was down for the count, I still had my pride, no matter how misplaced it was. A complete stranger welcoming me in his home? I didn't know him and I had no need for his pity. But... When you haven't eaten for a week, things aren't that simple."

"So, you accepted?" Rarity asked knowing full well the answer.

"I accepted," he replied. "I didn't understand why he did it. He had to take care of five foals already! He was already working overtime in some nameless factory. The last thing he needed was another mouth to feed!" He nodded at the memory. "A decade later I managed to get an answer out of him as to why he did it. He simply said that he saw potential in me, and that he hated nothing more than wasted potential." He stared at Rarity. "I guess I got this flaw from him," he said with a wink.

His stoic stance faltered. "So, how terrible are they?" he asked pointing at the workbench with a large smile.

"They are amazing."

"Non-sense!" he shouted playfully. "If I had a year or two to design those they would be a hundred times better!"

Rarity frowned while staring at the plans; she didn't ask him anything. She had a hard time imagining how they could be made any better. When she was young, she had visited his workshop a few times. Seeing all those blueprints, she was sure she could draw some as well as them. After all, she was a unicorn and uncle Clé was an earth pony. No doubt she could draw like him with her magic! She could levitate four or five pens at a time and draw very quickly. Reality hit pretty hard when she saw him draw using his mouth and his front hooves. He was drawing many times faster than her, his lines were perfectly straight and always the right length. Even today, while drawing dress templates she was nowhere near his speed or precision. After all, unlike him, her cutie mark was not about drawing blueprints. "I don't see how..."

"Perfection, right?" he asked.

"What?"

"When you look at one of your latest dresses, you automatically see what's wrong with it, how to improve it. Am I right?" he asked with that annoying smile.

"I guess," she replied, unsure where he was going with it.

"I'm sure you do. And you think that one day you will craft a dress in which you won't find things to improve?" he said in a tone a teacher would take.

Rarity finally understood where he was going. "You're telling me it won't happen?"

"Not a chance. I have no doubt one day you will craft a masterpiece for which you will be remembered for centuries to come. You will complete it and ponies will be in awe about it. But while they cheer you on, you will think it's atrocious, seeing mistakes and things to change and to improve on in your next design. Such is the destiny of a true designer, my dear," he explained.

Rarity needed a moment to digest his words, then she pointed again at the plans. "So, this is?"

"A horror, an abomination, no less," he said, his head pointed up and his mouth twisted in disgust. He leaned towards her. "You should see what I'm designing for the Economical Exchange Tower in New Colt; a chef-d'œuvre."

"Until?" she asked with a playful smile.

"Until it's done of course!" he said as dramatically as he could, feigning surprise. "For which, at that point, it will be utterly rubbish."

Rarity smiled at the display. Her friends always said she was putting up quite a show and that she could have been a dramatic actress. Obviously, none of them had ever met Clé, who was at a completely different level. She had no doubt he acted, no matter how slightly, as a role model for her in her youth. Sometimes she wondered if she didn't retain more from him than from her father.

A few weeks ago, after that adventure in Canterlot, she had found a temporary place to stay in Twilight's guest room at the library, ruminating on her future or lack of one. She was sure her career was over. Being expelled from the guild of designers wasn't something anypony could easily overcome. The influence of the guild reached even beyond the borders of Equestria. She had wondered what profession she could perform; selling gems maybe?

Then Fancy Pants came and ordered a dozen dresses from her. She tried to explain to him that her shop was destroyed and that without a proper license from the guild he couldn't sell her creations in his own shops. He shrugged saying that they were for his wife Fleur-de-Lis. He asked to send him a letter when they would be ready, and that he didn't care how long it would take. He even paid in advance. She tried to make him understand, but he wouldn't hear a word.

He was the first of a few more ponies who came to order personal creations. And then Princess Cadance showed up at the library, also placing orders for a list of official events that would take place over the next year in the Empire. A few days later, while reading the newspaper, Rarity almost choked on her coffee. Somehow, the news ponies had learned about the Princess's visit to Ponyville and inquired why she did business with a dishonored designer.

"She made my wedding dress, and it was perfect. I have no say in how the guild handles their decision or their membership, and fortunately for me, they don't have a say in how I dress myself," was her declaration.

