Author's Note

Here it is, in all of its unedited glory.

It took me a while due to IRL issues slowing me down immensely with near-crippling writer's block, but here it is--warts and all.

I'll be pushing this story forward to complete it, no matter what it takes.

I also hope that this chapter provides a sense of loss due to missed opportunities due to choices made and positions taken by everyone present.

As for Ponykind itself? It is my particular perspective that they aren't evil, but they are very judgemental and self-centered for a 'harmonic' species. I hope I can give them justice in their depiction for both good and bad, too--as a counterweight to Iron Ash's tainted experiences with their kind, where only the bad was 'lived'.

Of course, should you find any flaws--please let me know, so that I can correct those.

Next chapter? Politics, choices, and consequences of such choices.

Have a good night!

Interlude the Second: Perspectives.

Interlude the Second. Perspectives.

The mountain air was crisp when it wasn't ruined by the taint of burning wood smothered by rain. Its sight would have been idyllic if it hadn't been for the mansions, manors, and buildings that were blackened by the fires that had burned earlier that week.

With some cases of cheap construction collapsing and endangering bordering buildings, requiring the quick and deft hand of construction ponies doing their overburdened best to salvage said structures without endangering the citizen's lives.

At its most exclusive top, the seat of power of the Equestrian government stood.

In all of its marred, soot-stained, war-torn glory.

Earth pony masons studied the burnt marble to carve fitting replacement tiles, while the unicorn workers did their best at helping remove rubble alongside pegasi who reached those high spots where rubble threatened to fall if poked at the wrong way. Helping them were more earth ponies, carts at the ready held fast by their yokes as they moved the ruined rubble out of the castle towards the rubble dumping ground outside of the city itself.

A slow, hard, patient work to be done through the weeks as the mountain's usable spots were sparse and valuable, and the dumping ground was at the base of Mount Canterhorn.

Within the palace itself where the Royal Sisters lived and enacted their edicts, many corridors and rooms testified to the ruin that war between ponies brought to its surroundings--its destructive glory open for all to see until the evidence of said conflict was replaced and erased from sight.

Maids and janitors worked extensively, rubbing their formerly white rugs brown from all the dried bloodstains that littered the conflict zones, the murder sites, and cleaning up where the bodies of both guardsponies and hostiles once laid.

This said, the throne room--located near one of the walls of the palace for its valued positioning in letting the light in--was one of the areas that avoided damage from the skirmishes that happened during the coup attempt, attested by how intact were the drapes, the ornamental vases, the paintings, and glass windows depicting important events in Equestria's history were.

It could be thought of as a snapshot of peaceful times, if one were to ignore the foreponies' yells as they directed their fellow equine laborers into the removal of rubble, the replacement of damaged stone blocks, wood furniture broken during the coup attempt, and sometimes the flashes of unicorns doing their best in removing still active magic pools left behind from harmful potions or curses that spilt unto the environment.

It was within such cacophony that the Sun Diarch, Princess Celestia of Equestria, found herself in, lost in thought as she kept a part of her mind attentive to the reports being given to her by her subordinates.

That said, the mind of the alicorn was in turmoil, heart and gut twisting at what had happened nearly a week ago--and how close to death she came to be--and a new discovery every day that dampened her soul even further.

If Princess Celestia had a wish that she desperately needed fulfilled, it was for her and her sister's old selves to not have jumped to conclusions and salted down a possible relationship with a fellow immortal. Or desecrated the ashes as they did at the end ... by acting on panic rather than fully examining what they knew from Twilight's dreams to join the dots.

Now, they had somepony who had legitimate cause to pursue vengeance against them--and they could not blame anypony but themselves for this buck-up.

Somepony who apparently was vital to the safety of the whole world ... and nopony knew. Nopony ... except those who sought out his power for wicked ends, whom he put down with extreme prejudice if what she had learned from Twilight's words was correct.

Then again ... she remembered how he called them out the moment he realized something was wrong with Starlight Glimmer's enthralled enemy ponies.

In all honesty, while she would fight for her little ponies' sake ... she feels nothing but regret about how she handled everything since that moment that they met.

She still remembers his expression when she was nearly shot down by that strange magic of his--the look of a pony with nothing to lose and enough hate in him to summon windigos as he moved.

She honestly couldn't blame him wanting to hurt her and everypony responsible after learning what she had from Luna, Twilight and The Elements of Harmony.

Not after learning how he kept himself secret for good reason.

Not after realizing too late how badly they had ruined everything he had worked for to keep a tight lid on.

Her second most ardent wish, on the other hand ... was that she had actually taught Twilight Sparkle to not follow in her own mistakes and jump to conclusions--and avoided herself a lot of trouble and heartache while at it.

Her third? It basically boiled down to 'I wish I could get drunk'. Or find a therapist or counselor who wouldn't twist things for their petty gains. She'd give up half the royal treasury for one, too!

"As reported, your Highness ... we have a casualty list of three hundred dead ponies--both civilians and guardponies--from our side and rising as reports are updating, fifty wounded aggressor ponies whose origins we haven't been able to track, no corpses from the hostile ponies have been found in spite of having encountered the discarded pieces of their brand of armor ... and ten Canterlotian unicorns along with eight hired pegasi who all have clammed up to all interrogation attempts." Her new Captain of the Day Guard, Sunny Rise, reported after her field promotion due to the previous Captain having been murdered along with several of the officers while they slept. "Oh, and material losses are about five hundred thousand bits in damaged property." A beat of silence before she added, "Probably three times that once everything settles down. At the least."

