Once he was done venting all his mixed emotions—the red fog slowly clearing out as the echoing heartbeats within his ears receded, being replaced by emptiness, unending grief and a desire for vengeance … .

Iron Ash briefly stood still, subjected to the storm that was his menagerie of emotions and conflicting feelings. From sorrow to loneliness, passing through rage and outrage in a constantly shifting maelstrom—all of which was causing him to lose focus on his current predicament and how to handle himself.

With a cold glare that belied his barely contained rage echoing through his very core, he took in the place he was currently lodged—frost forming around the areas where what appeared to be equinoid phantoms of sorts circling him around, phasing in and out of existence all over the room around him.

White walls, white tiles, white-colored ceiling, chromed metal adorning the shelves with bottles and devices of what he could now acknowledge being of a medical nature. Eyes narrowing even further at this realization, he inadvertently ‘heard’ the sounds around him—his drastically different ear placing and sensitivity several times increased when compared to his ‘real’ self’s auditory sensitivity.

He grunted in regret, as such sensitivity was something to which he never got used to—screwing with his ‘trained perception’ of the environment; however, the shift of the eyesight was one he had been forced to cope with a long time ago when he had first woken up into a brand-new world without his consent.

This background noise drew his attention, as they were too familiar to the sounds of cries, screams of pain, the clanging of steel upon steel … .

The sound of battle raging in the proximity. Frowning at that, Ash shakily stood on his feet—or that would be what he’d like to believe anyway if he were still bipedal, as he briefly stood on his hindlegs before falling down back into all four.

His frustration rose another notch as he tried to use the limbs he had stopped caring about in all these years—only to find out that the second set of arms—scratch that, wings were bound with shackles and bandages under them. He looked upon his feet—hooves now, he regretted correcting himself at this point—where he saw boot-like additions to his four hooves.

The dim lights over them indicated to him that they were supposed to restrain him if he went by the thing he was wearing on his arms—wings now.

“The weakened alicorn stallion is in the ICU, commander! Follow me!” He heard from afar, stark in contrast from the din trickling down into the silent medical ward, causing him to grit his teeth.

‘So, they want to deal with me at my lowest?’ His teeth almost ached from the pressure as he made an effort to regain his composure. ‘I’ll find out what I want from them, then I’ll seek out the authors of my fall.’

Shouldn’t you be worried about the foreign flow of Dark Magic towards you?

‘Right now I don’t care about that—I’ll fulfill my word to that worthless, white treacherous wretch!’

Please! They didn’t know you! They didn’t know you beyond a bad reputation!

‘You will be quiet. I won’t be putting up with you lot now, not after what you did to aid them in their quest to see my innermost memories—not to mention assisting them in tearing my hope apart with what they did!’

We did no such thing! We only wanted them to know the real Ashley—!

‘You will be silent.’

Iron Ash finally managed to calm his turmoil after wasting valuable energy into shutting them up.

‘Damn monsters … .’

“Are you certain that the scream we heard wasn’t him!? We may be equipped to deal with him, but there was serious power behind that scream alone!” Another voice echoed through the corridors as he shakily sought out what he could use as a weapon—settling for the IV stand for use as a makeshift two-handed mace.

He groaned as he felt his newly remembered wings tug into the binds—and blinked twice before starting to focus his ebbing strength into breaking the bonds. Just to make certain he had a way to deal with the incomers, he bit down into the IV stand hard enough to leave an imprint.

He pointedly ignored the feeling of warm iron that began to flow into his tongue as he made some practice swings, as well as ignoring the phantoms circling him—making him a metaphorical eye of a freezing cyclone.

‘I may not be able to use it fully—but it’ll be enough for now.’

His ears picked up the sound of groaning—metal being stretched out slowly but surely. He smiled grimly despite the situation he was in.

‘Heh, at least these equine freaks haven’t learned to properly make metal—that’ll work to my advantage.’

Eyeing the corridor out of his room, he found an open door leading to one of the resting quarters for the personnel—appearing to have been left open in a hurry, judging by the tossed towels and sheets thrown aside haphazardly as he made his way towards it as discreetly as he could with metal boots.

Naturally, he tilted his head and inwardly grumbled at that indignity—tilting his head aside just to enter the room and hide with the stand in between his teeth for their arrival—as he waited for the ones coming his way.

He placed himself behind the open door—leaving him sight of who entered without giving his position up as he paid attention to what was happening.

“Stop the attackers from injuring the civilians! Guards! To me! To me!” The voice of a woman cried as the din of battle worsened. “We have intruders in the ICU!”

He shifted in the metal shoes—wondering just how they weren’t making noise against the white tiles on contact—before he saw a unicorn in white robe leading a group of four unicorns towards where he had been for an indeterminate amount of time.

They were wearing lightweight leather armor with metal strips sewn over them—which caused Ash to raise an eyebrow in appreciation.

‘Whoever they are, they are certainly practical in their approach to gear… . If this were happening to someone else, I’d pity the local equine guards—favouring the bulkier and heavier plate armor that so defined their ‘guard’ over more practical and mobile gear.’

His attention was drawn towards a certain detail as the sound of them trashing the room echoed through.

‘Humm … that feeling, it has been a while since I’ve felt that … .” He frowned unhappily as the realization struck him harder than the six mares had done with that rainbow spell he had no defense against—dazed as he was from the feedback of the broken Polyform: Spell that had kept his real shape in this forsaken world for millennia.

These newcomers were users of The Dark.

Users of The Dark who were after him. Even the one he assumed to be a medic was tainted by its power.
Considering how the others who went after him through his life so far fared when attempting to deal with him, he pondered briefly: ‘Are they ignorant, overconfident or just outright suicidal? … . They probably don’t know who they’re dealing with.’

This was little comfort to him, as he tried to answer questions he never had the answers to—or at least, without the collected wisdom and support from the former bearers of The Blood Sin and the plethora of victims tainted by The Dark.

‘How in the name of God did they manage to tap into the Dark without me knowing like I did in years past!?’

This was both good and bad, as he quickly thought out plans out of the blue—settling for the one that would garner most information at his own expense.

‘I am really not looking forward to have to listen to their whining—but if I’m to find out what they are up to, I’ll have to … .’

Plan already set onto his still-fuzzy mind, he heard an outcry from his former room. “Queens’ sake! Is this frost!? In mid-summer of all things!?” One of the unwanted visitors cried out in shock, disbelief dripping from his exclamation.

“Check the other rooms! The alicorn hasn’t eaten in days—and has no magic to call, so he couldn’t have teleported!” The voice he had tagged as ‘Commander’ barked as he heard hoofsteps clattering on the hard floors. “He must be still in the vicinity—leave no stone unturned!”

He bit his makeshift weapon further, earning a groan from the metal he was biting into as his muscles shifted in anticipation.

And his composure returned, dusty yet not forgotten.

Hearing the sound of hooves hitting the tiles, he bided his time as he waited for the inevitable to happen. So, he greeted the unicorn who went into the room in the way he currently believed could grant in his existing state of mind.

