Author's Note

Will have to think of a way to portray different fonts, as FIMFIC seems to be picky about it.

Darn it.

PS: Updated with edited version - has some improvements over previous one. =D

Summoning Dark (Edited by AuthorGenesis)

Friendship Castle, Ponyville. 5:11 a.m.

Luna’s vigil and her sister’s rest were cut short again by the sudden awakening of their young friend, who rose quickly—as if in a hurry.

Raising her eyebrow, Luna asked the anxious mare “Twilight, is anything the matter?”

She squeaked at Luna’s question, only to answer in distress “I know why the spell brought all of us together—but there’s no time! It must be performed at the moment you lower the moon and Princess Celestia raises the sun!”

Twilight then proceeded to gently nuzzle Celestia’s neck, making her groan “It’s too early … .”

“Celestia …? I’m sorry, but we barely have time to gather everypony to go to the Tree of Harmony—”

This caused her eyelids to snap open.

“Twilight? What is going on?” Celestia asked, focusing on her former pupil as she rose from the bed.

Twilight simply answered, “I had a dream with the dream-mare again … and she showed me something very important—along with a spell to summon a legend to us.”

At her boggled expression, she replied “I’ll explain on the way!” as she teleported out of the room.

The sisters just turned to look at one another before teleporting as well.

Between the urgency of the awakening, the weirdness present on that day—because of the presence of the diarchs, who were helping in bringing them all together—the ponies gathered at the castle’s entrance, with tension rising between them as they were teleported in a rush towards the edge of town while it was still dark ... caused all of the ponies concerned—and one draconequus and dragon—to hastily chomp on apples brought on by Applejack to curb their sleepiness and nervousness as they waited for their friend and family member to explain.

“Let me get this straight … ” Rainbow Dash drawled between yawns, “That map thing summoned all of us to summon this … past hero of harmony or something?”

Without turning, Twilight replied, “Yes, I think that is what I just explained so far.”

Rainbow answered to that, “Couldn’t your spell work at a better time? I’m losing precious shut-eye here!” before yawning again, glaring softly at her friend—while everyone else just munched on the proffered apples to ward off the feeling of sleeplessness.

Twilight replied cooly while arranging the mass teleporting spell with the diarchs. “Sorry Rainbow, and everypony—but this was something nopony could’ve planned” she then muttered “no matter how much I tried to” before adding brightly “Just imagine this! An Alicorn stallion that has been around since before there was an Equestria!” Twilight’s eyes almost sparkled as she gushed forth a torrent of words that flew over most of the sleepy ponies’ minds, plenty related to “A witness to history!”, “What has he lived?”, “What has he been doing this entire time!”

All this being observed by the drowsy ponies with bemused looks on their faces at the enthusiasm being shown by the young princess … .

… Right before Luna interrupted her bookwormish gushing by simply calling her attention to the task at hand.

“Twilight Sparkle, Cadance … please assist us in powering up this teleport spell so we can get ready.”

As Twilight sheepishly went into her place, Cadance just nodded with determination as she went into her place, next to Celestia—right before their horns started glowing.

“So, when are we—” Starlight started speaking before disappearing—

—And reappearing in a chamber most sacred, with a relic in the shape of a crystal tree.

“—moving into the—Oh?” She finished with her mouth open from the sight of the Tree of Harmony in front of them, it glowing from within with power and magic.

All of the ponies stared in awe at the living relic that gave the same feeling that the Castle of Friendship had—one of loving friendship, the warmth that comes from being warmly welcomed as you are, of acceptance and care.

Few seconds passed before Twilight Velvet sniffed and blinked a few tears away, just like her husband and many of the ponies present that haven’t seen or heard of the living relic in their entire lives.

Flurry Heart also stared at the Tree, eyes wide in awe as her mouth was slightly open from her mother’s back.

“Is … Is it just me, or is it welcoming us?” Twilight Velvet asked while her husband nuzzled her tenderly.

“It may just be doing that, dear. I can feel it too.” He added as he tried to pretend he wasn’t tearing up from the strong emotional impact emanating from the relic, sniffling too.

“Twilight” Celestia called warmly. “Please set us all into place, so we can perform the summoning spell together.”

Nodding at once with determination and a large part of glee, a piece of chalk appeared in one flash of magic as she squeed—right before she went to work, at an insane speed.

All the assembled ponies, dragon and draconequus, just stared at the celerity by which Twilight Sparkle drew a very intricate drawing all over the floor - with places named after each of the ones present … and cutie marks crudely drawn on top of each name.

Discord drew a stopwatch from his fur and stared at it with wide eyes, commenting “Aaand she breaks a new record!” before throwing the stopwatch over his back with a deadpan face.

As the blast dissipated from the explosive time watch, the Princess of Friendship cleared her throat to gather everyone’s attention.

“Everypony! I thank all of you with all my heart, that you’ve come to help me prevent what might be a horrible fate!” She started as everyone raised their ears towards her, looking at her in the eyes.

Swallowing a bit of her nervousness, she continued “Today we will be summoning a great hero from ancient times; the maker of the Prison of Tartarus itself—not to mention defender of Harmony itself before there was Equestria! A certainly powerful and honorable individual … one I believe we could learn a lot from if he speaks the same language as us … ”

She waved her hoof as if it was inconsequential.

“Well … that is the reason I have just prepared a translation spell, just in case!” She added with a smile and confident attitude as she raised her hoof.

Everyone chuckled at that, hearts warming up just from that—their beloved bookworm was back to her old self.

“Well, everypony! Get into your positions according to the diagram I chalked to the floor!” Twilight exclaimed with excitement as everyone present took their places—while Twilight Sparkle placed herself opposite Luna, and Cadance placed herself opposite Celestia … and the Tree itself being the unspoken fifth source of magic.