Her mien turned to stone at the news. Captured ponies that were hostile to their fellow equines? That was something that needed to be researched, quickly--especially since Prince Blueblood and some of his fellow 'conspirators' apparently were mind-controlled by a third party, but they'd have to wait.

None had awakened after four days.

Her mind returned to that moment, when Twilight was besieged by nightmares ... was this the real threat all along? They came for her in her bedchambers at an early hour, the same with everypony present at the castle grounds. Even in Ponyville if what the guards reported regarding those foalnappers who tried spiriting away the younger sisters of two of the Elements, and the adoptive younger sister of the third.

Sighing in resignation, Celestia turned her head towards her secretary, "Raven? Have you gotten any response for our inquiries towards the Minoan Embassy regarding the helpful changelings, batponies, and diamond dogs that helped both our Guards and the civilians?"

Raven Inkwell just tapped her pen on her writing board, deep in thought before answering dutifully, "No, your Highness. Though the envoy from our Consulate did report that the Ambassador was ... unusually hostile towards us before ordering him to leave at once."

"Oh." Celestia's expression fell at hearing that. "Can't we offer reparations and open dialog channels to demonstrate goodwill on our end to start making amends?"

Raven flourished her quill, writing down something on her trusty board. "I'll put it on the checklist to send later for Consul Good Will to pursue, Your Highness."

Humming, Celestia grimaced slightly at sipping at the now long-cold tea within the cup that somehow survived the assault that went through the whole castle. "How are the noble houses reacting to this obvious attempt at a coup d'etat against the Royal Family?"

This time, it was Raven who grimaced as she flipped the papers on her board until she found the report she was handed over by the pegasi courier. "It is bad, Your Highness."

Princess Celestia raised an elegant eyebrow, silently waving at Raven's way with a hoof to go on.

Cringing, Raven valiantly read from the report. "There are several mansions that appear to have been emptied beforehand, and a few even had dead ponies still inside--Lord Patrician's wife among them--before they were set on fire ... and quickly doused by the pegasi weather teams. They all belonged to nobility that opposed your reforms, Your Highness. Even if not all of the noble houses opposing said reforms left the city. Or all burned property belonged to nobles to begin with."

Celestia closed her eyes, sorrow gripping at her heart at the implications read between the lines.

'How long have these ponies undermined the rule of the royal family? How long had these ponies plotted to murder us all in cold blood? What madness possessed them to oppose our rule ... and for what gain? What purpose?'

Ignorant of Princess Celestia's inner train of thought, Interim Captain Sunny Rise cleared her throat awkwardly. "Your Highness, I'll be taking my leave to continue the investigation onto this awful business."

Celestia just nodded, Raven Inkwell at her side as she made her way to the door.

"I just hope that things don't get any worse than they are already." Princess Celestia nearly grumbled, while her secretary just smacked her lips in disapproval.

"Your Highness, you know better at this point than to say that and expect differently."

At this, Celestia just nodded despondently.

Princess Luna roamed through the city streets, looking at the property damage as well as the rows of sheet-covered bodies laid out in lines all over the sidewalks--many of which showed the smaller frames of foals that fell victim to the depredations of murderers and terrorists--and her teeth grind together in impotent rage as she moved through the streets.

Rage at the monsters who thought that murdering foals was alright so long as they got away with what they wanted.

Rage at the fact that said monsters were ponies of all creatures, and nearly all of the ones that they captured were high in their own sense of superiority in spite of having lost.

Rage at herself, for failing at helping to avoid this whole situation, trusting her Night Guard's secret agents into making headway towards the equines plotting against them only for them to fail at a vital junction without her knowing why.

And above all ... she felt sorrow at knowing that she had made an enemy out of somepony that was older than their whole species. Just because she didn't want to acknowledge his right to vengeance by shed blood.

Her beloved sister's blood.

Her dear friend's blood.

Her own blood.

Somepony who was now wasting away to nothing by no longer having the might to sustain these accursed seals that were all that stood between them and extinction.

Discord and his antics? Child's play even at the height of his cruelty compared to the things that Iron Ash had managed to seal after dying thousands of times in the early days of this world!

How can they make amends with somepony who wished for nothing but their deaths after being wrongfully injured by them to such an everlasting degree? By the wrongful injury that would inevitably lead to a war for survival at a planetary scale at the least, even if said pony stopped pursuing vengeance on them should all the seals break and nothing be done about it?

Yet ... knowing how he didn't hesitate when trying to claim her beloved sister's life, she can't help but feel rage at him for trying to take away the only family she had left from the bad old days.

'Hypocrite indeed.' Luna thought bitterly at that realization, learning something that she could say with all honesty that she shared in common with him.

'If only we hadn't reacted so badly to him when he appeared ... Fluttershy is right in stating that we were all deceived by the tainted blood remains that were purged from his skin.'

She kept on moving, taking in how the parents of Twilight Sparkle were being led to their wrecked home by a changeling who stood at the gateway awkwardly as the two unicorns before they returned to him ... and the three of them began moving towards the castle grounds before being joined by a few rousseponies and diamond dogs who were also leading ponies in the same direction.

