The following morning rose bright and clear, the sun rising over the eastern horizon at a slow but steady pace. The soft morning light cascaded over the Equestrian landscape, illuminating the peaceful town of Ponyville in its warm embrace. Yet within Twilight’s castle, one being was already awake, although she had yet to move from her bed, given her rather unusual predicament.

I was lying in my bed with my mares as we had been the night before, Lyra and Bon-Bon nestled against my sides while Twilight lay on top of me, her muzzle resting in my cleavage as her soft breaths washed over my chin and neck. My eyes were open and my body was fully awake, and yet I had no real desire to move, at least not at the moment. The combined warmth and soft pressure that came from being in a three-way pony sandwich was rather comfortable, if not a little restricting. Both of my arms had been commandeered by Lyra and Bon-Bon, while Twilight had my upper body effectively pinned to the mattress by her weight. Had I really wanted to get up, I could have wiggled free, but that would have meant waking up my herdmates, and seeing the content smiles on their lips as they slept was more than enough to make me think otherwise.

And yet, all good things must come to an end. It wasn’t long after the sun’s light began to leak through the windows that I got a very urgent message from mother nature, stating that if I didn’t want to make a mess, I needed to get up post haste. Glancing between my herdmates, I thought about how exactly I could get up without being too much of a bother, when I remembered how Twilight had moved all three of us to the bed last night.

So, with a plan in mind, I slowly raised my head and bent down to gently kiss the very tip of Twilight’s horn. She hummed softly but didn’t wake up, so I moved on to licking her horn as her breathing began to accelerate. It only took a second before her eyes fluttered open, her initial look of confusion turning into a warm smile as I pulled back so she could see my face.

“Well that was a nice way to wake up in the morning.” She whispered as she spotted the other snoozing mares, “I don’t suppose you’d want to do that more in the future?”

“Well given my arms are a bit occupied I didn’t really have much of a choice.” I replied with a little bit of snark, my grin widening as I flicked my gaze at my encumbered limbs, “I could use a little help getting out of bed, the bathroom is calling me rather loudly and I didn’t want to wake all of you up just so I could relieve myself.”

Twilight nodded, her horn igniting and her magic carefully wrapping around each of us with a gentle yet firm grip. Neither Lyra nor Bon-Bon stirred from their slumber as Twilight and I were lifted off of the bed, her own body coming down between the still sleeping mares as I was deposited on the floor beside them.

Twilight let our herdmates grip back onto her as I slipped into the bathroom, her own eyes fluttering for a moment before the door blocked my view. I did my business and then returned to the bedroom, only to find all three of my mares snuggled against one another and sound asleep once again. Feeling like they deserved to sleep in for a bit, I got dressed in a fresh change of clothing and slipped out of the room, closing the door behind me with a barely audible click before turning my attention to the rather smug expression that resided on Swift’s face.

The military mare was stationed at the right side of my bedroom door, and from the gleam in her eye and the shit-eating smirk on her muzzle, she knew exactly what had been going on last night, although I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of getting under my skin. So, rather than address the elephant-sized issue in the room, I walked right past her and down the hall, Swift taking up position beside me as we made our way towards Rosie’s room. I had told them that we would be getting back into training bright and early, so that was what I planned to do. We had lost one of our biggest trump cards when Moon Song and her coven discovered my Auramancy, and I was determined not to let them find out about Rosie until it was too late to do anything about it. The last thing we needed was an even bigger reason for the necromancers to target Ponyville and the citizens within it.

On the way to Rosie’s room, I picked up a trash can lid with practiced ease, never breaking stride as I continued on my way, although Swift’s ears folded slightly as she glanced at the metallic instrument of torture in my hand.

“Do you really need to use that in order to get her up in the morning?” Swift’s eyes shifted from the lid to me and back again as she winced in sympathy, “I know it’s a tradition from your old unit, but pony and gryphon hearing is more sensitive than yours. You could actually hurt her if you get too loud.”

