Of Dragons and Magicians

Chapter 7

"On the Radar"

In the hours following her encounter with the strange pony with the Manehattan accent, Twilight had written a note to Celestia for her to send guards to her castle to protect Trixie. Almost immediately, a response was sent to Twilight, summoning her to Canterlot at once. Once she arrived, Twilight was led to a large room where Celestia, Luna, Cadence and Shining Armor, her brother and sister-in-law were waiting.

"I got your message, Princess Celestia," replied Twilight as the guards shut the door behind them. "Somehow, that pony was up to no good."

"I'm not surprised that pony raised your suspicions," said Celestia, who stood at the head of the table with a stack of papers in front of her. "The pony you encountered is part of a group that we have been tracking for some time."

"What group?" asked Twilight as Celestia levitated a piece of paper from the huge stack that was in front of her and placed it on the table for the five ponies to look at.

Looking at the picture, Twilight studied the pony that was featured in a wanted poster and she saw the name of the pony in question, which was Black Magic, the pony who was holding a meeting in a tavern not far from where the main castle was.

"There is something about these ponies you need to understand," said Luna. "Our lives have been threatened many times by these ponies, who we believe were trying to overthrow us by killing us."

Hearing this made Twilight's stomach turn slightly, for this was just another conflict she had to confront that put the lives of those she held dear to her once again in danger. Again, it didn't really matter if Trixie had been her enemy, Twilight did not want to see anypony suffer, including Discord who she demanded to Tirek he released before turning over the alicorn magic that she had been carrying.

"Why would they do such a thing?" wondered Twilight, her voice filled with disgust. "Isn't there a better way?"

"Twily, there is no better way to them," said Shining Armor. "This is how they deal with their problems in Equestria. Before I married Cadence, I had been tasked with keeping an eye on them. In fact, a plot to attack the wedding was discovered after the Changelings were defeated."

It was then that Shining Armor used his magic to grab a stack of papers from the enormous pile that had words that Twilight could not believe that she would ever hear.

"Had we not dealt with the changelings," he continued. "This would have been the greater threat. These ponies planned to inflict mass casualties for their own selfish gains, which would have been much worse than what we went through."

Shining Armor then grabbed Cadence's hoof and clutched it tightly, thinking of what could have been. There was already enough damage that was done thanks to what happened at the rehearsal.

"But, I thought that these ponies had planned to attack just Trixie," said Twilight, looking at the papers presented on the table. "What can we do?"

It was then that Celestia motioned to a guard in the room to leave open the door and bring in several guardsponies who had more armor on them than the others. In their magic auras, they held what appeared to be spears and swords in holsters. Twilight was amazed that Celestia and Luna could manage ponies of such magnitude.

"These ponies are trained for critical situations," explained Celestia as the guards showed off their weaponry. "After the events with Tirek, we couldn't take any chances."

Twilight was delighted over the fact that she was getting protection for Trixie, but as far she was concerned, she was planning on getting some of Celestia's guards for the daytime and some of Luna's guards for the nighttime. She wasn't planning on getting guards that looked like they were ready for intense situations.

"This is not just for Trixie's protection," said Cadence, still clutching Shining Armor's hoof. "This is also for yours, Twilight. These ponies attempted to attack us in the Crystal Empire, you know."

Twilight's eyes widened upon hearing this. In her mind, she couldn't believe that her brother and sister-in-law had been targeted for assassination by these assassins.

"How? Why?" asked Twilight, her wings opening with shock. "Why didn't you tell me this?"

"Fortunately, they didn't succeed at what they had set out to do," continued Shining Armor. "Some of our guards had managed to infiltrate what they were planning to do, but the ponies escaped before they could capture them."

It was then that Celestia levitated another piece of paper and placed it in the middle of the table with all the other pieces of paper. This was a list that had names on it, but it wasn't just any names, they were on the list along with Trixie and several high ranking ponies, including Fancy Pants and even Twilight's friends. Twilight took a good long look and after looking at it, she took an enormous gulp and pushed the paper away.

"We're being targeted, Twilight," said Celestia, worriedly. "They won't rest until we are all exterminated. We may have survived Tirek, but we won't survive the wrath of these ponies until they are stopped."

Suddenly, Twilight realized with all the information she had been absorbing, that she was about to not protect Equestria, but become protected with her fellow princesses. It was then that Twilight had gotten an idea that could be done, however she knew that she would be facing opposition, particularly from Shining Armor.

"Can't we have Discord track them down?" she suggested, remembering how Discord was initially tasked with tracking down Tirek. "I'm sure he's learned from last time."

"Out of the question, Twilight," snapped Shining Armor, pounding his hooves on the table. "I refuse to let that traitor betray us again."

It was then that Cadence decided that she had to agree with Twilight. Yes, Discord betrayed them, but he was sorry for what he did.

"I have to agree with Twilight," she said. "Perhaps it would be best to at least have Discord track down these ponies. He won't betray us, I promise you."

Shining Armor wanted to protest, but he didn't want to fight with his wife, especially in front of his own sister and his superiors.

"All right, Cadence," sighed Shining Armor, feeling defeated. "I'll let you agree with Twilight, but I have my reasons."

Cadence carefully listened to her husband, but knew that like Celestia and Luna, Cadence had an entire empire to protect from harm and would do anything to protect them, even if meant putting her trust in an unpredictable creature like Discord.

Later that night, Pinkie Pie and Trixie returned to Ponyville from the orphanage only to meet up with several guards waiting outside sugarcube corner.

"Hello," Pinkie said playfully to the stern guards. "What can I do for you?"

Instead of a friendly greeting, the guards crossed their spears, preventing them from entering Sugarcube corner.

"Halt!" one cried.

"Who goes there?" asked the other guard.

"Uh, this is my home and I wish to enter," said Pinkie, innocently. "So, maybe if you would…"

But, the guards were not going to listen and instead forcefully dragged Pinkie and Trixie away, with the two mares struggling against the forceful aura of the two guards. Soon, they found themselves back at Twilight's castle, fully unaware of what was going on.

"The Great and Apologetic Trixie demands to know what this was all about," demanded Trixie as Twilight stood outside the door.

"It's a long story," replied the Princess of Friendship as they walked into the throne room. Yes, it was late at night, but both Pinkie and Trixie wanted to know what was going on and soon, they would get their answer…