'Most importantly of all ... where did all these creatures come from?'

She was soon joined by two guardponies, and together they left--flight path leading them towards her home while deep in thought.

Rock Candy and several of her friends had never felt right since that awful night.

"Mommy, my skin hurts!" The five-year old foal whimpered to her mom, who looked just as tired as she felt inside as they slowly made their way to the emergency shelters raised by the Royal Guard for all ponies who lost their livelihood to the madness that burned through Canterlot's streets.

"I know, honey ... but the arcanotherapy clinics are full, and the hospital turn is in a week at the least from how many ponies have gone in to get an appointment." The pained-looking unicorn mare answered her filly with a careful nuzzle over her mane, careful about not rubbing too harshly on her sensitive skin.

"Will daddy be okay?" She sniffed, ears and tail lowered as she felt an invisible weight upon her everything, slowly burrowing deep into her everything, making all movements a struggle.

Her mother nearly flinched, not having had the strength to tell her foal what she believed was the truth ... yet.

'He is still missing ... perhaps he'll find us in the shelters.'

Out loud, she answered with as much cheer as she could inject to her voice as she neared the guard post that kept count of the ponies coming and going ... as well as serving as a communication spot for inquiries, "My sweet little Rock Candy, of course daddy will be alright! He's a strong, tough pony that can take care of himself!"

The pegasus mare mareing the post examined her, a brief look at her cutie mark, and a grimace as she called out, "Missus Lemon Candy? We have news regarding your husband."

Lemon Candy and Rock Candy's ears perked up as they approached at a trot, "Really? Have you found him!? Where is he!?" "You found daddy!"

The guardsmare looked at their hopeful expressions and pity flashed through her eyes, "Yes ... he was found. He's interned at the Canterlot Hospital."

Both dam and foal froze at that.

"The hospital?" Lemon Candy nearly croaked, horror slowly dawning on her while her filly tilted her head, "Why is daddy at the hospital?"

"It ... it is best if you're informed inside the tent over there." The pegasus pointed her hoof towards a tent as her ears had lowered, pity in her expression as the mother and daughter pair went inside.

And two wails of sorrow ensued from it fifteen minutes later before the mother-daughter pair rushed to the hospital, leaving a trail of tears behind.

"Sir, I have concerns about our ... VIP guest's mental state." The changeling medical officer Antennae reported to her superior, Pole Axe, a grizzled minotaur male with a beard about as spiky as his personality.

"Concerns about him?" The minotaur stopped reading through the paperwork and focused entirely on her relatively tinier self. "Go on, then!"

Antennae cringed at the rough order, but soldiered on with nary a hitch in her report.

"After waking from about thirty-six hours of sleep he's been eating very often--"

"That is good! That's no cause of conce--"

"--from the roussepony and diamond dog rations."

Sergeant Pole Axe's expression turned just like his namesake, ruminating on that tidbit before bullrushing forward. "And that is an issue ... how?"

"Well, on one hoof he's recovering weight and strength at a remarkably fast rate in a physical way ... ." She waited for her superior to interject as was his wont, only to be left disappointed and a confused expression aimed her way. Sighing, she soldiered on, "Both roussepony and diamond dog rations have lots more ... animal-sourced protein compared to minotaurean and changeling, or even regular pony diets, sir. Quite frankly, I'm shockingly surprised that he's not gotten the runs from eating those meals eight times a day--"

"Wait, that doesn't sound right!" The older minotaur croaked in shock, inwardly causing Antennae's patience to run out of bucks to give from the constant interruptions.

"That weirdness aside, he's ignored all correspondence sent to his room--instead focused on training."

Pole Axe stopped his incoming tirade, bovine face scrunging up in deep contemplation making his face resemble a dried up prune as he rubbed at his beard. "He is ... training? That sounds reasonable considering that his mastery came from his ... hyumin? Hyuman? Whatever that form of his was. If anything, that's good to hear!"

"It would be right ... if he wasn't constantly changing training partners due to beating the living tar out of them every two hours."

Pole Axe was, again ... poleaxed at that fact, and was cut off from another tirade as Antennae immediately added.

"He's perhaps slept about three hours total since waking up."

Scrunging up again ... Pole Axe hummed before quietly inquiring, "Of what races has he been focusing his training on?"

She gulped.

"Minotaur, changeling, and roussepony, sir." She immediately added, "With a focus on changelings spellcasting as unicorns, with the rousseponies serving as pegasi training partners, sir."

"And using minotaurs as earth pony analogs, I see." The older minotaur grumbled before rising up from his desk. "I'll order him to get some rest rather than suffering through burnout, even if his ponish physiology lets him get away with it still."

"Ah, sir ... there is also another matter I noticed regarding a ... change in behavior."

"I doubt it is serious." Pole Axe rumbled as he kept moving, "But enough of that. Come with me, Antennae--we may need you to sedate him if he proves intractable in his mood."

It didn't take the two of them long before reaching the courtyard of the small tented town that was raised at the feet of Mount Canterhorn--

Where meaty impacts and roars resonated through the air, causing many a campaign-hardened soldier to cringe and hide behind their tents, hushed whispers drowned by the yelps, screams, and curses flowing aplenty soon after.

Neither Pole Axe or Antennae were ready to see what was in front of them.