Flurry Heart remained with Shining Armor as their place was together, almost as—

—As if it were pre-planned to take the young alicorn’s age into account, leaving her with her father to look out for her.

When everyone; including Discord; got into place, the Cutie Mark Crusaders next to their sisters/sister figure, Twilight’s parents flanking Shining Armor and Flurry Heart on both sides, and the four alicorns positioned in relation to one another … Twilight’s horn started to glow with intensity.

At first, nothing happened … and the ponies started to look at the second-youngest alicorn as she kept her eyes closed in focus, her horn starting to glow brighter from the strain—

—Only for everyone present to feel a large pressure building over them, as a sudden sense of tiredness started to erode their strength—making them grit their teeth from the strain.

Twilight’s horn soon was followed by her fellow alicorns—right as a large magical matrix of an intricate design bearing the Tree of Harmony in its middle started to form.

Theorems, magical equations, descriptions of thaumaturgic flows, and glyphs started to show themselves from thin air as everyone present felt the strain of the effort—Flurry Heart included, though her horn wasn’t shining as brightly as her parents’.

As the magical spell consolidated, the pegasi and earth ponies present started to feel the pressure as well, joining their fellow unicorns and alicorns in the power-feeding challenge ahead of them.

“‘C’mon … just a little more … .” Rainbow Dash said to herself as her wings and hoofs were glowing intensely, as Applejack’s hooves and body glowed in both magic and sweat from the focused effort.

“ … Twi?” Applejack asked through gritted teeth and eyes closed, “How … much …”

They didn’t notice the spell changing its drawing until the bright, white light flowing outwards the drawings started to change in color towards dark red.

At this point, it was Rarity the one that spoke out loud with a gasp.

“Everypony? Why’s the spell changing?”

Everyone opened their eyes at once and saw how the previously glowing white matrix was being assimilated into the design of the one that they had heard so much about … it starting to turn red and the design changing slowly but certainly.

As some of the ponies fell to their knees due to the strain, the drawing started to resemble more and more the design of a sword with the Tree of Harmony as its guard and part of the blade.

“ … Twi … light … ” Celestia requested through gritted teeth, “ … cut … the spell … ”, as her horn started to glow with a third layer of brightness, just like her fellow princesses and the unicorns present.

Twilight, internally panicking at the prospect of yet another spell failing on her hooves, made an attempt to cut off the flow from her horn—and failed.

This didn’t come unnoticed by everyone present, as they stared in shock how the spell started to glow as if in fire—

—and two figures appeared from the flames, one rushing the other.

Both were bipedal, and yet the smaller one looked like a minotaur child while the taller one—

“—out of the way!” The taller one exclaimed as he rushed towards the child, and everypony present noticed that he was wearing a leather apron, cotton pants, and leather boots … .

Said minotaur child just stared at them slack-jawed, while the spell remained in operation.

“Is … is he the Warden that Princess Celestia told us about?!” Scootaloo whispered in a panic to Rainbow Dash, who looked ready to strike the Warden if he moved.

The tall individual turned, making the already nervous Celestia and Luna gasp from the shock … as his antennae-like locks on front and the braid on his back, as well as his very familiar, and human-like features revealed fully who was in front of them.

Ignoring the ponies at first glance—his eyes widened, pupils shrinking down—as he looked at Discord, who looked just as shocked from this unexpected turn of events.

The Warden softly asked, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing while in the middle of things, mouthing silently “ … Galeas?” only to change his face in an instant, roaring in defiance “You will not take my granddaughter too, you animals!” as he placed himself in the way to protect the young minocalf, before crumpling on his knees with a cry of pain—magical cracks appearing on his body, caused from the unknown properties from the spell that dragged him over to their presence quickly spreading over his body.

“Grandpa!” the minotaur child that they now knew was female rushed towards the Warden as he panted, looking in surprise at the cracks showing light in his arms and body.

“ … Agria … Tell them what happened today … ”, The Warden muttered, before starting a cantrip that caused magic started to focus in an independent magical matrix beneath the young minocow’s hooves.

“Grandpa! Don’t—!” She screamed in panic as white flames consumed her—sending her back home … leaving the human in front of the conclave of ponies … and stared at the Tree of Harmony.

At first, his eyes were of shock, then they went dull from the implication of what had just happened, as he said softly: “ … So you betrayed me in the end … ”

As the human muttered his final words, the spell keeping his current shape collapsed in a bright explosion of light and magic … leaving behind, to the shock of all ponies present when they finally got their eyes cleared up from the flash … a light brown-coated Alicorn stallion, whose dark brown mane was made up in the same style as his previous form, all coated in some kind of black grime that exuded black magic and an evil aura, while his body frame was slightly larger than Celestia’s own when compared.

Blinking once the flash cleared his sight, he opened his large, brown eyes with streaks of red in the irises again … and fixed his sight on the six figures shining like the rainbow—all focusing a massive amount of magic—before quickly unleashing all of it against him.

He, as if knowing all was lost … simply closed his eyes as the Rainbow Power struck him while he was on his knees.

White light filled everyone’s eyes as the magic did its work—before a shockwave threw everyone back, with the stallion floating like a stringless puppet from the thaumaturgical whirlwind being generated—

—And several shades of what looked like humans of every kind and variety leaving his body, along with plenty of skeletal entities, demons, dragons and phantoms, all shooting upwards—ignoring the rock and crystal above them as they rose into the sky.

When the storm calmed down, they were met with silence … and a prone figure laid on the cold floor, barely breathing.

