XV:
Breaking point

Bushroot, gardener of Canterlot Castle entered to the residence with a sandwich on his hoof.

“Sorry for the delay. Do you mind if I eat something? I only have on hour for lunch!”

“No worries pal, same here!” said Irish Coffee showing her half-eaten sandwich. “It’s everyponys lunchtime! Right guys?”

Flash Sentry from the Royal Guard and a another pegasus called Eternal wings nodded as they were still eating their respective lunches. Bushroot sighed in relief and sat between them and started eating.

Nopony said anything. They were very confused and worried. Something extraordinary had to happen for the Great Master to summon all the new knights in the middle of the day. And to her residence. They were exposing themselves.

Then the Great Master appeared along with Cream Cone and Emeral horn looking worried. Twice as worried as they were.

“Hey guys, sorry for calling you out of nowhere. I know we had things to do, and we are risking too much by coming here in the middle of the day.”

“Something happened?” asked Irish Coffee.

The Great Master showed them the letter from Spike. “Before returning to his hometown, Spike managed to send us this spell. Right from Celestia’s personal archives. I don’t know how he got it without being noticed. Right now she doesn’t know we have this but once she finds out, we’ll get into more trouble that we already are.”

Flash Sentry raised a hoof exasperated. “Great Master, please! We have other things to do, can you please tell us what on Equestria are you talking about?”

East Wind sighed. “Yeah, sorry guys! Is just that I’m extremely nervous.”

She presented them the spell Spike copied for them. “This is the Alicorn Spell. A secret known only by the Crown… until now. With this we can turn anypony we want into an alicorn.”

The entire room went silent as the others began to examine the spell and then looked at the Great Master in disbelief. Even Irish Coffee began to choke with her sandwich, and Emerald had to go help her.

“The power to grant unlimited power.” said Cream Cone with a shiver. “How did the kid got this? I mean, I know he is close to the Princesses but I don’t think she would let him check into her personal documents just like that. And how’s that nopony have realized?”

“We were lucky nopony have found out!” said Eternal Wings. “Can you imagine what would happen if they realize? We are in a lot of trouble already, when this comes to light we’ll have to be as twice as careful as we are now.”

Flash just looked at the spell. “So, this was the magic that was used on Princess Cadence and Princess Twilight. Wow, I know that this will cause us lots of trouble but Spike deserves a prize! This is big, really big!”

Eternal Wings checked at the spell “I must say this is a really elaborate spell. It looks complicated and dangerous.”

She looked at the spell, trying to figure all the implications. “Whoa, this is crazy! This spell is very powerful, but there are a few complications.”

“Which type of complications?” asked Emerald. “Is it deadly?”

The Great Master, who have studied the spell beforehand, nodded. “Yes, it could be deadly. Both the pony casting the spell and the pony being transformed could die in the process. It drains all the energy of the spellcaster, and take a huge amount of lifeforce. Also the spellcaster should be a hundred percent focused in the process or it could kill the pony they want to transform by magic overdose.”

“For real?” asked Bushroot.

“Yes, not to mention the moral implications of granting a pony unlimited power.” added the Great Master. “You have to make sure you’re giving this to the right pony, otherwise it could be a disaster.”

Emerald Horn nodded. “I know it’s dangerous and all but in my humble opinion we must try this. All of us have the power of an A-Class unicorn thanks to the Great Master. Also, if we work together we can avoid being drained from our lifeforce, and we would help each other to stay focused.”

The Great Master didn’t seem convinced.

“Yes that’s a possibility, but what about the moral implication? You are granting somepony with unlimited power and immortality. I don’t know anypony who can get such a gift and not let the power get over his or her head.”

Emerald smiled.

“What are you talking about? You, Great Master are worthy of bearing the power and eternal life of an alicorn. After we turn you into one, you’ll inspire more ponies that the one you already had!”

East Wind blushed but declined. “Thanks, but no thanks Emerald. I am an earth pony capable of teaching magic to others. If you turn me into an alicorn I’ll lose what connects me to the students who think they would never be able to learn magic.”

Emerald nodded. “I understand Great Master, you are way too humble to accept such an honor.”

“Still you are the best option to become an alicorn, Great Master!” insisted Irish Coffee. “I can’t imagine using this spell on anypony else.”

“Yes you are the best choice not because you are the Great Master, but because you are you, East Wind.” added Cream Cone.

The other ponies nodded in agreement, but the Great Master still declined.

“Guys don’t put me in a pedestal, I am a regular pony and a criminal. I am not becoming an alicorn and that’s final!”