The still grayed-out alicorn stallion was panting profusely, wings raised as his horn was lowered as if intending to skewer someling as sweat foamed all over his coat.

At his feet, there were several rousseponies and changelings who all looked worse for wear while fully unconscious, while the minotaur participants were limping their way towards the infirmary tent--more often than not helping one another reach it.

Pole Axe's patience gave way to indignation making him roar out to all sundry, "Iron Ash! A VIP you may be by royal order, but no creature bangs my troops like this!" He pointed in exasperation to the poor bastards laid low at his feet. "They are hard to fix for later banging!" He snorted in desperation. "What in Tartarus brought this nonsense about!?"

The alicorn stood still, deeply breathing as he flashed his eyes everywhere before he stopped himself from moving and answered shakily, "I'm doing my best at trying to regain my self-control--"

He stomped the ground hard enough to crater it before snarling in a near-Royal-Canterlotian-voice, "--And so far I'm failing quite miserably at it!" Before moving around as if he were a caged beast, "I remember how I used to be before the ponies got their hooves on me, and it wasn't like this!"

Gritting teeth, he approached them--causing the poor changeling medical officer to backpedal a bit before hiding behind the gruff Sergeant, "I am literally off-kilter, with lots of instincts conflicting with my previous experience! It is maddening to experience, and my previous knowledge to temper my self have proven useless!"

He waved his hoof towards the slowly raising troops that were previously on the ground, "To make matters worse, more than half of what I could perform is beyond me! And that shouldn't have happened because my soul--as damaged as it was by the actions of stupid, arrogant, self-righteous excuses of glue-making meatbags that are Equestrians--still should remember how to weave the energy to perform the Risk Break Arts!"

His mood worsened further, changing straight down into calm despair, "The Equestrians will return to end me--whether by hook or by crook--as I failed to injure anyone important among their number during the invasion. Then ... there is the matter that I'll have to broach with the General in charge of this operation."

Raising an eyebrow, the sergeant unruffled inquired back, "Hmm? What matter would demand the attention of such a high-ranked Minoan to grant you the time of day, much less this?"

In a dead voice, Iron Ash answered evenly, "The evacuation procedures for all Minoan personnel within Equestrian territories ... and the arrangements to ensure Minos survives what the ponies have wrought forth with their idiotic, dogged pursuit of what they knew naught about."

Befuddled, the sergeant blinked, stopped to think what he was going to ask, opened his mouth to ask for clarification as to what he heard only to be cut off by the alicorn.

"Let those monsters reap exactly what they've sown." His expression was thunderously murderous, glare cutting through any objections the sergeant might have had at this point, "Their utter annihilation via reality-breaking abomination seems exactly what they yearned ... and there will be other two if this one doesn't finish them off first."

A lightbulb metaphorically shone up on Pole Axe's head, as he absentmindedly asked, "So the weird circle-thingies that have kept all magically trained minoans and ponies in a frenzy are the seals keeping those ... abominations away?"

Shaking his head in the negative, Iron Ash stepped aside from him ... stopping at a distance before answering in that same dark inflection.

"No. They were the warning system put in place in case the worst occurred. The one closest to the woods at the distance? That is the one I named The Shadow Warg Army Seal."

The minotaur brushed his beard absentmindedly as he tilted his horned head in thought. "I remember that one dispelling about a day ago!" While at the same time Iron Ash stated bluntly: "It broke a day ago."

This caused the poor dazed sergeant to bark enraged, "And you didn't think that High Command would be interested in learning this before!?"

Iron Ash barked back with more rage than his own, "What use would it have done this close to terminal failure!? No creature on this world has the raw power to sustain them--more so at the failure point where the power requirements required far exceed what anyone could provide--even together! The best I could do is try convince both the General in charge and the King at home to leave this saccharine failure of a nation behind, shaking the dust off our feet while at it and look out for our own!"

Fluttershy fretted over Rainbow's prone body, as the pegasus fidgeted while cringing every time she attempted moving her plastered wing.

"Rainbow, if you continue fidgeting like that your wing won't set right. You know that would hamper your career, right?"

Rainbow Dash turned to face her friend, a cocky smirk giving way to a pained grimace as she totally-not-whined, "I know you're right, Fluttershy! But remaining still like this is so boring! I couldn't even convince the nurse to let you bring me one of Daring Do's books to pass the time!"

Fluttershy just pinned her friend into place with her faint glare. "Still, you shouldn't make the doctor's work more difficult by hampering their job at rebuilding your wing, Rainbow. Besides, they fear that the strange seal that showed up in the sky when everything happened could tamper with the healing spells even now." Shrugging, she placed a wing on top of Rainbow's barrel, "And judging by how many ponies have shown up feeling ill despite not being actually ill, I fear they may be right."

Rainbow stood in silence, deep in thought as Fluttershy gently rubbed her friend's back.

"I'm sorry that I got caught by him."

Rainbow confusedly stared at Fluttershy, "Fluttershy?"

"If I hadn't gotten caught by him, you wouldn't have been put in this situation." The shy pegasus wilted along with her ears.

"No, Fluttershy! If anything, I underestimated that jerk!"

"And I overestimated my glare." She muttered, head placed gently on top of Rainbow's back.

"Well ... I kinda hate to say it, but props to him--he broke through your glare that has intimidated dragons!" Rainbow attempted to cheer her friend only to see that it did not work in the slightest. After a moment's silence, she uncomfortably digged, "So, Flutters ... what's got you in the dumps?"

