It has been one day since the party and the Princesses were being led to Venrus' keep by Blueblood. Instead of taking the portal with his ring that Venrus had given him, he was taking them threw the trail from Zecora's hut that leads to the Keep to give them time to think. Most of the comments they were making were them trying to think of what the punishment for them would be. Blueblood could not help but laugh as they left the forest and came into the clearing and finally came face to face with the Keep.The look on Celestia and Luna's face was too funny.

The Princesses however were looking at the Keep from a military view and everything Blueblood had told them did not do it justice. If they had made any kind of attempt to try and storm the Keep it was going to be an up hill battle. The thing that they took notice of the most was that strong and very powerful magic was deeply ingrained into the very core of the Keep. Their breath was stolen from them after entering the gate however at the beauty of the courtyard.

Their attention was quickly moved to the Keeps main doors as the groaning of the colossal beasts was hard to miss. Blueblood was a bit shocked to say the least for he was not expecting Barb to be the one to great them. Before anyone could get a word out Barb was in front of the alicorns and caught them all in a bone crashing hug tears streaming down her face. Crying about how she missed them and glad this would soon be over. After the Princesses calmed her down and dried her tears she began to lead them through the Keep to where Venrus was.

They talked about everything that was going on with the ponies Barb had missed out on and Barb went over how her training had been going. As they passed by areas of interest on their way Barb explained what they were, even stopping to let them have a look. The first place they were allowed into was the garden as it was called. A huge field as far as the eye could see with a nice sized lake and some houses and crops growing. Off to the far left was a forest that the end of could not be seen and the trees grew taller then any the Princesses had seen before. To the far right a beach and what looked to be an ocean took up the last of the view.

One thing the Princesses were shocked to see were the changelings working about and tending to the many different species of incests flittering about the place. Before they could do something stupid Barb quickly explained why they were there and how Night Blade and Brights came to meet them.

The next room they were shown was the library and it took all four of the others to remove Twilight from the cornucopia of new knowledge. Once they were on their way again the part of the keep they were moving into began to grow darker and a strong source of dark magic could be felt. Soon they came to a big room with a lone door. As they drew near it opened of its own accord. The Princesses shook at the sight of the realm before them and the tortured screams that filled the air. Once they and Barb were in they looked back to see Blueblood waiting.

"Nephew are you not coming with us?" Luna asked.

"No aunty I am not. I wish to do some training while you speak with Venrus so I must wait here till Barb does what she needs to." Blueblood replied as he shut the door.

Once the door shut a ghostly figure appeared before them and in a hollowed tone asked "What is your purpose here?"

"We seek the master." Came Barbs reply.

"By fight or by password." The figure asked as more began to appear.

"By password," Barb sighed as she saw how the other three were acting "On high the pale blood moon rises giving the sign innocent blood shall be spilt this night."

As soon as she finished, the ghostly figures vanished and a portal was left in their place. Barb quickly dragged the three through it before they could start questioning her about what had just happened. But she forgot what lay on the other side of the portal. Twilight squealed in delight at the sight before her, a room unlike anything she had ever seen. Off in one corner she rushed to was a table covered in notes on rune craft, with runes she had never seen before. Running to the other side was a huge set of glassed shelves full of what she thought could only be reagents "Monk's Bane, Blood of the Innocent, Dried Gecko, Phoenix Ashes, Phoenix Tears, Dragon Eye" Twilight quickly turned to ask Barb what all this was for but then she saw the alchemical table and a strange creature working at it. Twilight began to tremble "Barb why is there a demon here!"

Barb turned to see what she was talking about "Oh that is Impet and he's not a demon, he is a titan. He is also Venrus' lab assistant. He is currently making potions for the fight to come please don't bother him. Now were could my loving wolfy be hiding at."

Barb led them to a door near the back of the room and heard voices from within but before she could get close it opened and out walked Venrus and his dear friend Ainz Ooal Gown. The Princesses screamed at the sight of him but he simply walked by as if they were not even there. "Thank you my friend for all the help. I know it was a great hassle for you and you have your own work to tend to. Remember if you ever need anything just let me know."

"We have been allies for a long time Venrus I would come to your aid anytime just as I know you would do for me." Ainz then quickly left.

"Ok so that was an old friend, Lord Ainz Ooal Gown. He was just dropping off something I asked him for after I found out he was here." Venrus then fixed the Princesses with a hard glare making them flinch "Now on to your punishments, first Twilight you are the Princesses of Magic but you know nothing of the other side of the coin so you will be stripped of all magic you currently know and begin again. Once I feel you have learned your lesson the lost magic will be returned to you. Luna will be joining you for dark magic training. She has great dark magic already but because of Celestia she refuses to use it which caused it to build till it took over. Because of this Luna's punishment is to relive her worst mistakes until she over comes them and learns to do things for herself. Now Celestia I had Lord Ainz scour your realm for every misdeed you have ever made against another and you shall relive their pain caused by you. EVERY! SINGLE! ONE!" Venrus then sighed "But that will have to wait for now because I need you ready for the fight to come since you want to help and I know just the way for you to be useful."

Venrus then went to the rune table and began to move quite a few runes into a large chest. Before any of them could ask how he planed to use them he cryed out. "Nova get your fluffy tail in here now!"

Celestia and Luna wanted to squee over the cute girl as she came into the lab and gave a small bow "Yes Master?"

"Take these to Night in his forge he needs them to make the weapons for the Draconians." He handed her the chest. She took it and left. "Now as for how you three will help I will teach you a simple spell that will allow you to give mana to others. I have no idea what combat magic you know or how to use it in the battle. But since you have a near inexhaustible source of mana you can keep everyone on the field in top form with this and will be a big help in the long run." He stated as he walked around the lad getting reagents off the shelves. After he sat the reagents on the table he reached into his storage which still earned odd looks from the Princesses and pulled out a scroll, he then threw it to them "Study that and be sure you can use it by the time we get to the Draconian lands. You have a few hours to get ready then come back here so we can leave, then it is a two day trip to the islands." He turned and began to work but he could feel them staring, he flicked his hand out in a dismissive meaner "Leave us!"

Barb quickly began to push them from the room "Okay that's enough of that Vens got a lot a work to do still and very little time to do it in so time to go. Love you Ven see you later!"

"Love you too!" was all she heard before the door shut.

Barb quickly lead them out the way they came and once they were in the room outside the dark realm they found a wounded and bleeding Blueblood with two broken rapiers at his side. "Blueblood did your teacher kick your ass again?" Barb asked as she walked over and began to heal him.

"Afraid so cousin but i got him good this time too. By the gods the man is brutal but I am improving at a great rate if he is to go by." Blueblood laughed.

"That's good to hear now get these three home so they can get ready and have them back in three hours. That's when we will be leaving, don't be late or you will be left behind." Barb said as she pulled him to his hooves.

"Will do cousin see you soon." Blueblood then lead the Princesses out.

Time skip three hours

The Princesses stared wide eyed at the beast before them. A giant insect that had a hollow in its back which had a few houses and a small field in it. It was sitting in the clearing outside the keep and everyone was rushing to get the last of the supplies loaded onto the monster. They were quickly put to work and in just a few minutes the loading was complete. Once everyone was on board the beast leaped into the air and began to move toward the Draconian lands with the help of Tezumi. In two days they would arrive at the Draconian lands which gave them just one day to plan out how to deal with the dragons before the shield would fall.

Author's Note

This is Impet