Gems II: Dawn of The Princesses

Chapters

Chapter Two: Umbra Ink
Chapter Three: From Down And Under
Chapter Four: Common Ground
Chapter Five: The Midnight That Tolls
Chapter Six: The Party Before Nightmare Night
Chapter Seven: Hangover
Chapter Eight: "I'll Do It Myself."
Chapter Nine: Resentment
Chapter Ten: Silver Stone
Chapter Twelve: The Blades That Come
Chapter Thirteen: The Endless Tracks
Chapter One: Arrival
Chapter Eleven: Distrust

Chapter Two: Umbra Ink

Watcher stood puzzled, wondering how this old stallion had told him that Umbra had known that he’d be coming. However, he figured that he’d have to speak with the mare in question to get the answers he was looking for. For Celestia however, she had a suspicious feeling in her stomach that their supposed allied had already known they would be arriving, but before she could even say anything, the old stallion grunted, getting the princess’s attention.

“Excuse me ma’am, you and your stallion friend here, will have to wait out here until Master Watcher is done.” The old stallion said, guarding the entryway to the mansion.

“What? But we are with Watcher!” Celestia shouted.

“Wait! They are with me.” Watcher replied, earning a stern look from the older stallion, but after a moment of silence, the earth pony sighed and stepped to the side, allowing entry for Celestia and Techorse.

“I ask that you all wait here in the lobby while I go inform my Mistress of your arrival.” The old earth pony ordered while he left into another room, giving the trio an opportunity to look around and admire the interior, noticing how glossy the hardwood floors were, like they hadn’t been touched at all. The painted walls were covered in art and tapestries from collections that spanned centuries of collecting and commissioning artists. But none of those things were what had caught their attention.

“... Gasp…” Was all Celestia could let out, her voice squeaking slightly as she noticed the beautiful tapestries and paintings from centuries of collecting. “I didn’t know they still had these tapestries! These go way back to when I had begun training Twilight! And they’re in great condition!”

“Huh? I didn’t know that? As far as I could tell, Umbra got these back a year ago when she sent me photos at an auction she was attending back in New Fillydelphia.” Watcher explained to the mare, admiring the old relic that was the tapestry, before looking at Celestia’s cheerful grin. “Tia I wa-”

“Excuse me for intruding you three, but Mistress Ink is ready to see you now.” The old stallion said, glaring at Celestia which was rather odd, but she didn’t seem to notice it as she followed the old stallion in with Techorse and Watcher behind her.

They entered the study of the estate, which had not received as much space as anticipated. The windows at the front of the room overlooked a desk littered with parchments and documentation, plus writing quills and fresh ink. A pair of oakwood bookshelves filled with volumes on a variety of topics, including history, magical practices and potion making, gardening, and more were also in the room. Watcher felt unimpressed by the selection, having worked in one of the largest libraries in The Order, but supposed most of the books were actually for Umbra’s recordkeeping and other duties. To him, the room was just another messy office for a busy mare.

“Mistress Ink, Watcher and his guests are here to see you now.” He spoke from across the room, noticing the chair turn slowly, only to find that the mare was nowhere in sight.

“Excuse me… uh… sir.”

“It’s Grey Granite, Master Watcher.”

“Okay, Grey Granite, I’m not here to play games, so if you could please just take us to see where Umbra is so we can get to the matter of our current situation.” Watcher replied, unaware of a shadowy figure behind and pushing him to the ground with incredible force, landing on his back only to notice a mare with a dark grey coat and long beautiful black mane and red piercing eyes staring at his with excitement.

“Well, well, well, look who’s come to see me! If it isn’t the most stunning stallion on campus! Change your mind about me, Watcher honey? Or did you forget just how sweet we were together?”

“H..honey?!” stuttered Celestia whileTechorse facehoofed at the inappropriate display.

“U-Umbra, you already know what happened last time at the academy! So please get off of me!” Watcher shouted, his face turning into every shade of red as he struggled to push her off.

“Watchy baby, didn’t you say that if you were still single we’d try going out together?” she cooed, batting her long eyelashes hopefully.

“C-Come on… This isn’t the time to be discussing this!” He replied, avoiding the mare’s powerful gaze as his nostrils were filled by Umbra’s typical aroma that reminded him of blueberries and peaches. Watcher always suspected it was some kind of an enchantment she kept going that relaxed her “target”, priming them for what comes next. But most likely it was just her favorite brand of common shampoo.

“Ahem!” Celestia grunted as she caught the attention of Umbra, who continued to grin as she laid atop of her friend. “Mrs. Ink, we have a lot of important matters to discuss with you and whatever history you may have with Watcher, do try to contain your excitement at the very least.”

“My, my, I didn’t think Watcher was the type to bring a side mare with him, but I can’t blame him for being a real stud~” She purred, causing him to groan in embarrassment to which Umbra delighted in. “I suppose I could share him.”

“THAT ISN’T EVEN REMOTELY TRUE!!! HOW DARE YOU SPEAK OF US THIS WAY!” Celestia bellowed at her.

“Celestia, please,” Techorse said, trying to make peace.

Umbra jumped on it immediately, giving him her unwanted attention, “Ohhhhh, I hardly even noticed you here, Techie! Are you friends with Watchy, too? I’ve still got a long list of mares just dying to make you their beloved hubby! They’ve even sent pictures...”

“Umbra this really isn’t the time to be talking about this.” Techorse said, blushing as well just from hearing that rather embarrassing remark, “we need your help.”

“You two know each other?” Watcher muttered, “Just my luck…”

“Of course! Techorse is a bit better known around here than you would believe, Watchy,” Umbra teased, “in fact we’ve worked together often enough. I do wish you’d attend more of my parties though, Tech… you’re missing out.”

“I guess I keep losing the invites,” he said, knowing full well what happened at those parties and why he avoided then.

“That just means I have to bring you personally,” she answered, before turning her head back into forced eye contact with Watcher, “now, let’s get on with why you’re here. Why is that again?”

“We’re here not because I’m planning on getting together with you. You already know my answer. I’m here because-”

“You both are wanted criminals now thanks to our little filly here, correct?” Umbra stated, he expression changing completely. “It’s okay hun, I don’t blame those Order scum for thinking that you are one of the lost princesses. You do have a striking resemblance to Princess Celestia.”

“Umbra, she really is one of the lost princesses. I know it’s hard to believe, but I promise that it’s the absolute truth.” Watcher stated, starting from the beginning of what occured at the academy with him intervening in Midnight’s test, running into Celestia that after being expelled and forced to work as a librarian, Pen Dragon’s job offer and the events that would occur once Celestia raised the sun for the very first time, leading them to where they are now.

Umbra only looked in awe as she listened to their tale and couldn’t help but smile like a school filly, leaning into the large stallion. “My, my, I never suspected you’d become such a rogue~ Gives chills Watchy~!”

“R-right… Anyways that’s pretty much the whole story. You don’t have to believe us Umbra, but you do owe me for that favor I did for you during the fall festival awhile back.” Watcher explained, trying to hide his blushing red face from the dark unicorn beside him, but Celestia seemed to notice it quite well.

“Madam… If I may make a suggestion, with them on the run, wouldn’t be wise for them to remain here for the time being, at least until everything calms down.” Grey Granite suggested, soon leaning towards Umbra’s ear and whispered something, that caused the mare to giggle excitedly.

“It seems like I don’t have a choice, but to let you two stay here for the time being,” she winked, “it’ll be nice to have such lovely guests.”

“Umbra, if I could talk to you for a minute in private in the other room,” Techorse interjected, hoping to help the situation, “I’ve been thinking about something.”

“Sure!” she answered, “I do hope it’s what I think it is. Do wait one moment please, while I wrap things up here.”

“Watcher, are you sure we can’t just find somewhere else to stay?” Celestia whispered quietly into his ear once certain they were gone, “I’m sure there are others who are willing to help us.”

“Look, I know she’s a bit… clingy, mainly towards me, but there’s nowhere else for us to go and when it comes to magic and combat. Nopony holds a candle to her.” Watcher explained, but before he could go on, he soon felt two hooves grab hold of his face and pulled him facing Umbra.

“Now that we have all that settled, I believe you owe me a kiss Watchy~” She said, pressing her lips against him.

“Mmmph!” Was all the stallion could muffle before shoving the mare away from him. “Seriously! Stop doing that! You haven’t changed at all!”

“Hehehe, come on Watcher, try to lighten up a bit… After all we’re going to be spending a lot of time together~” She purred into his ear before trotting off, swaying her hips for him to see while leaving the pair of unicorns speechless.

“Now Techie, what was it you wanted to tell me?” asked the mare, the inventor looking more green than he normally did, which was saying something.

He regained his composure, “Oh… here, let’s step out for a second.”

Once they were out of the room, Umbra laughed as if the sound wasn’t going to carry, “Oh what a stallion that Watcher is, and to think you’re his friend now! Have you told him about yourself yet?”

“Not yet, no, he really doesn’t need to know,” answered the stallion, shaking his head glumly, “anyways, I managed to pull them out of The Order’s way, but I’m out of ammunition and a lot of my gear is damaged. I need to go back to my lab and get everything fixed up.”

“But you’ll come back, won’t you?” she pouted, teasing him, “I’d hate for you to escape to that gloomy lair of yours. We need you too!”

“I promise I’ll be right back once I get some more missiles loaded and replace the broken parts,” he answered, “and maybe pick up a few other gadgets that might come in handy later.”

“Then go and get your things, mister,” Umbra smiled back, “but do return quickly. There’s still a matter of picking your sweetheart! I owe that to you.”

Sighing, Techorse nodded, “I understand. Maybe someday, Umbra. Thanks.”

He turned around to leave, hearing her say, “Oh, and… you will need to tell those two the truth sooner rather than later. If you don’t, I’m going to! They deserve to know.”

Stopping in his tracks, he agreed, “I think you’re right. Just need to time it carefully.”

Umbra cast a quick spell to open the front door of her estate for him, and the stallion trotted outside for a couple of yards. His saddle opened up, and twin turbofan motors, flat rings with helicopter blades inside, sprung from the saddle’s doors. The motors engaged, and the lift picked the earth pony off the ground, letting him fly into the night sky to go fix the damage from the previous encounter.

Closing the door again, Umbra said to herself, “Ah, Techie, you poor thing, you! No matter, all that I need to do is make sure that my two guests are well rested for now.”

Later that Evening

Watcher couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable with Umbra leading him and Celestia to their own guest rooms, it was as if he’d mistakenly walked into the lion's den unprepared. ‘Maybe Tia was right, we could have found someplace else to hide out, but remember that this is for the Princess sake.’

However, he soon felt a hoof press against his chest, breaking him out of his train of thought, noticing Umbra grinning as she opened the door to what appeared to be his room. “This will be your room Watchy, I do hope it’ll be to your liking~”

“Heheh… Yeah… thanks.” Watcher said nervously as he entered into his room to find it kinda average compared to the rest of the mansion. Everything was either white or had a rather boring tanish color added, from the dressers, to the covers of the bed, to even the brown radio on the nightstand. “Huh… This is surprising… I thought it would something a lot weirder.”

Once the stallion had entered his room, Umbra closed the door quietly and began to lead Celestia down the halls so they would be out of ear shot from Watcher. Giving the dark unicorn a chance to find out what the former princess really felt about her future lover.

“So tell me, Celestia? What is your relationship with my Watchy?” Umbra asked, giving the shorter unicorn a coy smile.

“The two of us are close friends, why do you ask?” Celestia asked, her brow raised as two stopped in the middle of the empty halls.

“Oh, nothing, just curious is all, I mean you are with the most talented and most charming stallion there is, so it’s only natural for me to ask no?” Umbra explained, waiting for the unicorns response. Noticing Celestia’s cheeks turning a light shade of red.

“We are only friends!”

“Well, either way it doesn’t matter to me, as long as I get him to fall for me. Then nothing else really matters, although like I said, I don’t mind sharing.” Umbra explained, her intentions clear to the princess which caused her to growl in annoyance. “By the way, Watcher’s room… doesn’t have a lock, but don’t tell him that.”

“Umbra, don’t even think about going into his room without permission!” Celestia shouted, her horn glowing unintentionally, earning a giggle from the dark unicorn who simply leaned closer to her.

“Who said anything about going in without permission~” Umbra whispered. “It sounds like that’s what you had in mind~”

Celestia couldn’t help but blush as she backed away from her. “N-No! I would never!”

“Well, anyways, this will be your room. Have a good night your Majesty~~ and do keep those naughty thoughts to yourself!” Umbra sang as she trotted off giggling as Celestia groaned in annoyance.

“I-I would never…” She whispered as she simply entered her room, ignoring her surroundings and laid down on the large comfortable mattress and tried her best to fall asleep.

The Next Day

“If I don’t lose this crazy mare this minute… I’m gonna actually die of embarrassment,” Watcher said to himself, short of breath as he hid behind the fountain in the garden.

The morning had not been off to a great start by any stretch of the imagination for the unicorn. At approximately five in the morning, while he was all cuddled up under the toasty warm sheets and blankets in his room’s bed, the nightmare began without warning. Like most ponies who choose to just sit in bed half asleep after waking up for the first time at sunrise, Watcher had not a care in the world, burrowing into the softness around him. The warm sunlight from the window, the cold fluffiness of his pillow, and the relaxing scent of citrus fruit.

Of course, when that familiar smell hit his nose, the unicorn’s eyes bolted open from his relaxed state instantly, finding Umbra curled over him in the bed, the door to the room wide open! Watcher screamed bloody murder, pushing the lady of the house away from him with his hooves and falling out of the bed with a loud thump on the floor.

“Ohhhh good morning, sweetie!” he remembered her saying in that usual obnoxious tone of hers, “You’re finally awake! You know what really gets a pony going in the morning, Watchy?”

He didn’t stick around to find out, bolting out the door as fast as possible to avoid any kind of interaction with the psychotic mare. The next hour was a terrible game of cat and mouse, as nopony else was up at 5 in the morning, with Umbra chasing down her desired quarry from room to room, no hiding place was safe. It was as if she could smell his fear.

Now, with him trapped in the garden, he regret his choice of trying to hide there next. The rose bushes were tall enough that he couldn’t get through them without getting shredded by the thorns, and teleporting wasn’t really an option either since Umbra could spot magic from a mile away. He’d have to sneak back inside without her noticing and find a place to hang out until she gave up… perhaps the nice safe darkness of the basement?

“Where’d you go? You didn’t even kiss me good morning yet!” she teased, searching around in the rose bushes, “are you eating the roses? We have much better things back in the house, you know!“

Watcher took a risk and walked carefully from behind the fountain towards the front door after making sure Umbra was busy inspecting the rose hedges. He managed to get inside, and sealed the door behind him without making a sound. Checking the window quickly, he could still see Umbra lost and confused in the maze.

“Phew! Glad that’s over with, for now at least,” he sighed, his back sliding down against the wall, “I really gotta get out of here.”

“Why do you want to leave?” asked another pony in the room.

Watcher lifted his head and took a look at who the voice belonged to. There was a pegasus mare just hanging out there in the lobby of the mansion, with bright lavender eyes giving him a curious look. Her light teal coat was complimented by a marbled white and blue mane, kept in a shorter bobbed haircut, with the slight curls of the tips of her mane carrying over to her well-kept tail. Based on the accessories she was wearing, three silver earrings pierced through her left ear, and a blue bow on that side of her head to go with it, Watcher deduced it was another one of Umbra’s friends.

“Oh, hey, sorry… you’re looking for Umbra, right?” he said, standing up from his awkward position on the wall, “That’s good, means I don’t have to deal with her.”

“What’s this about having to deal with Umbra?” chuckled the mare, who raised an eyebrow and flicked her tail curiously, “She doesn’t bite.”

Watcher dropped his tone, “Lies.”

“Guess I’ll have to take your word for it, since you’ve been running from her all morning,” she joked, a smug look on her face, “it’s been pretty entertaining, I gotta admit.”

“Hey, I didn’t choose to have her on my case all the time,” he said angrily, pointing out the window, “that mare is obsessed with me! Now I gotta go hide.”

The mare stopped him by spreading her right wing into his path, “Hang on, hang on! I just met you and you’re walking off? Kind of rude, don’t you think?”

“Well, I would normally love to chat, but like I said… Kinda hiding from Umbra at the moment. I’ll give you thirty bits to keep quiet about me and I’ll talk with you as much as you want!” Watcher offered, waiting for the mares response, but before she could reply, they heard the sounds of Umbra’s voice echo throughout the halls.

“Watcher! Come back please! I even have a bowl of fruit I can feed you personally~”

“Crap! Just keep quiet please!” He begged, hiding under the covers of a nearby table.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head, Umbra walked up to her right away with the same graceful strut she always used.

“Ah! Aura Lace! My confidant and friend, good to see you here again so soon!” she said joyfully, temporarily dropping her hunt, “I take it all is well?”

Aura explained, “There’s a few things we need to discuss, need to find my brother first though. I saw him earlier, but you know… he tends to go missing.”

“How wonderful! I don’t know what we’d do without your efforts to help Everfree City, Aura!” Umbra replied, her eyes lighting up at the news, “By the way darling, you wouldn’t happen to have seen that hunk of a stallion I’m looking for around here, would you?”

“Who Watcher?” she said loudly, a good ten decibels over her normal level, “Hmmm… can’t say I have!”

Bless you, Aura Lace! Watcher thought from his hiding spot.

The pegasus silently pointed her hoof at the table Watcher was concealed in and stuck a bit of her tongue out playfully. Umbra took the hint gleefully and bounced over to the table, knocking it over with a brazen telekinesis spell that toppled the furniture and left Watcher perfectly exposed.

Damn you, Aura Lace! He screamed in his head, looking at the pegasus mare’s teasing expression. Attempting to flee once again, but was soon pounced on by the dark grey mare.

“UMBRA, GET OFF OF ME!!!!!”

Author's Note

Two New Characters have been introduced. I wonder how things are going to go from here~?😏 Anyways I hope you'll enjoy this chapter and leave a comment.

Chapter Three: From Down And Under

Three days after the Aftermath

It had been a very long, tiring journey for Midnight Blaze. His former friend had betrayed him, and his body had been beaten from a high-explosive blast dealt by a pony whom he’d never met, nor cared to know. Neither of those things mattered, however, in light of the loss of his beloved. Taken away from him mercilessly by the false princess in an act of bloody hatred, at least from his point of view. When he regained consciousness, his coat hair torched and the sting of multiple internal fractures apparent, he managed to pull himself out of the crater and survey the post-battle area. Many of his troops were dead or missing, he assumed, although no one was left around except for himself.

Since there were no bodies or dropped equipment, Midnight limped away from the scene, perfectly happy to be thought of as dead or missing. He didn’t make it more than a good mile away before encountering the memorial Watcher had hastily constructed, the miserable tombstone had already started to tilt in the soft mud where Stardust was buried.

“I… I’m sorry, Stardust,” he said softly, the emotional pain surpassing the physical, “I couldn’t save you. Nor could The Order...”

With what little magical strength he had left, Midnight pulled the monument upright and refilled the base with fresh dirt from a drier spot. He noticed that Watcher had failed to list Stardust’s birthday, only her name, and mustered the energy to drive a beam of arcane energy into the stone, carving her year of birth and death. She celebrated her final birthday with him just two weeks before this had happened, yet another event Watcher wasn’t invited to.

Watcher. That name made him grit his teeth in personal agony. Yet, Midnight found himself unable to completely blame him for his lover’s demise, nor the princess that had dealt the final blow.

“None of this would have happened if The Order hadn’t messed up their intel and sent us into a damn meat grinder,” he said to himself, still staring at the cold hard grave in front of him and trying his best to suppress his tears, “so let them think I’m dead as well.”

He turned around and walked away slowly, giving one final glance back, “I’ll kill that faker for you, Stardust. Her and Watcher. Not for The Order, but for us! I swear by it.”

As he slowly wandered away, he finally permitted himself to cry silently.

‘Rest easy, Stardust. I love you.’

Two miles into his walk, the fatigue in his limbs finally started to catch up, and the pain made keeping his eyes open hard. On the muddy road to Everfree City, the unicorn collapsed from his injuries, and slipped into unconsciousness again. An unknown amount of time later, a set of hooves walking along the road, soon lifting his unconscious body in a golden aura.

“You my boy have… powerful magic… And so much hatred… You could be the key to my ambitions, but before any of that… I need you to be in perfect health.” Was all that could be heard by Midnight’s ears as he would glimpse every often of the figure that stood above. The only thing he took notice of before passing out completely was that it resembled that of dark grey goat.

Present Day

“Celestia! Where are you!?” Watcher shouted in the halls of Umbra’s mansion, noticing a trail of water all over the floor, believing that either Celestia was getting out of the shower, but that didn’t make sense since her room obviously has one already, meaning that something either happened in her bathroom or possibly a prank being prepared. Either way, Watcher knew that the mare was up to no good. “Celestia!?”

He figured that it would probably be best to follow the obvious trail of water to find where it ended, but as he followed the trail, not paying attention as to where he was going, he soon bumped into somepony, causing a yelp to be heard and a box full of old books spilling everywhere. He soon noticed that he had bumped into Aura.

“Oh, sorry about that… I didn’t see you there. It’s Aura, right?” He said, offering his hoof for the mare, unsure if he got her name correct, but gave her a gentle smile to which she gladly took it without hesitation.

“Thanks, so how are you enjoying your stay here at Umbra’s home?” She asked, noticing Watcher’s horn glow bright red as he levitated all of the old books she had dropped back into the box and returned into her hooves.

“It's… an interesting experience to say the least.” He said, still recalling the events from the morning, still upset that the mare before him ratted him out to his hostess and was nearly smothered in Umbra’s hooves and grapes. “I’m looking for my friend Tia… She was supposed to meet up with me so we could discuss something in private.”

“Oh ho ho, is she your maaaarefriend perhaps?” She asked, giving the stallion a coy grin, which made Watcher turn beat red as he glared at the little pegasus now hovering above him with her wings. “That would explain why you tried avoiding Umbra this morning~”

“N-NO! She’s my friend like I said!” He responded, waving his hoof in disagreement as she continued to maintain her coy grin, before flying past him with the box in hooves. “Anyways! I’d appreciate it if you helped me find Tia, if you don’t mind that is.”

“How hard could it be to find a mare like her?” she joked, “She’s as obvious as you are, Watcher.”

“Trust me when I say she is full of surprises,” answered the stallion, clearly annoyed, “now will you help out or what?”

“Okay, okay,” Aura said, rolling her eyes, “have you tried calling her name out yet?”

Watcher turned red a bit, leaving him open to a followup by the peagsus, “Oh, wait, nevermind. You’ll give away your position if you do that. You are a very wanted stallion in this household, after all, and I’d hate for you to get caught. Again.”

“Well if you must know, Umbra is at a telephone conference at the moment, plus she knows not to interfere unless it has something to do with our mission.” The stallion responded, the redness of his cheeks beginning to dissipate. “So tell me, how did you come to know Umbra anyways, last time I checked, she wasn’t quite a fan of pegasi after dealing with a bunch of them egging her apartment two years back.”

This question changed Aura’s tune immediately, the mare’s facial expression going neutral, “Oh. Well, it’s… complicated.”

“Everything is complicated in my life now,” Watcher responded, raising an eyebrow, “so go on, Aura.”

Realizing she wasn’t going to get out of it, she took a deep breath and explained carefully, “I’m actually a clothing designer from Manehattan, Watcher. Didn’t even know Umbra existed until a few months ago. My brother and I worked closely with some enchanters from our neighborhood in the city to create clothing that appears totally normal, but can stop the most dangerous rounds of ammunition out there.”

“And in this world that makes sense,” he interrupted, nodding.

“Right, so… we were kind of the victims of our own success,” she continued, her ears beginning to droop back from the stress of talking about it, “we tended to vet our customers, my brother and I, just to make sure nopony crazy got a hold of it. But we never asked if they were in direct opposition to The Order.”

Watcher was surprised, he had thought The Order would have surely figured out sooner and been a huge customer for Aura’s business, “So what happened?”

“One of our customers became a politician who spoke out against The Order. An assassin ran up to him while he was giving a speech one day, and discharged a crossbow straight into his chest. Our line of dress shirts shattered the bolt like it was a toothpick, of course, but The Order had spies watching their hit,” she said, giving a detailed report as her mood sank further, “soon after that, we were approached by higher ups from the government, asking that we begin producing uniforms for their troops.”

“You said no, and they ran you out of town,” Watcher concluded, feeling the commonality, “and Umbra decided to take you in.”

Aura scolded him, “She didn’t take us in like an abandoned dog, Watcher, she helped us relocate here so that The Order wouldn’t kill us or our employees!”

“Well… The Order wants any advantage they can get to win against the rebel troops up north. It’s good that Umbra came out to help you, have you thanked her yet?” He asked, wondering if she had thanked the dark unicorn and if she had, he wondered what Umbra’s reaction would have been.

“She wouldn’t take our thanks. Or our money. Or anything. Just told us it was the right thing to do,” she said, trying not to snap at him, “she really is a good mare, Watcher. Not that you’d figure that out, I guess. Anyways, there’s your explanation. We drop by because she tends to see strangers as friends. Happy now?”

“That’s Umbra for you… Always finding ways to make friends, even with a pony like me. Also Umbra doesn’t see strangers as friends per say, she just has a knack for telling who's a good pony and who isn’t. Besides from the look of things, you and your brother don’t exactly act like strangers from what your describing. Especially after your little… stunt this morning. Which I intend to fully pay you back for,” he explained, giving the pegasus a smirk as he trotted past her.

“Good luck with that,” she shot back, just as he got out of her line of sight.

Watcher ignored her and followed the water trail he spotted earlier to its end. Right at the place where the trail stopped, he saw a door opened a crack, and took note of the water dripping from the edges of the door and looked up, seeing a bucket right above the door and a devious smirk formed across his face, before turning to Aura. “Hey, I think she’s in there Aura, but knowing her she’s fully expecting me. So why don’t you go in first and I’ll take those books off your hooves.”

“Sure,” she said, setting the books on the floor, “let me see what’s going on in there.”

The pegasus carelessly walked up and opened the door with her wing, setting off the booby trap placed above. A bucket of water fell from the top, nearly landing on Aura’s head, but splashing her with a column of cold water. She stood there, feathers weighed down with water and dripping wet, slowly turning around to face Watcher.

“You’re dead to me,” she said clearly, her eyeshadow running, “and your friend’s a terrible prankster. This joke sucks.”

“Yet… You fell for it… Consider this payback for what you did this morning to me.” He stated, trotting inside only for him to receive a pillow to the face.

“You were supposed to be the one getting soaked! Not her!” She shouted, coming out from the closet door and ran up to Aura. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting him to have… well company considering I’m the only friend he has now.”

“Wow… A low blow Tia.” Watcher responded with a deadpan stare.

“Oh, I don’t blame you, other than you shouldn't have used a metal bucket since the weight could easily cave in somepony’s skull,” Aura said, taking Celestia’s side, “of course, Watcher has made a very unfun enemy just now.”

“You became my enemy the moment you threw me under the carriage, with the Beast~” He said, jokingly as he continued to grin at the two mares.

“Did you hear something Celestia?” asked Aura sarcastically, looking at Celestia and pretending he didn’t exist, “Oh well, must have been nothing. Anyways, I can take a joke, let’s forget about it and go get some tea or something after I go dry off.”

“It’s fine, and I actually have spare towels in my room if you want one. From there we can plan our… revenge against he who shall not be named,” Celestia responded, taking Aura’s hoof and leading her out of the room, turning to Watcher with a devilish smirk.

Watcher could only stare in disbelief as he let out a loud groan, kicking the bucket hard enough for it to receshy back at his head, causing the stallion to groan in pain as he rubbed his forehead with his hoof. ‘Fantastic… So now I have two kids to deal with… And I still need Celestia so we can talk about our next move!’

Umbra’s Dining Room

Watcher sat silently as he waited for Celestia and Aura to arrive for their discussion of what they should do. Not doing anything for a long period of time wasn’t something he was quite fond of due to him being cooped up a library for months. With no other purpose but helping the former princess restore peace to Equestria was something of a second chance for him to do something useful, but remaining within Umbra’s estate with nothing to do frustrated the stallion.

“What’s taking those two so long?” He muttered quietly to himself.

“Aww… do you want some companionship, Watchy?” Spinning around from his seat, he noticed Umbra standing at the entrance of the doorway with a coy grin across her face as she batted her eyes seductively.

“N-No… I’m fine Umbra.” He stuttered, clearing his throat as he looked back at the grey unicorn with a glare. “Umbra, I want to talk normally with you, so could you take this just a bit seriously?”

“Only if you say please~” She said, trotting up to him, grinning still as she watched the stallion’s face turn a dark shade of red.

Groaning in annoyance he took a deep breath before replying. “Please… take this a bit seriously?”

“See… that wasn’t so hard now was it?” She replied, patting his shoulder as she trotted past him and making her way around the dining table and sat across from him with her hooves under her chin. “Now… What is it you want to talk to me about?”

“This concerns Celestia and the other princesses that are scattered across Equestria. I want to help her find them,” He replied, taking a seat across from the sly mare, waiting for her to respond.

“And you want me to help you? That’s sweet that you’ve thought of me instead of those other two you spent so much time with. Speaking of them, where is that charming friend of yours and that… lovely mare you care so much about?”

Dead silence overtook the room when Watcher let his eyes wander to the floor, his demeanor changing instantly. Umbra’s strong emotional intelligence had failed her, for once.

“They’re dead, Umbra,” he said with pain in his voice, “when Tia raised the sun, The Order put a huge hit on us, and everypony was out to kill us. Including them. Turns out no one is your friend if the state decides you are the enemy.”

“Oh… um,” Umbra stuttered, guilt trying to take over her mind, “Watcher…”

“It wasn’t the worst. Midnight started dating Stardust and took her away from me in the first place,” he went on, a lump in his throat as he tried to rationalize what had happened, “so it just makes sense he’d follow that up with trying to cut me down. We ended up fighting just outside of the forest, the two of us versus them, plus reinforcements. That coward was going to have us shot up by his mages instead of facing us himself!”

Rather than add anything, Umbra sat silently to let him finish his story, knowing the only way she could help was to let him get it all out at once.

Watcher looked up at her, tears running down his cheeks, “Before things hit the fan, I told myself that if just Midnight died, we would be able to think it was self defense and get on with our lives. But during the fighting… Stardust… Celestia somehow managed to kill her. She killed her right in front of us, Umbra! Didn’t even hesitate.”

The unicorn wouldn’t flat out bawl, but he let his running teardrops express the emptiness inside. His friend continued to hold her tongue, despite the dozens of questions sailing around in her mind.

“Techorse managed to get us out of there, I guess. I’m kind of glad he was the one to finish off Midnight. At least I didn’t have to put an old friend down,” he continued, drying himself off with a hoof and sucking in the phlegm, “not that it’s any better for him, either. It was truly the worst day of my life, Umbra. Nothing matters now, except finding those princesses, and making The Order pay.”

Umbra finally worked up the courage to place a hoof on his shoulder, “Watcher… you’ve lost everything, haven’t you? I couldn’t imagine the pain and suffering you’ve experienced. Even though I hear every single day in my line of work that it is ‘just the way things are now’, no one deserves to have to go through those kinds of things. You are welcome to spend as much time here as you need to recover… I will try to be a better host, honest.”

“It’s fine… Honestly all of this chaos has kept me distracted from thinking about them… I just wish that I had a chance to explain to them everything. Or if I could have at least prevented their deaths.” He replied, feeling tears drip from the side of his face again, but before he could get a chance to wipe it, he felt Umbra’s hoof wipe it for him.

“Let’s try not to think about the past for now… You’ve done all you can and don’t you forget it okay?” She said, smiling to him, trotting past him, “You’re doing the right things, and you should not blame yourself. Take all the time you need to grieve, but value your happiness.”

“Thank you Umbra… I really needed to hear that.” He said, rubbing his eyes with his hoof, but as he was about to say something to the dark unicorn, the doors to the dining hall opened wide with Celestia entering with Aura behind her.

“Sorry for taking so long Watcher. Aura and I needed to have a talk about something important.” She replied, taking a seat at the table with Aura sitting across from her.

“So Watcher, what did you want to talk to Celestia about?” Aura asked.

“R-Right… We need to start thinking about what our next move is everypony.” Watcher said, trotting to the front of the table, Umbra taking his seat and shooting him a wink, with only Celestia taking notice of it. “It’s time we figured out… How to find the other Princesses.”

Author's Note

Looks like somepony refuses to stay down... I wonder what will Watcher's reaction to this will be? Who is this stranger? Will Umbra ever quit flirting with Watcher?

Well you'll have to find out in the next chapter, and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, it took longer then it should have, but you know how life is... Never stops, but I can promise you that the next chapter will be worth the wait :)

Chapter Four: Common Ground

Author's Note

Hey everyone! I hope you guys have had a wonderful week.

Anyways, this latest chapter... isn't written by me, but my friend Spirals95. Now I may have wrote at least the beginning scene where we continue off from the last chapter, but it quickly, but naturally transitions to that of Techorse. I won't spoil anymore than that and from there all I can say is that you'll be surprised by how well he wrote this and I can promise you all that you're gonna like this. However this chapter does need to be proofread and I'm looking for new proof-readers.

Benefits they'll get is early access to chapters, but that's only if they are interested. Do comment below. Anyways enjoy this chapter and look forward to more in the coming days.

Chapter Four: Common Ground

“Are you sure we aren’t just jumping into this too soon? I mean we haven’t even been here for two days, Watcher. Shouldn’t we lay low for awhile?” Celestia asked, puzzled by how the charcoal unicorn was very eager to jump back into danger. As much as she wanted to find the others, she knew that she needed to be patient and cautious with how they proceeded. Celestia had made a mistake trying to prove she really was the long lost princess of the sun and because of that, she caused her friend pain.

“I know, it feels like we’re rushing into this unprepared, but us waiting around for something unexpected to happen isn’t going to work. Even if it did happen by chance with you and me Celestia. We need to start looking for the others ourselves,” he explained, but before he could proceed, Umbra raised her hoof up.

