Shadows of the Bloodmoon

Chapters

Chapter 1: A mysterious encounter
Chapter 2: Dream of a memory (Part 1)
Chapter 3: Dream of a memory (Part 2)
Chapter 4: The mysterious figure
Chapter 5: Summary
Chapter 6: Through the eyes of the enemy
Chapter 7: Collision
Chapter 8: Face to face with the enemy
Chapter 9: Canterlot under attack
Chapter 10: The bloodmoon (Part 1)
Chapter 11: The bloodmoon (Part 2)

Chapter 1: A mysterious encounter

It was night. Another beautiful night, created by princess Luna. The sky was clear, the stars glimmered beautiful and the moon shone from the sky onto Princess Twilight Sparkle’s tree castle. Princess Twilight Sparkle sat at the window in her tree castle on her bed. She couldn’t sleep. And it wasn‘t Spike who laid next to her in his basket and talked about something, while dreaming about Rarity and rubies, his two favorite things. Twilight thought. She thought about what happened last night:

“Where is this mysterious light above the Everfree Forest, propably above the Castle of the Two Sisters, I’ve see last night when I looked out of the window. And the more important question: What is it? This light was no light of a star. It was much brighter and closer to the ground then any star up in the sky. And it lasted only for some minutes. And what were thoose five things, propably as big as the source of the light itself, which fell down from the light to the ground, or the trees, during the time the light was there? When I flew to the castle in an instant, the light had vanished. Which kind of light does this? And in the castle itself everything was just fine. I was disappionted about not finding the source or what seemingly fell down from the light. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that. Maybe I should have checked the surrounding area. As I now know this phenomenon has never accured befor in Equestria. I looked through my books the whole day in hope to find a report about this light or a description of a light like this but even with the help of Spike and Fluttershy I didn’t find anything. Fluttershy even flew off to the animals of the Everfree Forest to ask them about the light. But appearantly no animal had been near the castle the night in question. Typical. But maybe it’s coming back tonight, so I can see it again, can fly to the place to see the source of the light and write my sightings down in case somepony else would see it someday later and wonder, too. So that this pony would just have to open a book for the answer to find out.“

She looked up to the stars in hope to see this light again. But it didn’t appear. In her disappointment she was about to turn away but then she noticed something. A shadowy mist moved quietly through Ponyville. It enclosed the houses, plated the lanterns and covered up the plans. It moved slowly. Next to her castle. Near enough that she thought to see something in the mist. She pinched her eyes together and looked even closer. And then! She saw something! Something moved with the mist! To get to see even more of whatever was moving, she opend her window even furthere. Slowly, slowly, just don’t make any… Her eyes wided themself and she started to freeze. Her window squeaked! Usually there is noise in the inside or the outside which drowned it. But not this time. This night was silent. Up until now at least. Nerviously Twilight saw how the mist stopped at once. A part of the mist which looked like the head of a pony, moved out of it like the head of a turtle moving out of the turtles shell. And then it moved around! Slowly it moved around to her direction. Her heard beat became quicker. Her eyes wided themself even more. Her mouth stood open. A goose bumps crawled down her back. She stared. She stared into a pair of scary, dark-red glowing eyes. And the eyes stared back. She stood in front of the window as if she was stroken by a lightning. She wanted to do something, to move, to call out for the pair of eyes, something! But she couldn‘t. She could only keep starring. Starring into the eyes. Into the eyes who slowly closed themself, until they were only slots. And suddenly a light started to glow above the eyes! But it was no ordinary light. It was a black light. A dark light. Darker then the night and the mist. Darker then the mist which surrounded King Sombra. Darker then the darkest night Princess Luna or even Nightmare Moon could have ever created. Darker then anything she ever saw. Just pure darkness. And it expanded. It darkend everything it devourded beyond recognition. Everything disappeared around Twilight. The houses, the windows, the sky, the moon, the stars, her hooves and finaly the red eyes. Everything was covered with absolute darkness.

In an instant her composure came back. She still felt her hoves holding her windows. Quickly she closed them. But she felt as if the pair of eyes would still stare on her. Behind her. She turned around fast. But there wasn’t anything. Just Spikes ordinary snoring. But then! She heard something! A dark voice! A scary dark voice speaking two sentences:

"The circle is closing itself. The end is near.“

“What was that? Where did it came from? What should I...“, she asked herself.