With a swing that made it look as if the IV stand itself bent from the motion, he didn’t bother to register the brief widening of eyes from the soon-to-be-crushed equinoid until it was too late for it to defend itself—the sound of glass shattering and a meaty ‘crunch’ in short sequence echoing through the hospital as all the others seeking the weakened alicorn out halted in their rush at hearing that sound.

Seeing with disdain the one slain, he moved with purpose despite the shivers he was feeling from the strain—pointedly stepping on the dissolving corpse on the floor as he made his way towards the doorway leading to the corridor. The moment he reached the corridor, he only bothered to glare at the wide-eyed intruders clad in leather armor with their guide in robe, only to look in disinterest at them as they started charging their horns on instinct.

So, he rushed at them with celerity—waiting to unleash his suppressed emotions for later.

Princess Twilights’ Guest Chamber
Canterlot Castle, Guest Wing
Two minutes prior to Ash’s quickening

Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and former Bearer of the Element of Magic was not having a good day.

First, in her rush she had forgotten lessons she supposedly learnt with her friends long ago—not jumping to conclusions; not judging others by reputation like the Crusaders had learned when they met Troubleshoes; and not letting fear get the better of her—and had as a result gained Equestria a now properly motivated adversary, if not outright villain with no interest in hearing them out now.

An individual who had left them alone for seven centuries, and whom they used the Rainbow Power on—just to make certain that he’d be cleansed of wicked influences. Just in case he was a case like Luna.

So, in this chain of events that she had been involved, she had failed in her duties as a Royal and being the Princess of Friendship by assuming the worse and acting upon it, despite him not having moved back then to attack … but to defend what she now knew was the daughter of a Minotaur couple of whom he had raised the father of the foal as his own—making her his grand-daughter, judging by her call.

She had been forced to sit through ten millenia’s worth of memories, plenty of which would have fascinated her if not for the fact that they soon turned to be boring to the extreme due to repetition of what was shown.

The interesting memories were few and far in between, and mostly pertained to how he traveled, how he had ended up in a variation of the Human World she knew of by the Mirror, and how he had ended up … someplace else he didn’t know the name of before waking up in their world, already changed in physical form. As more details showed, now she knew that he wasn’t the one who had made the jump towards them—he had been brought while unconscious by the maker of their world for dealing with the monstrosities that infiltrated their world.

Not to mention Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie complaining about the abundance of boring memories about daily life—as if those pieces of ‘daily life’, interactions with other human beings that Ashley watched from afar were memories worth treasuring.

Besides, embracing boredom was a subject alien to her and her more ‘active and outgoing’ friends due to her desire to learn and do things, and was forced to swallow the fact that yes … boredom can indeed be refined into an art to her everlasting regret.

All of this was rendered moot, having been surprised by several events that happened in short order as she was finishing her letter—before she could get a good few hours’ worth of rest for later today.

Interrupted first by what amounted to a second sun bursting with magic, only to be fully shaken by what she could’ve sworn were cries of pain and terror coming from the outside.

This of course was topped out by the door leading to her temporary quarters blown to sawdust by unexpected trespassers coming in at non-social hours.

So no, she wasn’t happy to have unwanted visitors—Prince Blueblood being the first in that list.

She screamed at the unexpected—and unwanted—unicorn noble. “Blueblood!? What are you doing in my quarters at this hour!?”

She glared tiredly at the five ponies who all drew brownish-red hued short swords upon which the light seemed to get defiled on contact—upon the sight of which her eyes shot wide open and felt fear at the realization of who was she warned against by her visions.

And she had made their one possible ally into an enemy by her actions. She could’ve made the attempt at befriending him—make sure that he got redeemed like it was done with Discord and Starlight if he had been a misguided somecreature or pony—but now there was something bad at her literal doorstep.

She could blame herself properly once she had taken Spike to safety.

She backpedalled—trying to get closer to Spike, who was still soundly asleep at this time of all things—while eyeing the now unfriendly killers at her presence. She stuttered with ears splayed, looking at Blueblood while keeping his hostile ‘friends’ on sight. “B-blueblood? Why are you here? And w-why are these ponies wielding—”

She gasped in recognition at the material the blades were made out of. For one, they always appeared at the hoofs or claws of villains.

The second point was, as to their nature. This wisdom was courtesy of Moondancer, when she had shared with her how ‘Legendary Materials and Forgotten Uses’ was the most thorough catalogue of available—and no longer available—materials for a diversity of purposes.

Twilight had at one point questioned the usefulness of making something named Hellsteel due to its described short life—and she had suffered nightmares when Moondancer shared with her how it was made, and why only villains would’ve used it.

The only problem was, that the records of ‘hellsteel’ was black and turned gray and crumbly when not fed with innocents’ souls at a constant rate. And it didn’t discriminate when feeding, as it was one of the few metals which could kill dragons – piercing dragonscale, armor and magic defenses like they weren’t there … as this cursed alloy fed on the thaumaturgic fields that emmanated from the soul, trapping it within its structures by a mechanism or spell unknown to date.

And Dragon Souls were the mightiest ones in theory, but scarcity of innocent dragons had always made the task hard for the monsters that used this Tartarus-sourced alloy for their own endings.

Hopefully, they wouldn’t remember that detail—not with Spike this close to them as she hovered Spike from his basket onto her back and kept a hold of him with her magic.

‘Oh thank you, Moondancer—and here I thought I wouldn’t be able to get sleep again after hearing all of the details … .’

Shakily, she asked in defiance—getting ready to cast a teleportation spell to get her dragon baby and herself away from the intruders. “Why are you wielding such wicked weapons?” She glared harder at the smirking intruders, “And why are you with them in my room!?”

“You and the other alicorns must die. The same with the so-called Bearers of Harmony. That is all you will need to know.” Blueblood answered as he looked at his hoof with disinterest—the hind legs twitching as if in panic while his front was calm. Without raising his eyes, he simply ordered. “Get her.”

Twilight tried to spark the teleporting spell—only for it to fizzle out in her horn.

“Oh, see that light outside? That is what makes certain that normal unicorn teleportation spells won’t work, you harlot.” One of the unicorns approached her with intent as the two pegasus raised to the air, blades held at their hooves as Blueblood and the other unicorn started to trot to her side—boxing her into a corner with the still-sleeping Spike now placed behind her back as she spread her wings.

Twilight gulped at the realization, when other unicorn asked: “Sir? Can we torture the welp in front of her first? I bet she’ll cry beatifully before joining the rest of the filth once we are done with it!”

As she gritted her teeth in impotent rage, getting ready to sell her life as costly as possible … .

The impossible happened—

And the artificial light outside died out—shortly followed by a roar of rage.

And this roar had power reverberating behind it, judging by how the attackers collapsed from the impact with shock upon their visages—leaving Twilight to ponder after that later on as she had others to warn about.

‘Why the buck was I unnafected!?’

Quickly shaking his head off, Blueblood roared as he struggled to scramble back onto his hooves. “Damn it, get her!”

Yelping, Twilight teleported out of the room with Spike—the last sound she heard in there being “Gather the others! … .”

The Black Templars that comprised Blueblood’s second team of three—the one intended to permanently put down the royal residing at the Guard’s Medical Ward—were shell-shocked after being greeted in the form of a nasty surprise.