Four days have passed since the arrest of the comatose Warden—a biological Alicorn, according to the studies done to his body—where he was placed under heavy guard within the Royal Barrack’s Medical Warden, magic horn-sealers in the shape of horn-rings, hoof-clamps with magical seals, and wing-clamps with even more magical wards, placed upon his wings in order to prevent any incidents.

Life moved on for everyone, as tremors started to shake the country—a first for the ponies since arriving at Equestria, and a source of fear for everypony on the ground due to its sudden appearance.

All of the ponies were discussing the reasons for the quakes, yet only a few took them seriously enough … .

Undisclosed Location, Restricted Area.

Hour: Censored.

Within a cavernous place where dark stone melted into shadows, flickering by the finicky crystal lighting system installed on the natural walls … several cloaked individuals gathered around a circular stone table, torches placed strategically so no one could see the other’s face—including spies and scrying spells.

‘It always pays off to be careful.’ Thought the head of the gathering as he looked at his fellow members of their group … and rose his voice to be heard. “The gathering of the Brotherhood of the Eternal Ones is now in session.” The tenor and silky voice called loud enough for the other members to become quiet. “As you know from the latest report, we have several agents infiltrated within Castle Canterlot and Castle of Friendship, playing the part of loyal guards for the cursed alicorns. Ebon Rage, what is the status on the infiltration of the Crystal Empire?”

One of the cloaks cleared her throat before speaking out in a sweet, soprano voice that betrayed little of what was inside her. “Progress is slow, Grand Master Onyx Horn.” After a moment’s silence, she added with barely contained fury, “Between the demands from the Prince Consort, the crystal ponies’ character dead set against our magnificent values, and the cursed influence of both Spike the Dragon and the Princess of Love … we haven’t been able to recruit to our cause from within their society.”

She then cleared her throat once again. “Of course, all that have been targeted for recruitment were mind-wiped the moment they refused, in order to prevent inquiries. It is, to my belief, wiser to take over by military force rather than recruitment. King Sombra managed to do it … by himself. Why can’t we replicate his success?”

Another cloaked figure grumbled as his horn jutted out, glowing briefly as he teleported a cup and a wine bottle from a nearby, almost hidden pantry next to them. “Because unlike him, we have no access to the source of magic that he mastered … The Sword of Darkness; the symbol of the Warden … and the true source of Dark magic.”

Slurping gentlemanly from his cup of wine, he added “Of course, if we were to find out whether his source was the Warden, or a different kind altogether … we could then find out a way to raise ourselves beyond our prisons of flesh and blood … and straight into the path of ascension beyond alicornhood … into real godhood.”

Another cloaked figure sniffed loudly before saying “Of course you’d say that, Noir Agony. The issue is, in fact, the former Bearers of Harmony—two mongrel earth ponies, two traitorous unicorns, two worthless pegasi—and one of those unicorn filth-bloods rewarded for being such a good pet to the worthless diarchy.” He then sniffed again before adding “We and our forces are more than a match—especially if we focus on slaying the Bearers—”

The leader of the group interrupted at this point bluntly.

“Davy’s Torment, your point has been made—but so far it works against us. We need them alive for now,” he waved his hoof before taking a breath, before continuing to say, “until then, we will focus our efforts on finding the key to open the Chamber of Ceremonies that the Warden left behind—that is the only clue that we have from Sombra’s archives before they,” he spat at the word, ”retrieved them and locked them inside the Royal Vault.”

Onyx Horn turned to the table, and asked with iron in his voice, “Now … The report on our … allies. Charcoal Hex,” the unicorn nodded slightly, “… you may proceed.”

The cloaked unicorn replied with a haughty tone “The feather-brains think themselves to be using us for their own profit, and fail to realize,” he snickered mockingly before continuing, “that they are the ones serving us as scapegoats and errand-colts.”

Onyx Horn nodded in understanding. “Are they suspicious of us?” He asked neutrally, already knowing the answer.

Charcoal Hex snickered loudly before answering with “No. Those useless pegasi will not see this coming.”

The leader of the meeting was going to continue, but was distracted by what sounded … quick hoofsteps?

Coming in, right after he chose to keep quiet, a messenger ran into the meeting room, panting—and went straight into Onyx Horn’s seating, and whispered in his ear: “ … Sire! I bring dire news … The Gates of Tartarus are starting to dissolve!”

This caused the entire room to break in an uproar as they heard the whispered message.

“This is … highly irregular.” Coffee Ripper commented to himself as the other members of the group were claiming the news as ‘preposterous tripe’.

For Onyx Horn, though … this unexpected news bodes poorly, as he thought quickly how to turn this in his favor, all while sweating from the implications of the emergency message they received from the Royal Guard Tartarus Unit, who were posted in the vicinity of Tartarus. ‘Our current plans relied on that prison staying shut—We’ll have to see how this plays out in the mid-term if they break down.’

He stared off into the darkness as the cloaked ponies bickered with one another … and wondered to himself: ‘I wonder how the alicorns are handling this unfortunate news.’

Princess Celestia, Solar Diarch, the main figure in Equestrian politics and administration ... was silently looking at the scroll that was handed to her.

A special messenger from the Tartarus Unit had just arrived with an urgent report—right on the time when the meeting with the House of Nobles, where there was a meeting concerning the revoking of the laws discriminating against non-ponies … was in progress.

And thus, Celestia’s attempt at revoking those ancient laws that betrayed all that Equestria represented stayed in place for the near future—for the joy of a small but influential faction of nobles that wanted a purer, pony-only Equestria … and the discomfited grunts of the rest of the House of Nobles that wanted those archaic laws gone—along with several taxes threatening some of their sources of income.

Dismissing the court due to the scrolls’ priority, Celestia rose and left the building with a teleporting spell, flashing brightly before disappearing, and taking with her the messenger that delivered the scroll.