With Twilight's agreement, Rarity started to use the basement of the library as a small atelier, working on only one dress at a time due to the space limitation. To her surprise, she found that concentrating on a small number of unique creations was far more rewarding than the quantity she used to produce to supply shops across Equestria. None of her orders had any deadline, so she could put more time in her designs, something she didn't always have the luxury of.

Her career wasn't dead and it had taken a different path, one that she could not ever have predicted. She still wasn't sure if it wasn't for the best.

Then Clé came, with plans already made. Craftsponies were already working on making those blueprints a reality. He then proceeded to completely ignore every word she said. She tried very hard to give him something, anything, in exchange but he was a master at passing over her requests. Multiple times he managed to change the subject of discussion without Rarity even noticing it until it was too late.

“Thank you,” she said and gave him a little kiss on the cheek.

The architect gave her a surprised look which turned into such a large smile that she blushed. "My pleasure."

Starry Night

Princess Luna walked down the castle's corridors, her shift at court finally over. She couldn't believe the amount of work she had to do in the middle of the night. So many things had changed during her... extended leave that sometimes she wished she could go back to that simpler life. For one thing, back then the night court would only receive a few ponies and often none at all. It had allowed her a lot of time for herself. It was mostly a formality, a required protocol, and she used to think Celestia put it in place only to please her. But tonight she received over a hundred requests in a wide range of topics. In Luna's absence, Celestia had simply delegated the night court to some bureaucrats with orders not to wake her up unless it was something very important that couldn't wait for the sunrise. Now the bureaucrats had all left the place for the Princess of the Night, and she still wasn't sure if that had been such a good idea.

Now she fully understood why Celestia prevented her from having a public life for almost a year. It was the time it took her to force all that new knowledge into Luna's brain and be sure she was as ready as possible. She still had so much to learn and had no doubt it would take her a few more years to be fully up to date. For now, she was forced to accept the help of a few counselors appointed by her sister. They were guiding her in cases that were beyond her knowledge. In some aspect, she didn't remember learning so much in such a short time.

The fact that Equestria had now well over a hundred times the population didn't help, even while considering the extra layers of bureaucracy between the people and the court. The Princess had been stunned when she learned that some cities, such as Las Pegasus, were more active at night then in day time and that no city past a certain size was ever fully asleep. Time zones were another new problem. Back then, Equestria was small enough, centered on the capital, that there was no need for different time zones. But now, when Celestia finished her day of work, millions of ponies were still having two or three hours of work ahead of them in the most remote parts of the country.

And that was without taking into account the communication with other countries. A trade dispute could happen at any time and considering the distance with Canterlot, was most likely to occur in the middle of the night. The fact that Equestria hadn't seen a war in centuries was an obvious benefit, but it also meant endless shades of gray in the communication with other leaders. Saying the wrong thing at the wrong time could doom commercial contracts, which would cost the country's commerce millions of bits, which in return could mean hundred or thousand ponies losing their jobs. What she said or did never had such wide impact on the lives of so many.

Luna had been stunned to learn how important her night had become to so many ponies. She even received numerous requests to bless future couples. Who would have thought that some ponies would ever wish to be married under the sign of the night? Maybe she should send a gift to the two stallions that asked her to marry them a year ago.

Luna reached the door to the study she used for her lessons with Azure. She was late, but her student knew the court could last longer than expected. She took a deep breath; today was the day. It had been over a month since the assassin had come for Azure, a month since her mood changed. Luna wasn't blind, she had noticed right away that the filly was not looking at her anymore and had lost some of her enthusiasm in learning. She had hoped that it was only a phase and that the filly would regain her joy on her own. But it didn't happen and was only getting worse. Tonight, she would ask her what was troubling her.

Princess Luna had never been a social pony and she never pretended to be one. This inquiry would tread on a zone she was far from being comfortable with. However, she felt asking questions at this point was required. Something was wrong and she had to find a way to fix it.

Entering the room, Luna looked around, unable to find the blue filly. The Princess walked around in silence; even if she was used to staying up at night, Azure would sometimes fall asleep. She finally found the filly sitting on the balcony, staring at the night sky.