They stood stock-still after hearing the sickening crunch from a room behind them, and how the supposedly commatose target—a gaunt, discoloured and still-bound alicorn stallion—came out of one of the rooms they had passed by on their rush to find him with one of their numbers entering that room.

The weakened pony had his head and neck covered in blood and other grits—which they correctly presumed belonged to their now-deceased comrade. And judging by the way the stand he was gripping with his teeth was bent—a large bloodstain in its newly gained curve—it was obvious what happened.

A supposedly weak, malnourished and thin alicorn, bound by shackles apparently meant for alicorns was standing in defiance of them—glare never faltering. The wrongness of the picture kept repeating inside their heads: this target had already slain one of their own with an IV stand, while bound.

If it weren’t for their training in … acquiring the resources needed to create the hellsteel, they would’ve vomited at this point from the metallic sweet scent cloying their nostrils, and the visceral disgust at seeing bits never meant for exposure to the outside shown in all of its gory glory upon them.

As he glared balefully at them, frost began to form around him—the Templars realizing that the one in front of them hated them in ways they couldn’t fathom, judging by the phantoms surrounding him and freezing the area, air becoming chilly at a fast rate.

The same thought crossed their minds: ‘… Windigos? Are those windigos!?’

On instinct, they lit their horns as they took in the full extent of his emotions transmitted through his glare—and shivered as they could’ve sworn that they were seeing red dots deep within the pupils as his eyes drilled at them—

—And yelped as he rushed at them with the stand in between his teeth with terrifying silence, as if he had done such things before.

It was both fortunate and unfortunate that half of them focused on making a shield, while the others pelted him with magic bolts empowered with The Dark.

Ignoring the bursts of magic hitting him despite the piercing effect they had on him, he swung his makeshift weapon upon their hastily formed shield—the IV stand crashing through the shield by raw strength alone.

The feedback of such an impact made the unicorns focused on defending to reel from the shock, but it also resulted in the stand the alicorn was using to stop being usable as it broke in pieces, leaving the alicorn with only a bit of metal on his mouth.

The commander, not willing to wait what else the monster in the guise of a royal alicorn had hidden under his hoof … she rushed at him with celerity as he was spitting the metal in his mouth—

And cleaved his head off his neck with one swing of her sword before he could react to her.

The Templar barely managed to avoid the burst of blood as the head fell off with a heavy thud, the stallion’s eyes briefly opened in surprise before closing down. ‘Huh, who would’ve thought?’ She thought as she finished the job by impaling his barrel at the height were the heart would’ve been. ‘Heh, now my blade’ll be really mighty by what it … took … on … .?”

She blinked in incomprehension as the previously brownish red blade began to deteriorate instead of shining brightly as it was meant to do. She looked at the corpse at her hooves, then to the blade—as if not understanding of what was going as the assimilation of a soul under this alloy was determined by its shine after the deed.

Her blade crumbled to dust, leaving her shocked face clear for her fellow Templars to gaze on.

“This one is dead, commander. Let us go support the other team to finish up quickly.” One of the unicorns suggested with her voice quivering, her legs shaking from the impression of their now-deceased target … before noticing that her team leader was still reeling, and nudged their leader out of her stupor with a hoof upon her wither.

Quietly, said commander moved in tandem with her teammates, but couldn’t help but feel that something was off about this whole situation … until she was given the sword of the fallen comrade, which she took without a word.

None of them cared to investigate as to how the windigos hadn’t dispersed from surrounding the corpse and freezing the surroundings, making their retreat at a sedately fast pace.

Lord Martinet Patrician, future inheritor to the title of Grand Lord of the soon-to-be Royal Empire of Helighet Hengellinen—being second within the court only to the Queen and self-proclaimed Empress—when the conquest campaign started upon the neighboring nations … was confused as to what was going on inside Canterlot.

He observed the fires started by the mercenaries trickled in by the other members of the Reliquarians—fires that could be barely seen under the Sygil’s light—and the echoes of cries of ponies fighting one another.

On one hoof, the plan so far had gone as expected—The Dark Sygil of their God shone brightly into the nightsky, summoning the power of the Lord of The Dark into their world and slowly tainting the souls of all the inhabitants of that place in order to make a Wellspring of Magic to fuel their conquest.

Only for the Sygil to have flickered out and died out soon after being summoned, shortly followed by what could only be described as a scream of rage that brought him and many of his Helighetian supporters down to their knees.

The question died in his mouth when one of them asked in disbelief, “What in Tartarus’s cesspit just happened!?”

Lord Martinet took his communications device, and with a shaky flicker of his horn activated it to contact the darksmiths at Canterhorn’s heart.

“Master Izdelave, why is the beaconing sygil gone?” He inquired with barely restrained rage at the crystal device.

“… Lord Patrician?” The darksmith’s voice echoed shakily as it could be heard how he took a breath. “We—we were brought low by some kind of roar of power, bu—but other than that event, the matrix is still operational! Why do you ask why the sygil is gone?”

This rose bells of alarm within the unicorn noble, whom inquired “At which level is it now, Izdelave?”

The answer was promptly given.

“We’re currently at the seventh glyph in complexity, my lord.”

‘That’s-that’s not possible!’ Lord Patrician questioned himself in alarm—the way they measured the strength of magic flow was measured in ‘glyphs’ in concord with the flow of The Dark to empower their equine magic power.

And it was somehow being sent back—that was the only explanation he had without further data. ‘Hum! To think that the royals would be able to counter this call of The Dark by their own means! But all things have a limit … whereas The Dark doesn’t.’

He reflected as to how the original plan involved the casting effort equal to thirteen ‘Glyphs’ for the creation of a Wellspring of Dark Power at Canterlot. So, in order to fully stain the Equestrian equines it was calculated that way before ‘harvest’ just to make certain of the fact.

The stallion reactivated the communications device. “Darksmiths. Increase the power output up to fifteen glyphs of power at once, and make sure the flow increases further.”

There was stuttering transmitted within the device, only for a meek “Yes, my lord.” To end the communications between them.

The stallion smirked before settling himself to see the creation of a new Wellspring of Dark magic with which to settle themselves, before their conquest campaign started up against the neighboring nations.

The one named Minos Alliance was the one who could put up a fight on equal terms despite the advantage that The Dark provided the unicorn-exclusive kingdom.

‘I will only regret not being able to see the sun-handling narwhal’s face when her protection fails against the might of The Dark.’

Ashley’s essence frowned at what he had just learned from the equine he hads slain a moment ago—her soul now a part of the collective within him … .

It galled him to no end to use that for his benefit—forced by circumstance to hasten his knowledge at the expense of undesirable fanatics now being part of his constant pain that was having unwanted equines and others inside him.
He just stared at what used to be his body—separated from his head by a blade supposed to steal that which he no longer had, blood pooling down at the places where the blade struck.

Or more likely, how that blade lost everything that gave it strength on contact—its contents becoming his—as what passed for his ‘essense’ was too strange for Reality to properly take a hold on, especially by means of that material the blades were made out of.

The ones trapped within—the souls of many beings—which had been stained with The Dark, used for the manufacture of such a cursed material. So, he now had more beings inhabiting him to his displeasure.