“Watchy, I do agree that we should start searching for the others, but Miss Tia is right. The two of you need to rest for a few more days. I’ll see if I can find any clues about the others’ whereabouts in the meantime,” Umbra responded. "However, don't push yourselves."

"Don’t forget, you two were in a serious fight,” agreed Aura Lace, also concerned for their health, “I want you to find the other princesses as much as anypony, trust me… anything to give The Order a bad day, but it won’t do you any good to go out exhausted.”

Watcher was going to insist, but he could clearly tell he was outvoted, “Fine. We’ll stay a few more days. Not that it’ll do us any good...”

He trotted off back into the depths of the estate, muttering something rather unpleasant to himself. Umbra rolled her eyes and shook her head with a hint of a smile on her face.

"I’d better go follow that silly stallion,” she said, “try to get him out of this brooding of his so that he actually recovers.”

Once the lady of the house had left, Aura and Celestia let out their restrained giggles. Ever since the prank gone wrong, the two had become fairly fast friends. AFter helping Aura dry off, Celestia had gone on a raid for desserts out of the well-stocked kitchen, stealing an entire chocolate cake without being noticed by Gray Granite, and of course eating the evidence soon after.

“Now that Mr. Ray of Sunshine’s gone, want to go for a walk?” suggested the pegasus, “I’d love to fly, but… you know.”

“Oh, how I wish I had my wings back, just to soar with you, my friend,” Celestia sighed, remembering the times again, “but yes please, a walk would be just fine!”

They exited out the front door and began their walk out to the garden, enjoying the fresh floral scent of the roses and the warm sunshine. Celestia couldn’t even remember the last time she had gotten to enjoy the outdoors like this. There were even butterflies and hummingbirds buzzing around, trying to get a sample of the nectar the beautiful flowers were producing.

“It’s so beautiful here,” she said, trotting alongside her friend, “Umbra is a blessed mare for sharing this with us.”

Aura heard a different noise from over the birds and bugs, her pierced ear perking up to attention, “Hey, do you hear that? Sounds like an aircraft of some kind....”

Following the noise, the mares walked to the other side of the garden to find Techorse, who had just returned from his home on the other side of the city. His saddle’s propellers retracted back into the machine as he took off his flight goggles and let them drop down his neck.

“Oh, it’s Techorse!” Celestia said, “Umbra told me he was coming back from his trip soon, guess that was today.”

Aura pointed at the stallion, “Wait, that’s Techorse? The stallion you’ve been telling me about?”

“Well of course,” she answered, “come on, I’ll introduce you.”

Aura, having expected a completely different stallion from what had been described, followed Celestia over to the inventor, who was dead focused on getting to the front door to greet Umbra. The princess of the sun had other plans, and wasn’t about to let him ‘get away’!

“Tech! So good to see you again,” she called out, getting his attention.

He stopped ascending the front steps and walked back down to greet them, “Good afternoon, your Highness! Out for a walk?”

“Oh, stop, you…” she smiled, “I may be a princess, but we are truly friends here. And yes, I was out for a walk with this lovely pegasus. Techorse, this is Aura Lace!”

Techorse made direct eye contact with the mare, who had a confident smile on her face, “Aura. Nice to meet you!”

“Yeah, nice to meet you too,” she answered, finding Tech’s eyes equally interesting, “so you’re the one that pulled my friend Celestia’s flank out of the fire with the order, huh?”

“Well, I mean…” Techorse stammered, rubbing his neck with his hoof, “I was just doing the right thing.”

“I don’t know too many ponies who would do that,” Aura pointed out, “risk their lives to save another.”

“But that’s what makes him special,” Celestia added, a twinkle in her eyes, “he has a heart for justice. I felt it from the first minute.”

“Yeah, the first minute the rockets stopped flying,” Techorse joked, “honestly though, I just want to help anypony I can, especially those The Order hates.”

Aura’s expression changed suddenly, “...Oh?”

He looked away at the ground reflectively, “Yeah, a long time ago I had to run away when my family’s business was seized by The Order…”

Aura’s expression changed suddenly, “Y… your family too?”

Techorse stopped for a moment, then slowly looked at Aura, who radiated both compassion and personal pain. The earth pony slowly nodded, “Y… yeah. My dad was Workhorse, owner of the railways to here. But… one day my parents were forced to send me away to keep me safe when The Order started seizing everyone’s industries. Were… were you also targeted?”

“I was,” she answered dolefully, “you helped Celestia because you stand with the victims of the Dispossession. Do you… want to go inside? Maybe talk about it? I’ve never talked to anypony else in my situation before.”

After a few moments of silence, Techorse smiled, “Yes. I’d like that very much, Aura.”

As they walked up the staircase again, talking constantly about their experience living through the dreadful past, Celestia could feel the strong connections forming that she once felt during the Reign of Harmony. She felt a golden aura of hope inside, letting it take over her thoughts while she went her own way to find Watcher again.

Unbeknownst to the others, Umbra had one other guest currently residing in her home, who had known about her other visitors for quite some time but had refused to even greet them. Always sticking to the floor of the home he was dwelling in, the stallion stared out the window in his provided bedroom, watching Princess Celestia trot along the path outside.

The pegasus picked up a chilled, short glass containing fine bourbon and a few ice cubes with his wing and took a careful sip. Despite not yet making a public appearance, he seemed to be dressed well, as if he was headed off to work in an office. Dress pants and a blue shirt with wing pockets that let him use his appendages handily, and a small pair of rectangular spectacles that aided his slightly myopic green eyes.

“I hope Umbra knows what she’s doing,” he said doubtfully, “it can’t be safe for her to harbor that mare. I’m surprised The Order hasn’t burnt this place to the ground already. Not that it wouldn’t cost them dearly...”

He set his glass back down again and tucked his wings back beneath his shirt, but not before having to move a frustrating piece of his black mane hair out of his eyes.

“The sooner we can get our clothing operation open again, the sooner we can stop being such a burden on Umbra,” he said, still talking to himself.

Turning back, he looked at the elegant room he had been occupying. It was more like a hotel suite or self-contained studio apartment, a design decision Umbra tried to include in every guest room. A small kitchen with enough space for a table, a complete bed set fitted with velvet covered sheets, and walls decorated with some of the lesser known pieces of art the eccentric unicorn liked to buy up. A happy little home, if it didn’t feel so alien to him.

*knock knock knock*

“Hmm?”

He walked over to the door to the impressive living quarter, believing Umbra had come to speak with him. When he opened the door, Aura was there instead, with an extremely happy expression on her face. Next to her was Techorse, which bothered him for a very good reason.

“Aura Lace, I didn’t want anypony else to know I was here,” grumbled the stallion, “this had better be good.”

Aura, feeling the happiest she had in years, said, “Come on, Affinity. He’s cool. This is Techorse, one of Watcher and Celestia’s friends.”

“Charmed to meet you,” said Affinity sarcastically, “I’m not sure why my sister has decided I need to start meeting the other ponies of the house, but whatever. I’ll put on tea I guess.”

“Is it too much trouble?” asked Techorse, ignoring the other stallion’s rude behavior, “I understand if you’re busy.”

Aura got right in front of her brother, and gave him that pleading look she always did when she wanted to get her way, “Come on, Affinity. He’s one of us… he’s Dispossessed.”

Affinity’s face relaxed from the scrunched up scowl, and the pegasus pushed his glasses up his muzzle, “My apologies, Techorse. I suppose this explains why Aura Lace wanted us to meet. Please, do come in… I really will make that tea.”

Soon they were seated at the carved oak table in the kitchen area, warming up with their spearmint infused hot drinks. Affinity noted that Techorse maintained good eye contact with each of them, but that his sister couldn’t take her eyes off of their guest’s face and his patient, subtle smile.

“I apologize for not introducing myself sooner, it’s just that I doubt that princess and her friend could understand ponies like us, Techorse,” he said, trying to win him over to his way of thinking.

“I’m not sure I understand,” he answered, a bit confused.

“We’re both a bit higher caliber, I’d say,” Affinity smirked, “I can see you’ve taken to engineering, just as we’ve taken to magical weaving.”

Techorse realized that he was holding the cup with his two metallic hands, the supporting arms coming out of his saddle following his every desired movement. He stowed away the contraptions quickly, a bit embarrassed.

Aura Lace couldn’t help but marvel at it, “Isn’t it amazing, Affinity?! He flew here on that thing. How do all of those different gadgets even fit in there?!”

“The battle saddle is an extremely modular platform,” he answered, “I could tell you guys more, but it’d probably just put you to sleep.”

“I doubt that, but let me make my point,” Affinity continued, trying to get to the point, “the truth is, we are creators, Techorse. You create your machines, and we create clothing using materials woven in runic looms.”

Techorse had heard about “runic looms” before. Unicorns would etch runes using very precise magic, stones sensitive to arcanic energy that would carry out a specific magic instruction when supplied with power. These runes would be ordered in a specific way on a highly modified industrial textile loom. After being energized, the runes would infuse the created clothing with the magical properties encoded within. But most of the time, it could only do very basic things, such as allow the wearer to change the color of their clothing in case someone else wore the exact same outfit.

Affinity seemed to hint he could do much more than that, “Would you like a demonstration?”

“Absolutely!” Techorse answered enthusiastically.

“Okaaaay!” said Aura, with a very snarky tone, “hold still, buddy.”

The pegasus removed the bow from her left ear and placed it on Techorse’s head, startling him for a moment. She stood up from the chair quickly and walked over to the kitchen sink area, looking for something. Not understanding, Techorse looked to Affinity, who had a very concerning kind of smile on his face.

“Hey, Techorse, catch!” said Aura.

Techorse looked over just in time to see a thrown kitchen knife coming his way. He yelped in surprise, just as the thrown butchering blade reached his head. The bow Aura had transferred to him glowed brightly, and a concave shield of energy shaped to Techorse’s face flashed over him as the knife impacted the field, making it bounce off harmlessly in a splash of sparks. The stallion tumbled out of his chair, but quickly got back up on his hooves.

“A.. Aura! You could have stabbed me!” he complained, trying to catch his breath.

“Not with that ShieldBow,” she answered, batting her eyelashes at him, “never leave home without it!”

Techorse’s saddle opened up again, and one of the arms inside grabbed the bow off. It was still heated up from the shield spell it had discharged, and if the robotic arms holding it had nerves, they would have felt the warmth the cloth radiated.

“Amazing!” he said, looking up at her, “This design is brilliant, Aura! An entire shield generator system inside a regular looking hair bow. I’d never be able to build something like this.”

She blushed and looked away a bit, “Aww, thanks. But I think I like your saddle more, really. It’s just a stupid little bow.”

He reached over with the mechanized limbs and afixed the defensive accessory back on Aura’s left ear where it belonged. Then he stowed the machinery again, Affinity looking on in awe at just how well put-together the robotic system was.

“Well, it’s a stupid little bow that just saved my life, so I still like it,” he chuckled, “looks good on you, too!”

“In any case,” interrupted Affinity, not appreciating anything that resembled flirting with his sister, “we have much in common, Techorse. Good things, and bad things.”

The room grew quiet again as the three thought about the trauma they had faced earlier. Affinity had created quite the awkwardness in the room, partially because he wanted the two to stop blushing at each other, partially because he wanted to move to the meat of the conversation while he still had Tech’s attention.

“Do you remember much about your life before The Dispossession?” he asked.

Techorse took a generous swallow of his tea and reflected on the history of his world. The event known as The Dispossession was a common trauma the three had shared. Almost 15 years ago, Chancellor Apollo had sent out messengers to several key industrial and transportation enterprises throughout the entire domain. Families, investors, and employees alike received notices that The Order had taken a strong interest in acquiring their enterprise for the sake of the ‘community’. Obviously this was a blatant lie, since public services tended to be local anyways, and the industries that were desired often produced things useful for a military force, weapons, armor, long-distance transportation, magical devices and components, and fuels.

After the numerous, unanimous stream of letters denying the Chancellor the rights to their heritages and sources of income, it was said that Apollo stood up before his advisors, took a sip of his wine, and said, “No interest in our gold? Blood it is, then.”

What followed was a week of death troops flooding the streets, storming into the factories and mills, ruthlessly slaughtering employees and seizing their children. Within days, the citizens of The Order found their towns’ biggest employers under government control. The propaganda campaign said it was a benevolent act of sharing in the face of greed, but the businesses remained the property of the council and their Chancellor. In fact, anyone else who had worked for the previous owners was dismissed, replaced with employees from The Order’s ranks. The locals wanted to protest, but with shadowy troops armed with magic and weaponry on every block, what could they do except mourn the loss of the ponies that made their town notable?

After a small eternity of thinking, Techorse finally answered, “Hard to forget what happened to me, Affinity. When I was just a colt, my parents Workhorse and Serendipity of the Everfree Railroad Company, got a knock on their door.”

“We all got that knock on our door,” Affinity interrupted, “after all those weeks of The Order saying that private property was private property, and no state seizures would happen. That’s when the Shadow Troops burst through and took everypony.”

The inventor in front of him was starting to accumulate tears in his eyes, “Mom and Dad managed to get me out the back door and told me to run, never looking back. I did as they were told, but I never saw them again after that. I learned later that The Order murdered dozens of the railway workers storming the train stations. But my parents were never reported dead. They could still be alive out there, wondering what happened to their foal...”

Aura sat back down next to Techorse and wrapped her left wing around him, trying to calm him down. He appreciated the warm fluffiness of her down feathers, or perhaps the fact that this was his first “hug” in years.

“We know what it’s like to be separate from family,” said Affinity, with the first bit of empathy he’d shown to another stallion, “we were adopted at an early age, you see.”

“That’s arguably worse,” said his guest, trying not to feel sorry for himself.

“On the contrary, we had a happy foalhood with our adoptive family,” Affinity stated, permitting Techorse his feelings, “our adoptive parents were the founders of the runic looming system. Taught us everything we know.”

Aura picked it up from here, “We were sent out to a relative’s home for a break. Then the Shadow Troops showed up to claim our textile plant. Our parents made it a point to know each employee personally… and so many of them were shot right there at their stations.”

“I… I really don’t want to talk about this anymore,” said Techorse, anger building up, “there’s a reason I have to pack weapons into my saddle.”

“To kill those bastards,” Affinity grinned, puffing out his chest, “to put them in their graves as they deserve for ruining our lives.”

Techorse scowled at him, making the pegasus drop his smug attitude immediately,

“No, Affinity. To fight for a day when I don’t have to pack weapons into my saddle.”

The stallion on the other side of the table leaned back in his chair and pointed his eyes towards the ceiling in thought. Aura released her wing from Techorse, surprised he didn’t share her brother’s feelings after going through the same pain.

“You know, Affinity, we’re not the same,” he continued, lecturing the pegasus, “I’m fine collaborating with you, especially for the sake of getting the princess to safety. But I’m not here to kill as many of The Order’s ponies as possible.”

“You can’t seriously believe we’re just as bad if we wipe them out,” laughed Affinity.

And there, he had him, “No. We’re not just as bad. It’s just not necessary to win… and it might make us lose. We have to stop Apollo, no more no less.”

Aura looked at Techorse, and then at her brother, unsure who’s opinion to agree with.

Affinity seemed to make the choice for her, nodding his head and smacking his lips, “All right, Mr. Techorse. I do want to see them all suffer for their crimes, but… it won’t do us any good if we all end up dead in the process. So let’s agree to disagree, for the better.”

Techorse relaxed himself, and felt Aura’s tense mood relax too, “Good enough.”

“Hey, want to take our minds off things with a game? Umbra’s got a ton of board games lying around, managed to hoard them for myself,” Aura Lace said, suggesting they move on.

“I love board games!” Techorse answered, “What should we play first?”

“Something I can beat you at, obviously,” she joked, winking at him, “are you in too, Affinity?”

“Wouldn’t want to disappoint!” he answered, smiling.

Soon enough, the three ponies were settled into an engaging game, socializing over more pleasant topics. When it wasn’t her turn, Aura Lace’s mind wandered off onto the recent turn of events. She felt as if she had finally made progress on getting her brother out of his issues and work, and back into living his life. There was another very different feeling there as well, but she couldn’t quite place her hoof on what it was. For now, she considered herself lucky to have made a great friend she knew she could trust, which was a rare occurrence for ponies like them.

Chapter Five: The Midnight That Tolls

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Chapter Six: The Party Before Nightmare Night

Almost an entire month has gone by and Celestia couldn’t help but notice how quickly the color of the leaves had changed from green to vibrant colors of red and orange. The trees were preparing to give up their sugar-collecting ways for another long winter, and leaf after leaf fluttered down from the increasingly barren branches.

“It’s so odd, seeing the trees just give up their leaves like this,” she said to herself quietly, trying not to disturb the serenity of the outdoors, “I remember the Running of the Leaves so well. Don’t the ponies of today recall their roots at all?”

Of course, with the autumn leaves came the harvests of the fall fruits, fresh apples, cider, and pies would all be produced in due time. Celestia remembered the time she passed out caramel apples during the harvest season, and that one unfortunate guard whose ‘buddy’ stuck one of the goodies onto the back of his helmet where he couldn’t get at it!

But even the memories of the good times and the silly moments of yesteryear weren’t enough to completely heal her hurting heart. Something was clearly missing from the picture, something that made the season complete. It was seeing Grey Granite outside in the garden putting up decorations that reminded her what was coming up ahead. He was placing down fake tombstones with funny sayings on them in the rose garden, and putting up black-colored streamers.

“Ah… Nightmare Night,” Celestia said, her misery returning to her, “oh how much that meant to her. How much I hated it...”

She could remember the first year Nightmare Night was held. Propagandists had taken full advantage of her ancient decision to banish her sister to the moon to portray Luna as a true monster, a beast that killed and ate foals who wandered too far from home. She remembered how they would hold Nightmare Night, looking for ponies who might have sympathies for her lost sister, and lock them up or even torture them. Celestia’s heart was broken by their behavior, and she had to crack down on it with the full force of the crown. Several imprisoned ringleaders were not enough to fix the damage, however, as her subjects had been terrorized by the raids.

“But I did the right thing,” she said to herself, satisfied.

From that point on, Celestia had turned Nightmare Night into a peaceful holiday where foals could feel safe from the nasty rumors and gather some treats to take their mind off of their fears. It didn’t stop their older siblings from joking that Luna would devour them if they wouldn’t share their treats… but it did end the cult. To Celestia, it was worth keeping around the holidays if it meant nopony took her sister being a demon seriously.

The princess resolved, “I must make this Nightmare Night special too. It will be for you, Sister.”

“Ahem! Is everything alright Tia?” Watcher asked, appearing behind the former princess to which she levitated a nearby flower pot and threw it, only to strike the wall five feet away from the large unicorn. The poor impatien planted in the pot managed to just barely land right-side up.

“W-Watcher!” She shouted, jabbing him in his shoulder. “Don’t sneak up on me! I could have killed you!”

“No offence to your throwing skills, but that wasn’t even close Tia.” Watcher stated, rubbing his shoulder as he gave the princess a curious look. “Is something wrong?”

“No it’s nothing… I-” Before she could continue, there was a knock at the door and Celestia let out a deep sigh before approaching the door, “You can come in.”

“Hello!” Aura shouted, nearly bashing the door down, “Thought Techie and I might check in on you guys!”

“Techie?” snorted Watcher, giving the inventor following behind a condescending glare.

“Oh shut up,” Techorse answered, turning a bit red, “it’s a nickname I’ve always had, okay?”

He snickered back, “Sure thing Techie!”

“Watcher, please,” Celestia growled, softening up for Aura, “it’s very good to see you Aura Lace. I appreciate you coming to check in on us.”

“So what are you two doing anyways?” Aura asked pleasantly.

“Well I came to check on Celestia, but not much else… I’m not sure what she’s up to,” Watcher replied, scratching the back of his head, not mentioning the broken flower pot. “Which reminds me, what were you doing Celestia?”

“Nothing Watcher, just recalling the past is all… Nothing more.” Celestia replied, trotting towards the window, seeing ponies just outside the fence setting up for Nightmare Night. “But enough about me! How about yourselves?”

“We’ve been thinking, there’s this Nightmare Night party tonight, and we ought to all go out and have some fun!” Aura said, ear-to-ear smile at the thought of going out, “There’s going to be a ton of candy and fall activities out there. Plus cider! Tons of cider!”

“But isn’t Nightmare Night tomorrow though? Why not have it then?”

“Normally yes, but this is something Umbra had planned with a colleague of hers two weeks ago and we’re all invited! Did I mention there’s going to be cider!?” Aura said, grinning excitedly as the large unicorn rolled his eyes.

Techorse nodded, “There’s a tavern here that serves a private batch of cider to esteemed guests. Umbra happens to be one of those, so she offered to get us in! Up for it?”

“Well it’s been almost a year since I’ve gone drinking… Sure, why not?” Watcher replied, giving the small earth pony a shrug as the pair followed Tech and Aura out to hopefully get their minds off of things and have a good time.

Meanwhile, outside the city, Midnight couldn’t help but look down at the ponies entering the city, unaware that there long lost princess was hiding there, plotting to take control once more. It was almost laughable for the blue unicorn as his eyes glowed bright green and the scars on his body began to glow the same. It was as if he had woken up as a new pony, filled with confidence as a smirk formed on his face.

Midnight had become a lot stronger, the change in his magic was proof of that and he couldn’t wait to test his new abilities. He had spent three long weeks training with the mysterious Moro, being forced to endure pain and suffering during that time. He could still recall their conversation that day when he had awoken, discovering a horrible truth that made him believe that the princesses had indeed returned.

Three Weeks Ago

“I can promise you this Midnight… they are real… And you are going to help me kill them.” Moro said, growling as his hoof began crushing Midnight’s chest, causing him to yell, but no pony could hear him. “Feel that pain? Hurts doesn’t it? Makes you angry at the one who gave you that massive scar there right?”

“Screw you!” Midnight shouted in rage, his horn glowing a bright blue as he shot of a beam of magic into the air which made the stranger stumble backwards to avoid it. Midnight stood up quickly despite the pain he felt throughout his body. “You’re delusional! They aren’t real! Besides, even if they were, why the hell would I help the likes of you!?”

Moro couldn’t help but let out a loud sigh as his horns glowed a dark shade of green and levitated an old newspaper article and threw it at Midnight’s hooves and began to leave the room, but not before giving the unicorn a stern look. “I suggest you read it Midnight Blaze… You might be able to recall your lost foalhood memories…”

With that, he took off ignoring the unicorns yells as the stranger’s grin began to show as he closed the door behind him, leaving Midnight alone.

“Damn… I should have jus-” He paused mid-sentence as he looked down at the article and realized what Moro was telling him. Using what little magic he had left, he levitated it off the floor and placed it on the nightstand as he began to read it. Uttering one word as he began to grit his teeth in anger, now recalling what Moro had said… His foalhood and the one who took that away from him and his former friend. “Ponyville!”

Outside Umbra’s Mansion

Watcher and Techorse waited patiently outside the mansion’s doors for both Aura and Celestia to come out. It was frustrating for the charcoal unicorn as he continued to pace back and forth by the entrance. He wasn’t happy, especially since he had to wear a very bright yellow bee costume due to him losing a bet with Tech and Celestia.

“Techorse… I want you to know that I hate you… and everything you stand for,” Watcher muttered out loud for the earth pony to hear, but Tech simply rolled his eyes.

“Yeah I know… heard you the first thousand times,” he responded, adjusting his bow tie.

Techorse was dressed as a secret agent, complete with tuxedo, dress pants, a silver watch on his left leg, and a cool set of sunglasses, “Don’t get why you’re blaming me, you lost the bet! Aura was never going to wear something that obvious, Watcher.”

“That’s the last time I take a bet from you,” he grumbled, adjusting his antennas on his head, “and what are you supposed to be anyways? A waiter?”

“I’m a secret agent, of course,” Techorse answered, adjusting his sunglasses with his hoof, “notice my high-tech sunglasses and wristwatch complete with laser beam.”

Knowing Tech, there probably were such devices in his accessories. Watcher wished he could have been something more interesting. It was degrading for him, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that Tech had was goading him into take that bet, perhaps conspiring with Aura so his guess would have been wrong no matter what.

Dropping it, he asked, “What’s taking those two so long!?”

“I’m not sure… want me to go check it out?” Tech asked.

“No, I’ll go… last thing I want is to wait out here in this… thing… whoever made this stupid costume is going to beg me to send them to Tartarus before I’m through with them!” he shouted, pushing through the doorway and making his way up halfway through the flight of stairs. “WHAT’S TAKING YOU TWO SO LONG!?!”

However, before he could continue to make his way upstairs, he felt a hoof, grab hold of his shoulder, causing the stallion to yelp as he turned around quickly to find Grey Granite standing behind him with his usual expressionless face. “Master Watcher… I must advise you not to scream in the Mistress’s home while she’s away… Now I know it’s an exciting time to go dress up in you new costume that Umbra has gotten you, but please control your excitement.”

“Grey… You’ve got it wrong! This wasn’t my choice and Umbra didn’t get me this!” Watcher tried to explain, but Grey Granite didn’t respond as he made his way past him. “Great… I better head back out… Last thing I want is to run into Umbra dressed like this.”

Muttering to himself, Watcher decided to head back downstairs towards the kitchen while he waited for the two ladies to finish getting dressed for the party. Meanwhile, Celestia had a hard time deciding on a costume that could impress everypony, but she wasn’t sure whether or not she should dress up as zombie nurse or a witch. However, the lights in her room soon turned off and Celestia couldn’t make out anything two inches in front of her soft muzzle. The unicorn didn’t like being plunged into the dark so suddenly, turning around rapidly and looking for the switch.

“Did a fuse go out?” she said aloud, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

The temperature in the room seemed to drop around her, and a creaking noise came from the floorboards, ratcheting her anxiety upwards. She walked forward slowly, the rods in her eyes not yet adjusted to the dark, and she dared not use a spell.

“Is somepony… th… there?!”

A figure sprang out from the darkness, flashes of light illuminating it from a nearby strobe light that came to life without warning. The creature hissed loudly as it pounced upon Celestia, its red, black and white dress billowing behind it, a pair of leathery black bat wings helping it glide through its leap. The princess screamed as she was tackled to the floor, her blood curdling shrieks echoing in her room as her attacker slammed her onto her back and bore its face in the flickering light of the strobe, bright white fangs dripping with saliva primed to sink deep into her throat!

“NOOOOoooOOooo!” screamed the unicorn, shutting her eyes and holding her hooves out in front to protect herself.

Celestia stopped thrashing after a short bit. For some reason, the creature wasn’t enjoying itself ripping her apart yet. In fact it was… laughing!

“HAHAHAHAHA! Ohhhhh Celestia you should have SEEN your face!” said Aura, using her bat wing to turn off the nearby strobe.

The room lit up again, apparently having been set to shut off on a timer, and Aura, dressed as a vampony from the stereotypes of centuries ago, was indeed the ‘monster’ pinning her down. Her wings were tucked into leather bat wing covers, and her fangs were some kind of temporary magical illusion Umbra had provided. It had all been a very cruel costume-based prank.

“A… Aura, that wasn’t funny at aaaaall,” bawled Celestia, pushing her away and rolling over, “I thought I was going to d...die! Devoured by some creature of the night!”

“Well relax, it’s just me,” Aura chuckled, “Nothing’s going to chow down on you.”

Celestia dried some of her tears with her hoof, “You’re so mean! What if I had fainted?”

“You almost did,” she giggled, putting her right wing to her mouth teasingly, “oh man, that would have been so good!”

“Seriously Aura… That wasn’t nice.” Celestia said, rubbing her eyes.

“Oh come on, Tia! Where’s your Nightmare Night Spirit? It’s a time for scares and treats! If that had happened to Watcher, you’d be laughing your mane off, right?”

“NO!” shouted the princess, “I… I wouldn’t. Watcher might be a bit rough, but I wouldn’t be cruel to him.“

Aura rolled her eyes, augmented by some pale eyeshadow, “It’s not cruel, just a stupid funny joke.”

“If it happened to you, it wouldn’t be so funny,” Celestia answered, stamping her hoof in defiance.

“Well… I guess if you put it that way…” Aura hummed, putting her hoof to her lip, “I’ve got a wager for you, Celestia. If you can scare me this evening, and I don’t find it very funny, I’ll spring for that chocolate orange flavored cake I caught you drooling over when we went shopping last week.”

“Hmmph! Fine! But I won’t be doing it for the food, I’ll be doing it on principal,” answered the indignant former royal, “I’d be very careful if I were you, Aura Lace. By the end of the evening, I shall have you in tears! Mark my words!”

“Whatever, your Grace,” joked Aura, walking out with her vampony costume bouncing every step of the way. However, the doors to their room burst open, revealing a large unicorn in a yellow bee costume with a very angry expression.

“Celestia! Aura! Would you two hurry up?” Watcher shouted, growling in irritation, and normally the two mares would have been startled, but seeing the large charcoal unicorn in a bumblebee costume made it quite difficult for them to take him seriously.

“Pfft… Nice costume Watcher… You look handsome in your bee outfit!” Celestia said, before she fell to the floor laughing, “Hahahahahaha!”

“This is so humiliating,” Watcher muttered as Aura placed a wing on his back to comfort the large unicorn, catching his attention. “I thought you were going as zombie… since I saw your bags with zombie makeup.”

“It’s a Nightmare Night Makeup kit for costumes… Not just for zombies Watcher… But I can understand why you’d Bee-lieve that!”

“Yes, they’re the bee’s knees,” Celestia added, cooperating.

“Please… Just kill me…” Watcher asked, feeling pain from their horrible puns.

“Don’t be a buzzkill Watcher.” Aura said, laughing with Celestia as the charcoal unicorn groaned in irritation.

“Can you two just finish getting ready… It’s bad enough that I have to wear this, but waiting for you two get ready while waiting outside like this is degrading for me.” Watcher explained, noticing Celestia was still not in her costume. “Scratch my previous statement… Celestia… GET READY ALREADY!”

“Alright, alright! Aura, do I go with Zombie Nurse, or Spooky Witch?” asked Celestia, using her magic to shift back and forth between the bases for the costumes over her frame, “I’d be rather pleased with either option!”

Rolling his eyes, Watcher trotted out of room, muttering about his regret for coming to the party and making a ridiculous bet. However the two mares ignored the stallion and tried to decide between the two costumes Celestia had picked out.

“Hmm.., well, if I was you, and I’m not,” said Aura, smirking, “I’d make Watcher even more angry by going as a zombie, since that’s what he guessed I was gonna be!”

“How can I say no to that?” Celestia giggled back, “Ok! Zombie nurse it is then.”

“Cool, let me help you with that. You gotta apply the makeup in just the right places,” said Aura.

Celestia easily fit into the nurse uniform, which was a white buttoned up well-fitting blouse, and a nurse’s cap. Tears and worn out fabric were used over the costume to give the appearance of having turned undead suddenly, but the makeup was really where the costume was recognizable. Aura painted a set of stitches on Celestia’s left cheek carefully, then blurred eyeshadow underneath her eyes to make them look sunken, followed by some dirt around the forehead and horn area. Lastly, a puff of sickly light green powder to the face gave the perfect drained look. Celestia contributed by using a little starch spray to help put tangles and stiffness into her tail and mane, a choice she would regret later if she didn’t carefully wash it out, but effective for now.

“Perfect! We have ourselves a zombie nurse,” Aura said, happy with the result, “now all you need to do is play the part.”

“Hmm, let’s see,” said Celestia, pretending to think it over, “how to be the best zombie possible...”

“Any ideas, silly?” the pegasus said, shaking her head.

“Brains!” declared Celestia in a cute, timid voice.

Aura smiled softly, “That’ll do it.”

“This is going to be so much fun!” Celestia smiled, all giddy like she was a little filly all over again. However, the two decided to make their way downstairs since they’ve kept the boys waiting longer than they should have.

By the time the two arrived downstairs, Celestia and Aura stopped in their tracks after seeing Watcher tear his costume apart, while beating the poor earth pony with it. “YOU KNEW WHAT SHE WAS GOING TO BE THE WHOLE TIME!!!”

“Hey, come on, Watcher! Tonight’s the night for pranks, and you’d have done the same to me, right?” Techorse rebutted, but received a conk on the head from the plastic stinger that was attached at the end of what remained of the bee costume. It was amusing to see the two stallions fight about something as ridiculous as bet they had made.

“Boys, come on. We’re ready now, so let’s all head out!” Aura cheered, gaining the two’s attention as they both stared blankly at the two of them.

“Sure! Let’s go!” Tech cheered, earning a loud growl from the now naked stallion, spitting out a piece of what was once his costume.

“Finally!” Watcher shouted, trying to make his way out the door, but soon felt something tug on his tail and pull him back over. Riling his head around, Watcher was soon staring at an angry princess, who was holding him in place with her magic. “What is it now?”

“We’re all supposed to dress for the occasion Watch… Now go grab one of the spare costumes and hurry! I don’t want to be late to the party!” Celestia stated angrily, releasing her grasp on his tail, before shoving him up the stairs while the charcoal unicorn growled in annoyance, but said nothing as he didn’t want to argue with her.

“Geez… I almost feel sorry for him, heh heh,” Techorse chuckled, only to receive a playful jab to his side by the pegasus beside him. “Ow! What did I sayyy?”

“You know what you did you goof,” Aura said, earning a laugh from Celestia and she couldn’t help but laugh along with her as Techorse rubbed his side from the blow delivered to his ribs.

Everfree’s City Hall

After Watcher had finally put on a different costume, now dressed as Frankinstallion, all made their way City Hall where the party was being hosted at, which was odd since these types of parties were mostly held for aristocrats, politicians, and nobles. However, Umbra did say to meet her outside of this specific address, and he’d hate to disobey her order and have to “suffer the consequences” for it.

The outside of the City Hall looked elegant enough, two tall winding columns holding up a wide roof, vines chasing the spiral grooves in them up to the top. Out front was a long brick pathway that led up to the entrance, many food vendors and game operators had set up shop and had themed their storefronts for the season. A dunk tank, knock over the bottles game, and a caramel apple stand caught Watcher’s eye. He remembered a long time ago nearly ripping out a tooth on the thick coating of hardened caramel when he tried to consume the treat a little too quickly. The thought still made him shudder.