"They are pretty, aren't they?" she asked her while sitting down beside her small student.

"Yeah," Azure answered with the same detached tone she had for the last month.

Luna swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "Azure... What's wrong?"

There, that should do it.

"Nothing," she replied while looking away.

Ponyfeathers!

"Come on! You know you can tell me what's on your mind!" the Princess pushed forwards.

The filly jumped to her feet and faced her in a defensive posture. "What am I to you? A bet with Princess Celestia? Are you trying to prove that you're as good as her? That you can have a student, a pet of your own?" Azure yelled in a single breath.

Luna recoiled, surprised by the display of emotion. The filly was almost in tears, what had she done to alienate her? She tried to remember the past month but couldn't find anything. The only important event was Twilight's fight against Blueblood. It couldn't have affected the filly like that! And how was Luna related to any of those events?

"Of course not! I care about you!" she argued back.

"Lies!" Azure yelled as she tried to run away, but Luna's magic caught the filly before she could take a second step.

Luna frowned and levitated the young pony so she could face her. "Pray tell, what makes you say that?"

Azure was trying to break free without much success. Under other circumstances, the filly running in mid-air could have been funny, but right now it was no laughing matter. Something was wrong and Luna didn't like it one bit. "I've been here for almost eight months and I know nothing of you! Nothing!" Azure answered loudly. "I don't know your birthday, your favorite meal or even your hobbies! I know more about the guards outside your quarters then you!" Tears were flowing down from filly's eyes as she was struggling against the magical field. The Princess's eyes widened as she finally understood.

Luna gently lowered the young pony to the ground. To her surprise she didn't try to run away, but she backed off a few steps. The Princess turned around and looked at the sky, wondering what to say. "It's... it's not... easy to explain," she finally managed after taking a deep breath.

"What?" Azure asked cautious, ready to flee at the first sign of trouble.

Luna took a pause; the discussion would be much harder than she anticipated. Of all the topics of discussion, this was most likely the last she wished to talk about. She wondered if Celestia had the same problem while she was away... on the Moon. She did have a lot of time to think about this problem with the centuries of her life, but she never really found an easy way to deal with it. Maybe her sister found a solution to that problem? She could always ask her later, but right now she had to deal with Azure and there was no postponing this discussion.

"You see... I'm... old," the Princess cringed. Unlike her sister, Luna never managed to be comfortable with her age. She knew deep down it was silly to be unable to accept an aspect of herself that she had no control over, but she couldn't help it.

"I know," Azure replied. "Everypony knows that!"

Luna pouted, understanding the discussion didn't start too well. The last thing she needed was to be reminded about her age. "In... centuries, I had many friends. But... time is... time..."

Curses! Claiming eternal night was easier than this!

"My friends all passed away," she finally managed to say flatly. "It's just... natural. It's how things work." She looked at her hooves. "When a friend leaves, it's... painful. A lot. A part of you... goes with them." Luna looked up. Azure was staring at her, giving her a confused look. "The pain never leaves you, it just stays there," she said while pointing at her heart. "It's unconscious really, but we, me and Celestia... we built protection... shields around our hearts."

"You don't want to make friends anymore because we all die anyway?" Azure asked back, still on the defensive.

"No, it's..." Luna sighed loudly; it would have been easier to teach her how ponies were made. The Princess wondered if Azure wasn't too young for this kind of talk. Life and death wasn't a topic for young fillies. "It's a wall, as we make new friends and lose them, the wall simply get thicker. To a point where... making new a friend, a real friend, becomes very hard. We keep to ourself, in a way... to protect our feelings." She sighed again. "We don't choose this privacy. But after so long... after so... many..."

The Princess remembered numerous ponies she knew in the centuries of her life; friends, husbands, lovers, companions or even guards that she got to know. She personally knew thousands. Her heart ached as her eyes became wet. It had been a long time since she thought of them. She always remembered them, but she rarely took the time to actively think about them. The pain was still there, even after a thousand years sealed on the Moon. "I don't regret knowing all of them, but we... I know how it ends. How it always ends. With time, it just gets harder to make new friends... because we know. You could imagine that with experience, making new friends is easier, but... it's not true."

"I... I didn't know," Azure said sad that she misjudged the Princess.