There would be hell to pay towards those who dared to use this twisted power for their own agenda. It was a pity that he was brought out of his contemplative mood by an arrogant-yet-annoying ram opening his mouth.

I would be proud if it had been other creature, to use my discovery and weaponize it—Mreehehehe … the wonders of tartarean alloy—to be able to steal other beings’ souls and magic to strengthen itself up. And all of it thanks to you, Master of The Dark

‘I suggest you keep silent, Grogar—my patience is running thin as it now stands.’

As if I had nothing better to do than to admire my work at the hooves of fools—

‘I could’ve released all of you into the blade, but I declined to fall down to your level. Wish to test my resolve?’

Ashley heard lots of whimpering and more than a few muted ‘we’ll be good’ from those inside him, and felt his rage bubble again despite his efforts to keep down his composure into place.

‘So. I still possess complete immortality despite my downfall… . Fantastic.’

And Ashley Riot, later on known as Ash Lee Brannigan and now known as Iron Ash remembered Sydney’s words concerning his fate—

Such a thing felt like an eternity ago.

He fought back his grief down to below the threshold as time lost meaning, and he felt like reliving that moment, so long ago … .

The phantom of Sydney Losstarot intoned in a measured way, once Ashley had taken refuge in the outskirts of Valendia after several days’ worth of nonstop travel.

As the real master of the power granted by the blood-soaked contract that is The Blood Sin, I have to inform you of all the effects of having taken this mantle upon yourself

“Effects? What is that you speak of, Sydney?” Ashley questioned out loud—a frown forming on his brow—while he waited in an abandoned hostel, wind causing the sign to creak as the rainstorm continued its wailing upon the structure.

He heard Sydney clearing his throat, and sheepishly started to explain to him: As you now know, all those who have been stained by The Dark have taken refuge within you—and that is because you sacrificed your Phantom Soul in order to fully inherit what I gave upon you

Sydney’s words were drowned by the voice of the one who whispered and taught him how to cast the Teleport Spell: The Lich-King of Earernum Thrumbar—probably a place out of his world. What the fool says is this: you no longer possess what is called a Soul, unlike your predecessors! This means there is no chance of you ever reaching The Other to see another cycle of reincarnation, nor complete death!’

His deathly, raspy voice growled in his own matter-of-fact exposition to their host. ‘You are now the ultimate undead! No matter what happens to your physical body, you’ll endure and regain it! You’re now immune to those seeking to put your soul under a yoke—as The Dark itself is now your Soul, and it is too big to be controlled by foolish mortals and deities alike! You’re a god-lich—one who’s above all liches, preserving your body in its prime without fearing for its loss! And what’s more: unlike us lesser liches … you will always rise from oblivion

“… I see.” Ashley answered quietly, slowly coming to the realization that his sacrifice of his former life—to prevent the misuse of the Dark for humankind’s sake—would have even deeper effects upon his life than he assumed at first.

To not fit in with his kind anymore. To no longer be able to make connections with who used to be his fellow man.

He then asked out with his eyes closed in thought, “If the loss of a body means exposure to Reality—then what will happen to all of you if I lose my body for any reason?”

The same raspy voice answered back mockingly to him. Hehehehehehehe … you still believe that the flesh you carry around is your real body?

The suggestion brought him a headache, from the sheer wrongness of its content.

Through thick and thin we will be with you, Master of The Dark—right down to the end of time

This concept brought him no relief, as he waited for the storm to abate … .

“Good shot, private!” Bellowed the Valendian officer to the soldier standing close to Ashley’s body—crossbow bolt stuck onto his head from behind.

The officer barked at the squad’s closest two soldiers. “Now, get him onto the box—”

Both soldiers backstepped as the corpse rose from the ground with little effort, and the empty and quite dead eyes glared at them, with the point of the bolt protruding from his head.

Now he had a massive headache, and his formerly somber mood was now coldly enraged because of it. “I should have known I would be hunted.” Ashley simply spoke—but the voice sounded off to the soldiers present.

“Quick! Get him down before he runs away!” The officer cried as the soldiers rushed him … .

‘I shouldn’t have let my memories go that far.’ Ashley muttered darkly before beginning to take over his own body again—

“Did anyone feel that?” One of the black templars asked as her ears twitched, the others shifting awkwardly as they felt the air change around them—becoming colder.

Clack … .

Their ears swivelled—and their guide asked, trying to mask his fear. “Did-did the sound came from behind!?”

Clack … .

They turned their heads to see the source of the noise—

Groan … .

Only for the sound of metal groaning as it was stretched to the tearing point to join the sound of … of … hoofsteps. Thus, they saw the source of the noise, and blanched at the sight presenting to them.

“Co-co-commander!?” One of them whimpered as they took in the sight of the headless alicorn standing on straight, the wings slowly breaking the bonds of cloth and metal keeping them stuck into his barrel.

And holding on one hoof was the head, which was glowering at them. One of the templars’ could’ve sworn she saw red dots deep into the irises of his now-living eyes.

Frost was forming on the surroundings around the body, as ethereal beings started to circle him faster, as if the maelstrom was growing worse by the second.

Snap! Rip! Clank-clank … .

The hoof handed over the head of the alicorn to one of the newly freed wings once the broken bonds clattered onto the floor—

“Rrrruuuuunnn!!!!” Their commander wailed as they took up speed to leave the thing behind them eating dust—hooves skidding over the white tiles as they made their way out, screaming in terror.

The body stood still for a moment, only to start moving in an definitely non-pony fashion as it followed them out of the medical ward.

If there had been anyone well-versed in biology and wildlife looking at that moment, they’d have seen a headless alicorn holding his own head with a wing—and moving forward by pulling with both forelegs at the same time, shortly followed by a propelling push from the hindlegs.

The same gait used by feline predators when pursuing prey.

Ambassador Silver Gauntlet couldn’t help but glower at the bodies littering the embassy, his Riskbreaker Guards having dealt with many of the assailants … .

However, several managed to continue into the living quarters—where they met their target.

As his bloody fists and bloodied sleepwear could attest, they hadn’t been lucky in attempting to get rid of the insomniac minotaur reading in his chamber.

The middle-aged minotaur growled. “Lieutenant … we’re moving now. Gear up, and wait for me—this farce has gone long enough as is.”

The officer—a changeling wearing armor—didn’t naysay him, but simply saluted by crossing his hoof over his chest before barking his orders to the other guards, moving them to scramble.

“Damn it all—they are already moving!” the ambassador growled in rage before moving towards the armory, where his subordinates were putting on their gear.

‘I can only hope that the infiltration team does its job before all goes to Tartarus even further.’ He then turned his sights on one of the barred windows leading to the chaos outside, where at one point had been a magical matrix of unknown design shining upon the city before flickering out and vanishing almost as quick as it had appeared.

He shivered at the memory of the roar that followed its disappearance. ‘What in Tartarus was that scream?’

Digging down the battlements towards the medical ward of the palace had taken the retrieval team twenty precious minutes at the paws of the diamong dogs in the team supported by the changelings, all just to make a tunnel big enough for them to trespass upon the hospital’s wing where their target was supposedly lodged in.