Among the nobles, a few wondered … .

What could have happened, to cause their beloved ruler to cut a meeting she had been pushing into schedule for the last year?

A few others knew already what were the contents contained inside said scroll and simply kept their ears and eyes open, waiting … .

Meanwhile, inside Ponyville’s Castle of Friendship … a silent princess tried to distract herself from the feelings gnawing at her heart, poring over scrolls that she couldn’t really pay attention to.

—“You will not take my granddaughter, you animals!” the Warden roared as he placed himself between the ponies and the minocalf before falling to his knees in pain … .

‘Did we do right in using the Rainbow Power on him without giving him the chance to speak? Did I do right by letting my fear for the well-being of my friends and family rule over me?’

—“Grandpa!” the minocow cried as she rushed to the Warden’s side … .

‘Who is he … ? A villain … ? A hero … ? A hero that fell into darkness … ?’

—“ … Agria … Tell them what happened today … ” The Warden muttered as his magic teleported her away … .

‘Why he didn’t try to fight us?’

—The Warden stared at the Tree of Harmony … muttering, “ ... So you betrayed me in the end …” beforechanging violently in shape … .

‘Betrayed him? Why say that to the Tree of Harmony of all things? Why did he sound so … hurt?’

—Blinking once the flash cleared his sight, he opened his eyes again and saw her and her friends shining like the rainbow—all focusing a massive amount of magic, before quickly unleashing all of it against him. He, as if knowing all was lost … simply closed his eyes as the Rainbow Power struck him while he was on his knees—

‘Why? Why can’t I shake this feeling off?’ Twilight asked herself as she tried to focus on the third volume of thaumaturgical flows by Clover—and shutting it close with a swift move, as she groaned from her lack of focus, and the chaos swirling around inside her mind and heart.

Groaning from her unexpected feelings, she set herself to go out … and have a walk around Ponyville to clear her thoughts—while being shadowed by the royal guards posted to keep her out of danger.

The Warden’s eyes flashed into Twilight’s memory as she walked to Sugarcube Corner—

—The Warden’s look at them before closing his eyes—eyes that actually lost their spark as the seconds went by, dulling off because of heartbreak and betrayal—

‘He felt like Tirek and Sombra—then why did he behave as he did!? He doesn’t make sense!’

Twilight had to know for certain … .

—They were standing in front of the still Warden. Whereas at the beginning he slightly surpassed Princess Celestia in size and musculature … after being purged of the black substance covering him by the Rainbow Power … he was reduced to a size equal to Macintosh Apple, signs of malnutrition and starting signs of muscle atrophy, being the most notorious in his reduced state, fur grayed out as his cutie mark that depicted The Dark Sword looking almost erased.

The feeling of wrongness, wickedness, and evil that was emanating from him so far was gone in an instant … .

… And the feelings filling the Chamber of the Tree of Harmony changed at this outcome, filling with grief not of their own hearts at what happened.

None was certain it was due to the words actually affecting the Tree—unlikely as it seemed—or if it was due to another reason they didn’t know about.

One thing was for certain.

Two completely different figures were one and the same—and was defeated in front of their eyes without any struggle.

Relief could be seen in all of their faces—all but Twilight, Discord and the other Princesses—as they spoke in confidence after a long time of sorrow from Twilight’s vision.

“Now we don’t need to worry about that jerk coming after us!” Rainbow bragged as she took Scootaloo with her into a celebratory flight, the filly squealing in delight at their victory.

Both Apples, though—they looked uncomfortable at what they had just witnessed, and for good reason.

Rarity and Sweetie Belle just hugged one another, as if bathed deeply in relief at having the one threatening their existence defeated.

The same went for everypony else, as Spike went to Twilight and placed a claw on her foreleg in support—

As Twilight ate a cupcake while sitting at a table nearby the counter of the bakery, she asked herself ‘Could I have handled things differently? Why am I feeling guilty at beating him, a veritable threat to all of us? But why, why didn’t he fight back?’

Making up her mind, her face changed into a resolute one.

‘Tomorrow morning I’ll write to Celestia, she will surely know what to make of this.’ She thought to herself as she went to do her chores back into the castle, with the guards tailing her at a distance.

Royal Barracks, Medical Ward.

Intensive Care Unit.

Restricted Area under Royal order.

“Doctor Healing Hoof, has the prisoner shown signs of consciousness yet?” Princess Luna—clad in the same ICU uniform as the medical personnel working within the unit—inquired as one of the medics, who was a gray-coated, mint maned unicorn stallion with white streaks in his mane, whose cutie mark was of a stethoscope crossed with a syringe and a scalpel. To finish the look, this medical officer was wearing glasses, a cloth mask, robe, and stethoscope with cloth hoof shoes—while attending the still body of a particular stallion along with two nurses, all the time checking his vitals with both his magic and the medical devices attached to his body.

The medic shook his head as he approached the ruler of the Night. “No, Princess Luna.” He cleaned his glasses with his robe before continuing, “he’s suffering acute hypothaumic shock, along with what seems like long-term malnutrition and skeleto-muscular malformations on his wings—probably self-inflicted, giving him an abnormal range of movement at the cost of the ability to fly.”

The stallion snorted as he caught sight of the platoon of heavily armed Royal Guards clogging the restricted section of the ICU medical ward before removing the file of the patient dubbed “Stallion Doe” from the file cart.

Opening it, he kept speaking with Luna while writing his observations in the paper with his telekinesis. “From the report you sent us concerning this stallion in front of us, we can say for sure that he’s been … sucked dry of his innate magic—similar to Tirek’s rampage, only this one didn’t get his power back. There is always the chance that he may wake up someday, but he’ll be nothing but a shadow of his former self.”