"Me and Celestia, we don't keep secrets because we like to be mysterious. We are simply protecting our hearts. It's not a choice, it's instinctive, we don't really choose... to... not talk," she explained. She lowered her head to the filly's level. "At first, yes, I was trying to prove a point to my sister. However, I came to care about you. We do care a lot, even if it's not easy to see... or even if it's done in a different way from other ponies."

"I'm sorry!" the filly claimed. "I didn't mean what I said!"

Luna shook her head. "Don't be. It's me who should be apologizing. I should have told you a while ago, but... I've never been very good with talking to other ponies. And climbing over that wall requires lot of efforts from both sides. I guess... I guess I'm out of practice in climbing it."

Azure jumped forwards and hugged her. Once the surprise passed, Luna returned the hug. "What do you want to know about me?" the Princess asked softly.

"Anything that matters to you!" she replied her eyes full of stars.

Luna smiled. Clever filly.

She thought a moment of what she could talk about; she needed a story that mattered to her, but also one that could be of interest to Azure.

"Once upon a time," she started. "I think stories start like that, right?" Azure nodded back. "Good. One upon a time, when Discord was ruling over these lands, when chaos was everywhere... It was a very, very long time ago! We didn't even have a calendar back then. Two very young fillies, two sisters... As young as you, actually! They were living in a cave, shielded from the ambient chaos. Their parents had created that spell to protect them, but it was weakening. But their parents were... gone. The fillies had promised that when the spell would run out, they would go seek the Elder, the first dragon... He would protect them until the day they would be ready to face the world, if they could reach him! The journey wasn't easy..."

The two ponies stayed on the balcony, bathed in the stars' light. There was no formula solved, no diagram drawn, no teaching and no studying that night. It became a sort of personal custom between them as each week one night would be dedicated to simply talking about what mattered to them.

Questions Left Behind

Celestia sat on her throne and took her time while reading the document floating in front of her eyes. At least she pretended to read the paper as she had finished doing so minutes ago. After centuries of reading about every type of literature, from novels to taxes forms, from poetry to law edicts, she had learned to read any text that she didn't care about quite quickly. As for legal documents, she found out a long time ago that they are all the same; full of empty sentences and long unimportant words aimed more at displaying the knowledge of the writer than actually trying to convey any real meaning. A legal pony would be appalled by her attitude regarding their work and would claim that this specific kind of descriptiveness was required to prevent any juristic abuse. She would be the last to disagree, but it didn't make them any easier to read.

She signed her name at the bottom of the paper which promptly levitated to the bottom of the pile, replaced by a fresh new sheet, as inconsequential as the previous one. Her assistant, Moneypony, stood a step below her while holding the documents with her magic. Celestia suspected that she may have discovered a while ago that the Princess wasn't taking that long to read the legal words she presented her, but if she really did she never said a word about it. In some way, Celestia enjoyed the tranquility given to her by such redundant activity. Of course, she would be the last to admit that she believed anypony should be standing there to sign the endless supply of legal scrolls, but it also meant she was not required to listen or speak to anypony.

Time to herself, with her own thoughts was scarce and as time passed, she learned to cherish those rare moments. Right now, she could see the bright Sun in a cloudless day glowing behind the stained glass windows along the walls. She could drop the quill held by her magic and teleport away and nopony could stop her. She could fly up to the top of the mountain supporting the city and rest there, bathing in the celestial rays while being cooled by the breezes of the mountaintop. Most likely her assistant wouldn't even care about her boss running away for a day and would probably not even mention it. However, she would not do it, not now that the country needed display of stability more than ever.

She focused on the present paper, reading it as quickly as she could, skipping long and redundant words that were, in her opinion, placed only to fill the space. Once done, she feigned reading the paper multiple times, slower, as if each letter were of crucial importance.

No, she could not go. The resurgence of the terrorist unicorns - she still couldn't find a name to describe them properly, and if they in fact had a name, they never thought it important to tell other ponies about it - was the source of the greatest part of her concerns lately. She doubted that she had seen the last of them. Losing their leader or at least the pony she thought was leading the group, was a great blow most likely setting them back decades in whatever they were planning. More importantly, they lost a set of eyes and ears within the confine of the palace. She wasn't fool enough to believe that there weren't more ponies living or working in the castle that wouldn't do their bidding. It broke her heart to think that some ponies around her were not loyal, that some would try to hurt her if they had the chance.