Supposedly—due to him no longer being there—the tunnel having been done to perfection straight down into the chamber that was supposed to host him, white tiles broken and sullied by dirt and stone dislodged in their hurry to reach the place. The retrieval team was scrambling around, while their leader just sat there looking at the mess … .

“He’s gone.” The roussepony leader—named Night Track—stated at the still-frozen ICU room and blood-stained corridor, leading deeper into the castle’s Medical Ward proper.

Behind her was her team, all wearing their specialized infiltration gear—all looking in awkwardly at how FUBAR’d their mission had gone, what with the blood-stained nurse’s room and corridor … .

And what appeared to be the remains of a really rusted sword lying down at a pile close to the corridor’s pooled blood.
However, they were a team of Riskbreaker Elites—and the mission was what came first, no compromises even if the parameters changed during its execution.

“You know what needs to be done: We find the stallion, and bring him in for questioning to confirm his identity.” The roussepony officer barked as her fur bristled. “We split now to search for him: Coffee, Bailey, Lady, Hunter!” She looked at the four diamond dogs called, who stood to attention.

“You will join Storm Cloud and Silken Shield as they track him down.” The pegasus and unicorn stood to attention before joining the four diamond dogs. She looked at the distance, where the bloody imprints of hooves moving in a definitely predatorial fashion from the coagulating blood.

“Clark, Shawn … you will cover them as you’re versatile enough to serve as backup sentries in case the stallion proves to be too aggressive or isn’t our target.” The two changelings flittered their wings before joining their comrades.

“The others … with me. We’ll look into the palace proper while the confusion reigns in, so you will look upon the outer parts of the castle. Hunter, you’re in charge until we meet again.”

The buffed diamond dog saluted before barking to his team, “Get movin’, you bitches! We got work to do!” before they moved with determination towards the bloody trail of red imprints.

She gave them some time to make distance before barking herself, “Get moving, everyone! We have wasted enough time as is!” Thus, her team started moving towards the interior of the castle with decision.

Ambassador Silver Gauntlet may have known about the threat looming over their Equestrian-sourced resources by means of unhappy specieists—and that there were plans to protect their interests inside the pony nation, and yet … .

What he didn’t know, was how a plan had been concocted by the Inteligence Service, supported by the Crown four years ago. A plan put into motion once they received reports from the few spies and scryers that survived going into the unicorn kingdom of Helighet—who with unknown resources managed to track down, subvert or downright execute the ones unable to adapt to the dire circumstances or make their swift escape back home.

Among the ones that returned, a few caused the loss of four valuable officers before the enthralled spies were neutralized with equal parts confusion, indignation and regret. Thus, they decided to act preemptively with what little they had garnered from the survivors that were sane and loyal to the Crown.

The origins of their interest in the specieist nation stemmed from one detail: A cohort of unicorns from that nation attempted an infiltration and assasination of the Royal house. And was theorized that they gained entry by mean of naval access, according to the investigators who later on investigated the matter.

All reports of the incident were classified, as what they garnered from that first time was plenty to instill wariness upon the Minoan Knights: all of the prisoners managed to cast spells without using their horns, they were arrogant and self-deluded, and believed them to be nothing but filth in need of clearance.

No survivors stemmed from that battle of attrition—but the arrogance was easy to find: so certain they had been in their victory, that they used their royal gear. From this stemmed two opinions on the equines from Helighet: they were either stupidly overconfident, or it was a deliberate attempt at diverting attention towards them … .

Or away from them purposefully, by seeding doubt in the process.

So, in deliberation over this spiny matter—a conclusion was reached within closed doors at the Intelligence branch in concordance with the Crown: Further investigation would be required, as Helighet—once it was determined if they were indeed a threat once an investigation was performed unto the matter—was too far away to deal with successfully without full Equestrian support in case of open war.

This was currently not possible, due to noble houses in positions of power and influence having ideals similar to those of Helighet within the Equestrian Government—the same ones who were constantly hampering the efforts for equality and equanimity among sapient species that they instilled and promoted.

They couldn’t help but find funny how the Royal Alicorns—who were favorable to their ideals, as they believed in them too—couldn’t put in place the nobles causing problems for them.

It was a mixed blessing that they had one who only interfered when things went out of hand too much, like that one time with the Exclusivists. It was then that they saw the importance of an immortal who served as stabilizer for the power-that-is as long as it was fair to the population they were tasked with being wardens of.

Thus, Iron Ash had earned fear—as he had executed summarily the ones responsible for the coup when he was called by the then young Grimara, only to raise him to the fine Minotaur he was now.

His line would persist, as the children he now had could attest to. And he’d teach them the same things that he himself was taught by his foster father the God Smith.

Taking those lessons to heart, the King suggested back then a secret course of action while keeping appearances: without informing their Equestrian counterparts about what had happened four years ago, they quickly proceeded to work into a plan that’d secure their presence on the Equinus Continent in case of emergency ... .

The creation of an unofficial Riskbreaker garrison, the fruit of hard labour provided by the paws of diamond dog squads while assisted by the hooves, magic and reinforcing biomass from supporting changeling engineers—in order to secure both a permanent presence without raising suspicions … right above and inside the bedrock that comprised the foundation of that mountain as an added measure of defense in case of discovery.

The tunneling into the abandoned crystal mines after their existance was reported was only a matter of time and effort—thus making their access to the city and palace proper easier by chance.

They didn’t say it out loud, but thanked the mad changeling queen known as Chrysalys for having shown them the way up to the top of the mountain when she attempted to overthrow the equine rulership. The tracks that her kind left behind were ideal, as other changelings could track them successfully even if they had gone cold over the years.

Naturally, the Equestrian Royal Guard’s efforts to detect and intercept changelings after that debacle caused more than little stress—until they had found out that the equine’s magic could be absorbed without changing its attributes by using a chameleonic uniform branded as ‘Thaumic Masking Countermeasure Suit’ made in a combined effort between changeling, minotaur, and zebra alchemists and scientists, thus preventing the alarms from being triggered by changelings geared up in the TMCS.

Thus, in between shifts for digging the cavern while keeping the appearance of Minoan businesstaurs’ hired ‘ponies’ and diamond dogs; the processing of the material removed towards selling it back to the city’s inhabitants, if not into other towns; the smuggling of enchanted spellstones into the city proper, meant to serve as two-way repeaters for communications—to be buried into the soil by squads of diamond dogs and then reinforced by changeling biomass; down to smuggling personnel down the tracks they had made from houses ‘the businesstaurs’ owned, as the Equestrian record-keeping about inmigrants/emigrants was nonexistent.

The Minoan officers’ opinions on that regard were divided between ‘offended’ at not being valued as worthy of watching, and ‘relieved’ that they wouldn’t have need to be under watchful glares from unfriendly locals.

A travesty, King Grimara the Steel Gauntlet had decided—that needed to be taken full advantage of due to the seriousness of the situation.

Need was, of course, his main and only concern … to keep relatively secure their main-and-only supplier of food, enchanted artefacts, and mineral ores of varying qualities.