Luna sighed in relief … only to ask again “Are you certain? He’s been shown to be capable of handling dark magic of terrifying scale.”

The stallion just stared at the Moon Princess.

“There is a spark of dark magic funneling into him dark magic that we are currently incapable of either excising, purging, sealing or cleansing, now that you mention it … but his body seems to be converting that into normal Harmony magic,” he explained as he jotted down more notes before adding, “we have him on enteral feeding since that is the only thing his body has readily accepted—all efforts to give him a magic infusion have ended with his body purging the infused magic.” He nudged his head towards a wall that had a severe burn mark. “That was our last attempt in the early morning.”

He then turned to face the lunar diarch, and asked politely “Princess Luna? Why is the Royal House keeping this unknown stallion under arrest? I’d have guessed you’d welcome him like a long-lost family member, not treat him like an enemy.” He observed Luna’s reaction to his question, which had caught her by surprise.

“ … We had previously encountered him under a different form that he preferred to use, Doctor. He is, until proven otherwise, a threat—and I’ll do everything in my power to keep my ponies safe.” Luna stated with determination as her answer before adding, “Doctor? I’m going to report to my sister about his condition—and please forgive our decision to keep him under heavy guard, this surely is making everypony working here feel uneasy.”

She trotted out of the ICU, leaving a thoughtful doctor behind as he placed the file he was writing on back on its cart.

Minos Alliance, capital city of Garreus.

Council of Elders,

Four days after Iron Ash’s disappearance.

An emergency meeting had been hastily programmed after the ruler of the Minos Alliance—King Grimara Steel Gauntlet—had been informed about the abduction of one of the most important individuals inside his multi-cultural, multi-specie alliance and nation … by a crying minocalf and her broken-hearted family.

The ponies kidnapped with magic one of their major secrets of state, as well as one of their most important characters … one that had done plenty for the sake of the Alliance … .

The immortal entity known as Iron Ash, grand hero of the fight against the dragon raids of Grenbin, neighbor city of the city-state of Cairn Niall … and one of five hundred survivors that saw the destruction of the mountain city a few days later after the battle against the dragons, all at the hands of Equestrians that tried to hunt him down, before they were given sanctuary into the Minotaur city-state of Grenbin—now called Garreus.

‘What is to stop them from doing the same to the rest of us?’ Thought the King grimly as he witnessed the chaos unfolding inside the meeting grounds, while his court flanked him around his seat.

“I can’t believe this! The ponies dared to put their filthy hooves on our own beloved Eldest Member from the Chamber of Elders!? How dare they!?” An elderly and spry minotaur roared in outrage as the rest of the elders were voicing their displeasure very loudly.

“We were warned by him a few hundred years ago—right after the wipeout of Cairn Niall—that the ponies wouldn’t rest until they saw him either dead, buried, or sealed along with everyone he met … and look at what happened four days ago!?” Roared one of the members, this one a changeling queen of golden chitin and heavy wing covers over her thick, stout frame. She raised her hoof in rage as she roared “The Diarchs used their wardogs they call the Elements of Harmony to sequester him from our nation! They are a threat that needs to be dealt with—lest we are taken by them and conquered, if not annihilated by their cowardly soldiers!”

King Grimara just rubbed his bovine face in a show of impatience—one that caused all of the chamber’s members to go silent … right as he raised his gauntleted hand.

“A message has been sent to our Ambassador residing within Canterlot limits … along with a message for Iron Ash, should he still be alive,” announced one of the court members surrounding the King, before continuing, “while this is indeed dire news, we hope it is all a misunderstanding—there are events unfolding within Equestrian borders, and we can’t ignore those events.”

“What can be more important than our own living national treasure, guide and benefactor!?” Roared another elder from the council, this one appeared to be a very ugly, wrinkled and tiny diamond dog, his appearance at odds with his loud, rumbling voice.

“… According to our spies within Canterlot, an unknown party is preparing to destroy the Equestrian government and go on a campaign of conquest against all non-pony nations surrounding Equestria,” another member of the King’s court, a minocow with heavy armor and a helm portraying her status as Intelligence Commander announced with a resolute voice, “war will mean that one of our business partners—and all our other clients surrounding them—will be in peril due to power-hungry mad ponies pushing for all out war.”

“The ponies can drown for all I care! They still keep their antiquated rules against all non-equine races despite our insistence that such things go against their so-called “Harmony”!” Another minotaur elder called out loudly, to the cheering of many of the members present. “All of us have been trained in the same arts of war that our Eldest went through! Their magic is no longer a concern!”

“Not to mention the armors that he trained our metalsmiths to produce nowadays … and the ones our finest make in the King’s Forges—works of art for the defense of others!” Cheered another elder—another minocow with whitening gray fur—as she hugged the zebra next to her in her cheer.

Said zebra spoke out loud, saying “Fellow Elders, let us not make hasty decisions when overrun by emotions! We all care for our Eldest, but his wish would be for us to do what is right, no matter the cost—that is what will mark the difference: we welcome those that have anything to share with others, and have learned that each other’s strength is our strength as well! If the ponies don’t learn, then it will be upon their heads—but we will be without guilt!” before taking back his seat, next to the elderly minocow and his fellow zebra attendants.

“This will also mean that Equestria, which is our breadbasket, is in grave danger of suffering losses that will translate into famine for those that rely upon its production—us for one, and don’t forget the neighboring nations that rely on the Equestrians for food as well, which are our customers. Thus, it is imperative to secure the stability of their rulers against this threat.” King Grimara spoke out loud, taking advantage of a lull in silence from the bickering elders, who went quiet at that admission from their king.

