Author's Note

*Blows the dust off of computer* Sorry to my... *looks at fan list* One fan, for the two-month hiatus, college got intense and I decided it would be a good idea to work two jobs during winter break so my wallet doesn't hate me as much for this upcoming semester (still working two jobs). But I'm back now! Yay! anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and that it doesn't feel too rushed or fast-paced, I tried to up my vocab with this one and use better descriptions. As always, give me feedback on how I can improve. All critiques are welcome!

Chapter 18: An Audience With The Prince

A cool breeze slips through the windows in a moonlit corridor. The dark blue light stretching across the marble walls as the celestial body watches from above. Steps echo as a silhouetted body makes its way towards the throne room ready to achieve some kind of goal but as it nears the center, a pony with a white coat and golden armor stands before them.

"Well... You're a face I haven't seen before." As it speaks The guard's stance widens almost as if he's getting ready to pounce on the stranger at the slightest display of weakness.

"What have you done with Twilight?"

"Concerned about just Twilight? Are you by chance this Shining Armor, I've heard so much about?"

"Answer me!" He yells throwing his two front hooves against the floor attempting to intimidate.

"You needn't worry... Your sister is fine where she is now. I've simply just... Removed her from the equation and before long you'll be joining her. I made a promise after all." Turning it's back to him, it sighs and breathes out, trying to see if it's cold enough for it to see its breath and it can however so slightly see it and once it does, the breath cloud freezes but gets caught in a dark aura but the color is difficult to make out, shifting between dark variants of multiple colors; red, purple, blue, and green and sometimes an amalgamation between the four. "And who knows, after I beat you maybe I'll finally be able to take down that monarch."

"Well, I'll stop you before that happens!" The silhouette turns back to him, and looks at him curiously, dropping the ice onto the floor so it shatters before stomping on the remains.

"Twilight couldn't stop me, and she's an alicorn, but you. You're just a regular unicorn what hope do you have?"

"Twilight's magic may be more potent than mine but I'm more experienced in battle and from the looks of it you didn't leave your encounter with her unscathed... You're bleeding. The chances of you walking away from this are slim. I hope you know that."

"Then I suppose we shouldn't wait any longer to find out which one of us will fall..." The breeze picks up and the corridor grows cooler as the two of them charge their respective magical auras, one significantly stronger than the other, but tired and wounded and guarded by false confidence knowing that it would be a miracle if they actually succeeded. That if they did beat Shining Armor that the one he was guarding might be strong enough to defeat the mystery assailant. The glass trembles and the floor beneath quivers at the pressure of their power alone as the wind begins to howl. "You know... I have decided to act as the judge of this kingdom, and through my thoughts, experience and how history has passed I have decided that this kingdom should fall, either by my might alone," An explosion could be heard from the other side of the castle, and pony shaped bodies fill the night sky. "Or by the might of an army. It makes no difference witch, but it will fall. Now, shall we begin?"

I shoot up from my bed panting as I survey my room, in between breaths I mutter to myself. "It's just a dream, Celestia, just a dream." Though a very finite amount of my dreams were exactly how they played out I couldn't shake the feeling of dread that this dream brought, my students and possibly her friends were defeated and only Shining Armor remained before the confrontation I'd eventually have. "If only I could see what leads up to that event..." Looking out at the moon I sigh and rise out of bed. "I just hope Lulu will be safe..."

--->Mystic Haze<---

"Wait... So, you didn't even know he was missing?"

"No, the guards that were here before you refused to tell me anything about what was happening to him. Or even let me contact him for that matter." Joseph said plainly and calmly.

"Oh, well I suppose that makes this easier." I take a seat and gesture towards one across from me. "Please have a seat." He sits, with a curious expression on his face and he looks at me with an imperialistic gaze.

"You said my lack of knowledge concerning Edward would 'make this easier' so tell me, what exactly are you here for? I know it's not just guarding adjustments."

"Misty Night and I were sent for two purposes. Keeping you safe-"

"And?" He says curtly, not wanting to deal in pleasantries, I'm left dumbfounded as his demeanor changed completely going from a pleasant host to a cold ruler in a heartbeat.

"Helping us dethrone Celestia." There's a moment of silence, his gaze growing colder and sharper as if he was seeking to put a hole in me with just his glare, smoke begins to rise from his body surrounding Misty Night and I. Looking towards her, Misty is backing up and looking around completely on guard.

"Mystic, wha-"

"Silence!" Yelled the prince, and by his voice alone even our breaths fell quiet as I look back at him even more smoke began to radiate from him, making it hard to breathe but neither of us tried to breathe clearly for fear of provoking him, the light that poured in from the windows became diluted, casting a hellish hue on the human and at a lower volume but still holding the dominating tone, he continues. "You enter my house with the guise of defending me from dangers that are unknown and tell me that the ruler who not only supplied me with lodgings but with guards betrayed my most trusted subject and ask that I assist you with her fall? What proof is there that you can show me?"

"We have a letter from Princess Luna."

"And I am to take the youngest sister's word as fact in this matter? You're playing at the cusp of civil war, your house will divide upon itself and collapse under its own weight and you want me to play a factor in this?"

"Yes. We do." He slowly rises from his chair in complete silence, not even the chair was making so much as a noise while his slender body crept from it, we continued to watch him, trying to see what his next move will be before he opened his mouth, and said.

"Okay." And in an instant all of the smoke had found its way back to his body, as fresh air rushed back in the two of us felt all of the tension leave our bodies and we fall back to a sitting position as we breathe in heavily, trying to fill our lungs with clean air.