“Don’t get distracted, the vendors do this every year,” Techorse said, “used to be not too many ponies were invited to the party from what Umbra told me, so in protest the residents sort of set up their own carnival.”

“Oh, I’d really like some of that cotton candy,” Celestia said softly, clearly fantasizing about the taste of the nearby confection, which had been dyed orange.

“Don’t worry, we’ve got plenty inside,” assured the secret agent dressed stallion with a corny tip of his sunglasses, “they copy just about everything the party has to offer here. I’m sure you’ll be able to get some.”

“It’ll be fine… just try to avoid the caramel apples… They aren’t as good as they look.” Watcher warned, trying not to speak too loud as to ruin the vendor's business.

“I’ll keep that in mind Watcher… But shouldn’t Umbra be around here? She did tell us to meet her here.” Celestia reminded them, searching around for the dark unicorn.

“Aww… I didn’t realize you missed me this much Tia~” The voice of Umbra whispered into the white unicorn’s ear, causing the mare to yelp as she jumped away and hid beside Watcher.

When they all saw the dark unicorn, they couldn’t help but marvel at how elaborate her choice of costume was. Her dress was long and black, frilled and ruffled gently all the way down to her back hooves, with red stripes along her waist that twisted around and crossed over multiple times down towards her tail. Ruby red high heels on each of her hooves clacked noticeably on the pavement, but the most striking part of her appearance was her detailed makeup. Her face had been painted and touched up perfectly to make it look like her skull was exposed, the smooth polished white of the dry bone covering her face all the way down and under her chin, the only thing remaining of her original mug was her bright eyes, which had patterns of pink stripes in circles and a few cobweb patterns heading out towards her left ear, which had been adorned with a single red carnation bloom. All of this to pay tribute to the generations of deceased shadow unicorns before her.

“My, my,” she finally said after permitting her houseguests to take in her look, “you all look so adorable… and Watchy~ I am so glad you’re here!”

“Hehehe… Yeah… Me too,” He uttered, blushing at her appearance while earning a smirk from Umbra as she slowly approached the stallion before she quickly hooked her hoof around Watcher’s front leg and began to pull him along with her. “Come on, slow pokes! We’ve got a party inside~”

She led them into the Town Hall, the interior opening up into a vast room with four load-bearing columns holding up the vaulted ceiling, everything made out of either marble or the ancient, polished wood of Everfree Trees selected to become a part of the town’s history. Where normally there would be hundreds of seats for those at meetings with the local government, there was now a dance floor which occupied much of the tile space, party tables filled with snacks and various thematic drinks, and all sorts of special effects machines. A second floor balcony wrapped around the wall, the DJ seated at the far back of the room, setting up his tracks and shining down bright lights on the dance floor that sent all sorts of colors onto the dancers below. The loud boom of the music and the conversations of ponies in all kinds of costumes was deafening, although it would quiet down after all the initial meet-and-greet was finished. Umbra helped her guests squeeze in and move onto the big dance floor, the sound of her heels somehow piercing the music and heavy chatter.

“It’s perfect, isn’t it?” she half-shouted, “Hopefully I can convince our DJ to lower the volume by a few decibels though! I think the loud music makes our other guests talk louder too, a vicious cycle!”

“I’ll say,” muttered Watcher, feeling his eardrums thump with every bass hit.

“Ah, well, the music since I was last around hasn’t changed much, I see,” said Celestia, wincing in pain and shielding her ears, “I was never able to get into this ‘techno’ fad.”

“Aw come on, it’s FUN,” Aura said, already getting into the beat and stepping to it, vampony bat wings bouncing along, “let’s party!”

The pegasus started pulling some dance moves that shouldn’t really be possible in such an outrageous costume, earning her the attention of some of the other party-goers, who cheered and tried to join in with moves of their own. Techorse, who had absolutely no idea how to actually dance whatsoever, tried to point and pose at various intervals just to see what would work.

“Hey, Tech, come on… that’s disco. They’ll play that later, but this is techno,” Aura said to him, “just do what I’m doing!”

Her body movements, rapid and mesmerizing as she swung herself around and used her wings for balance, were hard to follow, but Techorse stepped up his movements and managed to begin to catch up, getting in sync with the mare. Celestia could feel herself starting to bounce along to the beat as well, Watcher rolling his eyes in disgust.

“Come on, Tia! Join us!” Aura chuckled, doing a stunt where she spun around on her left wing while staying elevated above the ground.

“We are not dancing like that, you’ll break something,” Watcher protested.

“Oh yes we aaaaare!” Sang Celestia, grabbing him with her magic and dragging him out to their friends.

Now with the power of 3 dancers and 1 reluctant participant, the four put on a fantastic display of club dancing for the party goers, who were also starting to rock along with the electronic jam in the background. The sounds of ponies talking were replaced with hooves on the floor, the height of the musical number hitting just as most of those present were putting everything they had into dancing. Various skill levels were on display, but the spotlights above started to focus on the four in the middle, Celestia taking advantage of the light to swing her mane out from under her nurse cap and flaunt it while she rocked out.

“I haven’t danced like this in years!” she squealed, “Oh how fun this is! Why haven’t I done this more often!”

“I can think of a lot of reasons,” Watcher answered, trying to stay in rhythm despite really hating the song playing.

Finally, the last measure of the music finished just as Umbra reached the DJ’s setup. The crowd cheered for itself, and resumed its normal conversation slowly. Umbra had selected a curious DJ, somepony wearing a black balaclava and leather jacket, perhaps going as a bank robber or stalker. In front of his mask was a pair of spectacles, a rather inconvenient thing to have to wear with the cloth on.

“Excuse me,” she said to him, “the music is very good, but a little loud. Do you think we can turn things down a little?”

“Absolutely Umbra, let me set it to something softer, like disco. I didn’t get any complaints so I wasn’t sure,” he said, “Thanks for letting me know, tinnitus is a horrible thing.”

“Wooooooo, DJ!” Aura laughed, her bat wings barely carrying her up to the balcony, “That song was hot! Did you see your crowd going wild?”

Techorse, Watcher and Celestia had been forced to take the stairs, but stood nearby with excitement on their faces. Except for Watcher of course, who still scowled at everypony and everything. He still wasn’t quite thrilled to be here, but it made Celestia happy and for some odd reason, he couldn’t help but give a little grin.

“Oh, what a surprise,” the DJ said, “you decided to be a massive ham, Aura Lace.”

She let a moment pass before speaking, “Wait… Affinity? Is that you?!”

The DJ pulled off the ski mask, accidentally flinging off his glasses and revealing that he was indeed her brother.

“Of course it’s me, dear sister. Who else did you think Umbra was going to trust with the music for the evening? You know I enjoy setting up the perfect soundtrack for a party,” he said, smiling, “it’s good to see you enjoying yourself alongside Techorse.”

Aura giggled with a slight red blush to her otherwise pale vampiric appearance, “Oh well, yeah. We sort of all got carried away. Heh...”

“Care to introduce us to your friend Techorse?” Watcher asked, his blank expression unchanged as he stared blankly at this stranger.

“Yes… I guess it would be rude not to introduce myself.” The pegasus replied, stepping forward as he looked up towards the the charcoal unicorn. “My name is Affinity, I’m Aura’s brother. And who is this lovely mare beside you?”

“Oooh… My name is Celestia, but everypony just calls me Tia.” Celestia giggled, blushing at Affinity’s compliment as Watcher rolled his eyes in response.

“Aura never mentioned to us that she had a brother.” Watcher said, shooting the little dressed vampire a glare. “So this is the first we’ve seen you in person, let alone heard of you.”

“The topic never came up!” Aura shouted nervously, looking towards her brother, who also shot her a glare as well.

“Yeah, why is that sister? You mean to tell me you’ve not once mentioned me to your friends. Shame on you.” Affinity said sternly as his little sister hid behind Techorse.

“C-Come on… I mean… They never really asked and… It may have slipped from my mind.” Aura laughed nervously as she still continued to hide behind the green earth pony. “Besides, you’re meeting them now aren’t you?”

Rolling his eyes, Affinity extended his hoof out towards Watcher as he looked up towards the large unicorn, but he seemed hesitant to shake his hoof. However, he slowly reached out and shook his hoof as a small grin appeared across the charcoal unicorn’s face, which surprised Celestia as she stared wide eyed at the two.

“It is… Nice to meet you Affinity.” Watcher responded, earning a smile from the pegasus as everypony stared in silence.

“A pleasure as well, Mr. Watcher,” he answered, nodding, “Techorse has told me a lot about you.”

“Please don’t call me Mr… Makes feel old.” He responded, chuckling at his comment.

“And your handsome light grey mane does not?”

“It’s snow white… Not grey.” He replied bluntly.

Affinity smirked, “Techorse was correct, you cannot accept a joke! No matter, I’m sure we’ll get along fine, we’re on the same team.”

“I see that imbecile’s sense of humor has rubbed off on you.” Watcher responded, shooting the green earth pony a quick glare. “Anyways… I’m sure you’ve heard of what Tia’s and my situation is somewhat? Correct?”

“If you haven’t been informed… we could discuss it with you another time where it’s more… private?” Celestia suggested as the charcoal stallion groaned in response at how she worded it.

“Anyways… If you are free, we’d like to get you caught up on the situation next time when it’s just us.” Watcher replied, but before he could go on, Umbra stepped in and shoved a cupcake in his mouth.

“You shouldn’t talk with your mouth full Watchy~” Umbra said, wrapping her hooves around his hoof. “Now, Affinity do enjoy the rest of your night… Now it’s time to dance Watcher~”

“Mmmph!!” Watcher muffled as he was dragged away by the dark mare.

“Hold on Watcher! I’ll help you out!” Celestia shouted, following after them.

“Should we go help them?” Techorse asked rhetorically.

“Probably,” chuckled Aura, “let’s hurry up before Umbra starts covering his face in lipstick!”

It took a little bit of effort for them to free Watcher from Umbra’s grasp, but they managed to convince her to let go of the stallion when they pointed out just how many of the party guests were staring. A bit embarrassed, Umbra retreated for her favorite snack table, which was always located just outside of the building in the back.

“I’d better follow her,” glared Celestia, “just to make sure she doesn’t try anything funny again.”

“Much appreciated,” grumbled Watcher, still trying to rub the white makeup that had come from Umbra’s cheek, “lovesick mare...”

The princess incognito trotted out of the building behind Umbra, and took in the scene in the backyard of the town hall. More of the carnival from the front was set up outside, including a few hastily-constructed thrill rides. There was even a petting zoo for the younger ponies, with cute baby animals such as rabbits and tamed wolf pups.

“Aww, how precious!” cooed Celestia, forgetting her original mission of spying on Umbra, “I’ll just take a quick moment to scratch that little wolf behind the ear.”

She moved up to the pen and extended a hoof out to pet the young canine, it happily accepted her care with bright eyes. Once satisfied with her thorough indulgence in puppy petting, Celestia looked up from the pen and spotted the owner of the petting zoo with an amazing animal sitting next to him. She wasn’t sure how she hadn’t noticed it before, but the keeper had a huge female manticore sitting right next to him with an absolutely calm expression on her feline mug!

Celestia couldn’t help but walk over to inspect the magical beast, “Oh goodness gracious, a lady manticore?”

“Yeeeeep that’s right, ma’am,” answered the keeper in a twangy country accent, “Princess Gracie here showed up one day outside my farm as a kitten. Such a sweet, misunderstood creature, totally tame. I get a permit every year for her to come into town and say hi to all the kind folk, she’ll let ya pet her if you’d like.”

The barbed scorpion tail on the creature bobbed back and forth, the stinger kept pointed down and not dripping with venom, a good sign the beast was indeed pleased to be there. Celestia scratched Gracie under the chin, feeling the big cat’s soft purr shortly after it shut its eyes in appreciation.

From one princess to another, you are truly beautiful! Celestia thought, So strong... and a bit scary to anypony who doesn’t know you’re a softie!

The thought gave birth to an idea, “Princess Gracie is truly royalty. My name is Tia, your Majesty! Can you introduce your friend here?”

“Well shucks, I’m just here to show off the animals,” said the humble farmer, an earth pony with a brown coat and a long golden mane dressed as a true-blue carny complete with striped hat and vest, “my name’s T. L. Hitch. My family has been caring for and taming animals for gen-er-ations now! But Gracie’s just our friend.”

“She wouldn’t hurt a pony, right?” asked Celestia curiously.

“Absolutely would not harm a hair on anypony’s head!” assured the stallion, “Of course, there was that one time she spooked a burglar off, but she didn’t even raise a paw on him. Guy never did come back, smart stallion I figure. Even so, Gracie isn’t allowed indoors. Too much noise.”

“Well, I just came out from the party, I can’t stand the company of who I thought was my friend!” Celestia continued, acting dramatically, “she snuck up on me today, cut the power to the room, and made me think I was under attack! Scared the life right out of me, oh… it was just AWFUL!”

Hitch could see where this was going, “Heh heh heh! I know what you’re gonna ask me to in-sti-gate for ya. You wanna get some payback on her, don’tcha?”

Celestia batted her eyelashes, “If only it isn’t too much trouble, perhaps I could borrow Princess Gracie?”

“Well, again, she can’t go in the building, but Princess Gracie would be fine helping pay back that unkind deed with a little spook, isn’t that right?” the farmer asked his friend.

The manticore showed her fangs, and growled in a positive way, almost as if it were trying to chuckle at the idea.

“I think she’s up for it,” Hitch smiled, “but again, she ain’t allowed indoors, so go ahead and lure out your ‘friend’, and Gracie will take care of the rest.”

“I’ll be right back!” said Celestia, “She’ll be wearing the vampony costume. I really appreciate it, Mr. Hitch!”

“Oh pleasure’s all mine, it’s Nightmare Night after all, let’s pull ourselves a prank!”

It didn’t take very long for Celestia to locate Aura Lace inside, she was busy chatting up Techorse by one of the punch bowls. The two were discussing their plans for the week ahead, when the princess stepped up with a broad smile on her face. It was time to spring the trap!

“Oh hello, Aura Lace!” Celestia said cheerfully, “May I borrow you for a moment? Umbra was absolutely correct about the snack table outside, it’s got the best goodies in the house!”

“You don’t say!” Aura Lace answered, being a relatively easy mark, “I knew they were keeping all the good stuff where we couldn’t see it.”

“Follow me, I’ll take you over for some treats,” she said, “I hope you don’t mind Techorse.”

“No problem,” answered the stallion, taking another sip of his punch, “I’ll wait here.”

Aura Lace followed her friend outside to the treat table Umbra was still snacking at. There were indeed some better items than indoors, including chocolate frosted cupcakes decorated with Nightmare Night toppings such as gummy worms, and vegetarian sandwiches packed to the brim.

“Oh wow, this does look good!” said Aura Lace, licking across her temporary fangs, “Don’t know what to try first!”

Hitch looked over from his post and saw Celestia point at Aura Lace while her back was turned. The farmer made eye contact with Princess Gracie, who nodded and began a stalking prowl towards the table.

Aura Lace was totally clueless as to the big cat creeping up on her, “So maybe two cupcakes and a full sandwich, forgot how hungry dancing makes me!”

Suddenly, she felt hot, heavy breathing on her back, “Ugh, Celestia! Stop breathing down my neck, will ya? I’m trying to hurry I swear…”

Realizing there was no way it was Celestia, Aura Lace turned around, seeing the manticore right in front of her with its teeth bared and drool leaking down its lips.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Aura Lace let out a horrified scream, running away and knocking over the treat table.

Princess Gracie gave chase, surprised the pegasus had forgotten about her wings. Ponies at the carnival would have started screaming, but many of them didn’t notice because they were distracted by the rides and games. Celestia let out a hearty laugh and galloped off after the pair on foot.

“Nononononono!” screamed Aura, her heart pounding in her chest out of mortal terror, her legs carrying her as fast as they could go, “Not like this! NOT LIKE THIS!”

She looked behind herself as she ran alongside the building, the monster breaking into a full gallop and preparing its stinger, which oozed with neurotoxic poisons primed for injection. Aura Lace had always heard about the pony-eating manticores, but her adrenaline level was way too high for her to ponder what one was doing at the party. All she could think about was what her primal instincts were screaming “don’t get caught!”.

The creature spread its giant bat-like wings, preparing to take off. Aura Lace remembered her own upon seeing this, and tried to fly off in hopes it couldn’t pursue as well. The costume, however, interfered with her flight, and Princess Gracie soon caught up with the pegasus, grabbing her with its front paws and tackling her to the ground just seconds after they lifted off. Now the terrified pegasus, pale as a sheet, was on her back with a pair of heavy claws pushing on her chest. Princess Gracie could feel her victim’s pulse pounding away like crazy, and the intelligent part-lioness knew she had to wrap up the prank quickly lest Aura suffer a heart attack!

Aura Lace knew she couldn’t escape under the weight of the monster, and began to cry as a final expression of her plight,“NOOOOOOOO! PLEASE DON’T EAT ME!!”

The pegasus cried bitter tears of despair and horror, shutting her eyes as she waited for the beast to stuff her head in its mouth and crunch her up. Instead of living a full and happy life with her brother at her side, and finally telling her friend how she felt, Aura Lace was going to meet the wretched end of being dinner for a manticore! She could feel its breath get closer to her face, its mouth opening up to take the first bite, and…

*lick*

The manticore was casually giving her a gentle lick instead. Aura could feel the little feline hooks on the tongue, almost like a kind of sandpaper. Her attacker was now chuffing and purring softly, clearly not interested in taking her head anymore.

Aura Lace opened her eyes, her makeup ruined by her tears, “Oh.. y.. you just wanted to p… play?”

“Ha ha!” laughed Princess Celestia, trotting triumphantly up to the pair, “I told you Miss Aura Lace, that you would cry before the night was over!”

Aura turned her head and saw the princess standing over her, the manticore was still licking her cheek gently. Suddenly, she felt a wave of guilt come over.

“C… Celestia? You sicked this manticore on me!?” she whimpered, still sobbing a bit, “I… I thought I was going to die!”

“I didn’t sick her on you, she’s a friend of a friend,” answered the princess softly, “and I know you thought you were going to die... as did I when you chose to prank me!”

Princess Gracie finally removed her paws from her catch, letting the pegasus stand up. Her costume was a bit damaged, her makeup was ruined, and she was dirty, but she was in one piece. Aura’s legs shook, her adrenaline level had not yet caught up to her current state of safety.

“Oh… Celestia,” she said, more tears forming in her eyes, “I’m so sorry!”

She grabbed the unicorn, bringing her into a tight hug. Celestia rubbed a hoof through her mane, letting the pegasus sob in regret into her. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Hitch give her a friendly wave, and beckon back Princess Gracie, who ‘bowed’ humbly and lumbered back, a purr still on her lips from the huge amount of fun she’d just had.

“Honestly Aura, I probably went a little too far,” Celestia whispered, “I do see you as my friend, and the thought of being a treat for a manticore couldn’t have been fun. Let’s agree to not scare each other any more, okay?”

“Yeah,” she sniffed, “no more pranks. Just hugs.”

“Just hugs,” agreed Celestia, rocking her back and forth in a motherly way, “let me know when you want to go back in, ponies are starting to stare...”

“Okay, okay,” Aura answered, pulling out of the hug and smiling weakly, “let’s go back in. I need to get to the mare’s room and wash up.”

“I’ll take you back,” answered the princess, smiling and feeling fully avenged, “but first I’ve got to say thank you to my friends over there. Will meet you there!”

The friends parted ways, and as they did, Aura Lace swore to herself that she’d never, ever pull a prank again... on Princess Celestia. Everyone else was still fair game.

Hours Later

Watcher wasn’t quite sure how all of them ended up arriving at the local bar, but he had a feeling that during sometime at the party they had been kicked out, because either Celestia threw wine at one of the nobles for making fun of Aura, or because Techorse and him had gotten into a fight with some other aristocrats and Umbra asked that they meet her ... somewhere after she sternly told them to leave.

It was all a blur for the charcoal unicorn as he turned to see Celestia and Aura giggling like school mares. Their faces were a bright shade of red, probably from sending a bit too much alcohol down their throats, Affinity wasn’t anywhere in sight, most likely because the party wasn’t stupid enough to kick out their DJ. Techorse was probably the only relatively sober one, although he had a rather blank look on his face and had followed them out, perhaps in disbelief. Watcher assumed he was in a daze like him or he somehow died sitting up. He couldn’t tell, mainly because he didn’t want to waste what little energy he had to check. Umbra on the other hoof was a no brainer since he already knew where she was. The dark unicorn was resting … on his back, giggling about him as she muttered his name a few times.

“W-watchy… stop that… *Hick* not… *Hick* my neck~” She muttered, causing the stallion’s face to turn a dark shade of red, but he was kind enough to let her rest on his back because he couldn’t say no to her earlier since she had been acting rather cute as they drank together. Something he thought he’d never admit.

“Ugh… Hey, Green Techboy! You alive or dead?!” He shouted, not receiving a response until he grabbed a spoon with his magic and threw it at his hoof, knocking the stallion’s hard cider out of his hoof.

“Hey... I was... gonna finish that,” he said slowly, clearly, and quite blankly.

“Sure you were… Clearly staring at the wall like a statue was going to get that drink finished faster. Get off your ass and ask the girls to take Umbra home… I’m going to the restroom.” Watcher said, levitating Umbra off his back and placing her on the soft cushion bench near the two giggly mares and marched towards the nearby restroom.

Techorse seemed to snap to attention, making Watcher think alcohol was simply a sleep aid for him, “Oh! Sorry, was dozing off there. I’ll make sure everypony gets back safe, okay?”

He trotted over to the red-faced ladies, “All right, you heard the stallion. We’ve got to get Umbra home in one piece. Can we get her back on hoof or do I need to get a cab?”

“Whhhhyyyy… I was asking Aura…*Hick*... Hehehe… *Hic* Why she bit me on my neck earlier… Very naughty~… Wrong~ Bad Aura Lacey~” Celestia giggled as Aura giggled with her.

“Cab it is then, since I’m clearly the only one with enough blood left in my alcohol system. Just how many did you two have anyways?” he asked, facehoofing.

“Twenty-teen?” Aura slurred, leaning against Celestia and pointing at the stallion, “Hey… *Hic* think I can… I get a kiss from my… frien-”

...was the last thing she said before she passed out on Celestia’s shoulder. Techorse couldn’t help but laugh a little, before Celestia kissed her nose in her drunk interpretation of the question, before passing out herself afterwards.

“I guess I’m the heavyweight here. Napped off my share of tonight’s beverages,” he muttered, “they’re really going to regret that when they wake up. Time for a cab.”

He rolled his eyes in annoyance and threw his hoof in the air before trotting off to go get the carriage home for them. Making his way outside, he felt a slight chill as the cool night air brushed against his fur coat, and he noticed that there weren’t any carriages nearby, leaving him with only one option, to find a pay telecommunications booth and call Grey Granite to come pick them up in Umbra’s private carriage.

‘Oh, you've got to be kidding… where am I supposed to find a booth to call Grey? I doubt Watcher wants to carry two drunk mares on his back all the way home? He could probably do it… but I doubt he’d want to.’ Techorse thought to himself, sighing to himself, before noticing a stallion across the street in a dark cloak. It was strange for him as he thought the pony’s eyes were glowing a bright emerald green in the dark as Luna’s moon shone brightly in the night.

Tech stared at the pony a little longer then he should have and probably was creeping the stranger out and decided to turn his attention away from them, and started looking around for a booth, before noticing that a little ways down the street on the other side of the road was a booth he could use to call Umbra’s mansion. It wouldn’t take too long for the earth pony to cross the street, but he was hesitant before glancing back at the pony across the street, only to find them staring at him.

‘It’s all in your head, Tech. They’re just making sure you’re not up to something. Same reason you’re staring at them…’ He thought to himself, but he figured that if he focused his gaze on the booth, he’ll be able to get this over with and return inside. However his ears twitched at the sound of a flash before turning his head back to find the stranger wasn’t anywhere insight. Tech’s heart was beating rapidly at that point, expecting to find that perhaps the stranger was beside him.

Letting out a sigh of relief, he couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. “Heh, I guess I had too much cider… I’m getting scared for no real reason… It’s Nightmare Night after all.”

“You of all ponies… Should have a reason to be afraid.” A voice whispered behind him, causing the earth pony to whirl around quickly, to find the same stranger in the same cloak behind him. “After all… You have much to repent for… Bounty Hunter.”

His caution went into full force and his senses sharpened at the haunting words. Not only did this stranger know who he was, they had also managed to catch him off guard without his full set of weapons. It was a golden opportunity to strike, and Techorse knew he’d have to play things diplomatically.

“Who are you?” he asked with a carefully measured amount of contempt, “Who leaked my identity to you?”

“Oh, we’ll get to that.” The stranger said, and from the tone in his voice, Tech could tell that he was a stallion, but before he could give any kind of response, the stranger’s horn glowed a dark shade of green as multiple tendrils with hooks formed and began to grapple around Tech’s forelimbs, pulling him closer to the stallion as he struggled to pull away, only for more to wrap around his body, legs, and neck.

“We can’t have you leave so soon… I have a few questions I need to ask you after all.” He said, chuckling as he hoisted Tech into the air and brought him close enough to look up. It was then that the earth pony was able to see his face under the light of the full moon.

“Oh… it’s you!” he said, impressed and yet quite disgusted at the same time, “Surprised you survived that double rocket to the barrel. Is that what this is all about?”

“Heh… I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced you simpleton… I am Midnight Blaze… And believe me when I say that I’m far from happy right now.” Midnight said, grinning as the cool night air blew back his hood, revealing a long scar across his face, one that looked rather new. It wasn’t the only thing Tech noticed as he discovered his eyes and the color of his magic had also changed to that of emerald green. “However… I have a few questions for you… Since you obviously have the time.”

“Well Midnight, I guess you’re correct about that,” Techorse said, still thinking about all the ways he would blast Midnight to pieces if he had even one of his gadgets, and cursing the fact that his original hit hadn’t done the job, “and since you managed to impress me by pulling out okay, I’m a bit more open to talking. Fire away.”

Midnight couldn’t help but chuckle at his response, but he could tell clear as day that the stallion was indeed afraid. “Now… I’m sure you are fully aware that… the princesses are alive… So my first question is… do you believe that to be true?”

The wiggling inventor gave him a useless answer intentionally, every second stalled for counted in these kinds of situations, “Honestly, the princesses being a part of our world was just a foal’s story my parents told me. I believe the mare I met matches the description, but what kind of a question is that anyways? You tied me up to talk about my foalhood?”

“Oh, it’s so much more… But perhaps I’m not asking the right question.” He responded, tapping his chin with his hoof, as the tendrils around Tech began to tighten. “Ah! Tell me… Would you give your life for them? If you knew what kind of ruler’s they were? Would you die for them?”

Struggling against the magical tendrils threatening to crush his ribs, Techorse made sure he gave Midnight the sternest look possible when he responded, “You know what? I couldn’t care less if that Tia was a total dictator in her past life. Whatever she was had to be better than that sad waste of carbon you call Chancellor. I became the town Bounty Hunter to make sure anyone following that demon who dared to harm a single innocent saw prison or the ground. Guess who’s also on that list?”

“Hmmm… still think The Order matters to me, Techorse? So naive… now don’t get me wrong… The Order clearly doesn’t give a damn if ponies die by the hundreds every day, and you have, in your own foolish way, done well to hunt down their most vile members. However, life is not such a simple question of good and evil… Celestia is much more than a tyrant, and her fellow princesses have had it coming for a very long time…”

“So you work alone now, huh?” he asked rhetorically, “But then why continue to hunt the princesses? She’s not a bad mare at all! How could you want her dead this badly?”

“Hahaha! If you knew what she did to me… to Watcher… To Ponyville… You’d want her dead as well.” Midnight explained, gritting his teeth as his brows furrowed. Using his magic tendrils, he slammed Tech to the ground repeatedly before throwing him towards the wall, the hooks of the magical tendrils digging into his skin, causing blood to drip as the one around his neck tightened to the point it was choking him.

“You’re insane!” Techorse sputtered, struggling to stay conscious.

“If that is what it takes to be the one who destroys both your friends and the princesses, then so be it. I plan to remake Equestria in my image, but I’m getting off topic. Now… for my final question… What do you think the big difference between me and Watcher is? How does some lowly piece of trash who gave everything up for some mare unknown to him, a stranger, a liar, and a murderer… compare to me? Somepony who surpassed him in the academy? Who had known him all his life!”

“Watcher is a total jerk, and a pain in the flank,” the strangling stallion commented, still managing to smirk at Midnight despite his face turning blue, “but he’s been doing everything he can to save that mare and make her life happy. You’ll never be as powerful as him because of that, Midnight.”

“Hehehe… HAHAHAHA! I knew it! It all makes sense now… Like all of the dots connected.” Midnight smirked, his eyes glowing brightly as his magic tendrils held the earth pony in place as his horn began to form a large hook around his hoof. “Everything… Is CELESTIA’S FAULT!”

Closing his eyes, Techorse braced himself for the inevitable slash of the magical energy through his throat. All he hoped was that someday, somehow, Watcher would get Celestia and the other princesses to safety. However the final blow never came and when he looked up, he saw Midnight’s hook inches away from his face, but noticed that the crazed unicorn’s hoof was wrapped in a dark red aura and he was flung towards a bunch of empty barrels across the street. The magic tendrils dissipated and the earth pony was able to breath once more.

“Hey, jackass! You’re not dying tonight… you made a promise to help Celestia! Cabs are down tonight, and I’m not going to be the one carrying all those drunk mares home tonight by myself!” Tech heard, turning up to see Watcher, glaring at him, no longer wearing his costume. Despite struggling to stand, Watcher offered a hoof for the earth pony.

“Perfect timing, Watcher,” he answered, gratefully as he took his hoof, “and I did not forget my promise! It would have helped if I had been able to reach my watch before he bound me, would have made it a bit easier to keep...”

Techorse reached his hoof down and twisted the dial on his watch, a red ring of energy appearing around it. Now the device had been armed, activating the weaponized machinery inside.

“Oh, you've got to be kidding me,” Watcher growled, “that dinky thing was a laser after all, wasn’t it?!”

“You honestly think I’d go out unarmed?” Techorse chuckled, “On Nightmare Night?”

“Technically it’s almost Nightmare Night… But whatever. So who's the moron trying to ki-” Watcher froze, his eyes widening as he got a clear view of the one attacking Techorse. “M-Midnight!? Y-Your-”

However, the charcoal unicorn was unable to finish his sentence, before being blasted by a large sphere of magic and sent crashing into the bar’s windows. Midnight snarled, readying to launch another sphere of energy at the earth pony this time, but as the sphere began to form, Techorse retaliated with his watch, pointing it at Midnight and quickly twisting the dial again. Four smaller beams of energy met in the middle over the clock face and shot out a red ray barely the thickness of a pencil at the unicorn, enough to force him to react.

“Damn-” Was the last thing the blue unicorn was able to say before the red ray collided with his sphere, causing it to ignite and blow up in the unicorn's face, sending him stumbling backwards as he tried to rub his eyes clean of debris. “Y-you and your stupid toys!”

“If you don’t like it, stop earning these beatings!” countered Techorse, his shouting hurting his already damaged trachea.

“Tch! Wasn’t expecting this much trouble…” He muttered to himself, before looking up at the moon. “Moro… Care to bring me back?”

And before Techorse could react, grey slime began to come from the ground, surrounding the blue unicorn until he was no longer in view, the last thing Tech saw was him smirking, not at him though, but at the charcoal unicorn, he was now trotting at full speed towards him.

“MIDNIGHT!!!” Watcher roared, his chest seared with burn marks from Midnight’s attacks as the charcoal stallion’s eyes turned red once again, slits forming and his teeth sharpening to a point. Leaping into the air, the stallion’s hoof was surrounded in red magic and was nearly close to landing a blow towards his former friend, but when the slime dissipated, Watcher struck the street, creating a small crater. “NOOOOOOOO!!!! DAMN IT!!!!”

One thing Watcher knew was that his former friend was still and well. He couldn’t help but punch the ground repeatedly, tears now streaming down his face. It was hard to believe that his best friend since they lived in the orphanage was still alive. His only friend that had stuck by his side for years, was alive. The one who became an Alpha class unicorn and took the mare of his dreams, was still alive. It was as if he had been hit by a hurricane of emotions all at once. Gritting his teeth, he clutched his hoof tightly before standing up once more, wiping his tears away, he turned towards the green earth pony.

“What the hell happened? I thought he was… You blasted him… I saw it.” Watcher stammered, glaring at Techorse. “He’s supposed to be dead!”

“I didn’t know he survived! He took a missile to the face! Midnight shouldn’t have been able to survive that attack and even if he did, he should have succumbed to his wounds.” Techorse explained, causing the larger stallion to growl, before shoving past him.

“Whatever, just call Grey Granite already… I’ve had enough for one night.” Watcher muttered, rushing back to the bar to explain the commotion to the shop owner, while Techorse called Grey Granite to come pick them all up.

It wasn’t long until the old butler arrived with the carriage and the two stallions had to carry the three mares inside before making the journey home. Watcher couldn’t help but gaze out the window of the carriage, not paying the earth pony any mind as stared up at the moon. ‘Every time I think things are going my way… They turn for the worst… Princess Luna… If you are alive or even real… Give me a sign… that everything I’ve been fighting for was worth it?’

He thought to himself and for what felt like an eternity, they had arrived back at Umbra’s Manor and the large stallion hoisted Celestia and Umbra onto his back and with the help of Grey Granite opening the doors, he made his way inside with Techorse following behind him with Aura on his back. “Hey, Watcher… I know you don’t want to hear this but, thank you… for saving my life.”

“Tch… Yeah… Just remember we aren’t friends…” He replied.

“Yeah I know… You only saved my life, something a friend wouldn’t do right?” He said, chuckling a little as the large stallion rolled his eyes, but gave the small earth pony a grin.