I nodded my understanding, “Oh I only plan on using it once or twice. Before long she’ll be so scared stiff of being startled awake that her body will get her up as soon as we enter the room, if she doesn’t start getting up before dawn like I used to do. Either way, it won’t be forever. Just a few days of torture and then smooth sailing for the rest of her training,” I snickered at the idea of smooth sailing in basic training, as if, “well, at least concerning her morning wake-up call, that is.”

Swift and I entered Rosie’s room as quietly as we could, although for some reason my instincts were telling me that there was something wrong. For one thing, the curtains were drawn, and that was out of the ordinary for the normally claustrophobic gryphon. Second, the lump on the bed didn’t quite match up with the size and shape of the princess, and in that split second before it happened, my brain screamed at me that there was something behind me.

Spinning on my heel, I caught the lunge that would have planted my face into the floor with the trash can lid, Rosie’s cry of triumph turning into one of confusion as I planted my leg in her stomach and rolled over onto my back. With Rosie unable to get a purchase on me because of my impromptu shield, she was helpless to stop me as my legs kicked out and up, throwing the smaller female over my head and onto the mattress like a sack of bricks. The air escaped her lungs with a whoosh as I kicked up onto my feet and jumped onto the bed with her, pinning her arms above her head while my hips locked her lower legs and wings to her body. By the time Rosie got her wind back, she had been fully locked in place, with my own face mere inches from her own.

Her beak curled up in a sheepish smile, “Um, surprise?”

I kept up my deadpan stare for a moment before letting my own smile come out, “Not bad for your first time, but you might want to make sure you leave the pillows in a shape similar to yours, or else someone like me will pick up on the difference immediately. Not bad, but you can do better.”

I climbed off of her and allowed the hen to sit up, her feathers fluffed out and her expression bunched up in an absolutely adorable pout as she climbed off of the bed at my side, “I was so sure I had you. I won’t make the same mistakes again next time.”

“There won’t be a next time,” I countered, “or else I’m going to work you into the ground until your wings and legs fall off.” I cast her a stern look as she shied away from me slightly, “While I appreciate the effort to hone your skills, don’t try them out on me or else I might do something we both regret. This time I was able to hold myself back, but had I not been holding that lid, you’d have most likely received a broken wing or leg for that little stunt. I’m not good with surprises, especially sneak attacks like that. I react on instinct and don’t have any control over what I do until my body perceives the danger to have passed. So, I’m warning you now, don’t pull that stunt again or next time you might not be so lucky. Am I clear?”

She threw a quick salute and schooled her expression into a proper serious look, “Yes Lehrer, I understand.”

I returned the salute with equal seriousness, “Good, then we can get started on your training for the day once we take a look at the masters’ spell book. I’m certain there’s something we can teach you with the limited colors you have access to. I know you can use your red and yellow aura without any issues, but you still struggle with any of the other colors at your disposal. So, I’m thinking today we get a bit more of the book-style learning out of the way before we get back to actual Auramancy.”

Swift and Rosie fell in on either side of me as we made our way to the castle’s library, the click and clop of their claws and hooves the only sounds in the vast halls as the rest of the castle slept around us. Carpet Sense was lounging around on every floor as per usual, although I did make a point to step on the poor guy every time I could, his mumbled thanks making me smile as he hummed in relief. I never understood how being walked on could feel good, save for some kind of massage, but in his case I guess that was just how he functioned.

We made our way into the library and found that Twilight had to have been busy studying at some point, because there was a literal book fort in the middle of the room that had to be big enough to fit several ponies inside. Taking a look through one of the openings in the side of the structure, I spotted the masters’ spell book resting on the floor in the center of the fort, several other books open around it as if it were the center of a magic ritual of some sort.