"I was too weak." She wimpered, scrunging up her eyes as tears threatened to come out.

Rainbow interjected with disbelief leaking through every word in her voice. "Weak? But, Fluttershy--you're the bravest mare I know!"

"No I wasn't ... not when I was presented with the sight of a stallion protecting their foal in spite of the horrid evil aura he exuded. With a foal who didn't look frightened in the slightest by being near him." She turned her eyes towards Rainbow's. "How can I be brave ... when I didn't stop anypony from jumping at him instead of hearing his side out?"

Rainbow gaped at the normally demure pegasus who now apparently got steamed as she continued uninterrupted. "He didn't rush to attack us on first sight, Rainbow! He didn't leave his minotaur foal behind--he prioritized her over his own safety by teleporting her away from us! How could I allow what we did against him without a proper reason aside from what he had heard of him!" Her teeth gritted as she deflated, "With only one side to the tale taken at its full rather than trying being kind and talking?"

Fluttershy snorted while still sporting a glare aimed at the air, "Nooo ... instead I hid behind everypony and followed my panic to a bitter end where we made an enemy for life." Her ears lowered as she fully deflated, defeated as she whispered while tearing up, "Instead of bridging a gap and making a friend ... ."

Rainbow Dash didn't say anything to her friend, just lending a wing to comfort her while ruminating on what she heard and how she herself acted out of determined panic ... .

Lyra Heartstings kept a side look on the three rambunctious fillies as they trotted towards Sugarcube Corner, feeling envious at their ability to bounce back from what was most certainly a bunch of foalnappers with strange powers.

Strangers whom, upon waking up in their local constabulary, clammed up while sneering at the local guardsponies from behind bars.

It was quite strange, how the elder siblings of two of them hadn't returned from their trip.

At least Big Mac kept an eye on them while at the farm.

"Still thinking about those weird ponies?" Her love asked from her side, the three fillies now inside the bakery where the Cakes would keep an eye on them while they had their snack inside.

"Well ... yes." Lyra answered while keeping her ears tilted towards the bakery. "Makes me wonder what would drive ponies to kidnap foals, or what's even in their attitude towards us townponies."

"Yeah ... those unsavory types have always existed, Lyra." Bon-Bon gruffly stated, "Thing is, you'd rarely see this kind of attitude even amongst those who actually believe that nonsense."

Lyra turned to watch her lover in a thoughtful mood. "Has there been news from Canterlot since the weird circle-thing over the forest dispelled? Or any answer from the Guard regarding the increasing oddities happening at the Everfree?"

"Not that I have heard, Lyra." Bon-Bon's eyes were as if looking at a long distance, "Which is strange, considering how there appeared another weird circle on top of Mount Canterhorn only to vanish just as quickly."

"Element Bearer business?" Lyra asked playfully, fully knowing the answer.

Bon-Bon could only nod and sigh, "Element Bearer business."

Starlight Glimmer nervously stood in front of her mentor, Twilight Sparkle, with all between them being a small coffee table with a plate full of cookies, a tea set, and a teapot with warm tea inside. "So, Starlight!" Twilight started, trying to add some cheer to the question that Starlight felt was coming up her way. "Why didn't you say anything about it?"

Ear twitching nervously, Starlight Glimmer's uncertainly asked her mentor, "Whatever you mean, Twilight?"

Twilight's ears lowered as her expression fell, looking despondently at her still empty cup. "Do you fear my reaction at you knowing how to tap Iron Ash's type of magic?" The alicorn lowered her voice further, "Was it what let you perform back then those feats of impossible magic back then?"

Starlight lowered her eyes and nodded quietly.

"Do ... do you want to speak about it?" Twilight quietly asked.

"No ... not really." Starlight glumly droned. "That power ... it changes you, Twilight. And not in a good way." Her eyes glistened, "You are so drowned in the intensity of it that you don't realize that it is eating what makes you ... you."

Twilight's expression turned somber and gave her full attention to her while staying silent, which Starlight appreciated silently as she reminisced.

A teen-aged unicorn ran across the streets towards the town's main entrance, a triumphant grin on her face as she ran like a mare possessed, after finding an old scroll talking about a particular unicorn researcher having visited the town hundreds of years ago at the local library's historic records.

The last expedition of Star Swirl The Bearded passed by her home town! Even more, she had a direction she could go spelunkin' to find his lost laboratory if she could track down where the former village of Hoofhousen was founded before its sacking!

And she had several clues as to what the weather back then had been from Town Hall's records of that time, one that included pegasi records of it!

It was now a matter of figuring which mountain they put their camp in!

Days of exploration turned to weeks, then months ... .

It was just as the obsessed unicorn was nearly in tears from sheer frustration while exploring the last mountain in the range that she slipped on a loose rock and fell sideways into a shadow that turned out to be a deep crevice.

Screaming, she slid downwards into what she believed was a cliff leading to her death ... only to slide downward, deeper into the mountain itself.

"Do you know what I found at the end of the trail?" Starlight rhetorically asked Twilight before immediately answering her own question, "I found an abandoned laboratory alright ... one belonging to Star Swirl the Bearded, with his notes and research before disappearing from the face of Equestria!"