So, a Riskbreaker branch was posted beneath Mount Canter in anticipation for the right time—and preferably without raising any suspicions.

Thus, this secret garrison was fully manned by changelings and diamond dogs—with a separate detachment of rousseponies and a team of medics trained in the biology of each of the races that conformed Minos Alliance.

Diamond Dog, Roussepony and Changeling. All who could work in the dark. All of which could coexist under the ground without going insane over long periods of time per shift within the silent darkness permeating the underground.

It was because of this, that they didn’t hear the roar that echoed through the mountain—nor could perceive what was going on beyond the caves. For that purpose, they required message-couriers and thaumic-coded instant-messages in order to know what was going on in the surface.

So, within the unnoficial garrison there was the regular activity and training programs for the personnel—as in between shifts inside they couldn’t leave the complex for security reasons due to their ‘plausible deniability’ clause.

Within this garrison, there was the regular activity of the Thistle Hive volunteers, scrambling around in their daily toil within the Communications Chamber. Silent yet precise, one couldn’t see two changelings slamming onto each other despite the gloom curtailed by the green-glowing gems attached to the walls and ceiling at regular intervals.

Then there were the diamond dogs—undergoing their daily combat, stamina, and Break Arts training within the complex’s lower levels.

As for the rousseponies … .

They flittered with precision, also going through aerial combat with their changeling teammates, while refining their instincts and use of the arts wielded for defense and offense like their diamond dogs comrades.

This peaceful, organized chaos of sorts was broken by a message that reached the communications officer from the receiving department—which when materialized, was marked with the deployment brand: red.

Without wasting any time, the officer opened the message … and started to flitter his wings before leaving his post in haste. “Sire, we got bad news!” he reported with barely concealed anxiety as he approached the captain of the makeshift communications center, scroll held out by its telekinesis as he moved quickly through the cavern towards the alcove wher the changeling captain was overseeing the activity of the chamber.

“Report.” Intoned the changeling captain before shifting from his place to gaze at the incomer.

“Sir! The Minoan Embassy reports that they—and the city—are under attack by unknown equines now!”

The changeling captain growled, “So they hastened their steps …?” He turned to face the courier and barked at him, “Send out the order to the Riskbreakers stationed here: cleanse the city of the assailants—keep prisoners only if practical to do so.” His horn glowed before materializing into an orb of stable magic—which the courier took with care.

After keeping a good hold of it, the courier saluted before running back to his post, and slammed the orb of stable magic into fresh, self-teleporting parchment … .

Which immediately recorded instructions on it, glowing green before the parchment vanished into the air.

With this, the chain of command begun operating … .

And the orders were sent to their preset targets, up at the surface and within the crystal caverns’ forgotten depths.

All they could do now was wait for them to bring honour to the Unit by not getting noticed by the natives as ordered.

After all, it wouldn’t do to let a ‘friendly neighbor’ know that you’ve been living under his basement for some years now—without letting them know about that tiny, little detail.

As the situation stood, they were doing it for … future minoatarian purposes.

While events unfurled into one gigantic maelstrom of disaster for all parties involved, shadows had already penetrated the privacy of Canterlot Castle. From guardponies’ bodies barely hidden behind columns, down ot the ocassional servant who suffered the same fate, the shadows moved with purpose—guided by one who worked inside the premises towards the guest quarters.

It was a wonder that the two intruding parties didn’t meet sooner, as they met at the corridor where the Royal Guests were harbored—from cloaked ponies hiding powders, liquids and poisons along with their daggers, glaring down at the team of pegasus and unicorn ponies in light armor which were bearing weapons that caused their hairs to stand as they glared back at the cloaked ponies.

This of course was a source of alarm for Flash Sentry and the royal guards posted in the corridor—outnumbered precariously by the new arrivals from both sides.

Realizing that their targets—or prey, depending on who you asked—were in danger of being stolen, each of the unfriendly sides figured that it was them the superior one.

And with one mind, one determination, and one serious case of overconfidence … .

They charged at one another. As quietly as they could … just for the chance to not alarm their targets before their due, ignoring blatantly the guards who were now clinging to spears and short swords—already seeing the fight to ensue.

As this happened, within the guest quarters—housing the five remaining Element Bearers; Twilight’s student; Princess Cadance, Shining Armor and their daughter Flurry Heart; and the babysitter Sunburst who was next door to them—the ponies inside were drawn out of their beds at the same time for a myriad reasons that could’ve been blamed on contrivance except for two … minor details.

The flaring of the sygil up in Canterlot’s heights which blazed like an artificial sun … and the roar that followed its disappearance, waking up the remainder of the city which hadn’t been woken up by the shining sygil in the process—the Royal Guest Quarters included.

There was a plethora of reactions within the quarters due to said events unraveling.

Within Fluttershy’s chamber, her instincts screamed at her to move a brief moment before the light that came inside her room in a flash, causing her to squeak in fright and take flight up the roof in knee-jerk fashion—only to see downwards towards a gobsmacked pegasus mare looking at her, wearing a robe and what looked like a bottle in one hoof and a wad of cotton in the other.

Fluttershy promptly escaped through the open window screaming her lungs out in fright, followed shortly by the pegasus in the room … and another one wearing light armor who went after them, intent clear on her eyes as she drew her sword.

Of course, Fluttershy’s shrill scream brought all her friends on the defensive right before hearing the sound of battle, cries of pain and fear coming from the city proper—only for the very loud roar of rage that followed the disappearance of the unnatural light source to echo through the entire city—and what places remained with their ponies asleep rose up, lighting turning up in the neighborhoods and buildings.

To make matters worse for them, they realized that the roar appeared to originate really close to their current position—as their flight-or-fight instincts kicked in and shoved adrenaline down their bloodstreams.

Adding to all of this, they heard Twilight screaming in her Royal Canterlot Voice—a rare ocurrence onto itself: “Everypony! We’re under attack! Wake up! Wake up!”

The doors to the remaining respective rooms crashed open at almost the same time—only for the now aware guests to be met by either a cloaked unicorn or pegasus pony fighting off another lightly armored unicorn or pegasus pony—in a mockery of competition as to who would get to them first.

Even if they weren’t synchronized, the royals and element bearers moved as one to escape the intruders coming for them at unhospitable hours.

Rarity, being the lady that she was … was well-versed in the neighponese martial art named ‘Josho Suru Uma’, as she was inscribed into a ‘dojo’ by her parents in her teenage years while she was away at Manehatten—as her parents had said, ‘to give her the means to defend herself from … unsavory equines’ while out in the big, dangerous city.

And as she had proven at the changeling invasion, she used her skills and wit—as she quickly dissasembled her bed and sought to do the first part: remove their mobility in order to escape without a scratch on her pelt.

She noticed how despite their determination, something had shacken them up as their struggles were more in line with tired ponies than freshed-up ones. So she took full advantage of the current lack of focus among the ones that crashed into her room in their struggles, floating the bedsheets, towels, and other acoutrements present in the room with her magical aura.

They turned at the same time, realizing that the element of surprise was all but gone. Taking in their looks, she quickly moved—binding them both with the floating clothing before quickly approaching them when immobilized, kicking out of their hooves and telekinetic hold their weapons with little fanfare, but plenty of pragmatic style before tut-tutting them.
She swiftly made her way out, with a statue held in her aura as she took in the chaos unfolding around her.