“I saved your sorry ass because you have a promise to keep… However it’s a start.” He said, before finally making his way up the stairs and towards Umbra’s room, laying her gently onto her bed and covering her in her soft blankets. After he had turned off the lights to the mares room and closed the doors to her room, he began to make his way towards Celestia’s room and he began to tuck her in. However for some reason he could help give a smile at the sleeping mare and after looking around the room to make sure nopony was around. He gave the princess a quick kiss on her forehead before making his way out, shutting all of the lights and closing the doors behind. ‘Why… Did I do that?’

He wasn’t sure why he gave the princess a kiss on the forehead, but after a long night he decided to brush those thoughts aside for now and make his way towards his room and finally get some long well deserved rest.At least that was what he had hoped, but all he could do was lay there, staring up at the ceiling, his mind wondering if it was some kind of cruel trick, but as he laid there, his vision started to get blurry due to tears forming in his eyes.

‘Please… Somepony… I need help… I need advice… I can’t do this alone.’ He thought quietly, wiping away his tears once more before covering himself in blankets as he eventually drifted off to sleep.

Author's Note

After almost an entire month or planning, re-planning, writing, the re-planning again!!!! DX I have finally been able to finish this chapter. A lot is going on, both irl and Dawn of the Princesses.

I hope this chapter has everything you guys want from a Nightmare Night Special.

Chapter Seven: Hangover

Three days had passed since Nightmare Night and despite learning that his former friend was now alive and still kicking, it didn’t stop Watcher from doing the one thing that could ease his mind. A large bottle of Umbra’s vintage (and therefore outrageously expensive) whiskey and drinking it to his heart's content. This did not sit well with the former princess as she had never seen the stallion drink so heavily before, but he played it off saying.

“Better to take it nice and easy right?” He replied with another question.

After the events as of late, that much was easy enough for the others to agree upon, and they joined him happily. Tensions were starting to get a little high around the manor for “some reason”. It all started with a pegasus walking into Watcher’s room with a very painful migraine and a bucket by her side.

“Ugh… Watcher, are ya in here? I can’t find Umbra anywhere,” Aura asked groggily, rubbing her eyes as she let out a deep groan. She slowly lumbered over towards the stallion’s bed.

“Grrr... Just... ask... your… Toyhorse or Boytech. Whatever he is to you now,” He groaned, his head appearing out of the covers of his bed, with a piece of paper attached to his horn.

“You don’t have to YELL!” She shouted, as her head started to hurt more.

“I didn’t... Just let me sleep oka-”

Aura Lace stopped and snapped to attention, as if she had regained her focus, “Oop, nevermind… found her!”

It took Watcher’s pickled neurons a moment or two to figure out what Aura Lace meant, and as soon as it registered, he whipped the comforter off of the bed quickly to find Umbra right next to him on the mattress. She was curled up sweetly, more like a pet cat than anything else, snoozing away. Of course, Watcher wanted nothing of that, and had no idea how the mare had managed to go there thanks to the booze.

“UMBRA!!!” he snapped, jolting her awake as the stallion fell off the bed. Aura couldn’t help but look away as the color in her face began to change into a darker shade of red.

After a moment of silence following his shouting, Watcher clearly had the courage to continue, “W-wwwhat are you doing h-here!?”

“Hmm... Morning handsome... what’s wrong?” she asked with a tone of voice that seemed very content with the situation.

“W-what’s wrong? WHAT’S WRONG!?!?” Was all the stallion could say as his fur began turning different shades of red as he tried to process what is happening. “WHY ARE YOU IN MY BED!!!”

“DON’T SHOUT!!!” Aura shouted back, covering her poor ears with her wings.

“Watchy? Don’t you remember last night?” Umbra asked, letting out a yawn that was quiet and cute before looking back and noticing Aura Lace was behind him, covering her ears with her wings, the red blush adorning her cheeks growing even more ruby in color.

“No... Don’t tell me... Did we? No, I, no... no, no, no.” Watcher started muttering over and over, as if his mind had shut down.

Aura, still very much red in the cheeks, dropped her wings down and spoke her mind, “Look, Watcher, I… this has to stop, ok?”

“Wh… what has to stop?” asked the stallion in return, still just coming to terms with it.

“You keep worrying us with this crap, running from Umbra one moment, and now this?” she said, feeling like she was going to cry, “it’s not fair to Umbra, and it’s not fair to yourself either! I can’t even tell if you’ve made a decision here or not because of all the whiskey you’ve been stealing.”

“He can have the liquor if he wants to, Aura,” Umbra said softly.

“And I didn’t steal it... Grey Granite offered it to me and I took it all.” Watcher said, trying to recollect the events of the previous night, but after tapping his head, he felt a piece of paper attached to his horn. “What’s this?”

Pulling the paper off his horn, he began reading the contents from it.

“Dear Watcher, I’m sure you're wondering what had transpired from the previous night? Well I left this note in case you and the others had forgotten, but after your drinking game, Aura Lace had suggested spin-the-bottle and everypony... well, I’m assuming you already know. You had dragged yourself to your room and in the middle of the night, my mistress had fallen asleep outside your door. Being a faithful servant and wishing for her happiness as well as yours, I brought her to your room and placed her beside you.

I apologize for the inconvenience and ask that you don’t be alarmed. Please take care and do something about that horrendous breath of yours. Toothpaste is one of the greatest inventions ponykind has achieved thus far.

Yours truly, Grey Granite.

PS, I advise you to please stop drinking so much as the whiskey costs 100 bits per bottle... and in addition, it is very unhealthy for your liver, which you will need to make your entire, hopefully long and fulfilling lifetime.”

“That explains some things, but nothing else...” Watcher stated, making sure to look over every detail, but it was all a haze due to the unholy amount of whiskey that everypony consumed. However, he turned his gaze towards Aura Lace. “So... care to explain why you suggested... SPIN THE BOTTLE!?!”

“I don’t know why! I don’t remember!” Aura replied.

“Does anyone remember why?” Umbra asked, lifting herself up gracefully from the bed despite her pounding headache, “There’s a lot of information here erased by our binge last night.”

“Heh, well… I guess we did go a little overboard on the punch and autumn ale,” the pegasus admitted, definitely still smelling the cheap liquor on her feathertips, “couldn’t have been that bad though. There’s worse things than ‘spin the bottle’ to do when you’ve had a few too many...”

Watcher could definitely contest that, given that he had woken up next to Umbra and nearly died of a heart attack as a consequence. On the other hoof, an argument with Aura Lace wasn’t going to unravel the mystery caused by their overconsumption any faster. There had to have been somepony present who wasn’t so wasted they couldn’t remember what happened.

“It’ll be easier to remember if we retrace our steps… What’s the last thing anypony here remembers?” Watcher asked, as the two mares looked to one another before looking back at him, shaking their heads side to side as a response. He couldn’t help but let out a low groan as he scratched the back of his head. “If… you two don’t remember that much… Maybe Celestia or the celery stick knows.”

“His name is Techorse and you know it,” Aura stated, as the stallion could clearly see as Aura glared daggers at him as her voice sounded venomous. Despite her size, she clearly wasn’t frightened by him, which is very rare.

“Well either way, we’re going to need everypony so let’s split up. Aura, you and Umbra can search their bedrooms, I’ll search downstairs in the dining hall, something tells me a certain princess is down there.” Watcher suggested, trotting out of his bedroom before making a full dash down the hall as to get away from the grey unicorn that was currently laying in his bed.

Umbra’s Kitchen

Watcher’s journey down to the kitchen involved nearly falling down the stairs twice, his legs still adjusting to the sudden drop in alcohol percentage in his blood. He entertained the sick thought that breaking his neck might be a net positive after what had just happened, if not just to feel sorry for himself without actually appearing sad. The kitchen seemed like the best place to start for finding Celestia, since he knew she was going to try to cope with her share of the misery with as much food as she could possibly get down her gullet.

“I swear I’m going to find her eating a huge breakfast while the rest of us have these headaches,” he muttered, “always thinking about food, that royal piglet.”

When he rounded the corner into the dining room, he found out just how much he’d underestimated the situation. The long, normally well-kept table was splattered with blue and white buttercream icing, chocolate cake crumbs flung everywhere carelessly. It was a scene of confectionary carnage, the evidence leading back to the unicorn princess. She was face-down and snoring, her head having plunged through the center of a huge two-layer chocolate cake, the obvious victim of the crime. She had messily eaten her way down the center of the cake and fallen asleep near the bottom out of her drunkenness. Watcher didn’t know whether to laugh himself red, or puke thinking about how much sugar was competing for space with the alcohol in Celestia’s blood right now.

“Why am I not surprised?” He asked himself, walking up to the sleeping princess, he gave her a nudge to try and stir the sleeping princess from her slumber or food coma depending on one’s view. With a deep sigh, he looked around to see if he could find something to at the very least wipe the princess’ face. Noticing a dry rag by the kitchen sick, he used his magic to turn on the water and began to levitate the rag over to soak it with warm water.“I swear one of these days somepony else is going to have to look after you… feels like you can’t do much without me.”

He started to clean her face gently, lifting her off of the destroyed cake with a separate stream of energy. CArefully she was moved in front of him, still snoozing away as if nothing was happening. A momentary temptation to simply wrap her in the towel and scrub furiously like someone drying off their dog came to Watcher, but he knew he couldn’t do that. The stallion’s gentle magic touch with the cloth started to remove the globs of cake icing and crumbs from her face.

“Kind of pretty when you’re not covered in this junk food,” he commented casually, “if only...”

“Aww, aren’t you nice?” commented Aura, walking in on the scene of Watcher cleaning her friend off.

“Well… we can’t have a princess walking around with frosting all over her face now can we?” Watcher stated, finished cleaning Celestia before laying her head back down on the counter before levitating the cake away. “A-Anyway, did you find Techorse? I think he might know more than Celestia, or even better… your brother, if you’ve seen him.”

“Ah, right. I think he did have a lot less to drink than us,” she chuckled, “lemme see if I can find him. Can’t find my colt… I mean, Tech, anywhere.”

“Wait, what was that last part?” Watcher asked, sure he had heard her call him something.

“N… nothing,” she stumbled, realizing she had shown her hand a bit, “I’ll go get my brother!”

Aura left the room in a quick, blushy huff, making Watcher all the more suspicious of her behavior. Especially since she was stuttering when talking about Techorse. What was her problem, anyways?

“Whatever… I’ll see if I can find that tech pony… Seriously where the heck is he?” Watcher asked himself, leaving the sleeping princess alone to rest just a bit longer. However, unknown to him and Aura, the Sun Princess had been awake for quite some time now. With the stallion gone, she couldn’t help but let out a pleased sigh of relief as her cheeks started turning a deep shade of red.

‘He thinks I’m pretty!?’

Techorse’s guest bedroom

The alarm clock went off, disturbing the inventor’s sleep at the cost of receiving a metal fist slamming through it to get it to shut off. How the stallion had managed to wear his mind-controlled saddle to bed was beyond him, but he begrudgingly pulled the sheets and comforter off of his body and sat up, rubbing his temples with the frogs of his front hooves as the metal hand snaked back inside the robotics on his back.

“Still zoned out,” he sighed while glancing at the alarm clock, “and it’s 11. That’s the last time I drink without a hard limit. Can barely think.”

He rolled off of the provided mattress and tried his best to get ready for the day, although his hair still wouldn’t cooperate with a comb for the life of him. Something had happened for sure last night, and as usual, he had zoned out as was his “style” of holding onto his drink. He did clearly remember going to bed though, at least, so that was a great start. Had he known he had the most information of the previous night of any individual in the house, he’d probably have found it funny.

“Quick shower time, don’t think Umbra will mind,” the green coated stallion sighed, tossing the saddle off and slinging a towel over the back of his barrel, “that’ll help with the morning mane.”

The shower was just down the hallway and to the right on the current floor, a wonderful example of a master bathroom, with very expensive tiles and an overhead style shower stall with crystal glass walls rippled to help reflect the steam. Techorse stepped in, dropping the towel off outside, closed the door, and blasted himself with the hottest water possible. Like most ponies, it didn’t feel like a real shower to him unless his skin was about to peel off. Naturally, the room filled with a dense cloud of steam, fogging the mirrors and the windows.

“I needed this so badly...” he muttered, his thoughts becoming clearer the less clear his vision became, “hope the others aren’t too slowed down. There’s things to get done today.”

Out of ignorance for the sound of water against the tiles, and the unfortunate fact that Techorse had left the door open a crack to help vent the steam from the shower, Aura Lace happened to stumble into the same bathroom to get a sip of water from the faucet. He was still too zoned out to notice her, and she didn’t come to her senses until after she’d taken a small drink.

“Hmmm… is that, the shower?” she thought, looking to the side.

Another second of listening to the oversized luxury shower stall that was exactly two steps away from her and she confirmed that yes, indeed, the shower was in use. Slowly looking down, she saw the green, color-coded towel that Grey had provided to each of Umbra’s house guests. To her horror, she realized that Techorse was indeed the one showering, and if the Umbra incident had turned her face a little red, this one sent every last red blood cell in her body to her face.

“It’s… Techie! He’s showering right in there!”

Aura couldn’t figure out what to do in this situation, frozen like a deer that had too much to drink the previous evening. She started to take a step back, but the water in the shower had stopped.

“Somepony there?” asked Techorse.

“Uhhhh…” Aura Answered, hiding her face in her wings, “It’s m… me Tech. I came in to get water, I swear!”

There was too much steam to tell, but Techorse was a bit frozen in place himself, eventually deciding to just go with it out of trying to prevent embarrassment, “Oh. No problem, Aura. Last night was a bit much, huh?”

“Sure was,” she answered, feeling a bit more relaxed.

“Can I have my towel?” he asked, “Just throw it over the door.”

Aura Lace didn’t know why, but she answered, “I’m just going to slide it through, open the door up a bit.”

Techorse stood silently for a second, but carefully opened the door a tiny bit so Aura could pass him his towel through the slot created. They never even saw each other, but there was something about the situation that was awkward, yet funny. The fact they could handle a courtesy meant something, at least.

“Thanks, Aura. Forgot I left the door open, imagine if anypony else had been there!”

Aura went back to the door to go downstairs, her thoughts going a million ways but all having the same theme, “You’re welcome, Tech. When you’re done, come downstairs, Watcher and the others are waiting on us.”

“I’m actually headed out for a bit,” he answered, also letting his mind race, “I’ll be back later today, so we can talk.”

“Yeah… talk,” answered Aura Lace quietly, “okay! See you soon!”

Dining Hall

Watcher couldn’t help but groan in irritation as he rubbed his eyes with his hooves, while Celestia laid her head on the table, glaring at the stallion in front of him as the two had gotten into an argument about her taking a quick shower, but told her to wait patiently as they needed to figure out what had happened last night.

“Watcher? Why can’t I just take a quick shower?” She asked, as the stallion groaned once more before laying his head on the table as well.

“Because, you’ll spend too much time there… just be patient alright Tia?”

“But Umbra AND Aura already took one! Why can’t I!?” She asked, raising her head.

“You’re fine Celestia, you can take one after we discuss what happened.” Watcher replied, closing his eyes trying to get some rest before the others arrived.

“Come on, I just need 10 minutes!”

“Yeah, sure… whenever you say you’ll take ‘10 minutes’ it really means 2 hours!” he snapped back, “all the hot water was long gone last time I tried to take one!”

“It wasn’t me!” Celestia complained back, “There were multiple loads of laundry going and the dishwasher according to Grey!”

“Sure.. even when we lived together you took all my hot water.” Watcher added, opening his eyes as he met face to face with the sun princess as she was now standing on the table, staring him down. However, his expression was unchanged as he just shook his head in annoyance. “You can be such a child, you know that? I’m honestly surprised you made it this far on your own.”

“And you are a lecturing grump, like an old coot!” Celestia countered, earning a scowl from the stallion as he stood up from his seat and met her glare face to face.

“For the lov-” Was all the stallion could say before the former princess of the sun stomped her hoof down on a stick of butter and fell over on top of the stallion.

Unfortunately for him, things only got worse as Aura rounded the corner in time to catch them in that “compromising” position. Two ponies stuck to each other on the floor of the dining room, and a demolished cake nearby.

“Woooaaah,” Aura said, blushing, “what’d I interrupt? Dessert, and something else!”

“Nothing, you’re interrupting nothing!” growled Watcher, shoving Celestia’s heavy body off of his, “Princess Tubby here devoured yet another innocent cake and then fell off the table!”

The pegasus smirked and turned her attention to Celestia with full intent to make a game out of the situation, “All right, now what’s your side of the story? Since the victim is no longer with us, indicated by the presence of smeared icing and his smashed body, do you have anything to say in your defense?”

“Yes, Watcher is the absolute worst,” she answered, grumbling and raising her nose in a snooty manner, “and he’s grouchy, too. Mean enough to require comfort cake just to keep my mind together.”

“That is some argument Celestia… I have no idea how I’ll defend myself,” Watcher replied sarcastically. Turning his head away from her.

“Well, all in favor of the defendant needing her comfort cake, raise a hoof,” joked Aura, the two mares raising their hooves, “welp, sorry Watcher, Celestia’s devouring of the cake was fair play, and you are indeed a crabby guy. Better luck next time!”

“I hope that smart ass of yours gets bitten off by timberwolves,” Watcher replied as the princess finally left him alone, following Aura out as he began to wipe himself clean with some clean rags, “why don’t you two go bother Tech, instead?”

“Can’t, he’s gone out for the day,” answered Aura from down the hallway, “See ya, Watcher.”

The stallion cursed his luck, “I wish Techorse would have taken me along… At least he wouldn’t give me a hard time.”

Downtown Everfree City

Techorse wasn’t quite sure as to why he was called to a meeting downtown at this hour, but from the message he had received the night before everypony had gotten drunk, it sounded rather important despite it being rather vague. Pulling it out from his satchel he began to read:

Dear Techorse,

I know it is rather sudden, but I heard from a little breezie friend that you are hiding something rather big and I believe I have some intel that could be of some use to you. Meet me at our favorite ramen shop, you know the one. I’ll give you the details then.

Your dearest and most handsome friend,

Clyde Stone

PS. I heard you are also hiding out with Umbra, think about hooking me up with her.

The stallion folded the paper up and returned it to the bag, rolling his eyes about the last statement. Of course, a message from Clyde was important enough to warrant a trip to the ramen shop, and besides… he was hungry enough to go, having skipped breakfast and all.

“All right, Sunny’s it is,” he said, trotting a few blocks over.

Sunny’s Ramen Delight was a family-owned business, a rather quaint hole-in-the-wall eatery built out of a row of shops in the downtown area. It had made it a long time for regulars and tourists alike, and the owners certainly recognized Techorse.

“Right this way, we’ve got your table ready,” they said, their uniforms kept neat and with a little pin depicting a ramen dish on their coats.

They took him to a booth towards the back, kept private by a set of curtains that could be closed, usually for ponies dating. Techorse slipped behind the curtain and into the spacious booth area, kept lit by a large candle. There was his contact, Clyde, a bit dressed down from what he was accustomed to. The gray coat and razor stubble usually was hidden by a tapestry cloak, which could cover his face if need be, but here he was fully exposed in this casual setting. On the table sat a banged-up metallic pickelhaube helmet, completely contrary to the grizzled pony’s appearance.

“Morning, Tech. glad to see that you still moving despite getting on the Order’s radar,” he said, running a hoof through his curly black mane to match his razor stubble.

“...and I see you’re still wearing that stupid helmet,” commented Techorse with a smirk, “come on, Clyde, you don’t really need that thing.”

“Eventually you get sick of your hat getting shot off,” he answered sternly, “I’m getting awfully nervous about all the rounds whizzing by my head, Tech. Next one could put me under.”

He shook his head, “You? Never.”

His friend scoffed, “Easy for you to say, seeing that….”

“Hey, let’s keep that quiet,” Techorse said quickly, “I heard from your message that you had important intelligence for me. I’m here to listen.”

“Yep, as bright as the sun, Techboy…” He said, waving his hoof towards the waitress. “Hey, care to bring over some cider please? I’m parched!?”

“Again… Don’t you drink enough cider Clyde?”

Techorse heard a very odd voice, but he couldn’t tell where it was coming from.

“Um… Clyde… Did you hear that?”

“HEY!? I’m not a ‘that’! I am a Breezie, you stupid pony!”

Looking down the fern green earth pony saw a little blue wisp of a breezie with big adorable eyes and a pink mane, at least from what he could tell. She glared at him hard and floated up to eye level with her sparkling fairy wings before jabbing him sharply in his nose.

“That’s what happens to those who mess with I, Azure Blue!!!” She declared, before Clyde swatted her to the seat beside him, the height of the table obstructing her from view.

“Sorry about her… she gets a bit intense. Techorse, I’d like for you to meet my partner… Azure Blue… Azure this is Techboy, the one I’ve told you about before coming here,” he introduced as the little Breezie started seeing stars.

“Techorse. It’s Techorse, a family name… like my father Workhorse,” he corrected, leaning over the seat so he could see the small faerie like being, again, “I’m sorry if I insulted you. It’s just… I didn’t even know Breezies were visiting our world again until just now!”

“You’d be surprised by how many are actually in hiding right now… Anyways Techboy, I called you here cause I heard you are hiding those highly wanted criminals and I just so happened to check out their bounties. 100,000 bits each to capture the two of them… So…” He paused for a moment, glaring right at Techorse which was something he hardly ever did unless he was absolutely serious. “I want in!”

Techorse peeked out of the curtain quickly, since the family establishment was fairly empty, Clyde must have asked for their orders to be taken later for privacy. He then ducked back in, and shook his head.

“Clyde, we’ve been over this. I’m a bounty hunter, but I only take down The Order’s war criminals. These two staying with me are their targets, so I’m going to be protecting them. It’ll generate a ton of work for you, knowing the lengths those guys will go to get them.”

“Relax, I know… I wouldn’t have called you here if I didn’t have some info for you about your little princess,” he said, reassuring him, “I only listed the price because… well, you ought to know how much of a fight The Order is going to put up to get ‘em. You might be in over your little green head.”

“All right,” he answered, calming down, “I was just worried is all. What have you found?”

“Listen… there’s a rumor saying that another Princess has emerged and it’s somewhere we… thought we’d never have to see again,” he replied, before revealing the location.

Techorse couldn’t believe the place revealed to him, his heart starting to pick up the pace a bit. He looked around casually, trying not to accept it as truth.

He chuckled, trying to shrug it off as a joke, “You can’t be serious… there!?”

“Techorse… he’s serious.” Azure Blue replied, flying over to Clyde and placing her tiny hoof on his, before looking back at Techorse.

“Wow,” Techorse sighed, “I don’t understand why she would show up there, but I guess you mean it. Getting the two of them to go there is going to be almost impossible though, they barely get along as it is...”

“Look Tech, it’s fine if you don’t want to come… I can check it out myself and if it’s true… I can bring the little lady back no sweat.” Clyde replied, as the waitress placed two bowls of ramen in front of the stallion and two mugs of cold cider. “However, if I’m being honest, I think you should tell those friends of yours to come… Who knows we might get lucky.”

He thought about it in silence, hanging his head in the steam coming from his cooling ramen bowl, before answering, “All right. Once we’re done here, I’ll tell them where we need to go. They’ve got to start finding the other Princesses, if those old story books from my days as a colt were true. I’m really starting to think they were...”

“Hey, whether it’s true or not… It’s going to be one hell of an adventure. Who knows… I might even marry one of them!” He said with a smirk as Azure cringed as she floated away from the grey stallion.

“In your dreams maybe,” Azure Blue mumbled.

“Just kidding,” he answered, smiling.

“Oh, speaking of that, Umbra’s off limits too,” Techorse said, eating his first bite of noodles, “just thought I’d follow up on your note. She wants that stallion staying with us, really badly.”

“I didn’t write anything about Umbra… that psycho has eyes for only a stallion named Watcher back at the academy. I don’t date crazy, you know that!?” Clyde replied, surprised by Techorse’s words.

His friend temporarily stopped slurping his food to get the note back out and dropped it on the table, unfolded, “You wrote that right here, Clyde. I was kind of surprised myself.”

“First off Techboy, you should know I didn’t write this note, as my hoofwriting will never improve beyond chicken scratch. I had Azure write this… wait a minute.”

He turned and gave the floating diminutive mare a nasty look, she replied with a sheepish smile on her face, wiggling her antennae to try and be cute.

“Well… Um… You see… I thought… Ah screw it, I think she’s hot, okay?! Is that so wrong!? I thought she’d you know, be a bit interested in meeting you, and once she found out how terrible you were, I would swoop in on the rebound!” She replied.

Techorse almost choked to death on his noodles from the ensuing laughter, Clyde turning red in the face.

“Hey, why the hell are you laughing?!” Clyde demanded, but the inventor across from him just couldn’t reply as he was dying from laughter, meanwhile the little blue breezie wasn’t so blue anymore, clearly embarrassed if not hurt.

“H...hey! Not nice,” she said.

“Oh no, it’s not you,” Techorse responded, finally settling down and wiping a tear from his eye, “It’s Clyde. I can’t believe he didn’t check the note!”

“Hey, I trust her… I didn’t think she’d pull something like this. Not cool Azure… Not cool at all,” Clyde said, crossing his hooves as he gave the little breezie a stern look and despite being completely red, Azure couldn’t help but give a light chuckle, before flying away at full speed out the curtain.

He shook his head at her antics, “Last time I let her write my notes. You’d be fine with my crappy writing right?”

“Anytime, Clyde,” answered Techorse, smiling, “but don’t be too mad with her. She seems nice enough, even if she’s a bit of a trickster when signing your letters for you.”

“More like trying to sign a death warrant for me… You already know how bonkers that mare is right?” Clyde asked.

“Who, Umbra?” he asked rhetorically, deciding to try and be nice, “She’s… got positive characteristics. We’re friends, after all.”

“Well, let’s just say I hope that Watcher is far away from her… he wouldn’t last a month in the same building as her...” He stated, lifting his bowl and began chugging down the juice from the ramen.

Techorse tried not to burst out again, keeping his thoughts to himself, Oh man, do I tell him? Nah…

“Oh yeah, total goner,” he agreed, finishing the last of his meal, “but that’d never happen.”

Clyde seemed to lose interest in the conversation, “Well… who knows… he might cave in one day if that happens. Still it feels like forever since I left the academy. I wonder how those guys are doing down there...”

“Couldn’t tell you, honestly, haven’t left Everfree since… well, ever,” Techorse answered, “not since I started my career. I’ll tell you what though, my first trip out of here since then might be back in that area. I might need some more information from their library for this project I’ve got going at the bunker...”

“Sure, but anyways if you want to come with me, I’ll be leaving in three days at dawn, it’s not going to be a fun ride… going back there,” Clyde said, placing his helmet on.

“Got enough ammo?” Techorse asked, “I need to make some more missiles and laser cores myself, ran out recently. Remember what you wrote in your last essay at the academy, there’s no such thing...”

“As too much ammo…”, he finished, “we can never have enough Techboy.”

“Oh, and you bombed that essay,” Techorse chuckled, getting up, “I’ll need a day or two to build up my saddle’s supplies and make repairs.”

“Hey! Why don’t you swing by my workshop, I have plenty of supplies to build better rockets. You know I may not be the best with making those… but with bullets, it’s just another picnic for me.”

“Sorry Clyde, I couldn’t be caught dead using such an antique as a bullet,” he answered, this was a typical game they played with each other.

“Antique… what’s antique is that outdated saddle of yours… How long have you had that? Since Preschool?”

“Well I guess that’s the problem with technology, always obsolete as soon as it’s useful,” he chuckled, “but the next version is always around the corner, ya know. If you want to help though, we’re going to need smoke bombs. Lots of them. Can you pack a few while I repair and rearm?”

“Not an issue… Anyways meet me in three days up a city hall… And if you want, bring your friends, I’d like to meet this Princess, and her little buddy,” Clyde said, walking past the curtain and disappearing into the streets of Everfree City.

Techorse sat there in the now-empty booth for a few seconds, then came to a realization.

“ He left me with the bill, didn’t he?”

Author's Note

Just too long.... It's just been too long since I've even touched this story, but my friend Spirals95 has continued to help me despite taking long periods of time to write this, but I'd like to apologize for taking so much time to write this chapter, but I can say with absolute certainty that you are all going to like the next arc that is about to begin.

I hope you'll also like Clyde and Azure Blue, these two will be playing an important role for what is to come. Anyways I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and will have a nice night. :)

Chapter Eight: "I'll Do It Myself."

Chapter Eight: “I'll Do It Myself.”

Moro scowled as he watched his newest student Midnight Blaze was currently in pain as he used his magic to crush the poor stallion under the weight of it all. Solidifying the difference in power was what made the unicorn accept the ram’s offer. Midnight, struggled to stand on his hooves, but was quickly slammed back down to the ground, gritting his teeth, he groaned in pain as his new “mentor” paced back and forth.

“It is truly remarkable how incompetent you are Midnight Blaze, I passed onto you my most sacred spells, healed you of your wounds, and allowed you to stay in my home. All I asked of you was to wait patiently, and plan our next move against the Order and those pathetic weaklings,” Moro explained, standing over the stallion as he used his right hoof to step on his student’s face, slowly and painfully crushing his skull against the unforgiving ground below, “Instead, you decided to disobey my orders, and exposed yourself, nearly exposing me in the process!”

“You… said… GAH!” Was all Midnight could utter as Moro applied more pressure with his magic and his hoof. “YOU SAID TO SEIZE… HIS COMRADES AND TAKE THEM OUT!!! ONE BY ONE!!!!”

“And did you succeed in killing that bounty hunter!?” He asked, removing his hoof so he could see the stallion’s face, but Midnight did not reply. “That’s what I thought…When I found you, I saw what my creator saw in me… raw, untamed, power… Something special.”

“You’re making a mistake!” Midnight continued to growl, trying to get the hoof off of his collapsing head, “I’ve got plenty of power to take them out, I just need to come up with a new plan. Direct attacks aren’t going to work...”

“Because you’re weak, despite all my influence,” continued Moro, scornfully. “Look at you! You are no sorceror, no magician! You are a pathetic, little child pretending he is destined for greatness! YOU ARE NOTHING! Bested by an earth pony who has no magic and a unicorn who has no control over his emotions! Even that pony would have made a better student than you!”

Midnight felt his blood boiling just as much as he felt it pooling in his head from being stepped on. He would have loved to have seen Moro try to fight the opponents he had fought, and imagined the ram receiving a missile to the barrel just like he had fighting the bounty hunter, also entertaining the thought of Watcher’s “weird” blade spell chopping through his overconfident skull. Maybe this partnership wasn’t going to be productive after all.

“I told you that you were not ready… perhaps you will learn from this failure and actually heed your master’s wisdom. I have a different task for you my boy,” Moro stated, his tortuous spell dissipating as he began to make his way up his staircase, as Midnight, slowly followed. “As you are aware, the Order has sent two assassins here in Everfree City to hunt down and kill Celestia and her allies. I want you to persuade them to join us, instead.”

“The assassins cannot be trusted,” Midnight responded, pulling himself off the ground and rubbing his aching head with a hoof, “so I assume you mean more than just ‘persuade’.”

“So you say… however, these are not your run of the mill assassins, in fact. They’ll be the very tools to bring down the Order and Celestia. Those two have powers one can only ever dream of having at their age. You will convince them… Or I will take everything I have given you with just a thought. Remember that you are nothing without me.” He explained, his green eyes glowing brightly as Midnight felt a twinge of pain in his chest, turning towards his cabinet, he pulled out a flask full of powder, throwing it atop of a round table in the center of the room and a green mist began to form. “Once you finish your task, you will meet me at Mount Chimera.”

“Isn’t that… a prison for the most notorious criminals of pony kind?” Midnight asked.

“Yes it is. You see Midnight, my shadow spell has managed to obtain some… useful information regarding this prison… It is believed that another Princess is somewhere within those walls...”

‘Another Princess? Thought Midnight, So there are more… and if that ‘Celestia’ mare was so easily swayed by Watcher, then maybe… I could claim my own. Of course, she could just be another cake-scarfing pig with no talents…’

“...and because of this information, I’ve sent some shadows to that prison… And I’ve identified who this Princess is,” Moro stated, as Midnight tilted his head in response, unclear about who it is.

The ram smirked and went on to explain, “Her name is Twilight Sparkle. Princess of ‘Friendship’ if you could believe such a foolish thing, Midnight. Yet, her power according to legend was simply incredible. Able to decode spells that had long since fallen out of use during her time, rearrange them to do whatever she willed, and capable of taking down even the strongest magical creatures with just a little bit of study time. This mare is far more powerful than the currently active one is, at least as far as my studies took me. It is necessary we secure her for our own purposes, Midnight Blaze.”

Ah so I was very wrong, he conspired, the new princess is a total powerhouse. Perfect! Of course, if this old bastard thinks he’s going to have me hoof-deliver her to him when I could just convince her to join me instead, he’s got some nerve.

“Once you have those two assassin’s though, you’ll bring them back here to the lair, I will be sending an old colleague of mine to meet me here with his latest project. No longer will I have to steal magic like some beggar… I will have the powers of a goddess in my hooves and so much more.”

He has some nerve, then, continued Midnight in his mind, thinking I’ll just help him collect the princess like a good little errand colt after he stepped on my head and caused that chest pain.

Moro could see the stallion was starting to zone out, but what he didn’t realize was that Midnight had caught on to something.

He continued to berate him arrogantly, “Midnight, are you paying attention?”

Moro probably caused me chest pain by squeezing my heart, thought the stallion, making eye contact, and now that I think about it, what kind of a heart does an old jackass like him have anyways? I bet it’s full of plaque…

“Whatever this silence is, it’s insubordinate,” growled the ram, preparing another spell, “do you intend to obey my orders or do I have to… GUH!”

The old ram stopped, his chest jolting in agony while Midnight’s horn glowed, a patch of green light pulsing within the elder’s chest. He watched him grab onto the spot with a hoof, straining in pain and stumbling forward.