Then she shook her head. And her facial expression grew darker.

“Enough! My fear hasn’t took me over befor and it won’t start now. I know enough enlightment-spells to end this spook.“

She closed her eyes and concentrated. She could feel the magic energy flowing through her body into her horn. And its transformation into heat, into light. She opend her eyes.

“What in the name of Celestia?! The darkness just…vanished! How is that possible?“

She looked around, looked out of the window. Everything was just fine. Well, nearly everything. Spike pinched his closed eyes together and grummbled something unintelligible. It looked like the light bothered him. Twilight stopped her unnecessary light.

“Sorry Spike.“

And then she felt something else: Sleepiness. She was tired!

“That is no real suprise. I can’t say this night wasn’t as exciting as exhausting.“

She yawned and laid down in her bed.

“What did I just saw. That’s a real mystery. Maybe I will find the answer in a book tomorrow… But I shouldn’t just use my lilbrary but the one in Canterlot, too.“

And she finally began to sleep.

Chapter 2: Dream of a memory (Part 1)

Chapter 2: Dream of a memorie (Part 1)

Princess Celestia was sleeping in her bed. Suddendly she heard a loud noise, as if something had exploded. She lifted her head. Now she heard even more: Ponys running around! She could hear their hooves on the corridors of the castle. And shouts. They shouted loudly. Very loudly. As if they wanted to wake up the whole castle.

“Celestia? Is something wrong?“, a voice asked next to her.

A very familier voice. Suprised she turned around. Next to her, her sister Princess Luna lay. With half-way closed eyes she looked at her. But something was diffrent. She was smaller than usual. To be specific she looked like a filly. Celestia looked down her own body for a moment. She was a small filly again, too.

“But how is that possible?“, she asked herself.

“Is something wrong?“

“I-I don’t know.“

Her voice sounded young again, too. But that wasn’t the only thing not right: The room, the bed, the window, everything reminded her of her childhood when she lived in a castle on the other side of the Everfree Forest. And something else wasn’t right, too. The light. No doubt, it was midnight. But everything was bright, just as i fit was day. To be specific, the light gave everything a tone of red. A blood-like red. She opend her eyes fast. Something had flew nearby her window. She listend tensly. Something else joined the running and shouting. A ringing. The ringing of bells. Somepony rang some big bells. She remembered: In the castle Luna and her lived together with other alicorns, like their parents, and Starswirl the bearded, her teacher and care taker, there was a huge tower with big bells which were ring if their was an emergency. But which emergency? Fire? Earthquake? Or – She stopped. Over the whole noise somepony had shouted a word. A single word. Her and Lunas eyes wided themself. Their hearts run faster. Goose bumps crawled over their backes when they heard it. The word. The word which had ment death for many ponys before. The word which makes everypony freeze, even alicorns.

An AliKnight, an alicorn with an armor over its whole boddy, stood at the top of the tower with the bells . He looked has he just has fighted. A wing was in an unnatural position. All over his body, there were wounds. One leg was broken. His armor was nearly destroyed. He took a deep bref and shouted the word again. It resounded through the night. Everypony awakend through it. When hearing the word, many froze because of fear. The AliKnight viewed over the edge of the tower. Something dark crawled to the top. To him. He heard that something came from the roof. He whispered:

“Harmony for eternity.“

A last time he took a deep breath. His horn glowed. He used the spell to inpower his voice. He wided his eyes, began to look seriously und and shouted as loud as if he wanted to reach all of Equestria:

“CHANGELINGS!“

Then they attacked him. Dozen of them. He could fire one magical blast befor there were forced crys of pain and in the end just silent coming from the tower. The same time an uncountable number of Changelings in full battle armor attacked the castle.