“Are this reports on that conspiracy accurate?” Inquired an elderly griffon with a powerful voice, feathers dulled because of age—yet keeping keen and bright eyes, and a body as tough as his voice hidden beneath the wrinkles.

Another minotaur from the King’s entourage answered politely “The scryers are certain, but the ones doing this are keen in keeping themselves hidden, so far they haven’t been able to actually locate the commanders, not to mention the intellectual leaders of this speciesist faction.”

The King stated out loud, causing the entire chamber to go quiet: “Due to the Eldest’ wish to remain a state secret to keep the rest of us from harm, the ponies in all likelihood didn’t know about his status within our nation—that will work to our advantage.”

A green-furred, aged female centaur inquired at this point, “Your Highness? What is it you’re proposing?”

King Grimara didn’t turn to see at the centaur elder, just saying “They took our best Risk Breaker—the Grand Master Breaker, out of all people—I say we add another message for our ambassador to give to Iron Ash … our requests for him to perform while inside Equestrian borders, to be specific.”

The entire chamber went silent … until the same elder diamond dog stated out loud “ … Your Highness? Isn’t that overkill for those weaklings? He already despises them, this surely will grind on his patience to no end.”

“He will understand … especially since doing nothing will endanger everyone else.” The King finalized as he rose from his seat along with the rest of his court. “Spread the word—we are entering yellow state of emergency at this point. We will be ready for anything that comes.”

With that said, the elders’ voices roused into a roar at the King’s command as he left the premises.

Two days have passed since Princess Celestia received the report concerning the status of the Seals of Tartarus—and feeling dread as to the reason why, considering what her sister had just shared with her when they had their meal together.

‘Could it be possible that the Warden’s power was feeding into the seal, keeping it whole? Was it a security measure we didn’t know about? Or was it a last-ditch effort to get back at us?’

To make matters worse, in a matter of minutes she would be receiving the visit from the ambassador for the Minos Alliance, a minotaur named Silver Gauntlet, along with his entourage.

‘So far, he’s shown little interest in our affairs—besides aiming to remove those ancient laws regarding species’ rights to improve relations between our nations … why request an emergency meeting with me now of all days?’

Princess Celestia received her answer fifteen minutes later, when Ambassador Gauntlet arrived to the meetings room—carefully protected with spells crafted straight into the walls, windows and doors to prevent both attacks and espionage.

Unlike previous times, he was wearing a body-covering robe that did little to hide the mass of muscle behind him, and was holding a messenger’s sack on one hand.

Normally one of his subordinates did the grunt work. Right now, he was flanked by two heavily armored minotaurs—swords still in sheaths, and yet their hands resting on the pommels—ready for anything.

‘Why did they come like that?’ Celestia pondered as she watched the large minotaur take his sit, placing the messenger’s sack on top of the table.

So far, she had known the serene and patient minotaur as one who was interested in the path of the least resistance. Right now, though … his face was grim, eyes burning in rage as he opened the sack he was carrying, and carefully laid the rolled scrolls he pulled out on the table.

‘What could have happened to have made such a gentlecolt mad? … And his guards are angry as well?’

Without any preamble, he started talking in his grave, basso voice with barely contained anger—which surprised the Princess.

“Two days ago we received a report concerning the kidnapping of one of our most illustrious citizens at the hands of Equestrian ponies—to wit: one of the most respected members of our Council of Elders.”

This caught Princess Celestia by surprise, as she asked wide-eyed “Ponies did this?”

The grim minotaur just nodded curtly.

“His name is Iron Ash, and he has served as an Advisor to the Minos Alliance for the longest time—as such, he’s privy to state secrets that would be paid in gold by those who despise what our Alliance represents.”

“How—how was he foalnapped?” Celestia inquired softly, as her ears were splayed on her head at listening to this.

Clearing his throat, he said “According to the report we received from the witnesses, he was taken out of his home during lunch—along with a minor. The minor returned shortly after, but was in hysterics.”

Celestia’s irises shrunk at that mention—remembering that minotaur foal that the Warden teleported back.

“The funny thing is, Princess of the Sun … according to the witness, four of the foalnappers were ponies that had both wings and horns.” He glared at the now suddenly nervous alicorn, “Where. Is. Our. Eldest?”

At that moment a trail of smoke entered through the open window, and ended up in front of the Princess—where it transformed into a scroll with a very familiar seal and wording.

‘Oh Twilight—Why now of all times!?’

As she smiled apologetically at the angry minotaur, another quake shook the entire city—only this time, instead of protests and complains, silence greeted them … and the early morning light was rendered darker … .

The princess and the ambassador exchanged glances as they waited for the quake to recede … and moved carefully towards the windowsill, where they gaped at the sight.

Floating in the middle of the air, dark clouds gathering all over the Everfree … a Magical matrix projected into it with purple and red lighting the size of the forest itself, judging by the skewed look it had of its drawing—which from the window couldn’t be perceived. Princess Celestia made a mental note to send some pegasi to make a drawing of the phenomenon.

Only for several other scrolls to start materializing out of smoke on the vicinity of Celestia, forcing her to say politely “Ambassador Gauntlet? I think we will have to meet again, after this is dealt with.”

The minotaur simply nodded as he stared at the phenomena being displayed in front of him … right before leaving, thinking to himself: ‘The King and the Council must learn of these events!’

Things were going poorly at the Crystal Empire, as the ponies were panicking over the sudden appearance of a massive magical matrix which encompassed the whole city’s skyscape.

So far, neither Sunburst, Starlight, and the Crystal Guards sent to aid them—those who had scholarly tendencies—had been able to find out why … even after scouring the entire contents of the library and appealing to Sunburst’s privileged memory of all the contents inside.