After a moment of silence where Twilight digested this, she hesitantly asked her student: "Starlight, what else did you find in that place?"

Starlight Glimmer stopped her brisk trot to think how to answer, slightly tilting her head to a side, looking at the distance while thinking back on what she found there ... .

Starlight Glimmer limped, her barrel's skin rubbed nearly raw from the friction as she flailed about trying to stop her descent before landing on a plateau ... and took in the sights of this dark place, mage-light shining on top of her horn lighting her way.

At first, the cavern had the appearance of normality, tall crevices filled with protruding rocks, stalagmites and stalactites, water drips echoing through the cavern's expanse.

Then she felt it ... a very small tingle of it, but it was one she recognized from her studies and observations at her home town.

A magic ward ... or as it now stood, a nearly dead one.

Her body experienced a full shiver--mind going back to how her friend gained his cutie mark and left her behind to study magic at Canterlot--before it died along with the tingle.

Hairs thoroughly raised now, the unicorn delved deeper into the dark ... and found long-dusted signs of habitation.

Before her, the walls looked carved with precision, columns going deep unto the black where the ceiling was, and an entrance that wouldn't have looked out of place at one of the local noble manors.

Its door still shined with very weak magic, as if no one had given this place maintenance for a long time ... and the torches flickered as if trying to turn themselves on, only to falter and die out. Soon after, the door stopped shining.

Gulping, she almost tried the door only to stop and look around for something to poke at it ... just in case.

Failing at finding a stick, she transformed a rock into a wooden stick and prodded the door to see if there was a reaction--and finding none, she entered through the hidden doorway.

Only to have her breath taken away by the sheer dichothomy between the location it was inside of, and the near-regal quality of the construction itself.

Starlight gasped, 'This place was a palace!' Was her first thought when she saw the main hall of this complex.

Well, where the signs of what must have been unmarred by the signs of quite a vicious battle between unicorn mages.

Polished black granite columns, engraved with near-eldritch sigils and runes hinting at purposes now that whatever magic powering things up had dried up after so long without a unicorn to keep them fed with magic.

Crystalline black glass chandeliers still shiny despite the cobwebs covering them up, the niches of wax candles long-melted and inert near-air clear spheres where she assumed mage lights shone forth once upon a time.

Dusty remains of still-vibrant colors that hinted at the existence of rugs, somehow remaining in place despite having essentially turned to dust due to the degradation by time they endured.

After taking those sights in ... she turned around, taking the in the rest of the palace.

In specific, the completely ruined and defaced trail of broken columns that somehow avoided ending up burying the whole place.

A melted crater over there ... gashes running across the floor and walls ... holes melted and crushed into place ... .

Dark crystals still humming menacingly that she carefully avoided ... floor tiles turned into slivers of sharp stone pointing upwards like mineral porcupines of monstrous scale ... .

And at the center of it all, where the throne would have been seated?

The throne itself, with a large hole put in its midst as if a big sword had stabbed through the stone, and covered in something magical that twinged at her senses, making her feel her own skin sensitive to the point of pain.

Shivering at this stage, she left the place of that ancient battle and moved onward, deeper into this complex.

With naught but one question in mind: Who lived in this place?

...

Starlight Glimmer did not feel the passing of time, an unhealthy mixture of curiosity and fear keeping her moving onward, but the more she explored this place, the more she realized that whoever had owned it? They were obviously to no good.

She gulped when taking the first sign of evidence pointing in that direction, at the rusted bars of what passed as this complex's gaol. Shackles turned to near red dust, chains in the same condition, and its quality ... was the opposite of the functional comfort that she had run across so far.

Seeing as she had reached the end of a branch, she turned tail and ran, ignoring her pangs of hunger and thirst, hoping that whoever made this place had at least ensured a supply of water to drink from.

....

Out loud, partway in order to break the oppressive silence pervading this tomb--for that was what this place was in all practical matters--she nervously chirped at herself, "Well ... if they had to keep prisoners, they must have had some practical way to feed and water them ... right?"

With new plan in mind, she quickly shuffled out of the place, trusting her senses to guide her towards anything that sounded like running water.

She didn't dare consider the consequences of finding out if that wasn't the case.

If there had been anyone else accompanying her, Starlight would have vehemently denied squeeing at seeing a still-running stream of ice-cold water flowing through a long-abandoned and dusty mess hall.

So, she set to drink her fill, skin feeling as if she had been exposed to the summer sun for far too long--but that couldn't be right! She was trapped in the middle of a secret mountain stronghold that must have belonged to a particularly powerful unicorn mage who liked his privacy--

Her hoofs' rhythm changed to a gallop--could this place be Star Swirl's secret wizard tower!?

She now had to find out~!

Time felt frozen, her burning body made withstanding the sheer cold of this mausoleum bearable--physical exercise for the win!--as she explored every nook and cranny of these dark depths, both as to marvel at its design ... and also looking to an exit that did not involve climbing such a steep incline.

She seriously doubted that whoever owned this place simply teleported back and forth--the energy expenditure would be enormous for an alicorn, much less a regular if talented unicorn!

It was then, that she reached what must have been the heart of the mountain itself--a place carved out from crystals of all things.

The floor? Made of sparkling crystalline tiles!

The walls? Crystal formations that sparkled to the light of her mage light, of every shape, geometry, color!