Applejack, on the other hand … did what she did best. The moment she registered the shrill scream of Fluttershy, shortly followed by the bellow of rage—sleep had all but gone away. The moment that she heard the door splinter out due to stress applied to it, she acted quickly—rolling to the side to fall onto the floor with her forehooves.

With practice earned with age and experience, she tensed her muscles—

And bucked her bed upon the intruders now at her doorway to their dismay, as the action was too swift for them to evade—and for reasons she couldn’t fathom, didn’t use their magic to defend themselves.

So, as the whole bedstead impacted them against the wall, she swiftly turned to face them on her four hooves and approached them with decision—where she bucked the head of the more dangerous-looking unicorn first before jumping out to the corridor, leaving a crumpled unicorn on the floor and another dazed out unicorn sticking out of the oaken remains of the bed that had crushed her against the wall.

Rainbow Dash … dashed through the window, followed by a sword-wielding pegasus who went after her too who looked out of sorts, shaking his head as if warding off sleep. The unicorn who entered the room immediately after just sighed as she went out—and was greeted by a swinging statue that hit her up the head, crumpling in a heap in the aftermath.

Outside, as the pegasus assailant took on impulse in his desire to reach his target … he would most certainly regret taking things to the sky. A chief reason among them being that Rainbow Dash was out looking for her childhood friend—and wasn’t exactly in the mood for open-air daring-do with a violent individual that kicked down her door and the door of her friend at such an late hour.

As she sought her friend out, Rainbow put into practice the historical lesson in aerial combat from Celestia’s story when facing Sombra, and after nearing her ‘Rainboom threshold’ in terms of speed she outmaneuvered and quickly got rid of him the same way Celestia did all those years ago with that monster.

A sickening ‘crack’ echoed through the night sky when she did that to her pursuer.

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash cried before dashing towards her persecuted friend—aiming towards the lightly armored pegasus hunting Fluttershy down, who made the mistake of slowing down and turning to see where that horrid sound and call for her prey’s name came from, only to meet the same fate at the hooves of the flying wonder.

Pinkie Pie, on the other hand … dealed with them in her trademark fashion.

Pulling of her party cannon from out of her mane left the two intruders of her quarters too baffled to react due to the absurdity of the sight—ending in them stuck to the wall, plastered with wet and above all gooey-sticky cake batter dripping over their entire bodies.

As she left in a hurry, they could only stare at one another from their immobilized place and ask themselves … .

‘How the buck did she do that!?’

From the team that had gone into Starlight’s room—having confused it with the Crystal Royals’ room due to a legitimate mistake in the registry roster and Cadance having asked Starlight Glimmer to change rooms with her, however … .

They weren’t given warning, they in fact didn’t see what was coming to them as they met … a unicorn sprawled on the ground? Nevertheless, the trespassers started moving towards her at their leasure—an easy victim, too tired to move from their point of view.

Starlight, on the other hand, growled while keeping her glare unto the invaders from the floor where she was strewn—still reeling from the impact that the brief roar had had onto her very constitution, feeling sickly and dizzy as she had tried in vain to get to the bathroom due to that overbearing desire to vomit. Ignoring her churning guts, she focused—her eyes flaring purple as she shot them a particular spell she had studied long ago and had helped her when she was on her own before founding her town … and later used for stalking Twilight after she set her plans on fire back then, horn flaring in tandem with her eyes shining brightly in purple-black flames as she kept the flow of magic … and that one power she hadn’t used ever since Twilight had made her open her eyes in that empty wasteland.

Glaring at the intruders who were gritting their teeth as they attemtped to shake her spell off … she began inchanting—her horn and eyes flaring furthermore in tandem with her words: “Demestas Cogeria Persuaderi, Fiducia Compellus eterni … chiatturga temerus conerdin … from the shadows of wrath, by the blood-soaked pact of darkness I call yokes upon thee … .” She felt herself drained further upon the effort before growling at them, “You will obey me and stop.”

The assailants felt the pressure as if they had run head-first into an bronzen wall, crushing and painful as they attempted to shrug off the impact in vain. There was only one question that crossed their minds before blacking out: ‘Why was her spell steeped in with the power of The Dark of all things!?’

Once the compelling spell did its full effect, their thoughts died out as their eyes dulled, standing to attention as they awaited for her next command.

She weakly grinned as she thought how to use this development to her advantage under these circumstances … .

In the meantime, the outnumbered guards fought for their lives as well as trying—trying being the operative word—to prevent the trespassers from entering the rooms they were assigned to guard, with many of the invaders going deeper into the complex where soon enough the sound of combat started to flow towards them.

From six guards present at that moment, four fell to what could have been thought of as a quick-acting sleeping powder, one died at the hooves of one of the lightly armored intruders—the bloodied blade shining brightly after killing him.

The final guard—a pegasus—quickly followed the couple of armored equines that had entered the Crystal Empire’s rulers’ room.

The guards remaining stood against the intruders in the corridor with as much mettle as they could muster—many of the invaders having fought their way into the rooms somehow despite their efforts—before they received unexpected reinforcements as their brief siege was brought to a halt by different parties.

As all of this happened—by the time the doors were blasted open—Cadance and Shining Armor were already on the defensive, with him casting a particular brand of dense, one-way shield spell while Cadance quickly cast unto the invaders several quick sleeping spell bolts—while shielding their daughter’s cot from the intruders with their bodies.

Upon contact with one of the intruders—which were two mares in armour—one of them fell into an unconscious heap as she was the first to be on the line of fire, whereas the other one swung her sword—and the spell bolt died on contact. The unicorn smirked at them as the blade glowed brownishly after absorbing the spell.

She demonstrated her intent by advancing menacingly towards the royals—only to be interrupted by an orange hoof patting onto her shoulder.

She turned quickly, but not quickly enough as the royal guard Flash Sentry disarmed her swiftly with his wings before quickly turning and bucking her into a wardrobe with as much strength as he could muster.

“Your majesties! We must evacuate!” He exclaimed before turning and hovering over the top of the wardrobe, tilting it upon the unicorn that he had bucked into it—pointedly ignoring the cry from his victim as its oaken weight pressed down onto the assailant, her cries muffled out by the oak.

“We must rejoin with Auntie Celestia and Luna, Private!” Cadance exclaimed—inadvertently waking up her daughter, who started to wail once she took in the emotions in the air.

“My fellow guards are badly pressed by the intruders—we must make haste!” Flash exclaimed—only for three mares to come to their room in different states of distress and shock … .

And Starlight Glimmer, being assisted in moving by dull-eyed ponies wearing hoods or light armor as she shakily walked towards them, sweating profusely while looking at them with a guilty expression. The enthralled intruders were also carrying the sleeping bodies of four guards, fast asleep.

Everypony present just stared at Starlight with expressions ranging from outrage down to shock and passing through what could be considered ‘are you serious?’. Starlight Glimmer pouted at their expressions. “What? They were trying to kill us, remember!?” She whined at the judgmental expressions upon their faces.