Celestia and Luna had heard from the Changelings befor. It’s said they are creatures out of pure black magic. They were shapeshifters who appeared in a Hive with Queen Chrysalis on the top. Like alicorns, they have wings and horns but despite Chrysalis no Changeling managed to use its magic for more then shapeshifting and some magical blasts. They eat love from ponys to become more powerful. Houndreds of kingdomes have fallen because of them and their number grow fast. But up to now they hadn’t attacked more then three alicorns at a time. They were seen near the castle multiple times but retreated when the AliKnight attacked. So why are they attacking a castle with thousands of alicorns? She was interupted in her thinking when Luna shouted

“DUCK!“

jumped towards her and both of them fall out of the bed next to the door. No second to late. A Changeling bursted through the window into their bed which didn’t survive it. The Changeling straightened up to his full height. It looked at the two with a scary grin. Celestia and Luna moved backwords to the door. The Changeling closed in more and more. Then he jumped towards them, but the two sisters managed to get out of the way. The Changeling hit the door, which let to the fall of the door out of its hinges into the floor. The two used this opportunity to run into the floor to the room next tot hem, the room of their parents. The door stood open. Whithout even checking whether someone was in the room they ran into it and screamed:

“Mother! Father! Changelings!“

But the room was empty. According to their missing armors they are already in the fight. Celestia and Luna stood in the middle of the room rigid because of their fear, when they heard moving behind them. The Changeling stoot in the door. The two sisters turned around. Now he looked very angry. Celestia and Luna sumed up all of their courage and fired a concentrated blast of magic. But the Changeling just put his head aside and the blast hit the wall in the floor where it left a small crack.

“It’s no use. We aren’t powerful enough.“, Luna realized fearful.

They hugged themself, closed their eyes and cowered themself together when the Changeling jumped towards them with opend mouth. But befor he reached them a white magical blast hit him and throw him out of a window. Celestia opend her right eye. Starswirl the bearded stood in the floor. He weard his hat, cape as well as a saddlebag.

“Are you two okay?“

“Y-yes. Thanks, Master Starswirl.“

“Good. Come with me. I will bring you to a safe place. When there is one Changeling, onehundred aren’t far away.“

He put them on his back. This way they run down the floors and stairs to the basement with Starswirls laboratory in it. On the way many Changelings broke through doors, windows the higher floors or even walls trying to stop them. But Starswirl managed to stop each of them. Reaching the basement Starswirl ran across the room to a wall and pushed a stone which opend a secret tunnel. While they ran through the Changeling-free tunnel, Celestia asked:

“Master Starswirl, why are the Changelings us now? I thought they don’t attack more then three alicorns a time!“

“Normally, yes. But today is no ordanary night.“

They reached the end. Starswirl pushed another stone. After coming out Starswirl pointed to the moon. The two sisters looked up. Celestia couldn’t believe what she saw: The moon was red like blood.

“That’s the so-called Bloodmoon, an unexplanable and rare natural phenomenon which appears in unequal distances. For some reasons during its time dark magic becomes more powerful. Since Changelings aren’t just users but creatures out of black magic it makes them powerful enough to attack a whole castle of alicorns. Luckyly with the disappearing of the Bloodmoon its effect and the Changelings will vanish, too.“

Starswirl ran into the wood. Some Changelings who found them followed them. Dozens of them. And they came closer.

“Reach into the saddlebags!“

Celestia and Luna reached into them and each of them took out a bottle. On it they could read the words

“Hoovemade smoke“

They threw them to the ground. Clouds of smoke formed themself. The Changelings were very confused at first. They hit each other and the trees. That gave the three ponys more time. Starswirl stopped befor the entrance of a cave.

“In their! Quick! And don’t make any kind of noise!“

“And what about you?“

“I will distract them. Wait in their until I come back.“

Celestia and Luna nodded. They entered the cave and hid behind a rock. Starswirl took some clay out of his bag and formed some copys of the sisters using his magic. At last he used a spell to color the clay in the colors of the sisters. The copys propably wouldn’t withstand a closer look but while running the Changelings would take their time to realize that they had been tricked. Hopefully. Starswirl continued running. Some time later the Changelings followed him. Suddendly one Changeling landed befor the entrance of the cave. He pinched his eyes together and closed in to the rock Celestia and Luna were hiding behind. Celestia‘s and Luna‘s heart beates became more frequently.

“This is the end.“, Luna whispered while the Changeling came closer with his sharp teeth.

Chapter 3: Dream of a memory (Part 2)

Chapter 3: Dream of a memorie (Part 2)

“This is the end.“, Luna whispered while the Changeling came closer with his sharp teeth.

“Something wrong?“, suddendly another Changeling asked.

“I thought, I had seen something in this cave.“

“Propably just a bat. Follow me. The old unicorn and the alicorn children ran into the woods even further. You don’t want to miss the meal, don’t you?“

The two Changelings flew after their copanions. Celestia and Luna heaved a sigh of relief.