“Why is this magic matrix appearing here of all places!?” Starlight said in panic, mane becoming more and more frazzled as they kept poring over spell books, grimoires, and tomes of magic.

“From what I can tell, Starlight … It looks almost like a seal. But never in my life have I seen this design being used!” Sunburst replied, as he analyzed the drawing he had made of the spellcraft on their sky.

Outside the library, Flash Sentry watched nervously upon the new sky that graced the city … and shivered just from watching it.

‘Of all the colors, why does it only use red and purple?’ he asked himself, trying to bring the guardstallion mentality to the front in order to control his fear.

The fear that something awful was going to happen to everypony.

The fear that his Twilight was going to suffer … and he didn’t even know where to start—besides waiting for the monster called Warden to awaken, and for him to reveal his plans … .

‘But why … why do I feel something’s wrong with this picture?’ He pondered with his trained mind as he listened to the bickering scholars and sagacious ponies inside the library he was helping to keep watch on.

His mind went into that day as he kept watch … .

… and found himself wondering:

‘If he’s such a monster … why remain behind and be captured? He could’ve left the minotaur filly behind, yet he didn’t.’

His inner-self started to seriously think … and there were too many inconsistencies with what he had heard and what he had seen.

‘Could a heartless monster care for others? Someone who was worse than Sombra, according to the Princesses?’ He pondered.

Right as he saw in his mind’s eye how the one they feared had in fact remained behind … and the look on his eyes as he realized the Tree of Harmony was there—supporting them in the execution of the spell that brought him there.

“ … So you betrayed me in the end …”

‘Those were the eyes of a heartbroken individual …’ Flash ruminated as he remembered the sheer amount of sorrow, betrayal and pain they showed.

‘ … It is no wonder why he lost the will to fight … with eyes expressive of a betrayal by a close friend or lover.’

Flash could only hope that the Warden’s state wasn’t related with this foreboding sensation coming from the new sky.

Meanwhile, at the Crystal Palace, things were not going well at the emergency meeting with the city elders, historians, and lore keepers. Princess Cadance and Prince Consort Shining Armor had bags under their eyes as the old coots continued their discussion without providing any real answers … .

“This must be an vengeance measure from King Sombra in case he fell!” One of the remaining magic specialists, one of the survivors from Sombra’s purge when he took over, stated with a huff and a voice that sounded nasally and masculinely high pitched.

“And I keep telling you, you old coot! This is not his style!” Another specialist, a crystal pony mare that looked good for her age yelled out at the smug expert.

As the more vocal scholars dueled for the high-ground, one of the oldest ones—a crystal pony mare named Hematite Geode, due to her dark coat and mane, with eyes which gazed upon each pony speaking, a trait that highlighted her intelligence, as well as the irises being an emerald green—just hummed in deep thought as she looked at the drawing the pegasi of the Crystal Guard had made of the magic matrix’s lines and symbols.

“ … So, we have nothing on this?” Shining Armor asked tiredly, making the room go silent as the scholars started to blush in embarrassment.

“It’s okay, Shiny. It was too much to hope, that this was somehow related to the Warden of the Dark that we captured a few days ago …” Cadance said before nuzzling her husband to comfort him—before hearing a gasp from the oldest mare in the room.

Hematite just stared at them with eyes wide open as she asked, her voice cracking “You—Your Highness? Did you say that you have captured the Warden of the Dark?”

The couple looked at each other, before turning to face the mare and nod at the same time, with the rest of the members in silence, waiting for her to continue.

“ … I remember, in my young days—when my beloved grandmother was alive—that she told me and my siblings her story of how the Crystal Empire came to be …”

At this point, some of the scholars scoffed in derision at listening to an old mares’ tale from one of their oldest—and in their humble opinion, the battiest—storytellers and historians.

Ignoring their scoffs, she continued narrating, as if from memory “… her grandmother told as to how, once upon a time—when the main tribe of earth ponies went south while we chose to go northwards—our leaders at the time had a vision: one of a plain covered in snow, but rich in wealth and food despite the cold, it being transformed in front of their very eyes into the city as it came to be.”

“How is an old mare’s tale going to help us!?” One of the scholars hissed—only to be hushed by the captive audience.

“And so they journeyed … to the place they thought they were meant to be … . But they found something else living here too … an entity that lived in the cold wasteland, who kept watch … who kept watch over this entire plain.”

She turned her face to meet the now muted audience as she added “… who then confronted the leaders at the time—Quartz Hope and Ruby Embrace … your ancestors, your Highness,” she said softly as Princess Cadance gasped at that, raising a hoof to the mouth from learning a little about her past in such a way, before the old mare continued, “who confronted the leaders along with the tribe as they settled in the plains—as to their intentions towards the land he was given to watch over … this being whom they came to know as The Warden of the Dark. He ordered the ponies to leave these frozen plains posthaste, since these plains were sacred grounds.”

As the old mare looked at the audience she had managed to entrance, she huffed before speaking out, her voice cracking as she teared up, “I think I got too involved with telling this story … foals nowadays aren’t interested in our culture—only Equestrian this, Saddle Arabian that—no one cares about our heritage anymore …” her ears splaying against her head as she looked forlorn, eyes falling to the ground as they closed in hurt, hunching as if feeling drained.

A few moments passed as the old mare simply sniffed softly, as most of the listeners were actually feeling bad from having dismissed the old pony’s words.

And quite a few were giving the stern look to the one who had voiced his displeasure, who now looked as if he were wishing that the ground could swallow him.

With this being said, the soft patter of hooves sounded as somepony had risen … heading towards the sad elder, who didn’t react as she was pulled into a hug.