“Oh… look at that, my magic has found out quite quickly that you’re behind on your cardio, Moro,” Midnight chuckled, continuing his assault, “in fact, by the looks of your coronaries I’d say you were well overdue for a triple bypass. Let me just speed things along for you, shall I?”

The ram couldn’t answer, his heart muscle couldn’t stand the lack of oxygen from his natural plaque buildup being turned into a full on myocardial infarction with just two tiny shield spells by Midnight. On a healthy pony this would never work, but the ancient and fatty heart tissue’s natural magical defenses couldn’t keep up. Moro sputtered, dropping to his knees as blood flow began to stop to his brain. His eyes desperately looked up at Midnight, begging for mercy, as he certainly couldn’t vocalize an apology for trying to squish his head earlier.

“Oh, don’t worry, I’ll take over your dream from here, and take the Princess. She’ll be in good hooves,” his unicorn assailant laughed.

Finally, the ram dropped down to the floor, eyes wide open but glazed over with a look of horror plastered on his lifeless face. The deed finished, Midnight released his heartstopper curse, and walked forward to begin the process of claiming the magic of his now deceased benefactor.

Apollo’s Office

Apollo sat patiently, as he waited for his two assassins to arrive, meanwhile Soul Writer paced back and forth, mumbling to himself about why it was taking so long for their supposed assassin’s to arrive. Rolling his eyes, Apollo stood up from his seat and trotted towards his fellow council member and threw the contents of a glass of water at Soul’s face. The drink doused the stallion, leaving him to wring out his facial hair in embarrassment.

“If you are done being paranoid, I could use your help right now old friend,” Apollo asked, returning to his desk as Soul tried to dry himself off with his magic.

“Paranoid? If you haven’t noticed, it’s been three weeks since we’ve deployed those mercenaries and we’ve yet to hear a peep from them concerning our ‘problem’. I’m starting to think the situation is far worse than what you make it out to be!” he argued, albeit respectfully.

“I realized that relying on those fools was a mistake to begin with as the two have been only observing from what my agent has explained. As useful as this information is, it matters not if we can’t make a move against them, which is why I am done waiting for those two to strike” Apollo explained, filling his now empty glass with red wine from a bottle he pulled from under his desk with magic.

“Tell me Soul, was it not you who had rescued young Watcher and his friend a while back, taking them to the orphanage and accepting them into the academy?”

With a sigh Soul nodded his head in response. “Yes, I did.”

“And despite being on the council now, you want to do more to help our nation correct?”

“And what is your point exactly?”

“I’ll explain once our assassin’s arrive.”

Outside City Hall

Showing back up for their weekly report didn’t normally feel as uncomfortable to Shrike as it had before. This time, the walk up to the Order’s executive offices felt colder, as if there was a sense of danger about her that she couldn’t quite place a hoof on.

“Amate, I don’t like this feeling I’ve gotten,” she said to her partner, “we haven’t found a good time to strike, and they’ll be asking about it.”

No worries, signed Amate magically, just give the report and leave.

“If only it were that easy,” answered Shrike as she flicked her barbed tail, spooking one of the guards at the door, “it’s like I’ve lost my touch. You’d think we would have dispatched those two by now....”

It’s not like we haven’t had opportunities, but you insist that we wait, she messaged back. Which isn’t like you.

“There’s just something… about this target and that stallion,” continued the other mare, pushing her way into the building, “something that makes me hold back. Like they’ve been through this before. Normally our targets are at least a little on guard, it’s that fear that opens them up to exploitation, far before we take them out. They’ve shown none of it.”

Well I can’t blame them for just trying to live, joked Amate.

Soon they were before Apollo and Soul writer in the boardroom, ready to give their report, the chancellor’s eyes ever piercing and intimidating, not that Shrike really cared. Now that she could see the looks on their faces, Amate sort of understood where her partner was coming from about not wanting to talk about it.

“I’m sure you are aware why you two are here, correct?” Soul Writer asked, glaring at the two mares.

It’s about our target’s correct? Amate replied with her magic.

“I’ve realized that you two have taken your time with killing those fools and my patience is running very thin...” Apollo replied, levitating his glass of wine to take another quick sip of it before continuing, “and quite frankly it makes me question whether or not you two are even capable of being a footstool, nevermind assassins.”

“I’d watch that high and mighty tone of yours… it’s not quite as simple as you make it to believe.” Shrike replied, glaring at the Chancellor as her barbed tail sprung up and squeezed out a droplet of noxious poison.

“And I’d be careful about challenging my might…” Apollo stated, his horn glowing brightly and dozens of magic circles formed right above him and Soul writer, and blades began to appear, aimed directly towards the two mares below. “I’d like to keep my rug as clean as possible.”

Amate placed her hoof on Shrike, motioning with her hoof to calm down, understanding fully the situation they were currently in. There were just some fights that couldn’t be won the direct way.

“Maybe you should consider taking those two out yourself then, if this job isn’t worth our efforts,” Shrike responded, showing no fear, “everyone drops a contract once in a while.”

“Oh I could, I very easily could,” Apollo chuckled, dismissing his threatening sword apparitions, “However, I’m certain you don’t want to pass on this opportunity I’m about to give you. Perhaps what you need is a slight change in priorities.”

“Go on,” she muttered impatiently.

“You see, I no longer want you to kill this faker anymore… I want you to kill her allies protecting her. The stallion that had helped her escape, Watcher and their new ally, the infamous bounty hunter Techorse. Soul Writer will be helping you out on this mission as he knows how Watcher behaves, his every move.” Apollo explained.

Amate inquired, What about the false Princess?

“You my dear, will be helping me track her down and I’ll be following behind you,” He replied, taking another sip of his wine glass before setting it down on the table. “You see… I’ve come to realize that waiting for her to be killed just isn’t going to satisfy me. I want to do it myself...”

Author's Note

And so our next arc begins, sorry for the long wait guys, but I wanted to at the very least get halfway done with chapter 9 before posting chapter 8. I'm not going to spoil a lot for the next few chapters, but I can tell you that things are going to get a lot more emotional from here on out.

Chapter Nine: Resentment

“All right, Techorse, this had better be good,” said Watcher, still as grouchy as ever.

The inventor assured him, “I promise it is. Did you miss me carrying in that ammunition earlier?”

Techorse had explained the situation at hoof to Umbra and reintroduced her to Clyde, an old friend whom she eagerly invited, citing his past work with Techorse. Now everyone in the household was gathered in Umbra’s lobby, plenty of space made for each pony with some sort of hybrid enchantment and digital technology piece put in the center, consisting of a powered globe adorned with runed gemstones.

“What is that thing?” asked Affinity, “Such a strange device.”

“Holographic magic projector,” Umbra answered, “a neat toy I picked up from a friend a while ago. It can create a solid three dimensional image of just about anything.”

Aura Lace curiously looked up and down over the machine, “Wonder what you were using it for...”

Umbra giggled, “Oh, nothing…”

“Most likely to look at inappropriate images of Watcher back when they were in school together,” Clyde said, winking at Watcher as he groaned in annoyance. “Hey, it’s a compliment my dude… consider yourself lucky that a mare like her is interested in a brute like you.”

“Clyde, enough,” said Techorse, knowing how little Watcher actually enjoyed that attention, “let’s get to it.”

“Well, I can’t exactly say that I one hundred percent believe that this hottie here is actually an ancient princess or there are three others out there, but I am willing to help, mainly because the rebels hired me to do some digging,” he explained, earning a blushy grin from Celestia, “Anyways, it might not be totally accurate, but I learned that there is another Princess located at probably the worst place in all of Equestria… Mount Chimera.”

Everypony except for Celestia and Techorse gasped as the holographic projector sprang to life, blue beams of magical energy surged from the runes, weaving an image of a large prison built as a fortress with multiple walls and a massive tower that looked at is it were above the clouds themselves.

“I’m sorry, but what is Mount Chimera? I’ve never heard of this place,” Celestia asked.

“In short,” Techorse added, “it’s one of the largest prison fortresses ever built. Hundreds of years old and still the largest example of its kind. It wasn’t built until after your original rule, though, which explains why you’ve never heard of it.”

“Well I’m sure she’s aware of Tartarus right cutie?” Clyde asked, earning a nod from Celestia while Watcher growled quietly, “Well this place makes Tartarus look like a five star hotel.”

Celestia’s already pale appearance became worse, “It’s… worse than Tartarus? How?”

“This place houses the worst of the worst, I’m talking cannibals, griffons, Minotaurs, werewolves, complete psychos who have killed, flayed, and mutilated corpses of innocent ponies to get a sick kick out of it. Many of them were caught wearing coats made from their victims,” Clyde explained in detail as the Princess of the sun shuddered, the world turning out to be even more sick and twisted than what she had imagined in her absence.

“So how come the princess is in that deathtrap? Not exactly the nicest place for an alicorn to go,” Aura Lace asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, when I was out walking into town, I came across something rather disturbing.” Clyde responded, reaching into his saddlebag and pulled out a jar that had a black oozing claw in it. “This is what’s left of a magic familiar. Now, when a familiar up and dies like this one, its head still has memories of where it has been recently. So, I had a friend of mine extract the memories from it, and it was from there that we found out this thing had seen a purple alicorn limping towards a hidden entrance of that same prison.”

“So basically, nopony knows why, just that she went there,” Watcher mumbled, “well that seems about par for the course. A lovely place full of killers, and whoever is keeping them there. However, I’m more curious about that thing you have casually in that jar. Where’d it come from?”

“A scary, wooly black ram,” was Clyde’s response.

“A ram?” Watcher responded, “Seriously?”

“I’m dead serious,” confirmed Clyde, “It’s not like you can make this crap up, Watcher.”

“A wooly black ram? Did he have multiple scars around his face?” Celestia asked suddenly, her eyes wide as she grabbed hold of Clyde’s coat.

“Woah easy there cutie… I’m not sure, but I think so.”

“It has to be Moro then… that conniving rat is still alive after all this time?!” Celestia shouted, stomping her hoof to the ground, causing it to crack.

“Hold on, who’s that?” asked Affinity, just about huffing, “First there’s this fort full of murders, now there’s a ram of some kind… what’s his part in this?”

“Well, judging from what we’ve witnessed from this puppet of his, he’s probably after the same thing.” Clyde answered. “If this Moro guy is af-”

“CLYDE!!!!” Everypony heard, before hearing a loud whacking noise against the window, as if a bird had struck it.

*THUD*

“What the hell is that?” Watcher asked, before Umbra opened the window and two little Breezies had entered the room.

“Goodness, they’re Breezies, Watcher,” Celestia responded, surprised to see them after so long, “I’m assuming these are friends of yours Clyde?”

“Sorry, I may have locked them in a cage so they wouldn’t interrupt, but it looks like that didn’t work.” Clyde answered. “This loud one is Azure Blue, and the other one beside her is her twin, Scarlet Rain. She’s not much of a talker.”

“Clyde! How could you leave us behind!? I thought we were a team!” they yelled in unison.

“Azure, I told you that this was a very important meeting and you’d just bother everypony,” he answered honestly, earning a pouty face from Azure as Scarlet flew over to Watcher and perched herself on his head.

“Hi,” She said quickly, looking over the top of his head and into his eyes so that from his perspective she was upside-down.

“Well, this is surprising, guess she’s taken a liking to you Watcher,” Clyde smirked as Watcher groaned in annoyance.

Celestia couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “Well, this ought to be interesting.”

“Well besides Breezies interrupting us, I’d like to know where this Moro character is headed, cause if he’s after the other Princesses, then we need to stop him before he gets to them.” Watcher responded, ignoring the shuffling of tiny hooves on his head.

“Based on what we’ve learned as a team, Moro appears to be taking a direct route to Mount Chimera, using the woods nearby for cover,” Clyde explained, “I’d reckon that’d be because he doesn’t know about the back entrance the princess was seen using.”

“He’s certainly powerful enough to go through the front door if he has to,” Celestia warned, “but he’d be able to locate that secret entrance quickly. Back when things were… better, he was known for his deception and using powerful magic to seize control of ponies’ minds and turn them into his Acolytes. If he reaches Twilight first, he’ll probably brainwash her into joining his cult.”

“Great, so we’ve got two problems now. The prison itself, and that guy,” Aura Lace complained, rolling her eyes, “How are we supposed to rescue the princess from that place if we’ve got that ram coming to turn us into mindless zombies too?”

“Thankfully, in his ripe old age, Moro’s not very strong at direct combat anymore, and he doesn’t appear to be traveling with any of his crew,” Azure chuckled, “also,

“Yup, and it gets better,” agreed Clyde, eager to get on with the plan, “Moro’s magic being centered around mind control means really smart and really stupid ponies are hard for him to take control of! So we’ve decided that Techorse and Watcher should move to intercept Moro, and take him down before rejoining us!”

“HEY!” Watcher barked, “I’m not stupid!”

“You said it, not me,” Clyde answered, taking zero responsibility.

“I… nevermind,” continued the stallion, “if you think I’m going to work with Tech to beat up some creepy old guy that scrambles ponies’ brains, you’re the idiot here.”

“Come on, Watcher, I need your help,” said Techorse encouragingly, “I’ve got the equipment, and you’ve got that sword spell. There’s no other way to make sure we get the princess out safely than to prevent Moro from reaching Mount Chimera.”

Reading the room, Watcher could see that his friends weren’t going to let him back down. To try and avoid thinking about it too hard, he justified in his head that he really wanted to fight Moro to avoid having to put up with the terrifying inmates in the prison instead. Then he turned towards Techorse again and gave him a dirty look.

“All right, greenie. You’re following me, though. Knowing you, you’d get yourself mind controlled first,” he said, demanding control of the situation.

“Fine, I’ll stay behind you and provide fire support while you lead,” he said, before looking past Watcher to Aura Lace, “we’ll work together better that way.”

Aura Lace circled the side of her head with a long feather from her wing, indicating Watcher was being crazy. Techorse smiled a little bit too much for Watcher’s stern attitude, but he wasn’t able to turn around fast enough to catch Aura mocking him, instead only finding her with wings tucked and her eyes pointed at the ceiling.

“And I know a lot more spells than just a simple sword spell. I know a lot more.” Watcher replied sternly, glaring at Techorse before trotting past him, but not before shoving him to the side and whispering into the inventor's ear. “and I know not to trust you.”

“Watcher! Apologize to him now!” Celestia shouted, following after the tall unicorn as Aura helped Tech to his hooves.

“What did you do to piss him off?” Clyde asked, placing a hoof on his shoulder. “Oh, and you gotta tell me more about that mare that ran off with him, she’s smokin~”

“Maybe some other time, Clyde. You probably couldn’t land a princess ditching them on a date with the bill, anyways,” Techorse responded, pushing the hoof off of him and sarcastically patting him on the back with his own.

“Ooooh!” Aura Lace hooted at him, Azure giggling in agreement.

“Techorse, sheesh! Your mother shoulda named you ‘Grudge’,” said the gunslinger, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, let’s gear up first thing tomorrow morning, got some new toys that’ll definitely make Techboy’s kiddie backpack look like child’s play,” Clyde smirked, “and, I got some lovely tools for you cutie. Your Aura right?”

“The ‘cutie’ stuff won’t work on me, dude,” Aura answered firmly, “aaaand I think Tech had something planned for my brother and me already. So no thanks, cowpoke.“

“Hey, respect for honesty,” he replied, “anyways, since we’ll all be splitting up, I’ll be sending Scarlet with Watcher as you guys are going to need a healer like her around.”

“Wait, she’s a what?” Affinity asked, his eyebrow raised up.

“These little gals here, aren’t just mascots you know… they are both genuine healers… they have magic that’ll heal wounds faster then you can feel the pain. They both work great together, but I have confidence everypony is going to get out unscathed, except for Techwit over there. He’s going to get his flank killed without some help.”

“Still standing here, gunpowder for brains,” Techorse said, joking.

“Hey, you haven’t forgotten I have the highest captures on the board right? And I didn’t even have these little ones with me then and got out just fine. And I know you are here… so you should leave so I can keep talking trash about you.” He whispered that last bit loud enough for everypony to hear, causing the girls to giggle in response.

“Highest… Clyde every other mission you take the employer complains because the target comes back in a zippy bag. Now that’s enough about your job,” he explained, “sorry you had to hear that, Aura.”

“Alright, alright, alright, I get the picture.” Clyde responded, “Anyways, seriously, is that hottie up for grabs, I’d like to take her to this great spot I know in town sometime and… I think I can get her to fall for me.”

“Oh Clyde, if you’re really so interested in hooking up…” Umbra droned, her horn glowing as a small black leather book floated up to in front of her face, “I’ve got several of my marefriends just eager to meet a big, handsome stallion like you! We’ve got Toasty Wishes, who’s got a few lovely cats…”

“Oh um,” Clyde commented, interrupting, “I’d love to hear Umbra but… I gotta go work on my gear before we’re all ready for the mission. Just thinking aloud about that princess is all.”

“Very well,” the unicorn answered, shutting her book again, “just let me know if you change your mind!”

Once Clyde had wandered off a good bit, Aura Lace commented, “Wow, Umbra, I thought he’d never shut up about how cute Celestia is. Are you sure you didn’t want to… you know, tell him more so he’d get Celestia away from Watcher?”

“You know I’d love nothing more than that, but there’s more to being a lady of the estate than chasing her beaux,” Umbra winked back at her, “I wasn’t about to let him hit on every single one of my friends without him having to brave… the little black book!”

“Sure fixed him, for now anyways,” laughed Aura dryly, “but I’m thinking he’s gonna be persistent.”

“That’s for sure,” Techorse sighed, shaking his head, “never knows when to quit.”

“And that is something we all just love and hate about our friend Clyde,” Umbra replied.

“Sooooo… can I stay with you girls tonight?” Azure replied, surprising everypony as they had all forgotten the two Breezies were there.

Watcher continued to trot down the halls of Umbra’s mansion as Celestia gave chase, hoping to get an explanation from the stallion as to what had occurred in their meeting and his strange behavior. Celestia wanted to know, she needed to know what had been going on with Watcher as of late.

“WATCHER!!!” Celestia yelled, her voice echoing throughout the halls, causing the stallion to halt, turning his head back to see the princess breathing heavily.

“What is it now Celestia?”

“Watcher, what is wrong with you? You’ve been acting strange lately and you’ve been rude to everypony!” She demanded of the stallion, but all he could do was glare at her.

Watcher stood there, clenching his teeth for a few moments, finally giving her an answer with a firm warning through his teeth, “Are you really sure you want me to answer that?”

“I do, whatever it is, you have to stop!” she continued, not really putting any thought into it.

The stallion looked behind him at nothing in disbelief, before turning back and answering, “Here’s the thing, Celestia. I’m done. I didn’t sign up for any of this, and I’m sick and tired of being mistreated by other ponies just because I’m upset at what’s going on.”

“Then you should be telling the others you’re upset instead of crabbing at them when they try to talk to you,” argued Celestia, raising an eyebrow, “there’s no need to act so harshly! Especially with our friends such as Techorse. They’re risking their lives for you and I!”

“That’s just it, Celestia, I don’t trust that guy,” Watcher grumbled at her, “he’s working with that other guy, that bounty hunter. There’s something about him he’s not telling us. What kind of an ‘inventor’ seriously carries around that much firepower?”

“I-I don’t know… but I don’t have a reason to doubt that he cares about us and WANTS to help us!” Celestia replied, poking the stallion in the chest, barely causing him to flinch.

“He’s going to betray us,” he stated plainly and slowly as if talking to a much younger pony, “he’s clearly setting us up to take us in for a reward! A while ago I might have trusted a guy with bounty hunter friends, but not anymore. Midnight betrayed me, my crush got killed… and they’re going to kill us next.”

She snapped at him,“Techorse is not going to betray us, Watcher! Maybe he is keeping a secret, with his inventions I’d bet he’d have to. Haven’t you stopped to consider that maybe he’s been through trauma as well? He and Aura talk very often about how the Order ripped away their lives, too!”

Not wanting to hear it, he fought back, putting his hoof down, “Clearly, you’re not listening to me, and I am sick of all this drama… once you rescue this other princess at the prison and I deal with this Moro character,… I’m done.”

The mare recoiled, “But you pro-”

“DONE!” he continued, pushing her back with a hoof and almost shouting in her face, “Ever since I met you, all you’ve done is mooch off of me! Do you have any idea how much I’ve lost? I’ve lost my home, my best friends, the mare of my dreams! EVERYTHING! I have nothing now. Time and time again, I’ve stuck out my neck for you, and I have nothing to show for it. All I wanted was to be somepony who mattered, who can make a difference, but nope, I all got was a princess who failed to protect...Her. Little. Ponies!”

Princess Celestia shrank back, going quiet and casting her gaze to the floor. She felt a lump forming in her throat, going over those words in her head. To her, she was actively failing in her duties to protect her subjects, but had set it aside to focus on rescuing the other princesses.

“I… I just wanted to protect them,” she said, tears welling up in her eyes, “but I couldn’t even protect you. Just… go, Watcher. I wanna be alone!”

The princess cried bitterly and ran away from the stallion, leaving him standing there with a very conflicted look on his face. He wanted to reach out and call for her, but his pride wouldn’t allow it. Everything he said was indeed true, but a part of him knew that wasn’t right and was completely selfish. Gritting his teeth, he stormed off in the opposite direction, making his way towards his room, locking himself in and placing a magic barrier to keep anypony from teleporting inside.

Falling down on his bed, he groaned in annoyance as he felt his own eyes start to tear up. “Damn it… what the hell am I supposed to do?!”

The Next Day Outside Umbra’s Mansion

The sun was just above the horizon as Clyde began to set up his portable work bench and started to set down his latest equipment in hopes of outshining Techorse. Fully aware how talented his ‘rival’ was with creating gadgets that continued to surpass expectations of the wealthiest ponies around. It just made the gunslinger itch to one day out do him. And today was going to be the day that truly impressed the mares, and the inventor himself.

“Clyde, are you sure these are going to impress… the pretty princess?” Azure asked, floating beside her twin sister, he sat silently on the earth pony’s shoulder.

“You're going to lose again,” Scarlet replied bluntly, letting out a deep sigh of boredom.

Rolling his eyes at the two breezies, he was fully confident his latest gizmos would surprise everypony. “Girls, trust me, once everypony takes a good look at these tools, the guys will be impressed that they’ll literally be bowing down and that gorgeous mare Tia is going to fall head over hooves for me.”

Techorse stepped out of the estate behind them, followed closely by Aura, Affinity, and Celestia, who seemed a bit melancholy to Clyde. The stallion had a comically large metallic briefcase with him, clutched in the robotic arms coming from his saddle. Whatever was in that box was surely no match for what he had in store, though.

“Morning Techdork! And a good morning to everypony else. I see you are still using that fancy fanny pack!” Clyde jokingly responded, earning a giggle from Aura, while waiting to hear from the Princess.

“Well Clod, it’s comfy, and it’s several generations of development over those ranged sharp rocks you call bullets,” Techorse answered, “I was just about to unveil some new things I’ve been working on for our friends.”

“Hey! These are piercing rounds and you know it Techie! And I’m glad you brought your latest work, gonna make this all the sweeter when my latest equipment makes whatever you have… the last Hearth's Warming gift from your granny. Not my best insult, but you get the idea.”

“Is he normally like this?” Affinity whispered to Techorse.

“Normally he’s worse,” Techorse answered, setting the briefcase down on the dirt path below, “but he usually stops if I win one of our contests.”

“So he stops a lot,” Aura chuckled.

“Anyways, if you all are done whispering behind my back, let’s get this contest… UNDERWAY!” He replied, setting down a large box on his work bench. “So since I am the guest here, it is only right for the Techbrain to go first.”

“Aw come on, let’s see what you’ve got, Clyde,” said Techorse, fiddling with the side of the case closest to him, “besides… I think the latch on the case is… stuck.”

“Oh please, I know you always want me to go first so you can just top it, but since I’m really excited to show off, I’ll pretend to believe that your latch is stuck.” Clyde responded, grinning at the shamrock colored earth pony and decided to click the small blue button on his box and it began to unfold itself, revealing many different gadgets and tools that made everypony except for Techorse stare in awe. “I’d like to introduce you to my simple, but very effective and small communication microphones. All you have to do is place one in your ear and no matter the distance you’ll be able to communicate with each. It’s very useful on a mission like the one we’ll be embarking on.”

“Oooh, little communicators!” Aura Lace said, pushing forward and grabbing one of the little gadgets with her wing, its rounded clip shape allowing her to place it over her left ear, “So how do I turn it on?”

“There is a small button on the side, all you have to do is touch it once to turn it on, and twice to turn it off.” Clyde replied, smirking as his gaze fell on his competition. “What do you have up your sleeves Tech?”

“Well I’m not wearing sleeves, but I’ve got something for Aura and Affinity in here that I think they’ll find a bit more useful than just a communicator,” Techorse answered, finally prying open the briefcase.

Inside was two foam cutouts on the top layer that protected two small necklaces, each one featuring a silver pendant in the middle with a small, orange colored switch. Techorse took the first one of these strange objects out of the case and placed it around Aura’s neck.

“Awww, jewelry? You shouldn’t have…” Clyde teased.

“Go ahead and flip that switch on it, Aura,” Techorse instructed.

Aura nodded and did as she was told, using another feather to pull the switch over. She yelped in surprise as the pendant’s circumference opened several millimeter-wide holes and black fabric spread out, covering her body rapidly and coating it in a fine, coat-tight catsuit, including her head and mouth, with only a cutout for her eyes, hooves, tail, and wingtips remaining. The look resembled a ninja outfit, but with a modernized style and a blue stripe running down her back and along her wings up to the alulas.

“That is quite impressive Techorse, how were you able to do it?” Celestia responded, breaking her silence as she inspected this new suit on Aura.

“There’s this type of trained spider changelings used to keep that make a special silk, capable of copying clothing designs that the spiders see on others,” Techorse answered, smiling, “I reached out to a professor studying them and he let me have some of the silk in exchange for building a new habitat for the spiders. From there I just had to let the spiders watch what I wanted, and put the silk they made into these pendants. All they do is eject the material out like a fishing line, and the silk does the rest naturally!”

“Interesting choice Tech, I’m very surprised how well it fits your marefriend~” Clyde replied, joking again as he began to chuckle.

“H… hey!” a red-faced Aura said, pulling the part of the suit covering her face down to expose her mouth again, “Who said anything about...”

“Oh ignore him,” Affinity said, “does this do anything else, Techorse?”

“Stops bullets and arrows,” Techorse answered happily, “it’s spider silk after all.”

“Bravo, Techboy, bravo… If that’s all you got, I have to say I’m a little disappointed, but knowing you, You are saving the best for last correct? You always have three inventions, and keep the very best saved for the end. So I think my second invention should be able to compete with that fancy suit.” Clyde said, pulling out what looked like a pair of metal claws.

Placing his hoof on one of them, they automatically clipped onto his hooves and suddenly made a peace sign that those griffons would do when passing by. “Ehm, as everypony knows, we don’t exactly have fingers or claws to grip on anything without the use of magic, but these change everything! Now I can wield my revolvers a lot easier than using those old fashioned gun clips on my saddle. And they are excellent for climbing walls.”

“And I can now do this!” Trotting up to Techorse he couldn’t help but smirk as he flicked the earth pony on his forehead with his new claws.

“Ah, I see,” Techorse said, “well, I’ve got something else here...”

“I am not wearing one of those things, Techorse,” Affinity warned him sternly, “that looks stuffy.”

“His butt won’t fit,” Aura said, smiling.

“It.. it’s not that, Aura!” her brother complained, “I have glasses. Not very compatible with a ninja outfit.”

“No worries, Affinity, I thought you might not like it, so I brought the other one as a spare for Aura. The tools I made for you are much more your style,” he said, digging through the briefcase, “here it is!”

He pulled out a harness of sorts with a boxy protrusion on the front, silver in color, which he helped fit around the pegasus stallion’s front legs and over his neck so that the box sat snugly near the start of his back. Confused as to what it was for, Techorse took an additional piece out from the suitcase, a small pair of clip-on lenses that fit over Affinity’s glasses. After hitting a button on the device, a bunch of small text prompts appeared within the pegasus pony’s vision, startling him.

“Goodness, Techorse! What’s all this information?!” he asked.

“This is a highly advanced tactical harness, Affinity,” Techorse explained, “that pack on the back of your neck contains a computer that feeds info to your glasses. It can spot enemies coming, make suggestions in projected text in your lenses, and identify objects for you. It even comes with a small solid-beam laser, but you’ve only got enough energy for about 20 shots. You can see that displayed in the top right corner.”

“Impressive Techorse… anyways I think I’m gonna check up on Umbra, I’m certain she’ll at least want to see these inventions of yours,” Celestia responded, gesturing the two stallions before taking off as Aura raised a brow at the Princess’s sudden departure.

“I may not know too much about her, but is she always… kinda depressed like this?” Clyde asked.

“She must be upset,” Azure Blue said.

“Well, she must have had a rough night… Well if you want to pause on our little contest Tech, I don’t mind,” Clyde said.

“Yeah, I’m fine with pausing,” he agreed, nodding, “I’ve got one more thing to show off, but the pony it’s for isn’t here.”

“Is it for tall, dark, and gloomy?” Clyde asked, getting a confirming nod from the Shamrock colored earth pony. “Well let’s continue after we have some breakfast, cause I’m starving.”

Celestia wasn’t quite sure what she was doing outside of Watcher’s room despite him blaming her for his misfortune. Something hadn’t been sitting right on her mind ever since she’d had time to cool down. Letting him go his own way wasn’t really an option she felt comfortable with, even though the exact words escaped her.

“He needs to know,” she said quietly, “if he still wants to leave after that… at least I can say I tried.”

Taking a deep breath, she knocked on his door gently, but she received no response from the stallion, she wasn’t sure if he was still asleep or not, but that wasn’t going to stop her from at least getting a response from him.

Knock, Knock, Knock!!!

“Watcher! It’s Celestia, can you please let me in, we need to talk?” She called out, failing to get an answer from him, Celestia’s horn began to glow brightly, detecting a massive amount of magic surrounding the inside of Watcher’s room, she could tell that his aura was indeed powerful, it gave her a sort of shiver that wasn’t unpleasant, but she could tell that it wasn’t as perfect as the stallion believed it to be.

Grinning, her horn glowed brightly as she was standing on the outside of his room one moment.

POP!

She had suddenly appeared in the center of Watcher’s room the next moment.Taking in her surroundings, she noticed the stallion resting atop of her covers, snoring quietly enough for her to hear him. Taking another deep breath and letting out a sigh of relief, she quietly trotted to the side of his bed and laid beside the sleeping stallion, she couldn’t help but stare at his sleeping face and she noticed the tear stains on his cheeks. She felt tears build up as she gently caressed Watcher’s cheek.

“I’m sorry Watcher.” She whispered. “I really am… I didn’t mean to make your life difficult, but you were the only pony who was willing to put up with me. You helped me in my time of need and I never really appreciated all you have done for me. Thank you Watcher… I really mean it.”

With all said and done, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep beside her one true friend in this world. However, Watcher wasn’t completely asleep as he opened his eyes and stared baffled by Celestia’s words, and sudden appearance, noticing that her cheeks were rosey as tear tracks stained on her cheeks.

‘I want to tell her to leave, but she went through all the trouble to tell me she was sorry. I honestly don’t know what to do anymore… however I do know that she needs my help and I may not be fond of everypony here, but I’ll work with them if it means finding her friends, the other princesses, and fixing everything the Order and all those scumbags out there destroyed.’ He thought as he admired the beauty of the sleeping princess beside him.

‘Sleep well Tia, you’ll always be my friend too.’

Chapter Ten: Silver Stone

Midnight stood off in the distance, covering his whole body in a black tattered cloak, his green eyes piercing through the fog as he watched a battalion of Order soldiers trotting through the roads of Whitetail woods at night, carrying a cargo wagon with supplies through a thick fog, but the unicorn wasn’t interested in any of that, but was searching for a certain individual that was allegedly a part of the group that had caught his interest in a wanted poster, a bounty hunter that went by the name of Amate. From what he had read, she was another powerful unicorn that had a reputation of killing her enemies with a crossbow at impossible distances.

Under normal circumstances he’d want to avoid running into a mage like her since not only was she one of the deadliest mares in Equestria, but also had an equally deadly companion, a‘kill first, ask questions later’ type of mare by the name of Shrike. According to the intelligence he’d gathered from the underground, the two were rarely seen apart, but as luck would have it, they weren’t together for once, for some reason, and this was what Midnight was looking for.

“I better get rid of the riff raff, before confronting her… let’s just hope she doesn’t spot me right away,” Midnight said to himself, as his horn began to glow and slowly strands of his mane began to turn white, the color oozing to the ground. Slowly the material expanded outward into, form over twenty black wolves, each with piercing green eyes as tar continued to drip from various parts of their body, “It’s feasting time my pets, feast to your heart's content!”

AWOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

After hearing the powerful howl, the troops from the Order pulled out their weapons, wielding various blades, staffs and axes as the howling began to increase in volume, and came more frequently. It didn’t take long before everypony started noticing the multitude of green eyes surrounding them and their cargo.

“OPEN FIRE!!!” One of the squad leader’s ordered, firing a magic blast from his horn, only to be attacked from behind by two of the large summoned wolves. The first one took full advantage of the situation from overhead, digging its teeth into his skull to the point his horn started to crack under the intense pressure. Meanwhile the second wolf dug deep into his leg, tearing apart the fibers with ruthless vigor, ignoring his victim’s pitiful cries of agony, “HELLLP ME!!! HELP ME PLEASE!!! HEL-”

It wasn’t long before the other soldiers started firing off into the fog, trying to do some kind of damage to the advancing pack of canines.In a matter of seconds, one by one, a member from the battalion was pulled into the fog, his screams echoing in the eerie stillness. One stallion wielding a large battle axe, swung rapidly like a mad stallion, trying his best to fend off their attackers, but was quickly jumped from behind as four more followed. A little unicorn mare just stood frozen in place as she watched the ravenous wolves rip apart the stallion right before her eyes. She shook in place like a leaf as her staff dropped to the ground. One of the wolves turned and attempted to jump upon her at once, but another stallion in the group tackled the beast and fell to the ground with it, getting it away from her.