“And what now?“, Luna whispered.

Celestia thought for some time about that. Finaly, after some minutes she whispered back:

“We will go deeper into the cave. We can’t get out. But we can go into the cave even further.“

“And what’s with Master Starswirl?“

“I’m sure he will find us. Follow me.“

At first Luna hesitated but then she followed Celestia. They walked through a long tunnel until they saw a wall befor them. On the wall, there were two white wings and a golden horn.

“This seems to be the end. Maybe we should…“, Luna wanted to say.

But Celestia took a closer look at the wall.

“What are you looking for?“

“A secret tunnel like the one of Master Starswirl. This wall is too suspicious.“

She were right: She pushed a stone which made the wall sink into the ground. It opend a dark tunnel.

“I really don’t think we should…“

“The more distance there is between us and the entrance, the more distance there is between us and the Changelings.“

Luna couldn’t argue against that. Both of them entered the tunnel. After some time they reached a room. The ground was covered with stone plates. There were some stairs in front of them leading to a platform with something that appears to be an arch on it. Two pillars stood next to the stairs, one on the right side, one on the left side. White fire burned on them. On the walls, pictures of armored alicorns fighting against fire breathing, multible headed dragons were visible. Stalactites hang from the ceiling. But the most interesting thing: A crystal on the top of the arch. The two sisters climbed up the stairs to the arch.

“What’s that?“

“I don’t know. Although…The crystal appears to be a magical crystal. I’ve read of it. If somepony will use a magical blast on it, it will be activated.“

And with this words Celestia shot a magical blast in the direction of the crystal.

“What are you doing?“

“I wanna know what it’s activating. Don’t tell me, you don‘t.“

Luna thought about this for a moment, then she joined in. Finally the crystal began to shine. Celestia and Luna stopped. Everything began to shake. Stalactites felt down to the ground. The crystal shone brighter and brighter. It moved downwards, until it hang completely downwards. Under the crystal a smaller one rose from the ground. Both of them blasted out a magical blast to each other. When they met, they fused together to a ball of light sending out lightnings. More crystals came out of the arch, all of them with their tops in direction of the ball of light. They absobed the lightnings and made the shining more powerful. Suddendly the ball exploded into an everything covering light. But only for one moment. Then every crystal was gone, except the one on the top. A white portal opened itself. Celestia and Luna both looked suprised. Then Celestia took some steps towards it.

“Wait! I think that’s a bad…“

But Celestia was already gone into the portal.

“…idea. And somepony like her will be a Guardien of Harmony? She takes too many risks.“, Luna ask herself while she followed her sister.

They went through a hollow made out of white light. On the other side of the portal there was open sky. They walked through an arch on a platform with stairs leading up to it, too. But there were no fire on the pillars. In front of them, there was a green field covered with the light of a normal moon. And there was a walking trail in front of it leading surpass the altar.

“Okay, everything seems tob e fine. Can we now go? Please?“

“No.“, Celestia said and jumped on the trail.

She turned right and walked down the walking trail.

“But…For harmonys sake.“, Luna said to herself and followed Celestia.

After walking two kilometers they reached a slope. Some meters away of the point where the slope became a straight line again, there was a wood. Next to the trail in front of the wood there was a house with light in it. Celestia ran towards it. Luna opened her mouth to say something but closed it again and followed Celestia while shaking her head. The door was open. They entered the house. Inside there was a small room made out of wood. In front of the door they entered there was another door, in the middle of the left wall some stairs leading up and in the middle of the right wall another door. On the left side of the last mentioned door there was a little table. Lastly there was a chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

“Do you think somepony lives here?“, Luna asked.

The question became answered when they heard that somepony came down the stairs. It was a grey alicorn, no child but an adult with a wild black mane and without tail or cutie mark. He said something to himself when he entered the room. Meanwhile Celestia and Luna found cover under the table. Suddendly the door opened. Annoyed the grey alicorn watched as two more ponys entered the room. Celestia and Luna could only see their hooves. Like the grey alicorn they didn’t wear shoes.

“You? What do you want? Don’t you have better things to do then to interrupt me with my work?“

“You mean with your law-breaking?“, one of the two ponys said.