Shacking the shock of the scene, they quickly made plans as to how to reach the Royal Sisters and Twilight who were still inside the palace proper.

A palace that had been infiltrated by hostile equines, and who were sporting magic-eating weaponry.

This was going to be tricky.

As these events happened at Canterlot, the ‘lightworks’ caused panic kept in the nearby town of Ponyville—where several ponies had gone out of their homes to see what had caused both the weird-matrix-thing over Canterlot, like it had happened to the Everfree Forest … and the wrathful roar that followed its disappearance from the sky.

One thing they could agree on was this: the shape of an altar with an alicorn, pegasus and earth pony burning over it wasn’t exactly the image that would bring comfort to them under these grim circumstances—especially with the mere fact that it involved ponies being immolated before the matrix vanished in a too-quick flash.

Another tidbit that the equines could agree on too was a big concern with no answer so far, was the matter of the quakes that had been slowly increasing in both strength and frequency to date.

Never before had they suffered from such natural events on their fair land.

So, among the ponies which were woken up by the soundwave and were watching with dread the weird spectacle—of which the roar somehow reminded them of when Fluttershy was enraged that one time—there was a small herd bunched up together close to the downtown fountain.

A bone-white unicorn mare with blue mane and tail with the cutie mark of two linked eighth notes; her roommate, an ash-gray earth pony with a bow-tie and dark gray mane and tail with a treble clef; their friends, who were respectively: another unicorn mare with mint coat, tail and mane with the mark of a lyre; and her earth pony best friend and herdmate—a white coated, blue and pink-streaked mane and tail mare with the mark of three wrapped candies. They sat together in the park, viewing the dim fires’ glow coming from the otherwise calm city at the mountain.

“Vinyl? What do you think is going on there?” The gray-coated mare asked her friend, eyes not departing from the red and orange glow coming from the city far up the mountain.

“Not really sure, Tavi—but I sure hope it wasn’t Princess Luna’s cry when stepping on a building block.” Vinyl answered her friend, uncharacteristically serious. “Whatever’s going on must be serious, though.”

“It is a battle within Canterlot.” The white-coated mare stated, eyes squinting with a frown at the sight. “But who would dare attack the seat of power of the Royal Sisters?”

The mint-green mare turned to her herdmate, fear showing in her expression as she leaned onto her. “Bon-Bon? What do you mean by that? What does this mean?”

“I honestly don’t know, Lyra. I honestly don’t know … .” Bon-Bon said with a frown as she watched the grim lightshow at the distance—where some motion caught her eye at the edges of her vision.

Years of training and honed instinct caused the mare to turn her head—only to see three unicorns and a pegasus hovering over a cart the unicorns were pulling, a cart with a tarp on it … .

Where what appeared to be a foal’s hoof hanging near one lower corner of the tarp covering the open part of it when a wheel got caught up onto one stone protruding out of the dirt path.

Without taking her eyes of the now-openly suspicious cart, she waited until they were at a bigger distance before growling, “Those buckers foalnapped somepony … .”

The three mares turned towards the frowning face of Bon-Bon with shock … before glowering indignation replaced it. The candy-maker asked them with steel in her voice, “Girls? I’ll need your help in stopping them before they get away Tartarus-knows-where with their victim.”

They nodded resolutely at her, before discreetly standing up and keeping their sights on the retreating car as they whispered how they’d go about it … .

‘Nopony foalnaps a foal and gets away with it.’ The former monster hunter agent now known as ‘Bon-Bon’ thought to herself with rage. ‘Not if I can help it.’

It had been an hour since Luna had comforted her sister until she fell asleep, and she followed suit into her private quarters … .

Only to be forcefully shaken up the moment she had hit her mattress by several events that followed one after another in short order.

From the flash of light coming from the night sky, the roar that sent shivers down their spines, down to the familiar sounds of battle and cries of pain and fear had succeeded in removing Celestia and Luna’s sleep from their eyes the way coffe and a cold shower only could.

This was compounded by their fellow princess and friend crying out the alarm with the R.C.V. —which in itself was unusual, as Twilight Sparkle’s usual way of panic involved a frenzy of teleporting bursts in addition of hyperventilation.

So, as it was already agreed on beforehand in case of disaster, Celestia and Luna entered in contact with one another by a quick beaconing spell—and once they were sure they were not on their own, each ruler went to support their guards as they fought for their lives against the invaders trying to reach the Royals.

“That mighty roar took the fight out of the invaders, your highness! It’ll take us some effort, but we’ll eject them from these premises!” The night-guard lieutenant assured Luna when she arrived to support them as best she could, all this despite the infiltration reaching almost to her Night Court’s private wing and living quarters by the point of her arrival.

At almost the same time, Celestia was gaping at the carnage at her literal doorstep—many Day Guard’s bodies littering the hall alongside their assailants that they took with them … and her beloved friend releasing blast after blast of magic at a corridor, before squeaking as a bolt almost made it to her and in quick thinking blasted the ceiling—sealing the corridor with the rubble.

“Twilight! What about the others!?” Spike cried out while keeping a hold onto her neck.

“We must find Celestia and Luna first, Spike! They must know what to do—Princess!” Twilight exclaimed in surprise and relief as she saw the white alicorn at the distance.

“Twilight? Spike!?” Celestia called out as she quickly moved towards her student, who also rushed and embraced her, crying into her fur as the elder alicorn covered her friend with her wings.

“My dear Twilight, what happened here? Why are all my guards … .” Celestia asked her former student softly, feeling tears running onto her face as she fully took in the price of her safety.

“I—I came too late … .” Twilight whispered with her voice cracking out. “I—I thought the worst had happened—”

“She was mad, Princess!” Spike exclaimed from the depths of Celestia’s wings. “She took the sight, and went all gun-ho like with Tirek! She forced the surviving attackers out of here!”

Twilight’s cries only increased in volume as she clung up tighter to her mentor.

Only this thought crossed Celestia’s mind as she hugged her to calm her down: ‘I am so sorry, my dear student … I never expected things to get as bad as they are now.’ Her tears increased in frequency as this new thought crossed her mind and plagued her spirit: ‘My plan to save you from the ones plotting against you failed … I’m so sorryI failed you.’ Her attention briefly flickered to the bodies of her loyal Guardsponies, and whispered out, “I’m so sorry you’ve lived to see this, my friend … .”

They were brought out of their brief respite by yells coming from the other side of the collapsed corridor, and with a brief nod—Celestia teleported the three of them towards Luna in order to see how they’d go about gathering the others.

All they could do was trust in their friends’ skills until they saw each other after this disaster.

Author's Note

Well, this is the first part concerning the battle that has been unleashed unto Canterlot itself by a warmongering party, to the surprise of the three other factions' - whose plans have been all but shot down by this wrench.

What will happen now? Will they succeed? Will they fail?

All will be revealed on the next chapter of The Equestrian Vagrant!

But I digress.

I hope the action shown in this chapter is to your liking, and I'll do my best to keep the 'gore' to a reasonable degree in order to avoid the 'edgy pitfall of too much blood for blood's sake' that plague other war-related stories.

I wish you a good read, and I'll see you next time.