“GO!” he shouted at her, the drooling teeth snapping in his face, “Somepony’s gotta make it out!”

The wolves continued to pick off the defenders, the crossbow master on their side finding himself being torn apart the instant he fired his last shot. Even the pyromancer wasn’t able to do much in the situation, ultimately deciding to immolate himself when the dogs leapt upon him in hopes of taking down some of them too. The heat from the pyre started to clear some of the fog away, as the screams and gnashing of canine teeth died down. Strewn corpses and exposed bones were all that remained from the massacre, as well as the field of flames the desperate pyromancer had left behind in his place.

Midnight felt his pets had done quite enough, although he could sense using a scanning charm that a single heart was still beating, quite rapidly in fact. After murdering that old ram, he found keeping track of his opponent’s hearts quite useful.

“I suppose I ought to track down that last mare,” he said to himself, recalling his remaining conjured killing machines to his side, “and slash her myself as punishment for being mean to the dogs.”

The stallion wandered down into the slaughter field he had created, though several of the bodies had been completely destroyed. To help cover his trail a bit, he cast a force field over the flames, extinguishing them completely. The fog began to creep back in, and Midnight began to believe he’d made a mistake even though a light spell from his horn helped a bit. The heartbeat was somewhere up ahead, and it was slowing down, probably from the adrenaline of his next victim wearing off.

“Everyone else, scout around. Find that heartbeat,” Midnight growled, “can’t see much in here.”

The last three wolves obeyed, taking off into the fog and beginning their cruel hunt again. This left Midnight alone to wander around amongst the cargo and the rest of the remains of the convoy. He sensed the heartbeat picking up again, and moving around to his right flank.

“That’s it… take her,” he said softly, “no witnesses.”

YIPE!

Something had taken down one of the wolves. Midnight’s horn glowed more furiously as he charged up a shot and looked in the location of the heartbeat. He was prepared to fire as soon as anything appeared through that fog now. However, to his amusement, the heartbeat began to increase in intensity very suddenly. He finally heard a mare yell out, and then… the pumping organ was silenced.

“Very good!” the unicorn chuckled, “Well worth one wolf. Come back to me, pets!”

A solid minute passed without the two remaining familiars returning, frustrating the mage. His smile and confidence went to anger and repressed fear, as he scanned around with his charged horn again.

“Did they not hear me?” he muttered, “Aren’t summons supposed to be connected directly to my will?”

He heard the clicking noise of a crossbow cocking, and the wood of the weapon was shoved into the back of his head.

“Impossible,” Midnight growled, “how’d you manage to survive?”

“...”

The unicorn snapped, “You’d better answer! If you think you have the drop on me just because this crossbow is to my head, you’re a moron!”

The weapon tapped the side of his head sharply, an order to turn around. Midnight did slowly, eager to see who this fool was wasting his time before he vaporized her. When he did, he found himself face to face with Amate, who smiled just to mock him.

“Ahhh, so that explains your survival,” Midnight teased, exhaling sharply through his nose, “you’re Amate. I’ve been looking for you.”

Amate signed with her magic, “You found me. You wasted these ponies. You have one minute to convince me not to kill you.”

“What if I told you I could give you everything you’ve ever wanted? A new beginning, a voice?” Midnight asked, a smirk appearing across his face as Amate looked in disgust.

She tightened the coil on the bow again, “Changed mind. One more sentence, then your brains go splat.”

“Really? Cause the way I see it, you’ll need me if you want to find the false princesses. Especially since I know where they are heading,” Midnight answered, knowing she’d probably be interested in the bounty, “Besides… These were Order troops. From your expression, I can tell you really aren’t all that attached to the faction.”

Amate thought about it for a moment, keeping the crossbow pointed but for the moment, leaving him alive.

“You want to trade information for your life? Fine. Take me there. This stays pointed until you do.”

“If you really must be that way, sure. I’m on my way there anyways,” Midnight answered. “However, if you really want to make a change for not only yourself, but for your friend as well.”

And with that he began to lead the sniper further into the woods, leaving behind the multiple bodies of fallen troops into the night as Amate began wondering what the unicorn was really after.

Downtown Everfree City

Clyde continued to hum to himself as he began to make his way over to his favorite ramen noodle shop as it was the only place open so late at night, He couldn’t wait to dig in, but it wasn’t long until he felt a hoof grab his shoulder and he quickly reached for his revolver and spun around, holding onto the pony’s hoof, only to see Techorse.

“GODDESSES TECH!! I could have killed you dude!”

“And if it wasn’t me? You would have blown off a random’s head in the ramen shop?” he said, the usual serious look on his face, “look, we need to talk about this.”

The gunslinger badly wanted to hit the inventor in the face, but he took a deep sigh and turned back towards his friend with a small grin. “What’s there to talk about? It seems like a straight forward plan, right?”

“It’s not about the plan, per say, it’s...” he trailed off in response, “well, do you remember how when we first teamed up, you figured out how easy it is to get me to believe something? To trust others?”

“I know you’re gullible already,” Clyde commented, “can’t this wait? Kinda want my ramen first.”

Techorse rolled his eyes in response, “It’s not about that. It’s about what we’re making the others believe. So, let’s go get some ramen together, I’ll try to explain, okay? I won’t keep you from the food, but you’ve got to hear this.”

“Alright, I’m fine with that… just explain to me what’s on your mind?” Clyde asked, putting his revolver back.

“We’ve been to that prison before, Clyde,” he said, “I didn’t come up with those schematics with a ‘long range scanner’, we’ve seen it ourselves. If we don’t tell the others what happened there that day… they’ll be crushed.”

Clyde’s smile soon vanished as it was replaced with a scowl. This is what the shamrock colored stallion wanted to talk to him about, gritting his teeth, he tried to compose himself from yelling at his friend. It was a sensitive topic as what had transpired all that time ago in that prison changed everything for him and his friend. However, he was a stallion who was always in a chipper mood and he didn’t want to make Techorse feel bad about bringing up what had happened all those years ago.

“Tech, buddy, It’s okay… We’ll tell them once we leave in the morning,” Clyde suggested, earning a nod from his friend, but Techorse couldn’t help but think about what had happened that day three years ago.

Three Years Ago, Mount Chimera Prison

Techorse was laying down a barrage of covering fire, laser bolts flying down the stone hallway, impacting on rock, metal, and sometimes flesh. The prisoners had decided to stage their uprising against the bounty hunters, even if they hadn’t put them there, anyone who fought for the law had to be destroyed, the Order’s law or otherwise. Energy blasts were keeping their heads down for now, but the inventor keeping them at bay would face his saddle overheating soon.

“I can’t hold these guys back forever!” Techorse shouted back to his teammates, “We need to cut off the escape route!”

“Geez, like that wasn’t obvious!” Clyde shouted, pulling out a flash grenade from his satchel and threw it, causing a loud bang, blinding several of the cannibal ponies that had escaped their cells, “This is your chance Tech! Take them down!”

“Here we go, missile out!” Techorse yelled, jumping forward as his cannons backed into his saddle and the two launch tubes emerged.

A flash of light from the tubes and a spiral of smoke sent the pair of explosives careening towards the flesh eating captives, the hallway illuminating with the glow of an orange fireball as the high-explosive rounds filled it with shockwave and incinerated air. Several of the enemy had been blown clean out of the hallway, and those in cover had lost it to the blast, turning tail and trying to flee. Clyde took the opportunity and spun his trusty revolver into place, fanning the hammer to unleash all his rounds at once. The heads of the fleeing cultists popped, slumping over as hot lead tore through them and bounced around in their bodies.

“Guess you guys got busy… not bad for a couple of rookies,” Clyde and Tech heard, turning around to see a pegasus mare with light brown fur, black mane and tail with a white cloak on with a dragon emblem on the side. She had silver eyes and was wearing grey gauntlets on her hooves with long blades attached to them, “Took you guys fifteen minutes when it should have taken five to subdue these guys.”

“Hey, you forget… professional bounty hunters here sis,” Clyde commented.

“And we aren’t rookies Silver Stone,” Techorse stated.

“Relax, Techie, just messing with you,” she answered him, winking, “I just got done sealing the western exit with the explosives as planned. With these guys wiped out, that just leaves the remaining rioters in the eastern sector of the prison.”
Silver Stone’s confidence and mental clarity in the heat of battle, alongside her deadliness, made her a leader Techorse looked up to. He had only been a bounty hunter for a short amount of time relatively speaking, and was reluctant to make any friends, but she had insisted to Clyde that she be allowed to teach him strategy off the clock. Sure Techorse was smart on technical terms, but for the past year, his ability to plan and handle evolving situations had come from her guidance.

“Let’s mobilize then,” said Techorse, “if we hurry they may surrender when they find out they can’t leave and return to lockdown.”

“Ah ah, not so fast,” she teased, waving a bladed hoof, “how much ammunition do we have left, boys?”

The inventor took inventory quickly, the sounds of gears and servos in his saddle audible as he shifted things around, “One pair of missiles left… great. Good thing lasers are infinite.”

“...and how many bullets left, bro?”

“Plenty,” Clyde answered vaguely.

“Great,” she continued, “we’ll take the northern battlements over, get a bit of fresh air, and cut off the rest of these bone chewers on the other side! Follow me, guys.”

“Find it hard to believe that the Order asked us to eliminate these guys instead of locking them back up,” Techorse said plainly, somehow still earning a giggle from Silver Stone.

“You say it like it’s the first time doing this Tech, trust me when I say that these guys have had it coming for a long time. Either way, we get paid, the Order is happy that the escapees are taken care of, everyone wins,” Silver Stone stated, as Clyde trotted past her with his revolver in one hoof at the ready.

“Are you two going to keep chatting, or are you going to let me be the only one having all the fun here?” Clyde asked, smirking as he began making dashing down the hall, leaving Silver Stone alone with Techorse. The young mare couldn’t help but roll her eyes at her little brother’s antics.

“So Tech, you never told us… why did you become a bounty hunter? You don’t look like the kind of guy to kill… even on the day we met you’ve been too… nice.” Silver Stone asked.

“I never joined for the money, which is why you think I’m nice,” answered the stallion, “I want to stop war criminals in as few casualties as possible. Such as the ones that dispossessed my family...”

“And being a murderer like us is the best way to do that?” Silver Stone asked. “Cause honestly that’s what we bounty hunters are, just a bunch of lowly outcasts hired by the highest bidder to eliminate a certain target, good or bad. So, why this? Why not get a political role to change things, or join the rebellion across the borders?”

“Interesting you mention that,” he replied, “you haven’t noticed how few jobs I take with you guys? There are other customers besides The Order, and those customers have different interests. Live capture, sabotage, and defense contracts. I’m here, because my family could be in one of these prisons, Silver. The Order could keep their filthy money if it didn’t make me a suspect.”

“Hehe, Well I’m not hearing a denial of being a murderer I see,” Silver stated, smirking at the stallion. “Either way, I personally think you’d be better off leading the rebellion then those idiots. The world is a crappy place and I think you can make a change honestly.”

“I have never fired upon anything that didn’t fire on me first,” Techorse shrugged, “but they’ll call me whatever they want I guess. As for the rebellion, I have my reasons for not being a direct leader. It’s not a ‘gotta do things my way’ reason though, I swear!”

“Well it’s perfectly fine, just giving my opinion is all… We’d better catch up to my brother before he does something stupid,” Silver stone replied, smirking at the stallion before jabbing him in the chest with her hoof, “I’ll be taking a sniper position outside, you take point with my brother okay?”

“Got it,” he confirmed, nodding, “I know you’ll keep them off us.”

Giving the shamrock stallion a wink, she quickly began making her way up a nearby staircase while Techorse directly galloped down the hallway to find Clyde and before he knew it he was outside in the prison courtyard, seeing his fellow bounty hunter sitting on the corpse of a dead minotaur with many bullet holes in its head.

“Took you long enough, Colonel would have gotten here faster than you Techboy,” Clyde said mockingly as he twirled his revolver in his hoof before it almost slipped from his hoof. Techorse couldn’t help but roll his eyes in response.

“Your pet corgi moves faster than you Clyde… we probably should have brought him instead.”

“Wow, that’s cold bro,” Clyde responded, “Well so far we’re doing good, we’ve managed to kill four hundred prisoners out of 60,000 so I don’t think we’ll have too much to worry about.”

“Most of that was due to that ceiling collapse. We didn’t have the ammo for this,” Techorse stated plainly, ruining his fun, “couldn’t even find who I was looking for here, so destroying it would have been fine by me.”

“Hey, this is a big prison, it’s so big that it’s under ground we’re only handling the main levels. Blowing this place sky high is something the Order doesn’t want… I’m not sure why, but clearly there are some ponies or whatever kind of species here that might get some help,” Clyde explained, but before he could go on, the sounds of crunching made their ears twitch in response.

“Mmm… I smell something really tasty!” A voice spoke out, causing both stallions to turn their heads back to find a pony with only a few patches of fur remaining on his gaunt body. He shuddered in place, his lips were covered in blood and he grinned at the two stallions. Something they also took note of was the stallion’s horn, it was cracked from tip to base.

“Should we… go for your liver, or perhaps the spleen? What do you think?” The crazed stallion asked, and out from under the snow multiple ponies popped out, all of them covered in blood and drool and leaving much of that on the ground as they surrounded the pair.

“Techorse… call it,” Clyde said, “there’s a dozen in front of us and a dozen behind.”

After taking a look at the situation, seemingly wasting several seconds and allowing the flesh seeking ghouls to gain ground, he spoke, “Burning Barrels technique, followed by the Energy Airstrike.”

“Good choices, Techboy,” grunted the gunslinger, readying his revolver, “Do it!”

Techorse’s saddle opened up, pointing out the two laser cannons and priming them for firing. The prisoners moved out of the line of fire, crowding the ones in front of them into a line between a nearby pillar in the courtyard and Clyde. Smiling, Techorse turned to the right and switched his guns to a special solid-beam mode, firing a straight line of yellow energy into the pillar in front of Clyde. The other stallion laughed and pulled his barrel right next to the laser beam, fanning the hammer and firing off all six shots. As the bullets passed through the solid ray of energy, they melted into a plasma slag, making them glow as if they were pieces of the sun itself. The now energized bullets had plenty of energy to tear through the fiends ahead, penetrating their bodies completely and burning sizzling holes through each of them, perfectly cauterizing and leaving not a spot of their own blood besides what had been on their mouths.

“Energy Airstrike, now!” Techorse called, and Clyde responded, turning back and sitting down on the ground to provide a ramp.

Techorse galloped off of Clyde’s back, the stallion grunting below him, and as soon as he reached his neck, bucked into the air to send the inventor airborne. Using the machinery in his saddle as counterweight, Techorse spun around to face the other twelve prisoners, and then unloaded with his normal rapid-fire shots. A spray of laser bolts struck the cannibals, putting them out of commission and pockmarking the snow with melted holes. By the time Techorse landed, only two of the prisoners remained, which Clyde quickly dispatched, having apparently spent the time Techorse was showing off to reload. Twenty four dead or dying prison ghouls were lying on the ground with smoke pouring from laser or plasma wounds.

“You missed a spot,” he teased.

Before the two could enjoy their victory the sounds of trotting hooves through snow could be heard. The two were annoyed as they saw more prisoners rushing towards them, armed with bats with nails and clubs in hooves. Clyde had a theory he didn’t like, but wanted to make clear to Techorse.

“Something isn’t right,” he said, “Sis should have been putting holes in these guys' skulls by now.”

Quickly, Clyde reloaded his revolver and began to open fire at the first three cannibals to approach him, putting a bullet in each of their heads before, pulling out a small dagger from the pocket of his satchel and throwing it directly into the chest of a large muscular pony who had part of his face torn off from something a long time ago. However the pony didn’t go down and swung his club at Clyde, but the bounty hunter evaded it easily as he leaped over the prisoner and fired off another round into the back of his head.

“Sorry, but no touchy,” Clyde said, before turning towards Techorse. “Hey, I can handle these guys, you go see what’s going on with my sister!”

“Right! On my way,” Techorse answered, switching to his saddle’s propellers and lifting off.

He flew up to the area over the courtyard, trying to find where Silver would have established the ideal nest to take potshots from. One of the most obvious spots was a watchtower built onto the top of the overhang the pillar he’d used for his attack was holding up. Entering one of the windows and landing on the floor, he looked around quickly for where the mare could have gone.

“Silver!” he called out, “Are you here?!”

“Tech! Over here!” called her voice from a nearby doorway, muffled by the sounds of clashing weapons, “Hurry!”

Quickly pulling out his rocket launchers in case he’d have a good group of targets to deal with, Techorse rushed through the door. The tower had been built into the side of the prison’s inner wall, leading him into a more open atrium, with sunlight filtering in from a hole in the ceiling of the otherwise rounded room. Silver Stone was engaged in combat with five more of the denizens of the compound, Tech took notice that her rifle was broken in two, her hood was ripped off and she was covered in bruises and stab wounds.

“Hey boss? Isn’t this that kid you kept talking about, she has the same cutie mark you kept babbling on about?” A diamond dog asked, holding Silver up by her leg before getting a swift kick in the face. “Son of a bitch!”

“No… touchy…” Silver muttered, picking up a dagger in her mouth before being approached by a large red minotaur with multiple scars across his face. He held a large battle axe with a red ribbon on it.

“You're that little filly from before-” However before the minotaur could finish, Silver Stone threw the dagger she held in her mouth in a swift motion, cutting the brute’s cheek with it. It wasn’t long until Techorse noticed a changeling appear behind her and stabbed her in the back. The changeling jumped back from her, leaving the knife he’d used in Silver and preparing another weapon to finish the deed.

Enraged, Techorse yelled and quickly fired off the pair of rockets he’d saved, the twin projectiles spiraled into the changeling’s body, detonating and sending his chitinous body skidding across the floor from the concussive blast. Plates of the changeling’s carapace littered the floor around Silver Stone, who had dropped to her knees.

“Interesting,” the minotaur chuckled, pointing his axe at Techorse, “you’re clever, and your weapons are strong, but that won’t save you. Take him out!”

“You heard the boss... It’s snack time!” A grey pony with a long black mane and tail cried out in joy. Having a crazed look in his eyes, but what Techorse really noticed was that the stallion wore zebra skin on his body and had a long black fur scarf around his neck. However, before he could make a move, the crazed stallion threw multiple knives directly at the pair, with Techorse covering Silver Stone, he took the brunt of the blades to his front leg, causing the stallion to almost yelp in pain, barely holding it in.

“Ruffus, eating all the time isn’t always the solution,” the now scorched changeling from before replied, ripping off the remaining parts of her outer shell with her bare hooves, revealing a second exoskeleton underneath.

“Scales, you go deal with that other pony down there… he’s killing all of my mea- troops,” Ruffus replied, grinning madly as he licked his lips, staring at Techorse. “I want to savor this meal right now!”

“Tch,” Scales scuffed before beating her wings and began to take flight into the air. “Just deal with these two already you fools.”

“Ruffus, Black Wing, and GreyHound, kill the green pony. I’ll be taking my time with the little mare,” Their boss ordered as the three remaining lackey’s of the minotaur glared at Techorse, each one holding a different weapon from the others. Ruffus wielded small blades underneath his zebra skin, the white griffon with black wings had wing blades, while the diamond dog named GreyHound held a large hammer in his paw.

“Tech...” whispered Silver Stone weakly, “don’t die here.”

The stallion stared into his friend’s eyes for a moment, his brain going over all his options to get them both out safely, denying the reality of what the knife in her back and the approaching enemies meant.

“Don’t die here, Tech!”

“...”

“Tech… Techboy. Techorse! Snap out of it!” shouted Clyde, bringing the inventor out of his memories and back to the present day, “You’re thinking about it too much.”

He blinked twice before answering, “Y… yeah. I am… sorry Clyde. I can’t help but think about it. So will you help me tell the others?”

“Hmm… Well I shouldn’t considering it’s a you problem, not a my problem,” The gunslinger responded as both stallions were suddenly served a fancy cocktail by a short mare, “We didn’t order-”

“It’s on the house...:” the waitress responded, winking at Techorse before trotting off.

“Still don’t get how mares are into you of all ponies,” Clyde stated, taking a sip from the cocktail he was served.

“Be kind, don’t push it,” Techorse answered, toasting him with his own glass, “and most of all, smiling helps!”

“Guess that also explains the way you act around Aura now?” Clyde said smugly.

Techorse nearly choked on his drink, just barely getting it to the table before spilling it all over. He wiped his now stained mouth off with a hoof, and took a second to collect himself before responding.

“I didn’t say anything about Aura!” he answered, turning red, “I mean… she’s nice, and she’s definitely beautiful, but… we all have a high chance of dying soon, so I’m not sure.”

“Anything to avoid speaking the truth, huh?” Clyde snickered at him, “You’re obviously attracted to her, champ.”

“L… look, it’s not that, it’s,” Techorse continued, figuring he could come up with something, but eventually gave in, “all right, it is that. I like her a lot, but I couldn’t drag her into this life. Maybe when this war’s over.”

The other stallion shrugged and sipped the next bit of his drink, “Can’t tell you what to do, but I think you should shoot your shot. You could come out of this war with her at your side.”

He thought about it for a moment, responding, “Well, maybe you’re right. If we both survive, I’ll ask her.”

“Well just be sure dark and brooding doesn’t get ya killed,” Clyde said, removing his helmet and setting it down on the table. “And hey, you better get the girl, otherwise I’m going to sweep her off her hooves before you get the chance Techboy.”

“Based on her reaction to you, I think she’d rather kick you where it counts, gunpowder breath,” he countered before going a bit quiet, “as for Watcher getting me killed, that’s… that’s a bit more in the air.”

“Hmm… Maybe if you try to talk to him, you might be able to work with him.”

“I’ve been trying to be his friend the whole time, not just talk to him,” Techorse said dolefully, “he just doesn’t like me, I guess. Watcher’s very negative, even for somepony in his situation. I just hope it doesn’t translate to him refusing to work together later on, that could definitely get us killed.”

“Hey, buddy don’t think too hard about it. Just tell him everything and I’m certain he’ll understand,” Clyde said, trying to figure out what he needed to say to give his friend, while the waitress returned once more with two fresh bowls of ramen. “It’ll probably be better if we eat first though… help you figure things out you know. Nothing like a good meal to help the brain right?”

His friend took a deep breath and agreed, “You’re right. I’ll get it out of the way once we get back. For now, noodles.”

“Now we’re talking!” Clyde said, not hesitating to dig into his bowl.

While his friend dug in, Techorse couldn’t help but recall another time before their mission to Mount Chimera, a time when they could all just sit at the very same cheap noodle shop and have a drink or two. He remembered well that one time they decided to do something different other than their usual spot, a pub on the other side of town, and felt so out of their element they couldn’t decide what to order. Silverstone managed to ease them into the situation, getting them involved in a trivia game the owner had started. He couldn’t remember if he had cleaned up at that game or not, but at the noodle shop they’d always talked business. There, at the little hole in the wall, they were more like best friends and family than bounty hunters, sipping ales and trying to top each other’s answers. It was almost enough to make him forget that his family was dispossessed and his parents were locked up somewhere. Almost.

Clyde raised his glass again and snapped him out of his brooding, “Cheers! To making it out this, together Tech!”

The stallion sighed, smiled his best, and raised his glass as well, “Cheers!”

Chapter Twelve: The Blades That Come

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Chapter Thirteen: The Endless Tracks

Stirring from his long rest, Watcher’s eyes slowly began to open as he was greeted by the sight of a familiar face sitting across from him. A grey mare with a very long blonde and orange striped mane and tail, wearing a brown heavy coat and red scarf. The mare was Stencil Guide of Dragon Corps, and beside her was Techorse, showing off his battle saddle to the mare.

“It’s quite impressive Mr.Tech, it looks like it would come in very handy for the war,” Watcher heard Stencil reply, earning a smile from the stallion.

“I appreciate it, Stencil, but it’s not something I’d want to mass-produce,” he said, “what if it fell into the wrong hooves?”

The mare’s ears drooped in an act of understanding, “Oh, yeah… that’s a good point”

Lifting himself up, Watcher let out a loud groan as to catch the attention of the two ponies across from him, “Ugh… hey Tech, what happened, did we by some miracle win?”

Techorse shook his head and raised a hoof, “No, we escaped. Right now we’re inside a double wide cargo hauling car on a train headed up the Yellow Line. This is one of my family’s old railways the Order seized from us.”

“Heh, why am I not surprised we got our asses hoofed on a silver platter,0” Watcher replied, giving a smirk before groaning in pain. “Geez, if this is just a taste of what the Chancellor can do, I don’t think I’d want to know what he’s truly capable of.”

“Oh, I know what he’s capable of,” Stencil said grimly, tears welling up in her eyes, “It… it’s good to see you again Watcher. I wish it was under better circumstances.”

“Yeah, things haven’t been going well for me and Tia, either and…” Watcher realized something as he sat up quickly, “Hey, wait a minute, where’s Pen Dragon, shouldn’t he be with you? What are you doing out here on a train with us?”

The tears in Stencil’s eyes flowed freely as she bawled her heart out in front of the two stallions. Watcher’s face softened, he knew his innocent question was about to receive a horrible answer.

“Stencil,” Techorse said gently, placing a hoof on her back, “please don’t cry. Watcher didn’t mean anything by that!”

“You… you don’t get it!” she whimpered, a lump in her throat, “P… Pen is dead! The company’s been seized, and our colleagues were slaughtered while begging for their lives!”

“W-What?!” Watcher shouted in disbelief.

To hear that one of the greatest minds and business pony he ever met was gone. It was unbelievable news on its own, but to hear it from Pen’s own assistant had made the impact of the message even more painful.

“Stencil, we’re here to help,” Techorse said in an understanding tone, “nopony should have to go through what you’ve been through.”

“Yeah, I… I’m sorry… is there anything we can do?” Watcher asked, trying his best to help comfort his old acquaintance.

“I don’t know,” she said softly, sniffing back mucus blocking her nose and trying to dry her tears, “there’s probably nothing we can do. I hopped on this train hoping to find a new life someplace else but, I don’t know where I’m really going or what I’ll do with myself. My life is over...”

“Pen was a great stallion Stencil, and I will help make sure justice is served for what happened,” Techorse replied.

“Tech is right, for the past four months we’ve been in Everfree City, trying to find a way to put a stop to the Order… and put an end to this war.” Watcher added. “Right now, Tia and the others from our group are making their way to Mount Chimera to find what could help us turn the tide of this war.”

“Stencil? Has the big guy woken up yet?” Watcher and Techorse heard as a red unicorn had just entered with a tray of bread and bottles of water. “Ah, glad you could wake up finally, your little Breezie friend spent a lot of time healing your wounds to the point she passed out in Tech’s mane.”

“Annnnd you are?”

“The name is Flare Blitz, I was actually hired by Pen Dragon to look after Miss Guide before he passed away. As a promise for him helping me out when I needed it most,” he replied, giving everypony a grin as he set the tray of food on an empty seat for everypony to eat, “You guys must be hungry.”

“Yes, and despite me telling him that he doesn’t need to do this, his code as a mercenary won’t allow him to disobey his contract with Pen. So until the Order falls, I’m kinda stuck with this guy,” Stencil explained, her eye twitching slightly in response.

“Huh? Well uh… nice to meet you I guess,” Watcher replied, extending his hoof to shake Flare’s, to which the red unicorn happily accepted.

“So, what were the two of you doing exactly? You haven’t explained that to Stencil or me, and since my duties are going to depend on your response, I’d think about what you say next,” Flare explained, brushing his yellow mane back slightly as his horn glowed a bright yellow hue, revealing under his trench coat a pair of sharpened knives made from repurposed lawn mower blades, three small holes in the center of each sharpened steel edge, “Trot carefully you two.”

“They’re my friends, Flare!” snapped Stencil, nearly growling at him, “They don’t need to explain a thing to you!”

“And I have my orders from you Fiance to look after you,” he replied, glaring at Watcher in particular, “Now I only want an honest response is all, nothing wrong with that right?”

Techorse spoke up, “Well, if you’re looking for the truth, we brought Watcher onboard to get away from the Chancellor and his troops. Stencil is an ally of ours, even if she and I just met.”

“That much is obvious, not what I’m asking… what were you doing before? Tell me what it is that you two would go through all the trouble to get the fricken Chancellor on your backs?” He asked a final time, glaring at the inventor.

“For me, existing,” Techorse answered, his saddle door opening just in case, “for a mercenary under a delayed payment clause, you seem unaware about the goals of the Chancellor and his troops that you’re trying to protect Stencil from. I’m one of the Dispossessed, and Watcher betrayed him to keep a fugitive safe.”

“And now I’m a fugitive as well… a lot has happened, but one thing is certain, The Order will not stop until they kill everypony that doesn’t fit into their perfect world. Especially if it’s believed that the Princesses of Equestria are returning,” Watcher responded. “So, believe it or not, we are trying to find the lost princesses so they can restore harmony to Equestria once again,”

“Sounds pretty convincing to me,” Flare responded, sitting back down with a grin now plastered on his face as he used his magic to pick up a loaf of bread and began to chow down on it.

The doors on Techorse’s saddle closed, and he turned to Watcher, “Can I speak to you in private, please? Behind that cargo crate at the back of the car?”

Watcher spied the large wooden box amongst the others stacked up against the metal walls, and rolled his eyes at Techorse before agreeing reluctantly.

“We’ll be right back, just have to go over our next steps for saving the fugitive princesses,” Techorse said to the others, pointing with his hoof, “It’s nothing you’d want to have to put up with.”

“Sure, please do,” Stencil agreed, giving Flare the side-eye.

The two stallions walked over to the other side of the seemingly massive car and stepped behind the crate, obscuring them from view and letting the clatter of the train wheels over the tracks muffle their voices.

“This needs to be important, Tech,” grunted Watcher, “kind of obvious we’re talking behind backs, here.”

“I know that,” answered Techorse, hugging the wooden crate with his body, “look, it seemed to me you knew Stencil Guide. All I’ve known about her was from a cheesy gossip magazine talking about her upcoming marriage to Pen Dragon. Now, I know she’s more or less Dispossessed like me, and Pen Dragon’s gotten himself killed. Do you understand the implications here?”

“I know… you’ve mentioned once or twice about being Dispossessed, but that’s a term I’ve hardly heard of before. Care to explain?”

The earth pony nodded, “After dragging you here, I owe you an explanation. In short, Watcher, a long time ago before I came to Everfree City, the Order decided that it needed to seize various industries within its own territory from its own ponies to establish control of those resources for the sake of their own power. They knew they couldn’t take the businesses and factories away from their most loyal supporters though, so they raided those who had even slight dissent against the Order, labeling them as traitors and either killing them or locking them up. You don’t remember this happening?“

“I had my own terrible things going on back then,” he answered, “what does this have to do with Stencil Guide?”

“That’s where this gets even uglier,” continued his companion, frowning, “you see, Apollo promised after the takeover that loyalists to his cause would never have their industries taken. Pen Dragon’s father remained loyal, at least on the surface, but he passed control onto his son almost right after the Dispossession happened. So Dragon Corps was considered safe by the ponies loyal to the Order, as far as I can tell.”

“Apollo went back on his promise, no duh,” Watcher scoffed, regaining a more serious tone when he remembered Pen Dragon died horribly from that choice.

“Right, and despite that, the Order isn’t on fire right now,” Techorse continued, raising his eyebrows, “a lot of his own ponies were pacified by being told that after the first purge, there’d be no more of it. If the public of the Order found out about what he did to Dragon Corps, there’d be rioting in the streets and mass defection to the rebellion!”

“Lemme guess, based on her use of the word ‘slaughter’, Stencil’s the only one left alive who knows what happened, and… we have to help her get the message out,” sighed Watcher in response, “great… more problems.”

“I’m not saying we have to do much,” said the bounty hunter, trying to smile, “but anything we do to help her announce Apollo’s betrayal will help us. We should convince her to go to Everfree City and get in touch with the media.”

“Hmm… You do realize that if we do this, there’s going to be a lot of blood on our hooves… we are already have our hooves full with finding the princesses, stopping a goat from Celestia’s past while also dealing with The Order itself, who has the most powerful military on the planet. Odds aren’t exactly in our favor you know,” Watcher explained.

Techorse thought about it for a moment or two, before giving his answer, “It won’t be on our hooves. The ponies of the Order are not all horrible, Watcher. They deserve to know about this, even if they were complicit with the first crimes. It might change their minds, and save their lives in the end.”

“Alright… however, we can’t do it, not yet at least. She needs to lay low with us for a little while. With the Order on our asses it’s going to be difficult getting back to Everfree City, not only that, but Celestia is out there without me there to keep her out of trouble. It’s… it’s hard Tech… It’s just hard… never in all my life did I imagine I’d be dealing with the fate of pony kind on my hooves.”

“You’re doing a great job of that, Watcher,” comforted the other stallion, nudging him gently with his hoof and smiling again, “and you’ve mentioned all I’m asking for. We drop Stencil off in a safe place, handle the goat mage, and on the way back from Mount Chimera, pick her back up again and get her to Everfree City.”

“Heh, easier said than done right?”

“Yeah, especially with that merc… that guy’s nuts,” commented Techorse, shaking his head in disbelief.

“He seems pretty friendly, besides the threat he made to us earlier… You sure you don’t know that guy, I mean that guy must have come up at one point in a conversation right?” He asked the Inventor.

“Hey, he’s guns for hire, I’m payment upon item received,” joked Techorse, “we’re nothing alike! Maybe he’s worth knowing though, we’ll see!”

Rolling his eyes, the large unicorn trotted past the inventor, “We’d better get back out there… you know something… you aren’t that bad, Tech. Annoying, but not bad.”

“I’m definitely last on the list of things that annoy you, like smiling!” he teased, following him back over to the others.

“And the moment is gone,” he commented, walking back out to see Flare sharpening his blade, while Stencil looked over the contents of her briefcase before closing it rapidly.