It sounded like a male. The other Pony, who sounded like a female, said fast:

“I meant “with your special researches“ of course.“

“Law-breaking. Special research. Call it as you want. But yes. That’s what I mean. So again: What do you want?“

“We want to give you an advise: Stop with your studies of the dark magic. For your own good. Someday you will make a mistake and then no pony can help you anymore. You know the punishment for your work.“, the male pony said.

“You two are the only ponys who come here. Everypony else is afraid of the wood. Despite: This law is idotic. It stands in our way to collect new knowledge about magic. I’ve told you that thousands of times befor.“

“No! It protects us from its dangerous effects! Did you forgot what happened to Shadowcorn?“, the female pony asked.

“EVERYPONY knows what happened to Shadowcorn. ESPECIALLY me. Don’t YOU tell ME something about Shadowcorn. But Shadowcorn wasn‘t careful enough. I am NOT like him. Are we finished NOW?“

The grey pony turned around. Four white hoves moved towards him. The female voice said:

“Caudata, please! You’re making a mistake! Prostatis and I are willingly to continue laying to Fortis but I’m afraid he doesn’t like you. It’s only a matter of time until he sends somepony. And then…“

She swallowed.

“Don’t let it come to this. Please.“

Caudata turned around. With a now friendly voice he said:

“I highly appreciate your concerns. But it’s unneccesary. When I finally have a breakthrough in magic, everypony will see that I was right. And now, if you would be so kindly to excuse me. Have a nice evening.“

“But…Okay. Have a nice evening, too. And please: Be careful.“

While the two ponys left Caudata entered the door on the other side.

“This pony uses dark magic! It has to be evil! We should run as long as we can!“

“Good idea! Normally we should report this to an adult but would he or she believe us?“

Both left the house and ran to the portal very fast and undetacted. When they arrived they saw that the portal closed itself. They ran as fast as they could and managed to get through the portal right before it closed itself. They were back in the cave. Everything was the same. They went through the tunnel. The wall at the entrance was still down. But after they left the tunnel the wall went up again. When they arrived at the entrance the sun was already rising. Starswirl stood in front of the entrance.

“Master Starswirl!“, Celestia called out happyly and ran towards him with Luna.

Starswirl said:

“I’m really glad that I have finally found you.“

“What do you mean? You were the one who…“

Luna screamed.

“Celestia! That’s a Changeling!“

“What?!“

Celestia looked at Luna at first, then at Starswirl. He smiled villainness. For a short moment green flames crawled across his body. And then they saw it! He really was a Changeling! And he wasn’t alone. They turned around and saw that they were already surrounded by Changelings. And they came towards them. In their eyes the terrafied face exprations of the two sisters were reflected. Then they jumped towards Celestia and Luna with wide opened mouthes. Luna shouted:

“Celestia! Celestia! CELESTIA!“

Celestia opened her eyes. She lay in her normal bed in Canterlot with her normal height. Luna stood beside her.

“Celestia! You slept too long! The sun should have risen ten minutes ago! Is something wrong?“

“I…am not sure. I had a strange dream.“

She got up and walked away. Luna looked after her and said more to herself:

“Whatever it was, it was no dream.“

After Celestia finally had risen the sun she sat on her throne. Suddendly a guard ran into the throne room and shouted:

“Your highness! Your highness! An emergency message from the Crystal Empire!“

Celestia took the message, read it and ordered with a serious facial expression:

“Send out a message to Twilight and her friends! We are needed in the Crystal Empire! Now!“

Chapter 4: The mysterious figure

It was night over the Chrystal Empire. A silent night. Everypony slept. Well, nearly everypony. Some royal guards patroled in the floors. A guard just past a window. Suddendly she turned her head to the window. The guard had seen a shadow moving across the window. But the light of her horn didn’t show anything.

“Now you’re starting to halucinate. Maybe you should have taken the day-shift after all.“, she said and continued her patrol.

Suddendly she heard a noise. She turned around. But the floors were empty. When she tourned around to her patrol direction again she saw a figure silently running into the floor right of her.

“THAT was no halucination. I should take a closer look.“, the guard said to herself.

She charged a magical blast and followed the figure. When she went through the floor she clearly heard hoove steps. The closer she came to the next cross of floors the louder the hoove steps became. The guard slowed down and began walking next to the wall. Now she heard the hoove steps clearly. The figure closed in. The guard changed her face into a self-confident look, jumped in front of the figure and shouted:

“FREEZE!“, just to be hoove-punched into her face.