Making a note to ask Twilight what she had been doing at a later date, I reached in and pulled the book out with one hand, charging my fingers with aura before rubbing them over the lock. It disengaged with a click and I opened the pages to where Rosie and I had left off in our previous lesson, taking pride in the fact that we had already gone a good third the way through the book. I turned around and found a seat next to Rosie on the couch, the hen having curled up like a cat on the cushions while Swift sat in a chair opposite us. The guardsmare was reading a book that had to be a good hand width thick, although with the cover resting on the table before her, I couldn’t see what it was about.

“So, what are we learning about today, Lehrer?” Rosie asked as I sat down and placed the spell book on the table opposite Swift’s.

“Today we are going to see if your color alignment is simply stuck as it is or if there is something we can do that will allow us to access all of your colors with equal strength.” I flipped through several pages before I found the master I was looking for, “I’ve seen some notes in here about other species being different than ponies when it comes to aura use, but I never thought it would apply until you showed up. So, we’re going to see if there is anything that can be done about your color conundrum.”

Swift rolled her eyes and snorted, “That was a bad joke and you know it.”

My eyebrow rose as a grin plastered itself on my lips, “Oh, would you like for me to make jokes about you instead?” I flicked my eyes towards Rosie while the hen was focused on the pages before her, “You know I could always come up with something that would really get under your fur.”

Swift blanched and turned her attention back to her own book, her ears folded and her cheeks flushing red as I chuckled under my breath. I knew I was going to catch flak for that later, but it was just too easy to mess with that mare sometimes.

Rosie and I read through several chapters on the different species and how they reacted to Auramancy training, although there were very few examples to go off of even in such a large book. The master that had written the notes had apparently only taken non-ponies as her students, although she neglected to say why in her journal entries. Yet they were detailed enough that we managed to figure out several things. The first thing that we discovered was that Rosie had roughly normal abilities for a gryphon, given the master’s three gryphon students all had the same color focus that Rosie possessed. However, it also stated that the color focus was specific to each individual, given none of the three students shared the same color strengths. One of the students had only been able to use green aura and had become one of the most powerful healers of his day, while the other two were polar opposites of each other. The first was like Rosie, completely dedicated to red and orange, while the other was locked into the cooler colors of the rainbow, mainly blues of various shades. This seemed to be a basic part of gryphon ability when it came to Auramancy, so it looked like Rosie was going to be unable to master every color of her aura. She simply wasn’t built to use them in any capacity above the minimum if they weren’t a part of her color focus.

“Well that sucks.” She growled to herself as we finished reading the relevant gryphon sections, “I was looking forward to being able to strengthen my body like my uncle’s iron.”

I ruffled her head feathers with a hand, making her go cross-eyed and let out a purr before she batted my hand away like a cat, “Hey, it’s not the end of the world. From what I’ve been able to figure, you can still use all of the colors of your aura, it just won’t be as strong as the ones your body focuses well. The good news is that you will most likely outclass me in red and yellow when it comes to pure strength and ability, because your body is naturally attuned to those energies. You might not be as versatile as me, but you will almost assuredly be more powerful when it comes to the energies you are able to use to their fullest extent.”

Rosie smiled as she straightened her crest feathers, her expression warming as she turned to me, “Thanks for that. It makes me feel a little better about not being able to use all of the colors like you can. But, then again, it seems only you and ponies can use every color equally. Look here,” she pointed at another section of the journal on the following page, “it says that zebra have only been documented being able to channel green aura. While they are some of the best healers around when it comes to using their magic, their lack of other color manipulation makes them vulnerable on the battlefield.” She shivered slightly at the implications of such a limitation, “I’d hate to be stuck with only one color and no way to defend myself. That would suck if we got into a serious fight.”

I nodded, my eyes roaming over the text for a moment, “It seems that each race has their own unique limitations when it comes to aura, and even some that have never been able to use it at all. Look at this,” I drew her attention to another page further along, “it says that dragons are so fixated on their own natural magics that the ability to use aura is a near physical impossibility. No dragon has ever been able to use Auramancy and none have ever been able to learn even when tested by several different masters.” I whistled as I leaned back, “Well that certainly explains a lot.”