They saw that they would not convince her to use the spell on her but they were clearly disappointed. But the Great Master was sure that she was not worthy of becoming an alicorn. And also this would gave them more problems than they were already in, and at this point the Great Master knew this would blow up in everypony’s faces soon and she had to start making preparations for damage control from now.

As for the rest of the Knights now they were extremely nervous and worried about this as well. They were very excited about having this piece of knowledge on their hooves, but they also knew that they had a timebomb.

And their worries reflected on their daywork. Bushroot the gardener found peace in taking care of his plants, and Flash used the tension to his favor to stay more focus on his patrolling.

But the pegasus Eternal Wings was having a hard time at work. She was a professor’s personal secretary, and she was called out by her boss by making several mistakes in a letter he was dictating.

“Eternal! You made three typos in this letter, not to mention you had to re-make it twice because of the letterhead. Are you sure you are okay?”

Eternal gasped. “Oh I’m terribly sorry Professor Thesis! I’ll fix it right away!”

And she used her magic power to correct all the typos.

The Professor nodded. “Are you sure your night classes aren’t affecting your performance?”

“Sorry Professor Thesis. Is not my night classes. It is related, but it has nothing to do with my magic lessons. Not directly anyway.”

Professor Thesis nodded. “Do you have to meet them tonight?”

“No Professor, not tonight.”

“Good. Take the rest of your shift off and take a good night of sleep, okay? I am not going to forbid you to attend your lessons with the Knights, I can see how the magic usage have improved your performance at work. But I need you to focus when you’re on the clock.”

“Thank you for your understanding Professor. I’ll follow your advice and sleep for tonight.”

“Take care okay Eternal? See you in the morning!”

Eternal waved at the Professor and walked happily back home. But before she went home she stopped at the store to buy something for dinner. When she exited she realized it was dark already, so she decided to take a shortcut by going through a nearby park. It was very dark but all the Knights had the ability of night vision.

Usually she kept her eyes open, but today she was too distracted thinking on the meeting they had. The Alicorn Spell. How on Equestria did Spike was able to put his hands on it?

A voice in the dark called her back to reality.

“Pst, money!”

Eternal turned only to be tackled down by a pony in a black rove who put a knife on her throat.

“I said money!”

Eternal remained calmed and used her magic to threw her bag of bits at the pony’s hooves.

“There you go.”

Then Eternal Wings noticed the red glow under the pony’s hood and she fused with her shadow right before the knife cut her neck and she materialized right behind the pony.

The pony in the red hood smiled revealing her fangs.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here? Are you a Knight?” asked the undead pony, Fleshy Smile.

A second shadow materialized behind Eternal and pushed her right to the yellow undead pegasus. Fleshy Smile was about to stab her but Eternal raised a hoof and shot a magic beam to Fleshy’s face, and she turned right on time to create a magic shield to protect herself from the second attacker, Pin-Kill-Die.

“What are you? An apprentice or a Knight?” asked the pink undead pony.

“Well it doesn’t matter! We have a mission to kill them all!”

Eternal Wings frowned. “What kind of hypocrites are you, using our own magic against us?”

Fleshy Smile tilted her head. “What do you mean? You are the ones who say that knowledge its free to use it however you want? We want to use it to kill you all!”

Eternal extended her wings and flew away, as lots of knives made of shadows were thrown against her. With all her power Eternal created a powerful field, but she underestimated the power of the attack and several knives pierced her wings.

Crying in pain, Eternal fell to the hooves of Pin-Kill-Die who forced her to keep her eyes open.

“This will hurt only for a bit!” laughed Pin-Kill-Die.

“No promises!” said Fleshy Smile taking a spoon. “I always wanted to try this you know?”

Eternal concentrated her magic on her hooves but did her best to not let the monster notice. She had to take them off-guard.

Then Fleshy Smile’s spoon got too close to her eye, and she took it away with a precise move.

“AAAAAAAAAAHRGH!”

The Undead Knights watching laughed cruelly as they approached to Eternal who was squirming in pain and fear. Gothic smiled and inserted a gem where the eye was.

“There you go darling! You look divine.”

She looked at the rest of her friends. “Isn’t she a masterpiece? The blue of the sapphire combines with the red of her blood. It’s a shame she’ll die before she could appreciate the true beauty of my work.”

Eternal finally gathered all the power she needed and screamed with all her strength, releasing her magic aura pushing the monsters away.

“HEEEEEEEEEEELP!!!”

Her cry for help was heard over a mile, but Eternal knew she had to get time.