When she realized who stood in front of her she said:

“Very good reflexes, Sir.“

Then everything became black in front of her eyes. But only for a short moment. Then she opened her eyes and saw into the face of the captain of the royal guard, Flash Sentry.

“Everything all right, Guarding Filly? I didn’t know that it was you.“, he said.

“Everything all right, Sir. I just saw someone. That’s why I went this way.“, Guarding Filly said while Flash Sentry helped her up.

“Really? Hm. I can’t remember anypony petrolling in this part of the castle at this time except us.“

“You mean it could be an intruder?“

“It is possible. The patrols were tribiled since Sunset Shimmer but sadly it can happen that intruders who know what they are doing can still, well, intrude. Here’s the deal: If there was really a pony crossing this cross of floors, this pony could only ran to the left or in a straight line. You check the floor right of me and I take the other one. It’s better to be sure that it was just a halucination befor we ignore it. If you meet the figure raise the alarm and keep him or her in check.“

“Yes, Sir!“

Their ways partened. Guarding Filly ran towards the “Round Tables“, a room where the princesses discuss happened events which are dangerous for all of Equestria like Tireks escape some time ago while Flash Sentry ran in the direction of the Chrystal Library, the biggest library in Equestria after the Great Library in Hoovefield, the “Town of Knowledge“.

“But what would an intruder want?“, Flash thought.

“Intruders want physical things, not knowledge. And the table is unstealable. It’s part of the castle. And he should have broken in another part of the castle to -“

When he saw the door to the library his thoughts vanished: It was open! But it shouldn’t be open. Unless...Did the intruder went into the library after all? But why?

“Only one way to find out.“, Flash thought while he entered the room silently.

In an instand he noticed a bright light. It came from the second floor. The room was divided into two floors: The first was the ground floor where Flash stood. The second had no entrance. You could only enter it by climbing up the stairs right and left of the door through which Flash entered the room.

The right and left second floor weren’t connected. A handrail esured that users of the library didn’t fall from its edge.

On each side of each floor the shelfs stood behind each other in a row. Six shelfs (one at a time) on each side on each floor stood at the beginning of each row.

A figure took books from the third shelf of the right side, looked at them for a moment and put them into a bag. Judging from the light he or she used a horn for the magic of moving the books.

“An intruder stealing knowledge. Now I’ve truely seen everything.“, Flash thought.

He called out: „Stand down! You’re arrested for burglary and stealing!“

The figure dropped the book he or she was holding at that moment and stood still as a poker. Flash got ready for a pursuit since thiefs don’t have the backbone to fight. That made him even more suprised about the violet beam coming towards him.

Guarding Filly was just explaining the situation to three guards, two unicorns and an earth pony, when they heard the explosion. It came from the Chrystal Library. All four ran towards it immidatly. On their way they heard two more explosions. Also two more guards, a pegasite and an earth pony, joined them. When they entered the library they saw a figure on the second floor right side shooting white-light blue magical beams at the flying Flash Sentry. In front of them as well as two times in the ceiling there were holes.

“A fight? That means…“

Guarding Filly shot a red light beam to the ceiling of the floor they came from. The light beam, a special spell from the Chrystal Empire, was bundled up by the chrystals and got reflected in every direction. That’s how the red alarm light reached every part of the palace. The intensitie of the light became less bright the more distant it was from its source. This way guards could follow the light to it’s source where it was the most brightest. This uncommon but clever alarm system was only possible in the palace of the Chrystal Empire due to its special arrangement of special chrystals on the ceilling and high parts of the walls.

Meanwhile a pegasus guard flew towards the figure but was shot and fell down to the floor as an ice block.

“Ice? What kind of spell is that?“, Flash Sentry thought while calling out to the rest:

“Flank him!“

Guarding Filly and the other unicorn guards climbed up the stairs to the second floor, left side and came into position in front of the figure while the two earth pony guards climbed up the right stairs. Also another earth pony guard and two more pegasite guards enterned the room. The two pegasite guards flew up to Flash Sentry and the one earth pony guard joined the other two ckimbing up the right stairs. A last time the figure shot a magical blast and froze the nearest earth pony guard. Then he or she looked around. Now there were eight guards against him alone.