“It does?” Rosie inquired, Swift’s eyes rising from her own book for a moment as her eyebrows rose in silent agreement.

I nodded, “It explains why there wasn’t any mention of the dragons having been a part of the Shadow Wars. They must not have taken part if they had no real way of combatting the necromancers and simply let the war go on without them outside their borders. Not exactly the most heroic thing to do but I can understand their reasoning.”

Rosie and Swift nodded, although our little study group was interrupted as Twilight and my other herdmates walked into the library, a sextuplet of plates floating along in Twilight’s grip as she carried what looked like omelets over to us. Rosie’s eyes immediately lit up and a trio of growling stomachs echoed around the room as Lyra and Bon-Bon pushed some more seating into place around the table. Rosie was polite enough to shift off the couch and take a seat next to Swift, the earth pony smiling to herself before turning her attention to the plate that had been set before her.

Twilight climbed onto the couch on my left while Lyra and Bon-Bon sat in chairs on either side of the table, their own plates coming to a halt before them as Twilight settled the food into position. The scent of warm food rapidly filled the air and I could tell that Rosie and Swift were nearly ready to dive in headfirst. However, they restrained themselves long enough for the steam to begin dissipating as Twilight cast a cooling spell over the food to make it edible.

With that done, Twilight turned to me and smiled, her head leaning in to give me a soft kiss before pulling back, “Good morning, Sarah. How’s the training going today?”

I shrugged, “Eh, not much being done today as far as regular training is concerned.” I flipped the Auramancy book closed and slid it onto the couch next to me as Lyra and Bon-Bon exchanged confused glances, “We finally figured out why Rosie is only able to access two colors. Turns out gryphons have a focus that is unique to each individual that limits what they can and cannot use to their full potential. Rosie happens to be good with red and yellow, but other than that she’s not going to be able to use much more than the bare minimum of power when it comes to everything else.”

Twilight’s gaze travelled to the hen as she dug into her omelet with her talons and beak, “So she’s a specialist when it comes to her magic. I guess that makes sense, although I’m still disappointed that I’ll never be able to learn any of the things that you are. It’s just so frustrating to know that there is a whole school of magic that I can’t use, and it drives me up a wall at times.”

“What exactly are you two talking about?” Lyra asked as Bon-Bon nodded her agreement, “I thought gryphons didn’t have any magic other than what allows them to walk on clouds.”

I realized too late that we had yet to tell Lyra and Bon-Bon about my Auramancy, given the fact that Celestia and Luna wanted to keep the whole necromancer thing on the down low. Yet as they turned their gazes from me to Twilight and back, I couldn’t think of a reasonable lie to tell them. I cast a glance Twilight’s way, but she seemed as lost as I was on what to tell our herdmates. Then, as if Celestia herself had seen our plight, Spike came running in with a scroll in his grip, the royal seal securing the scroll with a pure black ribbon.

“Letter for you, Twilight.” Spike said as he came up to us, effectively derailing the conversation as Twilight unsealed the scroll and read through it with rapid strokes of her gaze. Yet as she got further down, her eyes got wider and wider as her jaw hung low, her pupils shrinking in fear as the letter dropped to the table before her as her magic sputtered out.

“What is it Twilight?” Bon-Bon asked, her hoof reaching for the letter only for me to snatch it from her grip. I had a feeling I knew what this letter had to do with, and unless I got word from the princesses in some form, I wasn’t about to let the secret get out because of some careless mail handling.

“Let me take a look first.” I said smoothly, my mind projecting calm as much as I could to try and forestall any panic at Twilight’s reaction. “I think I might know what this is about, so in case it has to do with state business, I’ll check it over to see if we can share what is going on.” My expression fell as Lyra and Bon-Bon gave me the stink eye, but there wasn’t really much else I could say. Celestia’s orders were clear. None of the general public could know about the necromancers unless it was absolutely necessary. Until I heard otherwise, I was sticking to that vow of silence.

