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Enroute to Ponyville, four hours later.

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Well, that blew up in my face.

Twillight was still complaining that she was right. She was right, it's just that she shouldn't know about this. Only Celestia, Shiny, me and the top War-mages knew about Nightmare Moon.

Celestia's idea of doing me a favor was sending Twillight to the town right next to the place where gods are clashing tonight. Then again, we were clashing in the middle of an ancient dangerous forest, quite a ways from the town. And Celestia was right. Twillight desperately needed some friends. It may be a tempting prospect to keep her close to me, warm and safe from this world, but then she would never grow any further. That would just mean I failed my purpose.

Twillight needed this.

Especially after what had happened, Twillight needed this.

Twillight sighed, finally taking a break from complaining. Quick! Make hay while the sun lasts.

"Look on the bright side, Twillight. You get to stay in a library. Doesn't that make you happy?"

'Perfect choice of words, Spike. After free access to the Royal library, maybe a library in the boones would be great change of scene'.

"Yes, Yes it does!"

I'm sorry, inner monologue. You were saying......?

"You know why?" Twillight continued, absolutely killing my victory against myself.

'I think you heard it the first time' Shut up.

"Why?" I asked Twillight. The town was pretty close now. Ponyville? I know this place. A Head of the Apple family lives here.

"Because I'm right! I'll check on the preparations as fast as I can, then get to the library to find some proof of Nightmare Moon's return."

' Good luck with that.' The chariot began to pull in for landing.

"Yeah, that......but when will you make friends? The Princess told you to make friends, you know."

"She said to check on preparations. I am her student, and I'll do my royal duty, but the fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends." She walked of the chariot, and thanked the guard before starting to survey her new environment. She seemed to be taking it well enough. I followed her out.

"Thank you ,Corporal." I leaned in closer to her. "Can you tell me how many?"

"Three, Sun Guards. Take care of her."Three Sun guard? Celestia pulled out all the stops.

I nodded to her, and joined up with Twillight. She was still looking around, wary of her surroundings and the other ponies looking at her. Only a pink mare was walking towards us, oblivious to the world.

"Twillight, maybe the ponies here have interesting things to say. Come on, what's the worst that could happen?" I pushed her forward a little. "Come on, y......." The look on her face shut me up.

Twillight was frozen with fear. Her pupils had shrunk to pinpricks, and she was beginning to sweat. As the pink pony came closer, she looked ready to bolt. The pink pony stopped right next to us, and only now seemed to notice us.

'Protect her. Mine. Protect her. Keep her safe.'

I gently pushed Twillight forward, reminding her that I was always there.

"Go, on, Twi." She looked at me, and her fear subsided somewhat 'Yes! Protect.'. I gave her an encouraging smile 'No', even though it crushed my heart 'PROTECTHER!PROTECT...'. She needed to talk 'NONONONO', to someone..... 'STOP IT'Anyone, almost anyone at all. I didn't want to force her, to see her sad, in pain, or in grief, 'IT WILL HURT HER!!' But... She needs this.

'And if this pink bitch says the wrong thing...... She will die..'

'Yes.'

"Um...Hello?" The pink pony regarded her for a few seconds, before some sort of realization dawned upon her. Then she gasped, floated into the air... yes, floated into the air, and flew off.

It took both of us a few seconds to compute, before Twillight spoke up.

"Well, that was interesting." Both of us broke into a fit of giggles, laughing at the absurdity that we had just witnessed. It wasn't even that funny. Twillight's fear was all but forgotten now,though, so I guess the pink pony gets to live.

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Sweet Apple Acres, 20 minutes later

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This was good. Really good. I am not talking about the slice of pie I was holding (Though it was pretty good too) . Twillight was talking. Twillight was surrounded by huge stallions, and she was just talking. She wasn't afraid of them, she didn't have a breakdown, she was chatting and eating normally.

She was happy, and she was making progress. It also helped that these were good, honorable Apple stallions. Everyone knows that you can trust an Apple.

Speaking of whom.

"Adviser." There was a red stallion walking towards me.

"Mr Macintosh, I suppose?"

"Eeyup."

One of the three Elders of the family, the one responsible for those letters.

Let's see how much he knows. Given the unsubtle implications, there's no point in mincing words. With something this delicate, I'd rather get straight to the point and risk confirming his suspicions than beat around to bush.

"So you know about the minotaur prince?"

"Eeyup."

He knows. His face is nigh unreadable, but he knows about my involvement in the accident.

Well then, time to press back.

"There are inaccuracies in the accounts of your Gryphonia venture."

"Nope." Denial? Well, it's not like I was bluffing with that threat.

"So you say. However, I also know that the Apple family can be trusted more than some obsucre records." I gave him my best insidious grin. He didn't change his expression at all.

'Don't stab me, I don't stab you.'

"Eeyup." He actually gave me a small smile, breaking his deadpan expression. I do like these blunt exchanges better, though. We both know that we're too big, and neither of us will actually rock the boat over petty advantages.

I turned back to the table, where Twillight was attempting to eat a three storied cake, the Apple's egging her on. She was actually succeeding. Must have skipped out on breakfast again.

"It's a deal, then." I took a bite of the pie. It was good.

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Chamber of the Creator

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The Former God of magic was busy. Again and again, he kept reviewing his spell while checking the surveillance systems, keeping a close watch on the world below. A thousand years of careful planning and preparing had led to this moment, and despite his best efforts, not everything had gone to plan. Celestia was was never meant to be princess. Luna was never supposed to be bound. The Wyrm was not playing his part as he was supposed to. And above all, what was to be an act was now reality. Still, it was working. Six souls attuned to six of the eight elements. Enough harmonic energy to bring his niece back.

The tentacles protruding from his back twitched and ceased their frantic activity. The pale spindly stallion turned around, sensing a familiar presence.

"Uncle!"

"Six, why are you here? More importantly, where's your father? He should have reached here by now." The human had made it clear that he wanted to see the spell, before he left twenty years ago.

"Yeah, about that. We made a mistake." The brown stallion looked a little sheepish.

"No you didn't. Four cast a perfect spell. I saw him cast it. It was literally perfect." A telltale sign of Ed's on coming panic was the tentacles beginning to spark and fidget. With the stress of the ritual already piled on him, 'mistake' was an anathema to his calm.

"Listen, Uncle, calm down. The spell isn't the problem. We just caught him at a bad time." The Sixth also cast a few dozen protection wards.

"What do you mean?" The tentacles didn't stop their fidgeting.

"Apparently, he was tussling with the High God." Tentacles began to shake harder. Bolts of magic began to jump from one to another.

"And the pendant distracted him. He's heading here, but he isn't coherent enough to use the portal spell." Six strengthened the wards, and started an Omni precog spells, just in case.

The tentacles on Ed's back shook for a few more seconds before they froze in place. Six braced himself. The outcomes grew smaller by the second, until the only two left were a magical explosion, or...

"Damn It!" Ed returned to checking the spell.

"We'll just have to go on without him. Go back to your post, Six."

"All right, uncle. If you say so." The brown stallion walked back through the portal, heaving a sigh of relief.

Author's Note

Well, then