“You’re surrounded! Stand down!“, Flash ordered.

But instead the horn of the figure became a very bright light which blend every guards because they all focused on the horn.

Flash Sentry was the first to get to see again. He saw how the figure ran down the corridor between the shelfs with the bags. In the opposite direction of the handrail.

“The window!“, Flash thought.

The intruder ran towards a small window. Maybe he or she had a partner who waited there for him or her. Flash followed him fast without noticing the other guards or the reinforcmence. After a few minutes he saw the intruder. Flash became even faster. He manged to reach the intruder and crash into his back which caused both of them, as well as the bag, to fall down. Only a few meteres away from the window. The intruder got up and tried to reach it. But Flash stood on the figures cape-and pulled it off the body of the figure. The figure stopped running and turned around to Flash Sentry. Flash Sentrys eyes wided themself. His mouth stood open.

“No. No. That, that can’t be! That’s completly impossible!“

Flash took a step back. The intruder looked on him very angry. He or she jumped towards the stunned Flash Sentry with a crazy light on the top of his or her horn.

Guarding Filly got her eyesight back with the rest of the guards. She saw how Flash flew into a corridor between the shelfs. She ran down to the ground floor and wanted to follow him. But in the same moment Princess Cadeance and Shining Armor, as well as dozends of other guards suddendly entered the room.

“What happened in here?“, the princess asked.

“Your majesty! An intruder! He’s responsible for all this mess but ran away! The captain is chasing after him!“, Guarding Filly reported after a short bow.

“Show us the way!“, the princess ordered.

Together with every other guard they climbed up the right stairs. While doing so they heard a short but painful scream. Now with double speed they ran down the corridor and reached the intruder who just finished taking on his cape again. The bag still laid down on the ground. The title of a book was visible laying out of the bag. Guarding Filly took a quick look. She read:

“The bloodmoon and its mysteries. Written by Starswirl the Bearded.“

Then she saw Flash Sentry. He laid on his back next to the bag. His hooves twitched. His pupils were very small. Some foam came out of his moving mouth.

“What did you do to him?!“, the princess asked.

The figure didn’t answer. Instead his or her horn shone in a black light. And suddendly everything was dark. Guarding Filly couldn’t see anything. She only heard what Flash Sentry said:

"The circle is closing itself. The end is near.“

Some minuites later the darkness was gone. And with it the thieve and the bag full of books.

“He still has to be in the palace! The window isn’t broken! Search and find him!“, Shining Armor ordered.

“You! Send a message to Canterlot and tell them about what happened here this night. But only the short version! I have to meet with the other princesses!“, Caedance ordered Guarding Filly who ran to the post office.

“I’m afraid this is only the stard of the horror.“, the princess said to herself while carrying Flash Sentry to the palaces hospital station.

Chapter 5: Summary

When the train coming out of Canterlot arrived at the train station of the Chrystal Empire Princess Cadance waited already with 8 royal gueards.

“Sometimes I ask myself how we always know where the train carriage our guest are in will arrive.“, a guard whispered towards another guard.

“Don’t think about it. Better like this than having to walk towards the train carriage.“, the second guard whispred back.

And, as always, the princess and her guards stood right in front of where the train carriage with the princesses, Mane Six and Spike arrived.

“Thanks for your quick coming. The situation is very serious.“, Cadance welcomed them.

Sometime later they arrived at the castle. And still a bit later they entered the medic station. Flash Sentry sit on the bed and still spoke the two sentences.

“He sits here and always says this two sentences since last night. He didn’t sleep, eat drink or stop talking. We also have no idea what the intruder did to him. No doctor knew a medizin or healing spell. It could be that they aren’t powerful enough, too. So I tried. And he did a short rest before continuing. That means the spell is working but no one around here is powerful enough. Lieutanant Guarding Filly had the idea that maybe every alicorn princess in Equestria is able to brak this mysterious spell.“

“It’s worth a try.“, Celestia said.

The three other alicorns put their horns at Cadance’ horn who activated the spell, a white ball of light. They send it towards Flash Sentry’s head. When they came into contect the white light shone for a very short period of time. Flash Sentry stoped talking, closed his eyes, fell on his back and fell into sleep. Although the whole thing only took some minutes but the princesses were a bit tired after it.

“Now since that is done I have a tiny little question: What is with this intruder you talked about?“, Twilight asked.