I read through the letter one line at a time, being careful not to skip over anything as my gaze moved down the scroll. Yet as I got to the main point of the letter, my eyes widened just as Twilight’s had, and I quickly walked over to one of the fireplaces and tossed the scroll into the flames. Twilight made no move to stop me, stuck in her shocked state that she was, although Swift raised her eyebrows in an unspoken question as I walked back over and sat down next to Twilight.

Before anyone could speak, I wrapped my arms around Twilight’s body and rested my chin on her head, whispering comforting words in her ear as I held her tight. Lyra and Bon-Bon quickly moved to our sides and wrapped both of us in a further hug, offering their confused but heartfelt support even though they didn’t know what we had read in Celestia’s letter.

For several moments we held onto one another, offering each other comfort as Twilight slowly came back to herself. It was only after she closed her eyes and let out a shaky sigh that we backed off, although we stayed together on the couch as Twilight turned her attention to me.

“You saw what Princess Celestia wrote.” It wasn’t a question.

I nodded, “Every word. I tossed it in the fireplace once I was done, although that still leaves the question of what to do now? Do we continue on as we have before or do we change up the plan?”

Before she could answer me, Lyra spoke up with a frustrated tone in her voice, “Alright, that’s it. I am tired of not being in the loop and I want to know what you lot are hiding from us.” She turned her attention to everyone present and narrowed her eyes at us one by one, “It’s obvious there’s something going on and yet none of you are saying anything about it. So either you all spill the beans right now, or I’m going to do something I’m probably going to regret.”

Bon-Bon made no moves to calm her herdmate, although her own words were less inflamed than Lyra’s, “Yes, secrets are all well and good, but this seems like something that needs to be shared with all of us. We can’t be a herd if we don’t share what is bothering us, and right now I can tell that this is something that needs to be shared or else it will only get worse. I was once a part of Princess Celestia’s monster hunter guild, so normally I’m informed of these things, but lately the whole guild’s been hush-hush about what’s been going on and it’s been driving me nuts. Now you get a letter from Princess Celestia and immediately burn the evidence as soon as you read it. If that doesn’t stink of a coverup then I don’t know what does.”

I turned my attention to Twilight, “It’s your call, Twilight. You are the princess in this situation. I won’t say anything unless you give me the okay. Just understand this, if you don’t tell them, then it’s possible they could get hurt because of it. I don’t know about you, but that is the last thing I want to have happen because of a secret we could have shared.”

Twilight still looked indecisive, so I added in my trump card as one last bit of incentive, “If we ask them to live with us in the castle and don’t give them a good reason, I’m certain they would turn us down out of hand. After reading what we did, I don’t think they’ll be safe living on their own in Ponyville, and I know they won’t pack up their whole lives unless we tell them the truth. Give me permission, so we can protect our herd from danger.”

That seemed to be the final straw for Twilight, and I stroked her back gently between her wings as she nodded, her eyes downcast as she avoided the gazes of the others.

I lifted my gaze to look Lyra and Bon-Bon in the eyes, their own expressions softening at the serious look on my face as I spoke, “Before I tell you anything, you must swear on Celestia and Luna’s lives that you will not share what you hear with anyone outside this room. That goes for you too Spike,” I added as the dragon’s eyes widened in shock, “swear to keep this a secret or else the safety of everyone in Equestria could be at risk.”

Our herdmates shared a nervous look, now seeming a bit unsure if they actually wanted to know. Spike, on the other hand, never hesitated. He stepped forward and placed a claw over his heart, “I swear by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna’s lives not to tell anypony what I hear in this room today.” His gaze moved over to Twilight, even though his adoptive sister couldn’t meet his eyes, “If Twilight needs me, then I will do everything I can to help.”

That settled it in Lyra and Bon-Bon’s minds, their gazes hardening as they crossed their hooves over their hearts and then covered an eye, “Cross our hearts and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. We won’t tell another living soul what we hear in this room.”