“You two done talking?” She asked, Watcher nodding taking note of the briefcase before facing the mare and giving her a gentle smile.

“We’ve settled things for now Miss Guide.” Watcher replied, taking a seat across from her as Techorse sat beside him.

“So what are your next steps, Stencil?” Techorse asked.

“I have a promise to keep to Pen… and I know things aren’t ready yet, but he’s put his faith in you, Watcher and Tia,” Stencil replied. “For the time being, I’ll stay alive until his final project is absolutely perfect.”

Seeing his opportunity, Techorse tried to reason with her, “Stencil, I know losing your fiancé must have been horrible, but have you considered bringing the news that Dragon Corps was seized in front of the world? If that message were to get out, it would trigger serious resistance against the Order.”

She went quiet for a moment, her eyes going to the floor, before continuing, “I’ve definitely considered it. But, the project is more important, we… I mean, I… have to finish the magnum opus from here.”

“Ultimately, it’s your choice,” continued the inventor, frowning, “but don’t you think at least the families of your employees deserve to know what happened?”

“Don’t give her any more trouble,” warned Flare, making an aggressive face at him.

“I’ll let you know when your input actually contributes to this discussion,” Techorse answered, smiling at him, “it’s still Stencil’s choice as to what she wants to do, I just want her to know what all her options are in this situation. We can get her to safety if she wants to share what happened.”

“And this is why I was against letting her anywhere near you punks,” Flare said, still holding the same smile from when they met, but before he could do anything, Watcher stood up, glaring at the red unicorn.

“That’s enough out of you… we aren’t enemies and I’ve known Stencil before you even met her. So I suggest you give my companion the proper respect he deserves,” Watcher threatened, his eyes turning red as his horn began to glow.

“If any of you fight, I’ll somehow figure out how to throw you all off this train,” Stencil hissed, trying not to yell, “this is my choice to make, as Mr. Techorse said!”

“Of course ma’am!” Flare said firmly as he pretended nothing had happened, causing Watcher to groan in annoyance.

“Kissup,” Watcher muttered as he sat back in his seat as both he and Techorse watched the odd mercenary closely, “Well either way, it doesn’t matter to me since it’s her call ultimately, but I highly encourage you to take my friends words into consideration, it’ll help turn things around for us.”

Stencil Guide responded thoughtfully, “Well… I really need to complete our project, but, I’m afraid you guys are right. The Order took away many ponies’ loved ones that day, not just mine. It’s not only crucial that the power source be completed so that we can have the means to improve the future, I have to be able to do what’s right in the present too. Either way, if I get killed, everything’s lost. I need to get to safety and get the truth out there while accomplishing as much of Pen’s last wishes as possible.”

“I know a safe place you can stay after we ride this line out to its end,” Techorse said confidently, “Watcher and I have something to take care of in that area, but once we’re done we’ll take you there. I’ll also provide whatever I can to help you complete the power source you mentioned, I’ve got plenty of machine tools and manufacturing facilities in my bunker back home.”

“You’re very kind,” said Stencil, smiling for the first time since they met, “but this power source mostly runs off of magical forces, not pure technology. All you need to do is make sure I survive.”

“That we can do,” said Watcher, nodding.

“As if,” droned Flare, chuckling, “you won’t be doing much to protect her that I couldn’t do already, you know.”

“Wait until something happens,” warned Watcher sternly, “bet you’ll change your mind real quick you kiss up,”

“I doubt it,” he answered, playing with one of his crafted blades casually.

“Seriously, what’s with this guy?” Watcher muttered to Techorse, still glaring at the arrogant unicorn.

Trying to set aside his own misgivings, Techorse said, “I don’t know what his issue is, but I’d certainly like to know.”

“Nothing wrong with me,” said the red unicorn, shaking his head.

“Flare, you mentioned that your contract under Stencil Guide was already filled by Pen Dragon prior to his death, correct?” he asked, “Normally mercs don’t agree to deferred payment on escort contracts.”

“Yes, well, Pen did something special for me, as I said,” answered the stallion, “I have to say though, Tech… mind if I call you that?”

“It’s the usual nickname.”

“Cool,” continued the mercenary, smiling, “so anyways, Tech, yeah, Pen did me a great favor a long time ago, and cashed in on it a couple days before he died.”

“Before he was murdered,” corrected Watcher.

“Right, right… sorry, this is a highly unusual job,” apologized Flare, “so that’s why I’m here. Anyways, Tech, you seem very knowledgeable about paid mercenary work despite being some kind of engineer, I guess? Why’s that?”

There was no way he was going to tell him his own profession so Techorse answered, “It’s kind of common knowledge in engineering, have to hire guards for your factories and R&D labs.”

“Ah, well, guards are mercenaries in a way, so I’ll accept that answer,” muttered the other stallion, barely paying attention.

“What I don’t get is, Pen Dragon filled your contract several days before his death,” continued Techorse, clearly in deep thought, “from there you knew to help Stencil escape and protect her for the duration of the contract as per its terms.”

“Still haven’t said anything wrong,” chuckled Flare.

Techorse froze in his tracks, staring off into space, “But... if this was an emergency contingency plan or something due to his death, you would have gotten your orders the day he was killed. You got it ahead of time, so that means…”

Watcher turned a little bit pale, “Pen predicted his own killing! What the!?”

The hot coals burned brightly in the firebox of the train’s engine, keeping the vehicle moving at a good pace through the night. While normally a team of engineers would monitor the engine and keep it fed, instead a single unicorn mare stood tending to the complex machine and keeping it fueled. Her purple coat was well-lit by the radiating light from the fire, reflecting in her blue eyes. The heat from the fire, fueled by twice as much coal as normal to keep the train moving faster was causing her to sweat, making her fluffy black hair with red, blue, and yellow highlights lose its bounce a bit. Adjusting her hair pin in the shape of a paintbrush, the mare grunted about the sacrifices she was having to make to run the train.

“I hate it when it’s hot,” she groaned, pulling the collar of her white blouse shirt and loosening her silver colored tie, “thankfully once this ride is over I can destroy this stupid machine and get the goods out of here. My masterpiece will be complete!”

Initially when she had decided to commandeer the train, there were about twenty crew on board, mostly engineers and cargo management experts. Now those guys were either dead, or simply unable to catch up with her given that she had thrown them all overboard in the same way without checking to see if they got up again. Causing pain was hardly the point.

Noticing something odd in the cabin’s outside mirror, which was used to check behind the train, the mare said to herself, “Oh? What’s that?”

She moved over to the side door of the steam engine and opened it, the chuffing of the engine immediately becoming ten times as loud. The mare looked backwards, down the long line of cars, and saw light coming from the windows of one of the huge cargo hauling units towards the middle of the train.

“I know I turned those lights off,” she said, smirking, “guess we have guests. Guests who might not appreciate the art I’m trying to create here.”

With her horn glowing, the mare brought out a sheet of paper with a perfect diagram of the train painted on, evidence of her talents in planning heists such as this one. She glanced back at the lit car, then back to her sheet of paper, before drawing a pencil she was keeping behind her right ear and circling the offending car.

“Oooh, perfect, my new friend is in front of their location,” she chuckled, tapping on the map with her pencil, “it’s time to introduce her to them!”

The mare happily hummed a tune to herself and turned around with a bit of a jump, bouncing her black skirt behind her. She approached the train’s throttle, and took out a metal clip she had brought along as part of the plan, locking it in place to keep the train going steady. Then, the mare exited the back of the engine into the frigid night, stepping carefully over the coupling and entering the first car behind the engine. This one was a relatively quiet passenger car, devoid of ponies except herself.

She took out a paintbrush and swished it through the air with her magic as if painting, talking to herself to work out her next step, “Now, I’m in the second car, and the train is traveling at a speed of…”

After doing the math, she put the art tool away and crouched while her horn sparked to life, enveloping her in a bubble of blue energy before making her vanish. As predicted, she teleported herself safely accounting for the momentum of the train into the car where her ‘friend’ was. She was, however, facing the wrong way, and she heard a loud growl behind her.

Turning about, the mare said to her companion, “Hello! Did you miss me?”

Before her was a giant steel cage, nearly extending to the ceiling, with an enormous white and blue striped canid creature with piercing yellow eyes. It growled and snapped loudly at her, icy vapor escaping from its mouth as it did so. Its ears and tail were at full attention, and the wolf-like monster bit at the bars in an attempt to chew through them. Somehow, the well-made cage resisted the 800 pound beasts’ assault.

“No? Well, I’m going to be your friend and release you,” continued the artist, giggling, “so you oughta be my friend. After all, I think it’s very mean of the Order to lock you up in a cage! It would be as if they blindfolded me so I couldn’t paint. I shudder to imagine.”

Uninterested in the mare’s painting abilities but no longer seeing her as a threat, the monster growled but stopped snapping. To its surprise, the pony on the other side of the bars levitated a small portion of meat out of her bag and placed it inside the cage, which was immediately scarfed down without a second thought.

“Oh, baby, you’re starving, too! Just awful, but don’t worry, I think you’ll prefer working for me than for the Order,” she continued with an honest but somewhat disturbing tone of voice, “why spend your life chewing on political prisoners for Apollo when you can join a family. Me painting in front of the fire, and you curled in front of it!”

Spying a rather large lock on the cage, another miraculous survival of the wolf-creature’s battering, the mare trotted up to it, and removed her paintbrush pin from her hair, revealing a complex shape to the sharp end. Carefully inserting it into the opening of the padlock, she worked through the tumblers while continuing to talk to her new friend.

“So my name’s Jovial Concept,” she said, pretending the thing could talk, “I come from a long line of master thieves. Well… my parents were master thieves, so the line’s at least two generations long! I always told them I wanted a dog, and they said no since the smell of the dog tends to stick on you, but I think they just didn’t want to walk it.”

Eventually she felt the click of the lock open, and the heavy chunk of metal slammed to the floor while she put the pin back in her hair. Under normal conditions, the creature would have shredded her on the spot, but wanting nothing more than to leave the cage, it pushed past the door quickly and faced the mare, silent but refusing to drop its gaze. More than likely, Jovial did not smell like any of the Order troops that had captured and starved it, so it would play nice… for now.

“If only I knew a little bit more about you,” Jovial said, looking around.

Finding a nearby crate with an inscription on it, she found her answer.

“Supplies for: 1 Female Northern Cryomane.”

“Oh wow, a Cryomane giant wolf?” she said, “I’ve heard about you, you’re endangered! The Order really doesn’t give a crap about nature, do they? Oh well, I care about ya, you are part of life’s art just like me!”

Jovial very boldly reached out with her hoof and petted the seven foot tall canid on the head between its pointed ears.

“There we go, I think I will keep you! After this and I establish my own heisting empire, we’ll have a nice home together,” she said softly, “but for now, girl, I need something from you…”

She pointed to the door at the end of the long, cold train car, “I need you to take care of some intruders. They’re going to try to lock us up again.”

Somehow, the Cyromane knew what to do, and howled before barreling for the door, ripping through it as if it were cardboard and leaving Jovial by herself in the car.

“We… may need a little more training,” she laughed, “aw, no matter, the ponies after me will be kibble and I’ll make her a good pet yet! It’s all part of the plan!”

Watcher along with Techorse began to explore the other carts of the train to see if they could find anything else to eat that wasn’t stale old bread that Flare had fed them. Plus it relieved the two stallions of their boredom after Stencil Guide fell asleep.

“Hey Tech, is just me or does this train seem more… empty then it should be?” Watcher asked the inventor as he looked around the third cart they entered to find it empty. “And by Celestia, where’s the food?!”

“Something is definitely wrong,” he answered, “normally the Order loads these trains with about two dozen engineers and maintenance staff, from what I remember. Normally they’re hauling food and supplies, but this one must be carrying something else.”

“Well it is pretty late, but even so, there’s no passengers which these carts would be filled right? And also… still no food, I feel like my stomach is going to eat itself,” Watcher stated, groaning in desperation, “I’d kill for a hayburger right now.”

“They wouldn’t want the workers to starve, so there’s a refrigerated car filled with food somewhere,” his companion answered reassuringly, “My parents used to own this railway, so I know a little bit about what they serve on these things.”

“Ugh, let’s keep looking…” Watcher groaned once more as he felt his stomach rumble. “Guess I know how Tia feels when she’s always begging for sweets to stuff her face with. Heh, she’s probably already giving the others a hard time.”

“I kind of find it funny that she’s the first pony you thought about,” Tech stated, giving the black unicorn an ambiguously smug grin, “You secretly like her don’t you?”

“Pfft, I think you might have a few screws loose in that brain of yours. What makes you think I’m into Tia to begin with?” He asked, trying his best to remain nonchalant, but his cheeks turning slightly red gave it away. “What about you and Aura, you two seem pretty chummy lately?”

Techorse also looked a little heated, “A… Aura’s nice! We like spending time together and, well, I guess… wow, Clyde’s right.”

“None of that really answered my question,” said Watcher plainly.

“Oh, sorry Watcher,” he answered, shaking his head, “I guess I figured you liked Tia the same way you figured I like Aura. Because we enjoy each other’s company.”

“I do not enjoy her company,” he lied, “beside it’s not like I’ve thought of dating her or anything. Plus she’s old enough to be my great grandmothers grandma. Anyways, it’s pretty obvious that she doesn’t really like me like that, you’ve seen how we fight right?”

“I don’t know,” continued Techorse, giving the pony equivalent of a shrug, “sometimes it looks like you’re getting along fine. Everyone fights sometimes.”

“Well, I won’t lie, our last fight was… pretty nasty and a part of me regretted the things I said to her. But enough about me though, let’s get back to you.” Watcher said, changing the subject as he heard the inventor clear his throat nervously, “It’s pretty obvious that you two are into each other.”

“All right, you win,” he said, breaking eye contact, “Aura’s got a great personality, and I’d love to get to know her better. We have many things in common. I already had this conversation with Clyde earlier, and yeah, I think it could work.”

“Oh don’t give me that crap, Tech,” teased Watcher, “you find her hot and you know it!”

“So what if I do?” he answered a bit angrily.

“Look, I may not look like it, but I’ve been on plenty of dates back in high school and let me just say this… grow some balls and just ask her out to dinner already! Is what a wise friend once told me.”

“No, no, you’re missing the point,” Techorse explained, pointing a hoof at him, “we’re about to get into serious danger raiding the most dangerous prison in the world. She or I could die during this mission, and chances are, there will be even more danger later. We’ve already lost so much… neither of us deserves to have to think about that.”

He turned away from Watcher, wandering a bit from him and staring at the ground with a stoic gaze uncommon of the inventor. Watcher had a million snarky, trashy pieces of dating advice he had yet to give to him, but let out a big sigh when he knew that wasn’t going to help.

“Tech, you know and I know this doesn’t have a damn thing to do with the chances that she or you might die,” he said, “all of this just tells me you don’t think you can give her what she really needs or wants. Like it or not, that’s not true. This is me being honest with you, Techorse.”

The other pony turned around to face him again, “What?”

“I know that despite how things may look, there’s a future for you, for Aura, and everypony. Don’t throw the one chance you have at finding happiness… you can tell her how you feel, unlike me you have that chance. So are you going to let her slip through your hooves, or are you going to hang onto that mare?”

“I just want her to be happy,” he answered.

“Then tell her you care about her, she won’t be happy without you,” came the response.

“...”

Watcher snickered at his silence, “Come on, man, it’s super obvious she wants to give it a try. If you don’t, she’s the kind of mare to make a move herself. If that happens, Clyde will never let you live it down, especially if you promised him.”

Techorse rolled his eyes at the sudden relaxation of the situation, “Oh, okay. When we finish the mission, I’ll tell her.”

“Good, cause if you don’t, then I’m telling Umbra you both like each other,” Watcher threatened, “and you know what will happen next…”

Techorse turned pale, Clyde teasing him about not saying anything when he had promised was one thing, but Umbra was ‘certain death’.

“No, y… you wouldn’t!”

“I would,” Watcher responded with a smirk. “So, what’s it gonna be, master inventor?”

“I already said I’d tell her I care about her!” he complained.

“It’s just extra insurance to make sure you don’t chicken out once this is over,” Watcher stated, “Anyways I think we-”

Before the black unicorn could continue, he started to hear an odd noise coming from somewhere on board, best described as a strange thumping sound that was out of place, echoing through the train cart.

“Can you hear that Tech?”

One of his ears perked up to listen, “Sounds like… something’s moving around in the train!”

“Think the Order knows we’re here?”

“That’s just it, Watcher, we haven’t encountered a single Order engineer yet,” he said, “it’s like the train’s abandoned or something. Whatever that sound is, it’s not a pony...”

“And… isn’t it odd, that… this train hasn’t stopped yet, we should have reached a station by now?” Watcher asked, his horn glowing bright red, “Something is seriously wrong here.”

“Right, and because of that, whoever is in control must want to get all the way to the end of the line without stopping,” answered Techorse, the gears in his head clearly turning, “I think we’re on a stolen train, Watcher.”

“Ooooffff course we are! Damnit!”

Chapter One: Arrival

It’s rather breathtaking how much can change in just a short amount of time. If somepony had told Watcher that the four princesses of Equestria, formerly relegated to fairy tales and bedtime stories for foals, were actually real and trying to rescue their old domain, he would have called them crazy. He would have gone on a rant, as studied stallions usually do about such things, dismissing the entire idea as a foolish piece of fiction. However, his view was turned upside down in recent days, when a desperate mare claiming to be Princess Celestia herself wandered into his life, and raised the sun before his very eyes. Of course, the local government known as The Order found the sudden appearance of a former powerful alicorn to be a critical threat, despite Celestia’s demotion to a mere unicorn. They narrowly escaped a tragic showdown with former friends who had turned on them in hopes of winning favor with the state currently controlling what was formerly Celestia’s home. Watcher’s thoughts still swirled in his head, having just barely accepted his new reality as a wanted stallion on the run with a disgraced princess and a strange inventor.

It was like he was in a nightmare, but the only things reminding himself that it wasn’t, were the sensations that seemed to overwhelm his waking mind. His best friend was gone, the love of his life, dead. All he had left was his dignity or what little remained. ‘Why did everything have to go so horribly wrong? Everything was fine, my studies in the academy were finally about to pay off! Why did I throw my future away for a friend who stabbed me in the back!’

However his thoughts were soon disrupted, looking behind him to see Celestia talking with their new guide, whose name they found to be rather strange. Techorse, who discussed the difference between classical music and the new modern music that the stallion loved so much. “So this… J-Pon Pop is something of a new artist? I still think the classical music two thousand years ago is still superior in it’s own way.”

“Perhaps, Princess. But we’ve got some amazing hits in today’s age too, and I promise you that you two won’t regret it if you give her a chance.” Techorse responded, not noticing Watcher glaring at the pair as they both trotted along surprisingly fast.

“Maybe Tia isn’t regretting it, but I already am!” Watcher shouted, trying to shut the pair up about the new singer on the rise. It was fine the first few minutes, but it soon got old after ten minutes... then thirty, and finally it became such a headache that time seemed like a silly thing to keep track of. “Please, can you shut your traps for five minutes!? I can’t even hear myself think!”

“You don’t need to yell at us, Watcher! Besides, didn’t you tell me before I needed to get accustomed to this era? I’ve already learned a bit about modern day music from Mr. Techorse. The more I know, the easier it’ll be for me to blend in like you wanted.” She replied, walking up to the charcoal stallion, who turned to scowl at her.

“Sorry if I’m not as enthralled in this stranger’s weird obsession with pop music.” Looking back at the stallion who looked through a bag he had pulled from that saddle gadget of his before pulling her close to him and whispered something to her, “We don’t know him, so try not to get attached to him, okay?”

“Hey, you were the one who asked me to join you!” Tech responded, calling him out on his aggression, “I understand that you’re going through… rough patches, Watcher, but I’m doing my best to try and help you.”

“Spur of the moment… I am grateful for your help. Really I am, but we know nothing about you! Which is what should have been the first red flag, but the fact that you… followed us before we met, is setting off major red flags for me. So sorry if I’m not willing to give my trust to you. I’ve already had my closest friends stab me in the back. I won’t make that same mistake again.” Watcher explained, towering over the earth pony as he held his glare on him. Celestia, however, separated the two with her magic and shot both of them a similar look that surprised even Watcher.

“This isn’t the time to argue about this! Now, I understand Watcher, but he risked his life for us, and I do agree that we did jump the gun , but he does deserve a chance to prove himself. Right, Techorse?” Celestia asked, turning to the engineer as she smiled at him. “Everypony deserves a chance.”

“Thank you for being reasonable, your Highness,” Techorse said, which Watcher knew was a hidden jab at him, “I know we just met, but I hope you’ll eventually come to trust me.”

Rolling his eyes, he let out a loud ravenous growl and turned away, trotting ahead of the two as he continued to push through all the bushes in sight, before making his way to a clearing. Wondering how Celestia could trust him so suddenly, though he also knew that she was a bit naive at times. ‘I really hope you know what your doing Celestia, cause for once I don’t know at all...’

Thirty Minutes Later

“It took us longer than expected, but welcome to the gates of Everfree City.” Techorse responded, turning back towards both Watcher and Celestia who both stared in awe.

“I don’t think the hard work of ponies will ever cease to amaze me.” Celestia said, unable to contain her smile as her eyes sparkled at the mere sight of the metropolis beyond the open gate of Everfree City.

A tall cement wall covered in thorny vines ran around miles and miles of terrain, interrupted only by a great river which ran on the south side of the city. Tall-rise buildings formed an urban center towards the middle of the space carved out by the walls, and hundreds of smaller buildings surrounded it, forming a blooming suburbia which housed thousands of ponies who had lived their whole lives there. Stores, theaters, and restaurants dotted the neighborhoods, neon lights pointing the way to all kinds of entertainment and thrills to seek. A big casino on the west side of town in particular seemed to draw far too much attention with a massive fountain out front that shot geysers of light-infused water into the air. Everything that a pony could want in their lives was present in the sprawling metro, a fact that startled Celestia, who had known only twisted trees in the place where all of this development stood.

“I won’t disagree with you on that Tia… Now, we better get moving, We still haven’t informed Umbra about us coming yet.” Watcher stated, giving her a weak, but genuine smile as he offered his hoof to her. “Ready to see the city?”

Smiling back, she couldn’t help but reach out for his hoof, but was soon interrupted, by Techorse trotting past her.

“You guys are going to love this city, plenty to do, and plenty to see! Even though I haven’t seen everything yet,” he went on, “although I guess not leaving my laboratory very often makes that pretty easy to believe, huh?”

“Yeah, I’ll say,” Watcher answered, rolling his eyes, “so can you recommend our first stop, at least?”

“Absolutely!” he nodded affirmatively, “Our first stop will be...”

“Food,” interrupted Celestia, “please.”

Watcher poked fun immediately, “Ah, I see. The royal belly needs another gorging, huh?”

“Well, life threatening situations make me hungry, so I see the Princess’s point,” chuckled the inventor, “all right you two, food it is! I know this great place to get fried mushroom sandwiches by the river.”

“I take it you’ve been here more than once I take it? Considering you spend most of your time both figuratively and literally boxing yourself inside with those machines of yours?” Watcher asked, mocking the inventor. “Must be pretty nice to not interact with real ponies. So please do show us the way.”

“As if boxing yourself in with books is any better,” came the words with the traditional eye roll.

“Hey! who told you that?! Have you been filling Tech’s head with garbage about me already, Tia?” Watcher growled at the former sun princess while she held a smug look across her face.

“Innocent until proven guilty,” she teased, gently running a hoof through Tech’s mane to try and garner some jealousy, “now if you’ll please Mr. Techorse, take us to this fine establishment.”

“At the very least I had friends to interact with…” He mumbled to quietly for Tech to hear him as he glared at the earth pony.

Techorse showed a bit of pain on his face, but tried to ignore his “companion” as he led Celestia through the gate. At least in her eyes there was a hint of compassion for him, although he didn’t understand it. Maybe it has something to do with him saving them from being taken out by The Order, but he couldn’t quite put his hoof on it.

Riverbank of Everfree City

The restaurant turned out not to be as fancy as what Watcher had hoped, being more of a food truck parked outside of the riverbank. A long boardwalk had been built alongside the water, with strings of pink and white lights tied to the posts every couple of meters. Attractions such as roller coasters and even a ferris wheel were set up to grab attention quickly with their bright colors and promise of a good time. Everywhere Celestia looked, there was somepony with a sparkle in their eye that reminded her of the era of Harmony long since gone. It felt more like a home than a riverside carnival.

“All right, I’ve placed our orders,” Techorse announced, holding the food receipt in his surviving mechanical arm, the other stump sticking out from his saddle and still sparking, “gotta find a place for this paper since, well… the other arm’s a shock hazard right now.”

“Yes, for the love of all good things, don’t electrocute us,” Watcher grumbled at him.

“Thank you for also providing us with dinner,” said Celestia humbly, “you’ve already been way too kind to us as is.”

Techorse stowed the robotic arms with a mechanical whirring noise, his saddle’s bay doors closing as the mysterious machinery ceased operations momentarily. He then pointed around, this time with his hoof, at the various sights and sounds at the boardwalk.

“So, this is Freshwater Frolic, the boardwalk here in Everfree City. They’ve got all your typical carnival stuff, rides, games, food with questionable nutrition. My favorite’s the Howling Manticore, that wooden roller coaster you can see over there!“

“As entertaining as that would be, we don’t have the time to be fooling around. Besides right now, wouldn’t it be better for Celestia and me to get… you know… disguises?!” He shouted, but his mouth was quickly clamped shut by Celestia’s magic. Noticing a few ponies pass by with their brows raised.

“You don’t need to shout Watch, but he’s right. Any day now word about me and Watcher will make it to Everfree City. Tartarus, word probably already made it here, so we need something to at least hide our appearances.” Celestia explained to the technician, now realizing the situation. “For a moment… I… forgot that we were still in danger.”

Techorse smiled, “I haven’t forgotten that they’re still after you. Everfree City is pretty disconnected from The Order’s announcements, so they thought that the extra sunrise was a mistake by the sorcerers responsible for the day-night cycle. We do get The Order’s troops and officers down here sometimes, but there’s limits to what they can do since peace negotiations are underway.”

“I don’t care, if we get spotted, they’ll ignore just about anything to get to us,” insisted Watcher, “we’ve got to stay out of the public eye, period.”

“All right, all right,” he said, trying to calm him down, “let’s pick up our sandwiches and I’ll take you to the department store nearby. The Order rarely places anyone in that shopping district, so we’ll be safe to change your appearance.”

“May I wear a feather boa?” asked Celestia, eyes beaming, “I’ve always wanted to try one.”

“Absolutely not,” Watcher said, “way too obvious.”

“You don’t have to be a stick in the mud about it.” Celestia muttered under her breath as she made a rather cute pouty face.

“If we’re going to blend in, then we’ll need to make sure our cutie marks are hidden. Manes too, so you’ll need to wear a hat or something. With your mug, a paper bag will do just fine,” Watcher commented, seeing the princesses many expressions of anger that couldn’t keep him from smirking at her.

“Watcher, I swear you can say the meanest things!” She shouted, hitting him in the chest, watching him groan in pain as both the princess and Techorse trotted past him.

The green stallion issued them onward, “Follow us when you find your lungs, okay Watcher?”

“Go to Tartarus…” He muttered, coughing as he began to follow the pair to one of the local department stores nearby. As they went inside, Celestia couldn’t contain her squeals of delight as she saw all assorted clothing for mares in so many different colors and styles, Watcher growled in annoyance as he covered his ears with his hooves.

“You could at least try to get along, you know,” Techorse responded, but received no response from him, but a glare instead.

“First off… What do you know about us? You’ve only been with us for a few days and make it sound like you’ve known us for awhile.” Watcher retorted, watching Tia pull out a few dresses, shirts, skirts, ect… And dashed into the dressing room with squeals of excitement. “Celestia and I do get along if you must know. We’re friends.”

“I didn’t say you weren’t, although I guess you got me about not knowing you for too long,” he shrugged, “anyways, there’s a ton of outfits to pick from here, and I’m curious as to what you’ll come up with.”

“Well,” interrupted Celestia as she jumped out of the changing room, “I believe we ought to pick outfits as far away from our usual tastes as possible to avoid even the slightest suspicion of being ourselves!”

Totally disobeying Watcher’s idea of dressing casually and stealthily, Celestia had gone for a dorky look that, had he any fashion sense, would make him gag. A long tan skirt covered up Celestia’s hind legs to the hocks, tucked into it was a traditional white shirt, buttoned up and complete with a pocket protector. The princess had chosen a fairly simple black belt to keep the skirt in place, but for some reason had also selected a large pair of rectangular framed reading glasses, bojangles for her front legs in blue and pink, and several scrunchy ties to keep her mane in one messy bundle.

“That’s something else!” grinned Techorse, unable to hide his joy at the crazy outfit.

“Well, I’ll agree with you on that Tech. For the love of… Well you Celestia, please change. I said to dress casually, not like you… Well… I’m not even sure what to say about this mess.” Watcher replied honestly, taking a look around at the mare’s selection and picked out a normal black turtleneck and a tacky skirt and a pair of random glasses. “Put these on.”

Before the princess could respond, she was quickly shoved in by the stallion back into the dressing room and quietly groaned, before making his way back to the colts section where Tech was standing.

“It’s your turn, Watcher,” he said, giving him the expected smug expression, “I’d like to see you do better than her. Just remember, the shoes go on after the pants.”

“Oh ha, ha,” answered the unicorn, rolling his eyes, “Just make sure Celestia doesn’t cause any problems.”

While he waited for Techorse to leave, Watcher began looking through the many different shirts and noticed a dark red vest with a black hood on it and decided to try it on. Slipping it on, he noticed that it had two front pockets on it and thought it was rather handy. However, there was the issue with his obviously long, spikey, white mane. It was a dead giveaway for him and as much as he liked it… ‘I’m gonna have to cut my mane don’t I?’

“So you went with the brooding jacket, huh?” Techorse teased, his reflection visible in the mirror left standing on the shop floor for customer use, “Not a bad choice. Would have picked something a little sunnier, but I like it.”

“If I wanted to go for dark and brooding, I would have gone with a trench coat instead. I think the red makes me colorful. However, there is one issue and I honestly don’t want to do it.”

“What’s the problem?”

“I’m most likely going to have to either get my mane cut… or dye it a different color. I prefer the former.” He responded bluntly as he turned to the earth pony.

“Hey, I mean, white manes aren’t exactly rare. Could be worse, you could have a green coat,” he said in a self-deprecating manner, “I guess I see your point though.”

“First off… Nothing is wrong with your coat… Just reminds me of a green pea. Secondly, white manes are indeed rare. In fact I was the only stallion in my class with a white mane.” Watcher responded, trying to move his mane back a bit to make him look different but would flip back.

“Shamrock green. My doctor said my coat is shamrock green,” he went on, “but never mind. I know this salon, they can work with my messy hair, so yours will be no issue.”

“I’ll take your word for it then.” He responded, almost wanting to give him a smile, but soon realized something. “Techorse… where is Tia?”

“Lost track. She’s probably still back there trying on other outfits,” he said.

“Looking for me, boys?” she asked, walking forward.

Unfortunately, this outfit was just as tacky as the previous one. A big warm turtleneck tucked casually into a long plaid skirt, although the pair of glasses Watcher selected this time were a bit more acceptable, being smaller and hugging her muzzle. The goading pose she was making really did not match the outfit, though.

“It’s… better,” Techorse casually lied, “once we get the manecuts done, you’ll both be hidden well enough.”

“That’s the idea… and I think it looks rather… good on you.” Watcher replied, remembering the times he had to help Stardust and Umbra when they forced both him and Midnight to go shopping with them two years back. “Anyways… we shouldn’t have to worry about cutie marks since Celestia’s is covered and mine is pretty generic.”

“So a manecut? But I think mine could just use some dye is all.” Celestia responded, soon noticing Watcher was avoiding his gaze from her for some reason. “Something wrong Watcher.”

“N-nothings wrong… Let’s just find a barber shop.” Watcher responded, trotting past Celestia at a rather fast pace. “What did you say to him Techorse?”

“Nothing important,” answered the inventor, finding his behavior curious as well, “ready to get your hair clean and colorful again?”

“Actually! My mane should restore back to its usual hue once I recover enough magic to turn back into an alicorn.” She responded, following after Watcher. “So I think picking any color will be fine. Maybe orange would be nice.”

“Hopefully it’s a good enough substitute until we can get you back to your original strength,” he agreed, knowing they’d all get a kick out of the orange mane.

Hours Later

After what felt like an eternity, both Watcher and Celestia exited out of the final store in the boardwalk strip. Their appearances had radically changed, as planned, with Watcher’s once proud mane chopped to a shorter cut that tucked into his selected jacket neatly. Celestia’s hair was now road cone orange, which stuck out like a sore thumb, but would more likely serve as a classic case of hiding in plain sight. Techorse had failed to change as single thing about his appearance, which bothered Watcher immensely given his unfortunate sacrifice of his bountiful mane.

“Tech, you didn’t buy a damn thing that entire time, you’ve got to hide too,” he said rather crossly, “I hope you’ve got a disguise figured out.”

He tried to defend his choice, “I don’t need one. The Order already stays away from me undisguised.”

“What, why?” asked the unicorn curiously.

Having realized he made an error, Techorse tried to backpedal, “I’m armed and they don’t like picking fights in the streets. But I guess I can go get something to hide my face if we’re going for pure stealth.”

Thankfully, Watcher was too much in a hurry to question him, “You know what, nevermind. They won’t be able to recognize Tia or myself, so whatever.”

“Watcher, if you please, guide us to the address you mentioned earlier,” Celestia urged, running a hoof through her completely dyed hairdo, “I’m sure we’ll make it now with this kind of cover.”

“Alright then, we need to start heading west towards the center of the city and head up north uptown. From there Her mansion should be easy to locate since it’s the only one in this city.” Watcher replied, recalling the written direction and address he was given by Umbra before she left Baltimare. “It shouldn’t take us too long if we all hurry.”