“Come with me to the conference room. There we will talk about everything.“, Cadance answered.

In the conference room an unicorn guard already waited with some papers. When the guests entered the room she bowed down quickly. Answering Twilight‘s asking look Cadance said:

“May I introduce to you: Lieutanant Guarding Filly, head of the royal guard until Captain Flash Sentry is healed. She was the one noticing the intruder. And now she will present to us the results of our analysing team.“

“Yes, your highness. At first we thought about how the intruder came in here without any guard noticing him or her. Except me that is. That means the person has to be a pro at stealing and has to be able to use a spell to come into a place unnoticed. Such spells are usually used by agents. That means he or she could be an apostate agent or an agent who works for an. That also could be the explanation for his ability to intrude unnoticed and why he or she didn’t run away or stand down when the Captain noticed him or her.

Next is the species: The intruder used a horn. That means he or she can only be an unicorn, an alicorn or a changeling. Alicorns were included the moment the idea came up since there are only four alicorns in Equestria and non of you is known to be evil. Since the intruder used spells he or she is propably an unicorn. It is possible that he or she belongs to a new kind of changelings which can use spells, too. But that is less likely.

And at last the spells: The intruder used magical blasts as well as three unknown spells. Since the blasts caused explosions they have to be very powerful. Looking at the unknown spells: We know absolutly nothing about the spell the intruder used on Flash Sentry. It could be a completly new spell since we haven't found any spell like it. The second spell could freeze ponys. We learned that it counts as a magic called ‘Elemantary Magic‘. This magic hasn’t been used in Equestria for thousands of years and its knowledge is considered lost. The last spell is completly new as well. It makes everything completly dark for a short time which-“

“COMPLETLY DARK?! A spell which makes everything so dark that no pony can see anything?!“, Twilight asked excited.

Everypony looked at her confused.

“Y-yes your majesty. It was completly dark like no pony ever saw. Do you know something about it?“

“Sadly not much. Yesterday night I have seen a quiet, dark mist moving through Ponyville. In there I have seen a figure moving with the mist. When it noticed me a head with a pair of red eyes rose up from the mist and send out some kind of ‘black light‘. It made everything dark for a short time. When it disappeared the mist and the figure disappeared, too.“

“The intruder disappeared after the black light, too! That means our theory is right: The intruder had a partner! They propably came into the castle through this mist unnoticed!“, Guarding Filly determined excited.

“A dark mist?!“, Apple Jack suddendly asked.

“Did you see it, too?“

“No. But Apple Bloom did. It has been some month. She told me she would have seen it at the edge of our farm. Also, she told me it stole apples. The apples were gone but I thought somepony else stole them.“

“Did something was stolen in this case?“, Fluttershy asked.

“Some books. I know neither their topics nor their titles. Except one I have seen randomly. The title was: ‘The bloodmoon and its secret‘.“

“The bloodmoon?!“, Celestia called out.

Since it is rare seeing Celestia loosing her composure everypony looked at her even more confused than when Twilight lost her.

“Is something wrong?“, Luna asked.

“Don’t you remember? When we were children?“

“What did you experience in your childhood?“, Twilight asked.

“In our childhood we lived in a castle with other alicorns. One night changelings attacked. Many alicorns died that night. And the rest…Well Discord was bad. Terror was far worst. Also in this night Luna and I were attacked, too. But Starswirl saved us every time. He explained to us that the changelings attacked us because of the bloodmoon which apperently increases dark magic. Fortunatly no one can tell when it will rise up exactly.“

“Yeah, about that, well: I have asked our astrologers about the bloodmoon and they said it will rise again in a few days..“, Guarding Filly said a bit hesitantly.

“And you haven’t mentioned it up to know WHY exactly?!“

“How should I know that this ONE heavenly body actually has a special effect on us?! Neither the sun nor the moon have one!“

“Point taken. In conclusion: We have to deal with two thieves of an unknown species with mysterios magical abilities stealing books. We should inform every library in Equestria to keep an extra eye open. I doubt they will be satisfied with what they stole from us. Especially since they got interrupted. Command to every security team in our kingdoms: If they see one of them they shall inprison them immediatly. Agreed?“, Cadance asked.

“Agreed!“, everypony said before leaving the room.

Chapter 6: Through the eyes of the enemy