The roof? Chock-full of crystal formations that somehow drunk out her meager mage light and spread it evenly thorughout this chamber!

Columns spread evenly, rising to the near-shadowed ceiling of this chamber to serve as supports were made of the same granite that the rest of the redoubt sported.

But what drew up her attention? Shelves filled to the brim with books, scrolls, notes, alchemical equipments of definite unicorn make!

With hunger both literal and metaphorical, she launched herself to them to find out what was contained in their pages!

Starlight briefly smiled as she remembered that dire spot she had found herself in back then. "During my exploration of that dead palace, I ran across an abandoned lab deep in the mountains, I couldn't believe my luck--a whole branch of magic, spearheaded by none other than Star Swirl the Bearded! Research that was focused on a unique brand of magic usually associated with one sigil ... . And from another, unknown writer--possibly his secretary? Which was also found in said depths? It was one brand of strange magic that could let ponies perform impossible feats, considering where said sigil was found and the qualities it possessed."

Twilight's look of interest took a far-away look for a brief moment before blanching and returning her attention to her student slash friend.

“Star Swirl found a way to handle this new type of magic and to bind it into place and focus it into a wellspring of magical power!” Starlight Glimmer's eyes took a near-manic glimmer to them as she stared at her mentor and friend, continuing her speech as it, too, took a manic edge to it--one tainted deep with regret."I was young, I oh-so-dumb, with a big chip on my shoulder back then! I studied magic, thinking that it would the key to figure out how to remove cutie marks to prevent other foals from suffering as I did! I didn't know what I got myself into until it was too late!"

Starlight rose from her seat, trotting back and forth, frown in her face as it grew darker by the word. "Dark Magic like King Sombra? Not interested! It was pure slavery, not what I wanted! But there was one thing that Star Swirl mentioned in his research." She cleared up her throat, "The magic associated with The Warden of The Dark can be confused with King Sombra's own brand of dark magic, yet both allowed the achievement of impossible feats of magic. The difference? The Warden's own brand can be tapped indirectly ... at very small amounts, and without emotional interference in the channeling of said spellcasting. The Warden's Dark bolsters pony magic ... if all emotion and desire is removed from the process."

The unicorn laughed mirthlessly, "At that note, I realized I had my skeleton key to spellcasting! What about his research notes cutting off abruptly!? I didn't care! I had to start--and the notes spoke of a place where dark magic was strongest ... and so," Starlight Glimmer snarled, "I stupidly took it in and mixed it with my own, deep within the abyss at the heart of that mountain!"

A wing placed itself on Starlight's back. "Starlight?" Twilight's compassionate expression was lost on the now near-hysterical unicorn as she started crying while snarling to nothing in particular as she exploded.

"At first, it is little things, like what you ate last night. Or, what was your childhood favorite blanket, or the good times you had with a friend who left for unicorn school while I remained behind!"

"Starlight? I think this is en--"

"The more you took inside to empower yourself, the more you lost! I forgot what it was like to have a mother! The caress of the sun over my coat, the good cheer brought forth by a good night's rest!"

"Starlight!"

"There came a point that I forgot what life was like outside the abyss that lain inside that accursed mountain!" Starlight's enraged rant stopped as she gulped, thinking about those dreary days when she researched how to remove cutie marks without taking away the pony's magic away from them ... and how she slowly started losing her good memories along with the bad.

Her eyes continued weeping as she looked down to her hooves, "I forgot how to be myself for a while ... only to have it replace by something else growing inside me to replace it."

Twilight bit her lip for a second ... before puffing out her breath and stating plainly. "Starlight? The lab you encountered wasn't the property of Star Swirl the Bearded but a dark wizard of terrible prowess."

Starlight blinked in confusion, "Wait, you mean it belonged to King Sombra?"

The alicorn shook her head in the negative, "No. It belonged to a ram mage named Grogar, and he was the one responsible for disappearing both Hoofhousen and Star Swirl's expedition."

"Then, that means--!?" Starlight choked the second the implications filtered through.

Twilight's mien took a grimness to it that did not fit such a normally cheerful mare like her. "I have now plenty of answers that explain why you were so broken before when we first met ... and lots of questions with no answer. Starlight? The alicorn looked at her fellow unicorn to the eyes, "It is quite frankly a wonder that you survived with your heart relatively intact in spite of having taken such an exposure to a power that is poisonous to ponies."

INSERT LINE HERE

"This is quite the setback." Grandmaster Onyx Horn stated dryly to his fellow order members sitting at the table. "What is stuck up in my throat is the fact that we happened upon another anti-alicorn conspiracy." At this point, Onyx Horn's namesake crackled with magic as he roared, stomping on the stone table and shocking the hell out of everypony sitting as the table's surface cracked and melted. "Or more accurately, stumbled as green-hooved imbeciles upon their own plotting, denying us the chance of grabbing our prey!"

He pointed his hoof at one of the hooded equines, and snarled at him, "Obsidian Sight! You're our spymaster, how did this conspiracy to kill our needed sacrificial victims escape your informant and spy network!?"

The hooded pony shivered under the malignant glare pointed his way and stumbled upon his words. "S-sire, our network focused on the movement of the alicorn royals and everypony related to them! All to make it easier for our agents to subdue and retrieve them unspoilt! None kept watch on the noble houses under the alicorn's hooves, for all loudly swore fealty to them!" Obsidian Sight, after his breathless explanation stopped to take a breath.