Of course Shining Armor's investigation returned nothing. She never expected him to find anything as they had become expert in covering their tracks a long time ago. Her Captain of the Guard wasn't equipped, both in knowledge and experience, to deal with this kind of threat. However, she couldn't prevent him from flipping every rock and examining every blade of grass in Canterlot. Only her intelligence service - which officially didn't exist - was able to piece the coincidence together into a somewhat reliable, but completely hypothetical chain of events. While the adventure had a happy ending - for now, she reminded herself - Shining Armor's family could have died. He didn't take too well the fact that he could have lost all of them in an instant. He felt responsible for what happened and the Princess couldn't blame him for that. It was his duty to protect the city, but Celestia would be the first to admit that he had no tools to deal with enemies from within.

It had been over six months since they had taken a step out of the shadows, only to pull back to the darkness, deeper than ever. The events were enough for her own contacts across the nation to pick up a series of strange incidents that gave her a very short list of names to watch. However, she had no definitive proof of any involvement, only circumstantial evidences that pointed to the potential role taken by a number of ponies. Her lack of anything solid forced her to once again sit back and watch carefully.

Many things troubled the Princess as she kept replaying in her mind the different events of the last decades and tried to match them with the different information Twilight, Rarity, Azure or even Blueblood provided her. For one, the latter claimed to have been mind-controlled for as long as twenty years, maybe more, which was far longer than the time her agents had lost sight of the hidden group. There was always the possibility, from the chains of his own mind, that Blueblood didn't have a proper notion of the passing time, but Celestia doubted it could account for more than one or two years. Obviously Constellation needed time to reorganize and regroup them, but she couldn't believe it would take him so long. She remembered him as one of the most capable and efficient ponies she ever met. The gap of time between the two events was too large to account for a simple restructuring or retaking control.

She had hoped that they would really disappear eaten by the inertia of time, and she truly thought they were going that way up until they vanished from her surveillance. Obviously she was missing something important, something critical that happened a little over a decade ago. The old archmage was no doubt responsible for a large part of the renewal of their activity, but she had a strong feeling that it was only a catalyst and not a reason for their actions.

A more disturbing piece of the puzzle was the attack against Azure. Rarity, from her contact with the ponies behind the Guild of Designers, claimed the filly represented something wrong with the current state of the nation. From a conservative point of view, Celestia could understand that thought. Changes were never easy to accept for anypony that didn't live through a specific situation. The pain of another pony is always too easy to ignore. Even for her, the fact that her private school only used to accept unicorn was only natural and until she personally met a pony wronged by those established unofficial rules, she would have shrugged it off without a second look. However, that reason felt to her more like an excuse and way to rally other ponies to their cause. While Azure was more of a symbol than anything else, Luna's student was no real threat and her death would not change anything in the political status of the country.

From Azure's recount of her encounter with the diseased mage, the reason for the assassination was to reach for Princess Luna and for that the filly was only a means, not a goal. Had the attack succeeded, the Princess could honestly not say how her sister would have reacted. Celestia truly believed the Nightmare would never return, Luna was not a pony to make the same mistake twice, but there was the distinct possibility, had the pain been too great, that Luna wouldn't have stayed in the castle. Her sister's mental stability was of great concern to her and under too much stress Luna could very well leave for some exile to cope with the pain. If that was to happen Celestia's political standing would be greatly damaged. She could easily believe what Constellation said, but concluded that while it was most likely the truth, it was obviously not the whole truth.

From her own experience with Constellation, her first thought after learning of his existence was that he staged that attack to test the water. He was no pony to act without knowing and he may not have been confident enough in his own troops to target a pony of higher standing. A pony like him would have a contingency plan for anything and only because he greatly underestimated Twilight did she emerge victorious from their encounter. In that respect, it was the complete secrecy of the magical seal she imposed on her student that saved them.