The center of town wasn’t very far from the shopping district, and the heavy pedestrian traffic through the area made it fairly easy to sneak around without being noticed. There were even a few mares with wackier hair colors than the disguised princess, much to Watcher’s chagrin. At the heart of Everfree City’s town square stood a tall statue of a petrified tree bearing fruit, perhaps a tribute to what the land looked like before the metropolis was built. The circular streets around the statue made it clear via tiles built in which direction was north. Celestia was awed by just how tall the buildings were, and just how many electric lights were in use. Technology had advanced for centuries, and she was enjoying every moment of it.

“Hey, careful, patrol,” said Watcher, pointing to a pair of soldiers clearly wearing Order colors and uniform.

The two stallions were randomly checking the crowd, a holographic enchanted crystal around their necks displayed images of themselves.

“That announcement about the sunrise really was sent to everypony,” Celestia whispered, barely audible over the sound of hooves on concrete, “we must be famous!”

“Hey, you two!” snapped one of the guards, pointing with his wing, “Get over here!”

“Oh, way to go,” whispered Watcher back, “they heard that.”

He thought about how the scenario might play out as they stepped over to the two soldiers, fairly low-ranked troops based on their lack of markings on their armor and fabrics. Neither pony seemed to be carrying a weapon, but the unicorn of the pair had red sparks occasionally flick from his horn, which gave away that he was sitting on a prepared ray attack, which, not that it mattered, was absolutely illegal in the city bounds.

The first soldier looked over Watcher and Celestia, their eyes coming awfully close to the image he was projecting in front of his face. But the wacky clothing and hair changes were throwing him off based on his confused expression and continuous double-takes at the virtual wanted poster.

“These guys don’t match, Longshot,” the pegasus said, “it’s just crazy how close they are though. Proper height and size, eyes look the same, but...”

‘Oh for the love of… they’re going to arrest us anyways,’ Watcher thought.

Taking a quick look at his companion, Techorse could see signs that Watcher was planning a way to get them out of the situation. Usually that involved violence or something else that would attract attention, so he needed an alternate way to get past these two soldiers blocking them.

“Excuse me, are you profiling my relatives?” Techorse said, pushing past and standing as firm as possible in front of them, “I’d hate for that to be the case...”

The guards suddenly seemed to doubt their suspicions a bit, “Oh… uh… relatives? Of yours?”

“Yes, that’s why I stepped over here,” he continued, giving them a tense look, “these are my first cousins, officer. We saw the rogue sunrise today and freaked out.”

“Hey, we aren’t looking to do anything crazy, we’re just on patrol like every other enlisted,” explained the unicorn, his prepared spell vanishing from his horn, “we just saw the eye colors and had to check. There’s nothing on us!”

“I didn’t think there was,” Techorse said, smiling, “just wanted to let you know that you’re way off track. Creamsicle and Gloomvise are family.”

“Okay, keep moving then,” nodded the pegasus quickly, “please.”

Techorse ushered his “family” away from the pair of nosy troopers and to safety up the street towards Umbra’s estate. Once they were safely out of earshot, Celestia could no longer contain herself and let out a hearty giggle.

“Gloomvise, hehehehe!”

“Oh shut up!” snapped Watcher, “Couldn’t think of anything better, Tech?”

“I was on the spot!” defended the stallion, gritting his teeth, “Creamsicle is a pretty dumb name too, you know… I just needed something quick.”

“Whatever… T-t-thanks for helping us.” Watcher strained, almost looked like he hurt himself just saying that, but that didn’t stop the mare beside him from poking his side and giggling.

“I know that was difficult for you, but you did good Watch.” Celestia responded, giggling as she trotted past the two. “Well, aren't we going to Umbra’s Mansion?”

Both Watcher and Techorse couldn’t help but chuckle at the princess. “Umbra’s Mansion is that way,” the two said simultaneously, much to their surprise.

“Ohh… hehehe… Right, shall we then?” Celestia asked, blushing a bit as she followed Watcher and Techorse towards the mansion and made good time in reaching the front entrance.

Umbra’s lavish estate sprawled over 10 acres of land, with the primary residence taking up a solid 20 thousand square feet. An imposing Victorian styled masterpiece, the mansion had been built centuries ago by Umbra’s ancestors with no expense spared, nor any humility shown. Conic shingled turrets rose four stories high at every corner and bend in the architecture, faded but lovely yellow paint paired well with the strong ivy that had made the dark colored seams of the building its home. Bullet-shaped windows as tall as trees let the sun flood the house during the right time of day, and Watcher could count at least 5 fireplaces in addition to the power lines running into the estate. It would be considered a breathtaking place to live, if it weren’t for the eerie fog coming off of the Everfree river and the full moon overhead, making it a little foreboding.

“Oh Watcher, look at the garden!” Celestia marveled, ignoring the slightly creepy vibe, “I haven’t seen such a beautiful one since my own...”

Despite the “dreadful” atmosphere, Umbra had kept the grounds of her home very well by hiring a top team of landscapers and gardeners. The sides and back of the mansion featured an expansive rose garden, with all sorts of pink and red blooms arranged in neat little rows. A fountain of a unicorn mare pouring water out of a jug kept aloft in the air by a special stonecutter’s enchantment gave the effect of the pony statue using her own magic on the container. How the water actually got into the jug to produce the effect was a mystery.

Of course, Watcher was well aware of the actual reason for Umbra keeping so many roses, and he could smell them all from where he was standing. He brought his friends to the front door of the home, ascending the stone stairs carved neatly out of granite. The twin doors were carved out of cherry wood, but had aged significantly, and brass knocking rings dangled from the middle. Techorse extended up his remaining robotic arm from his saddle, and banged on the door using one of the rings.

Techorse and Celestia soon noticed Watcher was sweating a little while they waited for a response, “Something wrong, Watch?”

“It’s nothing, just… be prepared for what may or may not happen.” He responded, being rather vague, but from the sounds of it. It was more like a warning for himself, but before he could knock on the front door, it was soon opened and they were greeted by the sight of an old grey stallion who had dark grey mane with a mustache, noticing that he was wearing a tux.

“Good evening, Master Watcher… Mistress Ink has been expecting you.”

Author's Note

They're baaack~
After months of planning, we were finally able to get the first chapter done and we're steadily working Chapter two. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and give me as much criticism as possible. It'll be much appreciated :)

Chapter Eleven: Distrust

Author's Note

So it's taken a lot of time but me and Spirals95 made 3 chapters throughout all of September and we are currently working on chapter 14. We'll be taking our time when we are writing these chapters out and be posting them every other month until we've completed this very long arc.

Chapter Eleven: Distrust

After preparations had been made, Watcher, Techorse, Clyde, and Umbra had gathered at Umbra’s office to discuss in detail what is to come at Mount Chimera. Something Watcher wasn’t too keen on allowing the Princess to enter such a horrific place.

“I’m fine with Aura and Affinity going cause as Clyde had stated he’ll be needing more hooves to search, but Celestia going with them spells trouble, and you know that Techorse.” Watcher said, glaring at the stallion as Clyde sat silently in his chair, twirling his revolver.

“Watcher, I assure you it’s necessary for Celestia to go,” Techorse repeated, having already tried to reassure him earlier in the meeting, “she knows who the princesses are and what they were like the most. She may be able to find the new princess more quickly and save us time.”

“And also get captured and locked up!” Watcher shouted, groaning as he rubbed the ridge of his snout. “It’ll be better for her to remain here with Umbra. Last thing we need is trouble.”

“I get that you’re worried, but she’s got Clyde defending her,” argued the other stallion, “and besides that, have you even asked Celestia how she feels about this, or are you making all her decisions for her now?”

“Yeah, cause I want the guy ogling her almost all the time protecting her… No thanks. And it’s not like I don’t trust her… just… worried she’ll make a wrong decision… again,” Watcher explained, coughing slightly as everypony stared at him blankly.

“You know I’m one of the top ten bounty hunters in Equestria… I can keep the little lady safe while we search for this… make believe unipeg,” Clyde responded, placing his revolver back into its holster, “Trust me, she’s in good hooves.”

“Not inspiring confidence you know…” Watcher responded, but was quickly pulled into a tight embrace by Umbra.

“Now Watchy, you know you can’t tell a lady what she can and can not do… So unless you want me to cuddle with you right now in front of everypony, I suggest you stop trying to control the princess okay?” Umbra threatened as she batted her eyelashes at him.

He visibly recoiled from her, prompting Techorse to step up, “Look Watcher, I know it’s worrisome, but I promise Celestia will be fine on her own. You haven’t even seen the weapon I created for her yet.”

“You made Celestia a weapon? Hope you tested that,” Watcher answered, not being convinced.

“It has been tested, on another unicorn,” Techorse chuckled, “when you see it on her, you’ll be more convinced she can stand on her own. At least see it before worrying please?”

He hardly trusted the ‘infernal’ machines Techorse could come up with, and it wasn’t something he wanted to see, especially in Celestia’s hooves. Knowing her, she’d blow herself up with it and leave a smoldering crater where she once stood. Still, Umbra seemed unamused with his lack of trust in the situation, and getting any more unwanted affection was an equally bad choice to letting Celestia run wild.

“I… fine,” he finally said, “I’ll look at it. Maybe she’ll be okay.”

“That’s the spirit,” said Techorse, smiling, “you won’t regret it.”

“Probably will...”

“There’s still one more thing to go over, right Tech?” asked Clyde, nudging him about the even worse news to come.

He frowned in response, “Right… There is one more thing about this plan I’ve got to talk about. But we need the others, too.”

Taking a deep breath Watcher nodded his head. “I’ll fetch everypony.”

Outside the Mansion

Celestia wasn’t sure what the others were talking about exactly, but she had a feeling that it involved her specifically, given the fact that most of everypony’s eyes were on her. She wanted to go in and tell them that she was going to help find her student no matter the cost, but before she could do anything, a hoof grabbed hold of her shoulder, turning her head to see Aura by her side.

“Oh, Aura, you startled me.”

“Sorry, probably should have called out to you, but Affinity and I were waiting for you to meet us at the front gate, but you were taking a while so I came to find you,” Aura explained.

“Sorry, I was distracted… I’m honestly curious what they are talking about,” She responded with a hitch in her voice, something Aura was able to pick up on, “do you suppose this mission is a good idea?”

“Don’t be worried about the mission, you’ve got us!” Aura Lace comforted her.

“Think Watcher’s worried about us?” She asked suddenly.

“Pfft, he could care less if we died,” Aura answered thoughtlessly.

“Oh…” sighed the princess mournfully, “I just thought that… I don’t know, forget I said anything?”

Aura Lace immediately regretted saying what she had said, even in jest, but let her thoughts wander over to Techorse, who looked just about ready to speak up. He seemed to have some other kind of regret on his mind, but she couldn’t tell what.

“Hey Tech, you’ve got us all gathered here again, what’s on your mind?” she asked, getting his attention.

He stayed silent and nervous for a second, before Clyde insisted, “Go on. Tell them.”

Techorse scanned over the group with his blue eyes before drawing together all of his mental strength and taking a deep breath for what was to come next.

“I have to be honest with you all. This is an incredibly dangerous mission that we’re badly undertrained for,” he started, “it will be very hard to survive, even if everything goes according to plan and we use our weapons and supplies effectively.”

“We can always flee from the prisoners if things get too rough,” Affinity scoffed, “they can’t actually leave the prison after all.”

“No Affinity, that’s not what I mean,” insisted the inventor, raising the urgency in his voice, “the prison is not simply a cage for those prisoners. It’s their home.”

“You’re stalling, Techorse,” criticized Watcher, “and not making me feel any better about this.”

“Watcher, please!” pleaded Celestia, “Let him speak.”

“It’s okay, Celestia, he’s right, I’m not being direct enough,” answered the other stallion, holding a hoof up, “I’ll cut to the chase...”

After taking another breath, he continued, “Mount Chimera was populated as an experiment a long time ago, nopony knows by who or how. For some reason, a cult started among some of the residents, and they became cannibalistic. This leads to a level of organization, and a caste system within the prison… the hunters and their food supply.”

“If we die, I don’t think I’m going to care if something eats my corpse,” said Affinity, pushing up his glasses and trying to shrug it off casually, “so a cult is no issue.”

His friend shook his head, “That’s just it, Affinity, it is an issue. I know because… Clyde and I have been there before.”

Clyde stepped up, knowing he had to contribute, “And… somepony we cared about… died in that prison… and we could do nothing. Cannibals are just the tip of the iceberg as there are all kinds of notorious criminals, killers, monsters, you name it. When we go in there… and when you come out… you’ll never be the same again. So I’m asking all of you, if you want to help find this princess, then come with me, but you’ll lose a part of yourself… hopefully not literally.”

“E… excuse me?” asked Aura, ears drooping back.

Techorse blew a little air out of his snout and took over from Clyde again, “Clyde has a lot of emotion invested in our history with that prison, but I’ll make it a bit more clear. This prison is basically it’s own nation. This isn’t going to be a quest, it’s going to be a war.”

After a long silence, Affinity spoke up, “War? Well that’s nothing new. War by the Order took away our families and businesses. War took away our homes. If these ‘prisoners’ are in the way of what we need to stop the Order… then we’ll go to war with them, Tech.”

“Pfft… Well either way, try not to get cocky Affinity, I may not have experienced the horrors those two have, but I can tell you that this isn’t something to joke about… So I suggest you take my advice and actually consider everypony around you. Cause not everypony is the same as you,” Watcher explained.

“You watch your mouth, Watcher,” Clyde said, poking him with a hoof, “at least he’s invested in this. He’s lost things important to him, too.”

“And you should watch your tone cowboy… I didn’t say anything like that… He should be considerate to those around him… like his sister,” Watcher said, poking the shorter stallion back, “You better look after Celestia, cause if something happens to her or the others I will see to it personally you’re dealt with!”

“Like I told you before… She’s in good hooves. So you better be kind to my buddy,” Clyde responded, earning a firm nod from the large unicorn as he shoved past him, Clyde noticing his gaze was on Celestia for a brief moment before trotting his way to the front gate, “You better get going Techboy, don’t want to lose the big guy so soon right?”

“One last thing, Clyde, I have a promise to keep to Watcher,” he said, bringing the argument to an abrupt close, “hey, Celestia.”

“Yes, Tech?” she answered.

“Come on up, I’ve got some gear for you too,” he said, pulling out another one of his mysterious oversized briefcases from behind a nearby stone wall.

Celestia seemed curious, “Oh? For me?”

Techorse nodded and opened the latches on the briefcase using the robotic arms on his saddle, the case’s lid dropped away, and the ponies all peered into the foam-lined container to see what was inside. Celestia’s facial expression went from curiosity to joy very quickly as Techorse reached inside and brought out two matching pairs of ornamental gold shoes, just like the ones she remembered wearing so long ago. This time, however, they each had a single emblem on the front part that rode up the leg, a ruby gemstone fixed in the center.

“Oh… Techorse, they’re beautiful!” she cooed, “These are just like my old ones!”

“Oh for… shoes?!” Watcher groaned, “You made her shoes, Tech!?”

He wagged a mechanical finger, “Not just any shoes, Watcher. These armored royal slippers have a magic field continuation system inside of them, crafted on a microchip in each. Princess Celestia will be able to transfer magic energy to them to create small force fields and block incoming projectiles with them!”

Celestia raised her front right leg across her body, focusing on a barrier spell aimed at her hoof. A semicircular aura of golden energy appeared around the shoe, covering her entire front with defensive magical particles. Impressed, she dismissed the spell and lowered her hoof to the ground as gold sparks fluttered to the ground.

“Ahh, fashionable and functionable, just like my suit,” Aura said, wiggling her eyebrows, “are you sure you’re not a clothing designer like us, Tech?”

“Can’t say you don’t inspire me,” he answered softly, making Aura blush.

She stuttered, “Oh, I… you know what I meant.”

Princess Celestia had already taken her shoes and put them on, admiring their design as it was almost a perfect match, “These are so accurate! How did you know, Techorse?”

“The old storybook my parents read me had you wearing them, I thought you might like them back,” he said, chuckling, “and your reaction to them proves to me once again, you’re the Princess!”

“Some weapon,” muttered Watcher, rolling his eyes.

“Doubt they work, do ya?” asked Clyde.

“Oh no, knowing Tech they work, it’s just not a real weapon, it’s a shield,” he continued.

“You were worried about Celestia being safe,” reminded Umbra, “and these highly chique shoes will do that!”

“Tch! As if Celestia actually needs gadgets, you are forgetting she’s the fricken Goddess of the Sun.” Watcher stated, making his way towards the front gate of the mansion, his horn glowing as two saddle bags appeared beside him. The unicorn then slung them over his back and donned his cloak before turning away and running off. With a deep sigh, Techorse bid a quick goodbye to the others and after Watcher.

It was going to be a long mission...

Two Hours Later

It was difficult for the large unicorn to have to walk alongside the earth pony he distrusted the most, hardly able to consider the bounty hunter a friend. Watcher wanted nothing more than to make it to Whitetail Woods as soon as possible so that he could be over this and leave everything behind, especially Techorse. The perceived self-righteousness and self-importance made him want to puke, not to mention his continuous attempts to win over who he thought were his actual friends.

“We’re making good time,” said the stallion, “if we keep on this path we’ll intercept the quarry and be able to camp one night before heading for the mountain.”

“Don’t talk to me,” Watcher growled, feeling a pebble enter the frog of his hoof.

He raised an eyebrow in return, “Come on, Watcher, why do you have to be so annoyed by everypony? I don’t want to be out here either, but we have to if we want any chance of helping the princess.”

“Let me ask you something…” he started, stopping in place before turning around to face the shorter earth pony before removing his hood. “How long do you plan on hiding the fact that you're a bounty hunter… just like Clyde?”

Techorse stepped in front of him to force him to stop, which on the upside allowed Watcher to remove the pebble while he addressed him.

“I hid it from you because if I told you in the situation where we met, you would have immediately mistaken me for someone trying to poach the bounty on you,” he stated, frowning, “but since you aren’t aware… I’m not a normal bounty hunter. Money isn’t my king.”

“Pfft, yeah right! How else are you going to afford alllll that gear and metal you make for your gadgets? Last I checked bounty hunters are hired to do a job and make profit, am I wrong or has the term changed in the last decade or so?”

His companion looked hurt, but insisted on making him understand, “At this point, I think you’re just trying to say hurtful things because you find it fun, Watcher. Or do you actually want me to answer that question?”

“I already know the answer to that… no matter how you cut it, a bounty hunter helps if there’s something to get out of it,” Watcher stated clearly as he pulled his hood over his head and trotted past the shorter pony before looking up at the sky. “I get it… something happened to you awhile back and you decided to go in as a hired thug, but I know for a fact that wasn’t the right choice."

“Well, now I know you just like to say hurtful things,” Techorse answered after a momentary pause, a mix of anger and disappointment about him, “so I’m just going to tell you one more time. I became a bounty hunter because this war doesn’t bring enough of those creeps in the Order to justice. I’m only collecting the money to fund my gadget program, so that I can continue to hunt those war criminals down and see them face trial.”

“Hmm, well can’t say that life isn’t boring. Still, that’s not the correct path to take. I’m not interested in your sob story, so I’ll get to the point,” Watcher said, looking back and tilting his neck so that the vertebrae inside audibly cracked, “I am willing to work with you and I am even willing to give you a chance to prove yourself to me, which is why I agreed to us splitting up, besides personal reasons that is. However, not a single word to Celestia or anypony else about who you are or where you came from. Last thing we need is more drama in the group.”

“Prove myself to… Watcher, are you even listening to yourself?” Techorse said, almost about to burst out laughing, “Forget about it. I won’t tell the others unless they have to know, promise. You can at least count on me keeping my word, you know.”

“I don’t trust you… but you can try to earn my trust by the end of our mission. It’s a three day’s travel to Whitetail woods byt hoof, but we can probably get there by morning if we can reach the trainstation.” He explained, as the two stallions began to move again down the dirt road.

Incredible. He has absolutely no idea how the world works, Techorse thought, shaking his head, guess I’m glad I’ve got his back… he’s going to need it.

Further down the trail, the two heard noises that sounded like a faint call for help, plus some amount of yelling and colorful language. Ears attuned to that sort of thing, Techorse nudged Watcher and made him follow to investigate the noise. They came to a small campsite just off the beaten path, the place Watcher suggested avoiding for the evening in order to make good time. Carefully positioning themselves behind a nice chunk of stone, the two peered over to see what was going on in the dirt area meant for travelers to rest. In the center, a broken-down cart or drayman of some kind was being searched through by a group of gray-plumaged griffons, the damage to the cart’s wheels very obviously done on purpose. Techorse counted a total of seven of them, five looting the wagon, and two standing guard over their would-be victims.

“Please… this is all we have!” begged a mare in the bound group, she and her sister tied next to each other, “Don’t do this!”

“Aunt Sarsaparilla, are they going to hurt us?” asked a small voice next to her.

Watcher looked where Techorse was looking and saw him, a small colt just as tied up as the others. His brown coat with white spots reminded him of someone, although he couldn’t remember who. The poor youngster was fearing for his life, at an age where he should be safely in school.

“They won’t,” assured the other mare, hoping his mother would calm down.

“Just take the cargo and leave,” said one of three stallions in the group of captives, the griffons wisely taking extra care to restrain their horns with a set of inhibitor rings, “we just want to make it out of this, okay?”

“Shut the hell up!” shouted one of the griffons watching them in a squeaky voice, knocking the father upside the head, “You idiots didn’t pay us the toll we asked for, so we get to decide what happens to you even if we are taking the goods, got it?”

Techorse stared at the group, knowing the two griffons yelling at their captives were keeping watch, just not in their direction. He wasn’t sure if they planned to slaughter the family or not, although the cold of the coming night might do their job for them if they didn’t do something about it.

Watcher could see the proverbial gears turning inside Techorse’s head while analyzing the group, and whispered, “I know what you’re thinking, you green idiot, and the answer is no! N-O.”

“Seven aggressors, five unaware,” Tech whispered back, pretending Watcher wasn’t trying to get out of helping, “the best way to handle it is to pretend to be someone else who can be robbed, then let an accomplice free the captives before attacking.”

“I suppose one of us could try to distract a couple of them, lure them away into the treeline while the other frees the hostages?” Watcher suggested. “Either way, we’re gonna have to get our hooves dirty it seems.”

“We can easily avoid there being seven or more bodies,” Techorse answered back, voice not quite a whisper but still quiet, “just flank around back and untie the hostages. I’ll keep these guys busy by pretending to want to play along with their grift, that toll they mentioned. They’ll flee once we knock out one or two. They want easy targets.”

“Hmm… maybe, but I’m not entirely sure. I could try to distract them, but… when I was at the orphanage I was always picked on by a group of griffons. Even though I was the biggest there, they always attacked me no matter what I said or how I tried to reason with them. Besides, the last thing we need to do is make too much noise.”

“Y… you were an orphan?” Techorse asked, a heartstring clearly tugged, “Then try to understand, Watcher, if we don’t help... that little colt is going to be an orphan too! Just do what I asked.”

“Now I never said I wasn’t going to help, I merely suggested I would distract them… I always somehow draw them to me. We’ll go with your plan, but instead of you I’ll go while you free them.” Watcher explained.

Techorse knew his own distraction would be more effective since he had practiced it a million times on his own missions. However, perhaps this was a way to earn that ever-valuable commodity called trust from Watcher.

“You’ve got a good point, I should go free the family since I’ve got my gadgets to get those ropes undone faster. Let’s go with your version of the plan,” he said, smiling, “I’ve got a path planned out to the captives already, so good luck!”

The inventor started crawling through some nearby bushes to flank around to where he could get to the family unseen. This left Watcher alone, and sort of stunned that he hadn’t insisted on doing things his own way. With a deep sigh, he removed his cloak and set it by the nearby bushes before proceeding forward.

‘Let’s hope this works, last thing we want is to make too much noise and draw the Order in,’ Watcher thought to himself as he made his way towards the cart, pretending to mind his own business while whistling.

Right away, the two griffons watching the family saw him coming, and thought themselves extremely lucky, a smile of sorts coming across their beaks. They walked up to him, drawing their long combat knives and smirking.

“You lost, mister?” asked one of the bandits, his brown hood down on his cloak, “we’re very busy here, if you couldn’t tell...”

To try and be intimidating, the other avian licked the blade of his knife, which did nothing more than gross Watcher out.

“Ugh,” said the other robber, “how many times do I have to say not to do that? You’re going to cut yourself up, birdbrain!”

“Look,” answered the other bandit, putting his knife down, “point is, pony, we’re busy here. We’ll get to you in a bit, okay?”

“Really thought a couple of you would help me out here with directions,” Watcher asked, showing a fake smile.

“Suuuure, here’s some directions for ya,” chuckled the closer one of the two, “hand over about 120 bits of hard cash, and we’ll send you on your way. Unless you want to join these nice folks back here who were too cheap to pay up!”

The griffon looked back, and Watcher felt his heart race, but thankfully Techorse had yet to emerge from the treeline to go initiate his rescue. As much as the stallion wanted to destroy these two birds and get over there, he would have to keep them from looking there again.

“Are you gonna pay up or what?” asked the second bandit, pointing the knife right under Watcher’s neck, “This could be a lot easier if you just cooperate!”

“Hey now, no need to get your feathers ruffled… I have a spare satchel with my bits a little ways that way. You get your bits, I get my directions, everypony wins right?” Watcher suggested, chuckling a bit despite receiving a few glares from some of the griffons busy looting.

Techorse had finally decided to make his move, creeping out from behind a nearby oak tree. He had already deployed his saddle’s robotic arms, having equipped a surprisingly large bayonet in his right hand to cut the ropes with. Watcher gave a quick glance, trying not to blow his friends’ cover, but his facial expression twitched a bit at seeing the knife.

Where did he get that?! He thought.

“Hmmm, finally, a pony that knows how a damn toll road works,” laughed the first brigand, “fine, no reason for us to all go though. I’ll just help you with the money. My buddy here can go back to making sure these toll-skipping lawbreakers stay put!”

“No!” snapped Watcher before the other one could turn around and see Techorse approaching.

“Huh? Why not?” he asked, “Haven’t you figured out yet what’s going on, you moron? We’re in charge here.”

“I mean… I can pay double the amount they have to pay. I’m probably going to need a little help since it’s pretty heavy, even for myself,” Watcher said, surprising the griffons as all of them started grinning.

Now the bandits were suspicious, and one of them muttered to the other, “Hmm, either a trust fund kiddie, or we’re being had here…”

Come on Tech, hurry up!

Techorse reached the family, choosing the stallions first as they were the closest. The young pony spotted him, and was about to raise his voice, but Techorse held his left mechanical pointer finger in front of his lips. Thankfully the colt got the message and nodded slowly as the stranger worked to cut away his dad and uncles’ ropes. Once they were free, he whispered quietly to them to start preparing any kind of spell useful in knocking out the five renegades looting their supplies.

Watcher continued to play dumb to buy the remaining crucial seconds needed, “Look it’s clearly obvious you have the upper hoof so why would I lie?”

The first griffon wasn’t having it, and flipped his knife into a back facing position, ready to slash, “You’re just playing dumb, ain’t ya? There’s no way you don’t know what’s going on here. Pay up with what you have on hoof, or watch what this can do to your neck, pony!”

At this point, Techorse had freed the hostages, the family of unicorns having fully charged horns and primed to strike. The bounty hunter looked Watcher directly in the eyes, and then nodded casually with a big smile on his face.

Taking the hint, he also smiled, “Alright, let me just reach into my satchel then...”

Doing just that, he reached into his stachel before pulling out not a bag of bits but his hoof clutched tightly. Striking the griffon across his beak, he sent him crashing into two others, then the unicorn promptly lit his horn and shot a blast of magic at another griffon. Immediately the remaining opponents raiding the cart stopped and drew their weapons, stepping out from behind their position to attack Watcher with a set of crossbows. They heard a whistling noise, which was made by Techorse putting two metal fingers in his mouth and blowing hard, and turned to face it instead. What they found was a very angry and very much not tied up family of unicorns in a firing line, and the raiders immediately ate a wide variety of low-level fire, ice and electric spells, screaming in surprise and agony as they did so.

“Gah… you son of a… die!” shouted the last standing griffon, slashing wildly at Watcher’s neck with his dagger.

The stallion skillfully dodged the blade, but the bandit’s agility had permitted him to bring the knife back up in a stabbing position over his head, an angle he hadn’t anticipated. Just as he was about to bring the blade down, a beam of coherent light entered his hand, frying a hole through it and forcing him to drop the blade as the shock of the deep burn registered as pain in his nervous system.

“AHHHHHH!” he screamed, dropping to the ground and rolling with his taloned hand clutched at his chest.

Watcher looked behind the now writhing leader, and saw Techorse standing there with his lasers drawn, smoke pouring from one of the barrels.

“You could have hit me, you know,” he said blankly.

“Oh, um… I guess you’re right,” answered Techorse sheepishly, “I didn’t, though!”

“Hmph!” Watcher grunted as a smirk appeared across his face, his horn glowed a dark vibrant red as his hoof began to be surrounded by it. “Here’s that toll payment you’ve been asking for, bastard!”

Techorse could sense what was about to happen and called out, “Watcher, no!”

But he ignored him and struck him in the chest, putting the hapless griffon right through the bed of the broken cart. “If the rest of you don’t want me to pound ya into the ground, take your boss and get out of here! NOW!”

Seeing how the black unicorn’s eyes turned red with black slits sent shivers down the remaining griffons standing as they rapidly started flapping their wings and took off, leaving their unconscious boss behind.

“Geez, you’d think they’d at least care enough about their boss,” Watcher muttered as the red aura that surrounded his hooves vanished and his eyes turned to normal.

Techorse, just thankful that he hadn’t splattered the griffon in front of the young one, took a deep breath and stowed his guns away. All things considered, the plan had worked, and the hostages were no worse for wear, save the loss of their cart since it was now splintered from Watcher’s show of force.

“Thank you so much for saving us, strangers,” said one of the stallions, looking like he was about to cry, “I thought we were going to be slashed for sure!”

“No need to thank us… and sorry for the cart, we’ll be sure to have this guy tied up and have somepony help you get a new cart.” Watcher replied, almost smiling at them.

6:00 PM

Not wanting to stick around any longer then they needed to, Watcher and Techorse continued to move down the path to hopefully reach the train station. As it would be the fastest route to reach Whitetail Woods and make it back in time to help search for the missing princess. However, Watcher had a feeling that more trouble was heading towards them with everything that had currently transpired. It was only a matter of time before somepony more dangerous than a group of bandits came to kill them. The large unicorn couldn't help but look towards the sun setting once again as the light shined through the trees. It wasn’t everyday he got to look at a sunset, but he was quickly interrupted by the sounds of growling which he was all too familiar with.

"I take it you're hungry now?" He asked the inventor behind him.

"I don’t mean to complain at you, but the folks we helped offered to cook us a meal to thank us and you turned them down. Kinda rude to decline a dinner invitation, for future reference," Techorse replied in a low groan as he continued to trot behind his companion, "We've been walking quite a while now, so if we’re stopping, we’ve definitely earned it."

With a deep hum, Watcher began to wonder if making camp wasn't such a bad idea, but it'll take the two of them longer to reach the nearest train station and by their current pace, they'd make it by nightfall. It was hard to decide, but the unicorn had made up his mind as he faced his ally.

"It'll be another two hours until we reach the station. We can eat then, but surely you must have packed some snacks in those bags? Unless it's just a bunch of junk you couldn’t part from?" He asked, earning a cold glare from the earth pony.

"Ha! Well, luckily I packed some trail mix just in case," Techorse rebutted as he opened his saddlebag and pulled out a small bag only to find that there was no trail mix, but a small red breezie inside, chewing on what remained of a peanut in his little plastic bag.

"So much for that now." Watcher replied as a smirk formed on his face as Techorse gave the little breezie a deadpan stare.

"Scarlet!? What are you doing in my bag?" .

“Oh… um, s...sorry,” she stuttered, embarrassed in her gluttony.

“That was two pounds of snacks… how did you eat all of that trail mix without dying?” asked Techorse, more amazed than annoyed.

"My question is how did she get into your saddle? You have that on almost ninety percent of the time," Watcher wondered, "I guess those breezies aren't that hard to miss."

"I'm here because we discussed this remember? Or did you boys forget that I was even supposed to be here to help you?"

Techorse nodded, “Ah, that’s right… Clyde did mention sending one of the two with us on this mission. Just in case things went south, but what I’m wondering is how you got into this dork’s bag without anypony noticing, especially your twin sister.”

The little just shrugged as she flew over to Watcher and landed atop of his head and nestled into his mane, “Just go with it.”

“You're a strange one, you know that?” Watcher responded as he himself also shrugged as Techorse stowed the now empty pouch of trail mix into another bag.

Meanwhile

Midnight Blaze watched from a distance how Watcher and Techorse continued to proceed towards the train station. After what felt like an eternity, the blue unicorn wanted nothing more than to settle the score with the two stallions who injured him so badly and humiliated him in the process. However, he restrained himself from going after them immediately… everything was part of the bigger plan he had in mind. As of now, “preparations” for the two unknowing ponies were waiting for them at the train station.

“Amate? Have Celestia and her little band of misfits left the mansion?” Midnight asked, as the bounty hunter appeared from behind the treelines and gave a soft grunt.

Amate signaled to him that the Princess of the Sun was making her way over to Mount Chimera, and more importantly, that her party was going to reach the prison well before them given their own travel speed.

Midnight simply chuckled in response, “Oh, they won’t beat us there. Trust me.”

He wasn’t going to let them get the advantage in any way at all. The unicorn had already determined the location of the prison a while back after buying that information off of some of the Everfree City locals via his spies. In addition, all the magical materials and energy he had stolen from the unwitting donors he had ambushed would allow him to teleport himself and Amate to the prison directly. Of course, once they were inside, they’d have to wait a long time to gather enough magic energy to make another jump. It was a risk he was more than willing to take in the name of vengeance, however.

“I promise Watcher, we will meet again… and next time I’ll be reborn.” Midnight said, his horning glowing brightly as he and Amate vanished in a bright flash of light, transiting to the prison through the fabric of space.