"W-what?"

"I said, okay. I'll help you." He enters the kitchen and returns with a bowl of cereal before sitting back down and beginning to eat. "Why don't you guys get something to eat, helps calm the nerves."

"Nerves? You scared us half to death!" Misty Night said in retaliation. "I thought you were going to kill us for asking you to side with us!"

"Oh, that's nothing, you should see my dad, his imperial intimidation is leagues above mine on a bad day. Besides, you asked a prince to dethrone someone, and as a prince I replied. Every subject of mine has seen that side of me numerous times it's only fitting that I subject you to it as well. Besides, I wasn't planning on saying no. I don't really like Sun Butt very much, she's too full of herself and eventually she'll lead her own kingdom to ruin, so it only makes sense to take her down, plus she betrayed Edward, as far as I'm concerned she was against me from the second Edward decided he wanted her gone."

"You really do think of him fondly don't you?"

"Of course I do, he and I are close. He's been guarding me for years, and besides, the two of us are the only ones of our kind here. There's a sense of togetherness that comes from it."

"I suppose that makes sense. So, how will you go about helping us?"

"Well, to be honest, the only way I can be of help would be combat, seeing as how I don't have an army to lead."

"That should be useful I mean, I heard about your display with Celestia, her guard was completely powerless to stop you."

"Because she simply didn't know how to."

"what do you mean?"

"I have weaknesses, luckily they tend to go overlooked, but that's only because I try to stray from open combat, as it stands Edward and my family the only ones who know of my vulnerabilities."

"How'd Edward find out about them?"

"Because he taught me how to defend myself, basic swordplay and even a few things with knives, he discovered one of my weaknesses through teaching me, he thinks there's a second one but that's just a suspicion."

"Well, would you be willing to tell us?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because if I tell you, what's to stop you from using them against me? I'm taking risks just by joining forces with you and telling you that I even have weaknesses."

"But... We're on the same side."

"Be that as it may, I need to take precautions, even while talking to allies." I scratch my chin with my hoof humming to myself as I think it over, from the sounds of it he just wants to keep safe while doing this I don't get the feeling that he distrusts us completely...

"I understand."

"Good. Now, why don't we keep the war talk for another time, come on, sit and eat with me."

"Hmm... That sounds good, but I have a letter to write."

--->Edward<---

Chrysalis and I are back at the edge of the forest once again for a lesson in magic. The wind is blowing ever so slightly but the tops of the trees still give way to its presence.

"Okay, Edward, it seems that you have a basic grasp of controlling your magic, so we'll try something more advanced."

"Advanced how? All I can do is set fire to things. It still backfires sometimes."

"Magic has a positive correlation with itself, the more new magics you learn will further your natural ability to use older ones and make new ones easier to learn. So we're moving on past basic pyrokinesis to basic psychokinesis."

"So... You want me to stop setting things on fire and start moving objects with my mind?"

"Exactly, try it with that log over there." She motions to a piece of wood laying on the ground. "Try to use magic to lift it." I look at it for a few seconds before reaching my hand out towards it, feeling the stream of magic leave my body and I stay like that and wait, the breeze fluctuates and I can feel it against the invisible stream. It takes a while but eventually I feel weight on my hand, I roll my hand so that my palm is facing skyward and slowly raise my hand up, the weight pushing against my hand making it difficult to lift, but I can see the log shaking, like it wants to leave the ground but gravity is restricting it but I keep pushing and eventually it rises a small bit maybe three inches before I release it. Looking at Chrysalis I'm left feeling drained, catching my breath like I just ran miles, she just simply smiled and nodded and said. "Good start. You'll get the hang of it soon enough." As she finishes her thought the sounds of a group running can be heard. It softly but ever growing in volume.

"Looks like the trainees are finally back." Not long after I say that the four doppelgängers emerge from the brush, sweating and breathing heavily. "Well look who's back! You have some catching up to do." I say rather condescendingly, hoping to provoke them a little further. One of them steps forward after catching their breath and looks me in the eye while standing tall as he begins.

"We almost died out there. While we were learning how to walk and run, we-"

"What's your name?"

"My name? What does that have to do with this?!"

"Answer the question and you'll see." He looks at me then to Chrysalis who just gives him a small nod.

"Ocelotte. My name is Ocelotte." I nod and stand up to meet his gaze.

"Okay, Ocelotte. You almost died? Yes. Am I sorry for putting you in that kind of situation? Yes, but I had to. If I had to teach you all how to walk like a bipedal being, it would've taken too long and gotten in the way. While you were gone, Chrysalis and I have made plans, sent out requests to meet with the rebelling griffons. And taught me some magic. While you all learned how to walk, run, and most importantly how to survive with nothing. I'm honestly surprised all of you made it back alive and with minimal to no injury. So now I don't have reservations on teaching you how we humans fight." There's a moment of silence as he thinks to himself. Eyes turning to the ground then back to me.

"When do we start?"

"Tomorrow, you can go and rest in the hive. But don't transform back into Changelings. By this time tomorrow I want you all to look different from myself and each other. Understood?"

"Yes."

"Then you may go." He nods and passes me but as he does I continue. "Oh, and Ocelotte."

"Yes?" He asks, turning to me with a hint of confusion.

"Consider yourself the 'leader' of your group."

"I will, Edward." He turns once more and continues to walk away. I look back to Chrysalis and she simply looks at me, somehow, shrugging her shoulders before asking.

"Shall we continue?"