One possibility Celestia contemplated was that all those reasons were true and each tailored for a specific part of the pony society. That, she thought, would more fit Constellation's personality. What frightened her was the high probability that there were more hidden reasons for choosing the filly as a first target. It would mean that other unknown forces were at play and could perceive the filly as a threat, even if she couldn't see how that could be. Or worse, that everything that happened so far was according to Constellation's plans.

She sighed as she reminded herself not to give in to paranoia.

She was about to sign the next paper when the doors at the far end of the room slammed open. One of her guard - an earth pony which name eluded her - dashed in. "News from Northern Equestria!" he said as quickly as he was running before remembering his place and bowing in front of his majesty. "Huh... your Highness!"

She noticed her assistant levitated the legal documents away and walked off the throne without a word, as if interruption of this kind was customary. The Princess wondered if anything could surprise or startle her.

"Yes?" Celestia asked as the soldier removed his helm.

"I'm simply to tell you, it has returned," he replied enigmatically.

The Princess understood the reference right away, as there wasn't anything that could return in the frozen wasteland that covered most of the northern part of the country, except the only thing, or city, that used to be there. It was the only thing that could return there as nopony, beside a small selection of her guards standing watch, would be crazy enough to try to live there.

She turned to her personal guard on her right. "Find Princess Cadance and Shining Armor," she ordered.

"Yes, your Highness," the pegasus replied before dashing out of the room to carry out his order.

As the guards left the throne room, she levitated a piece of paper and quickly wrote on it.

My dearest Twilight,

You must come to Canterlot at once.

Princess Celestia

As she watched the paper burn in her magical fire, sending it along her magical bond to Spike, a strange thought occurred to her; that Cadance might have something to do with the terrorists' attack. She frowned at the thought because she couldn't clearly see any logic behind it. Her subconscious was trying to tell her something, but she couldn't understand exactly what.

She shook her head to clear her mind. Obviously the pink Princess had nothing to do with the attack. In some way, she was as naive as Twilight could be. She didn't even question Celestia when the Princess asked her to act as foalsitter for a complete stranger, a purple filly Celestia spotted at a Sun ceremony - years before Twilight became her student - and wanted to keep an eye on. There was no way she would ally herself with anypony that had intentions to harm another. What was her brain trying to tell her? Could she have been part or even the trigger of some of those events?

She couldn't see how that would be possible as Cadance was a fairly new Princess and had no decision in any of Equestria's politic. She had no power, didn't want any and claimed it more than once to the news-ponies. It was by her own decision that she stayed away from any political responsibility. She felt she wasn't ready for that and didn't want to take part in it, and for that Celestia couldn't blame her. She knew that wouldn't always be the case as she recognized the hidden symbolism behind Cadance's cutie mark. A pony doesn't simply get a crystal heart as cutie mark without some deeper meanings related to it. It was most likely that the events taking place in the northern part of the country would change her stance on politics.

It was almost twelve years ago that Cadance became a Princess, and only by title. It occurred only because that young pegasus orphan gained her horn from defeating some strong love-spell user and mastering the magic of love. Cadance had no royal blood, but Celestia adopted her because she could see the potential in the young filly and...

Twelve years?

Celestia frowned once again. Her mind kept telling her there was a connection while she truly believed it was only a coincidence. How could those two events be linked? Could the unicorns be responsible for releasing Sombra? Even they never displayed any wishes for such self-destruction. It was always a possibility that the old Emperor could be victorious against Celestia and Luna since they were not linked to the Elements of Harmony anymore, but it would leave the unicorns with a leader far more vicious and completely closed to any kind of compromise. If they truly wanted that to happen, they would have targeted the current bearers of the Elements, but they did not.

The Princess closed her eyes in an attempt to focus on her thoughts. She would have much to analyze in the coming days, but for now she would have to convince Shining Armor to leave his investigation and follow his wife to the frozen north. It shouldn't be too hard, but he won't be happy about it. Telling him his sister would soon join him would no doubt push his instinct of big brother to be there for her protection.

The return of the Crystal Empire should have been cause for joy, but somehow she didn't think it was for the best. Something told her it couldn't have happened at a worst moment. Political instabilities could only serve her adversaries. She only wished that in the meanwhile she could discover the different chains linking all those events together, and hopefully before they would decide to once more step out of the shadows.