With that sacred vow having been sealed, I nodded and took a deep breath. This was going to be a long story, and I had a feeling it wasn’t going to end well for anyone involved.

“Well, to answer your first question.” I swallowed thickly to get rid of the lump in my throat, “The letter Princess Celestia sent had only one thing to tell us, and it won’t be easy to hear.”

The others all leaned forward, their ears cocked and their eyes expectant as they waited on bated breath.

“Last night, over two dozen ponies in the noble class and upper ranking military personnel were assassinated, killed in their beds by means of a knife cut to the neck.” I closed my eyes to hide their horrified expressions from my gaze, firming my resolve as I continued, “The exact same story was told each time another body was found, no signs of forced entry and all other members of the household were found dead. No witnesses to the crimes and no other evidence to pin on a suspect. Yet we all know exactly who did this, because they are the only ones who would want to weaken our command structure in case of a military emergency.”

Lyra and Bon-Bon shared a horrified look, their eyes glittering with tears as Lyra asked the question on both their minds, “Who would do such a thing? Who would want to kill so many ponies for their own gain?”

I glanced once more at Twilight, but she made no moves to stop me from telling them. So, with a heavy heart, I turned back to our herdmates and began the same tale we had heard from Celestia back in Canterlot, “It all started when Princess Celestia was forced to banish Nightmare Moon. At first things looked alright, but then the monsters that go bump in the night started to come out to play, now that the mare keeping them in check was no longer around……”

It took several hours for me to tell them everything, neither Lyra nor Bon-Bon saying anything as I told them about the Shadow Wars, the necromancers, Auramancy, the whole story spilled from my lips in one long go before I had shared everything we currently knew about our enemy.

As I took a moment to breathe after stopping, Lyra and Bon-Bon simply stared at me with wide eyes, their expressions a mixture of horror, shock, and several other emotions I couldn’t identify. Yet the one thing that overpowered them all, was fear. Their eyes were pinpricks of terror as first Lyra, then Bon-Bon began to shake, their bodies nearly vibrating as I quickly wrapped them in a tight hug, pulling them into my lap as their hooves wrapped around me in a nearly crushing embrace.

“W-What are we going to do?” Lyra asked as she looked up at me, her eyes brimming with tears as she fought to keep her voice steady, “we swore that we wouldn’t tell anypony, but every fiber of my being is telling me to run and scream for all of Ponyville to hear.” She buried her head in my chest as she began to sob, “I just don’t know what to do.”

Bon-Bon was slightly more collected, although the look of betrayal in her gaze told me more than she could ever say. She had once been one of Celestia’s in the know ponies, and she had still been lied to just like everyone else. To find out that all of this had been happening right under her nose and she never knew, it must have been a wrecking ball to her pride and confidence.

Spike slowly walked up and held onto Twilight, shocking the mare out of her stupor as his arms held onto her chest like a lifeline, “I know it must have been hard for you to not tell me, but I can help you take down these bad ponies. I’ll do whatever you need me to do in order to get through this. You can count on me as your number one assistant.”

Twilight’s eyes watered as she smiled, hugging her brother back as she wrapped him in her wings, “Thanks Spike. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

With that said, the fog of fear seemed to lift from the room somewhat, and I looked down at my herdmates as they pulled away from my wet shirt, “So, do you understand why I was thinking of asking you to move into the castle with us? After hearing about all of these assassinations, I just can’t imagine being able to go on if something happened to you. Please,” my hands squeezed them tight against my chest again as I buried my face in their manes, “stay with us so we can all be together if something were to happen.”

Lyra and Bon-Bon nodded, their heads tilting up as one to kiss me on the cheeks as they pulled back. They waited for a second for Spike to climb off of the couch so they could get to Twilight, before wrapping her in a double hug as well and nuzzling against the alicorn’s neck and face. Twilight sighed as she nuzzled our herdmates back, her lips curling into a smile for the first time since reading the letter.

“So now what?” Swift asked as all three mares curled up around me in a comforting pile, “Do we change up the plan and try to speed up the soldier’s training?”