Rising her head after a few minutes passed by, Hematite was shocked to see that the one who had risen to comfort her was none other than Princess Cadance, who said nothing as she looked at her with great care—care and love for everypony, Hematite herself included.

Her throat got caught in her mouth as the princess asked her softly, “Please, Hematite … please continue with your story. … I want to know more about my ancestors and what they did …” while looking at her with watering eyes, as if silently begging her to continue.

Feeling comforted … and more than a little appreciated, the old mare cleared her throat before continuing, not taking her eyes off the table as she remembered what was told to her when very young.

“The entity ordered them to leave, but … the crystal ponies found a friend in the Warden’s child, a merry, joyful creature that contrasted wildly with its father who wanted to throw us out into the cold …”

As the old mare said this, Cadance’s eyes widened as she remembered Celestia’s words about him searching for his son—who was similar to a certain draconequus.

Not noticing, Hematite continued narrating.

“The little one, feeling compassion for the ponies that had left everything behind, pleaded with his father, to let the ponies establish there—so that they could fulfill the job he was doing in his stead—just so they could be free to wander the world and enjoy its beauty.”

At this point, Shining Armor asked to the historian: “... Does the story tell about what happened to them?”

The old mare nodded, but her face fell as she said “They were welcomed to stay with us, due to the importance of these plains … and in time, he shared why these plains were considered sacred with the elders of that time.”

“Hematite … what happened then?” Cadance asked softly as she kept her grasp on the mare with her wing.

“ … I don’t know, because the story ends with them helping our great-grandparents to settle down in this lands—and for them being banished from our nation after the city and the Crystal Heart was completed,” the old mare shook her head despondently as she added, “to this day, I don’t know why—and the tales don’t say either.”

Shining Armor asked, his voice quiet: “ … Isn’t there anything else you could share with us? A name, perhaps? A description of what he did?”

The old mare furrowed her eyes in deep focus … before answering “I think … the name of the child was … Gaias … no, that’s not right … oh, that non-pony name!”

Cadance’s mouth let go of the name as she gasped. “G-Galeas!?”

Smiling widely, Hematite turned towards Cadance, eyes sparkling as she said “ … Oh my, young dear. How did you know?”

Shining Armor and Cadance looked at each other, eyes wide, pupils shrunken … right before leaving the room in a sprint, the glow of magic showing that they had just teleported to another place.

“Hmmm … young ponies these days … always rushing around all the time …” Hematite said before sighing in melancholy, adding: “Oh, the wonders of youth. How I miss you … my Topaz Dream.”

The rest of the chamber went silent as they processed what they had just witnessed, the bickering resuming as the old mare just left her seat and went towards her home.

A whole week has gone by since the defeat of The Warden of the Dark, and Princess Celestia called an emergency meeting with her fellow princesses and the Element Bearers to address a development which needed to be addressed.

Twilight could just stare at the letter in front of her, which bore a stamp she knew about from her latest studies with her mentor, but didn’t want to see in her entire life due to the implications that it had attached to it.

A golden stamp was the usual type of seal which Celestia used for normal communications—like her time when she sent friendship reports to Princess Celestia.

A blue stamp was used for State Affairs, like invitations to diplomatic meetings with ambassadors from other countries.

But the red stamp … was used for emergencies of national importance, akin to the time when Tirek rampaged through Equestria, when the princesses sent the emergency warning to their forces … and were defeated in his passing to steal their magic.

‘What could’ve motivated Celestia to write to me with such a system, instead of just summoning me?’ Twilight thought to herself as she opened the scroll, ripping off the seal … and staring in terror at the contents.

To your Royal Highness, the Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle: Bearer of the Element of Magic,

Your Highness is hereby summoned to the meeting which will take place at Canterlot’s Inner Security Council, at this present day, at 18:00 hours.

Your Highness is required to summon the former Element Bearers; Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy, all of whom will participate in the aforementioned meeting after swearing an oath to secrecy, as part of your Royal entourage according to the will of the diarchs, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

Two pegasi chariots will be sent to pick Your Highness and her entourage to travel to Canterlot at 15:00.

Subject of discussion is CLASSIFIED for all involved.

Royal Head of Internal Affairs, Hammer Helm
Royal Secretary, Raven Inkwell
Royal Advisor, Umber Trottingham

“ … I can’t bring Spike with me?” Twilight questioned herself, “nor Starlight? What could possibly be happening, that they want us to attend such an important meeting?”

The fact that this letter arrived by courier at six in the morning, rather than being mailed via dragon-fire could only mean that something major was going on, and they didn’t trust the magical delivery services.

Shrugging, she rose and started making preparations … .

‘I only hope that my friends will want to spend the night at Canterlot Castle.’

“Spike! I’m being being summoned at Canterlot along with the girls! You’re in charge until I come back!” Twilight called out loud as she started to make a new schedule for the day, throwing the previous one into the bin, “Starlight! I’ll need you to help Spike to keep an eye on things until we come back!”

“Sure thing!” Spike called out from the kitchen, where he was busy making pancakes for them.

At around the same time, Starlight came out of the kitchen to ask, “What just happened, Twilight?” before she came closer to her friend.

“We are being summoned to Canterlot, Starlight.” Twilight said as she bit her lip, “sadly I can’t bring either of you with me, it seems that the subject of the meeting is confidential—I was instructed that only the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony are being summoned,” Her eyes started to turn into pinpricks as she looked at the scene outside of the window closest to her.

Focusing on it as she approached it, she could see the image of a massive magical matrix shining above the forest for the last three days, whose clouds were no longer moving towards Ponyville and Canterlot … but rather had taken to orbiting around the woods as if trapped under an unknown influence.

‘I can only hope that this summons is not related to that magical matrix.’