And was cut off by one of his fellow order members.

"Grandmaster," Charcoal Hex interjected. "What will be our orders moving forward? Since now? The Sisters will be baying for blood at this point." She raised an invisible eyebrow from within her own hood. "What? Do you all not expect our glorious order members to be mixed in alongside those lunatics seeking to deny us our due? Especially," she paused for dramatic effect causing Onyx Horn to roll his eyes at her, "Since they captured several of the equines we employed through third parties? And a couple low-ranked members of ours?"

The rest of the hooded order members began yelling at each other at the implication she left hanging.

Implications that Onyx Horn cut off at the knees.

"The few who know of our existence are geas'd to avoid speaking of our Order, if anything I expect for them to claim that they were mere errand boys for some of our rival noble houses."

"Just like the Patricians?"

A beat of silence was the answer, before it was filled once more.

"Hmm ... perhaps a different rival noble house would be best." Onyx Horn stated before focusing on Charcoal Hex. "See to it that a friendly lawyer reaches our wayward members and reach a ... less hazardous story weaved to abuse the mercy of the Sisters, because I have the feeling ... ."

Onyx Horn stood up--followed shortly by everypony else present, noticing that their meeting was cut short--and grimly added, "That mercy will be in short supply for all those mercenaries who came up and burned our city."

'And once I learn who they are ... I'll be sacrificing them first, even if the ritual is worthless with them.' He spitefully added within his mind as they all left their meeting chamber.

Enough trouble would be to keep the Dreamwalker deceived with the dreams of others as it stood!

The coats of the two earth ponies wandering through the logging grounds within the edges of the Everfree rose up as the ubiquitous bird song stilled, the winds died out, and even all sounds felt as if muffled through pillows.

"Gouge, something's not right with these woods these days." A burly earth pony with a saw as his cutie mark remarked as he approached their woodcutting patch, followed by his fellow woodsponies.

Gouge, another burly earth pony--though he was somewhat shorter in comparison to his colleague--shook his thick eyebrows and snorted ... before staying still in the middle of the path. "Nahw that ye mention it, Sawdust ... something's triggering mah running instincts something wicked."

A younger-looking, much less burly earth pony interjected, this one owning the cutie mark of a ruler and pencil, with his much younger and less grizzled voice.

"Isn't the Everfree always triggering our running instincts something fierce?"

At the distance from their spot, they could still hear Ponyville's inhabitants roaming to and fro, many singing, many greeting their neighbors before moving with their lives.

The path deep within the woods slowly showed up movement--which caused the two leaders of the lumberjacking crew to tense up, an action shortly followed by the rest of the ponies.

Saws, hammers, axes, all were readied as their senses were stretched thin--

Only for a zebra mare that they all knew to show up ... followed by deerfolk of all creatures.

"Hmm? Zecora?" Gouge rumbled inquisitively, "What brings you out of these woods--with friends, too?"

"We need to talk with your leader. Fast." The older, more elaborately adorned male one spoke out. "The magic of the Everfree has turned hostile to everycreature living inside."

"Really?" the younger earth pony doubtfully interjected, "'Cause I for one don't see any difference with how it usually is."

"Cutting Measure, pay attention for once instead of moving along like a cart downhill!" Sawdust barked down his younger coworker, "Don't you see? Or more precisely ... hear?"

Cutting Measure and plenty of his younger colleagues paid attention to the woods ... and barely heard the wind rustling the branches, fallen leaves, and the bushes.

No matter how much they rustled.

"Now that you mention it ... isn't it too quiet?"

"Everycreature that could has already fled, and our people are running as we speak towards this spot." The smaller deerfolk stated, her stately feminine voice removing doubt as to her gender.

"Hold on ... ." Cutting Measure interrupted abruptly. "From which part of the Everfree you hail from?"

"The heart of it. And it now hates us ... to the point where all fruit-bearing bushes, trees, and plants have all but died in front of our eyes." The male deer retorted coldly--only to be interrupted by the howls and cacophonous roars of beasts that they'd normally run from?

Brutally silenced by one soul-chilling howl.

All of them, from the deerfolk that made their way of life within the woods, to the woodsmen, up to the animals that inhabited the forest, knew what a timberwolf looked like.

More importantly, they knew their howls.

All of them at one point or another had the misfortune of running into them.

Quit a few had been witnesses to an Ursa Minor accompanied by their mother once, as they fought a hydra.

Those roars?

Something within the woods silenced both Ursa and timberwolves.

And its howl was chilling, for it promised brutality in death.

The howl repeated, this time full of hatred.

From the shadows of the forest a rush of deerfolk, cockatrices, manticores, bears, and many other creatures that would normally keep to themselves ran out of the forest towards the fields surrounding Ponyville.

And ignored the screaming ponies that saw the zoological tide coming their way.

They all looked at one another.

The youngest one among them gulped, "We ... we better start running too." Gulped again, "And fast!"

The howls that resonated from the depths of the forest were full of malice ... and slowly increasing in number, as if it were a chorus of Tartarus-born demons from the deepest pits that dark place could spawn.

With shaky nods from everyone still standing in place, they too took to running to town--too late to warn of the animal stampeded that broke market stalls to the screams of horror of all the ponies present, but still not late enough to warn that something wicked, their way comes.