I pondered our options for a moment, my mind running at a mile a minute trying to figure out what we could do to counter the blow we had been given.

“I don’t know right now,” I stated honestly, “but I do know that we can’t sit here and do nothing. Twilight,” I turned my attention to the alicorn as she perked up, “we need someplace out of public eye where Rosie and I can practice our Auramancy. We can’t let the coven figure out that there is more than one auramancer that they need to deal with. Can you build something in or below the castle that we could use to train in?”

“I’ll see what I can do, but it will take a while to make something like that.” She narrowed her eyes in determination, “But I’ll do everything in my power to get it done as soon as possible.”

I nodded, “Good, that’s one thing taken care of. Swift,” the earth pony jumped to attention as my gaze turned to her, “as of right now you are probably one of the most senior members of the guard still alive. We’re going to need you to take command if things are as bad as we think they are. No more of this middle ground crap between my crew and the rest of the guard. I need a CO that has links in both but can keep her focus on where things need to happen. Can I count on you to take up the mantle if the need arises?”

She snapped into a salute, “You can always count on me, Sarah. You never even had to ask.”

I smiled, my gaze travelling over to Rosie, “I understand that this was not originally your fight, and your country has no real stake in what happens here in Equestria unless formal war is declared. Are you certain that you want to stay and fight alongside me in the coming battles? You could be injured or even die if you choose to stay.”

Rosie never hesitated as she set her face and snapped a salute in perfect mirror to Swift’s, “I’ll follow you to the ends of Equis and back if you’ll have me, Lehrer. I won’t back down and I’ll stand beside you till the end if that’s what it takes. I will make you proud and I will fight for my friends until my last breath.”

I felt a swelling of pride in my chest at my student’s words, her determination spreading to the rest of us as we stood up as one.

My voice could have cut steel as I smiled at everyone present, “Then let’s make sure those necromancers know what it feels like to have their greatest fear working against them. We will fight, and we will win.” I placed my hand in the middle of the group over the table, our food forgotten as the others placed their respective limbs on top of mine, “For those who have died,”

Rosie took up the idea as she added in, “and for those who live.”

Swift was next as she glanced up at Rosie before turning back to our huddle, “For those we love,”

“and for those we cherish.” Lyra said as she leaned against Bon-Bon.

The earth pony nuzzled the unicorn’s mane before adding her own voice to our vow, “We fight for the common pony.”

“We fight for our friends.” Spike stated with conviction as he stood on the table next to Twilight.

“We fight for Equestria.” Twilight finished as we pulled our limbs back, a look of firm determination falling over everyone as we shared one last glance before sitting down once again.

“Watch out Moon Song,” I muttered under my breath as the others began talking about other things, “I’m coming for you, and when I’m done, there won’t be anywhere you can hide that I won’t find you.”

Author's Note

Hello everypony, and welcome back after a way-too-long hiatus. *ducks as pitchforks and torches fly by my head* Alright! Alright! No need to get testy with me! I have a reason as to why I haven't updated this book in a while, and the simple fact is that school, work and my other projects have been taking up almost all of my time. I only got a few days to work on this chapter after a big 7.2 earthquake closed down the whole city for a few days, so if that doesn't tell you how busy I've been I don't know what will.

Anyways, enough of the gloom and doom, how have you all been? Did you miss me during this longer-than-Starswirl's-beard hiatus? Well no need to worry any longer, because I am back and I hope to be able to post more stuff for you all as the weeks go by from now on.

Also, I have my very first Patron supporter! Please give a warm welcome to Earthpatriot117, who has chosen to be the very first to support me and my books on Patreon. Thank you so much for your help and I hope that others will join you in time. A link is available on my personal author page if anypony is interested in pledging to the cause, so I'll leave that as a little reminder for those who might want to join.

Other than that, I have no other announcements, so I will wish you all a happy holidays and I'll see you next chapter,
Shadow Quill, Messenger of the Moon.