The six Undead Knights charged against Eternal with all their might.

Eternal used her power to generate four walls and a roof to create a small bunker to keep the six creatures away.

The walls were cracking as the undead monsters started to charge against the walls, but it gave Eternal the time she needed to reunite power for her next spell.

In the meantime the Undead Knights continued punching the walls destroying their hooves in the process, but regenerated immediately after.

“Look, one of the walls is about to break!!” announced Pin-Kill-Die.

They all charged at the wall at the same time, breaking into Eternal’s bunker, but she was not in there.

“What?”

Eternal Wings materialized from the shadows and recreated the wall trapping them inside. Then she used the remaining of her strength to use the spell the Crown gave them. The spell to seal the undead.

“Here you go! Try to escape form there!”

The walls began to crack again, and Eternal ran for her life. She have saved enough time to run into safety, but she was running out of strength.

Luckily, the Lunar Guard was on their way and she fainted right when they rescued her.

“Oh for Faust sake, we need an ambulance! This pony needs help!”

They did not say anything and send Eternal to the hospital and informed Celestia.

“A survivor from the robberies? I’ll go immediately!” said the Princess.

The Princess of the Sun flew to Canterlot General. She had to speak with the survivor to clear her doubts.

In the hospital the doctors told Celestia that the pegasus was too weak and couldn’t get any visitor. But when the Princess offered to use the most advanced healing spells to heal her, they let her pass.

But when she crossed the door she realized the pegasus was not alone. She was surrounded by four figures dressed in black tunics, black hoods and black masks with blue smiles.

An earth pony was right over the pegasus raising a hoof, healing her using the same spells Celestia was planning to use.

“Thank you, Great Master!” said Eternal weakly.

The Great Master nodded, and stroke Eternal’s mane. “Now rest, you need to recover.”

Then the Great Master turned to Celestia. “I know why you came here. And I just confirmed it, this was done by the undeads. Just like the rest of the robberies. They are behind everything.”

Celestia frowned.

“This has gone too far, and you know it Great Master.”

“Yes, but this is all your fault!” said Emerald angrily. “We could avoid this if you wouldn’t be so interested in capture us. Oh, and did I mention that this started after your sister and niece send those things against us?”

Flash Sentry glared at his boss, knowing that she would not recognize it. “Do you think we are going to let this go? Now that we know who is behind this, people will know. No more fallen brothers and sisters! We demand to be left alone.”

Celestia sighed with patience. She only refrained herself from yelling at these ponies because they were in a hospital with a pony in critical condition.

“You are playing a dangerous game. If it wasn’t because this pony who is in critical condition, I would make you pay for the years you have defied me here and now. I am running out of patience; this whole situation is getting off hoof!”

“You have no idea how strong we actually are!” said Bushroot.

Irish hit him on the head. “Shut the buck up moron.”

She turned to the Princess. “Do you think you’re the only one who is running out of patience? Do you think we like to be targeted by the Crown and these monsters? We’re just a group of teachers and students. You have no right to go after us!”

The Princess was about to respond, when the Great Master raised a hoof.

“Enough! We made sure Eternal it’s okay, so we can leave now. But you are right Princess, this is getting off-hoof. We need to find a solution soon, and hopefully we can come to an agreement. But not tonight, everypony is too upset.”

And with this they fused with their shadows, and disappeared out of sight.

Eternal was now alone with Princess Celestia who smiled at her.

“I know you had a difficult time my little pony. But I need to know what happened. Please.”

Eternal shook her head. “I will not talk to you.”

“But…”

Eternal was too weak, but still she managed to summon her Knight of Silence outfit. Celestia understood and left her alone.

…

In the meantime Emerald have made a decision. This had to end now.

The whole situation was about to blow up, it only needed a spark. And he would provide that spark.

He broke into Celestia’s Academy for the Gifted Unicorns and with a can of spray paint, he painted the Knights of Silence emblem on the wall. Then he began to write a manifesto about how the Crown’s persecution forced them to stay hidden on the shadows. And because of this a group of murderers were targeting both Knights and students in a desperate attempt to prevent them to provide knowledge freely.

FREEDOM FOR THE KNIGHS!

He displayed the message right on the front wall, visible for everypony.

“We’ll not let this go. This would have consequences. FOR THE KNIGHTS OF SILENCE!”

Author's Note

And there it is, the final arch of the story.

Now the two sides are about to clash and as I said on the story, is about to blow up on everypony’s faces. The story is about to end and I hope you like how everything is about to end.

Read ya’ later!!